THE JEWELS OF APTOR

by SAMUEL R. DELANY

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.

The waves flung up against the purple glow

of double sleeplessness. Along the piers

the ships return; but sailing I would go

through double rings of fire, double fears.

So therefore let your bright vaults heave the night

about with ropes of wind and points of light,

and say, as all the rolling stars go, "I

have stood my feet on rock and seen the sky."

CONTENTS

—These are the opening lines from The Galactica, by the one-armed poet Geo, the epic of the conflicts of Leptar and Aptor.

PROLOGUE

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. 

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