Rogue Moon

by Algis Budrys

‘What it comes down to is that we need a man who’s attracted by what drives other men to madness. And the more so, the better. A man who’s impassioned by Death.’

‘There’re all kinds of people in this world. But they break down into two main groups, one big and one smaller. There’s the people who get moved out of the way or into line, and then there’s the people who do the moving.

‘There are all kinds of men. The only kind that’re worth anyone’s time are the ones I can’t mangle the first time out.’

‘I’m one kind of man. You’re another.’

Every time she makes a pass at another man, I know she’s comparing. She’s out on the open market, shopping. And being shopped for. I don’t have any collar around her neck. She’s not tame. I’m not a habit to her. I’m not something she’s tied to by any law. And every time she winds up coming back to me, you know what that proves? It proves I’m still the toughest man in the pack.

‘A man should fight, Hawks,’ Barker said, his eyes distant. ‘A man should show he is never afraid to die. He should go into the midst of his enemies, singing his death song, and he should kill or be killed; he must never be afraid to die; he must never be afraid to meet the tests of his manhood. A man who turns his back – who lurks at the edge of the battle, and pushes others in to face his enemies—’ Barker looked suddenly and obviously at Hawks. ‘That’s not a man. That’s some kind of crawling, wriggling thing.’

All of us know better, I think. And yet each of us forgets, now and then.

‘You’re scared of a woman, just like so many of them are.’ ‘Would you blame me?

‘I can’t understand you.’ He smiled gently. ‘Would you like to?’ He blinked. ‘Yes. Very much.’

‘Remember me to her.’