ACE BOOKS, INC. 1120 Avenue of the Americas New York 36, N.Y. THE JEWELS OF APTOR Copyright ©, 1962, by Ace Books, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in U.S.A. —These are the opening lines from The Galactica , by the one-armed poet Geo, the epic of the conflicts of Leptar and Aptor....

Afterwards, she was taken down to the sea. She didn't feel too well, so she sat on a rock down where the sand was wet and scrunched her bare toes in and out of the cool surface. She turned away, looked toward the water, and hunched her shoulders a little. "I think it was awful," she said. "I think it was pretty terrible. Why did you show it to me? He was just a little boy. What reason could they have possibly had for doing that to him?" "It was just a film," he said. "We showed it to you so you

Waves flung themselves at the blue evening. Low light burned on the wet hulks of ships that slipped by mossy pilings into the docks as water sloshed at the rotten stone embankment of the city. Gangplanks, chained from wooden pullies, scraped into place on concrete blocks, and the crew, after the slow captain and the tall mate, descended raffishly along the wooden boards which sagged with the pounding of bare feet. In bawling groups, pairs, or singly they howled into the narrow waterfront streets

An oil lamp leaked yellow light on the wooden walls of the ship's forecastle. Geo wrinkled his nose, then shrugged. "Well," said Urson, "this is a pleasant enough hole." He climbed one of the tiers of bunked beds and pounded the ticking with the flat of his hand. "Here, I'll take this one. Little wriggly arms, you look like you have a strong stomach, so you take the middle. And Geo, sling yourself down in the bottom there." He clumped to the floor again. "The lower down you are," he explained, "

Geo walked down into the forecastle, still deserted except for Urson and Snake. "Well?" asked Urson, sitting up on the edge of his berth. "What did she tell you?" "Why aren't you asleep?" Geo said heavily. He touched Snake on the shoulder. "She wants to see you now." Snake stood up, started for the door, but then turned around. "What is it?" Geo asked. Snake dug into his clout again and pulled out the thong with the jewel. He walked over to Geo, hesitated, and then placed the thong around the ol

"That dream," Geo said to Urson a moment after the mate left. Urson looked down from his bunk. "You had it too?" Both turned to Snake. "I guess that was your doing, eh?" Urson said. Snake scrambled down from the upper bunk. "Did you go wandering around the deck last night and do some spying?" Geo asked. By now most of the other sailors had risen, and one suddenly stepped between Urson and Geo. "'Scuse me, mate," he said and shook the figure in the second berth. "Hey, Whitey, come on. You can't b

Light lowered in the sky as they walked beside the river, keeping close to the rocky edge and brushing away vines that strung into the water from hanging limbs. Urson broke down a branch as thick as his wrist and as tall as himself and smote the water with it, playfully. "That should put a welt on anyone's head who wants to bother us." He raised the stick from the water and drops ran along the bark, moving sparks at the ends of dark lines. "We'll have to turn into the woods for food soon," said

Geo rolled over and out of sleep, stones and moss beneath his shoulder. He grabbed his sword and was on his feet instantly. Iimmi was also standing with raised blade. The river sloshed coldly behind them. The thin screaming came again, like a hot wire drawn down the gelid morning. Snake and Urson were also up, now. The sounds came from the direction of the ruined barracks. Geo started forward, cautiously, curiosity drawing him toward the sound, fear sending him from the relatively unprotected ba

It was Urson who first pointed it out. "Look at the far bank," he said. Across from them, they could make out an obviously man-made stone embankment. A few hundred feet further on, Iimmi sighted the spires above the trees, still across the river from them. They could figure nothing for an explanation, till suddenly the trees ceased on the opposite bank and the buildings and towers of a great city broke the sky. Elevated highways looped tower after tower, many of them broken, their ends dangling

The pale woman with the tiny eyes rose from over him. Her hair dropped like white silk threads over her shoulders. "You are awake?" she asked. "Do you understand me?" "Am I at—at Hama's temple?" he asked, the remnants of the dream still blowing in at the edges of his mind, like shredding cloth. "My friends, where are they?" The woman laughed. "Your friends are all right. You came out the worst." Another laugh. "You ask if this is Hama's temple? But you can see, can you not? You have eyes. Don't

Snake reached down, picked the beads up from Urson's hand. The sound of wings had stopped. "Where do we go now?" Urson asked. "Follow the general rule, I guess," said Iimmi. "Since we know Hama does have a temple somewhere, we try to find it, get the third jewel, and rescue Argo Incarnate. Then get back to the ship." "In three days?" asked Urson. They had related the rest of what they had found to him by now. "Well, where do we start looking?" "The Priestess said something about a band of Hama's

Dawn light lay a-slant the crater's ridge. Argo pointed down the opposite slope. A black temple was visible at the bottom among trees and lawns. "There is Hama's temple," Argo said. "You have your task. Good luck." They started down the incline of cinders. It took them an hour to reach the first trees that surrounded the dark buildings and the great gardens. Entering on the first lip of grass, they heard a sudden cluster of notes from one of the trees. "A bird," Iimmi said. "I haven't heard one

Under the trees, she raised up on tiptoe and kissed the balding forehead of a tall, dark-robed priest. "Dunderhead," she said, "I think you're cute." Then she blinked very rapidly and knuckled beneath her eye. "Oh," she added, remembering, "I was making yogurt in the biology laboratory yesterday. There's two gallons of it fermenting under the tarantula cage. Remember to take it out. And take care of the hamsters. Please don't forget the hamsters." Finally, they started once more around the slope

Roughness of sand beneath one of his sides, and the flare of the sun on the other. His eyes were hot and his lids were orange over them. He turned over, and reached out to dig his fingers into the sand. Only one hand closed; then he remembered. Opening his eyes, he rolled to his knees. The sand grated under his knee caps. Looking out toward the water, he saw that the sun hung only seeming inches above the horizon. Then he saw the ship. From its course, he gathered it was heading toward the estua