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                              THE HOPLITE

                          By Richard Sheridan

                 They were the mightiest warriors the
                   universe had ever known. All they
                 lacked was----something to live for!

           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
                Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1962.
         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]


Jord awoke to the purr of the ventilators billowing the heavy curtains
at the doorway. Through them, from the corridor, seeped the cold,
realistic, shadowless light that seemed to sap the color from man and
matter and leave only drabness and emptiness.

His eyes were sandy with sleep. He blinked. The optic nerves readied
for sight, pupils focused, retina recorded. The primordial fear o