various places where it wasn't likely to be found. If one man is under
Disciplinary Circuit punishment, or two or three or four--that's not
unreasonable on a great planet--nothing happens. But if twenty-five or
fifty or a hundred are punished at once, the Disciplinary Circuit is
blown out as I just blew out that force-field generator."
The Mayor of Steadheim considered this information.
"_Ha-hmmm!_" he said profoundly.
"Criminals can be kept down, but a revolt can't be suppressed," Kim
went on. "The soldiers who are occupying the twenty-one planets will
be called back to put down revolts, as soon as the people discover the
Disciplinary Circuits on their planets are blowing out, and that they
blow out again as fast as they're re-made and used."
"_Hm!_" said the Mayor of Steadheim. "Not bad! And the rebels will
have some very tasty ideas of what to do to the folk who've tyrannized
over them. No troops can stop a revolt nowadays. Not for long!"
"No, not for long," said Kim. "No government will be able to rule
with a dissatisfied population. Not if it has a little gadget hidden
somewhere that will blow out the Disciplinary Circuit, if it's used to
excess."
"Good enough, good enough," grumbled the mayor. "When rulers are kept
busy satisfying their people, they won't have time to bother political
offenders. That's sensible enough! But it's too fiendish bad that only
those twenty planets have the gadgets on them! I suppose we criminals
will have to set up a factory and make them, and then visit all the
three hundred million inhabited planets, one by one, and drop one
little contrivance on every one. But it'll take us centuries! Space!
That's a pity!"
"It won't take centuries," said Kim drily. "I made a deal with a
factory-owner on Spicus Five. He turned out the ones I personally
dropped, in exchange for the design. He's going to manufacture them in
quantity. He'll make a fortune out of them!"
"How? Who'll buy them?" demanded the mayor. "Every king will outlaw
them! Space, yes! They'll be scared to death--"
"The kings," said Kim more drily than before, "the kings and despots
and emperors will be the ones to buy them. They'll want them to drop
in their neighbors' dominions. Every king or ruler will buy a few to
put where they will weaken his enemies--and every one has enemies! We
don't have to plant the gadgets that make the Disciplinary Circuit
into a boomerang! We'll let the kings weaken each other and bring back
freedom. And they will!"
The Mayor of Steadheim puffed in his breath until it looked as if he
would explode. Then he bellowed with laughter.
"Make the tyrants dethrone each other," he roared delightedly. "They'll
weaken each other until they find they've their own people to deal
with. There'll be a fine scramble! I give it five years, no more,
before there's not a king in the Galaxy who dares order an execution
without a jury-trial first!"
"A consummation devoutly to be wished," said Kim, smiling. "I rather
like the idea myself."
The mayor heaved himself up.
"Hah!" he said, still chuckling. "I'll go back to my wife and tell her
to come outdoors and look at the stars. What will you two do next?"
"Sleep, I suspect," said Kim. It was all over. The realization made him
aware of how tired he was. "We'll probably put in twenty-four hours of
just plain slumber. Then we'll see if anything more needs to be done,
and then I guess Dona and I will head back to Terranova. The Organizer
there is worried about a shortage of textiles."
"To the devil with him," grunted the Mayor of Steadheim. "We've had
a shortage of sunlight! You're a good man, Kim Rendell. I'll tell my
grandchildren about you, when I have them."
He waved grandly and went out. A little later his flier took off,
occulting stars as it rose.
Kim closed the airlock door. He yawned again.
"Kim," said Dona, "We had to break that shield, but it was dangerous."
"Yes," said Kim. He yawned again. "So it was. I'll be glad to get back
to our house on Terranova."
"So will I," said Dona. Her face had become determined. "We shouldn't
even think of leaving it again, Kim! We should--anchor ourselves to it,
so nobody would think of asking us to leave."
"A good idea," said Kim. "If it could be done."
Dona looked critically at her fingers, but she flushed suddenly.
"It could," she said softly. "The best way would be--children."
THE END
* * * * *
THE LAST SPACE SHIP
_By Murray Leinster_
Put yourself in the place of Kim Rendell, a handsome, idealistic young
man living on a distant planet ruled by a super-efficient government.
Here is industrialization carried to its <b>illogical</b> conclusion.
Kim Rendell lives in the shadow of mechanized terror, for machines have
taken over, and the disciplinary circuit keeps the inhabitants in check.
Rendell is an outlaw because he tried to strike at the very foundations
of this so-called civilization. He will not yield to the tyranny of the
power-mad, sensuously warped rulers of the astral body Alphin III. He
and his girl friend are in danger of psychological torture worse than
death.
Kim Rendell goes to the antique museum of Alphin III, which houses
_Starshine_, an outmoded space-ship. He conceives the daring
plan of using the _Starshine_ to save his girl and himself from
the dictators of Alphin III. In this world, teleportation of matter
has taken the place of transportation from planet to planet, and
solar system to solar system, via rocket and atomic-powered vessels.
Nevertheless, Kim decides to steal the last space-ship from the antique
museum and flee with his girl.
Thus starts this most stirring novel of love, adventure and the
fight against tyranny, by the well-known author of hundreds of adult
science-fiction stories.