Public-domain ebook
by S. J. Byrne
English465 downloads on Project GutenbergDownload EPUB
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #66314.
The opening · free to read
The thing was long and rounded and shone brightly like the stars. It sparkled in the blue-white light of the triple suns like a love-stone brought from the Faraway Caves beyond the Great River. And it was floating down on pillars of fire toward the valley. It was becoming bigger and bigger, as were Kuru's large, black eyes.
Fear began to give place to Kuru's wonder. How had such a thing ever come to be? And what was it doing in the sky? What was it?
It was big, far bigger than Kuru could have imagined. When it came to the ground it crushed and burned dozens of great trees. And there it sat, motionlessly and without sound, as though a mountain had dropped from the sky to stay there forever.
Suddenly, in the shining surface of the great sky-jewel a long, black hole appeared, and even as he watched something glittering began to emerge from it. At first it seemed that this was some sort of gigantic cocoon, breaking open to release the wing of an unimaginable insect. But in another moment he received the biggest surprise of all.
"Men!" he gasped. "What are men doing in that sky-jewel? They could not have made it and come out of the sky--unless they are gods!"
The "man-gods" wore strange garments. They were amazingly frail and beautiful looking people, like women in their fairness of skin and their almost complete lack of hair on their bodies. Kuru felt that he could have broken one of them with each hand. But what strange strength of magic did they possess to make this shining cave that brought them from the sky?
He heard a ferocious roar which emanated from the region of the sky-cave. It was a murder-beast. He saw several of the "man-gods" run to a gleaming sort of fence at the edge of the wing that had extended itself out of the black hole. They were looking downward.
Now here was something Kuru could understand. In the face of the terrifying murder-beast he would be able to tell whether or not these people were weaklings. He saw one of them extract a small object from his garments. When this small object was pointed downward in the direction of the roaring murder-beast, a thin, bright line of light appeared below it, and the murder-beast's roar was cut off.
Kuru's teeth chattered slightly. Undoubtedly, he was looking upon the representatives of a race of gods. They could command the powers of lightning.
Still, he could not run away even now, because only a female would come screaming home to tell of what she had merely seen from afar. A hunter like Kuru, who was already a respected member of the family council, would investigate and have something more to tell other than how frightened he was. On the contrary, he must show how brave he could be. He must get closer to the sky-cave of the gods and watch them for a while....
"Good God, Frank! Can't you realize you're being victimized by an old complex? Why is it we have to find human beings on other worlds? We've been searching the stars unsuccessfully for more than a millenium."
"This is our farthest reach out into the galaxy--"
"Yeah. By God, it's almost six hundred light years, twenty years by chronology, and two for us even under trans-C time contraction. That, my friend, is some traveling!"
"It's a beautiful planet--just like Earth was supposed to be once. You know, sometimes I think civilization is a disease."
"That's a great idea! So we're microbes infesting the universe!"
That night Kuru returned to his family, which consisted of his father, his mother, his father's three other wives, his two sisters, his five younger brothers, half-sisters, half-brothers, and dozens of uncles and aunts and scores of cousins numbering one hundred and twenty-two males and females. Council members from three neighboring "families" had already gathered on Council Rock, because some had seen the shining thing descend out of the sky. But only Kuru could tell them facts about it, which added tremendously to his prestige.
"It is a flying cave they have built," he concluded. "They are gods from the country of the sky."
"This must be true," said Bortu, his father. "You say they killed a murder-beast with lightning?"
"As though it were a crawly-bug under their feet."
The elder members of the council and the younger hunters all looked at Kuru in silent admiration. But admiration was mixed with fear. The stars above them were big with mystery and wonder. Why had the gods come down to visit their world?
"What do they want?" asked Gurgo, the father-chief of the Snake Lake family.
"I do not know. I heard them talking among each other, but it is some strange twist of tongue that makes no meaning."
Now Fulkudu, father-chief of the Cloud Valley family, rose to speak. He had thrown the sacred white fur of the river-cat over his shoulder, which meant that his was an official decision.
"We must appease these gods," he announced. "We must show them at once that we are friendly to them. A sacrifice must be presented." Whereupon, he sat down again and was silent.
The rest of them remained silent, too, because this recommendation gave rise to a much more important question. If the other father-chiefs agreed with Fulkudu, then someone would have to go to those powerful gods and present the sacrifice. No one wished to be embarrassed by having to confess his fear. Who would be brave enough to take the sacrifice to them?
As though by common accord, all council members slowly concentrated their attention upon Kuru. Words were unnecessary to express the general idea. Kuru was a very brave hunter. He alone knew more about the gods who had come from the sky than any other among them.
Kuru looked into the eyes of his father and saw the message written there. He had made his father proud. To back out now was to lose all the prestige so far gained. Kuru thought of the thin bolt of lightning that had killed the murder-beast, and he fought to keep his teeth from chattering.
Slowly, he stood up, throwing his own white fur over his brawny shoulder. "I will present the sacrifice," he said. And his own voice sounded strange to him. It was hard to believe he had said such a brave thing as this.
"Derla!" Kuru exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He lowered the heavy horny-head beast to the ground and looked at his sister in amazement.
She was almost his own age, and the prettiest female in the family, with her long black hair and her large black eyes and firm young breasts. He, himself, had killed the murder-beast whose fur encircled her shapely hips.
"I would be with you in this danger," she answered, pleadingly. "None of the other males dared to go with you. Our father's pride would be complete if a female of the Great Cliffs were as brave as Kuru."
"But you must go back. I do not know what these gods will do. They may kill me."
Derla ran forward to her brother's side, placing her hands on one of his hairy arms. "Then this is a greater reason for me to be with you, brother!--so that your spirit will not travel alone into the sky country."
Kuru looked down into his sister's eyes and grinned. "You are my favorite sister," he said. "Come! Perhaps when they see you they will not think of killing!" He shouldered the horny-head beast again, and the two of them continued across the floor of the valley toward the shining sky-cave of the gods....
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
