Ganes - Evil Out of Onzar

Evil Out of Onzar

Mark Ganes

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Planet StoriesSeptember 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidencethat the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

The sections start with III. This is as per theoriginal magazine.

R oger Thane had,of course, heard of these meetings. The stories of hisacquaintances in Liaison had been graphic enough but they didn'tbegin to do the scene justice. It was, well, jarring.

Through the one-way glass panel built into one side of the vastmeeting hall of the space station, Thane looked directly across atthe delegation from Onzar, though "delegation" was hardly the word.All top gold from the Onzar group was there, and it was easy totell their rankfleet marshals, the technical advisors, theinterpretersby the amount of gold that encrusted their helmets,coruscated from their shoulder boards, and crept and crawled inheavy filigree around their uniforms. In that assembly it was easyto pick out Candar. Shorter than the average Onzarian, with shavenhead, his uniform was quite plain except for small, double-headedplatinum shagells on the collar.

And Candar was doing all the talking. When he had started onehour and fifteen minutes ago his voice had been harsh and low. Nowit had increased in pitch and volume and he was striding back andforth, showing his scorn for the Allied Systems in every gesture.Thane glanced at the "absolute" dial of his watch and wondered howlong it would keep up.

" we have come to deal with you in good faith and again youseek to exploit us. You would, if you could, take all we produceand give nothing in return. This you shall not do. Onzar is young,but already its power encompasses five suns. Each day we growstronger. We do not need your shoddy goods in exchange for ourtreasure."

As Candar's voice became louder and more shrill Thane noticedthat a technician to his left kept adjusting the recorder dials. Inan hour or so the speech would be broadcast through Onzar, threeand a half light years from this meeting place in space. Candar waschoosing words to inflame the already fanatical nationalism of hisexpanding system. "You would take our discoveries, the fruits ofour genius and industry. You would even take our young men intoslavery. But this Candar will prevent. We are a warrior race, andwhat we need, we take. Our day approaches."

The last three words were his trademark, his invariablesign-off. So that was that. Candar strode from the room followed bythe marshals, the advisors, the interpreters. Thane looked over toGarth who had slumped a bit in his conference chair on the AlliedSystems side of the room, and was lighting a cigar. Thane had neverparticularly liked Garth, but, now, he felt a touch of sympathywith him. Garth took two long puffs on his cigar and then slowlyshrugged his shoulders as if to put a final period to thescene.

Back in the Allied Systems naval cruiser, Garth was getting outof his reserve marshal's uniform. He glanced across at Thane,strapping his couch belts at the other side of the compartment. "Iwanted you to see Candar in operation. Figured you might as well aslong as this show was scheduled anyway. Could be that it will be ofuse to you in your new assignment."

The navigator's voice came over the intercom, "Prepare forfinite acceleration, twenty seconds absolute."

G arth zipped uphis civilian coveralls and dropped to the couch, slipping the stubof his cigar into the converter tube. "This conference was aboutlike the rest. It makes the sixth, now, that I've sat through withCandar. You remember he was full of cooperation right at the startwhile we were renewing the gold-trade agreement. After that wassettled there was nothing more in it for him except the chance tomake another speech."

Thane looked over at Garth. "I noticed that. But why? There wascertainly plenty of gold splashed over everyone in the Onzardelegation, but what is it that makes the stuff so important tothem?"

Garth looked over in surprise. "You don't know? Well, of courseyou wouldn't. You've been working on specialized stuff on the otherside of the Galaxy. I'll give you some of the background on the wayback to Liaison. The sleep-trainer will fill in there."

Garth stopped. Everything stopped as the acceleration began.Both of them were over-braced for the acceleration was light andeven. It was only 5000 KM to the nearest warp-line.

As acceleration slacked off for the five-minute coast into thewarp, Garth lit another cigar and began. "Onzar was one of thoserelatively distant systems which were colonized back in the dayswhen all they had was the finite drive. Of course, it took them ageneration or so to get out there, at just under the speed oflight. And when they got there, the best guess is that their shipwas too damaged for further flight. Otherwise, considering theplanet, they wouldn't have stayed."

Thane flipped through a systems manual to the geographical datafor Onzar IV. He readily agreed that they wouldn't have stayed ifit had been possible for them to get away. Onzar IV was cold,bitterly cold. Hurricane winds were common. The mountains went upto forty and fifty kilometers, and the land between them waslargely barren desert.

"They couldn't get back into space," Garth continued, "so theystayed in splendid isolation for about 1500 years. Not another shiptouched the system till the warp-lines were discovered."

Thane looked up. "I suppose they went through the usualreversion of the orphan systems?"

Garth grunted. "A lot worse than usual. Of course, our versionof their history is largely guesswork because the Onzarians havenever allowed any research. But it's clear that the immigrationcrew, or their first-generation descendants, put on a veryeffective little war between themselves. By the time they werefinished Onzar IV was back in the age of ox-carts, without theox."

The intercom sounded again. "Five seconds to warp-line." Therewas a pause, then the familiar shummer and they were on thewarp-line drive. As usual, the shummer had put out Garth's cigar.He re-lit it and went on. "When we began using warp-line travel wehit Onzar in the first fifty years of exploration. Practically hadto. It's only a parsec from the confluence of nine lines runningbetween our part of the Galaxy and the Darzent Empire. Right on themain road, right in the middle of the next war." He stared insilence at Thane for a moment. "That's one reason I've called youin on this."

For most of the rest of the trip to Liaison, Garth continued toexplain the strange orphan system of Onzar. In the religion, asGarth described it, the whole priesthood was female, and gold hadmagical value. All the men wore gold, the amount strictly in linewith their rank. They despised the women but were in superstitiousdread of them because only the church could sanctify and give powerto their gold symbols of rank. At first, the men had lived inwarring tribes, the women in religious groups. They came togethereach spring and fall for the ceremonies of gold consecration.