Mad with despair, they fought back from the ruins.
Whoever these invaders were, they should not have
a world which its defenders themselves had destroyed!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1948.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The land was dark in the softly falling rain, and the smell of greenthings was in the air. The crew huddled in their cloaks and peered intothe approaching dusk as they unloaded the great silver space ship.They were apprehensive of the stark ruins that began barely a mile fromthe ship, the ruins that seemed to sprawl interminably across the flatland beside the broad river.
In the metal headquarters hut, the commander glanced nervously at hischronometer. The astrogator looked up from his interminable reckoningsand smiled.
"Don't worry, captain," he said. "They'll be all right. After all, wehaven't seen any life but a few small animals. And they ran from us."
The commander nodded absently, but went to the open door and stared outinto the rain. It made a musical tinkling on the thin metallic dome ofthe hut.
"I know," he said. "Perhaps that's why I'm worried. It's the feeling ofdeath here, as though it might spring at us from some corner in thoseruins.... I should have sent out a stronger scout party."
The astrogator shrugged and returned to his log. "If anything had gonewrong, they would have messaged us."
The commander smiled an unwilling agreement, but he stayed in the opendoor, searching the gathering darkness toward the city. He could notshake loose from the feeling of doom that had settled on him as soonas they had made their landfall and clambered from the airlocks of thespaceship. This was a strange world, the commander thought to himself.It seemed to have everything—everything but intelligent inhabitants.They had circled it for two days before they had chosen this wide greenvalley for their landfall. They had seen cities, many of them, greatcities along seacoasts and in rich plains, cities in mountains and invalleys, but nowhere had they seen life.
The first cautious explorations after the landing that morning hadshown that there was plenty of good water. The soil seemed rich, andvegetation grew in profusion, even among the ruins they had warilyskirted. The atmosphere was perfect ... it was what they had searchedfor through the long bitter years ... this stable atmosphere withits abundance of life-giving oxygen. And minerals aplenty ... theburned and blasted metal skeletons of the ruined city showed that. Thecommander told himself that he was a fool for worrying, when he shouldbe shouting with joy at his luck.
There was a shout from the outpost, a laugh, and then hissecond-in-command loped through the rain, smiling broadly. Behind himwere the others, laughing and joking, shrugging their packs to theground. Gladness and wonder were in their faces and their voices, andthe commander knew that this was the world they had sought for so long.
The lieutenant ducked into the doorway and paused to warm himself atthe little thermal unit. He wiped the rain from his face, reached forthe wine bottle beside the astrogator's work board, and tilted it.
"This is it, sir," he said. He was young, and Fate had been good tohim, and he was exulting in it. "It's everything we ever dared dreamabout. It will support the whole race, every one of us, I think, if therest of this world is anything like what we've seen this day."
The commander grinned back at him, relief plain in his face. He wasphrasing the message that he would send home across th