Second Variety - 4

Total number of words is 1424
Total number of unique words is 552
58.2 of words are in the 2000 most common words
74.7 of words are in the 5000 most common words
79.4 of words are in the 8000 most common words
Each bar represents the percentage of words per 1000 most common words.

Hendricks shook his head, trying to clear it.
"Hurry up! Where is the Moon Base? How do I find it? What do I look
for?"
Hendricks said nothing.
"Answer me!"
"Sorry."
"Major, the ship is loaded with provisions. I can coast for weeks.
I'll find the Base eventually. And in a half hour you'll be dead. Your
only chance of survival--" She broke off.
Along the slope, by some crumbling ruins, something moved. Something
in the ash. Tasso turned quickly, aiming. She fired. A puff of flame
leaped. Something scuttled away, rolling across the ash. She fired
again. The claw burst apart, wheels flying.
"See?" Tasso said. "A scout. It won't be long."
"You'll bring them back here to get me?"
"Yes. As soon as possible."
Hendricks looked up at her. He studied her intently. "You're telling
the truth?" A strange expression had come over his face, an avid
hunger. "You will come back for me? You'll get me to the Moon Base?"
"I'll get you to the Moon Base. But tell me where it is! There's only
a little time left."
"All right." Hendricks picked up a piece of rock, pulling himself to a
sitting position. "Watch."
Hendricks began to scratch in the ash. Tasso stood by him, watching
the motion of the rock. Hendricks was sketching a crude lunar map.
* * * * *
"This is the Appenine range. Here is the Crater of Archimedes. The
Moon Base is beyond the end of the Appenine, about two hundred miles.
I don't know exactly where. No one on Terra knows. But when you're
over the Appenine, signal with one red flare and a green flare,
followed by two red flares in quick succession. The Base monitor will
record your signal. The Base is under the surface, of course. They'll
guide you down with magnetic grapples."
"And the controls? Can I operate them?"
"The controls are virtually automatic. All you have to do is give the
right signal at the right time."
"I will."
"The seat absorbs most of the take-off shock. Air and temperature are
automatically controlled. The ship will leave Terra and pass out into
free space. It'll line itself up with the moon, falling into an orbit
around it, about a hundred miles above the surface. The orbit will
carry you over the Base. When you're in the region of the Appenine,
release the signal rockets."
Tasso slid into the ship and lowered herself into the pressure seat.
The arm locks folded automatically around her. She fingered the
controls. "Too bad you're not going, Major. All this put here for you,
and you can't make the trip."
"Leave me the pistol."
Tasso pulled the pistol from her belt. She held it in her hand,
weighing it thoughtfully. "Don't go too far from this location. It'll
be hard to find you, as it is."
"No. I'll stay here by the well."
Tasso gripped the take-off switch, running her fingers over the smooth
metal. "A beautiful ship, Major. Well built. I admire your
workmanship. You people have always done good work. You build fine
things. Your work, your creations, are your greatest achievement."
"Give me the pistol," Hendricks said impatiently, holding out his
hand. He struggled to his feet.
"Good-bye, Major." Tasso tossed the pistol past Hendricks. The pistol
clattered against the ground, bouncing and rolling away. Hendricks
hurried after it. He bent down, snatching it up.
The hatch of the ship clanged shut. The bolts fell into place.
Hendricks made his way back. The inner door was being sealed. He
raised the pistol unsteadily.
* * * * *
There was a shattering roar. The ship burst up from its metal cage,
fusing the mesh behind it. Hendricks cringed, pulling back. The ship
shot up into the rolling clouds of ash, disappearing into the sky.
Hendricks stood watching a long time, until even the streamer had
dissipated. Nothing stirred. The morning air was chill and silent. He
began to walk aimlessly back the way they had come. Better to keep
moving around. It would be a long time before help came--if it came at
all.
He searched his pockets until he found a package of cigarettes. He lit
one grimly. They had all wanted cigarettes from him. But cigarettes
were scarce.
A lizard slithered by him, through the ash. He halted, rigid. The
lizard disappeared. Above, the sun rose higher in the sky. Some flies
landed on a flat rock to one side of him. Hendricks kicked at them
with his foot.
It was getting hot. Sweat trickled down his face, into his collar. His
mouth was dry.
Presently he stopped walking and sat down on some debris. He
unfastened his medicine kit and swallowed a few narcotic capsules. He
looked around him. Where was he?
Something lay ahead. Stretched out on the ground. Silent and unmoving.
Hendricks drew his gun quickly. It looked like a man. Then he
remembered. It was the remains of Klaus. The Second Variety. Where
Tasso had blasted him. He could see wheels and relays and metal parts,
strewn around on the ash. Glittering and sparkling in the sunlight.
Hendricks got to his feet and walked over. He nudged the inert form
with his foot, turning it over a little. He could see the metal hull,
the aluminum ribs and struts. More wiring fell out. Like viscera.
Heaps of wiring, switches and relays. Endless motors and rods.
He bent down. The brain cage had been smashed by the fall. The
artificial brain was visible. He gazed at it. A maze of circuits.
Miniature tubes. Wires as fine as hair. He touched the brain cage. It
swung aside. The type plate was visible. Hendricks studied the plate.
And blanched.
IV--IV.
For a long time he stared at the plate. Fourth Variety. Not the
Second. They had been wrong. There were more types. Not just three.
Many more, perhaps. At least four. And Klaus wasn't the Second
Variety.
But if Klaus wasn't the Second Variety--
Suddenly he tensed. Something was coming, walking through the ash
beyond the hill. What was it? He strained to see. Figures. Figures
coming slowly along, making their way through the ash.
Coming toward him.
Hendricks crouched quickly, raising his gun. Sweat dripped down into
his eyes. He fought down rising panic, as the figures neared.
The first was a David. The David saw him and increased its pace. The
others hurried behind it. A second David. A third. Three Davids, all
alike, coming toward him silently, without expression, their thin legs
rising and falling. Clutching their teddy bears.
He aimed and fired. The first two Davids dissolved into particles. The
third came on. And the figure behind it. Climbing silently toward him
across the gray ash. A Wounded Soldier, towering over the David. And--
* * * * *
And behind the Wounded Soldier came two Tassos, walking side by side.
Heavy belt, Russian army pants, shirt, long hair. The familiar figure,
as he had seen her only a little while before. Sitting in the pressure
seat of the ship. Two slim, silent figures, both identical.
They were very near. The David bent down suddenly, dropping its teddy
bear. The bear raced across the ground. Automatically, Hendricks'
fingers tightened around the trigger. The bear was gone, dissolved
into mist. The two Tasso Types moved on, expressionless, walking side
by side, through the gray ash.
When they were almost to him, Hendricks raised the pistol waist high
and fired.
The two Tassos dissolved. But already a new group was starting up the
rise, five or six Tassos, all identical, a line of them coming rapidly
toward him.
And he had given her the ship and the signal code. Because of him she
was on her way to the moon, to the Moon Base. He had made it possible.
He had been right about the bomb, after all. It had been designed with
knowledge of the other types, the David Type and the Wounded Soldier
Type. And the Klaus Type. Not designed by human beings. It had been
designed by one of the underground factories, apart from all human
contact.
The line of Tassos came up to him. Hendricks braced himself, watching
them calmly. The familiar face, the belt, the heavy shirt, the bomb
carefully in place.
The bomb--
As the Tassos reached for him, a last ironic thought drifted through
Hendricks' mind. He felt a little better, thinking about it. The bomb.
Made by the Second Variety to destroy the other varieties. Made for
that end alone.
They were already beginning to design weapons to use against each
other.
You have read 1 text from English literature.
  • Parts
  • Second Variety - 1
    Total number of words is 4614
    Total number of unique words is 1190
    50.5 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    67.2 of words are in the 5000 most common words
    76.1 of words are in the 8000 most common words
    Each bar represents the percentage of words per 1000 most common words.
  • Second Variety - 2
    Total number of words is 4568
    Total number of unique words is 1046
    55.7 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    73.1 of words are in the 5000 most common words
    79.6 of words are in the 8000 most common words
    Each bar represents the percentage of words per 1000 most common words.
  • Second Variety - 3
    Total number of words is 4605
    Total number of unique words is 1042
    57.9 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    72.3 of words are in the 5000 most common words
    80.6 of words are in the 8000 most common words
    Each bar represents the percentage of words per 1000 most common words.
  • Second Variety - 4
    Total number of words is 1424
    Total number of unique words is 552
    58.2 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    74.7 of words are in the 5000 most common words
    79.4 of words are in the 8000 most common words
    Each bar represents the percentage of words per 1000 most common words.