The Ethical Engineer by Harry Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

assassination. If Opisweni
tried to use the knife for anything other than the intended piece of
work, he would get the crossbow quarrel in the back of his head. Very
efficient.
    Enough driftwood was found to make a sizable fire, and when Jason
returned with his contribution the
rosmaro
had been hacked into
large chunks. Ch'aka kicked his slaves away from the heap of wood and
produced a small device from another of his sacks. Interested, Jason
pushed as close as he dared, into the front rank of the watching
circle. Though he had never seen one of them before, the operation of
the firemaker was obvious to him. A spring-loaded arm drove a fragment
of stone against a piece of steel, sparks flew out and were caught in
a cup of tinder, where Ch'aka blew on them until they burst into
flame.
    Where had the firelighter and the crossbow come from? They were
evidence of a higher level of culture than that possessed by these
slave-holding nomads. This was the first bit of evidence that Jason
had seen that there might be more to the cultural life of this planet
than they had seen since their landing. Later, while they were gorging
themselves on the seared meat, he drew Mikah aside and pointed this
out.
    "There's hope yet. These illiterate thugs never manufactured that
crossbow or firelighter. We must find out where they came from and see
about getting there ourselves. I had a quick look at the quarrel when
Ch'aka pulled it out, and I'll swear that it was turned from steel."
    "This has significance?" Mikah asked, puzzled.
    "It means an industrial society, and possible interstellar contact."
    "Then we must ask Ch'aka where he obtained them and leave at once.
There will be authorities, we will contact them, explain the
situation, obtain transportation to Cassylia. I will not place you
under arrest again until that time."
    "How considerate of you," Jason said, lifting one eyebrow. Mikah was
absolutely impossible, and Jason probed at his moral armor to see if
there were any weak spots. "Won't you feel guilty about bringing me
back to get killed? After all we are companions in trouble—and I did
save your life."
    "I will grieve, Jason. I can see that though you are evil you are not
completely evil, and given the right training could be fitted for a
useful place in society. But my personal grief must not be allowed to
alter events: you forget that you committed a crime and must pay the
penalty."
    Ch'aka belched cavernously inside his shell-helmet and howled at his
slaves.
    "Enough eating, you pigs. You get fat. Wrap the meat and carry it, we
have light yet to look for
krenoj
. Move!"
*
    Once more the line was formed and began its slow pace across the
desert. More of the edible roots were found, and once they stopped
briefly to fill the water bags at a spring that bubbled up out of the
sand. The sun dropped towards the horizon and what little warmth it
possessed was absorbed by a bank of clouds. Jason looked around and
shivered—then noticed the line of dots moving on the horizon. He
nudged Mikah who still leaned heavily on him.
    "Looks like company coming. I wonder where they fit into the
program?"
    Pain had blurred Mikah's attention and he took no notice and,
surprisingly enough, neither did any of the other slaves nor Ch'aka.
The dots expanded and became another row of marchers, apparently
absorbed in the same task as Jason's group. They plodded forward,
making a slow examination of the sand, followed behind by the solitary
figure of their master. The two lines slowly approached each other,
paralleling the shore.
    Near the dunes was a crude mound of stones and the line of walking
slaves stopped as soon as they reached it, dropping with satisfied
grunts onto the sand. The cairn was obviously a border marker and
Ch'aka walked to it and rested his foot on one of the stones, watching
while the other line of slaves approached. They, too, stopped at the
cairn and settled to the ground: both groups stared with dull-eyed
lack of interest and only the