Shakespeare's Planet (24 page)

Authors: Clifford D. Simak

“Is there anything else that you want to take?” asked Nicodemus.

Horton shook his head. “The book and jug.” he said. “I guess that's all. The ceramics that Shakespeare picked up are worthless as they stand. No more than souvenirs. Someday someone else will come along, human or otherwise, who will make a study of the city. Human more than likely. It seems that our species at times may hold an almost fatal fascination for the past.”

“I can carry both the packs,” said Nicodemus. “and the book as well. Carrying that jug, you shouldn't be encumbered.”

Horton grinned. “I have the awful fear that somewhere along the way something will trip me up. I can't let that happen. I have Pond in my custody and can let nothing happen to him.”

Nicodemus squinted at the jug. “You haven't got much of him there.”

“Enough,” said Horton. “A phial of him, a cupful of him probably would be quite enough.”

“I don't quite understand,” said Nicodemus, “what it is all about.”

“Neither do I,” said Horton, “except that I have the feeling I'm carrying a jugful of a friend, and out here in this howling wilderness of space a man can ask nothing more.”

Nicodemus rose from the woodpile, where he had been sitting. “Pick up the jug,” he said, “and I'll shoulder the rest of it. There's nothing more to keep us.”

Horton made no move to pick up the jug. He stood where he was, slowly looking around. “I find myself just a bit reluctant.” he said. “As if there were something still to do.”

“You're missing Elayne,” said Nicodemus. “It would have been nice to have her along.”

“There's that,” said Horton. “Yes, I do miss her. It was hard to stand and watch her walk into the tunnel. And there's him as well. “He gestured at the skull that hung above the door.

“We can't take him along,” said Nicodemus. “That skull would crumble at the touch. He won't be up there very long. Someday a wind will come along â¦”

“That's not what I mean,” said Horton. “He was here alone so long. And now we'll leave him alone again.”

“Carnivore's still here,” said Nicodemus.

Horton said, relieved, “That's right. I hadn't thought of that.”

He stooped and picked up the jug, cradling it carefully in his arms. Nicodemus hoisted the packs to his back and tucked the book underneath an arm. Turning, he started down the path, Horton following.

At the turn of the path Horton turned and looked back at the Grecian house. Getting a good grip on the jug with one hand, he lifted the other arm in a gesture of farewell.

Good-bye, he said, wordlessly, in his mind. Goodbye, you old stormy albatrossâyou madman, brave man, lost man.

It may have been a trick of shifting light. It may have been something else.

But, in any case, whatever, from his position above the door, Shakespeare winked at him.

About the Author

During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune,
writing fiction in his spare time.

Simak was best known for the book
City
, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel
Way Station
. In 1953
City
was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

ISBN: 978-1-5040-1328-4

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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New York, NY 10014

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