The Five Gold Bands Read Free

one. Probably I would not.”
    “We have a difference of opinion,” said Paddy. “Well then, a friendly little bout to decide the issue. One throw, catch-as-catch-can, just for the spot of it, with no eye-gouging, no skin or hair pulling, I’ve shaved my whiskers and shed my dirt and I’m a new man.”
    “As you wish,” said the Shaul with a grin that showed pointed teeth of gray metal.
    Paddy advanced, laid a hand on the Shaul’s arm. The Shaul slid away like a greased eel, clasped with corded arms, twisted. Paddy’s legs sagged under an unfamiliar leverage. He resisted an instant, then gave, flung himself headlong, gathered his feet below him, heaved and the Shaul tumbled to the deck. Paddy was on him, had his back to the floor. Eye to eye they stared, Paddy’s gray-yellow eyes, the Shaul’s bright orbs.
    The Paddy jumped up and the Shaul arose, half-sullenly.
    “Ah, we’re still men on Earth!” crowed Paddy. “You skinheads can do the square-roots, I’ll grant you, but for the good side-man in a rough-and-tumble give me one from green old Mother Earth!”
    The Shaul gathered up the old clothing, the breakfast dishes, turned to look at Paddy. “Amazing,” he said. “An amazing race, you Earthers.” He departed, the door closed behind him.
    Paddy frowned, bit his lip. “Now just how did he mean that?”
    An hour later the Shaul returned, beckoned. “This way, Earther.”
    Paddy shrugged, obeyed, Behind him a silent Kudthu fell in, ambled along at his heels.
    There was excitement aboard the ship. Paddy sensed it from the vibration of skin flaps of the various Shauls in the passages, the staccato bursts of conversation, the nervous flickering of long fingers. Peering through a porthole he saw black space and far off a spatter of stars.
    About a mile distant hung a great ship with a gray and blue medallion, the ship of the Koton Son. Outside, close against the hull a small clear-domed boat came gliding, coasted to the entrance plug. The Kudthu pushed at the back of Paddy’s head. “Forward, Earther.”
    Paddy turned, growled. The Kudthu took a step forward, loomed over him. Paddy moved to keep from being trampled.
    At the entrance deck a row of Shauls stood with skin flaps distended, rigid as sails, eyes gleaming like tiny light bulbs.
    The Kudthu clamped a great hand on Paddy’s shoulder. “Stand back. Silence. Be reverent. The Shaul Son of Langtry.”
    The stillness reminded Paddy of the thick silence of a church during prayer. Then there came a rustle of cloth. An old Shaul with a withered cowl strode down the corridor. He wore a tunic of white cloth, a cuirass enamelled with the scarlet-and-black medallion of Shaul. Looking neither right nor left he stepped through the port out into the crystal-domed boat. The port snapped shut with the suck of escaping air. The boat departed in a flicker of glass and metal. Twenty minutes passed without sound or movement. Paddy fidgeted, stretched, scratched his head.
    A hiss, a scrape—and the port opened again. The Kudthu pushed Paddy. “Enter.”
    Paddy, given no choice, found himself in the space-car, which was piloted by a Shaul in a black uniform. Two Kudthu guards followed him into the boat. The port was closed, the boat drifted off into the black gulf, away from the bright heavy side of the ship.
    Now’s the time,” thought Paddy. “Knock out the two guards, throttle the pilot.” He hunched forward, knotted the muscles of his back for a spring. Two great gray hands folded down his shoulders, clamping him on the seat. Paddy, turning his head, saw the blue satin puffballs, which were the eyes of the Kudthu guard, regarding him with suspicion. Paddy relaxed, looked off through the crystal dome.
    He saw the Shaul ship a mile distant, then slightly farther out the Badau ship, with a blue and green medallion amidships—at various distances three other hulls. Dead ahead lay a tiny asteroid, lit along one surface by a high circle of luminous tube.
    The boat