arm in the webbing. “Don’t be,” he said. “Come here. Look.”
Brenner, with some skill, that which he had developed in the past weeks, joined Rodriguez at the webbing, and clung to the straps.
Rodriguez opened his small pack, which he seemed never without, that into which the emptied stein had been placed.
“What is it?” asked Brenner.
“It appears to be a telescope, collapsed, does it not?”
“Yes,” said Brenner.
Rodriguez then removed the object from the pack, rotated it 180 degrees and extended it. He also slid a panel back, revealing a breech. Following another adjustment, a trigger, housed in its guard, dropped into view below. “It is a Naxian rifle,” said Rodriguez.
“That is a forbidden weapon,” whispered Brenner, with an eye to the translating equipment, that by means of which they had communicated with the captain. “How did you get it through customs?”
“I picked it up on Chios,” he said. “Things are less tight out here. Too, I did punch out a bribe to a private number twice.”
“It is illegal to have it,” said Brenner.
“Not everywhere,” said Rodriguez.
“Certainly on a company ship, without authorization,” said Brenner.
“And at Company Station, without authorization,” said Rodriguez.
“I would suppose so,” said Brenner.
“Certainly,” said Rodriguez.
In order that this matter may be more clear I might mention that on many worlds weapons were not permitted to citizenries. The result of these ordinances, naturally, was that the citizenries of these worlds, for the most part, found themselves at the mercy of two groups which were somewhat diverse, but were in fact occasionally allied, to speak briefly, authorities and criminals. The means for their own protection was removed from them for their own protection. Interestingly enough, private transportation on various worlds was usually responsible for hundreds of times the deaths that had been wrought by the use of certain classes of weapons in the past, but such transportation was seldom removed from citizenries for their own protection. It might also be noted that private citizens who wished, for one reason or another, to do away with other private citizens, now denied the use of certain classes of weapons, did find themselves forced to new recourses, such as piercing with pointed tools, striking with heavy objects, and administering toxic substances.
“The Naxian rifle is a powerful weapon,” said Brenner.
“This model is,” said Rodriguez.
Brenner looked at the object, alarmed.
“With three charges from this,” said Rodriguez, confidingly, “I could open the side of the ship. One charge would be enough to cut a bull of Sybaris in two.”
“How many charges do you have?” asked Brenner. This was not a simple beam weapon, of the sort with which one might etch patient laceries in steel. The power of this weapon was discharged in concentrated bursts.
“Several,” said Rodriguez.
Brenner looked at him.
“Concealed in rolls of Bertinian leaf,” he said.
“Be careful what you smoke,” said Brenner.
“The charge is armed only in the breech,” grinned Rodriguez.
Brenner nodded. Heat, then, was not the precipitating agent. In that case, one could presumably hold a lighter to one of the cartridges, or charge casings, without getting more than a bad smell.
“What about impact?” asked Brenner.
“Hardly,” said Rodriguez.
“Of course,” said Brenner. Impact-activated charges, connected with firing pins, and such, were seldom found on civilized worlds. To be sure, they were still found here and there, in certain systems. But so, too, here and there, were pointed and edged weapons. Indeed, there were certain interesting worlds which had adopted sophisticated techniques, vehicles, and weapons for interplanetary aggression or planetary self-defense but which, on their own surfaces, had achieved carefully constructed neoprimitivisms, by means of which they sought to exercise ecological caution and liberate the processes of natural selection. On such worlds, by a sort of progress in reverse, were the rights, the ranks, and the glories of nature restored. Some of these worlds were of the sort which Rodriguez would presumably have characterized as “strong.” To be sure, there were features of such worlds which Brenner would doubtless have found deplorable. On them, for example, martial arts were practiced; and on them might be found warring camps, and not infrequently, it must be admitted, slave markets.
So do not fear the forest,” said Rodriguez, closing the weapon, which action restored it to the appearance of a simple telescope.
“I do not want anything killed,” said Brenner.
Some brief indications of Brenner’s concerns are in order. On his home world, long ago, the horrors of killing anything had become clear. This was no longer viewed as the way of life. Life had been improved upon, succeeded by certain moral