Mack Reynolds: The Space Barbarians

“I would have you live, for until you were stripped of your kilts… John, we were blood comrades. And… and though it be against the bann, for me, we still remain.” He turned and walked back in the direction from which he and DeRudder had just come.

John looked after him until he disappeared over the rise of hill.

DeRudder said dryly, “Greater love hath no man, eh?”

John said, “You wouldn’t understand, Samuel of the DeRudders.” He swung his leg up over the saddle.

“Perhaps I would,” DeRudder said. “There’s another alternative to joining up with the hill bandits, you know.”

John grunted. “Yes. I can continue to roam the heath until I run into a raider band and am cut down.”

DeRudder fell in beside him. “You can come to New Sidon City.”

John grunted again. “It had never occurred to me.”

“Think about it.”

John was irritated. “What would I do in this city of yours? I know nothing of cities. Besides, you Sidonians carry the bloodfeud with he who was once Supreme Raid Cacique of the Loch Confederation.”

“We don’t have any such institution as the bloodfeud, John. And above all, we need capable men, and especially capable Caledonians, if ever we are to develop this fantastic world.”

John was scowling. “But you and I carry the bloodfeud. You shamed me when I was but a lad.”

DeRudder said in deprecation, “You forget your own ways, John. I thought a clannless one, such as yourself, was not allowed such luxuries as vendetta.”

The big man flushed. “You are correct,” he said in a low voice. “I had forgotten.” He added, “For that matter, you too are clannless. We are both men without honor.”

“Among civilized men, you can gain or lose honor only through your own actions.”

The conception was new to the Caledonian, and he could only scowl as he thought about it. “But one who is born clannless?”

“Like everyone else, makes or fails to make his own degree of honor, or ethics, if you will.”

“Any Keeper of the Faith can tell you that true honor and faith are only in the hands of the phylum and down, through it, to the clanns.”

DeRudder looked at him in amusement. “Don’t you think you have finally arrived at the point where you should reject some of these teachings of the Keepers of the Faith? In fact, you already have. That’s why you’re on your own. By the way, you’d better make up your mind whether or not you wish to accompany me to New Sidon City.”

“Why?”

DeRudder pointed. “Because there is a skimmer, and they’ve probably detected our body heat and will be on the scene shortly.”

John stared up at the distant dot in the sky. “It seems as though my decision has been made for me. If I refuse to go with you, they will undoubtedly cut me down with their flamers.”

“I can see no particular reason to allow you to take to the hills and do your best to raid our mining developments.”

As the aircraft grew larger, John, staring up at it, said, “What makes it fly?”

DeRudder chuckled. “John, you wouldn’t understand if I tried to tell you.”

“I am not a fool, Samuel of the DeRudders,” the Caledonian said coldly.

“It is not a matter of being a fool. You would not even understand the terminology. When you are in New Sidon City, you can attend school, possibly at night. At least you can already read and have even done a certain amount of studying of some of the books you’ve captured from us—in spite of the banns of your Keepers of the Faith. In a year or two, perhaps you’ll have progressed to the point where aerodynamics need not be a complete mystery.”

“School?” John said. “I thought you would put me to work in your mines.”

“School, too,” DeRudder said. “I keep telling you, we are here to develop this benighted planet. Uneducated half savages don’t lend themselves to a civilized culture. One of our biggest tasks is to get the population into schools. Besides, our mines are not the only projects that call for employees. There are a thousand tasks involved in conducting a city such as New Sidon. Where you’ll fit in, I don’t know at this stage.”

The skimmer came swooping in, circled them twice, then settled some fifty feet off.

A loudspeaker said, “Identify yourselves.”

DeRudder barked, “I am Cornet Samuel DeRudder of New Sidon City, and this is John Hawk, formerly of the town of Aberdeen but who now is to take a position with United Interplanetary Mines.”

An entry port opened, and a warrant and two enlisted men issued forth, all three with hand weapons at the ready. The warrant saluted DeRudder but turned a beady eye to the giant Caledonian.

“Drop those toad stickers you’re wearing, friend. You won’t need them in the city.”

John unbuckled his belt and let the claidheammor and skean drop to the ground.

Even as he dismounted, DeRudder said, “You can take us to New Sidon? I don’t seem to recognize you, Warrant.”

“Yes, sir. We’re from Berkeley, sir, but sure we can take you back to your own city. It’s more or less on the way. What are you doing out here, sir?”

DeRudder said briefly, “I was captured by clannsmen of the Loch Confederation, but they turned me loose. This man volunteered to return to New Sidon with me.”

“Turned you loose? That’s a new one, sir.” John had dismounted too. Now the Sidonian warrant approached him warily and gave him a quick frisking. “Sorry,” he said, “but you know how it is.”

“I vouch for him, soldier,” DeRudder said testily.

“Yes, sir. However, I know a case where one of these dallies got taken prisoner and into a skimmer, and what d’ya think happens? Once a couple of hundred feet up into the air and he whips out a sticker like they carry and nigh finishes off the whole crew before somebody manages to flame him down.”

John bore the search, which revealed nothing. The warrant led the way back to the skycraft, the wary enlisted men, guns still at the ready, bringing up the rear.

Inside the craft, John took a deep breath as it began to rise. Long years before he had once ridden in a surface craft of the men from Beyond. Now, as then, there was a sinking in the belly as the strange means of locomotion began. They were seated in the rear, in only moderately comfortable metal seats, obviously a compartment for soldiers being airlifted from point to point when trouble arose. By straining, he could see out a small port. He closed his eyes briefly as the ground sank away.

DeRudder said mockingly, “And how, John Hawk, are your clannsmen going to defeat enemies that have devices such as this at their command?”

John cleared his throat. “I don’t know.”

Through the port, John could see the city loom before them. He had seen it before, from a distance and from the hills, but he had not realized its magnitude. And this was but one of the cities of the men from Beyond, nor did he know whether it was the largest. But certainly no town in the Loch Confederation began to rival it, or any other in all Caledonia, as far as he knew.

It was a walled city, situated along a river, and in the approximate center was a great cleared space, obviously landing ground for such craft as the skimmer in which they rode, and for great ships from space as well. Their own airborne vessel made for it, the pilot receiving landing instructions as they came in.

John attempted to disguise his relief that the trip through the air had ended without tragedy. Although in his time, he had scaled fairly formidable mountains, he had never liked the sensation of height.

They issued forth from the skimmer, and a small land car, supported by air cushions, came skittering up.

“Take us to the ad building,” DeRudder said to the enlisted man behind the controls.