Illustrated by SCATTERGOODBy
ROBERT
SHECKLEY
WARRIOR
RACE
Destroying the spirit of the enemy is thegoal of war and the aliens had the best way!
They never did discoverwhose fault it was. Fanniapointed out that if Donnaughthad had the brains of anox, as well as the build, he wouldhave remembered to check thetanks. Donnaught, although twiceas big as him, wasn't quite as fastwith an insult. He intimated,after a little thought, that Fannia'snose might have obstructedhis reading of the fuel gauge.
This still left them twentylight-years from Thetis, with acupful of transformer fuel in theemergency tank.
"All right," Fannia said presently."What's done is done. Wecan squeeze about three light-yearsout of the fuel before we'reback on atomics. Hand me TheGalactic Pilot—unless you forgotthat, too."
Donnaught dragged the bulkymicrofilm volume out of its locker,and they explored its pages.
The Galactic Pilot told themthey were in a sparse, seldom-visitedsection of space, whichthey already knew. The nearestplanetary system was Hatterfield;no intelligent life there. Sersushad a native population, but norefueling facilities. The same withIlled, Hung and Porderai.
"Ah-ha!" Fannia said. "Readthat, Donnaught. If you can read,that is."
"Cascella," Donnaught read,slowly and clearly, following theline with a thick forefinger. "TypeM sun. Three planets, intelligent(AA3C) human-type life on second.Oxygen-breathers. Non-mechanical.Religious. Friendly.Unique social structure, describedin Galactic Survey Report33877242. Population estimate:stable at three billion. Basic Cascellanvocabulary taped underCas33b2. Scheduled for resurvey2375 A.D. Cache of transformerfuel left, beam coordinate 8741kgl. Physical descript: Unocc.flatland."
"Transformer fuel, boy!" Fanniasaid gleefully. "I believe wewill get to Thetis, after all." Hepunched the new direction on theship's tape. "If that fuel's stillthere."
"Should we read up on theunique social structure?" Donnaughtasked, still poring overThe Galactic Pilot.
"Certainly," Fannia said. "Juststep over to the main galacticbase on Earth and buy me acopy."
"I forgot," Donnaught admittedslowly.
"Let me see," Fannia said,dragging out the ship's languagelibrary, "Cascellan, Cascellan ...Here it is. Be good while I learnthe language." He set the tapein the hypnophone and switchedit on. "Another useless tongue inmy overstuffed head," he murmured,and then the hypnophonetook over.
Coming out of transformerdrive with at least a drop offuel left, they switched to atomics.Fannia rode the beam rightacross the planet, locating theslender metal spire of the GalacticSurvey cache. The plain was nolonger unoccupied, however. TheCascellans had built a city aroundthe cache, and the spire dominatedthe crude wood-and-mudbuildings.
"Hang on," Fannia said, andbrought the ship down on theoutskirts of the city, in a field ofstubble.
"Now look," Fannia said, unfasteninghis safety belt. "We'rejust here for fuel. No souvenirs,no side-trips, no fraternizing."
Through the port, they couldsee a cloud of dust from the city.As it came closer, they made outfigures running toward their ship.
"What do you think this uniquesocial structure is?" Donnaughtasked, pensively checking thecharge in a nee