Galaxy 1959 10 Text
Galaxy 1959 10 Text
Galaxy 1959 10 Text
THE ACCIDENT
THAT DIDN'T
HAPPEN
by
WILLY LEY
A DEATH
IN THE HOUSE
by
CLIFFORD
D. SIMAK
SOMEONE
TO WATCH
OVER ME
by
CHRISTOPHER
GRIMM
SILENCE
by
JOHN
BRUNNER
And Other Stories
Looking Ahead?
— — » coir ,
IF Science Fiction • 421 Hudson Street • New York 14, New York |
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K*
OCTOBER, 1959
gauxy
V
ll/AI *\ JL VOL. 18, NO. 1
MAGAZINE
Also Published in
Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Finland and Sweden
CONTENTS
NOVELLA
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME by Christopher Grimm 10
NOVELETS
A DEATH IN THE HOUSE by Clifford D. Simak 84
SILENCE by John Brunner 118
WAY UP YONDER by Charles Satterf,eld 162
SHORT STORIES
LAST OF THE MORTICIANS byE.C.Tubb 64
KING OF THE PLANET by Wilson Tucker 104
TRUE SELF by Elisabeth Mann Borgese 151
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
FOR YOUR INFORMATION by Willy Ley 73
The Accident that Didn't Happen
FEATURES
EDITOR'S PAGE byH. L. Gold 6
FORECAST 117
GALAXY'S FIVE STAR SHELF by Floyd C. Gale 146
Printed in the U.S.A. by The Guinn Co., Inc., N. Y. Title Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.
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One look at the contents tells you
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Richard Matheson's One for the
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What?; Mark Clifton's A Woman's
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6 GALAXY
current magazines. But not enough Tascha Lorenz, Beverly Farms,
of our readers are in that predica- Mass.: "Are you the Herbert Gold
ment — as far as we know — to in- that has occasional stories in Play-
duce us to buck newsstand cus- boy Magazine? If so, congratula-
tom.) tions— they're great!" (Aren't they?
John McGowan, no address: "I But I'm Horace, no relation, and I
am enjoying your experimenting don't know the man, only his work,
with your new format" (So are we) which I strenuously admire.)
"and hope that you never settle Fritz Leiber, Chicago, 111.: "Stu-
down to a regular format" (Not a dents! Teachers! Start a science fic-
chance) "and just keep experiment- tion club in your school. Have
ing with various layouts." (Like interesting meetings and meet
this?) people who read science fiction. For
John Buckelew, Rogers, Ark.: information on how to start a club,
"With your bimonthly schedule I write to Science Through Science
think you have hit a new high in Fiction, Box No. 9148, Chicago 90,
quality and I hope you can mantain 111."(The purpose behind this
it." (We can — on a bimonthly needs an entire editorial. Our sur-
schedule. There is some argument veys have shown that nearly every
from individual exceptions to the theoretician and researcher was, as
statistical fact that magazine read- the call above says, led into science
ership turns over every five years through science fiction. These same
or so —
exceptions that we ac- surveys show that science fiction is
knowledge and are thankful for. unknown, or all but, to people in
But can it be disputed that there the practical end of science. Con-
is also an author and artist turnover trary experience, however consid-
— with, of course, the usual per- erable it may seem, is statistically
centage of exceptions and occa- unuseful; job opportunities and mi-
sional returnees? We miss the ones litary service classification far out-
who are gone for good and wish the weigh science fiction in attracting
minds is the proplem. When sci- thank you your part in it. I've
for
ence fiction's role in basic research enclosed a recent copy of the
is officially understood here all Ladle" (official publication N.Y.
youngsters will be systematically State Assn. of Plumbing Contrac-
exposed to it, and then there will tors). "Space-fact rather than sci-
A RE YOU AWARE that you have a technical publications and local news
** personal stake in all the big missile reports.
shots, moon
probes, satellite laonchings, Now that gap has been bridged.
earth-bound space tests being made today? And here's how —
Well, you have. The age of space is
SPACE AGE, a fascinating new maga-
exploding all around us. Government and zine, shows you in plain, non-technical, —
Industry are spending billions in research everyday language and superb illustrations
and exploration so that generations to — what this thrilling new age of space is
come will find a new kind of life in — all — Man
and Science, places and
about
space! Yes, we have already crossed the events, ideas and dreams. SPACE AGE
threshold of thegreatest age in the his- explains clearly and factually, informatively
tory of Manl And yet — and entertainingly, the conquest of space,
Millions Americans actually do not
of Mankind's plunge into a booming new era.
know or understand what it is all about
when a missile or rocket is fired when — MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE
a satellite sends back its mysterious "voice" SPACE AGE is excitingly different from
from space —
when a volunteer enters a anything ever published before and you —
space research test chamber when a new — can try it on a money-back guarantee.
project is announced — what it costs . . . We'll send your first issue at once. If you
Not because they don't want to know don't agree that it is terrific, let us know
but because they are lost somewhere in within 15 days and your money will be
that big gap — informationwise — between refunded in full!
to watch
In the awfulness of
hyperspace,
time.
But it was too late to go back
now. A familiar thought. The com-
10 GALAXY
By CHRISTOPHER GRIMM
12 GALAXY
But she looked at him
just He rolled over on his side, so
levelly. "No, dear, I'm afraid I his body was as far away from
don't remember you," she said. hers as possible. He didn't want
Then a tiny frown gathered on her her to feel the sudden rise of ten-
smooth forehead. "Seems to me I sion in him. Something's got to be
would've, though. When did I meet done about this, he thought. I can't
you?" put up with it now.
"Oh, years ago! I was just a "Why don't you say anything,
kid!" honey?" her anxious voice came
She flushed, and he realized out of the darkness.
he'd been a little tactless. If he was "Will you marry me, Lyddy?"
no kid any more, neither would he said.
she be. Still, she looked as young Hecould hear the intake of her
as she ever had, and he, he knew, breath. "Ask me again in the morn-
looked younger. ing," him wearily. He
she told
He didn't want her
probe fur-to knew what she must be thinking:
ther, so he hastily made an ap- Men who hadn't had a woman for
pointment with her for an even- a long time sometimes did strange
ing later that week. As he left, he things. In the morning, she would
could hear her saying, in a bewil- wake up and he would be gone.
dered voice, "I could've sworn Only, when morning came, he
there was somebody with him was still there. Two weeks later,
when he came in." they were married.
And he quickened his steps.
II
{^JHE had the same room a —
^ warm luxurious chamber, high T YDDY was curious about her
up in the Golden Apple Hotel. I^yd- *-i husband-to-be and kept trying
dy herself was the same, too, just as to find out all about him. Fortu-
he remembered her. nately, in the code of the Far
Afterward, as they lay together Planets, a man's past was his own
in the blackness, she asked, "Can business, he was able to be
so
you in the dark, Captain?" evasive without actually lying to
He was surprised, and then, her. Not that he had any scruples,
thinking about it, not so surprised. about lying; it was simply easier to
"Of course not, no more than you tell as few stories as possible,
can! Whatever made you ask rather than worry about keeping
that?" them straight.
"I— feel like somebody's looking But it was all right to ask about
at me." a man's present. "Do you have
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME 13
anybody, Len? Relations, any- thing Raines, his name was. He
thing like that?" kept staring at Lyddy as
if he had
14 GALAXY
ning their future, decided where way off in the western seas. I'll
they were going to live. "You'll buy you that island, Lyddy. I'll
want a home of your own," he said. build you a villa there — a chateau,
"Otherwise you'll get bored." a castle, whatever you want."
"I'm never bored," said Lyddy. But she shook her golden head.
"But where will we go? I mean "No, nothing like that. I want to
what system?" go to another system. not that It's
16 GALAXY
pleasantly. "This is your first time Mattern thought, amused.
on Erytheia, is it?" As he walked over to the land-
"Yes, my time here."
first ing field where his ship was
"Are you enjoying it?" moored, he was troubled by the
"Well, I dunno exactly." There memory of the boy's voice. Not
was doubt in the boy's blue eyes. that it was familiar — but there
Something in them seemed famil- was the faintest hint of a Far
iar, more familiar than just recog- Planets accent. Provincials as a
nizing one of his own crewmen. He rule didn't go to the terrestrial
had a look of — who? Of Lyddy? space schools, but it was, of course,
But that was absurd. Raines must have had an
possible.
Earth education, because Mattern
HP HE doubt in Raines' face had followed the rule of the Marine
" changed to fear, and Mattern service and never hired a man who
realized that he himself must have didn't have a degree from one of
been just standing there, staring at the space schools. He must look at
him. He laughed. "You're sup- the boy's records as soon as he
posed to enjoy Erytheia; it's a got a chance.
pleasure planet." The Hesperian Queen was not
"Well," the boy said, choosing a small vessel. She
I
was one of the
his words with care, "it's a pretty newest, fastest, most fully auto-
enough place, but it's set up more mated models. Moreover, she was
for people with money. I mean large and she glittered like a dwarf
there's nothing here for fellows star. Lyddy would get a surprise
like me; the pleasure's for the when she came to see the ship.
rich people only. Even the smoke- Mattern greeted the crew mem-
sticks cost almost twice as much ber on watch and went up to his
as anywhere else." luxuriously appointed cabin— suite,
"We'll probably be leaving soon, really. Inside, a chessboard was set
so you'll only have to stick it a up, as its counterpart was set up
while longer." Mattern's hand
little in his hotel room, one side in the
went to his pocket, then fell to his light from a porthole, the other
side as he saw the look on the boy's in a corner full of shadows.
face. If Raines was proud, Mat- The pieces were not only in po-
tern would not offend him by of- but a game had been started.
sition,
fering him money. "Maybe you'll Mattern sat down on the bright
find Burdon more to your liking." side and moved a piece.
"Oh, yes, sir!" The young space- "Lyddy's aware of you," he told
man's face was virtually radiant. the shadows. "She has no idea of
He must have a girl on Burdon, what you are, of course. But she
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME 17
knows you're around, kqyres. She's careless. I am growing old."
half seen you and it's beginning "Anyone can make a slip," Mat-
to bother her. It's beginning to tern said reassuringly. "Just try to
bother me, too." be a little more careful, that's all."
He moved a rook.
ART of the shifting grayness The grayness crept out over the
flowed over the board. When board, touched a bishop, hesitated,
it receded, a knight had changed and moved to a pawn. He is getting
its place. "Truly, I have tried to old, Mattern thought pityingly, as
be careful," a quiet, rather tired he took the pawn. Once I could
voice said out of a darkness at the never beat him. Now I win two
heart of the shadows, an area that games out of three.
was tenuously substant. "Is it cer- "But you are content with the
tain that you yourself have not in woman?" his partner asked anxious-
some way given her cause for sus- ly. "You are not disappointed with
Looking like her didn't mean talk- tiful. But I thought she might not
ing to her. In any case, what would have come up to your expectations.
Raines know that he could tell Reality often falls short of dreams."
her? Silly to be so suspicious. The The shadow's voice tautened.
Golden Apple was one of the few "Has she changed much?"
places in Erytheia City where one "Very little," Mattern said, ab-
could get Earth smokesticks. "No sorbed once more in the game.
one," Mattern repeated. "No one "You'd think only a year or two
at all." had passed. Surprising how women
The patterns shifted and dark- do it."
ened. "Then I must be getting The shadow sighed. "Surprising,"
18 GALAXY
it agreed, its voice relaxing. "But his appearance in this continum
then the female sex is mysterious." would be spared not only those he
chanced to meet, but also himself.
HP HEY played on a while in si- There was always the danger of
•* lence. The kqyres finally spoke. passing a mirror. Knowing how the
"You will need a lot of money to kqyres looked in his own universe,
provide an establishment fitting for knowing how he himself looked in
so lovely a lady." the kqyres' universe, Mattern
"I have a lot of money," Mattern didn't doubt that any revelation
said. "More than enough." would be a frightful one. However,
The kqyres flickered so violently he couldn't help being curious.
that Mattern's eyes hurt. "Not "I still think someone must have
enough for the things she deserves told her where to stare," the shad-
to have. Jewels, palaces, planets . .
."
ow said, "and what for."
"One thing I know would make "Don't be absurd!" Mattern
it a lot more comfortable for her," snapped, outraged at the idea that
Mattern suggested. "If only you his carefully kept secret might not
didn't have to be close to me all the be a secret at all. "Just try to be
time, kqyres. If only you could stay careful when she's around. Vibrate
on the ship even when I'm not there. harder, or something."
Not that I don't enjoy your com- "I shalldo my poor best." The
pany," he added quickly, "but she shadowy one hesitated. "Do you not
seems to be highly strung." think that if perhaps you were to
"Do you think I like the situation tellher the truth -"
any better than you? But this is the "Lord, no!" Mattern exclaimed.
way the mbretersha has ordered it." "She'd take a fit!"
"I suppose she knows what she's "Once you would have
not
doing," Mattern sighed. In any case, spoken of her that way," the kqyres
the mbretersha's orders were abso- said reproachfully.
lute and could not be contravened "I didn't mean it the way it
left the Clytemnestra System. As The year Len was twenty, the
soon as he was satisfied that his Perseus, one of the star freighters
former neighbors were not going to that made the long haul from Cas-
set the law on his trail, he had no tor to Capella, found itself in Fair-
desire to go away. It wasn't place- hurst Station short one deckhand.
liking that kept him; it was dread The man they'd shipped out with
of the Jump. was in jail, waiting to see whether
Most spacemen never do quite a manslaughter or assault charge
get over their dread of the hyper- was going to be lodged against him.
space Jump, but with Len the dread The ship could not afford to wait.
amounted almost to a mania. He The was scoured for a re-
station
was ashamed of the feeling, espe- placement and Len Mattern was
cially since he suspected he'd the best man they could find.
20 GALAXY
Normally the starships did not had the good sense not to admit
take on untrained hands. Even the such a thing to a starship officer —
lowliest crewman was supposed to a man from the
of sophistication
have spent a minimum number of Near Planets, perhaps even Earth
years at the space schools, because herself. Still, spacemen were no-
promotions came from
in theory, all torious myth-spinners. Perhaps he
the ranks, even in the merchant had made a fool of himself, any-
service. But in spite of his lack of way.
training,they offered him the job. But the second officer wasn't
The bigline ships never liked to sail laughing. "Federation law says we
shorthanded; in case of trouble, that should have nothing to do with the
could be a basis for legal action. creatures of hyperspace. If we leave
them alone, they don't bother us."
T EN knew the opportunity of- Itwould have been better if the
-"-i fered officer had laughed at him and said
him was a dazzling one
— not only far more money than there was nothing in hyperspace
he'd ever seen before, but the but space. "Will we see them?"
chance of breaking out of the sys- "Does a ship going through or-
tem. He was afraid though, terribly dinary space see any of us?" the
afraid. "IVe never made the Jump," officer returned. "The creatures of
he told the second officer in a hyperspace live on their own plan-
quavering voice. ets, and we give those planets a
22 GALAXY
awful thing to see, even though they not confined to them. They could
knew it wasn't actually a change, move around freely in the starless
but a shift to another aspect of dusk of their universe. And, if there
themselves. Worse than the seeing was a pact, then they must be intel-
was the feeling. It was like being ligent creatures — though he would
turned inside out, organ by organ have known that anyway, for they
— your heart and your liver and spoke to him. He could hear them
your guts and all the rest, each through the tight walls of the ship
carefully turned inside out, the way — less in his ears than his mind —
a woman takes off her gloves, cajoling, entreating, promising.
smoothing each one with great pre- And he shut his ears and his mind,
cision. The was that it
hellish part because he was afraid.
didn't hurt. A man felt as if he were At the end of the voyage, he was
being twisted and wrenched apart, offered a permanent berth on the
and it didn't hurt, and it was the Perseus. "We don't usually take
wrongness of that more than any- crewmen from the Far Planets,"
thing else that — well, that was why the second officer said thoughtfully.
the pay was so high on the star- "They don't have the training
ships. So many of them went mad. needed. But you're a good deck-
hand."
LL this Len Mattern had heard Len waited tensely, not know-
of and had expected — though ing whether he did want the job
no amount of expectation could or not.
have braced him for that kind of "The universe opening up and
is
lided with something. Then every- large island in the west which was
thingbecame very real. That was said to have a climate better than
what the pact was for — to make spring and summer combined.
sure they didn't collide. Every The atmosphere of Erytheia was
spaceship had, locked in the cap- what they call Earth type — that
tain's cabin, charts of that other is, Man could breathe on it. A very
24 GALAXY
ble and the local life-forms were had a goal before, even such a
small and amiable. But there small one; everything had been
wasn't enough land for the estab- just aimless drifting. He got a tri-di
lishment of a self-supporting col- of her up inside the door
and put it
ony; it would have bred itself into of his locker and was happy
poverty within a few generations. dreaming of her, even if it meant
What else could be done with a being kidded about her by his
small paradise in a remote sector shipmates.
of space but turn it into a high- When he made the next Jump,
class brothel and gambling casino? he knew for certain that the crea-
Only the very rich could afford to tures of hyperspace not only spoke
travel so far to look at scenery, and to him through hismind, but
by the time they reached their could enter it and read it if they
destination, scenery wasn't enough. chose. He felt very naked and vul-
They wanted some excitement. nerable. Why couldn't the others
Naturally, the Perseus would on his ship also see the creatures,
stop at Hesperia. Naturally, Mat- so that he would not be the sole
tern would see Lyddy, who was focus of their attentions?
one of the seven wonders of that "Do what we ask," the hyper-
system. She wasn't too many years spacers — the xhindi, they called
out from Earth then, and he had themselves — said softly, "and you
never dreamed any woman could willhave enough from just a single
be that beautiful. voyage to have her for a week, a
month, a year. Do what we ask
^HE was long-necked and slen- and you can have her for all
^ der, unlike the women of the eternity."
Far Planets, who were mostly "But all I want is just one
squat-built and bred for labor. It night!" he protested.
seemed to him he had seen her And they had laughed, and one
before — in a vision, a dream, who with a honey-sweet mind had said,
knew where? Certainly never in "Is that all you want, really all?"
reality. But he could understand Then they began naming the
why men would travel light-years things a man could want — and
for her. they certainly seemed to have a
The she charged were
prices full knowledge of humanity and its
also astronomical. Still, if he put most secret desires.
away his money carefully, in a Afterward, Len had started to
couple of years he ought to be able think. It would be nice to have
—
i
to save up enough for a night with Lyddy all to himself for a while,
her. It was a goal, and he'd never anyway. It would be nice to be
26 GALAXY
agely upon his Venuswood pipe. out,he realized that he had never
"Look," Len said, "let's not kid done a wiser thing in his life. Un-
ourselves. You're a crook, Pop, but der Len's direction, the Valkyrie
such a lousy crook that you make as a business enterprise was clean-
it look as if crime really doesn't ing up.
pay. And I'll tell you what's wrong Only in relative terms, of course.
with the way you operate. You It took six months, over a dozen
have no organization, no system, voyages, before Len managed to
no imagination. I have 'em all. You save enough for that night with
contribute the ship; I'll contribute Lyddy. And every time he made
my know-how. Together, we'll the Jump in the Valkyrie, the hy-
make a fortune." perspacers told him, "One night
"Modest, aren't you?' the old won't be enough," and the honey-
man jeered. "What kind of know- minded one had insisted, "You
how do you get working as a deck- must want more than that. You
hand on a starboat? All right, may- must. Who could be satisfied with
be you're the universe's best metal so little?"
— "
polisher, but
"Look, Pop," Len interrupted, TTMNALLY, the night came. It
"I'll make a deal with you. We • was wonderful, it was ecstasy,
work together for a year. If you it was everything he had dreamed
don't pull in at least three times of — but it was too short. "Good-
the amount you got before, as just by, honey," Lyddy said as he left,
your share, my half of the ship re- "come back and see me again."
verts to you. What could be fairer "When you have some more
than that?" money," she meant. And it was all
Schiemann still wasn't con- over.
vinced that he was not being For her, not for him. He
found
played for a sucker. Being what he couldn't get her out of his mind.
he was, he could never expose him- One night was not enough. The
self to a court battle, no matter xhindi had been right. Now he
how much justice might be on his wanted her for his own, for the
side in a particular instance. But rest of his life if not for all eternity.
28 GALAXY
"What do you think you're doing?" practically secure the way
you've
"Leaving," Len said. "I'm sick got things running for us, almost
of small-time operations." like we were honest businessmen.
"Leaving me? Just like that? So why go looking for trouble?"
Does our friendship mean nothing "If I'd wanted a quiet life," Len
at all to you?" said, "I'd have stuck with the
"Sure it does," Len told him. Perseus. So don't sing me security."
"When I get a chance, I'll write." The hand that held the pipe was
The old man's face crumpled. trembling. "Look, Lennie, at least
"Look, Lennie, if we did move give metime to think."
into one of the more important "Okay," Len said. He was, in
sectors, maybe — •»
his way, fond of the old man, but
"You know we wouldn't have a there were bigger things at stake.
chance there," Len said harshly, to He had tohave Lyddy; he had to
conceal his true emotions. "The have money; he had to have . . .
30 GALAXY
ance, but he had seen them in conditioning back on Earth's space
their monster guises before. The schools had ensured That was this.
coal changed to something pale the real reason for the schools; any
and glittering, but not diamonds. actual training was incidental. But
Everything remained quiet. The Schiemann knew the creatures
ship's instruments recorded no were there, and so he could sense
temperature change, but it seemed them. And Balas, too, certainly
to grow colder and colder inside seemed to sense something as he
her. stood there, tense and wary and
Suddenly,Mattern knew the almost understanding. It must be
truth. A trap had been laid for even worse, Len thought, to know
him, and he had tumbled neatly the hyperspacers were out there
into it And the most shameful and not be able to see them.
part was that his own desires and "We — we can still go back,"
yearnings — deliberately fostered Schiemann said in a cracked voice;
by the xhindi — had been the bait. apparently the minds outside had
He wanted to turn to the horri- not touched his. "Please, Len-
»
ble thing that Schiemann had be- nie . .
— horror chilled him all over "I can't," Len said. "Even if I
again. He could almost feel the wanted to, I couldn't. It's too late,
molecules inside his body slow now that we've stopped."
down as his viscera quivered He
forced out the words, against
faintly and then froze into still- objections that seemed to come
ness. from outside him — not objections
He looked at Schiemann and to Schiemann's knowing the truth,
Balas. Neither of them could, he but to his own admission of it.
scious all the time that, if Balas find was the monstrous form re-
were merely stunned, the problem flected in the mirror of his own
would be merely postponed. He cabin.
lifted the axe and brought it down. He was no longer laughing, he
And then Mattern was alone, the noticed; the fit was over. And so,
only human being in an alien he sensed, was the anxiety outside.
space and an alien time, locked In some way, he had passed a test.
in this ship with the drifting white
dust that had been his friend, and T
was then that the xhindi be-
the bleeding corpse that had been gan to speak to him through
— no, not his enemy, but his friend the hull of the ship, urging him to
also,and who had, only minutes come out. "You have come so far,"
after death, already begun to they "and time is a precious
said,
haunt him. It was then that Mat- and a dangerous commodity. We
tern remembered the other man cannot afford to waste it, either
he had killed in the same way. of us."
Karl Brodek had never haunted He did not— could not— respond.
him, but that was because Len They have forced him
could
knew the killing was justified — it out, but they were kind — or per-
was retribution, not murder. For haps only wise. They simply
Len had seen Brodek kill his coaxed and waited. After a while,
mother, not all at once, but little moving stiffly, as if he had cogs in-
by was her face that
little. It stead of a heart, he opened the
stayed with him always, her blue airlock and went outside. He set
eyes and her sweet voice. She'd foot on the dark polished surface
been the only one he ever had, of Ferr. But there was no thrill of
really — the brother had been strangeness or of triumph or anti-
nothing but a wailing blob of pro- cipation. There was nothing.
. . .
toplasm — and then Schiemann, His physical senses were all oper-
a little. Now he was more alone ating. He knew there was neither
than he'd been in all of his solitary gravity nor lack of it. He knew
life. there was no atmosphere — and he
He knew that the eerie crea- accepted that, not because he ac-
tures outside meant him no harm, cepted the xhindi's word that he
but would have liked to comfort would not need to breathe in this
him they could. That made it
if continuum, but because he didn't
worse rather than better. If only care whether or not he breathed;
there were some tangible enemy he didn't care about anything.
34 GALAXY
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME 35
"Come," the xhindi said, in aud- fancied that hers had been one of
ible words now, and their spoken the minds that had spoken to him,
voices were as sweet as their mind the most persuasive of the cajoling
voices. creatures that had sung him their
Hefound himself moving as siren songs ashe flashed transistor-
through a nightmare, as he pro- ily through their universe. But, he
ceeded according to their direct- thought dully, that was impossible.
ions, and the xhindi themselves, She was the mbretersha, the queen.
with their monstrous grace and She read his thoughts, and the
musical voices, were a logical part pattern of her appearance altered
of the black ballet in which he subtly. Itwas a warm and kind
found himself participating. expression of herself; it was a
The dignitaries of Ferr, a fan- smile. "You must learn, Mattern,
tasy procession in moonlit
the that the concept of a ruler in this
colors of hell — smoke and flame universe differs from the concept
and shadow — came
to greet him in yours. Here a ruler is the ser-
and to lead him to the mbretersha. vant of her people, not their mas-
She glittered splendidly upon her ter. It is her obligation to take
36 GALAXY
greatest good of the majority, and because had previously engaged
it
38 GALAXY
"Because your kqyres will make have no fear," he added with
sure that you do." The tall, splen- sigh. "I have been through all this
40 GALAXY
get himself a sizable bankroll be- Len was silent. He knew the
fore going after Lyddy, so he'd kqyres couldn't understand human
never have to share her again. concepts of beauty; he had taken
Otherwise it would be back and Len's own word that the young
forth,back and forth, until it sent man wasn't much of a specimen,
him off his mental course. that his body and his teeth were
crooked and his skin bad, his
as soon as he disposed of the vision defective and his hair drab.
SO,
he went back with an-
gold, Lyddy deserved something bet-
other cargo, and then another. ter than that; Len knew it himself.
Waiting for Lyddy wasn't as bad Even if she would go with him
as he thought it would be, be- for sake of the money,
the it
42 GALAXY
plete, not only for the xhind but expenses of a planet on the other.
for himself. The thought impressed him. J am,
When his leg and his teeth had in a sense, equal to the mbretersha,
been fixed, "Why stop at that?" he thought, and she is a monarch.
the kqyres asked. "If it had not As a he walked a little more
result,
been for the way that stepfather erect than even the operations had
of yours treated you as a child—" rendered him.
for Len had found himself telling The dangers of his trade grew
his companion not only about Lyd- less and less frightening as he
dy but about everything — "you came to know his way between
would be a fine-looking man to- the universes, even though, at the
day. It would be no difficult task same time, he began to realize
to have you restored to what you how great those dangers were. He
should rightfully be." had not conceived of their im-
mensity before. The reason there
"1%/r ATTERN would not, of were asteroid belts in so many of
J-^-"-
course, do such a thing out the solar systems, he learned now,
of vanity.But the more present- was that the xhindi had traded
able he made himself, the more he with other intelligent races in ear-
would be offering Lyddy. So it lier eras, and there had been ac-
would be worth the extra time, cidents. Those races were now ex-
especially since he could spend tinct
somuch of it on Earth. Lyddy had The xhindi themselves ceased
come from Earth; it would be a to be monstrous in his eyes. He
bond between them later. grew to accept their appearance as
Doctors and cosmetologists got perfectly natural in their universe.
to work on him. Each treatment Toward the kqyres, he came to
seemed to be lengthier than the feel something of what he had felt
preceding one, and more expen- toward Schiemann, except that
sive. He could, however, easily af- where Schiemann had looked up
ford it —
he had to do was
all to him and relied on him, he
make more trips. The kqyres not found himself increasingly depen-
only told him what cargoes to take dent on Njeri. He told him all
but advised him on the invest- his hopes and ambitions, and the
ments to make with his profits. kqyres listened attentively. Mat-
They did very well together. As tern tried to explain to him how
far as Mattern was concerned, he himself felt about Lyddy, and
they did fabulously well, because the kqyres tried to understand.
he had to make enough on his The kqyres taught Mattern how
side to counterbalance the entire to play chess. "But that's our
w
mirror.
HEN
over,
He
treatments
the
Mattern looked
was straight; he was
were
in a
pany. Sometimes I even forget
you are a human."
Mattern could not speak; he
handsome. His skin was clear, his was so overwhelmed by the tribute.
eyes bright. He
looked less than "The passage of time disclosed
his age. Now he could go back to to me were sensitivi-
that there
Lyddy, assured that most women ties and perceptions beneath that
would find his physical appear- — forgive me, but we know how
ance more than acceptable. misleading first impressions can
But he found himself hesitat- be — boorish exterior. The very
ing.Only his physical appearance fact that you are conscious of your
would be truly acceptable. There own you
deficiencies proves that
was something still lacking in him. are more than the mere clod you
His body was right, but the way still, on occasion, seem to be—"
44 GALAXY
waited so long, she can wait a little starshipswere developed. Finally,
longer. Things worth having are he outbid the Federation Govern-
worth waiting for." ment itself for plans of the latest-
Under Njeri's tutelage, Mattern model spacecraft. When the gov-
cultivated the arts and the ameni- ernment protested, he graciously
As he used his ship for a per-
ties. gave them copies free of all charge.
manent residence, it was there that "I merely wanted to be sure that
he housed his growing collection I had the best ship available," he
of costly rare objects of art, and explained. "I have no objection to
his library, notable for its first edi- your having it also. But I knew
tions — not only of tapes, but of that you could not afford to be as
books. His uniforms were cut by generous as I can."
the best terrestrial tailors and he He never had more than one
took kinescope courses in the lib- ship, because it was too dangerous
eral arts and social forms from the to run more than one cargo at a
outstanding universities of Earth. time. His crew was always as
The provincial twang vanished small in number as possible. He
from his speech; he developed a would have preferred none at all;
taste for wine and conversation. actually, all spaceships could run
Nobody, seeing him, could ever themselves, for the controls were
have fancied him once a poor wiz- completely automatic. But regu-
ened space rat. lations said there had to be a
crew, both for the sake of "face"
S the years went by, he grew — many extraterrestrials couldn't
to become as much of a ruler seem to recognize the authority
in his way as the mbretersha in of machines — and because a pow-
hers. She ruled one planet, he told er failure was not inconceivable.
himself, but he had a business em- So the Hesperian Queen carried
pire farflung over many planets — four men. And, whenever she
all of which, to some extent, he made the Jump
through hyper-
did rule through his investments. space, even the crew — though
He would have worlds to lay at conditioned on Earth — was
Lyddy's feet now, he thought com- drugged. Mattern carried on alone.
placently. No man could offer any And if, when the crewmen awak-
woman more. ened, they found that a day had
The first Hesperian Queen didn't passedwhen only an hour should
have a chance to last out his life- have gone by, they knew better
time; he kept trading her in for than to ask questions.
another and yet another model, So the years went by — busy,
as better, faster, more luxurious pleasant, profitable years. The
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME 45
image of Lyddy was always before that a little thing like that would
him, inspiring him to further ef- stop me?"
forts. Someday soon I will go back "She may have lost her beauty,"
to her, he would tell himself. On the kqyres said. "She may have
his latest birthday, he looked in left Hesperia. She may have suf-
46 GALAXY
a lady to live permanently on a He told the kqyres: "I've been
spaceship." thinking of taking Lyddy to Bur-
"I will build her a house." don. She might find distractions
"Will it not show her how care- there that will take her mind off
fully you have prepared for her if, — things it shouldn't be on. What
first, you build her a palace do you think of the idea?"
worthy—" "I cannot tell," the kqyres re-
"I have no time to build pal- plied doubtfully. "I have a curious
i
feeling ..."
"There is a tiny planet that cir- "That what?" Mattern prompted
cles the dim sun you call Van him anxiously. It was the first time
Maanen's star," the alien persisted. he had seen the kqyres definitely
"It is always twilight there. The at a loss, although it had seemed
beings who on that planet
live to him of recent months that the
build crystal towers miles high and xhind's assurance was beginning
as fragile as spun glass, in dusk to ebb.
colors the rainbow never dreamed ". . . that I am getting too old
of." for my work," the kqyres finished.
"If she wants a crystal tower, "Nonsense!" Mattern cried. The
I will have one built for her. But kqyres was his tower of strength;
first I will ask her." he would not conceive of any
"Very well," the kqyres sighed, weakness in him. It would mean
"since nothing else will satisfy you, that he would be forced to rely
let us return and fetch her." upon himself. And yet, he thought,
And when they got to Erytheia / am certainly old and experi-
City, Lyddy was still there, not enced enough by now to begin re-
only unmarried, but — in spite of lying upon myself. In fact, I'm
all the years — unchanged. getting a little old and tired, too.
"You know," he said to his part-
VII ner, "maybe we both ought to re-
tire."
ND now Mattern had been "What do you mean?"
her husband for several "You've been at this long
months. He had begun to know enough and I've got all the money
her, and he realized that she I want. We can see each other
could never be let known the sometimes; no reason why I
truth about his life and his work. couldn't go into hyperspace just
She would be frightened, and, if to visit."
there was any emotion left over The kqyres paled to pearl.
in her, angry. "Now that you have Lyddy, you
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME 47
don't want anything else at all?" records flashed up at him. At first
"Now that I have Lyddy, what they seemed to be in order: Alard
else is there to want?" Raines, aged twenty-five, educated
The kqyres flickered anxious- on Earth, well and good. But born
ly. "But the mbretersha has com- on Earth Mattern was almost
. . .
%
"
manded— positive that could never have
Mattern "Her com-
smiled. been, not from the way the young
mands don't hold good in this uni- man spoke. And one false state-
verse. You know that. When I was ment meant that the whole record
a kid, she could fool me into be- was false.
lieving she had a hold over me. However, he could not chal-
But the hold is a psychological one; lenge the discrepancy before they
that's the only thing that could left for Capella. If he spoke to
carry over from universe to uni- Raines, he'd probably have to dis-
verse. And I'm strong enough to miss him then and there. It would
break it now." be difficult to find a suitable re-
Although he was not quite seri- placement in Erytheia City. He
ous, it might be, he thought, that might have to send for someone
the hyperspace trade and the trips from Earth, which would take
to Ferr had spoiled him for every- months, perhaps a year. First he'd
day life, made him too restless for take the Queen to Burdon, he de-
the mundanities of any world. And cided, and then he would fire
it was time for him to settle down Raines.
now.
He let the kqyres win the game, IVTEARLY went by
three weeks
and then he stood up. "I'd better •*- ^ before they could leave. Mat-
start getting things ready for the tern found himself looking forward
trip to Burdon." with some impatience to Burdon.
"You've definitely decided to When Lyddy had a house of her
go?" own that she could take an in-
"Yes," Mattern said, pleased terest he told himself, things
in,
48 GALAXY
"Yes, honey," she said, with a Lyddy didn't turn from the
strange lack of interest. She didn't jeweled dressing table he'd had
even seem surprised at the size especially installed for her. "Which
of the ship. Underneath her elab- one?" she asked.
orate makeup, she was pale; her "Young Raines. Do you know
body was trembling. She saw that which he is?"
an explanation was necessary. "It's "Yes." She paused. "There's only
been so long since I made the one young one. Why are you wor-
Jump. Silly of me to be so nervous, ried about him? Do you think he's
but you do hear things about hy- sick or something?" But that was
»
perspace . . . the question she should have asked
"You're safer in my ship than before asking the man's identity.
anywhere else." Mattern let a moment elapse,
"Yes, I know." Was she merely then said, "His papers appear to
expressing trust in him, or was be forged."
there more words than that?
to her He glanced at the reflection of
At first he was just vaguely sus- her face, but it held neither relief
picious. Then, the second day out, nor fear, merely its usual sweet
he noticed that Lyddy and Raines emptiness. "Maybe he needed a
seemed to be together a good deal job real bad," she said.
more of the time than chance "Maybe," her husband agreed,
would account for, and his sus- "but why use forged papers?"
picions secured a focus. The two "He might of gotten into some
had some kind of unspoken under- kind of trouble — you know how
standing, he thought, watching boys are."
them as much
out of curiosity as "I'd hardly care to employ the
anger. J have become chilled with kind of spaceman who gets into
the years of alien company, he trouble serious enough for him to
thought. / am incapable of true lose his papers. You have to do
passion; perhaps that is what something pretty drastic to get
she seeks in another. them taken away, you know."
But, though he might find ex- She said nothing.
cuses for her, he would not con- *
done her. A bargain was a bargain. TTE went on, "What I'm begin-
At the end week, he
of the first -" ning to suspect that he isn't
is
Her face was pale, but why just would be easily solved, but what
now? He wondered just what of the others?
Raines had told her — how much He went to play chess with the
the boy actually knew. Naturally kqyres. "I trust you have got over
there could be only one possible your whimsical notion to retire,"
reason he had chosen Lyddy as the xhind said hopefully.
his confidante. "No," Len told him maliciously,
«T»
"There's something between you I've practically made up my mind
and Raines, isn't there?" he asked. to quit.There doesn't seem to be
There was a slight delay. Then any point to it any more."
her laughter shrilled through the "The woman has changed!
cabin. "Don't be silly, hon; I hardly That's the whole trouble, isn't it?
know the man! All I've done was Even though it's not apparent, in
speak to him a couple of times!" some way she has changed?"
She got up and put her soft arms "No," Len said again, "she hasn't
around her husband. "You're jeal- changed at all. In fact, I think
ous, Len," she said, and there was that's what the trouble is. She
complacency mixed with the fright hasn't changed, but / have."
in her eyes. "I never thought of that," the
He felt a pang of but
disgust, kqyres confessed.
tried not to let it show. Gently, he
put her away from him. HPHE night of the Jump, Mat-
"But that's so silly," she mur- * tern turned in at the kqyres'
mured. "How could I prefer a suggestion. "For once, your men
dumb pimply kid to you?" can take care of the ship," the
50 GALAXY
xhind said, "since there will be way when he saw there was no
no trading stop." Lyddy would be need for privacy. "Where are the
drugged, but Mattern would not other crewmen?"
need drugs, for hyperspace held "Asleep," Raines said. "Drugged.
no more horrors for him. Or so he As usual. Who
do you think you're
thought. fooling, anyway?"
But that night he was awak- Mattern was too disturbed at
ened by the sound of a screaming the news to take notice of the
so hideous that, he hadn't known
if boy's manner. "But they weren't
voices don't change during the hy- supposed to be drugged this trip!
perjump, he would be tempted to And who's in charge then? You?*'
think it was one result of the law Raines flushed and struggled to
of mutability — so monstrous were pronounce the word he wanted to
these shrill, worse-than-animal
'
use in return. 'Your kek — kqyres,
cries. I'd say, is in charge. Like he al-
ways has been," he concluded tri-
52 GALAXY
it himself. He looked at the crew- anything about it. They say he
man. deserved what he got."
"One would almost think you
told my wife because you wanted Tt/f ATTERN sighed, knowing
her to me," he suggested.
tell
*-" now who the young man was.
"That's ridiculous!" Alard His brother. Another responsi-
flashed. "I may be a fool, but not bility, another vain tie. "How do
that much of a fool!" you know, he didn't deserve what
"Why are you on my ship with he got?" Mattern asked.
forged papers then?" Mattern de- Suddenly Alard grew shy. He
manded. lowered his eyes to the rug again.
"I wanted — I wanted to bring "Because / didn't deserve what /
you to justice." got."
"By committing a crime your- And Mattern thought,
there,
self? Surely a roundabout way. Alard had him. Whatever the boy
And why have you taken it upon was now, he certainly had not de-
yourself to help rid humanity of served what he'd got then. But I
me?" was only sixteen, Mattern argued
'Why shouldn't I?" Alard asked. with himself; how could I have
"I'm a human being; isn't that been held responsible? And then
enough? But, as a matter of fact, he told himself, You haven't been
that wasn't the reason I came to sixteen for twenty-four years.
your ship. I only found out later "I thought one of the women
what you were doing." in the village would have adopted
Mattern waited patiently. you," he said.
"You killed my father!" the boy "One of 'em did. They took me
burst out. And
then tension away from her after she beat me
seemed to ebb from him, as if the so hard she practically killed me.
worst had happened. "So now you Every little thing I did wrong, she
know who I am!" said was the bad blood coming
it
Mattern picked his words deli- out in me, and beat me so hard
cately. "If you have proof that I the blood did come. I went from
murdered your father, why don't one family to another, but nobody
you prosecute? There's no statute really wanted me." His voice
of limitation on murder on any cracked wide across. "You don't
of the planets. Or don't you have know what it's like to grow up
proof?" with nobody caring for you!"
Alard's voice broke slightly. "It so happens I do," Mattern
"Everybody on Fairhurst knows said, "but I can't expect you to be-
you killed him, but they won't do lieve me."
54 GALAXY
Alard looked away from her, body to do that much for me. All
met his brother's eye, and dropped I wanted were nice things and
his gaze to the rug, without deny- somebody to take care of me and
ing the impeachment. maybe love me. I never wanted to
Mattern exhaled smoke. "All have the whole universe risked for
right, you had a grudge against me." Her voice broke on the
me, but what did you have against truth. "Nobody's worth all that!"
her? If you were using her to get She was right, he thought —
back at me, then I think you have being given too much can be worse
no cause to reproach me for any- than being given too little. The
thing I did. Maybe your foster- words spilled out of her; he'd been
mother was right; there is bad so disenchanted by her stupidity
blood in the family." that he gave her credit for less un-
The young spaceman was still derstanding than she did have.
silent. "You wouldn't've been able to
Lyddy her head. There
lifted wait fifteen-sixteen years for me
was resolution on her tear-smudged if you really loved me. But you
face. "I'm going to leave you, Len! were happy the way you were —
I can't go on living with a man you and that extraterrestrial of
who does the awful, evil, unnatural yours. All you wanted was to
things you do . .
." Her voice dream about me. You were a fool
petered out as her vocabulary ever to have come back for me;
proved unequal to her emotions. you shoulda stuck with your
Poor Lyddy, he thought. And then, dreams."
Poor Len, with emotions unequal
to his vocabulary. A ND again, he knew, she was
"Everything I did, I did for ^*- right. He felt very tired and
your sake, Lyddy," he told her empty, the way he'd felt after
softly, but no longer with any hope Schiemann and Balas had died, as
of her comprehension. "It was be- if nothing mattered any more. He
cause I was poor and couldn't af- didn't argue with her.
ford your love that I went into "What would you do if you left
hyperspace." He couldn't help me, Lyddy?" he asked gently.
adding, "Doesn't it mean anything can always — " she swallowed
"I
to you that whole uni-
I risked a — "go back to my old job, I guess."
verse for your sake, and that now Alard gave an exclamation of
I have worlds to offer you?" horror, and Mattern agreed in his
"Don't put the blame on me, mind that that solution would
Len Mattern!" Angry tears stood never do. Beyond a doubt, she
in her eyes. "I never wanted any- was his responsibility. And so was
56 GALAXY
"
58 GALAXY
got up and linked her arm in He didn't need a woman; it would
Alard's. "You'll take good care of be wrong for him to expect a
me, won't you, hon?" woman to live with the kqyres,
But it was to his brother that even unwittingly. Love was for
Alard spoke. "I'll take good care the very young; he had his work.
of her," he promised, his voice And now that he was free of all
thick with an emotion that was these vexing human
entanglements,
one part sentiment, one part resig- he'd be able to take hold of the
nation. business the way he should have
Mattern said. "I
"Splendid," been doing all along. The kqyres
wouldn't want her to be cast adrift. was getting old; it was time to
She knows so little of any of the assume the details of management
worlds outside her own restricted himself. There were quite a few
sphere." areas of operation which could be-
"Sure," Alard replied miserably, come even more productive if the
"I understand. do my best."
I'll business was thoroughly reorgan-
Mattern got up and put out his ized.
hand and, after a little hesitation, Mattern went up to the control
Alard took it. room. The kqyres was there, which
"I hope time you'll come to
in was not his usual place. Perhaps
forgive me," Mattern said, "and Alard had been right when he said
that your hatred will dwindle into it was Njeri who had drugged the
60 GALAXY
"
What actually did happen is that any more trips," he said. Although
Njeri told you I was quitting the he had not been serious about re-
business and he couldn't control tiring — he knew that now — he
me any more. So you took his wasn't going to let the hyper-
place to see if you could change spacers push him around. Make
my mind." her sweat a little, he thought ir-
"Oh, that was a mere plea- reverently.
santry!"she said. "I knew you "Will you not give me a chance,
would not give up the hyperspace Captain?" she asked. "Is the pros-
trade. What else would you have pect of my company so displeasing
left?" to you that it will make you give
What else would he have left? up the business immediately?"
His money, his collections, his un- "You know it's not that. I told
pleasant memories. All his emo- the kqyres before you came —
tional ties now were with that "But my people won't know it's
other universe. not that. I shall lose face."
"Who's ruling Ferr?" he asked, "If only you had a face!" he
evading her question. cried. "I'm sick of sailing with
"Lord Njeri, your former kqyres, shadows!"
serves as my regent. He is my "My form in your universe is
"Moreover," she continued, "I with you, but that's all I'll prom-
have organized the whole govern- lse."
H E
tions
held his breath as the vibra-
began to slow down, the
was monstrous, Mattern," the
mbretersha went on, in the sweet
grays shimmering into substance, voice which suited her now, "be-
taking on all the colors of the rain- cause thought you and your kind
I
bow and then flowing into one were, though forms of our race,
basic roseate hue. Bit by bit, the monstrous forms — not only with-
planes and shapes began to co- out beauty, but without dignity or
alesce into the shape of . . . intelligence or compassion."
A woman. The most beautiful "Maybe you were right," he
woman he had ever seen. A woman said.
next to whom even the dream of "But since I have learned to
Lyddy paled into thin air. know you and to — like you, I
And, momentarily, he became have come to realize that outward
the Len Mattern of fifteen years semblances are meaningless. I
back, standing there with his mouth may appear one way in your uni-
agape. "But you said you'd be a verse, another way in mine, but I
monster . • am the same I. If there is beauty
"To my people, Mattern," she —" and she gave what, in a lesser
smiled, "this form is as monstrous personage, would have been almost
as ours your people. You
is to a giggle — an inner beauty."
"it is
change into our doubles in hyper- Mattern could not agree with
space; we change into yours in this premise. Although he had ad-
normspace. Had you kept the con- mired the mbretersha on Ferr, he
we have,
tinuity of tradition that felt quite differently toward her
you would know what we have al- now, and because of no suddenly
ways known — that xhind and hu- discovered inner beauty.
man are different aspects of the "You'll stay this way in this uni-
same race. That is why you fear verse then?" he asked. "It makes
us, and we do not fear you." it so much more comfortable for
62 GALAXY
"As my
shipmate," Mattern fin- TV/I ATTERN was happy with
ished, "my kqyres. I have already •*- A the mbretersha, for she knew
done so." how to satisfy a man's every
"Not merely as your shipmate." dream as well as his desires, and
"As my — wife?" he blurted, of course, being the kqyres, she
wondering whether he was reading was the only woman who would
her mind or whether she was pro- not be disturbed by the presence
jecting so forcibly into his that he of one on board. Moreover, she
merely spoke her thoughts for her. was a woman for whom a universe
She nodded. could be risked, a woman to whom
To be chained again, after this worlds could be offered — in short,
brief moment of freedom! He just as he was the only man
wanted her, right enough, and he worthy of her, so she was the only
was delighted to have her for his woman worthy of him.
partner, his companion, but he But sometimes he fancied that
saw no need for formal commit- the mbretersha's blue eyes had the
ments between them. same haunting familiarity that he
"You're the mbretersha," he pro- had seen in Lyddy's and Alard's,
tested, "the queen. It wouldn't be and he wondered. Alard's had been
right for you to marry a com- explicable enough; he and Mattern
moner!" had had the same mother. But
<<
"And you," she retorted, why should Lyddy also have his
one of nature's own noblemen, and, mother's eyes — and, stranger still,
hence, a fitting consort for me. why should the mbretersha?
There is no one in either universe Len could not help wondering
whom I could marry without whether, to create the ideal fan-
lowering she explained,
myself," tasy, the ultimate carrot, the xhindi
"so I might as well wed where had reached far back in his mind
there is a basis of respect, of ad- to get the earliest — and thus the
miration, and, to be sure, expedi- most fundamental — illusion of
ency." beauty for him. Could both Lyddy
"But — our ceremony
but and the mbretersha have been de-
wouldn't be valid in your universe, liberately modeled on his mother,
would it?" he spluttered wildly. and was the mbretersha's form in
V
"And your ceremony -
normspace merely whatever she
"We will have two ceremonies, chose it to be — or appear to be?
Mattern, one in each universe." Oh, well, he thought, perhaps an
This, he could see in alarm, was artful illusion is the truest form of
going to be a truly lasting mar- reality.
riage. CHRISTOPHER GRIMM
Illustrated by JOHNSON
64 GALAXY
"if the Silver Streak jumped the "A hearse and fifteen cars," said
rails at Morgan's Crossing." Luke. "Limousines, big, black and
The Silver Streak carried 3,000 dignified."
passengers and Morgan's Crossing "A hand-carved mahogany cas-
was five miles closer to Centre ket with red silk lining and solid
Forks than Old Candy. silver hardware."
Both men sighed longingly at "Calla lilies," said Luke. "A
the prospect. truckload of and the
tributes
Across the street, the doors of 'Death March' from Saul"
Sam's Tavern flapped open and "Not Saul" protested Ephraim.
Joe Weston, the town drunk, stag- "Too depressing."
gered blearily onto the sidewalk. "Maybe you're right." Luke had
A car, a blur of red and green, his own ideas, but it was too hot
came ghosting down
the street as to argue with his ex-rival turned
he stepped onto the pavement. partner. He scowled as the dream
Taking a sight on the glaring patch faded. "The guy I'd like to bury,"
of color which was the public TV he said savagely, "is that Ambas-
screen, Joe weaved his way to- sador What's-his-name."
ward it. Both Ephraim and Luke "Sigk Gesligk." The name was
tensed as the path of the car and written on Ephraim's heart. "From
the path of the drunk coincided. Rigel," he added.
"Perhaps?" Ephraim was an "That's the one." Luke's scowl
optimist. deepened. "For him, I'd supply
"No such luck." Luke was a a split-pine box full of splinters."
pessimist, and Luke was right. "Cut small," agreed Ephraim.
"Without lining."
1
1 ^ HE snatch-field, as always, "Galvanized handles and no
operated with its usual efficien- flowers."
cy. The car hummed on. The "No embalming and no mutes."
drunk, picking himself up from "No mutes, mourners or music."
where the field had deposited him, "Planted in unhallowed ground."
staggered wildly for a moment be- "The bum," said Luke.
fore getting his bearings, then Which was rather an odd way
lunged back across the street. The to talk about the greatest bene-
flap of the tavern doors was factor the human race had ever
echoed by Ephraim's sigh of dis- known.
appointment.
"What this town needs," he said OROGRESS is relentless; some-
with deep conviction, "is a good, *- one always has to go to the
first-class funeral." wall, but that someone can't be
they had first discussed the idea "Maybe not." Ephraim didn't
of amalgamation. "What with the like to admit it. "Maybe it's just
snatch-fields and other gimmicks a recession. Maybe there'll be a
to save fools from their folly, ac- plague or something."
cidents just don't happen now." "Not a chance." Luke sounded
"Suicide?" Ephraim had men- bitter. "We've hung on to the last,
tioned the good old reliable stand- Ephraim, but now we're finished.
by. There's nothing left but for us to
Luke had shaken his head. "Peo- sell out and get jobs in a food
ple don't get depressed now," he factory."
66 GALAXY
The S-F anthology with the
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Edited by H. L. Gold
Another great collection for every S-F
bookshelf— fifteen choice stories among
the best published in Galaxy in the
past few years. Humor, new worlds,
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*V. KIRKUS, prominent
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i INAMIS *•>••»••»»•• •• • • •
ADDRESS • •
• • •
i MESSAGE . . . • •
^ ^Sge
e («P
M iii« t0
• #•••*« *••••
i 9 •
67
~|T was hard, but it had to be "What's on your mind?" Eph-
-- even Ephraim had to
faced; raim was beginning to regret he'd
agree that waiting for a plague was ever thought of the idea.
"T>,
a forlorn hope. His sigh sounded I've got an idea." Luke nodded
like a jet liner passing overhead. his head thoughtfully as the de-
"I guess you're right, Luke," he tails fell into place. "We'll have
said dispiritedly. "But it's a pity. our funeral, but we'll do it right.
I'd liked to have had one really As far as anyone will know, there'll
first-class funeral before the end." be a real body. That means they
A thought brightened his eye. will treat with respect, so we
it
"Whynot?"
"It's symbolic, sure, but the AS a funeral, was a colossal
it
68 GALAXY
LAST OF THE MORTICIANS 69
who had known some-
seen him or TIE added figures, doubled the
one who had known him had fol- -"--*- amount, looked at it sidewise
lowed the casket in a determined and then rounded off the figure.
effort to get into the act. "We'll have to disinter the doll
Death was so rare as to create afterward, of course, but I've al-
headlines and Luke, by virtue of a lowed for that."
third cousin connected with ad- "I don't get it," said Ephraim.
vertising,had done a good job on "That ceremony out there was to
the publicity. Every hotel in town symbolically bury the profession.
had been booked solid. Every A clean, decent ending to an hon-
house with a spare bedroom had ored trade. Now you're talking
coined money. TV had covered about pandering to a rich kid's
the event on a worldwide network whim. I thought we'd quit."
and even a delegation of Rigelians, "That was before we got the
Regans and other assorted mem- orders."
bers of the Galactic Civilization "It's not ethical."
had come to see the fun. "It's money in the bank," re-
Centre Forks had had a field minded Luke.
day. "Money isn't everything," said
"Fifteen orders," gloated Luke. Ephraim piously. "I refuse to
"From Mrs. Homer's little girl, prostitute my art."
who wants us to inter her favorite "You've already done that. Re-
doll, to Fred Easterby, who wants member Mrs. Chadwell's dog?"
us to plant his appendix. He's got "That was a living thing which
it in a jar for some reason and had passed to its rest," said Eph-
now he wants it given decent raim. "Such interments were recog-
burial." nized by the profession before
"Now
wait a minute." Ephraim Sigk Gesligk stabbed us in the
rubbed his sore cheeks. He'd fol- back. Dolls are different."
lowed the cortage hidden behind "Why?"
false whiskers and he was allergic "It's mockery, that's why."
to the stuff. "Since when have we "You can't mock what doesn't
fallen so low that we've begun exist." Luke threw down his pen-
burying dolls?" cil and tilted his chair. "Now you
"Since we got the order." Luke tell me — how else can we stay
busied himself with pencil and solvent? no good waiting for
It's
paper. "Now let me see. We've natural business. There isn't any.
got a plank of walnut that would People don't die any more and,
do for the casket and there's some as far as the world goes, we're as
of that white plush left over—" extinct as the dodo. While you're
70 GALAXY
on the subject, perhaps you'll tell mortality treatment. Treasonable
me the difference between interr- conduct in that we created strained
ing a doll and burying an empty relationsbetween the government
casket." and the Rigelian Ambassador." He
"You've changed," said Ephraim stared hollowly at his partner.
sadly. "Success has gone to your "Did we really do all that?"
head. A few weeks ago, you "The judge said we did." Even
wouldn't have talked like this. the prospect of fifteen interments
Doesn't tradition mean anything couldn't cheer Luke up now. He
to you?" ran a trembling hand through his
"Sure it does," Luke replied hair. "The way he talked to us,
easily. "But I like to eat too." as if we were criminals! He said
"But we've quit. We're out of he was doing us a favor by impos-
business." ing a heavy fine instead of send-
"Fifteen orders says different," ing us to jail."
grinned Luke. "I've changed my "Unless we pay up, we'll go
mind." there anyway," said Ephraim.
He lost the grin as trouble, un- know." Luke scowled as the
"I
announced, unsuspected and en- doorbell sent echoes through the
tirely unwanted, joined the party. house. "More trouble, I'll bet. That
name was Augustus Blake
Its or some smart-aleck kid asking
and it came directly from the after your health. You'd think
government. some people would get tired of
beating a corny old joke to death."
Uyi ISGRACE," said Ephraim. He rose and went grumbling to
*-" "Trial, sentence, the works. the door. Ephraim, sitting at the
I wish were dead."
I table, heard the mumble of voices
Luke refrained from the obvious and the sound of many feet. He
comment. If Ephraim were dead, looked up as Luke returned. He
then neither of them would have wasn't alone. A Rigelian was with
had to face the prosecution Blake him, a tall, scaled, humanoid shape
had instigated. carrying the inevitable sound-
"Conspiring to falsify the pub- vision recorder hanging from a
lic records," groaned Ephraim. strap around its neck.
"Creating a public mischief by ar- A tourist, thought Ephraim sour-
ranging for a fraudulent interment. ly.
Acquiring money under false pre- "Meet Gel Rangk," Luke intro-
tenses by the sale of floral tributes. duced. "Mr. Rangk, this is the
Spreading alarm and despondency famous Ephraim Fingle of whom
by the rumored failure of the im- you may have heard."
IT was a chilling day in late fall, aliens and their busily whirring
and Centre Forks, Pop. 17,106, recorders.
was about to enter the last per- — E. C. TUBB
* * * * *
72 GALAXY
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BY WILLY
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THE ACCIDENT
l . * * ;
THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN
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74 GALAXY
10,500 feet per second. Ordinary costs fifty dollars instead of five
ethyl alcohol, burned with pure dollars; but it would make a lot of
oxygen, has a theoretical exhaust difference in the economy of run-
velocity of around 13,700 feet per ning an automobile or an aero-
second. Gasoline, burned with pure plane."
oxygen, has one of about 14,500 The main came when I
surprise
feet per second, and even aniline learned in which way Hudson
burned with nitric acid proves Maxim used his high explosive for
superior to dynamite, with a theo- driving a naval torpedo. I had best
retical exhaust velocity of 11,800 stick to straight quotation now:
feet per second. "In my system of driving tor-
Hudson Maxim, instead of re- pedoes, I employ a material called
futing the widespread misunder- motorite, consisting of seventy per
standing that "dynamite is more cent nitro-glycerin and thirty per
powerful than anything," was talk- cent guncotton. In the form in
ing in terms of money. It would be which it isused it is no longer ex-
too expensive to run a car or an plosive, but burns continuously
airplane on smokeless powder is without explosion.
his main talking point. "Bars of the material seven
He emphasized that he was not inches in diameter and five feet
just calculating costs. "I have con- long are forced into steel tubes.
ducted more experiments in the These tubes are closed at one end
use of explosive materials for driv- and the other end screws into a
ing motors than any man living or combustion chamber. Water is
dead. I have spent more than six- forced into the combustion cham-
ty thousand dollars in these experi- ber instantly upon ignition of the
ments." exposed end of the motorite in the
His purpose in making all these combustion chamber.
experiments and in spending all "Under three hundred pounds
that money was to find a superior pressure to the square inch, motor-
system of propulsion for naval tor- iteburns at the rate of a foot per
pedoes and, possibly, small torpedo minute. The flame blast of the
boats. He
pointed out that a naval burning motorite atomizes the
torpedo is in itself an expensive water by passing with the water
item (the price he quoted was through a tube in which baffle
$5,000) and that its purpose is to plates are placed at intervals. The
destroy an even more expensive products of combustion and steam
enemy vessel. "It therefore matters together are utilized to drive a tur-
little whether or not the propelling bine or reciprocating engine, pref-
means or motive fluid for the run erably a turbine ... A pound of
short trial flights. For such use if you write it in the Greek original,
the material would be cheap is a sigma, which normally tran-
is
enough . .
." scribed as an "s" rather than a "z."
I can't resist quoting one more But all my teachers were in unani-
paragraph from the article: mous agreement that the pronun-
"The cost of driving an engine ciation of the Greek sigma was that
by means of motorite would be of the English "z," so why not use
about two dollars per horsepower it?
78 GALAXY
probably the plant listed as Thap- to anybody. And it was a vital
sia garganica, but the German secret that greatly influenced the
pharmacologist Schroff showed as new art of printing.
long ago as 1862 that the classical The story of the invention itself
80 GALAXY
an additive to the lead and tin in ANY QUESTIONS'?
his type metal. jl/I" Y piece about the Atlantic
Moreover, Peter Schoeffer did -*-" Missile Range in the April
not even have to experiment at ran- 1959 Galaxy brought some cor-
dom to get the idea that bismuth respondence which was united on
might do what the first printers one point. And that point was:
needed. In those days, many uten- "What other rocket ranges are
sils were made of tin: tin spoons, there?" The phrasing of that ques-
tin cups, tin plates. The tin casters tion was somewhat different in dif-
knew "Wismat" improved
that ferent letters, of course; some read-
their wares, making them harder ers specifically wanted to know
and more shiny. In all probability about the Russian rocket ranges,
the tin casters had found this out while others asked whether any-
by accident, by using tin which body but the United States and
contained bismuth. The fact is that Russia had such firing ranges.
at a somewhat date they
later Well, let me give as complete
added bismuth on purpose, but an answer as is possible at this
their demand for the metal was moment. First, however, I have to
minor, since the bismuth addition point out that am
going to talk
I
to the tin amounted to only about about missile and rocket ranges, as
three per cent. distinct from missile sites. I do not
Peter Schoeffer might easily know how many missile sites we
have known that a small addition have in the United States and I
of the otherwise rather useless certainly do not know how many
metal made tin wares harder, and the Russians have.
might have tried to mix the lead As for the rocket ranges, I would
for his type metal with this "hard say that there are four major ones
tin." The addition of bismuth must in theUnited States. There is the
have been Gutenberg's and Schoef- White Sands Proving Ground,
fer's secret. Since none of the orig- which was the first. Then the Atlan-
inal type survived, we naturally tic Missile Range in Florida.
cannot analyze it. But before the Then there is Wallops' Island off
invention of printing, nobody cared Virginia, which is less well known
about bismuth, whereas after the to the public because none of the
invention of printing there was a spectacular big missiles is fired
sudden demand for it from there. Wallops' Island spe-
And miners started looking for cializes in scientific experiments,
tectum argenti, even though they all of them very valuable scientif-
themselves would have preferred ically, but often of such a nature
to find silver directly. that it would take a whole article
experiment was made, and why it stage impact near Matanzas, Cuba.
was made in that specific fashion. From California, you also can-
The fourth range in the United not shoot due north because there
States Vandenberg Air Force
is are too many cities in that direc-
Base in California, part of which is tion. But you shoot due south,
if
known to many former GIs as the next land under the rocket will
Camp Cooke. be Antarctica. Hence polar orbit
It is fairly easy to outline the shots have to be fired from Van-
distinguishing features of each. denberg, which normally special-
• ft
82 GALAXY
small firing ranges for small rockets case, even though I personally am
"at home" —
one at Aberporth in not convinced.
Wales, and one at Solway Firth in
Scotland, with one more, utilizing ROCEEDING to the Russian
the Hebrides Islands, under con- rocket ranges, there isone we
struction. know about. It is Kapustin Yar,
The French also have a poten- almost precisely fifty miles due
tial large firing range, much closer east of Stalingrad and north of the
to their homeland than the English Caspian Sea. Kapustin Yar was
have. This the Algerian Sahara
is in started in 1946, as far as we know.
at Colomb-Bechar, while the in- I amphrasing this carefully be-
tended target area is Lake Chad, cause we don't know where the
about 1500 miles away. Russians carried on their rocket
Germany does not seem to have experiments before World War II.
an active firing range, unless there In 1936, remember, they had the
is something we don't know about. high-altitude record for rockets
The first rocket firing range of all with a shot to about six miles, when
was the German army's Peene- nobody else had yet reached two
miinde establishment on the island miles. This shot may have been
of Usedom, north of the city and made from Kapustin Yar.
harbor of Stettin. They fired in a At any event, they can shoot in
generally easterly direction, along any direction, except to the west,
the shoreline of the Baltic Sea. In from Kapustin Yar. There are
the course of the war, Peenemiinde deserts to the north and to the east,
was heavily battered, and when and the Caspian Sea to the south.
the Russians finally took it after In fact, it was thought at first that
prolonged artillery preparation, both Sputnik I and Sputnik II were
they claimed that it was three- fired from Kapustin Yar, but a
quarters destroyed. Then, they Japanese astronomer, carefully
said, they dynamited what was still going over the orbits of the first two
standing. artificial satellites, decided that
That area is now Polish. And the Kapustin Yar had about the right
rumors say that the Russians have latitude for these shots, but not the
reactivated Peenemiinde. I can't right longitude. He came to the
quite believe that myself, but the conclusion that there had to be
stories However, if they
persist. another Russian firing range far-
fired anything of any size from ther east, in the Kyzyl Kum Desert.
Peenemiinde, it would surely have And that is as far as our knowl-
been detected. So let us leave edge goes right now.
Peenemiinde open as a doubtful WILLY LEY
84
OLD Mose Abrams was out
hunting cows when he
found the alien. He didn't
know it was an alien, but it was
alive and it was in a lot of trouble
and Old Mose, despite everything
the house the neighbors said about him, was
not the kind of man who could bear
to leave a sick thing out there in
By CLIFFORD D. SIMAK the woods.
It was a horrid-looking thing,
green and shiny, with some purple
Illustrated by DICK FRANCIS spots on it, and it was repulsive
even twenty feet away. And it
stank.
It had crawled, or tried to crawl,
into a clump of hazel brush, but
hadn't made it. The head part was
in the brush and the rest lay out
there naked in the open. Every
now and then the parts that seemed
to be arms and hands clawed feebly
,*
at the ground, trying to force itself
1
deeper in the brush, but it was too
weak; it never moved an inch.
•
85
had plenty. But
of situation
was the sort
this
that took more than H E hand beneath the
slid his
hurt thing and pulled it gently
just ordinary screwed-up courage. from the clump of hazel brush and
It took a lot of foolhardiness. turned it over so he could see its
But this was a wild, hurt thing face. It hadn't any face. It had an
and he couldn't leave it there, so enlargement at the top of it, like a
he walked up to it and knelt down, flower on top of a stalk, although
and it was pretty hard to look at, itsbody wasn't any stalk, and there
though there was a sort of fascina- was a fringe around this enlarge-
tion in its repulsiveness that was ment that wiggled like a can of
hard to figure out — as if it were worms, and it was then that Mose
so horrible that it dragged one to almost turned around and ran.
it. And stank in a way that no
it But he stuck it out.
one had ever smelled before. He
squatted there, staring at the
Mose, however, was not finicky. no-face with the fringe of worms,
In the neighborhood, he was not and he got cold all over and his
well known for fastidity. Ever since stomach doubled up on him and he
his wife had died almost ten years was stiff with fright — and the fright
before, he had lived alone on his got worse when it seemed to him
untidy farm and the housekeeping that the keening of the thing was
that he did was the scandal of all coming from the worms.
the neighbor women. Once a year, Mose was a stubborn man. One
if he got around to it, he sort of had to be stubborn to run a runty
shoveled out the house, but the farm like his. Stubborn and insensi-
rest of the year he just let things tive in a lot of ways. But not in-
accumulate. sensitive, of course, to a thing in
So he wasn't as upset as some pain.
might have been with the way the Finally he was able to pick it
creature smelled. But the sight of up and hold it in his arms and there
it upset him, and it took him quite was nothing to it, for it didn't weigh
a while before he could bring him- much. Less than a half-grown
self totouch it, and when he finally shoat, he figured.
did, he was considerably surprised. He went up the woods path with
He had been prepared for it to be it, heading back for home, and it
either cold or slimy, or maybe even seemed him the smell of it was
to
both. But it was neither. It was less. He was hardly scared at all
warm and hard and it had a clean and he was warm again and not
feel to it, and he was reminded of cold all over.
the way a green corn stalk would For the thing was quieter now
feel. and keening just a little. And al-
86 GALAXY
though he could not be sure of it, I'll take care of you the best I can."
there were times when it seemed By now it was getting on toward
as if the thing were snuggling up evening, and he looked out the win-
to him, the way a scared and hungry dow and saw that the cows he had
baby will snuggle to any grown per- been hunting had come home by
son that comes and picks it up. themselves.
Old Mose reached the buildings "I got to go get the milking done
and he stood out in the yard a and the other chores,'* he told the
minute, wondering whether he thing lying on the bed, "but it won't
should take it to the barn or house. take me long. I'll be right back."
The barn, of course, was the na-
tural place for it, for it wasnt hu-
f\ LD Mose loaded up the stove
man — it wasn't even as close to ^^ so the kitchen would stay
human as a dog or cat or sick lamb warm and he tucked the thing in
would be. once again, then got his milk pails
He didn't hesitate too long, and went down to the barn.
however. He took it into the house He
fed the sheep and pigs and
and laid it on what he called a bed, horses and he milked the cows. He
next to the kitchen stove. He got it hunted eggs and shut the chicken
straightened out all neat and order- house. He pumped a tank of water.
ly and pulled a dirty blanket over Then he went back to the house.
it, and then went to the stove and It was dark now and he lit the
stirred up the fire until there was oil lamp on the table, for he was
some flame. against electricity. He'd refused to
Then he pulled up a chair beside sign up when REA had run out
the bed and had a good, hard, won- the line and a lot of the neighbors
dering look at this thing he had had gotten sore at him for being
brought home. It had quieted down uncooperative. Not that he cared,,
a lot and seemed more comfortable of course.
than it had out in the woods. He He had a look at the thing upon
tucked the blanket snug around it the bed. It didn't seem to be any
with a tenderness that surprised better, or any worse, for that mat-
himself. He wondered what he had ter. If had been a sick lamb or
it
that it might eat, and even if he an ailing calf, he could have known
knew, how he'd manage feeding it, right off how it was getting on, but
for it seemed to have no mouth. this thing was different. There was
"But you don't need to worry no way to tell.
none," he told it. "Now that I got He fixed himself some supper
you under a roof, you'll be all right. and ate it and wished he knew how
I don't know too much about it, but to feed the thing. And he wished,
veterinarian? He decided to call ing out the door. The night was as
the doctor because the thing was in black as a stack of cats and the lan-
the house. If had been in the
it tern light was feeble, but that made
barn, he would have called the vet- not a bit of difference, for Mose
erinarian. knew this farm of his like the back
He was on a rural line and the of his hand.
hearing wasn't good and he was He went down the path into the
halfway deaf, so he didn't use the woods. It was a spooky place, but
phone too often. He had told him- it took more than woods at night
self at times it was nothing but to spook Old Mose. At the place
another aggravation and there had where he had found the thing, he
been a dozen times he had threat- looked around, pushing through the
ened to have it taken out. But now brush and holding the lantern high
he was glad he hadn't. so he could see a bigger area, but
The operator got old Doctor he didn't find another one of them.
Benson and they couldn't hear one He did find something else,
another too well, but Mose finally though — a sort of outsize birdcage
made the doctor understand who made of metal lattice work that
was calling and that he needed him had wrapped itself around an eight-
and the doctor said he'd come. inch hickory tree. He tried to pull
With some relief, Mose hung up it loose, but it was jammed so tight
the phone and was just standing that he couldn't budge it.
88 GALAXY
He sighted back the way
must it The doctor saw the thing lying
have come. He could see where it on the bed and went over to Old
it.
had plowed its way through the up- Mose heard him sort of gasp and
per branches of the trees, and out could see him standing there, very
beyond were stars, shining bleak- stiff and straight. Then he bent
away.
ly with the look of far down and had a good look at the
Mose had no doubt that the critter on the bed.
thing lying on his bed beside the When he straightened up and
kitchen stove had come in this bird- turned around to Mose, the only
cage contraption. He marveled thing that kept him from being
some he didn't fret him-
at that, but downright angry was that he was so
self too much, for the whole thing flabbergasted.
was so unearthly that he knew he "Mose," he yelled, "what is this?"
had little chance of pondering it "I don't know," said Mose. "I
out. found it in the woods and it was
He walked back to the house and hurt and wailing and I couldn't
he scarcely had the lantern blown leave it there."
out and hung back on its peg than "You think it's sick?"
he heard a car drive up. "I know it is," said Mose. "It
The doctor, when he came up to needs help awful bad. I'm afraid it's
anything about the birdcage, for He sat in the chair and listened
when he thought about it, it to the ticking of the clock, loud in
sounded so fantastic that he the kitchen silence, and the crack-
couldn't bring himself to tell it. Just ling of the wood burning in the
finding the critter and having it stove.
here was bad enough, without Looking at the thing lying on
throwing in the birdcage. the bed, he had an almost fierce
"I tell you what," the doctor hope that it could get well again
said. "You got something here and stay with him. Now that its
thaf s outside all human knowledge. birdcage was all banged up, maybe
I doubt there's ever been a thing there'd be nothing it could do but
like this seen on Earth before. I stay. And he hoped it would, for
have no idea what it is and I already the house felt less lonely.
wouldn't try to guess. If I were you,
I'd get in touch with the university CITTING in the chair between
up at Madison. There might be ^ the stove and bed, Mose
someone there who could get it realized how had been.
lonely it
figured out. Even if they couldn't It had not been quite so bad until
they'd be interested. They'd want Towser died. He had tried to bring
to study it." himself to get another dog, but he
Mose went to the cupboard and never had been able to. For there
got the cigar box almost full of sil- was no dog that would take the
ver dollars and paid the doctor. place of Towser and it had seemed
The doctor put the dollars in his unfaithful to even try. He could
pocket, joshing Mose about his ec- have gotten a cat, of course, but
ft ft
90 GALAXY
of them underfoot around the After breakfast, he heated water
place. and washed his face and shaved,
But now he was alone. Alone and it was the first time in years
with his farm and his stubbornness he'd shaved any day but Sunday.
and his silver dollars. The doctor Then he put on his one good suit
thought, like all the rest of them, and slicked down his hair and got
that the only silver Mose had was the old jalopy out of the machine
in the cigar box in the cupboard. shed and drove into town.
There wasn't one of them who He hunted up Eb Dennison, the
knew about the old iron kettle town clerk, who also was the sec-
piled plumb full of them, hidden retary of the cemetery association.
underneath the floor boards of the "Eb," he said, "I want to buy a
living room. He chuckled at the lot."
thought of how he had them fooled. "But you've got a lot," protested
He'd give a lot to see his neighbors' Eb.
faces if they could only know. But "That plot," said Mose, "is a fam-
he was not the one to tell them. If ily plot. There's just room for me
they were to find it out, they'd have and Molly."
to find it out themselves. "Well, then," asked Eb, "why an-
He nodded in the chair and final- other one? You have no other
ly he slept, sitting upright, with his members of the family."
chin resting on his chest and his "Ifound someone in the woods,"
crossed arms wrapped around him- said Mose. "I took him home and
self as if to keep him warm. he died last night. I plan to bury
When he woke, in the dark be- him."
fore the dawn, with the lamp flick- "Ifyou found a dead man in
ering on the table and the fire in the woods>" Eb warned him, "you
the stove burned low, the alien had better notify the coroner and
died. sheriff."
There was no doubt of death. "In time I may," said Mose, not
The thing was cold and rigid and intending to. "Now how about that
the husk that was its body was plot?"
rough and drying out — as a corn Washing his hands of the affair
stalk in the field dries out, whip- entirely, Eb sold him the plot.
ping in the wind once the grow-
ing had been ended.
Mose pulled the blanket up to H AVING bought his plot, Mose
went to the undertaking es-
cover it, and although this was tablishment run by Albert Jones.
early to do the chores, he went out "Al," he said, "there's been a
by lantern light and got them done. death out at the house. A stranger
I found out in the woods. He does- the story from first and he
to last,"
n't seem to have anyone and I aim did. He added, "I don't know what
to take care of it." it is. I guess no one else does, either.
"You got a death certificate?" But it's dead and in need of decent
asked Al, who subscribed to none burial and that's the least that I
of the niceties affected by most can do. I can't bury it in the ceme-
funeral parlor operators. tery, so I suppose I'll have to find a
"Well, no, I haven't." place for it on the farm. I wonder
"Was there a doctor in atten- if you could bring yourself to come
red around the gills. He finally "This thing may not be human,"
slammed down the phone and said Old Mose, "but it is one of
turned on Mose. God's critters."
"I don't know what you're try- The thought some
minister
ing to pull off," he fumed, "but Doc more, and did some wondering out
tells me this thing of yours isn't loud, but made up his mind finally
even human. I don't take care of that he couldn't do it
dogs or cats or — So Mose went down the street
"This ain't no dog or cat." to where his car was waiting and
"I don't care what it is. It's got drove home, thinking about what
to be human for me to handle it. heelssome humans are.
And don't go trying to bury it in Back at the farm again, he got
the cemetery, because it's against a pick and shovel and went into
the law." the garden, and there, in one corner*
Considerably discouraged, Mose of he dug a grave. He went out
it,
92 GALAXY
been used for years, hunting for a dead feel about it, just as the body
sheet to use as a winding shroud, had.
since there would be no casket. He He shook his head and took it
couldn't find a sheet, but he did back and put it where he'd found it
unearth an old white linen table and wrapped the body securely in
cloth. He figured that would do, the cloth. He carried it to the gard-
so he took it to the kitchen. en and put it in the grave. Stand-
He
pulled back the blanket and ing solemnly at the head of the
looked at the critter lying there in grave, he said a few short words
death and a sort of lump came into aid then shoveled in the dirt.
his throat at the thought of it — He had meant to make a mound
how it had died so lonely and so far above the grave and he had intend-
from home without a creature of ed to put up a cross, but at the last
its own to spend its final hours he didn't do either one of these.
with. And naked, too, without a There would be snoopers. The
stitch of clothing and with no pos- word would get around and they'd
session, with not a thing to leave be coming out and hunting for the
behind as a remembrance of itself. spot where he had buried this thing
He spread the table cloth out on he had found out in the woods. So
the floor beside the bed and lifted there must be no mound to mark
the thing and laid it on the table the place and no cross as well. Per-
cloth. As he laid it down, he saw haps it was for the best, he told
the pocket in it — if it was a pocket himself, for what could he have
— a sort of slitted flap in the center carved or written on the cross?
of what could be its chest. He ran By this time it was well past
his hand across the pocket area. noon and he was getting hungry,
There was a lump inside it. He but he didn't stop to eat, because
crouched for a long moment beside there were other things to do. He
the body, wondering what to do. went out into the pasture and
Finally he reached his fingers caught up Bess and hitched her to
into the flap and took out the thing the stoneboat and went down into
that bulged. It was a ball, a little the woods.
bigger than a tennis ball, made of He hitched her to the birdcage
cloudy glass — or, at least, it looked that was wrapped around the tree
like glass. He squatted there, star- and she pulled it loose as pretty as
ing at it, then took it to the window you please. Then he loaded it on
for a better look. the stoneboat and hauled it up the
There was nothing strange at all hill and stowed it in the back of
about the ball. It was just a cloudy the machine shed, in the far corner
ball of glass and it had a rough, by the forge.
94 GALAXY
All night long the house was He thought again that maybe he
lonely. should get a dog, but he thought
The next was
afternoon, as he of Towser and he couldn't do it.
plowing corn, a reporter came and One day, working in the garden,
walked up the row with him and he found the plant that grew out of
talked with him when he came to the grave. It was a funny-looking
the end of the row. Mose didn't plant and his first impulse was to
like this reporter much. He was too root it out.
flip and he asked some funny ques- But he do it, for the plant
didn't
tions, so Mose clammed up and intrigued him. It was a kind he'd
didn't tell him much. never seen before and he decided
he would let it grow, for a while
few days later, a man showed
A at least, to see what kind it was. It
^*- up from the university and was a bulky, fleshy plant, with
showed him the story the reporter heavy, dark-green, curling leaves,
had gone back and written. The and reminded him in some ways
it
strange plant kept on growing and "I'm going out to do the chores,"
now was taking shape. Old Mose said Mose. "You want to tag
couldn't believe his eyes when he along?"
saw the sort of shape it took and tagged along with him and it
It
he spent long evening hours just watched him as he did the chores
standing in the garden, watching it and he talked to it, which was a
and wondering if his loneliness vast improvement over talking to
were playing tricks on him. himself.
At breakfast, he laid an extra
r
|
1 HE
morning came when he plate for it and pulled up an extra
•*- found the plant standing at the but it turned out the critter
chair,
door and waiting for him. He should was not equipped to use a chair,
have been surprised, of course, but for wasn't hinged to sit.
it
he really wasn't, for he had lived Nor did it eat. That bothered
with it, watching it of eventide, and Mose at first, for he was hospit-
although he had not dared admit able, but he told himself that a big,
it even to himself, he had known strong, strapping
youngster like
what it was. this one knew enough to take care
For here was the creature he'd of itself, and he probably didn't
found in the woods, no longer sick need to worry too much about how
and keening, no longer close to it got along.
death, but full of life and youth. After breakfast, he went out to
It was not the same entirely, the garden, with the critter accom-
though. He stood and looked at it panying him, and sure enough, the
and could see the differences — the plant was gone. There was a col-
little differences that might have lapsed husk lying on the ground,
been those between youth and age, the outer covering that had been
or between a father and a son, or the cradle of the creature at his
again the differences expressed in side.
an evolutionary pattern. Then he went to the machine
"Good morning," said Mose, not shed and the creature saw the bird-
96 GALAXY
A DEATH IN THE HOUSE 97
cage and rushed over to it and and shoveled in some coal and
looked it over minutely. Then it worked the bellows while the crit-
turned around to Mose and made ter watched. But when he picked
a sort of pleading gesture. up the bar to put it in the fire, the
Mose went over to it and laid his critter got between him and the
hands on one of the twisted bars forge and wouldn't let him near.
and the critter stood beside him Mose realized then he couldn't —
and laid its hands on, and they
too, or wasn't supposed to — heat the
pulled together. It was no use. bar to straighten it and he never
They could move the metal some, questioned the entire Tightness of
but not enough to pull it back in it. For, he told himself, this thing
Mose couldn't understand. Then it ter tried to show him the shape
laydown on the floor and showed that should be. It took quite a
it
him how the birdcage ribs were while, but finally it was straight-
fastened to the base. ened out to the critter's satisfac-
tion.
TT took a while for Mose to un- Mose figured they'd have them-
derstand how the fastening selves a time getting the bar back
worked and he never did know ex- in place again, but it slipped on as
actly why it did. There wasn't, slick as could be.
actually, any reason that it should Then they took off another bar
work that way. and one went faster, now that
this
First you applied some pressure, Mose had the hang of it.
just the right amount at the exact But it was hard and grueling
and correct angle, and the bar labor. They worked all day and
would move a little. Then you ap- only straightened out five bars.
plied some more pressure, again the It took four solid days to get the
exact amount and at the proper bars on the birdcage hammered
angle, and the bar would move into shape and all the time the hay
some more. You did this three was waiting to be cut.
times and the bar came loose, al- But it was all right with Mose.
though there was, God knows, no He had someone to talk to and the
reason why it should. house had lost its loneliness.
Mose started a fire in the forge When they got the bars back in
98 GALAXY
place, the critter slipped into the oatmeal and his hand struck the
cage and starting fooling with a cigar box and it came crashing to
dingus on the roof of it that looked the floor. It fell over on its side
like a complicated basket. Mose, and the lid came open and the dol-
watching, figured that the basket lars went free-wheeling all around
was some sort of control. the kitchen.
The critter was discouraged. It Out of the corner of his eye,
walked around the shed looking Mose saw the critter leaping quick-
for something and seemed unable ly in pursuit of one of them. It
to find it. It came back to Mose snatched it up and turned to Mose,
and made its despairing, pleading with the coin held between its fin-
gesture. Mose showed it iron and gers,and a sort of thrumming noise
steel; he dug into a carton where was coming out of the nest of
he kept bolts and clamps and bush- worms on top of it.
ings and scraps of metal and other It bent and scooped up more
odds and ends, finding brass and of them and cuddled them and
copper and even some aluminum, danced a sort of jig, and Mose
but it wasn't any of these. knew, with a sinking heart, that it
And Mose was glad — a bit had been silver the critter had been
ashamed for feeling glad, but glad hunting.
all the same. So Mose got down on his hands
For it had been clear to him that and knees and helped the critter
when the birdcage was all ready, gather up all the dollars. They put
the critter would be leaving him. them back into the cigar box and
It had been impossible for Mose to Mose picked up the box and gave
stand in the way of the repair of the it to the critter.
cage, or to refuse to help. But now The took it and hefted it
critter
that it apparently couldn't be, he and had a disappointed look. Tak-
found himself well pleased. ing the box over to the table, it took
Nowthe critter would have to the dollars out and stacked them in
stay with him and he'd have some- neat piles and Mose could see it
one to talk to and the house would was very disappointed.
not be lonely. It would be welcome, Perhaps, after all, Mose thought,
he told himself, to have folks again. ithad not been silver the thing had
The critter was almost as good a been hunting for. Maybe it had
companion as Towser. made a mistake in thinking that
the silver was some other kind of
TVT EXT morning, while Mose was metal.
*- ^ fixing breakfast, he reached up Mose got down the oatmeal and
in the cupboard to get the box of poured it into some water and put
100 GALAXY
how much more it needed.
do it for you," Old Mose
"I can't
said. "I've done all you can expect
of any living being. I found you
in the woods and I gave you
warmth and shelter. I tried to help
you, and when I couldn't, at least
I gave you a place to die in. I
buried you and protected you from
all those other people and I did
not pull you up when you started
growing once again. Surely you
can't expect me to keep on giving
endlessly."
But was no good. The critter
it
hunting for a place or thing or per- time since he had even thought to
son that no human mind could whistle.
grasp. Maybe he was happy, he told
Slowly Mose turned around to himself, because the critter had
go back to the house, to get the not without stopping to take
left
pails and go down to the barn to his hand and try to say good-by.
get the milking done. And a gift, no matter how worth-
He remembered the object in less it might be, how cheap a trin-
his hand and lifted his still- ket, still had a basic value in simple
clenched fist in front of him. He sentiment. It had been many years
opened his fingers and the little since anyone had bothered to give
crystal ball lay there in his palm— him a gift.
* By WILSON TUCKER
ing, tumbling, thunderous reverber- Nothing but empty sky and the
ation which filled the heavens from roseate flush in the east was visible
one horizon to another, the kind of from the tiny window, but yet the
noise —and the volume — that echoes of intruding sound lapped
might be expected on the day the about the building. Blinking away
sun cracked open. The shattering sleep and muttering at the trespass,
104 GALAXY
the king went to the door, circuit- of crazy fools bent on exploring
ously avoiding the cracked marble each new planet to fall within their
urn in the exact center of the room sights. Now they had discovered
which contained his drinking water. his, and in a few hours hordes of
106 GALAXY
A deep male voice cut into the He is naked — I think. And he
circuit. "Nineteen here," it said. needs a bath."
"Your animal is intelligent. It put "Weapons?"
down the stick to avoid its being "Negative, unless there one is
mistaken for a weapon, and now hidden under the beard. There —
is likely peeping at us from behind he's out of the woods. See him?"
a tree. I'll be right out with a trans- "I see him,"she answered, and
lator." The male voice was exultant. stared for a long moment. "I wish
"Gently, gentlemen, gently. We've I could be more impressed. Well,
found a prize!" I suppose we must extend the cus-
The woman at the scanner spoke tomary welcome. He is the only
up. "The object is moving — coming life-form—" she corrected herself —
directly toward the vessel. Seven, "the only human to reveal sign on
it is almost upon you! Don't you see this planet. Stand by, Seven."
it?" The
king of the planet left the
"Nega — correction" His voice shadow of the trees and made his
jumped. "It's coming out now. I see careful way into the clearing. He
it!" moved slowly because he could not
"Eight, move
and cover," the
in trust his limbs to any reasonable
woman snapped. "Two, start re- speed and because he did not want
cording." to frighten the visitors into an un-
"I'm forty-five seconds ahead of friendly act. He had no wish to be
you," Two replied dryly. "Sight, a cripple after their departure.
sound and depth." The
king paused ten or twelve
"Be careful!" Nineteen cried. feet short of the nearest intruder
"Don't scare it away. What is it — and examined the ship. His exami-
what does it look like?" nation was a cursory one because
he was little interested in its origin,
TP HE communication channel its means of locomotion, or its
-*-
was silent for a moment and physical properties. There had been
then Seven said, "It looks like you. others like and unlike it, and
it
and invited him to sit. The king sat, Nineteen cleared his throat
staring at the girl's bosom and bare meaningfully and the communica-
legs. She smiled winningly and tion circuit went silent. He smiled
moved over to place a pillow for again at the dour old man who was
her superior. Nineteen seated him- eying the girl.
self and opened the lid of the "How do you do, sir?"
bronze box. It contained an array The king of the planet stared
of instruments and two slim bronze down at the handgrip in his gnarled
cables which terminated in hand- fingers and wondered how they'd
grips. managed that trick; he had both
heard and felt the smiling idiot's
TVTINETEEN placed a micro- words, and the utilization of the
^ phone on the ground between
•*-
two senses enabled him to grasp
himself and the native, switched the meaning of the question. It also
on his apparatus and motioned to caused him to realize they would
the assistant. The girl removed the understand his replies only too well,
coiled cables from their nest and unless he was careful.
gave one to the old man, showing (The recorder whispered: "Cu-
him how to hold the grooved han- and mental reservations.")
riosity,
dle with his curled fingers. The ("I expected it," Nineteen re-
other cable was given to the smil- plied.) To
the old one, he said, "I
ing translator. An electrical con- am Nineteen, a linguist. Who are
nection was completed between the you p»
two men, monitored by the trans- No harm in answering that. "I
lating rig. am the king of the planet."
"H-2 type," Nineteen murmured Nineteen watched the analyzers
into his throat microphone. in the bronze box. (His communi-
110 GALAXY
self as the leader, or overlord, of (Two reported: "Evasive tac-
the entire world; but the multiplici- tics, but still truth.")
ty of names confused him and he Nineteen frowned and realized
was not certain that he could pro- something was amiss. He studied
nounce any of them accurately. his analyzers but found nothing
wrong there; they continued to
f?TO-SEFF," he said, and monitor and report the speech pat-
watched to see if the native terns in the normal fashion, giving
took offense at a possible mispro- normal readings, but despite that,
nunciation. "The leader of the he recognized a change in routine.
world. Where are your people, Jo- The ancient king's subjects had
seff?" stopped fighting among themselves
"The damned fools are dead," the and perished as a result—that much
king retorted. "Every one of them." was But the exact manner of
clear.
"They have expired? All of their going and the last two sen-
them?" tences were puzzling.
"Thafs what I said." ("Is this doubletalk?" he asked
"How did they die, Jo-seff? Why the recorder.)
did they die?" ("No, sir. Clear and straightfor-
"Because they were damned ward." )
fools." "They died suffering peace, Jo-
("Vituperation, anger, vague seff?"
hatred." ) "They did."
Nineteen repeated gently, "How "How can this be?"
did they die? What caused all their "Easier than you think."
deaths, Jo-seff?" "You did not die with them?"
"Peace!" the king spat. "Eternal Nineteen asked tactfully.
peace. Senility, sterility, boredom, The king glowered, considering
retrogression. They curled up in the question silly.
"Thank you, sir. And what is a what is the number of your glorious
century?" years?"
"
"One hundred years Bitterly, the king of the planet
"Ah, yes. And what constitutes told him.
a year, sir?" The answer was not immediate-
"One revolution about the sun!" ly intelligible, for it involved still
The king looked at his questioner another x unit of local time, and, to
112 GALAXY
compound matters, there had been darted from one subfamily of lan-
still another shift of tonal values. guages to another, leaping from
Grimly, not unmixed with annoy- tongue to dialect and back again,
ance, the king once more changed watching the interpreter with mali-
languages and answered the ques- cious amusement. Without warn-
tion — quite honestly — in Moabit- ing, he would turn from ultra-mod-
ish. ern English to Prakrit, to Illyrian,
His questioner could only deter- to French, to Avestan, to Vulgate
mine that the old man's unusual life Latin, to Chaldean, to Pahlavi and
span had stretched over an x num- then to Umbrian, always secretly
ber of centuries, and he had to be amused he was
in the belief that
content with that for the time be- bewildering the inquisitor. His mas-
ing. But the interrogation con- tery of the many languages was as
tinued. complete as his aged memory
would permit and he was enjoy-
ing himself — until he suddenly dis-
FOR the remainder of that day,
and the following three, the covered that the space visitor was
space visitors posed endless ques- wise to his game.
tions. They were insatiable. At some time during the lengthy
Nineteen, prompted by whispers sessions, the visitor had discovered
from within the ship, from those the subterfuge and thereafter
waiting far above, and from the ignored the dazzling changes. The
technicians working about the king of the planet lapsed into
ful mass of data!), mathematics, They stopped then to eat and drink,
medicine and pharmacy, mythol- and the young girl would bring food
ogy, numeration — the list of sub- from the ship and place it before
jects and the many detailed ques- the old one.
tions psrtinent to each appeared He ate sparingly.
to have no end. They took the time to inspect the
The visitors pried and the old many small discoveries the arche-
man answered in his fashion. He ologists were bringing back from
soleum walls — not even the small do not understand. Is not peace a
holes which would admit their desirable attainment?"
camera lenses. "It is, until you get it. And then
On the morning of the third day, you rot."
the visitors had charted the local "And you rejected peace and
time sequences to their satisfaction, thus avoided rotting. I'm afraid that
and the newfound knowledge ex- isn't as simple as it sounds, but then
cited them. I do not expect to understand the
114 GALAXY
theory. But, sir, there must be some years by simply rejecting peace?"
rational reason for your tremen- "It depends upon the manner of
dous age, some fact that you have rejection," the old one said dour-
not made known to us." ly. "And the time, and the place,
The king stared at him, unwilling and the catalyst." His hungering
to answer. gaze would not leave the girl.
"Have you discovered the secret "I'm afraid I do not understand
of eternal life?" Nineteen asked you at all."
anxiously."Do you take drugs? Is "I didn't expect you to."
it a dietary matter? Have you "It just isn't possible to exist for
found some unknown substance so long!"
«T>
which prolongs your life?" I'm existing." The king raised
his eyes to the scout ship. "And that
HP HE king let his attention wan- fellow yonder knows I'm not lying."
-* der and fastened his gaze on the (The whisper: "He isn't lying,
young girl, who was helping a bota- but you've hit on something. I be-
nist. I
lieve he is superstitious. Question
("Keep at it," the recording en- him.")
gineer whispered. "You scored a Nineteen did, digging patiently
clean hit with one of those ques- but as deeply as he was able, utiliz-
tions.His pulse raced.") ing his every skill to draw out the
"My own life," Nineteen said old man. He reverted to a subject
smoothly, "and the lives of my com- they had discussed on a previous
panions are reasonably long. We day, mythology, and examined it
may expect to live about two hun- more carefully than before.
dred years, if we are fortunate." A number of significant things
The king pointed at the girl. came to which had been
light
"How old is she?" passed over before, and these new
"Not yet forty." Nineteen smiled. factors were weighed and balanced
"She is my daughter, an apprentice against all the conversations so far
to this crew." Without changing his recorded.
conversational tone, he asked, In the end, Nineteen admitted to
"How old are you?" a partial defeat. The day drew to a
The king replied with the iden- close and he packed away his equip-
tical answer given on the first day. ment, preparatory to returning to
"But sir!" the translator declared. the mother ship; he wished he could
"That amounts to more than three remain a month or a year with the
thousand years! And that is incred- aged native, but that was not pos-
ible; I can scarcely believe it. How sible. They were leaving after dark-
does one live for three thousand ness fell.
116 GALAXY
Seven agreed. "How did the old and after its passing the world was
boy manage it?" strangely quiet.
"I don't know how it really hap- was always like that after a
It
pened," Nineteen said. "But ac- big ship had passed, but presently
cording to his mythology, he ang- the night sounds would return and
ered the gods by rejecting peace the lonely world would be normal
and was sentenced to live until again. In a century or so, or perhaps
they came again. The gods won't three, or five, another ship would
permit his death until that day. I come and more visitors would de-
wish I could get to the truth of the scend on him, annoying him, ques-
matter!" tioning him, taunting him.
Without realizing it, they always
f
T1 HE king of the planet heard taunted him.
•*•
the starship go. It quit the sky For none of them was the one
with a repetition of the thunder visitor he awaited.
which had accompanied its arrival, — WILSON TUCKER
* • • * *
FORECAST
""Don't stop experimenting with your forecast/' we are commanded by
our readers, and we're not stopping. With a giant 196 pages to move around
in, we enjoy the exciting combinations made possible, so why should we stop?
r
f *
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^
v
*
.
•s
v
/
/ £
-
A *i
118 GALAXY
ESKETH knew the cell so
well, was almost a part
it
invisibility.
In fact, as Hesketh was still
capable of remembering when he
turned his mind to the subject,
which was seldom, it was an exact
copy of the interior of a survival
capsule. Or maybe — for the Char-
nogs were of an economical turn
of mind — it was the interior of a
Hesketh had more
survival capsule.
important things on his mind than
such fiddling distinctions.
The Charnog who should have
fed him was late.
It had never happened before,
and stomach, conditioned to an
his
unvarying routine, was beginning
to grumble. Patiently, he sat down
Illustrated by MORROW
SILENCE 119
on the edge of the bunk he always member what position of the hands
used in preference to the other corresponded to feeding time.
(though there was no difference Whatever it was, it wasn't the
between the two ) But the strange-
. one now showing.
ness of the occurrence disturbed Finally he got up and went to
him. the door, pressing his ear against it.
120 GALAXY
lock and burned a track down the prisoner very quietly, not attempt-
opposite wall. Hesketh leaped to ing to imitate the other's shouting.
his feet and turned to run. "And do know how long I have
I
There was nowhere to run to. been here. I have been here twenty-
"Well, I'll be damned and blast- eight years, two months and seven-
ed!" A bellowing voice hurt his teen days."
ears. "A man!" Now other men were gathering
in the passage, weapons cautiously
C LOWLY Hesketh faced the at the ready, to exclaim with wond-
^ armored and helmeted figure er in the same high monotonous
in the doorway. It had been a long roar. Hesketh, during the whole
time since he used words, but his period of his captivity, had heard
mind filtered the essential mean- no noise except his own feet pad-
ing out of what had been said. ding in his cell, the splash of water
"Man," he repeated to himself, and the slither of Charnogs. He had
and though his voice sounded forgotten how loud a human voice
rusty, the actual noise seemed sat- could be. So far as he could, he shut
isfactory. He managed a complete his ears to the babble.
sentence. "Yes, I'm a man." They brought him clothing and
"Well, I'm damned!" the new- a spacesuit, and somehow he got
comer said again. He took a pace them on, thinking of the outside,
back and sent a giant shout echo- the universe that had been a dim-
ing down the passage. Then he held ming memory for twenty-eight
out his hand. years. But it was still unreal beside
But Hesketh had forgotten what the discomfort in his stomach.
to do with it. When they led him out into the
The stranger shrugged, exposed passage, he looked around eagerly,
his teeth and pushed back his hel- hoping to see his bowl lying beside
met. Sniffing distorted his face, and one of the dead Charnogs that
he spoke in the same bellowing littered the floor. Walters noticed
voice. "Boy, I bet you're glad to see his actions and grinned.
me! My name's Walters — Second "Good to see them getting a bit
Consolidation Fleet. We got the of their own back, hey, Hesketh?"
Charnogs out of this sector today he asked loudly.
and we're taking a look at what Hesketh shook his head; that
we've got. How long have you been gesture came back automatically.
in this stinking hole, anyway? No, "No, I'm hungry."
don't answer that — you probably "Starved you, did they, as well
don't know." as penning you up? The bastards!
"My name is Hesketh," said the Well, as soon as we get you aboard
SILENCE 121
a ship, you'll be properly looked the second speaker agreed. "I've
after." never heard of a similar case. I sent
Hesketh was going to explain someone to look through the casu-
that he wasn't starving. It was just alty lists about that time, but he
that these people had ruined the drew a blank on the service list,
Charnogs' careful arrangements for and I haven't much hope from the
looking after him. But at that point civilian side — speak of the devil.
he was hustled into a cramped Thanks, Lai."
compartment which shot suddenly Something rustled, and the voice
up, adding another discomfort to went on.
that of hunger. Then the door of "Yes, this looks like Abdul it!
122 GALAXY
the bed. Another man, heavier- "Well, no other man has ever
faced, was beside him. been such a favorable position
in
saying we'd never heard of any- "We aren't going to get very far
one being rescued from the Char- with this at the moment," said
nogs before. You've had a pretty Vozhdov, addressing Walters. "But
rough time, but that's over." as soon as Doc gives the okay, I
*
"It wasn't so bad," said Hesketh. want him brought around to me,
The commodore's voice, like all the and we'll bring him up to date on
others, was too loud and grated what's happened. I figure the
on his ears. "I got fed, and I was sooner he starts leading a normal
warm enough, and they let me have human life again, the more help
water to wash in." he'll be."
SILENCE 123
The green hospital gowns were out protest and without trying to
soothing. But the hard surface table remember the way they took, as
— much harder than his familiar Walters led him down corridors
acceleration bunk — was uncom- and into and out of elevators, until
fortable, and the atmosphere of they arrived in a large office whose
detachment irked him, so that he walls were almost papered with
was almost glad when Shu finally communicators and information
turned off the current from the last lights. Here, at an administrator's
guess, if we
wanted." Fact one: they went to a lot of
Hesketh didn't respond. Walters bother to keep Hesketh alive. But
made a grimace and shrugged. we could have guessed that from
"All right," said Vozhdov heav- the fact that he's here now. Any-
ily. "You know what your knowl- thing else?"
edge means to us, Hesketh. You're "How about asked Walters.
air?"
the one thing that's better than a "Yes, there was air," said Hes-
live Charnog for our purposes. keth. "How else do you think I
SILENCE 125
righteous and indignant Vozhdov "Which had it done?" demanded
glared at him and spoke patiently Vozhdov.
to Hesketh. "How was the air pro- Walters looked apologetic. "Sor-
vided?" ry, sir. I did notice, as it happens —
Hesketh shrugged. "It was al- compared it with my own. It had
ways there. I don't know where it lost eight minutes and a few sec-
came from. I couldn't look." onds."
"They probably piped him in "Mm. Well, I suppose the mere
oxygen through the old storage fact he was allowed to keep his
tank inlet," said Walters. "But that watch is something" Vozhdov al-
was all. I got a whiff of the atmos- lowed grudgingly. "Anything else,
phere in that room, sir. It stank!* 9
Hesketh?"
"And we were flushing the tun- "No, I can't think of anything."
nels with oxygen, anyway, to kill "You mean you were taken
off the survivors." Vozhdov grunt- straight to that place immediately
ed. "They fed you, too, didn't you were captured, and they left
they?" you locked in and never so much
"Yes. Regularly." Hesketh's as looked at you again?" By the
stomach was still upset. He put time Vozhdov finished, he was al-
emphasis on the second word. most shouting; Hesketh's new ad-
"Ah!" said Vozhdov. "How justment to ordinary voice levels
often? Maybe from that we can gave way, and he barely heard the
deduce the rotation period of their last few words.
home world. That could be valua- "That can't be right, sir," said
ble." He looked at Hesketh ex- Walters. "As I recall, there's a gap
pectantly. of about seven months between his
"Every twelve hours," said Hes- ship being reported missing and
keth. "Exactly, every twelve the time he says his captivity start-
hours." ed. He couldn't have been in the
survival capsule all that time. His
r¥1 HE other two slumped in dis- supplies, even allowing for the
appointment. fact that he was on his own, would-
"They must have noted n't have lasted him past a month,
the rotation period of the watch or six weeks at the ouside. And he
he had on him," Walters com- was quite definite about the time
plained. "I sawwas still going
it he'd been in the cell, and his watch
when we brought him aboard. was working."
Hadn't gained or lost more than a "Okay, Mr. Hesketh," said Vozh-
few minutes, at the most, in all dov bluntly. "What happened to
those years." you in those seven months?"
126 GALAXY
H ESKETH
remember," he
frowned. "I don't
said. "It* was
the hospital. Walters did not talk
during the trip; he merely strolled
along looking as if he could see a
a long time ago."
"Well, surely you remember citation for distinguished service
how you got there?" retreating from him under over-
"Oh, yes! When the ship blew drive.
up, I got into the capsule. I was "Well, Doc?" Walters inquired.
lucky." "Do you think the Charnogs man-
"That's not when your luck start- aged to get into his mind and seal
ed!" saidWalters bitterly. "It it off?"
started when I blew the lock on "I doubt it," said the quiet little
realize we're asking a lot of you. a day or two to get used to the idea
But only because you have a
it's that he's human and not complete-
lot to give. It's of the utmost im- ly alone. Then some of the barriers
portance to your race that you may break down." ^
should remember." "So what do you recommend
"It was a long time ago." we do?"
"This is like talking to the air!" Shu chewed his lower lip for a
said Vozhdov. "What did Shu say moment. "Why not show him the
about this, Walters?" ship and introduce him to as many
"He Hesketh was in re-
said of the crew as possible? And you
markably good shape, all things might — but warn me before you
considered." do this — you might take him to a
"Well, take this man back
with survival capsule and show him that
my compliments and inform Dr. it's not really a Charnog prison
SILENCE 127
couple of doors along, so if you He didn't move, because nothing
need me at any time, you only have else happened.
to look in, and if I'm not there, After a moment, the panel slid
one of the orderlies will be. You aside, and Walters stepped through.
»
see, this is -
On seeing Hesketh, he heaved a
Hesketh went into the cabin and sigh of relief.
closed the door. "So you are here!" he said. "We
"Well, I'll be damned!" ex- were getting worried. The doc said
claimed Walters. "He doesn't even he hadn't seen you for hours—"
seem grateful that we hauled him "I'm hungry," said Hesketh
out of that hole!" flatly.
except that a period of time had defeated Hesketh, and the curious
passed, went to the sink, and lay soon tired of staring at him.
down again. But something nagged They sat him at a table and
him. Finally it clarified into the brought a white dish containing a
stomach was empty.
fact that his variety of multi-colored objects. He
He swung his feet to the floor ignored it at first; it was different in
and gazed expectantly at the door both smell and appearance from
panel, submerging the knowledge what the Charnogs had given him.
that there was a reason for his food "I thought you said you were
not arriving. He had been waiting hungry," said Walters in surprise,
like a statue for a long time when and Hesketh, copying the actions
there was a rap at the door. of others sitting not far from him,
128 GALAXY
took something from the plate stomach and he got through the
which looked less outrageous than meal without further difficulty.
the rest and stuffed it into his Then Walters took him off for a
mouth. The taste was unpleasant, tour of the ship.
but he got it down. "How about starting with the
"Something— to drink?" he asked drive room?" he suggested, and so
Walters, who was watching his ac- they started with the drive room
tions with unconcealed wonder. — a vast place full of tame energies
Walters brightened, and signaled that slept and sometimes crackled
a mess waiter. into wakefulness in gigantic insu-
"This'll make you feel better," lated spheres.
he said when the man produced a "That's the Sun Ping drive, of
bottle. "It's about the best we've course," said Walters. "Like I told
got. All the way from Earth." you, it could move planets if we
Something pale yellow and wanted it to."
translucent arrived in a glass set Then they went to armaments.
before Hesketh. After a pause, he "There's a Charnog name
picked it up doubtfully. "This—this stamped on every one of these mis-
isn't water," he said. siles," said Walters, "if they use
"You darned right it's not! That's names. Do they?"
our best white wine. Try it — it's "I don't thinkthey talk," said
good." Walters leaned forward en- Hesketh, "so they probably don't
couragingly. have names."
Sickly, Hesketh set the glass Walters shrugged. "Comes to the
down. How to explain that in his same thing in the end."
personal cosmos there was only one Then they went to navigation.
fluid at all besides water, and that "Charnog bases," said Walters,
it was this color? "No, I haven't indicating a sweep of lights across
drunk anything but water for — for an astral map. They glowed dan-
a long time. Maybe I'd better not" ger-red. "We've established the lo-
cation of practically every base in
Wf
**
ALTERS looked relieved to this sector now. Far cry from your
find there was an apparently day, eh, Hesketh? Then we were
rational explanation for Hesketh's practically fighting in the dark."
peculiar actions. "Which -where was I?"
"I guess you may
be right at "Here," said Walters, and tapped
that," he agreed. "That stuff is a green light. "That's been green
pretty strong. All right, waiter — a ever since the day we rescued you.
glass of water instead." Pretty soon now, they'll all be green
The food quieted Hesketh's — with your help."
SILENCE 129
"Take me back to my cabin, a damn even about me."
please," said Hesketh. was thinking that by this time
"I
"Let's finish our tour," Walters he would at least have started to
said, and dragged Hesketh off to identify," Shu muttered. "Still, this
the servicing shops, and the admin- is a unique case—"
istrative section, and the troop suppose he does know some-
"I
landing locks, and the planetary thing of value to us?" Vozhdov put
boat section, and the recreation in.
130 GALAXY
sistent buzz. Vozhdov flipped a Another speaker boomed down
switch on his desk. another corridor: "Attack immi-
"Listening." nent! Attack imminent!"
"Unidentified vessel on approach Something clicked in Hesketh's
course at extreme limit of detector mind and he stopped in his tracks.
range, sir," said an impersonal "Capsule," he said under his breath.
voice. "Fifteen forward by eight "Capsule — where's a capsule?"
down by a hundred and six. I'm On the last word, his voice rose
putting a plot of the course on your to a cry, but Shu had gone around
screen." a corner, out of sight Hesketh's last
A brilliant blue curve sprang into despairing wail was lost on the air.
selves into 412 or 214 and some- Realization of what the impact
times just blurring his sight. His had meant burst in Hesketh's mind.
pulse was beginning to race, and He stared wildly left and right for
from time to time the left-hand the red-painted door which indi-
wall of the corridor he was follow- cated the entrance to a survival
ing met him head on. capsule, saw none, and crumpled
Someone rounded a corner and into a ball, trying to drive the mem-
bumped into him. "You all right, ories newly awakening back into
pal?" a voice queried. the depths of his mind.
Desperately, Hesketh formed "—contained the damage," con-
the words. "Cabin 421, please?" tinued the PA system, unmindful
"Sick quarters? D deck, turn of Hesketh. "The raider is falling
right and second left and it's astern and steering erratically after
straight in front of you. Can't miss two direct hits. That is all."
it." Hesketh was still in his fetal po-
132 GALAXY
•
SILENCE 133
sitionwhen he heard slow footsteps, Hesketh half-rolled on his side
doubled, making heavy work of the and gave a gasp. It could have been
going. He maneuvered his eyes cau- a word: "Help!"
tiously. Shu's professional fingers
Two armored orderlies were ap- searched bloody scalp. "A
the
proaching, bearing between them scratch," he said, and added to the
a stretcher on which lay a badly nurse, "Doesn't need a dressing.
injured man, his blood staining his Just clean it up."
blanket "My — my guts," moaned Hes-
Getting to his feet unsteadily, keth, and Shu frowned. He took a
Hesketh said, "Cabin 421, please?" culture disc from a sterile case and
The first of the orderlies gazed at slapped it briskly on the skin of
him in astonishment. "Who the Hesketh*s forearm, took it away,
devil sent you down to sick quar- slid it under the objective of a
ters on your own feet in that state? pocket diagnostician. He whistled.
Come along with us!" "Here, eat this," he said, click-
He fell in obediently behind ing a pill from a dispenser. "It'll put
them, but as they entered the hos- you right in no time. All you've got
pital corridor, he caught sight of is a common cold. I suppose, being
slammed behind him, he flung him- Hesketh got the tasteless pill
self face down on the bunk. down somehow, and Shu turned
What was happening to him? back toward the door.
This giddiness, this racing pulse, "Don't leave me! Hesketh
profuse sweating, this feeling of — begged.
something — neither fullness nor "Listen, Hesketh, I've got sixty
emptiness nor pressure, unlike any men in sick quarters that we picked
sensation his stomach had given out of the wreck of the nose gun-
him in all those years? nery section. I've done everything
For endless ages, he lay with- you need, and I can't waste time
out daring to move, moaning at in- holding your hand!" Then his face
tervals. Then the door opened and softened a bit. "I suppose it's en-
Dr. Shu stepped in, followed by a couraging that you don't want to be
nurse carrying a sterilizer and i
alone any more. Don't worry, that
dressings. pill will fix you up in about six
"What's up with you, Hesketh?" hours—"
the doctor inquired. "My order- A voice bellowed through the
lies said you looked pretty bad." door: Vozhdov's. "Shu, what the
134 GALAXY
hell are you doing in there? You no longer. "Whether you want to
should be operating on Gurra listen or not, you're going to!" he
Singh!" exploded. "I've had just about all
"Yes, Commodore," said Shu, I can take from you! It's no damn
turning away again. "They're put- good thinking that just because
ting him under anesthetic now." you're unique and important you
can keep us hanging about for your
and went on down the corridor with But don't they have survival cap-
his ghastly load. sules any more?"
Watching him depart, Hesketh He waited anxiously for Wal-
felt a stir of sickness again. "What ters' reply.
— exactly — happened?" "Of course we have survival cap-
"Thafs better. Come through the sules. You'll see 'em all over the
lock and I'll show you." ship. But they're an anachronism.
There was a guard at the lock, What would be the chance of get-
which had been cut through the ting to a capsule if a resonator that
air-seal around the damaged sec- size actually went off? And it
tion;Walters explained his mission, would take a ship like ours days to
and they were allowed to pass. scour the area on the chance of
Through the headphones of a finding someone alive — and you
spacesuit, his voice sounded oddly think they're going to search for
unfamiliar to Hesketh, but he got improbable survivors when the
his meaning. ships could be knocking down
"See that big black thing in the Charnogs? Don't be a fool."
middle of this mess?" "I — I thought they could locate
Hesketh's eyes were unused to them by radio," Hesketh suggested.
sorting out the kind of confusion "Oh, sure. But you have to get
that faced them. He stretched out pretty near to a capsule before you
a hand and pointed at something can pick it up on a receiver, and
big and black and sinister which in any case the shock of the blast
hardly poked out from the heaps of often puts the radio out of action.
ruined equipment. "That?" No, a survival capsule's a waste of
136 GALAXY
Walters changed
effort these days." started eagerly to it, he was sur-
the subject. "Well? Seen enough? prised to find his arm gripped.
Are you going to talk now?" "Not so fast," saidWalters be-
"I don't know what I can say" tween his teeth. "You're coming
pleaded Hesketh, and Walters into the doc's office first."
passed a red-painted door, and Hes- ting beside the doctor's desk, coun-
keth, startled, halted to stare at it. tersigning forms as the doctor filled
"Yes, that's a survival capsule," them They looked up when Wal-
in.
Walters told him. "A two-man cap- ters and Hesketh came in.
sule like the one you got away in. "Well?" Vozhdov demanded.
You got away! Not like those poor "Did that straighten him up?"
guys in the gunnery section — "Not that I can see, sir," said
they're all fouled up with the Walters. "All he's interested in is
wasn't?" Shu replied without turn- "If you do that again, Commo-
ing his head. dore," he said as soon as he had
"Yes, sir. He said he was tired mastered the pain, "I shall forward
of waiting for Hesketh." a confidential report on your be-
SILENCE 139
havior to Base and have you re- told you we would, didn't I?"
command."
lieved of your Hesketh rolled his head to look
"What did you say?" the com- at Shu, who wore a sick expression.
modore demanded incredulously. "Yes, we're getting somewhere,"
"You heard." Shu rubbed his the doctor admitted. "I'm not sure
aching shoulder. "If necessary, I'll very reassuring news, though."
it's
justified."
Hesketh, finally comprehending
the situation, suddenly gave the
little quiet-spoken doctor a smile.
140
" * •
* * -'. *
, * .*..->- . .
to get it. It'll upset them to learn Vozhdov's satisfied smile van-
they've been underestimating the ished like frost in sunlight. "What
Charnogs' knowledge of human did you say, Dr. Shu?"
psychology for so long, but they The doctor didn't seem to hear,
need a bit of shaking up." but went on as if to himself. "That
"Oh, go ahead and make your Hesketh gets to Base with his
is, if
•
keth's eyes were open, and hurried must have done to him?" demanded
up to the table. "Here," he said so- Vozhdov at the end of one of the
licitously, "take my arm and I'll sessions.
get you back to your cabin." "What good would hate have
"Couldn't you send an orderly been to him for twenty-eight
for that?" asked Vozhdov. years?" said Shu. "He couldn't do
"I could" said Shu, helping Hes- anything."
keth to the floor, and left it at that. "He could at least have looked
forward to escape."
STUMBLING, Hesketh reached "Escape! How long would you
bunk and collapsed onto it.
his hang onto that hope?"
Shu stood over him with pitying "Well, why can't he feel angry
eyes. now that he has been rescued?"
"They must have treated you pressed the commodore, and Shu
damned badly," he said. "Almost as gave him a short, cold look.
badly as we're going to But . . . "He's beginning to feel angry
then they had ignorance as an ex- again, I assure you."
cuse." - "Good!" said the commodore,
When he left, Hesketh lay still. and Shu saw that the point of the
He found he was beginning to re- remark was lost on him.
member: a ticking bright thing at The sessions continued. Each
the edge of his field of vision — one left a clearer mind in Hesketh's
which was not Shu's metronome; head. As Shu had stated, he was be-
something attached to his scalp — ginning to feel angry again, but that
which was not Shu's encephalo- wasn't all.
SILENCE 143
Hesketh gave him a look of con- They reached the capsule and
tempt and went on addressing the he put purpose to work.
his
doctor. "There's a way out of this. He had never lifted a hand
And you don't want to go on, do against Vozhdov since the time he
you?" had thrown the metronome at him,
"If it hadn't been for Mm/ said
1
though he had often wanted to.
Shu, nodding at Vozhdov, "I'd Now he did; he swung around and
never have started." brought the edge of his hand to
"That's what I thought. Well, the commodore's throat. The blow
come along then. Let's go to a life was as violent as he could make it.
capsule." Vozhdov could not even cry out,
Startled, Shu looked up. "You — for it smashed his larynx.
you think maybe that kind of stim- "What-?" cried Shu. "What
ulus might bring your memory back for?"
completely now?" Hesketh gazed at him in sur-
"It might," said Hesketh cau- prise. "I thought you understood!
tiously. "Anyway, it's a way out, Well, it doesn't matter. You will in
isn't it?" a moment. Come on!"
but it's
"I don't quite follow you, Shu didn't move. They dared not
worth trying. Anything but what delay, Hesketh realized— who knew
the last session's been like! Hes- who might come past and catch
keth, I'm sorry — I feel as if I've them? He had to act first and ex-
been flaying you alive." plain later.
"That's all right," said Hesketh. So he struck the doctor apolo-
"Itwas his fault, not yours." getically under the ear, catching
Vozhdov purpled, but Shu si- him as he slumped, and dragged
lenced him with a glare. "All right, him through the entrance into the
Hesketh," he said. "There's a cap- survival capsule, laid him tidily on
sule not far from here, on C deck, the bunk he didn't want for himself,
which will do. Try anything and then closed the door and acti-
»
once ... - vated the expulsion switch.
It's worked all right before, As soon as the capsule had been
thought Hesketh. fired, Hesketh got up from the bunk
where he had thrown himself and
THEY the office together,
left looked with satisfaction. He knew
Shu leading, Hesketh next and his surroundings so well that they
Vozhdov sullenly bringing up the were almost a part of him. In a
rear. Something had cleared in sense, they were.
Hesketh's mind; new knowledge, There was only one thing which
new purpose filled it. irritated him, and that was the
144 GALAXY
radio jutting from the wall. He Charnogs —
only the Charnogs re-
tugged at it, but was mounted too
it captured you — and each time you
securely for him to dislodge it. came to equate escape with a sur-
He clambered onto one of the vival So you naturally
capsule.
bunks and kicked downward at the made your third escape the same
radio. Wires fused as they tore way, this time from us."
loose. Then he sat down to await He began to laugh. "Well, every-
Shu's awakening. thing's clear now. You're out of
In a few minutes, the little doc- Vozhdov's hands for good. Base'll
tor stirred and moaned, and Hes- send out ships to pick us up. It
keth spoke reassuringly. "It's all won't take them long to track down
right now, Doc. Everything is all our radio signal."
right." "Oh, no," Hesketh assured him,
Shu started up and looked and pointed to the ruins of the
around. radio. "That was the mistake I
"How could I have been so stu- made both times, letting the cap-
pid?" he said wonderingly. "You sule go on signaling. You didn't
told me yourself you escaped think I'd make it a third time, did
twice! Once from the wreck of the you?"
transport ship, and once from the — JOHN BRUNNER
Write HA S I
SILENCE 145
GALAXY'S
Shelf
NOT IN SOLITUDE by Kenneth Rating: *****
F. Glantz. Doubleday & Co., Inc.,
N.Y., $3.50 THE ENEMY STARS by Poul
NOT SINCE the unchallenged Anderson. J. B. Lippincott Co.,
days of Capt. S. P. Meek have we & N.Y., $2.95
Phila.
had a distinguished service author SOME AUTHORS have the touch
than the temporarily indentured that makes even their potboilers
writers of WW II. But Col. Glantz, into thoroughly presentable items.
with his very first novel, erupts into Unfortunately, Anderson is not in
front-rank prominence. this class. However, top-notch An-
His account of the U.S. Air derson is truly tops — and this is
Force's first Martian mission, code- Anderson at his peak.
name "Far Venture," is an abso- In truth, The Enemy Stars is
• * * * * SHELF 147
is kept tiresomely naive for the au- PAPERBACK NEWS
thor's convenience in plotting.
Some of the gadgetry is interest- ACE BOOKS: Ring Around the
ing. Sun, Clifford D. Simak, 35^. Si-
Rating: ** mak's wonderful novel of parallel
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serialized in
NINE TOMORROWS by Isaac is worth rereading Beyond the . . .
his consistently high level of excel- Brunner; The War of Two Worlds,
lence. Poul Anderson; Ace Double, 35^.
Two pointed cases are the novel- Brunner has the vast imagination
ets of the collection, "Profession" of van Vogt — along with the same
and "The Ugly The
Little Boy." addiction to bewildering plots. An-
latter appeared in Galaxy as derson^ minor effort is about the
"Lastbom." manipulation of Earth and Mars
Rating: ****+ into a senseless attritive war by
form-changing outworlders.
ZIP-ZIP GOES TO VENUS by AVON BOOKS : Doomsday
John M. Schealer. E. P. Dutton and Morning, C. L. Moore, 35^-. A fine
Co., Inc., NY., $2.75 story of intrigue in an America con-
ZIP-ZIP, the Martian boy, zips trolledby Comus, a vast communi-
when he talks in order to release cations complex Cry Horror, . . .
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A
Never-Never Land of Space, Conklin, 35 (^ Another terror col-
with an interplanetary Peter Pan, lection, this one untypical. Con-
for youngsters. klin's anthology is br-r-r-ed mainly
Rating: **** by Theodore Sturgeon's deserved-
148 GALAXY
.
150 GALAXY
!
They took off her coat, also her walls, most of them empty now.
dress. Two, three girls around her, One was somewhat isolated,
exceedingly trim in their hospital thronelike, with a steel ring around
gowns, slipped one over her head it on the ceiling on which a curtain
152 GALAXY
:
"Aren't you glad you don't live guard can handle. This is what Mr.
on Broad Street? My word, that Pierre's world-famous shampoo
was terrible last night." does for you. Look at the little
"I heard over the late news.
it folder."
They announced it with all the de-
CLEANSES RESPIRATORY ORGANS
tails. I never heard anything like
."
No bellowing coughs,
that . .
no cheeping asthma.
"I saw it in this morning's paper. SWEETENS YOUR BREATH
What pictures! Simply gruesome. You too can have a new lease on
I don't know how they did it.
love thanks to any of Mr. Pierre's
special aromas
Makes your hair stand on end." Sweet Spring Libeccio
"You know her father, poor soul, Ocean Gust —
Men's Special
he was run over month — Oh,
last Ardent Thyme Zephyr
you didn't know? He was a second GivesYou that Knowing Look
cousin of Mrs. Barnes' brother-in- of those who have been face to face
them off the Chair. Now you saw a black jersey and gray skirt. Her
yourself what he did last night. I stockings sagging, her heels trod-
sure hope he'll get the Chair. I den down. Her hands were stout
hope they'll have to switch it on and fat and yellow, and so was
two or three times too. Would her face, in which rolled a pair
be too good for him just to die of large black eyes as she nodded,
."
right off . . too often, too rapidly, at what the
"Would you mind stepping over man said. And her lips were thick,
here, Mrs. Firestone? Mr. Irwing heavily painted, though innocent
,,
will be right with you. like a child's.
man: That's the one I like. That'll
stroking his Vandyke, black, trim isn't it? Sir, would you mind
and pointed — a man, unless he is stepping over here? You see, the
Robert, with no face over the man and girl: (Get up, follow
white gown giving off a faint odor Mr. Pierre to a chair in the cor-
of tobacco and eau de Cologne to- ner, round which Mr. Frederic
gether with words well groomed and Mr. Robert hurriedly place
and bleached of meaning — a man a par av ant)
in a beauty shop is out of place. man: (Seated again on the arm-
He causes a nervous hustling and Test oi the girl's chair, dangling
rustling. The conversation halts, his legs, looking up to Mr.
towels are thrown on bared legs, Pierre) You see this dress? It's
curtains drawn hastily, chairs nothing like the one I bought
turned and mirrors covered. If, at her. I don't see how I ever
least,he veiled his intrusion with bought it. The terms were easy,
a gentle white gown. If at least, it's true, but it adds up to a
he masked his face, like the visit- year's salary. It looks as plain
ing fathers in the maternity ward. as this one here. But it's worked
But he sat there, sheer and in various metals, precious
male, in a loudly striped suit. He metals, I assume, on a ground of
sat on the armrest of his girl's crystal — and the effect of the
chair, and they looked at a fashion colors. Her hair ought to be
154 GALAXY
TRUE SELF 155
)
golden red, to go with it. That's eyes from one to the other)
easy, I guess, but there are those man: The lady, she's my fiancee.
eyes. Can we get away from She is young. Vera, darling,
those cow-eyes? I mean they wouldn't you like to look like
are very nice — but with that this girl in that dress?
dress . . . girl: (Nods, wide-eyed, emphati-
girl: ( Nods, wide-eyed cally )
MR. pierre: We could take care MR. pierre: To be beautiful, the
of that without any trouble at lady must not look like any
all. Three shots and we kill off other lady. She must look like
the source of pigmentation alto- herself: her true self. We must
gether and base the color discern her good features, un-
scheme on There are two
albino. derline them, develop them; we
slight inconveniences: myopia must suppress her not-so-good
and conjunctivitis, but we can features, eliminate them. Ele-
handle that with Mr. Pierre's gance, you know, means choos-
liquid contact lenses containing ing, reducing to the essential.
special ever-bright eye lotion. man: And who decides what is
Easy application. A whole essential? Who knows her true
month's supply in this pocket- self?
size easy-to-carry plastic bottle MR. pierre: (Has passed a comb
for only eight dollars. through her hair, then bobbed it
MAN: Of course, those lips, with- up, holding her head, looking
out those eyes — they would over her head into the mirror;
seem like a blotch on the golden scanning, with upturned eyes,
flow. They would ruin the neck- his own solemn image, pleased)
line. They would block the con- I do. It's my job. My life-long
templation of the whole . . . experience with beautiful and
MR. pierre: We
can take off a not-so-beautiful ladies.
good portion. But if you've man : ( Doubtful ) And if your idea
come here to take my advice, should not coincide with mine?
Ishould say that your approach The dress: you haven't seen it.
is somewhat mistaken. Beauty, Please keep in mind the color
you know, beauty you get not scheme, the neckline, the rhy-
by making the lady conform to thm, the flow. Vera, darling, you
the dress you choose and cher- want to, don't you?
ish, but by choosing a dress to girl: (Nods, wide-eyed, emphati-
suit the beautiful lady you cally)
cherish. MR. pierre: (Fixing eyes
his own
girl: (Rolls questioning cow- in the mirror, hypnotically) By
156 GALAXY
.
the time / get through with the man: (Cowed) If you say so . . .
own eyes in the mirror) First of MR. pierre And the hands. We'll
:
all, the color of the face isn't look at them after the Von Bar-
right, and too much surface. bar treatment. But my guess is
Also, these bacon folds around they'll have to be changed al-
refrigerator . . .
mind turning this thing down lady here, she's young; she does
some? A friend of mine, she gave not need much. We can go two
herself a permanent, you know, and layers deep with one application;
the drier was too hot and, guess but some need more. Then we have
what, her hair fell out just like to repeat the treatment after a
that" Mrs. Firestone snapped her couple of days, and you can see
fingers. "The curlers dropped off, them in the meantime, our clients,
with the singed hair in it Can you on the street, even at parties, with
beat it? She coulda died." inches of dead body around them.
Mr. Pierre walked over and Men too, on sunny beaches, with
pushed up the drier so Mrs. Fire- mute mumbling dead lips. There's
stone could hear. nothing to it. Most of them look
"Please, Mrs. Firestone, don't just as dead before the treatment,
talk so very loud. It's no good for which, if applied correctly, merely
you and it disturbs the other ladies." confirms an extant fact."
Mrs. Firestone was pleased to
be scolded by him. She encom- UNDER Mr. Pierre's careful su-
passed him with melting, adoring pervision, the operators han-
eyes. dled instruments, mixed crackling
"By the way," he added, reward- fuming liquids, blotted out expand-
ing her, "I promised to let you see ing flames, fan-cooled the finished
a Von Barbar mask. I am doing product, and applied it gently to
one now. Look over there and see Vera's face, neck, arms, legs, mid-
how it works." riff, hips and belly. Flabby and yel-
158 GALAXY
lowish, she turned flabbier and toward debutante, a business
yellower yet. woman who has been fired, a widow
"After that," Mr. Pierre went on who has to make her life over — I
explaining, "we take them into the mean unless it is a matter of an
German bath and the whole stuff inch or two . do you do,
. . How
comes off. Like the dry outer skins Mrs. Evergreen? Would you mind
of an onion, till the fresh juicy core stepping over here? Be seated,
comes out. In two hours, a lady can please. Mr. Frederic will be right
get rid of twenty pounds of super- with you. You have your third
fluous fat, of pimply skin and a shampoo today? Your expression
threadbare scalp. She'll rise from has gained in profoundness. Didn't
the German bath slim, trim and your husband tell you too? Well,
prim, if somewhat shorter, and happy trip."
high point of efficacy, for Vera onto his breast, hugged it protec-
little pegs, stared glassily into the combed her hair, bobbed it up with
milky light. Her hair flowed from a wavy motion of his hands and,
160 GALAXY
looking over her head at his own ders. They slipped on her dress,
image in the mirror, he said, "Are handed her the purse, dusting, wip-
we pleased, little lady? Tomorrow ing, brushing,adding a last touch of
we have our first lesson in in-
shall perfection to their handiwork.
dividualized makeup. And tomor- The lady in dusty-rose called on
row we shall learn a better posture, Vera and brought her a white gown.
more correct carriage. And tomor- "Take off your clothes, honey, and
row we must not nod our little head put on this one. You can fix them
so much any more. And tomor- better like that." And she fastened
"
row— the gown adroitly with a suitable
Ladies came and ladies
and left belt, a becoming pin.
Vera waited. She saw shampoos The operators spread sawdust on
and masks and baths, got used to the floor and began to sweep it.
them, and waited. She listened to They sprayed the mirrors with win-
much uncouth gossip between chair dex, dusted the chairs, sterilized the
and chair: how much disaster and combs, put away the curlers, hung
crime and betrayal and misfortune. the towels and locked the safe.
And she waited. The beautiful lady in the white
gown, with the pretty pin and
r pHE beautiful receptionist in the matching bracelet and the corn-
--
blue suit with matching scarf flower in her barrette, walked up to
said to her: "Well, well, how darling Vera. They looked like sisters now,
we look!" And then: "Honey, your except that Vera was a shade
skirt is too large for you now. You lighter, newer.
might just as well fix it — it will "Honey," the lady said, and
give you something to do." smiled gently her perfect smile,
Ultima rose from her dentist "honey, why don't you give us a
chair. They slipped off her gown, hand while you are waiting?"
brushed her shining neck and shoul- — ELIZABETH MANN BORGESE
w y u y r
A girl's hand was all he wanted of this plantation world-
162
By CHARLES SATTERFIELD Illustrated by DILLON
m is
..
In
f<
!,
.
"Excuse me, sir," said a timid "Ah, yes. I suppose," said Mook-
voice. erjan thoughtfully, "that you are a
Sutherland jumped. In the door- business associate? A buyer of
way of the bath — his bath — stood proto-spuds for one of the inter-
a small dark man. And in his hand planetary exchanges? No? Then
the man held, for the Lord's sake, perhaps an attorney — I have heard
a mint julep. that there are some estate matters
The man coughed apologetically. to be settled. Or could you have
"I amMiguel Mookerjan, your known his father, the late Colonel
neighbor. Pardon this intrusion." Blick, or are you related in family?
"Good morning," growled Suth- Or-"
erland. "Mr. Mookerjan," said Suther-
"Yes," said Mookerjan thought- land dangerously, "I'll tell you my
fully, "Isuppose it is." He inspected business here without your dredg-
the room, coming at last to the glass ing for it. I'm engaged to be married
in his hand. "Oh, yes. Perhaps you to his sister."
would care for this? I am a Mus- "Oh, splendid!" cried Mookerjan.
lim," he said with pride, "and we "A wonderful girl, Mr. Sutherland!
are not allowed alcohol. But I do I assure you, have met many
I
not wish to offend our host. So I charming young ladies, but few
came through the bath which we compare with Robin Blick!"
share to offer you, as you might "Thelma Blick, Mr. Mookerjan."
perhaps say, a dividend." "That sister? But — " Mookerjan
Sutherland was puzzled, but he hesitated. "Well," he said, "I wish
followed the direction of Mooker- you every happiness. And now I
jan's eyes,and the answer to his imagine you wish to dress. You will
puzzlement was on the table by his not want to be late for breakfast.
bed. A mint julep; the maid had The colonel is so much more ap-
brought him one of the confounded proachable then! A bientot, Mr.
things too. Before breakfast! Sutherland, a bientot!"
"But you have not drunk your
own," said Mookerjan with con- r
|
1
HE
Blick place was nothing
cern. "You are not of the Faith? Or -*- special for the planets of the
mained of the morale of Berl Suth- tasks done for you — it was revolt-
erland. ing; it was nothing like the stripped-
Discount the wide marble stair- down, Spartan life he had been
case that wound down from the brought up to on Earth . .
sleeping floor to the great hall at But it just might be, he thought,
the entrance. Don't consider the that if there had been an endless
obvious wealth of the furnishings labor supply available on Earth,
— tapestried walls and finely made every human might have just such
furniture, all of them imported a home. Meanwhile, he was here.
across light-years of space at a ship- He would, he decided, attempt to
ping Sutherland could not
cost enjoy it.
guess. These could be hand-me- "Good morning," he said to the
downs; the antebellum South on room at large, and let a small
Earth, centuries before, owned bronze-colored servant take him to
many such a plantation where the a chair. Thelma was not in sight,
owners counted themselves lucky he had noted at once, which freed
to see a hundred dollars in cash him to observe the others who were.
from one year to the next. The Blicks liked a house full.
But there was much more — so Lolling against the upholstered pil-
much more. The food. The fine lar of a round divan, Colonel Blick
liquors. And, over and above every- himself was reading the paper and
thing else, the servants. answering absently the remarks of
To Sutherland's bewildered eye, his guests. He had nodded to
there seemed to be more servants Sutherland, nothing more. Miguel
than people inthe room. All the Mookerjan glanced up, smiled
same size, all the same shape, all emptily, and returned to his meal.
stamped out of the same dies in The others gave Sutherland scarce-
the same factories. The plantations ly that much attention. All right,
of Lee had their slaves, and the thought Sutherland belligerently,
slaves were robots; they moved who the devil do you think you
about the rooms of the Blick plan- are?
tation house like busy beetles, But he remembered that his
cleaning, removing, serving and plan was to enjoy himself, and he
tending. gestured to the servants wheeling
Degenerate, thought Sutherland the little tables of food.
angrily. You certainly wouldn't Neither of the Blick sisters was
know there was a war on. Why in the room. There were three
must these people act like Confed- young men, a matched set, wearing
erate massas? A body servant for the same informal sort of uniform
every guest and the most personal as Colonel Blick; like him, they
166 GALAXY
"
were more interested in their news- been for that terrible party at the
papers than in human society. Grossfaders last night And when
There were a couple of girls whose Pat Grossfader brought me home
identity Sutherland couldn't guess, and I heard that you'd arrived and
and a man dark glasses on Suth-
in gone to bed, why, I just wanted to
erland's left, solemnly eating, like throw myself into your arms. And
a stoker filling a furnace, without I would have, too, if I hadn't been
looking up. the teenies* bit high. Oh, those sloe
And then Thelma floated into gin daiquiris!"
the room. "I hope you had a pleasant
night's sleep," the mousy sister said
168 GALAXY
: .
"You don't know. You don't tem. There were a few space cor-
know a thing, not until the peace vettes, a few emplacements on the
is declared and you can fly out smaller satellites, nothing that
there and look. We got two planets would give a flotilla of dread-
of the Antarean system, they tell naughts any serious opposition. The
me. I guess the light ought to be Sirian system was fat and open to
hitting Earth any day now. But I the war's dangers . .
never went and looked. Didn't want Assuming, of course, that the
to." He nodded politely and went Sirian system was really in the war.
back to the house. Sutherland couldn't help feeling
Sutherland continued to stroll that war was strangely remote here.
around the gardens. That was a No one seemed to care.
WAY UP YONDER 169
Still, the Sirian system was cer- Massa," said the robot's unhurried,
tainly important to the war — from uninflected voice. "Is there any-
Earth's point of view, anyhow. thing you wish?"
Lee was only one of the three "No - " he looked at the robot's
habitable planets, but was a good
it chest — "no, Persephone." Yes, that
one. It produced food enough for was the same one that had brought
fifty times its own population, food him his morning julep, his own
that Earth could very well use. personal attendant. The name was
The planet was near enough to inscribed on its torso plates. "You
its immense primary for the rays can go," he said, and watched the
to be deadly to all who faced it little thing move silently away.
without protection. That was why "Mr. Sutherland," said a girl's
the plantation houses were shielded, voice from behind him, "you really
why the crops were worked by ought to keep your radio on. It's
robots. Humans wouldn't do. They unsettling to the servants."
would die. "Sorry." It was Thelma's mousy
thought Sutherland re-
Still, sister, Robin. "I try to remember,"
motely, he would rather have hu- he said, with only part truth. The
man beings around him than — servants were robots, same as the
He jumped as a shadow crossed field hands, and their voices were
his face. radio, not sound — as their "eyes"
were radar instead of receptors for
TT was one of the robots, holding the visual spectrum of light. In or-
-* something out to him. "Curse der for them to hear or be heard,
you," snapped Sutherland, "what they needed radio equipment. That
do you mean sneaking up on me was the little box — the same little
like that?" He was startled, and box he had slept with under his
surprise brought on anger. pillow.
The servant, silent as a shadow, "The gardens are lovely this
continued mutely to offer him the morning," Robin Blick said flatly,
thing that was in its hands. Suther- nodding, and prepared to move
land looked at it at last and recog- away.
nized it: a small shoulder radio. Sutherland was galvanized into
"Oh," said Sutherland ungra- action. "Oh, Miss Blick. I wonder
ciously. "Thanks. I—" He stopped, if you can tell me where the colonel
dio on and turned on the switch. The girl stopped and looked at
"Thanks," he said again, knowing him more thoughtfully.
that this time the robot would hear. "I want to — uh — see him,"
"You are welcome, Sutherland Sutherland explained.
170 GALAXY
She nodded. have a chance to discuss it with
"I want to talk to him about — your brother, but he seems rather—"
about something." "My brother," said Robin Blick
"Yes," she said,and smiled. Smil- clearly, "is a flat-headed halfwit.
ing, she wasn't mousy at all. "I He's only nineteen years old and
thought you wanted to talk to him maybe he'll smarten up — some.
about something." But he's got a long way to go."
That was very pleasing, Suther- "I see," said Sutherland after a
land decided; he couldn't help grin- second. "I only thought that — you
ning. "Oh," he said, relaxing, "then know, head of the family, good
Thelma's said something to you? manners, the right thing to do, all
Of course. Why shouldn't she? Sis- that sort of thing."
ters are always close, exchanging "I am sick to my stomach of that
confidences and so on." sort of thing, Mr. Sutherland," said
Robin Blick in a pleasantly conver-
TJE looked around the garden sational tone. "I am sick to death of
•*-* hastily. There, patch of
in a Lee and everything about it."
a few things that are — well, worry- back where he wanted it.
ing me,
»
He said: "Tell me, what did
"I bet you have," said Robin Thelma say about me when she
Blick. But she let him lead her to told you? I mean if it isn't a secret."
the bench. "It isn't a secret. She didn't say
She didn't look a bit like her a word."
sister —
brown hair, brown eyes, a "But - "
figure that was nice enough but "She didn't even say you were
hardly startling, and Thelma was coming, young man."
definitely startling. But Robin Sutherland bristled. Young man,
seemed, thought Berl Sutherland, indeed! Surely the girl was younger
a friendly, sisterly sort of girl, who than he!
might be just the person to clear "But thought you said you had
I
up the one or two little doubts that an idea what I wanted."
in the last twelve hours had perco- "Mr. Sutherland," said Robin
lated up to the surface of his mind. Blick patiently, "I've been Thelma's
"The thing," he said, "is that sister for a long time now. You
Thelma's such a high-spirited young mustn't think you're the first young
creature. I wonder if she's ready man who's come to talk to her
for marriage. I thought I might brother."
The dome around the Blick Result: enough rain, and very
manor house was a quarter of a small and few clouds between
mile across. Nearly thirty acres times. A perfect growing climate.
bloomed under its shallow orange And the crops that were grown
roof. There was the house itself and were something very special in-
its gardens. There were six acres deed. The name of the principal
of farm, for the beets and tomatoes crop was proto-spuds. A miracle
and crisp green lettuce that did crop!
poorly in Sirius's direct light There Wrench and you can
off the tops
was an artificial pond, three acres cook yourself a superb mess of
of it, that stocked fine smallmouths greens, rich in vitamins A, C, D and
and doubled as a reservoir in case a dozen others. Dig the tuberous
of fire. There was a grove of fruit root and it is a treasure of assorted
trees, and there were a dozen acres food. The peel, toasted, has a fine
of pasture for the colonel's select nutlike flavor. The starchy interior,
herd of registered Black Angus. dried and ground, makes a flour
Of course, that was only the that bakes into delectable bread.
domed portion of the estate. Out- Pulled young and green and cooked
side the dome, naked under the whole, the tubers resemble a super-
blue violence of the primary, were Jerusalem artichoke.
over two hundred square miles. It If none of these makes a dish to
was more than a plantation, more your liking, let the whole thing go
than a Texan's ranch; it was a prin- to flower and seed. Then the petals
cipality. make a splendid jam, a first-rate
This was the thing about Lee's source of all the B vitamins. The
perfect climate: no dust. There seeds, toasted, split into hulls and
wasn't any, the result of high ioni- kernels. The hulls became a pep-
zation from the rays of the primary; pery spice, the seeds a richly per-
the dust clumped and agglutinated fumed sort of cinnamon.
and Well, there was a little —
fell. It was a valued crop and — vari-
if there had been none, that would ously cooked, dried, radio-sterilized
172 GALAXY
or frozen — it made a priceless ex- ly, but Mookerjan's pale-olive face
port article for interstellar trade, was pleasantly blank.
and an essential part of production The program was in stereo color
for war. and the timing was perfect; the
All of thisSutherland
Berl animated commercial was just end-
listened to, or seemed to, but not ing and the news commentator ap-
much of it stayed with him. peared, picking up his wand and
"There is one thing," he said at pointing to a wall map.
last, when Robin Blick paused and A fleet action had been fought
looked at him and seemed to ex- off Way Rock — though why any-
pect a question. "I mean there's one should fight for a Moon-sized
something know. Wasn't
I'd like to hunk of frozen slag a light-year and
— wasn't Thelma sincere back on a half from any warming star was
Earth?" more than Sutherland could imag-
"You'll have to ask her yourself," ine. There was, of course, no vic-
said Robin, sighing, because he was tory; the ships had shot at each
a very nice boy, good-looking and other for a while, then lost contact
smart and with just the right degree in hyperspace evasive action. More
of shyness, and she didn't like what than eight hundred planet-smash-
lay ahead for him. ers had been launched at the enemy
in the previous twenty-four hours.
Ill It was expected that the first
enemy missiles would start explod-
T was time for the ten o'clock ing at various points in the Sol sys-
news. Sutherland fumblingly tem within two weeks.
tried to turn the set on, but a serv- The commentator at that point
ant shot past him and expertly disappeared, though his voice re-
dialed. In the gun room down the mained, as the vision tank filled
hall, roar-and-shack music whined with a perspective star map, all
and thumped. the stellar bodies bright dots of
Sutherland said "Thanks," re- light in flashing color.
membered that once again he'd for- Colonel Blick bawled from the
gotten to turn his radio on, and de- gun. room: "What's all the racket
cided that he didn't care. in there? We can't hear ourselves
Mr. Mookerjan drifted over and think!"
joined him. "The war, eh? Good. Self-consciously, Berl Sutherland
Let's see how long we have to dance switched off the set. Colonel Blick
in the citadel while the Red Death appeared, tugging fretfully at his
roams outside." soft pale beard.
Sutherland glanced at him quick- "Sorry," he grumbled, "but real-
Sutherland. But let me get my colonel, sinking back, "I wish she'd
breath Grogan takes a lot out
first. stay around the house long enough
of you, you know. There's plenty of to tell me what to do about Pat
them that can put out a dull beat, Grossfader. You're a friend of hers,
but for real emptiness there's no- Mr. Sutherland — maybe you can
body like Grogan." talk to her. Here she's supposed to
marry Pat next month, and she's
C UTHERLAND looked quickly out alley-catting with every man
^ around the room, remember- under the age of ninety on Lee.
ing. Pat's not going to let her get away
It was the chance he'd had
first with that forever, Sutherland."
to talk to the colonel, but it was a "Supposed" repeated Suther-
fine chance; Blick was sitting there land carefully, the words chipping
and no one else was talking. Moo- out of his mouth like bits of ice,
kerjan had picked up a magazine, "supposed to — to marry — ?"
174 GALAXY
WAY UP YONDER 175
"He's put up with plenty from N a wing chair before the fire,
176 GALAXY
When the spinning tape-end had here," he offered, but not as though
flick-f lick- flicked itself to a stop, he thought LaFargue would take
Sutherland was feeling relatively him up on it.
good. Well, that was what roar-and- "No! Why can't you get the crops
shack was for, too. It brought what out?"
was inside you out to the surface, Silence, except for the colonel's
where you could get at it and sad breathing.
<<T»
handle it I'll you why," said La-
tell
He. listened, hardly thinking of Fargue. "There isn't a plantation on
Thelma at all, to Colonel Blick's Lee that's met its quota for three
breathless: "Roar, man, roar! Oh, months. Crops rot in the fields.
what a lip that Grogan has!" Spuds spoil in storage. The robots
"Very nice," LaFargue's
said aren't doing the job, Blick. It's up
voice. "A touch classical, wouldn't to you plantation colonels to get
you say? Beethoven's Sixth— green out there and straighten them out."
fields and a gathering storm, all that "Mr. LaFargue!"
sort of thing. And—" the voice be- "Or would you rather," LaFargue
came measurably brisker — "that's inquired, "let the Capellans march
what I want to talk to you about, in and do it for you? Because if
Blick." Lee doesn't meet its quotas, Earth
"Eh?" isn't going to be able to eat, let
"Oh, Sam," protested the colo- "I know. That's the bad part.
nel's voice with faint indignation. Pershing's iron mines report one
"Did you come here to nag me breakdown after another. In the Al-
about that shortage again? I know debaranian system, all the remote-
there's a war on." operated planets are getting out of
"You don't act it," said LaFargue hand. I don't know, Blick, maybe
in a cold, scolding tone. "You plan- we're getting too soft; maybe we've
tation colonels act as though the given the robots more than they can
Universe was staked down to bed- handle. But it's up to us humans to
rock. Nothing's going to change, is step in and set things straight. I'm
that it? The way Daddy did things telling you this for your own good.
is fine, because everything's always If you colonels don't do it volun-
178 GALAXY
Fargue. What do you think of that, soon-to-be-inducted draftee, Suth-
friends? Lee occupied!" erland looked down on them with
and contempt, and he
irritation
"IT* VEN Mr. Mookerjan giggled marched across the room and out
•" shrilly. LaFargue said dogged- the French windows.
ly: "It's not impossible." "Thelma!" he shouted.
Somebody spoke Sutherland's The terrace was empty. Not
name, but he wasn't interested. even their intelligence was any
He'd heard the same talk, between good, he told himself, grieving.
the same two men, an hour earlier, "Thelma!" he cried again, and
and wasn't interested in the recap. walked out into the gardens.
What he was interested in was "Thelma!" he roared, and cir-
Thelma. cled the little pond, and then he
He said: "Where is she? Thelma, saw her. Or them.
I mean." "Oh, you rat!" said Sutherland,
Everyone turned and looked at and hurled himself at the man with
him. Mr. Mookerjan giggled again. his arms around the woman Suth-
"Why, I saw her out on the terrace erland loved. "I don't care how
with-" much money you've got, Pat Gross-
"She stepped out," said Robin, fader — Thelma loves me and she
hard and fast, catching an expres- isn'tgoing to marry you!"
sion on her brother's face. "She'll "Wait, buddy!" The man dodged
be back, Mr. Sutherland, so why away from the flailing "Hey!
fists.
don't you sit down and have a You got the wrong man! I'm Char-
drink?" ley Pough, from Cornell! I never
Sutherland blinked. "Terrace, saw Miss Blick before tonight!"
eh? Well," he said raising his voice, Sutherland said: "You cad!" He
"I just feel the need of a little fresh looked at the smeared lipstick and
air myself, and what do you think the disarrayed hair of Thelma
of that?" Blick. "Hussy!" he cried. "Faith-
The nerve, he told himself ag- less woman! You aren't even true
grievedly, of these frontier-planet to Pat Grossfader, let alone me!"
civilians, trying to pull the wool And he wandered off into the
over his eyes. Yes, civilians! "Col- night.
onel" was only a courtesy title that
went along with inheriting the IV
plantation. What
did young Blick
or his pasty-faced friends know /"OVERHEAD, the unfamiliar
about war? From his towering ^-^ constellations twinkled, dim
seniority as an almost-sworn-in, and orange-hued through the
gone; now the fertile ground would can't stand the things.
steep in moisture until the morning, Still,he thought, he might as
when bright Sirius would pour its well go back to the house. Faithless
heat and light into the making of woman! But he couldn't stand out
another five inches of stalk, another here all night. No, back to the house
quarter-inch of girth of tuber, of and up to his room. There was a
each plant on the Blick place. lock on the door; he would use it.
Sutherland wandered until some- Speak to no one. Ignore the whole
thing moved in the shadows in front confounded mass of them. Then up
of him. early the next morning, get one of
He jumped. "Who's there?" the servants to drive him to town,
No answer. catch a plane to the spaceport and—
"Speak up!" he barked, and then Say, he thought drearily, staring
he remembered what he was al- around at the trees, just where was
ways forgetting, and touched the the house?
switch of the speaker at his shoul-
der.
"Who's there?" he demanded H E called uncomfortably: "Hey,
Apollonius, or whatever your
again, and now the radio received name isit»
180 GALAXY
robot had been heading, and it itan army marching at route step
wasn't toward the house at all. It or a dance troupe? More than
was an entrance to the servants' either of those, it was like the ir-
183
man being had troubled to enter barked his shins and scraped his
the underground troll-world of the knuckles, and even out in the cool
robots, the machinery
electrical fruit grove with the orange-tinted
had worn. Once-firm contacts had stars above, he could feel something
corroded and warped. Each ma- closing in on him more weighty and
chine was now a potent generator more frightening than the pressure
of radio static — short-range, to be of rock above the robot warren.
sure, because of grounding and the
buried location of the plant — but V
loud enough close at hand for the
robots to hear. And it was radio SUTHERLAND woke up, and
that the robots lived by. clutched his head, and groaned.
Why, the sound of the grinder What a dream! All that brandy and
was a dance beat. What must the the tumult of his emotions regard-
gamma-ray generators sound like! ing Thelma Blick had combined to
What tunes must come from the produce a hangover, a massive
conveyor belts and the air compres- drunk, strange dreams . . .
sors! Dreams?
It was dance music, savage and He sat up suddenly. The maid
• - •
184 GALAXY
Quickly the robot was beside I'd give anything to make her do it.
that was about to consume him — commotion in the room; the colonel
treated here as though it did not was pacing tautly about, grumbling,
exist — in spite of the manifest im- a fidget of nerves in flesh! "Oh,
portance of Lee and its produce to where is he? Do you think his cop-
Earth's war effort. His host a roar- ter could have crashed?"
and-shack devotee. "Please," murmured one of the
Everything was all messed up. other young officers, slopping his
"Oh, damn," he growled again, be
coffee as his hands shook, "don't
staring at his face in the shaving nervous. There couldn't have been
mirror. an accident." He dropped his cup
It was a perfectly decent face; crashing to the floor.
why couldn't Thelma learn to like "What's the matter?" demanded
it? Nothing special, of course, he Sutherland.
admitted, but — The colonel stared at him. "Oh,"
"She's nuts," he grumbled testily. he said, identifying this stranger.
"Thelma promised to marry me. "You. Well, it's Grogan. He's com-
Sutherland said steadily: "This T was out. Even after what the
is more important than Grogan. I robot had told him in his own
have reason to believe that your room, Sutherland winced to hear
robots are conspiring against you." the words come from his own
The colonel whispered: "My mouth. Help him! It was the mad-
word. What an idea!" He glanced dest sort of request. It was like ask-
at his friends, shaking his head. ing a vacuum cleaner to touch for
"It's a fact, Colonel." King's Evil, or a dishwasher to
Sutherland observed that, on the mesmerize a headache away.
hassock by the window, Miguel The sweetly sexless voice of the
Mookerjan's face was turned away. robot bargained: "YOU MUST
The butter knife was rigidly still in GIVE US PEOPLE SOME-
his hand. Thelma and Robin THING IF WE HELP YOU.
seemed politely curious. LaFargue, MOOKERJAN MASTER AL-
his eyes invisible, had quietly come WAYS DID."
186 GALAXY
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188 GALAXY
frowned, and then obviously set his looked at him, but the eyes were
mind to the problem at hand. invisible behind the glasses. "Yeah,"
"All he said irritably.
right," he said, and looked again at Gro-
"You've made your point, Suther- gan, smiling and nodding, serene
land. What about it?" with the affable dignity of someone
»
Sutherland blinked. "What who knows he is the greatest man
"Mr. Mookerjan is a spy, you in the group.
say. Isn't that a matter for the "Play something, Grogan!"
Space Guard?" begged the colonel, beside himself
"It's a matter for every decent with excitement. "Oh, roar, man!"
citizen of Earth!" Sutherland Robin Blick whispered: "You're
blazed. perfectly right, you know."
"Oh, of course," the colonel Sutherland stared. She was there
agreed. "But my planet is Lee, Mr. too, beside LaFargue. "Sure," he
Sutherland. It isn't a state or a said.
nation. It's a colony." Off by the window, Miguel
Sutherland stopped short, the Mookerjan had retired to his has-
breath gone out of him. Incredible! sock and his cold toast, but his cold,
"And besides," said the colonel, bland eyes stayed on Sutherland.
his voice suddenly joyful, "I hear Sutherland sighed.
— yes! I hear a copter, coming "Play," coaxed the colonel, and
through the dome port!" Grogan held up his hand, laughing.
He went flying to the door and He was a big man, fair and fat, with
that was the end of that discussion. short red hair and a plump red face.
Grogan was here. "I didn't bring the pipe," he said,
"but I tell you what Ican do, pal.
SUTHERLAND stood in a Want to hear my newest? I got
corner of the room, watching the tape. Right here."
the triumphal entry of the hero. "Oh, splendid," moaned the colo-
For a few minutes, he had been the nel, half carried away with joy,
center of attraction; now he was and they hastened to set the tape
ignored in the wings. What had machine up in the great hall.
happened? He stared at the colonel "Sit down," LaFargue said soft-
with sick disbelief. How could the ly. "Look." He was holding out
190 GALAXY
All around it the audience was He peered into the open back of
sprawled, boneless and tranced, in the set, hesitated, moved a dial,
chairs and sofas;they were really peered again.
sent. In fact, Sutherland realized, "Come on!" growled the colonel.
it was getting him too. He was LaFargue stood up, thought for
being lulled to relaxation and to a second, and nodded.
dreams. He took a deep breath, "All right," he said. "Turn it on."
glanced once at LaFargue, and "The plug!" Sutherland whis-
kicked the tape player's plug out pered.
of its socket. "Oh, of course." LaFargue bent
The Grogan roar blipped and and stuck it back in. As he came
died. The colonel twitched and sat up, he said softly: "I cut out every-
up. "What -" thing but the very highs and the
"Oh, sorry," apologized Suther- very lows. Lefs see what happens."
land. "Clumsy of me! But Mr. La- The tape began to mumble a»d
Fargue here will fix it — won't you? squeak. LaFargue listened care-
He's an expert on — on electronic fully for a second, then cried:
things." "That's it! The high is just over-
The colonel gave him a look of tones — wait a second!" Quickly
intense pain. "Hurry it up, La- he turned the treble dial; the
Fargue," he grumbled. squeaking died, "But the low —
"I can't wait to hear the rest of have more volume."
here, let's
it," Sutherland chattered while La- He turned it up.
Fargue busied himself with the A dispassionate deep voice came
player. "He's great." compellingly from the speaker:
The colonel blinked. "Your "Relax. Don't worry. Take
taste does you credit," he said things easy. The Capellans won't
sourly. "Astonishing how it's im- come here. If they do, so what?
proved." Earth is away. Don't get in-
far
"What? Oh. Yes," said Suther- volved. Relax. Don't worry —"
land, trying not to seem too vitally "And there," cried Sutherland
interested in what LaFargue was triumphantly, what is buried
"is
CONVENTION NEWS
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so don't put off.
(Continued from page 8) has remained young and open for
North Pole via submarine — this so many years is truly admirable.
when the Navy only had one." Don't close it now, when research
(Wasn't that author somebody who into the mechanics of intelligence
called himself Noname?) "In over is moving forward so speedily and
fantasy when I was young. But I apparent trend toward a few long
do NOT
like thinking, reasoning stories rather than a lot of short
robots. No obection —
religious ones, but have you taken into con-
just that the human brain is too sideration the fact that you always
brain case." (Maybe, maybe not, might have happened if you had
but if 70 years could turn the wild- presented the issue as a choice be-
est fantasies into commonplaces, 70 tween short, sparkling treatments,
or 700 or 7000 more could show full of wit and rapid action and
much more certainly if it is or isn't.
long, slow-moving, page-padding
Industrial Research, 200 S.Michi- anecdotes?" (Just what did happen
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