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realized it.
"Yes, hurry! At night the wolf may be anywhere on the plain."
Watching her hurry away, Duncan felt the wolf in his own blood. Perhaps she
knew it, for she looked back at him strangely from the hilltop. Then she was
gone.
On a hillside, gathering dried brush for the night's watchfires, Duncan paused
for a moment, looking at the sunset.
"Sky-gods, help me," he prayed."And earth-gods, the dark wolf should be under
your dominion. If you will not grant me a sign, at least help me deal with the
wolf." He bent routinely and laid his ear to a rock. Every day he asked some
god for a sign, but never-
He heard a voice. He crouched there, listening to the rock, unable to believe.
Surely it was a waterfall he heard, or running cattle somewhere near. But no,
it was a real voice, booming and shouting in some buried distance. He could
not make out the words, but it was a real god-voice from under the earth.
He straightened up, tears in his eyes, even the sheep for a moment forgotten.
This wonderful sign was not for half the world, it was for him! And he had
doubted that it would ever come.
To hear what it said was all-important. He bent again and listened. The
muffled voice went on unceasingly, but he could not understand it. He ran a
few steps up the hill, and put his ear against another exposed earth-bone of
rock. Yes, the voice was plainer here; sometimes he could distinguish a word.
"Give," said the voice. Mumble, mumble. "Defend," he thought it said. Even the
words he recognized were spoken in strange accents.
He realized that darkness was falling, and stood up, in fearful indecision.
The sheep were still his responsibility, and he had to light watchfires, he
had to, for the sheep would be slaughtered without them. And at the same time
he had to listen to this voice.
A form moved toward him through the twilight, and he grabbed up his club-then
he realized it was Colleen.
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She looked frightened. She whispered: "The sun went down, and I feared the
dark. It was a shorter way back to you than on to the village."
The berserker moved in toward the nightside of the planet, quickly now, but
still with caution. It had searched its memory of thousands of years of war
against a thousand kinds of life, and it had remembered one other planet like
this, with defensive satellites but no cities or radios. The fortifiers of
that planet had fought among themselves, weakening themselves until they could
no longer operate their defenses, had even forgotten what their
planet-weapons were.
The life here might be shamming, trying to lure the berserker within range of
the planet-weapons. Therefore the berserker sent its mechanical scouts ahead,
to break through the satellite net and range over the land surface, killing,
until they provoked the planet's maximum response.
The fires were built, and Colleen held the spear and watched the sheep. Wolf
or not, Duncan had to follow his sign. He made his way up the dark hillside,
listening at rock after rock. And ever the earth-god voice grew stronger.
In the back of his mind Duncan realized that Colleen had arranged to be
trapped with him for the night, to help him defend the sheep, and he felt
limitless gratitude and love. But even that was now in the back of his mind.
The voice now was everything.
He held his breath, listening. Now he could hear the voice while he stood
erect. There, ahead, at the foot of a cliff, were slabs of rock tumbled down
by snowslides. Among them might be a cave.
He reached the slabs, and heard the voice rumble up between them. "Attack in
progress. Request human response. Order one requested. This is defense
control. Attack in progress-"
On and on it went. Duncan understood some of it. Attack, request, human.
Order one requested-that must mean one wish was to be granted, as in the
legends. Never again would Duncan laugh at legends, thinking himself wise.
This was no prank of the other young men; no one could hide in a cave and
shout on and on in such a voice.
No one but a priest should enter a cave, but probably not even the priests
knew of this one. It was Duncan's, for his sign had led him here. He had been
granted a tremendous sign.
More awed than fearful, he slid between slabs of rock, finding the way down,
rock and earth and then metal under his feet. He dropped into a low metal
cave, which was as he had heard the god-caves described, very long, smooth,
round and regular, except here where it was bent and torn under the fallen
rocks. In the cave's curving sides were glowing places, like huge animal eyes,
giving light enough to see.
And here the shouting was very loud. Duncan moved toward it.
We have reached the surface, the scouts radioed back to the berserker, in
their passionless computer-symbol language. Here intelligent life of the
earth-type lives in villages. So far we have killed eight hundred and
thirty-nine units. We have met no response from dangerous weapons.
A little while longer the berserker waited, letting the toll of life-units
mount. When the chance of this planet's being a trap had dropped in
computer-estimation to the vanishing point, the berserker moved in to close
range, and began to mop the remaining defensive satellites out of its way.
"Here I am." Duncan fell on his knees before the metal thing that bellowed.
In front of the god-shape lay woven twigs and eggshells, very old. Once
priests had sacrificed here, and then they had forgotten this god.
"Here I am," said Duncan again, in a louder voice.
The god heeded him, for the deafening shouting stopped.
"Response acknowledged, from defense control alternate 9,864," said the god.
"Planetary defenses now under control of post 9,864."
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How could you ask a god to speak more plainly?
After a very short time of silence, the god said: "Request order one."
That seemed understandable, but to make sure, Duncan asked:"You will grant me
one wish, mighty one?"
"Will obey your order. Emergency. Satellite sphere ninety percent destroyed.
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