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289
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
181
What
a
terrible
alternative,
when
Dalis
could
as
easily
have
given
the
secret
to
all
his
people!
Could
have
told
them
how
to
save
themselves!
But
it
was
not
Dalis'
way.
Here,
in
the
beginning
of
what
was
to
become
a
dual
sovereignty
of
the
Moon,
Dalis
had
already
taken
thought
on
the
matter
of
over-population,
and
was
destroying
the
many
that
the
few--the
strongest,
most
ruthless--might
survive!
Hundreds
of
thousands,
millions
of
the
Gens
of
Dalis,
stood
at
the
door
of
life,
and
did
not
know
how
to
enter,
merely
because
Dalis
withheld
the
key!
And,
pausing
in
terror
before
the
flames,
they
died,
when
a
step
and
a
plunge
would
have
saved
them
all!
"If
he
lives
to
be
a
million,
if
he
lives
through
everlasting
life,"
said
Sarka
to
himself,
"and
does
penance
through
a
thousand
reincarnations,
Dalis
can
never
atone
for
this
wholesale
destruction
of
humanity!
But
I
...
I
wonder!"
Sarka
realized
the
nicety
of
the
revenge
of
Dalis
upon
Jaska
and
himself.
Dalis
had
not
given
the
secret
to
the
prisoners,
but
by
his
use
of
the
cubes,
he
had
plunged
them
into
the
very
heart
of
the
horror,
where
they
could
see
the
suffering
of
the
people
of
the
Gens.
Then,
when
they
had
seen
and
appreciated
the
horror
of
it
all,
they
would
follow
the
people
of
the
Gens
to
death!
But
Luar
had
spoken
of
thrusting
them
into
the
base
of
the
Cone!
Then
they
were
not
for
the
flames
after
all!
How
could
it
be
done?
The
globe
composed
of
the
cubes
had
but
to
transport
the
prisoners
to
the
base
of
the
Cone,
press
against
that
base,
and
open
to
let
the
prisoners
free--and
in
the
heart
of
the
white-blue
column
they
would
be
hurled
outward
from
the
Moon,
into
space.
The
mere
prospect
of
such
horror
caused
the
perspiration
to
break
forth
anew
on
the
body
of
Sarka.
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