galaxy

MAGAZINE
JUNE 1961 50 i
K

GALAXY

A GENTLE
DYING
BY
P0HL& KORNBLUTH

A-W-F
UNLIMITED
BY
FRANK HERBERT

- MOTHER
HITTON’S
LITTLE
KITTONS
BY
CORDWAINER SMITH
JUNE

FARMER
BY

1961
MACK REYNOLDS

AND OTHER
STORIES
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 A LIFE IN THE DAY OF AN EDITOR
JUNE, 1961
Galaxy VOL 19, NO. 5
INE M. The mail. Let- the Guest of Honor will be Robert

N
A.
MAGAZINE from a fellow stationed
ter A. Heinlein; the place to write for
Force Base,
at Eglin Air information is Seattle Science-
Also Published in Florida. Unfortunately he doesn’t Fiction Club, P. O. Box 1365,
Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Finland and Sweden sign his name, but he encloses an Broadway Branch, Seattle 2,
CONTENTS advertising throwaway from the Washington. And they too would
field, which lists under Lost and like us to tell our readers.
NOVELETS Found:
FARMER by Mack Reynolds 8 FOUND. Hutch brand, 6 finger Eleven-thirty, and the tele-
THE WEIRDEST WORLD by R. A. Lafferty 76 baseball glove. phone:
MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS by Cordwainer Smith 98 another clear proof “Sir,I’m Dr. and I ,

A-W-F UNLIMITED Says this is

by Frank Herbert 135 have here a patient under light
that There Are Aliens Among us. —
Submitted same to our board of hypnosis who
SHORT STORIES
experts; they decide that the evi- “A what?’’
THE GRAYBES OF RAATH by Neal Barrett, Jr. 52
dence is ambiguous. It doesn’t “A patient. I have him under
A GENTLE DYING by Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth 68
BREAKDOWN prove aliens are here. It only light hypnosis. He is recalling
by Herbert D. Kastle 121
MY OBJECT ALL SUBLIME by Poul Anderson 166 proves that aliens were here; may from memory a poem which ap-
THE LONG WAY HOME by Fred Saberhagen 178 have departed, leaving their six- peared in the October, 1957, issue
fingered baseball gloves behind. of Galaxy, page 56. Will you
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT check it, please? I would like to
FOR YOUR INFORMATION by Willy Ley 37 Ten A. M. Two letters from know if he has it right.”
The Strait Named After Vitus Bering the sponsors of s-f conclaves. One, “Um . Well
. . Just a . . .

the Midwescon, to be held June minute.”

FEATURES (Search through files.)
23rd, 24th and 25th, at the North
EDITOR'S PAGE 5 Plaza Motel, 7911 Reading Road, “Hello? There’s no poem on
FORECAST that page. It’s part of a story by
65 Cincinnati, Ohio; will we let our
GALAXY'S FIVE STAR SHELF by Floyd C Gale 94 Daniel F. Galouye. Come to think
readers know about it?

The other from the SeaCon of it. Galaxy never ran a poem
Cover by WENZEL: "Takeoff on Ganymede"
Committee —
that is, the Nine- on any page of any issue.”

ROBERT M. GUINN, Publisher teenth World Science-Fiction “Thank you.”

H.GOLD,
L. Editor
WILLY LEY, Science Editor FREDERIK POHL, Managing Convention, to be held in Seattle, (End of telephone call.)
Editor

GALAXY MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Main offices: Washington, over Labor Day
421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y. 50y per copy. Subscription: (6 copies) weekend. Their plans are proceed- Two o’clock. The afternoon
$2.50 per
year in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America and U. S. Possessions.
Elsewhere $3.50. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office, New York, N. Y. Copyright, ing rapidly. The place will be the package mail arrives.
New York 1961, by Galaxy Publishing Corporation, Robert M. Guinn, President. All rights, in-
Ryatt House (they claim it’s Big square package; open it up,
cluding translations reserved. All material submitted must be accompanied by self-addressed
stamped envelopes. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. All stories America’s first air-age hotel, with and it’s a two-volume book by
printed in this magazine are fiction, and any similarity between characters and
“ coincidental.
actual persons
direct fly-in accommodations); Isaac Asimov. The Intelligent
Printed in the U.S.A. by The Guinn Co., Inc. N. Y. Title Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

A LIFE IN THE DAY OF AN EDITOR 5

 Man’s Guide to Science. Looks No fooling. It’s called the “Seelo
pretty exciting. Galaxy Globe” transparent—
Read
THE WORLD THAT
a couple
sentences of vinyl plastic, the size of a beach
here and there. On the future ball; blow it up (with a bicycle
development of computers: pump; this is no ordinary beach

We represent, for the first time

ball;
harms
the moisture in the breath
it) and you have in three
COULDN’T BE
in the history of life on the Earth,
a species capable of bringing about
dimensions the entire sky as seen
— and 8 other
its own possible replacement. Of from Earth a desk-sized plane-
course, we have it in our power to tarium for Everyman! Novelets from Galaxy
prevent such a regrettable denoue- The accompanying literature
ment by refusing to build machines tells us something about the man
that are too intelligent. But it is who made it. He is also a college
tempting to build them nevertheless. teacher — mathematics, this time.
of the best collections of Science
What achievement could be grander
than the creation of an object that
A Californian; his name is Theo- One
dore Vincent. He spent six months
Fiction Stories edited by Horace Gold,
surpasses the creator?
preparing his master stencils, and
On our neighbor worlds in now can convert two sheets of
space: vinyl plastic into a Galaxy Globe published by Doubleday & Co. Priced
There may be as many as by running them through a silk
billion life-bearing planets in
five
our screen six times to show the — at $3.95. We have 100 copies available
Galaxy and 50 billion billion in the star names, the constellations, the
known Universe ... On latitude and longitude and various
at $1.95 while they last.
at least
some of those planets life may very other data in five colors; and to
well have evolved to what we would show the stars themselves and the
call “intelligent” forms. Even if this Milky Way in fluorescent white.
has happened in only one inhabited
Fluorescent? Let’s try. We
planet out of a million, there would
hold the inflated globe up to a

FINE fiin at 1/2 PRICE

still be 5,000 planets in our Galaxy

bearing intelligent life and 50 million

billion in the Universe.
ceiling light, locate a dark room
— and there it is. The night
A
sky. Big Dipper, Gemini, Orion FILL IN COUPON
Fascinating stuff! Would be — Southern Cross, Magellanic
good to
ing
down and start read-
sit

whole thing right now

the
Clouds —
everything. Galaxy Publishing Co., Inc., 421 Hudson St., New York 14. N. Y.

A beautiful job!
copies
. but there’s a mass of proof-
. .
I enclose $1.95 for each copy. (We pay postage.)
reading to get through ... a maga- Five o’clock. Telephone again, total.
at $1.95
zine to edit and what’s this
. . . from the Production Department:
other package, anyway? “Where the devil are those
Name
proofs?”
Turns out to be nothing more But tomorrow will be another Address
“
nor less than a Galaxy for Galaxy. day . . .
—THE EDITOR
Zone State
Qjy
6 GALAXY
 Someone out there didn't like trees. He wanted to wreck the Sahara Project — and he was willing to murder in the process!

FARMER

hit. - •

Illustrated by RITTER

i before emerging into the Saharan mediate superiors. However, the in the swank air-conditioned
sun. Arabs had been making footwear buildings of Colomb-Bechar, Ta-
NE manrasset and Timbuktu, from

O
his pipe
of

into
the

the
auto-copters
swooped in and landed.
Johnny McCord emptied
wastebasket,
came to his feet and strolled
He was

bouche
The
dressed in khaki shorts
and short-sleeved shirt, wool
socks and yellow Moroccan ba-
slippers.
were strictly out
slippers
suitable for sandy terrain for cen-
turies before there had ever been
a Sahara Reforestation
sion. Johnny was in
Commis-
favor
taking advantage of their know-
of
whence they issued lengthy bul-
letins on the necessity of never
allowing a Malian to see a Corn-
mission employee in less than the
toward the open door. He auto- correct dress and in less than
of uniformand would have been how. Especially since the top
matically took up a sun helmet frowned upon by Johnny’s im- brass made a point of staying commanding dignity. While they

9
8
GALAXY FARMER
 were busily at work composing He carried them over to the “Let me talk to Mellor, will
looks of the transplants, they’ve said.
such directives, field men such as collator and merged them into been there possibly a week or so.” you?”
Johnny McCord went about the the proper file. Her face faded to be replaced
Commission’s real tasks. He was still running off a re- OHNNY said in agony, “Oh, by that of a highly tanned,
It was auto-copter 4, which port on the Alphabetyper when J Lord. What clan were they?” middle-aged executive type. He
Johnny hadn’t expected for an- Derek Mason came scowled at Johnny McCord with
in. Derek punched a hole in his
other half hour. He extracted the Johnny drawled a this-better-be-important expres-
in a horrible beer can with the opener that
reports and then peered into the caricature New England sion, not helping, Johnny’s dis-
of a hung from the refrigerator by a
cockpit to check. There were two accent, “I say, did the cyclone
Si,
string. “I didn’t go low enough to position.
red lights flickering on the panel. hurt your barn any?” He snapped, “Somebody’s let
check. You can never tell with a
Work for Reuben. This damned Derek’s voice took on the Tuareg. They can’t resist as several thousand goats into my
sand was a perpetual hazard to same twang. “Don’t know, Hiram, beautiful a target as a helicopter, eucalyptus transplants in my
equipment. Number 4 had just we ain’t found western four hundred.”
it yet.” and one of these days one of
had an overhaul a few weeks be- Johnny “You Mellor was taken aback.
said, get all your them is going to make a hole in
fore and here it was throwing red chores done, Si?” Johnny said. “I can have Derek
me, instead of in the fuselage
lights already. Derek dropped the pseudo- or rotors.” back-trail them, if you want to
He took the reports back into twang and his voice expressed Johnny McCord, furious, be sure, but it’s almost positive
the office and dumped them into disgust. “Igot a chore for you. they came from the south, this
plunked himself down before the
the card-punch. While they were Johnny, that you’re going to love. time of year.”
telephone and dialed Tessalit,
being set up, Johnny went over Rounding up some livestock.” Mellor sputtered, “They might
275 kilometers to the south. The
to the office refrigerator and got Johnny looked up from the have come from the direction of
girl on the desk there grinned
out a can of Tuborg beer. Theo- report he was running off and Timmissao. Who are they, any-
at him and said, “Hello, Johnny.”
retically, was as taboo to drink shot an impatient glance at him. Johnny McCord was in no mood
it
way?”
iced beer in this climate, and “Livestock? What the hell are know. Tuareg. I
for pleasantries. He snapped, “I don’t
particularly at this time of day, you talking about?” thought we’d supposedly settled
“Who’s supposed to be on Bed-
as it was to go out into the sun “Goats.” with all the Tuareg. Good Lord,
ouin patrol down there?”
without a hat. But this was one Johnny McCord flicked the She blinked at him. “Why, man, do you know how many
place where the Commission’s stop button on the Alphabetyper. transplants a thousand goats can
Mohammed is in command of
medics could go blow. “Where’ve you been? There isn’t go through in a week’s time?”
patroling this area, Mr. McCord.”
By the time he’d finished the a goat within five hundred miles “Mohammed? Mohammed “A week’s time!” Mellor rasped.
Danish brew, the card-punch had of here.” “You mean you’ve taken a whole
who? Eighty percent of these
stopped clattering so he took the Derek went over week to detect them?”
to the refrig- Malians are named Mohammed.”
cards from the hopper and erator for beer. He Moh- Johnny McCord glared at him.
said over his “Captain Mohammed
crossed to the sorter. He gave shoulder, “I was just making a “A whole week! We’re lucky they
moud ould Cheikh.” She added,
them a quick joggling cards — routine patrol over toward Ame- unnecessarily, “The Cadi’s son.” didn’t spend the whole season be-
held up well in this dry climate, rene El Kasbach. I’d estimate we foundthem. How big a
Johnny grunted. He’d always fore
though they were a terror fur- there were a hundred Tuareg in staff do you think we have here,
suspected that the captain, had
ther south — and sorted them camp there. Camels, afew sheep, got his ideas of what a cadi’s son Mellor? There’s just three of us.
through four code numbers, a few horses and donkeys. Mostly Only one can be spared for
should be like from seeing Holly-
enough for this small an amount. goats. Thousands of them. By the wood movies. “Look, Kate,” he patrol.”

10 GALAXY FARMER 11
 “You have natives,” the older them. The honor of the Tuareg! you ever seen just one goat at just like a traveling saleswoman
man growled. Ha!” work on the bark of three-year visitin’ the farm.”
“They can’t fly helicopters. The other said pompously, transplants?” “Yeah,” Johnny growled. “And
Most of them can’t even drive a “Are you criticizing the upper Paul shuddered sympathetic- I can see just how much work
Land Rover or a jeep. Besides echelons, McCord?” ally. “Look, Johnny,” he said. I’ll be getting out of you as long

death of
that, they’re scared to Johnny McCord snapped, “The reason I called you. There’s as she’s here.”
Tuaregs. They wouldn’t dare re- “You’re damned right I am.” He an air-cushion Land Rover com-
port them. What I want to know slammed off the telephone and ing through. She just left.” II
is, why didn’t you stop them com- turned on Derek Mason. “What Derek Mason looked over
ing through?” are you grinning about?” Johnny’s shoulder into the screen. TJOSTE Maurice Cortier, better
Mellor was on the defensive. Derek drawled, “I say, Hiram, “What d’ya mean, she?” known in the Sahara as Bidon
He ranked Johnny McCord, but I got a sneaky suspicion you ain’t Paul grinned. “Just that, and, Cinq, is as remote a spot on earth
that was beside the point right never gonna graduate off’n this Buster, she’s stacked. A Made- in which man has ever lived.
now. He said finally, “I’ll check here farm if you don’t learn how moiselle Helene Desage of Paris Some 750 kilometers to the south
this all the way McCord.
through, to cotton up to the city slickers Match.” is Bourem on the Niger river. If
Meanwhile, I’ll send young better.” Johnny said, “The French you go west of Bourem another
Mohammed Mohmoud up with a “Oh, shut up,” Johnny growled. magazine? What’s she doing in a 363 kilometers, you reach Tim-
group of his men.” “Let’s have another beer.” road car? Why doesn’t she have buktu, the nearest thing to a city
“To do what?” Johnny de- Before Derek could bring it to an aircraft? There hasn’t been a in that part of the Sudan. If you
manded. him, the telephone screen lit up road car through here this whole travel north from Bidon Cinq
“To shoot the goats, what again and Paul Peterson, of the year.” 1,229 kilometers you reach Co-
else?” Poste Weygand base, was there. Paul shrugged. “She claims lomb-Bechar, the nearest thing to
He said, “Hi. You guys look like she’s getting it from the view- a city in southern Algeria. There
OHNNY growled, “One of you’re having a crisis.” point of how things must’ve been are no railroads, no highways.
J these days a bunch of these “Hello, Paul,” Johnny McCord twenty years ago. So, anyway, The track through the desert is
Tuareg are going to decide that said. “Crisis is right. Those jerks we’ve notified you. If she doesn’t marked by oil drums filled with
a lynching bee is in order, and down south let a clan of Tuareg, turn up in eight or ten hours, you gravel so the wind won’t blow
that’s going to be the end of this complete with a few thousand better send somebody to look for them away. There is an oil drum
little base at Bidon Cinq.” goats, camels and sheep through. her.” every quarter of a mile or so.
Mellor said, “If they’re Tuareg They’ve been grazing a week or “Yeah,” Johnny McCord said. You go from one to the next,
nomads then they have no legal more in my west four hundred.” “Well, so long, Paul.” carrying your own fuel and
right to be within several hun- “Good grief.” Paul grimaced. The other’s face faded from water. If you get lost, the author-
dred miles of Bidon Cinq. And if “At least that’s one thing we don’t the screen and Johnny McCord ities come looking for you in air-
they’ve got goats, they shouldn’t have to worry about. They never turned to his colleague. “One more craft. Sometimes they
find you.
have. The Commission has get this far up. HowM it hap- extraneous something to foul up In the latter decades of the
bought up every goat in this part pen?” our schedule.” Twentieth Century, Bidon Cinq
of the world.” “I don’t know, but I’m going Derek said mildly, “I say, became an outpost of the Sahara
Johnny growled, “Sure, bought to find out. I haven’t seen the Hiram, what’re you complaining Reforestation Commission which
them up and then the
left it to mess yet, but it’s certain to wreck about? Didn’t you hear tell what was working north from the
honor of the Tuareg to destroy that whole four hundred. Have Paul jest said? She’s stacked. Be Niger, and south from Algeria as

12 GALAXY FARMER 13
well as east from the Atlantic. “You could have gone back to- Pierre looked up at him
basic foods. It’s what you put on
The water table in the vicinity of it that counts.” morrow. The things are supposed wearily. “You didn’t quite hear
Bidon Cinq
was considerably Derek stared gloomily into his to be self-sufficient, no checking what I Johnny. I only
said,

higher had once been

than
thought. Even artesian wells were
possible in some localities.
practical still were springs and
wells exploited by the new solar-
powered pumps that in their tens
of thousands were driving back
the sands of the world’s largest
desert.
dish. “Well, I wish they’d get necessary more than once every checked forty. Forty out of
something more interesting than three months. There’s practically nearly a thousand in that vicinity.
More ten-year-old mutton to put on nothing that can go wrong with Twenty-two of them were de-
this.” them.” stroyed, better than fifty percent.
Johnny said, “Where
in the Pierre finished off the can of For all I know, that percentage
devil is Pierre?nearly dark.”
It’s beer, reached into the refrigerator applies throughout the whole In
“Reuben?” Derek drawled. for another* “Dynamite can go Ziza area. If so, there’s damn few
“Why Reuben went out to check wrong with them,” he said. of your trees going to be left
the crops up in the northeast alive. We have a few spare pumps

Johnny McCord and Derek forty. Took the horse and buggy.” HE other two looked at him, on hand here, but we’d have to
Mason ate in the officer’s mess, That didn’t help Johnny’s irri- T shocked silent. get a really large
way from Dakar.”
number all the
divorced from the forty or fifty tation. “He took an air-cushion Pierre said, “I don’t know how
Arabs and Songhai who com- jeep, instead of a copter? Why, many altogether. I found twenty- said softly, “That took a
Derek
posed their work force. It wasn’t for heaven’s sake?” two of the pumps in the vicinity lot of men and a lot of dynamite.
snobbery, simply a matter of “He wanted to check quite a of In Ziza had been blown to Which means a lot of transport
being able to eat in leisure and few of the pumps. Said landing smithereens out —
of forty I —and a lot of money. We’ve had
discuss the day’s activities free and taking off was more trouble checked.” trouble before, but usually it was
of the chatter of the larger mess than the extra speed helped. He’ll Johnny rapped, “How long disgruntled nomads, getting re-
hall. be back shortly.” ago? How many trees . . .
?” venge for losing their grazing
Derek looked down into his “He’s back now,” a voice from Pierre laughed sourly. “I don’t land.”
plate. “Hiram,” he drawled, “who the door said. know how long ago. The trans- Johnny snorted, “Damn little

ever invented this here now cous Pierre Marimbert, brushing plants, especially the slash pine, grazing this far north.”
Derek nodded. “I’m simply
cous?” sand from his clothes, pushed into are going to be just so much
Johnny looked over at the tall, the room and made his way to kindling before I get new pumps saying that even if we could
easy-going Canadian who was his the mess-hall refrigerator. He in.” blame our minor sabotage on the
second in command and scowled said nothing further until he had Derek said, shocked, “That’s Tuareg in the past, we can’t do
dourly. He was in no humor for a can of beer open. our oldest stand.” it this time. There’s money be-
their usual banter. “What’s the Johnny said, “Damn it, Pierre, Pierre Marimbert, a forty-year- hind anything this big.”
matter with cous cous?” Johnny you shouldn’t stay out this late old, sun-beaten Algerian colon, Johnny McCord said wearily,
growled. in a jeep. If you got stuck out eldest man on
the team, sank into “Let’s eat. In the morning we’ll

“I don’t Derek said.

know,”
“I’m a meat and potatoes man at
heart.”
Johnny shrugged. “Cous cous
serves the same purpose as pota-
toes do. Or rice, or spaghetti, or
bread, or any of the other bland
there, we’d have one hell of a
time finding you. In a copter
you’ve at least got the radio.”
Pierre had washed the dust
from his throat. Now he said
quietly, “I wanted to check on as
many pumps as I could.”
his place at the table. He poured go out and take a look. I’d better
the balance of his can of beer call Timbuktu on this. If nothing
else, the Mali Federation can
into a glass.
said, “What
Johnny what . . . send troops out to protect us.”
can we do? How many spare Derek grunted. “With a stand-
pumps can you get into there, ing army of about 25,000 men,
and how soon?” they’re going to patrol a million

FARMER 15
14 GALAXY
 and a half square miles of her. “Paul Peterson, from Poste is this you are saying about the
smell a story as far as a Tuareg
desert?” Weygand, radioed that you were pumps?” can smell water.”
“Can you think of anything coming. You’re a little late, Made- “Oh, Lord,” Johnny said. “Per- “Well, then undoubtedly she’s
else to do?” moiselle Desage.” haps I’ll tell you in the morning. already sniffing. Because, between
“No.” She was perhaps But for now, would you like to that clan of Tuareg with its flocks
thirty, slim,
long-legged, Parisian style. clean up before supper? You and the pump saboteurs, we’ve
Even
OIERRE Marimbert began dish- at Bidon Cinq, half a world away must be exhausted after that 260 got more stories around here than
ing cous cous into a soup from the Champs Elysees, she kilometers from Poste Weygand.” I ever expected!”
plate, then poured himself a glass maintained her chic. Pierre said hurriedly, “I’ll take
of vin ordinaire. He Mademoiselle Desage over to one Ill
said, “I can’t She made a moue at Johnny,
think of a better place for sabo- while taking the chair he held. of the guest bungalows.”
teurs. Twenty men could do mil- “I had hoped to surprise you, “Zut!” she said. “The sand! It is TN the morning Helene Desage
lions of dollars of destruction and catch you off guard.” She took in even worse than between Reggan managed to look the last word
never be found.” the sun-dried, dour-faced Ameri- and Poste Weygand. Do you in what desert fashion should be,
Johnny growled, “It’s not as can wood technologist apprais- realize that until I began coming when she strolled into Johnny
bad as all that. They’ve got to ingly, then turned her eyes in across your new forests I saw no McCord’s office. Although she
eat and drink, and so do their turn to Derek and Pierre. life at all between these two came complete with a sun hel-
animals. There are damned few “You three are out here all posts?” met that must have been the
places where they can.” alone?” she said demurely. The three forestry experts product of a top Parisian shop,
Fromthe door a voice said, “Desperately,” Derek said. bowed in unison, as though re- she would have been more at
“I am intruding?” Johnny McCord said, “Made- hearsed. “Mademoiselle,” Derek, place on the beaches at Miami,
They hadn’t heard her car come moiselle Helene Desage, I am from the heart, “calling our trans- Honolulu or Cannes. Her shorts
up. The three men scrambled to John McCord, and these are my plant forests is the kindest thing were short and fitting, her blouse
their feet. associates, Monsieur Pierre Mar- you could have said in these silken, her walking shoes dainty.
“Good evening,” Johnny Mc- imbert and Mr. Derek Mason. parts.” He considered for a moment
Cord blurted. Gentlemen, Mademoiselle Desage They laughed and Pierre
all and then decided against inform-
“Hell o!” Derek breathed.
. . . is with Paris Match, the French led her from the room. ing her that Moslems, particularly
Pierre Marimbert was across equivalent of Life, so Derek looked at Johnny Mc- in this part of the world, were
I under-
the room, taking her
in hand. stand. In short, she is undoubtedly Cord. “Wow, that was a slip little used to seeing semi-nude
“Bonjour, Mademoiselle. Que here for a story. So ixnay on the mentioning the pumps.” women strolling about. He’d
puis-je faire pour vous? Voulez- ump-pays.” Johnny was looking through leave the job of explanation to
vous une biere bien fraiche ou would love cold beer,”
“I the door after her. “I suppose Pierre, as a fellow Frenchman and
un aperitif? 11 fait tres chaud dans Helene Desage said to Pierre, and so,” he said sourly. “I’ll have to the oldest man present to boot.
le desert.” He led her toward the to Johnny McCord, “These days radio the brass and find out the “Bonjour she said. “What a
table. a traveling reporter for Paris line we’re supposed to take with lovely day. I have been strolling
“Easy, easy there, Reuben,” Match must be quite a linguist. her. That’s the biggest magazine about your little oasis. But you
Derek grumbled. “The young lady My English, Spanish and Italian world and
in the French-speaking have made it a garden!”
speaks English. Give a man a are excellent. My German pas- you don’t get a job on it with- “Thanks,” Johnny said. “We’ve
chance.” sable. And while I am not fluent out knowing the journalistic got to have something to do after
Johnny was placing a chair for in Pig-Latin, I can follow it. What ropes. That girl can probably working hours. Entertainment is

16 GALAXY FARMER 17
 on the scarce side. But it’s
than a garden. We’ve been ex-
perimenting to see just what
trees will take to this country
given water and care through the
early years. Besides, we use it as
a showplace.”
“Showplace?”
“For skeptical politicians
come through,” Johnny said, seat-
ing her in a chair near his desk.
“We give them the idea that the
whole Sahara could eventually
be like this square mile or so at
Bidon Cinq. Palm trees, fruit
trees, pines, shade trees.
works.”
“And could it?”
Johnny grinned sourly. “Well,
not exactly. Not allin one spot, at
least. You’ve got to remember,
the Sahara covers an area of
some three and a half million
square miles. In that area you
find almost everything.”
“Everything except water, eh?”
She was tapping a cigarette on a
polish-reddened thumbnail. As he
lit it for her, Johnny McCord
realized that he hadn’t seen fin-
gernail polish for a year.
decided it was too long.
“Even water, in some parts,”
he said. “There’s more water than
most people realize. For instance,
the Niger, which runs right
through a considerable part of
the Sahara, is the eleventh largest
river in the world. But until our
commission went to work on it,
18
more it dumped itself into the Gulf of pessimistic views would become
Guinea, unused.” automatically correct.
“The Niger is a long way from He took the paperweight from
— here,” she said through her smoke. a stack of the correspondence
on
He nodded. “For that matter, hisdesk and handed it to her.
though, we have a certain amount She looked at it and scowled
of rain, particularly in the high- very prettily, but
land regions of the central massif. “What is this? It’s
who In the past, with no watershed at piece of stone.”
all, itran off, buried itself in the “I picked it up myself,”
sands, or evaporated.” said. “Near Reggan.
“Mr. McCord,” she said, “you of petrified wood, Miss Desage.
are amazingly optimistic. For- From a tree that must have
merly, I must admit I had little originally had a diameter of some
knowledge of the Sahara Re- ten feet. Not quite a redwood, of
The forestation Commission. And I course, but big.”
deliberately avoided studying up “Yes,” she said, turning
on the subject after receiving this in her hand. “I can see this part,
assignment, because I wanted first which must have once been bark.
impression to be received on the But why do you show it to me?”
spot. However, I’ve just driven “The Sahara was once a semi-
across the Sahara. My impression tropical, moist area, highly wood-
is that your Commission is one ed. It can become so again.”
great —
Comment dit-on? boon- — the destruction of the wonderful
doggling project, a super-W.P.A. HE put the piece of fossil
into which to plow your Ameri- S on his desk. “How
can resources and manpower. It
she said bluntly.
is a fake, a delusion. This part “A very long time
of the world has never been any- mittedly. During the last Ice Age
thing but wasteland, and never and immediately afterwards. But,
He will be.” given man’s direction, it can be
Johnny McCord heard her out done again. And it must be.”
without change in expression. She raised pencilled eyebrows
He’d been through this before. at him. “Must be?”
In fact, almost every time a Johnny McCord shifted in his
junketing congressman chair. “You must be aware of the
came
through. There was danger in the world’s population explosion, Miss
viewpoint, of course. If the fan- Desage. The human race can’t
tastic sums of money which were allow three and a half million
being spent were cut off, such square miles of land to be value-
GALAXY FARMER
less.” He grunted in deprecation.
“And at the rate it was going, it
would have been four million be-
fore long.”
She didn’t understand.
Johnny spelled it out for her.
still a scowl. “A desert can be man-made.
a beautiful Have you ever been in the
Middle East?” At her nod, he
Johnny went on. “Visitors there usually
It’s a chunk wonder how in the world the an-
cient Jews could ever have
thought of that area as a land
of milk and honey. On the face
of it, it’s nothing but badlands.
What was once the Fertile Cres-
it over cent now looks like Arizona.”
Helene Desage was frowning at
him. “And you suggest man did
this —not nature?”
“The goat did it. The goat, and
the use of charcoal as fuel. Along
with ignorance of soil erosion and
watershed based on the Cedars of
back
long ago?” Lebanon. Same thing applies to
Libya and Tunisia,
large areas of
ago, ad- and to Morocco and Spain. Those
countries used to be some of the
richest agricultural areas of the
Roman Empire. But you can’t
graze goats, probably the most
destructive animal domesticated,
and you can’t depend on char-
coal for fuel, unless you want to
create desert.”
“Those things happened a long
time ago.”
Johnny snorted. ‘When we first
began operations, the Sahara was
19
 1

going south at the rate of two the desert actually came down to dark, his original Berber blood
several hundred square miles of
miles a year. Goats prefer twigs the side of the river in many to be seen only in his facial
seedlings and transplants of
and bark even to grass. They places. The water was completely characteristics. He wore the
various varieties. Where there are
strip a country.” wasted. Now we’ve diverted it rather flamboyant Mali Federa-
natural oases, of course, we stress
“Well,” the reporter said, shrug- and are reforesting anywhere up In rocky tion desert uniform with an air.
ging shapely shoulders, “at any a lot of date palm.
to three miles a year.” When he saw the girl, his eye-
areas it’s acacia tortila. In the
rate,the task is one of such mag- “Three miles a year,” she
we sometimes use brows rose and he made the
mountains
nitude as to be fantastic. Yes-
terday, I drove for nearly eight
scoffed. “You’ll
ries.”
take five centu-
varieties ofthe pinyon —
they’ll Moslem salaam with a sweeping

take quite a beating but are a

flourish.
hours without seeing even a Johnny said, “Mademoiselle
little on the slow-growing
side.”
clump of cactus.” TTE shook his head and grinned. She was looking at him from Desage, may Ipresent Captain
“The route you traveled is “It’s a progressive thing. Mohammed Mohmoud ould
the sides of her eyes. “You’re all
comparatively untouched by our Water is admittedly the big prob- Cheikh, the Mali desert
taken up by this, aren’t you Mr. of
efforts, thus far,” Johnny nodded lem. But as our forests grow, patrol.” He added sourly, “The
McCord?”
agreeably. “However, we’re slowly they themselves bring up the officer in charge of preventing
Johnny said, surprise in his
coming down from Algeria, up moisture content of the climate. nomads from up from
— voice. “Why, it’s my work.”
filtering
from the Niger, and, using the Down in this area ” he made a Derek came sauntering in and the south into our infant forests.”
new chemical methods of freshen- sweeping gesture over the map The Moslem scowled at him.
scaled his sun helmet onto his
ing sea water, east from Maure- which took in large sections north “They could have come from the
tania.” of the Niger
—
“we’ve put in hun-
own desk. “Good morning, Made-
moiselle,” he said. And to Johnny, east, from Timissao,” he said in
He came to his feet and dreds of millions of slash pine, quite passable English. “Or even
“Hiram, that city slicker from
pointed out spots on the large which is particularly good for Timbuktu just came up with his from Mauritania.” He turned his
wall map. “Our territory, of sandy soil andgrowing. In
fast eyes to Helene Desage. “En-
posse.”
course, is only this area which ten years you’ve gone from two- chante, Mademoiselle. Tres heur-
Helene said, “What is this Si,
once was called French West year-old seedlings to a respectable eux de taire ta connaissance.”
Hiram and Reuben which you
Africa, plus Algeria. The battle forest.” She gave him the full benefit
calleach other?”
is being fought elsewhere by Johnny pointed out Bidon her eyes. “Moi aussi, Mon-
Johnny smiled sourly, “In a of
others. The Egyptians and Suda- Cinq on the map. “At the same
way, Miss Desage, this is just one sieur.”
nese are doing a fairly good job time we found what amounts to Johnny wasn’t through with
great tree farm. And all of us are
in their country, with Soviet Com- a subterranean sea in this area. the Malian officer. “There’s a
farmers. So we make jokes about
plex help. The Tunisians are Not a real of but hundred of them,” he snapped,
sea, course,
it.”He thought for a moment.
doing a wonderful job with the a water-bearing formation or “with several thousand head of
“Derek, possibly you better take
assistance of Common Europe, aquifer, deep down under the goats and other livestock. It
sur- over with Mohammed. I want to
especially Italy.” face of the earth —
layers of rock
get over to In Ziza with Reuben. would have been impossible to
She stood beside him and tried and gravel in which large quan- push that number across from
“To see about the pumps?”
to understand. “What is this area, tities of water are lying. The !

Helene said innocently. Mauritania or even from the east,

here, shaded green?” hydro-geological technicians who and you know
Johnny frowned but was saved it.”
He said proudly, “That’s how surveyed it estimate that it holds
from an answer by the entrance A lighter complexion would
far we’ve got so far, heading reserves of several billion tons of
of Mohammed Mohmoud. He have shown a flush. Mohammed
north from the Niger. In the past, water. Utilizing it, we’ve put in Mohmoud’s displeasure was lim-
was dark as a Saharan becomes
20 GALAXY FARMER 21
 ited in expression to a flashing
of desert eyes. He said, “Wher-
ever their origin, the task would
seem to be immediately to de-
stroy the animals. That
my men and I are here.”
Pierre Marimbert had entered
while the conversation was going
on. He “Johnny, weren’t you
said,
going over to In Ziza with me?”
Helene Desage said, the tip of
thorities Prevent Journalists from
two-year seedlings and three- and “Derek said the other day it’s so
Observing Operations." transplants. The dry even the mirages are only
four-year-old
“Oh, Good Lord,” Johnny heavy auto-planters, brought in mud holes.” He pointed with his
growled. “This should happen to forefinger. “There’s the first of
.
by air transport, had ground their
is why me, yet! Go on with Derek and
w ay across the desert sands in our trees. Now, what pumps did
the captain, if you wish.”
their hundreds, six feet between you check?”
Pierre directed the copter
machines. Stop, dig the hole, set
piERRE Marimbert and John- the seedling, splash in water, art- lower, skimmed not much higher
ny McCord took one of the fully tamp down the soil, move than the young tree tops. Some
faster helicopters, Pierre piloting. 1

on another six feet, stop and — of them had already reached an

With French elan he immediately | begin the operation all over again. impressive height. But Johnny
her right forefinger to her chin McCord realized that the time
raised the craft a few feet and Fifty trees an hour, per machine.
as she portrayed thought, “I can’t then like a nervous horse it |
In less than two months, the was not too distant when they’d
decide where to go. To this crisis backed up, wheeled about and planters had moved on to a new have to replant. Casualties were
of the Tuareg, or to the crisis of dashed forward in full flight. The mob of considerably higher than in forest
base further north.
the pumps — whatever that is.” Spread below them were the scientists, engineers, water and planting at home. Considerably
Johnny said flatly, “Sorry, but several dozen buildings which forest technicians, mechanics and so. And replanting wasn’t nearly
j

you’d just be in the way at comprised Bidon Cinq; surround- melted away, leaving so highly automated as the ori-
laborers
either place.” ing the buildings,
the acres of Johnny McCord, his two assis- ginal work. More manpower was
Mohammed Mohmoud was palm and eucalyptus and
pine, tants, his half dozen punch-card required.
shrugging. “Why not let her come “These pumps here seem all
black locust. Quick-growing, dry- !
machines, his automated equip-
with me? can guarantee her
I climate trees predominated, but ment and his forty or fifty native right,” he said to Pierre.
protection. I have brought fifty there were even such as balsam workers. It was one of a hundred “A further north,” Pierre
little
men with me, more than a match fir, chestnut and elm. It made an such centers. It would eventually said. “I came in over the track
for a few bedouin.” attractive sight from the air. be one of thousands. The Sahara there, from the road that comes
“Gracious,” she said. “Evidently The reforestation projects covered an area almost the size offthe main route to Poste Wey-
I was unaware of the magnitude based on Bidon Cinq were not gand. Yes, there we are. Look!
all of Europe.
of this matter. I absolutely must in theimmediate vicinity of the McCord growled, Completely destroyed.”
Johnny
go.” home oasis. By air, In Ziza was “Friend Mohammed seems quite Johnny swore. The trees that
Johnny said, “No.” almost 125
kilometers to the taken with our reporter.” had depended on that particular
She looked at him appraisingly. northeast. By
far the greater part Pierre grinned and tried to pump wouldn’t last a month, in
“Mr. McCord,” she said, “I am of the land lying in between was imitate a New England twang. spite of the fact that they were
here for a story. Has it occurred still lacking in vegetation of any ;
“Why not, Hiram? She’s the first, among the first set in this area.
to you that preventing a Paris sort. The hydro-geological en- eh, women folks seen in these He said, “Go higher. We should
Match reporter from seeing your gineers who had originally sur- parts for many a day.” He looked be able to spot the complete
methods of operation is probably veyed the area for water had
'

down at the endless stretches of damage with glasses. You saw

a bigger story than anything else selected only the best sections for sand dunes, gravel and rock out- twenty-two, you say?”
I could find here?” She struck immediate sinking of wells, place- croppings. “Mighty dry farm land “Yes, I don’t know how many
a mock post. “I can see the head- ment of solar power pumps, and you’ve got around here, Hiram." more there might be.”
lines. Sahara Reforestation Au- eventually the importation of Johnny McCord grunted. There were twenty-five de-

22 GALAXY FARMER 23
stroyed pumps in all. And all of plosives? Even if your band of
them were practically together. Tuareg did have explosives they
It was sheer luck that Pierre wouldn’t waste them on a few
Marimbert had located them so Sahara Reforestation Commis-
soon. Had his routine check taken sion pumps.”
place in some other section of “This whole thing just doesn’t
the vast
development, he
tree make sense,” Pierre Marimbert
would have found nothing un- decided.
toward. “Let’s land and take a look at
“This isn’t nearly so bad as I one of those pumps," Johnny said.
had expected,” Johnny growled. “You know, if you get the whole
He was scowling thoughtfully. crew to work on this you might
“What’s the matter?” Pierre be able to replace them before
said. we lose any of these transplants.
“I just don’t get Johnny
it,” It’s all according to how long ago
said. “Number onfe, nomads don’t they were destroyed.”
carry dynamite, unless it’s been
deliberately given them. Two, if IV
it was given them by someone

with a purpose, why only enough T> ACK Bidon Cinq again that
at
to blow twenty-five pumps? That afternoon, Johnny McCord
isn’t a drop in the bucket. A was greeted by the native office
few thousand trees, are all we’ll assistant he’d left in charge while
lose. Three, where did they come all three of the officers were
from? Where are their tracks? gone. Mellor, at the Tissalit base,
And where have they gone? This had made several attempts to get
job wasn’t done so very long ago, in touch with him.
probably within a week or two “Mellor!” Pierre grunted. “How
at most.” do you Americans say it? Stuffed
“How do you know that?” shirt!”
“Otherwise those trees affected “Yeah,” Johnny McCord said,
would already be dying. At their sitting down to the telephone.
age, they couldn’t stand the sun “But my boss.”
long without water.” While Pierre was fishing two
Pierre said, his face registering cans of beer from the refrigerator,
disbelief, “Do you think it could Johnny dialed Tissalit. Kate’s
be simple vandalism on the part face lit up the screen. Johnny
of a small band of Tuareg?” said, “Hi. I understand the old
“Sure, if the pumps had been man wants to talk to me.”
destroyed by hand. But with ex- “That’s right,” the girl said,

24 GALAXY
and moved a switch. “Just a min-
ute,Johnny.”
Her
face faded to be replaced
by that of Mellor. Johnny noted
that as usual the other wore a
business suit, complete with white
shirt and tie — in the
the Sahara!
Mellor was scowling. “Where’ve
you been, McCord?”
“Checking some pumps near
In Ziza,” Johnny said evenly.
“Leaving no one at all at
camp?” the other said.
Johnny said, “There were at
least a score of men here, Mr.
Mellor.”
“No officers. Suppose an
emergency came up?”
Johnny felt like saying, An
emergency did come up, two of
them in fact. That’s why we were
all gone at once. But for some
reason he decided against ex-
plaining current happenings at
Bidon Cinq until he had a clearer
picture. He said, “There are only
three of us here, Mr. Mellor. We
have to stretch our manpower.
Derek Mason had to go over to
Amerene el Kasbach with Mo-
hammed Mohmoud and his men
to clear out those nomads and
their livestock.”
“What did they find?
were the Tuareg from?”
“They haven’t returned yet.”
Automatically, Johnny took up
his can of beer and
swallow from it.
26
Mellor’s eyebrows Mellor glared at him. “I’m not into farmland instead of forest”
went up.
“Drinking I always appreciate your
“They’re putting the cart be-
this early in the day, sure
McCord?” flippancy, McCord,” he said. fore the horse,” Johnny said. “At
Johnny sighed “However, back home the oppo- this stage of the game, the only
deeply, “Look,
Mr. Mellor, Pierre Marimbert sition is in an uproar over our
land they could use really profit-
and I just returned from several expenditures. Things are very ably for farming would be along
middle of hours in the desert, inspecting delicate. A handful of votes could the Niger. We’re going to have to
forest this whole area fifst, and
pumps. We’re dehydrated, so sway the continuance of the
we’re drinking cold beer. It tastes whole project.” in doing so, change the whole
wonderful. I doubt if it will lead Johnny McCord closed his climate. Then it’ll . .
.”
either of us to a drunkard’s eyes in pain. This came up every Mellor interrupted him. “I’m
grave.” year or so. as familiar with the program of
Mellor said, “That isn’t all. The the Sahara Reforestation Com-
Mellor scowled pompously. He
Russkies are putting up a howl mission as you are, I am sure,
said finally, “See here, McCord
—the reason I called you can — in the Reunited Nations. They
.
McCord. I need no
that Miss Desage gets as sympa-
lecture. See
be expecting a reporter from one claim the West plans to even-
of the French publications — tually take over all northwest
thetic a picture of our work as
“She’s here.” Africa. That this reforestation is possible. And, for heaven’s sake,
make the area don’t let anything happen that
“Oh,” Mellor said. “I just re- just preliminary to
ceived notice this morning. Or- worth assimilating.” might influence her toward writ-
ders are to give her the utmost Johnny chuckled sourly, “Let’s ing something that would change
cooperation. Things are on the face it. They’re right.” opinions either at home or in the
touchy side right now. Very Mellor was shocked. “Mr. Mc- Reunited Nations.”
has never ad- “I’ll do my best,” Johnny said
touchy.” Cord! The West
“How do you mean?” Johnny mitted to any such scheme.” sourly.
said. Johnny sighed. “However, we The other clicked off.
“There are pressures on the aren’t plowing billions into the
highest levels,” Mellor said, Sahara out of kindness of heart. T>IERRE was handy with an-
managing to put over the im- The Mali Federation alone has other can of beer, ready open-
pression that these matters were almost two million square miles in ed. “So Mademoiselle Desage is
above and beyond such as Johnny it, and less than twenty
million to be handled with loving care.”
McCord but that he, Mellor, was population. Already, there’s fewer Johnny groaned, “And from
privy to them. people than are needed to exploit what we’ve seen so far of Made-
‘What pressures?” Johnny said the new lands we’ve opened up.” moiselle Desage, she’s going to
Where wearily.“If you want me to Well, that brings up another take quite a bit of loving care
handle this woman with kid point,” Mellor said. “The South- to handle.”
then east Asia Bloc is putting up a Outside, they could hear the
gloves, I’ve got to know
what I’m protecting her against, howl too. They claim they should beating of rotors coming in. Two
took a or hiding from her, or whatever be the ones allowed to reclaim helicopters, from the sound of it.
the hell I’m supposed to do.” this area and that it should go Beer cans in hand they went over
27
GALAXY FARMER
to the window and watched them made a beeline for the refrigera- couldn’t even begin until it was the thing these days to bleed
approach. tor. “Beer, everybody?” he said. accomplished.” over the fate of the redman. Ac-
“Derek and the girl in one, Mohammed Mohmoud said, “But why slaughter the liveli- tually, there are a greater num-
Mohammed in the other,” Pierre “A soft drink for me, if you hood of those poor people? You ber of them in the United States
said.“Evidently our good captain please, Mr. Mason.” could quite easily insist that they today than there were when
leftthe messy work of butchering Derek said, “Sorry, I forgot. return with their flocks to what- Columbus landed. But even if
goats to his men, while he re- Beer, Miss Desage?” ever areas are still available to you do carry a torch for the
mains on the scene to be as She turned and glared at him. them.” noble Indian, picking the Apaches
available to our girl Helene as “You did nothing whatsoever to Derek offered her a can of as an example is poor choice.
They were bandit tribes, largely
she will allow.” prevent them!” beer.She seemed to be going to
The copters swooped in, Derek shrugged. “That’s why reject but a desert-born thirst
it,
what they could steal
living off
landed, the rotors came to a halt we went out there, honey. Did changed her mind. She took it and raid from the Pueblo and
and the occupants stepped from you notice how much damage without thanking him. other harder working but less
the cockpits. The Arab ground those goats had done to the trees? The lanky Canadian said warlike Indians. The Tuareg are
crew came running up to take Thousands of dollars worth.” mildly, “I tried to explain to her the North African equivalent.”
over. Johnny said wearily, “What that the Tuareg aren’t exactly in- “Who are you to judge?” she
Preceded by Helene Desage, happened?” He sank into the nocent children of the desert. snapped back. “Those tribesmen
the two men made their way chair behind his desk. They’re known as the Apaches of out there are the last defenders
toward the main office. Even at of their ancient desert culture.
The reporter turned to him the Sahara. For a couple of thou-
this distance there seemed to be again. “Your men are shooting sand years they’ve terrified the Their flocks are their way of life.
an aggressive lift to the girl’s the livestock of those poverty- other nomads. They were slave You mercilessly butcher them,
walk. stricken people.” raiders, bandits.When the Com- rob their women and children of
“Oh, oh, my friend,” Pierre said. Mohammed Mohmoud sole source of food and
said, mission started its work the their
“I am afraid Mademoiselle ‘We keeping an accurate
are other tribes were glad to sell clothing.”
Desage is unhappy about some- count of every beast destroyed, their animals and take up jobs
thing.” Mr. McCord.” His dark face was in the new oases. Send their kids
OHNNY McCord ran his hand
Johnny groaned. “I think you’re expressionless. to the new schools we’ve been J over face in an unhappy
his
right. But smile, Reuben, smile. Johnny McCord attempted to building in the towns. Begin fit- gesture. “Look,” he said plain-
You heard the city slicker’s explain to the girl. “As I told ting into the reality of modern tively. “Those goats and sheep
orders. Handle her with all the you. Miss Desage, goats are the life.” have already been bought and
care of a new-born heifer.” curse of the desert. They prefer Her eyes were flashing now. paid for by the Commission. The
Helene Desage stormed leaves, twigs and even the bark “The Apaches of the Sahara, eh? Tuareg should have destroyed
through the door and glared at of young trees to grass. The Com- Bien sur! If I remember correctly, them, or sold them as food to be
Johnny McCord. “Do you realize mission before ever taking on the American Apaches were the immediately butchered, several
what your men are doing?” thistremendous project arranged last of the Indian tribes which years ago. Where they’ve been
“I thought I did,” Johnny said through the Mali Federation you Americans destroyed. The hiding is a mystery. But they
placatingly. government to buy up and have last to resist. Now you export simply have no right to be in
Derek and Mohammed Moh- destroyed every grazing animal your methods to Africa!” possession of those animals, no
moud be this part of the
entered behind her. Derek north of the Niger. It cost mil- Johnny McCord said mildly, right to in
winked at Johnny McCord and lions upon millions. But our work “Miss Desage, it seems to be country, and, above all, no right

28 GALAXY FARMER 29
to be grazing in our transplants.” head. “They wouldn’t reveal secret. You won’t be ordered Helene Desage snorted in dep-

“It’s their country! What right that.” away.” Heturned to Mohammed recation. “So, we’ll drag in that

have you to order them away?” Johnny looked at Derek Mohmoud. “What did you wish old wheeze. The red menace.
Johnny McCord held up his Mason. The Canadian shook his to discuss, Captain?” Blame it on la Russie.”

hands, palms upward. “This head. “None of them spoke “First, what about the camels, Johnny McCord said mildly,
country part of the Mali Fed-
is French, Johnny. Or if they did, asses and horses?” “We haven’t blamed anything on
eration, Miss Desage. It used to they wouldn’t admit it. When we “Shoot them. Practically the the Russkies, Miss Desage. The
be called French Sudan and South first came up they looked as only graze between here and Tis- Tuareg have a right to bear arms,
there are still dangerous animals
Algeria. The government of the though they were going to fight. salit are our trees.”
Federation gladly accepted the Happily, the size of the captain’s “And how will they get them- in the Mali Federation. And they
project of reforestating the command made them decide selves and their property out of are free to purchase Czech weap-
Sahara. Why not? We’ve already otherwise. At any rate, they’re this country?” the reporter ons if they find them better or
succeeded in making one of the putting up no resistance. I let snapped. cheaper than western ones. Don’t
most poverty-stricken areas in the them know through the captain, Johnny said wearily, “We’ll find an exciting story where there
world a prosperous one. Far from here, that when they got back truck them out, Miss Desage. is none. Things are tranquil here.”
there being unemployment here, to Tissalit, or Timbuktu, they They and all their property. And Helene Desage stared at him.
we have a labor shortage. Schools could put in a demand for re- while we’re doing it, we’ll feed So did Mohammed Mohmoud
have opened, even universities. imbursement for their animals them. I imagine, before it’s all and Derek Mason for that matter.
Hospitals have sprung up. High- if the animals were legally theirs.” over it will cost the Commission Only Pierre Marimbert real-
ways have been laid out through Johnny looked at the Malian several thousand dollars.” He ized Johnny McCord’s position,
country that hadn’t even trails officer again. “How come you’ve turned back to the desert patrol and he chuckled and went for
before. The Federation is boom- returned to camp? Shouldn’t you captain. “What else?” more beer.
ing. If there are a few Tuareg be out there with your men?” From a tunic pocket Moham-
who can’t adapt to the new “There were a few things to med Mohmoud brought a hand- V
world, it’s too bad. Their chil- be discussed,” the Moslem said. gun and handed it to Johnny Mc-
dren will be glad for the change.” He looked significantly at the Cord. “I thought you might like OHNNY McCord was a man
She seated herself stiffly. “I am French reporter. to see this. They were quite well J who didn’t like to be thrown
not impressed by your excuses,” Helene Desage said, “Let me armed. At first I thought there out of routine. He resented the
she said. warn you, I will not tolerate might be resistance.” interference with his schedule of
Johnny shrugged and turned being sent away. I want to hear Johnny turned the automatic the past few days. By nature he
to Mohammed Mohmoud who this. If I don’t, I demand you let over in his hands, scowling at it. was methodical, not given to in-
had been standing silently me communicate immediately “What’s there to see that’s spe- spiration.
through all this, almost as though with my magazine and with the cial? I don’t know much about All of which was probably the
at attention. Transatlantic Newspaper Alliance guns.” reason that he spent a sleepless
Johnny said, “Did you learn for whom I am also doing a series Mohammed Mohmoud said, night trying to find rhyme and
where this band comes from? of articles on the Sahara Refores- “Itwas made in Pilsen.” reason where seemingly there
Where they had kept that many tation scheme.” Johnny looked up at him. was none.
animals for so long without de- Johnny McCord winced. He “Czechoslovakia, eh?” At dawn, he stepped from the
tection?” said,“There is nothing going on The other said, “So were most door of his Quonset hut quarters
The Moslem officer shook his around here, Miss Desage, that is of their rifles.” and looked for a moment into the

30 GALAXY FARMER 31
 gigantic red ball which was the and call Pierre. We’ve got some nation’s greatest natural resource minds continues and each of the
Saharan sun. Neither dawn nor notes to check.” is its manpower.” world’s great powers has discov-
sunset at Bidon Cinq were spec- Mademoiselle Desage was ered that it can’t afford to limit
tacular, nor would they become late riser. When she entered the
a
HE frowned at him. “What in its —
population its greatest re-
so until the Sahara Reforestation office, the three Sahara Reforesta- S the world are you talking source. So population continues
Commission began to return about?” to explode and the world is cur-
tion Commission officers were
moisture to desert skies. Johnny already at work. He ignored her and went on. rently frantically seeking sources
wondered if he would live to see “Originally, appalled by the job of food for its new billions. The
She said snappishly to Johnny
Amazon basin is being made into
it.
McCord, “Today I would like to of feeding over half a billion
He made his way over to the see these destroyed pumps.” mouths, they had initiated a birth a tropical garden; the Japanese,
huge steel shed which doubled as control plan. But after a year or landless, are devising a hundred
Johnny said, his eyebrows
methods of farming the sea; Aus-
garage and aircraft hanger. As questioning, “How did you know two they saw it was the wrong
yet,none of the native mechanics they were destroyed?” approach. They were going to debouching into its long
tralia is
were stirring, although he could “It doesn’t seem to be much of succeed, if they suceeded, in their unpopulated interior, doing much
hear sounds of activity in the a secret. The story is all about Great Leaps Forward by utilizing the same things we are here in
community kitchen. the camp.” the labor of every man, woman the Sahara. The Chinese are over-
Derek Mason looked up from “Oh?” and child in the country. And flowing into Sinkiang, Mongolia
Johnny sighed, then
Helene Desage’s
his inspection of drawled to Derek, “I say, that’s what they proceeded to do. and Tibet; the Russkies into
S ;
you
Land Rover.
air-cushion better go get the hired hand,
,

we The lesson was brought home to Siberia. We

of the west, with the

Johnny McCord scowled at
him. “What in the hell are you
doing here?”
The lanky Canadian came erect
and looked for a long moment at
his superior. He said
soberly, “It occurs to me that
I’m probably doing the same
thing you came to do.”
“What have you found?”
“That a small bomb has been
attached to the starter.”
Johnny didn’t change expres-
might as well finish this up so the rest of the world in less than large underdeveloped areas of
we
can get back to work.” ten years, when such other coun- the western hemisphere have not
Derek nodded and left. tries as India and Indonesia failed been so greatly pushed as some
Johnny McCord left the to do the same.” others. However, there is always
col-
lator been working with,
he’d Johnny leaned back in his chair, tomorrow.”
finally, went around behind his desk and and his eyes were thoughtful but Derek entered with Captain
sat down. “Take a chair, Miss unseeing. “Even we of the west Mohammed Mohmoud. The
Desage. I want to say a few learned the lesson. The most latterday Rudolph Valentino had
things in the way of background important factor in our leader- a puzzled expression on his dark
to you.” ship was our wonderful trained face.
She sat, but said defiantly, “I labor force. As far back as 1960 “Here’s the hired man, Hiram,”
have no need of a lengthy lecture we had more than 65 million Derek drawled.
on the glories of the Sahara Re- Americans working daily in in- The desert patrol officer

sion. It fitted in. “What else?” he forestation Commission.” dustry and distribution. Even the nodded questioningly to the men
said. “Coffee?” Pierre Marimbert Russkies, with their larger popu- and said, “Bonjour,” to Helene
Derek handed him a steel ring. said politely. lation, didn’t begin to equal that Desage.
Johnny McCord looked at it, “No, thank you.” number.” Johnny went on. “Yes, there’s
recognized it for what it was and Johnny said, his voice “What are you driveling tomorrow. And by the time we
thought-
stuck it in his pocket. “Let’s go ful, imagine the real starting
“I about?” the reporter demanded. run out of Lebensraum in Brazil
back to the office. Yell in to the point was back about 1957 when “To sum it up,” Johnny said and Alaska, in Central America
cook to send some coffee over, the Chinese discovered that a mildly, “the battle for men’s and the Argentine, in Texas and

32
GALAXY FARMER 33
 Saskatchewan, we’re going to we didn’t succeed. However, wars
need the three million square Helene Desage stormed to her across the desert with you. Ob-
are impractical today, and the
miles of the Sahara.” “I don’t have to listen to viously, no one would have
Russkies and Chinese are taken feet.
She said in ridicule, this!” dreamed of searching your vehi-
“It will up with their own development.
take you a century at said, “Honey, we sure
Derek cle.
least to The Southeast Asia bloc wouldn’t
reforest the desert.” aren’tholding you. You’re free “No, Miss Desage, it’s obvious
mind taking over here them-
“At Johnny go any time you want. And thatyou detoured from the track
least.” nodded selves, they desperately need land to
agreeably. “And we’re willing and you can take this pal of yours on the way down from Poste
already. But they aren’t our big-
able to look that far ahead. Pos- along with you.” He jerked his Weygand, went over to In Ziza, a
gest opponents. There’s another
head contemptuously at Moham- comparatively short distance,
sibly by that time our opponents
be looking for new lands
will also
group even more involved the
colons of Algeria and Morocco
— med Mohmoud. and blew up twenty-five of our
for theirexpanding peoples. And Pierre Marimbert said, “Ma- pumps.”
and those of even such Mali cities
where will they find them? The demoiselle, we have no idea of Johnny turned to the Malian
as Dakar. I suppose it is this last
advantage will be ours, Miss where you two met originally, officer now. “At the same time
element that you represent, Miss
Desage.” nor how close your relationship, you were coordinating with her,
Desage.”
Mohammed Mohmoud but the captain should have, re- you and whatever gang is hiring
looked She was staring unbelievingly
membered that I too am French. you. Someone supplied those
from one to the other, frowning. at him now.
“What are we discussing?” A gentleman, on first meeting a Tuareg with the livestock and
he “Their interest is to get the
said. “Ishould be getting back to lady, would never, never address paid them to trek up here. You,
Sahara Reforestation Commission
my men.” her as tu in out language.” of course, turned your back and
out of the way so that they can
Derek yawned and Johnny sighed again and let them through. The same some-
said, “For- immediately exploit
the area. one who supplied the livestock
get about it, pal. You’re never looked at his watch. “Other things
They are interested in the now, also supplied Czech weapons.”
going to be getting back to your pile up too, Miss Desage. You
not the potentialities of the Helene Desage was still sput-
men again.” let slip a few moments ago that
future. They resent the use of “Ridiculous!
you knew about the pumps be- tering indignation.
the Niger for reforestation, when me
T^HE desert patrol officer’s eyes ing destroyed. You said the rumor Why? What would motivate
they could use it for immediate
was all around camp. But it to such nonsense?”
widened. He turned his glare irrigation projects. They would
on Johnny McCord, “What be. The only
couldn’t persons Johnny grimaced. “The whole
is all devote the full resources of the
this?” who knew about it were myself, thing makes a beautiful story at a
Mali Federation and Algeria to
Johnny Pierre and Derek. On top of that, time when the American govern-
said, “I’ll tell it, seeking oil and minerals and in
Derek.” there were no signs of bedouin or ment is debating the practicality
the various other - ways the
Helene Desage was as sur- animals near the exploded pumps; of the whole project. You could
country might be exploited. Fin-
prised as the Malian. “What is the person who did the job must do quite a sob story on the poor,
ally,they rather hate to see the poverty-stricken Tuareg having
going on? Are you trying to have come in an aircraft or air-
western schools, hospitals, and livestock destroyed. Then,
whitewash yourselves by casting cushion car. And, besides, we their
other means used to raise the quite a tale about the bedouin
blame on this gentleman?” found the pin of a hand grenade
local living standards. They liked pumping stations
your land rover this morning. raiding our
“Let me go on,” Johnny said. the low wage
in

“Needless to say, there are con-

rates that formerly
We had thought at first that and blowing them up. And quite
applied.”
dynamite had been used, but a tale about the Tuareg being
flicting interests. The Soviet Johnny nodded. “Yes, I imag-
Complex obviously would as soon evidently you smuggled your armed with Czech weapons. Oh, I
ine that’s your angle.”
much more compact bombs imagine before it was through
34
GALAXY FARMER 35
you’d have drawn a picture of
civil war going on here between
the nomads and the Commission.
Blowing up your own car with a
small bomb attached to the
starter was just one more item.
By the way, were you going to
do yourself? Or did you in-
it
tend to allow one of our mechan-
ics to kill himself?”
She flushed. “Don’t be ridicul-
ous. No one would have been
hurt. The bomb is a very small
one. More smoke and flash than
anything else.”
“Well, thanks for small favors,”
Derek said sarcastically.
gave up. “Very well,” she
^ snapped. “There is nothing
you can do. This whole project,
as I said before, is nothing but
American boondoggling, a way
plowing endless resources into a
hole. Your real motivation is an
attempt to prevent depression
unemployment in your
and
country.”
Pierre Marimbert said softly,
“So you admit to this whole
scheme to discredit us?”
“Why not?” She turned to the
door. “I will still write
It’s my word or yours.”
Derek grinned at her.
“I think
I could fall in love with you,
honey,” he said. “Life would pro-
vide few dull moments. However,
you didn’t notice how nice and
automated this office is. Card
36
machines, electric typewriters, all
the latest —
including tape record-
ers for office conversations. You
talked too much, honey.”
‘‘Cochon!’’ she shrilled at him.
She whirled and was through the
door.
Johnny turned to Mohammed
Mohmoud. “I guess the best thing
for you would be to turn in your
commission, Captain.”
Dark eyes snapped. “And if I
say no?”
Johnny shook his head. “The
Mali Federation passed some
for
awfully strict laws when it was
drawing up its constitution.
Among them was one involving
your
punishment anyone
capital for
destroying a source of water in information
the desert. Miss Desage did the
actual work but you were hand in
of glove with her. I’d hate to have
to report that to your superiors.” BY WILLY LEY
Derek jumped forward quickly. NAMED AFTER VITUS BERING
THE STRAIT
His hand snaked out and chopped
NGINEER Pyotr Mikhail-
E
the other’s forearm. The heavy
ovitch Borisov is, as his
military pistol fell to the floor,
and the Canadian kicked it to name clearly indicates, a
one side. “Shucks,” he drawled, Russian. Professionally he is a
“the hired hand sure is tricky, mining engineer who has special-
ain’t he?” ized in oil wells. He hopes to be
my articles. “Good Lord,” Johnny McCord an innovator. And he is a man
said disgustedly, “I didn’t say I with an obsession: cold weather.
was going to report you. Just Cold weather, to him, is personi-
threatened to if you didn’t resign. fiedby the Arctic Ocean.
Now get out of here, we’ve got When he speaks about cold
work to do. I’m three days behind weather or the Arctic Ocean he
on my reports!” grows eloquent — one might even
— MACK REYNOLDS say heated. “Look at this,” he
GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 37

recently said to one of the editors
of the Literaturnaya Gazyeta,
pointing to a map of the Arctic
Ocean, “here in the north the
Soviet Union is wide open to the
cold air masses blowing in from
the Arctic Basin. That is why
almost half —
in fact, 47 per
cent — of Soviet earth is occu-
pied by zones of eternal frost.
Over three quarters of our terri-
tory the temperature may drop
to minus 40 degrees. 15 per cent
is nothing but uninhabited wild
tundra . . . The
cold weather
is a beast of prey that devours
huge sums of money. The build-
ing of factories, power plants and
mines in the northeast of the
Soviet Union —
and in other
countries where the climate is
identical —
is one and a half
times or twice as expensive as in
districts with a more temperate
climate. In the U.S.S.R. cold
weather eats up, on the average,
10 per cent of the country’s in-
vestments.”
And what about the losses sus-
tained yearly by the cessation of
marine and river transport dur-
ing the winter? Not to mention
the northern sea route, the most
labor-consuming and most ex-
pensive marine communication
in the world?
“The Arctic Ocean is to blame,
in the main, for the fact that rice
frequently fails to ripen in North
Japan and that the north part of
38
the Yellow Sea freezes over
More than any other country,
except the U.S.S.R., the United
States suffers from the frigid
blasts blowing down from the
Arctic Ocean. Alaska is a land of
severe frosts. The chilly climate
of the Arctic Basin pierces the
very heart of the United States
. .Then there is Canada with
.
its vast areas
eternal frosts.”
The conclusion to be drawn
from these facts is simple to
Engineer Borisov: “We must melt
the ice sheet of the Arctic
As to how
formed, he has his own theory
too: “It is not because the waters
of the oceans are so cold. The
fault lies not with the ocean it-
self, but with the rivers that flow
into the Ob, Lena and Yenisei,
it:
among others. Their fresh waters
are lighter than the salty water
of the ocean they form an
. .
upper mixed layer which freezes
over and forms an ice sheet
blocking the warmth of the
deeper waters.”
His idea is that, once this ice
sheet is melted and the Arctic
Ocean is open water, the solar
radiation which is normally re-
flected by the
would be absorbed by the water.
would not trans-
This, of course,
mute the Arctic Ocean into a
warm sea. But it should amelio-
rate the climate of all the coun-
that reach beyond or even
. . .
tries
near the Arctic Circle.
P to this point everybody
U more or less in agreement with
Borisov. If the Arctic Ocean were
open water, the climate would
improve. Nor would there be
much danger of flooding, because
the ice in question is not piled
high on land masses, like the
of tundras and
Greenland ice and the ice of Ant-
arctica, but is floating on water.
So the volume change if it were
melted would be rather minor.
The disagreement begins
Ocean.”
whether
this ice sheet the next stop, which is
can be done at all and how it
it
could be done.
Borisov thinks that the solu-
tion is a dam across the Bering
Strait. The width of the Bering
Strait is 46 miles and the average
depth is about 150 feet. Borisov
admits that this would be a big
dam. (His estimate of the cost
.
is 70 billion rubles of the
old
Soviet currency. In the new
viet currency it would be 7 bil-
lion rubles or 14 billion rubles,
depending on whether you go by
the proclaimed value or by the
gold content.) But he is firm in
asserting that it would not be an
impossible dam.
ice and snow
But the dam would be only
the first phase. It is meant to be a
barrier stopping uncontrolled
flow through the Bering Strait.
After the dam has been built,
GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Borisov wants to install gigantic
pumps in several places —the
published versions of his idea are
is by no means clear about the lo-
cations of these
are to remove
pumps
large
— which
amounts of
water from the Arctic Ocean.
This removal should be made in
such a manner that the cold cur-
rents now impeding the Gulf
Stream would disappear, or at
least be greatly weakened, so
that the Gulf Stream can enter
the Arctic Ocean between Green-
land and Norway and melt the
at surface ice.
Borisov’s compatriot, scientist
D. A. Drogaytsev, writing in the
journal Priroda (“Nature”),
doesn’t think that scheme could
possibly work. The only thing
that probably could be done
would be to build the dam itself.
But this would cause “irreparable
harm.” To the north of the dam
the Arctic ice would clog the sea
completely and make it unnavi-
So- gable all year round. The ice
would also clog up all the north-
flowing rivers of Siberia, and thus
destroy the value as transport
arteries which they now possess
except during the winter months.
More, the accumulation of ice
along the North Siberian coast
would chill the land and extend
the Gobi desert and other Asian
deserts all the way north to the
coastline, destroying areas now
fertile. Such tampering with na-
39

ture, Drogaytsev is positive,
only be bad.
Whether this will stop the dis-
cussion is something I would not
dare to predict. But I want to
add that another discussion about
the Bering Sea, in the United
States, interested as important a
scientist as Charles P. Steinmetz.
Interestingly enough, the idea
to which Steinmetz devoted some
time (I do not know whether it
was completely his own) is the
precise opposite of Borisov’s
plan. Instead of closing the Ber-
ing Strait with a dam it should
be opened wider.
Look at a map
of the Arctic.
Both the American continent and
the Asian continent extend penin-
sulas, the Seward Peninsula on
the American side and the Chu-
kotski Peninsula on the Siberian
side. The narrowest distance be-
tween them is 46 miles, as has
can from 46 to about 200 miles, the
Japan current would keep going
North. Probably it would split
into two currents, one going east-
ward around Alaska, the other
bearing westward along the Si-
berian coast. In time the waters
of this current would melt the
and make the Arctic
floating ice
Ocean an open sea.
Of course the job of removing
hundreds of square miles of land
is even bigger than Borisov’s dam.
But there might be a chance of
helping the Japan current in a
more gentle manner, such as
dredging flow channels for it, or
even helping the flow along by
means.
artificial
At any event the Bering Strait
— and what might, or should, or
should not, be done with it
is going to be a lively theme in
years to come.
me out. Of those who bawled me
out one defended Interlingua and
five or six defended
Esperanto — perfect communication with Esper-
or rather attacked me for
not
being in love with it.
One of these was Harry Har-
whose letter follows here
rison,
full. I have something to say
in
arguments in four
his
about
places, so marginal notes follow
after that.
One planet —
one language! I
agree with you that it would be a
nice idea if this were possible. I
also agree with you that we will
probably never have a single “Earth
language.” (1)
But there is a language that may
be spoken by all Earthmen that is
already in use today —
and succeed-
ing quite well. I am speaking of
— Esperanto, which language got quite
a kicking around in your article. In
the name of fair play I would like to
present the other side of the case,
where no two people shared the same
national language, yet all enjoyed
anto. I subscribe to a half dozen
magazines from all over the world
— out of the eighty-nine listed in
the Esperanto yearbook. When I
travel I find Esperantists in every
city I visit. We are friends as soon
as we meet, and speak a common
language.
The only thing wrong with Es-
peranto is that it is new. The world
has a high resistance to new ideas.
In the U.S. we recognize the value
of the decimal system and laugh at
the density of the English with their
shillings (divide by twenty) and
pence (divide by twelve). Then we
turn around and do our measuring in
yards, feet and inches. How long
has the metric system been in
use? (2)
You have two arguments against
Esperanto, and I think they are both
When you read
personal ones.
Esperanto it, “. . sounded too .
silly.” To whom? Finnish is a night-

been mentioned. And to the some facts about Esperanto that are mare to anyone but a Finn. Danes
ONE WORLD - ONE LANGUAGE sound like they are strangling
south of the Bering Strait there is rarely heard. all

to death when they talk. Esperanto

Esperanto is a constructed lan-
St. Lawrence Island, looking al- That piece, in the February Y Yes is
sound.
guage that aims to replace no other has a J for the
most like a displaced stopper. 1960 brought a great deal
issue,
languages. It works side-by-side with spelled Jes — and is pronounced and
Now, it was said, the fairly of comment and for the first time national languages. When you say means the same as in English. The
warm Japan current comes up in my life did I really under- it does not work, I am forced to
people in the linguistic groups that
from the South, passing by the stand that sign which you can see state blankly that it does. In this are used to pronouncing J this way
Japanese Islands and flowing in single case I claim superior knowl- won’t find it strange. It is impossible
in some stores: “If you are dis-
such a way that it would go into edge (I would be hard-pressed to to make every letter look familiar
pleased, tell us; if you are pleased, to every group. This goes for the
the Arctic Ocean, if St. Lawrence find another one!) because I have
tell others.” The ones who agreed supersigns as well. In English we say
Island and the two peninsulas used it successfully for over fifteen
with me did so loudly, whole- such and sure, making the letter 5
years. I can write and speak it with
did not block its way. heartedly and so forth, in person. an automatic ease I have never been stand for two different sounds. In
If the island and large portions But I did not get .a single letter able to capture in any language other Esperanto the such S is S. The sound
of the two peninsulas could be of agreement. However, than my native English. I have sat that starts sure is S. Isn’t it easier to
I got a
removed, widening- Bering Strait memorize one new letter than count-
fair number of letters bawling in groups of up to twelve people

40 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 41

 )

less words? These supersign letters

(1) I could say right here This, one year,
in islanders talked to Mr. Powell
(and there are only six) them again.
give that we have no argument
Esperanto an exotic look that doesn’t at all,
will net you a vocabulary
of 1095 about Mbalolo levu and Mbalolo
existin reality. Spoken, it sounds
since my discussion was about a In reality, because of the lailai, the “minor” and the “ma-
words.
much language, natural or jor” appearance. freely admit
very existence of identical or very
like Italian or Spanish. artificial, I’ll

(3) which would become the “earth my sources phrased their

similar words, your vocabulary that
The second thing you have against language.” Then, sentences in such a way that one
will be around 1250 words.
Esperanto is that most Esperantists (2) The resistance to new year, you can could not tell which word meant
“. can probably speak something at the end of the
. . ideas exists, of course, but it is which and I had the definite im-
else that I can.”
Probably true — learn any grammar, even a com-
if not universal. It seems to depend pression that they were not sure.
they are Europeans. But how is your plicated one, in a 40-hour week.
on whether there is a feeling that Preferring to be unambiguous, I
Cantonese, Arabian, Japanese or Hence you spend 61 hours learn-
this new idea is not really needed.
Serbo-Croatian? I have met and en- ing 1250 words plus 40
hours took a shot in the dark as to
In science (and also in com- which meant “major” and which
joyed pleasant conversation with learning the grammar which en-
native merce) new ideas are accepted meant “minor.” Professor (of
ables you to read a newspaper.
— whosespeakers of these
languages
only second language was rather fast, if the new idea is
The actual expenditure in time Linguistics and Anthropology
Esperanto. I have a good friend in one which makes the recipients Charles F. Hockett, at the mo-
was 100 hours of concentration
Italy who speaks fair English. About feel that they needed it. Wheth- ment Carnegie Visiting Professor
as good as my Italian. in the course of one year.
We talk al- (3) A few supersigns over at the University of Hawaii, in-
ways in Esperanto —
though we letters do not disturb me at all,
er this could be done in 100 con-
formed me that I missed:
have both put in thousands of hours secutive hours is something I
but it does disturb me when one “The words levu and lailai are
of studying each other’s native lan- can’t judge since I have never
of your Esperantists writes me a Fijian, and their meanings are
guage. (4) tried it. But you cannot possibly
letter which begins Kara amigo. just the reverse of what you as-
That’s the real kicker. You can have spent “thousands of hours”
learn Esperanto in no time flat. Both
I shall not accept any explana-
on Italian and still feel uncertain sign in the article. Levu is ‘big’
to read and to speak. It simple but tion of any kind; this is wrong. or ‘major’; compare Viti levu,
is
when subjected to it!
completely flexible. Irregular forms Either I am male (which hap- ‘Major Fiji,’ the name of the
don’t makelanguage interesting
a pens to be the case) and then the
— they just make
it hard to learn.
RE-TAKE OF THE largest island in the archipelago

In Esperanto you take ten seconds

address should be Karo amigo.
DECEMBER COLUMN ... In Fiji, at any
the ‘small’
rate,
Or else, if I were female, it should appearance (lailai) precedes the
to memorize the fact that the end-
read Kara amiga. If Kara amigo ‘large’ (levu). Two students of
ings of all verbs in the past, present JUDGING from the response,
and future tenses are is, as and os is “right” Esperanto grammar,
J the column in the December mine will be in Fiji for the Mba-
Then you can use the
respectively. then its “right” grammar is lolo levu season this year; with
issue proved extraordinarily pop-
saved time to increase your word wrong! we can find out what they
ular. Many readers had some- luck
knowledge and familiarity with the (4) Harry, you are an intel- thing to say about it, and a fair taste like.”
language. ligent man. You cannot have Hockett
number were able to contribute I am grateful to Prof.
Esperanto may not be the world
language —
but it is the successful
spent “thousands of hours” learn-
something which I would have for the correction — and envious
ing Italian. I can prove it, too.
language the world could speak! liked to have known when I of his students.
You 11 admit that if you concen-
— HARRY HARRISON trate ten minutes a day on learn-
wrote it. Taking them in their The response to
Slow Lightning, consisted
the second
originalorder, we first had the section,
ing three words of a language of half a dozen letters which all
Here are my notes to marine worm, the palolo which
Harry you have learned them so read as if they had been written
Harrison’s letter:
thor- mates when the moon is right.
oughly that you’ll never forget by the same person. In each case
You may remember that the

42
GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 43
 the man (or woman) who wrote
the letter said, “Thank you for the
article. About fifteen years ago,
when I lived in I saw such
a lightning ball but nobody ever
believed me. I didn’t even talk
about it any more, but now that
I have this article . .
.”
The themselves were
stories
just typical, as the following ex-
ample (written by Mr. H. A. J.
in Westfield, N. J.) shows:
“Thirty-five years ago I was
a camper in a boys camp in
Chicopee, Pennsylvania. It was
mid or late afternoon. I was sit-
ting on my bunk next to an open
window, looking outside at the
general area of the camp quad-
rangle which had just been in-
undated by a severe thunder-
storm. Because of the storm we
were in our cabins rather than at
an activity. All the windows of
these cabins were usually kept
open. Suddenly, I saw coming di-
rectly toward me a ball of fire,
yellow golden in color,
size of a basketball. It
ing fairly quickly ... in retro-
spect I would guess that it was
travelling 25 or 30 miles per
hour. As I saw it heading toward
my window I head
pulled
back away from the opening in
time to see it pass by my head,
go through the cabin to the other
side and out an opposite window
. There was no damage to any-
. .
one in the cabin or to the cabin
44
The ball did not follow a
itself.
be somebody around to see
to
conductor, at least I do not re-
and to photograph it is a lucky
any wiring going in the same
call coincidence but not new in itself.
direction. Perhaps the electrical Lightning balls have been seen
inlet for the cabin was outside
to fall out of clouds; hence they
my window. I do not know. must have been in the clouds
There was no noise whatsoever. before. What is new is the
This I do remember.” mate of size, whichabout ais
Another letter from a Cana- dozen or more times larger than
dian pilot added something new. any lightning ball observed near
He wrote me that a friend the ground.
(presumably fellow pilot) of his Are they larger when forming
was flying a fast fighter jet over and contract as they age?
British Columbia at an altitude Or does the size correspond
of 48,000 feet. They were flying more or less to the ambient air
so high to avoid the tops of pressure? Since the planes were
spectacular cumulonimbus tow- 48,000 feet to clear the tops
at
ers which were building up over of the towers this lightning ball
the area. Because the cloud for- may well have been at 42,000
mations were so spectacular the feet or thereabouts, where the
friend of my correspondent took pressure is down to about
pictures. In a black thundercloud millimeters of mercury.
they saw (and photographed) a Too bad that with such a fas-
luminous object. “The second cinating subject we have
shot shows it obscured by a pend on luck only!
tongue of cloud but shining
through it. The ball must have "WTITH reference to the third
about the been about the size of an aircraft ” section, Pinwheels
was mov- [remember that fighter planes are Water, Mr. Charles R. Tanner of
under discussion, not passenger Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote: “Dig up
liners] if the visual clues are con- Charles Fort’s Book of the
sistent. Although it appeared to Damned Chapter XXI. It seems
the eye to have well-defined remarkable to me that the two
my edges, according to the witnesses, phenomena should be noted in
the photo shows it definitely the same part of the
world.
fuzzy. Maybe they radiate in the When I first read the Book of the
ultraviolet or higher as well.” Damned I remember being im-
Apparently in the thunder- pressed by this letter, which
cloud building up a lightning ball seemed to have a ring of truth
did form. That there happened that not one in a thousand of
GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Fort’s phenomena do have. It
my mind all these years
stuck in
for that reason.”
Naturally I reached for Fort’s
book. I have the one-volume
edition published by Henry Holt
esti- in 1941. In that edition the
twenty-first chapter of the Book
of the Damned on p. 270,
begins,
with a letter that appeared in the
now defunct magazine Knowl-
edge on Dec. 28, 1883. With very
minor condensations it reads as
follows: “I am tempted to ask for
an explanation of the following
which I saw when on board the
British India Company’s steamer
Patna, while on a voyage up the
Persia Gulf. In May, 1880, on a
air dark night, about 11:30 P.M.,
130 there suddenly appeared on each
side of the ship an enormous
luminous wheel, whirling around,
to de- the spokes of which seemed to
brush the ship along. The spokes
would be 200 or 300 yards long
Each wheel contained about
under
. . .
sixteen spokes, and, although the
wheels must have been some 500
or 600 yards in diameter, the
spokes could be distinctly seen
all the way round. The phosphor-
escent gleam seemed to glide
along flat on the surface of the
sea, no light being visible in the
air above the water ... I may
mention that the phenomenon
was also seen by Captain Avern,
of the Patna, and Mr. Manning,
third officer.”
45
 The signature was “Lee Fore
Brace,” and below that was a P.S.
reading: “The wheels advanced
along with the ship for about 20
minutes.”
It was probably the silly sig-
nature which inspired somebody
signing himself “A. Me. D.” to
write a letter to the editor which
contained the requested explana-
tion: “It is that before 11:30 P.M.
there had been numerous acci-
dents to the ‘main brace’ and that
it had required splicing so often
that almost any ray of light
would have taken a rotary
motion.”
In the issue dated January 25,'
1884, the original correspondent,
now signing his letter. “J. W. Ro-
bertson,” complained: “I do think
it’s rather unjust to say a man is
drunk because he sees something
out of the common.”
Charles Fort, after meandering
around for several pages in his
characteristic and intensely an-
noying manner, then does quote a
few more cases of the same sort
of phenomenon.
One (the source is identified as
Journal of the Royal Meteoro-
logical Society, 28-29) states that
Captain Hoseason of the ship
Kilwa saw vast “ripples” of light
appeared suddenly. “Ripple” fol-
lowed upon “ripple.” The light
was faint, appeared suddenly and
died out gradually in about
fifteen minutes. Time and place:
46
April 4, 1901, about 8:30 P.M.
in the Persian Gulf.
Another one (from Nature,
20-291) is a report by Captain
Evans that Commander J. E.
Pringle of H. M. S. Vulture had
seen rapidly moving luminous
waves or pulsations in the water.
“On looking toward the east, that
appearance was that of a revolv-
ing wheel with a center on that
bearing, and whose spokes were
illuminated, and, looking toward
the west, a similar wheel ap-
peared to be revolving, but in the
opposite direction.” (Commander
Pringle considered the second
wheel an optical illusion but was
firm about the first one. He
estimated the width of each shaft
of light about 25 feet, the spaces
between them about 100 feet.
Duration of the phenomenon:
about 35 minutes. Time: 9:40
P.M. Location: Lat. 26° 26' N.,
Long. 53° IT E., in the Persian
Gulf. The date was May 15, 1879.
T^ORT stated that the Journal
of the Royal Meteorological
Society (32-280) contained ex-
cerpts from a letter written
Mr. Douglas Carnegie saying that
in 1906 he saw a bank of appar-
ently quiet phosphorescence. But
when the ship came close, “shafts
of brilliant light came sweeping
across the ship’s bows . These. . sea “before and after the display”
light bars were about 20 feet
apart and most regular . .
GALAXY
first struck us on our broadside
and Inoticed that an intervening
ship had no effect on the light
beams: they started away from
the lee sides of the ship just as if
they had travelled right through
it.”
The place was the Gulf of
Oman, the entrance to the Per-
sian Gulf.
Fort has two more cases, one
with the date of June 5, 1880, off
the coast of Malabar and one
with the date of March 14, 1907,
in the Malacca Strait. The
Malabar coast is the western
coast of the Indian Peninsula,
the direct continuation of the
coastline which is the eastern
shore of the Persian Gulf and
the Gulf of Oman. The Malacca
Strait is the water separating the
Malay Peninsula from Sumatra.
I wish to state that I did not
have the time to check the sources
given by Fort. It is therefore pos-
sible that Fort, by condensing
and shortening the reports, left
out detail which to other eyes
than his would have been signifi-
cant. He does mention that Mr.
by Carnegie scooped up a bucket of
water during the event and later
examined samples under a mi-
croscope without finding anything
unusual. He also mentions that
Commander Pringle reported the
as having floating patches of fish
. They spawn.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Of the seven cases just men-
tioned (the seventh is, of course,
the one reported by Commander
Bodler and quoted in the De-
cember issue) just one is geo-
graphically far removed from the
other six, the one from the
Malacca Strait. It differs from
others also as to the time of day,
or rather of night, since it was
seen at 2 A.M. All others were
seen before midnight.
From the few reports available
a few patterns emerge. One has
just been mentioned: the phe-
nomenon is usually seen between
the beginning of darkness and
midnight.
The second pattern is the time
of the year. The one seen from
the ship Kilwa occurred on April
4; the one seen from board of
the Vulture on May 15. The one
seen from the ship Patna was also
in May. The phenomenon off the
Malabar coast dates June 5. The
one from the Gulf of Oman is
undated, except for the year.
Commander Bodler’s case oc-
curred on November 14, 1949. It
isthe only one in Fall. All others
that are dated (including the
Malacca Strait case which was in
March) were seen in Spring or
late Spring.
But the most interesting pat-
tern is the geographical one.
Of a total of seven known, four
were seen in the Persian Gulf,
one in the Gulf of Oman (a di-
47
rectly adjacent body of water) (Nov. 27, 1960.) I would ap- invent an English term. The one I tered. Earlier bursts, also reported
and one off the Malabar coast preciate it very much if you told have used in magazine articles, by Explorer VII, had ranged from
which is still an adjacent body me your personal opinion of namely “impact radiation,” seems 10 to 200 protons per square
per second. That
to come closest. What
of water, though a considerable whether radiation danger in space happens is centimeter
distance away when expressed will prevent manned space travel. that X-rays are produced when
an heavy burst amounted to about
miles. Does the Persian Gulf differ
in
electron is stopped in its flight 50 roentgens of radiation an—
in any respect from other bodies Elizabeth, New Jersey solid body. (That is what awful lot, since 450 roentgens
by a
of water? Yes, there is one dif- Dorothy Steinfeld German term coined by Dr. is the dose which kills half of its
the
ference. It has a higher salinity. Rontgen means: Strahlung means victims within 30 days of ex-
The three bodies of water with Well, my personal opinion “radiation” while bremsen means posure.
the highest salinity are the Dead about this (and a few other “to brake” or “to bring to a stop”) The real problem, then, is

Sea in Palestine, the Great Salt things) that the purpose of a

Lake United States and the
in the
Bay of Kara-Bogaz-Gol, on the
eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
But they are all unconnected with
the oceans. The Persian Gulf has
the highest salinity of any body
of water accessible from the
ocean. And, of course, it has a
hot climate.
The concentration of the sight-
ings in a very salty arm of the
sea and the concentration in the
Spring may be of importance. As
I said in the December issue, it is
my impression that it was a bio-
logical phenomenon which was
seen.
But even
this suggestion
is Such impact radiation will be these outbursts from the sun
difficulty is that it should be over- produced by any solid body, in- partly because they can be lethal,
come. But for the sake of the cluding spaceships, in the Van partly because they do not seem
readers generally it should be ex- Allen belt. However, Dr. James predictable. Of course one can
plained that we are dealing with Van Allen, after whom the shield against them, but it would
A.
several sources of radiation in belts are named, believes that his be a heavy weight which the ship
space. To begin with, our Sun outer could be penetrated
belt would have to carry around.
(and probably every other star) fast enough so that comparatively Some scientists have suggested
emits X-rays along with visible little shielding would be needed. what they half-jokingly called
radiation, heat rays and radio In fact the skin of the ship, plus “storm cellars,” heavily shielded
waves. But our Sun is a very its meteor bumper, would
proba- capsules aboard the ship, metal
weak X-ray star. There may be bly be thicker than is needed to cocoons into which the crew mem-
other stars which are powerful make a radiation shield for this bers would slip as soon as the de-
X-ray stars; a problem
but that is particular danger. tectors begin to chatter. The un-
for the next generation. In short, What has just been said was solved problem here is whether
the direct X-rays from our sun mainly with reference to the outer these outbursts which come from
will be stopped by the skin of the of the two Van Allen belts. The the Sun just disappear into space
vessel. inner belt is likely to be nastier. or whether they are reflected
can easily be avoided, since back by magnetic fields far from
is in The second source of radiation But it

the nature of a wild guess. in spaceis what physicists still it reaches only from about
40° the Sun, possibly outside the solar
The only truthful thing one can call by the German name of northern to about 40° southern system. If they just come
say is that we don’t know. Bremsstrahlung. The term was latitude. from the Sun and disappear into
originally coined by the discov- The current worry deals with space with no reflection worth
erer of the X-rays, Prof. Dr. sudden outbursts of protons from mentioning, the radiation shield
ANY QUESTIONS? Konrad Rontgen and since so few our sun. Satellite Explorer VII, could be very much like an old
physicists with this phe-
dealt in November 1960, ran into a warrior’s shield, a heavy slightly

Please find enclosed an article nomenon on the one hand, and proton burst where an average of curved metal plate which is al-
about radiation danger in space since it is hard to translate on the 10,000 protons per square centi- ways held over the sunward side
from today’s New York Times other hand, nobody bothered to meter per second were encoun- of the ship.

48 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 49

 Naturally a single shield of this
kind would weigh much less than
“storm cellars” for every crew
member. And it would not inter-
fere with operations, either.
August 10. On August 12 Echo
went into orbit. Echo had also
been in the planning stage for
a long time. On August
Discoverer XIV went into orbit,
job, which is a manned flight
j^Iarsand Venus with the hope its
be actually landed. around the moon without land-
that they can
Project Pros-
For 1965, we have
ing.
18 the landing of a small And we better hurry Project
pector,
Apollo (and everything else)
mobile tank-like vehicle on the
. . .

To find out whether we deal and its capsule was promptly

with a shielding problem in all
direction or in one direction only
isa special project called Project
Ranger, which is slated to get un-
derway in midsummer of 1961.
moon which can be directed to or one of the pictures taken by
recovered the next day. And on
move around and TV-scan what- the crew of Project Apollo will be
that day the Russians put Sputnik
ever gets in its way. For 1966 or a nice sharp photograph of a lunar
V into orbit — then recovered
1967 we expect Project Rover, structure with a name like Ziol-
it (as a whole, even though the
the nuclear-powered rocket, to go kovsky Base or Soviet Outpost
animal capsule was separated 1967 or 1968 No.
into space; and for
1.

with a parachute after re-entry)

w e expect Project Apollo
to do _ WILLY LEY
In the past you have often on August 20. Only the daily
written about forthcoming space paper can keep up now. And even
events in your column. I notice the daily paper will limp some-
that you don’t do this any more. what behind on occasion.
Why? But I can tell you about space
Albert Rezniczek events which are planned suffi-
Hollywood, Calif. ciently far ahead so that you’ll
Did you read the May
be able to read this before the
In the Galaxy was a
past newspapers make headlines out
monthly, which meant that less of them:
time went by between writing my The manned capsule ( Project
column and its appearance on the Mercury ) is due in Fall, 1961;
newsstands. Also, in the past though the program has shown
space events were much rarer some slippage it may still meet
than they are now. its own deadline. For 1962,
Just look what happened in several interplanetary unmanned
August, 1960: Discoverer XIII probes are planned ( Project THAT'S HOW IT GOES
was, as its name says, the 13th Mariner ) for both Mars and by j. t. McIntosh
satellite that was fired into a Venus. For 1963, Project Sur-
polar orbit with the intent to veyor is planned. This involves CINDERELLA STORY
recover its capsule. That this was the “soft” landing of a 600-pound by ALLEN KIM LANG
intended was announced from instrument capsule on the moon.
the first shot on; but who could Most likely Wernher von Braun’s THE FLYING TUSKERS OF K'NIIK-K'NAAK
foretell that number thirteen Saturn will put communications by JACK SHARKEY
would be the first one where re- satellites into the 24-hour orbit
covery would be successful? (The during the same year. For 1964,
capsule was fished from the Project Voyager is foreseen, larger science-fiction stories by your
and many other great
ocean.) That shot was made on and more sophisticated probes to favorite writers. May IF still on sale - don t miss it!

50 GALAXY
There are worse things than how The Pit
’D forgotten
smells. I’d also forgotten my
coming down with an epidemic
I nose filters. The second I
opened the door to HUM/OXY
— like not catching it, and the stink hit me like a tidal wave.
—
It was coming back to me
all
filling in for those who do! I hadn’t been away that long.
They were all there, every
shape, size and color; clambering,
sweating, shoving, clutching their
records in their wet hands, get-
ting sick from their shots. They
probably thought it smelled, too.
I gagg e d my way through to
the
main desk and past the gate. The
receptionist jerked up, annoyed.
“Hey! You’ll have to get to
the end of the —
oh! Yes? She ’

spotted my white and gray T-12

rating and added:
“ — sir?

“I’m Steuberk,” I said, trying

to hold my
breath, “filling in for
some jerk with the plague. Where
am I? I mean, where am I sup-

posed to be?”
She consulted a “Oh. Mr.
list.

Steuberk. Room 909.” She looked

at me queerly.
“No nose filters, Mr. Steu-
berk?”
“Do!” choked, “Do dose
I
vilders. You hab sub?”
“No,” she said, “but I’m sure
Miss Cress will. Why didn’t you
use the back lift, sir?”
“I haben’t bid —
I haven’t

been here for a long time, miss!

I snapped.
She glanced at the rating again,
and blushed slightly. “Oh. No, of

53
 course not, sir. In there and to eight-one-six. You may come I thought “Name’s Graybe, ma’am. I’se
your hosed out the Sleepers.
right, Mr. Steuberk. Go right now, please.” a long time ago to Sut, this here’s Sari, and the
I’d managed
pulled the top folder from
I
my feelings out of my work. youngun’s is Joak an’ Luti.”
keep
the stack on my desk, noted the have ’em, all right. We all do, I bit my lip and looked down
TT wasn’t much better in the number was correct, and opened
I
wouldn’t be here. But we at my desk. I recognized the ac-
or we
inner hall. They were there, it. There was one paper in the know we’re here to help people, cent the minute he opened his
too, half a dozen at each door, folder, the Preliminary History for them, and you mouth. This was going to be a
waiting n0 t feel sorry
for their interviews. I Form CC-4. It was absolutely learn pretty quick that
pity is a tough one. Getting a refugee, a
found 909, went in, and leaned blank. I frowned at Miss Cress. misplaced person, back to his
very infectious disease.
.

weakly against the door. “I know,” she shrugged. “All It was im- home world is bad enough. Most
I couldn’t help it.
“Filters, miss, filters!” the T-l Clerks are out too, Mr, of them wouldn’t be here if they
possible not to feel sorry for the
The girl at the desk looked up, Steuberk. We’ll just have to start sad-looking creatures that filed in still had worlds to go to. But
frowning. Then understanding from scratch.” the door. There were that was nothing compared to
through
dawned on her pretty face. She “Just what,” I asked curiously, two adults and two Sut Graybe and his family. They
four of them,
slit one of the
packages with
little “isthe matter with you people? they were were migratory workers —
a pre-
her nails and handed it to me. Don’t you take your shots down
children.
Refugees,
Officially,
Bipedal, Humanoid, war phenomenon now extinct —
I jammed them up my nostrils here?” Oxygen-breathers. Unofficially — unwanted, unsponsored, un-any-
and took a deep breath. Better. She nodded. thing. I might convince someone
something
“It’s they were a mess.
“I’m Steuberk,” I said, “filling
— MED/SEC didn’t catch in the I’ll try to explain it: If
frogs to put Sut on a quota list at —
in for — for last ship. Kripstian Trot, I think.” were blue, and if blue frogs had the bottom —in about twenty
\

“Mr. Harris,” she said. “I’m I bit my cigarette. “Kripstian hair covering their bodies, years.
orange
Leeta Cress.” Trot, Miss Cress?” Itsounded blue, orange-haired frogs “What’s your home planet, Mr.
and if
She was a long-legged ash “What does Graybe?” I asked. I knew we
awful. it do?” came down with a bad case of
blonde with black eyes. The way Miss Cress reddened. “Mr. poison ivy and mange they’d — might as well toss out the forms
the eyes tilted she was probably Steuberk, I’d rather not — be standing in my office, molting on this one. The Labor Corps
a Cythian Hybrid, Showgirl Class. I waved her off. “Okay, okay. was already overcrowded, and
all over the floor.
What she was doing as a T-4 Forget it.” I looked at Miss Cress and she there aren’t many decent jobs a
secretary is anybody’s guess. We were saved by the door. swallowed hard. live organism can do any more as
“Yes, Mr. Steuberk?” One eye- There was a hesitant knock, and “Names, please?” she asked. well or as cheap as a robot. And
brow tilted defiantly. Miss Cress released the lock from those that are left require
“Oh. Yes. Well — let’s get on her desk panel. In they came. fTVHE tall male shuffled forward stronger stuff than the Graybes.
with it, shall we?” I’ve seen ’em all. I’ve been J. He was
dressed like The only hope we had was find-
a step.
“Yes,” she said, “let’s do that.” with REF/RELIEF, IMM/EM the others, in a faded smock ing his own world —
if it still
went around to my own desk,
I and RELOC since the war ended patched and washed to the limit existed —
and trying to get him
which was at right angles to hers. back among his own.
fifteen years ago. I’ve pulled my of endurance. He was bent at the
I took out a cigarette, lit it and way up the bureaucratic ladder Sut Graybe hesitated a mo-
waist, and his shoulders sloped
nodded to Miss Cress. She pressed from T-2 Lice Jockey to Counse- in a deep curve toward his hollow ment, glanced at his feet and
a button and spoke into her in- worked
lor. I’ve in a hot suit in chest. He looked as if he were said:
tercom. the COLEOP/METH tanks and carrying a heavy, invisible load “Well, suh, I reckon we’s born
“Number K dash four-four- I’ve even (as a T-3, of course) on his back. They all did. on Raath, suh, ’cept fer the kids.

54 GALAXY THE GRAYBES OF RAATH 55

 Course thass a long time ago, ever call by anything anyone got He looked at me, puzzled.
it else?” “I didn’t think off
warn’t it, Sari?” His wife nodded Sut turned to his wife. “Let’s put it another way. How
“No Gomal,” I told Mr. Graybe.
solemnly. The two children gazed suh, reckon not. Jest Raath — all He shook his head, remember- long does the average uh, do —
wide-eyed about the. room, cling- we evah knowed.” “Warn’t many, suh. Guess most people live on Rath?”
ing-
ing to their mother’s drab gray Meanwhile, His face brightened with un-
Miss Cress tele- we ’s mighty lucky folks.”
smock. faxed photos of the Graybes to so too. I knew what derstanding. “Oh, yes, suh. Nine,
I guessed
Miss Cress verified the spelling, ANTHRO/REC ten hunnert years, ah reckon.”
and brought us had happened on Gomal.
and ran “Raath” through the up against another blank. Gray, up “What?”
“What were you doing there, I sat straight.
tapes. In a moment we had four- be’s race, as well as his world, Miss Cress bit her knuckle and
Sut?”
teen possibilities, allowing for was uncatalogued. Not that that the eyebrows went up again.
“We’s pickin’ Skibi blossoms
phonetic latitude and pronuncia- was unusual. We’ve mapped Sari? Them “In Standard years, Mr. Gray-
warn’t thet it,
tion. Nine we ruled out immedi- maybe one-quarter of the galaxy purty pink ’uns?” Sari be? You know what a Standard
little
ately. They could not support an and half of that’s still pretty wild nodded sadly. year is, don’t you?”
oxygen-breather. One, “Rayyt,” and woolly. I looked at my watch. “Yes suh, reckon ah do that.
“And before Gomal?”
had no life, and an-
intelligent We were getting nowhere and “Fred- ’Bout four hunnert days, ain’t it?”
He answered readilly.
other, “Wretsh,” had belonged to “Uh,
there were plenty of others wait- Two. We’s bringin’ in the yes,” I said slowly.
the Enemy —
and it was now a ing.
rickson
bananapple crop. Mighty hot, “That’s correct.”
bright light around the beak of Mighty hard work.” Sari “Exactly how old are you then,
suh.
Cygnus. That left three. CUT Graybe continued to be nodded sadly. Mr. Graybe?” asked Leeta
Slides of the native life and a goldmine of information. At least we were getting some- Cress.
geography of Ritk, Ratiki and “
His home star was “kinda big an’ where. Slowly. Sut Graybe was He turned to his wife. ’Bout
Root brought definite noes from
the Graybes. We were stuck on
yeller” —
I could have guessed able to remember working on five hunnert, reckon.” He grinned.
that. He reckoned the constella- Trev, Eynthion, Psyche, Vix, “I’se oldern’’Course she
Sari.
the ground. tions, as seen from Raath, were Ornsburg, Gryphon and about don’t like to ’zactly give her age
“I don’t suppose you know the “right purty.” Swell. two dozen more. The Graybes — you know how wimminfolks
coordinates of Raath, Mr. Gray- ah reckon, ma’am.”
‘
“Mr. Steuberk?” I turned to had seen more worlds than a is,

be?” '•

Miss Cress. She was making Navy Chief! took a deep breath. Well, it
I
The question brought nothing motions with her hands around About halfway through the was certainly not impossible.
but bewilderment to the faces of her shoulders. I raised an eye- second dozen something began to There are a few long-lived races
Sut and Sari. brow. They were nice shoulders, worry me. Even if you’re riding in the Union, though I’d never
“Sector? System? Nearby but I didn’t think she had any- the Star lot of time
Fields a heard of any humanoids over two
stars?” Nothing. I turned to Miss thing like that in mind. passes between and I
worlds, or two-fifty. Still, it made sense
Cress. “Maybe it’s uncatalogued.” “His tag, Mr. Steuberk,” she knew those lunky Long-
big —- you wanted to look at it
if

Miss Cress chewed thought- said firmly. Sleepers took their time with a was the only way he
like that. It
fully on her knuckle a moment, “Oh.” I had forgotten the big frozen human cargo. If he’d spent could have seen all those worlds
then shook her head. “Have to be paper ID card the refugees wear. only a day or two on each world, in one lifetime by LongSleeper.
pretty old, Mr. Steuberk. Or real I examined Sut’s. I shuddered even, he — “You’re sure, Mr. Graybe?
new.” and looked at Miss Cress. “Mr. Graybe,” I asked sud- You’re sure it’s five hundred
“Yeah. Is there any other “Gomal,” I said. She looked denly, “just what is your life- Standard years? You’re not using
name for Raath, Sut? Do you away. span?” some other calendar?”

56
GALAXY THE GRAYBES OF RAATH 57
 ——

“No suh, reckon ah five hun- can. And come back at the same
nert, all right.” He chuckled. time tomorrow.”
“Feel like it sometimes, any-
ways.” I took another look at
He nodded, and his shaggy
brood dragged out after him. I MARK YOUR CHOICES
him. It was possible all right . . . turned to Leeta Cress. She was EACH MARK Means
I scribbled a note on a piece of shaking her head slowly, like I
paper and handed it to Miss was the boy who wrote the dirty
Hours of Good Reading Enjoyment
5—
Cress. Then I wrote another one word on the blackboard.
for the Graybes. Miss Cress “That just isn’t done. Mr, galaxy PUBLISHING CO., INC.
frowned 'at me over her pretty Steuberk,” she said darkly. New York 14,
42111—Hudson Street, N. Y.
12—
nose. “It isn’t, eh? You sent the 13—
Please send me post-paid the novels checked below.
I ignored her. order up the tube, didn’t you?” ,
THE WORLD BELOW by S. Fowler Wright
: 17—THE ALIEN by Raymond F. Jones
“Mr. Graybe,” I said, “I want “I did. But I don’t like it. You 6
9— FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE by William F. Temple
you and your family to go to this can’t go — shoving every other
: 19—
CITY IN THE SEA by Wilson Tucker
21— HOUSE OF MANY WORLDS by Sam Merwin, Jr.
room.” I handed him the paper. case to the head of the line. SEEDS OF LIFE by John Taine
25—
14 PEBBLE IN THE SKY by Isaac Asimov
“Now. You’ll be told what to do They’ll get a physical anyway, 15 THREE GO BACK by J. Leslie Mitchell
It—THE WARRIORS OF DAY by James Blish
28—
there. Then I’d like to ask you you know.” WELL OF THE WORLDS by Louis Padgett
30— CITY AT WORLD'S END by Edmond Hamilton
to do one more thing. I want you “Sure,” I said, “in about eight 18
31—
32— JACK OF EAGLES by James Blish
and Mrs. Graybe to go back to months. I want one now.” 33— BLACK GALAXY by Murray Leinster
20
35— THE HUMANOIDS by Jack Williamson
the Camp, and I want you to list She out a deep sigh. “All
let 23 MURDER IN SPACE by David V. Reed
24 LEST DARKNESS FALL by L. Sprague de Camp
every world you’ve ever worked right, Mr. Steuberk, but it isn’t THE LAST SPACESHIP by Murray Leinster
on, starting back with, uh — the way Mr. Harris would have 2t—CHESSBOARD PLANET by Lewis Padgett
27 TARNISHED UTOPIA by Malcolm Jameson
Korby, yes, that was the last one handled it.” DESTINY TIMES THREE by Fritz Leiber
29 FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard Please
we got to. Do you think you can I scowled. “Mr. Harris has the DOUBLE JEOPARDY by Fletcher Pratt
Enter My
SHAMBLEAU by C. L. Moore
do that, Mr. Graybe?” Galloping Rot, Miss Cress.” ADDRESS: CENTAURI by F. L. Wallace Order For
MISSION OF GRAVITY by Hal Clement
He scratched his head and ran “The Kripstian Trot, Mr. Steu- 34 TWICE IN TIME by Manly Wade Wellman
Your Next 6 Novels
THE FOREVER MACHINE by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley I Enclose A $2.00
a long webbed hand over his face. berk,” she sniffed. 36 ODD JOHN by Olaf Stapledon Check Here
“Ah shore try, suh. It been a heap 37 THE DEVIATES by Raymond F. Jones Add 50c Foreign Postage

a places, though.” TE
VW/ got through about half a
toward him over my "
I leaned
desk. “It would help a lot, Mr. much
dozen more cases without
trouble. We
closed up shop $ 2.00 or 35c each
Graybe, if you could just tell us and I asked Leeta Cress if she’d
1

Enclose check,
the first world you worked on cash or money order.
care to have dinner with me and
after Raath. Sure you can’t re- — bang —
we were in trouble
$
Add
We
50c
pay postage
Foreign Postage
member that?” again. So I had dinner by myself
“Naw,” he said slowly, “it and a few drinks in the Red
Name
gonna take a little stewin’. Best Tape Bar. I couldn’t get the
ah Works back slow like, way Graybes out of my mind. I made Address
we’s a-doin’ heah.” a note to have Research take a
“Okay. You do the best you special look for Raath tomorrow, City State

58 GALAXY
 ”

just in case had gotten mis-

it brought the picture up as far as trying to catch
it.” Miss ing, and hung up. I turned. Miss
ing
placed somewhere. I’ve worked in I could and still keep everyone opened and she fled Cress was standing in the door.
in
Cress mouth
Research, too. We lost a whole view. I grinned sheepishly.
the room.
System once behind a filing cab- I now had a dimensional idea “about “You’ll just have to put up
inet. of Graybe’s travels — and it told
“Look,” said
—Zack, with me, Miss Cress. Harris still
Meanwhile had something
I me absolutely nothing. If there
those characters
“Well?” has the —
” Her hands clapped
else on my mind. Besides Miss was any pattern or direction, it over her ears. I had a feeling we
He shrugged. “Too early to
Cress. I hopped a cab, rode across was related to the picking season wouldn’t have that dinner tonight,
give you anything definite. They
town and set down at the Star- of the Zidze nuts or some damn mind you they could either.
could be,
Dome. It was late, and I didn’t thing, and that wasn’t likely to The Graybes filed in about
what they say. Just had time
figure any of the big brains would show up on the StarDome.
be,
for a preliminary check. Can
you four — only six hours late. Sut’s
be using it this time of night. I Before I went to bed I called eyes were droopier and more
get ’em back up here?”
went in, sat down before the big a guy I knew in MED/SEC and bloodshot than usual, and Sari
I promised I would and asked:
panel and pressed GENERAL asked him what the symptoms didn’t look much better. Orange
“Is Sut Graybe really five hun-
VIEW. The lights dimmed and were of the Kripstian Trot. He
dred years old?”
hair fluttered to the floor in great
the round ceiling lit up with a was asleep and it served me right Zack scowled. “Let’s put it clumps.
panorama of the Galaxy. Before for asking. He told me. Well! “Well, Sut, how did you do?”
this way. He has the body of
a
the office I had copied down
I left
not-too-well preserved man of He shook his head doubtfully
the planets Graybe had already I" used the back lift this time, expectancy is one
fifty. If his life
and handed me the list. “Sorry
given us, and now I took my and I didn’t forget my nose thousand, like he claims, then we’s late, suh, but me ’n Sari done
notebook out and punched the filters. There were two things
that would work out about right.”
our bes’, tryin’ to rec’lec all them
names into the board. I pressed waiting for me at the office: Miss
“But you don’t know for sure. places. We’s up all night, reckon.”
for CLOSE-UP and the galaxy Cress and a phone She “Oh, now, that wasn’t neces-
dropped down on top of me. handed me the
call.
number with a
Is that it?”
“I don’t,” said Zack patiently, sary Sut, we —
” I stopped. I had
Now I was looking at roughly sugary smile, like Lucretia Borgia “because haven’t finished the
I glanced down at the list. In a
one-quarter of the big lens, cen- passing the cup.
tests. But, yes okay — prob- — scrawly, crabbed hand, Sut had
tering in the Union. Everything The call was from Zack Miles ably is. And I figure his ‘kids,’ if painfully set down, in reverse
was bright, sparkling and well- in MED/SEC. The screen showed pardon the expression, are order, each planet he had visited,
you’ll
defined until the edge, which a tired, basset-faced character
about eighty and a hundred. The the approximate date, and in most
dimmed on out to places we with a crooked smile. woman won’t talk but she’s cases the crops they picked.
hadn’t been, but could map, then He looked at me happily. “You around four-fifty.” But that wasn’t what threw
on to a vague luminosity that was been demoted, Steuberk? Not “Oh, yes,” I said seriously, “if me. There were over two hundred
someone’s general idea of Ga- surprised.”
she’s a day.” and fifty names on the list. I
lactic Central. “No,” I explained, “I’m filling clutched the paper tightly.
Zack ignored me. “Listen, Steu,
The
planets I had coded ap- in down here. Whole section’s out “Are you sure, Sut? You’ve
peared as oversize red dots on with — ” I caught Leeta Cress’-
where is this Raath, anyway?”
been to all these places? You’re
the map. I connected them with eye — “with, ah, this new dis-
“you
“It’s a terrific
live to be a thousand and
place,” I said,
not just making this up?”
a thin white line, in order of ease.”
all the girls have got the Krip- He looked pained. “No suh, ah
Graybe’s migration, pulled a “Yeah.” He grinned nastily. “I stian Trot.” ain’t. Reckon ah knows wheah ah
Tridi shield over my eyes, and know. ’Been up in Bio all morn- He leered a second, daydream- been, all right, suh.”

60 GALAXY THE GRAYBES OF RAATH 61

 I raised a hand in peace. — correction: if Sut, finished his “Never mind. I’ll take your awright. Tol’ble purty, too. We’s
“Okay. Okay, I believe you, Sut.” list. I skipped dinner and had a
word for it. Anything else?” pickin’ them big ol’ Gushi buds
I glanced at the bottom of the drink in the Red Tape Bar. I He hesitated. “Maybe. Don’t an’ —
list. Yuvor. had two drinks. I had three — know. The kids have a funny I stood up. “Fine. Miss Cress?”
“Well now we’re getting some- oh, never mind. kind of squiggly line in their “You want me to run Crohz-
where,” I said. “Miss Cress, run I couldn’t find the back lift in brain-wave pattern. The adults nar through the tape, Mr. Steu-
Yuvor, Y-U-V-O-R, through the the morning. Miss Cress shook her don’t.” berk?”
tapes. You’re sure this is the first pretty head sadly. “You look ter- “A funny squiggly line?” I said “No. I want you to call us a
world you hit after Raath, eh?” rible, Mr. Steuberk.” acidly. “Are you sure you’re a cab for the StarDome. A big cab.”
His eyes widened and he shook I said, “Shut up, Miss Cress.” doctor, Zack?” Miss Cress frowned. “Oh, we
his head violently. Orange hair She ignored me. Zack is not sensitive. He went can’t close up like that, Mr.
floated to every corner of the “They’re waiting for you,” she on. I don’t know what it is.
All Steuberk, we —
room. said. I know is the kids
have it — “Miss Cress,” I said darkly,
“No, suh! You don’ unnerstan’, I looked up. It sounded omi- parents don’t. And I’d like to “are you coming or aren’t you?
suh!” nous. “Who? The little men?” say you’ve advanced the science Dr. Miles thinks I may be coming
rubbed a hand wearily across
I “No sir. The Graybes. With Dr. of Geriatrics tremendously — down with something. Any min-
my face. “What, Mr. Graybe, Zack.” She frowned. “Miles.” but I can’t. We’ve been over them ute, now. Do you know what he
what don’t I understand?” I lit a shaky cigarette. “Okay. pretty thoroughly. They’re old, thinks I have, Miss Cress?”
“Well, suh, like ah said, we Let’s get it over with.” all right. I just don’t know why.”
She paled, bringing her hand to
done our bes’, but we failin’ sleep Zackfiled in after the Graybes, “Okay,” I said, “stick around her face.
fore we’s finished.” leered at Leeta and leaned over if to. If we ever
you want find “All right, then. Let’s get out
I didn’t say a word for a my desk. “You look terrible, maybe you can ask the of here.”
minute. I stared at Sut, then at Steu.”
Raath,
head man, the, uh
—
Miss Cress. Miss Cress was defi- “I know. I’ve been informed.” “Raathskeller?” W/T made a great picture trail-

nitely better looking.
“All right,” I said calmly as
possible. “All right, Sut. You go
back. Yes. You go back and finish
the list. Then come back.”
He grinned. The whole hairy
crew shuffled out again. I laid my
head in my hands. I looked at my
watch. It was five.
“Miss Cress ?”
. .
She shook her head sweetly.
“No, Mr. Steuberk.”
T FOUGHT the temptation to
run the new planets through
the StarDome. I’d wait until Sut
He beamed hopefully. “You
lucky you don’t suppose
devil,
you’re coming down with
“Never mind, it’s just a hang-
over. Some doctor. Well, what
did you find?”
He shrugged. “It’s true.
are genuine long-lifers,
I borrowed a carbon-dater from
Physics, tried it on a cell sample.
.
They replace tissue about every
seventy-five years.”
I looked up. “Carbon-dater? I
thought — first
He shook his head. “Course,
the radioactivity involved is
I winced and turned to Sut.
“Well, think you’ve got the whole
— thing now, Mr. Graybe?”
He shuffled forward, handed
me the list. “Ah reckon so, suh.
Purt’ near busted mah haid, a-
They thinkin’ so much.”
all right. He crackled, nudging Sari in
the ribs. I looked at the names.
There were only about twenty
additions. I hurried through, said
the last name aloud.
“Crohznar. Is that it, Sut? The
place you worked after
Raath?”
— He nodded. “Yes suh, that
Y» ing up the steps to the
StarDome. Zack, Leeta Cress, me
and the molting Graybes. I sat
them all down and had Zack feed
me the names on the lists.
Granted, I could have worked
from Crohznar alone, but I
wanted, if possible, to get a full
directional picture of the trip
from there to Gomal, where the
Graybes were picked up. I pressed
for CLOSE-UP again and a chor-
us of Ooooohs and Aaaaaahs went
up from the Graybes.
I pulled the Tridi shield over
it, my eyes and brought up the mag-

62 GALAXY THE GRAYBES OF RAATH 63

 ”

nification. They were all there. you worked on after Raath. purty young an’ spry, ’bout two “What do you mean?” asked
Gomal back to Crohznar and all hunnert, reckon. So we swift- Zack.
points in between. The picture
Doesn’t anything look familiar?”
He shook his head sadly. I thunk ’bout some nice place what “If he swift-thu — teleported
was a little clearer now, but not pulled the Tridi off his eyes. had work fer us an’ we’s jus’ up at random, he wouldn’t have any
I
much. The Graybes hadn’t trav- looked at Zack and Leeta Cress. and thar.” idea what Raath looks like from
eled in any orderly direction from They shrugged helplessly. No one said a thing. Finally a distance, only what the rest of
Crohznar. They had gone where I lit a cigarette and leaned Zack broke the silence. the sky looks like from Raath.
“Steu? Is he trying to say what And if he didn’t come from any-
the work was, and the connecting
white lines made a crazy pattern
toward
him.
Sut.
“Can you remember how
“Now think,” I told
I think he’s trying to
say?” where near Crohznar
—
over half the Union. Still, there long took to get from Raath to
it I nodded. “Uh-huh.” My voice “Oh, ah ’spect we know our
was a general, if ill-defined, drift Crohznar? Did anyone on the came out a little dry. “He thinks home when we see it, suh,” said
from Sector II of the Union, LongSleeper ever mention how he and Sari teleported from Sut.
where Crohznar was, “down- much Standard how much
time, Raath.” That was too much. “Then
ward” toward Gomal. real time it would take? I know you’re lying about the whole
I called Sut to the panel, ex- was a long time ONSENSE!” scoffed Zack, thing,” I yelled at him. “You
it ago, but try
plained the situation as well as to remember.” a little nervously for an couldn’t know!”
I could and pulled a Tridi over Sut scratched his head and honest-to-goodness scoff, “if they “You don’ unnerstan’ bout us,
his eyes. looked at me queerly. had any psi, operating or latent, I reckon,” he said. “We kinda
“Mighty purty,” said Sut. “Now what’s the matter?” I we would have caught it on the feels whar home is, even ’haps
“Terrific. Now look, Sut, I’ve asked. tests. If they ever had it, they we can’t see Gotta know, see,
it.

shown you where Crohznar
And you can see the route you
took to Gomal. You took pretty
average hops all the way, so it
is. “Well, suh, it jest ah can’t sure as hell don’t have it now.” so we kin git back. Can’t do that
how long they takes
rightly tell “You talkin’ ’bout swift-think- no more; done used up all our
from Raath. Don’ see how ah in,’ suh?” Sut interrupted. “You swift-thinkin’, but can’t never fer-
kin.” right, suh, we ain’t got it no more. git. always got that, even if you

stands to reason Raath is prob- I frowned. “Why not?” Can’t doit when you is old, suh. can’t do nuthin’. Don’ know
ably about as far from Crohznar Reckon we done use all ours up whar Raath is, suh, but if I’se
“Well, suh, we didn’ take no
as your average jump. Does any- LongSleeper from Raath to that a-gettin’ there,” he laughed. evah to see it again, ’spect I’d
thing around there look famil- place.” I turned slowly to Zack. surely know.”
iar?” I let out a deep breath. “Okay, “Those —
squiggly lines?” Zack, Leeta and I just looked
“No, suh. Sho’ don’t,” he said Sut,” I said sarcastically, “how He swallowed hard. “Yep.” at each other. No one said a
sorrowfully. did you go? Plushline?” “Sut,” I said, “ why didn’t you word.
“Nothing?” Sut thought that was a riot. say something about this before?” Then Sut said: “Reckon you
“No, suh. Jest a heap a purty “No, suh,” he laughed, “reckon “Didn’ ask, suh. Didn’t say could brighten this here thing up
lights, suh.” not. Me ’n Sari, we swift-thunk nuthin’ ’bout swift-thinkin’. Jes’ more than you has it? Lemme
I slapped my head. “Okay, it.” wantin’ to know whar Raath is.” take another peek? I’d be power-
hold it, Sut.” I dialed a view of I could feel the hairs crawling “If he’s telling the truth,” I fulhappy was I to find it ’gin.”
the constellations as seen from up the back of my neck. said, “and Iwish I could believe I leaned over and boosted the

Crohznar. “Swift-thunk?” he isn’t — we might as well give magnification as far as it would

“Now, Sut? That’s the way the “Yes, suh. Pickin’s was right up Raath. He doesn’t know where go.
stars look from the first planet pore on Raath, an’ we’s both it is, either.” For maybe two minutes, Sut

64 GALAXY THE GRAYBES OF RAATH 65

moved the scanner over the
StarDome. Then, a wide
all
grin
for that drink, Mr. Steuberk.”
I don’t know what became of
BESTERS BEST!
stretched over his face. the Graybes of Raath. I’m not Have you read his famed THE DEMOLISHED MAN
? Lived in
“Sari, come look! There she is! supposed to know. But I do know itsvividly real telepathic society, detailed so ingeniously and dra-
Shore purty from here!” one thing — there are no Gushi matically that, finishing the book, you’ll find it hard to believe that
I moved up. Sut grabbed my buds to pick at Union Security society doesn’t exist — yet
arm and pulled me to the scan- Headquarters, so they must be arrangement with the publisher of THE DEMOLISHED
By special
ner. up to something else over there. MAN, we can offer you this magnificent book for $1.00, 2/3 off the
“There ’tis, suh. Right there. I imagine those boys have a few regular price, plus 25 for postage and handling.
She look a lot different from questions for Sut and Sari. And
heah, but that it, awright. See I’ll give you ten to one they don’t i

there? That bright, sorta fuzzy have an answer between them.

star ’neath thet big-n.” Maybe we’ll know when the
I looked. This time the chill Graybe kids reach maturity — . ,

started at my feet and kept going. in about a hundred years. I won’t,

“That —
one, Sut?” of course, but Leeta and I’ll have
,

“Yes suh, that it all right.” some grandchildren who might.

I pointed it out to Zack and Every once in a while I burst
Leeta. I grinned stupidly. out laughing just thinking about
“That one,” I said. it.Do you suppose that sorry-
“Mr. Steuberk?” looking, mangy-haired lout really
“Yes, Miss Cress?” did swift-think here from that
“Now.” fuzzy looking “star”
“Now, what?” from Andromeda?
“Now,” she said, “I’m ready — NEAL BARRETT, JR.
Supplies are limited! Send your order in immediately!
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GALAXY PUBLISHING CORP.

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66 GALAXY
 LPHEN DeBeckett lay

E dying. It was time. He had

lived in the world for one
hundred and nine years, though
he had seen little enough of it

except for the children. The chil-

dren, thank God, came. He

still

thought they were with him now:

“Coppie,” he whispered in a
shriveled voice, “how nice to see
you.” The nurse did not look
around, although she was the
only person in the room besides
himself, and knew that he was
not addressing her.
The nurse was preparing the
injections the doctor had ordered
her to have ready. This little cap-
sule for shock, this to rally his
strength, these half-dozen others
to shield him from his pain. Most
of them would be used. DeBeckett
was dying in a pain that once
would have been unbearable and
even now caused him to thresh
about sometimes and moan.
DeBeckett’s room was a great
twelve-foot chamber with hang-
ing drapes and murals that re-
flected scenes from his books. The
man himself was tiny, gnome-
like. He became even less mate-
rialwhile death (prosey biology,
the chemistry of colloids) drew
inappropriately near his head.
He had lived his life remote from
everything a normal man sur-
rounds himself with. He now
seemed hardly alive enough to
die.

69

DeBeckett lay in a vast, pil-
lared bed, all the vaster for the
small burden he put on it, and
the white linen was whiter for his
THE
showered him with gifts and doc-, nurse slipped out and the regarded them and a dying voice
tors, though neither could prevail closed silently behind
door said, “Please read to me,” with
against the stomping pitchfire her.Six children and three adults such resolute sweetness that it
arsonist in the old man’s colon. waited patiently outside, De- frightened. “From my book,” it

merry brown face. “Darling
Veddie, please don’t cry,” he
whispered restlessly, and the
nurse took up a hypodermic
syringe. He was not in unusual
pain, though, and she put it back
and sat down beside him.
The world had been gentle with
the gentle old man. It had made
him a present of this bed and
this linen, this great house with
its attendant horde of machines
to feed and warm and comfort
him, and the land on which stood
the tiny, quaint houses he loved
better. It had given him a park
in the mountains, well stocked
with lambs, deer and birds of
blazing, spectacular color, a
fenced park where no one ever
went but DeBeckett and the be-
loved children, where earth-
moving machines had scooped
out a Very Own Pond (“My
Very Own Pond/Which I sing
for you in this song/Is eight Hip-
popotamuses Wide/ And twenty
Elephants Long.”) He had not
seen it he knew it
for years, but
was there. The world had given
him, most of all, money, more
money than he could ever want.
He had tried to give it back
(gently, hopefully, in a way
pathetically), but there was al-
ways more. Even now the world
The disease, a form of gastroen-
teritis, could have been cured;
medicine had come that far long
since. But not in a body that
clung so lightly to life.
He opened his eyes and said
strongly, “Nurse, are the children
there?”
The nurse was a woman of
nearly sixty. That was why she
had been chosen. The new medi-
cine was utterly beyond her in
theory, but she could follow di-
rections; and she loved Elphen
DeBeckett. Her love was the love
of a child, for a thumbed edition
of Coppie Brambles had bright-
ened her infancy. She said, “Of
course they are, Mr. DeBeckett.”
He smiled. The old man loved
children very much. They had
been whole life. The hardest
his
part of his dying was that noth-
ing of his own flesh would be
left, no son, no grandchild, no
one. He had never married. He
would have given almost any-
thing to have a child of his blood
with him now —
almost anything,
except the lurid, grunting price
nature exacts, for DeBeckett had
never known a woman. His only
children were the phantoms of
his books . and those who
. .
came to visit him. He said faintly,
“Let the little sweetlings in.”
Beckett’s doctor among them.
Quickly she gave him the di-
mensions of the old man’s illness,
pulse and temperature, and the
readings of the tiny gleaming
dials by his pillow as well, though
she did not know what they
measured. It did not matter. She
knew what the doctor was going
to say before he said it: “He can’t
last another hour. It is astonish-
ing that he lasted this long,” he
added, “but we will have
something when he goes.”
“He wants you to come in.
Especially you
—
” She glanced
around, embarrassed. “Especially
you children.” She had almost
said “little sweetlings” herself, but
did not quite dare. Only Elphen
DeBeckett could talk like that,
even to children. Especially to
children. Especially to these
children, poised, calm, beautiful,
strong and gay. Only the prettiest,
sweetest children visited Elphen
DeBeckett, half a dozen or a
score every day, a year-in, year-
out pilgrimage. He would
have noticed if they had been
ugly and dull, of course. To De-
Beckett all children were sweet,
beautiful and bright.
They entered and ranged
themselves around the bed, and
DeBeckett looked up. The eyes
added, though they knew well
enough what he meant.
The children looked at each
other. They ranged from four to
eleven, Will, Mike, blonde Celine,
brown-eyed Karen, fat Freddy
and busy Pat. “You,” said Pat,
who was seven.
“No,” said five-year-old Freddy.
“Will.”
“Celine,” said Will. “Here.”
The girl named Celine took the
lost book from him and began obe-
diently. “‘Coppie thought to her-
self—’”
“No,” said Pat. “Open.”
The girl opened the book, em-
barrassed, glancing at the dying
old man. He was smiling at her
without amusement, only love.
She began to read:
Coppie thought to herself that
the geese might be hungry, for
she herself ate Lotsandlots.
Mumsie often said so, though
Coppie had never found out
what that mysterious food might
not
be. She could not find any, so
took some bread from Brigid
Marie Ann-Erica Evangeline,
the Cook Whose Name Was So
Long That She Couldn’t Re-
member It All Herself. As she
walked along Dusty Path to
Coppie Brambles’s Very Own
Pond

70 GALAXY A GENTLE DYING 71

 r them the miracles of life and liv-
Celine hesitated, looking at the ing the geese, admirably showing been able to understand the an-
old man with sharp worry, for her shyness and her trace of fear, swers when I was told them. I ing, then my joy is unbounded.
he had moaned faintly, like a contrasted with the loutish com- think I have only this one more This I have tried, rather selfishly,

flower moaning. “No, love,” he edy of the geese. The old man s chance.” to do. I cannot say it was for
said. “Go on.” The swelling soft eyes were fixed on the picture as them! It was for me. For nothing
bubble before his heart had he whispered. They guessed he E stronger from the fluid could have given me more pleas-
turned on him, but he knew he
still had time.
was talking to Coppie, the child
of eight dressed in the fashions
H felt

that now coursed

and accepted without
veins,
through ure.’
”

The boy paused.

his
The little girl read: of eighty years ago. They could fear the price he would have to DeBeckett said gravely, “I’m
hardly hear him, but in the silence pay for it. “As you know,” he afraid this is a Very Big Think,
—As she walked along Dusty that fell on the room his voice said; “or, I should say, as you
lovelings. Please try to under-
Path toCoppie Brambles’s Very stand. This is the letter I wrote
grew stronger. children no doubt do not know,
Own Pond, she thought and
He was saying, without joy to my attorneys when instructed
some years ago I endowed a I
thought, and what she thought them up the Foundation.
but without regret, “No more research institution, the Coppie to set
finally came right out of her
meadows, no more of the laughter Brambles Foundation. I did it Go on, Will.”
mouth. It was a Real Gay
Think, to be Thought While of little children. But I do love for the love of you, you and all
“
‘But my way of working has
them.” He opened his eyes and been unscientific, I know. I am
Charitably Feeding Geese: of you. Last night I was reading
sat up, waving the nurse away. my attorneys told that children are not less
They don’t make noise like little the letter I wrote
girls and boys, “No, my dear,” he said cheerfully, No. Let us see if you can under- than we adults, but more. I am
And all' day long they’re aswim- “it does not matter if I sit up stand the letter itself; I have it told that the grown-up maimers
ming. now, you know. Excuse me for here. Will, can you read?” and cheats in the world are only
They never fret and sputter my rudeness. Excuse an old and Will was nine, freckled darkly children soiled, that the hagglers
’cause they haven’t any butter, commerce are the infant
tired man who, for a moment, on pale skin, red haired and of
They go where the water’s dreamers whose dreams were
wished to live on. I have some- gangling. “Yes, Mr. DeBeckett.”
wetly brimming.
thing to say to you all.” “Even hard words,” smiled denied. I am told that youth is
But say
The nurse, .catchinga sign the dying man. wilder, freer, better than age,
Anyway
from the doctor, took up another “Yes, sir.” which I believe with all my
I

Like hypodermic and made it ready. gestured at the

DeBeckett heart, not needing the stories of
Geese! “Please, Mr. DeBeckett,” she table beside him, and the boy twenty-year-old mathematicians
said. Good humored, he permitted obediently took up a stiff sheet and infant Mozarts to lay a
There was more, but the child her to spray the surface of his of paper. “Please,” said De- proof.
paused and, after a moment, wrist with a fine mist of droplets Beckett, and the boy began to “‘In the course of my work I
closed the book. DeBeckett was that touched the skin and pene- read in a high-pitched, rapid have been given great material
no longer listening. He was trated it. “I suppose that is to whine. rewards. I wish that this money
whispering to himself. give me strength,” he said. “Well, “
‘Children have been all my be spent for those I love. I have
On the wall before him was worked with the heart, but per-
I am grateful for it. I know I life and I have not regretted an
painted a copy of one of the must leave you, but there is instant of the years I devoted to haps my money can help some-
illustrations from the first edition something I would like to know. their happiness. If I can tell them one to work with the mind, in
of his book, a delightful picture I have wondered For years
. . . a little of the wonderful world in this great new science of psy-
of Coppie Brambles herself, feed- I have wondered, but I have not which we are, if I can open to chology which I do not under-

72 GALAXY A GENTLE DYING 73

 stand, in all of the other sciences
which I understand even
must hire other eyes.
“
‘I direct, then, that all of
assets other than my books and
my homes be converted into cash,
and that money be used to
this
further the study of the child,
with the aim of releasing him
from the corrupt adult cloak
that smothers him, of freeing
him for wisdom, tenderness and
love.’”
“That,” said DeBeckett sadly,
“was forty years ago.”
TTE started at a sound. Over-
head a rocket was clapping
through the sky, and DeBeckett
looked wildly around. “It’s all
right, Mr. DeBeckett,” comforted
little Pat. “It’s only a plane.”
He allowed her to soothe him.
“Ah, loveling,” he said. “And can
you answer my question?”
“What it says in the ’Cyclo-
pedia, Mr. DeBeckett?”
“Why —
Yes, if you know
my dear.”
Surprisingly the child said, as
if by rote: “The Institute
founded in 1976 and at
attracted most of the great work-
ers in pediatric analysis, who were
able to show Wiltshauer’s Effect
in the relationship between
glandular and mental develop-
ment. Within less than ten years
a new projective analysis of the
growth process permitted a re-
74
orientationof basic pedagogy said reflectively, “Sorry about the
The nurse’s eyes were bright
less. I from a null-positive locus. The book. Should have opened
and wet. She reached for the it.”
were immediate. The first
effects hypodermic, but the doctor shook “He
my generation of — his head.
didn’t notice,” said Will,
wiping his hands. He had touched
She stopped, startled. The old “Wait,” he said, and walked to the old man’s fingers.
man was up on his elbow, his
the bed. He stood on tiptoe to “No. Hate crying, though.”
eyes blazing at her in wonder and peer into the dying man’s face. The doctor said, “Nice of you.
fright. “I’m
—
” She looked around “No, no use. Too old. Can’t sur- Helped him, I think.” He picked
at the other children for help and up the phone and ordered a dem-
vive organ transplant, certainty of
at once wailed, “I’m sorry, Mr. cytic shock. No feasible therapy.” olition crew for the house. “Mon-
DeBeckett!” and began to cry. nurse’s eyes were now flow- ument?”
The
The old man fell back, staring The doctor said to her, with “Oh, yes,” said another child.
ing.
at her with a sort of unbeliev- much “Well. Small one, anyway.”
patience but not very pa-
ing panic. The little girl wept “No alternative. Only kept The doctor, who was nine, said,
tience,
abundantly. Slowly DeBeckett’s long from grati- “Funny. Without him, what? A
him going this
expression relaxed and he man- tude.” few hundred thousand dollars
aged a sketchy smile. The nurse sobbed, “Isn’t there and the Foundation makes a flex-
He said, “There, sweetest. You anything we can do for him?” ible world, no more rigid adults,
startled me. But it was charming “Yes.” The doctor gestured, no more — ” He caught himself
of you to memorize all that!” and the lights on the diagnostic narrowly. The doctor had ob-
learned
“I it for you,” she dials winked out. ‘We can let served before that he had a tend-
sobbed. him die.” ency to over-identify with adults,
didn’t understand.
“I Don’t probably because his specialty
cry.” Obediently the little girl T ITTLE Pat hiked herself up had been geriatrics. Now that
dried her eyes as DeBeckett ^ on a chair, much too large Elphen DeBeckett was dead, he
stretched out a hand to her. for her, and dangled her feet. no longer had a specialty.
But the hand dropped back on “Be nice to get rid of this furni- “Miss him somehow,” said
it, the quilt. Age, surprise and the ture, anyway,” she said. ‘Well, Celine frankly, coming over to
drug had allied to overmaster the nurse? He’s dead. Don’t wait.” look over Will’s shoulder at the
dwindling resources of Elphen quaint old murals on the wall.
The nurse looked rebelliously at
was DeBeckett. He wandered to the the doctor, but the doctor only “What the nurse said, true
once phantoms on the wall. “I never nodded. Sadly the nurse went to enough. He loved us.”
understood what they did with the door and admitted the adults “And clearly we loved him,”
my money,” he told Coppie, who who had waited outside. The four piped Freddy, methodically sort-
smiled at him with a shy, painted of them surrounded the body and ing through the contents of the
smile. “The children kept com- bore it gently through the door. dead man’s desk. “Would have
ing,but they never said.” Before it closed the nurse looked terminated him with the others
“Poor man,” said Will absently, back and wailed: “He loved you!” otherwise, wouldn’t we?”
watching him with a child’s un- The children did not appear —FREDERIK POHL &
committed look. to notice. After a moment Pat C. M. KORNBLUTH
GALAXY A GENTLE DYING 75
 Odd planet! The bipeds talked from their
heads and saw only what lay before them.
In short, they were pathetic —and deadly!
By R. A. LAFFERTY
Illustrated by WOOD

A
of my
S I

crew,
petty thoughts
am now
out hope, lost to
sion and
I will
I
utterly with-

lost in
my mis-
the sight
record what
may have for
what benefit they may give some
other starfarer. Nine long days
of bickering! But the decision is.

i

sure. The crew will maroon me.
I have over them.
lost all control
Whocould have believed that
I would show such weakness
when crossing the barrier? By
all the tests I should have been
the strongest. But the final test
is the event itself. I failed.
I only hope that it is a pleas-
ant and habitable planet where
they put me down
. .
Later. They have decided.
am no longer the captain even in
name. But they have compassion
on me. They will do what they
can for my comfort. I believe
they have already selected my
desert island, so to speak, an out-
of-the-way globe where they will
leave me to die. I will hope for
the best. I no longer have any
voice in their councils
Later. I will be put down with
only the basic survival kit: the
ejection mortar and sphere for
my last testament to be orbited
into the galactic drift; a small
cosmoscope so that I will at least
have my bearings; one change of
blood; an abridged universal
language correlator; a compen-
dium of the one thousand philo-
sophic questions yet unsolved to
exercise my mind; a small vial of
bug-kill; and a stack of sexy mag-
azines . . .
Later. has been selected.
It
But my mindhas grown so de-
moralized that I do not even rec-
78
ognize the system, though once
this particular region was my spe-
cialty. The globe will be habit-
able.There will be breathable at-
mosphere which will allow me to
dispense with much bothersome
equipment. Here the filler used is
nitrogen, yet it will not matter.
I have breathed nitrogen before.
There will be water, much of it
.
saline,but sufficient quantities of
I sweet. Food
will be no problem;
before being marooned, I will re-
ceive injections that should last
me for the rest of my probably
short life. Gravity will be within
the range of my constitution.
What will be lacking? Nothing
but the companionship of my own
kind, which is everything.
What a terrible thing
. . .
be marooned!
/"WNE of my teachers used to
^ say that the only unforgiv-
able sin in the universe is inepti-
tude. That I should be the first to
succumb to space-ineptitude and
be an awkward burden on the
rest of them! But it would be
disastrous for them to try to
travel any longer with a sick
man, particularly as their nomin-
al leader. I would be a shadow
over them. I hold them no rancor.
It will be today . .
Later. I am here. I have no
real interest in defining where
GALAXY
“here” is, though I have my cos- it.They are as gravity-bound as
moscope and could easily deter- a newborn baby.
mine it. I was anesthetized a few What air-traveling creatures I
hours before, and put down here have met are of a considerably
in my sleep. The blasted half- smaller size. These are more vo-
No cal than the myopic quadrupeds,
acre of their landing is near.
other trace of them is left. and I have had some success in
Yet it is a good choice and not conversing with them, but my re-
greatly unlike home. It is the sults still await a more leisurely
nearest resemblance I have seen semantic interpretation. Such
on the entire voyage, which is to communications of theirs as I
say that the pseudodendrons are have analyzed are quite common-
enough like trees to remind me place. They have no real philos-
of trees, the herbage near enough ophy and are singularly lacking
to grass to satisfy one who had in aspiration; they are almost to-
never known real grass. It is a tal extroverts and have no more
green, somewhat
waterlogged than the rudiments of introspec-
land of pleasant temperature. tion.
The only inhabitants I have Yet they have managed to tell
encountered are a preoccupied me some amusing anecdotes.
race of hump-backed browsers They are quite good-natured,
it is to who pay me scant notice. These though moronic.
are quadruped and myopic, and They say that neither they nor
spend nearly their entire time at the myopic quadrupeds are the
feeding. It may be that I am dominant race here, but rather a
invisible to them. Yet they hear
my voice and shy away somewhat
large grublike creature lacking a
complete outer covering. From
from it. I am able to communicate what they are able to convey of
with them only poorly. Their only this breed, it is a nightmarish kind
vocalization is a sort of vibrant of creation. One of the flyers even
windy but when I answer
roar, told me that the giant grubs
in kind,they appear more puzzled travel upright on a bifurcated
than communicative. tail, but this is difficult to credit.
They have this peculiarity: Besides, I believe that humor is
when they come to an obstacle of at least a minor component of
terrain or thicket, they either go the mentality of my airy friends.
laboriously around it or force I will call them birds, though they
.
their way through it. It does not are but a sorry caricature of the
seem to occur to them to fly over birds at home. . .
THE WEIRDEST WORLD 79
 f ATER. I am being hunted. I was taken by surprise and was! nearly as harsh as that of the language and its manner of
w as
my speaking. Yet it may be that I
am being hunted by the not momentarily able to solve ^

the grubs. But this was first

giant grubs. Doubling back, I their language, though it came attempt at their language, and have made a grotesque mistake.
to
have seen them on my trail, ex- musicality does not become Is that your heads that you are
me after a short interval. It was it.

amining it with great curiosity.
The birds had given me a very
inadequate idea of these. They
are indeed unfinished — they
do lack a complete outer cover-
Despite their giant size, I
ing.
am convinced that they are grubs,
discordant and vocal and en-
tirely gravity-bound, by which
I mean that its thoughts were
chained to its words. There
seemed nothing in
the vocal. In this the giant grubs
were less than the birds, even
fellows, did you hear waving in the air? Well, then, I
“Hey,
will talk with my head, if that is
that? Was that the blob talking?
the custom. But I warn you
Or was one of you playing a
joke? Harry? Stanley? Have you
again not to hit me on either end
with those sticks.”
them above been practicing to be ventrilo-
“Hey, fellows, I bet we could
quists?”
sell that thing. I bet we could sell
“Not me.”
!

it to Billy Wilkins for his Rep-

living under rocks and in masses though they had a practical pow- “Not me either. It sure
er and cogency that the birds
tile Farm.”
of rotten wood. Nothing in nature sounded like it was it.”
“How would we get it there?”
gives the impression of so lacking lacked. “Hey, blob, was that you? Can Hey
an outer covering as the grub,
“Make it walk. blob, can
“What’ll we do with the blob?” you talk, blob?” you walk?”
that obese, unfinished worm. asked one.
can travel, certainly, but I
“I
These are, however, simple “Why,” said the second, “you ERTAINLY I can talk,” I
would not stagger along precari-
bipeds. They are wrapped in a hit it on that end and I’ll hit it on responded. “I am not an ously on a pair of flesh stilts with
cocoon which they seem never to this. We don’t know which end Nor am I a blob. I am a
infant. my head in the air, as you do.
have shed, as though their emer- is the head.” superior to your own
creature When I travel, I do not travel
gence from the larval state were “Let’s try it for bait,” said the kind, you are examples. Or it
if upside down.”
incomplete. It is a loose artificial third. “Catfish might go for may be that you are only chil-
it.”
“Well, then. We’re go-
let’s go,
sheath covering the central por- “We could keep alive dren. Perhaps you are still in the
it till ing to sellyou to Billy Wilkins
tion of the corpus. They seem we’re ready to use Then
'

pupa stage. Tell me, is yours an

it. it for his Reptile Farm. If he can
never to divest themselves of it, would stay fresh.” early stage, or an arrested devel- use a blob, he’ll put you in one
though it is definitely not a part “No, It doesn’t look opment, or are you indeed adult?”
let’s kill it. of the tanks with the big turtles
of the body. When I have ana- too fresh, even the way it is.” “Hey, fellows, we don’t have and alligators. You think you’ll
lyzed their minds, I will know to take that from any blob. I’ll
“Gentlemen, you are making a like them?”
the reason for their carrying it.
mistake,” I said. “I have done cave in its blasted head.” “I am lonesome in this lost
Now I can only conjecture. Ijt nothing to merit death. And I am “That’s its tail.” world,” I replied sadly, “and even
would seem a compulsion, some not without talent. Besides, you “It’s its head. It’s the end it the company of you peeled grubs
psychological bond that dooms have not considered the possi- talks with.” is better than nothing. I am anx-
them in their apparent adult state bility that I may be forced to kill I “Gentlemen, perhaps I can set ious to adopt a family and settle
to carry their cocoons with them. you three instead. I will not die you straight,” I said. “That is my down here for what years of life
Later. I am
captured by three willingly. Also I will
thank you to tail you are thwacking with that I have left. It may be that I will
of the giant grubs. I had barely stop pounding on me with those stick, and I am warning you to find compatibility with the spe-
time to swallow my communica- sticks. It hurts.” stop itOf course I was talking ciesyou mention. I do not know
tion sphere. They pinned me I was surprised and shocked at with my tail. I was only doing it 1

what they are.”

down and beat me with sticks. I the sound of my own voice. It in imitation of you. I am new at “Hey, fellows, this blob isn’t a

80 GALAXY THE WEIRDEST WORLD 81

 bad guy at all. I’d shake your am acclimated to my new sur-
hand; blob, if I knew where it roundings. I will throw a whing-
was. Let’s go to Billy Wilkins’ —
ding for you as soon as I find
place and sell him.” out what a whing-ding is.”
“My God,” said Billy Wilkins,
II “it talks! It really talks!”
“We told you could talk and
WfE traveled to Billy Wilkins’
it

” place. My friends were

fly, Billy.”
“It talks, it talks,” said Billy.
amazed when I took to the air
“Where’s that blasted sign paint-
and believed that I had deserted
them. They had no cause to dis-
er? Eustace, come here. We got
to paint a new sign!”
trust me. Without them I would
The tank I was
turtles in the
have had to rely on intuition to
put into did have a sound basic
reach Billy Wilkins, and even
philosophy which was absent in
then I would lack the proper in-
the walking grubs. But they were
troductions.
slow and lacking inner fire. They
“Hey, Billy,” said my loudest would not be obnoxious com-
friend, whose name was Cecil, pany, but neither would they
“what willyou give us for a give me excitement and warmth.
blob? It flies and talks and isn’t
I was really more interested in
a bad fellow at all. You’d get
the walking grubs.
more tourists to come to your Eustace was
black grub,
a
reptile show if you had a talking
while the others had all been
blob in it. He could sing songs white; but like them he had no
and tell stories. I bet he could outside casing of his own, and
even play the guitar.” like them he also staggered
“Well, Cecil, I’ll just give you about on flesh stilts with his
all ten dollars for it and try to
head in the air.
figure out what it is later. I’m a wasn’t that I was naive or
It
little ahead on my hunches now, hadn’t seen bipeds before. But
so I can afford to gamble on this I don’t believe anyone ever be-
one. I can always pickle it and came entirely accustomed to see-
exhibit it as a genuine hippopot- ing a biped travel in its peculiar
amus kidney.” manner.
“Thank you, Billy. Take care “Good afternoon, Eustace,” I
of yourself, blob.” said pleasantly enough. The eyes
“Good-by for now, gentlemen,” of Eustace were large and white.
I said. “I would like you to visit He was a more handsome speci-
me some evening as soon as I men than the other grubs.

82 GALAXY
 “That you talking, bub? Say, “World, world, water, about any task you attempt. “Snakes always have bad con-
water! that
you really can talk, can’t you? glub,” said another. It
inspires you.” sciences.We have forgotten the
Ithought Mr. Billy was fooling. ‘This the way they’ve al-
is crime, but we remember the
“Eustace, I can get nothing
Now just you hold that expres- from these fellows,” I called. “I3 ways built them,” said the birds.
guilt.”

sion a minute and let me get it this world named Florida?” "Go build your own nest.” “Perhaps you should seek ad-
set in my
mind. I can paint any- “Mr. George Albert, you are “Mr. George Albert,” called vice from someone, Pete.”
thing, once I get it set in my Eustace, “Mr. Billy won’t like “I kind of think it was some-
right in the middle of Florida,
mind. What’s your name, blob? the greatest state in the your flying around those trees. one’s smooth advice that started
uni-
Have blobs names?” verse.” You’re supposed to stay in your us on all this. He talked the legs
“Not in your manner. With us tank.” right off us.”
“Having traveled, Eustace, J
the name and the soul, I believe “I was only getting a little air
have great reservations that it is
you call it, are the same thing the greatest. But it is my new and talking to the birds,” I said. "DILLY WILKINS came to the
and cannot be vocalized, so I will “You can talk to the birds?” cage with another “man,”
home and I must cultivate a loy-
have to adopt a name of your alty to
asked Eustace. as the walking grubs call them-
it.”
sort. What would be a good “Cannot anyone?” selves.
I went up in a tree to give ad-
name?” “I can, a little,” said Eustace.
vice to two young birds trying “That it?” asked the other
was always partial to
“Bub, I “I didn’t know anyone else
man. “And you say it can talk?”
to construct a nest. This was ob-
George Albert Leroy Ellery. could.”
viously their first venture. “Of course I talk,” I answered
That was my grandfather’s “You are about it all
going
But when Billy Wilkins re-
for Billy Wilkins. “I have never
name.” turned and heard the report that
wrong,” them. “First con-
I told known a creature who couldn’t
“Should I also have a family I had been flying
about, I was
sider that this will be your home, some manner. My name is
talk in
name?” put in the snake house, in a cage
and then consider how you can George Albert Leroy Ellery Mc-
“Sure.” that was tightly meshed top and that
make your home most beautiful.” Intosh. I don’t believe I
“What would you suggest?” sides. My
cellmate was a surly
heard yours,
“This is the way they’ve al- sir.”
“How about McIntosh?” python named Pete.
ways built them,” said one of the “Bracken. Blackjack Bracken.
“That will be fine. I will use “See you stay on that side,”
birds. I was telling Billy here that if
it.” said Pete. “You’re too big for me
“There must be an element of he really had a blob that could
to swallow. But I might try.”
T TALKED to the turtles while yes,” I told them. “But
utility,
“There is something bothering
talk, I might be able to use it in
Eustace was painting my por- the dominant motif should be
you, Pete,” I said. “You have a
my night club. We could have
trait on tent canvas. beauty. The impression of ex- you here at the Snake Ranch in
bad disposition. That can come
the
“Is name of world
this panded vistas can be given by the daytime for the tourists and
only from a bad digestion or a
Florida?” I asked one of them. long low walls and parapets.” j kids. Then I could have you at
bad conscience”
“The road signs said Florida.” “This is the way they’ve al- have both,” said Pete. “The
“I
the club at night. We
could work
“World, world, world, water, ways built them,” said the other because I bolt my food. out an act. Do you think you
first is
water, water, glub, glug, glub,” bird. The second is because well, I — could learn to play the guitar?”
said one of them. “Remember to embody new forget the reason, but it’s my “Probably. But it would be
“Yes, but is this particular developments,” I said. “Just say conscience.” much easier for me merely to
world we are on named Flor- to yourself, ‘Thisis the newest “Think hard, Pete. Why have duplicate the sound.”
ida?” nest in the world.’ Always say you a bad conscience?” “But then how could you sing

84 GALAXY WEIRDEST WORLD 85

 and make guitar noise at the “Why, for Billy.” opposability of the two types was
which is one of polarity,
tinction,
same time?” “Let us make it a hundred an<j
“You surely don’t think I am ^ts quite across the years and one of the great driving forces of
fifty formyself, and ten per cent and station of life. It is the people.
ability
limited to one voice box?” for Billy as my
agent.” confined only to the people In the evening I was trans-
“Oh. I didn’t know. What’s n0 t
“Say, this blob’s real smart but also involves appar- ported to the night club and I
grubs,
that big metal ball you have isn’t he, Billy?”
ently all the beings on the
planet was a success. I would not enter-
there?” “Too smart.”
Florida. tain them with blue jokes or blue
“That’s my communication “Yes, sir, George Albert, lyrics, but the patrons seemed
you’re It appears that a person is
sphere, to record my thoughts. I one smart blob. What kind of committed to one or the other fascinated by my simple imita-
would not be without it. When contract have you signed tions of all the instruments of the
with polarity at the beginning of life,
in danger, I swallow it. When Billy here?”
maintaining that polarity until orchestra and my singing of
in extreme danger, I will have to “No contract.”
death. The interlocking attrac- comic ballads that Eustace had
escape to a spot where I have “Just a gentlemen’s agree, tion-repulsion complex set up by taught me in odd moments that
concealed my ejection mortar, ment?”
these two opposable types has day. They were also interested
and send my sphere into the gal-
actic drift on a chance that it
“No agreement.” deep emotional involvements. It in the way that I drank gin that —
“Billy, you can’t hold him in a cause of considerable con- is, emptying the bottle without
is the
may be found.” cage without a contract. That’s breaking the seal. (It seems that
cern and disturbance, as well as
“That’s no kind of gag to put slavery. It’s against the law.”
desire and inspiration. There is the grub-people are unable to ab-
in an act. What I have in mind “But, Blackjack, a blob isn’t
a sort of poetic penumbra about sorb a liquid without making
is something like this.” people.” direct contact with it.)
the whole thing that tends to dis-
Blackjack Bracken told a joke. “Try proving that in court. And I met Margaret, one of
guise its basic simplicity, expres-
It was a childish one and in Will you sign a contract with me, sible as a simultaneous polarity the “girl” singers.
poor taste. George Albert?” had been wondering to which
I
equation.
“I don’t believe that is quite “I will not dump Billy. He be- I might show af-
Complete segregation of the type of people
my style,” I said. friended me and gave me a home Now I knew. I was defi-
two types seems impossible. If finity.
“All right, what would you with the turtles and snakes. I has now nitely a Beta type, for I was
it has ever been tried, it
suggest?” will sign a joint contract with the evidently been abandoned as im- attracted to Margaret, who was
thought that I might lecture
“I two of you. We will discuss unmistakably a Gamma. I began
practical.
your patrons on the Higher Eth-
ic.”
—
terms tomorrow after I have There is indeed an intangible to understand the queer effect
estimated the attendance both difference between the two types, that these types have on each
“Look, George Albert, my pa- here and at the night club.” so that before that first day at other.
trons don’t even have the lower She came over to my cage.
the Reptile Ranch was finished,
ethic.”
Ill I was able to differentiate be- “I want to rub your head for
“And just what
recom-
sort of good luck before I go on,” she
tween the two more than ninety
pense are we talking about?” I the walking grubs (who per cent of the time. The knowl- said.
asked. “Thank you, Margaret,”
call themselves “people”) edge of this difference in polarity I re-
and I had about settled there are two kinds, and they
“Billy
plied, “but that is not my head.”
seems to be intuitive.
on a hundred and fifty a week.” place great emphasis on the dif- She sang with incomparable
These two I will call the Beta
“A hundred and fifty for ference. From this stems a large sadness, with all the sorrow and
and Gamma, or Boy and Girl,
whom?” part of their difficulties. This sordidness that appear to be the
dis- types. I began to see that this

86 GALAXY THE WEIRDEST WORLD 87

 lot of unfortunate Gammas. It nor the cuisine, nor the danc- somewhere called Italy. And I
Usually I would watch a round
in,
was the essence of melancholy ing. The heart of the enterprise, buried Margaret in mink, for she
first,
to be sure that I understood
made into music. It was a little was the Casino. Here was the what was going on. Then I had a fix on the fur of that mys-
just
bit like the ghost music on the money that mattered; the She enjoyed
rest
would play a few times ... as terious animal.
asteroid Artemis, a little like the was but garnish. draping it about her in the form
„j a ny
as it took to break the
death chants on Dolmena. Sex I had them bring me into the of coats, capes, cloaks, mantles
game.
and sorrow. Nostalgia. Regret. gambling rooms. broke game after game. and stoles, though the weather
I
Her singing shook me with a I had expected problems 0 f
When he could no longer pay didn’t really require it.

yearning that had no precedent. complexity here with which the had now won several banks,
m e, Blackjack closed the Casino I
She came back to my cage. patrons worked for their gain or exasperation. and a ca-
a railroad, an airline,
in
“You were wonderful, Marga- loss. Instead there was an almost poker, he and sino in somewhere named Ha-
Then we played
ret,” I said. amazing simplicity. All the games
I and several others. This was vana.
“I’m always wonderful when were based on first aspect num-
even more simple. I suddenly “You’re somebody now,” said
I’m singing for my supper. I am bers only. Indeed, everything on grub-people
the Margaret. “You really ought to
realized that
less wonderful in the rare times the Planet Florida seemed based
could see only one side of the dress better. Or are you dressed?
that I am well fed. But are you on first aspect numbers. know
cards at a time. I never know. I don’t if
happy, little buddy?” Now is an elemental fact
it
I played and I won. part of that is clothes or if all
had become almost so, till
“I that aspect numbers do not I owned the Casino now, and of it is you. But at least I’ve
first
I heard you sing. Now I am over- carry within them their own pre-
all of those people were now learned which is your head. I
come with sorrow and longing. diction. Nor were the people working for me. Billy Wilkins think we should be married in
Margaret, I am fascinated with even possessed of the prediction also played with us, so that in May. so common to be mar-
It’s
you.” key that lies over the very thresh- short order I also owned the ried June. Just imagine me
in
“I go for you too, blob. You’re old of the second aspect series. Reptile Ranch. being Mrs. George Albert Leroy
my buddy. Isn’t it funny that the These people were actually Before the evening was over, Ellery McIntosh! You know, we
only buddy I have in the world —
wagering sums the symbols of I owned a race track, a beach have become quite an item. And
is a blob? But if you’d seen some
—
prosperity blindly, not knowing hotel, and a theater in a place do you know there are three bi-
of the guys- I’ve been married to
— boy! I wouldn’t insult you by
for sure whether they would win named New York. ographies of you out Burgeon- —
or lose. They were selecting I had begun to establish con- ing Blob, The Blob from Way
callingthem blobs. Have to go numbers by hunch or at random over my environment Out, The Hidden Hand Behind
trol . . .

now. See you tomorrow night

if they keep us both on.”
with no assurance of profit. They —
the Blob What Does it Portend?
were choosing a hole for a ball ATER. Now started the golden And the governor has invited us
lyrOW there was a problem to
to fall without knowing
into L days. increased my con-
I to dine tomorrow. I do wish you
whether that was the right hole! trol and did what I could for my would learn to eat. If you weren’t
' face. It was necessary that I I do not believe that I was
friends. so you’d be creepy. I al-
nice,
establish control over my en- ever so amazed at anything in my old ways say there’s nothing wrong
I got a good doctor for
vironment, and at once. How else my life. with marrying a man, or a blob,
friend and roommate, Pete the
could I aspire to Margaret? But here was my
opportunity python, and he began receiving with money. It shows foresight
I knew that the heart of the to establish control over my en- on the part of a girl. You know
treatment for his indigestion. I
entire place here was neither the vironment. got a jazzy sports car for my you will have to get a blood test?
bar nor the entertainment there- I began to play the games. imported from You had better get it tomorrow.
friend Eustace

88 GALAXY THE WEIRDEST WORLD 89

 You do have blood, don’t you?” IV
I did, but not, of course, of the
color and viscosity of hers. But rT HERE
,
has been a sudden]
I could give it that color and change. As on the Planet]
viscosity temporarily. And it Hecube, where full summer turns]
would react negative in all the into the dead of the winter in
tests. minutes, to the
destruction of
She mused, “They are all jeal- many so was it here,
travelers, 1

ous of me. They say they My worldthreatened! is

wouldn’t marry a blob. They It is tottering, all that I have
mean they couldn’t . Do you . .
built up. I will fight. I will have
have to carry that tin ball with the best lawyers on the planet]
you all the time?” I am not done. But I am threat-]
“Yes. It is my communication ened. . .

sphere. In it I record my thoughts. Later. This may be the end. 3

I would be lost without it.” The appeal court has given its
“Oh, like a diary. How quaint!” decision. A
not own blob may 1

Yes,those were the golden property in Florida. A blob is

days. The grubs appeared to me not a person.
in a new light, for was not Mar- Of course I am not a person.
garet also a grub? Yet she I never pretended to be. But I
seemed not so unfinished as the am a personage! I will yet fight 1
rest. Though lacking a natural this thing. . .

outer casing, she had not the ap- Later. I have lost everything.]
pearance of crawling out from The last appeal is gone. By defi-1
under a rock. She was quite an nition, I am an animal of inde-
attractive “girl.” And she cared terminate origin, and my prop-
]
for me. erty is being completely stripped
What more could I wish? I from me.
was affluent. I was respected. I I made an eloquent appeal
was in control of my environ- and it moved them greatly. 1
ment. And I could aid my There were tears in their eyes.
friends, of whom
had now ac- I But there was greed in the set
quired an astonishing number. of their mouths. They have a !

Moreover, my old space-inep- vested interest in stripping me. ;

titude sickness had left me. I Each will seize a little.

never felt better in my life. Ah, And I am left a pauper, a vas-
j
golden days, one after the other sal,an animal, a slave. This is
like a pleasant dream. And soon always the last doom of the ]

I am to be married! marooned, to be a despised alien

90 GALAXY
at the mercy of a strange world. the mink coats are all gone. ’By V^hen you had that doctor cure the galactic drift. Whoever finds
Yet
it should not be hopeless. now.” me of my indigestion, you left —
it friend —
space traveler —you
I will have Margaret. Since my “Margaret, do not leave me! 0e with nothing but my bad who were too impatient to re-
contract with Billy Wilkins and What of all our golden days to. conscience. I wish I could get my main on your own world be you —
Blackjack Bracken, long since gether?” indigestion back.” warned of this one! Here ingrati-
bought up, is no longer in effect, But all she said was “ ’By now.” “A curse on this world,” I said. tude is the rule and cruelty the
Margaret should be able to han- And she was gone forever. 1 “World, world, water, water, main sport. The unfinished grubs
dle my affairs as a person. I be- glug, glug,” said the turtles in have come out from under their
lieve that have great earning
I T AM desolate and my old their tanks, my only friends. rocks and they walk this world
powers yet, and I can win as space-ineptitude has returned, So I have gone back into the upside down with their heads in
much as I wish by gambling. We My recovery was an illusion. I woods to die. I have located my the air. Their friendship is fleet-
will treat this as only a techni- am so ill with awkwardness that ejection mortar, and when I ing, their promises are like the

cality. We shall acquire new for- I can no longer fly. I must walk know that death is finally on me, wind.
tune. I will reestablish control on the ground like one of the will fire off my communication I am near my end.

over my environment. I will giant grubs. A curse on this

I

sphere and hope it will reach — R. A. LAFFERTY

bring back the golden days. A planet Florida and all its sister
few of my old friends are still orbs! What a miserable world
loyal to me, Margaret, Pete the
python, Eustace. . .
this
How
is!

could I have been

FORECAST
Later. The world has caved in tricked by a young Gamma type In the wide-open pages of a MOON MOTH, with the sense of
completely. Margaret has thrown of walking grub? Let her
the magazine the size of Galaxy (big- wonder and touch of strange that
me over. crawl back under her ancestral gest in the field at any price, we Vance knows how to give. Is the
“I’m sorry, blobby,” she said,' rocks with all the rest of her like keep reminding you) is
to Moon Moth a person? No. Is it

“but it just won’t work. You’re kind. No, no, I do not mean
. .
room for many stories. This is a an animal? No. It’s — well, read
still nice, but without money you that. To me she will always re- good thing, because
we’ve got the story, and then you’ll know
are only a blob. How could I main a dream, a broken dream. many stories (and fine ones) in better than we can say.
marry a blob?” I am no longer welcome at the the bank to draw on, and we’re
Also T. McIntosh is on the
J.
“But we can earn more mon- Casino. They kicked me down splurging them out to you as fast
docket, with a fine, moving nov-
ey! I am talented.” the front steps. as we can. We don’t know for
elet about two men who had to
“No, you’re box-office poison I no longer have a home at sure everyone who will show up
be enemies but could not help
now. You were a fad, and fads the Reptile Ranch. next issue. But we have in in-
being friends: THE
GATE-
die quickly.” “Mr. George Albert,” said Eu- ventory first-rate yarns by Robert
KEEPERS. It’s one of McIntosh’s
“But, Margaret, I can win as
much by gambling.”
as I wish
stace, “I just can’t afford to be
seen with you any more. I have
Bloch, Margaret
Bone, R. A. Lafferty, Fritz Leiber,
St. Clair, J. F.
best — and that’s very good
indeed.
“Not a chance, blobby. No- my position to consider, with a Mirriam Allen deFord, Edward
body will gamble with you any sports car and all that.” Wellen, Allen Kim Lang and For the shorts we can promise
more. Y ou’re through, blob. I And Pete the python was curt Algis Budrys . . .
you Lester del Rey and Judith
will miss you, though. There will “Well, guess you
big shot, I We do know that Jack Vance Merril, and maybe a clutch from
be a new blue note in my ballads aren’t so big after all. And you will be with us in August. This the illustrious lineup above . . .

when I sing for my supper, after were sure no friend of mine. is a 1-o-n-g novelet called THE and the usual features, of course!

92 GALAXY THE WEIRDEST WORLD 93

 civilization masked by it hardly remains a fair fight. The
against
space ships of the agents them-
t he immediate peril of the vor-
texes.
selves are telepathic and omnipo-
Plotwise composed of pure tent. Even E. E. Smith never
nostalgia, it is easy to see how had it that good!

the modern trend of SF has What places Schmitz’s work

passed good by. But
Doc Smith above run of the mill S. O. is the
me Boskonian zwilnik
for a quality as well as breadth of his
hang
god Klono imagination, but most of all his
an d also by the great
if I
didn’t get a huge bang out touch for characterization —
of his
super-duper yarn. which suffuses even his ET’s
Rating: (auld land syne)
**** and super-mechanisms with the
(sometimes incongruous) flush of
Agent of Vega by James H. humanity.
Schmitz. Gnome Press. Rating: * * * * y2

“SUPER-SCIENCE FICTION in A Guide to the Stars by Patrick

the grand manner,”
blurb in what turns out to be
almost an understatement. This
lineal descendant of the Doc
Smith sagas fittingly follows the
old master’s latest
,
brags the Moore. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.
IN CONTRAST to the views of a
noted British professor of astrono-
my, Moore believes that popu-
and points up larizations excite interest so that

the “new look” of S. O. the non-scientific layman can fol-

This Space Opera composed

is low up his thirst for knowledge
The Vortex Blaster by E. E. like them, on occasions painfully
by a Space-Wagner, for a uni- with more authoritative informa-
Smith. Gnome Press. coy.
verse-wide stage and a chorus tion. Moore does well by his
Synopsis: Atomic vortexes, rag-
“DOC” SMITH ruled the SF ing areas of destruction, are and orchestra of ET’s. Three audience.
novelettes from Astounding and Though his book contains “no
roost a decade and a half
for blighting the surfaces of numerous
during the years surrounding the planets. Inherently unstable, they one from Galaxy present a pic- new theories or world-shaking
ture of titanic conflict against pronouncements,” he writes with
Troubled Thirties. Each maga- must be quenched by an
zine installment of his Skylark calculated blast at a
exactly
precise ruthless enemies. Zone Agents — skill sufficient to engross even a

supermen and women of the Eliot merely superficially interested

and Lensman stories was breath- instant of time. Computers have
lessly awaited by Space Opera been unable to supply data fast Ness ilk —
are forced to con- reader.

addicts (and, in those days, who enough to do the job. Ergo, the duct their campaigns against evil
wasn’t one?) Vortex Blaster, a mental freak on a sub-rosa level due to the FirstMen to the Moon by
The Vortex Blaster, the latest with a combination of Uni vac restrictions of interstellar agree- Wemher von Braun. Holt, Rine-
of the Lensman sagas, is as tre- and Superman condensed into ment and However,
laissez-faire. hart and Winston, Inc.
mendously broad in scope as its the brain of one man. It is he their mental, physical and me-

famous predecessors and, also who discovers the vast plot chanical equipment are such that VON BRAUN’S book is double-

94 GALAXY SHELF 95
barreled. The central core is a widowed on a primitive plan ship to star systems covered by The Fantastic Universe Omnibus
fictional story of the adventure- and unwilling inheritor of a re- a sort of Blue Cross
plan. The edited by Hans Stefan Santessen.
some voyage of the first two men claimed man. The yarn is con- plot predictable but credible,
is Prentice-Hall, Inc.
to reach the moon. It is a highly cerned with her humanitarian characterizations good, detail fine.
detailed and absorbing blow-by- attempt to eradicate the slave Rating: **** ALTHOUGH Fantastic Universe
blow account of the 10-day conditioning of the human robots, has joined the too-lengthy list
argosy. Lukens’s story is fast paced and The Challenge of the Sea by of defunct SF Mags, the above
The secondary section of the cerebrally interesting but i$ Arthur C. Clarke. Holt, Rinehart anthology helps to perpetuate its

book is a serious text explaining plagued by an unfortunate ina- and Winston, Inc. title. There are a round score of

the technical points raised by the bility to handle words. stories, diversified in plot, treat-
fiction, and marginally placed
is Rating: **Vi ARTHUR SEA CLARKE is ment and quality.
on the identical pages so that back on the water wagon, in- Among the best of the stories,
reference can be immediate. Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse. terpreting the wet frontier in Bounty Hunter by Avram David-
The illustrations are excep- David McKay Co. much the manner of his Explora- son, a shocker; A Thing of Cus-
tional in lucidity, detail and tion of Space. It is difficult to tom by L. Sprague de Camp, a
abundance. Even the best EARTH HAS been many things judge which of the two frontiers sprightly bit of froth about extra-
grounded SF buff will find new to many authors, but I believe holds the greater attraction for terrestial VIP’s on a Cook’s Tour
and astonishing material over that this the first time that it
is him —
or for us, for that matter. of Earth; and Exile from Space,
which to dream. has been the Hospital Center of We are at the bare threshold a long novelette by Judith Mer-
the universe. Such a plot pivot ofeach and both hold mysteries rill, stand out above the rest.
’

Conquest oi Lite by Adam Luk- is understandable, stemming from and promises beyond our imagi- The remainder of the yarns are
ens. Avalon Books, N. Y. $2.95 A. E. Nourse, M. D. nation. uneven enough to earn an over-
Dr. Nourse cuts a wide swath More than just dealing with all.

LUKENS SHOWED consider- with his crusading pen: he at- the obvious — we are rapidly de- Rating: ***y2
able originality in his first Avalon tacks bigotry, nationalism and pleting our land-based resources
novel, The Sea People. Unfor- dependency with equal virulence. and must turn more and more to Stadium Beyond the Stars by
tunately that opus had little else Bigotry he finds in the treatment the sea for food, minerals and Milton Lesser. John C. Winston
to recommend it. of the only alien ever to attempt power — Clarke presents, a ple- Co.
His present story concerns a to earn his degree on Hospital thora of fascinating fact inter-
future when Earthwomen, who Earth; nationalism in the desire spersed with conjecture. LESSER’S JUVENILE is a two-

outnumber males, are also mur- of certain top officials to retain a Item: “Six miles down, air is tone account in black and white
derously sadistic in their quest monopoly of medical knowledge squeezed denser than water. A of mankind’s first interstellar
for entertainment. These delight- and skill for Earth alone; depend- bubble would not rise but sink.” Olympiad, twenty generations
ful females purchase “reclaimed ency of the on well-in
alien Item: In 1900, Greek divers after colonization of Proxima
men”, factory-rebuilt human ro- tentioned Terrans to an excessive found bronze fragments that hid Centauri.
bots fashioned from corpses, a la degree, stultifying growth of their secret for more than 50 Although melodramatic hog-
Frankenstein, as slave compan- character and self-reliance. years. They are parts of an elabo- wash plotwise, the story contains
ions. The story concerns the odys- rate calculating machine . . . enough action and originality for
The story’s prime mover is a sey of the probationary three man a computer built before the time Rating for youngsters: **V&
former colonist of a distant star, crew of a General Practice patrol of Christ! -FLOYD C. GALE
/
96 GALAXY SHELF 97
They were the This night she glanced for the knew it. He was no more “wrong”
j^o-hundredth time at the warn- than a shark approaching a
strangest of pets . . . j„g
bank. The bank was quiet. No school of cod. Life’s nature is to’
danger lights shone. Yet she felt live, and he had been nurtured to

n enemy out somewhere in the live as he had to live —

by seek-
and the a
un iverse —an enemy waiting to ing prey.
strike at her and her world, to How he live? Viol^
else could

deadliest of enemies snatch at the immeasurable Siderea had gone bankrupt a long
. . .

wealth of the Norstrilians and— time ago, when the photonic sails
had disappeared from sjjace and
they were — s he snorted with impatience.
Come along, little man, she the pianoforming ships began to
thought. Come along, little man, whisper their way between the
a nd die.
Don’t keep me waiting. stars. His ancestors had been left

She smiled when she recognized to die on an off-trail planet. They

MOTHER the absurdity of her own thought.

She waited for him.
And he did not know it.
refused to die. Their ecology
shifted and they became pre-
dators upon man, adapted by
time and genetics to their deadly

HITTON’S H E, the
enough.
robber, was relaxed
He was Benjacomin
and was highly trained in
tasks.
champion
And he, the robber, was
of all his people
best of their best.
—
the
Bozart,
He was Benjacomin Bozart.
LITTUL ZITTONS the arts of relaxation.
No one
Ttiolle,
at Sunvale, here on
could suspect that he was
He had sworn to rob Old North
Australia or to die in the attempt,
a Senior Warden of the Guild of and he had no intention of dying.
Thieves, reared under the light of The beach at Sunvale was
By CORDWAINER SMITH Illustrated by FINLAY
the starry-violet
star. No one warm and lovely. Ttiolle was a
could smell the odor of Viola free and casual transit planet. His
Poor communications deter theft;
She was a ruddy-faced, cheer- weapons were luck and himself:
Siderea upon him. “Viola Side-
good communications promote theft;
ful blonde of indeterminate age. rea,” the Lady Ru had said, “was he planned to play both well.
perfect communications stop theft.
Her eyes were blue, her bosom once the most beautiful of worlds The Norstrilians could kill.
Van Braam
heavy, her arms strong. She and it is now the most rotten. Its So could he.
I
looked like a mother, but the people were once models for At this moment, in this place,
HE moon spun. The woman
T he was a happy
only child she had ever had died mankind, and now they are tourist at a
watched. Twenty-one facets many generations ago. Now she thieves, liars and killers.You can lovely beach. Elsewhere, else-
had been polished at the acted as mother to a planet, not smell their souls in the open day.” when, he could become a ferret
moon’s equator. Her function was to a person; the Norstrilians slept The Lady Ru had died a long among conies, a hawk among
to arm it. She was Mother Hitton, well because they knew she was She was much respected,
time ago. doves.
the Weapons Mistress of Old watching. The weapons slept their but she was wrong. The robber Benjacomin Bozart, Thief and
North Australia. long, sick sleep. did not smell to others at all. He Warden. He did not know that

98 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 99

someonq was waiting for
Someone who did not know his
name was prepared to waken
death, just for him. He was
serene.
Mother Hitton was not serene.
She sensed him dimly but could
not yet spot him.
One of her weapons snored.
She turned it over.
A thousand stars away, Benja-
comin Bozart smiled as he walked
toward the beach.
II
DENJACOMIN felt like a tour-
His tanned face was
ist.
tranquil. His proud, hooded eyes
were calm. His handsome mouth,
even without its charming smile,
kept a suggestion of pleasantness
at its corners. He looked attrac-
tive without seeming odd in the
least. He looked much younger
than he actually was. He walked
with springy, happy steps along
the beach of Sunvale.
The waves rolled white-
crested, like the
in,
breakers of
Mother Earth. The Sunvale
people were proud of the way
their world resembled Manhome
itself. Few of them had even seen
Manhome, but they had all heard
a bit of history and most of them
had a passing anxiety when they
thought of the ancient govern-
ment still wielding political power
across the depth of space. They
100
him. did not like the old Instrument
tality of Earth, but they respected
and feared it. The waves might
still remind them of the pretty side
of Earth; they did not want to
remember the not-so-pretty side.
This man was like the pretty
side of old Earth. They could
not sense the power within him.
The Sunvale people smiled
sently at him as he walked past
them along the shoreline.
The atmosphere was quiet and
everything around him serene.
He turned his face to the sun. He
closed his eyes. He let the
sunlight beat through his eyelids,
illuminating him with its comfort
and its reassuring touch.
Benjacomin dreamed of the
greatest theft that any man had
ever planned. He dreamed of
stealing a huge load of the wealth
from the richest world that man-
kind had ever built. H6 thought
of what would happen when he
would finally bring riches back to
the planet of Viola Siderea where
he had been reared. Benjacomin
turned his face away from the sun
and languidly looked over the
other people on the beach.
There were no Norstrilians in
sight yet. They were easy enough
to recognize. Big people with red
complexions; superb athletes and
yet, in their own way, innocent,
young and very tough. He had
trained for this theft for two hun-
dred years, his life prolonged
GALAXY
purpose by the Guild
the
Thieves on Viola Siderea.
himself embodied the dreams
own planet, a poor planet
j,; s
once a crossroads of
commerce,
sunken to being a minor out-
n0 W
post for spoliation and pilferage.
He saw a Norstrilian
come out from the hotel and go
ab- down to the beach. He waited,
an d he looked, and
he dreamed.
He had a question to ask and no
adult Australian would answer it.
“Funny,” thought he, “that I
call them ‘Australians’
even now.
That’s the old, old Earth name
warm
for —
them rich, brave, tough
people. Fighting children stand-
ing on half the world and
now they are the tyrants of all
mankind. They hold the wealth.
They have the santaclara, and
other people live or die depend-
ing upon the commerce they have
with the Norstrilians. But I won’t.
And people won’t. We’re men
my
who are wolves to Man.”
ENJACOMIN waited
B fully. Tanned by the
many suns, he looked forty though
he was two hundred. He dressed
casually, by the standards of a
vacationer. He might have been
an intercultural salesman, a senior
gambler, an assistant starport
manager. He might even have
been a detective working along
thecommerce lanes. He wasn’t.
for He was a thief. And he was so
MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS
of good a thief that people turned to
He him and put their property in
of his hands because he was reassur-
ing, calm, gray-eyed, blondhaired.
Benjacomin waited. The woman
glanced at him, a quick glance
open suspicion.
full of
woman What she saw must have
calmed her. She went on past.
She called back over the dune,
“Come on, Johnny, we can swim
out here.” A little boy, who looked
eight or ten years old, came over
the dune top, running toward his
mother.
a
tensed
Benjacomin like
cobra. His eyes became sharp, his
eyelids narrowed.
. . . This was the prey. Not too
young, not too old. If the victim
had been too young he wouldn’t
know the answer; if the victim
were too old it was no use taking
him on. Norstrilians were famed
incombat; adults were mentally
and physically too strong to war-
rant attack.
Benjacomin knew that every
grace- thief who had approached the
light of planet of the Norstrilians who —
had tried to raid the dream world
of Old North Australia —had
gotten out of contact with his
people and had died. There was
no word of any of them.
And yet he knew that hun-
dreds of thousands of Norstrilians
must know the secret. They now
and then made jokes about it. He
had heard these jokes when he
101
 The man was a stranger. The
was a young man, and now he was He turned the boy toward him, Sunlight gleaming on her wet
the mother turned around stranger gave him a very curious
more than an old man without forcing him down. Before the hair,
glance which became casual when
d called back, “Are you
all
once coming near the answer. Life child could cry out, Benjamin an
was expensive. He was well into had the needle into him with the Johnny?” he saw the pleasant face of
right,
Benjacomin waved to her Benjacomin, so tenderly and so
his third lifetime and the lifetimes truth drug.
had been purchased honestly by All Johnny reacted to was pain, instead. “I’m showing him my agreeably playing with the child.
The were making
pictures, ma’am. He likes
’em. fingers still
his people. Good thieves all of and then a hammerblow inside
the letters in the sand.
them, paying out hard-stolen his own skull as the powerful drug Take your time.” The mother
money to obtain the medicine to took force. hesitated and then turned back
There stood the riddle in let-

let their greatest thief remain Benjacomin looked out over to the
water and swam slowly ters: MOTHER HITTON’S LIT-
living. Benjacomin didn’t like the water. The mother was swim- away.
TUL KITTONS.
violence. But when violence pre- ming. She seemed to be looking Johnny, taken by the drug, sat
pared tlje
theft of all time,
way to the greatest
he was willing
back at them. She was obviously
unworried. To her, the child
lightly, like
comin’s lap.
an invalid, on Benja-
THE woman was coming back
from the sea, the mother with
Benjacomin said, “Johnny, questions. Benjacomin stroked
to use it. seemed to be looking at some-
The woman looked at him thing the stranger was showing you’re going to die now and you the sleeve of his coat and brought
again. The mask of evil which him in a relaxed, easy way. will hurt terribly if you don’t tell out his second needle, a shallow
had flashed across his face faded “Now, sonny,” said Benja- me I want to know.” The
what poison which it would take days
into benignity; he calmed. She comin, “tell me, what’s the out- boy struggled weakly against his or weeks of laboratory work to
caught him in that moment of side defense?” grasp.Benjacomin repeated, “I’m detect.He thrust it directly into
the boy’s brain, slipping the
\

relaxation. She liked him. The boy didn’t answer. going to hurt you if you don’t
She smiled and, with that “What is the outer defense, tell me what I want to know. needle up behind the skin at the
awkward hesitation so character- sonny? What is the outer de- What are the outer defenses? edge of the hairline. The hair
istic of the Norstrilians, she said, fense?” repeated Benjacomin. What are the outer defenses?” shadowed the tiny prick. The
“Could you mind my boy a bit The child struggled and Benja- incredibly hard needle slipped
The boy still didn’t answer.
comin realized that the boy was under the edge of the skull. The
while I go in the water? I think Something close to horror ran
we’ve seen each other here at the over the skin of Benjacomin putting up a fight to comply with child was dead.
hotel.” Bozart as he realized that he had the orders, not a fight to get away. Murder accomplished, Benja-
“I don’t mind,” said he. “I’d be gambled his safety on this planet, He let the child slip through his comin casually erased the secret
glad to. Come here, son.” gambled the plans themselves for hands and the boy put out a from the sand. The woman came
Johnny walked across the sun- a chance to break the secret of finger and began writing on the nearer. He called to her, his voice
The stood out. full ofpleasant concern, “Ma’am,
light dunes to his own death. He the Norstrilians. wet sand. letters

came within reach of his mother’s He had been stopped by A man’s shadow loomed behind you’d better come here, I think
enemy. simple, easy devices. The child them. your son has fainted from the
But the mother had already had already been conditioned Benjacomin, alert, ready to heat.”

turned. Any attempt spin, kill or run, slipped to the He gave the mother the body
against attack. to

knowledge out of the child ground beside the child and said, of her son. Her face changed to
force
fT^HE trained hand Benja- “That’s a jolly puzzle. That is a alarm. She looked frightened and
of brought on a conditioned reflex
good one. Show me some more.” alert. She didn’t know how to
comin Bozart reached out. He of total muteness. The boy was
unable to He smiled up at the passing adult. meet this.
seized the child by the shoulder. literally talk.

102 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 103

 #hile the child died on the beach. ure like this, the Norstrilians
For a dreadful moment she expected grief. “He’s dead,” sh e
looked into his eyes. said. “You saw him die and Some lobby-living scandal- owned an unimaginable world
j

Two hundred years of training
took effect She saw nothing.
. tell what’s happened. The
. .
The murderer did not shine with
murder. The hawk was hidden
beneath the dove. The heart was
masked by the trained face.
Benjacomin relaxed
guess I saw him die, too. I can’t mongers that stayed there had whose resources overreached all
made up fantastic stories that he conceivable limits of money. They
child
was full of santaclara. He had ad killed the child. Others could buy anything. They could
j,
a
thousand years to live but no^ attacked the stories, saying they pay with other peoples’ lives.
he’s dead. What’s your name?”
*
knew perfectly well who Eldon For hundreds of years they had
given secret funds to buying for-
Benjacomin said, “Eldon. w as. He was Eldon the salesman.
eigners’ services to safeguard their
in profes- Eldon the salesman, ma’am. I live It was ridiculous.

sional assurance. He had been here lots of times.” People hadn’t changed much, own security.

prepared to kill her too, although even though the ships with the Benjacomin stood there in the
he was not sure that he could Go-Captains sitting at their hearts lobby: “Mother Hitton’s littul kit-
kill an adult, female Norstrilian. whispered between the stars, even tons.”

Very helpfully said he, “You stay UTy/rOTHER Hitton’s littul kit- though people shuffled between He had all the wisdom and
here with him. I’ll run to the hotel tons. Mother Hitton’s littul • worlds —
when they had the wealth of a thousand worlds stuck
and get help. I’ll hurry.” kittons.” money to pay their passage back in his mind but he didn’t dare ask

He turned and ran. A beach The silly phrase ran in his and forth —
like leaves falling in anywhere as to what it meant.
attendant saw him and ran to- mind. Who was Mother Hitton? soft, playful winds. Benjacomin
Suddenly he brightened.
ward him. “The child’s sick,” he What was she the mother of? faced a tragic dilemma. He knew
shouted. He came to the mother What were kittons? Were they a very well that any attempt to TTE looked like a man who had
-*
in time to see blunt, puzzled misspelling for “kittens?” Little decode the answer would run -^-thought of a good game to
tragedy on her face and with it, cats? Or were they something directly into the protective de- play, a pleasant diversion to be
something more than tragedy: else? vices set up by the Norstrilians. welcomed, a companion to be re-

doubt.
“He’s not sick,” said she. “He’s
dead.”
“He can’t be.”
looked attentive. He felt atten-
tive. He forced the sympathy to
pour out of his posture, out of all
the little muscles of his face. “He
can’t be. was talking to him
I secret, bad as it was, for his
just a minute ago. We were doing
little puzzles in the sand.”
The mother spoke with
sounded as
low, broken voice that
though it would never find the
right chords for human speech
again, but would go on forever
with the ill-attuned
Had he killed a fool to get a Old North Australia was im-
fool’sanswer? mensely wealthy. It was known
How many more days did he the length and breadth of all the
Benjacomin have to stay there with the doubt- stars that they had hired merce-
ful, staggered woman? How naries, defensive spies, hidden
many days did he have to watch agents and alerting devices.
and wait? He wanted to get back Even Manhome — Mother
to Viola Siderea; to take the Earth herself, whom no money
could buy — was bribed by the
people to study. Who was Mother drug of life. An ounce of
Hitton? santaclara drug, reduced, crystal-
a hol- He forced himself out of his lized and called “stroon,” could
room and went downstairs. give forty to sixty years of life.
The pleasant monotony of a Stroon entered the rest of the
big hotel was such that the other Earth by ounces and pounds, but
guests looked interestedly at him. it was refined back on Old North
flats of un- He was the man who had watched Australia by the ton. With treas-
membered, a new food to be
He had had a very happy
tasted.
thought.
There was one source that
wouldn’t talk. The library. He
could at least check the obvious,
simple things, and find out what
there was already in the realm
of public knowledge concerning
the the secret he had taken from the
dying boy.
His own safety had not been
wasted, Johnny’s life had not
been thrown away, if he could
find any one of the four words as
a key. Mother or Hitton or Littul,
in its special meaning, or Kitton.

104 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 105

He might yet break through to tried to pay his respects. Sh e
comin nodded back. “I’m a travel- resistance, implanted in his un-
the loot of Norstrilia. didn’t see him. ingman, waiting over between as- conscious during early years of
He swung jubilantly, turning “I’m leaving now, ma’am. I’n, signments.I haven’t been doing training. Bozart was not trained
on the ball of his right foot. He going on to the next planet, but very well. How are you making against deception by a technician;
moved and pleasantly to-
lightly I’ll be back in two or three
sub.
out?” it never occurred to the Thieves’
ward the room, beyond
billiard jective weeks. And if you need “Doesn’t matter to me. I don’t Guild back on Viola Siderea that
which lay the library. He went in. me for urgent questions, I’ll leave earn money; I’m a technician. it would be necessary for their

This was a very expensive hotel my addresses with the poli Ce

Liverant is the name.” own people to resist deceivers.
and very old-fashioned. It even here.” Benjacomin sized him up. The Liverant had already been in
had books made out of paper, man was a technician all right. —
touch with Norstrilia Norstrilia
with genuine bindings. Benja- ENJACOMIN left the weep, They shook hands perfunctorily. whose money reached across the
comin crossed the room. He saw ing mother. Liverant said, “I’ll join you in the stars, Norstrilia who had alerted
that they had the Galactic Ency- Benjacomin left the quiet hotel. bar a little later. I think I’ll rest a hundred thousand worlds
clopedia in two hundred volumes. He obtained a priority passage. a bit first.” against the mere thought of tres-
He took down the volume headed The easy-going Sunvale Police They both lay down then and pass.
“Hi-Hi.” He opened it from the made no resistance to his demand said very little while the momen- Liverant began to chatter. “I
rear, looking for the name “Hit- for a sudden departure visa. After tary flash of planoform went wish I could go further than this
ton” and there it was. “Hitton, all, he had an identity, he had through the ship. The flash trip. I wish that I could go to

—
Benjamin pioneer of old North his own funds, and it was not the passed.
they knew
From books and lessons
that the ship was
Olympia. You can buy anything
Australia. Said to be originator of custom of Sunvale to contradict leap- in Olympia.”
part of the defense system. Lived its guests. Benjacomin went on ing forward in two dimensions “I’ve heard of it,” said Bozart.
A.D. 10719-17213.” That was all. the ship and as he moved toward while, somehow or other, the fury “It’s sort of a funny trading planet
Benjacomin moved among the the cabin in which he could rest of space itself was fed into the with not much chance for busi-
books. The word “kittons” in for a few hours, a man stepped —
computers and that these in nessmen, is it?”
that peculiar did not
spelling up beside him. A youngish man, turn were managed by the Go- Liverant laughed and his laugh-
occur anywhere, neither in the hair parted in the middle, short Captain who controlled the ship. ter was merry and genuine.
of
encyclopedia nor in any other list stature, gray of eyes. They knew these things but “Trading? They don’t trade. They
maintained by the library. He This man was the local agent they could not feel them. All they swap. They take all the stolen
walked out and upstairs, back to of the Norstrilian secret police. felt was the sting of a slight pain. loot of a thousand worlds and sell
his room. Benjacomin, trained thief that The sedative was in the air it- it over again and they change and

“Littul” had not appeared at he was, did not recognize the self, sprayed in the ventilating they paint it and they mark it.
all. It was probably the boy’s own policeman. It never occurred to system. They both expected to That’s their business there. The
childish mistake. him that the library itself had become a little drunk. people are blind. It’s a strange
He took a chance. The mother, been attuned and that the word world, and all you have to do is
half blind with bewilderment and “kittons” in the peculiar Norstri-
r
|
’HE
thief Benjacomin Bozart to go in there and you can have
worry, sat in a stiff-backed chair lian spelling was itself an alert.
•*-
was trained to resist intoxica- anything you want. Man,” said
on the edge of the porch. The Looking for that spelling had set tion and bewilderment. Any sign Liverant, “what I could do in a
other women talked to her. They off a minor alarm. He had touched whatever that a telepath had year in that place! Everybody is
knew her husband was coming. the trip-wire. tried to read his mind would have blind except me and a couple of
Benjacomin went up to her and The stranger nodded. Benja- been met with fierce animal tourists. And there’s all the wealth

106 G ALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTU KITTONS 107

 that everybody thought he’s The Elders of the Guild of I He
colleagues. The encyclopedia in- smiled wryly and handed
mislaid, half the wrecked ships, Thieves welcomed him. They dicated the change like any nor- Benjacomin a blank mortgage
the forgotten colonies (they’ve congratulated him. “Who else
mal revision, though the whole against all the labor and all the
all been cleaned out), and bang! could have done what you’ve entry was new and falsified: property of Viola Siderea.
it all goes to Olympia.” done, boy? You’ve made the The Chairman laughed with a
Olympia wasn’t really that opening move in a brand new sort of snort. “It’d be pretty rough
Beneath this passage one
good and Liverant didn’t know game of chess. There has never on us if you had to borrow
revision ready. Dated 24th
why it was his business to guide been a gambit like this before. enough on the trading planet to
year of second issue.
the killer there. All he knew was
that he had a duty and the duty
We have a name; we have an The reported “Kittons” of force us to become honest and—
animal. We’ll try it right here!” Norstrilia are nothing more then lost out anyhow.”
was to direct the trespasser. The Thieves’ Council turned to “No fear,” said Benjacomin. “I
than the use of organic
Many years before either man their own encyclopedia. They means to induce the disease can cover that.”
was born the code word had been turned through the name “Hit- sheep
in Earth-mutated
planted in directories, in books, ton” and then found the reference •THHERE are some worlds where
which produces a virus in its
in packing cases and invoices. “kitton.” None of them knew that turn, as refinable as the san- all dreams die, but square-
Kittons misspelled. This was the a false lead had been planted taclara drug. The term “Kit- clouded Olympia is not one of
cover name for the outer moon of —
there -by an agent in their world. tons” enjoyed a temporary them. The eyes of men and
Norstrilian defense. The use of The agent, in his turn, had vogue as a reference term women are bright on Olympia, for
the cover name brought a raging been seduced years before, de- both to the disease and to they see nothing.
alert ready into action, with sys- bauched in the middle of his the destructability of the di- “Brightness was the color of
temic nerves as hot and quick as career, forced into temporary “when we
sease in the event of external pain,” said Nachtigall,
incandescent tungsten wire. honesty, blackmailed and sent attack. This is believed to could see. If thine eye offend thee,
By the time that they were home. In all the years that he have been connected with pluck thyself out, for the fault
ready to go to the bar and have had waited for a dreaded coun- the career of Benjamin Hit- lies not in the eye but in the
refreshments, Benjacomin had tersign— a countersign which he ton, one of the original soul.”
half forgotten that it was his himself never knew to be an ex- pioneers of Norstrilia. Such talk was common in
new acquaintance who had sug- tension of Norstrilian intelligence Olympia, where the settlers went
gested Olympia rather than
another place. He had to go to
—he never dreamed that he could The Council of Thieves read blind a long time ago and now
pay his debt to the outside world it and the Chairman of the council think themselves superior to
Viola Siderea to get the credits so simply. All they had done was Radar wires
said “I’ve got your papers ready. sighted people. tickle
to make the flight to take the to send him one page to add to You can go try them now. Where their living brains; they can per-
wealth, to win the world of Olym- the encyclopedia. He added it do you want to go? Through Neu- ceive radiation as well as can an
pia. and then went home, weak with hamburg?” animal-type man with little
exhaustion. The years of fear and “No,” said Benjacomin. “I aquariums hung in the middle of
IV waiting were almost too much for thought I’d try Olympia.” his face. Their pictures are sharp,
the thief. He drank heavily for “Olympia’s all right,” said the and they demand sharpness.
AT home on his native planet fear that he might otherwise kill chairman. “Go easy. There’s only Their buildings soar at impos-
^Bozart was a subject of a himself. Meanwhile, the pages re- one chance in a thousand you’ll sible angles. Their blind children
gentle but very sincere celebra- mained in order, including the fail. But if you do, we might have sing songs as the .tailored climate
tion. new one, slightly altered for his to pay for it.” proceeds according to the num-

108 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 109

bers, geometrical as a kaleido- world. And they were also out to
scope. avenge the murder of a child.
There went the man, Bozart The last interview which Ben-
himself. Among the blind his jacomin had with Lavender in
dreams soared, and he paid striking a bargain before Laven-
money for information which no der agreed was a dramatic one.
living person had ever seen. Lavender refused to move
Sharp-clouded and aqua-skied, forward.
Olympia swam past him like “I’m not going to jump off any-
another man’s dream. He did not where. I’m not going to raid
mean to tarry there, because he anything, I’m not going to steal
had a rendezvous with death in anything. I’ve been rough, of
the sticky, sparky space around course I have. But I don’t get my-
Norstrilia. self killed and that’s what you’re
bloody well asking for.”
/‘'kNCE in Olympia, Benjacomin “Think of what we’ll have. The
went about his arrangements wealth. I tell you, there’s more
for the attack on Old North Aus- money here than anything else
tralia. On his second day on the anybody’s ever tried.”
planet he had been very lucky. Lavender laughed. “You think
He met a man named Lavender I haven’t heard that before?
and he was sure he had heard the You’re a crook and I’m a crook.
name before. Not a member of his I don’t go anything that’s on
own Guild of Thieves, but a dar- speculation. I want my hard cash
ing rascal with a bad reputation down. I’m a fighting man and
among the stars. you’re a thief and I’m not going
was no wonder that he had
It to ask you what you’re up to . . .

found Lavender. His pillow had but I want my money first.”

told him Lavender’s story fifteen “I haven’t got it,” said Benja-
times during his sleep in the past comin.
week. And, whenever he dreamed, Lavender stood up.
he dreamed dreams which had “Then you shouldn’t have
been planted in his mind by the talked to me. Because it’s going
Norstrilian counterintelligence. to cost you money to keep me
They had beaten him in getting quiet whether you hire me or
to Olympia first and they were not.”
prepared to let him have only The bargaining process started.
that which he deserved. The Lavender looked ugly indeed.
Norstrilian Policewere not cruel, He was a soft, ordinary man who
but they were out to defend their had gone to a lot of trouble to

110 GALAXY
become evil. Sin is a lot of work. Siderea in exchange for the full “All the muddy gubbery is went on. In its center there was
The sheer effort it requires often and unqualified services of Cap-
tain Lavender, once of the Impe-
gone — allthe work and the wait- a group of buildings. That was
shows in the human face. ing and the pain. where Katherine Hitton worked
Bozart stared him down, smil- rial Marines Internal Space “Beige-brown sheep lie on blue- on the task which her family had
ing easily, not even contemptu- Patrol. He handed over the mort- gray grass while the clouds rush accepted for the defense of her
ously. gage. The year’s guarantee was past, low overhead, like iron world.
“Cover me while I get some- written in. Even on Olympia there pipes ceilinging the world. No germ came in, no germ went
thing from my pocket,” said were accounting machines which “Take your pick of sick sheep, out. All the food came in by
Bozart. relayed the bargain back to Earth man, it’s the sick that pays. space transmitter. Within this,
Lavender did not even ac- itself, making the mortgage a Sneeze me a planet, man, or there lived animals. The animals
knowledge the comment. He did valid and binding commitment cough me up a spot of immor- depended on her alone. Were she
not show a weapon. His left against the whole planet of tality. If it’s barmy there, where to die suddenly, by mischance or
thumb moved slowly across the thieves. the noddies and the trolls like as a result of an attack by one
outer edge of his hand. Benja- “This,” thought Lavender, “was you live, it’s too right here. of the animals, the authorities of
comin recognized the sign, but did the first step of revenge.” After “That’s the book, boy. her world had complete facsimiles
not flinch. the killer had disappeared his “If you haven’t seen Norstrilia, of herself with which to train new
“See,” he said. “A planetary people would have to pay with you haven’t seen it. If you did animal tenders under hypnosis.
credit.” sheer honesty. Lavender looked see it, you wouldn’t believe it. This was a place where the
Lavender laughed. “I’ve heard at Benjacomin with a clinical sort “Charts call it Old North Aus- gray wind leapt forward released
that, too.” of concern. tralia.” from the hills, where it raced
“Take it,” said Bozart. Benjacomin mistook his look across the gray concrete, where it
and Benjacomin blew past the radar towers. The
The adventurer took
nated card. His eyes widened.
the lami- for friendliness
smiled his slow, charming, easy
smile. Momentarily happy, he
HERE in the heart of the
was the farm which guarded
world
polished, faceted,
always hung due overhead. The
captive moon
“It’s real,” he breathed. “It is the world. This was the Hitton
real.” He looked up, incalculably reached out his right hand to give wind hit the buildings, themselves
place.
more friendly. “I never even saw Lavender a brotherly solemnifi- Towers surrounded it and wires gray, with the impact of a blow,
one of these before. What are cation of the bargain. The men before it raced over the open con-
hung between the towers, some of
your terms?” shook hands, and Bozart never them drooping crazily and some crete beyond and whistled away
Meanwhile the bright, vivid knew with what he shook hands. gleaming the sheen not
with into the hills.

Olympians walked back and forth shown by any other metal made Outside the buildings, the
past them, their clothing all white V by men from Earth. Within the valley had not needed much
and black in dramatic contrast. towers there was open land. And camouflage. It looked like the rest
Unbelievable geometric designs 44 RAY lay the land oh. Gray
within the open land there were of Norstrilia. The concrete itself
shone on their cloaks and their grass from sky to sky. Not twelve thousand hectares of con- was tinted very slightly to give
hats. The two bargainers ignored near the weir, dear. Not a moun- crete. Radar reached down to the impression of poor, starved,
the natives. They concentrated on tain, low or high —only hills and within millimeter smoothness of natural soil. This was the farm,
their own negotiations. gray gray. Watch the dappled, the surface of the concrete and and this the woman. Together
Benjacomin felt fairly safe. He dimpled twinkles blooming on the other radar threw patterns they were the outer defense of
placed a pledge of one year’s ser- the star bar. back and forth, down through the richest world mankind had
vice of the entire planet of Viola “That is Norstrilia. molecular thinness. The farm ever built.

112 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL K1TTONS 113

 Katherine Hitton looked out eat their young, or people, or any- She woke none of them this the sex were all carried far be-
the window and thought to her- thing organic; animals who time. Instead, she tightened them yond the limits of the tolerable,
self, “Forty-two days before I go screamed with murder-lust when in their straps. She removed the and then all were thereupon am-
to market and a welcome day
it’s they felt love; animals born to nutrients. She gave them delayed plified. And then the waveband
that I get there and hear the jig loathe themselves with a fierce stimulus medicine which would, on which this telepathic control
of a music. and livid hate and who survived when they were awakened, bring went out was amplified, right
only because their waking mo- them suddenly full waking with there beyond the studio, on the
“Oh, to walk on market day,
ments were spent on couches, no lulled stupor first. high towers that swept the moun-
“And see my people proud and
strapped tight, claw by claw, so Finally, gave herself a
she tain ridge, up and beyond the
gay!”
that they could not hurt each heavy sedative, leaned back in a valley in which the laboratory
She breathed deeply of the air. other or themselves. Mother Hit- chair and waited for the call lay. And Mother Hitton’s moon,
She loved the gray hills though — ton let them waken only a few which would come. spinning geometrically, bounced
in heryouth she had seen many moments in each lifetime. They the relay into a hollow englobe-
other worlds. And she then bred and killed. She wakened YfTHEN came and
the shock ment.
turned back into the building to them only two at a time. ” came through, she
the call From the faceted moon, it went
the animals and the duties which All that afternoon she moved would have to do what she had to the satellites- —
sixteen of them,
awaited her. She was the only from cage to cage. The sleeping done thousands of times before. apparently part of the weather
Mother Hitton and these were animals slept well. The
nourish- She would ring an intolerable control system. These blanketed
her littul kittons. ment ran into their blood streams; noise through the whole labora- not only space, but nearby sub-
they lived sometimes for years tory. space. The Norstrilians had
OHE moved among them. She without awaking. She bred them Hundreds of the mutated thought of everything.
^ and her father had bred them when the males were only partly minks would awaken. In awaken- The short shocks of an alert
from Earth mink, from the awakened and the females ing, they would plunge into life came from Mother Hitton’s trans-
fiercest, smallest, craziest little aroused only enough to accept her with hunger, with hate, with rage mitter bank.
minks that had ever been shipped veterinary treatments. She her- and with sex; plunge against their A call came. Her thumb went
out from Manhome. Out of these self had to pluck the young away straps; strive to kill each other, numb.
minks they had made their lives from their mothers as the sleep- their young, themselves, her. The noise shrieked.
to keep away other predators ing mothers begot them. Then she They would fighteverything and The mink wakened.
who might bother the sheep, on nourished the young through a everywhere, and do everything Immediately, the room was
whom the stroon grew. But these few happy weeks of kittonhood, they could to keep going. full of chattering, scraping, his-
minks were born mad. until their adult natures began to She knew this. sing, growling and howling.
Generations of them had been take, their eyes ran red with In the middle of the room there Under the sound of the animal
bred psychotic to the bone. They madness and heat and their emo- was a tuner. The tuner was a voices, there was the other sound:

lived only to die and they died tions sounded in the sharp, hide- direct, empathic relay, capable of a scratchy, snapping sound like
so that they could stay alive. ous, little cries they uttered picking up the simpler range of hail falling on a frozen lake. It

These were the kittons of Nors-
trilia. Animals in whom fear,
rage, hunger and sex were utterly
intermixed; who could eat them-
selves or each other; who could
through the building; and the
twisting of their neat, furry faces,
the rolling of their crazy, bright
eyes and the tightening of their
sharp, sharp claws.
telepathic communications. Into
thistuner went the concentrated
emotions of Mother Hitton’s littul
kittons.
The rage, the hate, the hunger,
was the individual claws of hun-
dreds of mink trying to tear their
way through metal panels.
Mother Hitton heard a gurgle.
One of the minks had succeeded

114 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 115

 paw loose and had kittons passed into instant un- almost untraceably commingled “It does not matter,” Benjaco-
in tearing its |

obviously started to work on its consciousness too. in the commerce of 10,000 min said. “I’ll pay it.”
own throat. She recognized the She would waken before they worlds. “You will, will you?” said the
did and then her duties would “Let him pay for it,” said Lav- Captain. “You would not be pay-
tearing of fur, the ripping of
begin: checking the living ones, ender, to one of his confederates, ing twenty tablets of stroon.
veins.
taking out the one that had an apparent criminal who was That’s ridiculous. Nobody could
She listened for the cessation
clawed out its own throat, taking also a Norstrilian agent. “This is get that much stroon.”
of that individual voice, but she
The others were out those who had died of heart paying good money for bad. You Benjacomin laughed, thinking
couldn’t be sure.
spend a lot of it.” of the thousands of tablets he
making too much noise. One mink attacks, re-arranging them, dress- ,
better
less. ing their wounds, treating them Just before Benjacomin took would soon have. All he had to
Where she sat, she was partly alive and asleep —
asleep and off Lavender sent on an addi- do was to leave the planoform
shielded from the telepathic relay, happy — breeding, living in their tional message. ship behind, strike once, go past

but not altogether. She herself, sleep — until the next call should He sent it directly through the the kittons and come back.
His power and his wealth came
old as she was, felt queer wild come to waken them for the de- Go-Captain, who usually did not
which carry messages. The Go-Captain from the fact that he knew he
dreams go through her. She fense of the treasures
blessed and cursed her was a relay commander of the could now reach it. The mort-
thrilled with hate as she thought native
Norstrilian fleet, but he had been gage of twenty tablets of stroon
of beings suffering out beyond world.
—
her suffering terribly, since they carefully ordered not to look like against this planet was a low
price to pay if it would pay off
were not masked by the built-in VI it.

The message concerned the at thousands to one. The Captain

defenses of the Norstrilian com-
munications system.
She felt the wild throb of long-
forgotten lust.
She hungered for things she
had not known she remembered.
She went through the spasms of
fear that the hundreds of animals
expressed.
Underneath this,
T^VERYTHING had gone ex- planoform license - another — replied: “It’s notworth it, it just
is not worth risking twenty tab-
actly right. Lavender had twenty-odd tablets of stroon
which could mortgage Viola lets for your being here. But I
found an illegal planoform ship.
Siderea for hundreds upon hun- can tell you how to get inside
This was no unconsequential ac-
dreds of years. The Captain said: the Norstrilian communications
complishment, since planoform
don’t have to send that net if that is worth twenty-seven
ships were very strictly licensed “I
tablets.”
and obtaining an illegal one was through. The answer is yes.”
Benjacomin came into the con- Benjacomin went tense.
a chore on which a planet full of
her sane crooks could easily have worked trol room. This was contrary to

mind kept asking, “How much a lifetime. regulations, but he had hired the T^OR a moment he thought he
ship to violate regulations. might die. All this work, all
it? How much
longer can I take
longer must I take it? Lord God,
Lavender had been lavished
with money — Benjacomin’s The Captain looked at him this training —
the dead boy on
sharply. “You’re a passenger, get the beach, the gamble with the
be good to your people here on money.
The out.” credit, and now this unsuspected
this world! Be good to poor old honest wealth of the
me.” thieves’ planet had gone in and Benjacomin said: “You have antagonist!

The green light went on. had paid the falsifications and my little yacht on board. I am He decided to face it out.

the only man here outside of your “What do you know?” said Ben-
She pressed a button on the great debts, imaginary transac-
people.” jacomin.
other side of her chair. The gas tions that were fed to the
“Get out. There’s a fine if “Nothing,” said the Captain.
hissed in. An she passed into un- computers for ships and cargoes
consciousness, she knew that her and passengers that would be you’re caught here.” “You said ‘Norstrilia.’

116 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S L1TTU L KITTO N S 117

 “That I did,” said the Captain. planet of Viola Siderea should be yacht. For less than a second in devour himself . . . not entirely
“If you said Norstrilia, you credited to certain commercial real space, the gray expanse of without success.
must have guessed it. Who told agencies in Earth for three hun- Norstrilia loomed up. The ship The overwhelming telepathic
you?” dred years to come. which looked like a simple ware- message of Mother Hitton’s Lit-
“Where else would a man go Benjacomin got the card back. house disappeared into piano- tulKittons ground into his brain.
if you look for infinite riches? If He felt like an honest thief. form, and the yacht was on its The mutated minks were fully
you get away with it. Twenty If he did die, the card would be own. awake.
tablets is nothing to a man like lost and his people would not The yacht dropped. The relay satellites had poi-
you.” have to pay. If he won, he could As it dropped, Benjacomin had soned all the space around him
“It’s two hundred years’ worth pay that little bit out of his own a hideous moment of confusion with the craziness to which the
of work from three hundred pocket. and terror. minks were bred.
thousand people,” said Benja- Benjacomin sat down. The Go- He never knew the woman Bozart’s body did not live long.

comin grimly. Captain signalled to his pin-

down below but she sensed him After a few minutes, the arteries
“When you get away with it, lighters. The ship lurched. plainly as he received the wrath were open, the head slumped for-
you have more than twenty
will of the much-amplified kittons. ward and the yacht was dropping
and so will your people.”
tablets, rOR half
a subjective hour His conscious mind quivered un- helplessly toward the warehouses
And Benjacomin thought of der the blow. With a prolonga- which it had meant to raid. Nor-
they moved, the Captain
the thousands and thousands of tion of subjective -experience strilian police picked it up.
wearing a helmet of space upon
tablets. “Yes, that I know.” his head, sensing and grasping which made one or two seconds The police themselves were
“If you don’t get away with and guessing seem like months of hurt drunken ill. All of them were ill. All of
it, way, stepping
his
you’ve got the card.” to stepping stone, right back to bewilderment, Benjacomin Bo- them were white-faced. Some of
“That’s right. All right. Get me his home. He had to fumble the zart swept beneath the tide of them had vomited. They had gone
inside the net. I’ll pay the twenty- his own personality. The moon through the edge of the mink
passage, or else Benjacomin
seven tablets.” relay threw minkish minds defense. They had passed through
might guess that he was in the
“Give me the card.” hands of double agents. against him. The synapses of his the telepathic band at its thinnest
Benjacomin refused.a He was But the Captain was well brain re-formed to conjure up .
and weakest point. This was
trained thief, and he was alert trained. Just as well trained as might-have-beens, terrible things enough to hurt them badly.
to thievery. Then he thought Benjacomin. that never happened to any man. They did not want to know.
again. This was the crisis of his Agents and thieves, they rode Then his knowing mind whited They wanted to forget.
life.He had to gamble a little on together. out in an overload of stress. One of the yonger policemen
somebody. They planoformed inside the His subcortical personality looked at the body and said,
He had to wager the card. “I’ll communications net. Benjacomin lived on a little longer. “What on earth could do that to
mark it and then I’ll give it back shook hands with them. “You are His body fought for several a man?”
to you.” Such was his excitement allowed to materialize as soon as minutes. Mad with lust and hun- “He picked the wrong job,”
that Benjacomin did not notice I call.” ger, the body arched in the pilot’s said the police captain.
that the card went into a duplica- “Good seat, the mouth bit deep into his The young policeman said:
luck, sir,” said the Cap-
tor, that the transaction was re- tain. own arm. Driven by lust, the left “What’s the wrong job?”
corded, that the message went “Good luck to me,” said Ben- hand tore at his face, ripping out “The wrong job is trying to
back to Olympic Center, that the jacomin. his left eye ball. He screeched rob us, boy. We are defended,
loss and the mortgage against the He climbed with animal lust as he tried to and we don’t want to know how.”
-into his space

118 GALAXY MOTHER HITTON'S LITTUL KITTONS 119

 The young policeman, humili- “Oh, him? So soon?” cyrtc%h> c-^h) cyncyrt c"^>
ated and on the verge of anger, “We brought him.” The old
looked almost as if he would police officer nodded. “We let 4
defy his superior, while keeping
his eyes away from the body of
him find his death. That’s how
we live. Tough, isn’t it?”
4 HOW ARE YOU GOING TO
Benjacomin Bozart.
The older man said: “It’s all
4
right. He did not take long to
r

A|
''HE
softly,
ventilators
gently. The
whispered
animals
<

4 KEEP THEM DOWN

die and this is the man who killed slept again. A jet of air poured 4
the boy Johnny, not very long
ago.”
down on Mother
telepathic relay on. She was
Hitton.
still
The
4 ON THE FARM -
could feel herself, the sheds, the
faceted moon, the little satellites.
4 AFTER THEY’VE SEEN
BACK ISSUES! Of the robber there was no sign.
|

4
Those back issues you need are She stumbled to her feet. Her
raiment was moist with perspira- ’ 4 THE TRUTH?
probably
issue of
listed in

"The SATA Trader/' An

the 1st BIG
tion. She needed a shower and
4
initial monthly
3,000 active collectors or a
circulation of

re-
fresh clothes
Back at
. .

Manhome,
.

the Com- j
4
fund given. 5 issues for $1, 10
mercial
shrilly for
Credit
human
Circuit
attention.
called
A
4
issues for $2.

AD ($1
FREEI

value) with a
A 50 word
10 issue
junior subchief of the Instrumen- < 4
subscription. Use a fairly new
walked over to the machine
tality
and held out his hand. 4
BLACK
type the
typewriter

AD in
ribbon
the form of a
and
The machine dropped a card •
4
rectangle,

50
5 lines deep by 41
neatly into his fingers.
He looked at the card. 4
Pica or Elite spaces wide.
“Debit Viola Siderea credit — I
4
Charter Subscribers will receive
Earth Contingency subcredit — 1

chased
FREE issue with every 5 pur-
at the regular price.
Norstrilian account four hun- — 1
4
YOUR support NOW
possible to serve you BETTER
will make
dred million man megayears.”
Though all alone, he whistled
4
4
it

to himself in the empty room.

in the FUTURE. Send $1 for sam-
be dead, stroon or no
ples

graphed
of today's

fanzines.
3 BEST
Send
litho-

your
“We’ll all
stroon, before they finish paying 4 By HERBERT D. KASTLE
unwanted S-F to be distributed
that!” He went
friends the odd news.
off to tell his
4 Illustrated by COWLES
to fans overseas.

"The SATA Trader," Dept. 9

The machine, not getting its
card back, made another one.
4
P.0. Box 400, Los Alamos, N. Mex. —
CORDWAINER SMITH I

120 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 121

H
the doctor
E
when
it
didn’t
it had started, but

had been going on for

weeks. Edna begged him to see
living
know

in that
exactly

new
mumbled, “Huh? What happened
to

it
who?”
“I said, what .” But
then
slipped away. Davie? No, that
was part of a dream he’d had
. .
was

fall
just a

off
real late.
dream

last
I had. I’m
half asleep this morning. Couldn’t
night, not
Guess I’m a little nerv-
ous, what with all the new regu-
still

till
without speaking went on out to
the barn.
He milked and curried and
fed and cleaned, and still was
done inside of two hours. Then
house two miles past Dugan’s last week. He and Edna had no lations and not working regular. he walked slowly, head down,
farm, but he refused. He point- children. I never meant we had a son.” across the hay-strewn floor. He
blank refused to admit he was He felt the fear again, and got He waited then, hoping she’d say stopped, put out his hand as if
sick that way — in the head! up fast escape it. Edna
to they had had a son, and he’d to find a pole or beam that was
Of course, a man
could grow opened her eyes as soon as his died or gone away. But of course too familiar to require raising
forgetful. He had to
admit there weight left the bed. “Like hot- she didn’t. his eyes, and almost fell as he
were moments when he had all cakes for breakfast?” leaned in that direction. Regain-
sorts of mixed-up memories and “Eggs,” he said. “Bacon.” And T¥E went to the bathroom and ing his balance after a sideward
thoughts in his mind. And some- then, seeing her face change, he washed. By the time he staggering shuffle, he looked
times — like right now, lying in remembered. “Course,” he mut- came to the kitchen, Edna had around, startled. “Why, this ain’t
bed beside Edna, watching the tered. “Can’t have bacon. Ra- hotcakes on a plate and coffee the way I had my barn. .” .

first hint of light touch the win- tioned.” in a cup. He sat down and atq. He heard his own voice, and
dows — he began sweating with She was awake now. “If
fully Part way through the meal, he stopped. He fought the flash of
fear. A horrible, gut-wrenching you’d only go see Dr. Hamming, paused. “Got an awful craving senseless panic. Of course this
fear, the more horrible be-
all Harry. Just for a checkup. Or for meat,” he said. “Goddam was the way he’d had his barn
cause was based on nothing.
it let me call him so he could — those rations! Man can’t even built, because it was his barn!
The chicken-run came alive; “You stop stop that
that! You butcher his own stock for his He rubbed his hard hands to-
the barn followed minutes later. right now, and for good! I don’t own table!” gether and said aloud, “Get
There were chores to do, the want to hear no more about “We’re having meat for down to the patch. Them toma-
same chores he’d done all his doctors. I get laid up, I’ll call lunch,” she said placatingly. toes need fertiliser for tang.” He
forty-one years. Except that one. And won’t be that Ham-
it “Nice cut of multi-pro.” walked outside and took a deep
now, with the new regulations ming who ain’t never seen in
I “Multi-pro,” he scoffed. “God breath. Air was different, wasn’t
about wheat and corn, he had my life! It’ll be Timkins, who knows what’s in it. Like spam it? Sweet and pure and clean,
only a vegetable patch to farm. took care’n us and brought our put through a grinder a hundred like country air always was and
Sure, he got paid for letting the son into the world and. .” . times and then baked into slabs. always would be; but still, dif-
fields remain empty. But it just She began to cry, and he Can’t hardly taste any meat ferent somehow. Maybe sharper.
didn’t seem right, all that land realized he’d said something there.” Or was sharp the word? May-
going to waste. . . crazy again. They had no son, ‘Well, we got no choice. Coun- be. . .

Davie. Blond hair and a never had a son. And Timkins try’s on emergency rations. The He went quickly across the
round, tanned face and strong — he’d died and they’d gone to current crisis, you know.” yard, past the pig-pen he’d —
arms growing stronger each day his funeral. Or so Edna said. The way she said it irritated had twelve pigs, hadn’t he? Now
from helping out after school. He himself just couldn’t re- him. Like it was Scripture; like he had four —
behind the house
He turned and shook Edna. member it. no one could question one word to where the half-acre truck farm
“What happened to Davie?” He went to the bed and sat of it without being damned to lay greening in the sun. He got
She cleared her throat, down beside her. “Sorry. That ! Hell. He finished quickly and to work. Sometime later, Edna

122 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 123

called to him. “Delivery
night, Harry. I took some.
up rest?”
“Yes,” he shouted. . home medicines and other things
She disappeared.
He walked slowly back to the
house. As he came into the front
yard, moving toward the road
and the supply bin, something
occurred to him. The car. He
hadn’t seen the old Chewy in.
how long? It’d be nice to take a
ride to town, see a movie, may-
be have a few beers.
No. It was against the travel
regulations. He couldn’t go
last like an old-fashioned wood bin;
Pick a box with a sloping flap lid. De-
liveries of food and clothing and
were left here. You wrote down
what you needed, and they left
it —or whatever they allowed
you — with a bill. You paid the
bill by leaving money in the bin,
and the next week you found a
. . receipt and your new stuff and
your new bill. And almost al-
ways you found some money
from the government, for not
planting wheat or not planting
corn. It came out just
with Red Skeleton. Nor the other blinked gray eyes and tried hard
five neither.” to remember, then turned and
“I’m gonna down,” he said
lie went to the house. Edna was
flatly. He turned and stepped soaking dishes in the sink, ac-
forward, and found himself fac- cording to regulations one —
ing the stove. Not the door to sinkful of dishwater a day. And
the hall; the stove. “But the one tub of bath water twice a
door. .” he began. He cut him-
. week.
self short. He turned and saw She was looking at him. He
the door a few feet to the left, realized his anger and confusion
beside the table. He went there must be showing. He managed a
and out and up the stairs (they smile. “You remember how much
too had moved; they too weren’t we got for our livestock, Edna?”
right) and into the bedroom and “Same as everyone else,” she
lay down. The bedroom was said. “Government agents paid
about wrong.The bed was wrong. The flat rates.”

further than Walt and Gloria even. windows were wrong. He remembered then, or
Shanks’ place. They couldn’t go He
hauled out a sack of flour, The world was wrong! Lord, thought he did. The headache
further than his. And the gas half the amount of sugar Edna the whole damned world was was back. He went and
upstairs
rationing. Besides, he’d sold the had ordered, some dried fruit, a wrong! slept again, but this time he had
car, hadn’t he? Because it was new Homekit Medicine Shelf. dreams, many of them, and all
no use to him lying in the tractor He carried it and
into the house, T^DNA didn’t wake him, so they confused and all frightening. He
shed. noticed a slip of paper pinned had a late lunch. Then he was glad to get up. And he was
to the sugar bag. A television went back to the barn and let glad to hear Walt and Gloria

HE whirled, staring out across

the fields to his left. Why,
program guide.
Edna hustled
“Anything good on this week,
over excitedly.
the four cows and four sheep
and two horses into the pastures.
Then he checked to see that
talking to
He washed
his
Edna
his
downstairs.

and went down. Walt

hair
face, combed
the tractor shed had stood just
fifty feet from the house! Harry?” Edna had fed the chickens right. and Gloria were sitting on the
No, he’d torn it down. The He looked down the listings, They had only a dozen or so sofa, Edna in the blue armchair.

tractor was in town, being over- and frowned. “All old movies. now. Walt was saying he’d gotten the
hauled and all. He was leaving Still only one channel. Still only When hadhe sold the rest? new TV picture tube he’d
it there until he had use for it. from nine to eleven at night.” And when had he sold his other ordered. “Found it in the supply
He went on toward the road, He gave it to her, turned away; livestock? bin this morning. Spent the
his head beginning to throb. then stopped and waited. He’d Or had they died somehow? whole day installing it according
Why should a man his age, said the same thing last week. A rough winter? Disease? to the book of directions.”
hardly sick at all since he was a And she had said the films were He stood in the yard, a tall, Harry said hi and they all
kid, suddenly start losing hold all new to her. husky man with pale brown hair said hi and he sat down and they
this way? Edna was worried. She said it Harry,
now. “Why and a face that had once been talked about TV and gardens
The Shanks had noticed it too. I’ve never seen this movie with long, lean and strong and was and livestock. Then Harry said,
He was at the supply bin — Clark Gable. Nor the comedy now only long and lean. He “How’s Penny?”

124 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 125

 “Fine,” Gloria answered. “Fm He didn’t know what they did VW/r ELL, no matter. Mr. Grot-
starting heron the kindergarten
her
softly.
wet cheek,
“It’ll
spoke more
do me good, like to you, but it wasn’t anything
™ ton would have to excuse
book next week.” when was a kid.”
I easy like a fine. He opened the gate,
his trespass.
“She’s five already?” Harry “If you say so, Harry.” He cut into an unfenced, un- led Plum through it, closed the
asked. He left quickly. He went out- planted field. gate. He mounted and rode for-
“Almost six,” Walt said. side and across the yard to the His headache was back, worse ward, still north, toward the
“Emergency Education Regula- road. He looked up it and down now than it had ever been. His' small Pangborn place and after
tions state that the child should it, to the north and to the south. entire head throbbed, and he the Pangborns the biggest farm
be five years nine months old It was a bright night with moon leaned forward and put his in the county —
old Wallace
before embarking on kinder- and stars, but he saw nothing, cheek against Plum’s mane. The Elverton’s place. The fields
garten book.” no one. The road was empty. It mare whinnied uneasily, but he here, as everywhere in the coun-
“And Frances?” Harry asked. was always empty, except when kicked her sides and she moved ty, lay fallow. Seemed as ifthe
“Your oldest? She must be start- Walt and Gloria walked over forward. He lay there, just want- government had so much grain
ing high. .” He stopped, because
. from their place a mile or so ing to go somewhere, just want- storedup they’d be able to get
they were all staring at him, and south. But once it hadn’t been ing to leave his headache and along without crops for years
because he couldn’t remember empty. Once there’d been cars, confusion behind. more.
Frances clearly. “Just a joke,” he people . . . He know how long it
didn’t He
looked around. Somehow,
said, laughing and rising. “Let’s He had to do something. Just was, but Plum was moving cau- the country bothered him. He
eat. I’m starved.” sitting and looking at the sky tiously now. He raised his head. wasn’t sure why, but every-
. . .

wouldn’t help him. He had to They were approaching a fence. thing was wrong.
r ’|''HEY ate in the kitchen. They go somewhere, see someone. He noticed a gate off to the His head weighed an agonized
talked — or rather Edna, He went to the barn and and pulled the rope so
right, ton. He put it down again. Plum
Gloria and Walt did. Harry looked for his saddle. There was Plum went that way. They went sedately forward. After a
nodded and said uh-huh and no saddle. But he’d had one reached the gate and he got while she stopped. Harry looked
used his mouth for chewing. hanging right behind the door. down to open it, and saw the up. Another fence. And what a
Walt and Gloria went home at Or had he? sign. “Phineas Grotton Farm.” fence! About ten feet of heavy
ten-fifteen. They said goodbye at He threw a blanket over He looked up at the sky, found steel mesh, topped by three feet
the door and Harry walked Plum, the big mare, and tied it the constellations, turned his of barbed-wire — five separate
away. He heard Gloria whisper- with a piece of wash line. He head, and nodded. He’d started What in the world had
strands.
ing something about Doctor used another piece for a bridle, north, and Plum had continued Sam Pangborn been thinking of
Hamming. since he couldn’t find that either, north. He’d crossed land belong- to put up a monster like this?
He was sitting in the living and didn’t bother making a bit. ing both to himself and the He looked around. The gate
room when Edna came in.
living He mounted, and Plum moved Franklins. Now he was leaving should be further west. He rode
She was crying. “Harry, please out of the barn and onto the the Franklin farm. North of the that way. He found no gate. He
see the doctor.” road. He headed north, toward Franklins were the Bessers. Who turned back, heading east. No
He got up. “I’m going out. I town. was this Phineas Grotton? Had gate. Nothing but fence. And
might even sleep out!” Then he realized he couldn’t he bought out Lon Besser? But wasn’t the fence gradually curv-
“But why, Harry, why?” go along the road this way. He’d anything like that would’ve ing inward? He looked back.
He couldn’t stand to see her be reported. Breaking travel gotten around. Yes, there was a slight inward
crying. He went to her, kissed regulations was a serious offense. Was he forgetting again? curve.

126 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 127

 He dismounted and tied Plum TTIS entire body trembled. His
to the fence, then stepped back A mind trembled too. He
and figured the best way to get walked, and cam6 to a waist-high
to the other side. metal railing, and made a tiny
The best way, the only way, sound deep in his throat. He
was to claw, clutch and clamber, looked out over water, endless
as they used to say back when water rolling in endless waves
he was a kid. under the night sky. Crashing
It took some doing. He tore his water, topped with reflected sil-
shirt on the barbed wire, but he ver from the moon. Pounding
got over and began walking, water, filling the air with spray.
straight ahead, due north. The He put out his hands and
earth changed beneath his feet. grasped the railing. Itwas wet.
He stooped and touched it. He raised damp fingers to his
Sand. Hard-packed sand. He’d mouth. Salt.
never seen the like of it in this He stepped back, back, and
county. turned and ran. He ran wildly,
He walked on. A sound came blindly, until he could run no
to him; a rising-falling whisper. more. Then he fell, feeling the
He listened to it, and looked up sand beneath him, and shut his
every so often at the sky, to eyes and mind to everything.
make sure he was heading in the Much later, he got up and
right direction.
went to the fence and climbed it.
And
the sand ended. His shoes He came down on the other side
plunked over flooring. and looked around and saw
Flooring! Plum. He walked to her,
Heknelt to make sure, and mounted her, sat still. The
his hand felt wooden planks. He thoughts, or dreams, or what-
rose, and glanced up to see if
ever they were which had been
he was still outdoors. Then he torturing him these past few
laughed. It was a sick laugh, so weeks began torturing him
he stopped it.
again.
He took another step. His It was getting light. His head
shoes sounded against the wood. was splitting.
He walked. More wood. Wood Davie. His son Davie. Four-
that went on, as the sand had. teen years old. Going to high
And the roaring sound growing school in town. . .

louder. And the

air changing, Town! He should’ve gone
smelling like air never had be- there in the first place! He
fore in Cultwait County.
would ride east, to the road,

129
 stayed on the road. He went packed sand, and then wood, and “Take the horse back to his
then head south, back toward
That would bring him by a small house and saw came to a low metal railing. He farm,” the officer holding Harry
home.
colored folks in the yard. There’d - looked out at the ocean, gleaming said. He opened the door of the
right down Main Street. Regu-
been no colored folks here. in bright sunlight, surging and little Harry in-
car and pushed
lations or not, he’d talk to peo-
out what was hap- There’d been Eli Bergen and his seething endlessly. He felt the side. He wentaround to the
ple, find
family and his mother, in a earth sway beneath him. He stag- and got behind the
driver’s side
pening.
The bigger, newer house. The colored gered, and dropped to his hands wheel and drove away. Harry
He kicked Plum’s sides.
move. He kept folks heard Plum’s hooves and and knees, and shook his head looked back. Pete was leading
mare began to
she broke into a looked up and stared. Then a like a fighter hit too many times. Plum after them; not riding him,
kicking until
man “Mistah, Then he got up and went back to walking him. “He sure must like
brisk canter. He held on with raised his voice.
you breakin’ regulations! Mistah, the fence and heard a sound. It horses,” he said.
hands and legs.
the police gonnah get you!” was a familiar sound, yet strange “Yes.”
Why hadn’t he seen the Pang-
borns and Elvertons lately a — too. He shaded his eyes against
Then he saw
“Am I going to jail?”
TIE rode on. He came to an- the climbing sun. “No.”
long time lately?
The ocean. He’d seen the other house, neat and white, it— a car. A car! ‘Where then?”
with three children playing on
“The doctor’s place.”
ocean. Not a reservoir or lake
made by flooding and by dam- a grassy lawn. They saw him and
TT was one of those tiny foreign They stopped in front of the
ran inside. A moment later, adult
* jobs that run on practically no new house two miles past
ming, but salt water and enor-
voices yelled after him: gas at all. It stopped beside him Dugan’s farm. Except he’d never
mous. An ocean, where there
“You theah! Stop!” and two men got out. Young men seen it before. Or had he? Every-
could be no ocean. The Pang-
boms and Elvertons had been “Call the sheriff! He’s headin’ with lined, tired faces; they wore one seemed to know about it —
policemen’s uniforms. “You or was everyone only Edna and
where that ocean was now. And foah Piney Woods!”
had come the There was no place called broke regulations, Mr. Burr. the Shanks?
after the Elvertons
Dobsons. And after them the Piney Woods in this county. You’ll have to come with us.” He got out of the car. The
new plastics plant. And after Was this how a man’s mind He nodded. He wanted to. He officer took his arm and led him

And went? wanted to be taken care of. He up the path. Harry noticed that
that the city of Crossville.
He came to another house, turned toward Plum. the new house was big.
after that. . .

He was passing his own
He hadn’t come through
and yet here he was at his own
farm. Could he have forgotten
where town was? Could it be
north of his home, not south?
and another. He passed ten all The other officer was walking When they came inside, he
farm.
and people shouted at him around the horse. “Rode her knew it wasn’t like any house
town, told,
hard,” he said, and he sounded he’d ever seen or heard of. There
for breaking regulations, and the
last three or four sounded like
real worried. “Shouldn’t have was this long central passageway,
And their houses done that, Mr. Burr. We have so and dozens of doors branched off
Easterners.
it on both sides, and stairways
looked like pictures of New Eng- very few now. .” .

land he’d seen in magazines. The officer holding Harry’s went down from it in at least
Could a man get so confused as
He rode on. He never did arm said, “Pete.” three places that he could see,
known
to forget things he’d all
come to town. He came to a ten- The officer examining Plum and at the far end —
a good two
his life?
He reached the Shanks’ place, foot fence with a three-foot said, “It won’t make any differ- hundred yards away —
a big
barbed-wire extension. He got off ence in a while.” ramp led upward. And it was all
and passed if at a trot. Then he
Plum and ripped his clothing Harry looked at both of them, gray plaster walls and dull black
was beyond their boundaries and
climbing. He walked over hard- and felt sharp, personal fear. floors and cold white lighting,
breaking regulations again. He

130 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 131

 helped her as I’m helping you.” waiting for some land, any land,
like a hospital, or a modern fac- He didn’t resist. He went
“I don’t understand,” Harry to become habitable. And know-
tory, or maybe a government through the second door into the
said. “I remember and people, ing everything, and surrounded
building. Except that he didn’t room with the big chair. He sat
things, and where are they now? by people who are sane only
see or hear people. down and let them strap his arms
Dead? People can die, but farms, because I made sure they would
He did hear something; a low, and legs and let them lower the
.” know nothing.” He stepped for-
cities.
rumbling noise. The further they
.
metal thing over his head. He
“I haven’t the time,” the doc- ward, glaring at Harry. “Now do
came along the hall, the louder felt needles pierce his scalp and
tor repeated, voice rising. “I have you understand? I went across
the rumbling grew. It seemed to the back of his neck. He let them
to run a world. Three of us, to the country, picking up a few of
be deep down somewhere. do what they wanted; he would
run a world! I built it as best I the few left alive. Most were
let them kill him if they wanted.
could, but how large could I farmers, and even where some
rT HEY
,
went through one of the All he asked was one answer so
weren’t I picked the farmers
doors on the. right, into a as to know whether or not he
make it? The money. The years
and years The people
of work. anyway. Because farmers are
windowless room. A thin little was insane.
calling me when they
insane what we’ll need, and all the rest
man with bald head and frame- “What happened to my son
put you and
found out but a few giving
. . .
can evolve later. I
less glasses was there, putting on Davie?”
a white coat. His veiny hands The old man walked across
me more money, and the work the others, eighty-six all told,

shook. He looked a hundred
years old. “Where’s Petey?” he
asked.
“Pete’s all Just
right,
leading a horse back to Burr’s
farm.”
The old man sighed. “I didn’t
know what form it would take. I
expected one or two cases, but
I couldn’t predict whether it
would be gradual or sudden,
whether or not it would lead to
violence.”
“No violence, Dad.”
going on. And those few caught from every section of the coun-
the room and examined what
like everyone else, unprepared try, on my world, the only un-
looked like the insides of a dozen
when the holocaust started, un- contaminated land left. I gave
big radios. He turned, his hand
prepared and unable to reach you back your old lives. I
Dad. on a switch.
my world. So they died. As I couldn’t give you big crops be-
“Please,” Harry whispered.
knew they would. As they should cause we don’t need big crops.
“Just tell me about my son.”
The doctor blinked behind his have known they would.” We would only exhaust our
Harry felt the rumbling be- limited soil with big crops. But
glasses, and then his hand left
neath him. Engines? I gave you vegetable gardens
the switch. “Dead,” he said, his
“You survived,” the doctor and livestock and, best of all,
voice a rustling of dried leaves.
said. “Your wife. A few hundred sanity! Iwiped the insane mo-
“Like so many millions of others.
others in the rural areas. One ments from your minds. I gave
Dead, when the bombs fell.
Dead, as everyone knew they other family in your area. I sur- you peace and consigned myself,
would be and no one did any- vived because I lived for surviv- my sons, my own wife. .
.”

“Fine, Stan.” He looked at thing to prevent. Dead. Perhaps al, like a mole deep in the earth, He choked and stopped.
Harry. “I’m going to give you a the whole world is dead ex- — expecting the catastrophe every Stan ran across the room to
the switch. Harry watched him,
cept for us.” minute. I survived because I
little treatment, Mr. Burr. It’ll
Harry stared at him. gave up living to survive.” He and his brain struggled with an
settle your nerves and make
.” laughed, high and thin. impossible concept. He heard
everything. .

His son said, “Please, Dad. .” the engines andremembered the

‘What happened to Davie?” 64T can’t take the time to ex-
.

“No! I want to talk to some- ocean on two sides; on four

Harry asked, things pushing at plain it all. I have too
his brain again. much to do. Just three of us — one sane! You and Petey and I
—
sideshad he bothered to check
south and east; on all sides if
we’re all insane, you know.
Stan helped him up. “Just step myself and my two sons. My
Three years now, playing God, that fence continued to curve in-
this way, Mr. Burr.” wife lost her mind. I should have

132 GALAXY BREAKDOWN 133

ward. Ocean, and there was no bill. The doctor gave him two
ocean in Iowa. singles in change. “That’s cer-
The offices of
And this wasn’t Iowa. tainly reasonable enough,” Harry
The explosions had ripped the said. Singlemaster, Hucksting
world, and he’d tried to get to The
doctor nodded. “There’s a
and Battlemont held something
town to save Davie, and there’d police officer in the hall. He’ll
been no town and there’d been drive you home so there won’t that could destroy the universe
no people and there’d been only be any trouble with the travel and its name was . ,
death and poison in the air and regulations.”
even those few people left had Harry “Thanks. Think
said,
begun to die, and then the truck we’ll ever see the end of travel
with the huge trailer had come, regulations and rationing and all
the gleaming trailer with the the rest of the emergency?”
little man and his trembling wife “You will, Mr. Burr.”
and his two sons. . . Harry walked to the door.
“We’re on an ark,” the doctor
SUDDENLY, he understood.
^ And understanding brought
said.
Harry turned around, smiling.
UNLIMITED
not peace but the greatest terror “What?” By FRANK HERBERT
he’d ever known. He screamed, “A test, Mr. Burr. You passed by GAUGHAN
Illustrated
“We’re on. .” but the switch was
. it. Goodbye.”
thrown and there was no more Harry went home. He told
speech. For an hour. Then he got Edna he felt just great! She said
out of the chair and said, “Sure she’d been worried when an of-
glad I took my wife’s advice and ficer found Plum wandering on
came to see you, Doctor Ham- the road; she thought maybe
HE MORNING
T
the space
ming. I feel better already, and Harry had gone off somewhere
armor problem fell into the
after only one What do you
. . . and broken travel regulations.
agency’s lap, Gwen Everest
call these treatments?” “Me?” he exclaimed, amazed.
had breakfast at her regular res-
“Diathermy,” the little doctor “Break travel regulations? I’d as
taurant, an automated single-
muttered. soon kill a pig!”
Harry gave him a five-dollar — HERBERT D. KASTLE niche place catering to bachelor
girls. Her order popped out of

the slot onto her table, and

immediately the tabletop pro
jecta-menu switched to selling
Interdorma’s newest Interpretive
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134 fUrf- AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY GALAXY

 now and get these elbows on the desk, put her face Battlemont did a thing then
Gwen stared at the inch-high “Subscribe
FREE! Com- in her hands. Lefs face it, she that everyone from Singlemaster
words doing a skitter dance religions absolutely
She had plete text of the BlackMass plus thought. I’m 48, unmarried, and on down knew was dangerous to
above her fried eggs.
written that copy. Her food be- Abridged Mysticism!” a prime mover in an industry try with Gwen Everest. He
She was forced to walk through that’s strangling the universe. I’m pushed the override to send his
neath the ad looked suddenly
an adecal announcing: “Don’t be a professioned strangler. image dancing above her inter-
tasteless. She pushed the plate
away.- Half Safe! Believe in Everything! “Good morning,” fluted the in- phon.
speedwalk into Are you sure that African Bantu terphon.
Along the
Manhattan a you-seeker, its robo- Witchcraft is not the True Way?” She ignored it. A FTER the momentary flash

At the turn of the corridor “A strangler,” she said. of anger, Gwen correctly in-
flier senses programmed to her
susceptibilities, flew beside her stood a male-female graphic with Gwen recognized the basic terpreted the act as one of des-

ear. Itwas selling a year’s supply flesh-stimulant skinnies and sup- problem here. She had known it peration. She found herself

of Geramyl —
“the breakfast ered voices, “Find peace through since childhood. Her
was a continual replaying of “The
universe intrigued. She stared at the round
face, the pale eyes (definitely too
drink that helps you LIVE long- Tantrism.”
The skinnies made her flesh Emperor’s New Suit.” She saw small, those eyes), the pug nose
er!”
The selling hook this morning crawl. the nakedness. and wide gash of mouth above
Gwen her “Good morning,” fluted the in- almost no chin at all.
was a Gwen Everest idea: a life fled into office,

with the first slumped into her desk chair. terphon. Plus the hairline in full retreat.
insurance policy
year’s premiums paid “abso- — With mounting horror, she real- She dropped her
away from her
right hand “Andre, you are a mess,” she
face, flicked the said.
lutely FREE if you accept this ized that she had either written
offer now!” or supervised the writing of every switch. “Now what?” He ignored the insult. Still
In sudden anger, she turned on word, produced every selling idea “Did you cut me off, Gwen?” speaking in the urgency octave,
“What if I did?” he said: “I have called a full staff
the roboflier, whispered a code along that corridor.
phrase she had wheedled from The interphon on her desk “Gwen, please! We have a meeting. You must attend at

emitted its fluted “Good morn- problem.” once.”

an engineer who serviced the
things. The roboflier darted up- ing.” She slapped the blackout
“We always have problems.” “Why?”
sudden switch to keep the instrument Battlemont’s voice dropped “There are two military people
ward in erratic flight,

crashed into the side of a build- from producing an image. The one octave. “Gwen. This is a Big in there, Gwen.” He gulped. “It’s
ing. last thingshe wanted now was to problem.” desperate. Either we solve their
Uncanny the way he can speak problem or they will ruin us.
A small break in her control. see one of her co-workers.
“Who is it?” she barked. capital letters, she thought. She They will draft every man in the
A beginning.
Waiting for Gwen along the “Gwen?” No mistaking that said: “Go away.” agency!”
the Single- voice: Andre Battlemont, bottom
“You’ve been leaving your In- “Even you?”
private corridor to
and Battle-
Hucksting name on the agency totem. terdorma turned off!” accused “Yes!”
master,
‘What do you want?” she de- Battlemont. “You mustn’t. Neur- She moved her right hand
mont executive offices were dis-
osis can creep up on you.” toward the interphon’s emergen-
plays from the recent Religion of manded.
the Month Club campaign. She “Our Gwenny is feeling nasty “Is that why you called me?” cy disconnect. “Good-by, Andre.”
ran a gamut of adecals, layouts, thismorning, isn’t she?” she asked. “Gwen! My God! You can’t let
slogans, projos, quartersheets, “Oh, Freud!” She slapped the “Of course not.” me down at a time like this!”

skinnies. The works. disconnect, leaned forward with “Then go away.” “Why not?”

136 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 137

 He spoke in breathless haste. “In a few minutes.” faced the general direction of permit accurate psyche-record,”
“We’ll raise your salary. A bonus. “Don’t delay too long, Gwen.” Mecca was left over from two the engineer explained.
A bigger office. More help.” Again he mopped his forehead months before. Yoga was a month Battlemont did not delude him-
“You can’t afford me now,” with the blue handkerchief. old. There was always some self. The sole genius of the
she said. “Gwen, I’m frightened.” carry-over. agency’s three owners lay in
“I’m begging you, Gwen. Must “And with good reason.” She Battlemont had joined the Re- recognizing the genius of Gwen
you abuse me?” squinted at him. “I can see you ligion of the Month Club almost Everest. She was the agency.
She closed her eyes, thought: now: Nothing on but a lead loin- a year ago —
seduced by his It was like riding the tiger to
The insects! The damned little cloth, dumping fuel into a radio- own agency’s deep motivation have such an employee. Single-
insects with their crummy emo- active furnace. Freud, what a campaign plus the Brotherhood master, Hucksting and Battle-
tions! Why can’t l tell them all picture!” Council’s seal of approval. mont had ridden this tiger for
go to composite hell? She “This is no joke, Gwen!” This month it was the Rein-
to 22 years. Battlemont closed his
opened her- eyes, said: “What’s “I know.” .Spired Neo-Cult of St. Freud. eyes, pitched her in his mind: a
the military’s flap?” “You are going to help?” A test adecal superimposed tall, lean woman, but with a cer-
Battlemont mopped his fore- “In my own peculiar way, itself on the cloud-floor view tain grace. Her face was long,
head with a pastel blue handker- Andre.” She hit the emergency beneath him. It began playing dominated by cold blue eyes,
chief. “It’s the Space Service,” he disconnect. the latest Gwen-Everest-inspired framed in waves of auburn hair.
said. “The female branch. The pitch of the IBMausoleum. Giant She had a wit that could slash
WOMS. Enlistments have fallen A NDRE Battlemont turned rainbow letters danced across you to ribbons, and that priceless
to almost nothing.” away from his interphon, the fleecy background. commodity: the genius to pull
She was interested in spite of crossed his office to a genuine “Make your advice immortal! selling sense out of utter confu-
herself. “What’s happened?” Moslem prayer rug. He sat down .Let us store your voice and sion.
“Something to do with the on it facing the floor-to-ceiling thought patterns in everlasting Battlemont sighed.
space armor. I don’t know. I’m windows that looked eastward electronic memory circuits! When He was in love with Gwen
so upset.” across midtown Manhattan. This you are gone, your loved ones Everest.Had been for 22 years.
‘Why have they tossed it into was the 1479th floor of the Stars may listen to your voice as you It was the reason he had never
our laps like this? The ultimatum, of Space building, and it was answer their questions exactly married. His Interdorma ex-
I mean.” quite a view out there whenever the way you would most likely plained that it was because he
Battlemont glanced left and the clouds lifted. But the city have answered them in Life!” wanted to be dominated by a
right, leaned forward. “The grape- remained hidden beneath a low Battlemont shook his head. strong woman.
vine has it they’re testing a new ceiling this morning. The agency, fearful of its de- But that only explained. It
theory that creative people work Up here it was sunny, though pendence on the live Gwen Ever- didn’t help.
better under extreme stress.” — except in Battlemont’s mood. est, had secretly recorded her at For a moment, he thought
“The Psychological Branch A fear-cycle ululated along his a staff conference once. Very wistfully of Singlemaster and
again,” she said. “Those jack- nerves. illegal. The unions were death on Hucksting, both taking their an-
asses!” What he was doing on the it. But the IBMausoleum had nual three-month vacation at the
“But what can we do?” prayer rug was practicing Yoga broken down with the first ques- geriatrics center on Oahu. Battle-
“Hoist ’em,” she said. “You breathing to calm those nerves. tion put to Gwen’s ghost-voice. mont wondered if he dared ask

run along to the conference.” The military could wait. They “Some people have thought Gwen to take her vacation with
“And you’ll be there, Gwen?” had to wait. The fact that he patterns that are too complex to him. Just once.

138 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 139

 No. mating of Cellini cupids with
On his right sat Brigadier Gen- eyes, except that the man’s ap-
He realized what a pitiful fig- Dali landscapes.
eral Sonnet Finnister of the peared colder.
ure he made on the prayer rug. Period stuff. Antique.
WOMS (Women of Space). Bat- If that were possible.
Pudgy little man in a rather un- Into this baroque setting had tlemont had been appalled to see
attractive blue suit. been forced a one-piece table 6
Beyond Owling sat Leo Prim,
her walk. Drill-sergeant stride. the agency’s art director. He was
Tailors did things for him that feet wide and 42 feet long. It
No nonsense. She wore a self-de- a thin young man, thin to a point
they called “improving your good was an enlarged bit of Twentieth signed uniform: straight pleated that vibrated across the edge of
points.” But except when he Century Wallstreetiana fenced in
skirt to conceal bony hips, a loose emaciation. His black hair, worn
viewed himself in a Vesta-Mirror by heavy wooden chairs. Bean-
blouse to camouflage lack of
to see the sample clothes pro- bag paperweights and golden
long, held a natural wave. He
upper development, and a long had a narrow Roman nose, soul-
jected back onto his own ideal- wheel ashtrays graced every
cape to confuse the whole issue. ful brown eyes, strong cleft in
ized image, he could never pin place.
Atop her head sat a duck-billed, the chin, generous mouth with
down what those “good points” The air of the room was blue
flat-fronted cap that had been large lips. A mood-cig dangled
were. with the smoke of mood-cigs. (“It
fashioned for the single purpose from the lips.
Gwen would certainly turn him rhymes with Good Bigs!”) The
of hiding the Sonnet Finnister If Battlemont could have
down. staff seated around the table was
forehead, which went too high chosen his own appearance, he
He feared that more than any- fighting off the depressant effect
and too wide.
thing.As long as there remained of the two Space Service gener-
would have liked to look like
She seldom removed the hat. Leo Prim. Romantic. Battlemont
the possibility . . . als, one male and one female,
(This particular hat, Battle- caught Prim’s attention, ventured
Memory of the waiting Space seated in flanking positions be-
mont’s hurried private investiga- a smile of cameraderie.
Service deputation intruded. Bat- side Battlemont’s empty chair.
tions had revealed, looked hid- No response.
tlemont trembled, broke the Yo- There was a surprising lack of eous on every other member of General Sonnet Finnister tap-
ga breathing pattern. The exer- small talk and paper rustling.
the WOMS. To a woman, they ped a thin finger on the tabletop.
cise was having its usual effect: All staff members had learned
called it /
“the Sonnet Bonnet.” It sounded to Battlemont like the
a feeling of vertigo. He heaved of the ultimatum via the office
There had been the additional
himself to his
in- slack drum of a- death march.
feet. grapevine.
formation that the general her- “Hadn’t we better get started?”
“One cannot run away from Battlemont slipped in his side self was referred to by under- demanded Finnister.
fate,” he muttered.
That was a carry-over from the
door, crossed to his chair at the
end of the table, dropped into it
lings as “Sinister Finnister” — “Are we all here finally?” —
partly because of the swirling asked Owling.
Karma month. before his knees gave out. He
cape.) Battlemont swallowed past a
stared from one frowning mili-
On Battlemont’s left sat Gen- lump in
A CCORDING to Gwen, the tary face to the other.
eral Nathan Owling
his throat. “Well ... ah
of the Space no ah .”
agency’s conference room No response. Engineers.
. . . . . . . .

Better known as Owling opened a briefcase in

had been copied from a Floren- He cleared his throat. “Sorry “Howling Owling” because of "a his lap, glanced at an intelligence
tine bordello’s Emperor Room. I’m .ah . Pressing business.
. . . .
characteristic evidenced when he report, looked around the table.
It was a gigantic space. The cor- Unavoidable.” He cast a frantic
became angry. He appeared to “Miss Everest is missing,” he an-
ners were all flossy curliques in glance around the table. No sign
have been shaped in the officer nounced.
heavy gilding, an effect carried of Gwen. He smiled at one offi-
caste’s current mold of lean, Finnister said: “Couldn’t we go
over into deep carvings on the cer, the other.
blond athlete. The blue eyes re- ahead without her?”
wall panels. The ceiling was a No response.
minded Battlemont of Gwen’s “We’ll wait,” said Owling. He
140 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 141
was enjoying himself. Damned Such a feminine woman in spite “Yes, of course,” said Gwen. One misstep and the agency
of her strength. So different from “General Finnister Woms. Must was ruined.
parasitesneed a touch of the
whip now and then! he thought. the female general. not go too informal, you know.” Who cares?
Gwen found a spare chair Finnister spoke in slow ca- It all passed in a split second,
Shows ’em where they stand.
against the side wall,crowded it dence: “I am General . . . . . . . . . but the decision was made.
glared at Owling, between Battlemont and Fin- Sonnet Finnister of Rebellion!
INNISTER in . . . . . . . . .

F a hawk stare that had re- nister.

WOMS
the .

The WOMS!”
. . Women . . . of . . . Space!
/"''WEN turned her attention on
The commander of the
duced
trembling.
full colonels
The stare
(male)
rolled
to
off glared at the intruder. “Who are “Oh, how stupid
Gwen. “Of course you
of me,” said ^ Owling. “Would you be kind
Trust the you?” are.” She enough to end this stalling
Owling without effect.
Battlemont leaned forward. patted the general’s hand, smiled around and get the meeting un-
high command to pair me with
“This is Miss Everest, our at Battlemont. der way?”
a male supremacy type like Owl-
. . .

ah .” He hesitated, confused. Battlemont, who well knew the “Stall ..” Owling broke it
.
ing! she thought. . .

from snoop- Gwen had never had an official falsity of this mood in Gwen off. The intelligence report had
“Is this place safe
title with the agency. Never Everest, was trying to scrunch said Gwen Everest was fond of
ing?” asked Owling.
needed it. Everyone in the place down out of sight in his chair. shock tactics. He gave her a curt
Battlemont turned his own
knew she was the boss. “Ahh In that moment, Gwen realized nod, passed the nod to Finnister.
low-wattage glare on the staff
. . .

Miss Everest is our ah with a twinge of fear that she The female general addressed
seated in the mood smoke haze
. . . . . .

coordination,” said had reached a psychic point of Battlemont. “Your agency, as we

around the table. No glance met director of
does Battlemont. no return. Something slipped a explained to you earlier, has been
his. “That’s all anybody ever
“Why! That’s a wonderful cog in her mind. She glanced chosen for a vital task, Mr. Bat-
around here!” he snapped.
title!” said Gwen. “I must get it around the table. Familiar faces tlefield.”
“What?” Owling started to rise.
printed on my stationery.” She leaped at her with unreal clarity. “Battlemont,” said Gwen.
“Busybodies!” blared Battle-
patted Battlemont’s hand, faced Staring eyes. (The best part of Finnister stopped short.
mont. “My whole staff!”
him and, in her best undercover- a conference was to watch Gwen “What?”
“Ohhh.” Owling sank back in-
agent-going-into-action voice, in action.) I can’t take any more “His name is Battlemont, not
to his chair. “I meant a different
kind of snooping.” said: “Let’s have it, Chief. Who of this, thought Gwen. I have to Gwen.
Battle/?e/d,” said
What’s going declare myself. “What of it?”
“Oh, that.” Battlemont shrug- are these people?
on?” She focused on the military. “Names are important,” said
ged, suppressed an urge to glance
General Owling nodded to The rest of the people in this Gwen. “I’m sure you appreciate
up at the conference room’s con- room owned little pieces
Gwen. “I’m Owling, General, of her,
cealed recorder lenses. “We can-
this.”
He gestured but not these two. Owling and The Finnister cheeks flushed.
not have our ideas pirated by Space Engineers.”
to the rocket splash insignia on
Finnister. Space generals. Sym- “Quite!”
other agencies, you know. Ab-
bols. Targets! Owling
solutely safe here.” his shoulder. “My companion is stepped into the
General Finnister, WOMS.” Let the chips fall where they breach. “We are authorized to
Gwen Everest chose this mo- may! Fire when ready, Gridley.
Gwen had recognized the fa- pay thisagency double the usual
ment for her entrance. All eyes
mous Finnister face. She smiled Shoot if you must this old gray fee for performance,” he said.
followed her as she came through
brightly, said: “General Woms!” head Wait until you see the “However, if you fail us we’ll
the end door, strode down the
. . .

snapped the fe- whites of their eyes. draft every male employee here
length of the room. “Finnister!”
male general. Gwen nodded to herself. into the Space Service!”
Battlemont admired her grace.

GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 143

142
 “What an asinine idea!” said unmilitarized minds could under- said Finnister.She adjusted the was that Gwen would get a gi-
Gwen. “Our people would de- stand?” brim of her cap. gantic belly laugh from the pic-
stroy the Space Service. From A pause, a glare. Finnister Gwen frowned at the cap, cast ture of the agency’s male staff
within.” Again she smiled at Bat- spewed her words through stiff a glance up and down the Fin-
WOMS members drafted, slaving away
tlemont. “Andre here could do lips. “Enlistments in the nister uniform. “I’ve seen the on space freighters.
all by himself. Couldn’t you, have fallen to an alarming de- usual news pictures of the
it Battlemont trembled.
ducky?” She patted Battlemont’s gree. You are going to correct armor,” she said. “What do they General Finnister was saying:
cheek. this.” wear underneath it? Something “The problem is not one of get-
Battlemont tried to crouch Behind Gwen, Battlemont like your uniform?” ting women to enlist for Earth-
down into the chair. He nodded vigorously.
farther
“Women can release men for
Finnister suppressed a surge of based service. We need them in
avoided the eyes of the space anger. “No. They wear special the ships, the asteroid stations,
brass, said: “Gwen
please .” . . the more strenuous tasks,” said fatigues.”
. . .
the .”
. .

“What do you mean, destroy Owling. “The armor cannot be re- “Let’s get this straight,” said
the Space Service?” demanded “And there are many things moved while they are in space,” Gwen. “My great-great-grand-
Finnister. women can do that men cannot said Owling. mother was in some kind of
Gwen ignored her, addressed do,” said Finnister. “Oh?” said Gwen. “What about armed service. I read her diary
“Absolutely essential,” said
Owling. “This is another one of physical functions, that sort of She called it the ‘whackies’
once.
the Psych Branch’s brainstorms,” Owling. thing?” or something like that.”
she said. “I can smell the stench “Absolutely,” agreed Finnister. “Armor takes care of every- “WACS,” said Finnister.
of ’em in every word.” “Can’t draft women, I suppose,” thing,” said Owling. “Yes,” said Gwen. “It was dur-
Owling frowned. As a matter said Gwen. “Apparently not quite every- ing the war with Spain.”
of fact, he had the practical “Tried to get a bill through,” thing,” murmured Gwen. She “Japan,” said Owling.
builder’s suspicion of everything said Owling. “Damned commit- nodded to herself, mulling tactics. “What I’m driving at is, why
subjective. This Kverest woman tee’sheaded by an anti-military
all the sudden interest in women?
made a good point there. But the woman.” TJATTLEMONT straightened, My great-great-grandmother had
military had to stand shoulder “Good for her,” said Gwen. aj sniffed the atmosphere of the one merry old time running away
to shoulder against outsiders. He “You do not sound like the conference room. Staff all alert, from some colonel who wanted
said: “I don’t believe you are person for this job,” said Owling.
Mood had light-
quiet, attentive. . Well, you know. Is this some
. .

properly equipped to fathom mil- “Perhaps .

.” .
ened somewhat. Gwen appeared kind of a dodge to provide
itary tactics. Let’s get on to the “Oh, simmer down,” said Gwen. to be taking over. Good old women for your space colonels?”
problem we . .
“Miss Everest is the best in Gwen. Wonderful Gwen. No tell- Finnister scowled her blackest.
“Military tactics yet!” Gwen the business,” said Battlemont. what she was up
ing to. As usual. Quickly suppressed chuckles
rapped the table. “Deploy your Gwen said: “Why are enlist-
She’d solve this thing, though. sounded around the table.
forces, men. This is it! Synchro- ments down? You’ve run the
Always did. Unless . . . Owling decided to try a new
nize your watches. Over the top!” usual surveys, I suppose.” He blinked. Could she be toy- tack. “My dear lady, our motives
“Gwen!” said Battlemont. “It’s the space armor,” said ing with them? He tried to imag-
Finnister. “Women don’t like it.”
'are of the highest. need the We
“Of course,” said Gwen. She ine Gwen’s thought patterns. Im- abilities of women so that man-
faced Finnister. “Would you “Too mechanical,” said Owling. possible. IBMausoleum couldn’t kind can march side by side to
mind awfully outlining your “Too practical.”
even do it. Unpredictable. All the stars.”
problem in simple terms that our “We need . . . ah . . .
glamor,”
Battlemont could be certain of Gwen stared at him in open

144
GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 145
admiration. “Go-wan!” she said. on. “Space armor is mostly plas- “Well!” exploded Finister. “I want to put it that way.”
“I mean it,” said Owling. tic, not tin.” Still without looking up, Gwen She glanced at Finnister. “So we
“You’re a poet!” said Gwen. “Plastic-schmastic,” said Gwen. said: “Simmer down. How about let the experts do the designing,
“Oh and I’ve wronged you.
. “I want to see your Iron Gertie.” the hat? You design that, too?” is that clear? You people keep
—
. .

Here I was dirty-minded me General Owling took two deep “Yesss!” It was a sibilant ex- your greasy fingers off. Under-
— thinking you wanted women breaths to calm his nerves, snap- plosion. stood?” She shot a hard stare at
for base purposes. And all the ped open the briefcase, extracted Gwen lifted her attention to Owling, back to Finnister.
time you wanted companions. a folder of design sketches. He the hat, spoke in a reasonable “I don’t know about you!” Fin-
Someone to share this glorious pushed them toward Gwen a — tone: “Possibly the most hideous nister snapped at Owling, “but
new adventure.” hesitant motion as though he thing I’ve ever seen.” I’ve had all —
Again, Battlemont recognized feared she might take his hand “Well of all the — “If you value your military
the danger signals. He tried to with them. He now recognized “Are you a fashion designer?” career you’ll just sit down and
squeeze himself into as small a that the incredible intelligence asked Gwen politely. listen,” said Gwen. Again, she
target as possible. Most of the report was correct: this astonish- Finnister shook her head as glared at Owling. “Do you under-
staff around the table saw the ing female was the actual head though to clear it of cobwebs. stand?”
same signals, but they were in- of the agency. “You are not a fashion design- Owling shook head from
tent, fascinated. “Here’s —
Iron Gertie,” he er?” pressed Gwen. side to side.
his
Amazement domina-
“Exactly!” boomed Finnister. said, and forced a chuckle. Finnister bit the words off. “I ted him.Abruptly, he realized
Gwen’s voice erupted in an Gwen leafed through the fold-
angry snarl: “And we name all er while the others watched.
have
choosing
had
— some experience in that his head shaking could be
interpreted as negative. He bob-
the little bastards after the stars Battlemont stared at her. He “The answer is no, then,” said bed his head up and down, de-
in Virgo, ehhh?” realized something the rest of Gwen. “Thought so.” She brought cided in mid-motion that this was
It took a long moment for Fin- the staff did not: Gwen Everest her attention back to the folder, undignified. He stopped, cleared
nister and Owling to see that was not being the usual Gwen turned a page. his throat.
they had been gulled. Finnister Everest. There was a subtle dif- Finnister glared at her in What an astonishing female!
started to rise. ference. An abandon. Something open-mouthed rage. he thought.
“Siddown!” barked Gwen. She was very wrong! Gwen glanced up at Owling. Gwen pushed the folder of
grinned. She was having a magni- “Why’d you put the finger on design sketches uptable to Leo
ficent time. Rebellion carried a WITHOUT looking up from
sense of euphoria.
™ the drawings, Gwen ad-
this agency?”
Owling appeared to have
Prim, the art director. “Tell me,
General Owling,” she said, “why
Owling opened his mouth, dressed herself to Finnister. trouble focusing his attention on is the armor so bulky?”
closed it without a howl. “That uniform you’re wearing, Gwen’s question. Presently, he Leo Prim, who had opened the
Finnister sank back into her General Finnister. You design said: “You were ... it was folder, began to chuckle.
chair. that yourself?” pointed out that this agency was “Marvelous, isn’t it?” said
“Shall we get down to busi- “What? Oh, yes. I did.” one of the most successful in . . . Gwen.
ness?” snapped Gwen. “Let’s look Battlemont trembled. if not the most successful . . Someone farther uptable
at this glorified hunk of tin you Gwen reached out, rapped one “We were classified as experts, asked:“What is?”
want us to glamorize.” of Finnister’s hips. “Bony,” she eh?” Gwen kept her attention on
Finnister found something she said. She turned a page in the “Yes. If you want to put it Owling. “Some jassack engineer
could focus her shocked attention folder, shook her head. that way.” in the Space Service designed a

146 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 147

test model suit of armor like a glory! All flags flying! Full speed
gigantic woman — breasts and ahead! Damn the torpedoes!
all.” She glanced at Finnister. “Well?” said Owling.
“You ran a survey on the stupid Fire one! thought Gwen. She
thing, of course?” said: “Presumably, you have spe-
Finnister nodded. She was cialists, experts who can advise
shocked speechless. us on technical details.”
“I could’ve saved you the “At your beck and call when-
trouble,” saidGwen. “One of the ever you say the word,” said
reasons you’d better listen care- Owling.
fully to what expert me has to
say. No woman in her right mind T) ATTLEMONT opened his
would get into that thing. She’d eyes, stared at the back of
feel big —
and she’d feel naked.” Gwen’s neck. A ray of hope stab-
Gwen shook her head. “Freud! bed through his panic. Was it
What a combination!” possible that Gwen was really
Owling wet his with his
lips taking over?
tongue. “Ah, the armor has to “I’ll also want all the dope on
provide sufficient shielding which psychological types make
against radiation, and it must re- the best WOMS,” said Gwen. “If
main articulate under extremes there is such a thing as a best
of pressure and temperature,” he WOM.”
said. “It can’t be made any small- Battlemont closed his eyes,
er and still permit a human shuddered.
being to fit into it. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been
“Okay,” said Gwen. “I have the treated this high-handedly in my
beginnings of an idea.” entire career!” blurted Finnister.
She closed her eyes, thought: “I’m not entirely sure that —
These military jerks are a couple “Just a moment, please,” said
of sitting ducks. Almost a shame Owling. He studied Gwen, who
to pot them. She opened her eyes, was smiling at him. The intelli-
glanced at Battlemont. His eyes gence report said this woman was
were closed. He appeared to be “probable genius” and should be
praying. Could be the ruination handled delicately.
of poor Andre and his lovely “I’m only sorry the law doesn’t
people, too, she thought. What a give us the right to draft women,
marvelous collection of profes- too!” barked Finnister.
sional stranglers! Well, can’t be “Then you wouldn’t really
helped. When Gwen
Everest goes have this problem, would you?”
out, she goes out in a blaze of asked Gwen. She turned her

A-W-F UNLIMITED 149

 ”

smile on Finnister. It was full of General Finnister had become “Please be quiet, Andre; you’re Battlemont spoke plaintively.
beatitudes. a Gwenophobe. interrupting my train of thought.” “I don’t understand.”

Owling said: “I know we have Which was part of Gwen Ever- She turned to Leo Prim. “Leo, “Good,” said Gwen. “Leo, send
full authority to handle this at est’s program. take those sketches and things of me Restivo and Jim Spark . . .

presume you two will be that big-breasted Bertha they de- a couple more of your best de-
our own discretion, General Fin- “I

nister, and I agree that we’ve available for technical consulta- signed. I want adecal workups sign people. Include yourself.

been subjected to some abuse tions from time to time,” said on them, full projos, the entire We’ll . .
.”

but. .
Gwen. campaign outlay.” “And, lo! Ben Adam’s name
“Abuse!” Finnister said. “Our subordinates take care of “Big Bertha adecals, projos, led the rest,” said Battlemont.
all

said details,” said Owling. “All Gen- the outlay,” said Prim. “Right!” Gwen turned, stared down at
“And high time, too,”
eral Finnister and I are interested “Gwen, what are you doing?” him. For one of the rare times
Gwen.
in is the big picture, the key to asked Battlemont. “You said in their association, Battlemont
A violent shudder passed —
through Battlemont. He thought: the puzzle.” yourself that had surprised her with something
We are doomed! key to puzzle,”
“Big picture, “You’re babbling, Andre,” said he said.

“However,” said Owling, “we mused Gwen. “Wonderful idea.” Gwen. She glanced up at the ceil- I wonder if our dear Andre

mustn’t let our personal feelings “What?” Owling stared at ing. An eye in one of the Cellini could be human? she mused. No!
cloud a decision for the good of her, puzzled. cupids winked at her. “We got I must be going soft in the head.
“Nothing,” said Gwen. “Just the usual solid recordings of this She said: “Andre, go take a medi-
the service.”
“I hear the bugles blowing,” thinking out loud.” conference, I presume?” tation break until time to call
murmured Gwen. Owling stood up, looked at “Of course,” said Battlemont. our next conference. Eh? There’s
“This agency was chosen as Finnister. “Shall we be going?” “Take those recordings, Leo,” a good fellow.”

the one most likely to solve the Finnister also stood up, turned said Gwen. “Do a sequence out Always before when she abused
problem,” said Owling. toward the door at the end of of them featuring only General me it was like a joke between us,

“There could have been a mis- the room. “Yesss!” Sinister Sonnet Bonnet Finnis- thought Battlemont dolefully.

take!” said Finnister.

Together, one on each side of ter.” But now she is trying to hurt.

“Not likely.” the table, they' marched the “What’d you call her?” asked His concern now was for Gwen,
“You are determined to turn length of the room: tump-a- Prim. not for the agency. My Gwen
this thing over to to .
.”
. . . .
thump - a - tump - a - thump - a - tump needs help. And I don’t know
Finnister broke off, tapped her . .
.
Just as they reached the door Z'" 1
WEN
explained about the what to do.

palms on the table top. and Owling opened it, Gwen Finnister nicknames. “The “Meditation break time,” said
jumped to her feet. “Charrrrge!” fashion trade knows all about Gwen. “Or you could go to a
“It’s advisable,” said Owling.
He thought: This Gwen Everest she shouted. her,” she finished. “A living hor- mood bar. Why don’t you try
The two almost the new Interdorma mediniche?
will solve our problem. No prob-
officers froze, ror.”

lem could resist her. No problem turned, thought better of it. They “Yeah, okay,” said Prim. “A A niche in time saves the mind!”
would dare! left, slamming the door. solid sequence of nothing but “I prefer to remain awake for
General Owling had become a Battlemont spoke plaintively Finnister. What do you want it our last hours together,” said Bat-
Gwenophile. into the silence. “Gwen, why do to show?” tlemont. A sob clutched at his
“Very well, then,” snarled Fin- you destroy us?” “Every angle of that uniform,” throat. He stood up to cover the

nister. “I will reserve my judg- “Destroy you? Don’t be silly!” said Gwen. “And the hat. Freud! moment, drew himself to atten-
ment.” “But, Gwen . .
.”
Don’t forget that hat!” tion, fixed Gwen with a despair-

150
GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 151
ing glare. “I feel the future close you are to disaster. You “It has been moved that we self that she could never recap-
crouching over us like a great think Gwen taking over as
is label this business the Absolutely ture. It made her angry. She
beast!” He turned his back on usual. But Gwen doesn’t care. Worst Flap,” she said. wanted to kick, bite, claw. In-

Gwen doesn’t give a damn any Chuckles from the staff. stead, she smiled fixedly. “Ex-
her, strode out through his pri-
more. Gwen is resigning in a blaze “You will note,” said Gwen, cuse me. May I get through here?
vate door.
“that the initials A-W-F are the Sorry. Thank you. Excuse me.”
“I wonder what the devil he of glory! Into the valley of death
meant by that?” mused Gwen. rode the 600! Or was it 400? No first three letters in the word And an image of Andre Battle-

Prim said: “This is the month matter. War is hell! I only regret awful.” mont kept intruding on her con-

They go that I have but one life to give Laughter. sciousness. Such a pitiful little
of St. Freud. for pre-
science, extrasensory perception, for my agency. Give me liberty “Up to now,” said Gwen, “we’ve So
fellow. . well
. . sweet.
. . .

that sort of thing.” or give me to the MS. WO only had to contend with Minor, Dammit! Sweet! In a despicable
“Oh, she said. “I
certainly,” Leo Prim said: “You’re going Medium and Complete Flaps. sort of way.

wrote the brochure.” But she for the throat on these two mili- Now I give you the AWF! It
found herself disturbed by Bat- tary types, is that it?” rhymes with the grunt of some- rpWENTY-FIVE days slipped
one being slugged in the stom- off the calendar. Twenty-five
tlemont’s departure. He looked “Military tactics,” said Gwen.
so pitiful, she thought. What if “No survivors! Take no prisoners! ach!” days of splashing in a pool of
this little caper backfires and he Death to the White Eyes!” Into the laughter that filled confusion. Gwen’s element. She

gets drafted? It could happen. “Huh?” said Prim. the room, Prim said: “How about hurled herself into the problem.
Leo and the rest of these stran- “Get right on that assignment the U
and L in awful? Can’t let This one had to be just right. A
them go to waste.” tagline for her exit. A Gwen Ev-
glers could take it. But Andre -. . I gave you,” she said.
She gave a mental shrug. T oo “Uhh .” Prim looked down at
. .
“Un Limited?’ snapped Gwen. erest signature at the bottom of
late to turn back now. the Owling had left.
folder “Absolutely Worst Flap UnLim- the page.
Department heads began press- “Workups on this Big Bertha ited!” She began to laugh, had Technical from the
experts

ing toward Gwen along the table. thing' ... a solido on Finnister. to choke it off as the laughter military swarmed all through the
Okay.” He shook his head. “You edged into hysteria. Whatinell’s agency. Experts on suit articula-
“Say, Gwen, what about the pro-
duction on “If I’m going to
. . know, this business could shape wrong with me? she wondered. tion. Experts on- shielding. Pres-

up into a Complete Flap.” She glared at Prim. “Let’s get sure coefficients. Artificial atmo-
meet any deadlines I’ll need
“Will we have to drop could be worse than that,” cracking, men! Isn’t a damn one sphere. Waste reclamation. Sub-
more . .
.’’
“It
Gwen cautioned. of you would look good in uni- miniature power elements. A
our other . .
.”

“Shaddup!” bellowed Gwen. Someone else said: “It’s abso- form.” locksmith. An expert on the new
She smiled sweetly into the lutely the worst I’ve ever seen. The laughter shaded down in- mutable plastics. (He had to be

shocked silence. “I will meet with Drafted!” to nervous gutterings. “That flown in from the West Coast.)
And Gwen thought: Ooooh! Gwen!” Plus the fashion experts seen
each of you privately, just as
soon as I get in a fresh stock of Someone has trepidations! Ab- Gwen had to get out of there. only by Gwen.
It was like a feeling of nausea. It was quite a job making sure
crying towels. First things first, ruptly, she said: “Absolutely
She pushed her way down the that each military expert saw
though. Number one problem: we worst flap.” She brightened.
One moment, side of the room. The sparkle had only what his small technical
get the monkey off our backs. “That’s wonderful!
Eh?” all you lovely people.” gone out of her rebellion. She world required.
And she thought: You poor There was sudden stillness in felt that all of these people were Came the day of the Big Pic-
pulling at her, taking bits of her- ture. The very morning.
oafs! You aren’t even aware how the preparations for departure.

152 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 153

 Adjacent to her office Gwen
maintained a special room about
20 feet square. She called it “my
intimidation room.” It was al-
most Louis XV: insubstantial
chairs, teetery little tables, glass
gimcracks on the light
pastel cherubs on the wall panels.
The chairs looked though as
they might smash flat under the
weight of a medium-sized man.
Each (with the exception of a
padded throne chair that slid
from behind a wall panel for
Gwen) had a seat that canted
forward. The sitters kept sliding
off, gently, imperceptibly.
None of the tables had a top
largeenough for a note pad and
an ashtray. One of these items
had to be balanced in the lap
or placed underfoot. That forced
an occasional look at the carpet.
The carpet had been produced
pulled her skirt down as he
watched. He wondered why she
sat so far forward on the chair.
Damned uncomfortable little
chairs!
He noted that Battlemont had
fixtures, brought in one of the big con-
ference room chairs for himself.
Owling wondered why they all
couldn’t have those big, square,
solid, secure chairs. For that mat-
ter, whywasn’t this meeting be-
ing held in the big conference
room? Full staff. The Big Pic-
ture! He glanced up at the wall
panel opposite. Stupid damned
cherub! He looked down at the
rug, grimaced, tore his gaze away.
Finnister had looked at
rug when she came into the room,
had almost lost her balance. Now,
she tried to keep her attention off
it. Her mind seethed with dis-
quieting rumors. Individual re-
him for weeks. Too busy. Sud- Finnister and Owling looked
denly this morning she had to at each other.
have Andre Battlemont front and
center. A figurehead. A prop for TJATTLEMONT closed his
her show. He knew pretty
little eyes. Gwen, please hurry. He
much what she was doing, too. thought about her solution to the
In the outward, physical sense. military problem, began to trem-
She might be able to keep things ble. Her basic idea was sound, of
from some of the people around course. Good psychological roots.
here, but Andre Battlemont ran But the military would never go
his own intelligence system. As for it. Especially that female gen-
to what was going on in her mind, eral who walked like a sergeant.
though, he couldn’t be sure. All Battlemont’s eyes snapped open
he knew was that it didn’t fit. as he heard a door open.
Not even for Gwen. Gwen came in pushing a port-
Finnister said: “Our technical able display projector. A glance
people inform us that you’ve of mutual dislike passed between
been pretty interested ” she — Gwen and Finnister, was masked
the pushed herself back in the chair by mutual bright smiles immedi-
— “in the characteristics of some ately.
of the newer mutable plastics.” “Good morning, everybody,”
“That is true,” said Battlemont. chirped Gwen.
“Why?” asked Owling. Danger signal! thought Battle-
“Ahhh, perhaps we’d better mont. She’s mad! She’s He. . .

with alarming psychological trig- ports from the technical experts wait for Miss Everest,” said Bat- stopped the thought, focused on
gers. The uninitiated felt that failed to reveal a total image. It tlemont. “She is bringing a solido it. Maybe she is. We work her
they were standing upside down was like a jigsaw puzzle with projector.” so hard.
in a fishbowl. pieces from separate puzzles all “You have mockups already?” “Anxious to see what you have
General Owling occupied one thrown together. She pushed her- asked Owling. there,” said Owling. “Just getting
of the trick chairs. He tried to self backward in the chair. What “Yes.” ready to ask for a progress report
keep from staring at the cherub an uncomfortable room. Intuition “Good! How many models?” when you called this meeting.”
centered in a wall panel directly told her the place was subtly de- “One. Our receptionist. Beauti- “We wanted to have something
across from him, slightly to the liberate. Her latent anger at ful girl.” first that you could appreciate as
right of the seated figure of Andre Gwen Everest flared. Where is “What?” Finnister and Owling an engineer,” said Gwen.
Battlemont. Battlemont looked that woman? in unison. Owling nodded.
ill. Owling pushed himself back- Battlemont cleared his throat, “Oh! You mean . . . that is, we Finnister said: “Our people re-
ward in the chair. His knees felt glanced at the door to his right have the one to show you. It port that you’ve been very secre-
exposed. He glanced at General through which Gwen was expec- is really two but only one
. . . of tive about your work. Why?”
Finnister. She sat to his right ted momentarily. Must she al- . .
.” He shrugged, suppressed a “The very walls have ears.
beyond a spindly table. She ways be late? Gwen had avoided shudder. Loose lips lose the Peace! Don’t

154 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 155

be half safe!” Gwen positioned “The old carrousel! The jingle- desexed chunks of metal and Gwen smiled at her.
the projector in the center of dingle joy journey!” plastic where no men can g'et Gwen is deliberately destroy-
the room, took the remote con- Battlemont looked at her sad- at them. Great Freud! Men can’t ing and us
herself with her,
trol, crossed to a panel which ly. Mad. Ohhh, my poor, poor even see them in there!” thought Battlemont.
swung out to disgorge her chair. Gwenny. “Women don’t really want men “Do you see what is lacking?”
She sat down facing Finnister Owling said: “I . . . uh . .
.”
to get at them!” barked Finnister. asked Gwen.
and Owling. “But they all want one com- “Of “Hmmmm-ahhhhh-hmmmmm,”
Seconds past while
dragged modity!” snapped Gwen. “And ever — the
all disgusting ideas I’ve
said Owling.
she stared in fascination at Fin- what’s that? Romance! That’s “Just a minute!” said Gwen. “A “A universal symbol,” said
nister’s knees. what’s that. And in the uncon- normal woman always wants the Gwen. “A bold symbol. A sym-
“Gwen?” said Battlemont. scious mind what’s that romance? possibility. That’s what she wants. bol!”
Finnister tugged down on the That romance is sex!” And she wants it under her con- “What do you propose?” asked
hem of her skirt. “I believe I’ve heard enough,” trol. You’ve eliminated the possi- Owling.
“What do you have to show said Finnister. bility. You’ve taken all control “That’s Gwen. “A pro- said
us?” demanded Owling. He “No,” said Owling. “Let’s . . .
out of their hands, put your posal! Plus
it!”

she hesitated— ” —
pushed himself back in the chair. uh . this is all, I’m sure, pre-
. . women mercy of the ele-
at the “the symbol! The key
is very sim-

“First,” said Gwen,

us ex- “let liminary. I want to know where ments, separated from cold, mas- ple.” She sat up, perky, grinning
amine the perimeters of the prob- . after all, the model
. . . . .
culine, angular ABRUPT AND at them. “In fact, it’s a key!”
lem. You must ask yourself: What models they’ve developed .” . . FINAL DEATH! by only a thin Finnister and Owling Spoke in
do young women want when they “What’s with sex when you get layer of plastic and metal.” unison: “A key?”
enter the service?” all the folderol off it?” demanded Battlemont stared at her help- “Yes. Two keys, actually. Sym-
“Sounds sensible,” said Owl- Gwen. “The psychological roots. lessly. Poor Gwen. Doomed. And bolism’s obvious.” She produced
ing. What’s down there?” she won’t even sell this idea. two keys from her jacket pocket,
Finnister nodded, her dislike Owling scratched his throat, We’re all doomed with her. held them up. ^‘As you can see,
of Gwen submerged in attention stared at her. He had a basic one key is hard, angular ... a
to the words. distrust of subjective ideas, but T^INNISTER glared at Gwen, masculine key. The other has
“They want several things,” he always came smack up against still smarting under the im- fancy curves. It’s daintier, more
said Gwen. “They want travel the fear that maybe (just maybe plied dig of the word normal. the. .
.”

. . . adventure . . . the knight now) they were correct. Some of “How do you propose to get “Do you. mean to tell me,”
errant sort of thing. Tally-ho!” them appeared (and it could be around these, ah, objections?” howled Owling, “that you people
Battlemont, Finnister and Owl- appearance only ) to work. asked Owling. have spent all these weeks, all
ing snapped to shocked attention. “I’ll tell you what’s down “You’ll see,” said Gwen. “Let’s those consultations with our ex-
“Gives you pause when you there,” muttered Gwen. “Mother- go in from the perimeter now. perts, and come up with with . . .

think about it,” murmured Gwen. hood. Home. Security with a Remember, the basic female idea . with
. . He pointed, unable
. .

“All those women looking for man. The flag.”
something. Looking for the free Owling thought: It all sounds
ride. The brass ring. The pot at so sensible except . .
the end of the rainbow.” “And what does your armor
She had them nodding again, do?” asked Gwen. “Armor equals
Gwen noted. She raised her voice: no amour! They’re locked up in
. .
is to be able to run away with the to continue.
assurance that she will be caught. Gwen shook her head from
.
She wants a certain amount of side to side. “Oh, no. Remember,
exposure as a female without be- these are just symbols. They’re
ing too bare-ahhh-faced about it.” important, of course. One might
“Mmmmph!” said Finnister. even say they were vital. Each

156 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 157

1
key will be inscribed with the Gwen had pushed a stud on
name of the person who gets it.” the solido projector’s remote con-
“What are they keys to?” trol. A suit of space armor
asked Finnister. She was fasci- appeared to be hanging in the
nated in spite of herself. center of the room. In the suit,
“To the space armor, natural- wearing a form-fitting jacket,
ly,” said Gwen. “These keys lock stood the agency’s busty recep-
your people in their armor — tionist. The suit of armor around
both men and women.” her was transparent from the
“Lock them?” protested Fin- waist up.
nister. “But you said .” . . “The bottom half remains
“I know,” said Gwen. “But, you opaque at all times,” said Gwen.
see, a key that will lock people “For reasons of modesty . . . the
into something will also let them connections. However, the top
out. As a matter of fact, any one half . .

of these keys will open any suit. Gwen pushed another stud.
That’s for the safety factor.” The transparent upper half faded
“But they can’t get out of their through gray to black until it
suits when they’re in space!” concealed the model.
howled Owling. “Of all the .” . . “For privacy when desired,”
“That’s right!” said Gwen. said Gwen. “That’s how we’ve
“They can’t really get out.So used the new mutable plastic.
we give them the symbol of get- Gives the girl some control over
ting out. For exchanging.” her environment.”
“Exchanging?” asked Finnister. Again, Gwen pushed the first

“Certainly. A male astronaut stud. The upper half of the model

sees a girl astronaut he likes. He
asks her to trade keys. Very
romantic. Symbolic of things that
may happen when they return to
Earth or get to a base where they
can get out of the suits.”
“Miss Everest,” said Finnister,
“as you so aptly pointed out
earlier, no astronaut can see one
of our women in this armor.
even if he could, I don’t believe
reappeared.
Finnistergaped at the form-
fitting uniform.
Gwen stood up, took a pointer,
gestured in through the projec-
tion. “This uniform was designed
by a leading couturier. It is made
to reveal while concealing. A
woman with only a fair figure
And will appear to good advantage
in A woman with an excellent
it.

that I’d .” figure appears stunning, as you

She
. .

froze, staring, shocked can see. Poor figures ” Gwen

—
—
.

speechless. shrugged “there are exercises

158 GALAXY
for developing them. Or so I am pWEN smiled from one to the
until I’d turned in my resigna- “Just a minute,” said Owling.
told.” other, thought: What a prize
“That intelligence report.” He
tion.”
Finnister interrupted in a cold lot of gooney birds! She felt a glared atGwen. “I’m told you’ve
“What’re you talking about?”
voice. “And what do you propose little drunk, as euphoric as if she
prepared an adecal on the test
asked Owling.
to do with that . . . that uni . . . had just, come from a mood bar.
“Resignation!” gasped Battle- model we made before coming
clothing?” Rebellion, it’s wonderful! Up the
mont. to you.”
“This be the regulation will Irish! Or something. “Big Bertha,” said Gwen. “And
“I just can’t toss poor Andre
uniform for the WOMS,” said Owling shrugged, thought: We not just an adecal. I have
here to the wolves,” said Gwen. it’s
Gwen. “There’s a cute little hat have to stand together against ci-
“The rest of our men, yes. Once everything needed for a full na-
goes with it. Very sexy.” vilians. General Finnister is right.
tional campaign. Look!”
they get inside they’ll chew your
Battlemont said: “Perhaps the Too bad, though. He got to his
guts out, anyway.” A solido of the breast-bearing
changeover could be made slowly feet.
“What are you talking about?” test model replaced the trans-
so as to . “Just a little more time,”
parent suit hanging in the center
.
asked Finnister.
“What changeover?” demand- pleaded Battlemont. “The rest of the men in this of the room.
ed Finnister. She leaped to her Too bad about Andre, thought agency can take care of them- “The idea for Big Bertha here
feet. “General Owling?” Gwen. She had an inspiration, selves . and you, too,” said
. .
originated with General Owling,”
Owling tore his attention from said: “One moment, please.” Gwen. “Wolves among wolves. said Gwen. “My campaign estab-
the model. “Yes?” Three pairs of eyes focused on But Andre here is helpless. All he then goes on to
lishes that fact,
“Completely impractical! I will her.
has is his position money. He’s
. . . feature animated model of
an
put up with no more!” barked Fin- Finnister said: “If you think Big Bertha. She is a living panic.
an accident. Put him someplace
nister. you can stop me from going
where money and position are Funniest thing you ever saw.
Battlemont thought: I knew it. through with our threat, dissuade
less important, it’ll kill him.” General Owling, you will be the
Oh, my poor Gwenny! They will yourself. I’m perfectly aware that
“Regrettable,” said Finnister. laughing stock of the nation by
destroy her, too. I knew it. you had that uni . that cloth-
. .
1
“Shall we be going, General Owl- nightfall of the day I start this
“We can’t waste any more time ing designed to make me look ing?” campaign.”
with this agency,” said Finnister. hideous!” Owling took a step forward.
“Iwas going to ruin both of
“Come, General.” “Why not?” asked Gwen. “I you,” said Gwen. “But I’ll tell Battlemont said: “Gwen! They
“Wait!” yelped Battlemont. He was only doing to you what you you what. You leave Andre alone will destroy you!”
leaped to his feet. “Gwen, I told did to virtually every other wom- Owling pointed at the projec-
and I’ll just give one of you the
you . . an in the WOMS.” business.” tion. “You . . . you wouldn’t!”
Finnister said: “It’s regrettable, “Gwen!” pleaded Battlemont “Gwen, what are you saying?” “But I would,” said Gwen. She
but .” in horror. smiled at him.
. .
whispered Battlemont.
“Perhaps we’re being a little “Be still, Andre,” said Gwen. “Yesss!” hissed Finnister. “Ex- Battlemont tugged at Gwen’s
hasty,” said Owling. “There may a matter of timing, any-
“It’s just
plain yourself!” arm. She shook him off.
be something to salvage from way. Today. Tomorrow. Next “I just want to know the peck- “It would ruin me,” whispered
this. .
.” week. Not really important.” ing order here,” said Gwen. Owling.
“Yes!” said Battlemont. “Just a “Oh, my poor Gwenny,” sob- “Which one of you ranks the “Presumably, you are capable
little more time is all we need to bed Battlemont. other?” of going through with this threat,”
get a fresh .” “I was going to wait,” said
. .
“What does that have to do said Finnister. “Regrettable.”
“I think not,” said Finnister. Gwen. “Possibly a week. At least
with it?” asked Finnister. Owling whirled on Finnister.

160 GALAXY A- W-F UNLIMITED 161

“We must stand together!” he said about it. But mark this, Miss “And you!” barked Battlemont, happens to your enlistment
desperately. Everest. We’ll have the men of whirling. “We have recordings of quotas?”
“You Gwen. She
bet,” said this agency in the service. You’ll every conference here, from the “Now see here,” said Owling.
pushed another stud on the re- have that on your conscience! first, and including this one! They “We didn’t . .
.”

mote control. And the men we draft will serve show what happened! Don’t you “Didn’t you?” snarled Battle-
Aprojection of General Fin- under friends of ours. I hope you know what is wrong with this mont. “You think this poor girl
nister in her famous uniform re- know what that means!” poor girl? You! You’ve driven is in her right mind?”

placed Big Bertha. “You don’t have any friends,” her out of her mind!” “Well, but we didn’t .” . .

“You may as well know the said Gwen, but her voice lacked Gwen joined in the chorus: “Wait until you see our cam-
whole Gwen. “I’m all
story,” said conviction. It’s backfiring, she “What?” paign,” said Battlemont. He took
set with another campaign on thought. Oh, hell. I didn’t think “Be still, Gwen,” said Battle- Gwen’s hand, patted it. “There,
the designing of this uniform, they’d defy me. mont. “I will handle this.” there, Gwenny. Andre will fix.”
right from the Sonnet Bonnet on “There may even be something Gwen couldn’t take her at- “Yes, Andre,” she said. They
down through the Sinister Fin- we can do about you!” said Fin- tention off him. Battlemont was were the only words she could
nister cape and those sneaky nister. “A presidential order put- magnificent. “Yes, Andre.” find. She felt stupified. He’s in
walking shoes. I start with a ting you in the service for reasons “I will prove it,” said Battle- love with me, she thought. Never
dummy model of the general of national emergency. Or an mont. “With Interdorma psychi- before had she known anyone to
clad in basic foundation gar- emergency clause on some bill. atrists. With all the experts be in love with her. 'Not even
ments. Then
go on to show I And when we get our hands on money can buy. You think you her parents, who had always been
how each element of the present you, Miss Everest .” . . have seen something in those repelled by the intellect they had
WOMS uniform was designed “Andre!” wailed Gwen. It was campaigns our Gwen set up? spawned. Gwen felt warmth seep-
for the ah Finnister
. . . . . . . . . all getting out of hand. I didn’t Hah! I will show you something.” ing through her. A cog slipped
ah . . . figure.” want to hurt anybody, she He stabbed a finger at Owling. into motion in her mind. It
“I’ll sue!” barked Finnister. thought. I just She realized
. . . “Can the military drive you in- creaked somewhat from long idle-
“Go ahead. Go ahead.” Gwen that she didn’t know what she sane?” ness. She thought: He’s in love
waved a sinuous arm. had wanted. “Oh, now see here,” said Owl- with me! She wanted to hug him.
She acts drunk! thought Bat- Battlemont was electrified. In ing. “This has gone — ‘We seem to be at a stalemate,”
tlemont. But she never drinks. 22 years, Gwen Everest had “Yes! It can drive you insane!” muttered Owling.
“I’m all set to go black market never appealed to anyone for said Battlemont. “And we will Finnister said: “But we can’t
with these campaigns,” said help. And now, for the first time, show, step by step, how you just —
Gwen. “You can’t stop me. I’ll her appeal was to him! He step- drove our poor Gwen out of her “Shut up!” ordered Owling.
prove every contention I make ped between Gwen and Finnister. mind with fear for her friends. “He’ll do it! Can’t you see that?”
about that uniform. I’ll expose “Andre is right here,” he said. He Fear for me!” He slapped himself “But if we draft —
you. I’ll show why your enlist- felt inspired. His Gwen had ap- on the chest, glared at Finnister. “He’ll do it for sure, then! Buy
ment drives flopped.” pealed to him! “You assassin!” “And you know what we will do some other agency to run the
he said, shaking a finger under next? We will say to the public: campaign.”
T>ED suffused the Finnister the Finnister nose. This could happen to you! Who “But we could turn around and
face. “All right!” she snapped. “Now, see here!” snapped Owl- is next? You? Or you? Or you? draft —
“If you’re going to ruin us, I ing. “I won’t stand for any more Then what happens to your “You can’t draft everybody
guess there’s nothing we can do of — •”
money from Congress? What who disagrees with you, woman!

162 GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 163

 “But, Andre — HE shrugged. “I’m ... I just
Not in this country! You’d start “General Owling,
have. .”
I refuse to
“Resignation!” barked Battle- S can’t face another campaign.
a revolution!” .

just can’t.”
mont. I . .

—
. . .

“I Finnister said helpless- “What happens have to if I

.

. .

“But “You will write a book,” an-

ly- dump this problem on the Gen-
“Oh, I understand, Gwen. It’s nounced Battlemont.
“And it’s not just us he’d ruin,” eral Staff?” asked Owling. “Where
my worked you much too
fault. I “What?”
said Owling. “The whole service. will the head-chopping start? In
hard. But that is past.” “Best therapy known,” said
He’d
know
strike right at the
his type. He
money.
wasn’t bluf-
the Psych Branch? Certainly.
Who’ll be next? The people who
“Andre, you don’t — Battlemont. “Did it myself once.
I
the “Yes, I do! I understand. You You will write about the adver-
fing. It’d be catastrophic!” could’ve solved it in field,
were going to sink the ship and tising business. You will expose
that’s who!”
WLING Finnister said: “But
” — go down with it. My poor, dear all the dirty tricks: the hypno-

O shook his head, see-

ing a parade of crumbling “For that matter,” said Owl-
“Miss Everest’s ideas sounded
Gwen. A death wish! If you’d
only paid attention to your In-
j ingles, the
subvisual flicker im-
ages, the advertisers who finance
military projects pass before his ing,
textbooks to get their sell into
with some terdorma telelog.”
mind’s eye, all falling into an pretty sensible . . .

them, the womb rooms where

want to hurt anyone
“I didn’t
abyss labeled “NSF.” modifications, of course.”
“No modifications,” said Bat- here, Andre. Only those two
— the you-seekers are programmed.
“You are an intelligent man, Everything.”
“Yes, 'y es I know. You’re all
-

General Owling,” said Battle- tlemont.

mixed up.” “I could do it,” she said.
mont. He’s a veritable Napoleon!
“That’s true.” She felt like cry- “You will tell all,” said Bat-
“That Psych Branch!” snarled thought Gwen.
ing. She hadn’t cried since tlemont.
“Only in minor, unimportant
. . .

Owling. “Them and their bright

she couldn’t remember when. “Will I!”
details,” soothed Owling. “For
. . .

ideas!” “And you do it under a

engineering reasons.”
“You know,” she said, “I can’t will
“I told you they were fuzzy- pseudonym,” said Battlemont.
“Perhaps,” agreed Battlemont.
remember ever crying.”
heads,” said Gwen Battlemont. “Safer.”
“That’s it!” said
“You be still, Gwen,” said Bat- “Provided we pass on the modi-
“I cry all the time. You need a “When do we start the vaca-
tlemont. fications before they are made.”
“I’m sure we can work it out,”
stabilizing influence. You need tion, Andre?”
“Yes, Andre.” He
someone to teach you how to “Tomorrow.” experienced a
“Well, what’re we going to do?” said Owling.
cry.” moment of his old panic. “You
demanded Owling. Finnister gave up, turned her
“Would you teach me, Andre?” don’t mind that I’m . . . ugly as
“I tell you what,” said Battle- back on them.
“Would I .” He wiped the a pig?”
mont. “You leave us alone, we “One little detail,” murmured . .

tears from his eyes. “You are “You’re just beautiful,” she
leave you alone.” Battlemont. “When you make out
going on a vacation. Immediate- said. She smoothed the hair
“But what about my enlist- the double-fee check to the agen-
“You
ly! I am going with you.” across his bald spot. don’t
ments?” wailed Finnister. cy, make a substantial addition

“You think our Gwen, sick or — bonus for Miss Everest.” “Yes, Andre.”
“And when we return — mind that I’m smarter than you?”
“Ah, hah!” Battlemont drew
well, can’t solveyour problems?” “Naturally,” said Owling.
“I don’t want to come back to himself to attention. “You may
asked Battlemont. “For your en- “Naturally,” said Battlemont.
the agency, Andre. I can’t.” be smarter in the head, my dar-
listments you use the program as When the space brass had de- . . .

“So that’s it!” said Battlemont. ling, but you are not smarter in
outlined.”
Gwen,
parted, Battlemont faced
“The advertising business! It the heart!”
“I won’t!” stamped “You have been
very bad, Gwen!”
his foot.
bugs you!” — FRANK HERBERT
“You will,” said Owling.

GALAXY A-W-F UNLIMITED 165

164
 By FRED SABERHAGEN Illustrated by IVIE

It's

if
a long

outer space
way home from
— especially

you have to walk itl

W
lion
blip
five
miles
that
HEN Marty first saw
the thing it was nearly
dead ahead, half a mil-
away, a tiny green
repeated itself every
seconds on the screen of his
The thing on his radar screen
looked quite small and therefore
not too promising. But, as it was
almost in his path, no great ef-
fort would be required to inves-
tigate.For all he knew, it might
distant search radar. be solid germanium. And nothing
He was four billion miles from better was in sight at the mo-
Sol and heading out, working his ment.
way slowly through a small Marty leaned back in the con-
swarm of rock chunks that trol seat and said: “We’ve got
swung in a slow sun-orbit out one coming up, baby.” He had
here beyond Pluto, looking for no need to address himself any
valuable minerals in a concentra- more exactly. Only one other
tion that would make mining human was aboard the Clemen-
profitable. tine, or, to his knowledge, within
 contacts or heroics. And with the her; once “dropped,” an anchor
the better part of a couple of bil- miles, was what had Marty on
the edge of his chair. It was a
only human assistance a girl on could hold as long as a hull could
lion miles.
her space trip, Marty hardly
first last.
Laura’s voice answered needle thirty miles long, as
felt up to speaking for the hu- Laura brought sandwiches and
through a speaker, from the kit- near as his radar could measure,
man race in such a situation. a hot drink tohim in the control
chen two decks below. and about a hundred yards thick
“Oh, close? Have we got time — dimensions that matched ex- It took a minute to set the
autopilot so that any sudden
room.
“If we call theNavy and they
for breakfast?” actly nothing Marty could ex-
Marty studied the radar. pect to find anywhere in space.
move by X would trigger alarms bring it in we won’t §et anything
and such evasive tactics as Clem out of he told her between
it,”
“About
tain speed.
five hours
Hope it
if we main-
won’t be a
It was obviously no random
chunk of rock. And it was no could manage. He then set a ro- bites. “That’s assuming it’s —
spaceship that he had ever seen bot librarian to searching his mi- not alien.”
waste of energy to decelerate
crofilm files for any reference to “Could there be someone alive
and look the thing over.” He or heard of. One end of it
a spaceship having X’s incredible on it?” She was staring into the
gave Clem’s main computer the pointed in the direction of Sol,
dimensions. screen. Her face was solemn but,
problem of finding the most
economical engine use to ap-
causing him to suggest to Laura
the idea of a miniature comet,
There was a chance how — he thought, not frightened.
good a chance he found hard to “If it’s human, you mean? No.
proach his find and reach zero complete with tail. She took him
estimate, when any explanation I know there hasn’t been any
seriously at first, then remem-
velocity relative to
“Come and eat!”
it.

bered some facts about comets

looked somewhat wild that X — ship remotely like that used in
was a derelict, the wrecked hull recent years. Way, way back the
“All right.” He and
the com- and swatted him playfully. “Oh,
of some ship dead for a decade, Old Empire built some that were
puter studied the blip together you!” she said.
or a century, or a thousand even bigger, but none I ever
for a few seconds. Then the man, Another, more real possibility
quickly became obvious, with
years. By
laws of salvage, such heard of with this crazy
not considering it anything of
a find would belong to him if he shape . .
.”
particular importance, left the sobering effect. The ancient fear
towed it into port. The value The robot librarian indicated
control room to have breakfast of the Alien that had haunted
might be very high or very low. that it had drawn a blank. “See?”
with his bride of three months. Earthmen through almost three
But the prospect was certainly said Marty. “And I’ve even got
As he walked downstairs in the thousand years of intermittent
intriguing. most of the ancient types in
steadily-maintained artificial space exploration, that had never
been now peered into
Marty brought Clem to a stop there.”
gravity, he heard the engines realized,
relative to X, and noticed that There was silence for a little
starting. the snug control room through
his velocity relative to Sol now while. The evening’s recorded
the green radar eye.
also hung at zero. “I wonder,” music started somewhere in the
r ''EN hours later he examined Aliens were always good for a
| he muttered. “Space anchor. .?” . background.
his new find much more joke when spacemen met and
The space anchor had been in “What would you do if I
closely, with a rapidly focusing talked. But they turned out to
use for thousands of years. It was weren’t along?” Laura asked
alertness that balanced between be not particularly amusing
a device that enabled a ship to him.
an explorer’s caution and a pros- when you were possibly con-
fronting them, several billion
fasten itself to a particular point He did not answer directly,
pector’s elation at a possibly
in the gravitational field of a but said something he had been
huge strike. miles from Earth. Especially,
massive body such as a sun. If considering. “I don’t know the
The incredible shape of X, be- thought Marty, in a ship built
X was anchored, it did not prove psychology of our hypothetical
coming apparent as the Clem for mining, ore refining,
robot
aliens. But it seems to me that
that there was still life aboard
drew within a few hundred and hauling, not for diplomatic

180 GALAXY THE LONG WAY HOME 181

if you set out exploring new so- long. How long do you think it the bike forward. X
was evi- a few yards from the hull, in
lar systems, you do as Earthmen will take you to look it over?” dently just some rare type of rounded globs of metal that had
have always done —
go with the At the airlock door she had ship that neither he nor the com- once been molten but were now
best you have in the way of misgivings: “Oh, it is safe enough, pilers of the standard reference too cold to affect the thermom-
speed and weapons. Therefore if isn’t it? Marty, be careful and works in his library had ever eter Marty held against them.
X is alien I think Clem
don’t come back soon.” She kissed him heard of. Which sounded a little His radiation counter showed
would stand a chance, trying to before he closed his helmet. foolish to him, but . . . nothing above the normal back-
fight or run.” He paused, frowned They had moved Clem to At ten yards distance he killed ground.
at the image of X. “That damned within a few miles of X. Marty speed again, set the bike on “Ah,” said Marty after a mo-
shape —
it’s just not right for mounted his spacebike and ap- automatic stay-clear, made sure a ment, looking at the half-clamp.
anything.” proached it slowly, from the side. line from it was fast to his belt “Something?”
“We could call the Navy — The vast length of blotted X and launched himself out of the “I think I’ve got it figured out.
not that I’m saying we should, out a thin strip of stars to his saddle gently, headfirst toward Not quite as weird as we thought.
darling,” she added hastily. “You right and left, as if it were the X. Let me check for one thing
decide, and I’ll never complain distant shore of some vast island The armored hands of his suit more.” He steered the bike slow-
either way. I’m just trying to in a placid Terran sea, and the touched down first, easily and ex- ly around the circumference of
help you think it out.” starclouds below him were pertly. In a moment he was X.
He looked at her, believed it watery reflections of the ones standing upright on the hull, A third of the way around he
about there never being any com- above. But space was too black held in place by magnetic boots. came upon what looked like a
plaints and squeezed her hand. to permit such an illusion to en- He looked around. He detected shallow trench, about five feet
Anything more seemed super- dure. no response to his arrival. wide and a foot deep, with a bot-
fluous. The tiny FM radar on his bike Marty turned toward Sol, tom that shone cloudy gray in
“If I was alone,” he said, “I’d showed him within three hundred sighting down the miles of dark his lights. It ran lengthwise on X
jump into a suit, go look that yards of X. He killed his forward cylinder that seemingly dwindled as far as he could see in either
thing over, haul it back to Gany- speed with a gentle application to a point in the starry distance, direction.
mede and sell it for a unique of retrojets and turned on a like a road on which a man might A door-sized opening was cut
whatever-it-is. Maybe I’d make spotlight. Bright metal gleamed travel home toward a tiny sun. in the clamp above the trench.
enough money to marry you in smoothly back at him as he Near at hand the hull was Marty nodded and smiled to
real style, and trade in Clem for swung the beam from side to smooth, looking like that of any himself, and gunned the bike
a first-rate ship —
or maybe even side. Then he stopped it where ordinary spaceship. In the direc- around in an accelerating curve
terraform an asteroid and keep a a dark concavity showed up. tionaway from Sol, quite distant, that aimed at the Clementine.
couple of robot prospectors. I “Lifeboat berth empty,” . . . he could vaguely see some sort
don’t know, though. Maybe we’d he said aloud, looking through of projections at right angles to UTT ’s not a spaceship at all,
better call the Navy.” the bike’s little telescope. the hull. He mounted his bike only a part of one,” he told
She stood up and laughed at “Then it is a derelict? We’re again and set off in that direction. Laura a little later, digging in the

him gently. “We’re married all right?” asked Laura’s voice When he neared the nearest pro- microfilm film with his own
enough already, and we had all in his helmet. jection, a mile down the hull, he hands, with the air of a man who
the style I wanted. Besides, I “Looks that way, yeah, I guess saw it to be a sort of enormous knew what he was looking for.
don’t think either of us would be there’s no doubt of it. I’ll go in clamp that encircled X
or — “That’s why the librarian didn’t
happy sitting on an asteroid very for a closer look now.” He eased rather, part of a clamp. It ended turn it up. Now I remember read-

182 GALAXY THE .LONG WAY HOME 183

ing about them. It’s part of an said Marty thoughtfully. “Funny have no drive at all of its own. avoid, and possibly a dangerous
Old Empire job of about two looking old tub.” We’ll have to tow it.” explosion as well.
thousand years ago. They used wonder what happened to
“I Helooked. “Right. Anyway, I Marty began his attack on the
a somewhat different drive than wreck her.” don’t think I’d care to try its airlock door cautiously, working
we do, one that made one enor- “Drives sometimes exploded drive if it had one.” with electronic “sounding” gear
mous ship more economical to in those days, that could have He located airlocks on the for a few minutes, trying to tell
run than several normal sized done it. And this one section got plan and made himself generally if the inner door was closed as
ones. They made these ships anchored to Sol somehow — it’s familiar with it. well. He had about decided that
ready for a voyage by fastening funny.” it was when something made him
together a number of long nar- “How long ago did happen,
it
r T HE
,
next “morning” found look up. He raised his head and
row sections by side, how
side do you suppose?” asked Laura. Marty loading extra tools, sighted down the dark length of
many depending on how much She had her arms folded as if gadgets and explosives on his X toward Sol.
cargo they had to move. What she were a little cold, though it bike. The trip to X (he still Something was moving toward
we’ve found is obviously one of was not cold in the Clementine. thought of it that way) was un- him along the hull.
those sections.” “Must be around two thousand eventful. This time he landed He was up in the bike saddle
Laura wrinkled her forehead. more. These about a third of the way from with his hand on a blaster before
“It must have been a terrible job,
years or ships
haven’t been used for about that one end, where he expected to he realized what it was that —
putting those sections together long.” He picked up a stylus. “I find a handy airlock and have a moving blur that distorted the
and separating them, even in better go over there with a big choice of directions to explore stars seen through it, like heat
free space.” bag of tools tomorrow and take when he He hoped to
got inside. waves in air. Without doubt, it

“They used space anchors. a look inside.” He noted down a get the airlockopen without let- was a space anchor. And it

That trench I mentioned? It has few things he thought he might ting out whatever atmosphere or moved along the channel.
a forcefield bottom, so an anchor need. gas was present in any of the Marty rode the bike out a few
could be sunk through it; then “Historians would probably main compartments, as a sudden yards and nudged it along slowly,
the whole section could be slid pay a good price for the whole drop in pressure might damage following the anchor. It moved
straight forward or back, in or thing, untouched,” she suggested, something in the unknown cargo. at about the pace of a fast walk.
out of the bunch here, 'I’ve
. . . watching him draw doodles. He found a likely-looking spot Moved but it was sunk into
. . .

got it, I think. Put this strip in “That’s a thought. But maybe for entry where the plans had space.
the viewer.” there’ssomething really valuable led him to expect one. It was a “Laura,” he called, “something
One picture, a photograph, aboard —though I won’t be able small auxiliary airlock, only a odd here. Doppler this hull for

showed what appeared to be one to give it anything like a thor- few from the space-anchor
feet me and see if it’s moving.”
end of a bundle of long needles, ough search, of course. The channel. forcefield bottom of
The Laura one
acknowledged in
thing
in a glaring light, against a back- isanchored, remember. I’ll prob- that channel was, he knew, use- businesslike word. Good girl, he
ground of stars that looked un- ably have to break in anyway to less as a possible doorway. thought, I won’t have to worry
real.The legend beneath gave a release that.” Though anchors could be raised about you. He coasted along the
scanty description of the ship in She pointed to one of the dia- and lowered through it, they re- hull on the bike, staying even
flowing Old Empire script. Other grams. “Look, a section thirty mained partly imbedded in it at with the apparent movement of
pictures showed sections of the miles long must be one of the all times. Starting a new hole the anchor.
ship in some detail. passenger compartments. And ac- from scratch would cause the Laura’s voice came: “It is mov-
“This must be it, all right,” cording to this plan, it would decompression he was trying to ing now, towards Sol. About six

184 GALAXY THE LONG WAY HOME 185

miles per. hour. Maybe less — it’s In the space between the an- know. I’ve got to settle this.” on X for the third time, touching
hard to read, so slow.” chor and the end of the track, a The doppler showed X was down near the “stern”. He was
“Good, that’s what I thought.” second patterned shimmer ap- again creeping toward Sol at riding the moving hull toward
He hoped he sounded reassuring. peared. It must necessarily have about six miles an hour. the anchor, but it was still many

He pondered the situation. It been let “down” into space from “Does it seem likely there’d be miles away.
was the hull moving then, the inside X. Marty felt a creeping power left after two thousand The spot he had picked was
forcefield channel slidingby the chill. After a little while the first years to operate such a mecha- near another small auxiliary air-
fixed anchor. Whatever was caus- anchor vanished, withdrawn nism?” Laura asked. lock, upon which he began work
ing it, it did not seem to be di- through the forcefield into the “I think so. Each passenger immediately. After ascertaining
rected against him or the Clem. hull. section had a hydrogen power that the inner door was closed,
“Look, baby,” he went on, “some- Marty sat watching for twenty lamp.” He dug out the microfilm he drilled a hole in the outer
thing peculiar is happening.” He minutes, but nothing further hap- again. “Yeah, a small fusion door to relieve any pressure in
explained about the anchor. pened. He realized that he had lamp and
for electricity to light the chamber to keep the outer
“Clem may be no battleship, but a crushing grip on the bike con- heat the and run the
section, door shut.
I guess she’s a match for any trols and that he was quivering emergency equipment for .” . . The door opening mechanism
piece of wreckage.” with fatigue. His voice trailed off, then con- suffered from twenty-century
“But you’re out there!” tinued in a dazed tone: “For cramp, but a vibrator tool shook
“I have to see this. I never saw T AURA and Marty took turns recycling food and water.” it loose enough to be operated by

anything like it before. Don’t sleeping and watching, that “Marty, what is it?” hand. The inside of the airlock
worry, I’ll pull back if it looks night aboard the Clementine. He stood up, staring at the looked like nothing more than
at all dangerous.” Something in About noon the next day Laura plan. “And the only radios were the inside of an airlock.
the back of his mind told him to was at the telescope when anchor in the lifeboats, and the lifeboats
go back to his ship and call the number one reappeared, now at are gone. I wonder . . . sure. TTE patched the hole he had
Navy. He ignored it without the “prow” of X. After a few mo- The explosion could have torn *-
made in the outer door so
much trouble. He had never ments the one at the stern van- them apart, blown them away he would be able — he hoped
thought much of calling the ished. so. . — to open the inner one normal-
Navy. Marty looked communi-
at the “What you talking about?”
are ly. He operated the outer door
About four hours later the in- cator that he could use any time He looked again at their com- several times to make sure he
comprehensible anchor neared to call the Navy. Faster-than- municator. “A transmitter that could get out fast if he had to.
the end of its track, within thirty light travel not being practical so can get through the noise be- After attaching a few extras from
yards of what seemed to be X’s near a sun, it would take them tween here and Pluto wouldn’t the bike to his suit, he said a
stern. It slowed down and came at hours to arrive
least several be easy to jury-rig, even now. In quick and cheerful goodbye to
to a gradual stop a few yards after he decided he needed them. the Old Empire days .” Laura — not expecting his radio
from the end of the track. For a Then he beat his fist on the table “What?”
. .

to work from inside the hull —

minute nothing else happened. and swore. “Must be some kind “Now about air — ” He seemed and closed himself into the air-
Marty reported the facts to of mechanism in her still opera- to wake up with a lookedstart, lock. Using the vibrator again, he
Laura. He sat straight in the bike ting.” He went to the telescope at her sheepishly. “Just an idea was able to work the control
saddle, regarding the universe, and watched number one anchor hit me.” He grinned. “I’m making that should let whatever passed
which offered him no enlighten- begin its apparent slow journey another trip.” for hull atmosphere into the
ment. sternward once again. “I don’t An hour later he was landing chamber. It came. His wrist gauge

186 GALAXY THE LONG WAY HOME 187

told him pressure was building
up to approximately spaceship
normal, and his suit mikes began
to pick up a faint hollow hum-
ming from somewhere. He very
definitely kept suit and helmet
sealed.
The inner door worked per-
fectly, testifying to the skill
the Old Empire builders. Marty
found himself nearly upside down
as he went through, losing his
footing and his sense of heroic
adventure. In return he gained
the knowledge that X’s artificial
gravity was still at least partly
operational. Righting himself, he
found he was in a small anteroom
banked with spacesuit lockers,
now illuminated only by his suit
lights but showing no other signs
of damage. There was a door in
each of the other walls.
He moved to try the one at
his right. Firstdrawing his blast-
er, he hesitated a moment, then
slid it back into its holster. Swal-
lowing, he eased the door open to
find only another empty com-
partment, about the size of an
average room and stripped of
everything down to the bare deck
and bulkheads.
Another door led him into a
narrow passage where a few over-
head lights burned dimly. Trying
to watch over his shoulder and
ahead at the same time, he fol-
lowed the hall to a winding stair
and began to climb, moving with
188
all the silence possible in a space-
suit.
The brought him out onto
stair
a long gallery overlooking what
could only be the main corridor
of X, a passage twenty yards
wide and three decks high; it
narrowed away to a point in the
of dim-lit distance.
A man came out of a doorway
across the corridor, a deck below
Marty.
He was an old man and may
have been nearsighted, for he
seemed unaware of the space-
suited figuregripping a railing
and staring down at him. The old
man wore a sort of tunic intricate-
ly embroidered with threads of
different colors, and well tailored
to his thin figure, leaving his legs
and feet bare. He stood for a
moment peering down the long
corridor, while Marty stared
down momentarily frozen in
shock.
Marty pulled back two slow
steps from the railing, to where
he stood mostly in shadow. Turn-
ing his head to follow the old
man’s gaze, he noticed that the
forcefield where the anchors
traveled was visible running in
a sunken strip down the center
of the corridor. When the inter-
stellar ship of which X was once
a part had been in normal use,
the strip might have been cov-
ered with a moving walkway of
some kind.
GALAXY
''HE old man turned his
tention to a tank where
grew a mass of plants with
dark green leaves. He touched a
leaf, then turned a valve that
doled water into the tank from a
thin pipe. Similar valves were
clustered on the bulkhead be-
hind the old man, and pipes ran
from them to many other plant-
filledtanks set at intervals down
the corridor. “For oxygen,” Marty
said aloud in an almost
voice, and was startled
sound in his helmet. His helmet
airspeaker was not on, so of
course the old man did not hear
him. The old man pulled a red
berry from one of the plants and
ate it absently.
Marty made a move with his
chin to turn on his speaker, but
did not complete it. He half lifted
his arms to wave, but fear of the
not-uriderstood held him, made
him back up slowly into the
shadows at the rear of the gallery.
Turning his head to the right he
could see the near end of the cor-
ridor, and an anchor there, not
sunken in space but raised al-
most out of the forcefield on a
framework at the end of the strip.
Near the stair he had ascended
was a half-open door, leading into
darkness. Marty realized he had
turned off his suit lights with-
out consciously knowing it. Mov-
ing carefully so the
would not see, he lit
THE LONG WAY HOME
at- probed the darkness beyond the
door cautiously. The room he en-
flat, tered was the first of a small
suite that had once been a pas-
senger cabin. The furniture was
simple, but it was the first of any
kind that he had seen aboard X.
Garments hanging in one corner
were similar to the old man’s
tunic, although no two were alike
exactly. Marty fingered the fabric
with one armored hand, holding
calm it close to his faceplate. He nod-
at the ded to himself; it seemed to be
the kind of stuff produced by fi-
ber recycling machinery, and he
doubted very much that it was
anywhere near two thousand
years old.
Marty emerged from the door-
way of the little apartment, stood
in shadow with his suit lights out,
looking around; the old man had
disappeared. He remembered
that the old man had gazed down
the infinite-looking corridor as if
expecting something. There was
nothing new in sight that way.
He turned up the gain of one
of his suit mikes and focused it
in that direction.
Many human voices were sing-
ing,somewhere down there, miles
away. He started, and tried to
interpret what he heard in some
other way, but with an eerie thrill
became convinced that his first
impression was correct. While he
old man studied a plan of going back to
one and his bike and heading in that di-
189
rection, he grew aware that the
singing was getting louder. And
therefore no doubt closer.
TTE leaned back against the
bulkhead in the shadow at
the rear of the gallery. His suit,
dark-colored for space work far
from Sol, would be practically in-
visible from the lighted corridor
below, while he could see down
with little difficulty. Part of his
mind urged him to go back to
Laura, to call the Navy, that these
unknown people could be dan-
gerous to him. But he had to
' wonderingly.
wait and see more of them. He
grinned wryly as he realized he
was not going to get any salvage
out of X
after all.
Sweating in spite of his suit’s
he listened to the singing
coolers,
grow rapidly louder in his helmet.
Male and female voices rose and
fell in an intricate melody, some-
times blending, sometimes chant-
ing separate parts. The language
was unknown to him.
Suddenly the people were in
sight, first only as a faint dot of
color in the distance. As they
drew nearer he could see that
they walked in a long neat column
eight abreast, four on each side
of the central strip of forcefield.
Men and women, apparently
teamed according to no fixed rule
of age or sex or size —
except
that he saw no oldsters or young
children.
The people sang and leaned
forward as they walked, pulling
their weight on heavy ropes that
were intricately decorated, like
their clothing and that of the old
man who had now stepped out of
his doorway again to greet them.
A few other oldsters of both sexes
appeared near him to stand and
wait. Through a briefly opened
door Marty caught a glimpse of
a well-lighted room holding ma-
chines he recognized as looms
only because of the half-finished
cloth they held. He shook his head
All at once the walkers were
very near; hundreds of people
pulling on ropes that led to a
multiple whiffletree made of
twisted metal pipe, that rode
over the central trench. The
whiffletree and the space anchor
to which it. was fastened were
pulled past Marty or rather—
the spot from which he watched
was carried past the fixed anchor
by the slow, human-powered
thrust of X toward Sol.
Behind the anchor came a
small group of children, from
about the age of ten up to puber-
ty.They pulled on small ropes,
drawing a cart that held what
looked like containers for food
and water. At the extreme rear
of the procession marched a man
in the prime of life, tall and ath-
letic, wearing a magnificent head-
dress.

THE LONG WAY HOME 191

 A BOUT the time he drew even
with Marty, this man stopped
suddenly (young and old alike
walked steadily at the same fast
pace) and uttered a sharp com-
mand. Instantly the pulling and
singing ceased. Several men near-
est the whiffletree moved in and
loosed it from the anchor with
quick precision. Others held the
slackened ropes clear as the enor-
mous inertia of X’s mass carried
the end of the forcefield strip
toward the anchor, which now
jammed against the framework
holding anchor number two,
forcing the framework back
where there had seemed to be
no room.
A thick forcefield pad now be-
came visible to Marty behind the
framework, expanding steadily
as it absorbed the energy of the
powerful stress between ship and
anchor. Conduits of some kind,
Marty saw, led away from the
pad, possibly to where energy
might be stored for use when it
came time to start X creeping
toward the sun again. A woman
in a headdress now mounted the
framework and released anchor
number two, to drop into space
“below” the hull and bind X fast
to the place where it was now
held by anchor number one. A
crew of men came forward and
began to raise anchor number
one
. . .
He found himself descending
192
the stair, retracing his steps to
the airlock. Behind him the
voices of the people were raised
in a steady recitation that might
have been a prayer. Feeling some-
what as if he moved in a dream,
he made no particular attempt
at caution, but he met no one.
He tried to think, to understand
what he had witnessed. Vaguely,
comprehension came.
Outside, he said: “I’m out all
right, Laura. I want to look at
something at the other end and
I’ll come home.” He scarcely
heard what she said in reply, but
realized that her answer had been
almost instantaneous; she must
have been listening steadily for
his call all the time.
ter.
The bike shot him thirty miles
down the dream-like length of
X toward Sol in a few minutes.
A than the people in-
lot faster
side do their traveling, he thought
. and Sol was dim ahead.
. .
Almost recklessly he broke into
X again, through an airlock near
the prow. At this end of the force-
field striphung a gigantic block
and tackle that would give a vast
mechanical advantage to a few
hundred people pulling against
an anchor, whenit came time for
them to start the massive hull
moving toward Sol once more.
He looked in almost unnoticed
at a nursery, small
the care of a few women.
thought one of the babies saw couldn’t they have rigged some-
him and laughed at him as he thing?” she finally asked. “Some
watched through a hole in a kind of a drive, even if it was
bulkhead where a conduit had slow? Just one push and they’d
once passed. keep moving.”
Marty thought it over. “Moving
UW/HAT is it?” asked Laura a little faster won’t help them.”
impatiently as he stepped He sat up and opened his eyes
exhausted out of the shower again. “And they’d have a lot
room aboard the Clem, wrapping less work to do every day. I
a robe around him. He could see imagine too large a dose of lei-
his shock suddenly mirrored in sure time could be fatal to all
her face. of them.
“People,” he said, sitting down. “Somehow they had the will
“Alive over there. Earth people. to keep going, and the intelli-
Humans.” gence to find a way, to evolve a
“You’re all right?” system of life that worked for
“Sure. It’s just — Godl” He them, that kept them from going
told her about it briefly. “They wild and killing each other. And
He felt bet-
must be descended from the sur- their children, and their grand-
vivors of the accident, whatever children, and after that . .
it was. Physically there’s no rea- Slowly he stood up. She followed
son they couldn’t live when
why him into the control room, where
you come to think of it even — they stood watching the image
reproduce up to a limited num- ofX that was still focused on the
ber. Plants for oxygen I bet — telescope screen.
their air’s asgood as ours. Re- “All those years,” Laura whis-
cycling equipment for food and pered. “All that time.”
water, and the hydrogen power “Do you realize what they’re
lamp still working to run it, and doing?” he asked softly. “They’re
to give them light and gravity not just surviving, turned inward
. .they have about everything
. on weaving and designing and
they need. Everything but a music.
space-drive.” He leaned back “In a few hours they’re going to
with a sigh and closed his eyes. get up and start another day’s
It was hard for him to stop talk- work. They’re going to pull an-
ing to her. chor number one back to the
She was silent for a little, try- front of their ship and lower it.
children in
ing to assimilate it all. “But if That’s their morning job. Then
He they have hydrogen power someone left in the rear will raise
GALAXY THE LONG WAY HOME 193
anchor number two. Then the ship.They had their accident al-
main group will start pulling
against number one, as I saw
most on the doorstep of their
own solar system, and they’ve
The BEMs in your neighborhood
them doing a while ago, little been walking toward the thresh-
won't run off with your books
and their ship will begin to move old ever since.” if you put inside the front cover

toward Sol. Every day they go Laura went to the communi- of each book... a gummed bookplate
through this they move about cator and began to set it up for with your name printed on it!
thirty miles closer to home. the call that would bring the
“Honey, these people are walk- Navy within a few hours. She
ing home and pulling their ship paused. “How long would it take
with them. It must be a religion them now,” she asked, “to get
with them by now, or something somewhere near Earth?”
very near it .” He put an arm
. . “Hell would freeze over. But
around Laura. they can’t know that any more,
or maybe they still know it and
U MARTY it
. .

take them?”
. how long would it

must
just doesn’t bother them.
just
They
go on, tugging at that
“Space is big,” he said in a damned anchor day after day,
flat voice, as if quoting something year after year, with maybe a
he had been required to memo- holiday now and then ... I don’t
rize. know how they do it. They work
After a few moments he con- and sing and feel they’re accom-
tinued. “I said just moving a little plishing something ... and really,
faster won’t help them. Let’s say they are, you know. They have
they’ve traveled thirty miles a a goal and they are moving
day for two thousand years. toward it. I wonder what they
That’s — somewhere near twen- say of Earth, how they think FINAGLE SAYS —
ty-two million miles. Almost about it.” The umpteenth corollary

enough to get from Mars to Slowly Laura continued to set of Finagle's General Law of

Earth at their nearest approach. up the communicator. Dynamic Negatives says:

But they’ve got a long
to way Marty watched her. “Are you "No books are ever lost
he pleaded suddenly. by loaning except ones you
go to reach the neighborhood of sure?”
particularly want to keep."
Mars’ orbit. We’re well out be- “What are we doing to them?”
yond Pluto here. Practically But she had already sent the 100 for $4; 200, $6; 300, $8
speaking, they’re just about call.
with owner's name imprinted
where they started from.” He For better or worse, the long
All Postpaid. Add state sales tax, if any-
smiled wanly. “Really they’re not voyage was almost over.
far from home, for an interstellar — FRED SABERHAGEN ACTUAL SIZE, all designs, 3x4 inches
No. GM-12 by Cullen Rapp No. GX-57 by Lynd Ward

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