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                              THE CHASERS

                         By DANIEL F. GALOUYE

                       Illustrated by Harrington

           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
                    Galaxy Magazine February 1961.
         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]




              Civilizations must make sense somehow. But
             was this one the gaudy, impossible exception?


As the dust drifted clear of the ship's landing skids, at least two
things became obvious:

One--although they had missed the city (if that's what it was) by
miles, they had nevertheless managed to slam down near one of the
numerous rural estates.

Two--the landscape would be crawling with Zaortian Fuzzy Tails for a
long while to come. They were still pouring out of hatches sprung open
by the crunching impact.

Kent Cassidy untangled himself from the control column and plucked
one of the Fuzzy Tails from his neck. The creature scampered around
until it found the ruptured hatch, then scurried through to join the
squealing zoological exodus.

"There goes ten thousand credits' worth of cargo," groaned Gene Mason.
His stout form was slumped in dejection before the view port.

Cassidy sniffed the refreshing air that was drifting into the ship.
"Any idea where we are?"

"After the directional stabilizer blew, we made three blind jumps, all
in the direction of Galactic Center. We could be _anywhere_ between
Zaort Seven and the Far Rim."

"Hey, look," said Cassidy.

From the hatchway, the sumptuous estate sprawled nearby, its many
gabled manor closed off behind a high wire fence. Cassidy squinted, but
failed to recognize the bold, flowing architectural style.

A small, bent figure clung to the wire netting of the fence. He was
shouting at the ship, but his excited words were no match for the
decompression hisses of the auxiliary drive.

"Humanoid?" Mason suggested.

"Human, I'd say." Cassidy gestured toward the gear locker. "Better
break out the translator."

In baggy trousers and sagging blouse, the man raced back and forth
behind the fence--the picture of frustrated anger. However, large,
doleful eyes, complemented by a bald head and huge, pendulous ear
lobes, belied his furious actions.

Presently the squeals of the Fuzzy Tails trailed off in the distance
and the auxiliary drive quieted with a final sigh. And now the native's
shouts rang out distinct and loud:

"Quick! From here get you! Shoo! Scram! Or out there I'll come and
apart tear you!"

"It's English!" Mason exclaimed.

"Of a sort. Archaic, but understandable. And not at all friendly."

Mason scratched his blunt chin. "Guess we're not too far off the beaten
star paths, eh?"

Cassidy could find no grounds for challenging this observation as they
started down the ladder--not until he looked overhead and saw three
suns shining in the same sky. As far as he knew, there were no settled
trinary systems.

Beyond the fence the native, a wisp of a man was still fuming. "The
hell away from here get! You I'm warning--no closer come!"

Mason displayed a half frown. "He's sure a sour cuss."

"You stay with the ship," said Cassidy. "I'll see what's fouling his
tubes."

       *       *       *       *       *

Before Cassidy reached the fence, his pet Fuzzy Tail came scampering
from behind a bush. It clambered up his trousers and wrapped itself
around his neck. This encouraged the speculation that perhaps the
shipment of Tails could be bartered for repairs to the stabilizer--_if_
there was a local space technology, and _if_ they could corral the
animals.

The native grew even more frenzied now as Cassidy drew up before him.

"Trespasser! Back get! _My_ property this be! Scram! You I'll kill!"

The Fuzzy Tail uncoiled itself from around Cassidy's neck. Perching on
his shoulder, it fussed back at the native in chirping, excited tones.
It not only acted at times as though it owned Cassidy, but it also
exercised a personal responsibility for his welfare.

"Quiet!" Cassidy snapped out.

It caught both the Fuzzy Tail and the old man by surprise. The animal
bounded for cover while the native rocked back on his heels.

"Be you not just a--_little bit_ afraid?" His eyebrows mounted the
wrinkled expanse of his forehead.

The nearby hedge rustled and parted to let through a dark-haired
girl whose tanned skin suggested accustomed exposure to the multiple
sunlight. Wearing a belted tunic that lacked inches of reaching her
knees, she confronted the old man calmly.

"It's all about what, Papa?" she asked, with a trace of an amused smile.

"Trespassers! On _our_ property, Riva! The alarm sound! Scat! To the
woods take! Or a dead duck you be!"

"Now, Papa," she chided. Then, through the fence, "Him you musn't mind.
It's only his duty he's attending to."

From the distance, Cassidy had suspected the man was of Terran descent.
Now, with Riva in the picture, he was certain this world was stocked
either by intent or accident with true humans.

"We're from Terra," he said.

She frowned. "Ter-ra?"

"Earth. The original world--"

Incomprehension flooded her even features. But her confusion was only
temporary. "Let's play."

It seemed like an altogether acceptable suggestion, Cassidy thought,
eying the attractive girl. But he went on, "This is our ship and--"

"Ship?" Then she chased away her puzzlement with a sudden smile. "Some
nice games I know."

There was no space technology on this planet, Cassidy decided. They'd
be strictly on their own as far as repairing the directional stabilizer
was concerned.

By this time Papa, his eyes focused afar, had exploded again.
"Charge!" he roared. "After him! Wa-hoo! Away don't let him get!" He
was gripping the fence and straining toward the field.

Cassidy turned and saw, in the distance, a skimmer vehicle floating
along several feet off the ground. In full pursuit was a shouting youth
who paused occasionally to seize a rock and hurl it at the craft.

The old man turned toward his daughter. "A good chase that be. Bet he
wins."

"Not a chance." The girl frowned. "That be Nedal. Not so swift is he.
Loses interest too quick, he does."

She surveyed Cassidy. "Be you a chaser?"

"No, but I could do with a couple of stiff shots."

This drew Papa's attention back to the matter at hand. "Trespassers!
The road hit! Scat! Some dust kick up!"

"Quiet!" Cassidy shouted. "Will you listen a minute? I--"

Two loyal Fuzzy Tails came charging up to the fence and added their
raucous chatter to Papa's screeching diatribe, which had continued
unchecked despite Cassidy's loud, desperate plea.

In the next instant, though, it seemed that a dam had burst overhead.
Materializing from nowhere, at least a ton of water poured down on the
agile-tongued native, the two Fuzzy Tails, Riva and Cassidy himself,
bringing an abrupt end to all the commotion.

The animals streaked for the safety of the bushes while Papa and the
girl dived back through the hedge. Bedraggled, Cassidy headed for the
ship, wondering what sort of meteorological quirk he had encountered.

       *       *       *       *       *

"No, sir," he said some time later as he attacked the directional
selector with pliers and a screwdriver, "I don't like the setup. I
don't like it worth a damn."

Mason traced the power lead to the junction box beside the hatch.
"Maybe they aren't _all_ like that."

"In this sort of place, chances are that the first people you run into
are typical. I'm afraid--"

"Say!" Mason interrupted, staring outside. "Look at this!"

Cassidy went over to the hatch and watched a dozen or so men sprinting
across the field, their voices rising in excited waves. A lithe young
woman was in full flight before them. But she was screaming in delight
as she turned now and then to beckon them on. One overtook her and
brought her down with a waist tackle. She rebounded to her feet,
however, and took off again.

Two of the pursuers collided and sprawled on the ground. They sprang
up and tore into each other. Unconcerned with the personal dispute,
the chase struck off in a new direction, heading toward the ship as it
paralleled one of the nearby fenced-in estates.

Behind the wire mesh, a burly young man came charging down the main
steps of the manor and raced along with the others.

"That be the way!" he yelled encouragement. "Her go get! It's gaining
you are! Hurry!"

He drew up in time to avoid crashing into the side fence, then stood
there watching the chase recede in the distance.

Within a hundred feet of the ship, one of the men fell out of the
group, panting. He squinted at the vessel, then crept forward, circling
to the right. Within arm's reach, he walked back and forth alongside
the hull, giving it a close inspection. Finally he paused and fumbled
with his clothes.

Cassidy started. "Look what he's doing!"

"Against the side of the ship, too!" said Mason.

Hearing them, the native jerked his head up toward the hatch, then
backed off for a better view.

"Stinkers!" he yelled, shaking his fist. "Out here come and fight! Take
you both on I can!"

When they only gaped, he whirled and sped off to rejoin the chase.

"You see?" said Cassidy. "Now what do you think?"

"I think we'd better get that directional stabilizer working."

       *       *       *       *       *

It took more than an hour to locate the trouble. "The rectifier
circuit's shot," Cassidy said finally. "But maybe we can patch
it up. Some of the amplifiers I suppose we can do without. But a
hyper-oscillator we've got to have."

"Say, you're doing it too," said Mason.

"What?"

"Talking like the natives."

Cassidy looked up. "Guess it's something that grows on you. Well, what
do we do now?"

"Maybe the natives can help us."

"If they don't even know where they're from, they probably left their
volts and amps behind too. But that's only an assumption."

"In that case," Mason said with a sigh, "there's only one thing left to
do--take Riva up on her invitation to, ah, play."

"Funny," Cassidy grunted, heading for the hatch.

"I was only joking."

"I'm not. If we can get in that house, we'll know for sure whether or
not they've developed electronic devices."

Halfway across the field, they were almost run down by the laughing
girl and her retinue of galloping suitors, if that's what they were.
She was a well-proportioned blonde whose wind-frothed tresses suggested
a nymph in flight.

At the fence, they were confronted by Riva, who smiled up at Cassidy
and said, "You I was just going to come and get. Ready to play yet you
are?"

He looked away and cleared his throat. "Not quite, Riva. We'd like to
visit your house."

"It's some interesting games I know. Enjoying them you'd surely be."
Her smile, revealing even teeth that contrasted ruddy cheeks, was as
persistent as her intent on playing.

Staring at the girl, Cassidy wrestled with a pang of wistful envy over
the Olympian life he had witnessed thus far on this world. Maybe they
were all irresponsible and childlike. But was that bad?

       *       *       *       *       *

Mason pointed in alarm toward the meadow in front of the next estate.
An ominous-looking, furry thing, supported on six or eight spindly
legs, was racing across their field of vision.

"Hurt you he won't," the girl assured them, noticing their
apprehension. "Nothing to be afraid of there is."

"_What_ is it?" Cassidy was still trying to determine whether it was an
overgrown spider or a dry-land octopus.

"Look!" Mason exclaimed. "It's on a leash!"

And Cassidy noticed the thong that extended from the creature to the
human who was running along behind it.

"To Wolruf he belongs," the girl explained. "One of them I can get for
you too--if you want."

Her slender hand reached out through the fence and tugged at Cassidy's
sleeve. "To chase me wouldn't you like?" she asked, pouting.

Glancing behind her, Cassidy spotted the girl's father bearing down on
them in a sprint that was nothing short of phenomenal for his age. He
began shouting with the last few strides and was in full lung when he
hurled himself at the fence. "Git! Out! Away! I'll--"

Riva moved back and glanced overhead and Papa, seeing some hidden
significance in her gesture, lowered his voice.

"You I'll tear into and apart I'll rip!" he went on in a menacing
whisper. "Your limbs I'll scatter like--"

"Papa, it's not afraid of you they are."

"They're _not_?" He was disappointed.

"The house they want to come in and see."

He began working up a rage again, but caught himself and looked up into
his daughter's face. "Mean you--_my_ house they want to see?"

When she nodded Papa seized the lowest strand of wire and lifted the
fence high enough for Cassidy and Mason to crawl under. "Why, arranged
it can be, I think."

Its architectural prominences rendered shadowless in the tri-solar
light, the manor was even more imposing close at hand. Of stone
construction, it flaunted millwork and beams whose rich carvings would
have been welcome on any mansion in the known Galaxy.

Mounting the steps, Mason observed, "Nice little layout they've got
here."

Riva moved closer to Cassidy. "Inside is cozy," she said behind a coy
smile. "Play we can _really_ in there."

Papa had been at the door for some time, fumbling with the lock. In a
burst of impatience, he drew off and gave it a solid kick. Then he went
back and tried rattling the handle. After a while there was a click and
it swung open.

Cassidy followed him into a blaze of iridescent color and unfamiliar
form. The huge, circular room was like a vast diorama and it was
impossible to tell exactly where the solid objects blended in with the
jumbled geometric pattern of the wall.

He walked across a carpet of undulant fibers that reached well above
his ankles. And he tripped across a padded, Z-shaped slab that
protruded from the wall but slithered into a U and retracted as soon as
it received the burden of his weight.

Laughing, Riva helped him up and he paused for a closer visual
inspection of his outlandish surroundings. Objects of weird shapes and
unguessable purposes hung from the ceiling, some changing form and
size as he watched. Scattered about were articles of furniture (he
guessed) that resembled giant starfish supported at their centers and
extremities by coiled springs. Only, each arm was shaped like a trough
that ran into the bowl-like central depression of the piece.

       *       *       *       *       *

A gleeful scream sounded behind them and Papa went tearing by. With
a running leap, he landed on an arm of one of the starfish. Its
supporting spring contracted under the weight, then catapulted him
ceilingward. When he came down again, it was on an arm of another
starfish, then another.

The fourth collapsed, depositing him on the floor, and its spring
went twanging across the room. Struggling to his feet, he staggered
into something resembling a clothes tree, knocked it over and sprawled
beside it.

He roared with delight as he snapped the stem of the thing across his
knee and hurled the pieces at the ceiling. They scored direct hits on
one of the bulky objects suspended overhead and it came crashing down
with a twinkling roar amid a shower of sparks.

"Yow-ee!" he exuberated. "So much fun I never had!"

Riva helped him up. "Papa, it's control yourself you must. The last
time--remember?"

But he only shook her off and went bounding through an archway. His
hectic progress through the house was punctuated by sounds of crashing
destruction.

"Honestly," Riva said, spreading her hands, "what to do with him I
don't know."

Cassidy continued staring in the direction the old man had gone. "He's
wrecking the place!"

"That he is," she admitted sighing. "And such a nice joint it be, too."

"He's just plain nuts!" said Mason.

Riva smiled. "But it's _so_ much fun he has."

Cassidy moved away to get a better view of a silvery gray screen set
in the wall and flanked by twin rows of dials and knobs.

"You got stereovision, Riva?" he asked.

Mason went over and twisted several of the controls until a soft light
began suffusing the screen.

"Ster-eo-what?" the girl asked.

"Video, television--pictures with sound."

Her face brightened. "Pictures we got--sounds too. Right in that little
window."

Just then Papa, uninhibited as ever, came storming back into the room
with a lusty "Ya-hoo!" He lost his footing and crashed against the
screen. Sparks shot out and the picture that was beginning to take
shape faded into obscurity.

"It that settles, Papa!" Riva said, exasperated. "Outside I'm going and
for what happens to you I'm not responsible!"

At the door, she paused and smiled at Cassidy. "It'll have to be out
there that we play, but no less fun will we have. Put on my best
cavorting clothes I'm going to."

Mason turned the knobs again, but produced nothing more than the smell
of burning insulation and a few snickers from Papa.

"At least," Cassidy observed, "they evidently do know something about
electronics. All we have to do now is run down one of the technicians
and we might get the parts we need for the stabilizer."

       *       *       *       *       *

Outside Mason dropped down on the steps and sat with his shoulders
slumping. "Damnedest thing I've ever seen," he mumbled.

Cassidy paced to the edge of the porch and stared out over the field. A
monstrous skimmer craft appeared in the distance, floating over toward
what seemed to be a pile of trash in front of one of the estates. Twin
beams of crimson light darted from the nose of the vehicle and played
over the mound. In seconds, the heap had melted away and the skimmer
floated on.

Wolruf was still walking his octopus-spider pet. There were now two
packs of youths out chasing girls. And another skimmer car was having
no difficulty surviving the stone-throwing assault of not one, but two
dedicated pursuers. Outside of that, Cassidy noted, things appeared
quite normal.

Mason slapped his thighs and rose. "You go see if Riva knows how we can
contact the authorities. I'm going back and stay with the ship."

Cassidy watched him crawl under the fence, then went around the side of
the house. When he caught sight of the girl, she was just disappearing
into a smaller structure that might have been a guest house or garage.

Following, he knocked on the door and called out her name anxiously.

"To play are you ready?" There was an eager note in her voice as it
came through the panel. "In come on. It's all set I'll be in a jiffy."

He turned the knob, stepped half into the room, lurched back outside
and slammed the door behind him. "_Riva!_"

The door started to open, then closed again as the girl laughed. "Oh,
all right. Funny you be. It's to play you want, don't you?"

He assured her that he did and added, "But there's something we have to
talk about now, Riva."

"Talk, talk, talk. And it gets you where? Only wastes time, it does."

A moment later the door opened and she stood there smiling, with legs
apart and hands on her hips. But he hardly had time to react to the
skimpiness of her halter and skirt.

"Now," she urged as she sprang up on her toes and kissed him full on
the lips, "like a chaser make! To the races we're off!"

With that, she whirled and went streaking through the next room.

       *       *       *       *       *

He surveyed his surroundings. It was an ordinary bedroom with
conventional furnishings--perhaps a bit crude even for a
culture without any space technology. But, then, it didn't seem
uncharacteristic, considering the circumstances.

Recognizing the contrast between this guest house and the manor, he
frowned as he started off in search of the girl. A worrisome suspicion
dogged his thoughts--there had to be sense to Riva and her father and
this sumptuous estate, natives who made sport of chasing skimmer craft
and voluptuous women when they weren't otherwise indiscreetly occupied.
But what?

In the kitchen, he discovered Riva's shapely leg protruding from behind
a cabinet. He suspected the exposure was not as accidental as she
wanted him to believe. He was certain of that when, as he seized her
ankle, she crawled out laughing.

Now she stood before him, unsmiling and impatient, and her slender arms
reached out for his shoulders.

"Riva, this is serious!" He forced her hands down again. "I'm in
trouble. I need help."

"It's to help you I've been trying all along."

"I've got to get in touch with the authorities--your government."

She looked blank.

He simplified it, "Your leaders."

"Oh, it's easy that is. There be Aline and Clio and Leah and--but that
Leah! It's the cake she takes! Thirty chasers she led on the best
drag-out of all. Two whole days it lasted!"

"No, Riva! Not _that_ kind of leader. I mean--well, someone who gets
things done. The kind who gets behind things and--"

"That be Leanc. Behind those floating cars he's getting all the time.
And how he can throw so many rocks I'll never know!"

He mussed his hair in frustration, then composed himself. "How do I get
to the city?"

"That crowded place with all the big houses?" When he nodded, she went
on, "It's never been there I have. _Now_ we play?"

He drew in a hopeless breath. "All right. Now we play. You go hide."

She radiated a warm eagerness as she initiated the game all over again
with a kiss and then went sprinting toward the front of the house. He
watched her disappear through the next room, then went out the nearest
door, heading for the fence and his ship beyond. It had required no
small degree of restraint not to go racing off after her.

At the corner of the manor he was bowled over by a shouting Papa who
was in full flight as he shot out around a hedge, heading for the guest
house.

"All your fault it is!" he cried, recovering his balance and plunging
on. "You it be who caused this! that I'll remember!"

Cassidy sat up, arms resting on his updrawn knees, and stared after the
old man.

"Ow! Riva! Ouch!" Papa clutched his rear as he neared the cottage.
"Help! Oh, my aching back!"

       *       *       *       *       *

Cassidy found Mason frozen in the shadow of the ship, fascinated by
another girl chase that was in progress nearby.

The swirl of action swerved toward him and Mason tensed, shifting from
one foot to the other. With the wind pressing her clothes in revealing
tightness about her, the flaxen-haired sprite swept past and he lunged
for her.

"Mason!" Cassidy shouted.

"Seemed like a good idea," Mason explained, checking himself. "Wonder
what it takes to get in on that chase."

Cassidy forced a fetching thought of Riva out of his mind. "What we
ought to be wondering is how soon we can blast off."

"But if we get spaceborne before the stabilizer's working, we'll only
be floundering around again."

Cassidy started for the ladder. "There's one thing we _can_ do--patch
up the hatches and jump over to another spot on this planet. Maybe
we'll find somebody who's normal, at least."

But Mason caught his arm and pointed toward Riva's estate where a
skimmer car was now parked on the side of the manor opposite the guest
house.

"Anybody who can drive one of those things," he suggested, "must know
something about the city and how to get there. Maybe he'll even give us
a lift."

       *       *       *       *       *

Mason circled the skimmer craft. "It's a fine piece of workmanship," he
said in admiration.

"I'll say," Cassidy agreed. "If we can find out where that was made,
I'm sure we'll--"

His vision was suddenly cut off by a pair of hands that came around his
head from behind and clamped themselves over his eyes. If he had any
doubt as to the identity of their owner, it was soon cleared up by a
soft voice next to his ear:

"Not right this is. It's chasing _me_ you're supposed to be."

"Riva," he said, facing her, "we'd like to meet the person who came
here in that skimmer."

"Excuses, excuses," she complained. "Always something more important
than a chase it is."

"Take us to the driver of that thing," Mason prompted. "We--"

But he tensed and stared up in alarm toward the field. Cassidy followed
his gaze to the skimmer vehicle that had earlier reduced a pile of
trash to nothing. The craft was just now floating up to their ship.

Its two beams of sizzling red light swept over the hull from stem to
stern, again and again--until there was nothing left of their ship but
incandescent molten metal.

Mason displayed a sickened, then resigned expression, thrust his hands
in his pockets and shuffled off toward the field.

"Getting in on one of those chases I think I'll be," he said.

But he paused outside the fence, turned to say something, then lurched
back. "Cassidy! Watch out! There's one of those things!"

The spider-octopus came into view from around the rear of the manor
and crawled leisurely toward the guest house. Its body, covered with a
multitude of eyes and an unkempt mat of fuzz, was like a coal-black
knob perched atop hairy stilts.

Evidently, Cassidy guessed as he dived behind a hedge and pulled the
girl with him, the thing had gotten away from its master, for it was
trailing its leash in the dust.

"It's hurt you he won't," Riva assured, quite puzzled over his
apprehension. "He belongs to--"

But Cassidy clamped a hand over her mouth.

The thing reached the guest house and made a queer noise in front of
the door.

Papa came outside on the double.

The spider-octopus picked up the other end of the thong and clamped its
braceletlike device around the old man's wrist.

Grinning, Papa pulled toward the gate, straining at the leash.

Eventually, Cassidy was aware of Riva's smiling, inquisitive face in
front of his.

"Play?" she invited.

And, glancing back at the charred remains of his ship, he didn't see
why not.