It Takes a Thief
()
About this ebook
But were they so clever? They'd lost their own world.
Read more from Walter M. Miller
Conditionally Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death of a Spaceman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCheck and Checkmate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ties That Bind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWay of a Rebel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hoofer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to It Takes a Thief
Related ebooks
It Takes a Thief Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Relentless Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKhing and the Magic of Black and White: Book One Ash Makes Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLongspur: Stonebrook and the Judge, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJargo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFolsom on Fire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seeker and The Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Fate: Chronicles of Ylandre, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Village & The Question Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Pecos Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Works of Ambrose Bierce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lion’s Skin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSassaywoo: Trial by Ordeal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHope Chest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Devil's Dictionary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOuta Karel's Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJewel Weed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Short Story Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere the Beast Dwells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSons of Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forest Lovers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crown of Silence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Way of the Pilgrim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Pecos Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tempest: Book One: Tide of Seasons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of the Morning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troyuan Chronicles...Book Six Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Deception in Arizona: A Novel of Suspense Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science Fiction For You
Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oona Out of Order: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: Original 1818 Uncensored Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Light From Uncommon Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firestarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perelandra: (Space Trilogy, Book Two) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tommyknockers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roadside Picnic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for It Takes a Thief
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
It Takes a Thief - Walter M. Miller
https://iOnlineShopping.com
It Takes a Thief
By Walter Miller, Jr.
Strange gods were worshipped on Mars.
But were they so clever? They'd lost their own world.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1952.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The ancient gods, our Fathers, rode down from the heavens in the Firebirds of the Sun. Coming into the world, they found no air for the breath of their souls.
How shall we breathe?" they asked of the Sun. And Sun gave them of His fire and beneath the earth they kindled the Blaze of the Great Wind. Good air roared from the womb of Mars our Mother, the ice burned with a great thunder, and there was air for the breath of Man."
—FROM AN OLD MARTIAN LEGEND
A thief, he was about to die like a thief.
He hung from the post by his wrists. The wan sunlight glistened faintly on his naked back as he waited, eyes tightly closed, lips moving slowly as he pressed his face against the rough wood and stood on tiptoe to relieve the growing ache in his shoulders. When his ankles ached, he hung by the nails that pierced his forearms just above the wrists.
He was young, perhaps in his tenth Marsyear, and his crisp black hair was close-cropped in the fashion of the bachelor who had not yet sired a pup, or not yet admitted that he had. Lithe and sleek, with the quick knotty muscles and slender rawhide limbs of a wild thing, half-fed and hungry with a quick furious hunger that crouched in ambush. His face, though twisted with pain and fright, remained that of a cocky pup.
When he opened his eyes he could see the low hills of Mars, sun-washed and gray-green with trees, trees brought down from the heavens by the Ancient Fathers. But he could also see the executioner in the foreground, sitting spraddle-legged and calm while he chewed a blade of grass and waited. A squat man with a thick face, he occasionally peered at the thief with empty blue eyes—while he casually played mumblety-peg with the bleeding-blade. His stare was blank.
" Are you ready for me, Asir?"
Ready for me yet, Asir?
he grumbled, not unpleasantly.
The knifeman