The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zurk, by Robert O. Lewis

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license


Title: Zurk

Author: Robert O. Lewis

Release Date: May 6, 2020 [EBook #62043]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZURK ***




Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

There was both agony and defeat etched deeply into Guyard's lean face as he stood there in the center of the hidden, attic laboratory. His fists were clinched tightly at his sides and his hollow eyes were staring tensely and with supplication at the steel monstrosity before him.

"Zurk, you must save her!" he pleaded. "You must save Marene!"

Zurk, the man of steel, made no move. He sat there expressionless, his electric-cell eyes staring out through the small window at the far end of the laboratory.

Year after year, the steel giant had sat there staring through that window, staring out into dim, perpetual daylight that always enveloped that half of the moon which kept its face constantly toward Jupiter.

Week after week and month after month, Guyard had stood before the giant, had stood there hurling thought-waves into the brain, but to no avail. Something was wrong somewhere within the intricate mechanism, some trouble he could not locate.

Nervous and shaken, he stood there glaring into the expressionless eyes. There were but a scant two weeks left. Then the evil creatures from the Land of Darkness on the other side of the moon would come to claim Marene.

Desperation gave power to Guyard's tired brain. "Zurk!" His eyes blazed into the giant's with a final effort. "Move your head!"

For a brief instant, Guyard was certain that a feeble thought-wave had tried to penetrate his own brain; he thought he caught a faint glow in the eyes.

Then he wheeled quickly at the sound of a step upon the ladder up to the trap-door in the floor. His hand flashed to the gun at his belt, and he waited tensely.

His hand relaxed as the door swung slowly upwards and he saw dark curls and a smiling face. Marene. Marene, his daughter.

He went quickly to her, helped her up into the room and stood for a moment with his arms about her shoulders, holding her to him.

A crazy panorama of thoughts went through his head. He remembered the day of her birth aboard that ill-fated spaceship that had set out to colonize Mars. That was the same day the commander of the ship had reported engine trouble.

He remembered the first four years of her life aboard that helpless ship, the ship that had finally landed the thousand weary colonists on this moon of Jupiter's.

And then had come the creatures from the Land of Darkness to claim youth as a tribute from the helpless Earthians. Once every four years, they came to claim young men and women for some hideous experiment of theirs on the other side of the moon.

And now Marene was just sixteen, and the creatures would be coming again in their black spaceship within two weeks! Guyard was thankful that death had spared Marene's mother from this greater horror.

He held the girl tightly to him.

She drew away finally and smiled up at him with the bravery of youth. "Father," she said, "whatever happens, I'm not afraid." Her voice was like calm music to his troubled brain. "Anyway, I have news for you!"

"News?"

"Yes. Captain Simms is going to try, maybe trying right this instant to get a radio message through to the Earth!"

"Impossible!" Guyard shook his head quickly. "Zuldi and his guards keep the city under constant surveillance! Captain Simms should know better, than to try! Zuldi and his devils will detect the vibration instantly!"

"But Captain Simms is trying a different type of sender," Marene explained. "He hopes that Zuldi's detectors will not...."

She broke off suddenly.

Guyard, too, heard the tumult somewhere out in the street, and the sound of croaking shouts. He hurried to the window and looked out.

There in the street almost below him stood Zuldi and six other of the hated creatures, their scaly, bloated bodies smeared with a green substance as protection against the rigors of light. Thick-lensed glasses shaded their eyes.

Zuldi, croaking loudly to attract attention, was waving his arms and pointing downward at the broken body of Captain Simms that lay at his feet. Beside the dead man lay the tangled mass of what might once have been a radio, a radio that would never send its message to distant Earth.

Zuldi stopped his shouting, and spat upon the man in the dust and sent a heavily-clawed foot raking over the already lacerated chest. He was using Captain Simms as an example to all other Earthians in the city.

Guyard felt a hot bitterness rising uncontrollably within him. He flung the window open, jerked the gun from his belt and centered the sights upon the center of Zuldi's bone-crested forehead.

"Damn him!" he breathed. "I'll...."

It was Marene who knocked the gun down before he had a chance to fire. A great fear was in her eyes as she wrested the weapon from his fingers. "You can't do it, Father! You can't do it!" She thrust the gun into a pocket beneath her short coat.

"Putting Zuldi out of the way would not help us," she reminded him. "The other Earthians had guns. They would discover that you had a gun and guess that others would only kill you. They would end our chances to fight the black ship when it comes."

A semblance of reason came back to Guyard. For the past two years, he had, when not training Zurk's mind, been turning out gun after gun in his small, electric furnace. Those guns had been secretly distributed to the men of the city to use when the right moment came. And now he had come very nearly to ruining those chances.

He began speaking, as if thinking aloud. "They have dismantled our spaceship, broken our radios and killed every man who has tried to get a message through to Earth. They have taken our youth, searched out our secret laboratories and killed our scientists."

His eyes were blazing. "But this time we are going to fight!"

Guyard knew that a fight with the powerful creatures from the Land of Darkness would mean annihilation for the Earthians. But there was no other apparent way.

He turned again to the steel giant, his eyes misty. "Had Zurk not failed us," he said, "I should have built a hundred more like him. Insulated against the shock of the voltage guns, a hundred men of steel could have marched into the Land of Darkness and crushed our captors—wiped them out!"

Marene, too, had turned to look at the giant. She went forward now, raised one of the huge hands and let it fall with a metallic, squeaking "z-zzurk." Long ago, as a small child, she had done that same thing, and because of the sound had named the giant "Zurk."

She stood looking up into the expressionless eyes. When she spoke, her voice was like that of a small girl talking to a disobedient doll. "You must not fail us now, Zurk. We need you. You must help us!"

Guyard went to her and put an arm about her shoulders. "It's no use," he said. "I've tried day after day. He makes no move."

"But I'm certain he understands you," insisted the girl. "Sometimes I am certain I have caught a glow in his eyes. A glow of understanding."

"He does understand me!" Guyard was staring into the eyes again, tense with emotion. "His brain is a part of my very own! I have nurtured that brain with my own thoughts. I have trained it."

Then he shook his head slowly. "But it's no use. It is too late. One of him would not be enough. There is no time to build more."

Guyard was so busy with his own thoughts that he did not hear the scaly sound of feet upon the ladder leading up into the laboratory. He did not see the bone-crested head that came slowly up above the level of the floor behind him.

His first indication of danger was a green-smeared arm that whipped about Marene and jerked her roughly away from him.

Guyard's hand raked at his belt as he wheeled about. But the gun was not in his belt. Marene had taken it from him, had placed it beneath her own short coat. He was unarmed.

Four of the creatures were already in the room, Zuldi among them. More were coming up through the trap door.

Guyard knew that he was facing death, a hideous death. Zuldi and his monsters would gleefully claw him to pieces, throw him into the street.

One of the creatures charged him suddenly with huge arms and clawed hands outstretched.

Desperation and a sense of his own helplessness surged through Guyard. It gave him a mad strength beyond all reason. His balled fist lashed out with all the fury that twelve horrible years of hatred could give it. The flesh and bone of the beast's face fairly exploded into gory pulp as the blow landed.

At almost the same instant, another clawed hand grasped Guyard by the shoulder and sent him spinning backward to land with a crash against the table at the far side of the room. It was Zuldi.

Guyard stood leaning against the table, dazed and shaken.

He heard Marene's scream and saw the two creatures forcing her down through the trap door. They would not harm her. They would let her live for a worse fate. The black ship would be coming in less than two weeks.

"We saw you open the window a while ago. That's what brought us up." Zuldi was standing before him, his huge, round mouth with its yellow teeth hanging open in pleasure. "I'm so glad we came. Two examples in the same morning is more than I had hoped for."

Guyard's hand closed over a heavy wrench upon the table behind him. He had no hope of winning through; his only desire was to take Zuldi with him in death.

One of the guards saw the act, shouted a warning and hastily drew his voltage gun.

With a mad cry upon his lips, Guyard sprang forward with wrench swinging. Zuldi's evil face was before him. Guyard wanted to smash it, obliterate it.

But the wrench never reached its mark. A crackling flame filled the room. Guyard was spun half way around as the full charge of the voltage gun caught him high in the right side of his chest and filled his whole body with a burning agony.

The wrench dropped to the floor. His arms became leaden things that hung heavily at his sides. He stood there gasping for air. Completely burned out inside, he had but a few seconds left. Only his brain seemed to be alive.

Zuldi was before him, his hideous face black with anger beneath its smeared green. "So!" he hissed. "You would dare to strike!" His clawed hand flashed out to rake down the face and chest of the helpless man.

Guyard felt no pain. His whole body was numb, dying. He stood there while Zuldi tore at him, stood there staring straight into the eyes of the great steel giant.

"Zurk!" The thought-wave went out with all the power of his brain. "Zurk! You've ... you've got to save ... Marene!"

For some reason, he felt closer to that steel-cased brain than he had ever felt before. He saw the light in the giant's eyes change almost imperceptibly. And he felt thought-waves hammering at his own brain. Zurk, even at the last moment, was trying to tell him something. But the message was garbled, incoherent.

Then his tortured lungs could breathe no longer. His legs crumpled painlessly beneath him and he went sprawling forward to come to rest with one arm flung out across a steel foot.

The next instant was a frightful one. It was filled with agony, bewilderment and awful blackness. It seemed to Guyard that something was reaching out for him, something that was struggling to wrest him away from the void of nothingness.

Then there was a sudden peace—and silence.

The dim walls of the laboratory slowly took form. They seemed to grow out of nothingness. Gradually they began to take on a definite shape and brightness. Other objects in the room became clear-cut and distinct. And sound vibrations floated in.

Guyard was puzzled. He thought he must be awakening from some nightmare. Perhaps, after all, Zuldi and his men had been but a bad dream.

No! There was blood upon the floor of the laboratory! The electric furnace that had once been upon the table was gone, had been torn away! The wrench still lay where it had fallen from his nerveless fingers!

He was dead! His body had been thrown into the street! And yet....

Guyard was more bewildered than ever. His body was dead! And yet he could see! His consciousness was still alive!

For a long moment, he wondered. Then the realization of what had happened came to him with a startling clearness. During his last moment of life, he had been sending a message to Zurk's brain, had been in the closest harmony with it. And during that last moment, his own consciousness, released by the death of his body, had leaped the gap between those two closely related brains!

He was now occupying Zurk's brain! He was now Zurk!

The thought of it thrilled him. He saw his barrel-like chest of steel, his huge arms, his extended, powerful legs.

He would kill Zuldi now!

But first he would go to Marene. He would tell her that he was still alive. He would explain to her the transformation that had taken place.

He would go ... now....

His thoughts broke off suddenly. Something was wrong. He had willed to rise. But his great body had not responded.

Half frightened, he tried again with all the force of his new-found brain.

A tiny vibration at the back of his neck became increasingly painful. The vibration grew quickly in intensity until it became a searing flame of agony, a searing flame that robbed him of his strength and sent the walls of the laboratory floating away into darkness.

It seemed to Zurk—or Guyard—that it was hours before the energy rebuilt itself within the steel frame.

He knew now where the trouble was. One of the hundred tiny wires at the back of his neck was loose; it was shorting his energy through the huge body.

That was the message Zurk had been trying to get through to him even at the last moment! That was what had kept the man of steel immobile through the years!

One tiny, thread-like wire had cheated a thousand Earthians from their freedom! And there was nothing to be done!

The trap door opened slowly some time later, and Marene came up into the room. Her eyes were hollow and sad, but she seemed even more beautiful.

Zurk could not feel the hot tears that coursed down over the steel hand that Marene was holding against her soft cheek; but he could hear the sweet vibrations of her voice.

"Zurk. Oh, Zurk!" She was sobbing quietly against the hand she held. "You're ... you're the only one I have left now."

She raised her head and choked back the tears. "Forgive me, Zurk," she pleaded, "and please understand...."

The transformed Zurk would have given anything to let her know that he understood. As it was, he struggled with all his might to give her some sign of understanding, struggled until the small flame at the back of his neck grew white hot and sent him reeling into an oblivion filled with blackness.

When light rays and sound vibrations again began streaming into his consciousness, Marene had gone.

He didn't know how much time had elapsed since Zuldi's visit. Maybe a day. Maybe a week. Soon the black ship would be coming....

The thought of that black ship and what it meant sent Zurk into another frantic struggle against the thing at the back of his neck. Time and time again he struggled until blackness overcame him.

Once, when consciousness returned to him, he became aware of two people standing before him looking up at him.

One was Marene. The other was a slim youth a year or two older than she.

"Too bad he doesn't work," the young man was saying. "He would be such a help in the fight that is soon to come."

"Yes," said Marene. Her voice was hopeful. "Perhaps you could find out what is wrong with him."

A ray of hope flashed through Zurk. If the young man could find the loose wire at the back of his neck....

But the young man was shaking his head. "There is not time enough for that," he said. "It would take weeks to go over that intricate mechanism. As it is, I have only time enough to get the gun assembled and placed."

Zurk watched Marene lead the young man to the table at the end of the room near the window. She pressed a button, and a small door slid open in the floor beneath the table to expose two neatly coiled electrodes.

The young man's face lighted. "Just the thing," he said. "With that electrical power, my gun is bound to be a success!"

"But it's dangerous," warned Marene. "Zuldi knows of this laboratory."

"I doubt if he'll come back. He'll probably believe that no one would dare to use this laboratory again." A shadow of doubt came across the young man's face. "But I can't understand how it happened that Zuldi tore out the electric furnace in which your father built the guns but failed to molest Zurk."

Zurk could have told him. The answer was somewhere back in his sub-conscious mind. Zuldi had considered the metal giant as being but some Earthian god, a powerless entity. He had spat upon the god contemptuously and had left it standing.

Marene's hand was upon the young man's arm and she was looking up into his eyes. "Bob," she said earnestly, "your gun must be a success! It is not just for our own sakes; there are a thousand other lives depending upon it."

Bob put his hand over hers. "It will be a success!" he promised. Then, "But we've got to hurry. If they come a day earlier.... If they should happen to come tomorrow...."

He left the sentence unfinished, gave Marene's hand a reassuring squeeze and hurried to the trap door that led down from the attic laboratory.

Guyard was shocked to find that the two weeks was nearly up, was surprised to learn that his struggles against the thing at the back of his neck had sent him into such long periods of blackness. But the passing of time made one thing clear to him: it explained why he now constantly thought of himself not as Guyard, the man, but as Zurk, the giant of steel!

The bustle of work in the laboratory made Zurk almost forget his helplessness. Time and time again, the young man hurried into the room to take molded pieces of steel from beneath his coat and to pile them upon the table before Marene.

"Now!" he said finally. "Now if we can get them assembled in time!"

He took off his coat and set to work with the hopeful energy of youth.

"It's one of the blast rockets from the spaceship that brought us here," he explained. "The rockets get their power by disintegrating the atoms of fuel within their chambers. If we can change the procedure a bit, if we can get the disintegrating principle to work at long range instead of being confined merely to the fuel chamber."

Zurk got the idea instantly. A disintegrator! The youth was constructing a long-range disintegrator with which to blow the black ship out of the sky! The thrill of it coursed through his brain. The Earthians were going to fight! They were going to make a last stand against the Creatures of Darkness.

But he, Zurk, would be powerless to help.

Through the long hours of the day and night, Zurk sat there watching the two youngsters at their toil. They were working against time now, struggling for the right of freedom and happiness.

But Zuldi might come. He might come before the gun was finished. Or he might come before the arrival of the black ship.

Hours later, Bob made the final adjustments on the machine and stepped back to look at it. His face was pale and his hands trembled slightly with excitement.

"Now to test it!" he told Marene. "And ... and I hope it works!"

He turned the long snout of the gun toward the open window, connected the electrodes and made final adjustments.

"Wait!" Marene placed a hand upon his arm. A sudden fear had come into her sparkling eyes. "If the gun makes a flash or a vibration of any kind, Zuldi will be sure to know. He will come here immediately!"

Bob paused. "That's right," he said finally. Then, "But we've got to test it! We can't wait until the black ship comes! We've got to be sure!"

They stood there for a moment gazing into each other's eyes. Then Bob put his arm about her and drew her to him. "It doesn't matter so much about us," he told her. "We are doomed anyway. It's your father and my father and all the others in the city that we must think about! It is they...."

He broke off short, his lips tight and his eyes blazing out of the window toward the far-away, dark horizon from whence the black ship would come. Several giant birds were soaring lazily through the pale sky.

The young man seemed much older as he stood there. Zurk saw the lines of care in the cleanly cut face. And, at last, he recognized the youth. Bob Simms. The son of Captain Simms whose dead body had been dragged through the dusty streets by Zuldi and his men.

"We've got to test it!" the young man said again.

Zurk saw him put his shoulder determinedly against the piece and wheel the snout of it toward one of the soaring birds just outside the window.

Zurk's photo-electric eyes saw the vibration of the charge slit through the pale sky scant inches from the bird as the youth pressed the release.

But Bob had not seen that tell-tale vibration. He had seen only that the bird before him remained unharmed. The bitterness of defeat showed in his face.

"Try again," urged Marene.

Once again, the youth aimed the gun and pressed the release with trembling fingers.

And once again Zurk's eyes saw the vibration miss its mark by inches. But he saw something else. He saw something no human eyes could see. Miles away on the far horizon, he saw another giant bird caught squarely by the charge. The bird disolved instantly into a smoky haze as every atom within it suddenly lost its valence.

Zurk could have cried out with satisfaction had it not been for the tiny wire that shorted itself with white heat at the back of his neck.

It made him realize once more his complete helplessness.

Marene and the young man were standing there looking dejectedly at the gun. "It won't work," Bob groaned. "I've got to take it apart. I've got to try again."

Zurk tried with all his might to tell the young man that the gun was a success. He tried until blackness sought to engulf him.

Then his delicate ears picked up a sound vibration that sent a chill through his brain. He could hear the hurried scrape of many clawed feet in the street below.

Zuldi and his men! They had detected the vibration of the gun! They were hurrying to investigate!

And there was something else. Far above the distant horizon was a black speck that grew suddenly larger as it leaped forward through the pale sky.

The black ship! It was coming a day ahead of schedule!

Zurk struggled desperately to warn the two who stood there in the attic laboratory. He tried to warn them of the black ship and of Zuldi and his guards who were even now within the house.

But his struggles were in vain. The hot pain stabbed deep into the back of his neck, robbing him of his strength. The walls of the room reeled and faded before his waning eyes.

He knew that further struggle was useless. It would only send him plunging deeper into that awful blackness. Anyway, he seemed not to have the strength to struggle more.

He sat there motionless and terror stricken while the scene unfolded before his eyes.

Bob and Marene had caught sight of the ship. It had come to a hovering stop just outside the window, its black hull seeming to fill the whole sky. A long ladder had been let down from one of its open ports and Creatures of Darkness were filing down into the city.

Soon those evil monsters would be ferreting out the healthy youth of the city.

Zurk, powerless to stop them or to shout a warning, watched Zuldi and his men come quickly up into the laboratory through the trap door.

Neither Bob nor Marene saw their danger. Marene was staring fearfully out at the black ship and Bob was working frantically with the gun.

"If we can blast the ship out of the sky," Bob was saying. "If we can kill the creatures already in the city, get their voltage guns...."

Bob never finished his hopes. A giant, clawed hand clutched him by the shoulder at that moment and spun him back and away from the gun, spun him back and away until he nearly collided with Zurk's steel frame.

Zurk felt the strain and horror of it all driving him deeper into blackness.

Zuldi's hideous face was twisted into an anticipatory smirk. He took a slow, deliberate step closer to the young man.

"You Earthians will never learn," he hissed. His clawed fingers were writhing nervously. "But one more example will not hurt. You know the penalty."

Bob's jaws were clamped tightly. His whole body was trembling with pent rage and hate. He stood there looking steadily into the beast's eyes, waiting.

"One less youth in the shipment to the other side will make little difference," Zuldi smirked. "The blood we have taken in the past is nearly enough for our needs. The transfusions have rendered my people almost immune from the ravages of heat and light rays."

His red eyes were glowing behind their protective glasses. His heavy lips were twisting gloatingly. "Soon we shall be able to leave the Land of Darkness. Soon we shall conquer new lands."

His eyes narrowed and he took a sudden step forward, clawed hands extended. "And we shall have no further use for Earthians!"

"Damn you!" Bob's set face was livid with emotion. "Damn you!" he shouted again. "You'll never live to kill another Earthian!"

His hand swept into the open front of his shirt and came out again with one of the hand guns Zurk—or Guyard—had made in the secret furnace. In one swift motion, he leveled the gun at Zuldi's huge chest and squeezed the trigger.

The crash of the explosion jarred against Zurk's ears with a shattering force that drove some of the blackness from his brain. He saw immediately that the charge had not reached its intended mark.

One of the other creatures, at sight of the gun, had leaped suddenly forward—to receive the heavy slug in his own chest.

The bullet did not stop him. His momentum carried his dead body forward to crash into Bob, to knock the gun from his hand and to send him spinning and stumbling backward.

Zuldi laughed, and drew his voltage gun.

During that split second, a thousand other vibrations smashed into Zurk's hot brain. He heard bedlam break loose in the streets below. The Earthians were fighting!

Mingled with the crash of the hand guns and the slithering vibrations of the voltage weapons were cries, groans, shouts and curses. And over it all came the sudden, high-pitched whine of the black ship's radio, a whine to the far side of the moon for help.

Soon there would be other black ships.

Marene was standing there looking at him, her eyes staring into his own, pleading with him! Then she turned and made a dash for the long-snouted gun upon the table, only to be dragged away from it by two of the monsters.

Zurk knew that the last, insane episode had come. This was to be the last of the Earthians! And if he were ever going to come to their aid, he must do it now.

He threw all the power of his giant frame into the will to stand, into the will to rise up and to slay these evil creatures about him.

He tried to ignore the stabbing pain at his back, tried to believe it did not exist. He hurled forth his energy in wave after wave until the flame became a consuming thing that ate deep within him and filled his brain with the shadows of dark despair.

Through that creeping blackness, he saw Bob Simms frantically try to evade the sweep of Zuldi's weapon. He felt the young man stumble over one of his helpless, steel feet, felt him stagger against his metal knee and fall.

And at almost the same instant the blast from Zuldi's voltage gun went crashing through the room.

Zurk saw the streak of the charge as it passed just above the fallen youth and felt the full, deadly shock of it strike squarely into his own huge chest of steel with a force that quaked the whole of his giant frame.

Then came deep silence. It seemed that all time had suddenly stopped.

Zuldi and the other creatures were standing there staring at him, their bulging eyes terror-stricken.

The vibration of Marene's sudden cry swept against his ears. "Zurk! You are free!"

He realized then what had happened. His steel frame had taken the full stock of Zuldi's voltage gun. And that shock had burned off the wire that had been shorting his energy at the back of his neck!

He was standing there on his own two feet! He was moving his head! He was free!

Withering blasts from a half dozen voltage guns tore suddenly into his steel body, rocking him on his feet. But he didn't care. He was free!

A savage cry came from his steel throat as he brushed aside the creatures and their guns. He went directly to the opening in the floor, put his heavy foot against the trap door and kicked it shut with a splintering crash that wedged it tightly home.

Then he turned slowly about to face Zuldi and the creatures. There was no escape for them now!

From outside, came the sound of successive, powerful blasts. The black ship was bringing its heavy guns into action, was bombarding the city.

Zurk caught two of the creatures as a great cat would catch mice. Their gibbering death-cries filled his ears with pleasure as he smashed their heads together and flung their lifeless bodies against the wall.

"The disintegrator!" he shouted to Bob. "Knock that ship out of the sky! This will be a fight they will remember!"

His steel fist crashed into the evil brain of another.

Then came a roaring bolt of destruction more powerful than all the others. It struck the corner of the attic, quaked the building to its foundations and sent one wall of the laboratory swirling away in a burst of flying debris.

Two of the trapped creatures sprang out of the opening, screaming. Zuldi would have followed had not Zurk clutched him up in his huge hands. Slowly, the man of steel twisted the evil creature's head about in a complete circle. Then he raised the lifeless body high into the air and cast it down into the dust of the street below.

His great steel hand shot out and seized Zuldi's scaly neck.

He turned to find Marene and Bob standing beside the gun. Marene was sobbing quietly. Bob was staring bewilderedly at the dangling end of one of the electrodes he held in his hands.

"The blast from the ship!" he cried. "The blast from the ship carried away one of the electrodes! We are without power for the disintegrator!"

Zurk took the severed cable into his own hands. He saw immediately that repairs were out of the question. A long section had been blasted away between the floor and the gun. And the disintegrator was useless without power!

Another blast from the black ship shuddered the laboratory and brought answering sparks from Zurk's steel shell.

Then he knew! The solution came startlingly clear to his brain. He would make the connection with his own metal body!

Grasping the cable tighter in his hand, he set his foot down heavily upon the other end that lay upon the floor.

His eyes glowed as he wheeled the snout of the gun about with his free hand, wheeled it directly toward the heart of the black ship and pressed the release with his thumb.

The burning wave of hot power that surged through him nearly blinded him. But he saw the great ship shudder as the disintegrating force smashed into it, saw it lose form in a shapeless cloud of nothingness as its neutralized atoms went spinning away.

A great cry of triumph rang out from the fighting men of the city. The hand guns redoubled their fury.

"They've got the creatures on the run!" It was Marene. She was looking down into the street from the broken wall of the laboratory.

But there were more ships coming. Zurk saw the tiny black specks that had leaped above the far horizon.

He stopped two of them while they were still but specks, saw a third wheel back toward the dark side, its radio whining. The others came hurtling on.

Methodically, one by one, he began blasting them from the sky. The hot charges of power that coursed through his body bleared his eyes and jarred his senses.

Only two of the ships remained. He sent one of them into oblivion; missed the other. Twice more, the ravishing shudders of power racked his body before the black ship and its evil crew vanished into nothingness before his burning eyes.

But there was no time for rest. Other black ships were coming.

Zurk, now a glowing, burning thing, felt himself moving the gun slowly from one to another of the ships.

Zurk was surprised to find so few ships left. He must have gotten more of them than he had thought. If he had been able to hang on a moment or two longer....

A wave of blackness began to spread over him.

The great surges of energy pounding devastatingly through his heat-ridden body jarred him back again into consciousness. Through a black and red mist, he saw the youth bending over the gun. The young man's eyes were afire with the light of battle and his face was grim as he worked the weapon deliberately and methodically.

Zurk felt an overwhelming desire for peace creep over him. He knew what that meant.

But he didn't care. His steel body was solidly fused to the ends of the cable. Even in death, his body would continue to hold the connection while Bob Simms rid the city of the demons for all time. Never again would the black ships dare to attack. And the Earthians could rebuild their own spaceship.

His heavy head slumped slowly forward to rest upon his hot arm. The wild, triumphant shouts of the people in the street came but dimly to his ears as he felt himself swimming away into a warm, red mist.

Then came the last vibration of all. It was an infinitely sweet vibration that caressed his tired brain and gave to him the peace he needed.

He knew it was Marene—his Marene—who had set that vibration into motion with her lips as close to his ear as she dared.

"Thank you, Zurk," came that last vibration. "Thank you, Father!"

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Zurk, by Robert O. Lewis

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZURK ***

***** This file should be named 62043-h.htm or 62043-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/0/4/62043/

Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net


Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     gbnewby@pglaf.org


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     http://www.gutenberg.org

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.