DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fantasite, v. 1, issue 4, July 1941

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Fantasite, v. 1, issue 4, July 1941

Page 9

9     THE FANTASITE

by its resemblance to certain two-dimensional pictures found in the dwelling-places.  The creature was bilaterally symmetrical and had a soft, pale brown skin with scattered growths of dark hair, a hard, jointed, internal skeleton, four limbs, and an oval orthognathous head in which there were situated the brain, the principal sense organs, and the alimentary and pulmonary openings. It was clothed in some dirty, ragged brown garments spun from vegetable fibers. The commander of the expedition ordered one of the discoverers to carry the body back to his ship, and the search continued. It was not long, however, before another exploring group found a living specimen of the vanquished race, lying among the wreckage in one of the largest cities of the planet. Starvation, exposure, and several injuries unfortunately had produced in him a mental collapse, and the Nolari found his mind only a confused jumble of childhood memories. there was complete amnesia for all recent events, so his rescuers could gain no imformation from him about the attack from space. He, too, was thereupon taken to the nearest vessl for treatment and further examination at a later time.
With a growing sadness the leader and his companions went on to the next city, a great metropolis by the side of a restless sea. For the universal desolation was depressing even their hardy spirits, though long accustomed to the ruins of dead civilization and forgotten culture. here was a race that had been cut off in the exuberance of its youth, before it had a chance to show its possibilities. Perhaps this would have been one of the great cultures of the galaxy; perhaps these alien, smooth-skinned creatures would have surpassed the Nolari themselves in wisdom and daring, if they had been allowed to fulfil their natural destiny . The silver-garbed explorers floated low over the ghastly havoc---the crumbling stone, the gaping craters and far-strewn debris---and they felt that this was indeed the most monstrous crime conceivable, the most unnatural wickedness.
Then through the still air from ahead came a sharp report, whose echoes clattered back and forth for several seconds and a thin puff of blue smoke rose slowly from a pile of heavy masonry. Drifting down toward the disturbance, the Nolari saw with elation another of the beings they sought, just like the two that had been found on the other side of the planet. This one was standing behind a block of stone and pointing over its top a long thin metal tube---obviously a weapon, since from it now came two more puffs of smoke, accompanied by reports.
Cautiously the leader descended till he alighted directly behind the creature, while his fellows hovered in the air and tried to catch a glimpse of the thing at which the weapon had been discharged. Then he carefully sent out the probing fingers of his mind into the other's alien brain, tapping the stream of conscious thought. For a few seconds the flow poured full into the leader's mind, but suddenly it broke off, as if the inhabitant sensed something wrong. He whirled about and confronted the explorer with staring, incredulous blue eyes; and in those moments of time the leader saw in those eyes and the intellect behind them the hideous light of a madness the more ghastly because its owner was sane and normal. A shuddering horror enwrapped him in sable robes, and he looked into the depths of a grisly darkness, and the answers to many questions became clear.
Automatically he had closed his mind to shield the horror from his companions, but they were now flying over to the spot at which the survivor had been shooting. And at what they saw the frightful truth descended over them also, so that they stared in fascinated revulsion at the thing beneath them. And through their eyes the leader saw what he knew he would see---crumpled and ragged, sprawled in ungainly disorder, with red blood seeping form a wound in his chest, the body of a fourth inhabitant of the planet.
Then at an instant command the scattered bands of the Nolari all over

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9 THE FANTASITE by its resemblance to certain two-dimensional pictures found in the dwelling-places. The creature was bilaterally symmetrical and had a soft, pale brown skin with scattered growths of dark hair, a hard, jointed, internal skeleton, four limbs, and an oval orthognathous head in which there were situated the brain, the principal sense organs, and the alimentary and pulmonary openings. It was clothed in some dirty, ragged brown garments spun from vegetable fibers. The commander of the expedition ordered one of the discoverers to carry the body back to his ship, and the search continued. It was not long, however, before another exploring group found a living specimen of the vanquished race, lying among the wreckage in one of the largest cities of the planet. Starvation, exposure, and several injuries unfortunately had produced in him a mental collapse, and the Nolari found his mind only a confused jumble of childhood memories. there was complete amnesia for all recent events, so his rescuers could gain no imformation from him about the attack from space. He, too, was thereupon taken to the nearest vessl for treatment and further examination at a later time. With a growing sadness the leader and his companions went on to the next city, a great metropolis by the side of a restless sea. For the universal desolation was depressing even their hardy spirits, though long accustomed to the ruins of dead civilization and forgotten culture. here was a race that had been cut off in the exuberance of its youth, before it had a chance to show its possibilities. Perhaps this would have been one of the great cultures of the galaxy; perhaps these alien, smooth-skinned creatures would have surpassed the Nolari themselves in wisdom and daring, if they had been allowed to fulfil their natural destiny . The silver-garbed explorers floated low over the ghastly havoc---the crumbling stone, the gaping craters and far-strewn debris---and they felt that this was indeed the most monstrous crime conceivable, the most unnatural wickedness. Then through the still air from ahead came a sharp report, whose echoes clattered back and forth for several seconds and a thin puff of blue smoke rose slowly from a pile of heavy masonry. Drifting down toward the disturbance, the Nolari saw with elation another of the beings they sought, just like the two that had been found on the other side of the planet. This one was standing behind a block of stone and pointing over its top a long thin metal tube---obviously a weapon, since from it now came two more puffs of smoke, accompanied by reports. Cautiously the leader descended till he alighted directly behind the creature, while his fellows hovered in the air and tried to catch a glimpse of the thing at which the weapon had been discharged. Then he carefully sent out the probing fingers of his mind into the other's alien brain, tapping the stream of conscious thought. For a few seconds the flow poured full into the leader's mind, but suddenly it broke off, as if the inhabitant sensed something wrong. He whirled about and confronted the explorer with staring, incredulous blue eyes; and in those moments of time the leader saw in those eyes and the intellect behind them the hideous light of a madness the more ghastly because its owner was sane and normal. A shuddering horror enwrapped him in sable robes, and he looked into the depths of a grisly darkness, and the answers to many questions became clear. Automatically he had closed his mind to shield the horror from his companions, but they were now flying over to the spot at which the survivor had been shooting. And at what they saw the frightful truth descended over them also, so that they stared in fascinated revulsion at the thing beneath them. And through their eyes the leader saw what he knew he would see---crumpled and ragged, sprawled in ungainly disorder, with red blood seeping form a wound in his chest, the body of a fourth inhabitant of the planet. Then at an instant command the scattered bands of the Nolari all over