STRANGER FROM SPACE-5
390 Words
AS THE PARTY WAS STRUGGLING through the prairie’s tall grass, the man said to Koroby, “I realize from the pictures in your mind that there is no means in your city of communicating directly with my people. But it seems that there are materials which I can utilize in building a signal—”
He was walking along, head erect, apparently quite at ease, while the litter bearers and Koroby could barely drag themselves with him. The girl’s garment was a tattered ruin. Her skin was gritty with dust, and she was bleeding from many scratches. She tripped over tangled roots and exclaimed in pain. Then the man took one of the strange implements from his belt, pressed a knob on it, and light appeared as if by magic! He handed the stick to Koroby, but she was afraid to touch it. This was a strange light that gave no heat, nor flickered in the breeze. Finally she accepted it from him, but carried it gingerly at arm’s length.
She refused to believe that he had no name, and so he named himself. “Call me Robert. It is an ancient name on Terra.”
“Robert,” she said, and, “Robert.”
But at last she could go no farther. She had forced herself along because she wanted to impress this indifferent man that she was not as inferior as he might think—but now she could not go on. With a little cry almost of relief, she sank to the ground and lay semi-conscious, so weary that the very pain of it seemed on the point of pleasure.
Robert dipped down, scooped her up, and carried her.
Lights glimmered ahead; shouts reached them. It was a searching party, Yasak in it. The litter-carriers who could still speak blurted out what had happened. “A green light—loud sounds—fire—this man there—” and then dropped into sleep.
“Someone carry these men,” Yasak ordered. To Robert he said, “We’re not very far from the path to the City now. Shall I carry the girl?”
“It makes no difference,” Robert said.
“You will stay with me while you are in the City, of course,” Yasak said, as they walked. He eyed this handsome stranger speculatively, and then turned to shout an necessary order. “You, there, keep in line!” He glanced at Robert furtively to see if this had impressed him at all.
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