Z I E 0 F fantosv AND Science Fiction Including Venture Science Fiction

The Riddle Song VANCE AANDAHL 5 Counter Security (short novelet) JAMES WHITE 11 Books AVRAM DAVIDSON 31 Punk's Progress ROBERT W ALLSTEN 37 Gladys's Gregory JOHN ANTHONY WEST 55 The Nature of the Place ROBERT SILVERBERG 62 The Jazz Machine RICHARD MATHESON 64 Science: The Lost Generation ISAAC ASIMOV 72 Ferdinand Feghoot: LIX GRENDEL BRIARTON 83 The Pleiades OTIS KIDWELL BURGER 84 Satan Mekatrig ISRAEL ZANGWILL 93 Peggy and Peter Go to the Moon DON WHITE 125 In this issue • •• Coming next month 4 Editorial 128 P&SP Marketplace 129 Cover by John Pederson, ]r. (see page 4 for explanation)

The Magazine of Fantasy and Sciexce Fit:tio11, Volume 24, No. 2, Whole No. 141, Feb. 1963. Published monthly by Mercury Press, Inc., at 401 a co{>y. Annual subscription $4.50 in U. S. and Possessions, $5.00 in Canada and the Pan American Union; f5.50 in all other countries. Publication office, 10 Ferry Street, Concord, N. H. Editoria and general mail should be sent to 347 East 53rd St., New York 22, N. Y. Second Class postage paid at Concord, N. H. Printed in U. S. A. (0 1962 by Mercury Press, Inc. All rights, including translations into other laJ&guages, reseroed. Submissions must be accom· panied b'/ stamped, self-addressed envelopes; the Publisher IISsumes no responsibility for retu.-n o unsolodted manuscripts.

Joseph W. Ferman, PUBLISHER Avram Davidson, EXECUTIVE EDITOR Robert P. Mills, CONSULTING EDITOR Edward L. Ferman, MANAGING EDITOil Isaac Asimov, CONTRIBUTING SCIENCE EDITOR In this issue •••

• • • RICHARD MATHESON returns to us, after an absence whose length we all regret (somewhat mitigated by our having an­ other story of his in our inventory). VANCE AANDAHL strikes a blow for liberty and on behalf of a type of American we hope is not vanishing, viz. the local "character." New to us but not tQ our former sister-magazine, EQMM, is MW A Award-winner ROBERT W ALLSTEN, who brings us up to date on gigolos. A fine, off-beat -and off-planet-story makes three for F&SF by OTIS KID· WELL BURGER. We have two Whites with us this time: DON WHITE of England, with a light-hearted and wicked little piece; and JAMES WHITE of Ulster, whose long story is a combination of SF and mystery; and ROBERT SILVERBERG's brief and pointed item, which might be called, if we were a spelling-reformer, Science Filosophy. Readers who remember (and who can forget?) JOHN ANTHONY WEST's sardonic report of the husband who atrophied while his wife fluttered and nattered will not want to miss his newest mordant story of matrimony. And lastly is the an­ tique splendor of the late and illustrious ISRAEL ZANGWILL's account of G-d, Man, and Devil in a vanished London.

THIS MONTH's COVER depicts an unmanned exploratory rocket land­ ing on a hypothetical planet. The gaseous clouds arc the great nebulae in the constellation Orion. They take the planet out of our solar system.

Coming next month .

• • • and under full steam, is RICHARD McKENNA, CPO, USN (Ret.), whose stories you have seen here twice before-and whose new mainstream novel (a sure best seller) has been taken by the SEPost, Book Of The Month Club, and the movies-with an SF novel neatly blending love, combat and ecology. Also a nautical note: the first F&SF story by HARRY HARRISON­ screamingly funny-is about an old-time Royal Navy captain named Honorio Harpplayer. Nuff sed? ···why is everybody fond of Vance Aandahl?'' a disgruntled and unsolicited question asked recently, via our mail. The answer is, pretty simply, ··Because he is a damned good writer, that's why." He says of his latest story that he ..meant it to be subtle and elliptical, with intimations of fantasy-in a sense the old man represents everything that is romantic and imag­ inative in man, and his age and singularity represent the fact that these things are disappearing in our culture." In a sensei · And in another sense, or other senses, we inquired, are there perhaps Allegories, References to Mythology, Hidden Meanings, in the story? Is the old man, say, Hercules? Or a Hercules, Southron Mountain style? All that we can say of young Mr. Aandahl's reply is that it was subtle and elliptical, with intimations of fantasy . . . What was the golden ring? What was the old man, then young, engaged in doing the night before Mr ...King" planned to fix him for good? Why is he now .. dressed all in tattercloth"P And why is it that he never seems to eat? What is the meaning of his laughter? Why is he so fond of apples? Why don't you read this story and try to find out?

THE RIDDLE SONG

by Vance Aandahl

THERE ONCE WAS A MAN looked at them. Sometimes he dressed all in tattercloth. He sat would clap his gnarled hands to­ on the curbs of the city, smoking gether, open his toothless mouth, five cent cigars from morning to and laugh. Sometimes he would night, but where he slept I do not talk to himself, slowly and with know. He was an old man, with great dignity. Sometimes he would yellow eyelids and soft gray eyes sing ... "I just sit here in the noon­ that seemed to melt away when I day sun .•." 5 6 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Then we would come to him, "Don't know any new songs." running from the vacant lots and He chewed on the butt of the candy stores and sunlit places of cigar and glared at the apple. summer, sprawling around his Then he smiled such a smile that feet in the hot gutter, gazing his eyes squinted shut and his wordlessly up at his cracked lips gums showed from cheek to cheek. I could hear him wheezing out a "I just sit here in the noonday little laughter deep down in his sun ... throat. And when they come to get me, "Maybe you'd like an old song. I'll hit them with sticks, Would you like that?" And I won't eat my vegetables, "I don't know." And I'll grow skinny as a mar­ "Promise I get the apple." ble •.•" "Not unless I like the song." I And if we were quiet, he would tossed the shining red fruit from smile at us and sing the song hand to hand, watching his eyes again. But if we giggled or tried follow it back and forth. Then I to talk to him, his lips would held it up to my nose, crossed my clamp around the stub of a cigar eyes, and licked my lips. and he would stare resolutely over "Now, hold on, boy. I'll sing our heads, as though we didn't you a good song." exist, puffing up a wall of smoke I nodded my head and leaned between his face and the world. back on the cement, fondling the One day, when I was alone, I apple and waiting for him to be­ approached him with an apple in gin. He pulled the cigar from his my hand. Squatting down and mouth with two stub fingers and gazing at his face, I began to pursed his lips at me. But then he shine the red fruit on my shirt. smiled again, and his shaggy little He puffed on his cigar and head bounced up and down with glanced quickly at my hands. laughter •.• "That's an apple, hain't it?" "Good morning, Mr. King! "Yes." Good morning, Mr. King! "Like apples?" Good morning, Mr. King! "Yes." I took a drink from your morn­ "Now don't laugh at me, boy." ing spring, "I wasn't going to." A-running through a yellow "I sure like apples. Myself." gold ring; "Me too. Want some?" Within your garden it was "No tricks now, boy." done, ''You gotta sing me a song. A Yesterday night and in tomor­ new song." row's sun!" THE RIDDLE SO~G 7 He returned his cigar to its 'Well," I said, lying down next home, brushed a fly off his fore­ :to them in the dirt, "I'm not head, and clapped his hands. afraid." "Now give me that apple, boy, "I'm not either!" said the bigger 'cause that's a good one!" of the two, a fat boy named Roger "I didn't like it." who told everybody else what to "Why?" do. "It didn't make sense." "Yeah, but you know what "That's 'cause it's a riddle Daddy said," warned his little song." brother, Bobby. "What's a riddle song?" "Don't be a nincompoop!" "That's a song that don't make grow led Roger. sense. You gotta figure it out." "Guess what he did." I looked "I won't give you my apple un- at them out of the corner of my til you tell me what it means." eye. "Nobody knows what it means." "What?" asked Roger, staring "God does." over the stump and down the "Sure, but people don't." street. "Mother told me that God "He sang a new song. It was knows everything." better than the other one." "Hain't you gonna give me that "The other one's funny. He's a apple?" funny old man." "Mother told me that God "This one was a riddle song.'' knows everything and I better be "\Vhat's that?" . careful what I do and not talk to "I don't know. Nobody knows old men." I got up and ran away in the whole world. Except God.'' from him, down the sidewalk and "Do you think he'll sing it for into a vacant lot whose weed us?" asked Bobby. jungles were the children's realm. "Don't be a nincompoop!" Two of my friends were already hissed his brother, pushing him there, hidden behind a wooden aside. "We got more important stump. stuff to do than listen to a funny "\Vesawyou!" oldman." "Yeah, we saw you!" "He'll sing it for you," I whis- I tossed my apple in the air pered, "if you give him an apple." and caught it with one hand and "We don't got an apple.'' a smirk. "I've got an apple.'' "Think you're pretty smart, "Give it to mel" don't you? Talking to the old man "What'll you trade me for it?" all by yourself. He'll grab you and "I don't got anything, but I'll put you in a bag." let you hit Bobby.'' 8 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "No!" Bobby squealed and He darted back as fast as a fat scrambled away. boy can, but he waan't fast "Aw, come back," yelled his enough. The old man's hand brother. "I was just joking." He caught him around the neck and turned to me and smiled proudly. the next thing I knew, Roger's "I was just joking." fat bottom was facing the sun and "What'll you trade me?" must have been twice as hot. "I don't know. An apple ain't When the old man finished the worth much." spanking, Roger didn't even both­ "Okay. I guess I'll just go over er to pull up his jeans: he just there and talk to him by myself." ran for home, stumbling along "We'll come too. Com'on, Bob­ with Bobby right behind him. For by." a moment, the old man glared af­ The old man was still sitting ter them; but then he started to on the curb, smoking a new cigar chuckle. And when he'd chuckled and fingering the remnants of one for awhile, he started to laugh. He shoe. He didn't look up at us, but laughed and laughed and just when we got close, the toes of his kept right on laughing; and ev­ ·bare foot started to wiggle with ery time he laughed, his little excitement. head bounced up and down on "Hi!" said Roger, plopping his shoulders and his tattercloth down in the gutter. "We got an coat flapped out like brown wings. apple. See?" He must have laughed for a min­ The old man looked up and ute or more. Then he turned his focused his watery eyes on us. head and looked at me. Then he saw the apple in my "You're not afraid, arc you?" hand, and smiled. "No," I stammered, "I came "Sure like apples!" back to give you your apple." "Sing us a song and we'll give Trembling a little, I handed him it to you!" cried Roger. "Sing us the· fruit. He slipped it out of my the new one!" hand, held it up in the light, and "Apples are good," I said. then dropped it into his pocket. "You hain't gonna give me that "Why don't you eat it?" apple." "Can't. Don't got no teeth." He "Yes we are!" yelled Roger. took a puff on his cigar. "Jest "Nope. And I hain't gonna wanted to have it, that's all." sing no songs for you." He looked "What's your name?" over our heads and started to puff "Don't have a name. Jest songs on his cigar. and an apple." 'Til show you," growled Roger, "Don't you? Really?" kicking the old man in the shin. "Guess I do." He rubbed his THE RIDDLE SONG 9 forehead and smiled. "Don't mat· "Good morning, Mr. King! ter." Good morning, Mr. King! We sat in silence for a moment. Good morning, Mr. King! He put his shoe back on and I ran I took a drink from your mom· a finger across the bumpy asphalt ingspring, of the street, wondering. Then I A-running llhrough a yellow looked up at him again. gold ring; "Tell me about the song." Within your garden it was '"Bout Mr. King?" done, "Yes." Yesterday night and in tomor· "Mr. King was the richest man row's sun!" in the world when I was a young "Okay, what's going on here?" boy. Had a big house in the An ominous voice intruded on the mountains, up in the pine trees. old man's song. Looking up, I saw Had fifty big hogs. Had a daugh­ Roger's father gazing down at us. ter named Morning Spring and so Standing behind him were his pretty the whole country looked two boys. up when she rode by. Myself, I "That's him, Dad!" screamed warn't much but a rambling boy, Roger. "That's the dirty nincom­ but I went up there and got me poop that beat me up!" one of them hogs. Mr. King and "What about this?" boomed his his boys chased me three days and father. "Did you hit my son?" three nights with their coon dogs, The old man slapped his hands but I was sitting in the pines eat­ together, stared straight forward, ing hog eye, happy as a cat. Don't and clouded the air with smoke. remember how, but they finally "Crazy old timer," muttered caught me. Took me back to his Roger's father.,. Then he turned to big house and told me he was me in anger. "Now you get out of gonna hang me next morning. here before you get hurt too! Go Next morning came and I sang on, all of you, scat!" him my riddle song." We ran down the street and "What happened?" hid in the vacant lot where we "Had to let me go. Didn't know could watch. Roger's father paced the riddle." around the old man, talking at a "Really?" tremendous pace and waving a "Yep. Good riddle. Hard rid- threatening finger under his nose. dle." The old man smoked his cigar. "But what does it mean?" A few minutes later, a police "Used to know, but I forgot." car arrived. Roger's father talked He scratched his nose and to the policemen, and the police­ took the cigar from his mouth. men talked to the old man. He re- 10 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION mained steadfast and silent be­ leg and lifted the old man from hind his wall of smoke. One of his resting place. I saw his face for them scooped him up by the arm­ a moment: his eyes were clamped pits and put him on his feet. He shut and his cigar was bobbing up collapsed in the gutter, where he and down like a hummingbird. I lay resting on one elbow, his cigar knew that he was laughing. They still intact, his face grimly set tossed him in the back seat of with determination. their car, exchanged a few more Roger's mother arrived and be­ words with Roger's parents, and gan to harangue the policemen. drove away. Roger's father told her to go home "Boy," said Roger, "I bet they (this I could hear, even at a dis­ put that crazy nincompoop in the tance), and she burst into tears. electric chair!" The policemen seemed puzzled I thought about Mr. King and and a little disgruntled. Finally, chuckled to myself. But I never they each grabbed an arm and a saw the old man again.

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Address ...••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • e; City. . . . . • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Zone. • • • • State . ...•••••• The Atlantic Packet-boat having been delayed by unseasonal storms, we are unable, in this case, to provide our readers with the customary budgetful of intelligence concerning the au­ thor. Until our ace agent, Mr. Pettifogle (now tempest-tossed some severaf'hundred leagues off Cape Race), arri_Qes, data on ]ames White continues to be limited. He has appeared in F&SF before (CHRISTMAS TREASON, ]an. 1962), is the author of the SF novel, GENERAL HOSPITAL; and is chief salesman in the tailoring department of the largest depart­ ment store in Belfast, Northern Ireland-more, we cannot now say. Except, of course, that his story is a very good one, and a tale of detection of a most unusual sort ... Who is it that mu­ tilates dolls, spits on stairs, steals tools from sealed cases, and slowly fills with a sense of peril the lonely and treasure-filled reaches of a department store at night?

COUNTER SECURITY

by James White

THE OBJECT LYING ON Mr. and rather pitiable object, Tully Steele's desk was the remains of a thought, but hardly the sort of large, black plastic doll, Tully saw thing to cause the Store Manager as he took the chair which the to send for the night security man Store Manager indicated to him. as soon as he came on duty. The doll had lost a leg and both Tully was about to voice his arms, one eye socket was empty curiosity when Steele's reception­ and the nose had been pulled out ist announced Tyson of Hard­ of shape. There were also patches ware and Dodds, the Toy buyer. of hair missing from the scalp, and The SM waited until they had a narrow band of spotted material stopped moving in their chairs, -the collar of the doll's dress, no then cleared his throat and began doubt-still encircled its neck. to speak. Altogether it was an intriguing "In the ordinary way, Mr. 11 12 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Tully," he said in his soft, unhur­ "The retail value of the dolls is ried voice, "all cases of malicious of no importance," Steele re­ damage to stock by members of sumed. "What concerns us is the the staff are dealt with by the de­ way in which the culprit can partmental Buyer or floor super­ do such damage without being visor and are not usually the con­ caught. That and the bad effect it cern of the night security people. is having on the Toy department Neither, I might add, are they the staff. On the surface it looks like direct concern of the Store Man­ a practical joke, but-" ager, since I have slightly more im­ "A joke/" Dodds burst out. "I portant matters to occupy me." tell you my girls are terrified! At His tone became gently sarcas­ first they treated it as a joke, but tic and he looked pointedly at the then they kept finding them near­ Toy buyer who looked at the ly every morning and the rumour carpet. started that there was a psychopath " ... However," he went on, loose in the Store ... !" "this seems to be an unusual case, "Very well, Mr. Dodds," said in that neither Mr. Dodds or the the Store Manager irritably. "You supervisor on that floor have been tell it." able to do anything beyond estab­ "... Just look at the facts!" lishing the fact that these occur­ the Toy buyer rushed on, plainly ranees do not take place during too excited to notice the danger shop hours. l\Ieanwhile the Toy signals flying on the other side of department is being terrorised by the desk. "During the past two an epidemic of armless dolls-" weeks nine dolls in all have been "That sounds like an exaggera­ mutilated like this. Nine black tion," Dodds broke in quickly, dolls. All had a leg and both arms strong emotion doubling the vol­ pulled off, the hair twisted or ume of his naturally loud voice, pulled out, the faces disfigured "but believe me it isn't! My staff and their dresses torn off. One or are all girls, some of them col­ two such incidents might be at­ oured, and this sort of thing . . ." tributed to simple malicious dam­ The SM silenced Dodds with a age, but nine of them in two coldly disapproving look. Mr. weeks points to something much Steele detested all unnecessary more sinister . . ." noises. He liked to think of his Tully found himself looking at Store as an efficient, smoothly­ the doll, which no longer seemed running machine and he was fond such an innocent object, and of reminding people that any part thinking about the implications of of it which operated loudly ren­ the word mutilate as opposed to dered its efficiency suspect. damage. COUNTER SECURITY 13 ". • • I'm not saying the ru· sized mining operation. He did not moor is true," Dodds went on, say anything, however, because "but the facts support it. They the Store 1\'lanager knew these point towards a perverted mind, a things as well as he did. And he mind with some dreadful obses­ noticed that the other had made sion about Negro dolls. I mean no reference to his failure to na. Negro girls . . ." tke anything peculiar going on Dodds stopped for breath and during the past two weeks, when the Store Manager rejoined the dolls must have been having their conversation. He said, "Despite arms pulled off nearly every night. what you have just heard, Mr. But now that the matter had been Tully, we are not faced with a brought officially to his attention general walkout. But the rumour he knew that Steele would have is causing trouble and I want it plenty to say if he did not put a killed. The quickest way to do stop to it. that will be to find out who is ". . . This is an odd business pulling these dolls apart, and that whose solution may require a cer­ is where you come in . . ." tain amount of imagination," the It had already been established Sl\1 said, his eyes flicking briefly that whatever it was that hap­ towards the inch or so of magazine pened was occurring outside of showing in Tully's jacket pocket, normal shop hours, Steele told "but then I sec that that is some­ him. The dolls were alwavs found thing with which you arc well by staff arriving in the niornings, supplied. Have you any ques­ usually by the Cleaners, who were tions?" always first in. Either the culprit Before Tully could reply, Dodds was someone, not necessarily a broke in again. "Sir, you didn't member of the staff, who was hid­ mention the-" ing in the store at night, or the That was at far as l1e got. Store was being broken into from Furiously, but still quietly, Steele the street. It was suggested that said, "Mr. Dodds, there arc some Mr. Tully keep a closer watch on misdemeanors committed in this the entrances to the Toy depart­ store which I, or Mr. Tully here, ment ... are not obliged to investigate per­ A that point Tully felt like re­ sonally, and complaints of peorle minding him that the Store was spitting on the back staircase is reputed to be burglar-proof from one of them . . . I" the ground up, that the Toy de­ More to take the heat off the partment occupied the basement loud-voiced but kindly Dodds than and that to gain access to it from from any strong curiosity over the the street would call for a fair- matter, Tulh· nodded towards the 14 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Hardware buyer and said, "What decided to have a chat with the is Mr. Tyson's connection with people in· the Hardware stock· this?" room. Steele had told him that the "Eh? Oh, very slight,'' said shortages did not concern him, but Steele, regaining his composure Tully disliked having his mind with a visible effort. "He is having made up for him even when he trouble with shortages. Some pow­ knew that the other party was er tools, and a motorised lawn­ right. mower, missing from packing A few minutes later he was cases which have the manufactur­ getting all the details from Cars­ er's seals unbroken. There is some well, Tyson's assistant. Carswell kind of hanky panky going on, but was an extremely conscientious pilfering at this end is not sus­ type who expected everybody else pected so it is not a matter for you. to be the same, and the fact that He may also have come to lend everybody else wasn't had had a moral support to Mr. Dodds, who bad effect on his disposition over is going to need it . . ." the years. He stood up suddenly, smiled "Either the packers were drunk and said, "Thank you, Mr. Tully." or the maker is trying to pull a fast Then he began quietly to draw one," Carswell said hotly. Then Dodds' attention to the Toy de­ tolerantly, for him, he went on, partment's trading figures for the "There might be an excuse for preceding week in comparison to three power-drills being missing the same week last year. This was from a case which was supposed to a matter which Mr. Steele was contain twenty-an error in pack­ obliged to investigate in person, ing, no doubt, because the maker's and as Tully closed the office door seals on the cases were unbroken. softly behind him the inquisition But when we told them about it was just beginning to warm_ up. they insisted that there was no er­ Tully walked slowly out onto ror, that they had packed twenty the sales floor, trying to make his power-drills and if their seals mind think in a positive and con­ were intact then we had received structive manner and not succeed­ and in due course would be billed ing at all. Around him stretched for twenty power-drills. And the the polished, square ocean of the trouble is, we've been holding Hardware department with its them in storage unopened for a bright display islands of Do-It­ couple of weeks, which weakens Yourself, electrical goods, refriger­ our case considerably • . ." ators, et al. There were only a few Except where they had been customers about, it being only half severed by Carswell's wire-cutters an hour to closing time, and he the thin metal bands sealing the COUNTER SECURITY 15 cases were in one piece, smooth tiny waiting room from the dis­ and shining apart from a few tiny pensary proper he saw a white discoloured sections which looked shadow approach and resolve it­ as if they were beginning to rust. self into the Nurse as the door was The packing inside had fallen to opened. the bottom of the case, but there She looked down at him, the was a suggestion of shaping to it soft brown eyes in her rather se­ as if the case had contained some­ vere face scaiming him automati­ thing which had been taken out cally for signs of physical injury rather than that the packing had or distress, then she said quietly, merely been pushed into an empty "Good Afternoon, Mr. Tully. Is case. For several minutes Tully something troubling you?" poked around in it without quite "Well . . . yes," said Tully, knowing why, and lifted a handful standing up. He outlined what up to his nose. It smelled of dust was troubling him, the Store Man­ and dry straw and, vaguely, of ager and a lot of other people, peppermint, he thought, before he then ended awkwardly, " nearly blew over the case with the Maybe I shouldn't ask this sort of grandaddy of all sneezes. question. I mean, what you find Tully left Hardware and took out or even guess at might be the elevator to the ground floor, privileged information-I'm not intending to ask some questions in sure what your position is in cases the Toy department while its like this. But I was wondering Buyer was still engaged with the if-" Store Manager-he felt that he "If," the Nurse broke in firmly, would get a more valuable reac­ "there was anyone who came to tion if he talked to the staff with­ sec me who was as mentally dis­ out Dodds shouting everybody turbed as you and this rumour you down. But at the top of the base­ mention suggests, I might or might ment stairs he changed his mind. not divulge his name. That would There was another possibility depend on the circumstances. I which he should try to eliminate would, however, declare him unfit first. for \vork and immediately send When he reached the Nurse's him to his doctor, who would take Office a few minutes later he over from there. I would not al­ coughed gently in the manner of low him to run around loose. Does one intent on signalling one's that answer your question, Mr. presence rather than displaying Tully?" symptoms of a respiratory mal­ "Thank you, Nurse," said Tully, function. Through the frosted and left. glass door which separated the The possibility of a Negro-hat- 16 F:\:-iTASY A:-.ID SCIENCE FICTION ing psychopath among the staff When Tully was alone in the was not completely eliminated, he department he closed, bolted and thought as he resumed his journey locked the door at the top of the to the Toy department; all the stairs, then he went on the prowl.­ talk with Nurse had proved was His eyes missed nothing and he that the psychopath, if there was kept his lips pressed together so one, had not revealed himself to that he breathed in a long series her. - of sniffs. This was routine, be­ On his wav down the basement cause his job required keen eyes stairs Tully ~as caught by a stam­ and a very sensitive nose. peding mass of chattering feminin­ Few people realised that the ity on their way up. It was quit­ Store, equipped as it was with the ting time, which meant that he latest security devices and well wouldn't be able to ask the Toy covered by police patrols, was in girls any questions today. His only no danger of being robbed, that possible source of information the greatest and only danger was seemed to be Miss Barr, Dodd's as­ from fire. There was a sprinkler sistant, who was still standing by system installed, of course, which the model railway display putting could be made so sensitive that a on her outdoor face. whole department could be in­ But he learned very little from stantly flooded-and its stock his talk with. her. According to ruined, incidently_:_if someone Miss Barr every doll had been switched on an electric fire. Or it found in the same condition­ could be made less sensitive so missing both arms, one leg, one that a fire could gain an unbreak­ eye, the nose pulled out of shape, able hold which the spray from hair disarranged and clothing, if the ceiling would be unable to the doll had been wearing any, check. For despite its imposing ripped off. The only minor varia­ facade the Store was one of the tion was that sometimes it was the oldest buildings in the city, and right and sometimes the left eye much of its stock was even more that had been poked out, just as inflammable than its structure. it could be the right or left leg that So the primary job of the night was missing. When she began to security man was to guard against grow agitated and started repeat­ fire and the causes of fire. Every ing herself, a condition highly un­ stockroom, locker room and cubby­ usual in the competent and level­ hole-the only exceptions were headed Miss Barr, Tully made the washrooms-had its No Smok· gentle reassuring noises, helped ing notices. But despite the eagle her on with her coat and said eyes of the Buyers and Floor Su­ good-night. pervisors, the staff continued to COUNTER_ SECURITY 17 sneak off for a smoke in all those dogged open. There were two places at every opportunity. Tully lights in the corridor which he did not mind them smoking; the switched off as he passed them. trouble arose when they were in­ The Dugout was a large un­ terrupted at it and were forced to tidy room which served as the hide the evidence quickly. They supply base and-unofficially­ hid it in some very odd places, and rest room for the cleaning staff. the evidence smouldered some­ Drawn up in the centre of the times for hours before Tully's nose room like some alien armoured di­ led him to it and he rendered it vision were the rubber-wheeled safe. bogies which carried the electric On this occasion he was not polishers and vacuum cleaners, simply looking for smouldering and ranged around the walls were cigarette ends. He intended seal­ storage cupboards filled with floor ing the basement from outside and polish, liquid soap and an in­ before he did so he had to be sure credible quantity of rags, most of that there was nobody hiding in which were oily. Of all the places it. He looked behind and under in the Store, this was the one in every counter and display stand which a fire would be most likely and with his Master opened every to start. Tully searched and locker in the Toy staff room, and sniffed meticulously, as he did finally he was satisfied that the every night in this potential dan­ department was empty. He spent ger spot, but without finding either ten minutes then at the model rail­ a hiding place or a trace of tobac­ way display, taking the 4-6-2 tank co smoke. He gave a last look loco around the layout and per­ around, then mounted the ramp forming a few simple shunting which replaced a stairway at this operations, then he killed all the end to facilitate movement of the lights and headed for the Dugout. wheeled cleaners. He switched off The total floor area of the base­ the lights, then closed, locked and ment was only a fraction of that of bolted the door from the outside. the ground floor, it being merely An odd thing happened while two cellars joined by a narrow cor­ he was locking the door. One of ridor. A floor plan of the basement the keys in his bunch, the thin, resembled a dumb-bell with square lightweight Master for the Wages weights, the square representing Office lockers, flipped up sudden­ the Toy department being twice ly and stuck to the bar. A few the size of the one enclosing the minutes testing showed him that Dugout. In the middle of the ,cor­ the bolt and surrounding casing of ridor was a heavy swing door the Dugout door was strongly mag· which was kept permanently netised. 18 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION If Tully had been asked to level. The Dugout door had been write down his thoughts just then similarly treated except that it was he would have put down a row of bolted and locked only from out~ question marks. He thought of side. He had also rigged threads at checking to see if there was an one-floor intervals on the staff electrician working late and ask~ stairway. The thread in each case ing him how and why the lock was held by gum so that it would should have become magnetic, pull away rather than break, be­ then decided that before doing cause there was a chance that his anything else he should complete man might hear or feel a thread the sealing off of the basement. break and so have warning of the Still keeping his eye on the two trap. Tully was assuming that any entrances to the basement he paid surreptitious movements which a quick visit to t4e Haberdashery took place would be via the staff counter and a cigarette and con~ stairs, because the Store's main fectionery kiosk which were on stairway, which wound around the same floor. At Haberdashery the central well and elevators, was he took a spool of black thread, kept brightly illuminated all leaving a chit with his signature through the night. It was also in on it stating that the goods were sight of Tully's night station at the being used in the Store's business, Book counter as well as being in and at the confectionery counter full view of anyone passing the he opened a large packet of chew­ main entrance in the street. ing gum. He thought of paying for As well, the staff stairway this at first, but· then reminded would be in total darkness while himself that he didn't like gum the main one would be lighted, so and he was chewing it solely in there was no reason for the men the line of duty. He left a chit for working late to break his threads. that, too, knowing full well that No innocent reason, that was. the people in accounting would With the feeling that he had have some very sarcastic things to taken all the precautions it was say about it tomorrow. Tully possible to take at that time, Tully grinned to himself and, chewing began the first and most important furiously, headed for the nearest of his six nightly rounds. Except basement door. for the well and the centre of Fifteen minutes later the en~ light and activity where some dis­ trance to the Toy end of the base~ play staff and carpenters were ment was bolted both inside and working on the Fashion Theatre, out · and had a length of black the Store was in darkness. The thread stretched across it approxi~ Floor Supervisor on Lock-up, mately six inches from the floor whose job was also to keep tabs on COUNTER SECURITY 19 the people working late, had al­ bothered by these sounds. They ready checked all doors and win­ would have let their imaginations dows and killed the lights. Tully's loose among the eerie creakings first nightly duty was to make and tinklings arrd scuffiings and sure he had done these things peopled the darkness with form­ properly, which he always had­ less horrors. Not that Tully didn't floor supervisors were just as se­ have a good imagination. To the curity minded as Tully himself, contrary, but he prided -himself in and none of them wanted to be that his imagination was properly caught out by the night man. It under control. He had no time for was a point of honour with them. gothic horrors or brooding menaces Tully laughed wryly to himself as or fantasy of any kind. Tully he paced the darkened sales floor, liked his science fiction straight. thinking that the competition So he patrolled up and down which was fostered between de­ behind the shadowy counters, ig­ partments-so fierce at times that noring the noises off and with it put an unfair strain on the most of his attention concentrated word friendly-touched even the in his nose, thinking the sort of night watchman. thoughts he always thought around Gravely, Tully begged his own this time of night. He thought pardon; he meant the Night Se­ about his job, which was easy and, curity Officer . . . because few people would work All around him the Store began the hours he worked, very well settling down for the night. The paid. Then he would think about light and heating fixtures made the day job at the counter which soft pinging noises as they cooled, was not so well paid and which he or creaked eerily just above the had held for so many years with­ threshold of audibility. The wood­ out getting any farther up the lad­ work ticked and sighed and the der. He had been good at his job, floor, relieved of the day-long pres­ but then so had about two thou­ sure of thousands of pairs of feet, sand others in the store, and he stretched minutely and moved it­ must have lacked that extra bit of self into a more comfortable posi­ push which would have led to pro­ tion. The sounds it made varied )motion. Finally he would think from those of a herd of running about himself. mice to the noise of distant gun­ He was an intelligent, well-read fire. Later the Store would come -he bv no means restricted him­ to rest, but during his first few self to ~cience fiction although he patrols the sound effects could be preferred it-and essentially lazy quite startling. person. His few close friends cred­ Some people would have been ited him with high intelligence by 20 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION inference and did not, because Around the well everything stood they were his friends, mention out bright and sharp and clear, laziness at all. But others came but as he moved away from it ob­ straight out and asked him if he jects began to throw long shad­ was so intelligent why didn't he ows, which eventually grew so have a better job? Tully had asked hazy that the objects themselves himself the same question often became shadows. The vast, un­ without finding a satisfactory an­ lighted portion of the shop seemed swer. Apparently there were no to have become unreal, as if God jobs which demanded a calm, had switched it off because no­ easy-going disposition allied with body was using it. This was a very detailed, but not specialist, knowl­ fanciful line of thought for Tully, edge on such widely-varied sub­ but he sometimes indulged in such jects as Stellar Evolution, the his­ thinking when he wanted to men­ tory of the Roman Empire, the tally change the subject. latest work being done on the He did not like to think that psychology of worms and similar he was a highly intelligent, well­ unrelated items. At the moment read failure . . . his job gave him plenty of time to On the way to the Fourth floor read and think, and gave him he checked his thread and found it security while he was doing these unbroken. The sight of the thin things, so he had no real cause black thread turned dusty white .for complaint. Tully now knew by the narrow beam of his torch that he had not been happy. in his sent the odd business of the dolls job at the counter. The pay had rushing back into his mind, and been lower even though the chance immediately his dark mood lifted. of promotion had been much He had been given a problem higher. But basically all he had which he did not think any ordi­ had was a chance, and Tully's nary night-watchman could solve. reading had included data on the Mr. Steele had suggested as much, Laws of Chance, so after due con­ although there was the possibility sideration he had gone after the that the Store Manager had sim­ job which was a fairly well paid ply been making a crack about his dead end-he had chosen Se­ taste in literature. This doll busi­ curity. ness was a challenge and Tully felt Pun unintemional, he thought that if he met it successfully he wryly. might be able to stop thinking of His watch said eight-thirty and rhimself as a complete failure. he was just finishing the Third Tully spent longer than usual floor, walking from the brightly-lit on the Fourth, particularly in Mr. well towards the staff stairway. Steele's office. His reason for that COU:\TER SECURITY 21 was that he wanted to have a in the elevator housings. By the closer look at the mutilated doll. time he had finished the roof He found it in Mr. Steele's waste­ check it was nine-twenty, so he basket, rescued it and placed it on hurried down to the Time Office to Mr. Steele's blotter. Then he make coffee for his first supper and switched on 1\lr. Steele's desk­ watch the overtime men clocking lamp and with a slight qualm of out. something he couldn't put a name Ten minutes later he was stand­ to he sat down in Mr. Steele's ing at the only unlocked exit from chair. the store, with the floor supervisor His second examination of the in charge of Lock-up and Over­ doll told him nothing new, at time, watching the late workers first. It was still just a one-eyed, troop out. Tully did not know one-legged armless black doll with what exactly he was looking for, a lot of its hair missing. But then but he did know that nobody left he noticed that the hair might the place chewing peppermints or have been pulled out accidentally, with a lawn-mower under their that it had not simple been yanked coat. He chatted for a few min­ out but rather that somebody had utes with the supervisor, offered been trying to twist it into all-over him a cup of coffee which was ac­ pig-tails. Tully grunted; it seemed cepted, then let him out. a useless bit of information. Al­ By nine-forty-five Tully was most automatically he lifted the alone inside a tightly sealed de- doll and smelt its hair. partment store. · And got a faint, almost inde­ After his coffee and sandwiches tectablc odour of something which he did his second round, then set could have been peppermint. up a folding chair in the Book de­ Suddenly impatient with him­ partment. He sat down, drew the self Tully threw the doll back into magazine which had arrived that the wastebasket. He was imagining morning out of his pocket and things, either that or his nose was prepared to face the night. He was suffering from persistence of supposed to make his rounds at smell. It was stupid to suppose random intervals, the theory being that his dolls and Tyson's missing that nobody would know where he lawnmower had any connec­ was going to be at any given time. tion ... It being neJ~:t to impossible to de­ On the fifth floor, which housed vise completely random intervals, the store's administrative offices, Tully mixed business with pleas­ and on the roof above it there ure by reading his magazine for were no smouldering cigarette the night and patrolling between ends or signs of anyone skulking stories. Sometimes he read the 22 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION short stories first, sometimes last, He glanced quickly at the depart­ just to make it more difficult for ment telephone, which at night any hypothetical observer who was connected to an outside line might be tryin·g to beat his sys- in case he suddenly needed to call tem ... the Police or the Fire Department, He began his third round at then shook his head-he didn't eleven-fifty-eight, thinking that need help, at least, not yet. With there were some people who could his torch in one hand and his handle psi-Bester, Sturgeon and shoes in the other he sprinted a few others-and some who most silently towards the Dugout en­ definitely could not. When they trance, pausing only long enough tried their stories read like fan­ to check that the Tov door was tasy; instead of natural laws and still bolted and its thread un­ controlled experiments there was broken. chaos and a sort of aseptic witch­ The other door had been craft. Still seething quietly, Tully opened and the thread pulled finished his round and read an­ from its anchoring gum. For a other story. He had his second moment Tully dithered between supper, it being close to one-thirty, entering the Dugout and checking then made his fourth patrol. where the person who had entered All the threads were intact, he it had come from, then he made saw nothing unusual, not a thing up his mind and ran up the stairs. was stirring, not even a . . . But The threads were dislodged then, he reminded himself, the from the first to the fourth floors, Store did not have mice. but not the fifth. Whoever it was It was during his third story must have been hiding on the that Tully heard something­ fourth floor, although Tully didn't something unusual, that was. The see how anvone could have re­ floors and lighting fixtures still mained hidden after the going ticked and creaked at intervals, over he had given the place. On but this sounded exactly like a bolt the way downstairs again }lis light being drawn. As he strained his picked out a small, damp patch on ears to listen it was followed by one of the stairs, as if someone the sounds of a door being opened had spat and scuffed over it with and closed quietly and a muffled, their shoe. He paused, sniffing. slapping sound. It seemed to be There was a distinct smell of pep­ coming from the Dugout entrance. permint. Tully put down his magazine, So Steele had been wrong, sheer habit making him mark his Tully thought wildly; the dolls place with a used bus ticket, and and Tyson's missing lawn-mower moved from behind the counter. and now c\·en the spitting on the COUNTER SECURITY 23 staff stairway were all part of the corridor framed the corner of a same problem. He hurried down the counter, a large square of floor, stairs with the pieces of what he and something on the floor that thought had been three separate was five feet long and black and puzzles whirling around in his slug-like. The slug-like something mind, trying to form a picture of was curled around a large black the person who was responsible doll, pulling one of its arms off for the disappearance of various . . . tools and one large, motorised Tully staggered back against lawn-mower, who mutilated black the wall, instinctively seeking a dolls, who was fond of eating pep­ prop for his shaking body while he permints and who spat. tried to steady his whirling mind. It was as well that in a few The wall wasn't there. minutes he would be meeting this Tully opened his mouth to person face to face, Tully thought scream, and grunted instead as grimly; otherwise he thought that his shoulder hit a hard, sloping he would have died out of sheer surface and he began to rolL The curiosity ••. roll lasted only for a few yards be­ Still in his stockinged feet, fore he crashed into an irregular Tully opened the Dugout door. metal object which knocked the Fanning the beam of his torch he breath out of him. His shoes and painted the room with fast zig­ torch thudded gently against his zags of light. It was empty. But body, and when he could breathe there was a narrow, vertical band again he groped for the flash and of light coming from the corridor switched it on. leading to the Toys. It took him He was lying close to the bot­ a couple of seconds to realise that tom of a hollow sphere twenty-five someone had partly closed the feet in diameter which had been door half-way along the connect­ cut out of the Store's foundation ing corridor, the door which had material. He could see where the been dogged open for so long that concrete, masonry and even the Tully had almost forgotten it had steel reinforcing had been sheered hinges. He moved fonvard care­ off along a perfect, spherical fully, keeping the door between plane, and where the loose earth the source of light and himself, and clay was kept from falling into until he was just behind it. Then H by a thin film of hard, transpar­ he looked into the Toy depart­ ent material. The only break in ment. the sphere was the opening which There were enough lights Tully had fallen through. switched on to show him the A smaller spherical object rest­ scene in detail. The mouth of the ed at the bottom of the hollow, 24 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION surrounded thickly by metal ob­ unique situation, probably the jects some of which he recognised first time such a thing had hap­ as having once been powered pened on Earth, but at the same hand~tools. There was also a six­ time it was one that was very fa­ foot circle of brickwork which was miliar to Tully. obviously the plug for the en­ Many times he had discussed trance, and the motorised lawn­ just this situation with those few mower which he had collided with friends who shared his taste in on the way in. All the tools literature. What would you do, had been . . . changed . • . in the question usually went, if an ways that would have given their alien spaceship landed in your designers nightmares, and what back yard? Would you try to talk, had been done to the lawn-mower would you run, or would you call verged on the obscene. The smell out the militia? The answer which of peppermint was overpowering. Tully and his friends preferred Tully climbed to his feet and, had invariably been the first one­ carefully, began to explore. you would try to talk, try to work The beam of his flash bobbed out a method of communication. and vibrated along the hull of the Then if the ''isitor needed help, or small, spherical ship with its not was trying to help you, you would quite transparent shell and alien be able to discover which. Of internal plumbing. It jerked be­ course, there might be a third al­ cause his hands were shaking, be­ ternative-it might be hostile, cause his whole body was shaking. completely inimical . . . He had the shakes because part of Neither Tully nor his friends him was afraid, the part which liked that third alternative. For was thinking like a store night­ one thing they had come up watchman, but mostly he was against that situation far to often shaking with sheer excitement as in stories and they thought it his mind stretched and his imagi­ corny. Another reason, a much nation soared to accept the reality more subtle and complex one, was of what was before him. their feeling that the Universe was An alien ship, probably force­ such a big place that it was ridicu­ landed and needing repairs, skU­ lous to think of anyone coveting fully concealed while the repairs one tiny mote in it to such an ex­ were being carried out. The evi­ tent that they would contemplate dence lay all around him-tools, war to get it, together with a human tools, modified and used to strong, philosophically based be­ make other tools which made other lief that anyone who was ad­ tools which might be capable of vanced enough to cross intersteller making the repairs. It was a space must be highly civilised as COUNTER SECURITY 25 well. If there was any hostility, basement while he was making any apparent hostility, it would his preparations. come about through misunder· Much of the equipment he standing. needed was already in the base­ Tully would have to see to it ment in the shape of children's that he managed his First Contact blackboards and chalks. And a without misunderstandings . . . measure of contact had already He shivered again with sheer been made in that he knew what excitement and swept his torch the alien looked like and, by vir­ around the hideout which the tue of its detection gear, the alien alien had built in the middle of was used to the sight of Tully's the Store's foundations. It had species. At ·the same time he been using and modifying Earth· would have to render his general type tools for its repairs, that aspect less frightening to the alien. seemed obvious. But there were One, the most important, method other questions to which Tully would be not to carry a weapon itched to have the answers. How or anything which might be mis­ had the alien been able to materi· ·taken for such. Then there was alise inside the solid foundations another, more positive method and create this place? And how was it able to pick out a place Grinning suddenly, Tully head­ where tools were readily avail­ ed for the confectionery counter. able? Had it detected them, or did There he uncapped the big glass it already know they were there? jar that was labelled "Extra Had the ship been travelling, not Strong Peppermints" and began through interstellar space but stuffing his mouth and pockets through Time . . . ? The an· with the hard, white sweets. The swers, he knew, could come only way Tully saw it the,..alien's body from the alien. odour smelled of peppermint, or Abruptly Tully came to a de· of something very like pepper­ cision. He tied his shoes together mint. The smell was not unpleas­ by their laces, hung them around ant to Tully, but the human body his neck and with the torch stick· smell might be quite distressing to ing out of his mouth like a metal the alien, and if he ·tried to con­ trunk, scrambled up to the open· ceal it with the nearest equivalent ing. At the lip of the hole he he could manage to the alien's paused, sniffed, then hurried own smell, that should further re­ quietly along the corridor and out assure it of his friendly intentions. into the Store. He replaced the Completely disregarding the thread across the door so that he bad effects to his teeth, Tully be­ would know "if the alien left the gan to crunch and chew. Within 26 FANTASY AJIOD SCIENCE FICTION minutes his tongue, mouth and to give the alien warning of his throat were practically paralysed coming. But just before he entered by the hot-cold burn of the pepper· the basement he stopped whis­ mints and his breath was stinking tling when it occurred to him that up the whole department. Tully high-pitched sounds might not be popped in a few replacements and pleasant to alien cars-the noise hurried back to the Dugout. he was making was not even He paused on the way to look pleasant to his own ears, Tully again at the phone in the Book de­ had to admit. Then suddenly he partment, wondering if he should was in the Toy department and call somebody. Not the Police or the alien was on the floor less than the Fire Department. Definitely five yards away. not Mr. Steele, at least, not yet. It was long and black and slug­ One of his friends maybe, except like, with a soft bulgincss about that even then what pe had to say its body which suggested that in­ might not sound believable at ternally it must be nearly all three o'clock in the morning. He liquid. It moved by altering its wasn't frightened, Tully told him­ centre of gravity rapidly back and self; just excited and a little wor­ forwards, in a series of tumbling ried. He couldn't help thinking of lurches accompanied by a wet slap­ all those arm-less dolls and won­ ping sound. The head section­ dering how they fitted into the Tully guessed it was the head by alien's purpose. its direction of motion-had a The theory of a sex-maniac grey, shining bulge which might wandering the · Toy department have been a single eye over a had been demolished. Tully now long, cone-like proboscis, and five, knew what exactly it was that long, thin tentacles sweeping for­ wandered the Toy department at ward. Its direction of motion was night, but what bothered him was away from Tully and it was mov­ its behavior towards the dolls. ing fast. Obvious})' it was afraid Had it, in some obscure fashion, of him. been trying to communicate with Tully stuffed more peppermints him ... ? into his mouth and followed it, Tully went into the Dugout but slowly so as not to frighten it quietly, closing and locking the further. So far as he could see it door behind him, and along the wasn't wearing or carrying any­ corridor. At the partly open divid­ thing so that he was in no danger ing door he put his torch on the from extra-terrestrial weapons. floor and continued towards the He showed his empty hands con­ Toy department whistling and tinually and made reassuring putting his feet down firmly so as noises, and tried to attract its at- COU:\TER SECURITY 27 tention by drawing non-scale dia­ wasn't already carrying one. He grams of the Solar System and must close the door in the corri­ Pythagorus' Thereom on one of dor. He had already taken a step the children's blackboards. But it in that direction when he remem­ was no good, it kept running bered that it was a simple bolt away from him and trying to get fastening, and locks and bolts did back into the corridor where its not a prison make for these aliens ship was. -he remembered the way his keys Tully could not allow that, at had stuck to the Dugout lock. The least, not yet. While the e-t was aliens could open locks magneti­ still excited and afraid of him he cally. He would have to wedge it didn't want it getting its hands on shut. a weapon. A set of kiddies building blocks He was standing in the mouth gave him what he wanted and he of the corridor trying to think of ran back to the dividing door. By some other approach when he that time the second alien was on heard a noise which caused the the way down the ramp and Tully cold sweat to pop on his forehead. used his torch briefly to have a He had been blind, stupid­ look at it. Tully could see that now. He had It was bigger, thicker and made a gross ·tactical blunder. The somehow meaner looking than the broken threads between the dug­ one behind him. The male of the out and Hardware department in­ species, he thought. When it saw dicated the passage of someone him it began to hurry, humping between the fourth floor and the and lurching down the corridor basement, but they could just as and making high-pitched gobbling well have shown movement in the sounds. Behind him the other opposite direction. There were one began gobbling, too. Tully two aliens and the other one was slammed the door and began kick­ coming back. Tully could hear it ing in the wedges just as a large, working at the locked Dugout soft heavy weight made its hinges door ... creak. His first thought was that he had A few seconds later one of the to keep the two aliens apart, until wedges was pushed from under he could make the one he was the door ... chasing understand that he meant Tully had just decided that he no harm. If the second alien came had made another blunder. That on the scene it might misunder­ the second alien, with the de­ stand and Tully would not be able vices in its ship available, could to stop it going to its ship for a probably blast through the door in weapon-always supposing it nothing flat, and probably blast 28 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION through Tully as well. But now It other living, intelligent creature seemed that it was not going to be apart with less feeling than an as quick and dramatic as that. unthinking boy would pull the The second alien did not want to legs off a fly • . • destroy the door because that Two more wedges jerked from would leave unmistakable evi­ under the door, and Tully could­ dence of its presence in ·the Store, n't move to replace them. All he but no doubt Tully could be made could do was shake. His mind to disappear tracelessly. He kicked seemed to be a tight, hard ball of the wedge in again, just as the one panic. He was beginning to real­ beside it popped out. ise tha·t it was an alien at the The smaller alien behind him other side of the door, a being had amused itself by pulling the whose civilisation and philosophy arms off dolls. The second one and thought processes were such • • • Tully wondered sickly what that there might be no common it would feel like to have his arms ground between them. And even if and leg pulled off, his nose muti­ understanding was possible, he lated and his eye . . . He tried had spoiled any chance he had desperately not to think about it, ever had of gaining it by closing tried to think about good, civilised the door. aliens, but his mind kept turning Judging by its reactions his at­ back to the other sort. The sort tempt to contact the first alien that Lovecraft used to write about. had simply driven it into a panic, According · to Lovecraft the and then when the second one had whole of Time and Space was peo­ come rushing to its aid he had pled with cruel, debased, un­ barred the way. So far as the e.t. speakably foul entities, beings as outside was concerned he might cold and malignant and uncaring be doing anything to its mate, and as the interstellar wastes in which the longer he kept them apart the they dwelt. Humanity with its Jess likely the larger alien would concern over Right and Wrong be to stop and think. And he inhabited a single dust-mote, un­ couldn't run himself because the known and unknowing, in a con­ Toy door was· bolted on the out­ tinuum that was one vast, blas­ side. phemous obscenity. Tully had not It occurred to him suddenly liked Lovecraft's ideas, but they that he had met this situation be­ had been written up so well that fore also-the bug-eyed monster, they had stuck in his mind de­ the girl and the hero dashing to spite this. And Lovecraft's aliens the rescue. Only this time he was were the type who 1Vould pull an- the bug-eyed monster • • •! COUNTER SECURITY 29 Somehow that thought brought some sort of self-welding job on him out of his panic state. Basi­ the metal strapping around the cally his problem was to show packing cases it had pilfered, that he was a kindly disposed bug­ while the other one left mutilated eyed monster and not the other dolls lying around . . . sort, and to show it unmistakably He finished it just as the last and fast. Tully was getting the wedge shot out and the door glimmering of an idea, based on banged against the wall. Tully an assumption that might be all tried to ignore the heavy, slap­ wrong, but he needed time to try ping sounds of the second alien it out. At least ten minutes. coming along the corridor and Abruptly he started kicking in the moved instead towards the other wedges again, kicking them in so alien-slowly, so as to frighten it hard and far that he ruined the as little as possible. It was in a toe-caps of his shoes and nearly corner, still making agitated gob­ broke a couple of toes. Then he bling noises. It occurred to Tully sprinted back to the Toy base­ that his height might frighten it ment and started tearing open a so he got onto his knees, then flat box of modelling clay. on his stomach, and crawled to­ Pulling and kneading at the wards it holding out the thing he stuff, Tully tried to work it into had made in one hand. Behind a shape that was shapeless. The him the slapping grew louder and clay was an improbable green col­ the smell of something that wasn't our, but this did not worry him peppermint grew stronger. because the modelling set in­ He was gambling everything on cluded a sprayer which, as well as his theory being right; lying flat giving the finished model a thin, on his stomach, defenseless, not hard skin within seconds, allowed even looking at his potential at­ it to be painted any desired col­ tacker. And his main reason for our. While he worked Tully tried taking such a suicidal risk, Tully not to think of the gamble he was thought wildly, was that he did taking, or the scraping as wedge not want to think of the Galaxy after wedge was pushed away, or being peopled with Lovecraft of the gobbling which came from aliens ... the other side of the door. He was only a few feet away His theory, he told himself des­ from the smaller alien when the perately, was supported by all the big one lurched to a halt beside facts. It explained why one alien Tully. It didn't look at him, but was careful to hide all traces of shot its five, whip-like tentacles itself and its work, by plugging out at the other e-t. Five smaller its bolt-hole and probably doing tentacles came out to meet them, 30 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION touched, and almost tied them­ enough of them to bring them back selves in five separate knots. Tully into the ship. held his breath, afraid even to It had kept, and had seemed hope. It was not until the smaller delighted with, the doll which e-t had left for the ship carrying Tully had made for it. Which the doll which Tully had made meant that the Toy department for it, and its parent began draw­ reign of terror was over. As for ing a solar system with seventeen the spitting on the staircase, well, planets in it on the blackboard, the aliens were not built for that Tully knew he had guessed climbing stairs and they some­ right. times lost small amounts of body fluid when forced to do so. That, Later that morning, as he too, would stop in a few days tidied up the corridor and Toy time when the repairs to the ship department after the aliens had were complete. And the tools bor­ gone underground for the day, rowed from Hardware would be Tully thought that it had been returned to their former shape and obvious from the very start that a replaced. No doubt this would child had been responsible for the cause widespread consternation, doll business. While its parent Tully thought wryly, but Tyson had been up in Hardware search­ could not very well complain. All ing for the proper tools, Junior in all everybody should be happy. had grown bored. It had wanted Tully yawned and looked at to play with a dolly, but all the his watch. It was six-thirty. He dollies in the Toy department had just tim_e to remove all his were the wrong shape. So it had thread and chewing gum from chosen one that was the nearest the doors and stairway, make in colour and pulled off the arms some coffee and finish the last and a leg to give it a more 'human' story in his magazine before he shape. Twisting out its nose and unlocked the staff entrance for hair to resemble the five tentacles the Cleaners arriving at seven· and cone-like proboscis and re­ thirty. It had looked like being a moving· the surplus eye had been very good story, he thought as he further attempts towards that end. walked slowly up the Dugout Looked at objectively, the muti­ ramp, which had been his reason lated dolls did look a little like for saving it until last. the aliens. But not much, because He hoped it wouldn't be an the small alien had never thought anti-climax.

In our May issue ...... ,. .... ,.. ,.. ,.. ..,. ..,...... ,...... ,. RAY BRADBURY BOOKS

THE INHERITORS, William Golding, Harcourt, Brace & World, $4.50

FUZZ AGAINST JUNK, IS THAT YOU SIMON?, TilE BOILER MAKER, THE HERO MAKER, Akbar Del Piombo, Citadel Press, $1.00

TIIE HUGO WINNERS, Isaac Asimov, ed., Doubleday & Co., $4.50

THE MOUSE ON THE MOON, Leonard Wibberley, William Morrow, $3.95

TilEY WALKED LIKE MEN, Clifford D. Simak, Doubleday & Co., $3.95

THE REVOLT OF THE ANGELS, Anatole France, Crown Publishers, $1.45

THE INHERITORS is by that Wil­ THE INHERITORS. Someone re· liam Golding whose LORD OF THE fcrred not so long ago to "writers FLIES was such a critical success a of the Ogthe son of U g school, if few years ago-and still is, for there are any still around." There that matter. I didn't care for it, still are, as witness Life Maga· didn't finish; all I can say is that it zinc's so-called History of Man­ was probably no worse than Science Fiction masquerading as FRANNY AND ZOOEY, ikJt , , , Science. The blurb writer for Mr. On the other hand I was enchant· Golding's new book does not em· ed, delighted by the story of Mr. ploy either term, but mention Golding's, I wish to Hell I could there of "our sense of wonder" in· remember its name, included in dicates a certain familiarity with the volume SOMETIME, NEVER; this genre and its terminology. The along with one by John Christo­ book opens with the spring migra­ pher and one by Mervyn Peake­ tion of a band of eight pre-historic do you remember? about an Alex­ men-Lok and Ha are adult andrian of the (I guess) mid-Ro­ males, Fa and Nil are adult fe­ man Empire who prematurely in· males. Mal is the old man of the vented steam engine, telegraph, bunch. The old woman is un· and gunpowder? If you haven't named. Liku is the small daughter got it, rush right out and buy it. of Lok and Fa; the infant boy of However- Ha and Nil is called simply "the 31 32 FANTASY AXD SCIENCE FICTlOX new one." They are moving from sis was more likely to be named the sea to the hills, near the ice. It something like V ercingetorix than is a hard life, and they cherish the Ha, or Girlwhowasbornwhenthe­ old man's story of "the time when fullmoomvasyellow than Fa. No there had been many people .•• one, of course, can say if the when it was summer all the year Mousterians were really hairy, round and the flowers and fruit with manes, chestnut-colored; or hung on the same branch." But had freckles-and then, too, no now there are only these eight, one can say if they were other­ worshipping a sort of female prin­ wise. A recent diagnosis based on ciple-earth mother called Oa, feel­ the most complete Mousterian or ing it.is a sin to take the life of Neanderthal skeleton (in France), even an animal (but eating meat on which much of our opinion of if an animal is already dead), what these (supposedly) uhr­ laughing often, and employing a cousins of ours were like, physi­ sort of telepathy which they call cally, suggests strongly that this "sharing pictures." antique Frenchman was badly Thus does Mr. Golding idealize crippled by arthritis. Future pic­ the life of the last of the Neander­ tures may show M. Neanderthal thal people, depicting them as a standing a lot straighter. sort of noble savage, and contrast­ It is equally impossible to say ing them-vividly, and with a how far analogies with modern very successfully conveyed horror "primitives" (a term which makes -with "the new men", i.e. the anthropologists shudder) can be Cro-Magnon people: homo sa­ drawn to account for the behavior piens, so-called; with whom they or beliefs of ancient ones. \Vrong come into sudden and dreadful guesses have been made about contact. "Oa never brought them what the Bushmen, for example, do out of her belly," says Fa. Lok or think, have been corrected. In doesn't understand, he only wants the case of the Neanderthalers, to make friends. theirs is at best an uncertain trum­ I discussed the book with an pet, and moreover it is choked with anthropologist who said that he dust, forever. was afraid that "the Neanderthal All this, however, belongs to man was probably just a smelly Science. Mr. Golding's book is old savage just like any other Science Fiction-Speculative Fic­ smelly old savage." He wouldn't tion, to use Miss Judith Merril's buy the telepathy bit. My wife ob­ phrase-and it is damned good jected that, since the more primi­ fiction, too, call it what you will. tive a people the more complex Lok and Ha may have been na­ their language, H. Neanderthalen- ture's gentlemen; then, again, they BOOKS 33 may have noshed on their dead the last quarter of the 1 9th Cen­ uncles. Your guess is as good as tury, by my guess; and my further mine or Mr. G.'s. I am content to guess is that most of them are steel leave a scientific appraisal of the engravings, with perhaps some book to our Dr. Asimov; from a lithographs and' a few half-tone literary point of view this book is reproductions of photographs. a good book. E,·cryonc of these They seem to have been culled eight poor doomed boogeymen, from every conceivable source, whether they were vegetarians or and some which are quite incon­ not, is a character, not a mere ceivable-war scenes, medical clicker-and-grunter; a personality. and dental texts, newspapers, nov­ The events move, they move well, els, dime novels, travel books, they mo,·e fast, and they may even guide-books, side-show advertise­ move you to a couple of tears. ments, steam-bath ditto, old cata­ Sometimes, it is true, \Villiam logs, scientific and gymnastic and Golding tries so hard to make us architectural works, godhelpus­ see the events through the deep-set andwhathaveyou. eyes of his Neanderthals that I, The practice of taking illustra­ for one, a non-Neanderthal, am tions and tacking onto them cap­ sometimes at a loss to know what tions which originally had nothing is going on. But then that's true of to do with them is no longer new, things happening right here in the but I do not recall that entire current century of Christian love, books have been produced this way too. before-and certainly nothing like these have ever been produced FUZZ AGAINST JUNK, IS THAT before. The text of FUZZ AGAINST YOU SIMON?, THE BOILER MAK­ JUNK is straight out of hyper­ ER, THE HERO MAKER. These beatdom, and goes so far in mock­ four incredible gouaches (to bor­ ing at anti-narcotic activity (ad­ row a phrase from The Kindly mittedly over-ripe for overhaul) Editor) bv "Akbar Del Piombo", that it stops just short of saying, can hardlv be believed even when "Heroin is good for you." IS THAT they arc· seen. Rightly be they YOU SIMON-? (no comma) is a called FAR-OUT books-you can't spoof on the Race For Space; THE hardly get no more far ~ut than BOILER MAKER pokes fun at art these arc. The last three arc also collecting, movie making, and fac­ credited to Norman Rubington for tionalism among the avante-garde. "Collages"; the first one uses only As for THE HERO MAKER, well, it "whole" illustrations. For all four beats the Hell out of me. A large little volumes, however, the source part of the total effect of the four of the illustrations is the same- books comes from the incongruity 34 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION of the modern text with the an­ is otherwise a rich and satisfac­ tique pictures, hut so many of the tory volume-a judgement in pictures were so boo-boy to begin which I am undeterred by false with that one can only Wonder. modesty, being one of the con­ At any rate, leave me not try tributors. Herewith its contents, as and read Deep Significance into arranged by Editor Asimov. any of it, but you must see them/ 19 55: 13th [WORLD SCI­ "Akbar Del Piombo", indeed! Hoo­ ENCE FICTION] CONVEN­ hah. TION, CLEVELAND. I-THE DWARFSTELLER by Walter M. No credits are listed for the anony­ Miller, Jr. (novelette). 2-ALLA­ mous jacket-designer of THE HUGO MAGOOSA by Eric Frank Russell WINNERS, which is too bad, for I (short story). 1956: 14th CON­ think the fellow ought to be VENTION, NEW YORK. 3- stripped of his pen and drummed EXPLORATION TEAM by Murray from the corps for misfeasance, Leinster (novelette). 4-THE malfeasance, and nonfeasance of STAR by Arthur C. Clarke (short office. This cover is a glaring black story). 1958: 16TH CONVEN­ and white thing, with nothing but TION, LOS ANGELES. 5-oR type and a tiny photograph of the ALL THE SEAS WITH OYSTERS by "Hugo" Award, repeated nine Avram Davidson (short story). times-there having been nine 1959: 17TH CONVENTION, winners of this award in the Short Detroit. 6-THE BIG FRONT YARD Fiction category. The effect re­ by Clifford D. Simak (novelette). minds me inescapably of those sad 7 -THE HELL-BOUND TRAIN by volumes which are invariably pri­ Robert Bloch (short story). 1960: vately printed, often in places like 18TH CONVENTION, PITTS­ Witchita (Kansas), frequently au­ BURGH. 8-FLOWERS FOR AL­ thored by women of a certain age, GERNON by Daniel Keyes (novel­ generally the widows of whole­ ette). 1961: 19TH CONVEN­ sale linoleum dealers, and com­ TION, SEATTLE. 9-THE monly on religio-social themes (ex­ LONGEST VOYAGE by Pool Ander­ positions of the Apocalypse of son (novelette). Not the least Daniel, copious footnote-refer­ pleasant part of the book is Dr. ences to II Corinthians 13: 21-26, Asimov's introduction and his etc., showing the approaching word-sketches of the Award-win­ End of the WORLD, not unre­ ning authors, all in his most de­ lated to the iniquitous Federal tax­ lightfully humorous vein-a vein es on linoleum). barely hinted at in his own stories Having shot my splenetic bolt, and science-fact writings, but well let me go on and say that the book familiar to those who have met or BOOKS 35 corresponded with him-although budget, applies to the United States I must say that his reference to me for a loan of $50,000,000, osten­ as "mostly Beard" verges on the sibly to send a manned rocket to libelous. There is also given a the Moon. What happens next brief history of the "Hugo", would not strain the predictive named after Hugo Gernsback, powers of a five-year old elf. Those Founding Father, and originated ~ho want to read what happens by SF fan Hal Vincent Lynch; plus next will have to go find out some­ a list of those who have won the where else. Peek-a-boo! award in the other categories be­ sides Short Fiction. The stories in­ There are times when people hunt­ cluded here thus owe their inclu­ ing living-space in these United sion not to the arbitrary preference States might feel justified in be­ of any one anthologist but to lieving the background of Clif­ their having been voted on and ford Simak's latest novel, THEY selected by all those Science Fic­ WALKED LIKE MEN-a rather tion readers whose interest in the lousy title, let me say. Suddenly­ field was sufficient for them to his characters find-nothing is participate in the annual selec­ available for rent or purchase any­ tion. I really do not see how the more: literally nothing. Everything volume can be omitted from any is being bought up: literally every­ collection, and, after all, you can thing. By whom?-and for what always throw away the (ugh) purpose? is the burden of the book. jacket. Its basic premise is utterly absurd, the denouement, though mildly Mr. Leonard Wibberley's latest, funny, is preposterous; it is a THE MOUSE ON THE MOON, is like tribute to Mr. Simak's craftsman­ Mr. Leonard Wibberley's earliest, ship, which I admire, that my flesh THE MOUSE THAT ROARED-a crawled and my hair stood up a mildly pleasant little fantasy with couple of times anyway. It is un­ the consistency and flavor of a thin, fortunate that Mr. Simak's crafts­ sweet chocolate drink. Once again manship was not exercised in de­ the tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick veloping a better idea-or even a becomes involved in international good idea, because he is a very nice politics and high science; once fellow and the book's cover is really again it .comes out triumphant outstanding. It was designed by whilst the great powers shout and Lawrence Hatzin. bumble about. In this one Count l\1ountjoy, Fenwick's Prime Minis­ It was Anatole France who more ter, solely to effect some local pur­ or less perfected what might be pose not covered by the Ducal called "the infidel novel." He did 36 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION nothing so unsubtle as to deny any radiated their rapid search-lights, truth to theological teachings: he the angel made his way, and, pretended to assume that they were mingling with the black flood of in large measure true, and then let foot-passengers which rolled un­ the fun begin. THE REVOLT OF ceasingly along, proceeded across THE ANGELS (translation by Mrs. the town from north to south till Wilfrid Jackson) is about one Ab­ he came to the lonely boulevards diel, a Heavenly being assigneq as on the left bank of the river." guardian angel to a young French­ There, in a cheap restaurant fa­ man named Maurice, to watch over vored by revolutionaries of all sorts, his innocence and to guard his he meets Mirar, who is now called chastity. Abdiel does no great job Theophile, and now a musician; to of either, Maurice having lost both him Arcade declares his intent. But at the ripe age of fourteen. The real Theophile says no. trouble, however, begins when Ab­ "I take no hand in politics," he diel, largely as a result of having says. "I still adore the Master I no read too much theology in Mau­ longer serve, and I lament the days rice's family library ·and perhaps when shrouding myself with my not having much digested it, comes wings I formed with the multitude to the conclusion that the Ruler of of the children of light a wheel of this World is not really its Creator flame around his throne of glory. after all; but merely Ialdabaoth, the Love, profane love has alone sepa­ Demiurge, or inferior deity, of rated me from God. I quitted whom the ancient Gnostics taught. Heaven to follow a daughter of Agitated and in~pired by this, Ab­ men. She was beautiful and sang in diel takes on the form of a young music-halls." man, changes his name to Arcade, Certainly, the book is blasphe­ and decides to begin organizing a mous. Blasphemy is no novelty in second revolt of the angels (the modern books; indeed, it involves first, in Christian theology, having no risks as long as the writer desig­ resulted in Lucifer being cast down nates the object of his attack as "the to Hell). God of the Old Testament." But "Through streets filled with THE REVOLT OF THE ANGELS is brown fog, pierced with white and not merely amusing; it is literature. yellow lights, where horses exhaled The other books are ·generally not their smoking breath and motors even amusing. Ghost stories are usually associated with country houses of considerable antiquity, with the deceased being of high social rank as a general rule-although Mr. Henry ]ames's luznt in The Tum of the Screw (we never cared for it) was a butler. Given the premise, however, that there be ghosts, there is no reason why they may not be found in every country, period, and level of society. It is very often that the revenant is con­ nected, too, with some act of crime; and our large cities need yield to no ptace in this respect. Robert W allsten paints for us so convincing a picture of criminality and parasitism that it is no surprise to leam that he was lately awarded a scroll by the Mystery Writers of America for a short story which ap­ peared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The writer of f01ty-three television dramas, six plays, and numerous short stories in popular magazines, Mr. Wallsten is also a former Broadway actor and World War Two naval officer ... Those familiar with the Vlllth Plate of Hogarth's The Rake's Prog­ ress will know what awaits The Punk after this story closes; and may even find it possible to pity him-a little.

PUNK'S PROGRESS

. by Robert Wallsten

HE NEVER PASSED A MIRROR, his trousers over his compact hips. or a store window that could serve And then his mouth set into not as one, without a grave, side-long quite a smile of self-satisfaction look into it. Usually, then, he -just enough for the dimple to gentled into place the green-gold flidtcr on his cheek-and he wave at his temple with the palm passed on. of his hand, or yanked the big He called himself Billy Lane. knot of his tie so that it sat at an He loved clothes. He was a care­ angle from his collar, or hitched ful, flashy and informal dresser. 37 38 FA!'I:T.'\SY AJI;D SCIEKCE FICTION His shoes were light in color, ple on the stairs. Black cats, bro­ brightly polished, al'ld elaborately ken mirrors and the number thir­ perforated. He wore gabardine teen made him queasy. and un­ slacks in pastel shades, trick, vivid comfortable. For some reason, shirts that buttoned on the bias, nuns terrified him; he crossed with contrasting -thread basted the street to avoid them. Churches along the hems, belted jackets, were only less forbidding than sharp, pictorial ties, glittering prisons. Both ambulances and hardware. He was especially hearses made him turn pale and proud of his hardware-of the look the other way. big ring, and the tie clasp that His time of day was night, and looked like a dagger, and the col­ his habitat was exclusively urban. lar fastener with fake rubies at . The country was only an incon­ the ends, and the large, initialled venient stretch between cities, to belt buckle, and the chain that be looked at dully through bus looped in an opulent parabola windows. In cities, he gravitated from his belt to the room-key and from one extreme to another: the rabbit's foot in his trouser from the crowded and the brightly pocket. lighted to the almost deserted and Superstition was his only form the dark. From automats and of imagination. It was, in fact, his beaneries and arcades and popu­ Achilles' heel. He was downright lous intersections where he childish about it, and defensive lounged against cigar-store win­ too, and he snarled when crit­ dows until the cops said "Move icized. Franny, .for instance, had on," to the balconies of cheap once laughed at him for it. movies, and side-street bars with­ "No kidding, you belong down out television, to the ends of sub­ on the island of Haiti with all way platforms and to parks, late those voodoos and things!" she had at night, on bridges and along said. walks where the street-lamps had Billy Lane had answered, been extinguished with stones. "Yeah? Well, that's the way I like And at four in the morning, if it, see? So leave me alone." he felt like it, he would call for And she, who was wise except Franny at O'Phelan's. But only if in loving him, shrugged and left he felt like it, and Franny never him alone. knew whether he would or not. If His superstitions· were stand­ something was cooking, he didn't ard, but many. He wouldn't light show up. If there was even so little three on a match, he refused to as a saw-buck in the offing, he walk under a ladder, he knocked stayed away. He never explained on w:ood, he dreaded passing peo- these absences. He told her he PUNK's PROGRESS 39 had been tied up. He said he said, "Now get-out of here!" He couldn't make it. And Franny shoved her down the steps, and didn't ask questions. She knew stood there on the landing, an­ she'd see him in a day or two; on grily watching her till she had Saturday, if not before. Whatever turned the corner. his fortunes during the week had The next time she saw him be been, she could be pretty sure of didn't refer to the incident, and seeing him then. That was when neither did she, but three nights his room rent was due. later she learned the reason for it. Once, however, she had made He was lying in her arms and he a mistake. He hadn't been around said, "You scared the hell out of for several days, and she missed me the other night, baby doll." him. It was a warm spring night, He was chuckling, and she and she went to his rooming wasn't sure he was serious. house and waited for him, sitting "Scared you? You mean you on the top step in the shadow of thought I was a cop or some­ the brownstone bannister. Just thing?" before dawn, she heard him half "No-I knew it was you. I a block away, whistling and snap­ thought you was a-" He hesitated. ping his fingers. When he ar­ "I don't know-a spirit or a-a rived, and, boy-like, began to ghost or something." He laughed leap up the steps two at a time, again, reminiscently. "You gave she rose to greet him. He stopped me the willies, baby doll." in his tracks. He inhaled with an Franny patted his face and odd sound in his throat and said "Oh", in that tone she had of stared up at her for a long mo­ filing something away for future tionless moment. Then he began reference. to shout. "Don't ever do that again! 'no On Franny's side, this arrange­ you hear me?" · ment witlt Billy Lane was more "Shh," she said, "shh ..." than slightly tinged with the ro­ "I don't want to be followed mantic; on his, not at all. For around, see? I don't want any her, he was-however faultily­ goddamn woman nosing into my the answer to a quest: she was business!" lonely, and she craved someone He went on like that for sev­ to baby and take care of} to be eral minutes. She hadn't seen him affectionate to, and advise. For so uncontrolled since the first him, she was an economic and night she had met him. She pro­ physical convenience, whose hours tested and tried to soothe him, happened to coincide with his own. but he wouldn't listen. Finally he She worked three or four of the 40 FANTASY A:-ID S<.:lE:-ICE FICTION bars along the avenue, but she by the hand and swaggered out. always finished at O'Phelan's be­ He was back an hour later, cause that was where she kept her though, alone. He bought Franny camera and her flash-bulbs under a drink, and then another. He lock and key. It was her camera smiled contritely and he was very that had first introduced them. gentle and cute. He said, "Look, He had been sitting iu a booth baby doll. I blew my top and I'm with a blonde named Sheila, who, sorry." He said, ''I'll get you the like many others who have never money for it, don't worry about been inside a photographer's stu­ that." He said, "What's your dio, called herself a model. She name, baby doll?" arranged her face in what she He did better than get her the thought was a model's simper as money. He got her another cam­ Franny approached with her cam­ era. He didn't say how, though era poised. she suspected, and didn't ask. He "Take your picture?" Franny hung around till she had finished asked, and smiled in the way she work, and took her home in a always did. Billy Lane said "No, taxi. thanks" and Sheila, at the same See, Franny thought, he had moment in an eager, affected, his decent side. And when O'Phe­ drawn-out voice, said "Yes!" lan put his beer-damp hand on Franny was a business woman. her shoulder and warned her There was the click and the sec­ against him, she said it aloud. ond's dazzling flash, and then O'Phelan shook his head. "I've she said, "Be ready in twenty min­ seen them come and I've seen utes" and started off. them go, and let me tell you, She had had no way of know­ that's bad news. You only have to ing that the photogenic young look at him." man with the night-time pallor Franny shrugged. Then she and the dimple was excessively, looked up at O'Phelan, and morbidly, camera-shy. He ro~e smiled. She said, "Besides, I-1 and swore. It sounded like the like him." spit of a cat. He slapped the cam­ era out of her hand, and when it She had never understood why, clattered to the floor, he ground with girls like Sheila available, it under his heel for good meas­ Billy Lane had chosen her. She ure. He wanted no record of his knew her looks were only average; face in anybody's possession~ she hoped she made the best of "You son of a bitch," Franny what she had. What she had were said, before she started to cry; dark eyes that were -large and and Billy Lane took the blonde could flash, a soft complexion, PUNK's PROGRESS 41 and a mouth too wide by far, he explained it, and finally she though attractive when it smiled said, "Sure, honey. I get it." And because her teeth were good. She that was the way it was. also had a turbulent excess of That was the way it went on black hair, a somewhat chunk-y being. He kept reminding her of figure, and legs that were much his imminent, unexpected depar­ too heavy. ture, and she kept assuring him But she had personality, Billy that she understood; and he stayed told her, and that was why he with her. For eight months he loved her. He didn't love her; he stayed with her. He stayed with had never in his life loved any­ her for a year. one, but he had found the word And at the end of that time, he almost a guarantee of success with was still exactly the same and she women, so he used it on Franny­ had changed a lot. He was still it, and all the other words he casual and undemonstrative, ex· knew she wanted to hear. At least, cept at moments in her room. He he did in the beginning. Later, he had even, in an offhand way, didn't bother. been unfaithful now and then, Because the incentives to but sometimes he had had to be, make Franny his girl had been for business reasons. And Franny far more practical. In the first was good people: she had never, place, she was alone, and Sheila, up to now, asked questions. for instance, lived with her sister As for the changes in herself, and brother-in-law. She worked she wasn't aware of them; but the steady, and Sheila didn't. She truth was she no longer regarded was generous, and Sheila wasn't. the arrangement as temporary. Sheila asked questions; Franny Billy Lane had become a habit. didn't. And he could go on. Shei­ She depended on him. She needed la was cold, and Franny wasn't. him. It had never occurred to her No, sir! He whistled softly be­ to be unfaithful. "Why?" she tween his teeth, whenever he would have asked. "What for?'' thought about how Franny wasn't She had thought him a petulant cold. There was every reason, for but beguiling child; now she the moment, to make her his girl. knew he was also shrewd and He had only intended it to be evil. But that didn't matter. He for the moment. "I'm a rolling was all she cared about, or ever stone, see?" he said. "All of a sud­ would. She would fight to keep den I'll move on-like that!" And him. She would go on buying him he snapped his thumb and middle for as long as he would let her. finger saying, "You get further by She would even try to buy him yourself." Franny nodded while afterwards. 42 FANTASY AXD SCIENCE FICTION She had fallen in love with At first she let him visit her him; and she had grown posses­ only now and then; twiee in one sive; and that was one of the rea­ week was often. And this was a sons why Billy Lane found it nec­ new experience for him, who was essary to kill her. used to being the favorite, and to making choices and decisions for The new girl's name was Nek­ !himself. She kept him in sus­ tar, and she was all the things pense; she challenged him, tan­ that the forgotten Sheila had as­ talized him, and subjected him pired and pretended to be. She completely. was a real blonde, and an actual Of course he continued with model. She worked at it and made Franny. There were other nights quite a lot of money at it. She was in the week, after all, and Franny thin and very tall-taller than was like familv now-no strain, Billy, which obscurely delighted as Billy put it. ·so she got Nektar's hhn-and she had a flat, un­ leavings,- and he thought that was changing Oriental kind of face. a break for her. She wasn't Oriental; she came Franny never met Nektar, nev­ from the South, and she had a er even saw her. But she guessed slow, low, droning way of talking pretty quickly that something was that made Billy whistle between up-the real thing this time, his teeth. She lived uptown, not more threatening than ever be­ in just a room with a kitchenette fore. She recognized the symp­ and bath, but in an apartment. toms: Billy had become abstract­ She went to nice places, only to ed, sullen, critical and quarrel­ nice places, and she knew how to some. She knew that all the time dress. She represented a whole he was comparing her to someone new world to Billy Lane. She had else. First she told herself that it class. would pass, as it always had. The Like other women, she thought thing was to ask no questions, not him cute. He amused her and ex­ even to notice. cited her in about equal me~ But it didn't pass. It got worse. ure. She guessed the viciousness It got much worse as Billy became behind the bland, cherubic face more successful with Nektar. -not its exact nature, just its Franny heard herself saying all presence; but that, for her, was the things she knew she shouldn't the spice. She knew many other say but couldn't keep from saying. men, some of them quite impor­ Little verbal side-swipes. Little tant, some who even talked mar­ hintful jealous cracks. She looked riage. But she encouraged Billy. at the match covers that Billy scat­ Billy was for kicks. tered around, because-though he PUNK'S PROGRESS 43 told her nothing else-he couldn't dering around the room or just resist letting her know the kind of lying in bed, staring into the wall places he was going to these days. that was alive with the moving "Well," she said, "we're getting up lights of the traffic below. in the world, aren't we?" Then he turned up again. He "That's right," was all that Billy appeared at O'Phelan's late at answered. night, and at once she was struck She even mentioned other with the strangeness of his man­ men, to pique him. "Know who ner. His blue eyes g1ittered as they took me home last night? George. never had before. He had been to Said he was coming around to­ the sea-shore, he told her, and nighttoo." had the tan to prove it. But there· But he didn't rise to it. "Yeah?" was something else; something fe­ he said, walking around the vered and self-intoxicated about room, snapping his fingers. He him; something brand new. didn't seem to care. For half an hour, with O'Phe­ And finally she did the unfor­ lan silently approving and egging giveable thing: she asked him her on~ she ignored him. She did­ questions, direct ones. "\Vhere n't speak to him. But wlien at four were you last night?" "Who is o'clock O'Phelan closed, Billy was she?" 'Where did you meet herr" waiting for her on the street out­ "What does she do?" Billy looked side, and fell into step with her at her out of eyes that had sud­ as if nothing had happened at all. denly gone opaque, and said, "You couldn't have sent me a "Knock it off, baby doll. Shut up." card or anything?" she said. "You Coldly. Threateningly. couldn't let a girl know?" It was­ Once, when he stayed away n't, after all, very much ·she want­ for ten whole days, Franny nearly ed. went out of her mind. "It's all for !lilly laughed her questions the best," O'Phelan told her. "For­ ;away. "I couldn't, baby doll. I get him." She tried her best, but couldn't make it. I was tied up, she couldn't. She took to drinking see." quite a lot, and to crying, with And then because he couldn't sudden, surprising savagery; resist it, he pulled her into a door­ deeply, rackingly, so that some­ way and flipped through his roll times it sounded almost like for her. "Look!" he said exultant­ laughter. She couldn't get to sleep ly. "Four hundred and thirty~two nights unless she was pretty bucks! I really scored big." drunk. And even then she didn't "Honey!" she whispered, excit­ stay asleep. She woke up with her ed. "How did you do it?" head pounding, and-smoked, wan- Billy looked pleased and wise, 44 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION and rumpled her hair from 'the ford it. He was showing her a nape to the crown. Then he said, wonderful time. "Come on, baby doll, let's get go· But she was watchful _too. She ing. Let's celebrate!" was bothered by his overstimula· But Franny drew back. There tion. Before they got back to her were some things she couldn't per· room, her oblique curiosity and mit. 'Wait," she said suspiciously. the liquor he drank had con· "Is that-her dough?" spired with his vanity to loosen He put his head to one side, his tongue. But perhaps, Franny crowing with laughter. He thought, it was more than vanity. laughed for quite a long time, and She observed his jerky movements tweaked her nose and shook her and listened to his loud laughter, gently by the chin. which had about it the tinny "Her?" he said at last, with con· sound of bravado. She wondered: tempt, with disgust. "She don't was he troubled? was he maybe even know about it." even scared? That much was true. He had He was still cautious. He didn't got back to town that morning, tell her much. But as it turned separating -from Nektar at the out, he told her enough. railroad station, at her request. He had met an elderly party He'd made his big score that fro111 the West Coast in a hotel night, unexpectedly. It was too bar. Which hotel bar, he didn't good to keep to himself, and when say. She could picture him at his Nektar's telephone hadn't an­ most engaging, using his youth swered, not even the fourth time and his dimples for all they were he'd tried it, the thought of Fran­ worth. She knew how these things ny had occurred to him. Poor kid, were done, and pieced together a he'd said to himself, she'd appre­ story that was vague in detail but ciate a little attention. accurate in outline: the stran· And she did. She was flattered, ger's invitation to the suite, and mollified, reassured and even Billy's casual, noncommittal ac· grateful. He'd come straight to her, ceptance; once upstairs, the sud· hadn't he?-because naturally den change from his boyish man· she didn't know that he'd tried ner, the new hard voice and the Nektar first. He was being so tough short words; the threats, the sweet and so cute; he was making money handed over, the quick get· her laugh. He had taken her to an away down the back stairs. It had after-hours place, where there was been_ easy. It was commonplace. no curfew, where you could drink But a few minutes after they till dawn if you liked and could got to her place, Billy took off his afford it. And tonight he could af- pale blue jacket, and Franny PUNK'S PROGRESS 45 looked at his shirt. It was a shirt derer." Simply, flatly, a statement. he'd bought about a month ago, "He's a murderer and I love him. gray-green and shiny, and he was It should make a difference, but it proudof it. doesn't." "Hey," said Franny, "what's She tried to fasten her mind on that?" She was pointing at the the details she had just read: the stain. overturned arm-chair; the bottle, He looked innocent, then right~ used as a bludgeon; the wallet on ly concluded that she knew very the carpet, next to the body, emp­ well what it was. He smiled and ty; the blood and the brains all rumpled her hair and answered around. But these were simply softly. facts with which she had no con­ "Little girls shouldn't ask so nection. They didn't matter at all. many questions." He was Billy Lane, and she loved Franny turned away, as though him. it was a small matter anyhow. "I Had he known last night? Not guess nobody gives up four hun­ that his victim was dead-she dred bucks without an argument," was sure he hadn't known that. she said. She guessed if you were in a hur­ And Billy said, "That's right, ry, it was hard to tell. baby doll," and kissed her, and But today he knew. When he thought no more about it. But he unlocked his door for her a few had made one mistake. He had minutes later, he gave her no tossed ,a package of matches on greeting; he didn't even look at the table earlier that night, and her; he threw himself back on the Franny had it. Franny had kept it, bed; where it was clear that he'd and looked at it now, after Billv been lying for a long time. The had gone home. It had the nam~ ash-tray was full; the newspaper of the hotel on its cover. was on the floor beside him. He kept staring at the ceiling with a That name leaped out at her kind of fixed expression in his from a red headline the next aft­ eyes. He looked sick. He looked ac~ ernoon. She read the story quick­ tually green, under the tan. He ly, numbly, but without surprise. looked terrified. Part of her had known all along "Something I musta ate," he that this would happen. muttered after a while. "Or maybe "Oh, Billy, Billy, Billy," she all that drinking-" · said almost aloud as she read, and "Yes, honey," she said. "Yes, when she had finished, she put honey." the paper aside and closed her She had to leave him to go to eyes. She thought, "He's a mur- work, and when she got back he 46 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION was still lying there, w1th .the lit· brought in, even when she woke tie radio turned on softly. up trembling to hear him cry out "Did you sleep, honey?" she in the night, she never let on. It asked him. was just the ptomaine, she told "No," he said. him. There was a lot of it around. "Did you have anything to She nursed him, waited on him, eat?" cooked all his meals. She said, "No," he said. "Are you comfy, honey?" and ar­ "You better get up. You better ranged the pillows and said, come to my place and let me fix "There! Is that better?" She took you something." good care of him. Billy Lane thought quicld.y. Actually, she was very happy, They wouldn't come for him at because she had him all to her­ her place, probably. At least, they self now. He was hers, and she wouldn't come there right away. could do for him. She hummed And maybe, with company, he snatches of juke-box tunes, and wouldn't keep hearing and seeing sometimes danced a little, as she those things, over and over and moved around the room. She even over. The thud of the bottle. The found herself forgetting for whole look on that face. The blood. Es­ minutes why he was there. pecially the blood-it made him Billy never forgot. It was true sick, it made him want to die. that by the end of the week, his The faintest smile at Franny fear of arrest had diminished. The was all that he could manage. story had moved off the front "Baby doll," he said,. "you're good pages, and now the inside pages peopl~." had dropped it too. The police had got nowhere at all. But there He staved with her for a week. were still the nights, there were al­ He didn't go out at all. He just lay ways the nights, and always his there. The nights were the worst. own brain, playing it over and He had the willies at night, and over again like a record, whenever if he slept, he wished he hadn't. he closed his eyes. Franny suggested that they leave On Sunday he nearly broke the light on, but that didn't help. down and told Frannv all about Neither did the radio, playing it, just for the relief of sharing it, softly. Nothing helped. just to have her take him in her Frannv behaved as if this were arms and pat his shoulder and all the ~ost natural thing in the say, "Don't worry, honey, it'll be world. When he listened to the all right, it'll be all right." news reports on the radio, when That frightened him. Franny he leaped for the paper she was too close. He'd caught himself PUNK's PROGRESS 47 that time, but he knew that if he "Tonight, baby ·doll." stayed around, he'd be sure to tell He fixed the hour and hung up, her, sooner or later. He needed whistling. And when he turned, people who didn't know so much Franny was standing behind him, about him. People he could bluff. with a brown paper bag of gro­ People who would let him forget ceries in her arms. that what had lately happened, had happened to him. He must She didn't say anything. She clear out. marched ahead· of him into the Once that decision was kitchenette and started dinner, reached, his old assurance re­ viciously scratching matches, turned. For the first time in a banging the skillet, rattling plates, week he felt fine. He made his so that her self-pity and rage plan, and then wandered around spoke loud in the silent room. the room, snapping his fingers, She knew that everything she had impatient to carry it out. done for him, she had done freely, "What's eating you, honey?" voluntarily, eagerly even, and Franny asked, and he said, "Noth­ that if she hadn't she wouldn't ing, nothing at- all," and went on have held him a week. But now snapping his fingers. both her generosity and his in­ He waited tiH she had gone gratitude seemed boundless. out to tlte ·grocery store, and then The meal was underdone. They waited a few minutes longer, to ate it tensely, in silence, avoiding give her time to get clear. Curs­ each other's eyes, and when it ing, he fumbled about the room in was over, he pushed back his search of a dime, and then he had chair and lit a cigarette. Very de­ to wait again-endlessly, it liberately, he went to the mirror seemed-while the woman from and combed his dark yellow hair, across the haH took her time noticing that he needed a haircut. about getting off the telephone. At He tied a big knot in his tie. He last, after two busy signals, he hitched his slacks above his hips. got through to Nektar. He started for the door. But she was angry at the week's And for the first time Franny neglect; it took quite a while to spoke. "Honey," she said. That make her listen to him. He plead­ was all. It didn't sound very af- ed and protested, he told her he'd fectionate either. · had the ptomaine, he was very He stopped. "Yeah?" Quietly. appealing and very cute, and fi­ Dangerous. nally she softened. "Don't go to see her. Please "All right, darlin'," she drawled. don't go to see her." "When? Tonight?" She said it steadily, her eyes on 4S FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIOX him, big and dark, like con­ she produced the package of science. matches, he went suddenly very "Knock it off," he said, thin­ still. lipped and when she started to "Here, take a look at this!" she speak again, he interrupted quick­ -said, and held it so that he ly. "You and me are all washed couldn't snatch it from her. Gloat­ up. Finished. Through. Get it?'' ing she told him that his secret And that made Franny lose her wasn't a secret after all; she knew head. it too, and had from the start. "Go She sprang up and gripped the on, get out, go to her!" she said, table-her eyes narrowed and desperate now because she had vengeful, her black hair suddenly lost him; and finally, sobbing so disshevelled. Looking at her now, that her words were almost in­ Billy thought she was like a witch. comprehensible, she spoke the He thought she was crazy. He threat that all the time she had wondered what he had ever seen dreaded to hear herself make: "So in her. help me God, five minutes after She was trembling all over-he you're out that door, I'll be down could hear the high vibration of at the precinct telling them what the china on the table. He lis­ I know!" tened to her words, savage, rasp­ She wasn't sure even then that ing, choked with tears, as she she \vould ever have the courage listed all the · items of her griev­ to do it, but she observed that ance-the meals, the money, the Billy, at any rate, seemed con­ wasted love through a whole year vinced. His bravado melted as of her life. He arranged his face in she watched him. She saw with its what're-you-going-to-do-about­ satisfaction the sudden moisture it lool{, while in a remote comer on his forehead. She welcomed of his mind he thought, "She's the look of terror back into his really broken up." He thought it eyes. not with pity for her, but with ap­ He said uncertainly, "You plause for himself. He had done wouldn't do that," and then he this. He had caused it. He must tried to bluff. "Go ahead. Tell be quite a guy. them. See if I care." He even Tauntingly then, she reminded managed to stammer out a laugh, him of the past few days when full of fake derision. "The cover he'd needed her, when he'd been of a match-box. That isn't evi­ too sick with fear to get off the dence. You can't prove nothing. bed. She yelled, "You punk! You Neither can they." frightened little punk!" and he But of course they could. It laughed in her face. But when was easy when a suspect was PUNK'S PROGRESS 49 scared. They could tie him in Soon she was contrite, and knots, quickly, and she could see ready to take back all her threats, that he knew it. He just stood to blame them on anger, to say there with a foolish, incredulous she had been kidding. But those half-smile on his face, and this eyes that didn't look at her time Franny spoke almost sweet­ stopped her. She said nothing. ly. "You don't want to go to her And when at last he moved, she anyhow, do you? Aren't you afraid caught her breath. She watched you'll talk in your sleep?" his hand climb slowly up his The effect of that was imme­ shirt, loosen his tie, unbutton his diate. He stared at her, then his collar, pull the tie off and toss it knees seemed to fold, and he was aside. He settled back in his sitting down. He spoke dry-lipped chair. He was staying. with no voice: "Did I?" "Honey-" she said, all grati­ Harshly she laughed. "You know tude, but he showed no sign that it!" she said. he heard her. Then she said, And now a silence began, ex­ "Look." She held up the package tended itself, never seemed to end. ·of matches, and tore it into little A tap in the kitchenette dripped bits that fell on the table top. at · irregular intervals. A car "See? See?" hummed by in the street. In the The dimple flickered, but that room, nobody moved. Billy sat was all. very erect, looking almost propped She tried again: "If you want up. He kept fumbling with his to call her-if you want to tell knuckles. Franny couldn't under­ her that vou can't make it-" stand the expression on his face. But he shook his head: Still His mouth was still . almost a looking past her. smile, but he was staring past She smiled at him, trying to her. He seemed to be thinking, communicate all the warmth of hard. her heart, to penetrate and engulf It made her apprehensiw that him with it. She thought, "No she didn't know what he was wonder I love him-see how cute thinking. She began to worry that he is. And he doesn't mean bad. perhaps she had said too much. He knows it would break my She had an impulse to go to him, heart if he went out with her. to touch him-for her own reas­ And he doesn't care for her-he's surance, not his. But there was not even going to phone her-" something that made it impossi­ She let her love persuade her ble to move. He seemed to be at and betray her, though when a the center of a magic circle across moment later she saw that he was which she couldn't ,-cnture. looking at her-suddenly, full at 50 FAJiiTASY AND SCIEI'CE FICTIOX her-a little shock of fear went Franny fell asleep at last. All through her. But he was smiling, evening, Billy had been very care­ and his eyes, no longer opaque, ful about his own drinking. He were boyish, innocent, bright; was pleased with his performance, and when at last he even found which he had gauged to Franny's his voice, she thought, "It's over­ increasing intoxication, keeping the trouble's over." step with it stage for stage, so that "Baby doll," he said, "you don't now his head was clear, and she have to go to work tonight, do lay stretched on the bed, mouth you?" open, snoring. "Not if you don't want me to, He smoothed his hail.: and put honey. I'll just stay away." on his tie and jacket. Then he "Let's be together-just you turned off the light. Franny stirred and me. Let's forget all about on the bed. fighting. Huh?" "Honey .. " "Yes!" she said eagerly. "Yes!" "Yeah?" "We'll have a little party-all There was a pause, and she by ourselves-right here." He said at last, remotely: "\\'in­ laughed. He was very gay. "How dow ..." about it?" "Huh?" Now it was aU right to cross "Open . window." the room and go into his arms. "Sure." "Oh, honey," said said, "I love It was already open. He made you, honey." She said it over and quite a lot of noise opening it over. She whispered it, she further, then waited, and slowly, crooned it, she wept it a little. gently, softly, pulled it down She nestled close against him. again. Tight. "We'll always be together," she "So long, baby doll." said. "We'll never leave each oth­ No answer. He stood there a er. lVe'II be together forever and minute, two minutes, and tested ever and ever ... Hm?" her again. His lips caressed her ear. "See you tomorrow?" "That's right, baby doll," he whis­ And after another silence: pered. "That's right ..." "Baby doll?" But over her head his glance Out, he thought. Like a light. had sidled away. It wandered to He tiptoed to the kitchenette. the kitchenette. It lingered there, He was very clear and sure. He long and seriously. flipped the levers of the two burn­ Billy had made up his mind. ers, then those of the oven and broiler. He had nothing to worry It was nearly one-thirty before about: this stove was old and had PUNK's PROGRESS 51 no pilot light. There was a rushing Nothing showed on his face, did sound and a sweet smelL it? No. He smiled. How could it? He hesistated just an instant, He walked on. Slowly, he kept then opened the door. A hinge reminding himself. Slowly. Slow~ creaked, and ·creaked again as he ly. closed the door behind him. A sudden voice startled him: There was the sharp quiet click of "Hey, Jack spare a nickel for a the lock. He listened. No sound. cup of coffee?" Then he inhaled sharply. Was "No, goddamn it, no!" that her voice, mufHed and It was a very old man, with the sleepy, calling him? Saying "Hon~ fawning look of a dog. Billy ey . . . ?" Was it? hadn't seen him step out of the He couldn't be sure. He would shadow. Frightened, the old man never be sure. He pattered down~ retreated now. stairs and out to the street. He Billy realized he'd shouted. looked above him briefly, found Mistake, he thought. Call atten~ the closed, dark window, looked tion. Don't do that again. away again. He was still standing He walked on slowly, quietly, in the doorway when he saw the through the mufHed night~time policeman. He stiffened, and sounds of the city. When he was couldn't move. The cop had just about to cross the avenue, there turned the corner and was coming was a wail, a shriek, a clamor. An towards him, banging his stick ambulance hurtled by. Billy re~ against the railing. coiled, stood trembling on the Billy said to himself, "Move. curb. An ambulance. A broken Walk slowly." He walked directly mirror would have been bad towards the cop. They passed enough, but an ambulance ... He each other without exchanging a closed his eyes, he counted, lean~ glance. At the corner Bilcy didn't ing against the base of a street~ look back. lamp, until the siren howled into There were eleven blocks to his the distance and died away. rooming house. He could have done it in ten, but that route "Take it easy," he said to him~ passed a church and he had long self. "Take it easy." since worked out a detour. Eleven, But now for the first time he he thought. Seven, come eleven. thought of Franny, lying on the Lucky. Funny, he'd never thought bed, while that sweet smell gath~ of that before. But why did pe~ ered in invisible clouds . . . "Shh pie stare at him as he went by­ . . . Shh . . . " He had a m~ that man and girl, for instance? ment's impulse to run back to bang Or had they? He couldn't tell. on her door, shouting "Franny! 52 FAXTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Wake up! Wake up!" She was a The idea of leaving came sud­ good kid, really; she was good peo- den and complete. He looked at pie. But it wasn't remorse. It was his watch. Three-forty-five. Of fear. The ambulance had made him course-pack your bags. Get down afraid. to the bus station. Take the first He fought the impulse down, bus west. Or east or north or and walked on. south. Anywhere. Get out of town. By the time ne got home he was He was quiet and expert about calm again. He climbed the three it. Careful but fast. He finished flights to his room as though it the brown suitcase first, laying in was any night, hearing his un- the pastel slacks, the vivid shirts, stealthy footsteps, hearing the the bright ties, stuffing the comers squeak of the boards, passing the with crumpled shorts for the laun­ single dim light on the landings, dry. One or two things he dis­ and the closed, numbered doors, carded. They weren't worn out, and the sounds of sleeping on the he was just sick of them; they other side. Man comes home, a lit- didn't look sharp any more. tie earlier than usual, he thought. The radio whispered on, and That was all. he hummed with it. Now the can- But he found himself fumbling vas bag-the handkerchiefs, the with his key in the lock he'd in- sweaters, the comic books, the stalled. As if he was drunk. He miscellaneous staff. He'd leave had to hold the tip of the key be- five bucks for the landlady. He'd tween thumb and forefinger, and take a taxi to the bus station. Or guide it in. It surprised him, be- no-the subway was safer. He'd cause he was so calm.· take the subway. It was two when he got to his It was a long time since he'd room. He put on the light over the been on the move. It excited him chiffonier, looked at himself in the and made him happy. He was go­ mirror and smiled. He turned on ing to get away. the radio, as he always did, no - He wasn't quite sure when the louder than a whisper, and tapping started. "Got a request stretched on the bed, head on for The Happy Song," the disc hands, listening to the disc- jockey had announced faintly. jockey. "... and now, Sally Cos- Billy had been snapping his fin­ tello and Slim, of 1413 Garden gers, humming, whispering the Street, want to hear Tex Beneke's lyrics as he moved around the record of-sorry, Sally and Slim, room. "I want the world to be we haven't got Tex's record- happy-with mel" And then he'd someone broke it-but we'll play become aware of this other sound, you the Duke's-" after it had been going on for a PUNK's PROGRESS 53 while. Tapping on the door. Con­ doll!" he said, grinning, sounding fidential. Soft, so as not to disturb delighted to see her and a little anyone. One two three-pause. questioning. Tap tap tap-wait. A fingernail She was very self-possessed. on the wooden door. The dark eyes were serene, the Billy stopped dead in the mid­ wide mouth smiling. She was, as dle of the room. He forgot to always, neat, slightly too solid, breathe. Tap tap tap-and that sweet. She walked in with soft short, questioning pause. He tip­ composure, as if it were the most toed to the door and put his ear natural thing in the world, and against it. Silence on the other sat down, looking at him. side. He smiled. What went wrong? he thought. "Better get · out of here," he Had that quiet hissing stopped? thought. ''I'm hearing things." Why was she here?-But be natu­ He had turned back to the l'al. Say nothing. canvas bag when it started again. It was as though she had heard Patient. Someone waiting. Some­ him thinking. "I got lonesome," one sure that sooner or later he'd she said. "I wanted to see you." hear. "Happy, happy, happy," mur­ "Yeah?" said Billy. mured the radio, "I want the His voice startled him. It was world to be happy-with mel" too loud. It trembled. It sounded "Yes," said Billy, "I know-yes scared. -but it's so late!" And then he heard the other "I missed you," she answered. voice, hardly louder than a The gentle eyes had never wa­ breath. "Open up." Was that what vered. And now she added, in a it said? He walked to the door voice full of stillness and love: again. Listened. Silence. ''You know, like I said. We'll nev­ "Yeah?" er leave each other. \Ve'll always And very faint, from the other be together, forever and forever side: "Honey . . . open up." and forever . . . " Franny's voice? There was no threat in it. It "\Vait a minute." was simply a statement of fact. Quick-shove the suitcase un- Yet somehow he was terrified. His der the bed, yank the bed cover off heart stepped up its beat. throw it over the canvas bag, "That's right-sure-that's rumple the 9heet, unbutton your right," he said quickly, with a shirt, muss your hair. Make this nervous laugh, and wondered good. Look straight at her. Be again what had happened to his surprised. foolproof plan. He opened the door. "Baby "I woke up and you were gone," 54 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION she went on. It all sounded so out of eyes whose lustre had gone simple. She was calm, and she flat. She smiled, and it seemed to didn't move. It made him jumpy. Billy that her face was ever so "I had an awful headache, honey, slightly beginning to resemble a and so I lit a cigarette and-" skull. On the radio the Happy Song She answered very simply. "I had come to an end, and now the didn't," she said. disc-jockey's voice was back. Con­ fidential. Your pal, whispering in Three flights down, the land­ the night. lady sprang up in bed as the "News-flash .•."he said. "Ter­ noise began. It was a horrifying rible explosion on the west side sound that chilled her, and it ••• building gutted •.. streets didn't stop. Even after she had littered with glass for blocks put on a wrapper and padded to around ••. No estimate yet of the the telephone to call the police, it number of dead .•." And then he hadn't stopped. It was still going gave the address. on when they arrived. "Golly!" said Billy, gasping. The door had a special lock "That's your house, baby doll-" and they had to break it down. · She nodded. The terrible sounds inside con­ He realized that he was pant­ tinued while they hammered and ing. "But why didn't you tell me? banged. And when they finally Are you all right?" entered, they found a boy-faced, She nodded. blond young man, huddled in the "How did you ever get away?" comer of · his bed, babbling and Franny looked at ·him steadily ~bricking at an empty chair.

CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS? The Magazine of FANTASY and SCIENCE FICTION will follow you anywhere* providing you let us know six weeks in advance. Please be sure to give us your old address as well as the new one, and add the zone number if there is one. (If com•enient, send the address label from the \napper of the next copy of F&SF you receive.) Subscription Service MERCURY PUBLICATIONS 34 7 East 53 Street New York 22, N. Y. "' The American edition of F&SF is now being sent to seventy two (72) countries of the world. ]ohn Anthony West, former editorial assistant on The Maga­ zine's sta6, once owned a pointed black beard and a Porsche automobile. He now owns a pointed black beard and lives on the Balearic island of Ibiza, having financed his migration to and first years residence on the latter by selling the former ••• On reflection, it seems that this last sentence is far from clear: the automobile it was he sold, not the beard. His collection of short stories, Call Out The Malicia, of which the following Report forms part, is soon to be published by Dutton's; his not-easily-forgotten story, GEORGE (F&SF, June, 1961), is scheduled for aU-Broadway production as a play. Mr. West, when not engaged in contemplating the wine-dark (or as some will have it-the tideless, dolorous, midland) sea, and other pleasant occupations of a Mediterranean nature, is working on his novel, Osborne's Army. If readers of GEORGE required any further evidence that his attitude towards the sacred cov­ enent of marriage was less than dewy-eyed, here they have it. Mr. West, we understand, is still a bachelor. We ourself are not; and we shall regard any attempt on the part of our wife to ply us with supernumary victuals, with the very deep­ est of suspicions.

GLADYS'S GREGORY

by John Anthony West

LAmEs, MEMBERS OF THE club, your interest and for your kind I am honoured to be here today, attention. to tell you about this year's contest · I begin with statistics from the in our community, and this year's medical record. Gladys's Gregory contest winner, Gladys's Gregory. upon his arrival at our commu­ And I want to thank you all for nity. 55 56 FANTASY AND SCJENCE FICTION Height: 6'51h" football coach and one day, driv­ Weight: 242 ing past the stadium, the first clue Chest: 49" to a nasty situation revealed it­ Waist: 36" self. Gladys's Gregory was partici­ Neck: 18:Yz" pating in the actual physical ex­ ercise. I anticipate your admiration, I saw him hurl himself repeat­ Ladies. Therefore, let me present edly at a stUffed dummy; saw him the dark side of the coin immedi­ lead five minutes of strenuous cal­ ately. Gregory, upon arriving, was isthenics; then, undaunted, lead 28 years old, yet his weight had his team in a race around the scarcely changed since his college track. The bitterest among Glad­ days when he was an All Ameri­ ys's enemies would be forced to can Football player. He had been admit that perhaps it wasn't her married three full years. Club­ fault entirely. To this day I see members! Please jump to no hasty the flesh-building calories drip­ conclusions. Hear me out before ping from his pores in perspira­ you heap blame on Gladys. Bear tion. in mind that here, true, we have The next morning I paid a call Gregory; 242 pounds of raw ma­ on Gladys. She was a sweet young terial. But this figure had not thing; far from the malicious vix­ changed for eight years. en rumor had painted her. I re­ Unfortunately, I admit, the counted the stadium scene and women of our community did not poor Gladys knew it all too well. view the situation objectively ei­ She had even stranger tales to tell. ther. "Gladys's fault", they shouted He mowed the lawn with a hand and indignation ran rampant. mower; played handball off sea­ We thought of Beth Shaefer son; ran the two miles from the who had brought her Milton from school to his home in a tracksuit. a gangling 164 to 313 pounds in The girl was desolate. less than three years; Sally O'­ We discussed his diet and I was Leary with three strikes against shocked beyond words. Red meat! her at the onset, her Jamie an ex­ She fed him red meat; and fish, jockey, fighting gamely neverthe­ and eggs, and green vegetables less and bringing him out finally at 245; Joan Granz who nursed "Eclairs!" I shouted at her. her Marvin to 437 and a second "Potatoes! Chocolate layer cake! prize despite his dangerous cardi­ Beer! Butter!" ac condition. Certainly, all of you But no. Gregory hated these can appreciate our feelings. things. Wouldn't touch them. Now, Gladys's Gregory was "He doesn't love you," I said. GLADYs's GREGORY 57 "But he does," Gladys moaned, vised. We would make Gladys and her voice cracking, "in his own Gregory the most socially promi­ way he does." nent couple in the community. I suggested the strategy that They soon found their social cal­ was so often effective when con· endar booked solid; dinners, tests had not yet gained their pres· breakfasts, buffets, picnics • • • ent popularity and opposition was Gregory found himself seated stronger. down to tables groaning with car· As we all know, we have more bohydrates. He was under con· sexual stamina than our mates. A stant surveillance. No sooner had wife, subtly camouflaging her mo· he wiped the whipped cream from tives under the attractive cover of his lips before a plate mountain passion, can reduce a husband to high in icc cream, bristling with a s~ate of sexual fatigue in a mat· macaroons, was thrust before him. ter of weeks. And a sexually sated His mug of beer never reached husband is ripe for intelligent the halfway mark before some vig­ handling. Evening after evening ilant wife refilled it for him. he sits quietly. Eating. He mar­ At this time, Ladies, I must shals his energies for the night point out that Gregory was in no ahead and gradually he puts on way a conscious rebel; nor was he weight. At a certain point his malicious or subversive. We must obesity interferes with his virility set aside his foolish notions of and at this point the intelligent physical culture and regard him wife beings to demand less. The as he was; a charming man and husband, by t):lis time swathed in an ideal husband; affable, reti· comfortable flesh, is only too hap· cent, and quite unintelligent. The py to be let alone. Now, the wife militant fury of our community decreases her demands to nothing women soon gave way to a genu· and tl1e husband, carrying no bur· ine solicitousness. And a beam· den of calorie-consuming anxiety, ing Gladys reported that he was prepares for the contest. wearing his belt out two notches. With Gladys's Gregory, this A carefully coached Gladys method proved futile. After a waged psychological warfare. month's trial Gladys was but a Magazines were left open about shadow of her former self while the house, all of them turned to Gregory was seen everywhere, calorie-rich advertisements. At with his squad, mowing the lawn, parties she flirted openly with the his unsightly muscles bulging, a heftiest husbands still allowed smug grin on his face. free. At a special community meet· By spring Gregory weighed an ing an ingenious plan was de- estimated 290. Bewildered, he 58 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION still clung to his old notions. "Cot­ to expectation, put her Gregory ta get in shape for spring train­ into seclusion. It was the cause of ing," he would mumble, his hope. Certainly Gladys had over­ mouth filled with chocolate played her hand and had sacri­ mousse. ficed strategy for youthful im­ At 310 our cooperative spirit petuosity. But her self-confidence dwindled. The women, all at incensed the ladies of our commu­ once, realized what they had nity. wrought and were horrified by the For the first time in history our prospect. women banded together in an ef­ Meanwhile Gladys, gro\'\'11 con­ fort to counteract Gregory's im­ fident, moved swiftly and with pending victory. Surely .the emo­ brilliant technical strategy. She tions that prompted this action consulted a fortune teller who were not entirely commend 1ble hinted to her that, given the but, Ladies, put yourself in our chance, her Gregory would foun­ place. Would you be willing to der ·himself on brazil · nuts. She undergo the heartache, the effort, bought a trial pound and they even the expense of preparing a were gone in five minutes. husband for a contest whose out­ Well, Ladies, brazil nuts! It come was obvious in advance? was the last straw. Calorie filled How long would it take her to brazil nuts. Community spirit prepare her Gregory? This was the turned to a hostile chill and then burning question. The average to virulent envy. He couldn't stop husband takes three or four years, eating brazil nuts! Anxious eyes as we all know. Certainly Gregory searched hopefully for the tell-tale was a special case. Four years for signs of arrested development; the him would mean excess flab. tight skin and fishy-eyed expres­ Three years seemed most logical sion that signifies that a husband but with Gregory, two years did is nearing peak despite his appar­ not seem impossible and Gladys ent potential. We looked for hints had already displayed eagerness of unsightly bloating. But at 325 and impatience. It was the stud­ Gregory was barely filling out. On ied opinion of our community his own he developed a taste for that Gladys would enter Gregory sweets. in two years. Therefore, it was The contest of that year was but a simple matter for the rest to pure anticlimax. Jenny Schultz's hold their husbands for a differ­ Peter took a first at 423 but the ent year. Should Gregory be the prodigious Gregory was on the only entry, his would be a hollow minds of all. victory. Shortly after, Gladys, contrary Our solution was bold but GLADYS's GREGORY 59 strong. The women made an Gregory was forgotten. True, this agreement to enter their husbands year's contest lacked the element the following year despite the fact of surprise. Everyone (but Glad­ that many would not have reached ys) knew which other husbands peak. It was felt that should a would be shown. The probable three year plan misfire (as it winner could be guessed with rea­ might through a slip of the tongue, sonable accuracy . . . but still, chicanery, a thousand reasons) a contest is a contest and the air four or five years of seclusion was charged with the familiar bit­ would be unbearable for all wives ter rivalry. concerned and of course with Contest day dawned hot and husbands, decline is most rapid bright, and an excited crowd gath­ after peak has been attained. ered a·: the stadium. This year, of Women whose husbands had been course, there was little of that in­ in seclusion under a year were tense speculation: Who was en­ permitted to breach the contract. tered by surprise; who was staying A period of curious tension en­ another year in seclusion? sued. Gladys's arrogance was hid­ But five minutes before the pro­ den beneath a cover of interest in cession one question rippled community affairs while the other through the audience. Has anyone women masked their complicity seen Gladys? An expectant audi­ and hatred under the guise of ence become a feverish one. Necks cameraderie in the face of healthy craned. Sharp eyes searched the competition. crowd. She was not to be seen. A Gladys took to having provi­ murmur of anger swept the stands. sions delivered; quarter kegs of Could she have prepared her Greg­ beer, bushels of potatoes, sacks of ory in a single year? No! No! It flour. Oh yes! She would set a rec­ could not be done. ord in two years but it would be a The band struck up and slowly wasted triumph. the gaily painted, bunting-draped And then she could outdo her­ trucks passed before the stand. self. We all remembered Eliza­ Twenty-six in all. How many beth Bent's Darius who, several women had entered the agreement years earlier, having had almost to show their husbands. Twenty­ the potential of a Gregory, and five? Twenty-six? No one remem­ eager to set a record, had allowed bered. himself to be pushed too hard. He The trucks circled the field. At­ died_ six weeks before the contest; tention was divided between the a sensational but disqualified parade and the entrance to catch 621. Gladys's expected tardy arrival With the contest a month away among the spectators. 60 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION The fanfare rose brassy and daydreams had they conceived of shrill and the trucks halted. The a Gregory. wives debouched from the cabs He stood as though rooted to and stood before their vehicles. the back of the truck; monolithic. We all know the tension of this His face missed that bloated look moment; as the audience takes in usually found on the truly _ele­ the line of wives at a glance; sees phantine husbands; his brow was two dozen or more women dressed furrowed in thick folds of flesh; in their best; tries, at the same his cheeks, neither flabby nor time, to remember those who might swollen, hung in rich jowls like have been there and arc not. That steaks. His neck was a squat cone tense moment when years of plan­ leading unbroken into shoulders ning, hoping, working, sch ~ming, so gigantic that instead of easing unfold too quickly . . . !Jut in into the inevitable paunch he this split second all eyes focussed seemed to drop sheer. He was per­ on one person, and one person fect. A pillar; a block; a moun­ alone. Gladys. tain; solid and immobile. He She stood before her truck, turned slowly, proudly. Front stunning in white organdy, fresh face, profile, rear view, front as a daisy; showing nothing of face. His weight was incalculable. what must have been a tense and He was bigger, heavier, more im­ lonely ordeal; not a single wrinkle mense, more beautiful than anY'" was visible; not a strand of hair thing we had ever witnessed. Ha­ astray. I could feel hatred gather- tred in the audience turned to ing in a storm. . despair. Our grand-daugJlter The other wives in the contest might beg to hear about Gladys's glared helplessly at Gladys. The Gregory, but we had seen him. For trumpet sounded and the wives re­ us there would be no more con­ leased the covers of their trucks. tests. Not a woman among us It was the breathless instant when thought of Gladys's original tor­ the husbands stood revealed. But ments; her years of social ostra­ this time, every eye focussed on cism. But how could they? truck seventeen: Gladys's Greg­ The weighing began and the ory. audience cursed and fretted. Six· There was no applause; none teen before Gregory. The Winches of the usual wild cheering; noth­ lifted the husbands to the weigh­ ing but an awed silence. In that ing platform and the results were single moment every wife present announced: 345, 376, 268 knew that her own small hopes (someone laughed), 417, 430 were forever extinguished. They (someone clapped-a relative no that never, never in their madest doubt), 386, 344. Not a flurry of GLADYs's GREGORY 61 interest. The dismayed wives who would stand as a monument to had worked and schemed for years Gladys and our community, and for this opportunity; who asked as an inspiration to the world. only for fair competition, wept Now, Ladies, I wish, I only openly. 403, 313. The wait wish that I could finish this report seemed endless. on the note that such a perform­ Gregory was next but Gladys ance deserves. Unfortunately one had a surprise in store. As the men incident marred the perfection of went to adjust the slings on Greg­ Gladys's Gregory's victory. ory, Gladys waved them off. She Our club, like all others, has al­ attached a strong pipe ladder to ways adhered to the tacit but tra­ the truck and ponderously, but ditional practice: The contest without hesitation, Gregory de­ winner is permitted to choose the scended. manner in which he 1VOUld like to He was still able to walk! be served. Shoulders thrown back to bal­ Gladys's Gregory, however, out ance his magnificent bulk, he of sheet spite (the argument still swayed and lurched toward the rages on this point), or hearken­ stairs that led to the platform. ing back to some primitive in­ He tested the frail bannister and stinct, demanded to be served it sundered. Using a section of raw. the rail as a cane he veered up the Having no precedent to act stairs while a breathless crowd upon; and fearing to break so waited for the sound of breaking time-honored a custom-·we com­ planks. The stairs groaned but plied reluctantly with the request, held and Gregory made his own creating acute physical discom­ way to the scale. fort for many and an acute phys­ Well, Ladies, what difference ical revulsion in all. A motion is does the actual figure make? It now under discussion in our com­ was all over. After seeing Gregory munity which will, in the future, cold statistics were irrelevant. relieve the contest winner of this The figure, however, was 7 4 3 responsibility. In view of our un­ pounds. fortunate experience, Ladies, it is Gregory turned slowly. proud­ part of my mission here today to ly, on the scale and smiled. There urge you and your club, and all was no applause but, first singly, other clubs to pass a similar then in groups, then en masse the amendment at your earliest con­ audience stood. . Even jealousy venience. and hatred were powerless in the I thank you for bearing with presence of the contestant who me, Ladies. ~ No man knoweth the number of stories and articles written by Robert Silverberg; to list even the titles of the books this incredibly fecund writer has produced in his 28 years would occupy more space than this story does. We will content our­ self for now by telling you that suave, soft-spoken, trim-beard­ ed Mr. Silverberg now lives in Riverdale with his handsome wife, Barbara, is the author of WARM MAN (F&SF, May 1957) and THE MAN WHO NEVER FORGOT (F&SF, Feb. 1958), collects old Chinese musical instruments, tastes wines of good vintage, and reflects on such perpetual problems as

THE NATURE OF THE PLACE

by Robert Silverberg

AT THE AGE OF TWENTY, PAUL ·going there?" the little man want­ Dearborn first reached the convic- ed to know. tion that he would ultimately go "Oh, I've never doubted it," to hell. He worried over it, but not Paul said. "And I don't feel bitter, for very long. mind you. I've had a rather pleas- At the age of forty, the idea of ant life," he said untruthfully, going to hell positively appealed "and I'm prepared ·to pay the to him. Heaven would be so dull, price. I've got no complaint com- after all. ing. Another beer?' But by the time he was sixty, he "Don't mind if I do," the little was just a bit uneasy again. "It's man said. not that I'm afraid of it," he said Paul signalled the bartender for one night after two beers too refills. "I know where I'm head­ many. The shabby little man ing, all right," he went on. "But standing next to him at the bar the damned uncertainty bothers only smiled. "I'm not afraid at me, If I only knew what the place all," Paul repeated firmly. "Just- was like-" uneasy." The little man's eyes gleamed. "How can you he so sure you're "Faith, man, it's hot and smelling 62 THE XATURE OF THE PLACE 63 of brimstone there, and the sin­ br some standards he was a suc­ ners are roasting in the lake of cessful man. But life hadn't been fire, and right in the heart of it all any joyride. I_t had been rocky and is the old devil himself, up on his fear-tom, filled with doubts and throne with his horns sharp as headaches, moments of complete swords, and his tail going flick­ despair, others of frustrated rage. flick like a eat's." He realized he was more than Paul chuckled patronizingly. half glad he was almost at the end "Oh, no, I ·can't buy that. Straight of his road. Life, he saw now, had out of 1910 Sunday School les­ really been a struggle not worth sons. Hellfire and brimstone just the bother. Sixty years of torture. won't convince me." There was the bus, half a block The other shrugged. "Well, if ahead, and he was going to miss it vou want to be an individual-" and have to stand in the cold for • "That's just it," Paul said, twenty minutes. Not very serious? smacking the palm of his hand Yes, but multiply it by a million against the counter. "Hell's such slights and injuries over the years an individual thing." -scowling, he began to run to-­ His companion lapsed into si­ ward the comer. lence, contemplating with bleary And stumbled as a cold hand eyes the suds at the bottom of his squeezed tight around his heart. beer glass. Paul had another round, The sidewalk sprang up to meet then looked at his watch, decided him, and he knew this was death. it was about time to leave for home. For a startled instant he· fought He dropped a bill on the counter for control, and then he relaxed as and sauntered out. I'll get what I the blackness swept down. He felt deserve, he told himself firmly. gratitude that it was over at long He walked toward the bus stop. last-and a twinge of curiosity It was a chilly night, the wind about what was to come. cutting into his bones. He was After an age, he opened his tired. He lived alone, now; his eyes again and looked around. most recent wife was dead, his And, in that brief flashing mo­ children strangers to him. He had ment before Lethe dimmed his few friends. Many enemies. eyes, he knew where Hell was, As he rounded the corner, he knew the nature of the place and paused, wheezing. My heart. Not to what eternal punishment he much time left nmv. had been condemned. Paul Dear­ He thought back over his sixty hom wailed, more in despair ·than years. The betrayals, the disap­ in pain, as the doctor's hand firm­ pointments, the sins, the hangov­ ly slapped his rear and breath ers. He had some money now, and roared into his lungs. ~ For some writers the ascent to fame is like climbing Everest in lead galoshes. Some freeze to death without ever reaching the top. Others tum around and go back. The lucky few, how­ ever, spring into the public eye and favor almost at their first leap. Such luck, of course, favors only the talented; and among those favored was Richard Matheson, whose first published short story, BORN OF MAN AND WOMAN (F&SF, Sum­ mer, 1950), dazzled and horrified, establishing him at once as an author of the first rank. New Jersey born and Brooklyn raised, ex-cheese store clerk, former YMCA counselor, over­ seas \Var Veteran, U. of Mo. graduate (Journalism), husband of Ruth Ann, father of Betina and Richard and Alison, Rich­ ard Matheson is the author of four screenplays, three short story collections, and seven novels (including the very non­ SF, THE BEARDLESS WARRIORS: Little-Brown, 1960).In this unusual story-for story tt is, as are all great poems; and song as well, as they all are, too-lament and battle cry and paean of triumph-he reaches deep into the molten hollow of the human heart, the nightmare corner of the Amel'ican Dream.

THE JAZZ AIACHINE. .

by Richard Matheson

I had the weight that night I mean I had the blues and no one hides the blues away You got to wash them out Or you end up riding a slow drag to nowhere You gotto let them fly I mean you got to

I play trumpet in this barrelhouse off Main Street 64 THB JAZZ MACHINE 65 Never mind the name of it It's like scumpteen other cellar drink dens Where the downtown ofays bring their loot and jive talk And listen to us try to blow out notes As white and pure as we can never be

Like I told you, I was gullylow that night Brassing at the great White way Lipping back a sass in jazz that Rone got off in words And died for Hitting at the jug and loaded Spiking gin and rage with shaking miseries I had no food in me and wanted none I broke myself to pieces in a hungry night

This white I'm getting off on showed at ten Collared him a table near the stand And sat there nursing at a glass of wine Just casing us All the way into the late watch he was there He never budged or spoke a word But I could see that he was picking up On what was going down Hegotintomymouth, man He bothered me

At four I crawled down off the stand And that was when his ofay stood and put his grabber on my arm "May I speak to you?" he asked The way I felt I took no shine To pink hands wrinkling up my gabardine "Broom off, stud," I let him know "Please," he said, "I have to speak to you."

Call me blowtop, call me Uncle Tom Man, you're not far wrong Maybe my brain was nowhere But I sat down with Mister Pink 66 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION and told him-lay his racket ''You've lost someone," he said.

It hit me like a belly chord "What do you know about it, white man?" I felt that hating pick up tempo in my guts again "I don't know anything about it," he replied "I only know you've lost someone ''You've told it to me with your horn a hundred times." I felt evil crawling in my belly "Let's get this straight," I said "Dort't hype me, man; don't give me stuff" "Listen to me then," he said.

"Jazz isn't only music "It's a language too "A language born of protest "Torn in bloody ragtime from the womb of anger and despair "A secret tongue with which the legions of abused "Cry out their misery and their troubled hates."

"This language has a million dialects and accents "It may be a tone of bitter-sweetness whispered in a brass-lined throat "Or rush of frenzy screaming out of reed mouths "Or hammering at strings in vibrant piano hearts "Or pulsing, savage, under taut-drawn hides "In dark-peaked stridencies it can reveal the aching core of sorrow "Or cry out the new millennium "Its voices are without number "Its forms beyond statistic "It is, in very fact, an endless tonal revolution "The pleading furies of the damned "Against the cruelty of their damnation "I know this language, friend," he said.

"What about my-?" I began and cut oil quick "Your-what, friend?" he inquired "Someone near to you; I know that much THE JAZZ MACHINE 67 ''Not a woman though; y<;>ur trumpet wasn't grieving for a woman loss "Someone in your family; your father maybe "Or your brother."

I gave him words that tiger prowled behind my teeth "You're hanging over trouble, man "Don't break the thread "Give it to me straight." So Mister Pink leaned in and laid it down "l have a sound machine," he said "Which can convert the forms of jazz "Into the sympathies which made them '1f, into my machine, I play a sm::rowing blues "From- out the speaker comes the human sentiment "Which felt those blues "And fashioned ·them into the secret tongue of jazz."

He dug the same old question stashed behind my eyes "How do I know you've lost someone?" he asked "I've heard so many blues and stomps and strutting jazzes "Changed, in my machine, to sounds of anger, hopelessness and joy "That I can understand the language now "The story that you told was not a new one "Did you think you were inviolate behind your tapestry of woven brass?"

"Don't hype me, man," I said I let my fingers rigor mortis on his arm He didn't ruffie up a hair "If you don't believe me, come and see," he said '1...isten to my machine "Play your trumpet into it "You'll see that everything I've said is true." I felt shivers like a walking bass inside my skin "Well, will you come?" he asked.

Rain was pressing drum rolls on the roof As Mister Pink turned tires onto Main Street I sat dummied in his coupe 68 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION My sacked up trumpet on my lap Listening while he rolled off words Like Stacy runnings on a tinkle box

"Consider your top artists in the genre "Armstrong, Bechet, Waller, Hines "Goodman, Mezzrow, Spanier, dozens more both male and female "Jew and Negroes all and why? "Why are the greatest jazz interpreters "Those who live beneath the constant gravity of prejudice? "I think because the scaldings of external bias "Focus all their vehemence and suffering "To a hot, explosive core "And, from this nucleus of restriction "Comes all manner of fissions, violent and slow "Breaking loose in brief expression "Of the tortures underneath "Crying for deliverance in the unbreakable code of jazz." He smiled. "Unbreakable till now," he said.

"Rip bop doesn't do it "Jump and mop-mop only cloud the issue "They're like jellied coatings over true response "Only the authentic jazz can break the pinions of repression "Liberate the heart-deep mournings "Unbind the passions, give freedom to the longing essence "You understand?" he asked. "I understand," I said, knowing why I came.

Inside his room, he flipped the light on, shut the door Walked across the room and slid away a cloth that covered his machine "Come here," he said I suspicioned him of hyping me but good His jazz machine was just a junglcful of scraggy tubes and wheels And scumpteen wires boogity-boogity Like a black snake brawl I double-o'ed the heap "That's really in there, man," I said THE JAZZ MACHII\E 69 And couldn't help but smile a cutting smile Right off he grabbed a platter, stuck it down "Heebie-Jeebies; Armstrong "First, I'll play the record by itself," he said

Any other time I bust my conk on Satchmo's scatting But I had the crawling heavies in me And I couldn't even loosen up a grin I stood there feeling nowhere While Daddy-0 was tromping down the English tongue Rip-bip-dee-doo-dee-doot-doo I The Satch recited in his Model T baritone Then white man threw a switch

In one hot second all the crazy scat was nixed Instead, all pounding in my head There came a sound like bottled blowtops scuffiing up a jamboree Like twenty tongue-tied hipsters in the next apartment Having them a ball Something frosted up my spine I felt the shakes do get-off chorus in my gut And even though I knew that Mister Pink was smiling at me I couldn't look him back My heart was set to knock a doorway through my chest Before he cut his jazz machine

"You see?" he asked. I couldn't talk. He had the up on me "Electrically, I've caught the secret heart of jazz "Oh, I could play you many records "That would illustrate the many moods "Which generate this complicated tongue "But I would like for you to play in my machine "Record a minutes worth of solo "Then we'll play the record through the other speaker "And we'll hear exactly what you're feeling "Stripped of every sonic superficial. Right?'' 70 FANTASY AND SCIEI'\'CE FICTIO!'< I had to know I couldn't leave that place no more than fly So, while white man set his record maker up, I unsacked my trumpet, limbered up my lip All the time the heebies rising in my craw Like ice cubes piling

Then I blew it out again The weight The dragging misery The bringdown blues that hung inside me Like twenty irons on a string And the string stuck to my guts with twenty hooks That kept on slicing me away I played for Rone, my brother Roue who could have died a hundred different times and ways Rone \vho died, instead, down in the Murder Belt WI1erc he was born Rone who thought he didn't have to take that same old stuff Rone who forgot and rumbled back as if he was a man And not a spade· Rone who died without a single word Underneath the boots of Mississippi peckerwoods Wh(t hated him for thinking he was human And kicked his brains out for it

That's what I played for I blew it hard and right And when I finished and it all came rushing back on me Like scre:uning in a black-walled pit I felt a coat of evil on my back With C\-cry scream a button that held the dark coat closer Till I couldn't get the air

That's when I crashed my horn on his machine That's when-I knocked it on the floor And craunched it down and kicked it to a thousand pieces "You fooll" That's what he called me THE JAZZ MACHINE 71 "You damued black fool!" All the time until I left

I didn't know it then I thought that I was kicking back for every kick That took away my only brother But now it's done and I can get off all the words I should have given Mister Pink

Usten,white man; listen to me good Buddy ghee, it wasn't you I didn't have no hate for you . Even though it was your kind that put my brother In his final place I'll knock it to you why I broke your jazz machine

I broke it cause I had to Cause it did just what you said it did And, if I let it stand, It would have robbed us of the only thing we have That's ours alone The thing no boot can kick away Or rope can choke

You cruel us and you kill us But, listen white man, These are only needles in our skin But if I'd let you keep on working your machine You'd know all our secrets And you'd steal the last of us And we'd blow away and never be again - Take everything you want, Man You will because you have But don't come scuffiing for our souls. SCIENCE 0

P. G. Wodehouse tells of the Oxford Professor of Scriptural Knowledge whose snap-course exam always consisted of the same single question: Name the kings of Israel and Judah in chronological order. The students naturally memorized the list. Informed, finally, by some fink of a colleague, that it was open knowledge that he always asked· the same question, he decided to change it. To the horror of his students the next exam demanded that they Name the Major and the Minor Prophets in chronological order. They rose as one man and departed, resigned to failing marks. They f'OSe as one man, that is, save for one man, who calmly uncapped his pen and wrote, "Far be it from me to make invidious distinctions between the Prophets. Rather let us tum to the kings of Israel and Judah, as follows ... "That our own Professor Asimov has made himself master of this meretricious technique will be ob­ vious from his article. There is another, non-Wodehouse, ver­ sion of the story, wherein a professor (we name no names; we have our suspicions) was asked by a colleague why he al­ ways gave the same questions on his exams. "It's all right," he explllined. "I change the answers."

THE LOST GENERATION

by Isaac Asimov

THERE ARE DISADVANTAGES TO EVERY SITUATION, HOWEVER IDEAL it may seem. For instance, by extremely dever maneuvering, I have 72 THE LOST GENERATION 73 created the image of one who posses9fs universal knowledge. This, plus the possession of a glittering eye, enables me to browbeat editors (pres­ ent editor always excepted). Having brought myself to this ideal pass, however, I find myself oc­ casionally asked to speak on some subject far outside my field of compe­ tence. When I then protest (very feebly) that I know nothing about it, there is a loud, jovial laugh in response and a hearty slap on the shoul­ ders and someone says, "Good old Asimovl Always joking!" Well, I can't allow the destruction of the image, or I might starve to death, so I do the next best thing to knowing my subject; I cheat. I start talking about whatever it is I am supposed to be talking about and then I sneakily change -the subject into something I know about. For instance, last July I found myself staring at an audience of a hundred and fifty specialists in "information retrieval," having agreed to give the featured talk of the evening. By spelling the words "informa­ tion retrieval" I have just given you all the knowledge I possess on the subject. The talk I proceeded to give was off the cuff (as all my talks are) and is lost forever. However, the following is an approximation of parts of it, anyway-

A magic phrase these days is "information r~·trieval," the study of de­ vices whereby knowledge, once found, need never be lost again. So many are the busy minds in scientific research who are hacking away at the jungle of ignorance; so numerous and miscellaneous are the fragmented bits of knowledge so obtaiQ.ed; that keeping all of it safely in hand is a problem indeed. The information is published in a myriad journals, digested and spewed out again in a thousand reviews, pounded into pulp and sum­ marized in a variety of abstracts, then compressed into invisibility and recorded on miles of microfilm. The net result is that any one needle of information, even a most important and crucial one, found for a mo­ ment of time, is in constant danger of being lost, lost, lost in the hay­ stacks upon haystacks that fill the shelves of our technical libraries. To rescue an important bit of knowledge, to snatch it out of its dusty surroundings, shake it free of obscurement, and hold it up, gleaming, in the light of day, is the purpose of information retrieval. Librarians, sci­ entists, cyberneticists, combine to devise new methods of indexing and cross-filing and hope to transfer the organized information into the colos­ sal and unfailing memory of a computer, in order that at the touch of a punch-code, the machine might bring forth anything that is known on any subject that is desired. 74 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Thus the devices produced by the advance of modern science will, it is hoped, correct the incapacity of the human mind to keep up with the advance of modern science. Yet there remains a flaw in this self-corrective process of science, a flaw for which no one has yet proposed a remedy, and one for which no remedy may be possible. It is not enough, after all, to supply a scientist with the information he needs. Once the information is supplied, the scientist must be capable of looking at it and seeing its importance. This may sound an easy thing to do, this looking at importance and seeing it, but it is not. In fact, it may well be the hardest thing in the world. It may require all the intuition and creative talent of the world's best minds to see how a single bit of a jigsaw puzzle may just complete a structure and turn a meaningless jumble of facts into a fruitful and beautiful ,theory. Far from being able to rely on a machine for this particular purpose, we cannot even rely on men-except, perhaps, for a very few. Imagine, for example, a crucial scientific discovery, one that com­ pletely revolutionizes a major branch of science and supplies el~gant answers to key questions that have agitated scientists and philosophers for thousands of years. And suppose, further, that there is but one ma­ jor flaw in the discovery; one weakness that threatens to make this beautiful discovery worth nothing after all. A continent of scientists is searching desperately for a method of removing the flaw and, behold, the necessary piece of information is unexpectedly discovered by an amateur, and is worked out in full detail, so that the great central theory is complete at last. Consider, next, that this piece of information, this key, this crux, is carefully placed in the hand of one of the most eminent scientists of the day, one who is bending his every effort to discovering just this piece of information. Now he has "retrieved" it; he has it. What do you suppose the scientist would do with this information? There is no need to guess. All that I have just described actually happened a hundred years ago. And in real life, the scientist who came upon the key, contemptuously threw it away and kept on looking (in vain) for that which he had had and had not recognized. No one else found that thrown-away item for thirty-four years! The great theory to which I have referred is that of "evolution by natural selection" as advanced by the English naturalist, Charles Robert Darwin. This he did in 1859, in his book "The Origin of Species," un­ doubtedly the most important single scientific work in all the history of the life sciences. THE LOST GENERATION 75 Ever since the time of the Greek philosophers, there have been schol­ ars who studied the nature pf the various species of plants and animals and who had come to feel (sometimes very uneasily) that there was an ordered relationship among all those species; that one species might de­ velop out of another; that several species might have a common ancestry. The great difficulty at first was that no such evolutionary process was visible in all the history of man, so that if it occurred at all, it must take place with exceeding slowness. As long as mankind believed the earth to be no more than a few thousand years old, evolution was an im­ possible concept. In the early 19th Century, however, the conviction grew and strengthened that the earth was not a few thousand years old, but many millions of years old, and suddenly there was time for evolution to take place after all. But now another problem arose. Why should evolution take place? What force drove some primitive antelope-like creature to lengthen i-ts legs and neck and become a giraffe (which, despite its grotesque shape, still plainly revealed, in its anatomy and physiology, its relationship to the world of antelopes). Or why should a primitive four-hoofed crea­ ture, no larger than a dog, grow over the eons and lose one toe after another until it became the large one-hoofed creature we know today as the horse. The first man to supply a reason was the French naturalist, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck. In 1809, he suggested that animals changed be­ cause they voluntarily tried to change. Thus, a primitive antelope who dined on the leaves of trees, was apt to find the leaves within easy reach already consumed by himself and his confreres. He would therefore stretch his neck and his legs, and even his tongue, to grasp leaves that were just higher than he could comfortably reach. A lifetime of such exercise would permanently (it seemed to Lamarck) extend the stretched portions just a trifle and the young of such a creature would inherit this slightly increased length of neck and limbs. (This is the doctrine of ·the "inheritance of acquired characteristics.") The new gen­ eration would repeat the process and, very slowly, with the passage of time, the antelope would become a long-legged, long-necked, long­ tongued giraffe. This theory foundered on two points. In the first place, no evidence existed that showed that acquired characteristics could be inherited. In fact, all the evidence that biologists could locate proved just the re­ verse, that acquired characteristics were not inherited. Secondly, Lamarckism might be conceivable for characteristics that 76 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION could be altered by conscious effort, but what about other characteris­ tics? The giraffe had also developed the novelty of a blotched coat that caused it to blend into the spattered background of light and shadow under the sun-lit trees upon whose leaves it fed. This protective colora­ tion makes it easier for the giraffe to avoid the predatory gaze of the large carnivores. But how did the giraffe develop this specialized and un-antelope-like coloration? Surely it could not have tried to become blotchy and therefore have succeeded in becoming just a trifle blotchier in the course of its life and then ha,·e passed on that additional bit of blotch to its young.

It fell to Danvin to supply the correct answer. He spent years worry­ ing about evolution until one day he happened upon a book called "An Essay on the Principle of Population" by an English economist named Thomas Robert Malthus. In this book, Malthus pointed out that the human population increases more rapidly than the food supply and that the population must therefore inevitably be kept down by famine, by the diseases that accompany undernutrition, or by the wars fought by competing groups of human beings, each intent on salvaging for it­ self a more than fair share of the earth's limited food supply. And if this held true for mankind, thought Darwin, why not for all living creatures on earth? Each species would multiply until it outran its food-supply, and each would be cut down by hunger, disease, and by the activity of those who preyed upon it, until there was balance between the numbers of the species and the quantity of its food. But when the species was winnowed out, which individuals would be eliminated? 'Vhy, on the whole, reasoned Darwin, those who were less well~adjusted to the life they led. A species that fed by running down its prey, would find that the slowest runners would be the first to starve. If the species avoided danger by hiding, those less capable of efficient concealment would be the first to be eaten. If all were sub­ ject to a particular parasite, those that were least resistant would be the first to sicken and die. In this way, the blind forces of nature would, in each generation, weed out the less well adapted and preserve the better adapted. The giraffe would not try to lengthen its legs and neck, but those that were born with slightly longer legs ami neck in the first place would eat better and survive longer-and have more young to inherit their own particular characteristics. In each generation, the longest legs and neck would survive by "natural selection" and the inborn length (not the acquired length) would be inherited. THE LOST GEJI;ER.\TIO:"< 77 Again, a giraffe that happened to be born with a blotchier pelt than average would more likely survive so that the blotches would become more pronounced with the generations. It was not necessary for a giraffe to try for blotches. Natural selection would see to it. And among the four-hoofed creatures ancestral to the modern horse, those who were largest (hence strongest and fleetest) would most easily survive in each generation. And those with the strongest central hoof (and hence with the leg best-adapted, mechanically, for speed) would best survive. In the end, the large one-hoofed horse would be developed. Darwin's theory created a terrific furore, but the loudest objections were the least crucial, scientifically. Of course, evolution by natural selection offended the religious sensibilities of many men, since it seemed to deny the version of the creation story found in the first chap­ ter of the Book of Genesis. That form of opposition was by far the most dramatic, and culminated in the Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1924. However, this form of opposition played no great role within the realm of science itself. Among scientists who were ready to accept the fact of evolution, there were still many who were not ready to accept the Darwinian mechanism. Natural selection was a blind, random force and, to many, ·the thought that the crowning creation of man should be brought about by the unseeing stagger of chance was intellectually repugnant. Yet within the decade after the publication of Darwin's book, ran­ dom forces were shown to account for some subtle facts in physics and chemistry. All the physical-chemical properties of gases, for in­ stance, were found to result from the random movements of molecules. Randomness proved respectable and this form of opposition weakened. However, there remained one objection so insuperable ·that if it were allowed to stand, it would be the ruin of the entire Darwinian theory. The theory's supporters could only suppose (and hope) that eventually some way out would be found. This objection involved the manner in which variations-the longer neck, the blotchier coat, the stronger hoof-were preserved across the generations. Darwin pointed out that the variations arose, in •the first place, through sheer random effects. In every group of young, mevery litter, in every set of seedlings, there were trifling variations; differences in size, color, and every other conceivable characteristic. It was upon these random variations that natural selection would seize. But how could such variations be passed on from generation to gen­ eration so that they would remain in being for a long enough time to allQF the very slow workings of natural selection to bring about the 78 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION necessary result? One could not count on a male giraffe with a longer­ ·than-usual neck mating with a female giraffe with a longer-than-usual neck. He would be quite likely to mate with a female with an ordinary neck, but one which happened to be ready and waiting when the male giraffe was ready and willing. In the same way, a.large stallion might very well mate with a small mare; a well-fanged lion with a small-toothed lioness; an intelligent ape with a stupid one. And what would happen if these unlikes mated? Darwin was a pigeon-fancier and he knew what happened when varieties of pigeon were cross-bred. For that matter, everyone knows what happens when pure-bred varieties of domestic animals are allowed to mate at random. The result is the mongrel; a creature in which the special characteris­ tics of the ancestral varieties are blended into an undistinguished mix­ ture. The sharp blacks and whites turn into a muddy gray. Well, then, if chance forces produced the variations at birth, other chance forces would see to it that, through indiscriminate mating, those variations would blend and mix and cancel out before ever natural se­ .lection could get in its work. So the theory of natural selection was simply unworkable in the light of the knowledge of Darwin's time. It seemed that despite all that natural selection could do, species must remain middle-of-the-road and unchanging over countless eons. There could be no evolution, then, and yet there indubitably seemed to be evolution. Some way had to be found out of this dilemma; some way of destroy­ ing the paradox. The theory of evolution by natural selection had to be equipped with a driving mechanism that would push it onward.

One of those most intent on finding this driving mechanism was a Swiss botanist named Karl Wilhelm von Nageli, a professor at the Uni­ versity of Munich. He was heir to a 19th Century school of German biologists who called themselves "nature philosophers." The nature philosophers were a group who believed in the mystic importance of the individual and in the existence of misty and unde­ fined forces particularly associated with life. The German language is particularly well-adapted to a kind of learned professorial prose that resembles a cryptogram to which no key exists, and the nature philos­ ophers could use this sort of language perfectly. If obscurity is mis­ taken for profundity, then they were profound indeed. Von Nageli was a perfectly competent botanist as long as he con­ fined himself to making observations and reporting on them. When, THE LOST GE~ER,\TION 79 however, he theorized and attempted to construct vast realms of thought, he produced nothing of value. His books were as thunderous as so many drums, and as empty. To find a driving mechanism for the Darwinian theory, he went old Lamarck one better and postulated a mysterious inner drive that forced a species onward in change. In tllis way, von Nageli could forget the matter of random mating and the blending of characteristics that resulted. In fact, he could for­ get all concrete evidence and all reality, for he had solved the matter of a driving mechanism by simply assuming that one existed, without ever realizing that he was arguing in a circle. He maintained that if the individuals of a speci~s started to grow larger with the generations, the unconscious drive within that species would force the individuals to continue to grow larger. It did that be­ cause it did that because it did that because it did that. In fact, accord­ ing to von Nageli, this process (which he called "orthogenesis") would force the species to continue to grow larger even past the point of di­ minishing returns, so that its oversize would eventually harm it and drive it to extinction. (Needless to say, no biologist has taken orthogenesis seriously for a long time now.)

Meanwhile, in Briinn, Austria (now Brno, Czechoslovakia) there lived an Augustinian monk named Gregor Johann Mendel. He was far removed from the violent controversy that was then racking the world of biology. He had two interests outside the religious life and these were botany and statistics. With commendable economy, he combined the two by growing pea-plants in the monastery garden, and counting the different varieties he produced. There are certain advantages to growing pea-plants. First, they are docile creatures who do not resist the interference of man. Mendel could fertilize them in any combination he chose and so could control their pattern of mating with ease. Secondly, he could cause a pea-plant to fer­ tilize itself so that he could simplify matters by dealing with only one parent, rather than two. Finally, he could study individual characteris­ tics that were much simpler than the more noticeable characteristics oft let us say, domestic animals such as dogs and ca~tle. - In crossing his pea-plants during the 1860's, Mendel came across a number of fascinating effects that proved of prime importance. I'll men­ tion two of them. First, characteristics did not blend and mix. Black and white did not produce gray. · 80 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION When he crossed pea-plants producing green peas with those pro­ ducing yellow peas, he found that all the seedlings that resulted even­ tually, produced yellow peas. The peas were not some-yellow-some­ green; they were not all yellowish-green. They were all yellow, as yel­ low as though no green-pea parent had been involved. Secondly, Mendel discovered that although the green peas had ap­ parently disappeared in the second generation when all the pea-plants produced yellow peas, they reappeared again in the third generation. In that generation, some of the yellow-pea plants produced some seed­ lings capable of producing green peas and others capable of producing yellow peas. The deductions drawn from these facts, and from others which Men­ del uncovered, are todav called the "Mendelian laws of inheritance" and in the century that has passed there has been no reason to change the fundamentals. As Mendel discovered them, so they have remained. Nor do the Mendelian laws apply only to pea plants, or only to the plant world. If varieties of dogs seem to mongrelize when intermated, it is because so many different characteristics are involved. The cross­ bred young \Vill inherit some characteristics from one parent, and some from another so that as a whole it will seem intermediate. Each indi­ vidual characteristic is inherited intact, in one fashion or another. The Mendelian laws of inheritance provided just the driving me­ chanism that the Darwinian theory needed. If a desirable characteristic turned qp, it would hang on for generation after generation, and re­ main in full, undiluted force, as the yellow peas did. Even if the characteristic seemed to disappear for a while, as the green peas did, it was not dead but was merely hiding and in the fullness of time it would appear again. The reasons for all this were not worked out for decades to come, but the facts were incontrovertible. Characteristics did not blend to­ gether into an undistinguished middle-ground as a result of random mating. Instead even the most random mating did not affect the emer­ gence of different characteristics, and upon those characteristics natural selection seized and exerted its force.

But now that Mendel had made his crucial di!;covery (ami he him­ self by no means recognized its crucial nature, for he was no evolu­ tionist) what was he to do with it? As he was only an unknown amateur, he felt that the best he could do would be to send his findings to some renowned and near-by botanist. If that botanist were pleased, he could then lend his name and prestige THE LOST GENERATION 81 to the paper and bring it before the attention of the world. So Mendel sent it to von Nageli. Von Nageli now had the key finding in his hands. He was the most fortunate (or, at least, he could have been) of all biologists of his gen­ eration. Darwin knew about evolution by natural selection but knew nothing about the Mendelian laws of inheritance. Mendel knew about the laws of inheritance but knew nothing about evolution by natural selection. Only von Nageli, in all the world, was now in a position to know both, put them together and find the first truly workable theory of evo­ lution. Looking back on it now, that would seem a simple thing to do, but von Nageli did not do it. Instead, he read Mendel's paper with the ut­ most disdain. It was not merely that Mendel was an unknown and an amateur. It was also true that the paper was full of numbers and ratios in an age when biologists never dealt with mathematics. Moreover to nature philosophers like von Nageli, the important job of a biologist was the manufacture of windy and abstruse theories. To con­ tent one's self with counting pea-plants seemed an idle amusement that could only be childish at best and idiotic at worst. Von Nageli returned the paper to Mendel with a curt, cold comment to the effect that the contents were not reasonable. Poor Mendel was crushed. He published the paper, in 1866, in the Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brunn (a perfectly respectable periodical but rather obscure and out-of-the-way) and there it remained unsponsored and unnoticed. Mendel never returned to his botanical work. In part, this was due to his increasing girth. He became stout enough to make it difficult to do the stooping that plant cultivation requires. He also became abbot of the monastery and found himself engaged in complicated controversy with the Austrian government over questions of taxation. However, the crushing rebuff from von Nageli surely helped sour the whole subject of botanical research for him. Mendel died in 1884 without having any notion that in the future there would be such a thing as "Mendelian" laws. Darwin died in 1882 without ever realizing that the major flaw in his theory had been cor­ rected. And von Nageli died in 1891 never suspecting that he had had the pearl of great price in his hand, and had thrown it away. Even as von Nageli lay dying, however, a Dutch botanist, Hugo de Vries, was working on the concept that evolution proceeded by jumps, by sudden changes called "mutations." K2 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIOX De Vries uncovered plants in which new varieties had sprung up, seemingly from nowhere and observed that these new varieties main­ tained themselves over the generations and did not blend in with the other more normal varieties with which they might be crossed. By 1900, he had worked out the same laws of inheritance that l\len­ del had. Unknown to de Vries and to each other, two other botanists, a German, Karl Correns, and an Austrian, Erich Tschermak, had reached the same conclusions in that same year. All three botanists, before publishing their papers, looked through previous work on the subject (they should have done that first) and all three found Mendel's paper in the obscure journal in which it was buried. It is one of the glories of scientific history that these three men, each of whom had independently made one of the greatest and most impor­ tant disco\'eries in biology, immediately relinquished any thought of retaining credit. Each published his work as nothing more than con­ firmation of a discovery made by an unknown monk a generation earlier. This was no small sacrifice, as can be shown by the results. Mendel, through the triple relinquishment of credit, is now immortally fa­ mous in the historv of science and lends his name to the laws of inher­ itance. De Vries, ~n the other hand, is famous to a considerably lesser degree, for the development of mutation theory; and as for Correns and Tschermak, they arc virtually unknown even to specialists.

We live now at a time in which the livest and most exciting branch of biology is that of genetics, that branch of science that deals with the inheritance of characteristics. Based originally on Mendel's findings, it has broadened into a domain that overlaps the fields of physics and chemistry and now fills the major portion of the new science of "molec­ ular biology." The science of molecular biology holds the promise of solving, at last, some of the most fascinating problems of life, and knowledge in this field is moving so quickly that no one dares predict where we will be ten years from now. 'Where would we be now, then, if there had not been the sad loss of a complete generation of effort between Mendel and de Vries? What if, for those 34 years, men of science had been studying genetic problems instead of wasting time on orthogenesis and such-like trash. To be sure, 19th Century -techniques would not have advanced them very far in that interval, as viewed by present standards, but there would have been some advance, certainly, which would be reflected in a better_ position for ourselves now. THE LOST GENERATIO~ 83 But that generation, alas, is lost, and regrets arc useless. And yet we have no reason to suppose it can't happen again. What pair of eyes is gazing right now at a crucial finding, without seeing its significance? What hands are putting it to one side and what mind is closing against it? We can't tell. We can never tell. We can only hope that when the marvels of information retrieval put the right item before a man, it is put before the right man. -And for human retrieval, no theory and no machinery exists. \Ve can only hope.

Through Time And Space With Ferdinand Feghoet: LIX

In the 28th Century, Ferdinand Feghoot always took passage on spaceships from Argol. Their discipline was rigidly based on Terran naval tradition. Indeed, Argolian law compelled every captain, on assuming command, to identify himself absolutely will) some sea­ going hero of Earth, actual or legendary. One wore an eye-patch, an­ other a false wooden leg; some carried harpoons, spyglasses, or belay­ ing pins; they wore pea-jackets or gold-braided coats, and uttered such phrases as "Yo-ho-ho!" and "Damn the torpedoes!" On a trip to Argol itself, Feghoot met a young captain whose only peculiarity was his habit of sounding the ship's klaxon several times whenever they made planetfall. He explained that he was warning his crew of temptations aground-as many blasts of the klaxon as there were loose women per thousand of population. Feghoot approved, and was shocked when the captain, on arrival at Argol, was placed in arrest for having no Terran prototype. Gladly undertaking his defense, he explained to the Court about the temptation index and warning. "And what," sneered the Prosecuting Officer, "has all this to do with the great heroes of Terran seas? Nothing whatever!" "You are wrong," replied Ferdinand Feghoot. "Throughout your whole fleet this splendid young man is known as Captain Horatio Hornblower!" -GRENDEL BRIARTON (with thanks agai11 to John F. Moore) Mrs. Burgers previous story in F&SF (LOVE CHILD, April, 1962) was set principally in Paris, and dealt with the gauzy fabrics of dreams. Her present tale is played far, far from the back-gardens of France, and contains elements of something not far from nightmare. Six stars of a cluster in Taurus are easily seen by the naked eye, and astronomy has made visible hundreds more: but the ancient Greeks, myth-makers to the western world, concerned themselves with only one of those hidden ones. Atlas, they said, had seven daughters, of whom six became the stars of the Pleiades, but the seventh hid her­ self for sheer shame of having had a mortal lover; and he1' name, they said, was M erope . . . Watch the show, then, shake off the boredom deep as space itself in a world without death, see the Sisters-how they dance!-and listen to the sardonic cries of the Eh beasts, and to the mournful and soli­ tary mar of the old lion.

THE PLEIADES

by Otis Kidwell Burger

"HURRY, HURRY, HURRY, THE test show in the universe, strug­ Greatest Show in the Universe gled to put itself together. Seven ..." Junior's voice echoing out­ sisters. Only six of them there side; the sussurru of the crowd now, again, for the ten milliontl1 passing. time, maybe; aided by the bus.. "Where'd you put that lip­ ding figure of the dresser, Aniides stick?" (eight-armed, and of course cho­ "Aniides! my shawl ... slip­ sen for so being) who pushed pers, make up, hot pack, g-string." among them bearing necessary Under the sagging contours of articles, a strange tree-full of the hot Httle tent, the Pleiades, gauzy, gaudy feminine garments. literally and figuratively the hot- But they had had stranger fig- 84 THE PLEIADES 85 ures in that dressing room that fussin' over your looks." His had, for who counted how many gloved clown's hands clapped, years now, been set up on so softened, impatient. Handsome, many strange planets. like all the people those days, The lurid carnival lights but a little short (perhaps why he painted hectic colors across the had aligned himself with the battered tent; thrust scarlet Sisters?), he had exaggerated his searchlights into its rents; and, defect with immense padding brushing across the rim of jun­ under a shocking-pink-and-green gle, turned across the youthful checked suit; a too-small straw faces of the crowd, and met in boater perched on his head; a huge kaleidoscopic arcs of color in huge putty nose. Con man and the night sky above the sprawling clown, with sweat and grease­ fairgrounds. paint like dissolving flesh run­ Before the next tent, the Taan­ ning down his cheeks, toad-squat ist fire-swaller glowed eerily; in his monstrous costume, he born on a near-dark planet, and, -waddled among them, summon­ like many dark-living creatures, ing. "Girls, girls . . ." translucent, he thrust his many­ "Eh, eh," derisively, the beasts colored fires down his throat; all outside. his internal workings, like a glass man's, outlined in cerise, umber, I would have spat on him gold. Close by, the old lion once, Maia thought. She took her roared, and was answered by the black wig from one of Annides' Eh, Eh, of two toad-like furry appendages, and settled it, trem­ beasts in the next cage. Actually, bling, over her head and shoul­ derision; they were on the pay­ ders. I would have spat on a roll, and after the show, played Junior then; a freak. We had all cards with the roustabouts and the men in the universe at our the other freaks: voluntary feet. freaks, with all human privileges, Over and around her mirror, including the Pill. Only the lion, lapping and overlapping like involuntary beast at every circus scales of some strange, tired since time began, roared out his beast, the curling photographs; weariness and anger all alone. mementoes of one night stands Having finished his prelimi­ on how many forgotten bars in nary spiel, Junior carne rushing almost nameless planets. Frontier in among the frantically dressing bars, pasted together out uf odd Sisters. "Girls, girls. C'mon now, materials-at-hand, dug out of Tune. We gotta crowd, and jungles, deserts, snows; hermeti­ where are you dames as usual, cally sealed against alien atmos- 86 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION pheres and lifeforms; but always The Seven Sisters! (Not, of nostalgically, improbably, recre­ course sisters) blad haired, long­ ating from unlikely materials the Jim bed, dressed in little but se­ half-remembered decor of the quins and top hats; prancing habitat most familiar to the like a matched team of trotters, rough crews of early space ships. pulling the dubious vanguard of Rows of bottles, ·with gut-searing civilization. Descending, as lu­ contents fermented, after patient minous and unlikely and mythi­ experiment, from local flora; cal as their starry namesakes, heads of strange beasts over im~ from the empty skies (sky still so provised mirrors of polished met­ new each man remembered it as al; the bars themselves made of visceral as hollow hunger, a packed muds, packing cases, nameless fear, under his ribs), to trees, and, in one picture, of dance and show the reality of bone. Here and there, tacked their flesh to men in make-shift boldly over this littered pictorial bars across the universe. Life. So tribute to Man's ingenuity, were strange a habit at best; so un­ more presentable photos of longer familiar here, in alien worlds. engagements, in settled towns To be seen, craved, touched, in whose bars boasted genuine wood, that long line of trotting girls. and mirrors flown from Home "Never enough men," Maia ·ar­ (over what incredible dazzling ticulated, half aloud, through the blackness of space); in these, the weight of grease paint. Enough Pleiades showed themselves quite anything, then. She put out her clearly. · hand, but Aniides had already The Pleiades Stars of a uni­ passed on. Slut. Both Taygete verse, lovely even among a beau­ and Electra were screaming for tiful People, long of hair and leg, Aniides, the blare of a loud­ their long bodies so breathtaking speaker called the crowd's atten­ that they had never needed to tion to the beast charmer; now bother much with costumes, or the long wavering wail of his talent; it was enough, in those instrument, and the derisive 'Eh, early Frontier towns, for them eh' of the beast as they rose to merely to prance across the stage. dance. For the men, starved by long "You ready?" _ Junior cried, years, night, eons alone on anxious. "You're fine, great, kids. strange planets, to stare at them. C'mon. Whatta dames always Jam-packed audiences, night aft­ hang around so long for? • • • we er night; and the silence of the gotta show to do ..." aud~ences like that of space it­ Outside the flimsy canvas door, self. the night roared. Criss-crossing THE PLEIADES H7 lights competing with three si­ ence.) Once, many mm1y years lent moons, blare of canned mu­ ago, before things were organized sic against the humming edge of as they arc now, we all had to jungle, counterpointed by the take pills. . . . I wonder how solitary radio of a clown who'd many of you remember? (five or already finished his act, in the six hands). Or else. Well, one next tent. The too-sweet voiced day these seven lovely sisters babble of the crowd. A moan here ... from the old lion. Alycyone began to dance, solo. The black cloak whirled up about Alycyone, Maia, Electra, Tay­ her legs. gete, Sterope, Celaneo. How •.."the toast of a universe, the many million times thus, in lock­ beautiful, talented Seven Sis- step, brazen under the spotlights, ters ..•." their black sequined cloaks con­ One by one, the other Pleiades cealing pyramids below painted whirled slowly after her. faces ... they had pranced out, . . . "who spent their lives en­ glittering shadow-selves under tertaining our poor boys over in Junior's baton. Dazzling grim­ space (and how many of you have ace-smile across each face. Black ever spent time in a real space top hat. Tantalizing fragment of station? You'll know what a gener­ black-stockinged leg. ous action it was, for these kids) A small, disinterested buzz of . .. Well, for those of you who applause rose from the audience. don't remember, suppose we stop "Laydeez and gentlemen." Jun­ just a moment, while I show you ior, on his rostrum. "I am here to how it was." show you, tonight, the most, the He waved the girls into a clus­ absolutely most amazing and ter at one side. compelling show left in this On the screen outside the tent, weary universe. You have all, I the huge 3D picture flashed into am sure, seen girly acts before. sputtering, glowing color; the old (Pause for titter.) They are part picture of Earth, accompanied by of ·every circus since time began, Junior's rasping spiel; the 'educa­ bless 'em. And these girls, like all tional' build up to the act. "Lay­ of you out there tonight, have deez and gentlemen, you see here been around nearly that long. a picture of old Mother Earth, in Well, can they show you any­ the days when ..." thing new? Who can? (Pause for The cities, sprawling mile deep a lower buzz.) Laydeez and gen­ over Earth and oceans; a mon­ tlemen, I would like to tell you strous steel-chrome-glass growth of a story. (Slight shifting in audi- thrusting spicules and steel spines, 88 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION like the skeletons of extinct mi­ there was a special ceremony; a croscopic diatoms, ever farther priest, relatives, cakes, flowers and farther out, into the air, into and you were given the Pill, your the rock below. Growing. Like first full-strength Pill in a sort of something alive, only there was casket with· velvet lining. Very nothing else alive then, except fancy. Everyone wept. It was a people, and a few house-pet Coming of Age for all time. And plants and animals. after that, you took the Pill every I was poor, Maia thought. day, and you were immortal. Un­ Raised mostly in a nursery in the less you forgot. And some did. Lower East 2nd level at the city's (How many. Unwilling to see bottom depth; 15 years before I older frienas, like my sister, hom grew up, won a talent show, and too soon to talheres, worlds, enough alike to lifespan. Philosophers of the past sustain the uneasy habit we call talked of universal mind, tran­ life. And so the frontier towns scending earthly, perishable mind; came into being. Lusty, ravenous did any speak of universal, eternal for what the men had never flesh? Men clutch what goes quick­ thought to see again; life, in its est; but now flesh and mind, for rawest forms; drink, and violence, eternity, were one. There was no and girls. . longer a need to ·gratify flesh And so the Seven Sisters came while it lasted, or to see}{ immor­ into being ... tality for less perishable mind by forging it into books, buildings, The screen sputtered into dark­ ideas. In reaching for eternal life, ness. The crowd drifted, aimless, Man had finally reached only sta­ before the platform. All arrested sis, emptiness, a common shared at 21, all beautiful from long loneliness. breeding, they wore not only simi­ Yet even ultimate safety breeds lar garments (a Greek chlamys, its nettles; the liers on beds of l'ariously fastened, and the same physical and spiritual nails, the family lineaments) but the same joiners of the circus, or dangerous air. Poised, Yet settled. Half expeditions. And, the commenta­ bored. They had already said to tors, the poets. Though most real each other whatever individual poets had been reduced (by lack things they had to say. Child­ of poetry's necessPties; the sense hood's solitudes had long since of that brief friction between the been annealed in the group. So individual and time) to pretty, had the love affairs, rivalries, and flaccid, involved verses, some still intellectual and spiritual adven­ lurked among all the other non­ tures. They lived together in per­ poet revolutionaries ... life's eter­ petual maturity, knowing all se­ nal counter swell; the restless, the crets about each other (except the questioners, the merely crazy. The minute grass-root changes of tem­ now nearly-mute voices of protest per and mind, except their ulti­ and revelation; voices dammed in mate destinies), conscious as any darkness, in eternal day, and ever communal animal is conscious, ready to break loose. of the beings designated to be its While the People, cool and si­ mouth, mind, reproductive pow­ lent, merely waited, to be enter­ ers, or outer tendrils. tained. 90 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "•.. And so one day these kids, quickened fingers as the music who- had spent their lives enter­ mounted, tugged at bras and taining a universe ..." Junior ad­ g-strings and straps until layer by justed the spotlight, sweating, layer their naked bodies appeared. "Well, one day the space ship on Sagging, dug-fallen, pot-bellied, which they were traveling was veined and scarred, a monstrosity forced down. Crashed and burned. of flesh, so withered and mauled But by a miracle, all escaped un­ that it was as though time had hurt. Well, almost all. On a green striped and beaten them with planet, where they could eat and some incredibly fine whip, leaving breathe; but it was off the main its imprint in a maze of wrinkles route. And of course, their pills extending from crown to toe down ••• Ran out. Laydeez and Gentle- the gross acreage of time-punished men ..." and falling flesh. Six crones, six Now Alycyone began to whirl old cronies of Chronos, pinched again across the small stage, a and bedevilled by their old bed­ shrouded pyramid in her black fellow Time, till their carcasses cloak, under the flickering light; showed the weight of his caresses, the others followed. their bodies falling grotesquely A gasp, a ripple spread across down around their bones like care­ the audience. All the beautiful lessly anchored stockings; halfway young faces turned, frozen; the arrested on gravity's inexorable shapely bodies in ·their simple downward way to the grave. And tunics like marble. Greek statues now, off with the face paint and in man's image of the Gods, the cheek-straps (chap-fallen; now immortals watched now from the their false teeth out; the whole chorus, as on stage, the Thing, the structure of face sagging into lap­ dread no-more existent prime Ta­ pets and jowls, the fantastic rum­ boo, began to unveil itself. pling of some 700 years of life); Old Maia began to strip. denuding themselves finally of the The line of prancing girls, fol­ last scrap of false eyelashes . and lowing her under the dull light, eyebrows. Out of hollow eye-sock­ in their slow wheeling parody of ets, their Death's eyes stared sadly, dance, began to strip, too. First grimly, over the stilled carnival. the cloaks, then the hats, sailing Somewhere in the audience a out over the audience. Now at a baby; there weren't many, repro­ slow drum-beat roll, in unison, al­ duction was limited; began to cry: most jauntily, off came the wigs. and in the otherwise now total Bruised light glittered on their hush the sighing sound of the au­ bald wrinkled skulls; they tapped dience's breath rasped in and out, and turned again; and now with like the air from one pair of lungs, THE PLEIADES 91 like the wind off a meadow, after Pandemonium. Shouts and a hot day. A loudspeaker nearby jeers. The bearded man went down crackled suddenly, splitting the under a mob, was raised by an op­ hush like the first distant rumble posing mob and brandished like a of thunder. Time, held up, sus­ flag. Someone stifled the loud­ pended forever in grey barren eter­ speaker in a final squawk; after a nity, now crackled for an instant brief sound of scuffling, bland car­ across the frozen mob; sparked be­ nival music blared forth again. tween two opposite poles. "Laydeez and gentlemen!" ... "And carking," the loud­ "Hurrah for death!" speaker said .•. "And carking "Lday eez an d . . ."J' umor, Death will find you out sweating, flung cloaks over the And nibble life up, doubt by girls, harangued the audience. doubt ..." "Please! Puleezl The show is not "And that," Junior began has­ over. For those of you who have tily, trying to drown the sound, "is enjoyed our show, who have found what your new life has saved you that it has brought new meaning from, Laydeez and Gentlemen; into their lives, there is still .• ," the skeleton in the closet, so to "Death and liberty for alll" speak, that mankind ..." ". . . another part of the show, " ..• And strip the senses, one if you will kindly step this way, by one (the loudspeaker went for just ten spantans more, th~ on, ignoring him) tenth part c._! a ..." Sweating, he Till sense itself is left un­ trundled the box containing the done ..." seventh sister into its niche on the "Shut him up," Junior said. side of the tent. "In this box, the From the audience, a bearded sister that unfortunately .••" face rose, detaching itself sud­ "The people's right! No free­ denly; a voice gleefully, power­ dom without death!" fully, roared back at the PA, ". . . did not survive the crash "And freakish age of the rocket ship. A fascinating Will pull our teeth and unique specimen, Ladeez and And bare the withered Gentlemen, and the only one of its Bone beneath . . ." kind in this universe (will some­ "And bed us down . • ." the one shut up the joker out there?), loudspeaker cackled back. where Death and old age no long­ "... Safe from stars and skies er exist, and where everyone has at last, an equal right to Life, ladeez and To rest gentlemen, and there is no need In other springs, on Earth's for such suffering, as you see here, \Varm breast . . " only to remind you, in this educa- 92 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION tional spectacle, of what mankind poets had been discovered and had to endure in his Dark Ages." dispersed. More than two thirds of the "Great show tonight, kids," Jun­ audience came up to file past the ior called, trotting past. Merope's narrow coffin, padded in faded coffin had been wheeled into the stage velvet, where Merope's mum­ tent; as he passed, he was now mied body lay in state, grinning stripping off his putty nose. The at the stars; and stood for awhile crowds had gone home. "Always to shift, perhaps, the weight of like to give folks something to eternity from their feet. In anoth­ make them Think." er;s misfortune, one's own often The old women did not look up looks brighter. from their tea. Outside, the hard brilliant starlight loomed over the The six surviving old women littered darkness of the fair­ sat back in their tent again, hud­ grounds. Most of the other freaks dled in their cloaks, sipping tea. had gone to bed. But from the Life's conscience; spooks, an­ poker game two tents down came tiques, ghosts, from the world of the faint, derisive eh, eh, echo, of death and time, they were pen­ the Eh beasts; and from a nearby sioned by the government. Be­ cage, the mournful, solitary roar cause of them, the dissenters and of the old lion.

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Mercury;------· Press, Inc., 347 East 53 Street, New York 22, N. Y. F-2 Send me The Magazine Of FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION for two years along with a FREE copy of THE BEST FROM F&SF. I enclose $7.98. Name ..•.••••••••••••..••.••••.•.•• · .. · · · · · • • · · · · · · · · • · • • ••••• Address ....•.••••••.•.•••••• • •. • . · • • · • • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · · · City . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • Zone • • • • • State .••••••••• Introduction to Israel Zangwill's SATAN MEKATRIG In Queen Victoria's Golden Days a man just convicted of the most infamous crime on her statute-books was being led from court to prison through a feering, spitting mob. A young jour­ nalist stepped past the police, doffed his hat to the criminal, and bowed. "Zangwill," said Oscar Wilde, "men have entered the Kingdom of Heaven for less ..... The conservatism of Old World Jewry met its equal in the conservatism of Britain: in three hundred years, the center of Jewish settlement in Lon­ don moved but a half-mile, from Spitalfield to Whitechapel. The great commemorator of this once teeming half-mile (it was largely destroyed in the War) was Israel Zangwill. His pen dipped not only in inks of black and white to create won­ derful chiaroscuro, but its marvellous colors remain unfaded in their pictures of a world now gone forever. Zangwilfs con­ temporary comedies, popular in their time, are now quite forgotten, and even his scenes of Jewish life are neglected­ undeservedely so; they range over three continents and at least as many centuries, and their old-fashioned air of drama­ tic romanticism may yet reclaim attention faded by secular "realism." The key-word is perhaps "secular," if Zangwilfs Jews were not always observant of their faith, they knew whtzt it was they were neglecting; if "the yoke of Torah" had been thrown from their necks they were keenly aware of its absence. Jewish Orthodoxy and Jewish London-Israel Zang­ will did not confine himself to either (his play, The Melting Pot, which gave the phrase to the language, takes place in, of all places, Staten Island!), but he always returned to both. It was not Moshe Grinwitz alone who struggled with the Satan Mekatrig (the Accusing Adversary ... in whose title our wo1;d "category" is faintly visible: in order to accuse men, Satan was obliged to divide and label them), but Zangwill as well. In his Children of the Ghetto, Ghetto Tragedies, Ghetto Comedies, Dreamers of the Ghetto, and The King of Schnor- 93 rers, it is not always easy to see who beareth away the victory. Rebuffed in his suit of the daughter of a staunchly pious Anglo-Jewish peer, he married out of the faith; and broke with the Zionists in favor of a Jewish Homeland in "Uganda" (actually, Kenya). In his klter years-born in 1864, he died in the klte Twenties-while on an American lecture tour, an official of the Jewish women's organization he had addressed saw the familiar prominent nose, grey mane~ and pince-nez bent over a pklte on which was some produce of the Hog­ Butcher To The World. Forgetting that her own presence in such a restaurant left her no room for categorizing, she asked, sarcastic, "How do you like our Chicago ham, Mr. Zangwill?" The pince-nez flashed. "Better than I like your Chicago tongue!" said Mr. Zangwill-and was allowed to complete his meal in silence. SATAN MEKATRIG by Israel Zangwill

"Suffer not the evil imagination arrayed in their Sabbath finery, to have dominion over us . . . were too intent on following the deliver me from the destructive quaint monotonous sing-song of Satan." -Morning Prayer. the Cantor reading the Law to have much attention left for physi­ WITHOUT, THE AIR WAS HOT, cal discomfort. They thought of heavy and oppressive; squadrons their perspiring brows and their of dark clouds had rolled up rapid­ moist undergarments just about as ly from the rim of the horizon, and little as they thought of the mean­ threatened each instant to shake ing of the Hebrew words the heaven and earth with their artil­ reader was droning. Though the lery. But within the little syna­ language was perfectly intelligi­ gogue of the "Congregation of ble to them, yet their consciousness Love and Mercy," though it was was chiefly and agreeably occupied crowded to suffocation, not a win­ with its musical accentuation, dow was open. The worshippers, their piety being so intenvoven From "They That Walk In Darkness," the Macmillan Co., 1899 94 S.'\T.\!\ l\lEKATRIG 95 with these beloved and familiar packed on their narrow benches. material elements as hardly tO be Little wonder, therefore, that just separable therefrom. Perspiration, as a member of the congregation too, had come to seem almost an was intoning from the central ingredient of piety on great syna­ platform the blessing which closes gogal occasions. Frequent experi­ the reading of the Law, a woman ence had linked the two, as the disturbed her neighbours by faint­ poor opera-goer associates Patti ing. She was carried out into the with crushes. And the present was open air, though not without a a great occasion. It was only an good deal of bustle, which in:.. ordinary Sabbath afternoon serv­ voked indignant remonstrances in ice, but there was a feast of intel­ the Jiidisch-Deutsch jargon, of lectual good things to follow. The "Hush, little women!" from the great Rav Rotchinsky from Brody male worshippers, unconscious of was to deliver a sermon; and so the cause. The beadle went behind the swarthy, eager-eyed, curly­ the curtain, and, fearing new dis­ haired, shrewd-visaged cobblers, turbances, tried to open the win­ tailors, cigar-makers, peddlers, and dow at the back of the little room, beggars, who made up the congre­ to let in some air from the back­ gation, had assembled in their yard on which it abutted. The fifties to enjoy the dialectical sub­ sash was, bowe,·er, too inert from tleties, the theological witticisms a long season of sloth to move even and the Talmudical anecdotes in its own groove, and so the which the reputation of the Gali­ beadle elbowed his way back into cian l\faggid fore-shadowed. And the masculine department, and by not onlv did thev come them­ much tugging at a cord effected a selves; ~any brought their wives, small slit between a dusty skylight who sat in their wigs and earrings ·and the ceiling, neglecting the behind a curtain which cut them grumblings of the men immediate­ off from the view of the men. The ly beneath. general ungainliness of their fig­ · Hardly had he done so, when ures and the unattractiveness of all the heavy shadows that lay in their low-browed, higl;t-cheek­ the corners of the synagogue, all boned, and heavy-jawed faces the glooms that tl1e storm-clouds would hHc made this pions pre­ cast upon the day, and that the caution appear somewhat super­ grimy, cobwebbed windows multi­ fluous to an outsider. The women, plied, were sent flying off by a whose section of the large room fierce flash of lightning that bathed thus converted into a place of wor­ in a sea of fire the dingy benches, ship was much smaller than the the smeared walls, the dingily cur­ men's, were even more closely tained Ark, the serried rows of 96 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIO:'I: swarthy faces. Almost on the heels Now, as Moshe Grinwitz stood of the lightning came the thunder on the Al Memor with his sacred -that vast, instantaneous crash burden, another terrible flash of which denotes that the electric lightning and appalling crash of cloud is low. thunder startled the worshippers. The service was momentarily And Moshe's arms were nervously interrupted; the congregation was agitated, and a frightful thought on its feet; and from all parts rose came into his head. Suppose he the Hebrew blessing, "Blessed art should drop the Holy Scroll/ As thou, 0 Lord, performing the this dreadful possibility occurred work of the Creation;" followed, as to him he trembled stillmore. The the thunder followed the light­ Sepher Torah is to the Jew at once ning, by the sonorous "Blessed art the most precious and the most thou, 0 Lord, whose power and sacred of possessions, and in the might fill the Universe." Then the eyes of the "Congregation of Love congregation, led by the great Rav and Mercy" their Sepher Torah Rotchinsky, to whose venerable was, if possible, invested with a thought-lined face, surmounted by still higher preciousness and sanc­ its black cap, all eyes had instinc­ tity, because they had only one. tively turned, sat down again, They were too poor to afford lux­ feeling safe. The blessing was in­ uries; and so this single Scroll was tended to mean, and meant no the very symbol and seal of their more than, a reverential acknowl­ brotherhood; in it lay the very pos­ edgment of the majesty of the sibility of their existence as a con­ Creator revealed in elemental phe­ gregation. Not that it would be nomena; but human nature, strug­ rendered "Pasul," imperfect and gling amid the terrors and awful­ invalid, by being dropped; the fall ness of. the Universe, is always be­ could not erase any of the letters so low its creed, and scarce one but carefully written on the parch­ felt the prayer a talisman. A mo­ ment; but the calamity would be ment afterward all rose again, as none the less awful and ominous. Moshe Grinwitz, wrapped in his Every person present would have Talith, or praying-shawl, prepared to abstain for a day from all food to descend from the Al Memor, and drink, in sign of solemn grief. or central platform, bearing in Moshe felt that if the idea that his arms the Scroll of the Law, had flitted across his brain were to which had just been reverentially be realized, he would never have wrapped in its bandages, and de­ the courage to look his pious wife voutly covered with its em­ in the face after such passive pro~ broidered mantle and lovingly fanity. The congregation, too, decorated with its ornamental bells. which honoured him, and which SATAN MEKATJUG 97 now waited to press devout kisses round and suffocate him. A last on the mantle of the Scroll, on its shred of will, of sanity, wrestled passage tD the Ark-he could not with his wild wishes. The perspira­ but be degraded in its eyes by so tion poured in streams down his negligent a perfonnance of a duty forehead. It was but a moment which was a coveted privilege. All since he had taken the Holy Scroll these thoughts, which were in­ into his anns; but it seemed ages stinctively felt, rather than clearly ago. conceived, caused Moshe Grin­ His foot hovered between the witz to clasp the Sacred Scroll, first and second step, when a which reached a little above his strange thing happened. Straight head, tightly to his breast. Feeling through the narrow slit opened in secure from the peril of dropping the skylight came a swift white ar­ it, he made a step forward, but the row of flame, so dazzling that the bells jangled weirdly to his ears, awed worshippers closed their and when he came to the two eyes; than a long succession of ter­ steps which led down from the rific peals shook the room as with platform, a horrible foreboding demoniac laughter, and when the overcame him that he would stum­ congregants came to their senses ble and fall in the descent. He and opened their eyes they saw stepped down one of the steps Moshe Grinwitz sitting dazed with morbid care, but lol the feel­ upon the steps of the Al Memor, ing that no power on earth could his bands tightly grasping the prevent his falling gained tenfold ends of his praying-shawl, while in intensity. An indefinable pre­ the Sepher Torah lay in the dust sentiment of evil was upon him; of the floor. the air was charged with some For a moment the shock was awful and maleficent influence, of such that no one could speak or which the convulsion of nature moYe. There was an awful, breath­ seemed a fit harbinger. And now less silence, broken only by the his sensations became more horri­ mad patter of the rain on the roof ble. The conviction of the im­ and the windows. The floodgates pending catastrophe changed into of hcaYen were opened at last, and a desire to take an active part in it, through the fatal slit a very cas­ to have it done with and over. His cade of water seemed to descend. anns itched to loose their hold of AutomatkallY the beadle rushed the Sepher Torah. Oh! if he could to the cord a;1d pu!icd the window only dash the thing to the ground, to. His action broke the spell, and nay, stamp upon it, uttering fear­ a dozen men, their swarthv faces ful blasphemies, and shake off this darker with concern, rusl1ed to dark cloud that seemed to close raise up the prostrate Scroll, while 98 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIO); a hubbub of broken ejaculations suddenly: "The lightning has rose from every side. gone back to hell again!" The men But ere a hand could reach it, nearest him shuddered, and gazed Moshe Grinwitz had darted for­ down at the point on the floor to­ ward and seized the precious ob­ ward which he was inclining the ject. "No, no," he cried, in the extremity of the Scroll. The wood jargon which was the common was charred, and a small hole re­ language of all present. "What· do vealed the path the electric current you want? The mitzvah (good had taken. As they looked in awe­ deed) is mine. I alone must carry struck silence, a loud wailing it." He shouldered it anew. burst forth from behind the cur­ "Kiss it, at least," cried the tain. The ill-omened ne,vs of the great Rav Rotchinsky in a hoarse, destruction of the SezJher Torah shocked whisper. had reached the women, and their "Kiss it?" cried Moshe Grin­ Oriental natures found relief in witz, with a sneering laugh. profuse lamentation. "Smelll 'What! with my wife in syna­ smell!" cried Moshe Grinwitz, snif­ gogue! Isn't it enough that I em­ fing the sulphurous air with open brace it?" Then, without giving delight. his hearers time to grasp the pro­ "Woe! woe!" wailed the women. fanity of his words, he went on: "\Voe has befallen us!" "Ah, now I can carry thee easily. "Be silent, alii" thundered the I can hold thee, and yet breathe 1\.-laggid, suddenly recovering him­ freely. See!" And he held out the self. "Be silent, women! Listen to Scroll lengthwise, showing the my words. This is the vengeance of gilded metal chain and the pointer Heaven for the wickedness ye and the bells contorted by the have committed in England. Since lightning. "I didn't hurt thee; God ye left your native country ye have hurt thee," he said, addressing the forgotten your Judaism. There are Scroll. With a quick jerk of the men in this synagogue that have hand he drew off the mantle and shaved the corners of their beard; showed the parchment blackened there are women who have not and disfigu-red. separated the Sabbath dough. A groan burst from some; others Hear ye! To-morrow shall be a fast looked on in dazed silence. The day for you all. And you, l\1oshe pecuniary loss, added to the mani­ Grinwitz, bench gomel-thank festation of Divine wrath, over­ the Holy One, blessed be He, for whelmed them. "Thou hast no soul saving your life." now to struggle out of my hands," "Not I," said Moshe Grinwitz. went on Moshe Grinwitz con­ "You talk nonsense. If the Holy temptuously. "Look!" he added One, blessed be He, saved my life, SATAN MEKA.TIUG 99 it was He that threatened it. My that we trouble ourselves and tear life was in no danger if He hadn't out our very gall to read a Torah interfered." which the Overseer himself, if To hear blasphemies like this there is one, scornfully shrivels up from the hitherto respectable and and casts beneath our feet. Know devout Moshe Grinwitz over­ ye what, brethren? Let us all go to whelmed· his hearers. But only for the Socialist Club and smoke our a moment. From a hundred throats cigarettes. Otherwise are you there rose the angry cry, "Epikou­ mad!" As he uttered these impious rosl Epikourosl" And mingled words, another flash of flame lit with this accusation of graceless up the crowded dusk with un­ scepticism there swelled a gather­ earthly light; the building seemed ing tumult of "His is the sin! Cast to rock and crash; the fingers of him outl He is the Jonah! He is the storm beat heavily upon the the sinner!" The congregants had windows. From the women's com­ all risen long ago and menacing partment came low wails of fear: faces glared behind menacing "Lord, have mercy! Forgive us for faces. Some of more heady tem­ our sins! It is the end of the perament were starting from their world!" But from the men's bench­ places. "Moshe Grinwitz," cried es there arose an incoherent cry the great Rav, his voice dominating like the growl of a tiger, and the din, "are you mad?" from all sides excited figures pre­ "Now for the first time am I cipitated themselves upon the sane," replied the man, his brow blasphemer. But Moshe Grinwitz dark with defiance, his tall but laughed a wild, maniacal laugh, usually stooping frame rigid, his and whirled the sacred Scroll narrow chest dilated, his head round and dashed the first comers thrown back so that the somewhat against one another. But a muscu­ rusty high hat he wore sloped lar Lithuanian seized the extrem­ backward half off his skull. It was ity of the Scroll, and others hung always a strange, arrestive face, on, and between them they wrested was Moshe Grinwitz's, with its it from his grasp. Still he fought sallow skin, its melancholy dark furiously, as if endowed with sin­ eyes, its aquiline nose, its hanging ews of steel, and his irritated op­ side-curls, and its full, fleshy ponents, their faces bleeding and mouth embowered in a forest of swollen, closed round him, forget­ black beard and mustache; and ting that their object was but to now there was an uncanny light expel him, and bent on doing him about it which made it almost a mischief. Another moment and weird. "Now I see that the Social­ it would have fared ill with the ists and Atheists are right, and man, when a voice, whose tones 100 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION startled all but Moshe Grinwitz, foot on English soil but a fort­ though they were spoken close to night ago, felt a stir of shadowy his ear, hissed in Yiddish: "Well, recollection within him; and his if this is the way the members of corrugated brow wrinkled itself the Congregation of Love and still more in the search after defi­ Mercy spend their Sabbath, me­ niteness. A deep and sudden si­ thinks they had done as well to lence possessed the synagogue; smoke cigarettes at the Socialist the very sobs of the unseeing wom­ Club. What say ye, brethren?" en were checked. Only the sough These words, pregnant and de­ of the storm, the ceaseless plash served enough in themselves, were of the torrent, went on as before. underlined by an accent of inde­ Without, the busy life of London scribable mockery, not bitter, but pulsed, unchecked by the tempest; as gloating over the enjoyment of within, the little synagogue was their folly. Involuntarily all turned given over to mystery and name­ their eyes to the speaker. less awe. Who was he? Where did he The sneering hunchback took spring from, this black-coated, the Holy Scroll from the nerveless fur-capped, red-haired hunchback hands of the Lithuanian, and with the gigantic marble brow, waved it as in derision. "Blasted! the cold, keen, steely eyes that harmless!" he cried. "The great drew and enthralled the gazer, Name itself mocked by the ele-· the handsome clean-shayen lips mentsl So this is what ye toil and contorted with a sneer? None re­ sweat for-to store up gold that membered seeing him enter­ His words may be inscribed finely none had seen him sitting at their on choice parchment; and then side, or near them. He was not of this is how He laughs at your toil their congregation, nor of their and your self-sacrifice. Listen to brotherhood, nor of any of their Him no more; give not the seventh crafts. Yet as thev looked at him day to idleness when your Lord the exclamations · died away on worketh His lightnings thereon. their lips, their menacing hands Blind yourselves no longer over fell to their sides, and a wave of old-fashioned pages, dusty and vague, uneasy remembrance dreary. Rise up against Him and passed over all the men in the His law, for He is moved with synagogue. There was not one that mirth at your mummeries. He and did not seem to know him; there His angels laugh at you-Heaven was not one who could have told is merry with your folly. What who he was, or when or where hath· He done for His chosen peo­ he had seen him before. Even the ple for their centuries of anguish great Rav Rotchinsky, who had set and martyrdom? It is for His SATAN MEKATRIG 101 plaything that He hath chosen you. "The guardian of Israel neither He hath given you over into the slumbereth nor . sleepeth." The hand of the spoiler; ye are a by­ hunchback wheeled round and word among nations; the followers cast a chilling glance at the venera­ of the victorious Christ spit in ble man. Then, smiling. "The your faces. Here in England your maidens of England are beauti­ lot is least hard; but even here ye ful," he said. "They are even fairer eat your scanty bread with sorrow than the women of Brody." and travail. Sleep may rarely visit The great Rav turned pale, but your eyes; your homes are noisome his eyes shone. He struck out fee­ styes; your children perish around bly with his arms, as though beat­ you; ye go down in sorrow to the ing back some tempting vision. grave. Rouse yourselves, and be "You . and I have spoken to­ free men. Waste your lives neither gether before, Rabbi," said the for God nor man. Or, if you will hunchback. 'We shall speak agam worship, worship the Christ, -about women, wine, and other whose ministers will pour gold things. Your beard is long and upon you. Eat, drink, and be mer­ white, but many days of sunshine ry, for tomorrow ye die." are still before you, and the dark­ A channed silence still hung ness of the grave is afar." over his auditors. Their resent­ The rabbi tried to mutter a ment, their horror, was dead; a prayer, but his lips only beat waft of fiery air seemed to blow tremulously together. over their souls, an intoxicating "Profane mocker," he muttered flush of evil thoughts held riot in at length, "go to thy work and thy their hearts. They felt their whole wine and thy pleasure, if . thou spirit move under the sway of the wouldst desecrate the sacred Sab­ daring speaker, who now seemed bath-day; but tempt not others to to them merely to put into words sin with thee. Begone; and may the thoughts long suppressed in their Holy One, blessed be He, blast own hearts, but now rising into thee with His lightnings." active · consciousness. Yes, they "The Holy One blasteth only had been fools: they would free that which is holy," grimly re­ themselves, and quaff the wine of joined the dwarfish stranger, ex­ life before the Angel of Death, hibiting the Scroll, while a low Azrael, spilled the goblet. Moshe sound of applause went up from Grinwitz's melancholy eyes blazed the audience. "Said I not, ye were with sympathetic ardour. a sport and a mockery unto Him? "Hush, miserable blasphemer!" Ye assemble in your multitude for faltered the great Rav Rotchinsky, prayer, and the vapour of your pi­ who alone could find his tongue. ety but prepares the air for the 102 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION passage of His arrows. Ye adorn ren," huskily whispered the hunch­ His scroll with bells and chains, back, for his words seemed to and the gilded metal but draws stick in his throat. "Come outside His lightnings." and I will tell you how to enjoy He looked around the room and this world, for world-to-come there a cat-like gleam of triumph stole is none." Not a figure stirred. The into his wonderful eyes as he child's treble went unfalteringly noted the effect of his words. He on. The stranger hurried toward paused, and again for a moment the door. Arrived there, he looked the tense, awful silence reigned, back. Moshe Grinwitz alone fol­ emphasized by the loud but de­ lowed him. He hurled the Scroll at creasing patter of the rain. This the child's head, but the lad just time it was broken in a strange, then took the three backward steps unexpected fashion. which accompany the conclusion "¥ isgadal, veyisl~adash sheme of the prayer. The Scroll dashed rabbo," rang out a clear, childish itself against the wall; the stranger voice from the rear of the syna­ was gone and with him Moshe gogue. A little orphan child, who Grinwitz. A great wave of trem­ had come to repeat the Kaddish, bling passed through the length the Hebrew mourners' unques­ and breadth of the synagogue; tioning acknowledgment of the the men drew long breaths, as Supreme Goodness, had fallen into if some · heavy and sulphurous a sleep, overcome by the heat, and vapour had been dissipated from had slept all through the storm. the atmosphere; the child lifted up Awakening now amid a universal with difficulty the battered Scroll, silence, the poor little fellow in­ kissed it and handed it to his stinctively felt that the congrega­ neighbour, who deposited it rever­ tion was waiting for him to pro­ ently in the Ark; a dazzling burst nounce the prayer. Alone of the of sunshine flooded the room from male worshippers he had neither above, and transmuted the floating seen the blaspheming hunchback dust into the golden shafts of some nor listened to his words. celestial structure; the Cantor and The hunchback's handsome the congregation continued the face was distorted with a scowl; he words of the service at the point stamped his broad splay-foot, but interrupted, as though all the hearing no verbal interruption, the strange episode had been a dream. child, its eyes piously closed, con­ They did not speak or wonder tinued its prayer- among themselves at it; nor did "In the world which He hath the rabbi allude to it in the mar­ created. " vellous exhortation that succeeded "The rain has ceased, breth- the service, save at its close, when SATAN MEKATRIG 103 he reminded them that on the new life that was to be his. He morrow they must observe a sol­ drew up his gaunt form to his full emn fast. But ever afterward they height, stiffened his curved shoul­ shunned Moshe Grinwitz as a lep­ ders, bent by much stooping over er; for the sight of him recalled his machine, and adjusted his his companion in blasphemy, the high hat firmly on his head. It was atheist and socialist propagandist, not a restful, placid feeling that who had insidiously crept into now possessed him; rather a busy their midst, after perverting and ferment of ideas, a stirring of crazing their fellow as a prelimi­ nerve currents, 'an accumulation nary; and the thought of the of energy striving to discharge it­ strange hunchback set their blood self, a mercurial flowing of the tingling and their brain surging blood. The weight of old life-long with wild fancies and audacious conceptions, nay, the burden of thoughts. The tidings of their mis­ old learning, of which his store fortune induced a few benevolent had been vast, was cast off. He did men to join in purchasing a new not know what he should do with Scroll of the Law for them, and the new life that tingled in- his before the Feast of Consecration veins; he only felt alive in every of this precious possession was pore. well over, the once vivid images of "Ha! brother!" he shouted to the stormy and disgraceful scene the hunchback, who was hurrying were as shadows in the minds of on before. "These fools in the men not unaccustomed to heated synagogue would do better to come synagogal discussions, and not al­ out and enjoy the fine weather." together strangers to synagogal "They breathe the musty air to affrays. offer it up as a sweet incense," re­ sponded the dwarf, slackening his "She will do him good a11d not steps to allow his companion to evil all the days of her life."­ come up with him. Prov. xxxi. 12. Their short walk was diversified by quite a number of incidents. A As Moshe Grinwitz followed his driver lashed his horse so savagely new-found friend down the nar­ that the animal bolted; two chil­ row windings that led to his own dren walking hand in hand sud­ home, his whole being surrendered denly began to fight; a fo:feign­ itself to the new delicious free­ looking, richly dressed gentleman, dom. The burst of sunshine that half-drunk, staggered along. greeted him ahnost as soon as he Moshe felt it a shame that one crossed the threshold of the syna­ wealthy man should wear a heavy gogue seemed to him to typify the gold chain, which would support 104 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION a poor family .for a month; but ere landing outside his own door the his own temptatio~ had gathered vague uneasiness had changed into to a head, the poor gentleman was a horrible definite conception; a felled by a sudden blow, and a re­ memory had come back upon him spectably clad figure vanished which set his heart tlmmping guilt­ down an alley with the coveted ily and anxiously in his bosom. spoil. Moshe felt glad, and made His wife! His pure, virtuous, God­ no attempt to assist the victim, fearing wife! How was he to make and his attention was immediately her understand? But immediately attracted by some boys, who com­ a thought came, by which the bur­ menced to tie a cracker to a eat's den of shame and anxiety was tail. Occupied by all these obser­ half lifted. His wife was not at vations, Moshe suddenly noted home; she would still be in the with a start that they had reached Synagogue of Love and Mercy, the house in which he lived. His where, mercifully blinded by the companion had already entered curtain, she, perhaps, was still ig­ the passage, for the door was al­ norant of the part he had played. ways ajar, and Moshe had tl1e im­ He turned suddenlv to his com­ pression that it was very kind of panion, and caught. the vanishing his new friend to accept his invita­ traces of an ugly scowl wrinkling tion to visit him. He felt very the high white forehead under the pleased, and followed hin1 into fur cap. The hunchback's hair the passage, but no sooner had he burnt like fire on the background done so than an impalpable cloud of the gloom; his eyes flashed of distrust seemed to -settle upon lightning. him. The house was a tall, old­ "Probably my wife is in the fashioned and grimy structure, synagogue," said Moshe. "If so, which had been fine, and even she. , has the key, and we can't get stately, a century before, but m. which now sheltered a dozen fam­ "The key matters little," hissed ilies, mainly Jewish. Moshe Grin­ the hunchback. "But you must first witz's one room was situated at tear down this thing." the very top, its walls forming Moshe's eyes followed in won­ part of the roof. Every flight of der the direction of his compan­ stairs Moshe went up, his spirit ion's long, white forefinger, and grew darker and darker, as if ab­ rested on the Mezuzah, where, in sorbing the darkness that hung a tin case, the holy verses and the around the cobwebbed, massive Name hung upon the door-post. balustrades, upon which no direct "Tear it down?" repeated ray of sunlight ever fell; and by Moshe. the time he had reached the dusky "Tear it down!" replied the SATAN MEKATRIG 105 hunchback. "Never will I enter a struggled with himself awhile, home where this superstitious gew­ then kissed his finger again, and, gaw is allowed to decorate the turning to defy the scorn of his door." companion, saw that he had Moshe hesitated; the thought of slipped noiselessly downstairs. A what his wife would say, again sob of intense relief burst from welled up strongly within him; all Moshe's lips. his new impious daring seemed to "Rivkoly, Rivkoly!" he cried be melting away. But a mocking hysterically, beating at the door; glance from the cruel eyes thrilled and in another moment he was through him. He put his hand on folded in the quiet haven of his the Mezuzah, then the unbroken wife's arms. habit of years asserted its sway, "Who told thee it was I?" said and he removed the finger which Rebecca, after a moment of de­ had lain on ·the Name and kissed licious happiness for both. "I told it. Instantly another semi-trans­ them not to alarm thee, nor to formation of his thoughts took spoil thy enjoyment of the ser­ place; he longed to take the hunch­ mon, because I knew thou wouldst back by the throat. But it was an be uneasy and be wanting to impotent longing, for when a low leave the synagogue if thou knew­ hiss of intense scorn and wrath est I had fainted." was breathed from the clenched "No one told me thou hadst lips of his companion, he made a fainted!" Moshe exclaimed, in­ Violent tug at the firmly fastened stantly forgetting his own per­ Mezuzah. It was half-loosed from turbation. the woodwork when, from behind "And yet thou didst guess it!" the door, there issued in clear, said Rebecca, a happy little smile womanly tones . the solemn He­ dimpling her pale cheek, "and brew words:- came away after me." Then, her "Blessed is the man that walk­ face clouding, "The Satan Meka­ eth not in the council of the un­ trig has tempted us both away godly, nor standeth in the way of from synagogue,'' she said, "and sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of even when I commence to say the scornful." Tehillim (Psalms) at home, he in­ It was Rebecca Grinwitz com­ terrupts me by sending me my mencing the Book of Psalms, darling husband." which she read through every Moshe kissed her in acknowl­ Sabbath afternoon. edgement of the complimentary A violent shudder agitated termination of a sentence begun Moshe Grinwitz's frame; he paused with unquestionable gloom. "But with his hand on the Mezuzah, what make my Rivkoly faint?" he 106 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION asked, glad, on reflection, that his in a whisper that strove in vain wife's misconception obviated the not to be one. necessity of explanations. "They "Do not ask me," Rebecca re­ ought to have opened the window plied, with another shudder. "A at the back of the women's room." little crooked demon with red hair, Rebecca shuddered. "God for­ and a fur cap, and a white fore­ bid!" she cried. "It wasn't the heat head, and baleful eves, and a ·-it was that." Her eyes stared a cock's talons for toes.'; moment at some unseen vision. Again Moshe laughed, a "What?" cried Moshe, catching strange, hollow laugh. "Little fool!" the contagion of horror. he said, "I know the man. He is "He would have come in," she only a brother-Jew-a poor cutter said. or cigar-maker who laughs at Yid­ "\Vho would ha,·e come in?" he dishkeit (Judaism), because he gasped. has no wife like mine to show him "The Satan 1\f clwtrig," replied the heavenly light. Why, didst his wife. "He was outside, and he thou not sec him afterward? But glared at me as if I prevented his no, thou must have been gone by , coming in." the time he came inside." . A nervous silence followed. "\Vhat I saw was no man," re­ Moshe's heart beat painfully. Then turned Rebecca, looking at him he laughed with ghastly merri­ sternly. "No earthly being could ment. "Thou didst fall asleep from have stopped my heart with his the heat," he said, "and hadst an glances. It was the Satan Mekatrig evil dream." himself, who goeth to and fro on "No, no," protested his wife the earth, and walketh up and earnestlv. "As sure as I stand here, down in it. I must have been hav­ no! I ,;as looking into my Clzu­ ing wicked thoughts indeed this mosh (Pentateuch), following the Sabbath, tl1inking of my new reading of the Torah, and all at dress, for my Sabbath Angel to once I felt something plucking my have deserted me, and to let the eyes off my book and turning my Disturber and the TcmptciJ assail head to look through the window_ me unchecked.'' The poor, con­ immcdiatclv behind me. I won­ science-stricken woman burst into dered whai Satan Mehatrig was tears. distracting my thoughts from the "My Rh·koly have wicked service. For a long time I resisted, thoughts!" said Moshc incredu­ but when •he reading ceased for a lously, as he smoothed her cheek. moment the temptation overcame "If my llivkoly puts on a new me and I turned and saw him." dress in honour of the Sabbath, is "How looked he?" Moshe asked not the dear God pleased? Why, SATAN l\IEKATRIG 107 where is thy new dress?" dish breaking it upon and glad­ "I have changed it for an old dening their ears. 0 if their souls one," she sobbed. "I do not want to should be doomed to Purgatory, see the demon again." with no son's prayers to release "The Satan Melwtrig has no them! Very soon they were sitting real existence, I tell thee," said hand in hand, reading together Moshe, irritated. "He only means the interrupted Psalms. our own inward thoughts, that And a deep peace fell upon distract us in the performance of Moshe Grinwitz. So the immortal the precepts; our own inward allegorist, John Bunyan, must have temptations to go astray after our felt when the mad longing to ut­ eyes and after our hearts." ter blasphemies and obscenities "Moshe!" Hebecca exclaimed in from the pulpit was stifled; and a shocked tone, "have I married an when he felt his soul once more in Epikouros after all? My father, the harmony with the Spirit of Good. Rav, peace be unto him, always So feel all meri who have wrestled said thou hadst the makings of one with a Being in the darkness and -that thou didst ask too many prevailed. questions." They were a curious contrast­ "\Veil, whether there is a Satan the tall, sallow, stooping, black­ or not," retorted her husband, bearded man, and the small, keen­ "thou couldst not have seen him; eyed, plump, pleasant-looking, if for the person thou dcscribest is not pretty woman, in her dark wig the man I tell thee of." ani striped cotton dress, and as "And thou keepest company they sat, steadily going through with such a man," she answered; the whole collection of Psalms to a "a man who scoffs at Yiddishkeit! strange, melancholy tunc, fraught May the Holy One, blessed be He, with a haunting and indescribable forgive thee! Now I know why pathos, the shadows of twilight we have no children, no son to say gathered unnoticed about the at­ Kaddish after us." And Rebecca tic, which was their all in all of wept bitterly-for the children home. The iron bed, the wooden she did not possess. chairs, the gilt-framed Mizrach be­ Their common cause of grief gan to lose their outlines in the coming thus unexpectedly into dimness. The Psalms were finished ·their consciousness softened them at last, and then the husband and toward one another and dispelled wife sat, still hand in hand, talk­ the gathering irritation. Both had ing of their plans for the coming a melancholy vision of themselves week. For once neither spoke of stretched out stiff and stark in going to evening service at the their shrouds, with no filial Kad- Synagogue of Love and Mercy, 108 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION and when a silver ray of moon­ box, he passed it on to _his wife light lay broad across the counter­ and spread out his hands toward pane, and Rebecca Grinwitz, peer­ the light of the spiral wax taper, ing into the quiet sky that over­ reciting solemnly: "Blessed be hung the turbid alley, announced Thou, 0 Lord, our God, King of that three stars were visible, the Light of the Fire." And then look­ devout couple turned their faces ing down at the Shade made by to the east and sang the hymns his bent fingers, he took up the that usher out the Sabbath. wine-cup again, and chanted, with And when the evening prayer especial fervour, and with a re­ was over Rebecca produced from newed sense of the sanctities and the cupboard the plainly cut gob­ sweet tranquillities of religion: let of raisin wine, and the metal "Blessed be Thou, 0 Lord our wine-cup, the green twisted wax­ God, King of the Universe, who light, and the spice-box, where­ makest a distinction between the with to perform the beautiful sym­ Holy and the non-Holy, between bolical ceremony of the Havdalah, Light and Darkness." welcoming in the days of work, the six long days of dreary drudgery, "As for that night, let darkness with cheerful resignation to the seize upon it."-Job iii. 6. Will of the Maker of all things-of the Sabbath and the Day of It was Kol N idre night, the Work, the Light and the commencement of the great White Shadow, the Good and the Evil, Fast, the Day of Atonement; blent into one divine harmony by Throughout the Jewish quarter His inscrutable Wisdom and Love. there was an air of subdued ex­ Moshe filled the cup with raisin citement. The synagogues had just wine, and, holding it with his emptied themselves and every­ right hand, chanted a short majes­ where men and women, yet under tic Hebrew poem, whereof the bur­ the solemn shadow of passionate den was:- prayer, were meeting and ex­ "Lo! God is my salvation; I will changing the wish that they might trust, and I will not be afraid. Be weather the fast safely. The night with us light and joy, glad­ was dark and starless, as if Nature ness and honour." Then blessing partook of the universal mourn­ the King of the Universe, who fulness. had created the fruit of the Vine, Solitary, though amidst a crowd, he placed the cup on the table and a slight, painfully thin woman took up the spices, utter_ing a shuflled wearily along, her feet blessing over them as he did so. clad in the slippers which befitted Then having smelled the spice- the occasion, her head bent, her SATAN MEKATRIG 109 worn cheek furrowed with still­ more phylacteries. Her peaceful falling tears. They were not the home-life wrecked, her reliance on last dribblets of an exhausted emo­ her husband gone, the poor wife tion, not the meaningless, watery clung to him, still hoping on. At expression of over-excited sensi­ times she did not believe him bility. They were real, salt, bitter sane. Gradually rumours of his tears born of an intense sorrow. mad behaviour on the Sabbath on The long, harassing service, with which she had fainted reached her its untiring demands upon the ears, and remembering that his most exalted and the most poig­ strangeness had begun from the nant emotions, would have been a Sunday morning following that blessing if it had dulled her ca­ delicious afternoon of common pacity for anguish. But it had not. Psalm-saying, she was often in­ Poor Rebecca Grinwitz was still clined to put it all down to mental thinking of ht!r husband. aberration. But then his talk-so It was of him she thought, 'even clever, if so blasphemous; bris­ when the ministers, in their long tling with little pointed epigrams white cerements, were pouring and maxims such as she had never forth their souls in passionate vo­ before heard from him or any one calization, now rising to a wail, else. He was full of new ideas, now breaking to a sob, now sink­ too, on politics and the social sys­ ing to a dread whisper; it was of tem and other unpractical topics, him she thought when the weep­ picturing endless potentialities of ing worshippers, covered from wealth and happiness for the la­ head to foot in their praying­ bourer. Meantime his wages had shawls, rocked to and fro in a fallen by a third, owing to the loss frenzy of grief, and battered the of his former place, his master gates of Heaven with fiery lyrics; having been. the president of the it was of him she thought when Congregation of Love and Mercy. she beat her breast with her \Vhat wonder, therefore, if Moshe clenched fist as she made the con­ Grinwitz intruded upon all his fession of sin and clamoured for wife's thoughts-devotional or forgiveness. Sins enough she knew worldly? In a very real sense he she had-but his sin! Ahl God, had become her Satan .Mekatrig. his sin! Up till to-night she had gone on For Moshe had gone from bad hoping. For when the great White to worse. He refused to reenter the Fast comes round, a mighty wave synagogue where he hal been so as of some subtle magnetism pass­ roughly handled. His speech be­ es through the world of Jews. Men came more and more profane. He and women who have not obeyed said no more prayers; wore no one precept of Judaism for a whole 110 FANTASY Ali:D SCIENCE FICTiU:'\ year suddenly awake to a remem­ the slip of ceiling. It must be her brance of the faith in which they own shadow, for other living oc­ were born, and hasten to fast and cupant of the room she could see pray, and abase themselves before none. \:Vhere was her husband? the Throne of Mercy. The long­ Whither had he gone? Why had he drawn, tremulous, stirring notes recklessly left the door unlocked? of the trumpet that ushers in the She looked toward the table New Year, seem to rally and gleaming weirdly with its white gather together the dispersed of tablecloth; the tall w.ax Yom Israel from every region of the un­ Kippur Candle, specially lit on the derworld of unfaith and to mass eve of the solemn fast and intend­ them beneath the cope of heaven. ed to burn far on into the next And to-night surely the newly day, had all but guttered away, rooted nightshade of doubt would and the flame was quivering un­ wither away in her husband's bos­ steadily under the influence of a om. Surely this one link still held draught coming from the carelessly him to the religion of his fathers; opened window. Rebecca shiv­ and this one link would redeem ered from head to foot; a dread him and yet save his soul from the presentiment of evil shook her everlasting tortures of the damned. soul. For years the Candle bad But this last hope had been burnt steadily, and her life also doomed to disappointment. Ut­ had been steady and undisturbed. terly unmoved by all the olden Alas! it needed not the omen of sanctities of the Days of Judgment the Yom Kippur Candle to presage that initiate the New Year, the woe. miserable man showed no signs of "May the dear God have mercy remorse when the more awful ter­ on me!" she exclaimed, bursting rors of the Day of Atonement into fresh tears. Hardly had she drew near-the last day of grace uttered the words when a mon­ for the sinner, the day on which strous black cat, with baleful green the Divine Sentence is sealed ir­ eyes, dashed from under the table, revocably. And so the wretched sprang upon the window-sill, and woman had gone to the synagogue disappeared into the darkness, ut­ alone. tering a melancholy howl. Almost Reaching home, she toiled up frantic with terror, the poor wom­ the black staircase and turned the an dragged herself to the window handle of the door. As she threw and closed it with a bang, but ere open the door she uttered a cry. the sash had touched the sill, She saw nothing before her but a something narrow and white had gigantic shadow, flickering gro­ flashed from the room through the tesquely on the sloping walls and gap, and the reverberations made SATA;.i MEKATRIG 111 in the silent garret by the shock our good friend here actually stood of the violently closed window a bottle of champagne! Cham­ were prolonged in mocking laugh­ pagne, Rivkolyl Think of itl Real, ter. live champagne, like that which 'Well thrown, Rav Moshel" fizzes and sparkles on the table of said a grating voice. "Now that the Lord Mayor. Oh, he's a jolly you have at last conquered your good fellow! and so said all of us, reverence .for a bit of tin and a too. And yet thou sayest he isn't a morsel of parchment, I will hon­ fellow at all." our your mansion with my pres­ A drunken leer overspead his ence." sallow face, and was rendered Instantly Rebecca felt a wild more ghastly by the flame leaping longing to join in the merriment up from the expiring candle. and to laugh away her fears; but, "Roshah, sinner!" thundered muttering a potent talismanic the woman. Then looking straight verse, she turned and faced her into the cruel eyes of the hunch­ husband and his guest. Instinct back, her wan face shining with had not deceived her-the new­ the stress of a great emotion, her comer was the hunchback of that meagre form convulsed with fury; fatal Sabbath. This time she did "Avaunt, Satan Mekatrig!" she not faint. screamed. "Get thee down from "A strange hour and occasion to my house-get thee down. In bring a visitor, Moshe," she said God's name, get thee down-to sternly, her face growing even hell." more rigid and white as she caught Even the brazen-fac~'cl hunch­ the nkotian and alcoholic reek of back trembled before her passion; the two men's breaths. but he grasped his friend's hot "Your good Frau is not over­ hand in his long, nervous fingers, polite," said the visitor. "But it's and seemed to draw courage from Yom·Kippur, snd so I suppose she the contact. feels she must tell the truth." "If I go, I take your husband!" "I brought him, Rivkoly, to he hissed, his great eyes blazing in convince thee what a fool thou turn. "He will leave me no more. wast to assert that thou hadst seen Send me away, if you will." -but I mustn't be impolite," he "Yes, thou must not send mv broke off, with a coarse laugh. friend away like this," hiccoughed "There's no call for me to tell the Moshe Grinwitz. "Come, make truth because it's Yom Kippur. him welcome, like the good wife Down at the club we celebrated thou wast wont to be." the occasion by something better Rebecca uttered a terrible cry, than truth-a jolly spread! And and, cowering down on the 112 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ground, rocked herself to and fro. wear, and surrounded by endless The drunkard appeared moved. perspectives of mocking marble­ "Get up, Rivkoly," he said, with a browed visages, with fiery snakes tremour in his tones. "To see thee for hair and live coals for eyes. one would think thou wast sitting She felt her senses slipping Shivah over my corpse." He put away from her grasp, but she out his hand as if to raise her up. struggled wildly agaiDst the heavy "Back!" she screamed, writhing vapour that seemed to choke her. from his grasp. "Touch me not; "Moshel'' she shrieked, in mad; no longer am I wife of thine." involuntary appeal for help, as she "Hear you that, man?" said the clutched the mantel and closed hunchback eagerly. "You are free. her eyes to shut out the hideous I am here as a witness. Think of it; vision. you are free." "I am no longer thy husband,'' "Yes, I am free," repeated tauntingly replied the man. "I Moshe, with a horrible, joyous may not touch thee." exultation on his sickly visage. "Hear you that, woman?" came The gigantic shadow of himself the sardonic voice of the hunch­ that bent over him, cast by the dy­ back. "You are free. I am here as ing flame of the Yom Kippur Can­ a witness." dle, seemed to dance in grim tri­ "I am here as a witness,'' a umph, his long side-curls dangling thousand mocking voices seemed in the spectral image like barbaric to hiss in echoed sibilance. ornaments in the ears of a savage, A terrible silence followed. At while the unshapely, fantastic last she turned her white shrunk­ shadow of the hunchback seemed en face, which the contrast of the to nod its head in applause. Then, jet-black wig rendered weird and as the flame leaped up in an ir­ death-like, toward the man who regular jet, the distorted shadow had been her husband, and looked of the Tempter interwined itself long and slowly, yearningly yet in a ghastly embrace with her reproachfully, into his blood-shot own. With frozen blood and stifled eyes. breath the tortured woman turned Again a great wave of agita· away, and, as her eyes fell upon tion shook the man from head to the many-cracked looking-glass foot. which adorned the mantelpiece, "Don't look at me like that, she saw, or her overwrought fancy Rivkoly,'' he almost screamed. "I seemed to see-her husband's won't have it. I won't see thee. dead face, wreathed with a slaver­ Curse that candle! Why does it ing serpent in the place of . the flicker on eternally and not blot phylacteries he had ceased to thee from my sight?" He puffed SATAN i\iEKATRIG 113 violently at the tenacious flame eyes of the black cat glared with and a pall fell over the room. But phosphorescent light. A wreath of ·the next instant the light leaped fiery serpents twisted themselves up higher than ever. in fiendish contortions, shedding "Moshe!'' Rebecca shrieked in lurid radiance upon the cruel mar­ wild dismay. "Dost thou forget it ble brow they garlanded. An un­ is Kol Nidre night? How canst speakable Eeriness, an unname-­ thou dare to blow out a light? Be­ able Unholiness, floated with rus­ sides, it is the Yom Kippur Can­ tling pinions through the Darkness. dle-it is our life and happiness With stifling throat that strove for the New Year. If you blow it in vain to shriek, the woman out, I swear, by my soul and the dashed out through the well­ great Name, that you shall never known door, fled wildlv down the look upon my face again." stairs, pursued at every· step by the "It is because I do not wish to sardonic merriment, met at every see thy face that I will blow it corner by the gibbering shapes­ out," he replied, laughing hysteri­ fled on, dashing through the cally. heavy, ever-open· street door into "No, no!" she pleaded. "I will the fresher air of the night---1on, go away rather. It is nearly dead of instinctively on, through the al­ itself; let it die." most deserted streets and alleys, "No! It takes too long dying; where only the vile ginhouses 'tis like thy father, the Rav, yho gleamed with life-on, without had the corpse-watchers so long in pause or rest, till she fell exhausted attendance that one died himself," upon the dusty door-step of the said Moshe Grinwitz with horrible Synagogue of Love and Mercy. laughter. "I will kill it!" And bend­ ing down low over the broad sock- "All Israel have a portion in the et of the candlestick, so that his world to come." -Ethics of the head loomed gigantic on the ceil- 1 Fathers. ing, he silenced forever the rest­ less tongue of fire. The aged keeper of the syna­ Immediately a thick blackness, gogue rushed out at the noise. as of the grave, settled upon the "Save me! For God's sake, save chamber. Hollow echoes of the me, Reb Yitzchok!" cried the fallen blasphemer's laughing rang ~nd figure. _"Save me from the Satan resounded on every side. Myriads Mekatrigl I have no home-no of dreadful faces shaped them­ husband. Take me in!" selves out of the gloom, and moved "Take you in?" said Reb Yitz­ and gibbered at the woman. At chok pityingly, for he dimly the window, the green, baleful guessed something of her story. 114 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "Where can I take you in? You 'Would you like a blanket?" know my wife and I are allowed said the old man. but one tiny room here." "No, no, God bless you!" she re­ "Take me in!" repeated the plied. "I must watch and weep, woman. "I will pass the night in not sleep. For the Scroll of Judg­ the synagogue. I must pray for my ment is written and the Book of husband's soul, for he has no son Life is all but closed." to pray for him. Let me come in I With a pitying sigh the old Save me from the Satan Meka­ man turned and left her alone for trigl" the· night in the Synagogue of Love "You would certainly meet and Mercy. many a Satan Mekatrig in the For a few moments Rebecca streets during the night," said the sat, prayerless, her soul full of a old man musingly. "But have you strange peace. Then she found no friends to go to?" herself counting the chimes as "None-none-but God! Let they rolled out sonorously from a me in that I may go to Him. Give neighbouring steeple: One, Two, me shelter, and He will have mer­ Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, cy on you when the great Tekiah Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven_, sounds to-morrow night!" TwELVE! Without another word Reb Yitzchok went into his room, re­ Starting up suddenly when the turned with the key, and threw last stroke ceased to vibrate on open the door of the women's syn­ the air, Rebecca Grinwitz found, agogue, revealing a dazzling flood to her surprise, that a merciful of light from the numerous can­ sleep must have overtaken her eye­ dles, big and little, which had lids, that hours must have passed been left burning in their sconces. since midnight had struck, and The low curtain that served as a that the great Day of Atonement partition had been half rolled back must have dawned. Both com­ by devoted husbands who had partments of the synagogue were come to inquire after their wives full of the restless stir of a praying at the end of the service, and the multitude. With a sense of some­ synagogue looked unusually large thing vaguely strange, she bent and bright, though it was hot and her eyes downward on her neigh­ close, with lingering odours of bour's Machzor. The women im­ breaths, and snuff, and tallow, mediately pushed the prayer-book arid smelling-salts. more toward Rebecca, with a With a sob of infinite thankful­ wonderful smile of love and ten­ ness Rebecca dropped upon a derness, which seemed to go right wooden bench. through Rebecca's heart, though SATAN MEKATRIG 115. she could not clearly remember and daughter following it in the ever having seen her neighbour book they had in common. After before. Nor, wonderingly stealing several hours, during which the a first glance around, could she huge, far-spreading congregation help feeling that the entire con­ alternated with the Cantor in in­ gregation was somewhat strange toning the beautiful poems of the and unfamiliar, though she could liturgy of the day, the white cur­ not quite think why or how. The tain with its mystic cabalistic in­ male worshippers, too, why did signia was rolled back from the they all wear the shroud-like gar­ Ark of the Covenant and two ments, usually confined on this Scrolls were withdrawn therefrom. solemn occasion to the ministers Rebecca noted with joy that the and a few extra-devout person­ Ark was filled with Scrolls big ages? And had not some trans­ and little, in rich mantles, and formation come over the syna­ that those taken out were swathed gogue? Was it only the haze be­ in satin beautifully embroidered, fore her tear-worn eyes or did dim and that the ornaments and the perspectives of worshippers stretch musically tinkling bells were of away boundlessly on all sides of pure gold. the clearly seen area, which still Then some of the worshippers retained the form of the room she were called up in turn to the Al knew so well? Memor to be present at the read­ But the curious undercurrent of ing of a section of the Law. They undefined wonder lasted but a were all well known to Rebecca. m:oment. In another instant she First came Moses ben Amram. He was reconciled to the scene. All walked humbly up to the Al Me­ was familiar and expected; once mor with bowed head, his long more she was taking part in divine T alith enveloping him from crown service with no sorrowful thoughts to foot. Rebecca saw his face well, of her husband coming to dis­ for though it was covered with a tract her, her whole soul bathing thick veil, it shone luminously in and absorbing the Peace of God though its draping. which passeth all understanding. "Bless ye the Lord, who is Then suddenly she felt a stir of blessed._" said Moses ben Amram, recollection coming over her, and the words seeming all the sweeter a stream of love warming her from his lips for the slight stam­ heart, and looking up at her neigh­ mering with which they were ut­ bour's face she saw with joyous tered. content that it was that of her "Blessed be the Lord, who is mother. blessed to all eternity and be­ The service went on, mother yond," responded the endless con- 116 FANTASY A;-o;D SCIENCE FICTION gregation, in a low murmur that was at an end, David ben Jesse, a seemed to be taken up and vi­ royal-looking graybeard, held up brated away and away into the in­ the Scroll to the four comers of finite distances for ever and ever. space, and it was rolled up by his "Blessed be the Lord, who is son Solomon, the Preacher; the blessed to all eternity and be­ carrying of it to the Ark being yond," echoed the melodious voice. given to Rabbi Akiba, whose fea­ Then, in words that seemed to tures wore a strange, ecstatic look, roll and fill the great gulfs of space as though ennobled by suffering. with a choral music of sacred joy, The vast multitude rose with a Moses continued, "Blessed be great rustling, the sound whereof Thou, 0 Lord, our God, the King reached afar, and sang a hymn of of the Universe, who hath chosen rejoicing, so that the whole uni­ us from all peoples, and given verse was filled with melody. Re­ unto us His Law. Blessed art becca alone could not sing. · For Thou, 0 Lord, who givcst the the first time she missed her hus­ Law." band, Moshe. Why was he not After him carne Aaron ben here, like ·all the other friends of ,Amram, whose white beard her life, whose beloved faces sur­ reached to his kness. Abraham ben rounded her on everv side and Terah, Isaac ben Abraham, and made a sweet atmosphere of se­ Jacob ben Isaac-all venerable curity for her soul? What was he figures, with faces which Rebecca . doing outside of this mighty as­ felt were radiant with infinite sembly? Why was he not here to tenderness and compassion for have the sacred duty of carrying such poor helpless children as the Scroll entrusted to him? She herself-were also called up, and felt the tears pouring down her after the Patriarchs, Elijah the cheeks. She was ready to sink to Proph~t. Lastly came a white­ the earth with sudden lassitude. haired, stooping figure, whose "Mother! dear mother!" she cried, gait and whose every gesture. told "I feel so faint." Rebecca that it was her father. "You must have some air, my How glad she felt to see him thus child, my Rivkoly," said the moth­ honoured! As she listened to his er, the dearly remembered voice quavering tones the dusty tomb­ falling for the first time with in­ stones of dead years seemed rolled effable sweetness on Rebecca's away, and all their simple joys ears. And she put out her hand, and griefs to live again, not quite and lo! it grew longer and longer, as of yore, but transfigured by till it reached up to the skylight, some solemn pathos. and then suddenly the whole roof When the reading of the Law vanished and the free air of heav- SATAN MEKATRIG 117 en blew in like celestial balm upon Then a surging wave of hope Rebecca's hot forehead. Yet she rose within Rebecca's breast, and noted with wonder that the holy it lifted her to "her feet and candles burnt on steadily, unflut­ stretched out her arms toward the tered by the refreshing breeze. Splendour. And she said: "Lord And then, lo! the starless heavens God, forgive Thou my husband, above her opened out in inde­ for he is in the hand of the Temp­ scribable Glory. The Dark budded ter. Save him from the power of into ineffable Beauty; a supernally the Evil One by Thine out­ pure, luminous Splendour, trans­ stretched arm and Thy mighty cendently dazzling, filled the in­ hand. Save him and pardon him, finite depths of the Firmament Lord, in Thine infinite mercy." with melodious coruscations of In­ Then a strange, dread, anxious si­ finite Love made visible, and lence fell upon the vast spaces of white-winged hosts of radiant the Firmament, till from the heart Cherubim sang "Holy, holy, holy of the Celestial Splendour there is the Lord of Hosts, the whole fell a Word that floated through earth is full of His Glory." And all the Universe like the sweet blend­ the vast congregation fell upon ed strains of all sweet instru­ their faces and cried "Holy, holy, ments, a Word that mingled all holy is the Lord of Hosts, the the harmonies of winds and wa­ whole earth is full of His Glory." ters and mortal and angelic voices And Moses ben Amram arose; and into one divine cadence-Salach­ he lifted his hands toward the ti. Splendour and he cried, "Lord, And with the sweet Word of Lord God, merciful and gracious, Forgiveness lingering musically in long-suffering and full of kindness her charmed ears, and the sweet and truth. Lo, Thou sealest the assurance at her heart that she, seals before the twilight. Seal Thy the poor, miserable tailor's wife, People, I pray Thee, in the Book despised and trodden under foot of Life, though Thou blot me out. by the rich and by the heathen Forgive them, and pardon their around, could lean upon the transgressions for the sake of the breast of an Almighty Father, who merits of the Patriarchs and for had prepared for her immortal the sake of the merits of the Mar­ glories and raptures amid all her tyrs, who have shed their blood loved ones in a world where He like water and offered their flesh would wipe the tears from off all to the. flames for the Santification eyes, Rebecca Grinwitz awoke to of the Name. Forgive them, and find the bright morning sunshine blot out their transgressions." streaming in upon her and the The congregation said "Amen." fresh morning air blowing in upon 118 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION her fevered brow from the skylight jug to the sick man's lips, support­ which Reb Yitzchok had just ing his head with the other. Moshe opened. · drank, then fell back, and pressed "Surely He shall deliver tlzee his friend's hand gratefully. from the snare of the fowler."­ "Poor Moshe," said the hunch­ Psalm xci. 3. back. "What a shame I tossed into the gutter the gold my father left A shroud of newly fallen snow me seven months ago! How could enveloped the dead earth, over I foresee you would be struck which the dull, murky sky looked down with this long sickness?" drearily down. Within his fireless "No, no, don't regret it," quav­ garret, which was almost empty ered Moshe, his white face light­ of furniture, Moshe Grinwitz lay, ing up. "We had jolly old times, wasted away to a shadow. His jolly old times, while the money beard was unkempt, his cheek­ lasted. Oh, you've been a good bones were almost fleshless, his friend to me-a good friend. If I feverish eyes large and staring, his had never known you, I should side-curls tangled and untended. have passed away into nothing­ There did not seem enough ness, without ever having known strength left in the frame to resist the mad joys of wine and riot. I a babe; yet, when he coughed, the have had wild, voluptuous mo­ whole skeleton was agitated as ments of revelry and mirth. No though with galvanic energy. power in heaven or hell can take "Will he never come back?" be away the past. And then the sweet murmured uneasily. freedom of doing as you will, "Fear not; so far as lies in my thinking as you will, flying with power, I shall be with you al­ wings unclogged by superstition­ ways," replied the voice of the to you I owe it all! And since I hunchback as he entered the have been ill you have watched room. "But, alas! I have little com­ over me like-like a woman." fort to bring you. One pawnbroker His words died away in a sob, after another refused to advance and then there was silence, except anything on my waistcoat, and at when his cough sounded strange last I sold it right out for a few and hollow in the bare room. pence. See; here is some milk. It Presently he went on:- is warm." "How unjust Rivkoly was to Moshe tried to clutch the jug, you! She once said" -here the but fell back, helpless. A shade speaker laughed a little melan­ of anxiety passed over his com­ choly laugh-"that you were the panion's face. "Have I miscalcu­ Satan Mekatrig in person." lated?" he muttered. He held the "Poor afflicted woman!" said SATAN MEKATRIG 119 his friend, with pitying scorn. "In jured up all sorts of sights in the this nineteenth century, when dark. Ho! hoi hoi" and he laughed .among the wise the belief in the a ghastly laugh. "Happily she will gods has died out, there are yet never come back. She's evidently fools alive who believe in the dev­ able to get along without you. il. But she could only have meant Probably she has another husband ·it metaphorically." more to her pious taste." The sick man shook his head. Moshe raised himself convul­ "She said the evil influence-of sively. "Don't say that again!" he course, it seemed evil to her-you screamed. "My Rivkolyl" Then a wielded over her thoughts, and I violent cough shook him and his suppose mine, too, was more than lips were reddened with bl<>

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FANTASY~ SCIENCE FICTION 347 East 53 St., New York 22, N.Y. Send me __ full color prints of F&SF covers without overprinting. I enclose $ ( 75; for one, three for $2.00, six for $3.00) Name Address------City ------Zone ___ State, ______(Reqfl88t8 for specific covers will be filled when posnble; otherwise, we will send our selection) There have been complaints in some circles that The Magazine has not been publishing enough wholesome stories. Struck to our very vitals by this charge (which is probably true), we hasten to make amends. The story fol­ lowing is as wholesome as they come, and if this doesn't satisfy the critics we wash our hands of the whole aDair. It is by the well-known travel authority and merry-andrew, Don White of London, author of "Eril, Ethel, Maude, Zelda, Kitty, Tulip and Vanessa and the Leprechaun" (you'll never see it here). Happy landings on a chocolate bar!

PEGGY AND PETER GO TO THE MOON

byDon White

"HuRRY, PEGGY! HuRRY, PE- why can't cook come with us to ter!" said Nanny. "It is nearly the moon?" time to go to the moon!" "Ah, the little loves," said cook, Nanny helped Peter on with then went on, "and for you, mas­ his new red mittens. "Is the moon ter Peter, a real treat. Curried Ne­ really made of green cheese, Nan- gombo guni shrimps. Isn't that a ny?" He was only nineteen and a surprise? And Mary-Anne has little backward, so Nanny only made you both a thermos of hot smiled. Bonox and Rum." "Here comes cook with the At last they were all ready to sandwiches," cried Peggy. go. How smart Peggy and Peter Cook's apple-dumpling face looked in their new red mittenc;, broke into a rare smile at the sight their new patent leather saddle of the two excited children. "Ah, shoes. Peggy was wearing her the loves " she said. "I've made mink-collared gold lame party your fav~urites. Red caviar for frock, the one that she hadn't you, l\•Hss Peggy ...." worn since Rosemary Jane's party "Oh, thank you, cook," Peggy celebrating the defection of her turned to Nanny, "Nanny, nanny, father to the Russians. Peter was 125 126 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION wearing his new slim-styled raw good children, while daddy final­ silk Ivy League romper suit. ises the launching arrangements Peter was full of excited ques­ and I'll pour us all a brandy and tions all the way to the secret soda." Rocket Range in Kensington Gar­ "Mine with water, please, Nan­ dens, but Nanny just boxed his ny," said Peter, "soda makes my ears, playfully. tummy gurgle," and they all A big sign on the barbed-wire laughed. gate of the Rocket Range said Professor Love returned to the TOP SECRET-NO ENTRY. In room. "I think we're all ready to a sentry box stood a stern looking go now," he said, and led the pro­ guard. cession onto the Secret Rocket Peter stood on the back seat of Range. the Rolls Royce and saluted as "Oh, look at the rocket!" cried they drove through, like a real Peter, jumping up and down wi:th soldier. excitement. Peggy grew suddenly sad, and The Professor opened a door in snuggled into the crook of Nan­ the tail fin of the spaceship. "To­ ny's arm. "Oh, dear Nanny, how day you will learn some of the se­ I shall miss you on the moon. crets of the great void beyond the When I grow up, I want to be atmosphere of earth," he told just like you and wear black lace them, earnestly. "Have they got underwear from France and carry . clean hankies, Nanny?" He went a pearl-handled Smith and Wes­ on, "at the top of the steel ladder son .22 in my hand~ag." is a small cabin, with just room The Rolls Royce pulled up si­ for you both. On the wall you will lently in front of Professor Love's see a big red button, which you research laboratory. Professor Love must press, and then the rocket was waiting at the door to meet will take you all the way to the them. moon." He pressed the two chil­ "Ah, here are my little Loves," dren to him. "Goodbye, my Loves," he said, with a kiss for Peter, and he said. a man-to-man handshake for Peg­ "Goodbye, Daddy," said Peter gy. and Peggy. "Goodbye, Nanny!" "Are you coming to the moon "\Vait a minute," said Nanny. with us, daddy?" asked Peter. "\Vhy in the excitement you al­ He smiled at his only son. "Not most forgot your sandwiches." this trip, Peterkins. Perhaps next They all laughed. Then with time." an extra special hug for Nanny. Nanny smiled, and said, "now Peggy and Peter climbed the steel don't· cry, Peggy. Sit quietly, like ladder into the rocket. PEGGY AND PETER GO TO THE .MOON 127 Professor Love clanged the the fact that Peggy and Peter will metal door shut, and he hurried never return from the moon, nor Nanny away from the danger of the late Mrs. Love from Mars. No, the blast-off. not ever." Ten seconds later, the silver An hour later, the Professor's rocket lifted on a cushion of flame, Rolls Royce drew up outside the hovered momentarily, and then offices of Bryce, Bryce, Bridges shot upwards, into the sky, quick­ and Bryce, the lawyers. · er than the eye could follow. "Now you pop along and get "Are you sure there is no air on your manicure and cold perm, and the moon," said Nanny. don't forget to meet me at the "Shut up, and kiss me quick," Savoy for cucumber sandwiches said the Professor. "There's no air and tea. We'll just have time be­

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Each Volume File will keep 12 copies of FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION clean, orderly, and readily accessible. Sturdily built, the files are covered with a rich black and red washable leatherette, and the lettering is in 16-carat gold leaf. Reasonably priced at $2.50 each, 3 for $7 .00, or 6 for $13.00, they are shipped fully prepaid on a money back basis if not satisfactory. Order direct from: JESSE JONES BOX CORPORATION Dept. F&SF ~ P.O. Box 5120 Philadelphia 41, Pa; EDITORIAL

Spurred on by a note from Carol Carr, wife to Terry (in its turn, stimulated by Karen Anderson's Landscape with Sphinxes, Nov., 1962 ), we agreed to give our readers the inside story on The Sphinx who was, as we put it in our introduction, ". . . sometimes given to the asking of riddles." To begin with, she felt deprived of Love. "I swear, Aggie"-her name was Agapemone­ her pappa used to say; "I just don't know who you take after. Your Maw was the puttiest she-Sphinx in Thebes." Which same used to reply to her questions with, "Lawk-a-mussy, child, don't bother me. Can't you see that !'-a-combing of my mane?'' Thus alienated, Agapemone sought counsel of a wise old Harpy (actually, she was senile). "A man is not captivated by mere physical beauty, 0 Sphinx­ child," commented thew. o. H. "Whut a man like, he like a gal whut kin talk clever." Like for instance what?" Agapemone demanded. "Ohhhh ..."the wise old (but actually senile) Harpy said, preening her shabby feathers for mites, "Um, well, a, you might axe a riddle or two. They's al-ways in style." "Like for instance, what?" Agapemone de­ manded. Well, the Harpy gave her a couple of the hairiest old chestnuts going, and Aggie sat herself down at the crossroads hoping for a quick pick-up. Along came a man heading for Delphi to get a good number to play. "Hey·Man, why does a hoplite wear red cross-garters?" "I'll go along with the gag~why?" asked the man. "To keep his sandals on!" Aggie answered, with a giggle and a snort. "You got a bad breath, s~ster," said the man. So she ate him, moodily. As everybody is aware; food= love. Owing to limitations of space (some universes are more finite than others) the True Version of how The Sphinx conquered her weight problem and found Real Give-Love and Take-Love will have to await another time. Meanwhile, eat lots of green vegetables and red meat and keep on buying this Magazine. -Avram Davidson

COMING NEXT MONTH HUNTER, COME HOME a novelet by RICHARD MC KENNA, author of THE SAND PEBBLES ************************l I MARKET PLACE ! •************************* • LEARN WHILE ASLEEP, Hypnotize with your BOOKS-MAGAZINES recorder, phonograph. Astonishing details, sensational catalog free. SIMp-learning Re· SCIENCE-FICTION book bargains. List free. search Association, Box 24-FS, Olympia, Werewolf Bookshop, Verona 15, Pa. Washington. locate any book. Aardvarks Fantasy, Box NEW CONCEPT of learning self-hypnosis! Now 668, San Diego 12, Calif. on tape or recordl Free literature. McKinley­ Smith Co. Dept. T16, Box 3038, San Bernardino, HORROR BOOK-"The Detective Is A Monster!" Calif. By Jell Martin. Unusual, Fascinating. $1. Trans­ International Publishers, P. 0. Box 2942, Pater­ "ORIENTAL HYPNOTISM," $1.20. Most powerful son, N. J. methods. Control others' thoughts. Hypnotize instantly! Eaton, Box 1242-B, Santa Rosa, MAKE THIS A FEGHOOT CHRISTMAS! Feghc t California. anthology, $1.25 postpdidl Feghoot-and-Fw' ~I (that's the Furry in the frontispiece) SWEAT­ SHIRTS, $4.-45 postpaid! Order now from: Ferdi­ I.Q. TESTS nand Feghoot, c/o The Paradox Press, P. 0. Box 3051, Berkeley 5, Calif. I.Q. can now accurately and inexpensively be 25,000 magazines for sale. Thousands wanted tested in your home. Individuals needed Ia sup· in excellent condition; science fiction, weird, ply data to facilitate research program. Find horror, spicy, western, adventure, others. Send out your I.Q. Send $6.00, or for details write, list, enclosing stamp. Magazine Center, Box to URI TEST, Dept. 8, Box 6744, Stanford, Cali­ 214, little Rock, Ark. fornia SCIENCE-FICTION & FANTASY PUBLICATIONS New location: Denver, New York. Complete SERVICES-AUTHORS selection pocketbooks. 25,000 magazines. All the new books. Thousands used books. Every· AUTHORS: Submit your manuscripts for free thing science-fictional. Big list 25¢ deductible editorial evaluation. We publish work by new from first order. authors on all sub(ects: poetry. fiction, non­ fiction, juveniles, religious studies. Greenwich Book Publishers, Attention Mr. Clark, 489 BOOKPLATES Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. FREE CATALOG many designs including SF and WRITE FOR PROFIT without training. Receive engineering. Address bookplates, Yellow Springs many small checks NOW. Write Publicity, Box 4, Ohia. 727SF, Kalamazoo, Michigan. FANZINES WANTED INSIDE, a printed magazine. Bloch, St. Clair, George 0. Smith, Randall Garrett, and others. WANTED: serious articles concerning the new 25¢, four for $1. 90 Riverside Drive, 11 E, New or unfashionable in science. Editor, CONTRO­ York 24, N. Y. VERSY, Dept. 18, Box 855, Boulder, Colorado. About swordplay-and-sorcery, swashbuckling fantasy: Amra, 8 issues $2; Box 9006, Arlington MISCELLANEOUS 9, Va. New, Precision, Printed Circuit Board, Assembly instructions, diagrams, and r.arts list help you HYPNOTISM build four transistor metal ocator with range up to three feet. Complete set $9.95. Easy and Fnoe Illustrated, Hypnotism Catalogue. Write: inexpensive to build. DALCO, P. 0. Box 12242, Powers, 8721 Sunset, Hollywood 69, California. Dallas 25, Texas.

Do you ltave sometlting to advertise to sf readers? Books, magazines, typewriters, telescopes, computers, space-drives, or misc. Use tire F&SF Market Place at tltese low, low rates1 $2.50 for minimum of ten (10} words, plus 25¢ for eaclt additional word. Send copy and remittance to: Adv. Dept., Fantasy and Science Fiction, 347 last 53 Street, New York 22, N, Y. 129 BIRTH CONTROL. 3-4 methods explained. lllua­ "GUIDE" answers any question of morals 50¢ trated, $2.98. Eaco, Box 1242-B, Santa Roaa, to "GUIDE", P. 0. Box 1713, Spokane 10, California. Washington. ,OoRTABLE TAPE RECORDER-Quality -4 transistor unit complete with microphone, earphone, reels,. INDEPENDENT THINKERS-investigate Human· tape, and batteries. Send $29.95, cash, check, or isml Free literature. American Humanist Associa· money order to William F. Borden, Box 22B1, tion, Dept. fl, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Dept. LG1, San Francisco 26, Calif. MYSTERIES, housecleaning Mercury, Bestseller, Send 25!1 for a sample copy of the French Edi­ and Jonathan mystery books, 7 different titles tion of The Magazine of FANTASY AND for $1 (our selection). Dept. CN, Mercury Press, SCIENCE FICTION, Mercury Press, P. 0. Box 271, P. 0. Box 271, Rockville Centre, N.Y. Rockville Centre, N. Y.

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A market is people-alert, intelligent, active people. Here you can reach 168,000 people (averaging three readers per copy -56,000 paid circulation). Many of them are enthusiastic hobbyists­ collecting books, magazines, stamps, coins, model rockets, etc.-actively interested in photography, music; astronomy, painting, sculpture, elec­ tronics. If you have a product or service of merit, tell them about it. The price is right: $2.50 for a minimum of ten ( 10) words, plus 25¢ for each additional word.

Advertising Dept., Fantasy & Science Fiction 347 East 53 St., New York 22, N. Ye 130

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