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THE FAITHFUL WILF

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END AS A HERO
by KEITH LAUMER
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5
 TF YOU have a mind to, you The observed fact about plan-
-* can easily make a great leap arian worms turns out to rest on
from this observed fact into the an essential difference between These great minds were Rosicrucians
glittering area of generalizations. worms and ourselves. We digest
Why, that’s almost the same, and break down our food. The
you might say, as eating the heart planarian, a far simpler organism, WHAT SECRET POWER
of a slain enemy warrior in order seems to incorporate whole blocks
to absorb his strength. If a worm of food into its body
its — and if DID THEY POSSESS?
can get education through his the bits of what in a planarian
digestive tract, why can’t a man pass for “nervous tissue” are con-
acquire virtue the same way? And ditioned, then part of the cannibal Why were these men great?
since this is what primitive sav- worm is also conditioned. Ancient Benjamin Frankli How does anyone — man or woman — achieve
ages hold to be true, doesn’t this medicine men did prescribe some greatness? Is it not by mastery of the powers
prove once again that modern potentially valuable drugs. But, within ourselves?
science has gone all wrong and look, they prescribed everything! Know the mysterious world within you Attune
we ought to go back to the ways — at least, everything that they yourself to the wisdom of the ages! Grasp the
!

of our scienceless forebears? could force down a sufferer’s mind Learn the secrets of a
inner power of your !

Thisperilous leap is taken throat without causing him at full and peaceful life!
pretty frequently. We
learn that once to scream and drop dead; Benjamin Franklin, statesman and inventor . .

South American witch doctors and likely enough they prescribed Isaac Newton, discoverer of the Law of Gravita-
used a precursor of quinine and those things a time or two, too, Francis Bacon, philosopher and scientist
Isaac Newton tion . . .

Chinese prescribed molds that until the relatives of their late . like many other learned and great men and
. .

may have contained penicillin patients began coming after them women were Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucians
. . .

the leaper concludes that witch with spears. And astrology, what- (NOT a religious organization) have been in
. doctors must have known plenty ever its (unproven) merits, cer- existence for centuries. Today, headquarters of
we ignorant moderns don’t give tainly deserves no credit for the Rosicrucians send over seven million pieces
them credit for. Astrologers fore- predicting upper-atmosphere ion- of mail annually to all parts of the world.
told human from the posi-
affairs ization patterns; the founders of
tion of heavenly bodies, and now
we predict radio transmission per-
astrology knew of the existence of
neither ions nor ionosphere.
Woe ROSICRUCIANS
San Jose (AMORC) California, U.S. A.
formance from the cycle of sun- One anomalous fact does not Francis Bacon
spots; astrology is thus shown make a law. One good guess does Scribe Z.B.M.
to
BOOK SEND THIS COUPON
have been on the right track — not make a science.
THIS FRfjE! The ROSICRUCIANS
(AMORC)
San Jose, California, U.S. A.
three milennia ago! Write for your FREE
does appear that planarian
It * Please send me the free book. The Mastery of Life,
copy of 'The Mas- which explains how I may learn to use my faculties
It isan easy leap to take, but worms can swallow someone tery of Life” — and powers of mind.
it lands you in a thicket of begged else’s conditioning whole. But is TODAY. No ob-
ligation. A non-
Name_
questions and dubious inferences that any reason why human be- organiza-
profit Address-
every time. The generalizations ings should? tion. Address:
simply don’t work. — FREDER1K POHL Scribe Z.B.M.
City-

State-

6 GALAXY
 sodden bundles that cried aloud
the empty waste of death.
There were proud names that
were the prouder now, but now

HERE GATHER THE STARS no more than names to echo

down the ages — the Iron Bri-
gade, the 5th New Hampshire,
the 1st Minnesota, the 2nd Mas-
sachusetts, the 16th Maine.
Illustrated by WOOD And there was Enoch Wallace.
by CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
He still held the shattered
musket and there were blisters
on his hands. His face was
smudged with powder. His shoes
It began on a battlefield a century were caked with dust and blood.
—
ago and it ends tomorrow, with all
the galaxy's stars locked in a great
FIRST OF TWO PARTS He was still alive.
clash of conflicting, alien creeds! TVR. ERWIN HARDWICKE
rolled the pencil back and
forth between his palms, an ir-

ritating business. He eyed the

man across the desk from him
with some calculation.
“What I can’t figure out,” said
Hardwicke, “is why you should
I gouted earth spouted in the sky. and the and the whimper-
calling come to us.”
ing that would go on for hours “Well, you’re the National
^TVHE NOISE was ended now.
Horses screamed, mixed with the
hoarse bellowing of men; the beneath the summer sun. Later Academy and I thought — ”

•*- The
smoke drifted like thin, whistling of metal and the thud the huddled shapes would grow “And you’re Intelligence.”

gray wisps of fog, above the tor- when the whistle ended; the flash quiet and still and there would “Look, doctor, if it suits you
tured earth and the shattered of searing fire and the brightness be an odor that would sicken all better, let’s call this visit unoffi-

fences, and the peach trees that of the steel; the bravery of the who passed and the graves would Say I’m a puzzled
cial. citizen

had been whittled into toothpicks colors snapping in the wind. be shallow graves. who dropped in to see if you
by cannon fire. For a moment Then it all had ended. There There was wheat that never could help.”
silence, not peace, fell upon
if was a silence. would be harvested. There were “It’s not that I wouldn’t like to
those few square miles of ground But silence was an alien note trees that would not bloom when help. I don’t see how I can. The
where men had fought. upon this field, on this day. It spring came round again. On the whole thing is so hazy and so
For endless time there had ' was broken by the whimper of slope of land that ran up to the hypothetical.”
been belching thunder, rolling ridge were the words unspoken “Damn it, man,” Claude Lewis

from horizon to horizon. The

pain, the cry for water and the
prayer for death — the crying
and the deeds undone, and the said, “you can’t deny the proof —
8 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 9
the that I have been able to
little
put my
hands on.”
“All then,” said Hard-
right,
wicke, “let’s start over once again
and take it piece by piece. You
say you have this man:”
“His name,” said Lewis, “is
Enoch Wallace. Chronologically,
he is 124 years old. He was born
on a farm a few miles from the
town of Millville in Wisconsin,
April 22, 1840, and he is the only
child of Jedediah and Amanda
Wallace. He enlisted among the
first when Abe Lincoln called for
volunteers. He was with the Iron
Brigade, which was virtually
wiped out at Gettysburg in 1863.
But Wallace somehow managed
to get transferred to another fight-
ing outfit and fought down across
Virginia under Grant. He was in
on the end of it at Appomattox.”
“You’ve run a check on him?”
“I’ve looked up his records.
The record of enlistment at the
state capitol in Madison. The
of it, including discharge, here in
Washington.”
“You say he looks like thirty.”
“Not a day beyond it. Maybe
even less.”
“But you haven’t talked with
him.”
Lewis shook his head.
“He may not be the man. If
you had fingerprints ...”
“At the time of the Civil war,”
said Lewis, “they’d not thought
of fingerprints.”
10
“The last of the veterans of the newspapers could do with a nomic circumstances. They sell
the Civil war,” said Hardwicke, thing like this?” their farms for whatever they can
“died several years ago. A Con- Lewis said, “I shudder when I get for them and move some-
federate drummer boy, I think. think about it.” where else, to the cities mostly,
There must be some mistake.” “You haven’t told me how.” where they can make a living.”
Lewis shook his head. “I “This,” said Lewis, “is a bit Hardwicke nodded. “And the
thought so myself, when I was hard to explain. You’d have to ones that areleft, of course, are
assigned to it.” know the country and the people the most conservative and clan-
“How come you were assigned? in it. The southwestern corner of nish.”
How does Intelligence get in- Wisconsin is bounded by two “Right. Most of the land now
volved in a deal like this?” rivers, the Mississippi on the isheld by absentee owners who
“I’ll admit,” said Lewis, “that west, the Wisconsin on the north. make no pretense of farming it.
it’s a bit unusual. But there were Away from the rivers there is flat, They may run a few head of cat-
so many implications ...” broad prairie land, rich land, with tle on it, but that is all. It’s not
“Immortality, you mean.” bad as a tax write-off for
prosperous farms and towns. But too
the land that runs down to the someone who needs that sort of
C6TT CROSSED our mind, per- river is rough and rugged; high thing. And in the land-bank days
haps. But only incidentally. hills and bluffs and deep ravines was put into the
a lot of the land
There were other considerations. and cliffs, and there are certain bank.”
It was a strange setup that bore areas forming bays or pockets “You’re trying to tell me these
looking into.” They are served
that are isolated. backwoods people are engaged in
“But Intelligence ...” by inadequate roads and the a conspiracy of silence?”
Lewis grinned. “You are think- small, rough farms are inhabited
ing, why not a scientific outfit? by a people who are closer, per- T EWIS HESITATED. “Per-
Logically, suppose it should
I haps, to the pioneer days of a haps not anything as formal
have been. But one of our men hundred years ago than they are as that. It is just their way of
rest ran afoul of it. He was on vaca- to the twentieth century. They doing things, a holdover from the
tion. Had relatives in Wisconsin. have cars, of course, and radios, old, stout pioneer philosophy.
He heard a rumor —
just the and someday soon, perhaps, even They minded their own business.
vaguest casual gossip. So he television. But in spirit they are They didn’t want folks interfer-
nosed around a bit. He didn’t find conservative and clannish. Not ing with them and they interfered
out too much, but enough to all the people, of course. Not with no one else. If a man wanted
make him think there might be even many of them. But these to live to be a thousand, it might
something to it.” littleisolated neighborhoods. be a thing of wonder, but it was
“That’s the thing that puzzles “At one time there were a lot his own damn business. And if
me,” said Hardwicke. “How could of farms in these isolated pockets, he wanted to live alone and be
a man live for 124 years in one but today a man can hardly make let alone while he was doing it,
locality without becoming a ce- a living on a farm of that sort. that was his business, too. They
lebrity that the world would hear Slowly the people are being might talk about it among them-
about? Can you imagine what squeezed out of the areas by eco- but to no one else. They’d
selves,
GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 11
resent it if some outsider tried to he needs.A bag of flour, a pound “You’re damned right I don’t. — and spent one winter at what
talk about it. of bacon, a dozen eggs, cigars I want everything to stay just was called an academy that oper-
“After a time, I suppose, they and sometimes liquor.” the way it is. And before you ask ated for a year or two down in
came to accept the fact that Wal- “But that must be against the me where the stones come from, Millville village. In case you don’t
lace kept on being young while postal regulations.” I’ll tell you I don’t know.” know, that was considerably bet-
they were growing old. New gen- “Of course it is. But mailmen “He maybe has a mine.” ter than par back in the 1850s.
erations accepted it because their have been doing it for years. The “That would be quite a mine. He was, apparently, a fairly
elders saw in it nothing too un- mailmen probably are the only Diamonds and rubies and emer- bright young man.”
usual —
and, anyhow, no one saw friends he has ever had.” alds, out of the same mine.”
all Hardwicke shook his head. “It
much of Wallace. He kept strictly “I take it this Wallace doesn’t “I would suspect, even at the sounds incredible. You’ve checked
to himself. do much farming.” prices that he gets from them, he on all of this?”
“And in the nearby areas the “None at all. He has a little picks up a fair income.” “As well as I could. I had to
thing,when it was thought of at vegetable garden, but that is all Lewis nodded. “Apparently he go at it gingerly. I wanted no one
all, grew to be just another crazy he does. The place has gone back only sends a shipment in when to catch on. And one thing I for-
tale that wasn’t worth looking pretty much to wilderness.” he runs out of cash. He wouldn’t got —
he does a lot of writing.
into. Maybe among
just a joke “But he has to live. He must need too much. He lives rather He buys these big bound record
those folks down Dark Hollow get money somewhere.” simply to judge from the grub books, in lots of a dozen at the
way. A man might look ridiculous “He does,” said Lewis. “Every he buys. But he subscribes to a time. He buys ink by the pint.”
if he went prying into it.” five or ten years or so he ships lot of daily papers and news mag-
“But your man looked into it.” off a fist full of gems to an outfit azines and to dozens of scientific TTARDWICKE GOT up from
“Yes. Don’t ask me why.” in New York.” journals. He buys a lot of books.” his desk and paced up and
“Yet he wasn’t assigned to fol- “Legal?” “Technical books?” down the room.
low up the job.” “If you mean, is it hot, I don’t “Some of .them, of course, but “Lewis,” he said, “if you hadn’t
“He was needed somewhere think so. If someone wanted to mostly keeping up with new de- shown me your credentials and
else. And, besides, he was known make a case of it, I suppose there velopments. Physics and chemis- if I hadn’t checked on them, I’d
back there.” are illegalities.” try and biology — all that sort figure all of this to be a very
“And you?” “And you don’t mind?” of stuff.” tasteless joke.”
“It took two years of work.” “But I don’t ...” He went back and sat down
“But now you know the story.” UT CHECKED on this firm,” “Of course you don’t. Neither again. He picked up the pencil
“Not all of it. There are more -*•
said Lewis, “and they were do I. He’s no scientist. Or at least and started rolling it between his
questions now than there were to rather nervous. For one thing, he has no formal education in palms once more.
start with.” they’d been stealing Wallace the sciences. Back in the days “You’ve been on the case two
“You’ve seen this man.” blind. I told them to keep on when he went to school there years,” he said. “You have no
“Many times,” said Lewis. “But buying. I told them that if any- wasn’t much of it —
not in the ideas?”
I’ve never talked with him. I one came around to check, to re- sense of today’s scientific educa- “Not a one,” said Lewis. “I’m
don’t think he’s ever seen me. He fer them straight to me. I told tion. And whatever he learned entirely baffled. That is why I’m
takes a walk each day before he them to keep their mouths shut then would be fairly worthless here.”
goes to get the mail. He never and not change anything.” now in any event. He went “Tell me more of his history.
moves off the place, you see. The “You don’t want anyone to through grade school —
one of After the war, that is.”
mailman brings out the little stuff scare him off,” said Hardwicke. those one-room country schools “His mother died,” said Lewis,

12 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 13

 a good deal about their peculiar They found a kindred spirit in
“while he was away. His father bar. It was not a pretty way to
hermit.” me. I was just as shiftless and
and the neighbors buried her right die.” took two years to do it. I
“It no-account as they were. I helped
there on the farm. That was the Hardwicke made a grimace of
infiltrated them. I bought a beat- them with their moonshine, both
way a lot of people did it then. distaste. “Horrible,” he said.
up car and drifted into Millville in the making and the drinking.
Young Wallace got a furlough, “Enoch went out and gathered and I let it out that I was a And once in a while the peddling.
but not in time to get home for up his father and got the body ginseng hunter.” I went with them and
fishing
the funeral. There wasn’t much to the house. Then he took a gun
“A what?” hunting them, and I sat
with
embalming done in those days and went hunting for the horses. “A ginseng hunter. Ginseng is around and talked and they
and the traveling was slow. Then He found them down in the cor- a plant.” showed me a place or two where
he went back to the war. So far ner of the pasture and he shot the “Yes, I know. But there’s been I might find some ginseng. Sang
as I can find, it was his only fur- two of them, and he left them. no market for it for years.” is what they call it. I imagine a
lough. The old man lived alone I mean exactly that. For years
“A small market and an occa- social scientist might find a gold
and worked the farm, batching it their skeletons lay there in the on
sional one. Exporters will take mine in the Fishers. There is one
and getting along all right. From pasture, where he’d killed them.
some of it. But I hunted other girl — a deaf-mute, but prettya
what I can pick up, he was a good They were still hitched
mower until the harness
to the
medicinal plants as well and pre- thing — and she can charm off
farmer, an exceptionally good rotted.
tended an extensive knowledge warts.”
farmer for his day. He subscribed “Then he went back to the of them and Pretended
their use. “I recognize the type,” said
to some farm journals and was house and laid his father out. He isn’t actually the word; I boned Hardwicke. “I was born and
progressive in his ideas. He paid washed him and he dressed him up plenty on them.” raised in the southern moun-
attention to such things as crop in the good black suit and laid
“The kind of simple soul,” said tains.”
rotation and the prevention of him on a board, then went out Hardwicke, “those folks could “They were the ones who told
erosion. The farm wasn’t much of to the barn and carpentered a understand. A sort of cultural me about the team and mower.
a farm by modern standards, but coffin. And after that, he dug a
throwback. And inoffensive, too. So one day I went up in that
it made him a living and a little grave beside his mother’s grave. Perhaps not quite right in the corner of the Wallace pasture
extra hemanaged to lay by. He finished it by lantern light,
head.” and did some digging. I found a
“Then Enoch came home from then went back to the house and Lewis nodded. “It worked even horse’s skull and some other
the war and they farmed the sat up with his father. When better than I thought. I just wan- bones.”
place together for a year or so. morning came, he went to tell the dered around and people talked “But no way of knowing if it
The old man bought a mower nearest neighbor and that neigh- to me. I even found some ginseng. was one of the Wallace horses.”
one of those horse-drawn con- bor notified the others and some- There was one family in particu- “Perhaps not,” said Lewis. “But
traptions with a sickle bar to cut one went to get a preacher. Late
in the afternoon they had the
lar —the Fisher family. They I found part of the mower as
hay or grain. It was the proges- live down in the river bottoms well. Not much left of it, but
sive thing to do. It beat a scythe funeral and Enoch went back to below the Wallace farm, which enough to identify.”
all hollow. the house. He has lived there ever sits on the ridge above the bluffs. “Let’s get back to the history,”
“Then one afternoon the old since, but he never farmed the
They’ve lived there almost as suggested Hardwicke. “After the
man went out to mow a hayfield. land. Except the garden, that is.”
long as the Wallace family, but father’s death, Enoch stayed on
The horses ran away. Something a different stripe entirely. The at the farm. He never left it?”
must have scared them. Enoch’s 64V7THJ TOLD me these peo-
Fishers are a coon-hunting, cat- Lewis shook his head. “He
father was thrown off the seat pie wouldn’t talk to stran- moonshine-cooking
fishing, tribe. lives in the same house. Not a
and forward, in front of the sickle gers. You seem to have learned
HERE GATHER THE STARS 15
14 GALAXY
thing’s been changed.
house apparently has
more than the man.”
“You’ve been in the house?”
“Not in it. At it. I will tell you
how it was.”
II
TTE HAD an hour. He knew he
had an hour, for he had
timed Enoch Wallace during the
last ten days. And from the time
he left the house until he got back
with his mail, it had never been
less than an hour. Sometimes a
little longer, when the
might be late, or they got to talk-
ing. But an hour, Lewis told him-
self, was all that he could count
on.
Wallace had disappeared down
the slope of ridge, heading for
the point of rocks that towered
above the bluff face, with the
Wisconsin river running there be-
low. He would climb the rocks
and stand there, with the rifle
tucked beneath his arm, to gaze
across the wilderness of the river
valley. Then he would go back
down the rocks again and trudge
along the wooded path to where,
in proper season, the pink lady
slippers grew, and from there up
the again to the spring that
hill
gushed out of the hillside just
below the ancient field that had
lain fallow for a century or more,
and then along the slope until
16
And the he hit the almost overgrown road
aged no and so down to the mailbox.
In the ten days that Lewis had
watched him, his route had never
varied. It was likely, Lewis told
himself, that it had not varied
through the years. Wallace did
not hurry. He walked as if he
had all the time there was. And
he stopped along the way to
renew acquaintances with old
friends of his — a tree, a squirrel,
a flower. He was a rugged man
and there still was much of the
soldier in him —
old tricks and
habits left from the bitter years
mailman of campaigning under many lead-
ers. He walked with his head
held high and his shoulders back,
and he moved with the easy
stride of one who had known hard
marches.
Lewis came out of the tangled
mass of trees that once had been
an orchard. A few trees, twisted
and gnarled and gray with age,
still bore their pitiful and bitter
crop of apples.
He stopped at the edge of the ,
copse and stood for a moment
to stare up at the house on the
ridge above. For an instant it
seemed to him the house stood
in a special light, as if a rare and
more distilled essence of the sun
had crossed the gulf of space to
shine upon this house and to set
it apart from all other houses
in the world. Bathed in that light,
the house was somehow un-
GALAXY
earthly, as indeed, might be
if it,
set apart as a very special thing.
And then the ever had
light, if it
been there, was gone and the
house shared the common sun-
light of the fields and woods.
Lewis shook his head and told
himself that it had been foolish-
ness, or, perhaps, a trick of seeing.
For there was no such thing as
special sunlight. The house was
no more than a house, although
wondrously preserved.
TT WAS the kind of house one
*- did not see too often in these
days. It was rectangular; long
and narrow and high, with old-
fashioned gingerbread along the
eaves and gables. It had a certain
gauntness that had nothing to
do with age. It had been gaunt
the day it was built. Gaunt and
plain and strong, like the people
that it sheltered.
But gaunt as it might be,
stood prim and neat, with no
peeling paint, with no sign of
weathering, and no hint of decay.
Against one end of it was a
smaller building, no more than
a shed, as if it were an alien struc-
ture that had been carted in from
some other place and shoved
against its end, covering the side
door of the house. Perhaps the
door, thought Lewis, that led into
the kitchen. The shed undoubt-
edly had been used as a place
to hang outdoor clothing and to
HERE GATHER THE STARS
leave overshoes and boots, with
a bench for milk cans and buck-
ets, and, perhaps, a basket in
which to gather eggs. From the
top of it extended three feet of
stovepipe.
Lewis went up to the house
and around the shed. And there,
in the side of it, was a door ajar.
He stepped up on the stoop,
pushed the door wide open and
stared in amazement at the room.
For it was not a simple shed.
apparently, was the place
It,
where Wallace lived.
The stove from which the
stovepipe projected stood in one
corner. It was an ancient cook
stove, smaller than the old-fash-
ioned kitchen range. Sitting on
its top was a coffee pot, a frying
pan and a griddle. Hung from
hooks on a board behind it were
other cooking implements. Oppo-
site the stove, shoved against the
it wall, was a three-quarter size
four-poster bed, covered with a
lumpy
quilt, quilted in one of
the ornate patterns of many
pieces of many-colored cloth that
had been the delight of ladies of
a century before. In another cor-
ner was a table and a chair. Above
the table, against the wall, hung
a small open cupboard in which
were stacked some dishes. On the
table stood a kerosene lantern,
battered from much usage, but
with its chimney clean, as if it
had been washed and polished as
17
recently as this morning, the wick Journal, the Christian Science didn’t turn it; the knob stayed upon its surface nor could weath-
neatly trimmed. Monitor and the Washington exactly where it was. His er stain it.

There was no door into the
house, no sign there had ever
been a door. The clapboard of
the house’s outer wall ran un-
broken to form the fourth wall
of the shed.
This was incredible, Lewis told
himself — that there should be
no door, that Wallace should live
when there was
here, in this shed,
in. As if there were
a house to live
some reason he should not oc-
cupy the house, and yet must
Star, as well as many scientific clenched fingers went half around He movedalong the porch un-
and technical journals. But there it in the motion of a turn. til he came to a window. And
was no sign of them here, nor of Puzzled, he tried again and now, as he stood facing the win-
the many books he bought. No still he didn’t turn the knob. It dow, he realized something he
sign, either, of the bound record was as if the knob were covered had not noticed before, something
books. Nothing at all on which with some hard, slick coating, that helped make the house seem
a man could write, nor anything like a coat of brittle ice, on which gaunter than it really was. The
to write with. the fingers slipped without exert- windows were black.
ing any pressure on the knob. There were no curtains, no
1>ERHAPS, LEWIS told him- He bent his head close to the drapes, no shades. They were
self, this shed, forsome baf- knob and tried to see if there simply black rectangles, like emp-
fling reason, was no more than a were any evidence of coating. ty eyes staring out of the bare
show place, a place staged most There was no evidence. The knob skull of the house.

stay close by it. Or perhaps as
though he were living out a pen-
ance of some sort, living here in
this shed as a medieval hermit
might have lived in a woodland
hut or in a desert cave.
Hestood in the center of the
shed and looked around him, hop-
ing that he might find some clue
to this unusual circumstance. But
there was nothing, beyond the
bare, hard fact of living. Just the
very basic necessities — the stove
to cook his food and heat the
place, the bed to sleep on, the
table to eat on and the lantern
for its light. Not even so much
as an extra hat (although, come
to think of it, Wallace never wore
a hat) or an extra coat.
No sign of magazines or pa-
pers,and Wallace never came
home from the mailbox empty-
handed.He subscribed to the
carefully to make one think that
this was where Wallace lived.
Perhaps he lived in the house
after all. Although, if that were
the case, why all this effort, not
too successful, to make one think
he didn’t?
Lewis turned to the door and
walked out of the shed. He went
around the house until he reached
the porch that led up to the front
door. At the foot of the steps,
he stopped and looked around.
The place was quiet. The sun
was mid-morning high and the
day was warming up. This shel-
tered corner of the earth stood
relaxed and hushed, waiting for
the heat.
He looked at his watch and he
had forty minutes left, so he went
up the steps and across the porch
until he came to the door. Reach-
ing out his hand, he grasped the
looked perfectly all right. Too all
right, perhaps; forit was clean,
as ifsomeone had wiped and
polished it. There was no dust
upon it and no weather specks.
He tried a thumbnail on it and
the thumbnail slipped, but left
no mark behind it. He ran his
palm over the outer surface of
the door and the wood was slick.
The rubbing of the palm set up
no friction. The palm slid along
the wood as if the palm were
greased, but there was no sign
of grease. There was no indication
of anything to account for the
slickness of the door.
Lewis moved from the door to
the clapboard and the clapboard
also was slick. He tried palm and
thumbnail on it and the answer
was the same. There was some-
thing covering this house which
made it slick and smooth so —
He moved closer to the window
and put his face up to it, shading
the sides of his face, next to the
eyes, with his upheld hands to
shield out the sunlight. But even
so he could not see into the room
beyond. He stared, instead, into
a pool of blackness, and the
blackness, curiously enough, had
no reflective qualities.
He
could not see himself re-
flected in the glass.He could see
nothing but the blackness, as if
the light hit the window and was
absorbed by it, sucked in and held
by it. There was no bouncing
back of light once it had hit that
window.
He left the porch and went
slowly around the house, exam-
ining it as he went. The windows
were all blank, black pools that
sucked in the captured light and
all the exterior was slick and

New York Times, the Wall Street knob and turned — except he smooth that dust could not cling hard.

18 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 19

 around a tree that had been up- opposite the three crude native
TTE POUNDED the clapboard amination of the wall, Lewis
limestone headstones, was a peo-
rooted in some windstorm of
with his was like
fist. It looked at his watch. There were
many years before. ny bush, each of them a great
pounding a rock. He examined only ten minutes left. He must
He reached up as he went straggling mass of plants that had
the stone walls of the basement be getting on.
along, picking an apple here and grown undisciplined for years.
where they were exposed, and He walked down the hill to-
there,scrubby things and sour. Standing before the weathered
the walls were smooth and slick. ward the tangle of old orchard.
He took a single bite out of each picketing, heknew that he had
There were mortar gaps between At its edge, he stopped and
one of them, then threw them stumbled on the Wallace family
the stones and in the stones them- looked back and now the house
away; for there were none of burial plot.
selves one could see uneven sur- was different. It was no longer
them that was fit to eat, as if But there should have been
faces. But the hand rubbed across just a structure. It wore a per-
they might have taken from the only the two stones. What about
the wall could detect no rough- sonality, a mocking, leering look
neglected soil a certain basic bit- the third?
ness. and there was a malevolent
terness. He moved around the fence
An invisible something had chuckle bubbling inside of it,
At the far side of the orchard to the sagging gate and went into
been laid over the roughness of ready to break out.
he found the fence and the graves the plot. Standing at the foot of
the stone, just enough of it to fill Lewis ducked into the orchard
that it enclosed. the graves, he read the legends
in the pits and uneven surfaces. and worked his way in among the
Here the weeds and grass were on the stone. The carving was
But one could not detect it. It trees. There was no path and be-
not so high and the fence showed angular and rough, giving evi-
was almost as if it had no sub- neath the trees the grass and
signs of repair made rather re- dence of having been executed
stance. weeds grew tall. He ducked the
cently. At the foot of each grave, by unaccustomed hands. There
Straightening up from his ex- drooping branches and walked

GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 21

20
were no pious phrases, no lines
of verse, no carvings of angels or
of lambs or of other symbolic fig-
ures such as had been in the
vogue in the 1860s. There were
just the names and dates.
On Amanda
the first stone:
Wallace 1821-1863
And on the second stone Jede-
:
diah Wallace 1816-1866
And on the third stone
III
Ui^IVE ME THAT
please,” said Lewis.
Hardwicke quit rolling it be-
tween his palms and handed it
across.
“Paper, too?” he asked.
“If you please,” said Lewis.
He bent above the desk and
drew rapidly.
“Here,” he said, handing back
the paper.
Hardwicke wrinkled his brow.
“But it makes no sense,” he
said. “Except for that figure un-
derneath.”
“The figure eight, lying on its
side. Yes, I know. The symbol
for infinity.”
“But the rest of it?”
know,” said Lewis. “It
“I don’t
is the inscription on the tomb-
stone. I copied it ...
”
“I’ve never seen anything like
it in my life,” said Hardwicke.
“Not that I’m an authority. I
really know little at all in this
field.”
“You can put your mind
nothing that
rest. It’s
knows anything about. It bears
no not even the
resemblance,
remotest, to any language or any
known inscription. I checked with
men who know. Not one, but a
dozen of them. I told them
found it on a rocky cliff. I
pencil, sure that most of them think I
a crackpot. One of those people
who are trying to prove that the
Romans or the Phoenicians or
the Irish or whatnot had pre-
Columbian settlements
ica.”
Hardwicke put down the sheet
of paper.
can see what you mean,”
“I
he said, “when you say you have
more questions now than when
you started. Not only the ques-
tion of a young man more than
a century old, but likewise the
matter of the slickness of the
house and the third gravestone
with the undecipherable inscrip-
tion. You say you’ve never talked
with Wallace?”
“No one talks to him except
“Because of the gun,
mean?”
suppose that was
“Well, yes, I “You spent a good deal
in the back of my mind. I won-
dered why he carried it.”
at
anyone
T EWIS SHOOK his head.
don’t know. I’ve tried to tie
it in, to find some reason he al-
ways has it with him. He has
never fired the rifle so far as I
can find. But I don’t think the
I’d
rifle is the reason no one talks
am with him. He’s an anachronism,
am something living from another
age. No one fears him, I am sure
of that. He’s been around too
long for anyone to fear him. Too
familiar. He’s a fixture of the
in Amer-
land, like a tree or boulder. And
yet no one feels quite comfortable
with him, either, I would imagine
that most of them, if they should
come face to face with him, would
feel uncomfortable. For he’s
something they are not. Some-
thing greater than they are, and
at the same time a good deal less.
As if he were a man who had
walked away from his own hu-
manity. I think that secretly
many of his neighbors may be a
bit shamed by him, shamed be-
cause he has, somehow, perhaps
ignobly, sidestepped growing old
you to talk about him to strangers
like us.”
of time
watching him?”
“There was a time I did. But
now I have a crew. They watch
“I on regular shifts. We have a
dozen spots we watch from and
we keep shifting them around.
There isn’t an hour, day in, day
out, that the Wallace house isn’t
under observation.”
“This business really has you
people bugged.”
“I think with reason,” Lewis
said. “There is still one other
thing.”
He bent over and picked up
the briefcase he had placed be-
Unsnapping it, he
side his chair.
took out a sheaf of photographs
and handed them to Hardwicke.
“What do you make of these?”
he asked.
Hardwicke picked them up.
Suddenly he froze. The color
drained out of his face. His hands
began to tremble and he laid the
pictures carefully on the desk.
He had looked at only the top
one; not any of the others.
Lewis saw the question in his
face.
“In the grave,” he said. “The
one beneath the headstone with

now by
the mailman. He goes out on his
daily walks and he packs this
— one of the penalties, but per- the funny writing.”
“And you know it
haps also one of the rights of all
heart.” gun.”
humankind. And perhaps this r
I ^HE MESSAGE machine whis-
“I should. I’ve studied it “People are afraid to talk with
secretshame may contribute in led shrilly. Enoch Wallace put
enough.” him?”
some part to their unwillingness away the book in which he had

22 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 23


been writing and got up from his
desk.
He walked across the
to the whistling machine.
punched a button and shoved a
key and the whistling stopped.
The machine built up its hum
and the message began to form
on the plate, faint at first and
then becoming darker until to
stood out clearly. It read:
TO STATION
NO. 406301
18327. TRAVELER AT 16097.-
38. NATIVE THUBAN VI. NO
LIQUID
BAGGAGE. NO. 3
TANK. SOLUTION 27.
PART FOR STATION 12892
AT 16439.16. CONFIRM.
Enoch glanced up at the great
chronometer hanging on
galactic
the wall. There was almost three
hours to go.
He touched a button and a
thin sheet of metal, bearing the
message, protruded from the side
of the machine. Beneath it, the
duplicate fed itself into the rec-
ord file. The machine chuckled
and the message plate was clear
once more and waiting.
Enoch pulled out the metal
plate,threaded the holes in it
through the double filing spindle
and then dropped his fingers to
keyboard and typed: NO.
the
406301 RECEIVED. CONFIRM
MOMENTARILY. The message
came into being on the plate and
he left it there.
Thuban VI? Had there been,
24
he wondered, one of them be-
fore? As soon as he got his chores
room done, he would go to the filing
He cabinet and check.
It was a liquid-tank case and
were the most
those, as a rule,
uninteresting of all. They usually
were hard ones to strike up a
conversation with, because too
often their concept of language
was too difficult to handle. And,
as often, too, their very thinking
processes proved too divergent
to provide much common ground
for communication.
DE- Although, he recalled, that was
not always true. There had been
that tank traveler several years
ago, from somewhere in Hydra
(or had it been the Hyades?)
he’d sat up the whole night with
and almost failed of sending off
on time, yarning through the
hours, their communication (you
couldn’t call it words) tumbling
over one another as they packed
into the little time they had a
lot of fellowship and, perhaps,
some brotherhood.
He, or she, or it —
they’d
never got around to that had —
not come back again. And that
was the way it was, thought
Enoch. Very few came back. By
far the greater part of them were
just passing through.
T>UT ENOCH had him, or her,
or it (whichever it might
be) down in black and white. In
GALAXY
fact he had all of them, every the other end, then threw the
single blessedone of them, down machine to neutral, ready to re-
in black and white. It had taken ceive again.
him, he remembered, almost the He went from the machine to
entire following day, crouched the filing cabinet that stood next
above his desk, to get it written to his desk and pulled out a
down; all the stories he’d been drawer jammed with filing cards.
told, all the glimpses he had He looked and Thuban VI was
caught of a far and beautiful and there, keyed to August 22, 1931.
tantalizing land (tantalizing be- He walked across the room to
cause there was so much of it the wall filled with books and
he could not understand), all the rows of magazines and journals,
warmth and comradeship that filled from floor to ceiling, and
had flowed between himself and found the record book he wanted.
this misshapen, twisted, ugly liv- Carrying it, he walked back to
ing being from another world.
his desk.
And any time he wished, any August 22, 1931, he found,
day he wished, he could take when he located the entry, had
down the journal from the row been one of his lighter days.
of journals and relive that night There had been one traveler
again. Although he never had. It only, the one from Thuban VI.
was strange, he thought, how And although the entry for the
there was never time, or never day filled almost a page in his
seemed to be the time, to thumb small, crabbed writing, he had de-
through and re-read in part what voted no more than one para-
he’d recorded through the years. graph to the visitor.
He turned from the message Came today, it read, a blob
machine and rolled a No. 3 liquid from Thuban VI. There is no
tank into place beneath the ma- other way in which one might
terializer, positioning it exactly describe it. It is simply a mass of
and locking it in place. Then he matter, presumably of flesh, and
pulled out the retracting hose and this mass seems to go through
thumbed the selector over to No. some sort of rhythmic change in
27. He filled the tank and let the shape, for periodically it is globu-
hose slide back into the wall. lar, then begins to flatten out un-
Back at the machine, he til it lies in the bottom of the
cleared the plate and sent off his somewhat
tank, like a pancake.
confirmation that all was ready Then it begins to contract and
for the traveler from Thuban. to pull in upon
itself, until finally
He got back re-confirmation from it is a ball again. This change is
HERE GATHER THE STARS 25
rather slow and definitely rhyth- more expressive than mere the knowing was not the most seemed, rather than from any
mic, but only in the sense that names. But this terminology, important part of it. hope of finding food. The sound
it follows the same pattern. It even the very concept of it, was And none of it, he knew, might of the sparrows’ wings, as they
seems to have no relation to such that it could not be grasped, come to pass, for there was inter- flew between the gable of the barn
time. I tried timing it and could much less put to use, by human ference now. There were watch- and the hedge of honeysuckle
detect no time pattern. The beings. ers, or at least a watcher. The that bordered the field beyond
shortestperiod needed to com- “I shall call you Ulysses,” fellow who posed as a ginseng the road, was harsh and dry
was seven minutes
plete the cycle Enoch recalled telling him, that hunter. Before too long whoever sound, as if their feathers had
and the longest was eighteen. firsttime they had met. “I need it might be might start closing in. grown in the heat.
stiff

Perhaps over a longer period one to call you something.” What he’d do or how he’d meet Andhere he sat, he thought,
might be able to detect a time “It is agreeable,” said the then the threat, he had no idea until staring at the thunderheads when
rhythm, but I didn’t have the strange being (but no longer that moment came. It was some- there was work to do. Corn to be
time. The semantic translator did strange). “Might one ask why thing that had been bound to plowed. Hay to be gotten in.

not work with it, but it did emit the name Ulysses?” happen. It was something he had Wheat soon to put in shock.
for me a series of sharp clicks, “Because it is the name of a been prepared to have happen For, despite whatever might
as if it might be clicking claws great man of my race.” all these years. There was reason have happened, a man still had

together, although it had no claws “I am glad you chose it,” said to wonder that it had not hap- a life to live. Days had to be got-
that I could see. When I looked the newly-christened being. “To pened sooner. ten through the best that one
this up in the pasimology manual my hearing it has a dignified and He had told Ulysses of the could manage. It was a lesson, he
I learned that what it was trying noble sound and, between the danger of it that first day they’d reminded himself, that he should
to say was that it was all right, two of us, I shall be glad to bear met. He’d been sitting on the have learned in all its fullness
that it needed no attention, and it. And I shall call you Enoch, steps that led up to the porch, in the last few years. But war
please leave it alone. Which I did for the two of us shall work to- and thinking of it now, he could was somehow different than what
thereafter. gether for many of your years.” remember it as clearly as if it had had happened here. In war you
And at the end of the para- And it had been many years, been only yesterday. knew it and expected it. You
graph, jammed into the little thought Wallace, with the record were ready when it happened;
space that had been left, was the book open to that October entry IV but this was not the war. This
notation: See Oct. 16, 1931. of more than thirty years ago. was the peace to which he had
Years that had been satisfying TTE WAS sitting on the steps returned.
TTE TURNED the pages until and enriching in a way that one and it was late afternoon. A man had a right to expect
he came to October 16 and could not have imagined until it He was watching the great, white that in the world of peace there
that had been one of the days, had all been laid out before him. thunderheads that were piling up really would be peace, fencing
he saw, that Ulysses had arrived And it would go on, he thought, across the river beyond the Iowa out the violence and the horror.
to inspect the station. much longer than it already had hills. Now he was alone, as he’d
His name, of course, was not gone on. For many centuries The day was hot and sultry, never been alone before. Now, if
Ulysses.As a matter of fact, he more. For a thousand years, per- without a breath of moving air. ever, could be a new beginning.
had no name at all. Among his haps. And at the end of that Out in the barnyard a half Perhaps now there had to be a
people there was no need of thousand years, what would he a dozen bedraggled chickens new beginning. But whether it
names; there was other identify- know then? scratched listlessly, for the sake was here, on the homestead acres,
ing terminology which was far Although, perhaps, he thought, of going through the motions, it or in some other place, it still

26 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 27

would be a beginning of bitter- The water splashed out of the
ness and anguish. spout, running on the boards that
He sat on the steps, with his formed the cover of the well. It
wrists resting on his knees, and came in spurts as Enoch worked
watched the thunderheads piling the handle.
in the west. It might mean rain. “Do you think,” the stranger
The land could use the rain. Or asked, “that it is about to rain?”
it might be nothing, for above “A man can’t tell,” said Enoch.
the merging river valleys the air “We have to wait and see.”
currents were erratic. There was
no way a man could tell where fT'HERE WAS something about
those clouds might flow. -* this traveler that disturbed
He did not see the traveler him. Nothing, actually, that one
until he turned in at the gate. could put a finger on, but a cer-
He was tall and gangling, and tain strangeness that was vaguely
his clotheswere dusty. From the disquieting. He watched him nar-
appearance of him he had walked rowly as he pumped and decided
a far way. He came up the path that probably this stranger’s ears
and Enoch sat waiting for him, were just a bit too pointed at the
watching him but not stirring top. Then he put it down to his
from the steps. imagination, for when he looked
“Good day, sir,” Enoch finally again they seemed to be all right.
said. “It’s a hot day to be walk- “I think,” said Enoch, “that
ing. Why don’t you sit a while?” the water should be cold by now.”
“Quite willingly,” said the The traveler put down the dip-
stranger. “But first, I wonder, per and waited for it to fill. He
could I have a drink of water?” offered it to Enoch. Enoch shook
Enoch got up to his feet. “Come his head.
along. I’ll pump a fresh one for “You first. You need it worse
you.” than I do.”
He went down across the barn- The stranger drank greedily
yard until he reached the pump. and with much slobbering.
He unhooked the dipper from “Another one?” asked Enoch.
where it hung upon a bolt and “No, thank you,” said the stran-
handed it to the man. He grasped ger. “But I’ll catch another dip-
the handle of the pump and per full for you, if you wish me
worked it up and down. to.”
V
“Let it run a while,” he said. Enoch pumped and when the
“It takes a time for it to get real dipper was full, the stranger
cool.” handed it to him. The water was

28 GALAXY
 “Yes, I,” the stranger said. "Al- face sloughed off that other face,
cold.Enoch, realizing for the first and the question hanging.
left
though I do not know as much a great sheet of lightning went
time that he had been thirsty, “I mean
right here,” said the
crackling across the sky and the
as many others do.”
drank it almost to the bottom. stranger, “sitting on these steps.
Enoch said, “I’ve sometimes heavy crash of thunder seemed
He hung the dipper back on its I have been looking for a man
wondered if the stars are other to shake the land, and from far
bolt and said to the man: “Now, and I think that man is you. I
suns, might there not be other off he heard the rushing of the
let’s get in that sitting.” did not know his name nor where
planets and other people, too.” rain as it charged across the hills.
The stranger grinned. “I could to look for him, but yet I knew
that one day I would find him,
He remembered sitting around
do with some of it,” he said.
V
the campfire of a night, jawing
Enoch pulled a red bandanna and now I have.”
with the other fellows to pass
from pocket and mopped his
his T^HAT WAS how
4
"OUT ME,” Enoch away the time. And once he’d it started,
face. “The air gets close,” he said, 6 said, as-
mentioned this idea of maybe Enoch though, almost a hun-
“just before a rain.” tonished. “Why should you
years ago. The campfire
other people on other planets cir- dred
And as he mopped his face, look for me?”
cling other suns. And the fellows fantasy had turned into solid fact.
quite suddenly he knew what it “I was looking for a man of
The Earth now was on galac-
all had jeered him and for days
was that had disturbed him about many different parts. One of the
a way station for many
afterwards had made fun of him, tic charts,
the traveler. things about him was that he
so he had never mentioned it different peoples traveling star
Despite his bedraggled clothes must have looked up at the stars to star. Strangers once, but now
again. Not that it mattered much,
and his dusty shoes, which at- and wondered what they were.” were no strangers. There
for he had no real belief in it him- there
tested to long walking, despite “Yes,” said Enoch, “that is
self. It had never been more than were no such things as strangers.
the heat of this time-before-a- something I have done. On many In whatever form, with whatever
campfire speculation.
rain, the stranger was not sweat- nights, camping in the field, I purpose, all of them were people.
And now he’d mentioned it
ing. Heappeared as fresh and have lain in my blankets and
again and to an utter stranger. He looked back at the entry
cool as if he had been lying at looked up at the sky, looking at for Oct. 16, 1931 and ran through
He wondered why he had.
his ease beneath a tree in spring- the stars and wondering what “You believe that?” asked the it swiftly. There, near the end of
time. they were and how they’d been was the sentence: Ulysses says
stranger. it
Enoch put the bandanna back put up there and, most important was an the Thubans from planet VI are
Enoch said: “It just
into his pocket. They walked of all, why they had been put up perhaps the greatest mathema-
idle notion.”
back to the steps and sat there, there. I have heard some way ticians in the galaxy. It seems
“Not so idle,” said the stran-
side by side. that each of them is another sun they have developed a numera-
ger. “There are other planets and
“You’ve traveled a far way,” like the sun that shines on Earth. tion system superior to any in
there are other people. I am one
said Enoch, gently prying. But I don’t know about that. I of them.” existence, especially valuable in
“Very far, indeed,” the stranger guess there is no one who knows “But you ...” cried Enoch, the handling of statistics.
told him. “I’m a right smart piece too much about them.” He closed the book and sat
then was stricken into silence.
from home.” “There are some,” the stranger For the stranger’s face had split quietly in the chair, wondering
“And you have a far way yet to said, “who know a deal about the statisticians of Mizar X
and began to fall away and be- if
go?” them.” neath it he caught the glimpse knew of the Thubans’ work. Per-
“No,” the stranger said, “I be- “You, perhaps,” said Enoch, of another face that was not a haps they did, he thought. Cer-
lieve that I have got to the place mocking just a little, for the human face. tainly some of the math they used
where I am going.” stranger did not look like a man And even as the false human was unconventional.
“You mean ...” asked Enoch, who’d know much of anything.
HERE GATHER THE STARS 31
30 GALAXY
 He pushed the record book to
one side and dug into a desk
drawer, bringing out his chart.
He spread it flat on the desk be-
fore him and puzzled over it. If
he could be sure, he thought. If
he only knew the Mizar statistics
better. For the last ten years or
more he had labored at the chart,
checking and rechecking all the
factors against the Mizar system,
testing again and again to deter-
mine whether the factors he was
using were the ones he should be
using.
He raised a clenched fist
hammered at the desk. Ifhe only
could be certain! If he could only
talk with someone.
But that had been something
that he had shrank from doing,
for it would be equivalent to
showing the very nakedness of
the human race.
He still was human. Funny,
he thought, that he should stay
human, that in a century of asso-
ciation with these beings from
the many stars he should have,
through it all, remained a man of
Earth.
For in many ways, his ties with
Earth were cut. Old Winslowe
Grant was the only human he
ever talked with now. His neigh-
bors shunned him. There were
no others, unless one could count
the watchers, and those he seldom
saw — only glimpses of them,
only the places they had been.
32
Only old Winslowe Grant and
Mary and the other people from
the shadow who came occasion-
ally to spend lonely hours with
him.
That was all of Earth he had.
Old Winslowe and the shadow
people and the homestead acres
that lay outside the house — but
not the house itself, for the house
was alien now.
TTE SHUT his eyes and re-
membered how the house
had been in the olden days.
and There had been a kitchen, in
this same area where he was sit-
ting, with the iron cook stove,
black and monstrous, in its cor-
ner, showing its row of fiery teeth
along the slit made by the grate.
Pushed against the wall had been
the table where the three of them
used to eat. He could remember
how that table looked, with the
vinegar cruet and the glass that
held the spoons and the lazy
Susan with the mustard, horse-
radish and chili sauce sitting in
a group, a sort of centerpiece in
the middle of the red checkered
cloth that the table wore.
There had been a winter night
when he had been, it seemed, no
more than three or four. His
mother was busy at the stove
with supper. He was sitting on
the floor in the center of the
kitchen, playing with some
blocks, and outside he could hear
GALAXY
the muffled howling of the wind
as it prowled along the eaves.
His father had come in from
milking at the barn, and a gust
wind and a swirl of snow had
of
come into room with him. Then
he’d shut the door and the wind
and snow were gone, shut out-
side this house, condemned to
the outer darkness and the wil-
derness of night. His father had
set the pail of milk that he had
been carrying on the kitchen sink
and Enoch saw that his beard
and eyebrows were coated with
snow and there was frost on the
whiskers all around his mouth.
He held that picture still,
three of them like historic
nikins posed in cabinet in a
a time, with his whip uplifted in
museum — his father with the
frost upon his whiskers and the
great felt boots that came up to
his knees; his mother with her
face flushed from working at the
stove and the lace cap upon her
head; and himself upon the floor,
playing with the blocks.
There was one other thing that
he remembered, perhaps
clearly than all the rest
There was a great lamp sitting
on the table. On the wall behind
it hung a calendar and the glow
of the lamp fell like a spotlight
upon the picture on the calendar.
There was Old Santa Claus,
riding through
in his sleigh
woodland track and all the little
woodland people had turned out
HERE GATHER THE STARS
towatch him pass. A great moon
hung above the trees and there
was thick snow on the ground.
A pair of rabbits sat there, gazing
soulfully at Santa, and a deer
beside the rabbits, with a raccoon
just a little distance off, ringed
wrapped about his feet, and
tail
a squirreland chickadee side by
side upon an overhanging branch.
Old Santa had his whip raised
high in greeting. His cheeks were
red and his smile was merry, and
the reindeer hitched to his sled
were fresh and spirited and
proud.
Through all the years this mid-
the nineteenth century Santa had rid-
man- den down the snowy aisles of
happy greeting to the woodland
creatures. And the golden lamp-
light had ridden with him, still
bright upon the wall and the
checkered table cloth.
So, thought Enoch, some things
do endure —
the memory of the
snug warmness of a childhood
kitchen on a stormy winter night.
more
of it. ¥>UT THE endurance was of
the spirit and the mind, for
nothing else endured. There was
no kitchen now, nor no sitting
room with its old-fashioned sofa
and the rocking chair; no back
parlor with its stuffy elegance of
brocade and silk, no guest bed-
a
room on the first and no family
bedrooms on the second floor.
33
 It all was gone. Only one room Some of them were functional. stepped through it into the little ficial aids, as readily as they had
remained. Others were to look at only. And shed with its sparse furnishings. been born here.
The second story floor and all there were other things that were Behind him the section of the Our horizons are so far, he
partitions had been stripped entirely useless, because they had wall slid closed and there was thought, and we see so little of
away. Now the house was one little application to a member nothing there to indicate it was them. Even now, with flaming
great room. One side of it was of the human race or were in- anything but a solid wall. rockets striving from Canaveral
the galactic station. The other operable on Earth, and many Enoch stepped out of the shed. to break the ancient bonds, we
side the living space for the others of the purpose of which It was a beautiful late summer dream so little of them.
keeper of the station. There was he had no idea, accepting them, day. In a few weeks now, he The ache was there. The ache
a bed over in one corner, and embarrassed, with many stum- thought, there’d be the signs of that had been growing, the ache
a stove that worked on no prin- bling thanks, from the well-mean- autumn and a strange chill in to tell all mankind those things
ciple known on Earth, and a re- ing folks who had brought them the air. The first goldenrods were that he had learned. Not so much
frigerator that was of alien make. to him. blooming now, and he’d noticed, the specific things, although there
The walls were lined with cabi- And on the other side of the just the day before, that some were some of them that mankind
nets and shelves, stacked with room stood the intricate mass of of the early asters down in the well could use, but the general
magazines and books and jour- machinery, reaching well up into ancient fence row had started to things — the unspecific, central
nals. the open second story, that show color. fact that there was intelligence
There was just one thing left wafted passengers through the He went around the corner of throughout the universe. That
from the early days, the one space that stretched from star to the house and headed toward the Man was not alone; that if he
thing Enoch had not allowed the star. river, striding down the long de- only found the way he need never
alien crew that had set up the An inn, he thought. A stopping serted field that was overrun with be alone again.
station to strip away —
the mas- place. A galactic crossroads. hazel brush and occasional He went down across the field
sive old fireplace of brick and He up the chart and put
rolled clumps of trees. and through the strip of woods
native stone that had stood it back into the desk. The record This was the Earth, he thought and came out on the great out-
against one wall of the sitting book he put away in its proper — a planet made for Man. But thrust of rock that stood atop
room. It still stood there, the one place among all the other record not for Man alone, for it was as the cliff that faced the river. He
reminder of the days of old; the books upon the shelf. well a planet for the fox and owl stood there, as he had stood on
one thing left of Earth, with its He glanced at the galactic and weasel, for the snake, the thousands of other mornings, and
great, scarred oak mantle that clock upon the wall, and it was katydid, the fish, for all the other stared out at the river, sweeping
his father had carved out with a time to go. teeming life that filled the air and in majestic blue and silver
broadaxe from a massive log and earth and water. And not these through the wooded bottom-land.
smoothed by hand with plane TIE PUSHED the chair tight natives alone, but for other be- Old, ancient water, he said,
and draw-shave. against the desk and shrug- ings that called other earths their talking silently to the river, you
On the fireplace mantle and ged into the jacket that hung home, other planets that, far have seen it happen — the mile-
strewn on shelf and table were upon the chair back. He picked were basically
light-years distant, high faces of the glaciers that
articles and artifacts that had the rifle off the supports that held the same as Earth. For Ulysses came and stayed and left, creep-
no earthly origin and some no it on the wall. Then he faced the and the Hazers and all the rest ing back toward the pole inch by
earthly names — the steady ac- wall itself and said the single of them who could live upon this stubborn inch, carrying the melt-
cumulation through the years of word that he had to say. planet, if need be, if they wished, ing water from those very gla-
the gifts from friendly travelers. The wall slid silently back. He with no discomfort and no arti- ciers in a flood that filled this

34 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 35

 among the trees, following the fluttered from tree to tree.
valley with a tide such as now I could help Man in his scramble off

him path he’d beaten through the He followed the path out of
is never known; the mastodon after them. I could give
years. the woods and along the edge of
and the sabre-tooth and the bear- faithand hope and I could give
He considered going down the field until he came to the spring
sized beaver that ranged these purpose such as he has not had
hill a ways to look in on the patch that bubbled from the hillside.
olden hills and made the night before.
of pink lady slippers, to see how Sitting beside the spring was a
clamorous with trumpeting and But he knew he dared not do
they might be coming, to try to woman. He recognized her as
screaming; the silent little bands it.
deaf-mute
conjure up the beauty that would Lucy Fisher, the
of men who trotted in the woods
daughter Hank Fisher who
or clambered up the cliffs or T^AR BELOW a hawk swung in I
be his again in June, but decided of

that there’d be little point to it. lived down in the river bottoms.
paddled on your surface, woods- lazy circles above the high-
1

They were well hidden in an iso-

wise and water-wise, weak in way of the river. The air was so
|
lated place. Nothing could have TTE STOPPED and watched
body, strong in purpose, and per- clear that Enoch imagined, if he I

-*- her and thought how full

sistent in a way no other thing strained his eyes a little, he could
harmed them. There had been a
time, a hundred years ago, when she was of grace and beauty, the
;

ever was persistent, and just a see every feather in those out- j

they had bloomed on every hill. natural grace and beauty of a

little time ago that other breed spread wings.
Then he had come trailing home primitive and lonely creature.
of men who carried dreams with- There was almost a fairy qual-
with great armloads of them, She was sitting by the spring
in their skulls and cruelty in their ity to this place, he thought. The
which his mother had put in the with one hand uplifted. She held
hands and the awful sureness of far look and the clear air. The
brown jug she had and for in it, at the tips of long and sensi-
;

great
an even greater purpose in their feeling of detachment that I

hearts. And before that, for this
is ancient country beyond what
is often found, the other kinds
of life and the many turns of
climate and the changes that
came upon the Earth itself. And
what think you of it? he asked
the river. For yours is the mem-
ory and the perspective and the
time. By now you should have
the answers. Or at least some of
the answers.
As Man might have some of
the answers had he lived for sev-
eral million years —
as he might
have the answers several million
years from this very summer
morning, if he still should be
around.
I could help, thought Enoch.
I could not give the answers, but
36
a day or two the house had been tive fingers, something that
touched almost on greatness of
glowed with color. Her head was
with the heaviness of their
filled
the spirit. As if this were a spe-
rich perfume.But they were hard held alert and high, and her
cial place, one of those special
to come by now. The trampling slender body had the same al-
places that each man must seek
of pastured cattle and flower- most startled look of quiet alert-
out for himself, and count him- ]
hunting humans had swept them ness.
self as lucky if he ever found it; I
Enoch moved slowly forward
from the hills.
for there were those who sought
other day, he told him-
Some and stopped, not mofe than three
and never found it. Worst of all,
behind her.
self, some day before first frost, feet
there were even those who never
he would visit them again to The thing of color on her fin-
hunted for it.
satisfy himself that they’d be gertips was one of those large
He stood upon the rock and gold and red butterflies that come
there in spring.
stared out across the river, watch-
He stopped a while to watch a with the end of summer. One wing
ing the lazy hawk and the sweep
squirrel as it frolicked in an oak. of the insect stood erect and
of water and the green carpeting
but the other was bent
of trees. His mind went up and
He squatted down to follow a
snail which had crossed his path.
straight,
and crumpled and had lost some
out to those other places until
He stopped beside a massive tree of the dust that lent sparkle to
his mind was dizzy with the
the color.
and examined the pattern of the
thought of it. And then he called
moss that grew upon its trunk. She was not actually holding
it home.
And he traced the wanderings of the butterfly. It was standing on
He turned and went
slowly
songbird as one fingertip, the one good wing
a silent, flitting it
back down the rock and moved
HERE GATHER THE STARS 37
GALAXY
 flutteringvery slightly every now
and then to maintain its balance.
But perhaps he had been mis-
taken in thinking that the second
wing was injured, for now he
could see that somehow 'it had
been simply bent and distorted.
Now it was straightening slowly.
The dust (if it ever had been
gone) was back on it again, and
it was standing up with the other
wing.
He stepped around the girl,
and when she saw him there was
no start of surprise. That would
be quite natural. She must be
accustomed to it — someone
coming up behind her and sud-
denly being there.
Her eyes were radiant, as if
she had experienced some ecstasy
of the soul. And he found him-
self wondering again, as he did
each time he saw her, what it
must be like for her, living in a
world of two-way silence, perhaps
not entirely unable to communi-
cate, but at least barred from
that free flow of communication
which was the birthright of the
human animal.
There had been, he knew, sev-
eral attempts to establish her in
a state school for the deaf, but
each had been a failure. Once
she’d run away and wandered
days before being finally found
and returned to her home. And
on other occasions she had gone
on disobedience strikes, refusing
HERE GATHER THE STARS
I
to co-operate in any of the teach-
ing.
THATCHING HER as she sat
” there with the butterfly,
Enoch thought he knew the rea-
son. She had a world of her very
own. One to which she was ac-
customed and knew how to get
along in. In that world she was
no cripple, as she most surely
would have been a cripple if she
had been pushed, part way, into
the normal human world.
What good to her the hand
alphabet or the reading of the
lips if they should take away her
inner serenity of spirit?
She was a creature of the
woods and hills, of springtime
flower and autumn flight of birds.
She knew these things and lived
with them. She was, in some way,
a part of them, one who dwelt
apart in an old and lost apart-
ment of the natural world. She
occupied a place that Man long
since had abandoned, if, in fact,
he’d ever held it.
And there she sat, alive,
thought Enoch, as no other thing
he knew had ever been alive.
The butterfly spread its wings
and floated off her finger. Uncon-
cerned, unfrightened, it fluttered
up across the wild grass and the
goldenrod of the field.
She pivoted to watch it until
it disappeared, then turned to
Enoch. She smiled and made a
39
fluttery motion with her hands,
like the fluttering of the red and
golden wings. But there was
something else in it, as well a-
— because the races were incapable
sense of happiness and well-
being, as if she might be saying
that the world was going fine.
If, Enoch thought, I could only
teach her the pasimology of my
galactic people. Then we could
talk, the two of us, almost as well
as with the flow of words on the
human tongue. Given the time,
he thought, it might not be too
hard. There was a natural and a
logical process to the galactic sign
language that made it almost in-
stinctive once one had caught the
underlying principle.
Throughout the Earth as well,
in the early days, there had been
sign languages. But Earth’s best
was only a crutch that allowed
a man to hobble when he couldn’t
run. Whereas that of the galaxy
was in itself a language, devel-
oped through millenia, with many
different peoples making contri-
butions. It had been refined and
shaken down and polished until
today it was a communications
tool that stood on its own merits.
There was need for such a tool,
for the galaxy was Babel. Even
the galactic science of pasimo-
logy could not surmount all the
obstacles, could
not guarantee,
in certain cases, the basic mini-
mum of communication. For not
only were there millions of
40
tongues, but those other lan-
guages as well which could not
operate on the principle of sound
of sound. Even sound failed when
the race talked in ultrasonics
others could not hear. There was
telepathy, of course; but for every
telepath, there were a thousand
races, thathad telepathic blocks.
There were many who got along
on sign languages alone and
others who could communicate
only by a written or pictographic
system, including some who car-
ried chemical blackboards built
into their bodies. And
there was
that sightless, deaf and speech-
less race from the mystery stars
of the far side of the galaxy who
used what was perhaps the most
complicated of all the galactic
languages —
a code of signals
routed along their nervous sys-
tems.
Enoch had been at the job al-
most a century. Even so, even
with the aid of the universal sign
language and the semantic trans-
lator, which was little more than
a pitiful (although complicated)
mechanical contrivance, he still
was hard put at times to know
what many
of them said.
T UCY FISHER picked up a
cup fashioned of a strip of
folded birch bark, dipped it in
the spring and held it out to
Enoch. He stepped close and
GALAXY
to drink from it.
knelt
no t entirely watertight.
ran from it down
across his arm,
wetting the cuff of shirt and jack-
et.
He finished and handed back
hand
the cup. She took it in one
and reached out the other, to
brush across his forehead with
the tip of gentle fingers.
He did not speak to her. Long
ago he had ceased talking to her,
sensing that the movement of
his mouth, making sounds she
could not hear, might be embar-
rassing.
Instead he put out a hand and
laid his broad palm against her
cheek for a moment. Then he got
to his feet. For a moment
eyes looked into the other’s eyes
and then turned away.
He crossed the little
that ran down from
the spring
and took the trail that led from
the forest’s edge across the field,
heading for the ridge. Halfway
up the slope, he turned around
and saw that she was watching
him. He held up his hand in a
gesture of farewell and her hand
gestured in reply.
It had been, he recalled, twelve
years or more ago that he first
had seen her, a little fairy per-
son of ten or so, a wild thing
running in the woods. They had
become friends only after a long
time, although he saw her often.
She roamed the hills and valley
HERE GATHER THE STARS
Itwas as if they were a playground for
Water her — which, of course, they
were.
Through the years he had
watched her grow, often meeting
her on his daily walks. Between
the two of them had grown up
the understanding of the lonely
and the outcast, or something
more than that. Each had a world
that was his own, a world that
had given him an insight into
something that others seldom
saw. Not that either, Enoch
thought, ever told the other, or
tried to tell the other, of these
private worlds. But the fact of
the private worlds was there, pro-
viding a firm foundation for
their friendship.
He recalled the day he’d found
her at the place where the pink
stream lady slippers grew, just kneeling
there and looking at them, not
picking any of them. He’d stop-
ped beside her and been pleased
she had not moved to pick them,
knowing that in the sight of them,
the two, he and she, had found a
joy and a beauty that was be-
yond possession.
He reached the ridgetop and
turned down the grass-grown
road that led down to the mail-
box.
And he’d not been mistaken
back there, he told himself, no
matter how it may have seemed
on second look. The butterfly’s
wing had been torn and crumpled
41
and drab from the lack of dust.
It had been a crippled thing.
And then it had been whole again
and had flown away.
VI
WJINSLOWE GRANT was on
time.
As Enoch reached the mailbox,
he sighted the dust raised by his
old jalopy as it galloped along
the ridge. It had been a dusty
year, he thought. Little rain, and
the crops had suffered. Although,
to tell the truth, there were few
crops on the ridge these days.
There had been a time when
comfortable small farms had
existed all along the road, with
the bams all red and the houses
white. But now most of the farms
had been abandoned. The houses
and the barns were no longer red
or white, but the gray and wea-
thered wood, with all the paint
peeled off and the ridgepoles sag-
ging and the people gone.
It would not be long before
Winslowe would arrive. Enoch
settled down to wait. The mail-
man might be stopping at the
Fisher box, just around the bend,
although the Fishers, as a rule,
got but little mail, mostly just
the advertising sheets and other
junk that was mailed out in-
discriminately to the rural box-
holders. Not mattered to
that it
the Fishers, for sometimes days
42
went by in which they did not
pick up their mail. If it were not
for Lucy, they perhaps would
never get it, for it was mostly
Lucy who thought to pick it up.
The Fishers were, for a fact,
a truly shiftless outfit. Their
house and all the buildings were
ready to fall in upon themselves.
They raised a grubby patch of
corn that was drowned out, more
often than not, by a flood rise of
the river. They mowed some hay
off a bottom meadow and they
had a couple of raw-boned horses
and a half dozen scrawny cows
and a flock of chickens. They had
an old clunk of a car, and a still
hid out somewhere in the river
bottoms, and they hunted and
fished and trapped and were gen-
erally no account. Still, when one
considered it, they were not bad
neighbors. They tended to their
business. They never bothered
anyone except that periodically
they went around, the whole tribe
of them, distributing pamphlets
and tracts through the neighbor-
hood for some obscure fundamen-
talist sect that Ma Fisher had
become a member of at a tent
revival meeting down in Mill-
years before.
ville several
Winslowe didn’t stop at the
Fisher box, but came boiling
around the bend in a cloud of
dust.He braked the panting ma-
chine to a halt and turned off
the engine.
GALAXY
“Let her cool a while,” he said. cloudless sky. The vegetation
The block crackled as it started alongside the road was coated
giving up its heat. with dust and an acrid smell rose
“You made good time today,” from it.
said Enoch. “Hear that ginseng fellow is
“Lots of people didn’thave any back again,” said Winslowe, con-
mail today,” said Winslowe. “Just versationally, but unable to keep
went sailing past their boxes.” out a conspiratory tone. “Been
He dipped into the pouch on gone for three, four days.”
the seat beside him and brought “Maybe off to sell his sang.”
out a bundle tied together with a “You ask me,” the mailman
Enoch
bit of string for —
several said,“he ain’t hunting sang. He’s
daily papers and two journals. hunting something else.”
“You get a lot of stuff,” said “Been at it for a right smart
Winslowe, “but hardly ever let- time,” Enoch said.
ters.” “First of Winslowe,
all,” said
“There is no one left who “there’s barely any market for
would want to write to me.” the stuff and even if there was,
“But,” said Winslowe, “you got there isn’t any sang. Used to be
a letter this time.” a good market years ago. Chinese
used it for medicine, I guess. But
T^NOCH LOOKED, unable to now there ain’t no trade with
conceal surprise. He could China.”
see the end of an envelope peep- He leaned back in the seat,
ing from between the journals. puffing serenely at his pipe.
“A personal letter,” said Wins- “Funny goings-on,” he said.
lowe, almost smacking his lips. “I never saw the man,” said
“Not one of them advertising Enoch.
ones.” “Sneaking through the woods,”
Enoch tucked the bundle un- said Winslowe. “Digging up dif-
derneath his arm, beside the rifle ferent kinds of plants. Got the
stock. “Probably won’t amount to idea myself he maybe is a sort
much,” he said. of magic-man. Getting stuff to
“Maybe not,” said Winslowe, a make up charms and such.
sly glitter in his eyes. Spends a lot of his time yarning
He pulled a pipe and pouch with the Fisher tribe and drink-
from his pocket and slowly filled ing up their likker. You don’t
the pipe. The engine block con- hear much of it these days, but
tinued its crackling and popping. I still hold with magic. Lots of
The sun beat down out of a things science can’t explain. You
HERE GATHER THE STARS 43
take that Fisher girl, the dummy. “out of that piece of wood you the mail- there was a wall of shelves down
“It sure don’t,” said
She can charm off warts.” gave me last winter. Best piece
man, starting up the car. in the cavernous basement that
“So I’ve heard,” said Enoch. of whittling ever ran
stuff I
were crammed with the stuff that
Enoch stood and watched the
And more than that, he across. Hard, and without hardly move off, down the hill, build- had been given him. Perhaps it
car
thought. She can fix a butterfly. any grain. No danger of splitting
ing up its cloud of dust as it was, he told himself, because this
Winslowe hunched forward in or nicking or shredding. When moved along. was a gift from Earth. From one
his seat. you make a cut, you make it Then he looked again at the of his own kind.
“Almost forgot,” he said. “I where you want to and it stays wooden statuette of himself. He tucked the wrapped stat-
have something else for you.” the way you cut it. And it takes It was as if the wooden figure uette beneath his arm. Picking
He lifted a brown paper parcel polish as you cut. Just rub it up were walking on a hilltop, naked up the rifle and the mail, he
from the floor and handed it to a little is all you need to do.” to the full force of the wind and headed back for home, following
Enoch. “You don’t know,” said Enoch, bent against the gale. the brush-grown trail that once
“This ain’t mail,” he said. “It’s “how much this means to me.” Why? He wondered. What was had been the wagon road leading
something that I made for you.” “Over the years,” the mailman it the mailman had seen in him to the farm.
“Why, thank you,” Enoch said, told him, “you’ve given me
an aw-
to portray him as walking in the Grass had grown into thick turf
taking it from him. ful lot of wood. Different kinds wind? between the ancient ruts, cut so
“Go ahead,” Winslowe said, of wood no one’s ever see before. deep into the clay by the iron
All of it top-grade stuff and beau- LAID
“and open
Enoch
“Ah,
it up.”
hesitated.
said Winslowe,
tiful. It was time I was whittling
something for you.”
HE the
the mail upon a patch of
rifle and tires of the old-time wagons that
they still were no more than bare,
impacted earth in which no plant
hell,” dusty grass and carefully re-
“don’t be bashful.” “And you have done a lot for wrapped the statuette in the as yet had gained a root-hold.
me, lugging things from town.” piece of paper. He’d put it, But on each side the clumps of

E NOCH TORE
and there it
off
was, a full-figure
wood carving of himself. It
in a blond, honey-colored wood
and some twelve inches tall. It
shone like golden crystal in the
sun. He was walking, with his
rifle tucked beneath his arm and
a wind was blowing, for he was
leaning slightly into it and there
were wind-flutter ripples on his
jacket and his trousers.
Enoch gasped, then stood star-
ing at it.
'“Wins,” he said, “that’s the
most beautiful piece of work I
have ever seen.”
“Did it,” said the mailman,
the paper
“Enoch,” Winslowe said, “I like
you. I don’t know what you are
was and I ain’t about to ask, but,
anyhow, I like you.”
“I wish that I could tell you
what I am,” said Enoch.
“Well,” said Winslowe, moving
over to plant himself behind the
wheel, “it don’t matter much what
any of us are, just so we get along
with one another. If some of the
nations would only take a lesson
in how to get along from some
small neighborhood like the
world would be a whole
ter.”
Enoch nodded gravely.
doesn’t look too good, does it?”
he decided, on the mantlepiece.
Or, perhaps better yet, on the
coffee table that stood beside his
favorite chair, in the corner by
the desk. He wanted it,
mitted to himself, with some
embarrassment, where it was
close at hand, where he could
look at it or pick it up any time
he wished. And he wondered at
the deep, soul-satisfying pleasure
that he got from the mailman’s
gift.
was not because he was sel-
It
lot bet- dom given gifts. Scarcely a week
went past that the alien travelers
“It did not leave several with him.
The house was cluttered,
brush, creeping up the field from
the forest’s edge, grew man-high
or better, so that now one moved
down an aisle of green.
he ad- But at certain points, quite un-
quiet explainably —perhaps due to the
character of the soil or to the
mere vagaries of nature the —
growth of brush had faltered.
Here were vistas where one might
look out from the ridge top across
the river valley.
It was from one of these van-
tage points that Enoch caught
the flash from a clump of trees
at the edge of the old field, not
too far from the spring where he
and had found Lucy.

44 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 45


He frowned as he saw the flash
and stood quietly on the path,
waiting for a repetition. But it
did not come again.
It was one of the watchers, he
knew, using a pair of binoculars
to keep watch upon the station.
The flash he had seen had been
the reflection of the sun upon the
glasses.
VW^HO WERE they? Why
” should they be watching?
It had been going on for some
time now but, strangely, there
had been nothing but the watch-
ing. There had been no inter-
ference. No one had attempted
to approach him, though such
approach could have been quite
simple and quite natural. If they
— whoever they might be had — And it also might be as well that
wished to talk with him, a casual
meeting could have been accom-
plished during any one of his
morning walks.
But apparently as yet they did
not wish to talk.
Then what did they want?
Keep track of him, perhaps. In
that regard, he thought, with a
wry inner twinge of humor, they
could have learned the pattern of
his living in their first ten days of
watching.
Or perhaps they might be wait-
ing for a clue to what he might
be doing. And in that direction
there lay nothing but certain dis-
appointment. They could watch
46
for a thousand years and gain no
hint of it.
He turned from the vista and
went plodding up the road, wor-
ried and puzzled by the watchers.
Perhaps, he thought, they had
not attempted to contact him be-
cause of certain stories that might
be told about him. Stories that no
one, not even Winslowe, would
pass on to him. What kind of
stories, he wondered, might the
neighborhood by now have been
able to fabricate about him
fabulous folk tales to be told in
bated breath about the chimney
corner?
It might be well, he thought,
that he did not know the stories,
although it would seem almost a
certainty that they would exist.
the watchers had not attempted
contact with him. For so long as
there was no contact, he still was
fairly safe. So long as there were
no questions, there need not be
any answers.
Are you really, they would ask,
that same Enoch Wallace who
marched off in 1861 to fight for
Old Abe Lincoln? And there was
one answer to that, there could
only be one answer. Yes, he’d
have to say, I am that same man.
And of all the questions they
might ask him that would be the
only one of all he could answer
truthfully. For all the others there
would be silence or evasion.
GALAXY
WOULD
THEY
ask how come
that he had not aged how —
he could stay young when all
mankind grew old. And he could
not tell them that he did not age
inside the station, that he only
aged when he stepped out of it,
that he aged an hour each day
on his daily walks, that he might
age an hour or so working in his
garden, that he could age for fif-
teen minutes sitting on the steps
to watch a lovely sunset.
— that when he went back indoors
again the aging process was com-
pletely canceled out.
He could not tell them
And there was much else that he
could not tell them. There might
come a time, he knew, if they
once contacted him, that he’d
have to flee the questions and cut
himself entirely from the world,
remaining isolated within
station’s walls.
Such a course would consti-
tute no hardship physically, for
he could live within the station
without any inconvenience. He
would want for nothing, for the
aliens would supply everything
he needed to remain alive and
well. He had bought human food
at times, having Winslowe pur-
chase it and haul it out from
town, but only because he felt a
craving for the food of his own
planet, in particular those simple
foods of his childhood and his
campaigning days.
HERE GATHER THE STARS
But there was one thing the
aliens could not provide — the
human contacts he’d maintained
through Winslowe and the mail.
Once shut inside the station, he’d
be cut off completely from the
world he knew, for the news-
papers and the magazines were
his only contact. The operation
of a radio in the station was made
impossible by the interference
set up by the installations.
But He would not know what was
happening in the world, would
know no longer how the outside
might be going. His chart would
that. suffer from this and would be-
come largely useless; although,
he told himself, it was nearly use-
less now.
T>UT ASIDE from all of this,
he would miss this little out-
the side world that he had grown to
know so well, this little corner
of the world encompassed by his
walks. It was the walks, he
thought, more than anything, per-
haps, that had kept him human
and a citizen of Earth.
He wondered how important
it might be that he remain, in-
tellectually and emotionally, a
citizen of Earth and a member
of the human race. Perhaps there
was no reason that he should.
With the cosmopolitanism of the
galaxy at his fingertips, it might
even be provincial of him to be
so intent upon continuing identi-
47
 He plodded down the road and
now, ahead of him, he saw the
starkness of the station, reared
upon its ridge.
Funny, he thought, that he
should think of it as station rather
than as home. But it had been a
station longer than it had been a
home.
There was about it a sort of
ugly solidness, as if it might have
planted itself upon that ridgetop
and meant to stay forever.
It would stay, of course, if one
wanted it, as long as one wanted
it. For there was nothing that
could touch it.
fication with the old home planet. Even should he be forced some
He might be losing something by day to remain within its walls,
it. the station still would stand
But it was not in himself to against all of mankind’s watch-
turn his back on Earth. It was a ing, all of mankind’s prying. They
place he loved too well — loving could not chip it and they could
it even more, most
those other
likely,
humans who had not
than not gouge it and they could not
break it down. There was nothing
caught his glimpse of far and they could do. All his watching,
unguessed worlds. A man must all his speculating, all his ana-
belong to something, must have lyzing, .would gain Man nothing
some loyalty and some identity. beyond the knowledge that a
The galaxy was too big a place highly unusual building existed
for any being to stand naked and on that ridgetop. For it could sur-
alone. vive anything except a thermo-
A lark sailed out of a grassy nuclear explosion —and maybe
plot and soared high into the even that.
sky and seeing it, he waited for He walked into the yard and
the trill of liquid song to spray turned around to look back to-
out of its throat and drip out of ward the clump of trees from
the blue. But there was no song, which the flash had come, but
as there would have been in there was nothing now to indi-
spring. cate that anyone was there.
48 GALAXY
VII the face, the hard, tight set of
jaw, the thin slash of the mouth.
NSIDE THE station, the mes- Then he saw the eyes and they
I sage machine was whistling canceled all the rest. They were
plaintively. large, with softness and a light
of understanding in them. They
Enoch hung up his gun, drop-
reached out to him, as another
ped the mail and statuette upon
being might hold out its hands in
his desk and strode across the
friendship.
room to the whistling machine.
The had come hissing up
He pushed the button and rain
the land to thrum across the ma-
punched the lever and the whis-
chine-shed roof and then it was
tling stopped.
Upon the message plate he upon them, slanting sheets of rain
NO 406,302 TO STATION
read: that hammered angrily at the
WILL ARRIVE EARLY
18327. dust which lay across the yard,
EVENING YOUR TIME. while chickens ran for cover.
HAVE THE COFFEE HOT. Enoch sprang to his feet and
grasped the other’s arm, pulling
ULYSSES.
Enoch grinned. Ulysses and his him to the shelter of the porch.
They stood facing one another,
coffee! He was the only one of
and Ulysses had reached up and
the aliens who had ever liked any
of Earth’s foods or drinks. There
had been others who had tried
pulled the split and loosened
mask away. It revealed a bullet
them, but not more than once. head without a hair upon it —
Funny about Ulysses, he and the painted face. A face like
a wild and rampaging Indian,
thought. They had liked each
painted for the warpath, except
other from the very first, from
that here and there were touches
that afternoon of the thunder-
storm when they had been sitting of the clown, as if the entire
painting job had been meant to
on the steps and the mask of
human form had peeled off the point up the inconsistent gro-
tesqueries of war. But even as he
alien’s face.
had been a grisly face, grace-
It stared, Enoch knew it was not
lessand repulsive. The face of a paint, but the natural coloration
cruel clown. Enoch wondered, of this thing which had come from
even as he thought it, what had somewhere among the stars.
put that particular phrase into
his head, for clowns were never WHATEVER OTHER doubt
cruel. But here was one that could ” there was, or whatever won-
be —the colored patchwork of der, Enoch had no doubt at all
HERE GATHER THE STARS 49
 was not knew of all the languages in the “You know my name?” work together for many of your
that this strange being
of the Earth. For it was not galaxy, you would realize how “Of course I do.” years.”

might be in human little difficult. Your language is “Well, that is fine,” said Enoch. It was
beginning to come
human. It
It is a basic one. And “And what about your own?” straight now. The thought was
form, with a pair of arms and not hard.
many concepts with “I am seized with great em- it was as well
staggering. Perhaps
legs, with a head and face. But
there are
which it need not deal.” barrassment,” the alien told him. thatEnoch had been so dazed it
there was about it an essence
And, Enoch conceded, that “For I have no name.” had not come on him all at once.
of inhumanity, almost a nega-
could be true enough. Suddenly, for no reason, Enoch “Perhaps,” said Enoch, fighting
tion of humanity.
“If you wish,” the alien said, remembered that slouchy figure back the realization that was
In olden days, perhaps, it

“I can walk off somewhere for perching on the top rail of a crowding in on him, too fast, “I
might have been a demon. But
a day or two. Give you time to fence, with a stick in one hand could offer you some victuals. I
the days were past (although, in
think. Then I could come back. and a jack knife in the other, could cook up some coffee .” . .
some areas of the country, not
You’d have thought it out by whittling placidly while the can- “Coffee,” said Ulysses, smack-
entirely past) when one believed
nonballs whistled overhead and ing his thin lips. “Do you have
in demons or in ghosts or in any then.”
Enoch smiled woodenly. The less than half a mile away the the coffee?”
of the other of that ghastly tribe
smile had an unnatural feel upon muskets snarled and crackled in “I’ll make a big pot of it. I’ll
which, in man’s imagination, once
his face. the billowing powder smoke of break in an egg so it will settle
had walked the Earth.
“That would give me time,” the line. clear ...”
From the stars, he’d said. And
he said, “to spread alarm through- “Then you need a name to call “Delectable,” Ulysses said. “Of
perhaps he was.
out the countryside. There might you by,” he said, “and it shall allthe drinks that I have drank
Although it made no sense. It
be an ambush waiting for you.” be Ulysses.” on all the planets I have visited,
was nothing one ever had imag-
The alien shook its head. “I “It is agreeable,” said that the coffee is the best.”
ined even in the purest fantasy.
am sure you wouldn’t do it. I strange one. “But might one ask
There was nothing to grab hold
of,nothing to hang on to. There would take the chance if you why the name Ulysses?” THHEY WENT into the kitchen
want me to
” “Because it is the name of a and Enoch up the coals
stirred
was no yardstick for it and there
were no rules. It left a sort of “No,” said Enoch, so calm he great' man of my race.” in the kitchenrange and then
surprised himself. “No, when you It was a crazy thing. For there put in new wood. He took the
blank spot in one’s thinking that
have a thing to face, you face it. was no resemblance between the coffee pot over to the sink and
might fill in, with time, but now
was no more than a tunnel of I learned that in the war.” two of them —
that slouchy ladeled in some water from the
“You’ll do,” the alien said. “You Union general whittling upon the water pail and put it on to boil.
great wonder that went on and
will do all right. I did not mis- fence and this other who stood He went into the pantry to get
on forever.
“Take your time,” the alien judge you and it makes me upon the porch. some eggs and down into the
And proud.” “I am glad you chose it,” said cellar to bring up the ham.
said. “I know it is not easy.
“Misjudge me?” this Ulysses, standing on the Ulysses sat stiffly in a kitchen
I do not know of a thing that I
porch. “To my hearing it has a chair and watched him as he
can do to make it easier. There
is, after all, no way for me to iiVOU DO not think I just dignified and noble sound and, worked.
prove I am from the stars.”
-* came walking in here cold? between the two of us, I shall be “You eat ham and eggs?”
“But you talk so well.” I know about you, Enoch. Almost glad to bear it. And I shall call asked Enoch.
as much as you know about your- you Enoch, as friends of the first “I eat anything,” Ulysses said.
“In your tongue, you mean. It
was not too difficult. If you only self. Probably even more.” names. For the two of us shall “My race is most adaptable. That

50 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 51

is the reason I was sent to this had not occurred to him to con- travel station here. We
want to Put that way, of course, it had
planet as a — what do you call nect a being such as this with a turn this house into a station and a simple sound. But Enoch knew
was very far from simple.
it? A looker-out, perhaps.” thing like home. For it was only you to keep the station.” it

Enoch. human beings that had a place “This house?” “Railroad cars in space?” he
“A scout,” suggested
“That is it, a scout.” called home. “Wecould not build a station, asked.

He was an easy thing to talk “Some day,” Ulysses said, “I for then we’d have people asking “Not railroad cars,” Ulysses
with, Enoch told himself — al- shall tell you about my home. who was building it and what it
might be for. So we are forced
told him. “It
I
is something else.

do not know how to begin to

most another person. Al-
like Some day you may even visit
to use an existing structure and tell you.”
though, God knows, he looked me.”
change it for our needs. But the “Perhaps you should pick
little like a person. He looked, “Out among the stars,” said
instead, like some outrageous car- Enoch. inside only. We
leave the outside someone else. Someone who
icature. “It seems strange to you now,” as it is, in appearance. For there would understand.”
“You have lived here, in this Ulysses said. “It will take a while must be no questions asked.” “There is no one on this planet
to get used to the idea. But as
“But traveling ...” who could understand. We’ll do
house,” Ulysses said, “for a long,
“Fromstar to star,” Ulysses with you as well as anyone.”
long time. You feel affection for you come to know the whole kit
said. “Quicker than the thought “But ...”
it.” and kaboodle of us you will un-
derstand. I hope you like us. We of Faster than a wink. There “What is it, Enoch?”
“It has been my home since
it.

the day that I was born. I was are not bad people, really not — is what you would call machin-
—
“Nothing,” Enoch
For he remembered now how
said.

many ery. But it is not machinery

gone from almost four
it for any of the different kinds
not the same as the machinery he had been sitting on the steps
years, but it was always home.” of us.”
you think of.” thinking how he was alone and
Ulysses told him, “I’ll be glad
“You must excuse me,” Enoch about a new beginning, knowing
to be getting home again myself. T'HE STARS, Enoch
r told him-
said, confused. “It seems so im- that he could not escape a new
I’ve been away too long. On a self, were out there in the
possible.” beginning, that he must start from
mission such as this one, it al- loneliness of space. How far they
“You remember when the rail- scratch and build his life anew.
ways is too long.” were he could not even guess,
road came to Millville?” And here, suddenly, was that
Enoch put down the knife he
had been using to cut a slice of
nor what they were, nor why.
Another world, he thought. No,
“Yes, I can remember that. I new beginning —
more wondrous
was just a kid.” and fearsome than anything he -
ham and sat down heavily in a that was wrong; many other
“Then think of it this way. could have dreamed.
chair. He stared at Ulysses, across worlds. There were people there.
This is just another railroad. The
the table from him. Perhaps many other people; a
Earth is just another town and VIII
“You?” he asked. “You are go- different kind of people, prob-
this house will be the station for
ing home?” ably, for every different star. And
this new and different railroad. NOCH FILED the message
“Why, of course,” Ulysses told one of them sat here in this very
The only difference is that no and sent his confirmation:
him. “Mynearly done.
job is I kitchen, waiting for the coffee
one on Earth but you will know NO. 406302 RECEIVED. COF-
have a home. Did you think I pot to boil and the ham and
the railroad’s here. For
it will be FEE ON THE FIRE. ENOCH.
hadn’t?” eggs to fry.
no more than a resting and a Clearing the machine, he
“I don’t know,” said Enoch, “But why?” he asked. “But
switching point. No one on the walked over to the No. 3 liquid
weakly. “I had never thought of why?” Earth can buy a ticket to travel tank he’d prepared before he left.
it.” Ulysses said, “Because we are
on the railroad.” He checked the temperature and
And that was it, he knew. It a traveling people. We need a
HERE GATHER THE STARS 53
52 GALAXY

the level of the solution and made
certain once again that the tank
was securely positioned in re-
lation to the materializer.
From there he went to the
other materializer, the official
and emergency materializer, over
in the corner, and checked it over
closely. It was all right, as usual.
It always was all right, but be-
Tonight, he thought, he prob-
ably should tell Ulysses about
the watch that had been put upon
the station. Perhaps he should
have told him earlier. But he had
been reluctant to admit that the
human race might prove to be a
problem to the galactic installa-
tion.
was a hopeless thing,
It
out of the string which Winslowe While I am aware that it is
had used to tie it all together. no concern of mine, I have won-
There were the daily papers, dered if you, yourself, have sub-
a news weekly, two journals — scribed to our publication for
Nature and Science and the — this length of time, or if it might
letter. be possible that your father or
someone close to you may have
HE PUSHED
journals to one
the papers and
side and
been the original subscriber and
you simply have allowed the sub-
he picked up the letter. It was an scription to continue in his name.

fore each of Ulysses’ visits he
never failed to check it. There
was nothing he could have done
about it had there been some-
thing wrong, other than send an
urgent message to Galactic Cen-
ter. In which case someone would
have come in on the regular
materializer and put it iiito shape.
For the official and emergency
materializer was exactly what its
name implied. It was used only
thought, this obsession of his to airmail sheet, postmarked Lon- My interest undoubtedly con-
present the people of the Earth don. The return address bore a stitutes an unwarranted and in-
name that was unfamiliar to him. excusable curiosity and if you,
as good and reasonable. For in
He puzzled as to why an un- sir,choose to ignore the query it
many ways they were neither.
Perhaps it was because they had known person should be writing isentirely within your rights and
not as yet entirely grown up. him from London. Although any- proper that you do so. But if you
They were smart and quick, and one who wrote him, from London should not mind replying, an an-
at times compassionate and even or indeed from anywhere, would swer would be appreciated.
be an unknown person. He knew I can only say in my own de-
understanding, but they failed
many other no one in the world outside this fense that I have been associated
lamentably on
tiny community. for so long with our publication
counts.
But they had the chance, He slit the air sheet open and that I feel a certain sense of pride
if

for official visits by personnel of Enoch told himself —

if they
spread it out on the desk in front
desk lamp
that someone has found it worth
of him, pulling the the having for more than eighty
Galactic Center, or for possible ever got a break, if they only
could be told what was out in close so the light would fall upon years. I doubt that many publi-
emergencies. Its operation was
entirely outside the operation of space — then they’d get a grip the writing.
Dear he read, / would sus-
cations can boast such long time
on the part
upon themselves and they would sir, interest of any man.
the local station.
Ulysses, as an inspector for this measure up. And then, in the pect I am unknown to you. I am May l assure you, sir, of my ut-

course of time, they would be ad-

and several other stations, could
have used the official materializer
any time he wished without
at
But in all the years
prior notice.
had been coming to the
that he
station he had never failed,
Enoch remembered with a touch
of pride, to message he was com-
ing. Enoch knew that it was a
courtesy which all the other sta-
tions on the great galactic net-
mitted into the great confraterni-
ty of the people of the stars.
Once admitted, they would
prove their worth and pull their
weight. For they were still a
young race and full of energy
at times maybe too much energy.
Enoch shook his head and went
room to sit down at
across the
his desk. Drawing the bundle of
one of the editors of the British most respect.
journal, Nature, to which you Sincerely yours.
have been a subscriber for these And then the signature.
many years. I do not use the jour-
nal’s letterhead because this let- P<NOCH SHOVED the letter
ter is personal and unofficial — from him.
— and perhaps not even in the best There it was again, he told
of taste. himself. Here was another watch-
You are, it may interest you er, although a discreet and most
to know, our eldest subscriber. polite one, unlikely to cause trou-
We have had you on our mailing ble.

mail in front of him, he

lists for more than eighty years. But someone else had taken
work might not be accorded. slid it

GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 55

54

notice,had felt a twinge of won-
der at the same man subscribing
to a magazine for more than
eighty years.
As the years went on, there
would be more and more.
It was not only the watchers
encamped outside the station
with whom he must concern him-
self,but those potential others.
A man could be as self-effacing
as he could manage and still he
could not hide. Soon or late, the
world would catch up with him
and would come crowding around
his door, agog to know why he
might be hiding.
It was useless to hope for much
further time. The world was
closing in.
Why can’t they leave me alone,
he thought. If he only could ex-
plain how the situation stood,
they might leave him alone.
But he couldn’t explain. And
even if he could, there would be
some of them who’d still come
crowding in.
Across the room the material-
izer beeped for attention and
Enoch swung around.
The Thuban had arrived. He
was in the tank, a shadowy, glob-
ular blob of substance. Above
him, riding sluggishly in the solu-
tion, was a cube of something.
Luggage, Enoch wondered. But
the message had said there would
be no luggage.
Even as he hurried across the
56
NOCH HESITATED, search- need to use, very long ago. Recre-
room, the clicking came to him.
The Thuban was talking to him.
E ing desperately through his ation now.
memory. What, he wondered, was I have heard of your system of
Presentation to you, said the
the code for “carve?” numerical notation.
clicking. Deceased fibrous vege-
Well? the Thuban asked. Very different, clicked the
tation.
You must pardon me, gracious Thuban. Very better concept.
Enoch peered at the cube float-
one. I do not use this language You can tell me of it?
ing in the liquid.
often. I am not proficient. You know notation system
Take him, clicked the Thuban.
Drop, please, the gracious one. used by people of Polaris VII?
Bring him for you.
/ am a common being. No, I don’t, tapped Enoch.
Fumblingly Enoch clicked out
Shape it, Enoch tapped. Into Then no. use to tell you of our
his answer, using tapping fingers
another form. Are you a visual own. Must know Polaris first.
against the glass side of the tank:
being? Then I show you one. So that was that, thought
/ thank you, gracious one. He
Not visual, said the Thuban. Enoch. He might have known.
wondered as he did it if he were
Many other things, not visual. There was so much knowledge in
using the proper form of address
It had been a globe when it the galaxy and he knew so little
to this blob of matter. A man
had arrived and now it was be- of it, understood so little of the
could get terribly tangled up on
ginning to flatten out. little that he knew.
that particular point of etiquette.
You, the Thuban clicked, are a There were men on Earth who
There were some of these beings
biped being. could make sense of it. Men who
that one addressed in flowery
That is what I am. would give anything short of
language (and even in those
Your planet, It is a solid plan- theirvery lives to know the little
cases, the floweriness would vary)
et? that he knew, and could put it
and others that one talked with
Solid? Enoch wondered. Oh, all to use.
in the simplest, bluntest, most
yes, solid as opposed to liquid. Out among the stars lay a mas-
forthright terms.
One quarter solid, he tapped. sive body of wisdom, some of it
Hereached into the tank and
The rest of it is liquid. an extension of what mankind
out the cube. It was a block
lifted
Mine almost all liquid. Only knew, some of it concerning mat-
of heavy wood, black as ebony
little solid. Very restful world. ters which Man had not yet sus-
and so close-grained it looked
One thing I want to ask you, pected, and used in ways and for
very much like stone. He chuck-
Enoch tapped. purposes that Man has not as yet
led inwardly, thinking how, in
Ask, the creature said. imagined. And never might imag-
listening Winslowe, he had
to
You are a mathematician. All ine, if left on his own.
grown be an expert in the
to
you folks, I mean. Another hundred years, thought
judging of artistic wood.
Yes, the creature said. Excel- Enoch. How much would he
He put the wood upon the floor lent recreation. Occupies the learn in another hundred years?
and turned back to the tank.
mind. In another thousand? Would he
Would you mind, clicked the
You mean you do not use it? learn enough?
Thuban, revealing what you do
Oh, yes, once use it. But no I rest now, said the Thuban.
with him? To us, very useless
need for use any more. Got all we Nice to talk with you.
stuff.
GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 57

TURNED
E NOCH from the
tank and picked up the block
of wood. A little puddle of liquid
had drained off it and lay glisten-
ing on the floor.
He carried the block across the
room to one of the windows and
examined it. At one corner of it
a bit of bark remained. It had
been sawed; someone had cut it
into a size that would fit the tank
where the Thuban rested.
He recalled an article he had
read in one of the daily papers
just a day or two before in which
a scientist had contended that no
great intelligence ever could de-
velop on a liquid world.
58
But that scientist was wrong, for that matter — could use at where the pattern had been used
for the Thuban race had so de- data upon which to base his to duplicate the body and the
premises. And human science had mind and memory and the life
veloped. There were other liquid
worlds which were members of so far found nothing to suggest a of that creature now lying dead
many light years distant. And in
the galactic confraternity. There faster speed than light.
were a lot of things that Man But the impulse patterns which the tank the new body and the
would have to unlearn, as well as carried creatures from star to new mind and memory and life
learn, if he ever should become star were almost instantaneous, had taken almost instant form.
aware of the galactic culture. no matter what the distance. An entirely new being; but exact-
The limitation of the speed of It was hard to believe. Mo- ly like the old one, so that the
light, forone thing. ments ago the creature in the identity continued and the con-
For nothing moved faster
if tank had rested in another tank sciousness (the very thought no
than the speed of light, then the in another station. The material- more than momentarily inter-
galactic transport system would izer had built up a pattern of it rupted), so that to all intent and
be impossible. — not only of its body, but of purpose the being was the same.
But one should not censure its very vital force, the thing that
Man, he reminded himself, for gave it life. Then the impulse pat- rpHERE WERE limitations to
setting the speed of light as a tern had moved across the gulfs the impulse patterns, but they
basic limitation. Observations of space almost instantaneously had nothing to do with speed.
were all that Man —or anyone, to the receiver of this station, The impulses could cross the en-
GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 59
tire galaxy with but little lag in certain instances when, chatting That was what he meant by Galactic Central. Made of a
time. But under certain condi- with the travelers, they had told friendship. cereal unlike any known on
tions the patterns tended to break their purpose. But with most of Earth, it had a nutty flavor with
down. This was why there must them he never learned the pur- WOOD
THIS
that he held in the hint of some alien spice.
be many stations —
many thou- pose. Nor had he any right to his hands was another evi- He put the food on what he
sands of them. Clouds of dust or learn it. For he was the keeper dence of friendship — the friend- called the kitchen table, although
gas or areas of high ionization only. of the stars for a very there was no kitchen. Then he
ship
seemed to disrupt the patterns. Mine host, he thought. Al- humble keeper of a remote and put the coffee maker on the stove
In the sectors of the galaxy where though not every time, for there backwoods station stuck out in and went back to his desk.
these conditions were encoun- were many creatures that had no one of the spiral arms, far from The letter still laid there,
jumps between
tered, the distance use for hosts. But the man, at any the center of the galaxy. spread out. He folded it together
the stations were considerably rate, who watched over the oper- The word had spread, appar- and put it in a drawer.
cut down to keep the pattern ation of the station and who kept ently, through the years and He stripped the brown folders
true. There were areas that had it going, who made ready for the throughout space, that this certain off the papers and put them in a
to be detoured because of high travelers and who sent them on keeper was a collector of exotic pile. From the pile he selected
concentrations of the distorting their way again when that time woods. And so the woods came The New York Times and moved
gas and dust. should come. And who performed in. Not only from those races he to his favorite chair to read.
Enoch wondered how many the littleand courtesies of
tasks thought of as his friends, but from NEW PEACE CONFERENCE
dead bodies of the creature that which they might stand in need. total strangers, like the blob that AGREED UPON, said the lead-
now rested in the tank had been He looked at the block of wood now rested in the tank. off headline.
left behind at other stations in and thought how pleased Wins- He put the wood down on a The crisis had been boiling for
the course of the journey it was lowe would be with it. It was table top and went to the refriger- a month or more, the newest of
making —
as this body in a few very seldom that one came upon ator. From it he took a slab of a long series of crises which had
hours’ time would lie dead within wood as black or fine-grained as aged cheese that Winslowe had kept the world on edge for years.
thistank when the creature’s pat- this. bought for him several days ago, The worst of it was that the most
tern was sent out again, riding on What would Winslowe think, and a small package of fruit that of them were manufactured cri-
the impulse waves. he wondered, if he could only a traveler from Sirrah X had ses. One side or the other was
A long trail of dead, left across know that the statuettes he brought the day before. merely pushing for advantage in
the stars. Each to be destroyed carved were made of woods “Analyzed,” it had told him, the relentless chess game of
by a wash of acid and flushed into that had grown on unknown plan- “and you can eat it without hurt. power politics which had been
deep-lying but with the
tanks, ets many light-years distant? It will play no trouble with your underway since the end of World
creature itself going on and on Winslowe must have wondered metabolism. You’ve had it before, War II.
until it reached its final destina- many times where the wood came perhaps? So you haven’t. I am The stories in The Times bear-
tion, to carry out the purpose of from. But he had never asked. sorry. It is most delicious. Next ing on the conference had a
its journey. And he knew as well, of course, time, you like it, I shall bring rather desperate, almost fatalis-
And those purposes, Enoch
was something very
that there you more.” ring, as if the writers of the
wondered —
the many purposes strange about this man who came From the cupboard beside the
tic,

and perhaps the diplo-

stories,
of the many creatures who passed out to the mail box every day to refrigerator he took out a small, mats and all the rest involved,
through the stations scattered - meet him. But he had never flat loaf of bread, part of the ra- knew the conference would ac-
wide in space? There had been asked that, either. tion regularly provided him by complish nothing — if, in fact, it

60 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 61

did not serve to make the crisis theory of statistics and had been rectly, if his translations had done of destruction would go hurtling
deeper. forced, because of the nature of n o violence to the concept, then through the skies to engulf whole
Observers in this capital, wrote his subject, to shift some of the the Earth was headed straight for cities — aimed not at military
on of The Times’ Washington bu- factors, to substitute some values. another major war. concentrations, but at total popu-
reau staff, are not convinced the He wondered now, for the thou- lations.
LET He reached out his hand for
conference will serve, in this in-
stance, as similar conferences
sometimes have served in the
sandth time, if he had made an
error somewhere. Had his shifting
and substitution destroyed the
HE go the
the chart. It rolled
corners
itself
of
back the chart again, then pulled it
back. There was no further need
into a cylinder.
past, either to delay a showdown validity of the system? And if He reached for one of the fruits of looking at it. He knew it all

on the issues or to advance the
prospects for a settlement. There
is scarcely concealed concern in
many quarters that the confer-
ence will, instead, fan the flames
of controversy higher without, by
way of compensation,
any avenues by which a com-
promise might seem possible. A
conference is popularly supposed
to provide a time and place for
the sober weighing of the facts
and points of argument.
are few who see in
of this conference any indications
that this may be the case.
The maker was going
coffee
full blast now. Enoch threw the
paper down and strode to the
stove to snatch it off.
cupboard he got a cup and went
to the table with it.
But before he began to eat, he
went back to the desk and, open-
ing a drawer, got out his chart
and spread it on the table. Once
again he wondered just how valid
it might be. In certain parts of it,
so, how could he correct the er-
rors to restore validity?
Here the factors were, he
thought: the birth rate and the
total population of the Earth,
the death rate, the values of cur-
opening rencies, the spread of living costs,
attendance of places of worship,
medical advances, technological
developments, industrial indices,
the labor market, world trade
trends —and many others, in-
But there cluding some that at first glance
the calling might not seem too relevant: the
auction price of art objects, vaca-
tion preferences and movements,
the speed of transportation, the
incidence of insanity.
The statistical method devel-
From the oped by the mathematicians of
Mizar, he knew, would work any-
where, on anything, if applied
correctly. But he had been forced
°to twist it in translating an alien
planet’s situation to fit the situa-
on Earth. And in conse-
tion here
quence of that twisting, did it
still apply?
the Sirrah being had brought him
and bit into it. He rolled it on
his tongue, savoring the delicacy
of the taste. It was as good as
that strange, bird-like being
guaranteed it would be.
There had been a time, he re-
membered, when he had held
some hope that the chart based
on the Mizar theory might show,
if not a way to end all war, at
least a way to keep the peace.
But the chart had never given
any hint of the road to peace.
Inexorably, relentlessly, it had led
the wayto war.
How many other wars, he won-
dered, could the people of the
Earth endure?
No man could say, of course.
But it might be just one more.
For the weapons that would be
used in the coming conflict had
not as yet been measured. There
was no man who could come close
to actually estimating the results
these weapons would produce.
War had been bad enough
by heart. There was no hope in
it. He might study it and puzzle
over it until the crack of doom
and it would not change a whit.
had There was no hope at all. The
world was thundering once again,
in a blind red haze of fury and
of helplessness, down the road to
war.
He went on with his eating
and the fruit was even better
than it had been at first bite.
Next time, the being had said, I
will bring you more. But it might
be a long time before he came
again, and he might never come.
There were many of them who
passed through only once, al-
though there were a few who
showed up every week or so —
old, regular travelers who had be-
come close friends.
And there had been, he re-
called, that little group of Hazers
who, years ago, had made ar-
rangements for extra long stop-
overs at the station so they could
sit around this very table and

at times, it seemed to make a He shuddered as he looked at when men faced one another with talk the hours away, arriving
certain sort of sense. it. For if he’d made no mistake, their weapons in their hands, but laden with hampers and with
He had based it on the Mizar if he’d handled everything cor- in any present war great payloads baskets of things to eat and drink,

<52 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 63

as if it were a picnic they had and unhaunted past that had down in a chair and arranged his read them, I have a hunch the
stopped for. never left him. sabre. papers travel to the corners of
But they had stopped
finally Somewhere in the distance was “War, the way they fight it the galaxy.”
their coming. It had been years the sound of fife and drum and these days,” he declared, “would “Can you imagine,” David
since he’d seen any one of them. the jangle of the battle harness be a sorry business. Not the way asked, “what the promotion de-
He regretted it, for they’d been as the boys marched off to war, we fought Enoch.”
it, partments of those newspapers
the best of companions. with the colonel glorious in his “No,” said Enoch. “Not the way might have to say about it if they
He drank an extra cup of cof- full dress uniform upon the great we fought it. A war would be bad only knew their depth of circula-
fee, sitting idly in the chair, think- black stallion, and the regimental enough, but there is something tion?”
ing about those good old days flags snapping in the stiff June worse. If Earth fights another war, Enoch grinned at the thought.
when the band of Hazers came. breeze. our people will be barred for “There’s that paper down in
He walked across the room and many centuries from the con- Georgia,” David said, “that covers
X over to the sofa. He made a little fraternity of space.” Dixie like the dew. They’d have
bow to Mary. “Maybe that’s not so bad,” said to think of something that goes
TTIS EARS caught the faint “With your permission, ma’am,” David. “We may not be ready to with galaxy.”
rustling and he glanced he said. join the ones in space.” “Glove,” said Mary, quickly.
quickly up to see her sitting on “Please do,” she said. “If you “Perhaps not,” Enoch admit- “Covers the galaxy like a glove.
the sofa, dressed in the demure should happen to be busy we ted. “I ratherdoubt we are. But What do you think of that?”
hoop skirts of the 1860 s. would understand .” . .
we could be some day. And that “Excellent,” said David.
“Mary!” he cried, surprised, “Not at all,” he said. “I was day would be shoved far into the
rising to his feet. hoping you would come.” future if we fight another war. UpOOR ENOCH,” Mary said,
She was smiling at him in her He sat down on the sofa, not You have to make some pretense contrite. “Here we make
very special way and she was too close to her. Her hands were of being civilized to join those our jokes and Enoch has his prob-
beautiful, he thought, as no other folded very primly in her lap. He other races.” lems.”
woman ever had been beautiful. wanted to reach out and take her “Maybe,” Mary said, “they “Not mine to solve, of course,”
“Mary,” he said, “it’s so nice hands in his and hold them for might never know. About a war, Enoch told her. “I’m just worried
to have you here.” a moment, but he knew he I mean. They go no place but by them. All I have to do is stay
And now, leaning on the man- couldn’t. this station.” inside the station and there are
tlepiece, dressed in Union blue, For she wasn’t really there. Enoch shook his head. “They no problems. Once you close the
with his belted sabre and his full would know. I think they're door here, the problems of the
black mustache, was another of UTT’S BEEN almost a week,” watching us. Anyhow, they would world are securely locked out-
his friends. said Mary, “since I’ve seen read the papers.” side.”
“Hello, Enoch,” David Ran- you. How is your work going, “The papers you subscribe to?” “But you can’t do that.”
some said. “I hope we don’t in- Enoch?” “I save them for Ulysses. That “No, I can’t,” said Enoch.
trude.” He shook his head. “I have still pile over in the corner. He takes “I think you may be right,”
“Never,” Enoch told him. “How all the problems. The watchers them back to Galactic Central said David, “in thinking that
can two friends intrude?” stillare out there. And the chart every time he comes. He’s very these other races may be watch-
He stood beside the table and says war.” interested in Earth, you know, ing us. With an eye, perhaps, to
the past was with him, the good David left the mantle and from the years he spent here. And some day inviting the human race
and restful past, the rose-scented came across the room. He sat from Galactic Central, once he’s to join them. Otherwise, why

64 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 65

would they have wanted to set ing out to touch it. They haven’t talisman and the machine which He found that he was shivering
up a station here on Earth?” got the knowledge, so they must had been given the name was at the thought of it —
the pure
“They’re expanding the net- do the best they can with faith. more than a mere machine. In- ecstasy of reaching out and touch-
work all the time,” said Enoch. And that faith goes back a far volved in it, as well as certain ing the spirituality that flooded
“They needed a station in this way, perhaps deep into the pre- mechanical concepts, was a psy- through the galaxy and, undoubt-
solar system to carry out their historic days.” chic concept, perhaps some sort edly, through the universe. The
extension into this spiral arm.” “I suppose so,” Enoch said. of psychic energy that was un- assurance would be there that life
“Yes, that’s true enough,” said “But it actually wasn’t the spiri- known on Earth. That and a had a special place in the great
David, “but it need not have been tual force I was thinking of. great deal more. He had read scheme of existence —
that one,
the Earth. They could have built There are all the other things, some of the literature on the spir- no matter how small, how feeble,
a station out on Mars and used the material things, the methods, itual force and on the Talisman how insignificant, still did count
an alien for a keeper and still the philosophies that the human and had realized, he remembered, for something in the vast sweep
have served their purpose.” race could use. Name almost any in the reading of it, how far short of space and time.
“I’ve often thought of that,” said branch of science and there is he fell —
•
how far short the “What is the trouble, Enoch?”
Mary. “They wanted a station something there for us more — human race must fall — in an Mary asked.
on the Earth and an Earthman than what we have.” understanding of it. “Nothing,” he said.
as its keeper. There must be a But his mind went back to The Talisman could be oper- David said, “You were talking
reason for it.” that strange business of the spirit- ated only by certain beings with about what we could find in the
“I had hoped there was,” Enoch ual force and the even stranger certain types of minds and some- galaxy. There was, for one thing,
told her. “But I’m afraid they machine which had been built thing else besides (could it be, that strange sort of math. You
came too soon. It’s too early for eons ago, by means of which the he wondered, with certain kinds were telling us of it once —
”

the human race. We aren’t grown galactic people were able to of souls?) Sensitives was the “The Arcturus math, you
up. We still are juveniles.” establish contact with the force. word he had used in his mental mean,” said Enoch. “I know little
“It’s a shame,” said Mary. There was a name for that ma- translation of the term for these more than when I told you of it.
“We’d have so much to learn. chine, but there was no word in kinds of people. But once again It is too involved. It is based on
They know so much more than the English language which close- he could not be sure if the word behavior symbolism.”
we. Their concept of religion, for ly approximated it. came close to fitting. The Talis- There was some doubt, he told
example.” Talisman was the closest. But man was placed in the custody himself, that you could even call
“I don’t know,” said Enoch, Talisman was too crude a word of the most capable, or the most it math. It was something that
“whether it’s actually a religion. — although that had been the efficient, or the most devoted the scientists of Earth, no doubt,
It seems to have few of the trap- word that Ulysses had used when, (whichever it might be) of the could use to make possible the
pings we associate with religion. some years ago, they had talked galactic sensitives, who carried it engineering of the social sciences
And it is not based on faith. It of it. from star to star in a sort of eter- as logically and as efficiently as
doesn’t have to be. It is based on nal progression. And on each the common brand of math had
knowledge. These people know, HPHERE WERE so many planet the people came to make been used to build the gadgets
you see.” -*•
things, so many concepts, he personal and individual contact of the Earth.
“But don’t you think,” asked thought, out in the galaxy which with the spiritual force through “And the biology of that race
David, “that the human race may could not be adequately ex- the intervention and the agency out in Andromeda,” Mary said.
sense this? They don’t know it, pressed in any tongue on Earth. of the Talisman and its custo- “The ones who colonized all those
but they sense it. And are reach- The Talisman was more than a dian. crazy planets.”

66 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 67

 “Yes, I know. But Earth would Enoch, “that could cure almost know what to do with them.” them. But no one other than the
have to mature a bit in its intel- every ill on Earth. That, perhaps, “But,, look here,”David said, people out on Mankalinen III
lectual and emotional outlook be- hurts me most of all. To know “that wouldn’t have worked out. could ever tell us of it. I only
fore we’d venture to use it as they’re up there in the cupboard, You have no technical nor re- know they are noted for their
the Andromedans did. Still, I sup- actually on this planet, where so search background, no education- mental engineering, but that is
pose that it would have its appli- many people need them.” alrecord. You’re not tied up with all I know. I haven’t the faintest
cations.” “You could mail out samples,” any school or college. The jour- inkling of what it’s all about. It’s
David said, “to medical associa- nals just don’t publish you unless something that you’d have to get
TTE SHUDDERED inwardly tions or to some drug concern.” you can prove yourself.” from the people out there.”
as he thought of how the Enoch shook his head. “I “What you are really talking
Andromedans used it. And that, thought of that, but I have the 66T REALIZE that, of course, of,” said Mary, “are all the name-

he knew, was proof that he still
was a man of Earth, kin to all
the bias and the prejudice and
the shibboleths of
mind. For what the Andromedans
had done was only common
sense. If you cannot colonize a
planet in your present shape,
why, then you change your
shape. You make yourself
the sort of being that can live
upon the planet and then you
take it over in that alien shape
into which you have changed
yourself. If you need to be a
worm, then you become a worm.
Or an insect. Or a shellfish, or
whatever it may take. And you
galaxy to consider. I have an That’s why I never wrote less sciences — the ones that no
obligation to Galactic Central. the papers. I knew there was no human has ever thought about.”
They have taken great precau- use. You can’t blame the jour- “Like us, perhaps,” said David.
the human tions that the station not be nals. They must be responsible. “David!” Mary cried.
known. I cannot wreck their Their pages aren’t open to just “There js no sense,” said
plans. For when you think of it, anyone. And even if they had David, angrily, “in pretending we
Galactic Central and the work viewed the papers with enough are people.”
it’s doing is more important than respect to want to publish them, “But you are,” said Enoch
the Earth.” they would have had to find out tensely. “You are people to me.
into “Divided loyalties,” said David, who I was. And that would have You are the only people that I
with slight mockery in his tone. led straight back to the station.” have. What is the matter,
“That is it, exactly. There had “Even so,” said David, “there’d David?
been a time, many years ago, be little you actually could tell David, “that the
“I think,” said
when I thought of writing papers them. What I mean is that gen- time has come to say what we
for some of the scientific journals. erally you haven’t got enough to really are. We are illusion. We
Not the medical journals, natu- go on. So much of this galactic are created and called up. We
rally, for I know nothing about knowledge is off the beaten exist only for one purpose, to
medicine. The drugs are there, track.” come and talk with you, to fill

change not your body only, but
your mind as well, into the kind
of mind that will be necessary to
live upon that planet.
“There are all the drugs,” said
Mary, “and the medicines. The
medical knowledge that could ap-
ply to Earth. There was that lit-
tle package Galactic Central sent
you.”
of course, lying on the shelf, with
directions for their use, but they
are merely so many pills or pow-
ders or ointments, or whatever
they may be. But there were
other things I’d learned. Not too
much about them, naturally, but
at leastsome hints in some new
directions.Enough that someone
could pick them up and go on
“I know,” said Enoch. “The
mental engineering of Manka-
linen III, for one thing. If the
Earth could know of that, our
people undoubtedly could find a
clue to the treatment of the
neurotic and the mentally dis-
turbed. We could empty all the
institutions and we could tear
them down or use them for some-
in for the real people that you
cannot have.”
“Mary,” Enoch cried, “you
don’t think that way, too! You
can’t think that way!”
He reached out his arms to her
and then he let them drop —
terrified at the realization of what
he’d been about to do. It was the
first time he’d ever tried to touch

“A packet of drugs,” said from there. Someone who might thing else. There’d be no need of her.

68 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 69

 It was the first time, in all the derful to know that you are “But you? How about you, He nodded, dumbly.
years, that he had forgotten. loved and needed.” Mary?” She bowed her head. “Dear
“But I don’t create you any know,” she said. “It is
“I don’t God, we don’t deserve this. We
46T am sorry, Mary. I should more,” Enoch pleaded. “There different with me. I love you very have done nothing to deserve it.”
not have done that.” was a time, long ago, I had to. much.” She raised her head and looked
”
But not any longer. Now you “And I at him. “If I could only touch
Her eyes were bright with . . .

tears. come to visit me of your own “No, that’s not what I mean. you.”

“I wish you could,” she said. free will.” Don’t you understand? I’m in “We can go on,” he said, “as
“Oh, how I wish you could!” How many years, he wondered. love with you.” we have always done. You can
“David,” he said, not turning It must be all of fifty. And Mary come to see me any time you
”
SAT We can
his head.
“David left,” said Mary.
had been the first, and David
had been second. Of all the others HE her.
stricken,
There was a great
staring

he were
at
roar-
want.
She shook
.

her head. “It

wouldn’t work,” she said. “Neither
“He won’t be back,” said of them, they had been the first ing in the world, as if

and were the closest and the standing still and the world and of us could stand it.”
Enoch.
Mary shook her head. dearest. time were rushing swiftly past He knew that she was right. He
“What is the matter, Mary? Andbefore that, before he’d him. knew that it was done. For fifty
What is it all about? What have even tried, he’d spent other years “If it only could have stayed,” years she and the others had been
I done!” in studying that nameless science she said, “theway it was at first. dropping in to visit. And they’d
“Nothing,” Mary said, “except stemming from the thaumatur- Then we were glad of our exist- come no more. For the fairyland
that you made us too much like gists of Alphard XXII. ence. Our emotions were so shal- was shattered and the magic spell
people. So that we became more There had been a day and a low; we seemed to be so happy. was broken. He’d be left alone
human, until we were entirely state of mind when it would have Like little children, running in — more alone than ever, more
human. No longer puppets, no been black magic, but it was not the sun. But then we all grew up. alone than before he’d ever known
longer pretty dolls, but really black magic. Rather, it was the And think I the most of all.”
I her.

actual people. I think David must
resent it —
not that he is people,
but that being people, he is still
a shadow. It did not matter when
orderly manipulation of certain
natural aspects of the universe as
yet quite unsuspected by the hu-
man race. Perhaps aspects that
She smiled at him and tears She would not come again and
were in her eyes. he could never bring himself to
“Don’t take it so hard, Enoch. call her up again, even if he
”
We can . . . could. And his shadow world and

we were dolls or puppets, for we Man never would discover. For “My been
dear,” he said, “I’ve his shadow love, the only love

were not human then. We had there was not, at least at the pres- in love withyou since the first he’d ever really had, would be
no human feelings.” ent moment, the necessary orien- day that I saw you. I think, may- gone forever.
“Mary, please,” he said. “Mary, tation of the scientific mind. be, even before that.” “Good-by, my dear,” he said.
please forgive me.” “David felt,” said Mary, “that He reached out a hand to her, But it was too late. She was
She leaned toward him and we could not go on forever, play- then pulled it back, remembering. already gone.
her face was lighted by deep ing out our little sedate visits. “I did not know,” she said. “I And from far off, it seemed, he
tenderness. “There is nothing to There had to be a time when we should not have told you. You heard the moaning whistle that
forgive,” she said. “Rather, I sup- faced up to what we really are.” could live with it until you knew said a message had come in.
pose, we should thank you for it. “And the rest of them?” I loved you, too.” —CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
You created us out of a love of “I am sorry, Enoch. The rest
TO BE CONCLUDED
us and a need of us and it is won- of them as well.”

70 GALAXY HERE GATHER THE STARS 71

 THE COOL WAR
by ANDREW FETLER

Here's what happens when

two Master Spies tangle
. . . and stay that way

661VTOTHING, nothing to get by a company of soldiers to keep

*-
upset about,” Pashkov said
’ From an open win-
soothingly, taking his friend’s
arm as they came out of the villa
forty miles from Moscow. Pash-
kov looked like a roly-poly zoo
attendant leading a tame bear.
“Erase his memory, give him a
visitors out.
dow Pashkov heard the clicking
of a typewriter.
“It’s when they’re not like ro-
bots that everybody suspects
them,” he said, climbing into his
flier. “Petchareff will send you

new name and feed him more word when to announce his
patriotism. Very simple.” ‘death’.”
Medvedev raised his hand “A question, brother.”
threateningly. “Don’t come howl- “No questions.”
ing to me if everybody guesses “Who smuggled the manuscript
he nothing but a robot.”
is out of Russia?”
Pashkov glanced back at the Pashkov frowned convincingly.
house. Since the publication of “Comrade Petchareff has sus-
Dentist Amigovitch, this house pected even me.”
had become known all over the He took off for Moscow, pok-
world as Boris Knackenpast’s ing his flier up through the clouds
villa. Now the house was guarded and flying close to them, as was

72 GALAXY
his habit. Then he switched on “I’ll never understand,” said funerals this week. You made it missing the mouse, who bowed
the radio and got Petchareff’s Petchareff, “why all top secret plain, I hope, we want no repeti- twice and scurried out.
secretary. “Nadezhda?” agents have to look like bankers. tion of Knackenpast’s peace non- “Try and split the allies,”
“I know what you’re up to, Anastina says Colonel James was sense.’’ Pashkov muttered, reading the
Seven One Three,” Nadezhda operated on by a Monsieur Fanti. “No more Gandhi or Schwei- legend on the gown.
Brunhildova said. “Don’t try to What do you know about him?” tzer influences. The new litera- Petchareff blew cigar smoke in
fool me, you confidence man. “He’s a theatrical surgeon.” ture,”Pashkov promised, raising his face. “If Colonel James makes
You are coming in?” “You’re not playing one of a chubby finger, “will be a pearl a monkey of you once more,
“In ten minutes. What have I your jokes, Pashkov?” necklace of government slogans.” you’re through, Pashkov. You
done now?” “Hardly.” Nadezhda buzzed the inter- don’t take your job seriously
“You were supposed to make “You’d better be in my office com. “The man from the Bolshoi enough. You bungle this and I’ll
funeral arrangements for Knack- in ten minutes. What size hospi- Theater is here, Comrade.” have you transferred to our Cul-
enpast, so what are you doing in talgown?” “Send him in.” tural Information Center in Chi-
Stockholm?” “Short and fat,” Pashkov said, A small man hurried into the cago.”
“Stockholm?” and switched off. room.He had a narrow face and Pashkov winced.
“You’re lying and I’ll kill you. Most countries wanted to themustache of a mouse and a “Now, you’ll go to Stockholm
Don’t you think I know about break his neck, and his own mousy nose, but his eyes were big and switch places with the Amer-
Anastina, that she-nurse in the Motherland did not always trust rabbit He bowed twice
eyes. ican colonel and find out what
Stockholm National Hospital?” him. But he enjoyed his work — quickly, placed a package on the they’re up to. Zubov’s kidnaping
“Darling, why so cruel? Anas- enjoyed it as much as his closest desk trembling forepaws
with team is there already, at Hotel
tina is one of our contacts. Be- professional rival, Colonel James, and bowed twice again. Reisen. Any questions?”
sides, she’s cross-eyed and buck- U.S.A. Petchareff tore open the pack- thought Zubov was a zoo-
“I

toothed.” age. “You got the real thing? No logical warfare expert. What is
“Beast!” She switched him to DASHKOV landed on the roof bad imitation?” he doing with a kidnaping team?”
Petchareff.
*-
of Intelligence in the north- “Exactly, exactly,” the mouse “His team is more agile. On
“What’s been keeping you, east corner of the Kremlin, piped. “No difference, Comrade.” your way.”
Pashkov?” hitched up his pants and rode He held his paws as in prayer In the front office, Pashkov
“Consoling Medvedev. Am I down. and his pointed mouth quivered. stopped to kiss Nadezhda Brun-
supposed to be in Stockholm?” In his office, Petchareff re- Petchareff held up the hospi- hildova goodby. “I may not re-
“Never mind, get here at once. moved the cigar from his mouth tal gown. On the back of the turn from this dangerous mission.
What size hospital gown do you as Pashkov came in. “Medvedev gown was printed in indelible Give me a tender kiss.”
wear?” get myorders?” ink: Nadezhda was a big girl with
“Hospital gown?” “He’s preparing a new super- hefty arms, captain of her local
“Stockholm embassy
says patriotic writer to replace Boris Stockholm national hospital broom brigade. “Monster!” She
you’re in the National Hospital Knackenpast,” Pashkov reported. courtesy of seized him by the collar. “Is

there. In a hospital gown. I got “When you give the word, he will Coca-Cola Anastina dangerous?”
through to Anastina. She says it’s call Izvestia and tell them Boris “Darling!”
Colonel James again. He looks is dead.” Petchareff tossed the gown to “Bitter sweetness!” she howled,
Pashkov. “This is what Colonel dropping him. “Go, love. Make
like you now.” Petchareff glanced at his cal-
Pashkov grunted. endar. “We have two other state James is wearing,” he said, dis- me miserable.”

74 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 75

 down.
PASHKOV spent an hour at he clacked. “Tree floors the slam of the closet door. “Not much.”
Central Intelligence. Noth- Aer yu Amerikan?” “Yu?” “Maybe three thousand. I’ll

ing unusual going on in Stock- “Brazil.” “Buenas tardes,” Pashkov said toss in a box of hand grenades
holm: an industrial exhibit, the “Ah so? You sprikker goot through the door. “Asuntos muy and a can of lysergic acid diethyl-

Swedish Academy in session, a Inglish laik me.” importantes.” amide.”

sociology seminar on prison re- “Very kind of you.” The door opened a crack and “You have that? You have
form, a forty-man trade mission He rode down three floors, two dark eyes in a young bearded LSD-25?”
from India. found room 615, and stopped as face peered out. “Eh?” “Ihave that. When are you
An addendum to the Stock- he heard voices within. “Gospodin Pashkov, para ser- leaving Stockholm?”
two Cuban agents “. dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, vir a usted.” Again the young beards ex-
holm file listed . .

operating from Fralsningsar- siete. By seven o’clock tonight, The door opened enough to changed looks. “Maybe we stay
They okay, Gringo?” admit the roly-poly visitor into till tomorrow if you have more
men’s Economy Lodgings.
were buying small arms and am- “What do you expect for seven the room. The other Cuban, also business. Three thousand rounds

munition. He thought a moment, thousand bucks —

service? Look, bearded and wearing a fatigue is not much. How much payment,

impressed the Cubans’ address boys, I’m just a honest business- cap, held a revolver. senor?”
on his memory, and went to his man. I can’t get it for you today. “No gun-play, Caballeros,” “Two thousand
kronor,” Pash-
flier.
Have a seegar, Pablo.” Pashkov went on in Spanish. “We kov taking an envelope on
said,

He did not fly to Hotel Reisen “Tfu!” are in the Salvation Army char- the and addressing it to
table

at once. Zubov’s kidnaping team “All rightie, your cause is my ity house, not in a two-peso thril- Nadezhda Brunhildova, Kremlin,
Coming slowly over cause. you
Maybe I can get it for ler. Besides, I deliver before I Moscow. No return address.
could wait.
Stockholm he spotted the Na- tonight. have to pay in
But you’ll ask payment.” “Do you trust us to send the
tional Hospital and circled. advance. What do you say, Fran- “Deliver what, senor?” money?”
A line of ambulance fliers was cisco?” “We favor any disturbance “It is bad for you if I do not
parked on the ground in the am- “I counted the money. It is close to the United States. May trust you,” Pashkov said, smiling
bulance court. On the hospital waiting for you. You deliver, we I sit down?” up at them.

roof, he noticed, apart from pri- pay.” Between two beds were “You can trust us. We shall
“But how can I trust you? I stacked some dozen crates of ex- send the money. Please take a
vate fliers, stood a flier that re-
own. like you boys, I know you like plosives. A small table was lit- cigar.”
sembled his
He veered away, detoured me, but business is business. I tered with papers. Pashkov took four Havanas
around Riddarholmen, and five gotta give something to my job- Sitting down the table,
at from the box they held out to
minutes later landed on the roof ber, don’t I?” Pashkov’s elbow rested on an in- him, stuck three in his breast
of Fralsningsarmen’s Economy “Gringo!” voice, and moments later the pocket, and lit one.
Lodgings —
the Salvation Army At that moment Pashkov invoicewas tucked in his pocket. “You come again, senor. We
flophouse. knocked on the door. “What kind of ammunition do make much business.”
“My Cuban friends,” Pashkov From within: “Shh! Alguien you need, Caballeros?” “Why not? Help retire Latin-
inquired in fluent English at the llama a la puerta.” The Cubans looked at each American dictators to Siberia.
Pashkov knocked again and av other. “Thirty-o-six caliber, two- More gold in Siberia than in Las
desk on the top floor. “Are they
in?” scuffle ensued within, the crack twenty grain. How much can you Vegas.”
The old desk clerk looked like of a chair on a skull, the dragging deliver?” “Hyi, hyi, that is funny. You
a stork. “Yu, room six fifteen,” of a beefy body into a closet, and “Two thousand rounds.” come again.”

76 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 77

 On his way up to the roof, unavoidable fatalities to six.” Zu- “Fine. And a small can of sen- “Dhh, you said to report . . .

Pashkov studied the invoice he bov counted on his long hard timental caviar.” um ... if something happened,”
had lifted. It was from a manu- fingers. “Two watchmen, three “Too risky.” the first ape said in a thick voice.
facturer of sporting arms to nurses, one doctor.” “It’s all right. It will fall to “Well?”
Francisco Jesus Maria Gonzales, In the hotel corridor, Zubov local authorities by tomorrow.” “Victim’s room lights out,” the
Salvation Army Economy Lodg- looked before and after, his eyes Pashkov put down the re- ape said.
ings. Hetucked the invoice into crossed suspiciously, and peered ceiver. Give the Cubans enough “My assistants,” Zubov intro-
his inner pocket with a satisfied around corners. They got to their to expect more —
make sure duced them to Pashkov. “Line
grunt, climbed into his flier and suite without incident, and Pash- they stay in town. up, line up, lads. With your par-
hopped over to Hotel Reisen, kov gave him another cigar. don, they are good lads. This is
where Zubov’s kidnaping team “Gratefully accepted. Here is ^UBOV was cross-checking his Petya, and this is Kolya. No, this
was waiting for him. a map of hospital and grounds. ^kidnaping plans. He said, is Kolya and this one is Petya.”
Here is a map of twenty-third “With your pardon, do we take “Twins?”
COMRADE ZUBOV, the kid- floor. Here is a map of Colonel Colonel James alive or dead-or- “Not exactly. Same genetic ex-
naping was pacing
expert, James’ Here is hospital
room. alive?” periment. Good lads. Stand
Hotel Reisen. As routine between midnight and
the roof of
Pashkov eased down in his flier, dawn. With your pardon — “Alive.”
Zubov pulled a long face.
straight, Petya. Don’t curl your
feet like that, Kolya, I’ve told
Zubov’s big front tooth flashed Pashkov picked up the phone, “Dead-or-alive would be easier, you before. Why didn’t you
with delight. Pashkov felt like dialed the Soviet embassy, and Gospodin Pashkov. Fast, clean shave your hands today?”
tossing him a bone. got the charge d’affaires. “How is job.” Kolya looked guiltily at his
“Everything in order, Gospo- your underdeveloped countries Pashkov squinted at Zubov’s hands.
din Pashkov. Constant vigilance fund?” he asked. crossed eyes.“Have you had your “They’ve made progress,” Zu-
maintained at hospital by my “Always depleted, always re- eyes examined lately?” bov assured Pashkov, pulling a
two assistants. With your pardon, plenished.” “No need,” Zubov assured him small whip from his hip pocket.
Comrade Petchareff urges all “I don’t want any Russian with a smile. “I see more than “Straight, lads, straight,” he flick-
haste.Colonel James is due to brands.” most people.” ed the whip. “We have com-
leave the hospital tomorrow.” “Nothing but foreign,” the Pashkov held up his remaining pany.”
“Comrade Petchareff always charge buzzed. “We got almost cigar. “How many cigars in my “Are their costumes your own
urges haste. What else?” everything now through an Amer- hand?” idea?”
Zubov’s big tooth settled re- ican surplus outlet in Hamburg. “Two.” “With your pardon, for pur-
spectfully over his lower lip. His Nationals get caught with Amer- At that moment the door poses of concealment. What are
small eyes were so closely set ican Americans
goods, get opened and Zubov’s kidnaping your orders?”
that he looked cockeyed when he blamed. Wonderful confusion. team lumbered in. They were a Pashkov them to pick up
told
focused them on his superior. What do you need?” couple of big apes dressed in blue the boxes of ammunition at the
“With your pardon, I shall “Thirty-o-six two-twenty, three canvas shoes, red trousers, yel- embassy and deliver them to the
conduct you to our suite. Plans thousand — if you have it.” low jackets, white silk scarves, Cubans, and then to commandeer
for kidnaping of Colonel James “Most popular. What else?” sport caps and sun glasses. a private automobile.
all ready.” “Pineapples —
one crate.” “What are you doing here?” “We have autos at the em-
“Here’s a cigar for you.” “Only confiscated German po- cried Zubov. “Why aren’t you bassy pool,” Zubov suggested.
“Gratefully accepted. Reduced tatoes. Will that do?” observing the hospital?” “I want a vehicle off the street.

78 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 79

Then report back here with your ley, Pashkov dressed only in the When I look in the mirror
— to Moscow comfortable. All right,
lads.” hospital gown; got into the stolen The colonel shuddered. Zubov.”
Petya gave Kolya a box on the Mercedes and drove to the Na- hope your sacrifice won’t be
“I Zubov focused his crossed
ear. tional Hospital, all three leaning permanent?” Pashkov said. eyes on Pashkov.
“Boys, boys!” Zubov cracked forward. “That would be too much. “Take him straight to Petch-
the whip. “Out you go. A job for In the ambulance court, Zubov How is my Russian? The truth, areff,” Colonel James said to Zu-
Gospodin Pashkov, lads. They and Petya moved quickly to a now.” bov. “I’llreport as soon as I
don’t get enough he
exercise,” Red Cross Pashkov dropped
flier. “Excellent. Put up your gun, know what these Swedes are up
grinned, backing out after them. the invoice he had lifted from Zubov. Colonel James and I to.”

“With your pardon, I’ll thrash the Cubans on the front seat of don’t get to talk very often.” Zubov Pashkov by the
seized
them later.” the stolen car, and followed. “And a pity we don’t. Good scruff of the neck and dragged
And they were gone. Pashkov A watchman emerged from his manners accomplish more than him towards the window.
turned to the hospital maps and hut, looked idly up at the rising an opera full of cloaks and dag- “Hold your claws, Zubov lad,”
studied them before taking a ambulance, and shuffled back to gers. Cigarette?” Pashkov said. “You have got the
nap. his morning coffee. “Gratefully accepted,” Zubov wrong man, can’t you see? That
As Petya brought the flier to said, slipping his gun into its is Colonel James.”
HORTLY before dawn, Zu- a hovering stop against Colonel holster with a flourish. “Eh?”
S bov’s team returned, their James’ window, Pashkov bounc- “Use your eyes, blockhead. I

mission accomplished.
“With your pardon, an excel-
lent Mercedes,” Zubov reported.
Pashkov had changed into the
hospital gown with the Coca-Cola
legend on the back. He glanced
at his watch. It was four o’clock
in the morning.
He tossed his bundle of cloth-
ed into the room; Zubov drew 44\7T)UR treatment is over, am Pashkov.”
his gun and jumped in after. then?” Pashkov asked. Zubov did use his eyes. He
Colonel James awoke, turned “You are ready for your assign- looked from one to the other, and
on the night lamp, and sat up ment?” back. The more he focused, the
in the bed, hiseyes blinking. “Ready.” more his eyes crossed. “Eh?”
Pashkov stood looking at Col- “And that is?” Colonel James sat calmly on
onel James. The resemblance be- “Delicate, very delicate. I must the bed. He said, “Carry him
tween them was remarkable. Zu- report to the Palace this morn- out.”
bov’s eyes were crossed with W Zubov Pashkov
•

ing. lifted off the

ing to the first ape. “Take my astonishment. “Shall I kidnap him now?” floor, crashed with his weight
flier back to Moscow, Kolya lad. “My dear Gospodin Pashkov!” Zubov interrupted, puffing con- against the wall, but held on,
Give my clothes to Nadezhda Colonel James greeted him in ceitedly on his cigarette. grinned and staggered with Pash-
Brunhildova, and tell Comrade Russian, yawning. “How kind of “Mind your language, Zubov. kov in his arms to the window.
Petchareff to expect Colonel you to visit me. Do sit down.” May I ask, Colonel — do you “You miserable idiot,” Pash-
James today.” Not only was his Russian good; want me to think I am falling kov shouted. “You’ll get a rest
Clutching the bundle, Kolya his voice was a good imitation of into a trap?” cure for this!”
stuck his tongue out at Petya and Pashkov’s voice. “No, no, my friend. I am only Zubov dropped him, pulled his
bounded out of the room. They “You’re not really sick?” Pash- doing my best not to show my gun and backed off into a corner.
waited at the window until they kov asked, sitting down on the surprise at seeing you again.” “How can I tell you two apart
saw Kolya take off in Pashkov’s bed. The colonel got out of bed and just by looking!” he cried hysteri-
flier. Then they made their way “Not physically. But imagine sat down on Pashkov’s other side. cally. “I’m not a learned man.”
down the service stairs to the al- my psychological condition. “Zubov will make your trip “One small but decisive proof,”

80 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 81

Pashkov said, unbuttoning
hospital gown. “I have a mole.”
Zubov yanked the colonel up
by an arm. “Send me to rest
cures, will you?”
Colonel James sighed. “I guess
we have to keep up appearances,”
he muttered, and climbed out the
window into the hovering ambu-
lance. Zubov leaped in after, and
they were off.
HTHE suit of clothes hanging in
the closet might have been
Pashkov’s own, identical with the
clothes Kolya had taken to Mos-
cow not an hour before. Even
the underwear had facsimiles of
the Order of Lenin sewn in.
Satisfied, he crawled into the
bed and fell into a pleasant
snooze.
He was awakened by
nurse, Anastina Bjorklund — alias
Anastasia Semionovna Bezum-
naya, formerly of the Stakhano-
vite Booster’s Committee, Mos-
cow Third Worker’s District.
“Wonderful morning, Colonel
James!”
Petchareff seldom let one
agent know what another was
doing.
She put a big breakfast tray on
Pashkov’s lap. “Cloudy, damp,
and windy. London stock market
caves in, race riots in South Af-
rica, famine in India, earthquake
in Japan, floods in the United
States, general strike in France,
his new crisis in Berlin. I ask you, on the Palace roof in Colonel
what more can an idealist want?” James’ flier —
an exact copy of
“Good morning, Miss Bjork- his own flier. The Palace roof
lund.” captain stared at him, then
The breakfast tray was cram- smiled nervously.
med with a liter of orange juice, “They are waiting for you in
four boiled eggs, six slices of ba- the Gustavus room, Colonel.”
con, four pancakes, two pork “Colonel? Do I still look like
chops, four slices of toast, a tum- Colonel James?”
bler of vodka, a pot of coffee and “Oh, no, sir.”
two cigars. “Do I talk like Colonel
“Ah, Colonel,” Anastina said as James?”
Pashkov fell to, “why did you let “You’ve changed completely,
them change your face? It does sir. If I didn’t know, I would
not become you at all.” swear you were the notorious
“Part of my job. Don’t you Gospodin Pashkov.”
think I am more handsome “I am Gospodin Pashkov now,
now?” Captain. To everybody.”
Anastina laughed shrilly. “That “Of course, sir. I’ll ring down
bulbous nose handsome? What you are coming.”
Woman could fall in love with a Pashkov glanced at his watch.
nose like that?” Colonel James would be landing
the “It shows determination. I in Moscow about now and taken
wish I had this nose permanent- to Comrade Petchareff for ques-
ly.” tioning.
“You mustn’t talk like that. A manservant in velvet
But I’ll ignore your nose if you aways, patent leather shoes and
tell me more about White Sands white gloves, escorted Pashkov
Proving Grounds, as you prom- through rooms hungs with chan-
ised.” deliers, tapestries, paintings.
“With pleasure, with pleasure,” Pashkov entered the last room
he said, sinking his teeth into a and stopped as the door clicked
pork chop, having seasoned the shut behind him.
chop with the soft-boiled egg
yolk. “But right now I’m in a TN THE room were three men,
hurry to get to the Palace. Give all of whom he recognized:
my shoes an extra shine, there’s Professor Kristin of the Swedish
a good girl.” Academy, a white-haired old man
“Oh, you and your secrets!” with a kind, intelligent face; the
An hour later, Pashkov landed king, Gustavus IX, a thin old
man stroking his Vandyke, sitting
under a portrait of Frederick the
Great; and Monsieur Fanti, the
make-up surgeon.
Pashkov bowed his head.
“Your majesty. Gentlemen.”
“Extraordinary!” Professor
Kristin said.
Pashkov turned to the surgeon.
“Monsieur, should my face have
such a frivolous expression?”
M. Fanti raised his eyebrows,
but did not answer.
“I thought,” said Pashkov,
“that Gospodin Pashkov’s face
has a more brutal look.”
“Propaganda,” said the artist.
But' he came closer and looked at
Pashkov’s face with sudden in-
terest.
Professor Kristin said, “Col-
onel James, we presume you have
studied the problem in detail. I’m
afraid we have delayed announc-
ing the Nobel prize for literature
cut- much too long. How soon can
you bring Boris Knackenpast to
Stockholm?”
So there it was: Boris Knack-
enpast a supreme success, as
Pashkov had suspected. It would
be amusing to tell robotist Med-
vedev about it.
“Delicate, very delicate,” Pash-
kov said. “Everything depends on
my not running into Gospodin
Pashkov.”
“We can’t wait any longer,”
Professor Kristin said. “Fortun-
ately, we have an ally in the

82 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 83

enemy camp. The robotist, Med- 'T'HE roof captain saluted as dezhda. Tell Petchareff — no, let when he entered, the vestibule
vedev, is expecting you at Knack- Pashkov stepped out of the me talk to him.” was empty.
enpast’s villa.” lift. His flier was serviced and “Seven One but that’s im-
. . . He
looked in the dining room,
“Bad show,” M. Fanti said sud- ready. possible! Gospodin Pashkov is in the music room, the library. No-
denly. “No good. His left cheek- “What weather in Moscow, conference with Comrade Petch- body. The house was strangely
bone is at least four centimeters Captain?” areff.” quiet. He came to the door of the
too high.” “Ceiling four thousand. We’re “Stupid!” Petchareff’s voice study and listened. Not a sound.
The men looked at the sur- having patrols half way out to sounded behind Nadezhda’s, and He went in and there, behind the
geon, then at Pashkov. sea. They are instructed to let the speaker clicked and went large writing desk, sat Boris
M. Fanti fingered Pashkov’s you pass.” dead. Knackenpast.
cheekbone. “How could I have A small incident, the roof cap- Pashkov dove into the clouds The robot was unscrewing
made such a mistake! Just look tain explained. A Swedish Red and brought his flier to a hover- screws imbedded in his neck.
at him. People laugh at such Cross flier was missing from the ing stop. “My God, sir,” said Pashkov,
faces.” National Hospital. Two Cuban Petchareff did not believe he “what are you doing?”
“How much time to correct the agents had been arrested and a was Pashkov. Colonel James, it
error then, Monsieur Fanti?” the cache of small arms and ammu- was clear, was at that moment in rT'HE robot’s eyes, large disks
king asked. nition was found. But no trace Petchareff’s office, impersonating 1 of glittering mirror, flashed as
“A week at least. His skin of the ambulance. Pashkov. And Zubov was prob- he looked up. “Ah, Colonel
needs a rest. I must rework the “I suppose the Cubans deny ably getting a rest cure. James,” Boris said in a voice that
whole left side of his face — it’s stealing the ambulance?” Pash- Pashkov crawled out of the seemed to come from a deep
all lopsided.” kov asked. cloud and skimmed northeast to well. “Excuse the poor welcome,
“But we can’t spare a week,” “They say they’ve been framed Mir, Boris Knackenpast’s villa. but understand we have little
I
Professor Kristin said. by a fat little Russian. But it’s “You came fast, sir,” the lieu- time. You scared my valet; he
“With your majesty’s permis- transparent, a clumsy job. Im- tenant of guards welcomed him thought you were Gospodin Pash-
sion,” Pashkov offered, “I am agine, they left a stolen car in at Mir. “We did not expect you kov.”
willing to go as I am. Indeed, my the ambulance court and in it foranother fifteen minutes.” The door burst open and Med-
plans call for immediate depart- an invoice for six cases of am- minutes. The colonel
Fifteen vedev rushed in, the old valet at
ure.” munition. It was traced to the was not wasting time. his Medvedev stopped,
heels.
good thing you do for
“It is a Cubans in half an hour.” “Listen carefully, lieutenant.” gaped, then seized Pashkov’s
us, Colonel James,” Gustavus IX Pashkov climbed into his flier. Pashkov described the American hand. “Colonel James! What an
said, “and a courageous thing. “Well, it’s fashionable to blame agent. “But his left cheekbone is artist, that Monsieur Fanti. But
Please accept our thanks.” the Russians for everything.” He lower than mine —
about four quick, Boris, Pashkov is on his
Professor Kristin saw Pashkov waved his chubby hand, and took centimeters. He may be armed, way.”
to the door. “One suggestion, Col- off. Flying over the Baltic, he set so be careful.” Boris pulled off his head, and
onel. Your r’s are still too soft for the controls on the Moscow The lieutenant stared. “Shall crawled out of the robot shell.
a real Russian. Why do you beam. we kill him?” Pashkov saw Boris as he really
Americans slur them like that? Ten minutes west of Moscow “No, no. Put him in a cage.” was, a tall human with a gaunt,
And I beg you, if you value your he tuned the communicator in on As Pashkov ran up the steps ascetic face.
life, do not fail to watch your Petchareff’s office. to the villa, the curtain in the The sad thing about us,
fricatives.” “Seven One Three here, Na- vestibule window stirred. But thought Pashkov, is that Medve-

84 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 85

dev could not trust even me. But der to the lieutenants of guards, face. “He is trying to say some- collided, digging in behind the
thing!” valet.
then could not trust Medvedev,
I and the guards surrounded the
“He’s moving!” Petya kicked Only Petchareff remained
either. Yes, that’s the trouble house.
“No alarm, no alarm,” Pashkov Zubov and looked up for ap- standing. “Stop the robot!”
with us.
hope you need no luggage, said, pullingBoris away from the proval, his hair standing up like Nobody moved.
“I
window. “Mister Knackenpast, spikes. Boris reached the flier, Colo-
Mister Knackenpast,” Pashkov
Petchareff slapped
Kolya’s nel James pulled him in, the
said. “We must be off at once.” when you see your way clear to
my flier, run for it. But get back face and crushed the
glowing engine hummed, and they were
“Too late!” the old valet said
from the window. into your robot costume.” end of his cigar on Petya’s fore- off. A moment later the flier

operate the machine.” head. The apes reeled back to vanished in the clouds towards
Colonel James had landed. “I can’t
“I’ll be right behind you. The
a tree. Stockholm.
But as he climbed down from his
Petchareff relit his cigar.
the guards closed a
flier, circle rest of us will go out to Petch-
about him. areff.”
TJASHKOV whispered to Colo- monkey hair.”
“Tfui, tastes of

“He’ll keep,” Pashkov said, As they came out, Petchareff nel James. Medvedev shambled over.

hitching up his pants. “Let’s be was reviving Zubov by slapping “Capitalist hell and damnation, “Was the grenade a dud?”
Mister Knackenpast. It won’t his face. The kidnaping expert now I can’t tell them apart my- “One of these days I’ll catch
off,
lay stretched cold on the ground, self,” Petchareff said. “Zubov!” you, Pashkov,” Petchareff spat.
take long for Petchareff to smell
and Nadezhda Brunhildova stood “Hhng?” “Your deviousness, that’s one
us out.”
by, holding the rock and weep- “Which one’s the real Pash- thing. It could be useful. But
“Look!”
The guards fell back from the ing. kov?” your levity ”—
flierand snapped to attention. Colonel James said, “There he “Hhng?” “Darling!” Nadezhda threw
the American spy.” But Colonel James was run- on Pashkov.
Chewing on his cigar furiously, is,

Petchareff looked up as Pash- ning to the flier, throwing Na- “Not in public,” Pashkov said.
out stepped Petchareff.
Zubov leaped out next, his big kov was led forward by the dezhda’s rock at Petchareff and “Wait a minute,” Petchareff
front tooth flashing. Then his two guards. “Not bad,” Petchareff running. said. “Nadezhda Brunhildova,
assistants, Petya and Kolya, tum- said. “We could use Monsieur “Grenade!” Pashkov yelled, how do you know he really is

bled out in their coats and hats. Fanti. What’s his price?” and flung himself to the ground. Pashkov? If he’s actually Colonel

Last of all to emerge from the “Don’t you know me, chief? At the same moment Boris James, can shoot him summar-
I
Knackenpast ran from the ily. He does look like Colonel
flier was Nadezhda Brunhildova. Me, Pashkov.”
“Pretend not to know me, will “Curse me,” Nadezhda said, house to the flier, his robot gear James to me.”
he?” she yelled at Colonel James, staring at him. “Another Pash- clattering like Don Quixote’s “But if you’re mistaken?”
picking up a rock. kov.” armor. Medvedev put in nervously.
“Hold it, citizenress,” Colonel A terrible howl came from The guards scattered and “We all make mistakes,”

James said. Zubov. Petya and Kolya, imitat- dove for cover. Petchareff said. “What would
“Citizenress, is it?” The rock ing Petchareff’s efforts to revive “Down, lads! Grenade!” Pash- history be without mistakes?”
flew over his head and felled Zu- their master, were battering Zu- kov yelled. “I don’t trust him either,”

bov. bov’s face with their slouched The two apes took up the cry, Nadezhda said. “But I know my
“Grenade, grenade!” and flat- Pashkov. If he’s not Pashkov, I
“I warned you both, no kitchen hats.
squabbles while on duty,” Petch- “Stand back!” Kolya screamed, tened themselves behind the tree. shall let you know in the morn-

areff roared. He snapped an or- smashing his hat into Zubov’s Nadezhda and Medvedev ing.” — ANDREW FELTER
86 GALAXY THE COOL WAR 87
for
your
information

BY WILLY LEY
SOUNDING ROCKETS
The first sounding rocket, the WAC/Corporal.
AND GEOPROBES

the term “secrecy” was not quite Allen belt, to an altitude of 600
rpHIS PIECE started out as a
right; “privacy” would be a bet- miles. Of course a Thor rocket
reply to a reader’s question
ter word. I had the privacy of a could have done it, or a Jupiter,
that read about as follows:
research laboratory in mind, not to mention the Atlas. But
“Reading the daily papers and
where a group of men ponders none of these big liquid-fuel rock-
news magazines about rocket
a “mission” (a job to be per- ets can conceivably be called in-
work I have come across many
unfamiliar names, such as Strong-
formed) and tries to think of expensive. And they all need
the most efficient and inexpen- ground facilities for firing which
arm, Journeyman, Javelin, Scout
sive way to perform it. To take exist in only a few places.
and so on. They seem to be solid-
fuel rockets, but that is all I could
an actual case, I continued, an To do it more cheaply — and
find out about them. Were these instrument package weighing 45 at the same time to avoid the

rockets developed in secrecy?” pounds had to be carried into the need for extensive ground facili-
I started out by replying that lower portion of the inner Van ties — it was decided to use a

88 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 89

L_
rocket made up of existing hard- English this became “sounding
ware. An Honest John artillery balloon”, and an instrument-
rocket (minus its warhead, of carrying rocket logically became
course) was the first stage. The a “sounding rocket”. They are
second stage consisted of a Nike- firedmore or less vertically. The
Ajax booster. The third stage deviation from the true vertical
was another Nike booster, and is introduced to make the
an Altair rocket the fourth stage. burned-out rocket or rocket
The whole was named Argo D-4 stages fall into the sea. Other-
or Javelin. And it did its job. wise every empty stage would
The instruments were carried have to be supplied with a para-
600 miles up on July 7, 1959. chute for a soft landing, which
Having come to that point in would not only complicate the
my reply I decided that other whole business but would also re-
readers might have the same or duce the instrument load that can Aerobee rocket with booster on transport cart. (Courtesy Aerojet-General.)

a similar question in their minds be carried. Parachutes are not de-

and that a column on sounding vices of zero weight. In fact they 1.000 miles isnot very difficult But that does not make
rockets.
rockets might be of all-around are surprisingly heavy. any more. For this reason an ar- them the first sounding rockets.
interest. Originally the term sounding tificial distinction has been intro- In the first place, none of these
rockets referred to such rockets, duced. Up to 4,000 miles above experimental rockets ever car-
TTHrst let’s explain what the term which would take over from the sea level — one earth radius — ried a full set of the basic meteor-

“sounding rocket” means. balloons at 20 miles —

the high- instrument-carrying rockets are ological instruments, measuring

The word can be traced back to est a balloon can go and still called sounding rockets. Beyond atmospheric pressure, tempera-
the French ballon sonde, which carry something and extend— 4.000 miles they are called geo- ture and humidity. In the second

meant a small balloon carrying the region of atmosphere re- probes. Beyond, say, 100,000 place, no rocket fired prior to

meteorological instruments. In search to 100 miles. But by now miles they become lunar probes 1942 ever exceeded the altitude
or planetary probes, depending which could be investigated by
on their destination. balloons, too.
The idea of the sounding rock- The first rocket which de-
et goes back to professor Robert serves the designation sounding
H. Goddard who was the first rocket was the WAC Corporal,
(in 1919) to make detailed sug- which was developed in Cali-
gestions. fornia in 1944 and 1945, and
During the period from 1925 test-fired from the White Sands
to 1935 various experimenters, Proving Groundin October,
inthe United States as well as in 1945. The overall
length of the
Germany and Russia, occasion- WAC Corporal was 16 feet, the
ally stuck a barometric instru- diameter 12 inches, the diameter
ment into the nose cone of their measured over the fins 48 inches

90 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 91

and the takeoff weight 665 for example in cosmic-ray re- 4,100 feet per second, and this
pounds. The empty weight of search, where heavy lead shield- resulted in a coasting flight to a
the rocket was 275 pounds, pro- ing had to be carried. peak altitude of 372,000 feet.
pellant weight (nitric acid and Since the WAC
Corporal was The third Aerobee, fired on April
aniline) 365 pounds and the not quite what was wanted — 13, 1948, reached about the same
payload weight 25 pounds. and since the V-2s, one day, altitude, while the fourth, fired
Started by a solid-fuel booster, would all be gone —
there was on July 26, 1948, climbed to
the WAC Corporal climbed to clearly a need for a new sound- slightly Over 70 miles.
43.5 miles. ing rocket. One that was con- A true sounding rocket had
The career of the WAC Cor- ceived and designed to be an in- been created, with a vertical
poral was cut short by the fact strument carrier before the first range of about 70 miles if the
that seventy German V-2 rockets line was drawn on the drafting payload was 150 pounds. Heav-
became available very soon after board. The Applied Physics Lab- ier payloads could be carried if
the Corporal’s first test flights. In oratory of Johns Hopkins Uni- necessary, though of course this
addition to that, the WAC Cor- versity supplied the original de- depressed the peak altitude. Nat-
poral have a shortcoming.
did sign, the Navy’s Bureau of Ord- urally a payload weighing less
The payload weight of 25 pounds nance supplied the first funds, than 150 pounds increased the
was enough for most experiments Douglas Aircraft Company and peak altitude.
in upper-atmosphere exploration. Aerojet, Inc. (now Aerojet-Gen- While the Aerobee did the at-
But the payload space was gen- eral) shared thework of building mosphere-sounding jobs that had
erally considered too small. Sci- it. The rocket was the Aerobee, to be done, a number of other
entificinstruments at that time somewhat larger than the WAC developments began. One was
often did not weigh much, but Corporal (overall length about simply an improved Aerobee. Its
they did take up a great deal of 19 feet with a diameter of 15 manufacturer, Aerojet, told the
space. Miniaturization was still inches) but using the same fuels. Air Force and the Navy that a
in the future. better rocket was possible if
On the other hand, the V-2s, ^FHE Aerobee was ready for its more magnesium alloy and a
which were used because they on November
first test firing new type were
of stainless steel
were available, were generally 24, 1947, but the first flight was used in the construction. Both
speaking too big. They could not an unqualified success. The Air Force and Navy were inter-
carry a total of 2,310 pounds to rocket yawed and the fuel flow ested, and the new version was
Aerobee takeoff at the moment of booster
an altitude of 100 miles. Of this had to be stopped by radio com- burnout. (Courtesy Cooper Development Corp.) designed and built. It was called
total payload weight, 1,055 mand. For this reason it reached the Aerobee-Hi. The diameter
pounds were available for instru- only an altitude of 190,000 feet. then dropped At that instant
off. was the same as that of the Aero-
ments. Nose cone and counter- The second flight, made on the motor took over
liquid-fuel bee, but the rocket was longer,
weight accounted for the other March 5, 1948,' came off as and 34 sec-
lifted the rocket (in the Air Force version about 21
1,255 pounds. But that much planned. The six-foot solid-fuel onds of burning time) to an alti- feet, the Navy version about
weight-carrying capacity was booster accelerated the rocket to tude of 95,000 feet. The velocity 23 Vz feet. The altitude at which
needed only in very rare cases about 1,000 feet per second and after the fuel was used up was the liquid-fuel motor cut off was

92 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 93

pushed nearly 30,000 feet higher first 100,000 feet are not easy.
than that of the Aerobee, and the An old rule of thumb has it that
peak altitude, with a 120-pound air resistance increases with
payload, was calculated to be about the square of the velocity.
165 miles. If you move twice as fast, you

Four years elapsed from the find four times as much air re-
first proposal for the Aerobee-Hi sistance; if you move three times

to the first firing at White Sands as fast, you have nine times the
on May 2, 1956. The first firing air resistance to contend with.
was disappointing, because only Hence a rocket which becomes
the booster ignited; the rocket very fast very soon will spend a
fell back from an altitude of great deal of its energy just fight-
10,000 feet and exploded on im- ing air resistance.
pact. The second and third fir- Well, this being the case, why
ings also fell short of the goal, don’t we accelerate very gently
but on June 29, 1956, an Aero- to avoid excessive air resistance?
bee-Hi carried a 120-pound pay- But if we did this we would
load to 163 miles. be wasting an awful lot of fuel.

By the end of May, 1961, a Remember, please, that a rocket

total of 207 Aerobees had been will use up fuel not accelerating

fired,112 Aerobee-His and one or climbing at all, but just hover-

experimental model called Astro- ing at a given altitude. The prob-
bee. They had been the work- lem is to find an acceleration
horses of upper-atmosphere re- which does not waste fuel by Production line of Aerobee rockets at Azusa, Calif.

search for about a decade. being too gentle, but which also
But there had been other de- does not waste fuel by being too a way out as early as 1923. He form, was carried out by Dr.
velopments too. violent and thus creating exces- proposed to nestle the rocket in James A. Van Allen in 1951 and
sive air resistance. For the large a launching ring. This was to be 1952. Since this was a combina-
with long
TO explain one of the problems liquid-fuel rockets connected by long ropes to two tion of a rocket with a balloon
which faced designers of burning times this problem could small dirigibles which first climb the device was called a Rockoon.
sounding rockets we have to dis- be solved. Being very heavy at as high as they can, then pull The balloon was a plastic bal-
cuss the problem of air resistance the outset, they climb slowly at apart from each other to provide loon, the rocket the then new
to some extent. first, increasing not only their a space between them for the solid-fuel Deacon rocket.
Above an altitude of 100,000 velocity but also their accelera- rocket to ascend. By that maneu- By present-day standards the
feet air resistance becomes fairly tion as they reach areas of suc- ver at least the very densest lay- Deacon is a small rocket, but it

negligible. Once a rocket has cessively lesser atmospheric den- ers of the atmosphere —
say the was astonishing how high it

passed this critical altitude it can sities. first four miles — could be could go by just being spared
move as fast, and accelerate as For smaller rockets Professor avoided. the trouble of penetrating the
sharply, as desired. But those Hermann Oberth had suggested Oberth’s idea, in a modified densest layers of the atmosphere.

94 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 95

 78
r r
625 71
?/
16 5
t

u «s»— «— 19.5*
. i

1
i

tvJ
i— 245-1
l

155.5 150.5
1

The DAN rocket. (Dimensions in inches.)

A Deacon fired from the ground miles $250. Small wonder

reached about an altitude of
000 But the same rocket
feet.
lifted to 60,000 feet by means of
a balloon and ignited at that alti-
tude would go to 60 miles.
for
60,- that thismethod was used exten-
sively during the International
Geophysical Year; the United
States alone made 86 rockoon
flights.

Of course nothing is com- In the rockoon technique the

pletely without drawbacks. The rocket is suspended in such a The ASP. (Courtesy Cooper Development Corp.)

rockoon method cannot be used way that the balloon is missed

on windy days. Laying out a
large plastic balloon for inflation
is a delicate and difficult job, and
by the ascending rocket. This
does not constitute a saving, for
the balloon is lost just the same.
have the rocket suspended verti-
cally and to shoot through the
balloon. (The rocket can tear
W HILE lifting the rocket by
balloon was one method of
circumventing high air resistance
if the wind velocity is above a Another method would be to through the thin plastic without in the lower atmosphere, delayed

certain mark it simply cannot be an appreciable loss in velocity.) ignition of the upper stages
done. This has been done only once, proved to be another workable
However, if a rockoon can be during Project Farside in 1957. method.
launched, no other method of Project Farside was supposed to Solid-fuel rockets, which had

getting instruments into the up- reach an altitude of 4,000 miles, been steadily improved since
per atmosphere can compete in but it was one of those projects about 1950 and had also steadily
inexpensiveness. Dr. Van Allen where all kinds of unforeseen ac- grown larger, do have higher ac-
has pointed out that a payload cidents happen; the best shot celerations than large liquid-fuel

of eight pounds can be flown to produced by Project Farside, out rockets. While nothing much can

a peak altitude of 75 miles for of six attempts, probably went to be done about this for each sin-
a total cost of $750 — which in- 3,000 miles. It is necessary to gle rocket, excessive air resist-

cludes the price of the rocket, say “probably” because nobody ance can be avoided by letting
the balloon helium
and the can be certain; the transmitter some time pass between the
needed to inflate it. A payload failed at 2,700 miles while the burnout of the first stage and the
of 35 pounds can be flown to 65 rocket was still rising. ignition of the second stage.

miles for $1,300, and if obsolete Perhaps there would have been The first sounding rockets to
military rockets can be used one more, except for sputnik and the utilize ignition delay for reaching

can transport eight pounds to 45 changes in policy that followed. high altitudes were two rockets

96 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 97

called DAN (from? Deacon And using the same method, was in-
Nike). The characteristics of the troduced. This was the Nike- Weight
Nike booster are listed in the Cajun, with a Cajun rocket as Burning (without Thrust
Name Length Diameter Time payload) (sea level) Manufacturer
table. The Deacon rocket was the upper stage. The Cajun is
(in.) (in.) (sec.) (lbs.) (lbs.)
107 inches long
(without nose slightly larger and somewhat
cone), and had a diameter of more powerful. The first Nike- Algol 358 40 36 22,460 104,500 Aerojet-General
6.25 inches and a gross weight Cajun (fired July 6, 1956)
Altair 58 18 38 514 3,060 Hercules
at launching of 217.6 pounds. reached 425,000 feet. The shot
The burning time was only 2.8 labeled N-C 11, fired November Antares 115 30 37 2,300 14,500 same

seconds, the thrust around 6,000 7, 1956, reached 576,000 feet. Nike booster 150 16 3.5 1,170 50,000 same
pounds. Several others went to around
244 31 27
The two DAN were
rockets 550,000 feet.
Castor 8,870 55,000 Thiokol

alike, except that one carried 34 It was proved possible that Recruit 107 9.5 1.5 350 35,000 same
pounds of payload and the other high altitudes — satellite alti-

one, the second, shot a payload tudes, as we would say now — Cajun 1. 108 6.75 2.8 172 8,100 same

Lance 185 15.1 ca Grand Central

of 39 pounds. The difference was could be reached by combina- 7 1,682 38,800

due to a sphere which was tions of relatively inexpensive Meteor 57.4 18 37 431 2,600 same
ejected in flight. The purpose of rockets, provided the payload
Asp 107 6.5 ca 5 192 6,000 Cooper
the sphere ejection was that the did not weigh too much. Thus
falling of a sphere of known di- began the era of the solid-fuel
ameter and weight would give a sounding rockets. search Corporation All-purpose the grain burns from the inside
clue to the density of the air Not all of them were combina- Sounder. out, lasting for only a few sec-
through which it fell. tions of rockets. Some were sin- Without deciding which inter- onds but delivering a great deal
Round No. 1 was
on fired gle-stage devices. Two of these pretation is correct I’ll proceed of thrust. The “grain” of the
April 8, 1955, Round No. 2 on shall be mentioned, the ASP to a description of the rocket. It ARCAS issolid and burns from
June 24, 1955, both from Wal- (Atmosphere Sounding Projec- is a very slender rocket, only its rear end forward; this kind
lops Island. Burning time of the tile) developed by Cooper Devel- 4.5 inches in diameter but with has been called a “cigarette burn-
Nike booster is 3.5 seconds. Then opment Corporation in Monro- an overall length of 96.3 inches, er” since it burns like a cigarette.
the two stages separated, both via, California, and the ARCAS, if equipped with the standard 26- Of course, this method prolongs
climbing. The ignition of the developed by Atlantic Research inch instrumentation nose. If the the burning time. The ARCAS
Deacon rocket was supposed to Corporation in Alexandria, Vir- payload weighs 12 pounds, the burns for 30 seconds with a
be delayed for 15.5 seconds, but ginia. Like ASP, the name takeoff weight is 77 pounds. thrust of 336 pounds.
the actual delay was 17 seconds ARCAS is composed of the first In most solid-fuel rockets the
in the first shot and 12.8 seconds letters of the words of a longer propelling charge (it is called a r
I ''HE ARCAS has been used
in the second shot. The results name —but two different ex- “grain” even if weighs 900 since 1959 for routine mete-
of the two shots are summarized planations are being offered. One pounds) has the shape of a cylin- orological work, by Air Force
in the diagram. is All-purpose Rocket for the der, with a center hole which is units as well as by airlines like
Only two DAN rockets were Collection of Atmospheric Sound- often star-shaped. Ignition takes Pan American. It has also been
fired, then a new combination, ings; the other is Atlantic Re- place in that center hole so that used for high-altitude research

98 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 99

and for support operations in “The rocket,” a company spokes- seen at a glance that the ASP pose is, of course, to test re-entry
long-range ballistic-missile tests. man reported later, “was de-
is a fine upper stage for a heavier conditions at speeds which cor-
By the end of November, 1962, signed, fabricated, modified, stat- booster. respond to the re-entry of a mis-
more than 1,000 ARCAS rockets ic-fired and flight-tested in less that brings me back to
And sile after a 4,000 mile journey
had been fired. than six months after receipt of the combinations which caused through space.
After the propellant grain the contract. The first prototype
the that caused this col-
letter Finally, we have among these
has burned, a so-called “delay rocket was launched successfully umn, the rockets with names like composite rockets NASA’s Scout,
column” is ignited. This burns at the Naval Air Missile Test Javelin, Journeyman and so where the first stage is an Algol,
quietly for about 100 seconds, Center, Point Mugu, Calif., on The makeup of the Javelin
forth. the second a Castor, the third an
during which time the rocket December 27, 1955.”
has already been explained. Antares and the fourth an Altair.
coasts to its peak altitude, which The ASP is slightly larger and Others of the same kind are: As befits this collection of ab-
lies between 200,000 and 280,000 heavier than the ARCAS (see Argo E-5, Jason: 1st stage, ducted star names, the Scout has
feet, depending on the payload table) and is of the short dura- Honest John; 2nd stage,Nike satellite capability. Several satel-
carried. Then, about 130 seconds tion with high thrust type. There booster; 3rd stage, another Nike now orbiting the earth were
lites
after takeoff, the delay column are three versions which differ
booster; 4th stage, a Recruit put into orbit by Scout rockets.
ignites the separation charge. from each other as follows: rocket; 5th stage, a Thiokol T-55 And the Scout is also the only
Payload is separated from the rocket. one which could be a geoprobe.
body of the rocket. The payload ASP-1 ASP-1 1 ASP-Ill Argo D-8, Journeyman: 1st, —WILLY LEY
returns be picked
by parachute to
9600 Thiokol Sergeant rocket with two
Thrust, in pounds 5850 8680
up while the rocket body simply Burning time, sec. 5.3 3.6 3.3 Recruit rockets burning simulta-
falls to the ground. During the Propellant weight, neously; 2nd, Grand Central
winter of 1962-63 our research
station
Antarctica
at McMurdo Sound
(of course they had
in
pounds
Empty weight
of case, pounds
150

40
152

40
138

40
Lance rocket; 3rd, another Lance;
4th Altair.
Trailblazer: 1st, Honest John;
FIGHT
summer then) used boosted When launched vertically the
ARCAS rockets for high-altitude
research. The rocket is the same,
a short solid-fuel
has
ASP will reach 198,000 feet with
a 25-pound payload, and 169,000
feet with a 50-pound payload.
2nd,
4th,
T-55.
Nike booster;

Strongarm:
Lance;
3rd,
Thiokol T-40; 5th, Thiokol

Honest John;
CANCER
but it 1st,

booster which increases the peak Launched at an elevation of 4,000 2nd, Nike booster; 3rd, another
altitude to 330,000 feet. feet (White Sands), the figures Nike booster; 4th, a Yardbird
The other single-stage solid- are 245,000 feet and 197,000 rocket; 5, scaled-down Sergeant
fuel sounding rocket, the ASP, feet, respectively. rocket.
is not only an example of a suc- But the figures are really im- It should be mentioned that in
cessful development, but also one pressiveif the launch takes place some cases the stages do not all
of Twentieth Century speed. The 75,000 feet up, say from a Sky- fireon the upward leg of the tra-
Navy’s Bureau of Ships wanted hook balloon. Then the 25-pound jectory. Often the arrangement
such a rocket and sent the con- payload will be carried to 635,- is that the top two stages do not
tract Cooper Development
to 000 feet and the 50-pound pay- fire until the rocket begins to re-
Corporation on July 8, 1955. load to 490,000 feet. It can be enter the atmosphere. The pur-

.100 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 101

END to the cabinet
trek
dwarfed Hillary’s
up Everest, but
I reached it
and found
after a couple of years,
been able to
less
zar’s
make
CCC
fall out of bed, much
the trip from Belshaz-
to the boat; and how

AS A HERO the microswitch on the floor that

activated the thing, and then I
was fading out again . . .
had
shut?
I managed
to dog that port
In an emergency a man
was capable of great exertions.
But running on a broken femur,
By KEITH LAUMER CAME out of it clear-headed handling heavy levers with char-
Illustrated by SCHELLING 1 but weak. My right leg was red fingers and thinking with a
numb, but reasonably comfort- cracked head were overdoing it.
Granthan's mission was the most
able, clamped tight in a walking Still, I was here —
and it was
vital of the war. It would mean brace. I put up a hand and felt time to get a call through to TSA

instant victory — but for whom? a shaved skull, with sutures. It

I usedlifeboats. There were three
TN the dream was swimming
I them. I tried to sit up. It wasn’t
^ in a river of white fire and
the dream went on and on. And
—
then I was awake and the fire
was still there, fiercely burning
at me.
I tried to move to get away
from the flames, and then the
real pain hit me. I tried to go
back to sleep and the relative
comfort of the river of fire, but it
was no go. For better or worse,
I was alive and conscious.
I opened my eyes and took a
look around. I was on the floor
next to an unpadded acceleration
—
couch the kind the Terrestrial
Space Arm installs in seldom-
more couches, but no one in
easy but, by applying a lot more
will-power than should be re-
quired of a sick man, I made
it. I took a look at my left
arm. Baked. The hand was only
medium rare, but the forearm
was black, with deep red showing
at the bottom of the cracks where
the crisped upper layers had
burst . . . It was dogged shut. I could see
There was a first-aid cabinet
across the compartment from me.
I tried my right leg, felt broken
bone-ends grate with a sensation
that transcended pain. I heaved
with the other leg, scrabbled
with the charred arm. The crawl
must have been a fracture. The
left arm —
well, it was still there,
wrapped to the shoulder and
held out stiffly by a power truss
that would keep the scar tissue
from pulling up and crippling me.
The steady pressure as the truss
contracted wasn’t anything to do
a sense-tape on for replaying at
leisure moments, but at least the
cabinet hadn’t amputated. I the blur of the screen I could see
wasn’t complaining.
As far as I knew, I was the first
recorded survivor of contact with
the Gool — if I survived.
I was still a long way from
home, and I hadn’t yet checked
on the condition of the lifeboat.
I glanced toward the entry port.
black marks where my burned
hand had been at work.
I fumbled my way into a
couch and tried to think. In my
condition — with a broken leg
and third-degree burns, plus a
fractured skull —
I shouldn’t have
headquarters.
I flipped the switch and gave
the emergency call-letters Col.
Ausar Kayle of Aerospace Intel-
ligence had assigned to me a few
weeks before. It was almost five
minutes before the “acknowl-
edge” came through from the
Ganymede relay station, another
ten minutes before Kayle’s face
swam into view. Even through
the haggard look.
“Granthan!” he burst out.
“Where are the others? What
happened out there?” I turned
him down to a mutter.
“Hold on,” I said. “I’ll tell you.
Recorders going?” I didn’t wait
for an answer —not with a
fifteen-minute transmission lag. I
plowed on:
“Belshazzar was sabotaged. So
—
was Gilgamesh I think. I got
but the
out. I lost a little skin,
aid cabinet has the case in hand.
Tell the Med people the drinks
are on me.”

.102 G AL'.XY END AS A HERO 103

 I finished talking and flopped let you land on Earth. I can’t ac-

back, waiting for Kayle’s reply. cept the risk.”

On the screen, his flickering “What do I do now?” I

image gazed back impatiently, stormed. “Go into orbit and eat
looking as hostile as a swing-shift pills and hope you think of some-

ward would be half an

nurse. It thing? I need a doctor!”
hour before would get his reac-
I Presently Kayle replied.
tion to my dozed off
report. I — “Yes,” he said. “You’ll have to
and awoke with a start. Kayle enter a parking orbit. Perhaps
was talking. there will be developments soon
“
—
your report. I won’t mince which will make it possible to .

He
.

words. They’re wondering at ah . . . restudy the situation.”

your role in the disaster. How didn’t meet my eye. I knew what
does it happen that you alone he was thinking. He’d spare me
survived?” the mental anguish of knowing
“How the hell do I know?” I what was coming. I couldn’t real-
yelled —
or croaked. But Kayle’s ly blame him; he was doing what
voice was droning on: he thought was the right thing.
“. you Psychodynamics peo- And I’d have to go along and pre-
—
. .

ple have been telling me the Gool tend right up until the war-
may have some kind of long- —
heads struck that I didn’t know
range telehypnotic ability that I’d been condemned to death.
might make it possible for them
to subvert a loyal man without II
his knowledge. You’ve told me
yourself that you blacked out T TRIED to gather my wits and
during the attack and came to — think my way through the sit-

on the lifeboat, with no recollec- uation. Iwas alone and injured,

tion of how you got there. aboard a lifeboat that would be
“This is war, Granthan. War the focus of a converging flight

against a vicious enemy who of missiles as soon as I ap-

warning and with-
strike without
out mercy. You were sent out to
investigate the possibility of
what’s that term you use?
hyper-cortical invasion. ou
know better than most the risk
I’d be running if you were al-
lowed to pass the patrol line.
proached within battery range of
Earth. I had gotten clear of the
— Gool, but I wouldn’t survive my
— next meeting with my own kind.
Y They couldn’t take the chance
that I was acting under Gool
orders.
I wasn’t, of course. Iwas still

“I’m sorry, Granthan. I can’t the same Peter Granthan, psy-

104 GALAXY

aT.
chodynamicist, who had started sub-conceptualization. I penetra- purpose in a hundred training drew, erasing the scars of its pas-
out with Dayan’s fleet six weeks ted deeper, broke through into sessions had fought against the sage, to leave me unaware of its
earlier. The thoughts I was hav- the vividly hallucinatory third intruding stimuli —
then yielded —
tampering at a conscious level.
ing weren’t brilliant, but they level, where images of mirror- under the relentless thrust of the Watching the Gool mind, I
were mine, all mine . . . bright immediacy clamored for alien probe.watched as the
I learned.
But how could I be sure of attention. And deeper . . . Gool operator took over the mo- The insinuating probe a —
that? tor centers, caused me to crawl concept regarding which psycho-
Maybe was something in HE immense orderly through the choking smoke of the dynamicists had theorized -was —
there
Kayle’s suspicion. If the Gool T sion of the basic memory
confu-
devastated control compartment no more than a pattern in empti-
were as skillful as we thought, level lay before me. Abstracted toward the escape hatch. Fire ness . . .

they would have left no overt in- from aloof and observant, the leaped up, blocking the way. I But a pattern which I could
dications of their tampering — it,

monitoring personality-fraction went on, felt ghostly flames duplicate, now that I had seen
not at a conscious level. scanned the pattern, searching whipping at me —
and then the what had been done to me.
But this was where psychody- the polydimensional continuum hatch was open and I pulled my- Hesitantly, I felt for the im-
namics training came in. I had for evidence of an alien intrusion. self through, forcing the broken material fabric of the continuum,
been reacting like any scared And found it. leg. My blackened hand fumbled warping and manipulating it,
casualty, aching to get home and As the eye instantaneously de- at the locking wheel. Then the copying the Gool probe. Like
lick his wounds. But I wasn’t just tects a flicker of motion amid an blast as the lifeboat leaped clear planes of paper-thin crystal, the
any casualty. I had been trained infinity of static detail, so my of the disintegrating dreadnought polyfinite aspects of reality
in the subtleties of the mind — inner eye perceived the subtle — and the world-ending impact shifted into focus, aligning them-
and I had been prepared for just traces of the probing Gool mind, as I fell. selves.
such an attack. like a whispered touch deftly re- At a level far below the con- Abruptly, a channel lay open.
Now was the time to make use arranging my buried motivations. scious, the embattled pseudo- As easily as I would stretch out
of that training. It had given me I focused selectively, tuned to personality lashed out again — my hand to pluck a moth from a
one resource. I could unlock the the recorded gestalt. fighting the invader. night-flower, I reached across the
memories of my subconscious — “It is a contact, Effulgent “Almost eluded me then,
it unimaginable void —
and sensed
and see again what had hap- One!’' Effulgent Lord. Link with this a pit blacker than the bottom
pened. “Softly, now! Nurture the lowly one!” floor of hell, and a glistening dark
I lay back, cleared my mind of spark well. It but trembles at the “Impossible! Do you forget all shape.
extraneous thoughts, and con- threshold . . my teachings? Cling, though you There was a soundless shriek.
centrated on the trigger word “It is elusive, Master! It wrig- expend the last filament of your “Effulgence! It reached out —
that would key an auto-hypnotic gles like a gorm-worm in the eat- life-force!” touched me!”
sequence . . . ing trough!” Free from all distraction, at a
Sense impressions faded. I was A part of my mind watched as level where comprehension and ¥ TSING the technique I had
alone in the nebulous emptiness the memory unrelled. I listened retention are instantaneous and grasped from the Gool itself,
of a first-level trance.keyed a I to the voices — yet not voices, total, mymonitoring basic per- I struck, stifling the outcry, in-
second word, slipped below the merely the shape of concepts, in- sonality fraction followed the vaded the fetid blackness and
misty surface into a dreamworld describably intricate. I saw how skillful Gool mind as it engraved grappled the obscene gelatinous
of vague phantasmagoric figures the decoy pseudo-personality its commands deep in my sub- immensity of the Gool spy as it
milling in their limbo of which I had concretized for the conscious. Then the touch with- spasmed in a frenzy of xenopho-

106 GALAXY END AS A HERO 107

bia —
a ton of liver writhing at once-great race —
at a single feed-
quence; and, like a bomb-burst,
its meaning exploded in my
sonality,
ego
leaving my volitional
talked about sublim-
free. I
the bottom of a dark well. ing trough. They would spread
I clamped down control. The out across a galaxy and be- — mind.
From the vile nest deep under
inal hypnotics and the resilience
quotient of the ego-complex.
Gool mind folded in on itself, yond.
the dark surface of the Gool I might have saved my breath.
gibbering. Not pausing to rest, I But not if I could help it.
world in its lonely trans-Plutoni- “I don’t understand that psy-
followed up, probed along my The Gool had evolved a plan

channel of contact, tracing pat- — but they’d had a stroke of bad an orbit, I had plucked the ulti-
mate secret of their kind.
chodynamics jargon, Granthan,”
he snapped. “It smacks of mys-
terns, scanning the flaccid Gool. luck.
Matter across space. ticism.But I understand what
mind .
In the past, they had managed
the Gool have done to you well
. .

I saw a world of yellow seas to control a man here and there,

lapping at endless shores of mud.
There was a fuming pit, where
liquid sulphur bubbled up from
some inner source, filling an im-
mense natural basin. The Gool
its rim, feeding, each
clustered at
monstrous shape heaving against
its neighbors for a more favor-
able position.
66'V7’OU’VE got to listen to me, enough. I’m sorry.”
among the fleets, far from home,
Kayle,” I shouted. “I I leaned back and chewed the
but only at a superficial level.
know you think I’m a Gool robot. inside pf my lip and thought un-
Enough, perhaps, to wreck a ship,
But what I have is too big to let kind thoughts about Colonel
but not the complete control
you blow it up without a fight. Ausar Kayle. Then I settled
needed to send a man back to
Matter transmission! You know down to solve the problem at
Earth under Gool compulsion, to
what that can mean to us. The hand.
carry out complex sabotage.
concept is too complex to try to Ikeyed the chart file, flashed
Then they had found me,
describe in words. You’ll have to pages from the standard index on
alone, a sole survivor, free from
mind- take my word for it. I can build the reference screen, checking
-

I probed farther, saw the great the clutter of the other

cables of living nervous tissue fields. It had been
that linked each eating organ tune to pick a psychodynamicist.
Instead of gaining a patient
with the brain-mass far under-
ground. I traced the passages slave, they had opened the fort-
through which tendrils ran out to ress door to an unseen spy. Now
was
immense caverns where smaller that I there,
creatures labored over strange what I could steal.
A couldn’t
devices. These, my host’s mem- timeless time
their misfor-
it, though, using standard com- radar coverages, beacon ranges,
ponents, plus an infinite-area an- monitor stations, controller fields.
tenna and a moebius-wound coil It looked as though a radar-neg-
— and a few other things. . . ative boat the size of mine might
I harangued Kayle for a while, possibly get through the de-
would see and then sweated out his answer. fensive net with a daring pilot,
I
I was getting close now. If he and as a condemned spy, I could
see the beauty of my afford to be daring.
passed. I

among patterns of proposal, my screens would start And I had a few ideas.
ory told me, were the young of wandered
white sound, to register the radiation of war-
the Gool. Here they built the white light and
plumbed the deepest recesses of heads any time now. Ill
fleets that would transport the
spawn to the new worlds the hidden Gool thoughts, fared Kayle came back —
and his
Prime Overlord had discovered, along strange ways examining
answer boiled down to “no.” nPHE proximity
shrilling of the

the shapes and colors of the con-

I tried to reason with him. I alarm blasted through the
worlds where food was free for
cepts of an alien mind.
reminded him how I had readied silence.For a wild moment I
the taking. Not sulphur alone,
myself for the trip with sessions thought Kayle had beaten me to
but potassium, calcium, iron and I paused at last, scanning a

all the metals —

riches beyond multi-ordinal structure of pattern
on the encephaloscope, setting up
the cross-networks of conditioned
the punch; then I realized it was
the routine DEW line patrol con-
belief endless profusion. No
in within pattern; the diagrammed
defensive responses, the shunt tact.
longer would the Gool tribe clus- circuits of a strange machine.
ter —
those who remained of a I followed through its logic-se-
circuits to the decoy pseudo-per- “Z four-oh-two, I am reading

108 GALAXY END AS A HERO 109

your IFF. Decelerate at 1.8 gee gency course change to standard I hauled at the release lever, could take the chance you were
preparatory to picking up ap- hyperbolic code ninety-eight. Do felt a longmoment of giddy dis- right.”

proach orbit .” . . not attempt re-entry. Repeat: do orientation as the escape capsule A different face appeared on
The screen went on droning not attempt re-entry!” separated from the sinking life- the screen.
out instructions. I fed them into It hadn’t taken Kayle long to boat deep under
the surface. “Mr. Granthan, I am General
the autopilot, at the same time see that I’d gotten past the outer Then my escape capsule was Titus. On behalf of your country,
running over my approach plan. line of defense. A few more min- bobbing on the water. and in the name of the President
The was moving in closer. utes’ grace would have helped. I would have to risk calling — who has been apprised of this
I licked
scout
dry lips. It was time to I’d play it dumb, and hope for a Kayle now —
but by voluntarily tragic situation — it is my priv-

try. little luck. giving my position away, I should ilege to inform you that you will
my eyes, reached out “Planetary, Z
four-oh-two here. convince him I was still on our be awardedthe Congressional
—
I closed
as the Gool mind had reached Say, I’m afraid I missed part of side —
and I was badly in need Medal of Honor —
posthumous-
out to me — and felt the touch of that, fellows. I’m a little banged of a pick-up. I flipped the sending ly — for your heroic effort. Al-

a Signals Officer’s mind, forty up —I guess I switched frequen- key. though you failed, and have in
thousand miles distant, aboard cies on you. What was that after “This is z four-oh-two,” I said. fact been forced, against your
up channel forty-three’ .?” “I have an urgent report for Col- will, to carry out the schemes of
the patrol vessel. There was a ‘pick . .

brief flurry of struggle; then I “Four-oh-two, sheer off there! onel Kayle of Aerospace Intelli- the inhuman enemy, this in no
dictated my instructions. The You’re not cleared for re-entry!” gence.” way detracts from your gallant
Officer punched keys, “Hey, you birds are mixed up,” Kayle’s face appeared. “Don’t attempt. Mr. Granthan, I salute
Signals
I protested. “I’m cleared all the fight it, Granthan,” he croaked. you.”
spoke into his microphone:
“As you were, Z four-oh-two. way. I checked in with DEW “You penetrated the planetary
— The general’s arm went up in

Continue on present course. At It was time to disappear. I defenses —

God knows how. I a rigid gesture.

Oh-nineteen seconds, pick up blanked offtransmission, hit

all “Later,” snapped.
I “How “Stow you pompous idiot!”
that,

planetary for re-entry and let- the controls, following my eva- about calling off your dogs now? I barked. “I’m no spy!”
down.” sive pattern. And again I reached And send somebody out here to Kayle was back, blanking out
I blanked out the man’s recol- out — pick me up, before I add sea- the startled face of the general.
A radar man at a site in the sickness to my other complaints.” “Goodbye, Granthan. Try to
lection of what had happened,
caught his belated puzzlement as Pacific, fifteen thousand miles “We have you pinpointed,” understand . .
.”

I broke contact. But I was clear away, rose from his chair, crossed Kayle cut in. “It’s no use fighting I flipped the switch, sat grip-

DEW
line now, rapidly the darkened room and threw a it, Granthan.” ping the couch, my stomach ris-
of the
switch. The radar screens blanked ing with each heave of the float-
approaching atmosphere.
“Z four-oh-two,” the speaker off . . .
T felt cold sweat pop out on my ing escape capsule. I had per-

crackled. “This is planetary con- For an hour I rode the long or- forehead. “You’ve got to haps five minutes. The missiles
trol. I am picking you up on bit down, fending off attack after listen,Kayle,” I shouted. “I sup- would be from Canaveral.
attack. Then was clear, skim- pose you’ve got missiles on the I closed my eyes, forced my-
channel forty-three, for re-entry I

and let-down.” ming the surface of the ocean a way already. Call them back! I self to relax, reached out . . .

There was a long pause. Then: few miles southeast of Key West. have information that can win I sensed the distant shore, the

“Z four-oh-two, countermand The boat hit hard. I felt the floor the war — hot buzz of human minds at work
DEW Line clearance! Repeat, rise up, over, buffeting me “I’m sorry, Granthan,” Kayle in the cities. I followed the coast-

clearance countermanded! Emer- against the restraining harness. said. “It’s too late — even if I line, found the Missile Base,

110
GALAXY END AS A HERO 111
flicked through the cluster of The shadowed bulk of a box It was too much trouble. I re- was in town for groceries. He’d
minds. car loomed up, its open door a laxed and let it all slide down never believe he’d seen me.
“ — missile on course; do right, blacker square. I leaned against into darkness. Now
start getting
I’d had my sleep.
ready for the next
I had to
baby. That’s it, right in the slot.” the sill, breathing hard, then
I fingered through the my way reached inside for a grip with
PT'HE car swayed, click-clack, act of the farce.

man’s mind and found the con- my good hand. click-clack. I opened my I pressed the release on the
trol centers. He turned stiffly Gravel scrunched nearby. The eyes, saw yellow sunlight in a power truss, gingerly unclamped

from the plotting board, tottered beam of a flashlight lanced out, bar across the litter on the floor. it, then rigged a sling from a strip
to a panel to slam his hand slipped along the weathered car, The power truss creaked, pulling of shirt tail. I tied the arm to my
against the destruct button. caught me. There was a startled at my arm. My
broken leg was side as inconspicuously as pos-
Men fellon him, dragged him exclamation. I ducked back, throbbing its indignation at the sible. I didn’t disturb the band-

back. “ fool, why did you blow closed my eyes, felt out for his treatment it had received walk- — ages.

mind. There was a confused mur- ing brace and all and the — I needed new clothes or at —
it?”
I dropped the contact, found mur of thought, a random intru- burned arm was yelling aloud for least different ones and some- —
another, who leaped to the panel, sion of impressions from the city more of that nice dope that had thing to cover my shaved skull. I
detonated the remainder of the all around. It was hard, too hard.
been keeping it from realizing couldn’t stay hidden forever. The
flight of six missiles. Then I with- I had to sleep — how bad it was. All things con- yard cop had recognized me at a

drew. I would have a few min- Iheard the snick of a revolver sidered, I felt like a badly em- glance.
utes’ stay of execution now. being cocked, and dropped flat balmed mummy except that I — I lay back,
waiting for the
I was ten miles from shore. as a gout of flame stabbed toward was hungry. I had been a fool not train to slow for a town. I wasn’t

The capsule had its own power me, the imperative Bam! echoing to fill my pockets when I left the —
unduly worried -at the moment.
plant. I started it up, switched between the cars. I caught the escape capsule in the shallows off The watchman probably hadn’t
on the external viewer. I saw clear thought: Key Largo, but things had been convinced anyone he’d actually
dark sea, the glint of star-light on “God-awful looking, shaved happening too fast. seen me. Maybe he hadn’t been
the choppy surface, in the dis- head, arm stuck out; him all I had barely made it to the too sure himself.
tance a glow on the horizon that right—” fishing boat, whose owner I had The click-clack slowed and the
would be Key West. I plugged I reached out to his mind and
coerced into rendezvousing with train shuddered to a stop. I crept
the course into the pilot, then struck at random. The light fell, me before shells started dropping to the door, peered through the
leaned back and felt outward went out, and I heard the uncon- around us. If the gunners on the crack.There were sunny fields, a
with my mind for the next at- scious body slam to the ground cruiser ten miles away had had few low buildings in the distance,
tacker. like a poled steer. any luck, they would have fin- the corner of a platform. I closed
It was easy — could only ished me —
and the hapless fish- my eyes and let my awareness
IV stay awake.
if I
erman —
right then. We rode out stretch out.
I gritted my teeth, pulled my- a couple of near misses, before I —lousy
“ job. What’s the use?
TT was dark in the trainyard. I selfinto the car, crawled to a put the cruiser’s gunnery crew Little witch in the lunch room . . .

moved alongthe tracks in a dark corner behind a crate and off the air. up in the hills, squirrel hunting,

stumbling walk. Just a few more slumped down. I tried to evoke At a fishing camp on the beach, bottle of whiskey .”

—
. .

minutes, I was telling myself. a personality fraction to set as a I found a car with driver. He I settled into control gently,

A few more minutes and you can guard, a part of my mind to stay dropped me at the railyard, and trying not to alarm the man. I
lie down . . . rest . . . awake and warn me of danger. drove off under the impression he saw through his eyes the dusty

112 GALAXY END AS A HERO 113

 on the tracks, ped them on the counter and that was tomorrow. That could tions with others, instinctively
box car, the rust
while the girl filled a wait. reached out toward them.
the listless weeds growing among waited
cinders, and the weathered glass. He picked it up and started An hour later he dropped me
boards of the platform. I turned out.
TT was a little before dawn on a street corner in a shabby
“Hey! Where you goin’ with when Icrawled out of the car marketing district of the city and
him, and saw the dingy glass of
the telegraph window, a sagging my glass?” at a siding in the swampy coun- drove off. I hoped he made out
The trainman crossed the plat- try a few miles out of New Or- all right with the dark-haired girl.
screen door with a chipped enam-
eled cola sign. form, headed for the boxcar. He leans. I wasn’t feeling good, but I spotted a used-clothing store
man to the door, slid the loose door back a few I had a stake in staying on my and headed for it.
I walked the
inches against the slack latch, feet. I still had a few miles in me. Twenty minutes later I was
and through Behind a lino-
it.

leum-topped counter, a coarse- pushed the bag inside, placed the I had my supplies a few candy— back on the sidewalk, dressed in

skinned teen-age girl with heavy glass water beside it, then
of bars and some cigarettes — stuf- a pinkish-gray suit that had
pulled off his grimy railroader’s fed in the pockets of the tattered been cut a long time ago by a
breasts and wet patches under
her arms looked up without in- cap and pushed it through issue coverall. Otherwise, I was —
Latin tailor maybe to settle a
the opening. He turned. The girl unencumbered. Unless you want- grudge. The shirt that went with
terest as the door banged.
My host went on to the coun- watched from the platform. A ed to count the walking brace on it was an unsuccessful violet. The
ter, gestured toward the waxed- rattle passed down the line and my right leg and the sling bind- black string tie lent a dubious
paper-wrapped sandwiches un- the train started up with a lurch. ing my
arm. air of distinction. I’d swapped
The man walked back toward I picked my way across mushy the railroader’s cap for a tar-
der a glass cover. “I’ll take ’em
the girl. I heard him say: “Friend ground to a pot-holed black-top nished beret. The man who had
all. And candy bars, and ciga-

rettes. And give me a big glass of o’ mine in there — just passin road, started limping toward a supplied the outfit was still
through.” few car lights visible half a mile asleep. I figured I’d done him a
water.”
and look I was discovering that it wasn’t away. It was already hot. The favor by taking it. I couldn’t hope
“Better git out there
after yer train,” the girl said necessary to hold tight control swamp air was like warmed-over to pass for a fisherman I —
“When’d you git so all- over every move of a subject. subway fumes. Through the wasn’t the type. Maybe I’d get
carelessly.
Once given the impulse to act, he drugs, could feel my pulse
I by as a coffee-house derelict.
fired hungry all of a sudden?”
would rationalize his behavior, throbbing in my various wounds. I walked past fly-covered fish
“Put it in a bag. Quick.”
“Look who’s getting bossy
— fill in the details
—
and never I reached out and touched the stalls, racks of faded garments,

know that the original idea driver’s mind; he was thinking grimy vegetables in bins, enough
My host rounded the counter,
hadn’t been his own. about shrimps, a fish-hook wound paint-flaked wrought iron to cage
picked up a used paper bag, be-
I drank the water ate a on his left thumb and a girl with a herd of brontosauri, and
gan stuffing food in it. The girl
first,

stared at him, then pushed him
back. “You git back around that
counter!”
She filled the bag, took a pen-
sandwich, then lit a cigarette and
lay back. So far so good. The
crates in the car were marked
“U. S. Naval Aerospace Station,
black hair. “Want a lift?” he fetched up at a cab stand. I
called. picked a fat driver with a wart.
thanked him and got in. He
I “How much to the Delta Na-
gave me a glance and I pinched tional Laboratories?”

cil from behind her ear. Bayou Le Cochon”. With any off budding twinge of curi-
his He rolled an eye toward me,
“That’ll be one eighty-five. luck I’d reach New Orleans in osity. It was almost an effort now shifted his toothpick.

Cash.” another twelve hours. The first not to follow his thoughts. It was “What ya wanna go out there
step of my plan included a raid as though my mind, having Nothing out there.”
My host took two dog-eared
learned the trick of communica-
for?

bills from his shirt pocket, drop- on the Delta National Labs; but “I’m a tourist,” I said. “They

114
GALAXY END AS A HERO 115
told me before I left home not to “Thank YOU.” He hesitated. driver’s mind. The car swerved, are all alike. Which way is the
miss it.” “Maybe I oughta stick around. braked to a halt. A portly man watchamacallit — equipment
He grunted, reached back and You know.” in the back seat leaned forward, lab?”
opened the door. I got in. He “I’ll be all right.” frowning. I touched him. He re- “Right along there.” He point-
flipped his flag down, started up hope said. “A man The
with a clash of gears and pulled
“I
like you
so,” "he
— you and me — ” he
laxed. driver leaned across
and opened the door. I went
ed. I didn’t bother to
It
thank him.
wouldn’t have been in charac-
out without looking. winked. “After all, we ain’t both around and got in. The guard ter.
“How far is it?” I asked him. wearing berets fer nothing.” was watching, open-mouthed. A man with a brush mus-
thin
“It ain’t far. Mile, mile and a “True,” I said. “Consider your I gave him a two-finger salute, tache eyed me sharply as I
quarter.” tip doubled. Now drive away and the car pulled through the pushed through the door. I
“Pretty big place, I guess.” into the sunrise and forget you gate. looked at him, nodding absently.
He didn’t answer. ever saw me.” “Stop in front of the electron- “Carry on with your work,” I
We went through a warehous- ics section,” I said. The car pulled said. “The audit will be carried
ing district, swung left along the TTE got into the car, beaming, up. I got out, went up the steps out in such a way as to disturb
waterfront, bumped over railroad and turned and sized
left. I and pushed through the double you as little as possible. Just
tracks, and pulled up at a nine- up the Delta Labs. glass doors. The car sat for a mo- show me your voucher file, if you
foot cyclone fence with a locked There was nothing fancy ment, then moved slowly off. The please.”
gate. about the place; it consisted of passenger would be wondering He sighed and waved toward a
“A buck ten,” my driver said. low brick and steel buildings, why the driver had stopped but — filing cabinet. I went to it and
I looked out at the fence, a mud, a fence and a guard who the driver wouldn’t remember. pulled a drawer open, glancing
barren field, a distant group of was looking at me. I was inside the building now; about the room. Full shelves
low buildings. “What’s this?” I sauntered over. “I’m from that was a start. I didn’t like rob- were visible through an inner
“This is the place you ast for. Iowa City,” I said. “Now, the rest bery broad daylight, but it
in door.
That’ll be a buck -ten, mister.” of the group didn’t come — said was a lot easier this way. I wasn’t Twenty minutes later I left
I touched his mind, planted a they’d rather rest one day. But I equal to climbing any walls or the building, carrying a sheet
couple of false impressions and like to see it all. After all, I breaking down any locked doors
withdrew. He blinked, then paid
— —not until I’d had a transfusion,
metal carton containing the elec-
tronic components I needed to
started up, drove around the “Justa minute,” the guard a skin graft and about three build a matter transmitter ex- —
field,pulled up at an open gate said,holding up a palm. “You months’ vacation on a warm cept for the parts I’d have to fab-
with a blue-uniformed guard. He must be lost, fella. This here beach somewhere. ricate myself from raw materials.
looked back at me. ain’t no tourist attraction. You A man in a white smock The load was heavy too heavy —
“You want I should drive in, can’t come in here.” emerged from a door. He started for me to carry very far. I parked
sir?” “This the cameo works?”
is past me, spun it at the door and waited until a

“I’ll get out here.” I said anxiously. “I’m here about the garbage,” pick-up truck came along.
He jumped out, opened my He shook his head. “Too bad I said. “Damn fools will put the It pulled over. The driver
me out with a hand
door, helped you your cab go. It’s an hour
let cans in with the edible. Are you climbed out and came up the
under my good elbow. “I’ll get yet till the bus comes.” the one called?” walk to me. “Are you uh ?” — . . .

your change, sir,” he said, reach- A dun-painted staff car came “How’s that?” He scratched his head.
ing for his hip. into view, slowed and swung “I ain’t got all the morning!” “Right.” I waved at my loot.
“Keep it.” wide to turn in. I fingered the I shrilled. “You scientist fellers “Put it in the back.” He obliged.

116 GALAXY END AS A HERO 117

 The one I found didn’t inspire “Have you got . . . something to take in an emergency. Now
Together we rolled toward the
gate. The guard held up
his hand, much confidence — you could
—
that . . get out.”

hardly see it for the weeds

He caught me before I hit the “Call me a cab, Doc.”
came forward to check the truck. me into a chair. Then he
but I didn’t want to make a big
floor, got
He looked surprised when he had that Scotch he’d been want- T listened while he called, then
splash. I had to have an assist
saw me. ing, gave me a shot as an after- and watched
driver to make it to the
-*• cigarette
my lit a
“Just who are you, fella?” he from
door. He got me inside, thought, and looked at me nar- through curtains. The doc
the
front
said.
I didn’t liketampering with parked my box beside me and rowly. stood worrying his upper
by,
“I suppose you fell out of that plate and eyeing me. So far I
people any more than I had to. went off to finish his rounds, un-
der the impression that it had
same bed and broke your leg,” he hadn’t had to tinker with his
It was a lot like stealing from a
been a dull morning. said. mind, but it would be a good
blind man: easy, But nothing
taT'

The doctor was a seedy, sev- “Right. Hell of a dangerous idea to check. I felt my way
feel proud of. I gave him
a light
touch — just the suggestion that entyish G.P. with a gross tremor
bed.”
be right back.” He turned
delicately.
— oh God, why did long
of the hands that a good belt
of “I’ll I ..
what I would say would be
.
full
Scotch would have helped. He Mary ever knew
to the door. “Don’t go away. I’ll time ago . . . . . .

of deep meaning.
“You know — the regular looked at me as though I’d in- just . . . get some gauze.”
“Better stay here, Doc. There’s
go to Arizona, start again, too
old ... I saw the nest of fears
Wednesday shipment,” I said terrupted something that was
more fun or paid better plenty of gauze right on that that gnawed at him, the frustra-
darkly. “Keep it quiet. We’re all either
table.” tion and the faint flicker of hope
relying on you.” than anything I was likely to
come up with. “See here — but not quite dead. I touched
“Sure thing,” he said, stepping
need my dressing changed, “Skip it, doc. I know all about his mind, wiped away scars
back. We gunned through the
. . .
“I
him said. “And maybe a you.” “Here’s your- car,” he said. He
g3te. I glanced back to see Doc,” I
“What?” opened the door, looking at me.
looking after the truck, thinking shot to keep me going.”
“I said all about you.” I started past him.
about the Wednesday shipment “I’m not a dope peddler,” he
snapped. “You’ve got the wrong
He set to work then; a guilty “Are you sure you’re all right?”
on a Friday. He decided it was conscience is a tough argument
head and he said.
logical, nodded
got the whole thing.
his for- place.”
“Just a little medication — to answer. “Sure, Pop. And don’t worry.

whatever’s usual. It’s a burn. He plastered my arm with Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Who told you to come here?”
something and rewrapped it, The driver put my boxes on
V then looked the leg over and him
looked at him meaningfully. the back seat. I got in beside
I
“The word gets around.” made a couple of adjustments and told him to take me to a
’D been riding high for a couple
to the brace. He clucked over the men’s clothing store. He waited
I of hours, enjoying the success He glared at me, gnashed his
from the plates, then gestured toward a
stitches in my scalp, dabbed while changed my hand-me-
I
of the tricks I’d stolen something on them that hurt like
black-varnished door. “Go right downs an off-the-hook suit,
for
Gool. Now I suddenly felt like
hell, then shoved an old-fash- new and underwear and a
shirt
something the student morti- in there.”
on. I He gaped at my arm when ioned stickpin needle into my replacement beret. It was the
cians had been practicing good arm. only kind of hat that didn’t hurt.
guided my driver through a sec- the bandages were off. I took a
quick glance and wished I hadn’t.
“That’s all I can do for you,” My issue shoes were still good,
ond-rate residential section, look-
“How did you do this?” he said. He handed me a bottle but I traded them in on a new
ing for an M.D. shingle on a
“Smoking in bed,” I said. of pills. “Here are some tablets pair, added a light raincoat, and
front lawn.

GALAXY END AS A HERO 119

118
 ”

for heavyweight with a high polish assemble my matter transmitter “Don’t know how I came to
threw in a sturdy suitcase
and a low silhouette. and drop some little item right in run out of gas, Mr. Brown,” he
good measure. The clerk
said
“We’re going Denver,” I
to front of the assembled big shots. said apologetically. “We just
something about money and I
told the driver. “We’ll make one They’d have to admit I had passed a station but was closed.
dropped an idea into His mind,
it

paused long enough to add a

stop tomorrow —
I have a little something. And this time they’d I guess I’ll just have to hike back
shopping to do. I figure about have to start considering the pos- into town. I sure am sorry; I
memory of a fabulous night with
He hardly noticed me twenty hours. Take a break sibility that I wasn’t working for never did that before.”
a redhead.
every hundred miles, and hold it the enemy. I told him it was okay, watched
leaving.
not to feel like a shop- under seventy.” had been a smooth trip, and
It as he strode off into the pre-
I tried
lifter. After all, it’s not every He nodded. I got in the back I’d caught up on my sleep. Now dawn gloom, then got into the

gets a chance to swap and sank down in the smell of it was five A.M. and we were into front seat and started up. The
day a man
for dreams. expensive upholstery. the foothills, half an hour out of gate of the Reservation surround-
drygoods pick up
“I’ll cross town and Denver. I ran over my lines, ing the Record Center was only
In the cab, I transferred my —
U.S. 84 at planning the trickiest part of the a mile away now. I drove slowly,
belongings to the new suitcase,
then told the driver to pull up
“I leave the details to you,”
into the
job ahead —
the initial approach. feeling ahead for opposition.
hotel. I said. He pulled out I’d listened to a couple of news There didn’t seem to be any.
at an anonymous-looking settled
traffic and I got the pillow broadcasts. The FBI was Things were quiet as a poker
four-star admiral with frayed
still
A
my under me and closed my eyes. promising an arrest within hours. player with a pat hand. My
cuffs helped me inside with
I’d need all the rest I could
get I learned that I was lying up, timing was good.
luggage. The hackie headed for
on this trip. I’d heard that com- or maybe dead, in the vicinity of
the bay to get rid of the box un-
pared with the Denver Records Key West, and that the situation T stopped in front of the gate,
der the impression I was a heavy
Center, Fort Knox was a cinch. was under control. That was fine under a floodlight and the
tipper.
I’d find out for sure when I
got with me. Nobody would expect watchful eye of an M.P. with a
I had a meal in my
room, a
hot bath, and treated myself to
there. me to pop up in Denver, still shiny black tommygun held at
a three hour nap. I woke up feel-
operating under my own power the ready. He didn’t seem sur-
HE plan I had in mind wasn’t — and wearing a new prised to see me. I rolled down
ing as though those student em-
balmers might graduate after all.
T the best I could have con- that.
suit at
the window as he came over to
I thumbed through the
phone cocted under more leisurely cir- The Records Center was north the car.
book and dialed a number. cumstances. But with every cop of the city, dug into mountain- “I have an appointment inside,
want a Cadillac or Lincoln,” in the country under orders to side. steered my chauffeur
I Corporal,” I said. I touched his
“I
I said. “A new one —
not the one shoot me on sight, I had to move around the downtown section, mind. “The password is ‘hot-
you rent for funerals —
and a fast. My scheme had the virtue
was
out a street lined with dark ham- point’.”
of unlikeliness. Once I safe burger joints and unlit gas sta- He nodded, stepped back, and
driver who won’t mind missing
a couple nights’ sleep. And in the Central Vault supposed— tions to where a side road motioned me in. I hesitated. This
put a bed pillow and a blanket to be the only H-bomb-proof branched off. We
pulled up. was almost too easy. I reached
the car.” structure ever built I’d put — From here on, things might get out again . . .
in
I went down to the
coffee through a phone call to the
watch a
—
dangerous if I was wrong about ". middle of the night
. . . . .

them to how easy it was all going to be. I

room then for a light meal. I had outside, telling password nice car . . . . . . 1

just finished a cigarette when

certain spot; say the big desk in brushed across the driver’s mind. wish . .
.”

the car arrived — a dark blue the President’s office. Then I’d He set the brake and got out. I pulled through the gate and

120
GALAXY END AS A HERO 121
 So far, so good. The Records
headed for the big parking lot,
saw, had been over-
picking a spot in front of a ramp Center, I

that led down to a tall steel door. rated. Even without my special

There was no one in sight. I got knowledge, a clever locksmith

out, dragging my was
suitcase. It could have come this far or —
heavier now, with the wire and almost. But the Big Vault was

magnets I’d added. I crossed the another matter. The great inte-
lock that secured
drive, went up to the doors. The
grating it

silence was eerie.

would yield only to a complex
I swept the area, searching for
command from the computer set
the wall opposite the vault
minds, found nothing. The shield- in

ing, I decided, blanked out door. I smoked my cigarette and,

with eyes closed, studied the
everything.
There was a personnel door vault.
the cigarette, step-
finished
set in the big panel, with a mas-
I

sive combination lock. I leaned

ped on it, went to the console,
my head against the door and began pressing keys, tapping out
for the mechanism, turning
the necessary formulations. Half
felt
the dial right, left, right . . .
an hour later I finished. There
The lock opened. I stepped was a whine from a servo motor;
inside, alert.
a crimson light flashed. I turned
Silence, darkness. I reached and saw the valve cycle open,
out, sensed walls, slabs of steel,
showing a bright-lit tunnel within.
concrete, intricate mechanisms,
tunnels deep in the ground . . .
dragged my bag inside, threw

But no personnel. That was

I the lever that closed the entry
surprising —
but I wouldn’t waste behind me. A green light went
on. I walked along the narrow
time questioning my good luck.
followed a corridor, opened passage, lined with gray metal
I
another door, massive as a vault, shelves stacked with gray steel
passed more halls, more doors. tape drums, descended steps,
My footsteps made muffled came into a larger chamber fitted
echoes. I passed a final door and out with bunks, a tiny galley,
came into the heart of the Rec- toilet facilities, shelves stocked

ords Center. with food. There was a radio, a

There were lights in the telephone and a second tele-
chamber around the grim, fea- phone, bright red. That would be
tureless periphery of the Central the hot-line to Washington. This
Vault. I set the valise on the was the sanctum sanctorum,
floor, sat on it and lit a cigarette. where the last survivors could

122
GALAXY
 ly see to it that you’re transported said harshly. “It’s the finest trap
the tool kit
The room with
wait out the final holocaust
would be the best place to work,
to the Institute in safety.
effort will then be made
Every
to over-
ever built by man —and you’re
indefinitely. safely in it.”
brought the suitcase
.

of a steel I decided. I
come the Gool
I opened the door conditioning. If “Safely is right. I have every-
tools, containing the electronic gear we’re
cabinet. Radiation suits, where successful, you’ll be thing I need here. And that
bed- back from the outer door awakened.
instruments. Another held If not brings me to my reason for being
.
.”.

and arranged
found a tape-player, tapes
ding. I
I’d left it, opened
contents on the table.
Ac-
it
He let the sentence hang. It here —
in case you’re curious. I’m
—even a shelf of books. I found
its didn’tneed to be finished. I under- going to build a matter transmit-
simple
gave cording to the Gool these stood what he meant.
a aid kit and gratefully ter. And to prove my good
first
jolt of neu- components were all I needed. I was listening. I was
faith,
myself a hypo-spray knowing how still not I’ll transmit the Master Tape to
The trick was in
rite. My
pains receded.
to put them together.
too worried. Here I was safe you. I’ll show you that I could
I went on to the
next room; against anything until the food have stolen the damned thing if
garbage There was work ahead of me —
ran out and that wouldn’t be
there were wash tubs, a I’d wanted to.”
There was now. There were the coils to for months.
disposal unit, a drier. “Indeed? Tell me, Granthan,
wind, the intricate antenna
ar-
everything here I needed to keep “You’re bluffing, Kayle,” I do you really think we’d be fools
rays to lay out; but before
I
me alive and even comfortable started, I’d take time to call
said. “You’re trying to put the enough to leave the Master Tape
until I could convince
someone best face on something that

up above that I shouldn t be shot —

Kayle or whoever I could get
the hot-line.
can’t control. If you’d — you behind when
area?”
we evacuated the

at the other end of

on sight.
heavy door barred the way
They’d be a little startled when
“You were careless
Labs, Granthan. There were too
at Delta “I don’t know about that —but
A heart of the it’s here.”
I turned up at the
to the room beyond. I turned a many people with odd blanks in “Sorry,” Kayle said. “You’re
defenses they were trying to
swung the door back, saw
.

wheel, their memories and too many deluding yourself.” His voice was
shield.
more walls lined with filing cab- unusual occurrences, all on the suddenly softer, some of the tri-
of gray I picked up the receiver and a same day. You tipped your hand.
inets, a blank facade umph gone from it. “Don’t bother
voice spoke:
and in the center of the
steel; Once we knew what we were up struggling, Granthan. The finest
“Well, Granthan. So you final-
room, alone on a squat table against, it was simply a matter of brains in the country have com-
that any ly made it.”
a yellow plastic case following you at an adequate dis- bined to place you where you
Sunday Supplement reader
VI
tance. We have certain shielding are. You haven’t a chance, except
would have recognized. materials, as you know. We
tried to do as I say. Make it easy on
It was a Master Tape,
the Ut- them all. There’s a new one that’s
4£TTER e are your instruc- yourself. I have no wish to ex-
ter Top Secret Programming ts quite effective. tend your ordeal.”
tions,” Kayle was saying.
document that would direct the “But as I was saying, we’ve “You
“Open the vault door. Come out can’t touch me, Kayle.
defense in case of a
terrestrial
Gool invasion.
— stripped —
and go to the
kept you under constant surveil-
lance. When we saw which way
This vault
bomb, and
is proof against a hell-

center of the parking lot. Stand

it’s stocked for a
It was almost shocking
to see you were heading, we just stayed
it lying there —
unprotected ex- there with your hands over your out of sight and let you trap
seige . .
.”

“That’s right,” Kayle said. His

head. A single helicopter manned
cept for the flimsy case. The
in-
yourself.” voice sounded tired. “It’s proof
formation it contained in micro- by a volunteer will approach and “You’re lying. Why would you against a hell-bomb. But what
micro dot form could put my drop a gas canister. It won’t be want me here?”
promise you that. Once if the hell-bomb’s in the vault
world in the palm of the enemy s lethal, I
personal-
“That’s very simple,” Kayle with you?”
you’re unconscious, I’ll
hand.
GALAXY END AS A HERO 125
124
 FELT demolition man, “The whole center will be
like a I set to work, my heart pound- Ihesitated, then crossed the
1 working to defuse a block- destroyed in the blast. Even it ing. If I could bring this off — room and snatched it up.

buster, who’s suddenly heard a can’t stand against a bomb bur-

But we’ll gladly
if had time
I —
if the transmitter “Listen to me,” Kayle said
ied in heart. worked as advertised grimly. “Give me straight, fast
loud click! from the detonator. I its . . .

the phone, stared sacrifice the center to eliminate The stolen knowledge flowed answers. You said the Master
dropped
around the room. I saw nothing you.” smoothly, effortlessly. It was as Tape was there, in the vault with
that could be a bomb. I ran to “How long!” though I had been assembling you. Now tell me: What does it
the next room, the one beyond. “I suggest you come out quick- matter transmitters for years, look like?”
Nothing. I went back to the ly,so that a crew can enter the knew every step by heart. First “What?”
phone, grabbed it up. vault to disarm the bomb.” the moebius windings; yard after “The ah . . . . . . dummy tape.
“You ought to know better “How long!” yard of heavy copper around a What is its appearance?”
than to bluff now, Kayle!” I “When you’re ready to emerge, core of carbon; then the power a roughly square plastic
“It’s

yelled. “I wouldn’t leave this call me.” The line went dead. supply, the first and second stage container, bright yellow, about a
now for half a dozen hypo- I put the phone back in its amplimitters foot thick. What about it?”
spot , . .

thetical hell-bombs!” cradle carefully, like a rare and How long? In the sump in the Kayle’s voice sounded strained.
“In center room,” Kayle
the valuable egg. next room, the bomb lay quietly “I’ve made inquiries. No one here
said. “Lift the cover over the I tried to think. I’d been charg- ticking. How long ? . . . seems to know the exact present
floor drain. You’ll find it there. ing full speed ahead ever since location of the Master Tape.
You know what they look like. I had decided on scheme of my r I ''HE main assembly was ready Each department says that they
Don’t tamper with its mechan- action while I was still riding the now. I laid out cables, tying were under the impression that
ism; it’s internally trapped. You’ll surf off the Florida coast, and I’d my apparatus in to the atomic another handled the matter. I’m
have to take my word for it we stuck to it. Now it had hatched in power-source buried under the unable to learn who, precisely,
didn’t bother installing a my face — and the thing that vault. The demand, for one short removed the Tape from the
had crawled out wasn’t the instant, would tax even those vault. Now you say there is a
dummy.”
Idropped the phone, hurried downy little chick of success. It mighty engines. I fixed hooks at yellow plastic container —
to the spot Kayle had described. had teeth and claws and was the proper points in the room, “I know what the Master Tape

The bomb casing was there — a eyeing me like a basilisk wove soft aluminum wire in the looks like,” I said. “This is either
. . .

But I still had unplayed aces was almost it or a hell of a good copy.”
dull gray ovoid, with a lifting eye correct pattern. I

set in the top. It didn’t look

— ifthere was time. finished now. How long? I made “Granthan,” Kayle said. There
dangerous. It just lay quietly, I had meant to use the matter the last connections, cleared was a note of desperation in his
waiting . . .
transmitter to stage a dramatic away the litter. The matter trans- voice now. “There have been
Back at the telephone, I had proof that I wasn’t the tool of mitter stood on the table, com- some blunders made. I knew you
trouble finding my voice. “How the enemy. The demonstration plete. At any instant, the bomb were under the influence of the
long?” I croaked. would be more dramatic than I’d would reduce it — and the se- Gool. It didn’t occur to me that
“It was triggered when you planned. The bomb would fit the cret of its construction — to in- I might be too. Why did I make

entered the vault,” Kayle said. machine as easily as the tape. candescent gas — unless I it possible for you to successfully
“There’s a time mechanism. It’s The wheels would be surprised transmitted the bomb out of penetrate to the Central Vault?
irreversible; you can’t force any- when their firecracker went off range first. I turned toward the There were a hundred simpler
one to cancel it. And it’s no use — right on schedule in the — laundry room —
and the tele- ways in which I could have dealt
your hiding in the outer passages. middle of the Mojave Desert. phone rang. with the problem. We’re in trou-

126
GALAXY END AS A HERO 127
 ” ” ” ”

I swept the exocosm again, the sump, lifted the cover. I

Granthan, serious trouble. center. Hesank deep into un-
ble,
I leaned against
desperately. And caught a thin, grasped the lifting eye, strained
The tape you have gen-
played into the
there is consciousness.
the table, weak with the reaction.
live line. I traced it; it cut — and the bomb came up, out
uine. We’ve all
through the mountain, dived onto the floor. I dragged it to
enemy’s hands.” Kayle had almost tricked me
deep underground, crossed the the transmitter ...
“You’re wasting valuable time, that time.
boundless plain . . . And only then realized what
Kayle,” I snapped. “When does Never branching, it bored on, I’d been about to do.
reached out again, swept the
the bomb go up?”
I area with desperate urgency. turning upward now and end- — My target.
“Granthan, there’s little time
and Far away, I sensed the hazy
ing. The War Room the nerve- —
left. Bring the Master Tape
leave the vault
— clutter of many minds, out of
I rested, gathering strength,
then probed, straining . . .
center of Earth’s defenses. And I
had been ready to dump the hell
“No dice, Kayle. I’m staying range. There was nothing more.
There was a room, men. I bomb there. In my frenzy to be
finish the transmitter, The poisonous gas had been the
until
then — I
only threat —
except the bomb
recognized Kayle, gray-faced,
haggard. A tall man in braided
rid
into
of itwould have played
I
the hands of the Gool.
“Granthan! If there’s anything itself. But I had to move fast,
blue stood near him. Others stood
to your mad idea of such a before my time ran out, to trans-
silently by, tension on every face. VII
machine, destroy it! Quickly! mit the bomb to a desert area . . .

Maps covered the wall behind

Don’t you see the Gool would I paused, stood frozen in mid-
move. A desert. What desert?
them. WENT to the phone.
only have given you the secret I was looking into the War “Kayle! I guess you’ve got a
in order to enable you to steal The transmitter operated in
Room at the Pentagon in Wash- recorder on the line. I’ll give you
the tape!” accordance with as rigid a set of
ington. The line I had traced was the details of the transmitter cir-
I cut him off. In the sudden laws as did the planets swinging
the telephonic hot-line, the top- cuits. It’s complicated, but fifteen
silence, Iheard a distant sound in their orbits; strange laws, but
security link between the Record minutes ought to —
— or had I sensed a thought? I laws of nature none the
receiver was required.
less.
The
No
des-
Center and the command level. “No time,” Kayle cut in. “I’m
strained outward . . .
It was a heavy cable, well pro- sorry about everything, Grant-
“. volunteered . . . damn fool tination of the mass under trans.
. .
tected and always open. It would ham. If you’ve finished the ma-
thing on my head is heavy mission was determined by the
.
free me from the trap. With Gool- chine, it’s a tragedy for humanity
operator, holding in his mind the
. . . better work . . .

conceptualiza-
tutored skill I scanned the room, — if it works. I can only ask you
. . now . . . okay . . . valve, five-dimensional
tion of the target, guiding the
memorized its co-ordinates. Then to try — when the Gool command
gas
then get out
. . kills in a split second
action of the machine.
I withdrew. comes — not to give them what
. . .
. .
Like a swimmer coming up they want. I’ll tell you, now,
I stabbed out, pushed through And I had no target.
from a long dive, I fought my Grantham. The bomb blows in
the obscuring veil of masonry, I
bomb
could no more direct the
to a desert without a five-
way back to the level of immedi- — ” there was a pause “two —
sensed a man in the computer ate awareness. I sagged into a minutes and twenty-one seconds.
room, dressed in gray coveralls, fold grasp of its multi-ordinal
temporal, and entropic
chair, blinking at the drab walls, Try to hold them off. If you can
a grotesque shield over his head spatial,
the complexity of the transmitter. stand against them for that long
and shoulders. He
—
reached for a co-ordinates than I could fire
a rifle at a target in the dark.
I must move fast now, place the at least —
red-painted valve bomb in the transmitter’s field, I slammed the phone down,
I was like a man with a
gre-
I struck at his mind, felt him
stagger back, fall. I fumbled in nade in his hand, pin pulled — direct it at the target. With an cold sweat popping out across my

in a cell.
effort I got to my feet, went to face. Two minutes . . . too late
his brain, stimulated the sleep and locked

GALAXY END AS A HERO 129

128
 The men in the the struggle. Kayle had been TROUGH. FOR US THE MAN half-rolled the bomb into
for anything.
War Room would never know right. The Gool had waited — WILL GUT THE GREAT tion. I groped for the switch,
posi-

how had come to beating

close I and now their moment had come. VAULT OF HIS NEST found it. I tried to draw breath,
the Gool —
and them. Even my impulse of defiance
last WORLD! felt only a surge of agony. Black-

But I could still save the Mas- — to place the tape in the ma- ALREADY YOU BLOAT AT ness was closing in
ter Tape. wrestled the yellow
I chine —
had been at the Gool OUR EXPENSE! The co-ordinates
.

.
. .

. .

plastic case that housed the tape command. They had looked into FOOL! ! WOULD YOU From the whirling fog of pain
onto the table, into the machine. my mind. They understand BICKER NOW? LINK UP! and darkness, I brought the tar-
And the world vanished in a psychology as no human analyst get concept of the Gool cavern
blaze of darkness, a clamor of ever could; and they had led me PT'HE Gool raged and I — into view, clarified it, held it . . .

silence. in the most effective way pos- grasped for an elusive MASTERS! HOLD THE
NOW, MASTERS! NOW! by letting me believe I was
sible, thought and held it. The bomb, MAN! DISASTER!
LINK UP! LINK UP! the master. They had made use only a few feet away. The wait- Then I felt the Gool, their
Like a bad dream coming back of my human ingenuity to carry ing machine. And the Gool had suspicions yielding to the panic
in daylight, I felt the obscene out their wishes and Kayle — given me the co-ordinates of in the mind of the Prime Over-
presence of massed Gool minds, had made it easy for them by their cavern . . . lord, link their power against me.
evacuating a twenty-mile radius With my
attenuated by distance but ter- infinite sluggishness, I I stood paralyzed, felt iden-
rible in their power, probing, around me, leaving the field clear moved. tity dissolving like water pouring
thrusting. back, strug-
fought for the Gool. LINK UP, MASTERS: from a smashed pot. I tried to
I
gling against paralysis, trying to HERE — The Gool voice THEN ALL WILL FEED . . . remember — but it was too faint,
gather my strength, use what I rang like a bell in my mind: IT IS A TRICK. I WILL NOT too far away.
had learned . . .
TRANSMIT THE TAPE LINK. Then from somewhere a voice
SEE, MASTERS, HOW IT HERE! I found the bomb, fumbled for seemed to cut in, the calm voice
WOULD ELUDE US. BLANK Even as I fought against the a grip. of an emergency reserve person-
IT OFF, TOGETHER NOW . . . impulse to comply, I felt my arm DISASTER, MASTERS! ality fraction. “You are under
The paths closed before me. twitch toward the machine. NOW IS THE PRIZE LOST attack. Activate the reserve plan.
My mind writhed, twisted, darted THROW THE SWITCH! the
TO US, UNLESS YOU JOIN Level Five. Use Level Five. Act
here and there and met only — voice thundered.
my arm to
WITH ME! now. Use Level Five . .

the impenetrable shield of the I struggled, willed My breath choked off in my Through the miasma of Gool
Gool defenses. stay at my
Only a minute
side. throat; a hideous pain coiled out- pressure, I felt the hairs stiffen
IT MASTERS.
TIRES, longer, I thought. Only a minute ward from my chest. But it was on the back of my neck. All
WORK SWIFTLY NOW. LET more, and the bomb would save unimportant. Only the bomb mat- around me the Gool voices raged,
US IMPRESS ON THE SUB- me . . .
tered. I tottered, groping. There a swelling symphony of discord.
JECT THE CO-ORDINATES LINK UP, MASTERS! was the table; the transmitter . . . But they were nothing. Level
OF THE BRAIN PIT. The con- WILL NOT LINK. YOU
I I liftedthe bomb, felt the half- Five
PLOT TO FEED AT MY EX-
. . .

ceptualization drifted into my healed skin of my burned arm There was no turning back.
mind. HERE, MAN. TRANS- PENSE. crackle as I strained . . . The compulsions were there, act-
MIT THE TAPE HERE! NO! BY THE MOTHER I thrust the case containing ing even as I drew in a breath to
As from a moni-
distance,* the WORM, I PLEDGE MY the Master Tape out of the field howl my terror —
tor personality fraction watched GROOVE AT THE EATING of the transmitter, then pushed, Level Five. Down past the

130 GALAXY END AS A HERO 131

 ” ”

shapes dreams, the intense

of rallied — but he was alone now. Kayle said. He attempted to The bone was more difficult.

Level LINK UP, MASTERS! THE beam, settled for a frosty smile. I searched out the necessary min-
faces hallucination;
of
Three; Level Four and the silent PRIZE IS LOST. KILL THE “You surely understand — erals, diverted blood; the broken
ranked memories . . And deeper MAN! KILL THE MAN! “Understanding,” I said. ends knit . . .

—
.

I felt a knife at my heart. It “That’s all we need to turn this The nurse was bending over
still

Into a region of looming gib- fluttered — and stopped. And in planet — and a ones lot of other me, a bowl of soup in her hand.

bering horror, of shadowy mov- that instant, I broke past his con- -
—
into the kind of worlds the
ing shapes of evil, of dreaded trol, threw the switch. There was human mind needs to expand 44V7"OU’VE been asleep for a
presences that lurked at the edge the sharp crack of imploding air. into.” long time, sir,” she said,
of vision . . .
Then I was floating down, ever “You’re tired, Granthan,” smiling. “How about some nice
Down amid the clamor of down, and all sensation was far Kayle said. “You get some rest. chicken broth now?”
voiceless fears, the mounting away. In a few weeks you’ll be back on I ate the soup and asked for

hungers, the reaching claws of MASTERS! KILL TH the job, as good as new.” more. A doctor came and peeled
The pain cut off in an instant “That’s where the key is,” I back my bandages, did a double-
all that man had feared since the
tailless primate screamed of profound silence and utter said. “In our minds; there’s so take, and rushed away. I looked.
first
out his terror in a tree-top: the dark. much there, and we haven’t even The skin was new and pink, like
fear of falling, the fear of heights. Then sound roared in my ears, scratched the surface. To the a baby’s —
but it was all there. I
Down to Level Five. Night- and I felt the harsh grate of the mind nothing is impossible. Mat- flexed my right leg; there was
mare floor against my face as I fell,
ter is an illusion, space and time no twinge of pain.
level.
and then I knew nothing more. are just convenient fictions — I listened for a while as the

groped outward, found the “I’ll leave the medal here, Mr. doctors gabbled, clucked, probed
[ plane of contact and hurled — 4CT HOPE,” General Titus was Granthan. When you feel equal and made pronouncements. Then
the weight of man’s ancient saying, “that you’ll ac- to it, we’ll make the official pre- I closed my eyes again. I thought
fears at the waiting Gool and — cept the decoration now, Mr. sentation. Television . . about the matter transmitter.
in their black confining caves Granthan. It will be th- first He faded off as I closed my The government was sitting on
deep in the rock of a far world, time in history that a civilian has eyes and thought about things of course. A military secret of
they felt the roaring tide of fear been accorded this honor and — that had been clamoring for at-
it,

the greatest importance, Titus

— fear of the dark, and of living you deserve it.”
I was lying in a clean white
tention ever since I’d met the
Gool, but hadn’t had time to ex-
called it. Maybe someday the
The horrors in man’s se- public would hear about it; in
burial.
cret mind confronted the horrors bed, propped up by big soft pil- plore. My arm the meantime —
—
. . .

of the Gool Brain Pit. And I felt lows, with a couple of good-look- I felt my way
along it from “How about lettingout of me
them break, retreat in blind panic ing nurses hovering a few feet inside —
tracing the area of here?” I said suddenly. A pop-
from me — away. I was in a mood to tolerate damage, watching as the bodily eyed doctor with a fringe of gray
All but one. The Prime Over- even Titus. defenses worked away, toiling to hair blinked at me, went back
lord reeled back with the rest, “Thanks, General,” I said. “I renew, replace. It was a slow, to fingering my arm. Kayle hove
but his was a mind of terrible suggest you give the medal to mindless process. But if I helped into view.
power. I sensed for a moment his the volunteer who came in to gas a little . . . “I want out,” I said. “I’m re-

bloated immense form, the seeth- me. He knew what he was going It was The pattern was
easy. covered, right? So now just give
ing gnawing hungers, insatiable, up against; I didn’t.” there. I the tissues renew
felt me my clothes.”
now, Granthan,’ themselves, the skin regenerate.
never to be appeased. Then he “It’s over, “Now, now, just relax, Grant-

132
GALAXY END AS A HERO 133
 You know it’s not as simple transmitter . . . and the patterns
han.
as that. There are a lot of matters of the mind . . .

The exocosm and the endo-

we must go over.”
“You
over,” I said. cosm, like the skin and the
“The war’s
admitted that. I want out.” orange, everywhere in contact . .

“Sorry.” Kayle shook his head. Somewhere there was a beach

“That’s out of the question.” of white sand, and dunes with
“Doc,” I said. “Am I well?” graceful sea-oats that leaned in
“Yes,” he said. “Amazing case. a gentle wind. There was blue
You’re as fit as you’ll ever be; water to the far horizon, and a
I’ve never
— blue sky, and nowhere were
“I’m afraid you’ll have to re- there any generals with medals
sign yourself to being here for a and television cameras, or flint-
with long
while longer, Granthan,” Kayle eyed bureaucrats
said. “After all, we can’t — schemes . . .

gentle folding
“Can’t let the secret of matter And with this

transmission run around loose, . . . thus . . .

And a pressure here so

hey? So until you figure out the . . . . . .

angles, I’m a prisoner, right?” opened my eyes, raised my-

“I’d hardly call it that, Grant- self
I
on one elbow and saw the —
han. Still

I closed
. .

my eyes. The matter

sea. The sun was hot
body, but not too hot,
on my
and the 5 Star Shelf
transmitter —
a strange device. sand was white as sugar. Far
A field, not distorting space, but away, a seagull tilted, circling.
AT THE EARTH’S CORE
accentuating certain character- A wave rolled in, washed my by passes loose rock from the drill
Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ace at the nose through a hollow dou-
istics of a matter field in space- foot in cool water.
my
back, and looked Books. ble skin to the stern.
time, subtly shifting relation- I lay on

ships up at white clouds in a blue sky, ALTHOUGH JULES Verne Pellucidar, as Burroughs named
. . .

Just as the mind could com- and smiled — then laughed wrote the most famous and most his interior world, is the inverse
enduring story about a hollow image of the exterior in the mat-
pare unrelated data, draw from aloud.
new paral- the seagull’s cry earth, he didn’t hold a patent on ter of land and water distribution.
them new concepts, Distantly
this valuable hunk of real estate. Thus the
lels . . . echoed my laughter. total land area of this

The circuits of the matter KEITH LAUMER Author Burroughs staked out his world within a world comes to
claim in this rip-snorting adven- 124 million square miles, com-
ture set “At the Earth’s Core”. pared to the surface’s mere 53
In the current issue of IF: The entire adventure is strictly million. As Burroughs puts it,
from accident. An aged inventor “We have the strange anomaly of
THE GREEN WORLD
and his wealthy young backer a larger world within a smaller
A gripping complete short novel by Hal Clement, seek merely to test out the inven- one!”
author of Mission of Gravity, Needle, etc. tion, a mechanical mole that Pellucidar’s perpetual noon is

GALAXY SHELF 135

134
 by a tiny sun, suspended
lighted
at the exact center of Earth’s
sphere. Burroughs polishes off the
problem of gravitational attrac-
tion by placing the center
gravity midway through the 500
mile thick crust separating Pellu-
cidar from the surface.
The inner world, having cooled
later, is much younger than ours,
making for a hodge-podge ecol-
ogy. Burroughs has much fun mix-
ing perils of Pliocene, Pleistocene
and Pauline.
Mankind, two separate species,
is subservient to the dominant
race, rhamphorhynchus-like crea-
race, rhamphorhynchuslike crea-
tures, deaf, but able to communi-
cate, not by telepathy, but “by
projecting their thoughts into the
fourth dimension, when they be-
come appreciable to the sixth
sense of the listener.” All are fe-
males, having discovered how
reproduce without male assist-
ance. They are highly civilized,
philosophical creatures who con-
sider Man a lower order and
debate pro and con his ability to
ary works employing only the
present tense.
There are holes as big as Pellu-
cidar itself in his theories, but Bur-
of roughs’s concepts are intriguing
and his combat scenes gripping.
Although the reader must wade
at least twenty-five pages into the
book before he can cease to be an-
noyed by the author’s stilted and
florid style, by then he has
reached the point of no return.
THE MOON MAID by Edgar
Rice Burroughs. Ace Books.
THERE ARE many
proverbs
that boil down to, “If you’ve got
hold of a good thing, milk it to
death.” Burroughs’s hollow sphere
Earth seemed so good to him
that he applied it to the Moon,
also.
His story begins in 1967 aboard
a giant Chicago to Paris airliner
to that races along a thousand feet
above the surface and is moti-
vated by wireless energy from
power plants thousands of miles
distant.
The narrator, ancestor of the
leader of a five man expedition to
reptilesand create a human civili-
Mars, made possible by radio ex- zation based on the best of twen-
change of information with the tieth century technology, with
Martians who have isolated the himself as benevolently dictatori-
Eighth Barsoomian (Martian) al emperor.
Ray, along with the Eighth Rays Most Burroughs’s theories
of
of the other planets. This is also make hard swallowing. The
for
a literary rather than a scientific horizonless inner world dimin-
device, like the Cavorite of H. G. ishes upward into an indefinable
Wells’s moon explorers, that might dim distance. This I’d like to see,
be called an enabling device, since as well as his pendent world,
without it there’s no story and hanging only a mile above the
with it there’s no explanation. inner surface with its axis parallel
The ship’s engines are sabo- to the surface. All its plains and
taged by their inventor, the dis- forests, lakes and rivers become
gruntled second-in-command and visible as it rotates, providing a
is stranded on, or rather in, the clock for a world that otherwise
moon. Its crust is riddled by has no way of determining time.
thousands of craters that serve to One suspects that Burroughs
supply both light and heat to the planted it there like a big seed
interior, although the primary that was to germinate eventually
source of light is the high radium in another sequel.
content of the soil. But, argue as one might with
Julian 5th, separated early his scientific theories, once Bur-
from his companions, is not re- roughs establishes his background,
united with them until after sev- his reader has no time to quibble.
eral captures by and escapes from
primitive humanoid quadrupeds THE MOON MEN by Edgar
and/or semi-civilized humans. Rice Burroughs. Ace Books.
ft

THIS SEQUEL “The Moon to

reason, meanwhile employing him
as slave, and clandestinely as
food. Burroughs incorporates
ritual feeding scene that is
binder of pure horror.
In his world of eternal noon,
duration is strictly relative and
Time as we measure it does not
exist. Even the dominant race
takes no account of it, their liter-
actual protagonist, owes his mem-
ory of subsequent events to total
a recollection of several reincar-
a spell- nated existences. This simple lit-
erary device eliminates the need
for such a crudity as a time ma-
chine and obviously opens the
way for sequel after sequel.
The descendent of the narra-
tor, 100 years in the future, is the
PELLUCIDAR by Edgar Rice
Burroughs. Ace Books.
IN THIS sequel to “At the
Earth’s Core,” Burroughs chroni-
cles the search of David Innes
his Stone Age mate, Dian. He has
returned frdm the surface in the
steel mole loaded with books and
materials to further his plans to
purge Pellucidar of the intelligent
Maid” actually comprises two
novels; “The Moon Men,” which
is the story of Julian 9th in the
22 nd Century and “The Red
for Hawk,” about Julian 20th in the
25th Century.
The renegade villain of “Moon
Maid”, Orthis, is killed by Julian
5th, but not until he assembles
a horde of semi-savages from the

136 GALAXY SHELF 137

 hero of “Thuvia” and the action
Moon who
waste.
conquer and lay Earth
arises from his supposed aerial
abduction of Thuvia.
He refused to believe —
“The Moon Men” is the ac-

count of Julian 9th’s solitary, By modern standards, Bur- until he

roughs’s science pretty rudi-
hopeless struggle against the Kal-
kar conquerors and the complete
is

mentary, viz. the interplanetary

looked beyond
collapse of civilization. ether, Eighth Rays, Hollow plan-
In “The Red Hawk”, the pas- ets, etc. Bear in mind, however,
that he wrote when many homes
JESS STEARN, newspaperman and
man
best-
with a passion for
TO THE
sage of centuries has seen the Kal-
selling author, is a
facts. He started out a confirmed skeptic —
still used gas for lighting; sound
kars pushed back to the seacoast. certain that reports of clairvoyance and ESP

The Hawk, Julian 20th, mounts pictures hadn’t been invented, to were based on coincidence and fraud.

the final offensive designed to say nothing of TV;
push them into the sea. slow, clumsy crudities. In fact,
Burroughs’s airships really were
THUVIA, MAID OF MARS by ships of the air, with polished
aircraft were But he discovered he was wrong! He met
Jeane Dixon, whom Franklin D. Roosevelt in-
vited to the White House to predict how much • how the evidence for precognition sup-
time he had to finish his work - which she
ports reincarnation and survival;
did correctly. Then, from Virginia Beach,
came first-hand evidence about the fantastic
• how the Odic force reveals itself to psy-

Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ace decks, rails, below-deck cabins feats of Edgar Cayce. And then came Peter
chic sensitives;

Books. and a top speed of a lumbering Hurkos, who sensed past, present and future, • how you may discover psychic powers
as he broke two murder cases that had baf- within yourself!
AT THIS point even the most two hundred miles per hour. fled police. Newspaperman Stearn could draw Jess Stearn obtained the cooperation of psy-
readers must be “Thuvia” full of abductions,
neophytic of is only one inescapable conclusion. The future chics everywhere in America men and —
aware that this is the fabled captures, escapes and recaptures can be foreseen. There is a “door to the women who cooperated fully because they

in the best Burroughs tradition

future!" knew- intuitively —that his report would
Burroughs of yore whose books One of the most important revelations itselfbe an important breakthrough. That’s
were translated into some forty and it has something else for
of our time why this is the one book that is convincing
languages and sold an equal num- the devoted Burroughsiphile; the THE DOOR TO THE FUTURE offers irrefutable
non-believers everywhere —
a record by an
admitted cynic who learned that the door to
ber of million copies. Yet an en- fondly remembered “giant bow- proof of psychic power, and shows how we
the future is being opened wider every day
may be on the verge of a scientific break-
tire generation has grown up in- men of Lothar,” materialized from through in psychic science.
by gifted psychics and mediums. It is defi-
nitely a book which you must read and own.
explicably Burroughs-less. The Barsoom’s dead past by the hand- It tells — Send your coupon today for a free examina-
great majority of his books have ful of Lothar’s living defenders. • how a man’s life was saved when his wife tion copy!

been out of print for a score of Ratings? Let’s not try. It’s hard foresaw a plane crash; SEND NO MONEY -FREE, NO-RISK, TRIAL OFFER
• how Universal Consciousness
years, the only reminder of his to evaluate them in terms of reveals past
To your bookseller, or to:
and future;
DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY,
former glory is the release of an today. I’m afraid that, like so INC.
Dept. 3-GA-6, Garden City, New York
occasional laughable Tarzan film. many others, my boyhood was
The documented facts Please send me copies of THE DOOR
TO THE FUTURE at $4.50 each.
Burroughs antedated van Vogt’s too entangled with the Burroughs under- I

behind a stand that Imay return this book without

vision of a contradictory civiliza- books me to be objective.
for
prize-winning
obligation within two weeks and pay noth-
ing. Otherwise, you will bill me for just

tion, half barbaric, half technolog- Frankly, even though I hadn’t $4.50 plus postage.*
reporter’s
ically advanced, by some three read any of his books for well shattering discovery NAME.

decades. In the first three novels over twenty years, these past of the truth about ADDRESS.

of the series, John Carter of Vir- weeks have been Ol’ Nostalgia ESP. prophecy CITY ZONE. .STATE .

ginia settles just about all the Month for me. The old boy has and precognition
*SAVE! Enclose payment now and we pay
postage. Same return privilege guaranteed!

major problems besetting wartorn the power to send me still!

Mars. His son, Carthoris, is the
— FLOYD C. GALE

138
GALAXY 139
 C7Xe
rTaitliful

UJilf
by GORDON R. DICKSON

Parent was wily, deadly

and brave. The trouble
was —he didn't know it!

just reached him from his superi- not. What made you think of
I knok, had explained it would be
ors back on Earth. The commu- that?”
necessary to let down here at
nication was, of course, in code. “Oh, nothing,” sighed Lucy.
64 T SUPPOSE you think of it Bug’raf to replate the drive
But Tom had had the keys to all “If you don’t mind,” said Tom,
sometimes,” sighed Lucy chamber.
recent codes hypnoed into him “I have something urgent on my
Parent, as their Mordaunti space- “Think of what?” said Tom
before they left Earth. mind at the moment.”
ship descended on the world that Parent. He was pacing up and
Lucy sighed again. “About “All men do,” said Lucy, study-
was its midway stop to the Mor- down by their stateroom viewer.
what it’d be like not being mar- ing her fingernails. “I suppose it’s
daunti capital world of Cayahno. He alternated between casting ried, again.” only natural. Women aren’t like
Cayahno was something like six glances at the glittering cityport
“Not married? What?” said that. Marriage means a lot to a
hundred toward the
light years in toward which they were descend-
Tom, stopping his pacing sudden- woman.”
center of the galaxy from Earth. ing and glancing at the top-secret
ly. “Why, of course not. Certainly “Lucy, if you don’t mind —
The Mordaunti Ambassador, Ar- subspace communication that had

GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 141

140
Tom was suddenly interrupted by into the winding, colorful streets “it doesn’t matter, of course. I

the gentle chiming of their state- that looked as if they had been don’t mind.Go right ahead.” She
“Come lifted out of the illustrations of fumbled angrily in her wristpurse
room door. in.”
book. The and produced a small lace hand-
The door opened. A seven-foot some old fairy-tale

humanoid looking like a satanic streets were as warm with a hun- kerchief.

Tarzan in purple robes stepped
into the room. A weapons harness
covered the robes, various types
of weapons depending from it.
The humanoid touched pale green
winged skullcap.
fingers to his
dred alien races. Once out of sight “Good!” whispered Tom. Lucy
of the ship, Tom started walking checked herself, surprised, with
at a pace that had Lucy almost the handkerchief half-raised.
keep up.
trotting to “Good?”
“Tom!” She grabbed hold of his “We’re away from the ship but
arm. “Slow down! I can’t
— there still may be spies. That’ll

“Good morning, Mr. Ambassa- “Just around this corner,” said confuse them. Look, Lucy, I didn’t
dor,” said Tom, touching his own Tom, dragging her around it and know about this myself until I got
brown crew-cut in similar fash- down at seats of something like a the sub-space message just now.
ion. “May the Mordaunti live for- sidewalk cafe. A robot rolled up. The Office Upstairs back on
ever.” “Alcohol and cold distilled water, Earth just said they might have a
“And yourrr own rrrace also,” two,” he said in the local lingua little job for me on Cayahno.
replied the Ambassador, rolling franca. -The robot rolled away. “I They didn’t even let me in on it

his r’s Scotsman. His black

like a couldn’t talk on the ship. Some- — after all, I’m still only a First
eyes glittered as he added affa- thing’s come up.” Assistant Secretary in the For- authorities. Now, this message
bly, “I thocht I’d tell you therrres “But you’re on vacation!” cried eign Office’s Department of New lets me in on it. And it’s so secret

time for you to stroll about the Lucy. “This is supposed to be our Governments.” they couldn’t even trust me with
Bug’raf capital below, if you wish. second honeymoon!” She broke “You let me think it was going the knowledge before we left.”

off suddenly and eyed him sharp- “Tell me,” said Lucy.
We’ll be here at least half a day.”
“Stroll? Well! Well, that’s just ly. The robot rolled up and de-
to be a real vacation!”
“Now, honey, be reasonable.” “I’m not supposed to
—
fine!” cried Tom, happily. “Yes. posited two squeeze-bulbs before “I won’t!” “Oh!” gasped Lucy. “It’s all

We will. Thank you so much, Mr. them. Tom produced his identity “Our
lives are in danger.” right if my life is in danger; but
Ambassador.” papers with the Mordaunti seal. “Oh!” Lucy closed the mouth I’m not supposed to know why!”
“Think nothing of it,” replied The robot punched a hole in she had just opened preparatory “—But,” said Tom, “as I was
the other. Touching his head them and went away. to saying some more, looked going to say if you’d ever let me
again, he went out.
—
“Well ” said Tom. around and put the handkerchief finishsaying something, I’m going
“Or is it?” away. She leaned toward Tom. to. You may have to carry on if
“You go by yourself,” said
Lucy sadly. “I think I’ll just stay “Well,” said Tom, avoiding her “In danger?” she whispered. anything happens to me.”
here.” eye. “That’s what I’ve been trying “Tom!” Lucy’s eyes grew sud-
“You will not!” Tom snapped. “You told me — you told me to tell you,” said Tom in a low denly large.
Lucy sat up and stared at him. this was a vacation! I might have voice, “and it’s not my fault. The
known there something
was Office Upstairs just gave me the tilVTO USE not facing things,”

HALF AN HOUR
was down, and Tom and
later the ship wrong the way you’ve been act-
ing. So. ... So absentminded
about things. Well,” said Lucy,
idea they wanted me
red-tape thing, like make a
little
duty call on one of the Mordaunti
to do some
here
'

it is.
Tom bravely. “Well,
said
On Cayahno
world of the Mordaunti to
—the capi-

Lucy strolled off the landing area tal

142
GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 143

which we’re headed there’s go-—
ing to be a gathering of repre-
sentatives from the forty-three
great interstellar powers in this
section of the galaxy.”
“Forty-three?” squeaked Lucy.
“The Oprinkians, the Mordaunti,
us— and who else?”
Tom, said sadly, “We are not
listed among the forty-three. The
Jaktals were, of course.
everyone knows we’ve taken over
their empire* by now. But no in-
vitation has been sent to us.”
“Why, that’s terrible!”
“More than terrible. Danger-
lock ourselves in and throw away
the key.”
“That might not be a bad idea.
—
However ” Tom broke off sud-
denly and looked up. A sudden
hush had fallen over the street.
Everyone seemed to have disap-
peared. Then, suddenly, around
the corner floated a metal plat-
form with two odd-looking
And of different species on it.
II
HE FIRST was a stubby
T dividual wearing a harness
rocity scale. Congratulations, my alien. “It would’ve been such an
boy. I am Drakvil, Master Assas- honor for a simple pjenik pjanik
sin —and you are my apprentice.” like me. No real Assassin would
“Apprentice?” said Tom.
“Hard to believe, I know. But
lower himself to slay a pjanik
under the pjonik class. Of course
you are. I just picked you.” I know your honor’s still only an
“Pardon me,” said Tom. “But apprentice and it’d only be a
overwhelming as the honor is .”
. . practice assassination, but —
“Tut-tut,” said Drakvil. “Say “Wait a minute,” said Tom.
no more.” The pjanik wiped its eyes with
aliens “ —
I must decline
— its white beard and sniffed.
“WHAT?” “You mean,” said Tom. “I’m
Drakvil suddenly paled all supposed to practice assassinat-
over his body until he was almost ing on you?”
white. Gradually his color came
in-
back. He slowly extended a hand
and pointed at Lucy.
46r\F COURSE,”
Drakvil, coming up with a
snapped

ous. It means the other forty-two
great interstellar empires
thinking of dividing our own and
Jaktal territory between
the
them. The Oprinkians** are still
our friends, of course. They sug-
gested we secretly send a man
draped with guns, knives and “So,” he said. “I think I see. metal plate tucked under one
are other fierce gadgets. He wore Does that wilf belong to you?” arm. “Begin with live targets right
nothing else. He appeared com- “I certainly do!” said Lucy. away. The only way. I’ve got no
pletely hairless, his skin a lea- Drakvil’s arm dropped.
patience with Master Assassins
thery brown. His face looked “Wilf-ridden!” he breathed. “I that start their apprentices out on
something like a bulldog’s. The get an apprentice with one of the simulacrums. No meat. No feel to
other alien beside him was about finest aptitude ratings ever re- it.” He unhooked one of the gadg-

and have him just walk in and three feet tall, wearing a robe, a corded; and it has a wilf! But ets from his harness. “Here,” he
take over the Jaktal chair at the sort of magician’s cone-shaped don’t worry, my boy.” He got said, “you can borrow my loset.”
meeting.” hat and a long white beard, above down and began to rummage in- He shoved it into Tom’s hand.
“You?” said Lucy. which showed a bulbous nose and side the back edge of the plat- “Meanwhile, I will psychoanalyze
“Me,” said Tom. “The Office two purple trusting eyes.
large, form. free you.” you and
“I’ll rid you of this wilfish
Upstairs thought a minor official “Greetings!” boomed the har- “Tom!” said Lucy, clutching his affliction.”
like myself would never be sus- nessed individual, in the local lin- arm. “You don’t understand, I’m
pected of being sent to speak for gua franca, bringing the platform “Shh,” hissed Tom. “It’s all afraid, sir Assassin,” said Tom in
the whole human empire. Of to a halt at their table. As it set-
right—” smooth, diplomatic tones. “I’m
course, I won’t actually speak for tled to the ground he took a de- He was interrupted as the sec- just ashore for a few hours from
us. I’ll simply grab the Jaktal seat vice from his harness and looked ond alien on the platform sudden- the Mordaunti ship at the space-
and hold it. Once I’m there, I’m through it at Tom. “Magnificent! ly begin to cry in a timid, despair- port.”
safe. No one will act against me Just as advertised! .72 on the fe- ing fashion. Drakvil shook his head. “Tut-
for fear of endangering his own “What’s wrong with you?” said delusions as well. Not
But
* WHO DARES A BULBUR EAT?
Tom,
tut, sur-
immunity as Ambassador. Galaxy, October, 1962 turning on it. prising, I suppose. My lad, the
I’ve got to get there first.” **REX AND MR. REJILLA, “Oh, sir,” sobbed the smaller Mordaunti ship took off just five
“Let’s go back to the ship and Galaxy, January, 1958
THE FAITHFUL WILF 145
144 GALAXY
 you Takes some nerve to risk horizon. “Well,” Tom said, blink- a pjanik shot by a loset, in a
minutes ago and, as you see, time.
distracting a Master Assassin ing a little, “that’s some transpor- crumpled heap.
are still here.”
long enough to touch a piece of
tation.” “Tom!” cried Lucy frantically,
“Took But it had to have
off?
his property and adopt it. Well,
“The only way to go,” said kneeling by him. He sat up grog-
its drive chamber replated!”
Drakvil with satisfaction. “Why gily and shook his head. “Who?
“Come, come,” said Drakvil. you got away with it. Now, all
“To replate a drive chamber takes that talk about the Mordaunti
travel by slow phase-shifting What? Where — oh, hello, wilf.”

spaceship. Eyewash, right? You when this is available? Of course “Wilf!” cried Lucy. “Tom, don’t
days. The ship needs to be com-
pletely torn down that’s one — deliberately got off here to put there’s always that statistical
chance of coming out in the cen-
you know me?”
“Of course I know
reason we Assassins never use yourself in a position where I you, wilf
could see you and take you on as Imean, honey. Help me up.”
ships. To work, my boy. There’s
an Apprentice, didn’t you?” Lucy helped him to his feet.
your pjanik, and you have the
He glanced at the “Er, yes,” said Tom. Tom shook his head a few more
loset in hand.”
metal plate. “Meanwhile let me — “Yes?” cried Lucy. times.

see —
I have some questions here.
“Playalong, playalong,
stranded - here - without -
we’re-
that -
“Bit of a shock, acquiring all
that information at once. I’m all
When you were an immature life —Lucy. Oh, is that my
form did you ever secretly like ship,” muttered Tom between his right wi

teeth in English, smiling brightly harness?” He reached out and

your primary immediate male an-
at Drakvil.
took the cluster of weapons Drak-
cestor?”
come along then,” said vil was holding out to him. He
Tom was exchanging glances ‘Well,
put it on, checking its gadgets.
with Lucy. He winked and whis- Drakvil, remounting the platform.
“Bring your newly adopted neph- “Let’s see. Spengs. Losets. Oh, and
pered in English, “Play along.” He
ew-slave along with you. Does a gornul. Latest model, I see.”
handed the loset back to the
the wilf have to come, too?” “Naturally,” said Drakvil. “The
Master Assassin, bowing.
be “Just try to go without me!” workman is worthy of his tools.”
“Ordinarily,” he said, “I’d

to assassinate this little fel- said Lucy. “Thanks.” Tomlooked off at

happy
low here
—
” He put his hand on “Blasted faithful wilfs!” mut-
jbrcL-i!
the building. “Subject in there?”

the shoulder of the pjanik. tered Drakvil, as Tom stepped up “Tom!” said Lucy, “what’re you
on the platform and helped Lucy going to do?”
“Oh!” cried the pjanik in sud- some sun
up behind him. “Sap the back-
ter of or other. But Tom ignored her and went on
den accents of joy. “It touched death is an Assassin’s constant
bone out of a being. Wouldn’t talking to Drakvil. “Large estab-
me! Its honor touched me!” It fell companion, anyway. Let’s get
have one myself for Hang on, lishment, I take it?”
at Tom’s feet and began kissing
. . .

we go, across the galaxy to down to business.” “A spranjik of the gark class,”
the toes of Tom’s shoes. “Oh, here
He pointed at the distant tem- said Drakvil.
thank you, your nobleship, your Pjo.”
ple-like building. “Probably has a gnruth of jilks
kindnessness, little uncle.”
Tom. But al- “Scene of your first assignment. for guard?”
Drakvil had gone suddenly e?T>JO?” said
ready the city around them
First I’d better brief you.” He “Two gnruths. All porbornik-
white again. Now he faded back reached down and touched some-
to his normal color and boomed had vanished. The platform was jilks.”
thing on the platform at his feet. “Tom!” cried Lucy. “You an-
with laughter. now sitting in the midst of a fea-
tureless waste of sand, with what
A golden light flickered suddenly swer me! What’re you going to
“All right, you young rascal!”
around Tom, who went down like do? What are gnruths?”
he said. “Caught me fairly that looked like a temple far off on the

GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 147

146
 — ” ” ” ”

“Bodyguard units of fifty jilks to what had happened, I

see gark. I set up a resolving point guise, sidled up to the officer.
Tom
absently, star- slipped in. As I expected, I found inside so the platform could be “Juicy items,” Lucy heard him
apiece,” said
myself in a mobius maze of corri- brought and came back to get whine, “rare tidbits from strange
ing at the building.
“Tom, you aren’t thinking of dors. calculated
I my way
in,

the three of you.” worlds —

assassinate someone
to through, spenged the three jilks I The pjanik squeaked with The officer backed away dis-
trying
found at the inner entrance, and and snapped, “Filthy
who has a hundred bodyguards?” pleasure. tastefully

“You’ll notice,” said Drakvil to

took cover when the alarm sound- “Me, too? Oh, little uncle!” creature! Keep your nartled
Tom, “the establishment is laid ed and a platoon came up at the “Yes,” said Tom, giving Lucy a claws to yourself.”
alnrits, both inside and double with pobornik guns at the strange, meaningful glance that “But commander! I must go in-
out for
out.”
ready.” baffled her completely, “particu- side the door. A certain female of

Tom
nrits!”
laughed scornfully. “Al- “Did they suspect an Assassin
was inside the gark?” asked Drak-
larly you too.”
“You wanted me to see you in ness understands
——
the ranking family your fresh-

action. Very good,” said Drakvil. “Your pass!” snapped the

“Tom! What are alnrits? Will vil. offi-
“No answered Tom. “I He reached down and touched
you pay some attention to me? extending
sir,” cer, a three-fingered
“They’re disintegrators,” said overheard them guessing that it
the platform, and they were all hand.
Tom without looking around. was a dispossessed simulacrum suddenly in a curtained alcove, “But she gave me no pass,”

“Don’t bother me now, wilf.” a rogue lone. I ducked down a dim-lit from above. “Now what?” Tom whimpered. “She simply
Lucy shouted, “I am not, not, side street of the jilk quarters
and “You can watch through the said to come to this entrance
—
not a wilf!” found my way blocked by a full- curtain,” said Tom. “Now, I’m go- He sidled closer. “Your freshness
said Tom. He armed Well, of course a
tank. ing to disguise myself and take would not want me to compro-
“Well, I’m off,”

reached down to do something to monstrosity like that could never on the nartled appearance of an mise the good name of one of the
the platform, and disappeared. be knocked out by a mere speng. illegal gossip-seller.” He reached inner gark by mentioning it in
knew that.” down and touched the platform. public? But if I could talk to you
“Tom!” wailed Lucy. I
“What what — did you do?” Lucy gave a small, stifled shriek. aside
—
Lucy asked. me,” creaked the “Stand back,” said the officer.
H reappeared again, shoving
E
one of the larger gadgets “Oh, I just stood
center of the street the way any
still in the
“It’s still

clawed and warty creature now

standing before them. “Watch
“Very well.” He let Tom lead him
away from the guard. To Lucy’s
back into his holster on the weap-
ordinary dispossessed, mindless through the curtain.” horror they approached the al-
ons harness.
“Well, that was easy enough,” rogue simulacrum might. And cove, stopping just outside the
when they were close enough, I Ill curtain.
he said. Lucy gaped at him.
“Tom, you didn’t
” she— gave the tank a pung from my “Now,” said the officer in a low,
gasped.
class two loset.” TTE SLIPPED off the platform, eager voice. Lucy was amazed to
yet,” said Tom cheerfully. Drakvil beamed. “Very good. parted the curtains and slid see his eyestalks wavering drunk-
“Not
“I just went in for a reconnoitre. And then?” through. Lucy, Drakvil and the enly. He panted. “I you’re know
“I took the tank and drove it pjanik hurried to the parting and lying. The female Orbash is the
On accelerated time.”
“Report what you did, Assist- through the inner defenses as if peered through. They saw a lofty only one who could have called

ant,”Drakvil said.
“Oh, I approached the gate and
spenged one of jilks on outer
guard there. When the rest turned
I was the tank crew coming back hall with a guard of armed jilks, yoil, and she is elsewhere. So tell
off duty. Inside, I abandoned the their eye-stalks stiff at attention. me! What have you got to sell?”
tank and slipped into the ruler’s A jilk officer was pacing up and Tom whispered, “I knew your
personal family section of the down. Tom, in his gossip-seller’s freshness was an addict, the mo-

148
GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 149
 rior. Possibly you’re confusing my “No,” said Tom calmly. “I can-
marched off down the corridor.
discipline these
position with your own.” Tom’s not, because of my wilf.”
“Magnificent
remarked
pjanik immediately prostrated “I knew it!” bellowed Drakvil,
pobornik-jilks have,”
himself again. “No, I didn’t mean turning chalk-white and staying
Drakvil, as Tom, marching be-
that.” He helped Tom’s pjanik up that color. “That wilf! I knew it!”
hind the guard, stepped back into
again. “I just meant that we who He turned on Lucy, who quickly
the alcove. “However, it some-
are born to the purple don’t con- got on the other side of Tom.
times works to their disadvan-
sider being murdered quite such Tom faced him and said, “Once
tage.”
an honor as you lower classes.” I would have gornuled this sub-
“I assumed so,” said Tom, re-
“Really?” ject on the spot, without a hesita-
suming his natural appearance,
“In fact,” said the pjonik pja- tion. In fact with keen enjoyment.
much to Lucy’s relief. “Now, shall nik, turning to Tom, Lucy and But my wilf has had its effect on
inner
we enter the
sanctum?”
gark-ruler’s
Drakvil, “may I ask why I’m be- me. This is er — — a far, far better
ing assassinated?” thing I do than I have ever done
“Why?” exploded Drakvil. before. The quality of mercy is

HE LED them to
fended door and opened it.
the unde-
“You ask why?”
“A natural question, isn’t it?”
not strained and no man is an is-
land unto himself. If I should gor-
They stepped through filmy hang- asked Tom innocently. mul this subject, I should be di-
C
lie Pjeni!t 9^\anib ing curtains to find themselves in
“Why, I never heard of such a minished, even as an island dimin-
a pleasant, sunlit room where a
thing!”fumed Drakvil. “A subject ishes part of the main. Therefore
ment I saw the angle of your eye- fountain played. A pjanik in pur-
asking why. What galactic nerve! never send to know for whom the
cost you.” ple robes turned to look at them.
stalks! It’ll
If I hadn’t promised you to my bell tolls, because it’s already
“I not an addict,” panted
am Tom's adopted nephew-slave im- and an Assassin’s
assistant here, tolled for me.”
the officer. “I like a little gossip mediately prostrated himself be-
word wasn’t as good as his bond
like the next being, but I can take fore his duplicate. — ” His fingers played angrily U]Y|AD!” said Drakvil. “Stark,
it or leave it alone. But price is “Rise, inferior,” said the one in
with the hilt of a hook-shaped staring, raving mad. Poor,
no object. Quick, what’ve you got the purple robe. He helped Tom’s
knife attached to his harness. poor boy.” His color came back.
pjanik to arise, and the two stood
for sale?”
“Bend down, listen
—” said nose to nose, their white beards
“I suppose you don’t know why
either, young Apprentice?” said
His tone became more gentle.
“Before I gornul you myself,
Tom. The eyestalks dipped in- almost touching, their gentle eyes
the pjonik sadly to Tom. “Well, I Apprentice, and put you out of
fastened in friendly fashion on
ward. Tom threw a sudden hook
to the officer’s midsection. The each other. “To what do I owe the
suppose I’ll die not knowing. —
your misery tell me. Why did
Farewell, inferior.” you go this far before refusing to
officer collapsed without a sound honor of this visit?”
The large eyes of Tom’s pjanik act?”
and Tom shoved him through the “Rejoice, noble sir,” said Tom’s
began to fill with sympathetic “It was the least I could do for
meanwhile
curtain at Lucy’s feet, pjanik. “You are about to be as-
tears. the Master to whom I’d been ap-
immediately turning his appear- sassinated.”
“Go ahead,” fussed Drakvil. “I prenticed,” said Tom. “I suspect-
ance into a duplicate of the offi- “Hardly a cause for rejoicing,
protested
can’t.You must.” ed your honor had been im-
cer’s. He marched across to the inferior,” the other
“No,” said Tom. pugned. I had to actually get face
guard. mildly.
“No?” said Drakvil, Lucy and to face with the subject and you
“Attention!” he snapped. “Right “It isn’t, noble sir?”
the pjonik pjanik all at once. at the same time to make sure.
face! Forward march.” They “Not for a pjonik pjanik, infe-

GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 151

150
 ”

Now know beyond any doubt.” checks with my own knowledge, Drakvil had beaten his previ- “I imagine he’s on Gayahno by

“Honor?”
I
said Drakvil, sud- Apprentice. But nothing of it af- ous paleness of shade. He was now. Very probably ” Tom —
denly stiffening. “The honor of a fects my honor.” now so white he was nearly trans- —
glanced at his watch “he’s al-
Master Assassin impugned? Who “I will explain.” parent. ready sitting down with the forty-
would dare?” “Go ahead,” said Drakvil, tak- “You see,” said Tom to him, three representatives in the
Omni-
“Who indeed,” said Tom, nudg- ing a long, sinister-looking gadget “he didn’t care about the pjonik Races Building board room.”
ing Lucy, “but an amateur assas- from his harness. “I have to reset here, whom he had no reason to “Platform!” said Drakvil, touch-
sin?” my gornul anyway. Take a couple hire assassinated. He didn’t care ing a spot on his harness. The
“Amateur?” Drakvil went more moments if you like.” about the expense you might be platform appeared. “On!” he or-
chalk-white once more. “Thank you,” said Tom. “Sup- put to in buying a practice pjanik dered. Tom jumped up on it and
“Yes,” said Tom. “I wouldn’t pose you understand that what for me. He didn’t care about the pulled Lucy after him. Tom’s pja-
have had the least suspicion of this amateur hoped and planned scandal which would blacken your nik started to scramble aboard
him, if it hadn’t been for my wilf.” was that you would gornul me.” name in the Assassin’s Guild. All also, then stopped, confused.

He nudged Lucy again.
ticed the difference in the way I
was acting. Didn’t you, wilf?”
“Yes, I did,” said Lucy.
“It wanted to know what
disturbing me.”
“Yes, I did.”
“It warned me faithfully that
“It no- “How could he be so sure of he was interested was in using “Stay here, inferior,” said the
that?” you to get rid of me.” pjonik pjanik. “I’ll adopt you.”
“Because,” said Tom, taking a “Oh, little father,” said the pja-
deep breath, “he was prepared to T'kRAKVIL was not only nearly nik, falling prostrate. Drakvil
was violate your honor by forcing you transparent, he was swelling touched the platform. The room
to take on an Apprentice that he like a balloon. winked out around them and they
knew would never pass the test. “Pardon me, little uncle,” said winked in again in a long, hall-
You see, he knew I had a wilf.” Tom’s pjanik meekly, “but why like chamber, with a semi-circle

this amateur was out to dispose of Drakvil’s fingers stopped sud- didn’t he just hire the noble As-

me.” denly on the gornul. He looked sassin to destroy you in the first

“Er
—
” said Lucy, “yes, I did.” up. place?”
warnings did not register
“Its “He knew my wilf would stick “Well, you see,” said Tom in a
on meproperly until you slapped by me.” kindly voice, “he couldn’t. For the
me with that briefing ray just be- “Yes, I would,” said Lucy. same reason I couldn’t really
fore I went into the gark. In that “And that, faithful as it> is to
— its adopt you. My
race hasn’t ever
briefing was the information need- principles and to me subscribed to the Assassin Con-
ed to complete the picture. This “Yes, I am.” ventions. In fact —
I’m on my way
amateur arranged for me to be — it would, wilf-like, throw it- to Cayanho right now to discuss
left behind on Bug’raf, just as he self before my gornul when I at- the Conventions and other things
hired you through the Assassin’s tempted to assassinate the sub- with the forty-three other domi-
Guild to train me as an Appren- ject, thus creating a scandal that nant races’ representatives.”
tice. And he thoughtfully provid-
would reflect on you as my mas- Drakvil had finally found his
ter, and cause you to destroy me voice.“Where is he?” he wheezed.
ed this innocent pjonik pjanik as
a subject for me to practice on, at on the spot.” “Where is he?”
the regular rates.”
— >

“Y ” began Lucy; and stopped “The Mordaunti Ambassador

Drakvil said thoughtfully, his dead, staring at Tom with eyes who marooned my wilf and I and
color returning. “What you say almost as big as a pjanik’s. hired you?” said Tom smoothly. 3itL Officer

152
GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 153
of seats filled with a rainbow di- own weapon harness. He smiled straight again. “But there is a daunti smoothly, “I, myself, will
versity of different beings. The at Tom. higher duty. The obligations of a be honored to introduce a resolu-
Mordaunti Ambassador was “Though only an Apprentice,” Member of this meeting.” tion of confidence in your courage
standing in the open space before said Tom to Drakvil, “would you “What?” said Tom. “I don’t and that of every member of your
say I might prevail in a duel with understand. You have
these seats, addressing the rest of to fight race.”
thisbeing?” me.” “Well
the representatives. . .
.” said Tom. But the
“ —
our responsibility to the Drakvil snorted.
“Only!” he said. “Only an Ap-
“Alas,”
“Forgive me.”
said the Mordaunti. Mordaunti had already turned to
former Jaktal members, and those speak to the filled seats of the
prentice! You’ve been briefed, “Forgive you? you
races formerly under their domin-
ion
—he was saying. He broke
”
haven’t you? Naturally only an- me. I insist — I insist fight semi-circle about
Earth minutes
Tom. And
later the vote
three
was
off abruptly as he saw the plat- other Guild member could hope “Sadly, I must refuse. Sir, you unanimous in favor of Tom’s and
form with its occupants. to stand a chance with you, Ap- have inadvertently seated your- human courage, even Drakvil be-
“Now!” boomed Drakvil. Tom prentice or not.” self inthe Jaktal chair, as a Mem- ing read into the minutes unoffi-
ber of this meeting.”
caught the Assassin’s hand as it cially as being in favor.
was closing on the gornul.
“Just a minute,” said Tom. THE Mordaunti’s knees began
to give again. He tried to
“What?” cried Tom, looking
about him. “What’d I do? You IV
smile but his satanic grimace was mean, just by sitting down here
“He’s mine.”
“Yours?” Drakvil turned on a little loose at the corners. for a moment, I — 66 rT'ELL ME, really,” said Lucy
Tom. “I just wondered,” said Tom. “You invested yourself with Athat night, as they were pre-
“I wouldn’t want the impression diplomatic immunity,” said the
“Though only an Apprentice, I paring to retire on a Mordaunti
believe I have rights under the to get about the galaxy that I was Mordaunti. “Ambassadors may bed that was like a golden cloud
Tom. trying to hide from the honorable not duel with each other. That is twelve feet around, “did that
Guild,” said
Mordaunti representative.” a basic law of interracial politics. briefing really make you so dan-
“Yes,” Drakvil admitted thick-
He got down off the platform Otherwise our meetings would be- gerous? In just a second, like
ly-
“Then I believe I have the and walked across to a vacant come disasters.” that?”
from this be- chair he had spotted in the lowest “But I just sat down for a Tomclimbed onto the bed.
right of first offense
tier of seats. It was a little large minute!” Lucy was
ing, and so may challenge him to still tying the top of her
for him, being built to hold Jak- “I’m sorry. The rule
a duel before you yourself take is strict.” filmy blue nightgown. He
tals, but he seated himself in it. “Curses!” said Tom. bounced experimentally.
action?”
Drakvil glowered. “Let me see,”he said thought- “We all sympathize.” “Some bed,” he said. “Of course
“I’m going to have to do some fully. “I will have to arrange for “Why am I so absentminded?” it didn’t. I know all I need to
my wilf to be restrained so that “We all understand, I’m sure.
work on that briefing machine,”
he muttered. But he let go of the cannot prevent
— it

It could happen to any new-

know, but
ercising to
it’d take years of ex-
make my muscles
“Hold!” cried the Mordaunti comer. Unfortunately ignorance respond as they need to for effec-
gornul. “Go ahead, then. I’ll

Ambassador in the lingua franca. of the rule is no excuse.” tive use of the knowledge. Drak-
watch.”
The Mordaunti had buckled Tom
looked up, surprised. “Mycourage,” said Tom, “will vil, of course, wasn’t going to
the knees on seeing “No one could be more eager be called in question. The courage admit I wasn’t, though. His honor
slightly at
for a duel with the being from of the whole human race will as an Assassin was at stake. That
Drakvil. But on hearing this, he
Earth than I,” said the Mor- probably be called in question.” is why I think he was secretly
straightened up again and his
daunti. His knees were quite “Not at all,” said the Mor- pleased I didn’t have to duel the
hands spread inward toward his

154
GALAXY THE FAITHFUL WILF 155
 come attached? What do they same principles. Naturally, there’s
want to make friends for? What’s not much opportunity for them to
in it them?” She looked nar-
for improve other wilfs, these being
rowly at Tom. “They look so as good as they can get already.
much like us and they go around So they try to get close to beings
attaching themselves. I want to
Mordaunti, after all. —
Are you look a lot like women. At least an
know why!”
of other races, in a strictly intel-
lectual way. That’s all.”
going to put the lights out?” alien might think they did. But
“Oh,” said Tom. “I see. I see. “Oh,” said Lucy, “that’s all
“In a minute,” said Lucy. She they’re really a totally different
Well, it’s not what you might right, then.”
stood by the bed. “I want you to race, monosexual. It’s just that
think at all.” She put out the lights and
tell me something first.” they go around becoming deeply
“It isn’t?” bounced into bed.
“What?” attached to beings of other races.
“No,” said Tom. “Different “I’ve got plenty of low princi-
“I want to know exactly what Once they make friends, their race,and all that. It’s just that
proverbial in the ples” she said. “You like me that
a wilf is. And you tell me the faithfulness is
wilfshave this strong moral sense. way, don’t you? You’d better say
galaxy.”
truth.” They have very high principles yes.”
“Oh.” “But why?”
and their greatest joy is in con- “Yes,” said Tom.
“Yes, oh.”
Tom, slowly, “they
“Why?”
“Why,” said Lucy, “do they be-
verting some other being to these — GORDON R. DICKSON
“Well,” said
THE FAITHFUL WILF 157

.
 TITS gaudy wristwatch showed
thirty minutes past nine, six
July. It was time. From here on
it was do the job right or be
ruined. If not physically, then
professionally.
Finian. Smith dug for tools in
the pouches of his imitation stom-

THE ach.The left eye

moon face gave a
to complete the time signal.
of the watch’s
ludicrous wink

Finian hated the watch. He’d

SELLERS OF gotten used to the confines of the

camouflaged polymer leech cling-
ing to the keel of the hydrofoiler.

THE He’d gotten used to performing

necessary bodily functions in in-
timate contact with the leech’s
servomechanisms for thirty-six
—
DREAM hours. But the watch
It was
never.
effete, like his clothes.
Effeteness was big this year. Next
year it would be hand-loomed
By JOHN JAKES Illustrated by R. D. FRANCIS woolens. But he wasn’t being paid
to inherit the soul of the man he
He was the master spy. He was impersonating, after all. He
could be anybody at all — applied the first of his meson
torches to the thick hull. His long,
until they made him nobody! pleasantly ugly face began to
bead with perspiration.
He had precisely four minutes
to cut through.
His face was half shadowed by
the hull as he worked, half
washed in flickering sunlight
through anemone and brain coral.
He defused a large U-shaped sec-
tion and replaced the torch with
a pistol unit fitted with a round
cup at the muzzle. This cup he

158
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 159
 ”

DECK, jerks hopping, huh? Well, sorry ing cologne. One rundown ware-
applied to the hull. A blue whine Finian adjusted his
of power —
he forced the hull identification badge.
Spool isn’t around. Maybe later.
See you in the videofunnies — house in Jamaica comprised the
Empire any more. TTIC or G/S
inward far enough to accommo- Beneath his picture it said
Overdoing it, Finian thought could buy or sell the Empire a
date entry to the fuel baffle Woodrow Howslip, Missoula,
as he hurried along. Still, it was thousand times. Or any other
chamber. Mont., Upper North American
reassuring to know the intelli- country. Finian was sweating. No
He set a small black box to Distributorship. Finian hoped
gence was correct: Sprool was in wonder the stakes were so high.
blow the polymer leech off the Woodrow Howslip was still lost
in the Mojave Desert. If so, the
Bombay. Finian had run up
hull in fifty seconds, glad that he’d
only thing Finian had to worry
against him most recently when /~\N AN austere platform up
spent a full twenty nights under
over was his old enemy.
TTIC tried to steal G/S designs front sat three men. One
the hypnolearner. The penetra-
for the mid-year hairdo changes was a florid oldgentleman with
tion plan was drummed so deeply Every few yards along the deck
during the 2004-5 season. dewlaps and blue, vaguely crossed
armed TTIC security men stood
into his skull he could operate
at attention; TTIC seemed to
Finian joined a crowd of dis- eyes. Another —
a spindly type
like
With
an automaton.
a last tool he re-sealed have innumerable armed guards.
tributors hurrying into an audi- with a flower at each cuff rose —
torium beneath a banner reading: and was introduced by a loud-
the hull, touched a stud and So did G/S for that matter. Fin-
speaker as Corporate Director of
watched the tool collapse to ian often wondered why. No one
gritty pumice. Right now the got angry any more, why have
WELCOME Sales Northcote Hastings.

armed guards?
Things to Come Incorporated “Thank you, thank you. I won’t
leech should be quietly disinte-
Woody How- World Distributors waste time, gentlemen. You’ve
grating, without so much as a “Hi, there, I’m
“Last Year’s Woman Is This traveled thousands of miles in
murmur to disturb the TTIC spy slip.”
The guard Year’s Consumer” secrecy and we appreciate it. We
radar. It took a lot of money to “Morning, sir.”
cobalt trustyou also appreciate why we
arrange this penetration, Finian stared into the Pacific’s
much As he took a seat in the shad- must maintain the mobility of our
thought. Knowing how swell.
owy hall he listened to voices all personality design center. One
made him
Finian
nervous.
hurried up a lonely
“Say, fella. Last year when I
came to see the new models inner- around: never knows when the ah — —
“It’s rumored she’s of the Gre- competition nlight infiltrate a
companionway. Before stepping duced, I ran into a hell of a swell
to the yacht’s deck he dusted his person — Spool or Stool. Sure
cian mode,” said the European
Common Market distributor.
permanent
our sales in
They can’t match
site.
new personalities, so
pleatless puce satin pantaloons like to buy him a drink. Is he on
“What? Copy the tripe G/S they try to outfight us with
and also made sure the precision board?”
peddled two years ago?” That punches below the belt.”
camera, a combined effort of “I don’t believe so, sir.”
“Oh, too bad. Maybe he’ll show was the White/Blue Nile man. He fingered his, of ermine, to
G/S dental technicians and optics
They always have the top The Chinese distributor pro- illustrate. Finian joined the
men, was in place where his right up.
tested: “Last year, too severe. laughter, but meant his.
front incisor had once been. The dogs at these distributor shows.
Humble per cent of market drop “After luncheon, gentlemen,
blade shutter’s release was a knob I hear Stool’s a top dog. Chief of
severely. Five thousand years in you’re scheduled for individual
on the tooth’s inner surface, trig- company spies or something.”
fields, China women do not desire sessions with o,ur designers, psy-
gered by tongue pressure. Fake The guard concealed irritation.
box haircut, woolen socks.” chiatrists, plastic surgeons and
enamel would fly aside a micro- “Sprool, sir. Chief of industrial
“Hope it’s a real smasher this sociability coordinators, not to
instant and TTIC secrets would investigation.”
Empire mention apparel teams and ac-
time,” said the British
be recorded for posterity, not to Finian gigged the man’s ribs.
distributor, a seedy fellow wear- cessory experts.”
mention G/S market analysts. “Keeps those Goods/ Services

GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 161

160
 held up his hand. “Next year — ing girl of yesteryear? We capture prepared for the shock that
Hastings glanced at the old
vaguely I promise! —TTIC will abso- her for you —
warm, uncompli- awaited him.
gentleman with the
lutely and without qualification
cated, revelling in — uh, let’s see Onto the screen slid the naked
crossed eyes.
“Before we proceed, however, be ready to introduce the concept
— sunlight and outdoor sports.” figure of a girl. Only her back
of the obsolescent male person-
A series of solido slides, illus- was exposed. Nothing could be
I should like to introduce TTIC’s
ality, exactly as we did in the
trating Krumm’s points with shots seen of her face. Her hair was
beloved chairman of the board,
of nuclear ski liftsor the Seine, yellow, that was all. The flesh it-
Mr. Alvah Loudermilk. Stand up, female market ten years ago. I
man- can only emphasize again the tre- merged one into another. self was tanned, in sharp contrast
Mr. Loudermilk.” The sales
mendous physical problems con- “Gone is the exaggerated I.Q. to the pale library look currently
ager was plainly annoyed by hav-
of this year, gone the modish
ing to make the introduction. The fronting us, and point to the lag being merchandised. The propor-
in male fashion obsolescence that
clothing. A
return to softness. A tions of the girl’s buttocks had
old dodderer took a step toward
was not finally overcome until the simple mind, clinging, sweet. The been surgically worked out to be
the podium. Hastings let a toler-
late twentieth century, by the
stuff of everyman’s dreams. Gen- almost the apex of voluptuous-
ant smile be seen by the distribu-
tors but did not relinquish the sheer weight of promotion. Men,
tlemen, I give you — ”
ness. But what shook Finian to
unlike women, accept new decora-
Hidden kettledrums swelled. the soles of his mink slippers was
mike.
tive concepts slowly. TTIC has a
The name flashed on the screen: a star-shaped raspberry mark on
“You can talk with Mr. Louder-
milk personally later, gentlemen.” lucrative share of the semi-annual
DREAM DESIRE. the new model’s left rear.
The florid old gentleman sat male changeover, but we are “Dream Desire! New Woman That isn’t Dream Desire, he
down again, as though no one ap- years behind the female person-
of the 2007-08 market year!” thought wildly. That’s —
that’s —
preciated him. Smoothly Hastings ality market. Next year we catch “We begin with the, uh, rear
/^kVER enthusiastic applause elevation,” said Krumm.
continued, “Let me get on by up.” “In that
bringing forward the great design “May we see what you have for Krumm continued: “At our colorful mark you see TTIC
the girls, old chap?” someone thirtythousand personality alter- marketing genius. That mark will
chief of Things to Come Incor-
porated —” He flung out a hand. asked. “Then we’ll decide whether ation centers over the world,
every woman will be able to
stamp the woman who buys this
“Dr. Gerhard Krumm.” we’re happy.” new personality as a genuine
The famed Krumm, an obese “Very well.” Krumm began to change her body and mind, by Dream Desire, not a shoddy G/S
read from a promotion script: means of surgical and psychologi- counterfeit. To be frank, adoption
toad with the inevitable disar-
rayed look of the corporate in- “This year we steal a leaf from cal techniques of which TTIC is of this unique — ah — signature,
tellectual, walked to the podium. yesterday’s uh — —
scented the acknowledged master, to be- was not planned. When we sought
album.” The lights dimmed art- come Dream Desire. Backed by a girl for our prototype, we
His apricot slippers, pantaloons dis-
Perfume sprayed the the most intensive promotion covered the girl we chose was
and bolero jacket seemed to have fully.

come from a dustbin. Behind chamber from hidden ducts. A program in history, we promise blessed with such a mark. It in-
stereo orchestra swelled. The cur- that more women will become spired serendipity. But this is just
Krumm stage blowers whirred. Dream Desire than have ever be-
They were readying curtains and tains parted. Finian’s upper lip the beginning. See what we have
was rolled back as far as possible. come one of our previous models. done with the face.”
screen.
tongue near his A nostalgic solido view of New Because, gentlemen, no woman Only just in time did Finian
Finian
tooth.
slid his
York when it was once populated could possibly resist becoming — remember to trigger his tooth and
“Gentlemen,” Krumm said, by people flashed on the screen. this.” take a shot of the rear elevation
Violins throbbed thrillingly. Sitting forward with tooth before the front view flashed on.
“first the bad news.”
“Remember the sweet, charm- ready to shoot, Finian was un- The naked and coy on a
At the unhappy grumble he girl, di-

162
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 163
 II
van, had pink cheeks, red lips, Qv,

china blue doll eyes. Pretty, in a

'

cuddlesome, vapid way. UT THOUGHT you were in

Quickly he exposed two more Bombay,” said Finian. “I

frames. He was falling apart, got bum information.”

muffing the job. Krumm’s voice
became a drone detailing the sur-
gical and analytical procedures
necessary for a woman to buy the
appearance and personality
Dream Desire. Finian didn’t hear
a thing about price schedules or
Sprool smiled somewhere in
the depths of his almost colorless
eyes. His pale, saturnine face,
however, was devoid of humor.
of “Never trust Lyman Pushkyn
for information, Fin. Since when
MM
is an advertising man qualified to

what lower-priced models were supervise an industrial investiga-

contemplated. He photographed tion program?”
“You’re right. tried to get
each slide mechanically, thinking I

of the raspberry mark. them to give me the post once.”

It’s not Dream Desire, he said “Did you? I didn’t realize that.

to himself. My God —
it’s Dolly When?”
Novotny. “Right after I was cashiered by
Not the face, not the breasts. the DOCs and finished my first
But there, far down in the eyes. case for G/S." He couldn’t repress
They weren’t even brown any a smile. “The time I stole your
more. But colored contacts could men’s changeover layouts by dis-
change eyes so easily. guising myself as part of the
Never had he been more pro- lavatory wall. When you still had
foundly shocked. His own sweet the design center on land, out in
lost Dolly! California.”
Sprool chuckled flatly. “We’ve
A heavy hand seized his
been friendly enemies quite a
shoulder.
“Here he is!” while, haven’t we, Fin?”
Finian was dragged from his “You never put one over on me
seat. A searing light flashed in his like this, though.”
“Shame you forgot sweat
face.
“Well, Finian
well. Smith. prints.”
“My own damned fault.” Finian
When you took hold of that rail
you should thrust out his jaw. “I’ll take what’s
coming into the hall,

have recalled we have sweat coming. I was counting on this

you G/S boys. Give
prints for all play to cut through all that stupid
me the camera and come along bureacracy at the top of G/S and
quietly,” finished Sprool. maybe net me the chief investi-

164
GALAXY
 ”

nomics in public universities? new models came out. The dis-

gator’s post.” Finian scowled out
paternalistic. When we dispose of
Your father was dead set against trict supervisor was there, making
the office porthole to the heaving an we do it with flexibili-
irritant,
the kind of obsolescence practiced a speech. I thought I saw a kid
Sprool smoothed ty and permanence, but no phy-
blue Pacific. by the corporations we both rep- inside one of the levacars the
sical pain.”
thinning hair. resent. The two largest corpora- crowd was pushing into the Wa-
“Might as well give me the “That’s nice to know, consider-
tions in the world!” bash River. I went to see, hold
camera.” ing you’ll probably ruin my “Pop wanted consumer money back the crowd. The district
Finian made a show of dipping career.”
really cut out
spent on libraries, schools, high- supervisor told me to stop. I hit
his artificial paunch. He “Were you ever
into ways, pretty green roadside pic- him. 7 hit him. You know what
come up with a palm-sized micro for business, Fin?”
nic parks.” happens when you hit an execu-
wasn’t what the hell was I
35 mm and snapped open the case “If I
“None of which contributes tive.”
He pulled the leader on cut out for? Not the DOCs.”
release. very much to keeping the world Finian pinched the bridge of
the casette all the way out, ex- plant running at top output. None his nose to shut out the ugly
posing the film. Chuckling, Sprool PROOL raised a chiding finger.
picked up the cylinder.
S “See? That burst of temper
of which provides the millions of
jobs needed to give black and
memory. At length he added, “In
case you never heard the rest of
“Very nice, Finian. May I now isall too typical of you. People
yellow and white alike ample the story either, a wreck crew
have the real camera?” simply don’t rock the boat these opportunity for the good life. If examined the levacar afterward.
“Ah, you slick bastard,” grum- days, Fin. Why, if either G/S or
you’d only understand yourself, There was no kid inside. Only a
TTIC went for a 50%
more than
bled Finian. This time he took a how you fit the scheme of things.” big mechanical doll somebody
piece of equipment from beneath share of the renewal personality
had forgotten to take out before
his singlet. Sprool dropped it market —
plus or minus the 2% “I don’t. That’s the trouble.
What the hell am I supposed to the smash.”
down a hissing disposal tube. gain or lose as a result of spying,
“You look positively vengeful, design leaks and so forth — the do, join the prisoners in New
York? I keep quiet about what I
“Very touching,”
emptily.
said Sprool

U.N. would have economic its

Fin.” think. I did it well enough to be “Come on, Sprool. Let’s get this
“I could smash a few heads cycle theorists down on us in- an operative for the Department over.”
right now. That damn G/S Comp- stantly.”
of Obsolescence Control. I was “Of course. But let me make
troller Central makes investiga- “God, Sprool,
guess just wasn’t
I try
meant
and try. I
to be
doing all right until — ”
one more point. Do you know
tors do their own penetration I
Memory clouded his brow. He why I’m here, not in Bombay?”
a twenty-firstcentury man. I
work-ups. They’re nickle-nursers wriggled deep down in the foam “The mental riot at the TTIC
besides. I thought of sweat prints. never had the proper education, of his chain He wished he were nylon plant was a fake.”
They said the corrective was too like those reading primers written

expensive. I wasn’t positive you by market boys from

the
— free of this hellish interview, free “Not at all. The rioters were

had the index on file, so

“Fin, please don’t bristle. Re-
member we have telephotos on
you at this very moment. In that
bust of Loewy, for instance. His
collar button is watching you.
Don’t fight me and you won’t get
hurt. TTIC is a business opera-
tion just like G/S.
— where was it? BBDO? I went— to think on the problem of Dream
Desire who was not Dream Desire
manning the controls of the
motorized strikegangs day and
to private school. On my Pop s
at all but Dolly. night, from their homes. The mo-
knee.”
“Until what? I never really ment TTIC cabled agreement to
“Then your attitudes are un-
knew.” their demand for two extra holi-
derstandable. How can you ex-
“Until I rocked the boat, God days, before and after Nehru’s
pect to be anything but yourself
damn it! I was chief of the In- birthday, they gave up all their
when your father was a Gal-
braither? Perhaps the last of that
diana bureau. I tried to stop a other requests —
for free anti-
car-smash rally a week before the cigarette immunization and the
Firm but persuasion allowed to teach eco-

GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 167

166
like.People are soft, Fin. They body’s a consumer and a worker clasping him from the back of He had a blurry recollection of
cooperate. It must be so, or the and — and damn it, soft as jello. the chair. colors on a screen, little else. The
plant would stop functioning. And it’s a miserable mess from “The worst damage you did laboratory cretins unhooded him.
How many billions do G/S and top to bottom.” was on film,” Sprool said, striding The chair relaxed. Sprool assisted
TTIC employ? Put those people Sprool was genuinely shocked. back and forth, dry-washing his him to his feet.
out of work —disaster! Hunger, “Fin, are you seriously advo- hands. “I naturally assume that “Feeling better? Free of un-
pestilence, real rioting. The peo- cating periodic wars?” in your heightened nervous state, pleasant memories?”
ple also have another role to fill, Finian shielded his eyes from what you saw with your eyes “You’ve no business tamper-
as consumers. If they’re unhappy, the sun falling through the port. didn’t make much of an impres- ing —”

they respond less adequately to “Oh, no. I can’t think of anything sion. But we’ll be sure. Give him a Dolly Novotny had a raspberry
advertising. The slows
plant else, that’s all. Fatness or fighting, mild jolt to start, boys.” mark.
down. Why, until TTlC con- fighting or fatness. In my book Several sinister cathode tubes So did Dream Desire.
ceived the idea of introducing they’re both lousy. I wish there began to hiss at various points on “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
new female personalities every were a third way. I can’t think of the machine. Finian felt a tingle
year, not just new clothes but one. Maybe if I were smart like on his scalp, similar to a healthful TT TOOK Finian’s strength
complete new mental patterns, you —
” Finian stopped, bitterly.
massage. He closed his eyes and
all

to keep from revealing that the

the world was headed for ruin. Sprool dialed a magenta visor- tried to remember the rear ele- mental dike had just burst.
We ran out of new gadgets long phone. “Really, Fin, this is be- vation of Dream Desire. He wasn’t really surprised.
ago.” coming pointless temperament.” He panicked. Dolly Novotny had once meant
Into the phone he said, “We’re Almost as though there were a far more to him than assignment
iiT^ON’T kid me,” Finian said ready, Doctor.” To Finian again: mental vacuum cleaner in his could. She would again, when he
cynically. “Personality ob- “Please don’t try to reform our head, certain synapses were learned how and why she —
solescencewas thought up by Old delicately balanced world, my blocked, certain memory recep- He laughed inwardly. Poor
Man Pharoh of G/S. His grand- friend. At least not until we scrub tors temporarily sucked dry. The Sprool. He’d stolen a march. Two.
dad told him a story about the your mind clean of what you saw technique was a portion of that Finian still had the tooth camera.
Kennedy lady’s mushroom hair in the auditorium.” employed in changing the female And how could Sprool know
changing the style overnight and
spine.
A shiver crawled on Finian’s consumer’s intelligence quotient Finian wanted to —
must —
started him thinking.” from year to year to conform to remember Dolly Novotny, be-
it

“He had considerable help “Scrub — ?”

the new
personality design she cause she was the only creature
from Alvah Loudermilk.” Too late. Pneumatic doors slid purchased. It made Finian fume he ever really loved?
“Who cares? All I say is, it’s aside. Two unsavory specimens to think of them tampering with Dolly was the girl to whom he’d
a hell of a shame the Triple Play in white smocks bordered with his skull. He was no rotten Met- been engaged, before her parents
War didn’t end in something be- lace wheeled a rubber-tired me- ropolis wife merchandised into broke it off after he was cashiered
sides a stalemate. We
wouldn’t chanism into the room. Before adopting the latest fashion trend. from the DOCs. An ex-DOC who
have had everybody palsy-walsy, Finian could move they adjusted He writhed ferociously. Sprool became an industrial investigator
black and white and yellow. And several wing nuts and lowered a looked on with disapproval. was little more than a lowlife spy
this damned population problem bowl device over his head. He Try as he might, Finian could in their estimations. Finian had
— the first rockets rusting on the tried to stand up, cursing. He was not remember what —
good lord! been away so much, on assign-
moon and nobody interested in quickly but painlessly pinioned He’d forgotten the name! ment. Dolly had tried to resist her
following them in person. Every- by sleek tubular metal arms What did she look like? What ? parents, but they held the cash-

168 GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 169

 the hovered six kicking and pummeling, of the bockers. His stomach, lumpy and
box for a modeling career. She later vertijet

tried; she loved him. But one day inches from Lyman Pushkyn’s precious tooth-camera, just before white as the rest of him, hung out
Cyn-
to Bala green front door, the lawn of he was hustled to Pushkyn’s floor. unglamorously.
when he came back
wyd she was gone. The whole Panpublix on the outskirts of the “Rock the boat some more,
family had moved. Eastern metropolis. Finian was Ill creepnik. You’ll find out how they

Finian received one final letter. rudely pushed out. The vertijet can fight.”
He thought from the words, or climbed a white column of vapor 13ANPUBLIX was the wholly- “Oh shut up. I delivered your
rather what was between them, into the sky. owned internal advertising pictures. Even if your men did
Finian picked fresh-cut grass agency for G/S. The building take them by force.”
really, that she still loved him.
The words were obviously par- from his pantaloons. Oh, that loomed forty stories. Within its Pushkyn turned his back. “Ped-
entally ghosted. kind, gentle Sprool. On his in- curtainwalls quite a few thousand dle it another place, jerk. You’re

Blinking at Sprool now, scratch- had

ing his scalp to relieve the prickle,
Finian realized anew the rather
disheartening truth. He was a
structions the vertijet pilot communicators devoted them- through.”
beamed an anonymous message selves to the task of planning and “You can’t talk to me that way.
on the Panpublix band, announc- executing campaigns to move the If you hadn’t chintzed about a
ing that Finian Smith was being bodies, as
the expression went. lousy sweat-print job —
”

maverick. Pop had made him so, returned to continental U.S. by a The fortieth, or solarium, floor be- Pushkyn squinted around. “So
mother’s shrill pro-
his TTIC skycraft. Still, Finian had longed the agency’s executive that’s how. That Sprool, he’s a
against
So be Especially since one ace to stave off financial dis- officer, Pushkyn, into whose regular fiend.”
tests.
someone
it.

—
the system, maybe, aster. presence Finian was unceremoni- “Damn it, Lyman — ”

Five minutes later he lost it. ously thrust. Extending a trembling sausage
he didn’t know, cared less because
man couldn’t really fight a sys- A squad of G/S industrial “You miserable creep,” Lyman finger Pushkyn breathed, “You we
a
guards boiled onto the lawn and said, as he shooed away his mas- ought to have psyched, deep and
tem, not an ordinary man anyway
— had corrupted the flesh he hustled Finian to a cold tile room seuse and beetled
Ukrainian brows. “You bumbler,
his thick permanent. What a fool I was to
loved so well. in the personnel wing. There, he string along with you for years!
discovered two astonishing things. you! We heard all about your A stumblebum private cop digni-
Finian was vaguely aware of
One, the corporation was not incredible performance from fying himself by calling himself
Sprool, bland, pointing.
“Up that stairway, Fin. Directly quite so paternalistic as it masked Sprool’s agents. You’re fired. an industrial investigator. Come
to the vertijet takeoff stage. Spare itselfto appear. The policeman Blackballed. Eradicated. Ka- in here storming, cursing — no
you the embarrassment of going roughed him as they stripped him. poosht.” wonder the DOCs kicked you
Two, the vast G/S industrial Finian had a hard light in his out!”
on deck.” He
extended his hand.
“Luck, Fin. I hope the sacking police force was not the harmless, eyes. He sat down, tilted his feet Momentarily bewildered, Fini-
aimless body it looked to be from to the chaise footrest and dialed an countered, “Lyman, your own
isn’t too bad.”
Finian slipped the hand aside. outside. Apparently the guards the arm for a B- complex cock- guards —
were paid so well because they tail. “Lyman, those goonies of “Quiet! We’ll get a nice fat rap
He grinned. If you had to be a
had to move savagely if a bubble yours messed me up. I never in the public image when the in-
loony, why not enjoy it?
boiled up the bland surface of the knew they were more than win- vestigator trade journals pick up
“Thanks for nothing, pal.”
He marched defiantly up the world stew. dow dressing. I didn’t know they the story of how G/S flopped.”
In fact, their professionalism were supposed to fight.” Glowering, Finian stalked him.
stairs into sunlight.
with the see-rays in the personnel Pudgy Pushkyn snapped the “Regardless of that, I delivered.
Who had Sprool been kidding
about paternalism? Three hours lab relieved him, howling and elastic of his old rose knicker- I want my fee.”

170
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 171
 “I’ll be damned if I — ”
Conflict was temporarily fore-
stalled by the arrival of a thin
assistant art director, carrying a
square item masked in gray silk.
Finian stared moodily at the G/S
model announcement layouts in
the wall display racks. The trade-
name of the new G/S woman and
her figure were greeked; but from
the woodcut and steel-engraving
technique of the gatefold and
bleed comps, Finian suspected
G/S was going to market a bit of
nostalgia even older than the kind
chosen by TTIC. Bustless, man-
dolins and stereopticons by gas-
light? Finian had a prepossessing
urge to throw up.
“Want to see this, chief?” said
the assistant art director.
He whipped off the silk, re-
vealing an oil painting in a plat-
inum frame.
“What the rinkydink
that?” Pushkyn cried.
blanched.
The art director
“Why, chief, it’s R. R. Pharoh
III!”
“Of course, of course, jerkola.
You think I don’t know? I haven’t
seen the old smeller in three years
maybe, but think I don’t know
the chairman of my own bread
and butter? Why the fancy-fancy
oil treatment? You do it?”
“Spare time, only, chief,” trem-
bled the art “Got a
director.
memo. Salinghams —
you know,
the audiotonal effects veep
172
memoized Pharoh. Wanted a per- just an hour ago. Molecular
angulation. My
God, sir, it’s a
tri- to stop like they put sand in
them? While we take care
sonal portrait of his leader. of your
Pharoh memoized me, okaying miracle of deception. Manhattan! personal problems? Don’t be a
having his picture done. I patched The prison! An old rundown dis- jerkola. Like to argue about the
together this little work from the tillery company building in the fee? I’ll call up the guards again.”
descriptive PR biog. There aren’t worst stews of —
” He consulted Something akin to a cool rush
any good portraits extant.” n a paper. “Parkave, that’s the of air swept Finian’s brain.
“W hy bring it to me?” place.” “Then I’ll find her without the
You memoized me Listening transfixed, Pushkyn fee, Lyman.”
“But chief!
when I memoized you that — ” started, slid his gaze to Finian “Hah-hah, sure. Big independ-
Oh, yeah. Well, I’m
did? and snarled at the screen, “Oh, ent operator, big millionaire. Go
“I
busy. Take it to Salinghams.” boy, is your fat in the fire. Call me get psyched and lose those hostile
back.” He shut off and squinted tendencies. Don’t rock the world,
at Finian, whose mind churned.
THE ART director veiled his she don’t rock so good. Every-
and disappeared “You were talking?” body’s happy, you be happy. Go
creation
the tube. Pushkyn was
Finian swallowed hard. “Push- grub and be happy.”
down
Finian when he kyn, I must find out what’s hap- “I’m not happy. All of a sudden
about to speak to
noted the gray sweat patina on pened to the girl they made into I’m not happy, if people like you
Finian’sface. He demanded to the TTIC prototype. If they’ve made the only girl I ever fell in
know whether Finian was ill. changed her they’ve done wrong. love with obsolete.”
“Nothing, nothing’s wrong,” She was sweet and desirable. “Get out, chummo. I don’t like
Finian, shivering, wildly They’ve made her all soft and dis- you any more. You’re dangerous.”
said
gusting. Like marshallow.” Finian Smith nodded crisply. “I
curious.
The image in the portrait “The new TTIC broad? You could very well be.” And left.
burned into Finian’s skull. It was were hot for her once, that it?”
hell is
that of a florid old gentleman with
“That’s it. I was only holding
dewlaps and blue, vaguely back the camera so you’d pay me. A S FINIAN left the Panpublix
Give me a chance!” building he heard a men-
crossed eyes.
Tightening his nerves, Finian “Think we run a sniveling acing hiss. He dodge the
tried to
said, “Pushkyn, let me lay it out.
charity?” Pushkyn’s sweeping rainbow spray. Too late.
need to gesture encompassed the heavens His clothing was soon soaked
I got to have the fee. I it
find the prototype of the TTIC and the pulsing, overpopulated with a noxious admixture of
used to know her.” smog banks beneath. “We gotta water, special nitrites and phos-
girl. I
keep the plant running! Create phorous compounds shot into the
A visorphone glowed. Pushkyn
slapped the command button. A
demand every minute! Off with air by the underground sprinkler
the old woman! On with the new! system.
pale man danced up and down on
The old woman, she smells, she’s At the levacar station he finally
the screen.
a break- out of date! We got a crusade here controlled his anger. How petty
“Chief, chief, it’s
at Panpublix! We got a holy mis-
—
through, a breakthrough! We
sion! You want the plant wheels
they could be, to order the lawns
sprinkled just then.
turned up the TTIC pilot plant
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 173
 Waiting passengers moved cold, unpleasant word gnawed his ern modes. Good consumers, both. Pushkyn! Damn the vindictive
away and made rude remarks head. Conspiracy. Then came his dismissal from bastard.
about his smell. Finian found him- A moment later his profession- the DOCs, the enforced break- He trudged on through the
self sole occupant of the front car al memory dredged up a source up — rain, never having felt so alone in
on the ride down the Philadelphia for proving or disproving his odd The levacar slowed for Bala his life. It was a queer sensation,
spur. theory. What he intended to do Cynwyd. In the abstract, remodel- the total absence of credit. Once,
The enforced loneliness gave with evidence, if any existed, he ing a woman’s mind to make her he remembered dimly, Pop had
him a chance to organize his couldn’t say. But he had a vague the pattern to which nearly all brought home a suit of clothes
muddled thoughts and decide desire to be armed with a little other women in the world could purchased with. cash. It had
what course of action he had to more certainty before he sought conform was acceptable to caused a near-riot among Bala
pursue concerning Dolly Nov- Dolly. Finian. When it came to the Cynwyd burghers.
Anachingly musical name. specific of changing Dolly to the Reaching
otny. his shabby apart-
Two he possessed. What
facts Dolly, Dolly — marshmallow-trumpery creature ment, Finian changed from the
they meant, he didn’t know. He remembered her so well, looming on the screen behind effete suit, scrubbed up as best
A likely place to find her was from summer evenings on the Krumm, that was too much. he could, packed his few belong-
the TTIC pilot plant on Manhat- back porch before Bala Cynwyd, ings into a satchel and walked
he was like the other suburbs, was swal- A S HE
stepped off at Bala Cyn- back into the rain. He passed a
tan, the prison island. Still,
lowed in the fester of the metrop- wyd, it began to rain. He
certain to have a rough time get- crowd of workers from the local
ting onto the island and into the olis. hurried along beneath warped G/S visorphone plant. It special-
plant after that. With few re- Her dark hair. Her gentle eyes. building fronts of chartreuse and ized in treating receiver parts
sources at his disposal it might be Her animated mouth. And the electric blue extruded plastic. with reagents that would crack
better to pursue the other thread raspberry mark, one night during From a doorway a hapless bum in the plastic precisely eight months
a bit. an electrical storm. last year’s pseudo-cotton sport after installation.
Its significance left him even She’d tentatively shared Fin- clothes begged for three dollars A little smog had mixed with
more muddled. Alvah Louder- ian’s inherited ideas about their for a tube of model cement to the rain, turning the street
milk, TTIC chairman, had ap- constantly obsolete world, ideas sniff. shuddered
Finian and ghostly.At a corner booth Finian
peared at the dealer presentation, long suppressed in him and now walked faster. He stopped at Abe used his last few coins to make
somewhat to the annoyance of his flooding back under the double Kane’s Autosuiter, the last shop House of Sinatra
a toll call to the
inferiors. And R. R. Pharoh, top stimulus of Sprool’s lecture and left open on the block, selected a in Los Angeles.
G/S executive, hadn’t been acting Pushkyn’s vindictive parsimony. few new clothes from the plastic A
sound truck rolled past, re-
quite sensibly either when he per- Dolly hadn’t exactly been sympa- catalogue sheets fastened to the peating over and over, “Gee-ess,
mitted an oil portrait of himself thetic. The philosophy of endur-
was too daring even
walls, and fed his universal credit Gee-ess, don’t guess, it’s bess —
to be painted. Finian had never ing worth card into the slot after punching Take free shuttle at Exit 5-6 to
seen a public photo of either man. then. (Today it was sheer luna- out his measurements. the G/S Plaza — Gee-ess,
Both executives were practically cy.) But neither -had she been as A red lucite sign blinked on: don’t — ”

legendary. adamant as most citizens. As her Credit N. G. A dapper young man appeared
Then why name of Gal-
in the parents, for example. They re-
Finian frowned, hit the cancel on the screen, snapping his fingers.
braith did both look so much like placed their furniture monthly lever and tried again. The third “Hiyah. What can this gasser
each other? with the latest G/S fiberboard time he tried, his card was not of a full-service bank do for you,
When Finian thought on it, one laminate imitation Finnish mod- returned. Clyde?”

174
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 175
 alarming, eye-open- sional stolen chunk of honeycomb. few defiantly wear-
in the cages, a
Finian showed his bank identi- frightening,
ing, solitary, transfiguring days But his life, against such a seeth- ing ancient gaudy jackets with
fication card.
ing pack of wild creatures as he mottoes stitched on them, forgot-
“I’d like to withdraw my bal- they had been, too.
Days of dodging robot leva- had fled from on that lonely road, ten anarchist slogans like Pflu-
ance.”
cars whose spot-beams hunted needed more dependable protec- ger’s Idle Hour Pin Barons.
The banker came back into
him in the shadows beneath the tion.
view a moment later. “Get lost.
Your balance is nonesville. Gar- elevated turnpikes, seeking to ar- Difficult problem. Under law, /"kN THE outskirts of South
him for pedestrianship. weapons were prohibited except Bend, Finian luckily came
nisheed at noon. Unperformance rest
Days of remembering his Pop. upon special occasions. What ne- upon an obsolescence carnival.
and non-fulfilling of verbal con-
And nights too. Especially nights, cessity for weapons when all was Several thousand people
tract, with waiver of cooperation.
thinking as he lay under a berry pleasant cooperation? swarmed across a treeless terrain
You signed it, Charlie.”
“Damn it, I performed — bush half-starved and chilly, how Yet the G/S guards carried in a housing project smash. Mo-
Pop had enjoyed prizefights, anti- weapons. So did the TTIC in- torized workgangs stood at the
Finian began.
uncooperative prizefights. ternal force. Finian was beginning development’s fringe, waiting to
The screen had already social,
Finian had been to believe he knew why that set up new prefab Moorish Man-
blacked. How young
dragged to lonely boxcars or dim might be so. Too early to tell, ors to replace obsolete Five-Bed-
He staggered into the drifting however. And the other problem
where furtive men room Geneva Chateaux.
smog. So Pushkyn had gone that garages
watched the sport before it was pressed him to concentration Finian infiltrated the wild car-
far.Just for the sake of meanness.
the name upon it. nival crowd, ripping draperies and
Well, Finian Smith would show finally stamped out in
Weapon-devotees were even smashing furniture with feigned
the whole rotten bunch. They had of bland humanity.
too was one bland
The world more suspect than pedestrians in laughter ringing from his lips.
angered him now. He wasn t quite
witless, not yet. custard, blandly happy. Except
the lonely country between met- When the carnival wore itself out

Gee-ess, Gee-ess, bess came

it’s not really, as Finian, horrified, ropolises. Occasionally Finian near dawn and the workgangs
glimpsed a wire compound, acres rolled in through clouds of soy-
a lonely bellow. The polluted discovered.
No plant could function at total and* acres, against the sunburnt fuel smoke, Finian filched a shiny
smog made Finian cough. His
complete peak year horizon. Manhattan Prison was flick-blade knife from a Boy
eyes smarted as he turned his efficiency, at
too far for local DOCs to send re- Scout chopping up a
pockets inside out. after year. A low percentage of last slab of
calcitrant Hoosier or Buckeye and
A dollar left. Enough for a cup chronic unemployment had never plastic plaster lath.
anti-obsols, so they were thrown The Scout shrieked for the
of coffee. No transportation. Just been whipped by the cyclic theo-
rists. Strange wild caravans of
into smaller country compounds, DOCs on duty. Finian was away
a single walking man in a cloud
men and wives and children, hu- together with those few madmen and running through a hydro-
of industrial fumes and a long,
man wolves almost, passed Finian who settled disputes with fists. ponic cornfield before he could be
empty night for thinking of Dolly.
occasionally on red-leafed back- Such compound inmates were de- caught.
Resolutely Finian hefted his
scribed as juves, Finian remem- Now, dressed in his only pre-
satchel and started out to walk to roads in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
bered, passing one such wire en- suit, last year’s G/S Nub-
sentable
Missouri. He almost fell into the hands of
closure on a white moonlit night by Oppenheimer, he flashed his
IV one such band. Thereupon he de-
cided he must possess a weapon
and shuddering. He didn’t recog- personal identification card before
nize the term juve, but it obvious- the computer grid in the empty
days later Finian of self-defense at all costs. His
T HIRTY-SIX
staggered into the National belly he could protect by shovel-
ing in wild berries and an occa-
ly meant the middle-aged or
geriatric specimens huddled with-
green marble rotunda of the Na-
tional Record Office. Personal
Record Office in R'olla. Thirty-six

GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 177

176
identity was one quantity Push- slid aside. A white male, perhaps madmen and women who shuffled Nothing. The volume
for 1993 (a
seventy, with yellow-rimmed lack- in, reeled off figures and names or
kyn couldn’t revoke. strikingly voluptuous redhaired
luster eyes and a lantern jaw, lack of them, then shuffled back who had
Finian felt his fingers tingle as girl eyes that made him
shuffled in and waited with docile out. Asset transfers exhausted it-
the grid scanned the card. think hauntingly of Dolly) was
Smith, Bond manner. The creature wore a self as a lead. He tried register or
“Investigator another case entirely. Finian
Number PA-5006, you are recog- seedy twill uniform, anciently cut. directorship as well as deposition trembled:
nized.” “What do you have on any asset of tangible real-estate sale. Use-
“Give me what you have on
“Permission to examine owner- transfers for Goods/Services, less, useless. Only then did it slip holding companies, please.”
ship statements for corporations please?” Finian asked. back. The third was it, the redhead
over one billion, please.” The elderly gentleman did not In some dim time in the past staring through him:
“What year?” buzzed the me- so much as blink. He hesitated — Pushkyn had mentioned it “Holders Limited. Ten thou-
chanical voice. only a moment as the index sys- once — public stock of G/S had sand shares privately issued.”
“Not certain,” Finian replied. tem in his sick skull, instilled by been called off the market. Finian was on his feet, sweat-
“Could be as far back as 1980 or hypnolearning, turned over record Once more he began with a ing, his empty belly a-churn.
even 1970.” after invisible record. Finally he different set of volumes, working “Officers, please.”
vacantly, “No asset trans- his way down the years. In 1992
“Second tier from lowest level. said “Chairman of the board, Alvah
he located it: All certificates de-
Tube nine, your left.” fers.” Pharoh.”
It gave Finian a weird sensa- “Nothing in the way of stock, deemed. “There must be some mistake.
tion, plummeting in the airtube even?”
no asset
The scent overpowered the
must of the underground box like
Uh — recheck, please. What is
and realizing he was dropping “No asset transfers, the name?”
the smell of blood. He called out
eighty stories into the depths of transfers.” “Full legal name Alvah Robert
“Thank you, that’s all.” the volume covering Things to
the nation’s largest insane asylum. Loudermilk Pharoh.”
But legal transactions had pro- But the man had already de- Come Incorporated for the same A florid old gentleman with
liferated so in the past decades, parted, needing no thanks. Finian year. It was a naturalized Jap- dewlaps and blue, vaguely
as had neurotic behavior, that turned to the console again won- anese weighing close
hundred pounds.
to three crossed —
by heaven!
only a combined institution and dering whether he could endure Finian almost forgot to return
record office was feasible for sav- as many days as it might take: One month after the G/S re- the volume to its detention cell
ing space and offering a less-than- the volume cov-
“Let me have demption came a callback by the after he got the names of the
ering Goods/Services corporation board of TTIC. Finian almost
fatal end for hopeless maniacs. other registered corporate execu-
The reading room below for 1975.” wished the poor Japanese could tives, which meant nothing to
ground smelled of mold. Gray appreciate tea. He’d have bought him. But Alvah Robert Louder-
TOTAL hours him a bucket, had he the money.
block walls heightened the un-
pleasant mood. Finian sat at the
A went by,
of eighteen
only by
relieved Tensely his fingers flew to the
console.
milk Pharoh most certainly did.
Finian wondered, as he left the
callout console. He
manipulated three short aboveground,
naps National Record building and
the controls and spoke into the Finian sleeping in a magnolia bush “Two volumes, please. For turned his face east again, what
unit: on Rolla’s outskirts, before he 1992 and 1993. Covering Flota- had possessed the old man to
found what he wanted. tions without tangible assets.”
“Let me have the volume cover- think it safe to occasionally ap-
ing Goods/Service corporation for He’d worked through Goods/ When 1992 arrived (a mulatto pear as head of both companies.
— ah —
1974, please.” Services from its 1969 inception with his face fixed in a perpetual
grin) Finian was disappointed.
Not that he appeared often, mind
Several minutes passed. A door to 1997, interviewing assorted you. The painting must have been

178 GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM

179
a slip. So too the appearance on the far end of the hundred-thou-
the hydrofoiler, displeasing his sand-acre junk tract. They were
underlings. Senility? Senility and nearly three feet long from drink-
a strength that had refused to ing the waste spewed out by the
completely drain away, as the pharmaceutical factories upriver.
dewlaps lengthened? Hoping to avoid a meeting with
Hungry and tattered though he needly fangs, Finian was suddenly
was, Finian felt renewed as he arrested by a fresh sound.
threw himself into the weary A human voice, in fright.
tramp back to Manhattan. The He doubled back in his tracks,
flick-blade knife armed him. So cold sweat all over him. The vita-
did the knowledge that even the minized beasts were attacking a
most mighty, even those who kept real person!
the plant running at all costs, in- Finian rounded a solido heap.
cluding the cost of sloth, could A little wisp-haired balloon of a
occasionally slip. man in a ragged gray smock was
And they still had Dolly. backed against a trash peak, try-
ing vainly to swing at three of
V the rats, armed only with a plastic
leg broken from a solido console.
A HEAD in the gloomy purple The man’s lefttrouser leg was
twilight, giant rats were shredded, black-shining with
squealing after blood. blood. The blood maddened the
Quickening his step, Finian un- rats. They danced and snapped
shipped the flick-knife. Making and squee-squeed and made the
headway was hard. This particu- little man even more pale.
lar section of the Hudson Bluffs Finian snatched up a solido
National Dump was a miniature cabinet and heaved. One of the
mountain range of discarded but rats yipped, turned and scuttled
eminently serviceable except — at Finian like a small furry tank.
for the usual ‘engineered-to-fail Shaking, Finian stood his ground.
tubes and cracked cabinets — He tried to dodge the creature’s
To the east behind the
solido sets. leap but was not agile enough.
rubble the towers of Manhattan Hellish teeth sank into his arm.
Prison thrust into the darkening Finian jammed his flick-knife
sky. into the smelly hair at the base
Finian rapidly away
walked of the rat’s brain. Squirting blood
from the squee-squee of the rats. like a fountain, the rat flipped
He’d glimpsed a pack of them over in the air and gave a death-
earlier, down by the Tunnel at squee. Its comrades received solid

THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 181


whacks between the eyes from the
other man. They turned tail and
vanished.
“Let me see that arm,” said the
man, a filthy spe'cter with moist,
disappointed eyes. “Oh, not good
at all. Come along. I’m a doctor.
Humphrey Cove.”
Finian gaped as he was lead
along the bluff. “A doctor? In the
National Dump?”
“I live here. Never mind, I’ll
explain later. I have a shack.
Hurry, we don’t want those rat
toxins to run through you. I think
I have immunization. Oh, Iwas
really done for until you came
along.”
small doctor giggled as he
The
hustled Finian along. Finian was
not too sure he approved of his
would-be savior. In spite of Dr.
Cove’s rather pitiful mien, there
was a certain unsteadiness in his
wet eyes. He clucked and talked
to himself as he led the way to
a ramshackle structure nearly the
size of a small private dwelling,
constructed solely of panels from
solido consoles jerryrigged to-
gether with wire and other scrap
materials.
“No one comes here. No hu-
mans. Only the littersweep con-
voys from up and down the coast,
all mech-driven. The only people
I ever talk with are the poor juves
in the prison. What’s your name?
What are you doing here?”
At the hovel entrance Cove
182
help for them, I’m afraid. So I’ve you’re an enemy, I can run away
suddenly halted, stared at Finian
a skiff. Actually an old levacar and leave you to wander the
and turned pale.
“Did you come to arrest
?” — inverted. I paddle across once a
month after dark.” He giggled.
Dumps
long with
at night. You won’t last
the rats, being a
Finian shook his head.
“The DOCs at the Tunnel post stranger.”
“I came to get into Manhattan.”
would psych me if I got caught. “There’s a woman over on that
“Via the Dumps?” Cove blinked
Tun- But I feel I’m doing my bit to island I have to find,” said Finian,
suspiciously. “There’s the
keep the anti-obsols content in and launched out.
nel.”
their unhappiness.” As he recounted his tale, care-
“To use the Tunnel, you have to
Through a wall
rift in the ful not to become too emotional
be a priest going in for last rites.
Cove’s moist eyes sought the about it, he noticed a growing
Or a coroner or a psychiatry stu-
darkening towers. His voice was excitement in Cove’s damp eyes.
dent. Or have a DOC pass. I
quickly vengeful. Finally, when he had concluded,
watched the Tunnel three hours.”
“I’d like to see those buildings Cove leaped up.
Suddenly Finian had an impulse
fall to ash. Margarita, ah poor “Capital, Smith, that’s capital.
to trust this odd little person: “I
be entering the
Margarita.” He whipped his head Let me help. Let me ferry you
have no pass. I’ll
around eyes almost as vicious as across.”
prison illegally.”
those of the rats. “Who are you? Finian smiled grudgingly.
“Well, then! Come inside, do
If this is all a clever trap to “Okay. I was prepared to swim it.”
come inside!”
smoke me out ” — “The sludge would poison you
“No trap,” Finian assured him. before you got halfway.”
NAMES were exchanged again,
Cove having forgotten he’d
“I’ll tell you about it. But do you
have any food?”
“What’s your stake in this,
Cove? I mean, this food pays me
given his. From behind a triple
Cove nodded and fetched a back for the rats.”
stack of ancient medical texts
brown gallon pharmaceutical bot- Cove’s little eyes were miser-
Cove said he’d rescued from tle, instructing Finian to drink. able.
dump piles, the doctor produced
a frowsy leather-plas diagnostic
“Protein and vitamins. Distill it “Margarita. My wife. She died
myself from the drug sludge in over there.”
kit. He clamped the analyzer to
the river. After you drink I may
Finian’s upper arm and switched
or may not give you one of the JXAINFULLY the story came
on the battery. A whir. A moment
soy bars I get from the juves. out, dredged from an unhappy
later the proper medication had
When their wives bear children, past:
been pressure-sprayed through
it’s the only way they can pay, Cove had been a plastic sur-
Finian’s epidermal cells.
you know. They’re very proud, geon by specialty, in the employ
Cove watched with proud glow-
always pay.” of TTIC at its Bangor Personality
ing eyes, saying as he unstrapped
Cove squatted with difficulty, Salon. But a quirk in his nature
the unit:
an oddly savage little man in the made him rebel against the work,
“A miracle I found this kit, I’ll fading light. permitted him to fall prey to
tell you. Three years ago. The
“Whether I let you have a soy dangerous Galbraither notions.
only persons who use it are the
bar depends on your story. If His wife had informed on him.
poor juves. No regular medical
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 183
 Cove discovered it before the
TTIC police could arrest him.
fled to the outskirts of Bangor,
hiding there in the woods while
a few reluctant friends supplied
him with food. TTIC industrial
policecombed the woods with
talk-horns, threatening to psych
his' wife into anti-obsol attitudes if
he didn’t surrender.
“The filth!” Cove rocked on his
haunches. “I thought it was a
trick, a lever. I ran away. Mar-
garita, poor thing, was on their
side. She couldn’t help what she
did. She came of a respected
family. TTIC middle manage-
ment. But a year later I found
out. They did it anyway. Oh, they
smile and smile and treat the mob
kindly. But underneath, when
they’re opposed —
I learned Mar-
garita had been sentenced to
Manhattan. It took me another
nine months to get here and find
means of crossing. By that time
she’d died of pneumonia. No
biotics allowed the juves, you see.
Juves are worthless. She died.”
Cove rocked and rocked, wild-
eyed. “Died, died.”
“Doctor Cove, will you help
get across?”
“Of course, of course. But to
hunt that pilot plant, a knife won’t
be much good. The moment
you’re discovered they’ll set on
you like wild dogs.”
“Then I’ll need something
Finian’s brain ran rapidly with
184
his career with G/S. He recalled 1
: Smith. The miserable juves aren’t dated pier that once belonged to
He Leveranz, an unfortunate opera- fluoridated either. I do quite a the Cunard division of G/S. Off
tive charged with a dangerous few extractions. Imagine a plastic down black, ruined streets distant
penetration of the TTIC Market- surgeon doing extractions! Let’s reddish lights pulsed. Cove shook
ing Office in Beirut. see, give me a minute to find the his hand fervently.
“I knew a man once who was chem text . .
“I hope you kill them. I hope
bombed. Is there anything Dr. Humphrey Cove unearthed you don’t cooperate and kill them
here —— ?” Finian’s gesture swept the text in two minutes. The rest all.”
the shack and dump beyond. “Do took four days. Then the skiff slithered away
you remember enough, even if we Finian suffered excruciatingly, into the smelly broth. Finian
could find an explosive source, to especially during the operation. shivered and walked.
bomb me?” Cove kept smacking him on the Three blocks from the pier a
The moist eyes of Cove wi- head with a solido leg when the ragged band of thirty-odd men
dened with malicious delight. pain grew too hideous. Finian dug and women, with a couple of mal-
“Blow them up?” his nails into his palms and nourished youngsters hanging at
Now Finian himself felt hard thought of murmurous summer the fringes, slipped out of an alley
and cold. evenings on the back porch in and closed around him.
“I just might, if they’ve hurt Bala Cynwyd, and vowed in his They hissed and backed a ter-
her.” pain-streaked mind the hurt was rified Finian against a polybrick
“Possibly we could use the worth it if only he had a means
wall. The leader of the juve pack,
charger pack from an old solido.” to strike at them if they’d hurt
Cove was warming to the chal- Dolly, his own Dolly.
an oldster of eighty in tapered
blue denim trousers and an anti-
lenge. “Yes, we very well might. When he was ready to enter the quarian jacket spangled with fake
Extremely miniaturized. I’d have prison, his left foot flesh carried a
platinum stars and buckles swag-
to check the formula but I think small capsule that would detonate
gered up and down, thumbs
I have a chem text in that pile. an explosive force when the yel- hooked in a six-inch belt.
anti- And a military medicine volume, lowing tooth in his dead socket
“Sending DOCs into the streets
too.” He began to tear through was turned a proper one-half turn these days, are they, sonny?”
the books. “No anesthesia, or pre- in its clumsily hand-chiseled “I’m no DOC.” Finian searched
cious little. Perhaps I could knock housing.
the hostile eyes for succor. There
you out.” An old trick, bombing. A relic was none.
me “What for a trigger?” Finian of the Triple Play War. But it
questioned. He showed his mouth.
“We eat DOCs alive in the pri-
gave Finian a little more courage son.They step off the guard post,
“I have this empty socket where to go hunting death.
we swallow ’em up and chew ’em
I carried a camera once.”
to pieces, sonnyboy.”
Chortling, Cove scuffled among TN AN unpleasant mist-clammy
his belongings and produced a -*
“A DOCstew tonight! Oh, wun-
midnight, Dr. Cove paddled nerful!” piped a seven-year-old.
cardboard carton full of ivory the improvised skiff through the “Scream a little for us, will you
else.” chips of all sizes. sticky penicillin waste forming a please?” said the aging juve with
“Why, that ought to work, crust on the Hudson, to the dilapi- a smile, shuffling forward.
GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM
185
 Finian thought of the flick- of glittering red lights. Cove had Timesq featured open shops burned low in the marble mauso-
knife and whipped it out. Another told him it was the prison recrea- subsidized out of national taxes leum of a lobby as the nurses
sibilant hiss ran from mouth to tion area, a kind of open plaza as a sop to the theory of rehabili- fanned out to the various tube
mouth as the blade caught the known, unpronounceably, as tation . antiques, genuine meat-
. .
banks. Finian spied a rest room
distant red glow. Timesq. Hurrying on, he reached burgers, bizarre novelty stores next to a boarded-up newsstand,
“Look, don’t kill me. See this? Parkave. where articles were actually dis- slipped inside and waited half an
It’s a a real knife. You
knife, Several blocks south he saw played on open counters instead hour, out of sight.
people can recognize a genuine a white chain working its way of behind automated windows. Then he returned to the lobby.
useful antique twentieth-century across the ruined thoroughfare. But the shops were actually in- A late nurse was hurrying to the
artifact, can’t you? Non-obsoles- Approaching in the cover of shad- tended to pander to the vices of tubes. Outside, the guardTTIC
cent. Non-obsolescent, see? Still ows, he gazed up at a glistening the juves. Else why would Finian cordons were no more. Finian ran
works?” glass structure with windows have been able to slip so easily up behind the nurse, thinking
A touched stud and the blade painted over. Then he looked into a deserted costumer’s? smugly that it had been easy so
retracted. Another touch and it down to the street again. Half-starved, his shanks frozen He’d remembered to touch no
far.
sprang out. The white chain came apart by wind whistling under the an- doors, in case there were a
“Would I be a DOC and carry into individual females, double- cient white uniform and the sweatprint check.
this?” timing along between a cordon of musty gray wig prickling his ears,
The juve leader had an almost TTIC industrial guards. One Finian dozed the daylight hours rT'HE nurse gave a frightened
religious expression on his face. chain rushed west, another east, away in an alley, blearily on the A kkk sound as Finian looped
His hand shook as he extended it. vanishing into the building. alert for juves. He saw one large
elbow around her neck.
“Uh —could you leave — Finian skulked, grinning mirth- pack passing a block away, sev-
his
“Where’s the prototype kept,
me see?” lessly,estimating the time to be eral hundred on the run. They
lady? Tell me or I’ll crack you
Finian thrust it into his hand. somewhere in the neighborhood didn’t see him. Otherwise he was
in half.”
“Yours. Listen, take it.” A dark, of eleven at night. Protected, the
plant nursing staff was
undisturbed until night
Midway
fell again. “Tw —
twelve,” came the pan-
malicious streak forced out the pilot between
the hotel icky answer. “I can’t breathe!”
next words. “Could you make changing shift. Cove had told which apparentlyserved as “You won’t ever again unless
more? Why don’t you try? Now Finian about the nurses, and also nurse’s quarters and the ruined you take me up there.”
you have a pattern. Then you what might be done. He hurried
back toward Bway.
liquor building, Finian ducked
into one of the double-timing
“It’s not my floor — ”
wouldn’t have to wait for the “With lights out who’ll know?
DOCs to leave the guard post. The recreation area was curi- white chains as the eleven o’clock There’s the tube. Inside! Don’t
Then a lot of you could pay them ously deserted of juves at this shift changed. He hoped his male
speak to anyone. Don’t even raise
a visit.” hour. Finian wondered whether shoes wouldn’t be too noticeable. an eyebrow, or I’ll throttle you.”
Whispering over their icon, the the flick-knife was really that But the street was dark. The In the deserted tube the
juves melted into the night. much of a talisman. It must be, hundred or so nurses were on alarmed woman, elderly, eyed
since he’d seen no juves after the dangerous extra-pay duty from Finian’s wig, all too obvious in the
VI first encounter. Cove said there the way they rushed along be- full illumination.
were several hundred thousand on tween the guard cordons, not “What are you, some kind of
T/"EEPING to back streets, the island. Perhaps they’d gone speaking, intent only on gaining degenerate?”
Finian crossed Bway several underground to the ruined trans- the safety of the pilot plant. “Yes, but not the kind you
blocks above a strange complex portation tubes. As in all hospitals, lights think.”

186 GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 187

 know how. I’m on six, neuro- W/-ITH SHAKING hands he well. I won’t in a week or two, so
Finian laughed, feeling fright- *
search.” pressed the instilling cup they say.”
ened and brave all at once.
shoved her rudely. “There near the raspberry mark, and “It’s wrong, Dolly! It’s wrong
On twelve, isolated pools of He
plunged. for them to change you!”
radiance interspersed vast islands must be a chart in the dispensary.”
Slowly, slowly, the naked girl She laughed tolerantly, not a
of aseptic black. Three nurses Finian had to threaten to cuff
rolled over, lids fluttering drow- sadly.
clustered at a floor desk to the her several times before she little

tremblingly translated the medi-

sily.Finian crouched by the bed. “Those wild old ideas of yours
right. Finian’s terrified victim led
His hand knotted up in the silken again.”
him to the left. cal Latin in the last twelve thick
dispensary sheets. He’d turned up a rheostat “ I love you, Dolly.
I want you
Double doors loomed at the far casebooks on the
to provide a gleam for judging her way you were.”
corridor end. Why was it so easy? From the section marked the

Finian felt vague alarm as he

shelf.
Emergency Antidotal Procedures eyes. Doll-blue, they flew open — “Impossible, Fin. body’s My
Blank, unknowing. changed.” One hand lifted the
shoved the old lady through the she read out the correct mix of
ampoules from the wall-wide “Why, hello there.” The voice hem of the sheet. “It’s part of the
doors. The isolation, that must be
tormented him. It was so squeak- price for being the prototype.
it, he reasoned. The
improbable freezer. I
ing, so silly. “Whatever are you nearly died when my parents
on Manhattan Finian was acutely conscious of
isolation here
silence of the great dark
doing in Dream’s bedroo — made us move. I wasn’t strong.
where no investigator would the
room, the whisper of Dolly’s
Dream’s bed —
”
I’m not much stronger now.
dream of looking for a pilot plant.
had breathing from the bed, the rush
Like a broken mechanism the Tjhis — ” a gesture to the
Still, Pushkyn’s
discovered it by molecular-tri-
people
of controlled air in and out of
voice ran down. One of her volup- room — “when they’re finished
tuous hands crept tentatively to- with me, in a week or two, I’ll
angulation sonics. Were they blowers. Time was moving inex-
ward his. never be able to go back. The pro-
penetrating even now? orably. What he would do when
“Finian?” totype can’t. Other women can,
In the chamber a white blur and if he wakened Dolly he was
“Oh, my God, my God, Dolly.” the change isn’t so deep when it’s
stretched naked in the warm, not precisely sure. All he could
tell was that he must talk to her.
Heburied his head on her purchased. But in return I’ll re-
purified air. Finian held tight to
shoulder, almost crying. ceive more money than most
the old nurse’s arm and ap- Talking to her once was what he
The had worked and tramped and al-
When he had controlled himself women ever see. I wish you hadn’t
proached the dreaming girl.
sufficiently to talk,
most died for. he asked her come here, Fin. I’d nearly gotten
raspberry mark stood out black what it was like.
The pressuredermic barrel over you.”
in the faint gleam from the half-
“Not too terrible.” Dolly’s voice “Take out the contacts, Dolly.
open door of an attached dispen- gleamed in the light. Finian
now, not her body but for the Then me
sary. There encephalographs and snatched it from the nurse. tell it’s all over.”

other equipment winked, chromed “If you’ve tricked me —

I don’t
mark, only her voice trying pain-
fully to re-form old associations.
“Fin, I They’re perma-
can’t.

take to hurting women, but I nent.” She clutched his arm. “If
and cold.
“Dolly?” Finian’s lips felt like will!”
“When we moved
was luck and a
. . . Well, it you’re caught here ” —
little moral com- Rapidly he told her of what
shreds of paper, crinkled, dry. “I swear to Loudermilk I didn’t.
promise that snared me a chance he’d learned at the National Rec-
“Dolly, hear me?” Only please don’t hurt me.”
to be the prototype.” ord Office. “Some kind of con-
A vacous mewing sound came “In there,” Finian instructed.
“Do you remember anything? spiracy, Dolly. Awful, awful. Hell,
from the girl. She twisted deeper He latched the dispensary door
I mean, when you’re under?” I’m not bright enough to fathom
in silk coverlets. behind her. There was no visor-
He would be safe “A little. A very little. Far down what it means. Maybe Pop could
“Wake her,” Finian ordered. phone inside.
in my head, like the bottom of a have. I’m just certain I want you
“You’re a madman! I don’t a moment longer.

GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 189

188
out before this crazy doublecross ances! Having your portrait Sprool told him. “In proper cir- “The creeps had knives!” Push-
blows right up.” painted!” cumstances you might have filled kyn bellowed. “Real knives! You
Dolly hesitated. “I’m not sure. “Holders is my firm!” a responsible position with —
stupid, didyou ?”
My mind’s full of someone “It was. Before your brains Holders. Do you realize what a
else — ”
turned to mashed potatoes,” said difficult and exciting enterprise it “I
“I
hope
think so,” Finian looked up.
so.”
“Don’t let him frighten you,” Pushkyn. is to run this world, Fin?”
said a voice. “He’s done anyway.” “You wouldn’t have penetrated “I realize you sold everybody a A GAIN Sprool sighed, almost
Caught, heartbeat wild and the pilot plant, would you, Push- bill of goods, kept them soft,
sympathetically.
racing, Finian turne'd as all the kyn?” Finian was suddenly en- sucked their guts out.”
lights blazed up in the room. raged, and beginning to under-
“Fin, Fin. You seem
to think
“Would you rather have howl- we’re evil men. We’re not. We’re
Dolly shrieked and burrowed stand. “Even though you knew ing millions out of work and riot- businessmen. We didn’t begin the
under the sheet. where it was.” ing?”
v system. We only inherited it. But
Outside the closing panel Fin- Pushkyn sneered. “Whaddya “Yes! Yes. I mean, no. I don’t you’ve never understood, have
ian glimpsed a phalanx of armed think, put sand in the wheels? want people to starve, but this you? Always, I think, you re-
TTIC police. The
moved swiftly toward him,
three men in- Always the funny
wasn’t for
huh? If
finko,
me. Sprool and a few
way — have some guts
I’d rather sented us as a result of what your
side it
in life. Trouble and guts.”
father taught you.” Sprool was
Sprool and Pushkyn shoulder to others on both sides, running the “Trouble we have, Finian,” white now, impassioned. “We had
shoulder, and shuffling behind, show while this old bonebag sits
Alvah Robert Loudermilk Pharoh on the Holders board — ”
Sprool returned with a sigh. “Do
you know what we saw as we
no choice! Either we maintained
calm or ” —
with his dewlaps jiggling and his “He means to say,” Sprool put came over the Tunnel in the “You changed Dolly! I don’t
blue, vaguely crossed eyes filled in, somewhat sadly, “we have
•
vertijet? The DOC post in ruins. understand your theories beyond
with fright. done our best to keep the plant The juves are breaking out, Fin, that!”
running. You, Fin, have done your actually breaking out. Most of Sprool outshouted him: “The
U\X7 E SHOULD of killed the best to stop it.”
them are dead, of course. But sev- alternative rocked boat is
” jerko,” Pushkyn offered. “How did you find me?” Fin- eral hundred escaped. There’s a chaos!”
to a

“Be quiet.” Sprool breathed ian demanded. pitched battle going on in Jersey “There’s got to be another
tightly, thinking hard. Sprool shrugged. “See-ray.” this minute. The juves will die as way.”
“No one Alvah
listens to me,” “I never touched a doorknob soon as I give the mobilization “Go to the guard post! See the
Robert Loudermilk Pharoh anyplace!” order. A few may get away and mangled bodies and then say
whined. “No one listens any more “There is a false socket in your start in other cities, inciting to that.”
even though I’m the chief execu- head. Every person entering or riot, pulling down what we’ve “I don’t care, Sprool! I’m taking
tive of Holders.” leaving this plant is rayed for built so carefully to insure every- Dolly off the island.”
“You simpleton!” Sprool spun dental coding. Yours failed to one a decent life. Both TTIC and “Creep, you won’t set one foot
on him, barely able to control his check. It took a few minutes to G/S are alerting industrial guards from here.”
fury. “You incredible wreck! I collect Pushkyn. And the old man. trained for trouble such as this. Finian peeled his lips back.
wish Pushkyn and I had retired I want him to see the fruits of his We’ll also have to apply consid- “Look at the tooth, Lyman.
you to a senility farm long ago. If senility. We vertijetted.” erable pressure for the DOCs to You know what was there before.”
your addled brain could have un- “Ah, damn,” said Finian, im- move. But we’ll win. We
gave up He waggled his left foot. “I’m
derstood it wasn’t safe for you to potently. war long ago, Fin. We
won’t per- bombed. The tooth will set it off.
go around making public appear- “I very nearly admire you,” mit another to start.” Either instantaneously or on
190 GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM
191
 could give her even if his search bined TTIC and G/S industrial
timed delay. Stop me from walk- likeremoving the velvet glove.”
“Guarantees?” said Finian. “My had been all for nothing. police was being ordered by
ing out with Dolly and find out.”
“Salinghams wanted my por- word. That’s all.”
The DOC post at the Tunnel Sprool. Cove clapped his hands.
trait —
” the florid old gentleman Sprool walked quickly to the
entrance was
sprawled everywhere.
afire. Juve corpses Rain was falling as Finian led
Dolly, out of the Tunnel. Three
began. door and opened it. The threat-
“Bluffer! Lousy, rotten bluffer!” ening knot of industrial police still Midway along the empty tun- DOC vertijets from the south
nel Finian halted. A figure ca- were homing on Manhattan, a-
Screaming, Pushkyn rushed for- waited in the shadows. Finian
pered toward them. gleam with emergency lights.
ward. bundled Dolly into the bedclothes
“Capital, oh, marvelous!” Hum- Dolly murmured. Finian lifted
Sprool’s hand flew up. and moved her toward the en-
phrey Cove trilled, stepping over her chin and stared into the doll-
“Don’t! I believe him.” trance as Sprool said, “Let him
a dead DOC’s open-mouthed blue eyes a moment, conscious of
For the first time Finian Smith pass.”
“I won’t stand for it!” Pushkyn
head. “Three hundred of them got the bomb working, working to-
saw Sprool perspiring.
out, running for their lives. I think ward detonation in the flesh of his
“He’s the kind to do it, Push- leaped forward and landed a solid
it will spread this time. The local foot. He couldn’t even feel the
one that rocked Finian on his
kyn. I don’t want slaughter here,
too. So you keep quiet and re- heels. Then Sprool snapped his
camps, the jobless — full-scale! death seed. Wasn’t that a joke?
fingers. The TTIC police carried There are so many really lovely “Cove’ll take care of you,”
member who’s senior trouble-
the foam-lipped Pushkyn into the pockets of resistance!” Finian said. He kissed her. Be-
shooter.”
“Shut up and walk.” Finian wildered, Dolly called for him as
Cold, shrewd lights glittered in dispensary.
pushed Cove back toward the he turned and walked rapidly
Sprool’s eyes. “Fin, what guaran-
Jersey side. away, not seeing the rain or the
tee can
woman
you offer if we
to you, allow her to go
release this
T rembling, suddenly
and trembling clear through,
cold
“What in heaven’s
wrong with you, Smith?”
name is littered bodies.
He had gone but a dozen steps
with you under duress?” Finian made an effort to keep his
face an inflexible mask as he
“Armed.” Finian whispered it when something felled him and
“No.”
so Dolly couldn’t hear. “A guy hit brought the dark.
Heads swung, startled. Dolly guided Dolly through the aisle
me, I’m armed. Can’t have more
went on slowly: between the guards. He hoped she
“I think — I want — ”
wouldn’t question him, wouldn’t
than half an hour before I blow.
Cove, don’t you say anything.
T)AIN, incredible pain was his

came from relent until they were free. Sick first sensation.
A disgusted sigh
When we’re outside, you take care
Sprool’s lips. He controlled him- fear engulfed him as he touched Then a warmth of flesh. Dolly
of this girl, understand? Watch bending over him. Through a
self. “Very well, Fin. If we permit the tip of his tongue gingerly to
out for her until she recovers. slatted section of solido panel he
you what guarantees do
to leave, the fake tooth while the tube shot
She’s free of them, I bought her saw vertijetswinking over Man-
you offer you’ll cause no
that down.
that much.” hattan. Finian wriggled, then
further trouble? We’ll have our Dolly leaned on his shoulder,
They passed a shrilling visor- struggled up, screaming:
hands full quelling the disturb- her hair warm. She made fright-
phone in a lighted kiosk at the “My leg what happened?”
ances the juves will start. It hasn’t ened mewing sounds. Finian shep- . . .

far Tunnel mouth. A DOC alert Crying, Dolly pressed him

gotten too far out of hand yet. herded her into the night, began
was being scheduled for Philadel- down.
But if I don’t give the mobiliza- the long, terrible walk to the
phia. Juve gangs were forming in “Cove did it. Cove operated.
tion order, it could go nationwide. Tunnel, hoping she wouldn’t come
Even to other countries. I have to to her senses until they reached
the streets there, hand-made He hates them, Fin. He hates
knives were appearing. The mask TTIC. Something about his wife.
be around to stop it. It can be the opposite shore. In time she’d
much he was off. Full mobilization of com- He said you ought to live, even
done, even though I don’t much be herself again. That

GALAXY THE SELLERS OF THE DREAM 193

192
with — I wish my mind would ened by the suddenly-swarming
straighten out. I can’t say things sky full of vertijets, their flaring

DON’T CLIP
all right yet.” emergency lights promising vio-
Finian fought the terror, the lence, violence across the land,
dull-fire agony. “Where is he?” violence maybe everywhere, Fin-
Dolly shuddered. “He packed it ian clutched the girl to his
in a valise and ran for the Tun-
nel.”
In a burst of
Manhattan Prison blew
When the reverberations and
fire the center of
up.
shoulder and stared at the inferno
of the prison island.
“My God, I think I started a
war, Dolly. Sprool said
mean to start ” —
I didn’t — THE COUPON-
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