OCTOBER- 1963 50c

MED SHIP MAN by ON THE GEM PLANET MURRAY LEINSTER by CORDWAINER SMITH

by mipm TENN 1

! ' 1. ALL STORIES NEW YOURS! eaLAxy THE NEXT 17 magazine

BIG ISSUES OF OCTOBER, 1963 • VOL. 22, NO. 1 IF FREDERIK POHL CONTENTS Editor FOR ONLY $4.95 - SAVING YOU - $1 85 COMPLETE SHORT NOVEL WILLY LEY IF YOU ACCEPT THIS SPECIAL OFFER Science Editor the men in the walls 8 If you wonder what happened to the “wonder” In your William Tenn science-fietion by stories — it’s in IF! Every issue packed SOL COHEN With new, fast taies of tomorrow and space! Publisher NOVELEHES DAVIO PERTON THE KIND OF PLANET 92 SCIENCE FICTION ON THE GEM Production Manager THAT YOU'VE MISSED FOR YEARS by Cordwainer Smith ROSEMARIE BIANCHINI IF brings you new stories by old masters, plus the best of 124 today's new writers-challenging A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY Art Director ideas combined with skillful writing and all the adventure and thrills of interstellar space by Chandler Elliott DAVE GELLER ASSOC. MED SHIP MAN 156 Advertising by Murray Leinster The greatest names in science fiction WRITE FOR IF SHORT STORY Del Rey, Clarke, Harmon, Schmitz, Pohl, Davidson, Simak GAUXY MAGAZINE Is published B och, Keyes, Sturgeon, Galouye, Sharkey, McIntosh, 145 bi-monthly by Galaxy Publishing Fyfej' SWEET TOOTH Dickson — they’re all in IF! Corporation. Main offices: 421 by Robert F. Young Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y. 50C per copy. Subscrip- tion: (6 copies) $2.50 per year CUP COUPON AND MAIL TODAY SCIENCE DEPARTMENT In the United States, Canada, Mexico, South and Central INFORMATION 85 America and U. S. Possessions. if 421 Hudson St., New York 14, N. Y. FOR YOUR Elsewhere $3.50. Second-class by Willy Ley postage paid at New York, N. Y. "*** York by IF! I enclose Copyright, New 1963, >4.95. (Outside Galaxy Publishing Corporation, of N. and S. America add $1.35 postage.) Robert M. Guinn, President. All FEATURES rights. Including translations reserved. All material submitted Name EDITOR’S PAGE 4 must be accompanied by self- addressed stamped envelopes. Address by Frederik Pohl The publisher assumes no re- sponsibility for unsolicited ma- stories printed In City terial. All FORECAST 83 this magazine are fiction, and any similarity between charac- Use coupon or order by letter if you wish ters and actual persons Is GALAXY’S FIVE STAR SHELF 119 coincidental. by Floyd C. Gale Printed in the U. S. A. By The Guinn Co., Inc. N. Y. Cover by DEMBER Title Reg. U. S. Pat. Oft. outcome is unquestionably con- good obsidian knife, or he gave trollable, in practice the human up. Modern man, or so we like mind is not capable of memo- to think, has pretty well caught rizing all of the possible moves the hang of the “chess” approach and their consequences, so that to solving his problems. He is the expert player falls back on still playing a game. But it is a con- what is called “position evalua- larger game, in a different tion.” The strategy of a Botvinnik text. or a Capablanca is not aimed di- When we say that the jM'Ogress rectly toward winning. It is aimed of scientific knowledge is meas- toward securing a board position ured by the enlargement of con- and a favorable balance of forces texts, we are saying that we ad- such that winning then becomes vance by learning truths which inevitable. That may sound at are more general than the truths

first blush like a distinction with- we knew before. We frame em- out a difference; but in fact it is pirical “laws” — the law of Con- the difference between, say, the servation of Energy — and some- WHAT’S single combat of medieval knights body draws from them still other THE SCORE? and modern war. laws (as did Carnot and the rest It doesn’t much matter whether of the great mechanist-minded A N EASY card game for very outcome of the game can be until other con- you play chess poorly or well; if scientists) . . . some young children is “Slapjack”. trolled completely — that chance you try to play it at all, you are person, trying to understand why It is played with a 5 2 -card deck, has no part in it, and that all of a long way from Slapjack. these laws should be so, frames a but it doesn’t have much in com- its strategies can be learned and still more general law (as did Ein- mon with contract bridge or simply expressed — is also about he history of man’s at- stein) and we find, by gosh, that poker. You take a deck of cards, the age at which he learns that Ttempt to control his environ- our first law isn’t really a law at divide it more or less in half and he need not always consider the ment — by which we can include all. Energy can so be created — turn the cards up one at ordinances a time. of Mommy and Daddy everything from pulling a branch by transformation from matter; Every time a jack turns up, the to be Divine Law. over himself in a rainstorm to and it can be destroyed by trans- players try to slap it. First player Slightly later, and considerably the framing of the law of con- formation in the other direction. to get his palm over it wins that more challenging, checkers gets servation of parity — passes This does not mean that the round. added to the list. In the Games through an evolution rather like previous laws are false, thus de- Tic-Tac-Toe represents a sec- Theory view of checkers it can be the development of an indivi- stroying the deductions made ond stage in complexity. As a considered as a zero-sum game dual’s mastery of games. Paleo- from them: Carnot’s model of a game for young children it has with finite choices. That is, when lithic man was in the Slapjack heat engine still works perfectly. several merits, both as a way of one player wins, the other loses; period: If any feature of his en- The laws are still true, in terms passing a rainy day and as a sort and the number of possible re- vironment gave him trouble, he of the contexts then existing; but of rough-hewn test of intelligence spK>nses to any is move rather whanged at it until one of two now they are only special cases or of maturity, since the age at easily calculated. Chess is still things happened. Either he sud- within larger laws. which the player learns that the more complex, for, although the denly discovered he had a pretty You can, if you like, compare

4 GALAXY WHAT'S THE SCORE? 5 this enlargement of contexts with Euclidean geometry, the Oppo- a mastery of increasingly sophisti- nent won’t let you trisect an an- cated games. Slapjack to Tic-Tac- gle. If you want to do that you Toe: from the planless fumbling must switch to the game called of primitive man to the learned- algebra, where you can trisect all by-rote “medicine”, say, of Hippo- the angles you like with a simple crates. Tic-Tac-Toe to checkers: cubic equation. And behold! that from the Hippocratic empirical which was impossible, and which remedies to the experimentation everybody knew to be impossible, and theorizing of Galen. Checkers and which was proved to be im- to chess: from Galen’s dissection possible ... is no longer impossi- of corpses to antibiotics and the ble at all. analysis of DNA. All you have to do is change All this is analogy and perhaps the game. a little strained, for nothing is It is this point that is so hard more deadly than to force conclu- to get across to the sort of closed sions from an analogy. But per- mind that says, “We know that haps it is not just an analogy; for ESP is impossible” or “We have science is itself a sort of game. proved that no material object can be accelerated past the ve- rpHINK OF science as a game locity of light in a vacuum.” In board, and think of a very fact, we do not know anything large, very complex computer of the kind. We only know that across the board from us as our the rules of the games we’re play- are some things that cannot organization) an age-old brotherhood Opponent. THERE ing today say so; but we do not be generally tolA — things you ought to of learning, have preserved this secret The Opponent never cheats. know, and can only with difficulty know. Great truths are dangerous to wisdom in their archives for centu- some — but factors for personal power ries. They now invite you to share the He plays according to our rules. imagine, the rules of the games and accomplishment in the hands of practical helpfulness of their teachings. He plays the games we teach him. we may play tomorrow. those who understand them. Behind Write today for a free copy of the tales of the miracles and mysteries book, "The Mastery of Life.” Within If we are playing the game called That, of course, is the thing, the of the ancients, lie centuries of their its pages may lie a new life of oppor- Chemistry, he will go pokerfaced or one of the things, that science secret probing into nature’s laws — tunity for you. Address: Scribe H.W.K. along with the rules their amazing discoveries of the hid- — all the fiction is all about. send this coupon den processes of man*s mind, and the rules — including the rule that A science-fiction story we must Scribe H.W.K. mastery life’s problems. Once shroud- i [ of The ROSICRUCIANS (AMORC) elements cannot be transmuted admit is only a game, sugar- ed in mystery to avoid their destruc- 1 [ I San Jose. California i fear and ignorance, these one to the other. If you want coated with adventure, touched tion by mass Please send me the /reebook, TAeAftfr/ery [ j facts remain a useful heritage for the ofUfe, which explains how I may learn to one of the moves in the to I mind. | game with humor, scented with ro- thousands of men and women who pri- I use my faculties and powers of I be the vately use them in their homes toaay. I change of uranium into mance. Games they are — but Name i I lead, you have to change the who is to say that some day soon Address FREE BOOK ) THIS [ game, to one variety or another we won’t be playing some of 1 City them The Rosicrucians (not a religious 1 of the game called Physics. If for keeps? you are playing FREDERIK the game called — POHL UBe Rosicrucians (AMORO SAN JOSE. CAUFORNIA. U.SA. 6 GALAXY .

The world was divided between I the Men and the Monsters — but which were Monsters and lyrANKIND consisted of 128 people. which were Men? The sheer population pressure of so vast a horde had long ago filled over a dozen burrows. Bands of the Male Society occu- pied the outermost four of these THE MEN interconnected corridors and pa- trolled it with their full strength, twenty-three young adult males in the prime of courage and alert- IN THE ness. They were stationed there to take the first shock of any danger to Mankind, they and WALLS their band captains and the youthful initiates who served them. Eric the Only was an initiate in this powerful force. Today, he was a student warrior, a fetcher By WILLIAM TENN and a carrier for proven, seasoned men. But tomorrow, tomorrow . . This was his birthday. Tomor- y row, he would be sent forth to Steal for Mankind. When he re- Illustrated turned — and have no fear: Eric by FINLAY was swift, Eric was clever, he would return — off might go the loose loin cloths of boyhood to be replaced by the tight loin straps of a proud Male Society warrior. He would be free to raise his voice and express his opinions in the Councils of Mankind. He could stare at the women when-

8 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 9 ”

ever he liked, for as long as he how. man awful A could really strut according to Mankind’s tradi- some men have to do an liked, to approach them even — with such a mate. of convincing. An awful lot, tions, unlucky. She was probably lot He found himself wandering to But she the wife was of a band having a hard time finding a Eric-O.” the end of his band’s burrow, still leader and far, far beyond him. laughter bounced mate. But his own mother had The ball of carrying the spear he was sharp- Her daughter, though, Selma again, heavier the been a redhead. back, and forth ening for his uncle. There, where Soft-Skinned, would probably be Yes, and his mother had been than before. Eric the Only felt a women’s burrow began, several flattered by his attentions. red. How She very unlucky indeed. his face turn bright members of the Female Society still wore her hair in a heavy Even his father had been in- dare they remind him of his were preparing food stolen from bun: it would be at least all a year fected with her terrible bad luck. birth? On this day of days? the Monster larder that very day. before the Female Society would about to prepare Still, Harriet the History-Teller Here he was Each spell had to be performed consider her an initiate and al- was an important person in the himself to go forth and Steal for properly, each incantation said low her to drape it about her tribe for one her age. Good-look- Mankind . . . just right, or it would not be fit nakedness. No, far too young and ing too. And, above all, she didn’t He dropped the sharpening to eat. It might even be danger- unimportant for a man on the turn away from him. She smiled stone into his pouch and slid his ous. Mankind was indeed fortu- very verge of warrior status. at him, openly now. He smiled right hand back along his uncle’s nate: plenty of food, Another girl readily caught his eye. back. spear. “At least,” he said, slowly available, and women who well She had been observing him for “Look at Eric!” he heard some- and definitely, “at least, my understood the magical some time and smiling behind work of her one call out behind him. “He’s woman will stay convinced, Roy preparing lashes, it for human consump- behind her demurely set already searching for a mate. the Runner. She won’t be always tion. mouth. Harriet the History-Tel- Hey, Eric! You’ve not even wear- open to offers from every other such ler, the oldest And women — such daughter of Rita ing straps yet First comes the man in the tribe.” splendid creatures! the Record-Keeper, who would stealing. Then comes the mating.” “You lousy little throwback!” Sarah the Sickness-Healer, for one day succeed to her mother’s Eric spun around, bits of fan- Roy the Runner yelled. He example, with her incredible office. there was a lovely, Now tasy still stuck to his lips. leaped away from the rest of the slender knowledge of what food was fit girl, her hair completely The group of young men loung- band and into a crouch facing and unfit, what was her only gar- unwound in testament to full ing against the wall of his band’s Eric, his spear tense in one hand. ment a cloud of hair that alter- womanhood and recognized pro- burrow were tossing laughter “You’re asking for a hole in the nately screened and revealed her fessional status. back and forth between them. belly! My woman’s had two lit- hips and breasts, the largest in They were all adults: they had ters off me, two big litters. What all Mankind. There a 'C’RIC had caught these covert, was woman all made their Theft. Socially, would you have given her, you for you! Over five litters she had barely stated smiles from they were still his superiors. His dirty singleton?” had, two of them of maximum her before; especially in the last only recourse was cold dignity. “She’s had two litters, but not size. few weeks, as the time for his “I know that,” he began. “There off you,” Eric the Only spat, Eric watched as she turned a Theft approached. He knew that is no mating until — holding his spear out in the guard yellow chunk of food around and if he were successful — and he “Until never for some people,” position. “If you’re the father, around under the glow lamp had to be successful: don’t dare one of the young men broke in. then the chief’s blonde hair is hanging from the ceiling of the think of an5Tthing but success! — He rattled his spear in his hand, contagious — like measles.” burrow, looking for she only she would look with favor on ad- carelessly, proudly. “After you Roy bellowed and jabbed his knew what and recognizing it vances from him. Of course, Har- steal, you still have to convince spear forward. Eric parried it and she when found it she only knew riet was a redhead, and therefore, a woman that you’re a man. And lunged in his turn. He missed as

10 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 11 glinted in the light of the pulled the spear from his back his opponent leaped to one side. what’s good for you, hear me?” They lantern bound to his fore- sling and took Eric’s arm. He They circled each other, cursing “I wasn’t fighting a duel,” the tiny the glow lantern that only drew the youth along the burrow and insulting, eyes only for the Runner mumbled, sheathing his head, accredited warriors might until they stood alone in the very point of each other’s sjjears. The own spear. “The kid got above fully After a while, the older man center of it. He looked carefully other young men had scrambled himself. I was punishing him.” wear. his head and said, very at the exits at either end, making a distance down the burrow to “You punish with the haft of shook gently: certain that they were completely get out of their way. the spear. And anyway, this is my “Eric, Eric, forget about it, alone before giving his reply in band and I do the punishing He was all of those things an unusually low, guarded voice. A POWERFUL arm suddenly around here. Now move on out, boy. more. Your father was fa- “We’d never be able to prove clamped Eric’s waist from all of you, and get ready for the and mous. Eric the Storeroom-Storm- anything like that. If you don’t behind and lifted him off his feet. council. I’ll attend to the boy my- er, we called him, Eric the Laugh- want to be Eric the Only, if you He was kicked hard, so that he self.” er at Locks, Eric the Roistering want to be Eric the something- stumbled a half-dozen steps and They went off obediently with- Robber of all Mankind. He else, well then, it’s up to you. You fell. On his feet in a moment, the out looking back. The Trap- taught me everything I know. But have to make a good Theft. spear still in his hand, he whirled, Smasher’s band was famous for he only married once. And if any That’s what you should be think- ready to deal with this new op- its discipline throughout the other woman ever played around ing about all the time now — ponent. He was mad enough to length and breadth of Mankind. with him, she’s been careful to your Theft. Eric, which category fight all Mankind. A proud thing to be a member keep it a secret. Now dress up are you going to announce?” But not Thomas the Trap- of it. But to be called a boy in those spears. You’ve let them get He hadn’t thought about it Smasher. No, not that mad. front of the others! A boy, when all sloppy. Butts together, that’s very much. “The usual one I All the tension drained out of he was full-grown and ready to the way, points up and even with guess. The one that’s picked for him as he recognized the captain begin stealing! each other.” most initiations. First category.” of his band. He couldn’t fight Although, come to think of it, The older man brought his lips Thomas. His uncle. And the he’d rather be called a boy than l^UTIFULLY, Eric rearranged together, looking dissatisfied. greatest of all men. Guiltily, he a singleton. A boy eventually be- L' .” the bundle of armament that “First category. Food. Well . . walked to the niche in the wall came a man, but a singleton was his responsibility. He turned Eric felt he understood. “You where the band’s weapons were stayed a singleton forever. He put to his uncle again, now examining mean, for someone like me — an stacked and slid his uncle’s spear the problem to his uncle who the knapsacks and canteens that Only, who’s really got to make a into its appointed place. was at the niche, inspecting the would be carried on the expedi- name for himself — I ought to “What the hell’s the matter band’s reserve pile of spears. tion. “Suppose there had been an- announce like a real warrior? I with you, Roy?” Thomas was “Isn’t it possible — I mean, it other woman. My father could should say I’m going to steal in asking behind him. “Fighting a is possible, isn’t it — that my have had two, three, even four the second category — Articles duel with an initiate? Where’s father had some children by an- litters by different women. Extra- Useful to Mankind. Is that what your band spirit? That’s all we other woman? You told me he large litters too. If we could prove my father would have done?” need these days, to be cut down was one of the best thieves we something like that, I wouldn’t “Do you know what your fath- from six effectives to five. Save ever had.” be a singleton any more. I would er would have done?” your spear for Strangers, or — The captain of the band turned not be Eric the Only.” “No. What?” Eric demanded if you feel vety brave — for to study him, folding his arms The Trap-Smasher sighed and eagerly. Monsters. But don’t show a point across his chest so that biceps thought for a moment. Then he “He’d have elected the third in our band’s burrow if you know swelled into greatness and power.

THE IN THE WALLS 13 12 GALAXY MEN it’s guess so. wouldn’t category. That’s what I’d be an- “That’s easy,” Eric chuckled. familiar verbal terrain. “Well, “I — I I our ancestors knew. And know.” nouncing these days, if I were “That’s the easiest question there what what they did with it, I guess. “Well, I know. I know from going through an initiation cere- is. A child could answer it: is what you need be- plenty of battle experience. The mony. That’s what I want you to “Hit back at_ the Monsters,” he Knowhow thing to remember is that once announce.” quoted. “Drive them from the fore you can make hydrogen or economic warfare or our ancestors were knocked down, “Third category? Monster sou- planet, if we can. Regain Earth bombs missiles, any of those real- they stayed down. That means venirs? But no one’s elected the for Mankind, if we can. But guided big weapons like our ancestors their science and knowhow were third category in I don’t know above all, hit back at the Mon- ly not so much in the first place. how many auld lang synes. Why sters. Make them suffer as they’ve had.” weapons do them And that means —” here he should I do it?” made us suffer. Make them know “Did those Against the Monsters, turned his head and looked di- “Because this is more than just we’re still here, we’re still fighting. any good? rectly into Eric’s eyes — “that an initiation ceremony. It could Hit back at the Monsters.” I mean. Did they stop the Mon- means the science of our ances- be the beginning of a new life for “Hit back at the Monsters. sters?” completely blank tors wasn’t worth one good damn all of us.” Right. Now how have we been Eric looked against the Monsters, and it Eric frowned. What could be doing that?” for a moment, then brightened. wouldn’t be worth one good more than an initiation ceremony Eric the Only stared at his Oh! He knew the way now. He to damn to us!” and his attainment of full thiev- uncle. That wasn’t the next ques- knew how to get back the Eric the Only turned pale. He ing manhood? tion in the catechism. He must catechism: knew heresy when he heard it. “There are things going on in have heard incorrectly. His uncle “The suddenness of the attack, ” Mankind, these days,” Thomas couldn’t have made a mistake in the — his uncle ordered. ¥¥IS uncle patted him on the the Trap-Smasher continued in a such a basic ritual. “Stop it!” of that gar- shoulder, drawing a deep strange, urgent voice. “Big things. “We will do that,” he went on “Don’t give me any out And you’re going to be a part of in the second reply, his voice bage! The suddenness of the at- breath as if he’d finally spat extremely unpleasant. them. This Theft of yours — if sliding into the singsong of child- tack, the treachery of the Mon- something ex- closer, glittering you handle it right, if you do what hood lessons, “by regaining the sters — does it sound like an He leaned eyes If forehead glow lamp I tell you, it’s likely to blow the science and knowhow of our fore- planation to you? Honestly? beneath the really of his voice dropped to a fierce lid off everything the chief has fathers. Man was once Lord of all our ancestors were Lords and been sitting on.” Creation: his science and know- Creation and had such great whisper. “The chief?” Eric felt confused. how made him supreme. Science weapons, would the Monsters “Eric. When I asked you how to conquer them? we’ve been hitting back at the He was walking up a strange bur- and knowhow is what we need to have been able row now without a glow lamp. hit back at the Monsters.” I’ve led my band on dozens of Monsters, you told me what we of ought to do. haven’t been do- “Whats the chief got to do with “Now, Eric,” his tmcle asked raids, and I know the value a We surprise attack; but believe me, ing a single thing to bother them. my Theft?” gently. “Please tell me this. What it’s only for a flash don’t know how to recon- in hell is knowhow?” boy, good We charge and a quick getaway if struct the ancestor-science, we ¥¥IS uncle examined both ends That was way off. They were a don’t tools or weapons of the corridor again. “Eric, full corridor’s length from the you’re facing a superior force. have the whatever that is what’s the most important thing normal progression of the cate- You can knock somebody down or knowhow — we, or you, or anyone, can do? chism now. when he doesn’t expect it But — but they wouldn’t do us a bit if he really has more than you, of good even if we had them. Be- What is our life all about? What “Knowhow is — knowhow is failed once. are we here for?” —” he stumbled over the un- he won’t stay down. Right?” cause they They

14 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 15 ” ” i

Eric. All to . . . they died dug burrow, you have failed completely and at their about him, though: everyone in ordinary robbery face through is the council. You’ll best. There’s just no point in try- the Male Society had — he was lor it! realized before have to be steady there, no mat- ing to put them together again.” a great thief. But once he be- He had never that his parents ter what. You tell the chief that And now Eric understood. He came my brother-in-law, I learned how odd it was territory to- you’re undertaking the third understood why his imcle had a lot from him. I learned about had gone to Monster his wife and category.” whispered, why there had been locks, about the latest traps — gether, a man taking her baby! “But why the third?” Eric so much strain in this conversa- and I learned about Alien-Sci- the woman taking re- asked. does it have to be tion. Bloodshed was involved ence. He’d been an Alien-Science As he relaxed, his uncle “Why hand. “What Monster souvenirs?” here, bloodshed and death. man for years. He converted your moved the gagging “Because that’s what we need. “Uncle Thomas,” he whispered, mother, and he converted me.” kind of Theft was it that my stick to it, no matter in a voice that kept cracking de- Eric the Only backed away. parents died in?” And you his face and what pressure they put on you. spite his efforts to keep it whole “No!” he called out wildly. “Not Thomas examined you’re an initiate has the and steady, “how long have you my father and mother! They were seemed satisfied. “The kind Remember, decide what he’s going to been an Alien-Science man? decent people — when they were going after,” he said. “If you are right to you’re man steal. man’s first Theft is his When did you leave Ancestor- killed a service was held in their your father’s son. If A the work he own affair.” Science?” name — they went to add to the enough to continue listen, uncle — Thomas the Trap-Smasher ca- science of our ancestors — started. Are you?” “But, from the ressed his spear before he an- Eric started to nod, then found There was a whistle shrugging weakly, and end of the burrow. Thomas the swered. He felt for it with a gen- ¥¥IS uncle jammed a powerful himself just hung his head. He Trap-Smasher nodded in the di- tle, wandering arm, almost uncon- hand over his mouth. finally didn’t know what to say. His rection of the signal. sciously, but both of them regis- “Shut up, you damn fool, or his uncle was his “The council’s beginning, boy. tered the fact that it was loose you’ll finish us both! Of course uncle — well, leader, and he was We’ll talk later, on expedition. and ready. His tremendous body, your parents were decent people. model and his His remember this: stealing nude except for the straps about How do you think they were strong and wise and crafty. Now wanted to from the third category is your his loins and the light spear-sling killed? Your mother was with father — naturally, he his father and continue own idea, and all your own idea. on his back, looked as if it were your father out in Monster terri- emulate he had started. Forget everything else we’ve preparing to move instantaneous- tory. Have you ever heard of a whatever work cere- talked about. If you hit any ly in any direction. woman going along with her hus- But this was his initiation trouble with the chief. I’ll be He stared again from one end band on a Theft? And taking her mony, after all, and there would be enough danger merely in there. I’m your sponsor, after all.” of the burrow to the other, his baby with her? Do you think it For his He threw an arm about his forehead lamp reaching out to was an ordinary robbery of the proving his manhoood. take on a confused nephew and walked to the branching darkness of the Monsters? They were Alien-sci- initiation ceremony to destroyed his fath- the end of the burrow where the exits. Eric stared with him. No ence people, serving their faith task that had tribe other members of the band one was leaning tightly against a as best they could. They died for er, the greatest thief the had heretical, waited. wall and listening. it.” ever known, and a II “How long? Since I got to Eric looked into his uncle’s blasphemous task at that . . . . know your father. He was in an- eyes over the hand that covered “I’ll try. I don’t know if I can.” uncle told f^HE tribe had gathered in its other band; naturally we hadn’t the lower half of his face. Alien- “You can,” his him seen much of each heartily. “It’s been set up for you. central and largest burrow other before science people . . . serving their It will be like walking through a under the great, hanging glow he married my sister. I’d heard faith ... do you think it was an

16 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 17 lamps that might be used in this an unmistakable resemblance to clearly. And it was vital to think “He is accepted as a candidate place alone. Except for the few Franklin’s. clearly. His responses to the next by the men. Now the women sentinels on duty in the outlying Franklin clapped his hands, few questions had to be exactly must ask for proof, for only a corridors, all of Mankind was three evenly spaced, flesh-heavy right. woman’s proof bestows full man- here. It was an awesome sight to wallops. hood.” behold. “In the name of our ancestors,” he chief was asking the first: The first part was over. And On the little hillock known as he said, “and the science with T “Eric the Only, do you apply it hadn’t been too bad. Eric the Royal Mound, lolled face the advancing Franklin which they ruled the Earth, I de- for full manhood?” turned to Ot- the Father of Many Thieves, clare this council op>ened. May it Eric breathed hard and leaders of the Female Society, Chieftain of all Mankind. He end as one more step in the re- nodded. “I do.” tilie, the Chieftain’s First Wife, alone of the cluster of warriors gaining of their science. Who “As a full man, what will be in the center. Now came the part displayed heaviness of belly and asked for a council?” your value to Mankind?” that scared him. The women’s flabbiness of arm — for he alone “I did.” Thomas the Trap- “I will steal for Mankind what- part. a had the privilege of a sedentary Smasher moved out of his band ever it needs. I will defend Man- As was customary at such life. Beside the sternly muscled and stood before the chief. kind against all outsiders. I will moment, his uncle and sponsor band leaders who formed his im- Franklin nodded, and went on increase the possessions and left him when the women came mediate background, he looked with the next, formal question: knowledge of the Female Society forward. Thomas the Trap- almost womanly; and yet one of “And your reason?” so that the Female Society can Smasher led his band to the war- his many titles was simply The “As a band leader, I call at- increase the power and well-be- riors grouped about the Throne Man. tention to a candidate for man- ing of Mankind.” Mound. There, with their col- Yes, unquestionably The Man hood. A member of my band, a “And all this you swear to do?” leagues, they folded their arms of Mankind was Franklin the spear-carrier for the required “And all this I swear to do.” across their chests and turned to Father of Many Thieves. You time, and an accepted apprentice The Chief turned to Eric’s watch. A man can only give proof could tell it from the hushed, re- in the Male Society. My nephew, imcle. “As his sponsor, do you of his manhood while he is alone; spectful attitudes of the subor- Eric the Only.” support his oath and swear that his friends cannot support him dinate warriors who stood at a As his name was sung out, Eric he is to be trusted?” once the women approach. distance from the mound. You shook himself. Half on his own With just the faintest hint of It was not going to be easy, could tell it from the rippling in- volition and half in response to sarcasm in his voice, Thomas the Eric realized. He had hoped that terest of the women as they stood the pushes he received from the Trap-Smasher replied: “Yes. I at least one of his uncle’s wives on the other side of the great bur- other warriors, he stumbled up to support his oath and swear that would be among the three exam- row, drawn up in the ranks of the his uncle and faced the chief. he is to be trusted.” iners: they were both kindly peo- Female Society. You could tell it This, the most important moment There was a rattling moment, ple who liked him and had from the nervousness and scorn of his life, was proving almost the barest second, when the talked to him much about the with which the women were too much for him. So many peo- chief’s eyes locked with those of mysteries of women’s work. But watched by their leader, Ottilie, ple in one place, accredited and the band leader. With all that he had drawn a trio of hard-faced the Chieftain’s First Wife. And famous warriors, knowledgeable was on Eric’s mind at the mo- females who apparently intended finally, you could tell it from the and attractive women, the chief ment, he noticed it. Then the to take him over the full course faces of the children, standing in himself, all this after the shatter- chief looked away and pointed to before they passed him. a distant, disorganized bunch. A ing revelations from his uncle — the women on the other side of Sarah the Sickness-Healer clear majority of their faces bore he was finding it hard to think the burrow. opened the proceedings. She

18 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 19 circled him belligerently, hands men had told him, was what you over. That was the expected of him. “No,” he contra- cal test was on hips, her great breasts rolling had to do at this moment: it “That’s not why we was important thing for now. In dicted her. to and fro like a pair of swollen not you they were hurting, not gushed steal. We live on what we steal, sheer reaction, his body pendulums, her eyes glittering you at all. You, your rnind, your slid over the but we do not steal just to go on forth sweat which with scorn. knowledge of self, were in an- bloody cracks in his skin and living.” “Eric the Only,” she intoned, other part of the burrow entirely, water “Why?” she asked blandly, ^as stung viciously. He felt the and then paused to grin, as if it watching these painful things know the answer bet- be- pouring down his back and if she didn’t were a name impossible to be- ing done to someone else. than any other member of the forced himself not to go limp, ter lieve, “Eric the Singleton, Eric the steal? What is The pin sank into his chest prodded his mind into alertness. tribe. “Why do we one and only child of either his for little than survival?” a distance, paused, came “Did that hurt?” he was being more important mother or his father. Your par- out. It probed here, probed there; it now. The cate- asked by Rita, the old crone of Here was ents almost didn’t have enough finally it found a nerve in his a chism. a Record-Keeper. There was between them to make a solitary upper arm. There, guided at the Monsters,” by the solicitous smile on her forty-year- “To hit back child. Is there enough in you to knowledge of the Sickness-Heal- drive them from old face, but he knew it was a he began. “To make a man?” er, it bit and clawed at the deli- planet, if we can. Regain fake. A woman as old as that no the cate area until Eric felt if we can. he would longer felt sorry for anybody. She Earth for Mankind, the ^^HERE was a snigger of ap- grind his teeth to powder in the had too many aches and pains But, above all, hit back at .” effort not to out. . . preciation from the children cry His clenched and things generally wrong with Monsters . in fists twisted agonizingly the long the distance, and it was echoed at the her to worry about other people’s He ploughed through the end by a few growling laughs from ends of his arms in a paroxysm troubles. verbal ritual, pausing at of protest, Record- the vicinity of the Throne but he kept his body “A little,” he said. “Not much.” of each part, so that the Mound. Eric felt his face and still. He didn’t cry out; he didn’t “The Monsters will hurt you Keeper could ask the proper se- neck go red. He would have move away; he didn’t raise a much more if they catch you question and initiate the next fought any man to the death for hand to protect himself. stealing from them, do you know quence. remarks like these. Any man at Sarah the Sickness-Healer that? They will hurt you much She tried to trip him once. She all. But who could lift his hand stepped back and considered him. more than we ever could.” reversed the order of the fifth to a woman and be allowed to “There is no man here yet,” she “I know. But the stealing is and sixth questions. Instead of live? Besides, one of the main said grudgingly. “But perhaps more important than the risk I’m “What will we do with the Mon- purposes of this exhibition was there is the beginnings of one.” taking. The stealing is the most sters when we have regained the to investigate his powers of self- He could relax. The physical important thing a man can do.” Earth from them?” she asked, control. test was over. There would be “Why can’t we use the Mon- “I think so,” he managed to another one, much later, after he ita the Record-Keeper sters’ own Alien-Science to fight say after a long pause. “And I’m had completed his theft success- R nodded. “Because you steal the Monsters?” willing to prove it.” fully; but that would be exclu- things Mankind needs in order to Carried along by mental habit, “Prove it, sively as his then!” the woman by men part of proud live. You steal things that the Fe- Eric was well into the passage snarled. Her right hand, holding initiation ceremony. Under the male Society can make into food, beginning “We will keep them as a long, sharp-pointed pin, shot to circumstances, he knew he would clothing and weapons for Man- our ancestors kept all strange his chest like a flung spear. Eric be able to go through it almost kind, so that Mankind can live animals, in a place called a zoo, made his muscles rigid and tried gaily. and flourish.” or we will drive them into our to send his mind away. That, the Meanwhile, the women’s physi- He saw the way, saw what was burrows and force them to live

20 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 21 as ive have lived,” before he real- mouth reeled off the familiar prejudiced, disinterested observ- vision under which you will live ized the switch and stopped in words and concepts, his mind proceed- and die.” ers, his examination was confusion. Then he got a grip on kept wondering how the two fit- ing very well indeed. himself, sought the right answer ted together. Hs uncle was Alien- Singleton, he thought fiercely TTE stared at the wall, breath- in his memory with calmness, as Science, and, according to his find to himself. I’ll show them what a ing hard. Now he would his uncle’s wives had schooled uncle, so had been his parents. singleton can do! out what his life was to be about him to do, and began again. Did that make them non-human, Rita the Record-Keeper turned —now! His uncle’s vision at this “There are three reasons why inhuman, anti-human? a knob at the top of the squat moment, years ago, had suggested we cannot ever use Alien-Sci- And what did it make him? He machine and it began to hum. the nickname he came to bear: ence,” he recited, holding up his knew his religious duty well: he She flung her arms up, quivering- the Trap)-Smasher. At the last hand with the thumb and little should at this moment be telling ly apart, and all, warriors, women, initiation ceremony, a youth had finger closed. “Alien-Science is all Mankind about his uncle’s children, apprentices, even the called forth a sequence in which non-human, Alien-Science is in- horrible secret. chief himself, all bowed their two enormous airborne vehicles human, Alien-Science is anti-hu- The whole subject was far too heads. of the ancestors had collided. man. First, since it is non-human,” complicated for someone with his “Harken to the words of our They’d tried to cheer the boy he closed his forefinger, “we can- limited experience. ancestors,” she chanted. “Watch up, but he’d known his fate was not use it because we can never When he had completed the closely the spectacle of their great upon him. Sure enough, he had understand it. And because it is lengthy catechism, Rita the Rec- achievements. When their end been caught by a monster in the inhuman, we would never want ord-Keeper said: “And this is was upon them, and they knew middle of his Theft and dashed to use it even if we could under- what you say about the science of that only we, their descendants, to pieces against a wall. stand it. And because it is anti- our ancestors. Now we will find might regain the Earth they had Even then, Eric decided, he’d human and can only be used to out what the science of our an- lost, they made this machine for rather have that kind of a se- hurt and damage Mankind, we cestors says about you.” the future generations of Man- quence than the awful emptiness would not be able to use it so She signaled over her shoulder, kind as a guide to the science that of a blank vision. When, every long as we remain human our- without turning her head, and once had been and must be once in a while, the machine went selves. Alien-Science is the op- two young girls — female appren- again.” on and showed nothing but a posite of Ancestor-Science in tices — pulled forward the large The old woman lowered her blinding white rectangle, the every way, ugly instead of beauti- record machine which was the arms. Simultaneously, heads went whole tribe knew that the youth ful, hurtful instead of helpful. very center of the tribe’s religious up all over the burrow and stared being examined had no possibility When we die, Alien-Science life. They stepped back, both expectantly at the wall opposite of manhood in him at all. And would not bring us to the world smiling shyly and encouragingly the record machine, waiting for the machine was never wrong. A of our ancestors, but to another at Eric the Only. the magic message. boy who’d drawn a blank vision world full of Monsters.” He knew the smiles meant lit- “Eric the Only,” Rita called, inevitably became more and tle more than simple best wishes spinning the dial on the left of more effeminate as he grew older A LL in all, it went very well, from apprentices of one sex to the machine with one hand and without ever going out on his despite the trap into which apprentices of the other, but even stabbing at it randomly with the Theft. He tended to shun the he had almost fallen. that was quite a bit at the mo- forefinger of the other. “This is company of warriors and to ask But he couldn’t help remem- ment. It meant that he was much the sequence in the science of our the women for minor tasks to bering the conversation with his closer to full status than they. It ancestors that speaks for you perform. The machine of the an- uncle in the other burrow. As his that, in meant the opinion of im- alone. This is the appointed cestors looked at a boy and told

22 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 23 exactly what he was and what he men, women, children, from the would become. four comers of the glittering It had been great, that science screen to some strange stmcture which had produced this machine, in the center and disappeared no doubt about it. There was a into its entrance. More and more power source in it which was self- poured in, more and more kept contained, and which was sup- materializing at the edges and posed to be like the power be- scrambling toward the structure hind all things. It would run al- in the center. most forever, if the machine were “Scattergood’s does it again!” not tampered with — although the vision yelled out at them. who could dream of tampering “The sale of sales! The value of with it? In its visions were locked, values! Only at Scattergood’s not only the secrets of every in- three stores tomorrow. Binocu- dividual human being, but enor- lars, tape recorders, cameras, all mous mysteries which the whole at tremendous reductions, many of Mankind had to solve before it below cost. Value, value, value!” could work out its salvation Now the vision showed only through the rituals and powers of objects. Strange, unfamiliar ob- the ancestral science. jects such as the ancestors used. Now, however, there was only And at each object appeared, the one small part of Mankind that voice recited a charm over it. concerned Eric. Himself. His fu- Powerful and ancient magic this, ture. He waited, growing more the forgotten lore of Ancestor- and more tense as the power hum Science, from the machine increased in “Krafft-Yahrmann Exposure

pitch. And suddenly there was a Meters, the best there is, you’ve grunt of awe from the entire bur- heard about them and now you row of people as a vision was can buy them, the light meter thrown upon the wall. that’s an eye-opener, a price to fit He hadn’t drawn a blank. That every pocketbook, eight dollars was the most important thing. He and ninety-five cents, tomorrow had been given an authentic an- at Scattergood’s, absolutely only cestral vision. one to a customer. “Scattergood’s does it again!” “Kyoto Automatic Eight-Milli- a voice blared, as the picture pro- meter Movie Cameras with an f jected on the wall showed people 1.4 lens and an electric eye that coming from all directions, wear- does all the focusing and gives ing the strange body wrappings you a perfect exposure every of the ancestors. They rushed. single time. As low as three dol-

24 GALAXY I

lars a week. The supply is limited, teen dollars and ninety-five cents, T WAS as Ottilie the Augur No, that was a little better, but so hurry, hurry, hurry!” with case. 10 x 50, only fifteen I that she could pick out the it was dreadfully vague, almost dollars and ninety-five cents, with one new-born babe in a litter of as bad as a blank vision. 'C’RIC watched the sequence Ottilia’s writh- un- case. You see further, you see three that had to be destroyed He stared past fold, his hands squeezing clearer, you pay less. You always because, in some way or other, ing figure to where his uncle each other, his eyes almost dis- pay less at Scattergood’s. stood, surrounded by his band, Rock- it would one day bring death to tended in reverence and a little to the left of the Throne concen- bottom prices! Skyscraper values! its people. It was as Ottilie the tration. This was the clue to his Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, Augur that, upon the death of Mound. Thomas the Trap-Smash- grin- life, to what he might become. at Scattergood’s annual week- the old chief, she had chosen er was watching Ottilie and This was the sequence that the after-Hallowe’en Sale!” Franklin the Father of Many ning with all his teeth. record machine of the ancestors, There was a click as the vision Thieves to take over the leader- What did he find so funny, turned on at random, had vouch- went off abruptly to be replaced ship of Mankind since he stimu- Eric wondered desperately? Was safed as a prophecy of his future. by a white rectangle on the wall lated the most propitious omens. there nothing holy to him? Didn’t All knowledge was in that ma- of the burrow. Eric realized that In everything she had been right. he realize how important it was chine — and no possibility of this was all the clue there was to And now, once again it was as to Eric’s future that his vision be error. be to his life. What did it mean? Ottilie the Augur that she threw readable, that he get a name to But Eric was getting worried. Could it be interpreted? her arms over her head and be proud of? What was fimny in The vision was so strange. Some- Anxiously, now, he turned to twisted and swayed and moaned Ottilia’s agony as she gave birth times there would be a vision Ottilie, the Chieftain’s First Wife. as she sought deep inside her- to Eric’s future? that baffled even the wisest He turned to her as everyone else self for the meaning of Eric’s vis- He realized that Ottilie was be-

women. And that meant the in Mankind was now turning, ion, it was as Ottilie the Augur ginning to make coherent sounds. youth who had called it forth Sarah the Sickness-Healer and and not as Ottilie the Chieftain’s He strained his ears to listen. would always be a puzzle, to him- Rita the Record-Keeper amongst First Wife, for that she had been This, this was it. Who he really self and all of Mankind. them. only since Franklin had ascended was. Who he would be, for all his Let it not happen to him! O Only Ottilie could read a vis- the Throne Mound. life. ancestors, O science, O record ion, only short, squat, imperious The scratches and holes “Three times,” Ottilie mumbled machine, let it not happen to Ottilie. The Chieftain’s First Wife gouged in his body by Sarah the in a voice that steadily grew him! was her title of honor and her Sickness-Healer had begun to clearer and louder, “three times Let him only have a clear and latest title, but long before she ache badly, but Eric shrugged off our ancestors gave Eric his name. definite vision so that his per- had acquired that, long before their annoyance. Could his vision Three repetitions they made. sonality could be clear and defi- even she had become Head of the be interpreted? And how would Three different ways they called nite for the rest of his life! Female Society, she had been Ot- it be interpreted? on him to become what their “Our special imported high- tilie the Augur, Ottilie the Omen- Whatever Ottilie saw in the science needed him to be. And power precision binoculars,” the Teller, Ottilie who could walk in vision would stick to him for the all of you heard it, and I heard voice roared on as a man ap- her mind from the homey burrow rest of his life, much closer than it, and Eric heard it too.” peared in the vision and brought of the present into the dark, the dried blood upon his arms Which, Eric puzzled, which one of the strange objects up to labyrinthine corridors of the fu- and legs and chest. How could among the many strange magical his eyes. “If we told you the man- ture, Ottilie who could read signs, you possibly interpret such a vis- statements had contained his ufacturer’s name, you’d recognize Ottilie who could announce por- ion? Eric the Scattergood? That name and his life’s-work? He it immediately. 7 x 50, only four- tents. was meaningless. Eric the Value? waited for the Augur to come out

26 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 27 waited until Ottilie, no longer the I will see them and give warn- with it. He had almost given up pier, Eric who seeks out the path now, no longer the Omen- ing of them in time. breathing. for Mankind. Eric who hits back Augur but once more the Chief- I will walk at the head of the Her body relaxed now, her at the Monsters with his eye, his Teller, First Wife — he waited un- line of warriors and see for them, hands hanging at her sides, Ottilie open eye, his electric eye, his tain’s had returned to her place And they shall be confident was speaking to them in a sharp, further-seeing, clearer-seeing, less- til she head of the Female Soci- and they shall conquer — authoritative voice as she stared paying eye. For this is the word at the before he began to sing. For they have Eric the Espier at the wall of the burrow where of the ancestors, and all of you ety, threw back his head and to lead the way and point the the vision had appeared. have heard it.” He “ out his arms and danced path! ‘A light meter that’s an eye- At last Eric could take a deep spread stampingly, before Man- opener,’ the ancestor-science breath, and he did so now, noisily, proudly, He spun around in great QO he sang as he danced before said,” she reminded them. “And in common with the whole of kind. dizzying circles and leaped in the ^ Mankind, under the enor- ‘an electric eye that does all the Mankind who had been hanging and came down with wrench- mous glow lamps of its great cen- focusing.’ And ‘you see further, on Ottilie’s words. Eric the Eye air ing spasmodic twists of his legs tral burrow. He sang of his mis- you see clearer, you pay less,’ the — that was what he was to be. and arms. And as he danced, he sion in life as just a few short Record-Machine told us of Eric. If he was successful . . . and if auld lang synes ago he had heard What the ancestors want of Eric he lived. sang. He sang out of the pride that Roy the Runner, at his initiation, is unmistakable, what he must be Eric the Eye. Eric the Espier. racked his chest like a soul cough- sing of the fleetness and swiftness if we are to hit back at the Mon- Now he knew about himself. It out of the majesty of the war- that he would soon be the master sters and regain the Earth which was fixed, and for all time. It ing, rior-that-was-to-be, out of his sure of; as his Uncle Thomas had sung is rightfully ours.” was a good name to bear, a fine knowledge of self. And he sang long before that of his coming personality to have. He had been promise to his fellows: ability to detect and dismantle ^HANK the record machine, very fortunate. his 1 am Eric the Eye, traps; as once his own father had thank each and every an- Rita the Record-Keeper and Eric the Open Eye, sung of the robberies he was to cestor! At least the message had her daughter> Harriet the History- Eric the Electric Eye, commit, of the storerooms he been unmistakable. But what pre- Teller, rolled the record machine Eric the Further - Seeing, would empty for the benefit of cisely had it been? back into its accustomed holy Clearer-Seeing, Less-Paying Eye. Mankind. He sang and he leaped Ottilie the Augur, the Omen- place, the niche in the wall be- Eric the Espier — and he whirled, and all the while Teller, turned to face him now hind the Throne Mound. Despite Eric who finds and points out the watching host of Mankind where he stood apart from the the sacred quality of the act in the way. beat time with its feet and hands rest of eagerly-watching Man- which she was engaged, the Are you lost in a strange place? and played chorus in the litany kind. He straightened up and younger woman could not take I will show you the path to of his triumph. stood stiffly to learn his fate. her eyes off Eric. He was a person your home. Then came a loud grunt from “Eric,” she said. “Eric the Only, of consequence now, or at least Does the burrow break off in Franklin the Father of Many Eric the Singleton, you go out would be when he returned. too many branches? Thieves. The noise stopped. Eric now to make your Theft. If you Other young and mating-aged I will pick out the best one and danced to a quivering halt, his are successful and return alive, women, he noticed, were looking Mankind shall walk through in body wet all over, his limbs still you will become a man. And as at him the same way. safety. trembling. a man you will no longer be Eric He began to walk around in a Are there enemies about, hid- “That is what is to be,” Frank- the Only, you will be Eric the little circle before Mankind, and, den traps, unthought-of dangers? lin pointed out, “once the Theft Eye. Eric the Eye, Eric the Es- as he walked, he strutted. He THE MEN IN THE WALLS 29 28 GALAXY going on in Mankind, looks on their faces as if they has been made. But first, first at Eric for a while. His great something and un- were calculating highly complex comes the Theft. Always before belly and fat arms quivered with something dangerous problems. manhood comes the Theft. Now disbelief. savory. considered Even the children were re- let us speak of your Theft.” “The third category, did you The chief obviously factor in what- markably quiet. They served the “I will go into the very home say? The third?” him an important food over which the women had of the Monsters,” Eric announced Eric, thoroughly frightened ever difficulty had arisen. Usual- to depart on said charms much earlier, then proudly, his head thrown back now, nodded. ly, an initiate about con- scurried to their places and ate before the chief. “I will go into Franklin turned to Chief Wife a Theft was the focus of all ate in its with wide eyes aimed at their their home alone, with no com- Ottilie. They both peered through versation as Mankind squat- elders. panion but my own weapons, as a the ranks of Mankind to where central burrow, the women on the All in all, Eric was distinctly warrior should. I will steal from Thomas the Trap-Smasher stood ting on one side, the men relieved when Franklin the Fa- them, no matter what the danger, in the midst of his band, seem- other, the children at the far ends ther of Many Thieves belched no matter what the threat. And ingly unconcerned by the sensa- where light was dim. But at this only the commandingly, stretched, and what I steal, I will bring back for tion that had just been created. meal, the chief made ritual remarks to lay back on the floor of the bur- the use and enjoyment of Man- “What is this, Thomas?” the most necessary row. In a few minutes, he was kind.” chief demanded, all ceremony Eric. His eyes kept wandering asleep, snoring loudly. Franklin nodded and made the and formality gone from his from him to Thomas the Trap- Night had officially begun. formal reply. “That is good, and speech. “What are you trying to Smasher. in while, Franklin’s it is spoken like a warrior. What pull? What’s this third category Once a IV do you promise to steal from the stuff you’re up to?” eyes met those of Ottilie, his fa- across the Monsters? For your first Theft Thomas the Trap - Smasher vored and first wife, A the end of the sleep period, must be a promise made in ad- turned a bland eye upon him. feast that had been spread the T vance and kept, kept exactly.” “What am I up to? I’m not up to length of the burrow. He seemed as soon as the chief had saying something to her, awakened and yawned, thus pro- Now they were at it. Eric a damn thing. The boy’s got a to be glanced at his uncle for support. right to pick his category. If he although neither of them moved claiming the dawn, Thomas the Thomas the Trap-Smasher was wants to steal in the third cate- their lips. Then they would nod Trap-Smasher’s band started on staring off in a different direction. gory, well, that’s his business. at each other and look back to its trip. officially surnamed Eric licked his lips. Well, maybe What have I got to do with it?” Eric’s uncle. Eric, still carried the precious it wouldn’t be too bad. After all, The chief stared at him for a The rest of Mankind became the Only, in the a youth going off on his first few moments longer. Then he aware of the strained atmos- loin straps of manhood Theft had complete freedom of swung back to Eric and said phere: there was little of the food knapsack the women had choice. shortly: “All right. You’ve chosen. usual laughter and gaiety of an provided for a possible journey Trap- of several days. They should re- “I promise to make my theft in The third category it is. Now initiation feast. The the third category,” he said, his let’s get on with the feast.” Smasher’s band had pulled in turn before the next sleep period, expedi- voice trembling just a little. tightly all around him; most of but when one went on an bothering into territory any- The results were much more SOMEHOW it was all spoiled them were not even tion Monster alert. might happen. than he had anticipated. Franklin ^ for Eric. The initiation feast to eat but sat watchful and thing Other band captains men like They stepped out in full mili- the Father of Many Thieves that preceded a first Theft — how — Stephen the Strong-Armed and tary formation, a long, straggling yelped sharply. He leaped off the he had looked forward to it! But single file, each man barely in Royal Mound and stood gaping he was apparently involved in Harold the Hurler — had worried

30 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 31 f

to him, her eyes down- by Franklin look puny in com- sight of the warrior immediately victorious, the welcoming dance brought it the and light purple blushes on parison, he would prove that ahead. For the first time in his of the women as they threaded cast skin of her face and best hope for Mankind’s increase military career, Eric was wearing their way through the tired ranks, the rosy She had treated him the lay in his loins and his loins alone. only one set of spears — those giving you refreshment and tak- body. wife treats a husband, and And when the time came to se- for himself. Extra weapons for ing from you the supplies that way a warriors — Eric thought lect another chief . . . the band — as well as extra sup- only they could turn into usable many — many full warriors “Hey, you damned day-dream- plies — were on the back of a articles. Then, after you had gleefully their Thefts long behind ing singleton!” Roy the Runner new apprentice, a stripling who eaten and drunk and rested, your with had observed that Eric was was calling from the burrow marched a distance behind Eric, own dance, the dance of the men, them join the ranks of the ahead. “Will you wipe that haze watching him with the same mix- where you sang and acted out likely to Society and the married out of your face and pay atten- ture of fright and exhilaration for the tribe all the events of Male almost simultaneously. tion to signals? This is an expedi- Eric himself had once accorded this particular expedition, the men course, with her unlucky tion to Monster territory, not a warriors. dangers you had overcome, the Of all other quarters. hair, her bustling, domineer- stroll in the women’s Ahead of Eric, momentarily splendid courage you had shown, red mother, Harriet was not ex- Stay alert, will you? The band disappearing as the dim corridor the strange and mysterious sights ing most marriageable girl captain’s sent down a call for curved and branched, was Roy you had seen. actly the Mankind. Still, there were you.” the Runner, his long, loose-jointed The sights you had seen! As in full warriors who had not Amid the chuckles ahead and legs purposefully treading down Eric the Eye, he would probably many damn it, even the any yet been able to persuade a behind him — the mileage. And all the way in be entitled to a solo dance — woman to mate with them, who new apprentice was laughing! the lead of the column, Eric time his band came across any- his three Eric took a firmer grip on his thing particularly curious. Oh, watched Franklin and knew, was his uncle. Thomas the the wives with unconcealed hunger glow torch and sprinted for Trap-Smasher would be striding how high Eric the Eye would envy. How they would envy head of the column. As he passed cautiously yet without any un- leap, how loudly, how proudly, and the newest warror of all, each man, he was asked the name necessary waste of time, the large how melodiously, he would sing Eric, when he mated the same night he of the girl he’d been thinking glow lamp on his forehead con- of the wonders the expedition returned from his theft! Call him about and pressed for interesting stantly shifting from wall to wall had encountered! him singleton, details. Since he kept his mouth and “Eric the Eye,” the women Only, then! Call of the uninhabited burrow warriors then! tightly shut, some of the then straight ahead, the heavy would murmur. “What a fine, fine They would have litter after hypothesized out loud. They were spear in each brawny hand ready figure of a man! What a mate for the truth. litter, he and Harriet, large litters, painfully close to his set some lucky woman!” for instant action, mouth gentler ample litters, four, five, even six His uncle wasn’t much to call the warning behind him if a time. People would forget with him. “Eric the Eye!” the danger materialized. TTARRIET the History-Teller at he’d ever been the product of a Trap-Smasher growled. “Eric the To be a man — this was what this morning, for example, singleton birth. Other women, Eyebrow, Eric the Closed Eye- it was like! To go on expeditions before they started out. She had mates of other warriors, would lash, you’ll be known as, if you like this for the rest of one’s life, filled his canteen for him with wriggle to attract his attention as don’t wake up! Now stay abreast glorious, adventure-charged ex- fresh water as if he were already they now_ wriggled when they of me and try to act like Eric the peditions so that Mankind might an accredited man instead of an caught the eye of Franklin the Eye. These are dangerous bur- eat well and have weapons and initiate going out to face his ulti- Father of Many Thieves. He rows and my vision isn’t as sharp live as Mankind should. And mate trial. Before the eyes of all would make the litters fathered as yours. Besides, I have to fill when you returned, triumphant. Mankind she had filled it and THE IN THE WALLS 33 32 GALAXY MEN f you in on a couple of things.” He handful of Mankind’s store of “Which one?” his uncle de- “It still works. Ancestor-sci- turned. “Spread out a little far- artifacts. manded. ence, doesn’t it?” he pleaded. ther back there,” he called out Where had the burrows come Eric unhesitatingly pointed the “Some of the tme?” to the men behind him. “Spread from? Some said they had been right. “Everything works some of the out! You should be a full spear- dug by the ancestors when they Thomas the Trap-Smasher time. Only Alien-science, though, cast from the backside of the man had first begun to hit back at the nodded. “You have a good mem- works all of the time. It’s work- in front of you. Let me see a real Monsters. Others claimed the ory,” he said as he bore in the ing for Aliens, for the Monsters. strung-out column with plenty burrows had always been there, direction that Eric had indicated. It’s got to begin working for us. of distance between each war- waiting for Mankind to find them “That’s half of being an Eye. The That’s where you come in.” rior.” and be comfortable in them. other half is having a feeling, a He had to remember that his go. In all directions the burrows knack, for the right way to uncle was an experienced cap- Eric, he muttered, once the stretched. On and on they went, You have that too. I’ve noticed tain, a knowledgeable warrior. pro- maneuver had been com- interminably curving and branch- it on every expedition where Thomas the Trap-Smasher’s pleted: “Good. Gives us a chance ing and forking, dark and silent, you’ve been along. That’s what tection and advice had brought to talk without everyone in the until human beings stamped into I told those women — Rita, Ot- him, a despised singleton, an band hearing us. You can trust them with glow lamp and glow tilie — I told them what your orphaned child of parents that no had to be. Eric the Eye, I one dared even talk about, to his my bunch, but still, why take torch. These particular corridors, name chances?” Eric knew, led to Monster terri- told them. Find a vision for the present estate of almost full Eric nodded, with no idea what tory. He had been along them kind that corresponds to it.” thieving status. It was very for- he was talking about. His uncle many times as a humble spear tunate for him that neither of al- pro- had become slightly odd re- carrier when his uncle’s band had e was so shocked that he his uncle’s wives had yet H most came to a halt. “You duced a son which survived into cently. Well, he was still the best been dispatched to bring back the initiate still band captain in all Mankind. necessities of life for Mankind. picked my name? You told them the years. He had a

. lot to learn from this man. They marched along together, Other corridors went off to more what kind of vision . . That’s — the light from the strange glow- exotic and even more dangerous that’s — I never heard of such “Now,” the Trap-Smasher was ing substance on Eric’s torch and places. But were there any places a thing!” saying, his eyes still on the dimly his uncle’s forehead spreading a which had no burrows? His uncle laughed. “It’s no dif- illuminated corridors ahead. yellowish illumination some hun- What a thought! Even the ferent from Ottilie the Omen- “When we get to the Monster go in. go in dred feet ahead of them. On ei- Monsters lived in burrows, big Teller making a deal with Frank- burrows, you You of course.” ther side, underfoot, overhead, as they were reputed to be. But lin to have a vision showing him alone, were the curved, featureless walls there was a legend that Mankind as the new chief. He gets to be Well, of course, Eric thought. to of the burrow. From the center had once lived outside burrows, chief, she becomes the Chief- What other way was there of the corridor, where they outside the branching corridors. tain’s First Wife and automati- make your Theft? The first time inarched, the walls looked soft Then what had they lived in? cally takes over the Female So- you stole for Mankind, you did politics, it all alone, to prove your man- and spongy, but Eric knew what Just trying to work it out made ciety. Religion and the tremendous labor was involved you dizzy. they’re always mixed up together hood, your courage, also luck en- in digging a niche or recess in They came to a place where these days, Eric. We’re not living amount of personal you It was not like a regular them. It took several strong men the burrow became two burrows, in the old times any more when joyed. organized steal- at least two sleep periods to make each curving away from the other Ancestor-science was real and band theft — or of goods a niche large enough to hold a in opposite directions. holy and it worked.” ing of a large amount

34 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 35 '

that would last Mankind many the wall, letting it brush your What happens then?” Eric de- This enormous convenience sleep-periods, almost a tenth of shoulder every couple of steps. manded eagerly. “How do I make might be counterbalanced, he an auld lang syne. In a regular You run forty, fifty paces, and ' my Theft? Where do I find the would readily admit, by the dan- band theft, assigned to each band you come to a great big thing, a third category?” gers associated with it— although in rotation, a warrior had to be structure, that’s almost touching Thomas the Trap*-Smasher the constant exposure to dangers assured of the luck and skill of the wall. You turn left along seemed to have trouble continu- and death in every form were the warriors at his side. that, greatness. He had moving away from the wall, ing. Incredible — he was actually part of Mankind’s to know that each one of them but still not looking up, until you nervous! “There’ll be a Stranger They were great despite their had made his Theft—and proved pass an entrance in the structure. there. You tell him who you are, inferior technology. So what if himself when completely alone. You don’t go in that first en- your name. He’ll do the rest.” they were primarily a source of Stealing from the Monsters trance, Eric; you pass it by. raw materials to the more popu- was dangerous enough under the About twenty, twenty-five paces his time Eric came to a full lous but less hardy burrows in best of conditions. You wanted further on, there’ll be a second Tstop. “A Stranger?” he asked the rear? How long would the only the cleverest, bravest, most entrance, a bigger one. weaponsmiths, the potters and You go in complete amazement. “Some- fortunate warriors along with in that one.” one who’s not of Mankind?” tanners and artificers of these you. “I go in that one,” Eric re- His uncle grabbed at his arm burrows be able to go on with “Once you’re inside, stay close peated carefully, memorizing his and pulled him along. “Well, their buzzing, noisy industries to the wall. Don’t look up at first uncle’s words. He was receiving you’ve seen Strangers before,” he once Mankind ceased to bring or you’re likely to freeze right directions for his Theft, the most said with a weak laugh. “You them the basic substances — where you are. Keep your eyes important act of his life! Every know there are others in the bur- food, cloth, metal — it had so on the wall and move close to it. single thing his uncle told him rows besides Mankind. You know gloriously stolen from fear-filled Move fast.” must be listened to carefully, that, don’t you, boy?” Monster territory? No, Man- Nothing new here. Every ini- must not be forgotten. Eric certainly did. kind was the bravest, greatest, tiate learned over and over again, “You’ll be in something that From an early age he had ac- most important people in all the before he made his Theft, that looks like a burrow again, but companied his uncle and his un- burrows. it was terribly dangerous to look it’ll be darker, at first. The walls cle’s band on warfare and trading But that still wasn’t the point, up when you first entered Mon- will soak up light from your glow expeditions to the burrows a bit of it all. ster territory. You had to keep lamp. After a while, the burrow further back. He knew that the The point was that you had your eyes on the wall and move will open out into a great big people in these burrows looked nothing more to do with Stran- in protection the of it, the wall space, a real big and real dark down on the people in his, that gers than was absolutely neces- touching your shoulder as you space. You go on in a straight ' they were more plentiful than sary. They were Strangers. You alongside it. ran Why this was so, line, looking over your shoulder his people, and led richer, safer were Mankind. You stayed Eric had no idea, but that it was at the light from the entrance lives — but he still couldn’t help proudly aloof from them at all so he had long ago learned to and making sure it’s always di- feeling sorry for them. times. repeat as a fact. rectly behind you. You’ll hit an- They were nothing but Stran- Trading with them — well, “All right,” the Thomas Trap- other burrow, a low one this time. gers, after all. He was a member you traded with them. Mankind Smasher went on. “You turn right Turn right at the first fork as of Mankind. needed spear-points and sturdy as you go in. Right, do you hear soon as you go in, and there you It wasn’t just that Mankind spear-shifts, knapsacks and loin- me, Eric? You turn right, with- are.” lived in the front burrows, those straps, canteens and cooking ves- out looking up, and run along “Where? Where will I be? closest to the Monster larder. sels. You needed these articles

36 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 37 r and got them in exchange for individual Stranger wandering heavy backloads of shapeless, un- apart from his people, you killed processed stuff freshly stolen. him quickly and casually. Mating with them — well, of You certainly didn’t ask him course you mated with them. One for advice on your Theft. was always on the lookout for extra women who could add to "I^RIC was still brooding on the the knowledge and technical unprecedented nature of his abilities of Mankind. But these uncle’s instructions when they women became a well-adjusted came to the end of their journey, part of Mankind once they were a large, blind-alley burrow. There stolen, just as Mankind’s women was a line cut deep into the blank were complete outsiders and wall here, a line that started at Strangers the moment they had the floor, went up almost to the been carried off by a foreign raid- height of a man’s head, and then ing party. And fighting with them, curved down to the floor again. warring with them — next to The door to Monster territory. stealing from the Monsters, that Thomas the Trap-Smasher was the sweetest, most exciting waited for a moment, listening. part of a warrior’s existence. When his experienced ears had You traded with Strangers, detected no unusual noises in the coldly, suspiciously, always alert neighborhood, no hint of danger for a better bargain; you stole on the other side, he cupped his Stranger women whenever you hands around his mouth, faced could, gleefully, proudly, because back the way he had come, and that diminished them and in- softly gave the ululating recogni- creased the numbers and well- tion-call of the band. The four being of Mankind; and you other warriors and the appren- fought Stranger men whenever tice came up swiftly and grouped there was more to be gained that themselves about him. Then, at way than by simple trading — a signal from their leader, all

| and periodically they came upon squatted near the door. . you as you lay in your burrow They ate first, rapidly and si- | unawares and fought you. lently, removing from their knap- i But otherwise, for all normal of sacks handfuls food that the i social purposes, they were taboo. women had prepared for them Almost as taboo and not-to-be- and stuffing their mouths full, the j related-to as the Monsters on beams from the glow lamps

the other side of Mankind’s bur- above their eyes darting inces- i rows. When you came upon an santly back and forth along the

38 GALAXY arched, empty corridor. This was whiteness appeared where the worth a damn. You scuttle into brush his right shoulder. He be- the place of ultimate, awful dan- door had been. closest hiding-place and gan to rim, keeping his eyes ger. This was the place where Monster territory. The strange, throw the light spear as far as down, touching the wall with his anything might happen. alien light of Monster territory. you can. The Monster can’t dis- shoulder at regular intervals. He could, Eric ate most sparingly of all Eric had seen many warriors dis- tinguish between you and the ran as fast as he possibly his muscles fiercely on. As as was correct for an initiate appear into it to fulfill their man- spear. It will follow the spear.” urging ran, counted the steps to about to emerge upon his Theft. hood tasks. Now it was his turn. Eric nodded mechanically, al- he he '• He knew he had to keep his Holding his heavy spear at the though this too he had been told himself. paces. did the springiness of body and watch- ready, Eric’s uncle leaned for- many times, this too was a lesson Twenty Where from? It every- fulness of mind at their highest ward into the whiteness. His body he knew by heart. His mouth was light come was so; it was white, possible pitch. He saw his uncle twisted as he looked up, down, so dry! He wished that it weren’t where; it glowed paces. Touch nodding approvingly as he re- around, on both sides. He with- unmanly to beg for water at such white. Twenty-five wall with your shoulder. turned the bulk of his food to drew and came back into the a moment. the | the knapsack. burrow. Thomas the Trap-Smasher Don’t — above everything — j the wall. The floor vibrated slightly un- “No new traps,” he said in a took his torch from him and don’t wander away from ^ light like this derfoot; there was a regular, soft voice. “The one I dismantled slipped a glow lamp about his Thirty paces. In Then he pushed him you had no need of the glow rhythmic gurgling. Eric knew last expedition is still up there i forehead. too bright that meant they were directly the wall. It hasn’t been re- through the doorway. “Go make lamp. It was almost on i Thirty-five paces. The over a length of Monster plumb- paired. Now Eric. Here you go, your Theft, Eric,” he whispered. to see in. floor. ing: upon his return, before the boy.” “Come back a man.” floor was not like a burrow band started homewards, Tho- Eric rose and walked with him It was flat and very hard. So was ; and mas the Trap-Smasher would to the doorway, remembering to V the wall. Flat and hard paces. Run and make an opening in the plumbing keep his eyes on the floor. You straight. Forty eyes down. Run. Keep and they would refill their can- can’t look up, he had been told e was on the other side. He keep your territory. touching the wall with your teens. The water here, nearest to again and again, not right away, i H was in Monster shoulder. Move fast. But keep Monster territory, was always not the first time you’re in Mon- He was surrounded by the strange Don’t look up. the sweetest and best. ster territory. If you do, you Monster light, the incredible your eyes down. -five paces. Now his uncle got to his feet freeze, you’re lost, you’re done Monster world. The burrows. Forty into the and called Roy the Runner to for completely. Mankind, everything familiar, He almost smashed told about, him. While the other warriors His uncle checked him care- lay behind him. structure he had been his reflexes and the warnings watched, tense and still, the two fully and fondly, making certain Panic rose from his stomach but him to the men walked to the curved line that his new loin straps were and into his throat like vomit. he had received swung left and along it just in time. It and laid their ears against it. tight, that his knapsack and back- Don’t look up. Eyes down, color than the Satisfied, finally, they inserted sling were both in the right posi- eyes down or yotfre likely to was a different noted, and a different- spear points into the door’s out- tion on his shoulders. He took freeze ri^ht where you are. Stay wall, he material. your line on either side and carefully a heavy spear from Eric’s right close to the wall, keep your eyes textured Keep it. eyes down. Don’t look up. He pried the slab back toward them. hand and replaced it with a light : on the wall and move along entrance, like the They laid it on the floor of the one from the back-sling. “If you’re Turn right and move along the came to an j burrow. corridor, very gently. seen by a Monster,” he whis- wall. Move fast. beginning of a small first entrance. A shimmering blur of pure pered, “the heavy spear’s not Eric turned. He felt the wall Don’t go in that

40 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 41 Eric; you pass it by. He began to and sideways. He lay where he shut his eyes quickly, waited, scribed by warriors back from an count again as he ran. Twenty- had fallen for a long while, al- then opened them again. expedition into Monster territory. three paces more, and there was most paralyzed. Bit by bit, effort by effort, he There was food in that sack another entrance, a much higher, It couldn’t be. He hadn’t seen found he was able to look into and the others like it. Enough wider one. He darted inside. It’ll it. Nothing was that high, nothing the great open whiteness without food in that one sack to feed the be darker, at first. The walls will ran on and on for such incredi- losing control of himself. It was entire population of Mankind for soak light up from your glow ble distances! upsetting, overpowering, but if unnumbered auld lang synes. A lamp. After a time, he opened his he didn’t look too long at any different kind of food in each Eric paused, gasping. He was eyes again, keeping them care- one time, he could stand it. sack. grateful for the sucking darkness. fully focused on the dark near Distance. Enormous, elongated, No sp)ear point possessed by After that terrible, alien white him. The gloom in this covered unbelievable distance. Space Mankind would cut through the light, the gloom was friendly, place had diminished somewhat upon space upon space — that fabric of its container, not near reminiscent of the familiar bur- as his eyes had grown more ac- white light bathing it all. Space the bottom where it was thickest. rows now so horribly far away. customed to it. Yellowish light far ahead, space on all sides, Warriors had to climb about half- He could afford to take a from his glow lamp was providing space going on and on until it way up the sack, Eric knew, be- breath at this point, he knew. The illumination now: he could make seemed to have no end to it at fore they could find a place thin first, the worst part was over. He out the walls, about as far apart all. But there, fantastically far enough to carve themselves an wasn’t out in the open any more. from each other as those in a bur- off, there was an end. There was entrance. Then the lumps of food He had emerged into Mon- row, but — unlike a burrow’s a wall, a wall made by giants would be lowered from man to ster territory. He had run fast, walls — oddly straight and at that finally sealed off the tremen- man all the way down the sack, following instructions until he right angles to the floor and ceil- dous space. It rose hugely from warriors clinging to precarious was safely under cover again. He ing. Far off there was an im- the flat, huge floor and disap- handholds every few paces. was still alive. mense patch of darkness. The peared somewhere far overhead. Once the pile on the floor was The worst was over. Nothing burrow will open out into a great And in between — once you great enough, they would clam- else would be as bad as this. big space, a real big and real dark could stand to look at it this much ber down and fill their specially Monster territory. It lay be- space. — in between, there were ob- large, food-expedition knapsacks. hind him, bathed in its own pe- What was this place, he won- jects. Enormous objects, dwarfed Then back to the burrows and to culiar light. Now. Why not? dered? What was it to the Mon- only by the greatness of the space the women who alone possessed Now, when he was in a place of sters? which surrounded them, enor- the lore of determining whether

comparative safety. He could He had to take another look mous, terribly alien objects. Ob- the food was fit for consumption take a chance. He wanted to take behind, into the open. One more jects like nothing you had ever and of preparing it if it were. a chance. quick look. He was going to be imagined. That’s where he would be at He turned, gingerly, fearfully. Eric the Eye. An Eye should be this moment, on that sack, cut- raised his eyes. He He looked. able tb look at anything. He had 1^0, that wasn’t quite true. That ting a hole in it, if he’d chosen a to take another look. ' thing over there. Eric recog- first category Theft like most

^^HE cry that tore from his lips But guardedly, guardedly. nized it. other youths. He’d be cutting a -* was completely involuntary Eric turned again, opening his A great, squat thing like a full hole, scooping out a handful of and frightened him almost as eyes a little at a time. He clamped knapsack without the straps. food — any quantity, no matter much as what he saw. He shut his teeth together so as not to cry Since early boyhood, many was how small, was acceptable on an his eyes and threw himself down out. Even so, he almost did. He the time he had heard it de- initiatory Theft — and ie pre-

42 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 43

L paring to go home to plaudits the ancestor-science of the record man in all Mankind, so far as frightened, then he realized what from the women and acceptance machine. Nobody was supposed Eric was concerned. Thomas the had happened. He hadn’t taken from the men. He’d be engaged to have the slightest idea in ad- Trap-Smasher could do no wrong. his bearings for a while: he must in a normal, socially-acceptable vance of what the vision would But Thomas the Trap-Smasher have moved off at an angle. endeavor. be. That was all up to the an- was evidently leaning toward Groping along the wall with ex-

Instead of which . . . cestors and their mysterious Alien-science.- Alien-science was tended arms, he found the en- He found that he was able to plans for their descendants. wrong. But again, on the other trance to the low burrow at last. stare at the Monster room now hand, his parents, according to It was quite low — he had to from under the cover of his hiding ^^ETAS it possible, was it con- the Trap-Smasher, his father and bend his knees and duck his head place with only a slight feeling ” ceivable, that all visions his mother had been Alien-sci- as he went up to. It was an un- of nausea. Well, that in itself was and names were pre-arranged, encers. pleasantly narrow little corridor. an achievement. After only a that the record machine was set Too much. There was just too But then there was an opening short time, here he was, able to in advance for every initiation? much to work out. There was on his right — the fork his uncle look around and estimate the na- Where did that leave religion? too much he didn’t know. He’d had told him about — and he ture of Monster goods like the If that were so, how could you better concentrate on his Theft. turned into it with relief. most experienced warrior. He continue to believe in logic, in The strange burrow had come He had arrived. couldn’t look up too high as yet, cause and effect? to an end. The hairs rose on the There was a burst of light from but what warrior could? And having someone — a back of his neck as he walked a group of glow lamps. And there Well and good, but this wasn’t Stranger, at that! — help you into the great dark area and were Strangers, there were sev- getting him anywhere. He didn’t make your Theft. A Theft was sensed enormous black heights eral Strangers here. Three of have a normal Theft to make. supposed to be purely and simply above him. He began to hurry, them — no, four — no, five! His was third category. Monster a test of your male potential; by turning every once in a while to They squatted in a corner of this souvenirs. definition, it was something you make certain that he was staying large, square burrow, three of Eric turned and faced the dark- them talking earnestly, the other did alone. i in a straight line with the light ness again. He walked rapidly But if you could accept the from the entrance. Here, his fore- two engaged in some incompre- forward into the straight-walled concept of pre-arranged visions, head glow lamp was almost no hensible task with materials that burrow, the glow-lamp on his why not pre-arranged use at all. He didn’t like this were mostly unfamiliar. Thefts? 1 forehead lighting a yellow path. Eric shook his head. He was place. It felt almost like being | Ahead of him, the great black getting into very dark corridors out in the open. A LL OF them leaped to their space grew steadily larger as he mentally: his world was turning What, he wondered again fev- feet as he trotted in and pushed towards it. into sheer confusion. erishly, was this structure in the deployed instantly in a wide Everything about his Theft, But one thing he knew. Mak- world of the Monsters? What semi-circle facing him. Eric into his initiation manhood, was ing an arrangement with a function did it have? He was wished desperately he had been extraordinary. Thomas the Trap- Stranger, as his uncle had done, not sure he wanted to know. holding two heavy spears instead Smasher telling the women about was definitely an act contrary to Eric was running by the time of the single light one. With two his special talents, so that he all the laws and practices of he came to the end of the open heavy spears you had both a would be accorded a vision and Mankind. Thomas’s space. He hit the wall so hard shield and a dangerous offensive uncertain i a fit name which would with speech had underlined that fact. that he was knocked over back- weapon. A light spear was good them. Visions were supposed to It was — well, it was wron^. wards. for a single cast, and that was come from the ancestors, through Yet his uncle was the greatest For a moment, he was badly that.

44 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 45 — of the working with the un- He held it nevertheless in the though he was carrying no knap>- parently a field headquarters men to throwing position above his sack. This was the fashion of and Arthur the Organizer was familiar materials muttered | him his shoulder and glared fiercely, as many Strangers, Eric knew, as Commander-in-Chief. “I met your his neighbor. “You ask j says, ‘Mankind.’ a warrior of Mankind should. If was the strap at the back of the uncle,” he told Eric, “about a people, and he he had to throw, he decided, he head that held the hair in a tight dozen auld lang synes ago, when Mankind!” ex- chuckled. “A would spring to one side immedi- tail away from the eyes instead he came to us on a trading The other man pedition — back in our burrows, front-burrow tribe. What the hell ately afterward and try to pluck of letting it hang wild and free ! sophistication? the two heavy spears from his as the hair of a warrior should. I mean. A fine man, your uncle, do you expect — He’s attended and every front-burrow backsling. But if they rushed him And the straps were decorated very progressive. Each right now — with odd, incised designs — an- our secret meetings regularly, tribe calls itself Mankind. As far there’s going to be an im- as these primitives are concerned, “Who are you?” asked a other weak and unmanlike 1 and great stops at their strong-faced, middle-aged man in Stranger fashion. portant place for him in the the human race the center of the semi-circle, his Who but Strangers, Eric burrows we will dig, in the new outermost burrow. Your tribe, my spear throbbing in an upraised thought contemptuously, would world we are making. He re- tribe — you know what they call their eyes, arm. “What’s your name — group up so in an alien place minds me a lot of your father. us? Strangers. In difference what’s your people?” without setting sentries at either But so do you, my boy, so do there’s not too much “Eric the Only,” Eric told him end of their burrow? Truly Man- you.” between us and the Monsters.” quickly. Then he remembered to kind had good reason to despise “Did you know my father?” “That’s what I mean. They add: “I’m destined to be Eric the them! don’t see us as fellow-men. They smiled savages. Eye. My people are Mankind.” But this man was a leader, he rthur the Organizer are narrow-minded Who A and nodded. “Very well. He needs them?” “He’s expected, one of us,” the realized, a bom leader, with an ; glanced middle-aged man told the others even more self-assured air than could have been a great man. He Arthur the Organizer gave his life for the Cause. Who at Eric’s face. He turned sharply who immediately relaxed, slung Thomas the Trap-Smasher, cap- ; to the had spoken last. their spears and went back to tain of the best band in all Man- among us will ever forget Eric man who needs them, what they had been doing. ‘Wel- kind. He was studying Eric in the — the — Eric the Store- “I’ll tell you who come, Eric the Only of Mankind. turn, with eyes that weighed keeper or something, wasn’t it?” Walter,” he said. “The Cause If the front-burrow Put up your spear and sit with carefully and then, having de- “The Storeroom-Stormer. His needs them. it means our us. I am Arthur the Organizer.” cided on the measure, made a name was Eric the Storeroom- tribes are with us, lines of Monster Eric gingerly dropped his definite placement, fitting Eric Stormer.” main supply to spear into the back-sling. He permanently into this plan or “Yes, of course. Eric the Store- territory are kept op>en. But we room-Stormer. An unforgettable need every fighter we can get, studied the Stranger. that plan. He looked like a man i primitive. Every A man about as old as his whose head was full of many name with us, and an unforget- no matter how uncle and not nearly as hefty, plans, each one evolving inexor- table man. But that’s another single tribe has to be with us if although well-muscled enough ably through action to a pre- story; we’ll talk about it some Alien-science is to be the domi- for normal warlike purposes. He determined end. other time. You’ll have to be get- nant religion of the burrows, if fiasco of the wore the loin-straps of a full war- He took Eric’s arm companion- ting back to your uncle very we’re to avoid the front-bur- rior, but — as if these were not ably and led him to where the soon.” He picked up a flat board last rising. We need enough honor for a man — he others squatted and talked and covered with odd markings and row men for their hunting, forag- also wore straps laced about his worked. This was no tribal bur- studied it with his glow lamp. ing skills and back-burrow men civilized skills. need chest and across his shoulders. row of any sort: it was quite ap- “How do you like that?” one for their We

46 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 47 everybody in this thing, especially others seemed particularly con- people. Walter, what do you have will be the last time we meet the rising. Tell him to now.” cerned. He drew a deep breath for Eric’s tribe — for, uh, for before every last The man called Walter put and reslung his spear. How the Mankind?” bring them armed with down his work and scowled at floor and the walls shook! What “I hate to give anything even spear they can carry.” Eric dubiously. He seemed to be a fantastic, enormous creature halfway good to a front-burrow There totally unconvinced. that must be! tribe,” the squatting man mut- 'C’RIC nodded weakly. These arrogant back-burrow- As an apprentice warrior, he tered. “No matter how much you were so many complex, in- ers with their ornamented straps had often stood with the rear- explain it to them, they always comprehensible things going on! and unmilitary manners! Men guard on the other side of the use it wrong, they botch it up The world was a bigger, more from different tribes sitting doorway to Monster territory every single time. Let’s see. This active place than he had ever simple enough.” around and talking, when — if while the band went in to steal should be imagined. they had any sense of propriety for Mankind. A few times there He rummaged in the pile of He watched Arthur the Or- at all — they should be killing had been heavy, thumping noises strange stuff in front of him and ganizer add a mark to the flat each other! • off in the distance, and the walls picked up a small, red, jelly-like board on which many symbols Suddenly, the floor shook un- of the burrow had quivered blob. “All you do,” he explained, were scratched. This was another with your practice nec- der him. He almost fell. He slightly. But not like this. It had “is tear off a pinch Stranger — made staggered back and forth, trying never been remotely as awesome fingers. Just a pinch at a time, no essary, he knew, by the weak spit so inferior to to grab at the spears in his back- as this. more. Then on it and throw Stranger memory, After you spit on it, get it out that of Mankind. sling. He finally got used to it, He raised his eyes to the it. managed to find a solid footing straight, flat ceiling of the bur- of your hands fast. Throw it as The Weapon-Seeker leaped up in the upheaval. The spear he row above them. He remembered fast and as far as you can. Do and stopped him as he was about held vibrated in his hand. the dark space further back you think you can remember to put the red blob into knapsack. Walter stretching up limitlessly. “And that?” “Nothing wet in there?” the and ¥?ROM far away came a series this,” he said aloud. “This “Yes.” Eric took the red blob demanded, opening bag him and stared at it in puz- rummaging about in Eric’s be- of ear-splitting thumps. The structure we’re in. What is this to from strange, ir- longings. Remember, floor swung to their rhythm. them?” zlement. There was a “No water? ritating odor: it made his nose get this stuff wet and you’re done “What is it?” he cried, turning Arthur the Organizer shrugged. to Arthur. “What’s going on?” “A piece of Monster furniture. itch slightly. “But what happens? for.” it keeps its water in “You’ve never heard a Mon- Something they use for some- What does do?” “Mankind boy,” Eric explained irrita- ster walking before?” the Organ- thing or other. We’re in one of “That’s not your worry, canteens,” told him. it here,” pointed izer asked him unbelievingly. the open spaces they always leave Arthur the Organizer bly. “We keep he “Your uncle will know when to to the sloshing pouch at his hip, “That’s right — this is your in the bases of their furniture. use it. You have your third cate- “not splashing around loosely Theft, your first time out. It’s a Makes the furniture lighter, gory theft a Monster souvenir with our provisions.” He swung Monster, boy. A Monster’s mov- easier to move around, I guess.” — that no one in tribe has the full knapsack on his back ing around in the Monster larder, He listened for a moment as the your ever seen before. It them and stepped away with stiff dig- doing whatever Monsters do. thumps drifted further away and should make sit up and take notice. tell nity. They have a right, you know,” then died out. “Let’s get down to And your uncle to bring his band to Arthur the Organizer accom- he added with a smile. “It’s their business. Eric, this is Walter the burrow three days three panied him to the end of the larder. We’re just — visitors.” Weapon-Seeker. Walter the my — burrow. “Don’t Walter,” he Eric noticed that none of the Weapon-Seeker of the Miximilian sleep-periods — from now. That mind

48 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 49 I whispered. glimpse of the towards the structure, gotten be- “He’s always afraid knowledge of so many things and eyed, fear-soluble into com- tween it and the wall. There, un- that nobody but himself will be techniques he had never even thing before he went less he’d been seen as the Mon- able to use the Monster weapKsns heard about. Surely Mankind’s plete panic. he digs up. He talks that way to way was infinitely preferable, far His panic was redeemed by a ster entered the larder, he could spring rested safely until it was everyone. Now, suppose I re- superior? single inhibition: he didn’t have fresh your memory about the Then why did his uncle want forward and run away from the possible to make his escape. too far to turn way back. We don’t want you to to get mixed up with Stranger ^all- But that was only because He had gone get lost.” politics, he wondered, as he have meant running di- back now. But run silently, he it would himself: run swiftly “I won’t get lost,” Eric said emerged from the structure? He rectly toward the Monster. For reminded no noise coldly. “I have a good memory, turned left and, passing the small one thoroughly insane moment, but make no noise, make and I know enough to perform a entrance he had ignored before, however, he thought of trying to at all. According to the lessons simple reversal of the directions sped for the wall which separated claw his way through the wall that the warriors taught, at this on the way here. Besides, I am him from the burrows. And why against which his shoulders were distance Monster hearing was Eric the Espier, Eric the Eye of did all these Strangers, evidently pressed. more to be feared than Monster Mankind. I won’t get lost.” each from a different tribe, agree Then — because it was the vision. Run silently. Run for your He was rather proud of him- in the contempt with which they direction he had been running in life. self as he trotted away, without held Mankind? he remembered the doorway. He reached the door. It had turning his head. Let the Stran- He had just turned right along He must be about thirty, thirty- been set back in place! horror gers know what you think of the wall, on the last stretch be- five paces from it. There lay In disbelief and utter in them. The snobs. The stuck-up fore the doorway, when the floor safety: his uncle, the band. Man- he stared at the curved line bastards. shook again, jarring him out of kind and the burrows — the the wall that showed where the But still, he felt damaged his thoughts. He bounced up and blessed, closed-in, narrow bur- door had been replaced in its somehow, made less — as when down, frozen with fear where he rows! socket. But this was never done! Roy the Runner had called him stood. Eric leaped along the wall for This had never been heard of! a singleton before the entire He was out in the open while the doorway. He ran as he’d Eric beat frantically on the band. And the last comment he a Monster was abroad. A Mon- never in his life run before, as door with his fists. Would his had heard behind him — “These ster had come into the larder he’d never imagined he could knuckles make enough noise to primitives: so damned touchy!” again. run. penetrate the heavy slab? Or just — made it no better. But even as he fled madly, al- enough to attract the Monster’s He crossed the dark open VI most weeping at the effort he was attention? space, still brooding, his eyes making, a few sane thoughts — He twisted his head quickly fixed on the patch of white light ^AR OFF in the dazzling dis- the result of long, tiresome drills — a look, a deliberately wasted ahead, his mind engaged in a ^ tance, he caught sight of the as an initiate — organized them- moment, to estimate the close- completely unaccustomed exam- tremendously long gray body he selves in his screaming mind. He ness of his danger. The Monster’s ination of values. Mankind’s free had heard about since childhood, had been closer to the structure legs moved so slowly: its speed simplicity against the Stranger hgher than a hundred men stand- in which the Strangers were hid- would have been laughable if the multiplicity and intricacy. Man- ing on each other’s shoulders, the ing, the structure which Arthur very size of those legs didn’t kind’s knowledge of basics, the thick gray legs each wider than the Organizer explained was a serve to push it forward an in- important foraging basics of day- two hefty men standing chest to piece of Monster furniture. He credible distance with each step. to-day life, against the Stranger chest. He caught just one wide- should have turned the other way. And there was nothing laughable \ 50 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 51 in that long, narrow neck, almost Where was the Monster? How j^onster probably hadn’t noticed two full days had gone by. In the as long as the rest of the body, close? Close? How you. chief’s absence, of course, this was and the malevolent, relatively Suddenly, the door fell over in- So the experienced warriors measured by the sleep periods of tiny head on the end of the neck. to burrow, Eric spilled the and said, the men who had lived the band captain. Any band And those horrible pink things, painfully on top of it. He scram, through such an experience. would wait two days before giv- all around the neck, just behind bled to his feet and darted down Five hundred. He reached five ing up and turning homeward. the head — the corridor. hundred and, just to be on the And, Eric was positive, his uncle It was much nearer than it to He had no time feel relief. safe side, still tense, still ready to would have waited a bit longer had been just seconds ago, but His mind was repeating its les- run, counted another five hun- than that for him. He’d been away whether it had noticed him and sons, reminding him what he had dred, up to the ultimate number for such a short time! Then what was coming at him he had no to do next in such a situation. conceived by man, a full thou- had happened? idea. Beat at the door with the Run a short distance down the sand. He crept to the doorway and shaft of a spear? That should at- burrow. Then stop and wait on No hissing, no whistling sounds. peeped outside. There was almost tract attention, that might be the balls of your feet, ready to No suggestion of danger. no dizziness this time. His eyes heard. bolt. Get as much air into your He relaxed, and his muscles — adjusted quickly to the different Yes, by the Monster too. lungs as possible. You may need suddenly set free — gave way. scale of distance. The Monster it. If you hear a hissing, whistling He fell to the floor of the burrow, was busy on the other side of the only one thing to I 'HERE was sound, stop breathing and start whimpering with the release of larder. It had merely been cross- do. He stepped a few paces running. Hold your breath for as tension. ing the room, then, not pursuing back from the wall. Then he long as you can — as long as you It was over. His Theft was and attacking. Apparently it leaped forward, smashing his possibly can — then suck an- over. He was a man. hadn’t noticed him at all. shoulder into the door. He felt it other chestful of air and keep Fantastic. And with all the give a little. Another try. running. Keep this up until you T¥E had been in the same place noise he had made! All that rush- The floor-shaking thumps of are far away. Far, far away. as a Monster, and lived ing back and forth, that battering- the Monster’s steps were so poised to run, his now Eric waited, through it. He had met Strangers down of the door! close as to be almost deafening. back to the doorway. and dealt with them as a repre- The Monster turned abruptly, At any moment, a great gray foot Don’t look around — just face sentative of Mankind. Such walked a few gigantic steps and might come down and grind out the direction yot?ll have to run. things as he would have to tell hurled itself at the structure in his life. Eric stepped back again, There’s only one thing you have his uncle! which Eric had met the Strangers. forcing himself not to look up. to worry about, only one thing His uncle. Where was his The walls, the floor, ever5dhing, Another leap, another bruis- you have to listen for. A hissing, uncle? Where was the band? shook mightily in sympathy to ing collision with the door. It had whistling sound. When you hear Suddenly fully aware of how the impact of the great organism definitely it, moved. An indentation hold your breath and run. much was wrong, Eric scrambled as it wriggled a bit and became showed all around it. He waited, his muscles con- to his feet and walked cautiously still. Was he about to be stepped tracted for instant action. back to the open doorway. The Eric was startled until he on — to be squashed? Time went by. He remembered burrow was empty. They hadn’t realized that the creature had Eric put his hands on the door. to count. If you counted up to waited for him. done no more than lie down in He pushed. Slowly, suckingly, it five hundred, slowly, and nothing But that was another incredi- the structure. It was a piece of left the place out of which it had happened, you were likely to be ble thing! A band never gave an Monster furniture, after all. been carved long ago. all right. You could assume the initiate up for lost until at least How had that felt to Arthur

52 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 53 the Organizer and Walter the have been an attack stealing for bands, societies, were the sur- by a superior the important one of Weapon-Seeker and the others force. roundings of human creatures. The band had stood its their tribe’s needs. hidden in the base? Eric grinned. ground for a while, sustained And another thing. Unless his It was awful to be alone. It Those Strangers must be a little unthinkable. some losses, and then been forced uncle’s band had been wiped out was less haughty, a little more sober to retreat. a thought to the very last man — at this moment. bothering to eat, But there were a few things Eric rejected as highly improb- ITHOUT Meanwhile, he had work to do, quite hungry which didn’t make sense. First, it the survivors were honor- W though he was ghle — things to find out. was very unusual for a war party bound, by their oath of manhood, after his Theft, he began walking He got his fingers under the corridor. After of Strangers to come this close to after doing whatever the immedi- rapidly down the slab of door and tugged it upright. into trot. He Monster territory. The burrows ate military situation required, a while, he broke a It was heavy! He pushed against as which were inhabited by Man- from pursuit to retreat, to return wanted to get home as soon it, slowly, carefully, first one side kind, the his own natural goal of a war as soon as possible to the spot possible — to be among and then the other, walking it party, were much further back. where an initiate was expected kind again. back to the hole in the wall. A At this point, you would not ex- back from his Theft. No warrior He reached into his back-sling final push, and it slid into place pect to find any group larger than would dare face the women if he and got a sp>ear for each hand. tightly, only the thin, curved line a foraging expedition — a Stran- failed to do this. A nervous business going suggesting its existence. ger band at most. Possibly the attack had just through the corridors all by your- he could Now look aroimd. His uncle’s men, fully armed, come. Possibly his uncle’s band self. They were so empty and so There had been a fight here — operating under battle alert, was a short distance away, still quiet. They hadn’t seemed this that certain. brief, much was A could easily cope with a single fighting their way from burrow’s quiet when he’d been on expedi- bitter battle. Examining the area band of weavers, weaponsmiths end to burrow’s end; and, once tion with the band. And so fear- closely, Eric saw unmistakable or traders from the decadent they had gotten clear of the fully, frighteningly dim. Eric had signs of conflict. back burrows. They would have enemy, would make their way never before realized how much A broken spear shaft. Some driven them off, possibly taking back to him. difference there was between the blood on the wall. Part of a tom a few prisoners, and continued to No. In that case, he should be light you got from one forehead knapsack. No bodies, of course. wait for him. able to hear the battle still going glow-lamp and the usual band You were not likely to find bodies That left only two possibilities. on. And the burrows were dread- complement of a half-dozen. He after a battle. Any people of the The unlikely war party — a two fully still. found himself getting more and burrows knew that the one un- or three-band attack — and, even Eric shivered. A warrior was more wary of the unexpected avoidable imperative of victory more unlikely, a band from an- not meant to be abroad without shadows where the wall curved was to drag the bodies away and other fierce, front-burrow people. companions. He’d heard of tribe- sharply: he picked up speed as dispose of them. No one might But front-burrowers rarely went less Strangers — once, as a child, he ran past the black hole of a ever leave dead enemies to rot prowling at random near Monster he remembered enjoying the in- branching burrow. where they would foul the corri- territory. They would have their tricate execution of a man who’d At any one of those places, an dors. own door cut into it and would been expelled from his own peo- enemy could be waiting for him, tend to feel hugely uncertain ple for some major crime and who warned by the sound of his ap- CO there had been a battle. He about ^ one belonging to another had wandered pathetically into proaching footsteps. It could be had been right — his uncle people. They too would' head for the neighborhood of Mankind — the same enemy which had at- and his uncle’s band had not just the inhabited burrows if they but these people were hardly to atacked his uncle’s band, a hand- gone off and left him. There must were on any business other than be considered human: tribes, ful of cruel and murderous

54 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 55 Strangers, or a horde of them. It ship of Mankind and he would be stopped to put the door neatly Eric the Eye is coming back to could ' be something worse. Ab- Eric the Eye. back in its socket? No. Mankind!” ruptly he remembered legends of And there it was again: who Could it be explained by a Oddly, there was no returning unmentiohable creatures who had been right, the Record Ma- sudden onslaught and the com- call of recognition. Eric didn’t lurked in the empty burrows, chine or his uncle? The vision plete extermination of his uncle’s understand that. Had Mankind creatures who fled before the ap- that named him had come from band? Then, before dragging the itself been attacked and driven proach of a band of warriors, but the Record Machine, but his bodies away, the enemy would away from its burrow? A sentry who would come noiselessly upon uncle claimed that this was reli. bave had time to put the door should respond to a familiar a single man. Big creatures who gious claptrap. The vision had back. A doorway into Monster name. Something was very, in- engulfed you. Tiny creatures been selected and his name pro- territory was a valuable human explicably wrong. who came in their hundreds and posed to the women well in ad- resource, after all, valuable to Then he came around the last nibbled you to pieces. Eric kept vance of the ceremony. And his Mankind and Strangers alike — curve and saw the sentry at the jerking his head around to look uncle was an Alien-sciencer, in why jeopardize it by leaving it other end. Rather, he saw what behind him : at least he could touch with Strangers who were visible and op>en? at first looked like three sentries. keep his doom from taking him also Alien-sciencers. . . . But who — or what — could They were staring at him, and by surprise. So many things had happened have been capable of such a sud- he recognized them. Stephen the It was awful to be alone. in the last two days, Eric felt den onslaught, such a complete Strong-Armed and two members And yet, in the midst of his So much of his world had shifted. extermination of the best-led of Stephen’s band. Evidently he fears, his mind returned again and It was as if the walls of the bur- band in all Mankind? He’d have had arrived just at the moment again to the problem of his uncle’s rows had moved outward and up- to get the answer from one of the when the sentry on duty was disappearance. Eric could not ward until they resembled Mon- other band captains or possibly a about to be relieved. That would believe anything serious had hap- ster territory more than human wise old crone in the Female account for Stephen and the pened to him. Thomas the Trap- areas. Society. other man. But why hadn’t they Smasher was a veteran of too Definitely within the bounda- replied to his shouts of identifi-

many bloody adventures, too "IJE WAS getting close now. ries of Mankind now, Eric forced cation? many battles against unequal These corridors looked himself to slow to a Walk. He They stood there silently as he odds. Then where had he gone? friendlier, more familiar. He would be coming upon a sentry came up, their spears still at the And where had he taken the made himself run faster, although at any moment, and he had no ready, not going down in wel- band? he was almost at the point of ex- desire at all to have a spear flung come. “Eric the Eye,” he repeated, And why was there no sound haustion. He wanted to be home, through him. A sentry would re- puzzled. “I’ve made my Theft, of him anywhere, no sign in all to be officially Eric the Eye, to act violently to a man dashing out but something happened to the ” this infinity of gloomy, stretch- inform Mankind of what had of the darkness. rest — ing, menace-filled tunnels? happened so that a rescue and “Eric the Only,” he called out, His voice trailed off, as Stephen Fortunately, he was an Eye. He searching party could be sent out identifying himself with each came up to him, his face grim, knew the way back and sped for his uncle. step. “This is Eric the Only.” his powerful muscles taut. The desperately along it without the That doorway to Monster ter- Then he remembered his Theft band captain shoved a spear slightest feeling of doubt. The ritory: who had replaced it? If proudly and changed the identi- point hard against Eric’s chest. Record Machine was right: he a battle had been fought, and his fication. “Eric the Eye. This is “Don’t move,” he warned. “Bar- would never be lost. Let him just uncle’s band had retreated, still Eric the Eye, the Espier, the ney. John. Tie him up. We’ve get safely back to the companion- fighting, would the attacker have further-seeing, less-paying Eye.' caught the little rat!”

56 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 57 VII to be barely this side of death. As he was jerked past, he ree T¥IS spears taken from him, his ognized them. They were the two’ arms bound securely behind wives of Thomas the Trap-Smash.|

his back by the thongs of his own er. ' knapsack, Eric was pushed and Just wait until his uncle ^o! prodded into the great central back! Someone would really pay burrow of Mankind. for this, he thought, more in ah The place was almost unrecog- solute amazement than horror. He nizable. had the feeling that he must keep Under the direction of Ottilie, the horror away at all costs. Once the Chieftain’s First Wife, a let it in and it would soak through horde of women — what seemed his thoughts right into the mem- at first like the entire member- ory he was trying to avoid. ship of the Female Society — The place was full of armed was setting up a platform in front men, running back and forth from of the Royal Mound. With the their band captains to unknown great scarcity of any building destinations in the outlying cor- materials that Mankind suffered ridors. Between them and around from, a construction of this sort them scuttled the children, fetch was startling and unusual, yet ing and carrying raw materials there was something about it that for the hard-working women, awoke highly unpleasant memo- There was a steady buzz of com-j

*. ries in Eric’s mind. But he was mands in the air . . . “Go to — —” pulled from place to place too “Bring some— more “Hurryl fast and there were too many with the ” . . . that mingled' other unprecedented things go- with the smell of many people ing on for him to be able to whose pores were sweating ur-i identify the memory properly. gency. And it wasn’t just sweat

Two women who were accred- that he smelled. Eric realized as| ited members of the Female So- he was dragged before the Royall ciety were not working under Mound. It was anger. The anger Ottilie’s direction, he noticed. and fear of all Mankind. Bound hand and foot, they were Franklin the Father of Many lying against the far wall of the Thieves stood on the mound, great central burrow. They were carrying unaccustomed spears in both covered with blood and his fat hands, talking rapidly to showed every sign of having un- a group of warriors, band captains dergone prolonged and most and — yes, actually! — Strangers. vicious torture. He judged them Even now, Eric found he could

58 GALAXY still be astonished at this fantastic Now we’ve got the last of the JCeeper admonishing as he tried here until there was enough ac- development. filthy gang!” flow of blood by cumulated for a trading expedi- to stanch the Strangers in tion to the back burrows. Occa- the very midst of For a moment, the activity bringing his shoulder up and Mankind! Walking around freely stopf)ed and seemed to focus on pressing it against the wound. sionally, also, a male Stranger, and bearing arms! him. Eric shivered as a low, “There couldn’t be anything offi- taken prisoner in battle, might be As the chief caught sight of held in this place until Mankind drawn-out grunt of viciousness cial about it until he’d achieved Eric, his face broke into a loose- and hatred arose everywhere, but manhood. So you’ll just have to found out if his tribe valued him skinned anything substan- smile. He nudged a most of all from the women. wait your turn, Harriet, darling. enough to pay Stranger beside him and pointed Someone ran up to him. Harriet You’ll have to wait until your tial for his recovery. at the prisoner. the History-Teller. The girl’s face elders are finished with him. And if they didn’t . . . “That’s him,” he said. “That’s was absolutely contorted. She There’ll be plenty left for you.” the nephew. The one that asked reached up to the crown of her “There won’t be,” the girl ^RIC remembered the unusual for the third category Theft. Now head and pulled out the long pin pouted. “I know what you’re like. structure that the women we’ve got them all.” held in place by a few knotted There won’t be hardly anything had been building near the Royal The Stranger didn’t smile. He scarlet hairs. About Mound — and shivered. The her face and left.” looked briefly at Eric and turned neck the hair danced like flames. Eric was shoved at the small memory that he’d suppressed had away. “I’m glad you think so. “You Alien - sciencer!” she burrow entrance again. The mo- now come alive in his mind. And From our point of view, you’ve shrieked, driving the pin straight ment he was inside it, one of his it fitted with the way Harriet had just got one more.” at his eyes. “You filthy, filthy guards planted a foot in his back, acted — and with what her Alien-sciencer!” knocking the breath out of him. mother, Rita the Record-Keeper, I^RANKLIN’S smile faded to Eric whipped his head to one The kick propelled him forward, had said. an uncertain grin. “Well, you side; she was back at him in a staggering wildly for balance, un- They couldn’t be planning that

know what I mean. And the moment. His guards leaped at til he smashed into the opposite for himf He was a member of damned fool came back by him- the girl and grappled with her, wall. As he fell, unable to use his Mankind, almost a full warrior. self. It saved us a lot of trouble, but she was able to get in one arms to cushion himself, he heard They didn’t even do that to I mean, didn’t it?” Receiving no ripping slash that opened up al- laughter behind him in the great Strangers captured in battle — answer, he shrugged. He gestured most all of his right cheek before central burrow. He rolled on his not normal Strangers. A warrior with flabby imperiousness at they drove her away. side dizzily. There was a fresh was always respected as a warrior. Eric’s guards. “You know where “Leave something for the rest flow of blood coming down from At the worst, he deserved a de- to put him. We’ll be ready for of us,” one of his guards pleaded his cheek. cent execution, quietly done. Ex- them pretty soon.” the cause of reason as he strolled This wasn’t the homecoming cept for — Except for — Again the p>oint of a spear back to Eric. “After all, he be- he’d imagined after his Theft — “TVo!” he screamed. “No\” stabbed into Eric’s back, and he longs to the whole of Mankind.” not in the slightest! What was go- The single guard who’d been was forced forward across the “He does not!” she yelled. “He ing on? left on duty at the entrance central space to a small burrow belongs to me most of all. I was He knew where he was. A tiny, turned around and regarded him entrance. Before he could reach going to mate with him when he blind-alley burrow off Mankind’s humorously. it, however, he heard Franklin returned from his Theft, wasn’t I, major meeting-place, a sort of lit- “Oh, yes,” he said. “Oh, defi- the Father of Many Thieves call Mother?” tle vault used mostly for storage. nitely yes! We’re going to have a out to Mankind: “There goes “There wasn’t Anything offi- Excess food and goods stolen lot of fun with both of you, as Eric, my people. Eric the Only. cial,” Eric heard Rita the Record- from Monster territory were kept soon as the women say they’re

60 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 61 of ready.” He nodded with ominous, '^''HE wounded man opened his Ancestor-science is threatened? I from their knowledge ancestor- science. Take that away from emphatic slowness and turned eyes and shuddered. He should have remembered.” Eric begged. “What them, and they’d be ordinary back to miss none of the prepara- looked around stupidly as if he ‘What?” with no more magical tions. had expected to find the walls should you have remembered?” women abilities than was necessary to Both of you? For the first time, talking to him. And his powerful “That’s the way they put down edible food from Monster Eric looked around the little stor- arms struggled with the knots that Alien-science in the other rising, tell chief. He’s poison. age burrow. The place was almost held them firmly behind his back. long ago. A chiefs a with another Grunting with pain, Thomas empty of goods, but off to one When he finally located Eric, he got more in common his side, in the light of his forehead smiled. chief — even a chief of Strangers the Trap-Smasher wormed people. You way up to a sitting position glow-lamp (how proud he had It was a bad thing to do. Some- than with his own - science, and against the wall. He kept shaking been when it had been bestowed one had also smashed in most of attack Ancestor his as if to jar recollection on him at the doorway to Mon- his front teeth. you’re attacking their power as head then. loose. ster territory!) he now saw an- “Hello, Eric,” he mumbled. chiefs. They’ll work together give each other men, “They came up to us,” he said other man lying bound against “What a fight, eh? How did the They’ll information. They’ll do heavily, “Stephen the Strong- the wall. rest of the band do? Anybody get weapons, His uncle. away?” eversdhing they can against the Armed and his band came up to only us just after you’d gone into Mon- Eric brought his knees up and “I don’t know. That’s what I’m common enemy. Against the really want to hit ster territory. A band from Man- wriggled rapidly over to him. It asking you! I came back from my people who I should kind with a message from the was a painful business. His belly Theft — you were gone — the back at the Monsters. it all,” chief — who suspected anything? and sides were not calloused and band was gone. I got here, and have remembered! Damn - might be coming to tell us inured to the rough burrow floor everyone’s crazy! There are Stran- the Trap Smasher groaned They that the home burrows were un- like his feet. But what did a few gers out there, walking around through his ruined mouth, “I saw der attack Strangers. Stran- scratches more or less matter any with weapons in our burrows. that the chief and Ottilie were by gave laugh, more? Who are they?” suspicious. I should have realized gers!” He a barking splashed of The Trap-Smasher was barely Thomas the Trap-Smasher’s how they were going to handle it. and some blood out conscious. He had been severely eyes had slowly darkened. They They were going to call in Stran- his mouth. “They had Strangers with them, hidden all the way handled, and he looked almost as were fully in focus now, and long gers, exchange information — and behind in the corridors. Mobs bad as his wives. There was a threads of agony swam in them. unite against us!” and mobs of Strangers.” thick crust of dried blood on his “Strangers?” he asked in a low Eric stared at his uncle, dimly hair. The haft of a spear, Eric voice. “Yes, there were Strangers understanding. Just as there was began to visualize what guessed, had all but cracked his fighting in Stephen the Strong- a secret organization of Alien- I^RIC head open. And in several places Armed’s band. Fighting against sciencers that cut across tribal had happened. on his body, his right shoulder, us. That chief of ours — Franklin boimdaries, so there was a tacit, “Then, when they were among just above his left hip, deep in his — he got in touch with Strangers rarely-used understanding among us, when most of us had reslung thigh, were the oozing craters of after we left. They compared the chiefs, based on the Ancestor- our spears, they hit us. Eric, they serious spear wounds, raw and notes. They must have been work- science religion that was the main hit us real godd. They had us unbandaged. ing together, been in touch with prop of their power. And the pow- so much by surprise that they “Uncle Thomas,” Eric urged. each other, for a long time. Man- er of the leaders of the Female didn’t even need outside help. I “What happened? Who did this kind, Strangers, what difference Society, come to think of it. All don’t think there was much left derived time Strangers to you?” does it make when their lousy special privileges were of us by the the

62 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 63 ”

came running up. I was do^n, hood, they’d given him all the body turn completely cold even would make the prisoner’s posi- fighting with my bare hands, and mother love he ever remembered. before the Trap-Smasher spoke. tion clear. There would be a story so was the rest of the band. The They’d cuffed him and caressed “You still won’t let yourself of some unforgivable sacrilege, Strangers did the mopping up. I him and wiped his nose. They’d think about it? I don’t blame you, some particularly monstrous it’s there. It’s being pre- punished didn’t see most of it. Somebody told him stories and taught him Eric. But crime that could be by handed me one hell of a wallop the catechism of the ancestral pared for us outside.” nothing but complete anathema al- all — I never expected to wake up science. Neither had sons of his “What?” Eric demanded, and the revocation of privi- alive.” His voice got even lower age who had survived the various though a distant part of him had leges as a human being. The man and huskier. “I’d have been lucky plagues and the Monster-inflicted already worked out the terrible had escaped the punishment be- not to.” calamities that periodically swept answer and knew what it was. ing prepared for him. Do with outlaws, will, people The Trap - Smasher’s chest through Mankind’s burrows. He’d ‘We’ve been declared him as you his would heaved: a strange, long noise been lucky. He’d received much Eric. They say we’re guilty of say. He is no longer one of us; sacrilege against is as a Monster; he came out of it. “They brought me of the care and affection that the ultimate he the same don’t be- so far back here. My wives — they were their own sons might have en- Ancestor-Science. We is something non-human working on my wives. Those joyed. long to Mankind anymore—^you, as we are concerned. family, band. We’re sort of holiday would bitches from the Female Society Their fidelity to the Trap- me, my my Then a Mankind, outside the law, declared. Out of the bits and — Ottilie, Rita — this part of it Smasher had been a constant outside be religion. you know of stolen from is their business — they had my source of astonishment in Man- outside And pieces lumber happens to outlaws, Eric, territory and set aside wives pegged out and they kind. It had cost them more than what Monster you? Anything goes. Any- the women for this purpose, worked on them in front of me. I the large, healthy litters for which don’t by members of the Female So- was blanking out and coming to, the chief had a well proven ca- thing.” the erect a structure blanking out and coming to; I was pacity: such eccentric, almost ciety would VIII whose specifications had been conscious while they — non-womanly behavior had in- from mother to He dropped to a bloody mum- evitably denied them the high handed down since early childhood, daughter for countless genera- ble again, his head falling forward positions in the Female Society ver all the back to the loosely. His voice became clear they would otherwise have en- E Eric remembered looking for- tions — way built the for a moment, but not entirely joyed. ward to ceremonies of this sort. ancestors who had Record-Machines. It was called rational. “They were good wom- And now they were dead or dy- A Stranger would have been or a Theater, although en,” he muttered. “Both of them. ing, and their surviving babies caught by one of the warrior a Stage Eric had also heard it referred to Good, good girls. And they loved had been apportioned to other bands, and it would be deter- Scaffold. In any case, me. They had their chance to be- women whose importance would mined that he was an outlaw. as The ten, such a whatever its true name, most of come more important. A dozen thereby be substantially in- Nine times out of man times Franklin must have offered creased. was easy enough to identify. No the details concerning it were part of the secret lore of the Fe- to impregnate them, and they “Tell me,” he asked his uncle. one but an outlaw, for example, Society and, as such, were turned him down every time. “Why did the Female Society would be wandering the burrows male band or at no proper concern of males. They really loved me.” kill them? What did they do that by himself, without a it, however, Eric almost sobbed himself. was so awful?” least a single companion to guard One thing about his back. tenth time, when everyone knew. On it would be He’d had little to do with them He saw that Thomas had lifted The slightest doubt, a enacted a moving religious dra- once he’d reached the age of the his head again and was staring at there was the request for ransom to his people ma: the ultimate triumph of hu- warrior initiate, but in his child- him. With pity. He felt his own

THE IN THE WALLS 65 64 GALAXY ^ MEN Men and women chased each symbol of all that was alien. One manity over the wickedness of from the chief himself to the ing- into the dimmer side corri- worried about their feelings no the Monsters. youngest child capable of reciting other children whooped and yelled more than about those of the For this, the central character the catechism of ancestral sci- dors; the great central burrow; roaches scurrying madly about had to fulfill two requirements. ence, all climbed in their turn around few old folks went to sleep here in the storage burrow. One He had to be an intelligent crea- upon the Stage — or Theater — the broad, reminiscent smiles squashed them slowly or rapidly ture, as the Monsters were, so or Scaffold — that the women ^th their faces. Everyone felt — at one’s pleasure. What differ- that he could be made to suffer had erected. All were thrilled to upon had somehow struck back ence did it make? You didn’t as some day Mankind meant the vent a portion of Mankind’s they Monsters. Everyone felt a sympathize with roaches. You Monsters to suffer; and he had to vengeance upon the creature who at the like the lords of creation didn’t identify with them. be non-human, as the Monsters had been declared alien, as an little ancestors had been. But now that he was about to were, so that every drop of fear, earnest of what they would some their Eric remembered the things he be squashed himself, he realized resentment and hatred distilled day do collectively to the Mon- himself had done — the things that it did make a difference. He by the enormous swaggering sters who had stolen their world. seen others do — on these was human. No matter what aliens could be poured out upon Sarah the Sickness-Healer had he had occasions. A tremendous tic of Mankind and its leaders now de- his flesh without any inhibition of her turn early in the proceedings; rippled through his body. He clared him to be, he was human. compunction or fellow-feeling. thenceforth, she stood on the fear to draw his shoulders up to He felt human fears; he experi- For this purpose, outlaws were structure and carefully supervised had neck in a tight hunch and enced a desperate human desire absolutely ideal, since all agreed the ceremony. It was her job to his tense the muscles of his arms and to live. that such disgusting creatures had see that nobody went too far, Finally his nerves subsided. Then so had the others been. resigned their membership in the that everyone had a fair and ade- legs. He could think again. Only he The outlaws whom he’d helped human race. quate turn, and that even at the didn’t want to think. tear to pieces. Human. Com- end there was some life left in Those others, those outlaws in pletely human. VjiTTiEN an outlaw was caught, the victim. Because then, at the previous ceremonies of this sort They’d sat here, just as he did work stopped in the bur- end, the structure had to be com- in auld lang synes long past — now, they’d sat and waited for rows, and Mankind’s warrior pletely burned — along with its was it possible that they had ex- the festival and its agonies . . . bands were called home. It was bloody occupant — as a symbol perienced the same sick, be- Only twice in his memory had a great time, a joyous time, a of how the Monsters must even- wildered dread while waiting for members of Mankind ever been time of festival. Even the chil- tually be turned into ash and be the structure to be completed? declared outlaw. Both cases had dren—doing whatever they could blown away and vanish. Had they trembled like this, had occurred a long time ago, before to prepare for the glorious event, “And Mankind will come into they also felt wetness running he’d even been a warrior-initiate. running errands for the laboring its own,” she would chant, while down their backs, had they felt Eric tried now to remember what women, fetching refreshment for the charred fragments were the same pleading squirm in their they had been like as living peo- the stalwart, guarding men — kicked out of the burrow con- intestines, the same anticipatory ple. He wanted to reach out and even the children boasted to each temptuously. “And the Monsters twinges of soft, vulnerable flesh? feel companionship, some sort of other of how they would express will be gone. They will be gone companionship, even that of the their hatred upon this trapped forever, and there will be nothing T^HE thought had never crossed dead. The dead were better than representative of the non-human, upon all the wide Earth but Man- seen this beaten, bloody man next to this bound and shrieking pro- kind.” his mind before. He’d them as things completely out- him who had subsided into half- tagonist of the utterly alien. Afterwards, there was feasting, side humanity, the compressed insane mumbles, his battered Everyone had their chance. All, there was dancing, there was sing-

66 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 67 head on his torn and wound- How? How? He forced himselj more Strangers, going the same viously too far gone to be at all to be calm, to go over every scribbled chest. pos- They were leaving, Eric useful. What had they been like? It sible alternative in his mind. He guessed, before the ceremony be- He was talking to himself in a was no use. In the first case, mem- knew there was not much time. gan. They probably had cere- steady, monotonous, argumenta- ory brought back only a picture In a little while,- the structure monies of their own to attend — tive mutter, his upper body of a screaming hulk just before would be finished and the leaders ^th their own people. slumping further and further the fire was lit. No recollection of the Female Society would Walter the Weapon-Seeker, across his own lap. Every once in of a man. No fellow-human in come for him. Arthur the Organizer—were they a while, the mutters would be Mankind. And in the second a sharp, almost sur- at this moment sitting in similar broken by case — I^RIC began working on the storage burrows awaiting the prised moan as his wounds woke Eric sat bolt upright, straining knots behind him. He worked same slow death? Eric doubted it. into a clearer consciousness of against his bonds. The second hope. If he without much could Somehow he couldn’t see these themselves. man to be declared an outlaw had his hands loose, perhaps get he men caught as easily as he and Most other men in his condi- escaped ! How he had done it Eric might squirm his way carefully to judged, would have his uncle had been. Arthur was tion, Eric had never found out: he remem- the entrance, leap up suddenly too clever, he was certain of that, been dead by now. Only a body bered only that a guard was se- and break into a run. So what if and Walter, well, Walter would as powerful as the Trap- verely punished, and that bands threw a spear through him they come up with some fantastic wea- Smasher’s could have lasted this of warriors had sniffed for him — wouldn’t that be better and pon that no one had ever seen or long. And — who knew? — if for a along far-distant corridors quicker than the other thing? they could escape, it was possible heard of . . . long time afterward. they wouldn’t, he realized. But Like the one he had in his that his uncle’s wounds, given Escape. That was it. He had to Not unless he were very lucky knapsack right now — that red care and rest, might heal. escape. Once declared an outlaw, and some warrior forgot to think blob the Weapon-Seeker had If they could escape. he could have no hope of mercy, straight. In cases like this, when given him! no remission of sentence. The re- it was a matter of keeping, not said, Was it a weapon? He didn’t TNCLE THOMAS,” he ligious overtones of the ceremony killing a prisoner, you aimed for know. But even if it wasn’t, he ^ leaning toward him and being prepared were too highly the legs. There were at least a had the impression it could create whispering urgently. “I think I charged to be halted for anything dozen men in Mankind with skill some kind of surprise. “It should know a way out. I think I’ve fig- short of the disappearance of its great enough to bring him down make them sit up and take no- ured out a way to escape.” chief protagonist. even at twenty or twenty-five tice,” Walter had said back in No response. The bloody head Yes, escape. But how? Even if paces. And another dozen who Monster territory. continued to talk in a low, tone- he could get free of the knots might be able to catch him. He Any kind of surprise, any kind less voice to the lap. Mutter, mut- which so expertly and so strongly was no Roy the Runner, after all. of upset and he might have a ter, mutter. Moan. Mutter, mut- tied his hands behind his back, Roy! He was dead and sew- diversion under cover of which he ter. he had no weapon to hand. The ered by now. He found himself and his uncle could escape. “Your wives,” Eric said des- guard at the entrance would regretting the fight he’d had with But that was the trouble. His perately. “Your wives. Don’t you transfix him with a spear in a Roy. uncle. With his hands bound as want to get revenge for your moment. if he failed, there Stranger passed by the stor- And A thoroughly as he could now as- wives? were others outside, almost the age burrow entrance, glancing in certain they were, he needed his That seemed to be worth a entire warrior strength of the with only a slight curiosity. He uncle’s help to do anything at all. flicker. “My wives,” said the thick was followed in a moment by two people. And the Trap-Smasher was ob- voice. “They were good women.

THE MEN IN THE WALLS 69 ”

Real good women. They never something sharp. He looked othing, just the steady shouldn’t I ask about those other let Franklin near them. They around feverishly. No, nothing. A N flow of argumentative gib- tribes?” were real good women.” “Your grandmother was from Then the few tumbled bags of food over berish. And the thin blood drip- flicker was over and the mutters another tribe, a real strange tribe which lazy roaches wandered. ping from the mouth. returned. in a faroff burrow. I remember Nothing he could use to help him “I saw Arthur the Organizer. “Escape!” it when I was a lit- Eric whispered. get free. He said he’d known you for a hearing about “Don’t you want to escape?” His uncle tle boy.” Thomas the Trap- was his only hope. long time. When did you meet A thin, coagulating line of Smasher nodded to himself. Somehow he had to rouse the him, Uncle Thomas? When did blood dripped out of his uncle’s man, get “Your grandfather’s band went through to him. He you first meet Arthur the Organ- slowly working jaws. There was squirmed close, his on a long journey, the longest up mouth izer?” no other they answer. against the Trap-Smasher’s bat- The head drooped lower, the they’d ever taken. And Eric looked towards grandmother and the en- tered ear. shoulders slumped further for- caught your trance of the storage burrow. is brought her back.” The “This Eric, Eric the Only. ward. guard posted there was no grandmother?” For the longer Do you remember me. Uncle? I “Tell me about Alien-science. “My turning from time to time to went on the Theft, Uncle moment, Eric forgot what was be- Thom- What is Alien-science?” Eric was glance at the prisoners. as, I for him outside. The went on the Theft with you. almost gibbering himself now in ing prepared structure outside was evidently Third category. Remember, He’d known there was some pecu- I his frantic efforts to find a key nearing completion, and his in- asked for a third liar secret about his grandmother. category theft, that would unlock his uncle’s terest in the final preparations just like mentioned in you told me to? I did mind. “Are Arthur the Organizer She had rarely been had caused him to take a step or my Theft, I to now, he’d taken was successful, I and Walter the Weapon-Seeker Mankind. Up two away from the entrance. He made it. I did just granted that this was be- what you told very important men among the it for was staring off to the left to was down me do. I’m Eric the Eye now, Alien-sciencers? Are they the cause she’d had a son who the great central burrow in abso- right? Tell me, I Eric almost the am the chiefs? What was the name of the terribly unlucky — lute fascination. Eye?” in the bur- structure they were hiding in? worst thing a person Well, that was something. It Mutters, mumbles and moans. could be. one-child litter, What is it to the Monsters? They rows A gave them a chance. On the other The man seemed beyond intelligi- killed together talked about other tribes, tribes I after all, and being hand, it also meant that they had bility. in Monster territory. never heard of. How many other with his wife scant moments left to their lives. “What about Franklin? He tribes are there? Are these other Very unlucky. Any time now, the leaders of the can’t do this to us, can he. Uncle tribes — Female Society would be coming Thomas? Don’t you want to es- grandmother was from That was it. He had found the 46]%/fY to drag them to the torture cere- cape? Don’t you want revenge on key. He had gotten through. another tribe? Not from mony. Franklin, on Ottilie, for what they Thomas the Trap-Smasher’s Mankind?” He knew, of course, With his eyes oh the guard, did to your wives? Don’t you? head came up waveringly, dim- that several of the women had Eric leaned against the rough Don't you?” ness swirling in his eyes. “Other been captmed from other peoples burrow wall and began scraping He had to cut through his tribes. Funny that you should ask in neighboring burrows and had the imprisoning knapsack thongs uncle’s confused mist of gathering about other tribes. That you the good fortune now to be con- against the sharpest edges he delirium. should ask.” sidered full-fledged members of could find. It wouldn’t be fast In complete desperation, he “Why? What about them?” Mankind. Sometimes one of their enough, he realized. If there were lowered his head and sank his Eric fought to hold the key in own women would be lost this only a spear point in this place, teeth into a wounded shoulder. place, to keep it turning. “Why way, when she strayed too far

70 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 71 ” ” ”

given topic as if they were having a down an outlying burrow and Alien-sciencer,” he rambled on, of them a band captain. I’ve stumbled into a band of Stranger mostly to himself. “Your grand- orders and taken them, given pleasant conversation after a fine, warriors. If you stole a woman mother was the first Alien- them and taken them. I’ve never full meal. it! that stuff out. from another people, after all, sciencer we ever had in Mankind. disobeyed an order. What I al- “Forget Get it out!” you stole a substantial portion of I guess her tribe were all Alien- ways say is how can you expect Just get — “It’s hard to describe,” the their knowledge. But he’d never sciencers. Imagine — a whole to give orders if you don’t imagined — tribe of Alien-sciencers!” “Now,” Eric told him, bringing other man’s voice wandered on. off, their burrow is, “Dora the Dream-Singer.” Eric groaned. This half-alive, their backs together and hunch- “A long way a long off. know the Thomas’s head waggled loosely: delirious man was his only hope ing down so that his knapsack way You call us front-burrow he dribbled words mixed with red of escaping. This bloody wreck would be just under his uncle’s Strangers people. know that, don’t saliva. “Did you know why your who had once been the proudest, bound arms. “Reach in. Work You you? The Strangers are back- grandmother was called the most alert band captain of them that mass of sticky stuff out. It’s burrowers. Well, your grand- Dream-Singer, Eric? The women all. right on top. And hurry!” mother’s people are the bottom- used to say that the things she He turned for another look at Yes. Those were footsteps com- outside. Several of them. most burrowers of all.” talked about happened only in the guard. The man was still ing up Eric sensed his fingers closing dreams, and that she couldn’t staring down the length of the The leaders of the Female Soci- in the knapsack. talk straight like other people — great central burrow. There was ety, the chief, an escort of war- The three women who ruled the she could only sing about her nothing to be heard now but a riors. And the guard, watching liable Female Society came into the dreams. But she taught your terrifying silence, as if dozens of that deadly procession, was storage burrow. Ottilie the Omen- father a lot, and he was like her. pairs of eyes were glowing in an- to remember his duties and turn Teller, Sarah the Sickness-Healer Women were a little afraid to ticipation. And footsteps — were back to the prisoners. and Rita the Record- Keeper. mate with him. My sister was the not those footsteps? He had to “Hurry, he demanded. “I told With them was the chief and two first to take a chance — and find a way to make his uncle co- you to hurry, dammit! That’s an band captains, heavily armed. everyone said she deserved what operate. order, too. Get it out fast. Fast!” she got.” And, all this time, as the Trap- IX Abruptly, Eric became con- 66^^HOMAS the Trap-Smash- Smasher’s fumbling fingers wan- scious of a change in the sounds er!” he said sharply, barely dered about in his knapsack, as fright im- i^TTILIE, the Chieftain’s First outside the burrow. More quiet. managing to keep his voice low. he listened with and patience to the sounds of the ap- Wife, was in the lead. She Were they coming for him now? “Listen to me. This is an order! execution party all stopped, just inside the entrance “Uncle Thomas, listen! I have There’s something in my knap- proaching — somewhere in his mind, to the burrow and the others an idea. Those Strangers — sack, a blob of sticky stuff. We’re this time, the came to a halt around her. Walter, Arthur the Organizer — going to turn our backs to each there was wonderment at to an “Look at them,” she jeered. they gave me a Monster souvenir. other, and you’re going to reach orders he was rapping out experienced band captain and the “They’re trying to free each I don’t know what it does, but I in with your fingers and fish it incredible authority he had man- other! And what do they plan to can’t get at it. I’ll turn around. out. Do you hear me? That’s an do if they get themselves untied?” You try to reach down into my order — a warrior’s order!” aged to get into his voice. Franklin moved to her side and knapsack with the tips of your His uncle nodded, completely “Now you’re wondering where grandmother’s tribe have took a long, judicious look at the fingers and — docile. “I’ve been a warrior for your began two men squatting back to back. The Trap-Smasher paid no at- over twenty auld lang synes,” he their burrow,” Thomas suddenly, reverting to an earlier “They’ll try to escape,” he ex- attention to him. “She was an mumbled, twisting around. “Six

73 72 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS plained, continuing his wife’s lashing saliva into it. And simul- directions as well as he could screaming in sharp steady bursts. joke. “They’ll have their hands taneously he kicked at the bur- under the circumstances, but he Her mouth was open so wide free, they figure, and surely row floor with curved toes, had no idea what the scarlet that it seemed she was about to Thomas the Trap-Smasher and straightening his legs, jerking his stain, made loose and moist by tear her jaws apart. And with each his nephew are a match, thighs even and body upward. Unable his saliva, was supposed to ac- scream she lifted her arm rigidly bare-handed, for the best spear- to use his arms for balance, he complish. He watched it, hoping and pointed to the back of Ste- men in Mankind!’’ tottered erect and turned, sway- and waiting. phen’s neck. She kept lifting her And then Eric felt the search- ing, to face the leaders of his Then Stephen the Strong- arm and pointing as if she wanted ing hands come up out of the people. Armed brought his free hand up everyone present to know beyond knapsack to which his own arms After you spit on it, throw it slowly to wipe the stuff off. Eric the least doubt why and how she were tied. Something fell to the fast. As fast and as far as you can. stopped hoping. Nothing was go- came to be screaming. floor of the burrow. It made an “I don’t know what he’s doing,” ing to happen. Stephen the Strong-Armed had odd noise, halfway between a someone said, “but I don’t like it. Strangers, he had begun to no head. His body ended at the splash and a thud. He twisted Let me through.” think despairingly, that’s what neck, and flaps of skin fell down around for it immediately with Stephen the Strong-Armed comes of trusting Strangers — to his chest in an irregular wavy his mouth open, flexing his knees stepped ahead of the group and pattern. A fountain of blood in a tight crouch underneath his lifted a heavy spear, ready for he blast of sound was so tre- bubbled and spurted where his body. throwing. Tmendous that for a moment he head had been. His body still “You’ve never seen anything Eric shut his eyes, bent his thought the roof of the burrow stood upright, feet planted wide like the burrows of your grand- head far back on his neck and had fallen in. He was slammed apart in a good warrior’s stance, mother’s people,” his uncle was took a deep, deep breath. Then backwards against the wall and one arm holding the spear ready mumbling, as if what his hands he snapped his head forward, flip- fell as if he’d been walloped with for action and the other con- had just done was no concern of ping his tongue hard against the a spear haft. He remembered the gealed in its upward motion to the rest of him. “And neither have object in his mouth. He forced cough with which he’d expelled wipe the red blob away. It stood, I, though I’ve listened to the out his breath so abruptly that the bit of red blob from his incredibly straight and tall and tales.” the exhalation became a wild, mouth. Had there been a delayed alive. “He won’t last long now,” barking cough. echo to his cough, a gigantic, ear- Suddenly, it fell apart. Sarah the Sickness-Healer com- The soft little mass flew out of splitting echo? First the spear slid slowly for- mented. “We’ll have to have our his mouth, and he opened his He lifted his head from the ward out of the right hand and fun with the boy.” eyes to watch its course. For a floor finally, when the reverbera- clattered to the floor. Then the All you do, Walter the Weap- moment, he was unable to find it tions in the little storage burrow arms began to fall loosely to the on-Seeker had said, is tear off a an3Twhere; then he located it by had rumbled into a comparative sagging knees and the entire pinch with your fingers. Then spit the odd expression on Stephen’s silence. Someone was screaming. great, brawny body slumped as on it and throw it. Throw it as face and the fearful upward roll Someone was screaming over and if its bones had left it. It dropped fast and as far can. as you of his eyes. over again. aimlessly to the floor, an arm He couldn’t use his fingers. But There was a little red splotch It was Sarah. She was looking poking out here, a leg twisting he leaned to the down red blob in the middle of the band cap- at Stephen the Strong-Armed out there, in a pattern as mean- and nipped off a piece with his tain’s forehead. from the rear. She had been ingless as if an oddly shaped bag teeth. He brought his tongue What was supposed to happen, standing directly behind him. of skin had been flung to one side against the strange soft substance. he wondered? He had followed Now she was staring at him and of the burrow.

74 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 75 ”

It continued to twitch for a blob — the Stranger, Walter, had Corridors filled with glow lamps. the spear went all the way down. moment or two, as the bubbling said it was a weapon, but it didn’t Corridors and corridors and cor- His uncle was on his feet, stagger- fountain of blood turned into a operate like any weapon he had ridors — ing, but at least on his feet. sluggishly flowing river. At last ever in his life heard of. Except For a moment, Eric con- Dragging the spear awkwardly, it lay still, a motionless heap of possibly in the times of the an- sidered. The man would be a Eric urged and butted him out of limbs and torso. Of the missing cestors: the ancestors were sup. heavy liability in fast travel. But the place. The great central bur- head there was no trace any- posed to have had things which he couldn’t desert him. This was row was empty of people. Weap- where. could blow an object apart and his last surviving relative, the ons, p)ots and miscellaneous pos- leave no trace. But this was an only person who didn’t consider sessions lay strewn about where CARAH the Sickness - Healer alien artifact, a possession of the him an outlaw and a thing. And, they had been dropped. The fin- ^ stopped screaming and turned, Monsters which Walter the shattered as he was, also still his ished structure of the Stage stood shaking, to her companions. Their Weapon - Seeker had somehow captain. deserted in front of the royal protruding eyes left the body on found and appropriated. What “Get up!” he said again. “Tho- mound. And some time before, the floor. was it? How had it exploded the mas the Trap-Smasher, get up! the bodies of his uncle’s wives Then they all reacted at once. head of Stephen the Strong- That’s an order, a warrior’s order. had evidently been removed. They yelled madly, wildly, Armed? Get up!” The chief and the other leaders fearfully, as if they were a chorus That was to be worked out an- As he’d hoped, his uncle re- had bolted to the left once they and she the conductor. Still bel- other time. Meanwhile, he had sponded to the old command. He had clawed their way out of the lowing, they made for the narrow his chance. It might not last long: managed to get his legs under his storage burrow. They had ap- entrance behind them. They got he had no idea when the panic body, and strained against them, parently run past the scaffold through in a pushing, punching might subside and a patrol of war- but it was no use. He didn’t have structure and picked up the rest scramble that at one point looked riors be sent back to investigate. the energy to rise. of Mankind in their panic. like a composite monster with He stepped carefully across the Eric turned right. dozens of arms, legs and swinging, red stream flowing from the fallen ^ASTING apprehensive looks His uncle was a problem. Tho- naked breasts. They carried the man’s neck. Squatting down in over his shoulder at the en- mas the Trap-Smasher kept com- guard outside with them, and front of the dropped spear, he trance to the storage burrow, Eric ing to a bewildered halt. Again with them, too, they carried their managed to get a grip on it with ran to the struggling man. Work- and again he began the story of uncontrollable panic, screaming his bound hands and rose, holding ing backwards, he managed to his long-ago journey to the bur- it into existence all along the it awkwardly behind him. get one end of the spear under rows of the strange, distant tribe. great central burrow. No time to cut his bonds. Not the crook of his uncle’s arm. Eric had to push against him to For a little while, Eric could here. Then, using his own hip as a ful- keep him moving. hear feet pounding into the dis- “Uncle Thomas,” he called. crum, he levered hard at the Once they were in the outlying tant corridors. Then there was “We can get away. We have a other end. corridors, he felt better. But not quiet. There was quiet every- chance now. Come on, get up!” It was painful, slippery work, until they had made many turns, where, except for Thomas the The wounded band captain since he couldn’t bring all of his passed dozens of branches and Trap - Smasher’s interminable stared up at him without compre- muscles into play and it was diffi- were well into completely unin- “ mumbling. hension. — corridors like you’ve cult to see what he was doing. In habited burrows, did he feel he Eric forced himself upright never seen or imagined,” he con- between efforts, he gasped out or- could stop and saw himself free again. He was unable to imagine tinued in a low monotone. “Glow ders to “Get up, get up, get up, of his bonds on the point of the what had happened. That red lamps that aren’t on foreheads. damn you!” At last the end of spear. He did the same for his

76 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 77 of its last resources. His eyes than to hitch the man’s arm up uncle. Then, throwing the Trap- than they could find among hu- were glazed and his strong over his shoulder again and to Smasher’s left arm across his own man beings? shoulders hung slack. He was a keep going in the direction of shoulders and clutching him Very well then. The doorway I somnambulist walking jerkily in Monster territory. tightly about the waist, he started to Monster territory. They would the direction of death. Once erect, the Trap-Smash- off again. It was slow going: his have to come around in a wide When they stopped to rest, er’s feet began walking again, but uncle was a heavy man, but the arc through many corridors to get Eric — after listening intently with a dragging, soggy quality more distance they could put be- to it, but Eric knew the way. He for any sounds of pursuit — had that became more and more pro- tween themselves and Mankind, was Eric the Eye, after all, he told i washed his uncle’s wounds care- nounced. After a while, Eric had the better. himself: it was his business al- j fully with water from the can- to come to a halt: he had the But distance where? Where ways to know the way. . teens and had bound the uglier feeling that he was hauling dead should they go? He pondered the But was it? He had not en- | gashes with strips torn from a weight. problem as they tottered to- joyed the formal initiation into knapsack. It was all he knew When he tried to lower his gether down the silent, branching manhood that was the usual after- how to do: warrior’s first aid. A uncle to the floor of the burrow, corridors. One place was as good math of a successful Theft With- woman’s advanced therapeutic he found that the body had be- as another. There was nowhere out that, perhaps he was still Eric | knowledge was needed for any- come almost completely limp. that they would be welcome. Just the Only, still a boy and an ini- thing more complicated. Thomas lay on his back, his eyes keep going. tiate. No, he knew what he was. Not that it would have made staring without curiosity at the He may have muttered his He was Eric the Outlaw, nothing very much difference by this rounded ceiling upon which his questions aloud. To his surprise, else. j time. The Trap-Smasher was too forehead glow-lamp outlined a He was an outlaw, without a Thomas the Trap-Smasher sud- ; far gone. bright circular patch. denly said in an entirely coherent home and a people. And, except

' Eric felt desperate at the The heartbeat was very, very but very weak voice: “The door- for the dying man he pulled thought of being left alone for- faint. way to Monster territory, Eric. along, everyone’s hand was hence- ever in the dark, uninhabited “Eric,” he heard a weak voice Make for the doorway to Mon- forth against him. corridors. He tried to force water say. He raised his eyes from his ster territory where you went to and bits of food upon his uncle. uncle’s chest and looked at the make your Theft.” X The man’s head rolled back, painfully working mouth. “Why?” Eric asked. “What can nourishment dribbling carelessly “Yes, uncle?” we do there?” ^HOMAS the Trap-Smasher down from both sides of his “I’m sorry — about — what I There was no answer. His un- had been badly injured in mouth. He was breathing lightly got you into. I had — no right. cle’s head fell forward on his the surprise attack that had and very rapidly. His body had Your life — after all — your life. chest. He was evidently sliding wiped out his band. Ordinarily, grown quite warm by the time You — my wives — the band. I into a stupor again. And yet, he would have had his wounds they stopped. led — death — everyone. I’m somehow, as long as Eric’s en- carefully dressed by the clever- j Eric himself ate ravenously: it sorry.” circling arm pulled at his body, ness and accumulated experience was his first meal in a long, long Eric fought hard to hold back the man’s legs kept moving for- of Sarah the Sickness-Healer. Un- while. He kept staring at his re- his tears. “It was for a reason. ward. There was some residual der the circumstances, however, cumbent uncle and trying to Uncle Thomas,” he said. “We had stamina and a warrior’s deter- Sarah had done the reverse. work out a line of action that a cause. It wasn’t just you. The mination in him yet. Now, the strain of escape and would do some good. In the end, cause failed.” Monster territory. Was there the forced headlong flight that j he had thought of nothing better There was a hideous cackle more safety for them there now followed it had emptied his body THE MEN IN THE WALLS 79 78 GALAXY Eric located the fresh-water burrows. And that included, of from the prone man. For a mo- pended in thoughts which were pipe without much difficulty. course, the bodies of the dead. ment, Eric thought it was a death agonizing. There was a constant low rumb- Eric stripped his uncle’s body rattle. Then he realized that it The energies which it de- ling and gurgling underfoot, and of all useful gear as he had seen had been a laugh, but such a manded were almost more than at the spot where it was most the women do many times. Then laugh as he had never heard be- he was capable of at this point. pronounced—he found the slab he dragged it to the hole in the fore. His uncle had been a heavy, well in the floor cut at the cost of burrow floor and held it by one “A cause?” the Trap-Smasher built man. Eric found that he infinite labor by some past gen- arm for a moment as the current gasped. “A cause? Do you know had to stop at the end of almost eration of Mankind. Near it, after of the sewage caught it. He re- — do you — know what — the every curving corridor and get the slab was lifted, was another, peated as much of the ceremony cause was? I wanted — wanted his breath back. much thicker pipe, large enough as he could remember, conclud- to be chief. Chief. The only — He finally arrived at the door- to carry two men abreast. Like ing with the words: “And there- only way I could — do it. — way, grateful for the fact that the other one, the hard stuff of fore, O ancestors, I beg you to Alien-science — the Strangers — his uncle had died so relatively the burrow floor had been scraped receive the body of this member a cause. Everyone — the killings close to it. He also felt he under- away so that a joint lay exposed. of Mankind, Thomas the Trap- — I wanted to — to be chief. stood why this had been sug- Opening the joint was another Smasher, a warrior of the first Chiei!” gested as their destination. Thom- matter. Eric had seen it done rank, a band captain of renown He went rigid as he coughed as the Trap-Smasher had known many times by his elders, but this and the father of nine.” out the last word. Then slowly, he had little time left. His nephew was his own first attempt. It was There was usually another like flesh turning into liquid, he would have the responsibility of a tricky business of tugging a line or so — “Take him to you relaxed. sewering him. had tried to He heavy covering plate first right, and keep him with you until the He was dead. make it as easy for Eric as pos- then left, and getting his fingers time when the Monsters have going sible by the greater part of under the rim and pulling at just been destroyed utterly and the Tj^RIC stared at the body a long the distance on his own feet. the right moment. Earth is ours again. Then shall ^ time. It didn’t dif- There was a fresh-water pipe make any you and he and all human beings ference, he found. numbness in the wall near the doorway to The ^HE joint opened at last, and who have ever lived rise from in his mind remained. There was Monster territory. And wherever the incredible stink of Mon- the sewers and joyously walk the a great paralyzed spot in the there was a fresh-water pipe, the ster sewage poured out as the surface of our world forever.” But center of his brain that was un- Monsters were likely to have liquid swirled darkly by. Death this, after all, was a pure An- able to think or to feel. laid a sewer pipe nearby. It was had always been associated in cestor-science passage; and his In the end, he shook himself, down this, probably, that the Eric’s mind with this stink, since uncle had died fighting Ancestor- bent down and grabbed the body men killed in the battle with the pipe carried not only the science. What was the Alien-sci- by the shoulders. Walking back- Stephen the Strong-Armed’s Monster’s waste matter but also ence equivalent? And it likely wards, he dragged it in the di- band had been disposed of much that of Mankind, collected from to be any more potent, any less rection of Monster territory. earlier. And it was down this that its burrows every week by the full of falsehood? In the end, Eric Something he had to do. Thomas had known his remains The old women who were too feeble omitted those last two lines. duty of anyone who lived in the must also go the closest point — for any other work. All that was He let go of the stiffening arm. burrows when death occurred in at which his nephew could sewer not alive or useful was carried to The body shot away and down his neighborhood. it filled him in comparative safety. Now the nearest Monster sewer pipe, the pipe. Thomas the Trap- time and used up energies that This much, at least, he had all that might decay and foul the Smasher was gone, he was gone he might otherwise have ex- done for Eric’s benefit. THE MEN IN THE WALLS 81 80 GALAXY r could no longer do aimlessly with his own kind; and for all time, the way Eric Not for him. He would be free. Q^jier. He he had to face the the enemy he had selected could reasoned now. He was dead and He laughed, bitterly and self- °j,ese things; wanted to face regard him with nothing more sewered, and that was that. consciously. He had to be free. ' Monsters. He destroy them. than heavy oblivious contempt. Eric closed the joint, pulled There was no choice: he was an them and one of the roaches If he could ever for a moment the slab down and stamped it outlaw. It was like one into place. storage burrow declaring find one usable weapon and Eric walked a few steps and in the cook who came in to vital area on which that weapon He was completely alone. An put his hands on the door to war on a evening meal for Man- could be used . . . outlaw who could expect nothing Monster territory. To shift it out niake the cook would roar with He hefted his two special ad- from other human beings but of its socket was a hard job for kind. The such a thought. Who vantages grimly. Then Eric the death by slow torture. He had no one man. He strained and tore laughter at on in the mind Only, the Eye, the Outlaw, Eric companions, no home, no beliefs his fingers; finally he managed knew what went roach — and who cared? Yet the Self-Aware Individual Man, of any sort. His uncle’s last words it. The door came away and he of a would enjoy two special stepped through the doorway in- still lay, in all their stern ugliness, deposited it carefully on the floor the roach once and for territory. at the bottom of his mind. “I of the burrow. advantages. He had to Monster crawling greedily and — WILLIAM TENN wanted to — to be chief.” He stared at it for a while, all stopped trying to figure out a way of TT was bad enough to discover getting it back after he’d passed that the religion on which he through the doorway. No, a had been raised was a mere prop single man just couldn’t do that to the power of the chieftainship, from the other side. He’d have that the mysterious Female So- to leave the doorway open, an ciety was completely unable to incredible social crime. FORECAST see into a person’s future. But to Well, he couldn’t commit a find out that his uncle’s thought- crime any more. was beyond going to be one of the He Last summer we printed what we said was ful antagonism to such nonsense all rules -Jack Vance's The Dragon made by human com- best-liked science-fiction stories of the year were enthusiastic, and was based on nothing more sub- munities. Ahead lay the glaring Masters - and, by gosh, we were right; your letters illustrations that went with it went stantial than simple personal white light that he and his kind both the story and the fine Gaughan nominations. ambition, an ambition murder- feared so much. Into this he right on to pick up best-of-the-year a big one called The Star King, In ously unscrupulous and willing to would go. Here, where there Next issue Vance is back with had one world under observation; here he sacrifice anybody who trusted were no illusions to be found and The Dragon Masters Vance with imagin- the baroque and fascinating life of a galaxy, bright him — well, what was there left no help to be expected, here he shows us like this one, too! ative color, brilliant with invention. You'll to believe in, to base a life upon? would his solitary make outlaw Fritz Leiber, No Great In the same issue a complete short novel by his Had father and mother home. will be somewhat Magic, and as much more as the type will contain. Which been any less gullible than the Behind him lay the dark, safe, slight change in more than heretofore, by the way. Next issue will show a most naive child in the burrows? intricate burrows. were price, but a dif- They format — same overall size, same number of pages, same They had sacrificed -which will themselves tunnels, Eric knew now, in the ferent method of printing and a slightly more compact type — for what? For one know. Galaxy already contains super- walls that surrounded Monster make it a bigger bargain than ever. (As you issue than stition as opposed to another, for territory. Men lived in these both more pages and more actual words of science fiction per thing for sure: this the secret p>olitical maneuvers of walls, and shivered, and were ig- any other magazine in the world.) We'll tell you one this person as opposed to that. norant, and made fools of each issue you won't want to missi

82 GALAXY THE MEN IN THE WALLS 83 Two Great Science-Fiction Novels

by JACK WILLIAMSON

Author of The Humanoids, Darker Than You Think, etc.

TWO COMPLETE NOVELS JACK WILLIAMSON

Author of THE HUMANOIDS for your information

ASTPWMDWW KMNa PKtlOM BY WILLY LEY THE LEGION OF TIME — He followed her through the ages, into a strange KING OF THE RATS world of the future that might never come to be . . . T^R those who know Tchai- AFTER WORLD'S END — kovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet only from re.cords and have never A story of courage and dazzling science-fiction seen it staged it may be neces- adventure in a strange world inhabited by strang- sary to explain that there is a er people . . . Mouse King on stage. It has many heads — mouse-heads, of NOW ON SALE AT ALL NEWSSTANDS • 50^ course — and for that reason it If you missed Magabook No. 1 — The Sky Is Falling and Badge of doesn’t have much to do. But the Infamy, two complete sf novels by Lester del Rey— send 50^ to choreographer’s problems are be- Galaxy Publishing Co., 421 Hudson St., N. Y. 14, N. Y. side the point here, as is the fact that the ballet is based on a French rewrite of a story by

84 GALAX FOR YOUR INFORMATION 85 E. T. A. Hoffmann, he of the rally, since the tails are stuck This is a reference to the who died in 1280. Whether they Tales of Hoffmann. together. Being handicapped in legend which other writers ex- arrived, presumably from the What is to the point is that the this manner, the animals are not panded, saying that the younger East, a centdry or five centuries Mouse King of the ballet was a very mobile and in a few cases a rats steal red cloth to drape on before Albertus is something no- Rat King in the original story, dead and dried-out “king” has their king. Many a young Swiss body knows. that there is a little known been found. Evidently the and rats probably gripped his stick more But the arrival of the brown fact of Natural History hiding be- had starved to death. But in the tightly when opening the door of rat has even been observed. The hind the fantasy. majority of the cases the “king” a long unused barn or basement. German physician Peter Simon Quite a number of years ago, when found was still alive. It There might be an enormous rat Pallas, who explored Russia for at a Christmas party where the often was found because the inside, immobile because of age the Court in St. Petersburg, re- hostess told me that she had members composing it were and size, maybe, but still ported that large numbers of taken her children to see the squealing with hunger. equipped with long teeth and pos- brown rats could be seen travel- ballet, I tried to tell that fact, sibly defended by faithful retain- ing westward after an earthquake but was interrupted with the re- A of writers have NUMBER ers. Of course no rat king of that in the area of the Caspian Sea. mark that this was “not a nice dismissed the Rat King as kind was ever found, though it The date was early autumn of story.” I just found out that “legendary” but that seems to be made fine material for fairy tales. 1727. The brown rat appeared in Richard Lydekker, who edited due to a confusion, just as the But once in a while peasant lads East Prussia in 1750, in Paris in the multi-volume Library of Nat- term Rat King itself is somewhat would find the nearly immobile 1753, in South Germany in 1780 ural History which was published confused I’ll — as explain short- assembly of rats with their tails and in Switzerland in 1809. But in New York in 1902, also did ly. There is a European legend stuck together. Was that the rat in the meantime brown rats from not consider it a “nice story”, for about a “king of the rats” which king’s throne? Or did the king of the East Indies had reached Eng- while he followed his original, Dr. is old enough to be untraceable the rats look different from the land by ship in 1732 and had Alfred Brehm’s Tierleben, quite because its roots disappear in the fairy tales? In the end linguistic traveled from England to the faithfully, he left out the three time before printing. But the usage decided that it was the Rat United States in 1755. The brown pages of the original which deal name was known to Konrad Ges- King. rat is considerably larger than the with the Rat King. ner, the great Swiss zoologist of Two types of rats were com- black rat, and more destructive Rat King is not a separate A the sixteenth century. In his book mon in Europe. In England they in the same ratio. It was only a species. One is tempted to say “on on the four-footed animals, which are distinguished simply by the minor consolation that the first the contrary,” for it consists of a was printed for the first time in color of their fur as Black and victims of the brown rat’s appe- number of rats which cannot be said in 1555, he his chapter on Brown rats. The latter goes under tite were usually the black rats. separated. the rat — after remarking that the name of Norway Rat in some The average number of rats rats do not need to be described books. Zoologists know that the, A ROUND the year 1850, the forming a “king” is twelve, but because “to they many are better incidentally larger, brown rat is inhabitants of Denmark, larger and smaller numbers have known than is pleasing” that — a fairly late immigrant to Europe. Germany and Switzerland still been found. The tails of the ani- “some say that the rat, in its old The same is believed of the black referred to the two rats as “base- mals are intertwined in such a age, grows enormously large [so rat, but the date of immigration ment rats” and “attic rats”, the manner that the individuals can- that it can no longer move was early. The first mention of smaller black rat (Mus rattus) not pull free. The whole thing is around] and is fed by the young- the black rat can be found in the preferring the roof area, while the about two feet in diameter. All er rats; it is called a Rat King works of Albert of Bollstadt, bet- larger brown rat (Mus decuman- the heads point outward, natu- by our people.” ter known as Albertus Magnus, us) preferred the basements. By

86 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 87 looking out at him. Taking a feet of the rats had their natural the end of the nineteenth century Saxony in Leipzig with a com- rats firewood, he killed them, shapes, the brown rat had won out. The plaint. His name, he stated, was piece of to see that some of them had the black rat had become rare. And Christian Kaiser and he was em- and then took a ladder “(2) whether there might be more rats color of gray ashes, some were a the Reverend J. G. Wood, who ployed as a helper at the wind- taking little and some almost near the end of the nineteenth mill at Lindenau, a hamlet within on a ledge, this time an darker There found black, century wrote a book called Ani- walking distance from Leipzig. A axe as a weapon. he King. pulled it off the “(3) that they measured more mate Creation, was more than week earlier he had found a live the Rat He using the axe so that it than a span in length [this must slightly wrong in writing that the Rat King consisting of 16 rats ledge, to the floor. counted six- refer to the length of the head “conquest had been brought whose tails were intertwined. He fell He teen rats, fifteen of them with and body without the tail; the about not by war but by love”, had shown it to his master, the tails “plaited together” and normal figure for a black rat is thinking that in interbreeding the miller Tobias Jaeger. The reason their the sixteenth sticking to the back about seven inches], characteristics of the brown rat why he bothered the officials was of one of the fifteen. Most of “(4) that the proportions of had become dominant. It had to complain about one Johann fur them survived the fall from the their thickness to their length in- been war, plain and simple. Adam Fasshauer, a resident of and stayed alive for some dicated that they were under- This excursion into the history Lindenau. Said Johann Adam ledge But though they attempted nourished rather than well nour- of the two kinds of rats has been Fasshauer had gone to the afore- time. free of each other they did ished.” necessary for a specific reason. mentioned miller Tobias Jaeger to pull not succeed. His conclusion was that “said Whatever it is that causes a doz- and persuaded him to hand over sixteen rats were not one organ- en or so rats to become a Rat the Rat King to said Fasshauer rf^HE NEXT step of the officials ism which is called a Rat King King affects the black rat only, because he wished to make a •*- was to send a doctor to Lin- but sixteen individual rats of dif- as far as we can tell from old painting of it. But in reality Fass- doctor wrote a ferent size and coloration and (in descriptions. It does not seem to hauer had exhibited the Rat denau. Then the protocol, that ar- my opinion) different age and touch the brown rat. And since King, charging admission, and saying he had been sex.” As for the reason, he pointed the black rat has become com- petitioner was now petitioning rived in Lindenau and had to in the Posthorn out that there had been a cold paratively rare the chances for the officials to force said Fass- led a room found a Rat sp>ell prior to the discovery. He forming Rat Kings have dimin- hauer to return the Rat King, to Inn where he had consisting of sixteen dead thought that the rats had huddled ished too. This must be the hand over the money he had King rats. together for warmth but that the reason why there are no recent earned by its public exhibition “Fifteen of them,” the doctor urine of other rats hiding at a reports. and also to pay the expenses for wrote, “had their tails knotted to- higher level had dripped down on But since the majority of these the action of the officials. the interwined tails and had reports are old how can we know Before committing themselves gether into a large knot in such a manner that most tails were frozen. that they are true? on the legal steps to be taken the completely in the knot except for I am sorry that I can’t report This is in itself a very valid officials made sure that there was whether the officials decided that suggestion. But fortunately we a Rat King. a piece one or two inches in length near their bodies.” He then Johann Adam Fasshauer had to have the documents of the equiv- They first questioned Christian examined the rats in detail, and return the Rat King to Christian alent of a law suit involving a Kaiser under oath about details of summarized the result of his ex- Kaiser along with the money he Rat King. the capture. He told that he was amination in the following four had earned by its exhibition. On January 17, 1774, a young working in the mill on January points: Since my source is a zoological man came to the district office 12, 1774, when he heard a noise “( that the bodies, heads and book, the legal consequences have of the government of the king of near a staircase and saw several 1 )

88 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 89 quired it and went to a taxider- formed the zoologist Reeker, who been neglected, but the point is grown rats, quite clean but also mist to have it preserved. The tried to acquire it for the Pro- that after all these legalities and very hungry. Strangely enough taxidermist, naturally, cleaned it vincial Museum of Westphalia. investigations the authenticity of they are also described as having up so that one cannot tell wheth- But before Reeker could move, the fact involved cannot easily be been very docile, which probably ei the intertwined tails were also the Zoological Institute of the doubted. The good doctor’s ex- means that the rats were in an held together by anything that University of Gottingen had se- planation of how the Rat King advanced state of weakness from might act like glue. cured it for its own collection. came into being is admittedly hunger. After Mr. Deckers died, the It consisted of ten specimens weak, but we still don’t know After the whole village had specimen was donated to the lo- of the black rat. The director of what the actual reason is. Some marveled at the find, the public cal High School and examined by the Zoological Institute, Privy later investigators have offered spectacle ended by the execution the school’s science teacher. Prof. Councillor Ehlers, wrote to Dr. the guess that it might be the re- of both Rat Kings, the execution Ahrend. Ahrend wrote that “Gun- Heck in reply to a question that sult of a disease of some kind being carried out with the flails. termann [the taxidermist] had he could not explain how such which is peculiar to the black rat. Then two of the men took pitch- cleaned the tails of the animals a thing could have happened and forks and tried to pry the bodies carefully so that only their inter- that the rat’s tails do not show AT ANY event, the Rat King of the smaller assembly apart twined positions were preserved any visible pathological changes. of Lindenau was not unique. After much effort they succeeded

. . . but just looking at the inter- And he added that the Institute’s During December, 1822, two in pulling out a few of the rats. twined tails makes it clear that taxidermist considered it impos- Rat Kings were found by three The forester himself looked at even the smallest amount of a sible that this Rat King might farm hands engaged in threshing them and wrote down that the sticky substance would render have been made by some prank- grain in the barn of the local tails had not been torn off in the the animals inseparable.” sters. forester. The place was the ham- process and even had their skin, The latest case which I could Well, this is the story. let of Dollstedt, not quite ten but they “showed the impressions find in a quick survey was re- All the cases have two things in miles from the city of Gotha. of the other tails, just like leather ported by the German zoologist common. It is always the black While doing their work, the men straps that had been plaited to- Dr. Ludwig Heck, who later be- Mus ratius which produces a heard the squealing of rats and gether for a long time.” came the director of the Zoologi- Rat King, and they have all been started a search, aided by the A later case has the advantage cal Garden in Berlin. It refers to found during the coldest time of forester’s helper. They finally of having been examined by a a Rat King found in January, the year, in weather which would found that one of the main cross man with scientific knowledge. 1907, in the village of Capelle, .make the animals huddle togeth- beams had a six-inch-deep hollow The Rat King was found on Feb- near Hamm in Westphalia. The er for warmth. in its topside, evidently one that ruary 2, 1880 by a drayman in a local pastor, Wigger by name, in- — WILLY LEY the rats had gnawed. They saw room of the abattoir of the city- that this hollow was full of rats, of Diisseldorf. It was a room and they were somewhat sur- which was used for the storage of prised that the rats made at- no skins and which was, for this rea- THE NIGHT OF THE TROLLS tempt to run away. son, not much frequented by peo- The men pushed the rats out, ple. The Rat King consisted of Gripping complete short science-fiction novel by Keith Laumer — and saw that one was a Rat King eight black rats, of which one was along with stories by Judith Merril, Philip K. Dick and many others — of 28 rats and the other one, one killed when it was discovered. In October WORLDS OF Now on sale of 14 rats. Both sets were de- The other seven lived for some TOMORROW scribed as consisting of fully time. A Mr. Wilhelm Deckers ac-

90 GALAXY FOR YOUR INFORMATION 91 F

^ONSIDER the horse. He ^ climbed up through the crev- asses of a cliff of gems; the force which drove him was the love of man. Consider Mizzer, the resort planet, where the dictator Colonel Wedder reformed the culture so violently that whatever had been slovenly now became atrocious. Consider Genevieve, so rich that she was the prisoner of her own wealth, so beautiful that she was the victim of her own beauty, ON THE so intelligent that she knew there nothing, be done By CORDWAINER SMITH was nothing to about her fate. Illustrated by WOOD Consider Casher O’Neill, a wanderer among the planets, thirsting for justice and yet hop- ing in his innermost thoughts that “justice” was not just another GEM PLANET word for revenge. Consider Pontoppidan, that lit- eral gem of a planet, where the people were too rich and busy to have good food, open air or He sought help and a great gift much fun. All they had was dia- monds, rubies, tourmalines and of weaponry. What he found— emeralds. but could not keep—was level Add these together and you have one of the strangest stories ever told from world to world.

I

TJ^HEN Casher O’Neill came to ™ Pontoppidan, he found that the capital city was appropri- ately called Andersen.

92 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 93 seen. She conformed to way. Besides, Mizzer may be cov- This was the second century of tive planet of Mizzer. They were had ever local fashion by wearing some ered with something valuable, the Rediscovery of Man. People concerned about little things. the of powder or face cream such as earth or sand, instead of everywhere had taken up old Indeed, at the time of his ar- kind was flesh-pink in color but gemstones like the ones we have names, old languages, old cus- rival, the Pontoppidans were which overtones of lilac. On here on Pontoppidan. You know toms, as fast as the robots and wildly excited about a horse. which had as old as twenty-two, your flower-pots with their rich, the underpeople could retrieve A horse! Who worries about a woman coloration would have warm, wet, soft earth?” the data from the rubbish of for- one horse? such a the wearer look like an old “Of course I do, uncle. And I gotten starlanes or the subsurface Casher O’Neill himself* said so. made but on Genevieve it was know what you paid for them. ruins of Manhome itself. “Why bother about a horse? We hag, pleasant, if rather startling. It You were very generous. And still Casher knew this very well, to have lots of them on Mizzer. the effect of a happy child are,” she added diplomatically, his bitter cost. Re-acculturation They are four-handed beings, gave grown-up and doing the glancing quickly at Casher O’- had brought him revolution and eight times the weight of a man, playing job joyfully and well. Casher Neill to see how the familial piety exile. He came from, the dry, with only one finger on each of knew that it was hard to tell ages went across with the visitor. beautiful planet of Mizzer. He the four hands. The fingernail is these off-trail planets. Gene- “We’re not that rich on Mizzer. was himself the nephew of the very heavy and permits them to in vieve might be' a grand dame in It’s mostly sand, with farmland ruined ex-ruler, Kuraf, whose col- run fast. That’s why our people third or fourth rejuvenation. along the Twelve Niles, our big lection of objectionable books have them, for running.” her doubted it, on second rivers.” had at one time been unmatched “Why run?” said the Heredi- He glance. What she said was sensi- “I’ve seen pictures of rivers,” in the settled galaxy; he had tary Dictator of Pontoppidan, ble, young, and pert: said Genevieve. “Imagine living stood aside, half-assenting, when “Why ruri, when you can fly? “But uncle, they’re animalsl” on a whole world full of flowerpot the colonels Gibna and Wedder Don’t you have ornithopters?” “I know that,” he rumbled. stuff!” took over the planet in the name “We don’t run with them,” said “But uncle, don’t you see it?” “You’re getting off the subject, of reform; he had implored the Casher indignantly. “We make “Stop saying ‘but uncle’ and darling. We were wondering why Instrumentality, vainly, for help them run against each other and tell me what you mean,” growled anyone would bring one horse, when Wedder became a tyrant; then we pay prizes to the one the Dictator, very fondly. just one horse, to Pontoppidan. I and now he traveled among the which runs fastest.” “Animals are always uncer- suppose you could race a horse stars, looking for men or weapons “But then,” said Phillip Vin- tain.” against himself, if you had a stop- who might destroy Wedder and cent, the Hereditary Dictator, “Of course,” said the uncle. watch. But would it be fun? make Kaheer again the luxurious, “you get a very illogical situation. “That makes it a game, uncle,” Would you do that, young man?” happy city which it once had When you have tried out these said Genevieve. “They’re never Casher O’Neill tried to be re- been. four-fingered beings, you know sure that any one of them would spectful. “In my home we used He felt that his cause was how fast each one goes. So what? do the same thing twice. Imagine to have a lot of horses. I’ve seen hopeless when he landed on Pon- Why bother?” the excitement the beautiful my uncle time them one by one.” toppidan. The people were warm- His niece interrupted. She was — big beings from earth running “Your uncle?” said the Dicta- hearted, friendly, intelligent, but a fragile little thing, smaller than around and around on their four tor interestedly. “Who was your they had no motives to fight for, Casher O’Neill liked women to middle fingers, the big fingernails uncle that he had all these four- no weapons to fight with, no ene- be. She had clear gray eyes, well- making the gems jump loose from fingered ‘horses’ running around? mies to fight against. They had marked eyebrows, a very artificial the ground!” They’re all Earth animals and little public spirit, such as Casher coiffeur of silver-blonde hair and “I’m not at all sure it’s that very expensive.” O’Neill had seen back on his na- the most sensitive little mouth he

THE PLANET 95 94 GALAXY ON GEM ” ”

you get out of it? There’s nothing is the understatement of the year, take action against RASHER felt the coming of the refusing to much in my mind.” but he was a careful young man given low, slow blow he had met Colonel Wedder, had young “To make sure,” said the He- with a great deal at stake, so he O’Neill an all-world travel so many times before, right from Casher reditary Dictator, “that you are said nothing. pass something which a hun- the whole outside world into the — not too honest and sharp in your The Dictator looked at him — lifetimes of savings could pit of his stomach. “My uncle dred beliefs. If you’re positive that you shrewdly. He appreciated the he stammered — “my uncle — I not have purchased for the ordi- know what to do, you might be value of Casher’s tactful silence. thought you knew — was the old nary man. (His obscene old uncle another Colonel Wedder, putting Genevieve tugged at his sleeve, Dictator of Mizzer, Kuraf.” had gone off to Sunvale, on Ttiol- y6ur people through a dozen tor- but he frowned her interruption Philip Vincent jumped to his le, the resort planet, to live out ments for a Utopia which never away. feet, very lightly for so well- his years between the casiho and quite comes true. If you don’t O’Neill fleshed a man. The young mis- the beach.) Casher held care at all, you might be like your i4TF,” said the Hereditary Dic- tress, Genevieve, clutched at the the conscience of Mizzer in his uncle. He did no real harm. He tator, “if,” he repeated, throat of her dress. hand. Only he, among the star just stole his planet blind and he “you pass two tests, I will give “Kuraf!” cried the old Dictator. travelers, cared enough to fight had some extraordinary habits you a green ruby as big as my “Kuraf! We know about him, for the freedom of the Twelve which got him talked about be- head. If my Committee will allow even here. But you were sup- Niles. Here, now, in this room, tween the stars. He never killed me to do so. But I think I can point. posed to be a Mizzer patriot, not there was a turning a man in his life, did he?” talk them around. One test is that one of Kuraf’s people.” “I won’t give you anything,” “No, sir,” said Casher O’Neill, you let me peep all over your “He doesn’t have any children said the Hereditary Dictator, but “he never did.” It relieved him to mind, to make sure that I am not — said it in a friendly voice. His ” Casher began to explain. he tell the one little good thing about dealing with one more honest “I should think not, not with niece started tugging at his sleeve. his uncle; there was so very, very fool. If you’re too honest, you’re those habits!” snapped the old The older man went on. “Stop little which could be said in Ku- a fool and a danger .to mankind. man. it, girl. I won’t give you anything, raf’s favor. I’ll give you a dinner and ship “ — so I’m his nephew and his not if you’re part of that—rotten “I don’t like slobbering old lib- you off-planet as fast as I can. heir. But I’m not trying to put the lot of Kuraf’s, not unless ertines like your uncle,” said And the other test is — solve the Dictatorship back, even though I “Anything, sir, anything, just so Philip Vincent, “but I don’t hate puzzle of this horse. The one to go should be dictator. I just want to that I get help or weapons them either. They don’t hurt horse on Pontoppidan. Why is get rid of Colonel Wedder. He home to the Twelve Niles!” other people much. As a matter the animal here? What should we then. has ruined my people, and I am “All right, Unless you of actual fact, they don’t hurt do with it? If it’s good to eat, how looking for money or weapons or open your mind to me. I’m a good anyone but themselves. They should we cook it? Or can we help to make my home-world telepath myself.” waste property, though. Like trade to some other world, like free.” This was the point, Casher “Open my mind! Whatever these horses you have on Mizzer. your planet Mizzer, which seems O’Neill knew, at which people for?” The incongruous indecency We’d never bring living beings to to set a value on horses?” either started believing him or of it shocked Casher O’Neill. He’d this world of Pontoppidan, just to “Thank you, sir —” said Cash- did not. If they did not, there was had men and women and govern- play games with. And you know er O’Neill. not much he could do about it. ments ask a lot of strange things we’re not poor. We’re no Old “But, uncle —” said Genevieve. If they did, he was sure to get from him, but no one before had North Australia, but we have a “Keep quiet, my darling, and some sympathy. So far, no help. had the cold impudence to ask good income here.” let the young man speak,” said Just sympathy. him to open his mind. “And why That, thought Casher O’Neill, the Dictator. But the Instrumentality, while you?” he went on, “What would ON THE GEM PLANET 97 96 GALAXY “ if could fuss that — all I was going to ask, is,” but he smiled widely and indul. to about two man-years per left to do, he horse. said Casher O’Neill, “what’s a if halftracks crunched much over a single Per- gently as he had heard that [jilo. Here green ruby good for? I didn’t through gems as they haps all he did was boss his niece particular phrase before. tjieir way the frequent trad- and watch the robots load truck- even know they came green.” She stamped her foot. “And I ^ent to load up “That, young man, is a Pon- know about the horse, too. vessels. loads of gems into sacks while the All ing underpeople weighed them, listed toppidan specialty. We have a about it.” The chairs were put in place. them and wrote out the bills for geology based on ultra-heavy “Have you seen it?” The drinks arrived. The Heredi- chemistry. This planet was once Dictator had been momen- the customers. “No.” tary study, as a fragment from a giant planet “Have you talked to it?” tarily lost in a brown II which imploded. The use is sim- “Horses don’t talk, uncle.” though he were wondering about ple. a green can Casher O’Neill. He With ruby you “Most underpeople do,” he said. (jis promise to ^HERE was no screen; this make a laser beam which will “This isn’t an underperson, had even murmured to the young machine. boil away your city of Kaheer in uncle. It’s a plain unmodified old man, “Our bargain stands? Never was a good a single sweep. We don’t have Earth animal. It never did talk.” mind what my niece says.” Cash- The planet Pontoppidan came here vigorously. The into view, its airless brightness weapons and we don’t be- “Then what do you know, my er had nodded hints of the mineral lieve in them, so I won’t give you honey?” The uncle was affection- old man had gone back to frown- giving strong riches which might be found. a weapon. You’ll have to travel ate, but there was the crackle of ing at the servants and did not further to find a ship and to get impatience under his voice. relax until a tiger-man bounded Here and there enormous the one in which the apparatus for mounting your “I taped it. The whole thing. into the room, carrying a tray domes, such as in- green ruby. If I give it to you. The story of the horse of Pon- with acrobatic precision. The this palace was located, came

But you will be one more step toppidan. And I’ve edited it, too. chairs were already in place. to view. voice, girlish, along in your fight with Colonel I was going to show it to you this The father held his niece’s Genvieve’s own rang Wedder.” morning, but your staff sent that chair for her as a command that impulsive and yet didactic, planet. “Thank you, thank you, most young man in.” she sit down. He nodded Casher out with the story of her honorable sir!” cried Casher O’- Casher O’Neill looked his apol- O’Neill into a chair on the other It was as though she had pre- for Neill. ogies at Genevieve. side of himself. pared the picture not only “But uncle,” said Genevieve, She did not notice him. Her He commanded, “Dim the her own father, but for off-world .” visitors as well. (By Joan, that’s “you shouldn’t have picked those eyes were on her uncle. lights . . two things because I know the “Since you’ve done this much, The room plunged into semi- it! thought Casher O’Neill. If they food here, out- answers.” we might as well see it.” He darkness. don’t raise much “You know all about him,” said turned to the attendants. “Bring Without being told, the people side of the hydroponics, and don’t the Hereditary Dictator, “by chairs. And drinks. You know took their places immediately be- have any real People Places, they some means of your own?” mine. The young lady will take hind the three main seats and the have to trade: that does mean Genevieve flushed under her tea with lemon. Real tea. Will underpeople perched or sat on visitors, and many, many of lilac-hued foundation cream. “I you have coffee, young man?” benches and tables behind them. them.) know enough for us to know.” “You have coffee!” cried Cash- Very little was spoken. Casher The story was interesting but herself was more inter- “How do you know it, my darl- er O’Neill. As soon as he said it, O’Neill could sense that Pontop- the girl ing?” he felt like a fool. Pontoppidan pidan was a well-run place. He esting. Her face shone in the— “I just know,” said Genevieve. was a rich planet. On most began to wonder if the Heredi- shifting light which the images Her uncle made no comment. worlds’ exchanges, coffee came tary Dictator had much real work a meter, perhaps a little more,

98 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET ‘ 99 from the floor — reflected across The bottom of the dipsy had! The geysers themselves may or A small hut stood beside the curious from shore. the room. Casher O’Neill thought vapor emerging in cylin- ffiay not be contaminated that he had never before seen a drical columns which seemed to one hour to the next. So we just In the doorway there sat a woman who so peculiarly com- erode as they reached two or look at them. Not one of them man, dead. long bined intelligence and charm. three times the height of a man. has ever been settled, except for His body had been there a She was girl, girl, girl, all the way The recorded voice of Genevieve the Hippy Dipsy, where the horse time; it was already mummified. through; but she was also very was explaining that the very thin came from. Watch this next pic- Genevieve’s recorded voice ex- “. smart and pleased with being atmosphere of Pontoppidan ture. plained the matter: . . in Nor- smart. It betokened a happy life. would not be breathable for an- The camera sheered up, up, up strilian law and custom, they told He found himself glancing covert- other 2,520 years, since the set- from the surface of the planet. him that his time had come. They ly at her. Once he caught her tlers did not wish to squander VVhere it had wandered among told him to go to the Dying glancing, equally covertly, at him. their resources on a luxury like mountains of diamonds and val- House, since he was no longer fit The darkness of the scene en- breathing when the whole planet leys of tourmalines, it now took to live. In Old North Australia, abled them both to pass it off as only had 60,000 inhabitants; they to the blue-black of near, inner they are so rich that they let an accident without embarrass- would rather go on with masks space. One of the canyons showed everyone live as long as he wants, ment. and use their wealth in other (from high altitude) the grotes- unless the old person can’t take Her viewtape had come to the ways. After all, it was not as que pattern of a human woman’s rejuvenation any more, even with story of the dipsies, enormous though they did not have their hips and legs, though what might stroon, and unless he or she gets canyons which lay like deep domed cities, some of them many have been the upper body was to be a real pest to the living. gashes on the surface of the kilometers in radius. Besides the lost in a confusion of broken hills If that happens, they are invited planet. Some of the color views usual hydroponics, they had even which ended in a bright almost- to go to the Dying House, where were spectacular beyond belief. imported 7.2 hectares of garden iridescent plain to the North. they shriek and pant with deliri- Casher O’Neill, as the “appointed soil, 5.5 centimeters deep, togeth- “That,” said the real Gene- ous joy for weeks or days until one” of Mizzer, had had plenty of er with enough water to make the vieve, overriding her own voice they finally die of an overload of time to wander through the non- gardens rich and fruitful. They on the screen, “is the Hippy Dip- sheer happiness and excitement That’s .” salacious parts of his uncle’s col- had bought worms, too, at the sy. There, see the blue? . . There was a hesitation, even lections, and he had seen pictures price of eight carats of diamond the only lake on all of Pontoppi- in the recording. “We never knew of the most notable worlds. per living worm, in order to keep dan. And here we drop to the why this man refused. He stood Never had he seen anything the soil of the gardens loose and hermit’s house.” off-planet and said that he had like this. One view showed a sun- living. seen views of the Hippy Dipsy. set against a six-kilometer cliff of Genevieve’s transcribed voice pASHER O’Neill almost felt He said it was the most beautiful a material which looked like solid rang out with pride as she listed ^ vertigo as the camera plum- place on all the worlds, and that emerald. The peculiar bright sun- these accomplishments of her meted from off-planet into the he wanted to build a cabin there, shine of Pontoppidan’s small, people, but a note of sadness depths of that immense canyon. to live alone, except for his non- penetrating, lilac-hued sun ran came in when she returned to The edges of the canyon almost human friend. We thought it was “ the small pet. When we told like living water over the preci- the subject of the dipsies. . . . seemed to move like lips with some pice of gems. Even the reduced and though we would like to live plunge, opening and folding in- him that the Hippy Dipsy was image, one meter by one meter, in them and develop their at- ward to swallow him up. very dangerous, he said that this in least to him, was enough to make him catch mospheres, we dare not. There is Suddenly they were beside a did not matter the his breath. too much escap)e of radioactivity. beautiful little lake. since he was old and dying any-

100 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 101 :

how. Then he offered to pay us troy? This is an improper object. eyes. Two ridiculous ears stood picture spoke very distinctly twelve times our planetary in- It should fall, not rise. Coming high, and a little tuft of golden “Give your name, age, species of the authority for being on this come if we would lease him out of the Hippy Dipsy.” hair showed on the crest and twelve hectares on the condition A firm click shut off the robot’s head between the ears. planet.” She spoke clearly and possible author- of absolute privacy. No pictures, chatter. A well-shaped woman The viewed scene was comical, with the utmost no scanners, no help, no visitors. took over. From the nature of too. The cat-woman was as ity. Just solitude and scenery. His her work and the lithe, smooth astonished as the viewers. It was The horse obviously heard her. name was Perino. My great- tread with which she walked, lucky that she had touched the His ears tipped forward. But his grandfather asked for nothing Casher O’Neill suspected that emergency switch, so that she not reply was the same as before: more, except the written transfer she was of cat origin, but there only saw the horse, but had re- Whay-yay-yay! her O’Neill realized that he of credit. When he paid it, Peri- was nothing in her dress or in her corded herself and own Casher no even asked that he be left manner to show that she was un- actions while bringing him into had followed the mood of the pic- horse the alone after he was dead. Not even derpeople. view. ture and had seen the whisp>ered across that the people on Pontop- a vault rocket so that he could The woman in the picture . Genevieve way either orbit Pontoppidan forever lighted a screen. the chest of the Hereditary Dic- pidan woud have seen him. On horse was or start a very slow journey to no- She moved her hands in the tator: “Later we found he was a second thought, the where, the way so many people air in front of her, like a blind palomino pony. That’s a very nothing special, by the standards special kind of horse. And Perino of the Twelve Niles or the Little like it. So this is our first picture person feeling his way through immortal, or al- in the city of of him. We took it when the light op>en day. had made him Horse Market^ stal- went off in the People Room and The picture on the inner screen most immortal.” Kaheer. It was an old pony one of the tiger-men told us that came to resolution. “Sh-h!” said her uncle. lion, no longer fit for breeding and screen-within-the-screen not for riding either. he was sure a human conscious- A face showed in it. The probably ness had come to an end in the What a face! thought Casher showed the cat-woman waving The hair had whitened among the Hippy Dipsy. O’Neill, and he heard the other her hands in the air some more. gold; the teeth were worn. The “And we never even thought people around him in the viewing The view broadened. animal showed many injuries use was to be of the pet. After all, we had never room. The horse had four hands and and burns. Its only the made a picture of him. This is The horse! no legs, or four legs and no hands, killed, cut up and fed to nothing the way he arrived from Perino’s Imagine a face like that of a whichever way you want to count racing dogs. But he said shack.” newborn cat, thought Casher. them. to the people around him. They pic- Mizzer is full of cats. But imagine The horse was fighting his way were still spellbound by the A ROBOT was shown in a con- the face with a huge mouth, with up a narrow cleft of rubies which ture. repeated: trol room, calling excitedly big yellow teeth — a nose long led out of the Hippy Dipsy. He The cat-woman bot- isn’t Whayayay. in the old Common Tongue. beyond imagination. Imagine panted heavily. The oxygen “Your name “People, people! Judgment eyes which look friendly. In the tles on his sides swung wildly as Identify yourself properly; name needed! Moving object coming picture they were rolling back he clambered. He must have seen first.” answered her with out of the Hippy Dipsy. Object and forth with exertion, but even something, perhaps the image of The horse key. has improper shape. Not a cor- there — when they did not feel the cat-woman, because he said a the same word in a higher forgetting that she rect object. Should not rise. Does observed — there was nothing word: Apparently herself as well as so anyhow. People, tell me, F>eo- hostile about the set of the eyes. Whay-yay-yay-yay-whay-yay! had recorded emergency screen, the cat- ple, tell me! Destroy or not des- They were tame, companionable The cat-woman in the nearer the

102 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 103 "

woman said, “I’ll call real people “I just discovered him a couple of if you don’t answer! They’ll be minutes ago. He’s asking for help. annoyed at being bothered.” Any idiot can see that, even if we The horse rolled his eyes at her don’t know his language.” and said nothing. The picture snapped off. The cat-woman pressed an side 'HE next scene showed tiny emergency button on the of ^ I the room. One could not see the human figures working with other communication screen searchlights at the top of an ini- which lighted up, but her end of measurably high cliff. Here and the conversation was plain. there, the beam of the searchlight “I want an ornithopter. Big one. caught the cliff face; the trans-

Emergency.” lucent faceted material of the cliff A mumble from the side screen. looked almost like rows of eerie “To go to the Hippy Dipsy. windows, their lights snapping on There’s an underperson there, and off, as the searchlight moved. and he’s in so much trouble that Far down there was a red glow. he won’t talk.” From the screen Fire came from inside the moun- beside her, the horse seemed to tain. have understood the sense of the Even with telescopic lenses the message, if not the words, be- cameraman could not get the cause he repeated: close-up of the glow. On one side Whay-yay-whay-yay-yay! there was the figure of the hors^; “See,” said the cat-woman to his four arms stretched at impos- the person in the other screen, sible angles as he held himself “that’s what he’s doing. It’s obvi- firm in the crevasse; on the other ously an emergency.” side of the fire there were the The voice from the other even tinier figures of men, labor- screen came through, tinny and ing to fit some sort of sling to remote by double recording: reach the horse. “Fool, yourself, cat-woman! No- For some odd reason having to body can fly an ornithopter into do with the techniques of record- a dipsy. Tell your silly friend to ing, the voices came through very go back to the floor of the dipsy plainly, even the heavy, tired and we’ll pick him up by space breathing of the old horse. Now rocket.” and then he uttered one of the Whay-yay-yay! said the horse special horse-words which seemed impatiently. to be the limit of his vocabulary. “He’s not my friend, said the He was obviously watching the cat-woman with brisk annoyance. men, and was firmly persuaded of

104 GALAXY man more than their friendliness to him. His those fingers of his ‘fingers.’ They he did the cliff. tator, Casher O’Neill and Gene- The horse landed right large, tame, yellow eyes rolled look like little boxes of bone, de. in the vieve set off for the hospital in group of workers. wildly in the light of the search- signed for running around and He tried not to which the horse was being kept in hurt them with light and every time the horse not much good for anything else.” his flailing limbs, bed. The people of Pontoppidan but he did knock looked down, he seemed to shud- There was a murmur of other one man — a had not known what else to do true man, at that — off the cliff. der. voices and then the command of with him, so they had placed The man’s Casher O’Neill found this en- the supervisor. “Go ahead.” scream faded as he him under strong sedation and crashed tirely understandable. The bot- No one was prepared for what into the impenetrable were trying to feed him with darkness below. tom of the Hippy Dipsy was no- happened next. sugar-water compounds going di- The robots where in sight; the horse, even The cameraman got the tiger- were quick. Having rectly into his veins. Genevieve no emotions except on, off, with nothing more than the en- man right in the middle of his and told Casher that the horse was hi^h, they did not get larged fingernails of his middle frame, showing the attachment of excited. wasting away. They had fingers to help him climb, had one rope around the tiger-man’s the horse trussed and, They walked to the hospital before the managed to get about four of the broad waist. The tiger-man was true men and under- over amethyst pebbles. people had ensured six kilometers’ height of the cliff a modified type whom the au- their footing, Instead of wearing his space- they had signaled the face behind him. thorities had not bothered to put crane oper- suit, Casher wore a surface hel- ator at the top The voice of a tiger-man into human cosmetic form. He of the cliff. The met which enriched his oxygen. horse, his four arms sounded clearly from among the still had his ears on top of his swinging His hosts had not counted on his limply, shift of men, underpeople and ro- head, yellow and black fur over disappeared upward. getting spells of uncontrollable The tiger-man bots who were struggling on the his face, huge incisors overlapping jumped back itching from the sharply reduced through the flames to face of the cliff. his lower jaw and enormous an- the nearer atmospheric pressure. He did not ledge. The picture “It’s a gamble, but not much tenna-like whiskers sticking out went off. dare mention the matter, because In the viewing of a gamble. I weigh six hundred from his moustache. He must room, the He- he was still hoping to get the reditary Dictator kilos myself, and, do you know, I have been thoroughly modified Philip Vincent green ruby as a weapon in his stood up. don’t think I’ve ever had to use inside, however, because his tem- He stretched, looking private war for the liberation of around. my full strength since I was a perament was calm, friendly and the Twelve Niles from the rule Genevieve looked kitten. I know that I can jump even a little humorous; he must at Casher of Colonel Wedder. Whenever the O’Neill expectantly. across the fire and help that thing have had a carefully re-done itching became less than excruci- “That’s the story,” be more comfortable. I can even mouth, because the utterance of said the Dic- ating, he enjoyed the walk and tator mildly. tie a rope around him so that he human speech came to him clear- “Now you solve it.” the company of the slight, beauti- “Where is the horse won’t slip and fall after all the ly and without distortion. now?” said ful girl who accompanied him Casher O’Neill. work we’ve done. And the work He jumped — a mighty jump, across the fields of jewels to the “In the hospital, he’s done, too,” added the tiger- right through the top edges of the of course. My hospital. (In later years, he some- niece can take man grimly. “Perhaps I can just flame. you to see him.” times wondered what might have take him in my arms and jump The horse saw him. happened. Was the itching a part back with him. It will be perfectly The horse jumpjed too, almost Ill of his destiny, which saved him safe if you have a safety rope in the same moment, also through for the freedom of the city of A FTER short, around each of us. After all, I the top of the flame, going the A painful and Kaheer and the planet Mizzer? very never saw a less prehensile crea- other way. thorough peeping of his Might not the innocent brilliant own ture in my life. You can’t call The horse had feared the tiger- mind by the Hereditary Dic- loveliness of the girl have other-

106 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 107 never allow anyone to asked Casher O’Neill, turning trustee for me. But I have wise tempted him to forswear his justly and never away from the animal. been allowed to touch it or to duty and stay forever on Pontop- get away with stealing.” you do?” asked “Could I ask you, sir, a foolish spend it. It’s all just planet busi- pidan? “What do ) question first?” ness.” girl wore a new kind of Casher O’Neill. The doctor blinked respectful- thieves up in space, Surprised, Casher could only The cosmetic for outdoor walking — “We cut ly. “Now this horse, sir, if you the edge of the atmo- say yes. a warm peachhued powder which just at have more manned “You’re an O’Neill. Your uncle will pardon my asking about your let the natural pink of her cheeks sphere. We than any other is Kuraf. How do you happen to name, is a very strange case. show through. Her eyes, he saw, boats in orbit be called ‘Casher’?” Physiologically he is a pure earth know of. Maybe Old were a living, deep gray; her eye- planet I type. is suited only for a vege- Australia has more, but, “That’s simple,” laughed Cash- He lashes, long; her smile, innocently North diet, otherwise is a ever gets close er. “This is my young-man-name. table but he provocative beyond all ordinary then, nobody relative man. North Australia to On Mizzer, everybody gets a very close of He belief. It was a wonder that the enough to Old baby name, which nobody uses. has a single stomach and a Hereditary Dictator had not had come back alive and tell.” very large cone-shaped heart. went on into the hospital. Then he gets a nickname. Then to stop duels and murders be- They he gets a young-man-name, based That’s where the trouble is. The tween young men vying for her chief surgeon on some characteristic or some heart is in bad condition. He is favor. RESPECTFUL friendly joke, until he picks out dying.” They finally reached the hospi- A insisted on keeping them in his career. When he enters his “Dying?” cried Genevieve. just as Casher O’Neill thought the office and entertaining them tal, profession, he picks “That’s the sad, horrible part,” confectionery, when out his own he could stand it no longer and with tea and the career name. If I liberate Mizzer said the doctor. “He is dying but would have to ask Genevieve for they both wanted to go see and overthrow Colonel Wedder, he cannot die. He could go on some kind of help or carriage to horse; common politeness pro- through. I’ll have to think up a suitable like this for many years. Perino get indoors and away from the hibited their pushing stroon this ani- the cere- career name for myself.” wasted enough on frightful itching. Finally they got past “But why ‘Casher,’ sir?” per- mal to make a planet immortal. The building was underground. mony and into the room in which sisted the doctor. Now the animal is worn out but The entrance was sumptuous. the horse was kept. “When I was a little boy and cannot die.” Diamonds and rubies, the size of Close up, they could see how people asked me what I wanted, Casher O’Neill let out a long, building-bricks on Mizzer, had much he had suffered. There were over almost I always asked for cash. I guess low, ululating whistle. Everybody been set to frame the doorway, cuts and abrasures hooves that contrasted with my uncle’s in the room jumped. He disre- which was apparently enameled all of his body. One of his them that was wastefulness, so they called me garded them. It was the whistle steel. Kuraf at his most lavish had — the doctor told Casher.” he had used near the stables, back never wasted money on anything the correct name, hoof, for the “But what is cash? of your the Twelve Niles, he fingernail on which he One among when like this door-frame. Genevieve big middle the doctor crops?” wanted to call a horse. saw his glance. walked — was split; cadmium-silver bar It was Casher’s time to look The horse knew it. The large “It did cost a lot of credits. We had put a his amazed. “Cash is money. Paper head lifted. The eyes rolled at had to bring a blind artist all the through it. The horse lifted credits. People pass them back him so imploringly that he ex- way from Olympia to paint that head when they entered, but he and forth when they buy things.” pected tears to fall from them, enamel-work. The poor man. He saw that they were just more he “Here on Pontoppidan, all the even though he was pretty sure spent most of his time trying to people, not horsey people, so very patiently. money belongs to me. All of it,” that horses could not lachrymate. steal extra gem-stones when he put his head down, said Genevieve. “My uncle is He squatted on the floor, close should have known that we pay “What’s the prospect, doctor?” ON THE GEM PLANET 109 108 GALAXY still run them together in hunts old woman, not valuable enough to the horse’s head, with a hand circulating system the squirrel, on Mizzer, but under these new to be given the life-prolonging on its mane. men went away with the old laws of the Instrumentality we’ve santaclara drug called stroon. “Quick,” he murmured to the equipment. I think they went to run out of underpieople-criminals Work had been her life and she surgeon. “Gret me a piece of sugar a mine. We have tiger-men, cat- to hunt.” had had plenty of it. Casher and an underperson-telepath. The men, and my secretary is a wolf.” “I have a good dog,” said the 'O’Neill felt a twinge of envy underperson-telepath must not be “Oh, no!” said Casher O’Neill. chief surgeon. “She talks pretty realized that happiness of carnivorous origin.” “Can you imagine a sick horse when he but she is so sympathetic life confiding in a wolf?” well, goes by the petty chances of that she upsets the patients by and not by the large destiny. This ^1 'HE doctor looked stupid. He “It’s no more than you are do- loving them too much. I have her dog-woman, with her haggard snapped “Sugar” at an as- ing,” said the surgeon, very softly, down in the second underbase- face and her stringy gray hair, sistant but he squatted down next glancing up to see if Genevieve tending the dish-sterilizing love, and to Casher O’Neill and said, “You were in hearing range, and ap- ment had more happiness machinery.” than Kuraf had found will have to repeat that about an parently judging that she was not. sympathy “Bring her up,” said Casher in with his pleasures. Colonel Wed- underp>erson. This is not an un- “The Hereditary Dictators here a whisper. der with his powers, or himself derperson hospital at all. We sometimes cut suspicious guests He remembered that he did his crusade. did life do have very few of them here. The to pieces on their way off the with Why not need to whisper about this, so that? Was there no justice, ever? horse is here only by command planet. That is, unless the guests he stood up and spoke to Gene- worn-out worthless of His Excellency Philip 'Vincent, are licensed, regular traders. You Why should a vieve : who said that the horse of Perino are not. You might be a spy, old underwoman be happy when “They have found a good dog- he was not? should be given the best of all planning to rob us. How do I telepath who may reach through “Never mind,” she said, “you’ll possible care. He even told me,” know? I wouldn’t give a diamond to the mind of the horse. It may get it will be said the doctor, “that if anything chip for your chances of being over and then you give us the answer.” wrong happened to this horse, I alive next week. What do you happy.” She put her hand on his fore- “Over what?” he said. “I didn’t would ride patrol for it for the want to do about the horse? That arm gently, with the approbatory say anything.” next eighty years. So I’ll do what might please the Dictator. And gesture of a princess. fingers I can. Do you find me too talka- you might live.” Her “I’m not going to say it,” she into his flesh. she wish- tive? Some people do. What kind Casher O’Neill was so stag- dug Was retorted, meaning that she was ing him well against her uncle’s of an underperson do you want?” gered by the confidence of the telepathic. “You’re a prisoner of “I need,” said Casher, very surgeon that he squatted there habitual treachery, or was this yourself. Some day you will es- impulse calmly, “a telepathic underperson, thinking about himself, not about merely the of a kind cape to unimportance and happi- young girl nothing of both to find out what this horse the patient. The horse licked him, who knew ness. You’re a good man. You’re the the world was run? wants and to tell the horse that I seemingly sensing that he needed way trying to save yourself, but you am here to help him. Horses are solace. really like this horse.” IV vegetarians and they do not like The surgeon had an idea. “Of course I do,” said Casher O’Neill. horse, meat-eaters. Do you have a vege- “Horses and dogs used to go to- “He’s a brave old interview went extremely tarian underperson around the gether, didn’t they, back in the he climbing out of that hell to get T well. to people.” hospital?” old days of Manhome, when all back “We used to have some squir- the people lived on planet The dog-woman was almost When he said the word hell her rel-men,” said the chief surgeon, Earth?” perfectly humaniform. She looked eyes widened, but she said noth- “but when we changed the air “Of course,” said Casher. “We like a tired, cheerful, worn-out ing. In his mind, he saw the sign no GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 111 “You’re a dog,” thought the bye, wanderer! Good luck to you,” of a fish scrawled on a dark wall “Dying,” thought the horse. horse. “Goo-oo-oo-ood dog!” she said to Casher O’Neill. her think at him, So “Dying for hundreds and thou- “You and he felt “Right,” thought the happy old will remain miserable as long as you too know something of the sands of sundowns. The old one slattern, “and I can tell these you seek justice, but “dark wonderful knowledge” brought me. No riding, no run- when you people how to take care of you. give up, righteousness revealed to ning, no people. Just the old one will come which is not yet to be Sleep now, and when you waken to you and you will be happy. all mankind? and the small ground. I have been you will be on the way to happi- Don’t worry. You’re young and He thought a cross back at her dying since I came here.” ness.” it won’t Casher O’Neill got a glimpse hurt you to suffer a few and then turned his thinking to She thought the command more years. Youth is an extreme- the horse, lest their telepathy be of Perino sitting and watching the sleep so powerfully at the old ly curable disease, monitored and strange punish- horse, unconscious of the cruelty isn’t it?” horse that Casher O’Neill and She gave them a full ments await them both. and loneliness which he had in- curtsey, Genevieve both started to fall un- like one Lady of the Instrumen- spoke in words, “Shall we flicted on his large pet by making She conscious and had to be caught tality saying good-by to another. link?” it immortal and then giving it no by the hospital attendants. Her wrinkled old face was lit “Link,” he said. work to do. up As they re-gathered their wits, with smiles, Genevieve stepped up. Her “Do you know what dying is?” in which happiness she was finishing her commands was mixed with a tiniest bit clear-cut, pretty, sensitive face Thought the horse promptly: of to the surgeon. “— and put about playful mockery. was alight with excitement. “Certainly. No-horse.” 40% supplementary oxygen into “Don’t mind me, boss,” she “Could I — could I be cut in?” “Do you know what life is?” the air. He’ll have to have a real said to the surgeon. “Why not?” said the dog- “Yes. Being a horse.” “Dishes, here person to ride him, but some of I come.” She swept woman, glancing at him. He nod- “I’m not a horse,” thought out of the your orbiting sentries would rath- room. ded. The three of them linked Casher O’Neill, “but I am alive.” er ride a horse up there than do “See what I hands and then the dog-woman “Don’t complicate things,” mean?” said the nothing. You can’t repair the surgeon. “She’s so horribly happy! put her left hand on the forehead thought the horse at him, though heart. Don’t try it. Hypnosis will How can anyone run a of the old horse. Casher realized it was his own hospital take care of the sand of Mizzer. if mind and not the horse’s which a dishwasher gets all over the Just load his mind with one or place, making ^T^HE sand splashed beneath supplied the words. people happy? two of the drama-cubes packed We’d be out of jobs. Her ideas their feet as they ran toward “Do you want to die?” full of desert adventure. Now, were good, though.” Kaheer. The delicious pressure of “To no-horse? Yes, if this room, don’t you worry about me. I’m They were. They worked. a man’s body was on their backs. forever, is the end of things.” not going to claim any credit, and Down to the last letter of the The red sky of Mizzer gleamed “What would you like better?” I’m not going to give you any dog-woman’s instructions. over them. There came the shout: thought - Genevieve, and her more suggestions. People-man, “I’m a horse, I’m a horse, I’m thoughts were like a cascade of you!” she laughed. “You can for- ^ ''HERE was argument from a horse!” newly-minted silver coins falling I give us dogs anything, except for the “You’re from Mizzer,” thought into all their minds: brilliant, council. Casher O’Neill being right. It makes you feel in- went along to see in Casher O’Neill, “from Kaheer it- clean, bright, innocent. them session. ferior for a few minutes. Never One councillor, self!” The answer was quick: “Dirt Bashnack, was mind. I’m going back downstairs particularly vociferous “I don’t know names,” thought beneath my hooves, and wet air in object- to my dishes. I love them, I real- ing to any the horse, “but you’re from my again, and a man on my back.” action concerning the ly do. Good-by, you pretty thing,” horse. land. The land, the good land.” The dog-woman interrupted: “Sire,” he cried, “sire! We she said to Genevieve. “And good- don’t “What are you doing here?” “Dear horse, you know me?” even know the name of the ON THE GEM PLANET 112 GALAXY 113 ” r

much, now that he is away from work to animal! I must protest this action, the Honorable Genevieve as be human and it’s work ” ordeal of loneliness when we don’t know — Eventual Title-holder of all Pon- the which he which must be kept up, or it be- feared more than death. After all, “That we don’t,’’ assented toppidan. You are not going to gins to fade. Gentlemen, the horse has already Philip Vincent. “But what does a get away with this, sire! We are he had his great tri- judges us. umph — the climb up the cliff name have to do with it?” helpless before your power, but “Take the word, gentlemen.

^— gems, the “The horse has no identity, not we will insist on advising you of jump across the vol- ‘Civilization’ is itself a lady’s canic vent, the rescue even the identity of an animal. “Hear! Hear!” cried several of by people word. There were female writers whom he wanted to find. The in a It is just a pile of meat left over the councillors, not the least dis- country called France who has from the estate of Perino. We mayed by the slight frown of the horse done so well that he made that word popular in the is really beyond us. can help should kill the horse and eat the Hereditary Dictator. We third century before space travel. him, a little, or we we can hurt meat ourselves. Or, if we do not “I will take the word,” said To be ‘civilized’ meant for people him, a little; beside the want to eat the meat, then we Philip Vincent himself. immen- to be tame, to be kind, to be sity of his accomplishment, we polished. If should sell it off-planet. There Several had had their hands we kill this horse, we cannot really very are plenty of peoples around here raised, asking for the floor. One do much either are wild. If we treat the horse way. who would pay a pretty price for obstinate man kept his hand up gently, we are tame. Gentlemen, “No, gentlemen, genuine earth meat. Pay no at- even when the Dictator an- we are not I have only one witness and that judging the case of the horse. tention to me, sire! You are the nounced his intention to speak. We witness will utter only one word. are judging space. What Hereditary Dictator and I am Philip Vincent took note of him, happens Then you shall vote and vote to man when he moves out into nothing. I have no power, no too: freely.” the Big Nothing? property, nothing. I am at your “You can talk when I am Do we leave There was 9 murmur around Old Earth behind? did civil- mercy. All I can tell you is to through, if you want to.” Why the table at this announcement. ization fall? Will it fall follow your own best interests. I He looked calmly around the again? Is Philip Vincent obviously enjoyed civilization a gun have only a voice. You cannot room, smiled imperceptibly at his or a blaster or the excitement he had created. a laser or a rocket? reproach me for using my voice niece, gave Casher O’Neill the Is it even a He let them murmur on for a pianoforming ship or a pinlighter when I am trying to help you, briefest of nods, and then an- full minute or two before he at his work? You know as well as sire, can you? That’s all I am nounced: slapped the table gently and I do, gentlemen, that civilization doing, helping you. If you spend “Gentlemen, it’s not the horse said, “Gentlemen, the witness. is not what we can do. If it any credits at all on this animal which is on trial. It’s Pontoppi- had Are you ready?” been, there would have been no you will be doing wrong, wrong, dan. It’s we who are trying our- There was a murmur of as- fall of Ancient Man. wrong. We are not a rich planet. selves. And before whom are we Even in the sent. Bashnack tried to say, “It’s Dark Ages they had a few We have to pay for expensive de- trying ourselves, gentlemen? fusion still a question of public funds!” bombs, they could fenses just in order to stay alive. Each of us is before that most make some but his neighbors shushed him. small guided We cannot even afford to pay awful of courts, his own con- missiles and they The table became quiet. All faces even had weapons like the Kas- for air that our children can go science. turned toward the Hereditary kaskia Effect, which out and play. And you want to we have Dictator. never been able spend money on a horse which 4i¥F WE kill that horse, gentle- to rediscover. “Gentlemen, the testimony. The Dark Ages weren’t dark cannot even talk! I tell you, sire, men, we will not be doing be- Genevieve, is this what you your- cause people lost techniques or this council is going to vote the horse a great wrong. He is an self told me to say? Is civilization science. They were dark because against you, just to protect your old animal, and I do not think always a woman’s choice first, and people lost people. own interests and the interests of that he will mind dying very It’s a lot of only later a man’s?”

114 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 115 “Yes,” said Genevieve, with a US to pieces before we got out.” catch it. I think I did myself, a fate to grow and to triumph. I happy, open smile. He held her hands and looked little.” know it. I am good at these things. The meeting broke up amid gently down into her face. At this “I think I understand you,” said I have given you your weapon. I laughter and applause. moment he did not feel the fierce, Genevieve softly. “Casher, good- am not tricking you. It is packed aggressive, happy glow which an by and good, good luck to you. safely and you may leave with V able young man feels in the pres- Hdy uncle exp>ects us.” it.” ence of a beautiful and tender Together they went back into Casher O’Neill was breathing L month later Casher O’Neill young woman. He felt something the palace. softly, believing it all, and trying sat in a room in a medium- much stranger, softer, quieter — to think of words to thank the size pianoforming liner. They an emotion very sweet to the nother memory was the stout, powerful older man when were out of reach of Pontoppidan. mind and restful to the nerves. It A farewell to Philip Vincent, the dictator added. With a little The Hereditary Dictator had not was the simple, clear compassion the Hereditary Dictator of Pon- laugh in his voice: changed his mind and cut him of one person for another. He toppidan. The calm, clean-shaven, “Thank you, too, for saving me down with green beams. Casher took a chance for her sake, be- ruddy, well-fleshed face looked at money. You’ve lived up to your had strange memories, not bad cause the “dark knowledge” was him with benign regard. Casher name, Casher.” ones for a young man. wonderful but very dangerous in O’Neill felt more respect for this “Saved you money?” He remembered Genevieve the wrong hands. man when he realized that ruth- “The alfalfa. The horse wanted weeping in the garden. He took both her beautiful lit- lessness is often the price of alfalfa.” “I’m romantic,” she cried, and tle hands in hers, so that she peace, and vigilance the price of “Oh, that idea!” said Casher wiped her eyes on the sleeve of looked up at him and realized wealth. O’Neill. “It was obvious. I don’t his cape. “Legally I’m the owner that he was not going to kiss her. “You’re a clever young man. A deserve much credit for that.” of this planet, rich, powerful, free. Something about his stance made very clever young man. You may “I didn’t think of it,” said the Dictator, But I can’t leave here. I’m too her realize that she was being win back the power of your uncle Hereditary “and my important. I can’t marry whom I offered a more precious gift than Kuraf.” staff didn’t either. We’re not want to marry. I’m too important. a sky-lit romantic kiss in a gar- “I don’t want that power!” stupid. That shows you are bright. realized that Perino must My uncle can’t do what he wants den. Besides, it was just touching cried Casher O’Neill. You converter to to do — he’s Hereditary Dictator helmets. “I have advice for you,” said have had a food and he always must do what the He said to her, with passion the Hereditary Dictator, “and it keep the horse alive in the Hippy is good advice or I would not be Dipsy. All we did was set it to Council decides after weeks of and kindness in his voice; . it. alfalfa ourselves chatter. I can’t love you. You’re “You remember that dog- here to give I have learned the and we saved I" a prince and a wanderer, with woman, the one who works with political arts well: otherwise I the cost of a shipload of horse I travels and battles and justice the dishes in the hospital?” would not be alive. Do not refuse food twice a year. We’re glad to and strange things ahead of you. “Of course. She was good and power. Just take it and use it save that credit. We’re well off wisely. hide but don’t like I can’t go. I’m too important. I’m bright and happy, and helped us Do not from your here, we to waste I wicked uncle’s things. now, too sweet! I’m too nice; I hate, all.” name. Obliterate You may bow to me

1 hate, hate myself sometimes. “Go work with her, now and it. Take the name yourself and and leave.” Please, Casher, could you take a then. Ask her nothing. Tell her rule so well that, in a few decades, Casher O’Neill had done so, no one will remember your uncle. with one last glance at the lovely flier and run away with me into nothing. Just work with her at space?” her machines. Tell her I said so. Just you. You are young. You Genevieve, standing fragile and can’t it is in beautiful beside uncle’s chair. “Your uncle’s lasers could cut Happiness is catching. You might win now. But your her

116 GALAXY ON THE GEM PLANET 117 TTIS LAST memory was very long lines of the Twelve Niles recent. converged in the distance. He He had paid two hundred galloped steadily and powerfully. thousand credits for it, right on There were other horses nearby, this liner. He had found the Stop- other riders, other things, but he Captain, bored now that the ship himself was conscious only of the was in flight and the Go-Captain beat of the hooves against the had taken over. strong moist sand, the firmness of “Can you get me a telepathic the appreciative rider upon his in hallucination, fix on a horse?” back. Dimly, as a could also see “What’s a horse?” said the Go- Casher O’Neill the little orbital ship in which the Captain. “Where is it? Do you horse cantered in mid-air, want to pay for it?” old with an amused cadet sitting on “A horse,” said Casher O’Neill his back. Up there, with no patiently, “is an unmodified earth weight, the old worn-out heart animal. Not underpeople. A big would be good for many, many one, but quite intelligent. This years. Then he saw the horse’s one is in orbit right around Pon- paradise again. The flash of toppidan. And I will pay the usu- hooves threatened to overtake al price.” him, but he outran them all. “A million Earth credits,” said There was the expectation of a the Stop-Captain. Star Shelf stable at the end, a rubdown, 5 “Ridiculous!” cried Casher good succulent green food, and O’Neill. the glimpse of a filly in the morn- They settled on two hvmdred ing. t’DGAR RICE Burroughs bulks the beloved fairy tales, even from thousand credits for a good fix too large in the fantasy-ad- the vantage point of our present The horse of Pontoppidan felt and ten thousand for the use of pinnacle of scientific knowledge. extremely wise. He had trusted venture Hall of Fame to be read- the ship’s equipment even if there ily crammed into the limited Somehow, despite his frequently people — people, the source of were failure. It was not a failure. space of a single column such as embarrassing awkwardness of all kindness, all cruelty, all power The technician was a snake-man: this, especially since, after a hia- style and the quaintness of his among the stars. And the people he was deft, cool, and superb at tus of a score of years, an -as- scientific background. Burroughs had been good. The horse felt his job. In only a few minutes he can still, to employ that over- very much horse again. Casher tonishing number of publishers passed the headset to Casher are eager to gamble good money worked phrase, evoke a “Sense felt the old body course along the O’Neill, saying politely, “This is on the ability of his thundering of Wonder”. river’s edge like a dream of it, I think.” adventures to woo the blase While Ace Books continues its power, like a completion of ser- It was. He had reached right youth of today. So here is a sec- policy of reissuing the old novels vice, like an ultimate fulfilment into the horse’s mind. ond roundup of the Master. two per month in paperback, sev- of companionship. The endless sands of Mizzer If the truth be known, I found eral other publishers have joined CORDWAINER SMITH swam before Casher O’Neill. The — it a most pleasant chore to reread them on the Burroughs band-

118 GALAXY SHELF 119 wagon. The most ambitious of THE LAND THAT TIME FOR. but contains sheer, headlong ad- was a wise one. The Arabian Press. these is Canaveral Press. They GOT. Canaveral venture that is unusual even for Nights are corking good adven- is the only publisher have already released eleven Canaveral an §RB thriller. ture stories in their own right. hardcovers: four Pellucidar so far to reissue what must be books, a couple of Martian novels considered the most noteworthy A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS. THE MONSTER MEN. Both and a couple of the memorable of Burroughs’s singles. Both Canaveral Press and Ace Canaveral Press and Ace Books. single shots: The Land That Time Because Burroughs wrote when Books. CANAVERAL AND Ace have of the world map re- Forgot, The Cave Girl, The Mon- many areas TO A marked degree, it ap- both reissued the above with he was always ster Men and the first of the mained blank, on pears as if Burroughs patterned Ace having an edge both in price Venusian novels, Pirates of Ve- the lookout for an exotic, un- many of his stories after the and in artwork. The Canaveral nus. known region in which to base a Arabian Nights. There are simi- editors exercised poor judgment Thuvia, Maid of Mars, The story. Caprona, the mythical con- lar exotic environments, almost in their choice of Mahlon Blaine compass-deflecting met- Chessmen of Mars and The Mas- tinent of identical social structures, polyg- as illustrator for several of their century ter Mind of Mars — fourth, fifth al that the eighteenth amy (practiced only by the bad books. His delicate, unearthly Caproni, and sixth in the Martian series Italian navigator, re- guys, of course); slavery is nor- pictures are eminently suited for in — are all in a fine paperback vol- ported as lying deep South mal, and precious jewels and gor- stories such as those of H. P. natural ume issued by Dover Publica- Pacific waters, was a for geous silks and tapestries are Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith or locale in which tions. It is surprising that Dover his choice of a to flaunted before the imaginative James Branch Cabell but not for of an intriguing elected to start the series in the plant the seed eye of the reader. the muscular fantasy of Bur- middle but, since only the first mystery. Also, Burroughs’s scientific roughs. There are rumors, how- island, three, or John Carter, stories are Burroughs’s huge pro- marvels are seldom woven into ever, that these illustrations are weather sequential, nothing is lost. The tected from external by the fabric of his cultures, as is to be redone by Frank Frazetta, duplicates Dover editors also showed wis- high sheer cliffs, eons the way with modern science fic- who, ironically, illustrated the dom in including most of the orig- of evolution by geographical tion, but are exploited for their Ace edition of Monster Men and low, steamy atmos- inal artwork by J. Allen St. John, means. The semi-magical shock value ... in who captures the essence of the who was a whiz at depicting Bur- phere of the south is analogous much the same manner that the stories to far greater degree. reptilian eras and, roughs’s muscular men, chaste to that of the powers of the Jinn were em- Although this book suffers from to and voluptuous women and mon- as the land gradually rises the ployed to twist a plot in extra- some of Burroughs’s worst writing, and fauna rise cor- strous monsters. north, flora ordinary fashion. there is still a lot of excitement on the evolutionary A surprise entry in the Bur- respondingly The Burroughs stories abound in his tale of a subman who dis- utilizes this back- roughs Stakes is Ballantine scale. ERB in abductions, and Fighting Man covers that he is really a super- startling concept Books, who have announced their ground for a is no exception. Hadron of Has- man. intention to reissue the entire His island humans evolve outside tor pursues the (polygamous) vil- Martian series, one volume per the womb, traversing the island lains back to Jahar, a country TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S month. Since there are ten books from south to north and rising whose cowardly ruler schemes to CORE. Ace Books, Dover Pub- in the series, they will obviously from tadpole to full human es- conquer all of Barsoom through lications, Canaveral Press. be well occupied for most of a tate. the (semi-magical) twin inven- DAVID INNES, Emperor of novel, one of the author’s tions year . . . further plans depending The of the paint of invisibility Pellucidar, immured in the dun- written in the fiercely upon the degree of acceptance by longest, was and the ray of disintegration. geons of Korsar, is in deep their paying public. chauvinistic atmosphere of WW I Burroughs’s choice of a model trouble (no pun intended) and

120 GALAXY SHELF 121 .

Tarzan is summoned to the res- THE CAVE GIRL. Canaveral Burroughs turned to Venus for cue. The relief expedition that he Press. inspiration after he had pretty Found at last! A is asked to join has constructed a BURROUGHS MUST have writ- well exhausted the melodramatic famous "lost' book rigid dirigible of an ex- this story with tongue giant ten in potential of Mars. His hero. Car- by the master of tremely light and strong metal cheek. He casts away his hero, a son Napier, out-did “Wrong-Way that Tarzan had conveniently dis- Bostonian with the unlikely name Corrigan” by a considerable science fiction . . covered in some lost mines, of Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, stretch both in time and error by strong enough to contain a vac- on a tiny, unchartfed South Pa- aiming for Mars and reaching uum. cific island to face primitive cave- Venus. Despite his usual pen- DR. OX’S T.A.T.E.C. was written shortly people and a wild environment chant for coincidence and gratui- after the Italian dirigible, Norge, more suited to the specialized tal- tously fortuitous happenstances EXPERIMENT safely negotiated a passage ents of Tarzan. had (whew!), his power of invention by Jules Verne over the North Pole in the 1920’s Smith-Jones fumbles his way, in the realm of pure adventure Available again after almost a hun- and at a time when rigid lighter- successfully of course, through a remains keen throughout the dred years—the astonishing story of than-air ships appeared to hold typical Burroughs adventure Venusian series. Dr. Ox’s mass experiment to prove the key to massive commercial yarn, which is sufficient reason In addition to the above, Dover his unique theory: that oxygen is and military conquest of the air. for the ardent Burroughs fan to also plan to bring out coupled the prime source For convenience, and also to have made this one of the scarcest volumes of other titles. of virtue, wit, courage, talent, exploit the contemporary lack of of collector’s items during recent Ballantine, of all the involved and imagination! contrariwise proof. Burroughs en- dearth of Burroughs books. publishers, is releasing its vol- visioned a polar opening through umes in sequence, starting with A true science fic- tion “find,” de- which to insert his favorite hero PIRATES OF VENUS. Dover A Princess of Mars, the first in signed in a de- Publications, Canaveral Press, into the mixed-up ecology of the the series, and also the first Bur- lightfully unusual inner world. The gigantic rep- Ace Books. roughs novel ever to be published format.

tilian and mammalian carnivores THREE PUBLISHERS have (he used the pseudonym, Norman Ulus, by William of Pellucidar are far more suit- all taken a crack at this Bur- Bean), and following it with The Pene du Bois. In- able adversaries for Tarzan than roughs classic. Ace, in paperback, Gods of Mars, etc. tro. by Willy Ley. Epilogue by Hu- the badly overmatched denizens is of course the bargain of the It is surprising how the wheel bertus Strughold. of our modern jungles. lot. The hardcover edition, with has suddenly turned, thrusting Order your first Burroughs, incidentally, ad- the powerful advantage of origi- Burroughs back into prominence edition copy! vances the interesting theory, as nal illustrations by J. Allen St. after two decades of obscurity. He good as any, that the giant car- John, is by Canaveral, while wrote a total of twenty-four Tar- THE MACMILLAN COMPANY nivores might have been the Dover has coupled it with Lost zan books, ten Martian, four Ve- Dept. 420, Riverside, New Jersey Please send DR. OX’S EXPERIMENT agents of their own destruction on Venus as a quality paperback nusian and five Pellucidarian (62181) for free examination. After 10 on the outer crust by developing edition. The latter I haven’t yet novels, as well as a large number days 1 may return it and pay nothing. If I keep it I will remit $3.95 plus shipping. intelligence of high enough order seen, but Dover assures me that of single titles. It remains to be Name to enable them to hunt coopera- it is as well executed as its Three seen whether this huge legacy Address tively in concert, hastening the Martian Novels and will also con- of adventure will be allowed to City/Zone State extinction of their natural prey tain a selection of the original die for a second, and possibly and themselves. St. John illustrations. final time. — FLOYD C. GALE SAVE SHIPPING! Enclose $3.95 with coupon and WE pay all postage and han- dling costs. Same free examination with refund if not pleased. 122 GALAXY SHELF A DAY ON CHANDLER ELLIOTT Those crazy kids the roads — almost as bad DEATH HIGHWAY their parents!

I front seat with him, bucking this hicle. I can do nothing further frame-up. He’s, so get-off-the-road, for you.” Sept. 11, 1987 and he wasn’t letting this old “Appeal! Fix it! I can pay.” (Earth time) shyster pass him. He said non- And he sure can. WANT a record of this to go chalant, “Look, Mr. Craik. I’m re- The old moke tightened his taining you to tight this biased, mouth: “I infer you made the r with the stereos I took. I’ve vindictive judgement, not lecture money by methods to match your been in history! So I’ve snake- on it, to rights.” driving hipped the dicto-type for “home- me protect my record, not by grasp of Craik mugged: “That assumes essentials. I’ll try again. bi- work.” This you’ve left me some rights to pro- ased, vindictive judgement was I’ll get o'ff the mark at this law- tect, Mr. Blaire. You haven’t. handed down by the highest court yer’s office. I was there to get shown my Pop was a dust-eater. You are permanently debarred your case can reach. Can you from operation of any power ve- grasp that?” Wotta laff! I was right up in the

A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 125 124 GALAXY lems.” Obviously he was including all live in bungalows because kids Pop came right back like the So, yes, my budding Big Shot, his own. fall downstairs. An rway, LLL got probation, he 5 great sportsfan he is, “Well, we he does. On triple I p>erked up. Translation, a loud boff and lost all its de- can contest those two-bit charges drove with such dashing irresp)on- switch to a parallel time, might posits. Only Green kept squawk- time to fight when they sibility that he sheared off three I hadn’t be good. hiway deaths barely ing about how were made. I know they can’t de- steel guard-posts and Pop said, “That costs a for- jumped from 87,000 in ’76, to bar me finally on imcontested missed a group of children. He’ll tune.” in ’78; and he signed up calls him, and 116,000 stuff.” take what anyone Craik shrugged again: “It relatives and friends of “victims,” The old guy looped down his thank them it wasn’t worse.” He might cost less than your daunt- and soreheads who’d got bunged eyelids: “If you’d ever bothered swung back at Pop. “I took your less career here. I’ll send my ac- up and couldn’t be sports about to appear in court yourself, or case to pay off a favor to Sam count.” He froze us out like trash. it, and natural-bom cranks and even read the transcripts, you Hardy. I consider I’ve paid in scaredy-pants. You wouldn’t closed.” would also know that all charges full. And the case is C his record being for poster- think people would vote to get have been contested. Apparently Pop kept a manly silence. T ity,i I better give the true facts themselves traffic tickets. But in you’ve been so cotton-wooled by Mom took over: “But, Mr. Craik, which are already being sup- ’78, LLL won seats in Congress, insurance and connections and how can my husband do business pressed. Because I’ve boned up and more in ’80. smart lawyers, you think you can without a car? A Plutomat repre- on them. So we stopped laughing and brush off even child-murder.” sentative can’t walk up to a pros- So, this LLL pest started in fought back. We sued a paper for Pop bounced up, ready to pect’s door like a peddler. This of Go. A of Smurge with his ” family’s livelihood.” ’75, the Golden Age a cartoon ditch the moke: “Why, you . . . ! destroys my bunch called the Regular Guys arms around a goony driver and “Your failure was no thanks to “Your husband should have had gotten the laws modemated a skeleton, saying, “My Buddies!” you. Would you have to kill chil- considered that sooner, Mrs. — “safe and reasonable speed,” And the court ratted on us, and dren in actual fact to sober you? Blaire.” backed Bucky it upheld disgusting photos of her ^ nationwide. They The commimity is not minded to My rad just boiled to hear Kooznik who’d been framed in a crashes and libels that said more let you try the experiment. This having to take the old honk-honk ^ in out of con- I’ve speed-trap, and won Supreme than “the car went isn’t 1975, you know.” from minions of the law. Court. They backed Senator trol.” So drivers got nervous and The two-timing old right-laner! never been much on girls because Smurge for Vice President—the the “toll” climbed on. I’d been told to keep my muffler Mom is my ideal, and only my prince who got a national speed Then, in ’84,. Green got in, and cut, but there’s times when you young sister Judy comes in that law laughed into the wreckers by showed what a fanatic at the surge or burst. I surged, “And custom model. And I was just a tacking on an amendment to wheel will do. Laws, laws, laws. don’t we ever get to score? A skinny Teener, helpless to defend make the limit ninety—and got We said “They can’t arrest every- bunch of mokes get him in a jam, the family honor. But I sneaked him in. body.” Oh, no? Fines, confisca- and a fresh cop calls us Flight of a squeeze of her hand. Well, this low-octane third tions, jail for thousands of re- the Stumblebum — because we Pop said grimly, “Then these party, the Life and Limb League spectable people. And a Gestapo have a yellow ’n’ black zoom. fanatics have ruined me. I have (Lily-Livered Limks, we called of Lily-white drivers’d sp)ot you Does my Pop have to take that no place to go in this so-called them) tried to buck the traffic. using the old elbow or boomin’ gravel?” Free World.” Their candidate. Bob Green, had the amber, and you’d get a stink- Craik looked at me like I was Craik shrugged: “Then find a had a kid killed and had sort of ing card that you’d lost points. a parking ticket. ‘Well, I suppose Parallel that will take you, and blown his tires. Well, sure, like Twenty-five peints got you a fine a lad should be loyal to his fath- get Translated, Mr. Blaire. That Pop says, it’s too bad but we can’t and a goo-talk about “mental at- er. Pity it’s not in a better cause. would solye everybody’s prob- GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 127 126 t titudes”. Blah! What about guts guage) after some old prophet. off on this Jehu place himself the Vj^OTTA zump! Fifty light- and skill and all that? Anyway, Plutomat’s granted me other day.” years? Gimme a yippee-cart “7 Well, we figured there’d soon planetary franchise. Izzat good or “Huh!” I thought. wouldn’t on Thrill-Hill! No stars streaking trust that pussy-schnook much.” be enough people sore to give us is it? past, no roar, no icy chill. Just a But Pop took off with his rub- a comeback. So LLL claimed “And tape this, keeds! That j utter in your gizzard and there they’d saved 30,000 lives in ’85. planet’s set up for adults. They’re ber scorchin’: Plutomat contract. you were on a street like the old So what the heck, it wouldn’t drivin’ fools, wonderful roads, Translation permit, appointment one with the houses shuffled. have been you anyway. But there most powerful zooms anywhere, with the movers. The skids and Even the crew to take down the in aren’t many real fighters like Pop, and, get this, nary a traffic law or zees my gang were cynical; frame looked the same. But not and the Old Cause was driven to a traffic court on the planet.” but I knew I’d get my own back, the guy who was there to wel- the curb. Judy puzzled: “But, Daddy and I just sat tight and soaked come us; he had a lah-de-dah they must have some laws, like up Jehuan by hypnophone. coat with wide skirts and lace .” Came The Day. A crew put up P had to drive home real which side you drive on . . like in Abe Washington’s time, a frame around our lot, humble because if they Pop’s always indulged Judy. higher but he was a big, hard-looking caught him now, they’d jail him, “Well, honey, that’s rules; and than the house, and into the zow like a zoom-bike cop. His him, a free citizen. But he was anyone with sense knows when ground. I asked the foreman if it zoom was a weirdy, too. Whee marked out block looking stern and unbowed, like rules do and don’t matter. Like if the that was enough like an import job and a guerrilla hero in Tri-Di. I drive on the left on an empty going to be swapped with a block done in this novelty one-tone fin- of So presently I said, “Pop, let’s street, whose business is it? See, Jehu. ish, but no jem-krust trim, no “You aren’t as do it!” Judy, put deadheads off the road, dumb as you swordfish roof-crest, no flared look, kid,” said, Mogi chimed in, “Yes, Gail, if leave things to skill and experi- he “which must bumpers; it wouldn’t have helped a consolation you can’t work here, let’s at least ence and you’re safe. Their acci- be to your folks. eggo much. The only real That’s what it does.” ask about it.” Mom’s real practi- dent-rate’s just about nil—natu- decoration was a leaping red ti- cal under the hood. rally.” “Thanx,” I said and strolled ger on all panels. He said he was off. Gee, I hate a fresh Judy was keen too. At four- “Well, it sounds funny to me. guy! to be our Patron, name of Thran- teen, in Ye Good Olde Daze, You be careful.” Mom said. Sure, a butterfly-collector gar Glash. she’d have been a zee already. “You been skull-scrubbed by could have had a field-day in my I gave him the old Hi-de-ho Now, she’d have to wait two Triple-L, keed? You never come stomach, when the fresh foreman and he froze my fuel-line. But years. out front unless you muscle into called all his gang out and began when Mom and Judy came out, So Pop got into passing gear. openings, like fast That’s the se- countdown. Mom and Judy were he swooned them with his bow- too bunny And just a week later he came cret of all big operators—Cesar, to come out, but Pop ing and oil-pressure. And when and I stood on home with his hat cocked and his Napoleon, Buck Blaire—split-sec- the steps. I felt Mom was disappointed at the heels clicking, and summoned us ond decisions. We’ve gotta take revved up, then, like beating an- view, he explained, “This is just other all to the tridiroom. “Well, keeds,” off in a cloud of clamshells, and zoom around a curve, and the Terran suburb. Madam. he said, “they sure picked on the we can’t wait for a lecture course. at Minus Five I called to all the When I have advised you all on skids in the crowd wrong man when they picked on But you can vote on it. Now. All watching, our, ah, driving customs, you can ol’ Buck Blaire. Biggest favor in favor of saying Nay, say Aye. “Here go the Regulars. We will visit the main city.” anyone ever did us. It seems Nobody? Carried! Oh, by the Return!” like that historical guy Pop scowled: “I was told you there’s a world called Jehu (some way, old Craik ain’t such a bad on tri-di. Pop just stood stern and drove by common sense.” crackjaw gibberish in their lan- old moke after all. He tipped me unbowed. Glash gave him a lopsided

128 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 129 or when an in- look: “True. But common sense somebody weaker Pop scowled. He always says, going to rattle even me into differs in different places, sir. nocent guy was killed or disabled. thing the first freedom oughta be free- fender-denting. It’s a good woman bashed a man’s zoom, Shall we go in?” A dom from preach. Then he hit our Thunderbolt Twelve can ac- Pal Patron she fought. Fair enough. Like pal So we did, and back: “O-kay! Anything you jok- celerate out of anything these gave us the route-map. Thrangar said, “We’re all equal, Glash ers can do, I can pass you.” lunks can mess up.” I been mucho right eh? Well, there’s no chivalry be- And had And I felt proud again. “Ahh, you’ve been skull- tween equals, only courtesy.” about old Schnooks Craik! “True sporting spirit, sir. So, scrubbed by Triple-L. Let ’em traffic laws if you didn’t play up you Sure, they had no And study our code and our manners try.” cops, no penalty points, no were outlaw and they’d ram you or in practice. Get your whippet and As for us, this town’s got noth- nothing. Sure! Only just or run you off the road and you fines, no join a school of arms. Then I’ll ing for Teeners. Whippet-school had no comeback. All tied up this: If you merely annoyed an- introduce you to our Arena.” And could be fun. Whippets are like less bent his tighter ’n a sales contract. other driver, much he flourished himself out. a yippee-cart with a saddle in- to Finally Pop said, “I’ve been tin, he could challenge you Back in the hall. Pop said stead of a seat, to give you free pub- framed. I was lied into this.” fight him. They fought in a “Hullo!” and picked up a letter action; not real fast because you yippee-cart “Really, sir? Our embassy pro- lic arena, on a sort of that must have come before we fight in a half-mile arena, but whippet, with sort of vided no literature?” called a left Earth. Inside was a sheet of they turn like squirrels. But the Well, who reads literature? bull-whips. You wore leather ar- letterhead, “Craik, Creak, Croak teacher red-lights any fun. He the defender got less The real dope they’ll shove in mor, only and Crock,” and on it, in quotes: has moustaches like wind-swept face. Pop always says. And and darn little if he’d hurt or your “When insolence outruneth fenders, and he’s worse than the “ killed someone. ‘Course,” Glash they hadn’t. So it was same as law, men customarily arm them- horn-yappers : “Do that over, lying. Huh? drawled, “even for blood-guilt, selves to chastise offense on the young fool. Recover, recover, Pop said, “I was told this was the limit’s twenty minutes, and body of the offender. As the prov- you’ll get your face opened. With a free society.” sometimes a dashing player erb saith: No courtesy sans valor.” little-stuff brains don’t try to be society is comes off with his life.” “My dear Blaire, a Leon da Milhao. big stuff.” Spoils your nerve. I’m only to choose its rules. An “His 1-life?” Mom said. “With free The old speed-trap! He was beginning to catch on. Mom’s aggressive race like yours, or whips?” giving us the razz. But we’ll show slower, and she won’t drive on mine, craves to domineer. You’ve “Oh, a very spirited weapon, him. the street nohow, even with the itch from run- ma’am. I’ve dueled little, —having got to control that novice plates. Judy’s real sharp, been bred to courtesy but ” he ning wild in millions of free spir- but Mom won’t let her out either, touched his—left cheek, which was its.” II in spite of her having natural- all scarred “one keeps in prac- “Yeh-yeh, sure. By common born driving rights here. .” sense. . . tice with one-cheek affairs, in case Now me Oct. 3, 1987 But Pop’s a wham, a natural. “Ah, yours, naturally. Mine one becomes seriously involved.” ELL, we’ve started. At first After lesson 3, he came striding So he gave us the layout, and too, I trust. But—everyone’s? No, keeds? W Pop was sore all the time, out: “See me clip the pro, they had it set up like some game. you’ve just three systems that this.” like he was stuck behind a squad- I think I’m gonna like Kids, gals, old gaffers, if you work: Public law, which irked car. At dinner he’d burst out, “You’ll feel different if you posse law to hunt down drove you were liable. No subs, you; “Ahhh, what yokels! Yap-yap with were risking a real cut, Gail.” not for wives or kids or sweeties. pests which—” he flicked an eye- the horns every move you make, “Nyahhh! Steady nerve and ed- of Honor appointed brow—“irked you even more; or Only a Court yap-yap. Back-seat driving from ucated reflexes, that’s real safe- one if a bully had fixed a fight on a code of honor.” other people’s back seats — it’s ty.”

130 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 131 Well, on the way home, there’s tT^HEN Glash took us to the “Say fifty to one. Challenger’s wide and then, when challenger this traffic signal down past our Arena, in his zoom. I’ll say a tough whip and deadly angry.” closed, whipped behind him on house. You don’t have to stop, this for Jehuans, when they go, Mom and Ju looked green. two wheels and zipped down the just yield right-of-way which Pop they Go; so when they do tangle, They’ve stopped more than once arena. And they kept on swing- snappin’er tight till says makes sense, though the it’s a dilly. We went down the to view a crash but maybe they in’er big and other zoom’s gotta be half across main drag in a stream of zooms figured deliberate gore was some- I began to think defender would at the big for Pop to yield, but Jehuans at sixty steady, with Glash giving thing else. make it. Then a look treat them real bunny. So, this exhaust about the average being Mom said, “Well, I don’t think arena clock showed only six min- native zoom ahead of us dragged twice the speed in any Earth the little girl should see this.” utes gone. down slow to make the corner city, and how he never needed Glash made a fish-mouth: “I Challenger had lashed twice If before I knew just as it changed, like mokes do. to use his brakes. Sure, but in cannot agree, madam. a child and missed. Then, Well, we should linger while he two blocks I was antsy-pantsy isn’t blooded young, it’ll play the it, he did a skid-curve and nicked played games? Pop whipped the with that old bull-man urge-to- fool in emergencies.” defender’s shoulder. Not much, Stumblebum past and across the surge, while Glash defaulted Just then, a referee came out but the guy began to bleed, lost guy’s front into our drive, spray- chance after chance to Score. on a platform halfway down the his nerve and got two more in in’ gravel, and pulled the foam- So, out where you’d expect a arena and the duellers appeared two minutes. ing steeds to their haunches. Ye ball-park, was this Arena like the at opposite ends with their sec- He pulled himself together and Olde High Style! Colossus of Rome. It wasn’t a onds and doctors, which they kept clear for a bit again. Then, goofed. So here comes this Jehuan tenth full, but two guys were have for serious fights. just half-time, he He’d stalking across the lawn, a skin- looping and lashing, like at the People were piling in till there got on challenger’s tail, and the ny guy in floppy green. He makes school only more exciting be- wasn’t standing room. old scoring spirit surged, and he a bow to Mom and Ju and a cause they had open left cheeks. My heart was going bu-bop took a crack at him. It only hit costs time. stiff inch to Pop: “Sir, you drive But neither scored, and another bu-bop. leather, and a crack with novice plates.” pair took over. Glash drawled, “Ha! They’ve Challenger veered, slam-braked, “A blind cop could see that.” Glash looked bored and I lost made challenger bare his right swiped as the guy shot past and Pop said, “What about it?” interest too after five of these arm. That narrows the odds scored an awful slice on his arm. it. Defender “Just this, sir. When you can quickies and only one guy cut. somewhat. This should be a nota- Well, that was no longer hide behind them, you But people kept trickling in, and ble Drive.” dropped his whip and just will put your hog’s elbow in my Glash said, “Ah! About time for Yehr, and he’d fixed to have steered. But he was dazed and face again, and I will bleed your the main event. This high-ridin’ us see the execution. Thanx! losing blood. Challenger flicked insolence. I will watch for you, ass, y’know, ran down a child on Came a pistol-shot that yanked and flicked. believe me.” a back street. City’s been debatin’ the props out from my stomach. I got all churned up. Here was “Don’t bother,” Pop said. “Gim- how much leather he should get The crowd gasped “Off!” Then this guy, could see the arena, and feel me your address, and I’ll drive for challenger’s parental negli- not a peep — you could be hear the whippets yarrr, and up and down your block till you gence. I hear it’s only a collar. challenged yourself for a disturb- his cuts. And if he didn’t do more of come out — if you do.” Minimum. A cut to the larynx ance. You could hear the motors than he could do, in a couple So the guy gave him a card or big neck vessels ends a bout snarl, even the sand grunt at minutes he wouldn’t know any- and bowed himself off. Pop without a sportin’ chance.” swerves. thing. looked after him, jingling his Pop said real cool, “Well, what They didn’t come right in, like Same time, challenger was pockets. “He’ll do to start on.” chance does that give him? in spite-fights. Defender swung coming through like on mental

132 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 133 Y

FM: “She’ll never pounce onto nounced he’d fixed a fight with ing an amber. But no Ju any- zoom at these Jehu speeds. She the bed with me again. (Crack!) this guy who’d left his address. where. Mom kept breathing, said, “The wu-woman was in the Never have college and a wed- “Keep me in practice, like Garsh “The little fool! Oh, the little middle, I swear. But she claims ding. (Crack!) How many thou- says.” fool!” Then aloud, “She’s your she hadn’t room.” sand of your smart tricks was Well, I guess he needs it. So father all over. Oh, if she’s gone Another woman was bad. Even .” that worth? (Ca-rack!)’’ It made far, they could only yap>-yap in that car . . against rules, men often go easy me sick and dry. when he double-parked at rush- Of course, Ju had. Pop’s fight on a girl; a woman, never. This Defender played so crazy, he hour, or blocked a side-street, or had revved her up to thiry over zee claimed injury, and several hung on for a bit, and I began motor-boated through puddles. the limit, and she’d gone to see. other drivers were mad enough to wonder again, would he make Now, he’ll spend half his time in Like that, she was a suicide men- to swear anything. This wouldn’t it. Six to go and my lungs were that arena. And some day he’ll ace. be any one-check deal. tied in a bownot. Challenger outsmart himself into a biggie. The police just shrugged over We were so razzed, we never figure-8ed but reversed in the the phone: “Driving is private heard the whipj>et pull in. second loop; defender saw a big Ill business, madam. We do not in- But I heard Pop clickety- body-slash coming, just too late. terfere.” (Pop’s standby!) clacking up the path, and got to He banked so tight, he toppled. Oct. 28, ’87. So, without a car, what could the tridiroom door as he flipped He kicked the ejector-lever and ^^HE day of his first duel. Pop we do? Mom took a calmifier his hat onto the rack: “Well, well, flung clear. came home .free-wheeling as and lay down. I sat on the front is this all the victor’s welcome? Everybody stood up. a tomcat. Ju and I had the day steps and strewed cigarette butts. Where’s Mom and Judy?” He spread-eagled, like in a off from school, but we weren’t At that, I didn’t see Judy com- Mom pushed by me and stood wreck I saw once, and his whip- going. “No family,” Pop had said. ing till she turned up the walk, glaring at him. But Pop never pet batted around spinning and “This new back-seat driving on foot. She was a mess, all did notice red lights much. He scrabbling on its side. Challenger would put me off. I could feel it blowsy from crying. If she’d breezed on, “Yezzir! Ol’ Killer cut around it so sharp, I thought from ’way up in the stands. Jone- crossed many streets, it was just Blaire clipped him, and him a he’d tip too, and headed straight sie and I have arranged to back luck we didn’t have to whip thirty-fight veteran. And not a for the guy. Defender tried to each other in these deals.” So he someone for running her down. mark on me. Reflexes, like I’ve heave clear . . . “My little honey!” had lunch and they took off on She blubbered, “Du-don’t start always told you. Now, how’s .” . . . Ribs crack like wet sticks . . . their whippets. ku-questions, pu-p/ease.” But about . . Nobody talked. Even Garsh I got myself into sporting bags Mom didn’t swallow that line Well, I’d seen it in boffies but didn’t pump any pi-jaw. for an afternoon all to myself and shook her till her hair never expected to in real life. But when we got home and with the zoom, and tip-toed down flopped. So she told. Mom smashed a vase-lamp on Mom was hoping that now he to the garage. She was near the Arena, feel- his head and towered over him. wouldn’t take so many chances. Well, the zoom was gone. That ing pretty high, when some moke “Well, that’s a mark on you now.

Pop said, “Look, keed, in this stalled me. Pop had his whippet. ahead slowed for a right turn, Reflex-brains!” . . . and told him life you take chances or live in Mom still wouldn’t drive a block like mokes do. Well, you don’t the score in about ten words, end- a keg. You just gotta be equal to alone, or let Judy, to Ju’s perma- pass any faster, I guess, but a ing, “And I haven’t raised a sweet them.” nent sulk. Maybe Mom and Ju Regular like Pop swings big left child to be disfigured because her his opinion of father’s a retarded Teener.” And the very day the novice . . .? Then I heard Mom upstairs, to show Style and plates came off the Stumblebum, and called, “Mom, where’s Ju?” mokes. So naturally Ju swung “Aw right, aw right! No reason he came home whistling and an- Mom dashed down like beat- and bashed head-on into another to blow your tires at me. What’ve

134 G AL AX A DAY ON DEATH HIGI WAY 135 /

/ done? We’ll fix it. I suppose Was she supposed not to learn night, for just about the first time Then I really began to get you never thought of Clash?” off him? And he’d never get in weeks. Lepidoptera in the viscera. The She said, soft, “You fix it. You touched. far end looked five miles off with call Clash, you and your steel Then this Slada’s deputies OOTH our leathers had Pop’s the stands curving around, and nerves. I don’t believe you grasp came, big squaws with muscles charging-quarterback insignia the enemy whippet toy-size — the situation yet.” in their calves, and tried to right- and Ju faked her 4 for my 3 on denture-pink and a red tornado He slouched to the phone and lane Mom because she’s custom- mine and fixed some of her on the panels. I’d watched out-

I snaked up to the bedroom built and they were trucks. But slacks to fit me. side Slada’s house: She was mid- phone extension. Well, Clash had Mom had evidently boned up on Came the day. I was to drive thirties but made up to look a big pick-up for Judy, like they Jehu law, and beat the time the whippet to the Arena, while older, like mud on a moke’s wind- all do, but he couldn’t fix the down from twelve to ten min- the others followed in the car — shield, as if she had more to hide ticket. “Blaire, if defender could utes, and fixed Judy’s leather so Pop’s real expert at getting dead- than she really did. That kind’s substitute, I’d go in for her my- she’d only have one arm exposed line repairs done. So, I sneaked always proving they’re just as self. What was the woman’s in- besides her cheek, and sent them off in Ju’s slacks, with makeup good as ever, which is bad. An-

signia? . . . Red tornado? Hah! off bow-legged. I felt real proud and a kerchief to hide my buzz- other muscly dame. With swords Slada Coy, hard as they come of Mom then. cut, and parked in the entrance or something, I might have felt

. . . No, you fool! You mention But it wouldn’t help Ju. Five tunnel to Defenders’ End. And different about fighting a woman.

you’ll . money, be outlawed . . minutes would be too much. And right on tick, Ju came out of But this was like on the road You’ve no damn right to be ig- a week before the fight, she Lady Defenders’ Dressing Room where she’d ditch you to show norant of manners, sir.” I’ve podded into my room in her bath- and dodged around into the pub- her peerless skill. Maybe she was never seen Pop so slowed down. robe and plopped on my bed: lic Ladies’ Room. I skulked after a moo-cow at home, but in a Even Mom’s laid off him. “Oh Chuck, what’ll I do-oo-oo? her. We took adjoining booths, zoom her reality came out and We’ll be put off the road here too and clothes came flying over the you could drive her into a board Dec. 1, 1987. and Daddy’ll be ruined. Bu-bu- partition. And with three minutes with a hammer. So, I was going T’VE NEVER lived through but I can’t fight that awful old to spare, we walked out again, to do all I could to her — if any. -*• such a grim month. Judy had woman. I couldn’t even steer.” one in slacks and one in leathers. At the pistol, I sure gave my lessons daily, and then I’d prac- Well, I’d hoped for a break in We still damped our mufflers pro a dust-bath. I wanted to get tice her. No bon. She was great the traffic; now I’d have to elbow —you never know who might be Slada off balance. She was just in rehearsal, but in that Arena one. I patted her shoulder: parked — but Ju threw her arms flipping a cigarette butt — the she’d freeze. She knew girls at “Opey-dopey, kid. I’ll fix it.” around me and kissed me on the old Nonchalant Flair like she’d school who’d been cut. She’d nev- She grabbed me: “How? Dad- open cheek. It made me feel do whipping in and out of lanes er been really hurt in her life, dy can’t. Mr. Clash can’t.” pretty brave. Then she shooed with a kid doin’ Ben Hur on the and got shivering sick just at the “I’m not much bigger’n you. In me ahead. seat beside her — when I was idea. It sure dulled her polish; leathers, nobody’d know the dif- I mounted and rolled into the suddener than she’d expected. and yet, she was more appealing ference. I’ll fight her.” arena. A pro mechanic-doctor You know, when there’s a gap to me, like when she was a brat “Oh, but Ghuckie, I beat you came with me and checked my two cars could pass in at a hum- and I’d pick her up when her all the time at school.” stirrups and ejector and stuff, ble speed, and you just head for Toddle Typhoon dumped. “So who cares if my manly and said good luck, and stood the middle? The other guy’ll con- It wasn’t fair. Pop’s a real beauty gets marked?” back. I’d cut things close, to cede! So did Slada, and nearly hero-type adult to these Teeners. I bet we both slept well that avoid idle chat. dumped swerving. And I cleared

136 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 137 the end wall by about two feet, gain.) ’Cause I could read Earth braked so she had to swing to It — or Give It. But I hung on and her pro jumped. traffic, see? (No ya don’t, sister.) pass me, and I clunked her. I and drove slow to Defenders’ Well, she was madded up at These jokers trained for scientific snake-hipped her both sides. I End, just as the gate went up. being bluffed by any Young Gerl, hell. (Zwoooo, Brrrotherrr.) But crowded her from behind and and began to show her old-hand I’d been trained dirty. when she swung away, there I SOMEHOW, I’d never figured

knowhow, to restore her confi- I wasn’t so proud of it now. was crowding her on the other how to get out of that jam. dence. It’s She’d wear me (Judy) But this was the time for it if side. amazing how much su- People were helping me down, down till she could lay my ever. (Grrrrup.) Show ’em how premacy you can jam into a few patting my back, pulling at my (Judy’s) face open good. (And it to really play Russian roulette, minutes. helmet. I bolted for the only pos- could have been Judy.) And she and if a dumb little punk like Only I forgot she wasn’t a sible cover, that Ladies’ Dressing

sure played rough. me was champ at it, where was Regular or even a good old Earth Room. I expected a riot, but no- the Glory? moke. And sometimes these body realized I was a Him. And ^ I could read her far So when she slowed on a turn, Jehuans go even Earth one bet- in my state of mind, the scenery enough ahead to hold her I timed her to a hair, zoom across ter, when they’re losing a fight, didn’t matter. Then Mom off. And all the time, something her bumper (like beating the and do a kamikaze crash. So grabbed me: “Darling! You’re all was building up in me like those cross-traffic on a red). I’d have when she threw her whip away right?” and started on the hel- Civil War radio tubes that took cut her too but she braked so and opened her whippet out full, met. I had to bolt again, for the hours to get hot. This stuff was hard she nearly went over her which is dangerous, I was too cubicle she’d come out of. great for guys like Pop. (Zowrrr, wheel and I only clunked her terrified to be scared. Geez guys! But she caught on fast, and I whacko.) Put ’em in here and ka-whack across the helmet. But Those last two minutes were the got another high-octane kiss all let ’em slug it out. (Here she it sure shook her nerve again, longest hour I ever lived. We in the family. Hot coffee too. But comes.) Or for old-time Indians and I got on her tail like a moke covered a good two miles in tight she kept saying, “Now, from now and Vikings who’d kill anybody who can’t decide to pass, and loops, I swear. Then, twenty sec- on, Judy — I mean Chuck — no for kicks, including themselves. began clouting her, thunk, whap. onds to go, she swung too tight, more of your father’s nonsense. (Zgrrrrunch, whack-crack.) But Not sportin’? Who cared! To cut that gooey pink thing toppled, Now promise!” when those types got too gay, her cheek, I’d have had to pull and the ejector threw her, all in Well, all I wanted was to sit people just abolished them. level; but a whip stings and one gasp. No time to brake. Left, with my hands between my

(Now what . . .?) So why should bruises even through leather. And right — I could just feel that knees, but finally I hove up: Judy get her arm crippled or her I just glorified! I couldn’t hate I’d hit her whippet and crash; “Look, Mom, I don’t need to face ground in the sand? my own Pop, but I sure hated soft bump and snapping bones. promise. I’m sick of the adept (Whoooom, oofie.) Or even me, her. Show the kids how, huh? I went between with my head stuff. Judy’ll promise anything dammit? Then I gave her the Tech- and eyes scronched down. right now, but she’ll get yippee- I’d planned just to steer and nique. Foo! Any Grampaw driv- I near rammed the wall before pills in her tank again because try to bull through. But sudden- ing to work with his mind on his I realized neither crash nor bump she’s a born show-off. And as for ly it burst on me: In three min- dyspepsia, can do it by force of had happened. Pop ...” I just shrugged. utes, she hadn’t nearly touched habit to score three car-lengths Marshals came tearing out, “Well, if your father isn’t im- me; and when I’d bluffed zrowww. .” her at per block. She suddenly slowed But Slada was already pressed now . . the start, she’d crumpled. to force me ahead, and I surged rolling over. My muscles sort of I said, “Mom, the only cure (Watchit!) And why could I and cut in front of her, like beat- melted: For once I’d gotten a for Pop is breaking his back or read her? (Vrooom, missed a- ing a guy to a red light, and closeup of how it’d feel to Get going where he can’t drive.”

138 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 139

. L tator Parking, legged into the car like forking over his cayuse, whammed the door and roared the engine, all in one snappy ac- tion. He shot out of his stall with one deft whirl of the wheel, fix- ing to surge straight ahead out of the lot. Maybe if he hadn’t been so mad, even he would have seen the other car. But he felt it first, a crash that knocked his hat off. He and the other guy, with a passenger, charged out to inspect the slaughter. Stumblebum had taken it on the rear bumper, but the side of the other looked like a discarded

candy-wrapper. Well . . . Pop had hit him. The only good feature was that the other guy, though big, was gray-haired with a high complexion. Pop saw it too and,

“Well, Chuckle, I did check, wanted Slada to rechallenge. (I you whisk along. I’ll handle this.” after they’d all asked couldn’t and there’s a place called Bolg- bet!) Nuts and bolts to both, Mom walked at him. “You’ll they look where they were going, walk where Plutomat wants a halves. handle nothing. Get along to the he began the old Road Lawyer man, and they have no roads to Outside, Mom gave the old el- car.” line: “Well, now. Mister, this isn’t speak of, just bogs.” bow to a mob of reporters: He tempered: “What’s this? I an open street, y’know. How’m I Well, we both knew Pop’d nev- “Stand back, there. The girl’s ex- thought we’d celebrate for my to back blind with you crashing er ride in any such back seat. hausted. You can call tomorrow.” famous daughter. So . . . you go through full speed?” Just then, Judy burst in. She’d And there, at the whippet, was home in an armored car if you The old guy went turkey-red; gotten by as “Miss Blaire’s Sis- Pop. All month he’d been sulking like. Come on, Judy, you’re a “Why, look where you hit me! ter”. And as we switched clothes as if the whole deal were a plot sport anyway. You and me, hey?” I was half way past you, sir.” again, she reported that the fight to cramp his style. But now he But Ju was still scared, even “All right. Challenge if you had been a sensation. (She’d had that quirk smirk like the guy if it was wearing off, and said like. My little girl just made a watched, though Mom wouldn’t.) in the ad: “Drive cautiously with “No!” in that spoiled-brat voice monkey of a better fighter than Half the audience was wild over our Triple-Threat Modem Storm- he always thought was so cute. you’re likely to be.” the greatest daredevil show in Trooperol.” He sneered like when some The old guy went beet-red. On history, and half was honking The newshounds popped some moke elbows him in traffic, and Jehu, if an old guy doesn’t want mad at my unsporting tactics and bulbs, and he said, “Okay, keeds. ^wung away, beat us out to Spec- to fight, he better drive real hum-

140 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 141 ble. His jaw stuttered, then he Planet Bolgwalk know any more about it than he for a day for your firm, say. Not grabbed for his fender, and Dec. 3, 1987. does about a carburetor. But at healthy.” slumped to the ground, and lay i^NLY we didn’t do anything half an hour to zero, Mr. Glash The inspector arriving at last there grunting and not even pink. of the kind. arrived and Pop got onto his rear saved Pop answering that one. A doc jumped to him. But the I didn’t even pump Judy on bumper. They were out by the Glash bowed with flourishes to old guy’s passenger grabbed Pop what happened on that drive fence and Pop giving with the Mom and Judy, and slightly to and jerked him around. He home; you owe your father some old Twenty Questions — why Pop. He drawled, “It’s been, ah, looked like a lumberjack fore- fenders to hide behind. But when this, why that, with no break for interesting to know you, as a man, curly black hair, black- I came in. Mom said, “Chuck, answers — when up pranced this specimen of the, ah, Earth Regu- shaved chin, hot black eyes. He your father has taken a new job guy in a blue-and-white rig and lars. I trust you find Bolgwalk snarled, “So now I flay you on and we’re translating again the hollered Pop’s name aloud. congenial.” behalf of my father, bigmouth,” day after tomorrow.” So I went Pop winced. “Hey, tone it Then suddenly he turned to

Pop cased the gU5r’s horse- to borrow back some stuff and down. I can hear you. What’s all me. “From what I hear through, power, and suddenly he looked see some guys, but wondering this?” ah, a contact at the Arena, you’ll all flabby. He did wrench his why the overdrive. The guy began reading a make a man yet, Charles. Get shoulder loose and try the hard- Till I saw Pop. He’d been figur- paper which boiled down to a some education — and get rid of boiled comeback: “If your father ing the percentages. demand that Pop desist from the one you have. Good luck.” can’t keep his temper, 7’m not Next day he was clearing up running out on his honorable So we shook hands. Man! liable by your code.” (Like he at his office. But he was home duel. Pop looked like one of But who saw through my says, what can you lose? And early fussing around like a pup these guys who, when they get game and didn’t squeal? you often win.) in traffic, till the frame-building in a crash, jump out of the car The guy pushed his face an crew told him to go find a park- and run. He grabbed Glash. T^UNNY how Pop’s adjusted to inch from Pop’s: “Code? Why ing-deck. Then indoors, making “Hey, this clown can’t stop me Bolgwalk; he fulfills his bull- you hog-trough oaf, twenty wit- sure nobody’d forgotten ansrthing moving, can he?” man ego by betting on the plane- nesses heard you insult him in a to hold us up come morning. Glash drawled, “This ‘clown’ is tary whiffle-ball games. He usu- discussion of honor. They will Then out trying to bribe the Herald of the Courts of Honor. ally loses but it’s comparatively strip your back and I, Slam Hol- crew to work overtime. Then, But, no, he can’t stop your mov- cheap. Judy could be on an aster- licker, will hack it to the bones. when they said the inspector ing, as long as it’s off Jehu.” oid, for all she cares now, if it If you ever drive again, you will wouldn’t clear it till morning Pop reinflated slightly. ‘Well, had boys on it. No cars — but defer even to old men.” He swung an3Tway, phoning the inspector to not that I want to welsh on an they make out. Mom treats me away without even bowing. bribe him. Honest, I thought he’d obligation. But Mrs. Blaire was real man-to-man. Pop was pinned there till they boil his rad. so upset about the girl, and I had But now I’ve gotten over be- got old Hollicker into an ambu- The old impetuous spirit got this offer. And you know how it ing a professional teener, I think lance and towed away his car. him down at crack of dawn, too, is with big deals — split-second I’ll take Mr. Glash’s advice. Then, Mom got in the driver’s burning toast and eggs till Mom decisions.” They say the High Vacuum seat of our car, and Pop got in took the kitchen away from him. Glash fluttered his eyelids. Navy gives you wonderful train- beside her without a peep, and Which gained us three hours to “Oh, yes, everyone knows. And ing. And you can take chances in

Judy in the back. So I went for stall around in while the crew as long as Hollicker feels he’s the line of duty . . . without the whippet. It sure looks like finished the fence under his run you off Jehu he’ll be satis- scooping in civilians. we’ll need that steely eye — though he didn’t fied. But don’t come back, even — CHANDLER ELLIOTT

142 GALAXY A DAY ON DEATH HIGHWAY 143 CUGARDALE THREE miles, ^ the state highway sign said. Dexter Foote turned into the side road that the arrow indi- cated.

He had no way of knowing it at the time, but by his action he condemned his new convertible to a fate worse than death. The side road meandered down a long slope into a wooded

‘V' ‘ ii hUBm hollow where a breeze born of cool bowers and shaded brooks gg made the July afternoon heat less oppressive. A quantity of the pique that had been with him ever since setting forth from the city departed. There were worse assignments, after all, than writ- ing up a fallen star. Abruptly he applied the brakes and brought the convertible to a screeching halt. His blue eyes started from his boyish face. Well they might. The two Humpty Dumptyish creatures squatting in the middle of the road were as big as heavy tanks and, judging from their “skin tone,” were constructed of similar material. They had arms like jointed cranes and legs like artic- ulated girders. Their scissors-like mouths were slightly open, ex- posing maws the hue of an open hearth at tapping time. Either they were all body and no head, or all head and no body. Which- ever was the case, they had both eyes and ears. The former had

SWEET TOOTH 145 ”

something of the aspect of peek Dexter’s shoulders sagged, and A mile and half later, he fading shirtfront, and a beat-up in holes a furnace door, while the the spot next to his heart that the emerged in a small valley that sombrero sat atop the graying latter brought to lopsided mind convertible had shared with his sported a handful of houses, a head. TV antennae. best girl gave a spasmodic scattering of business places, a “Sheriff Jeremiah Smith at As Dexter watched, the fore- twinge. Removing his suitcoat church or two and a goodly num- your service,” he said calmly most of the two metallic mon- and slinging it over his shoulder, ber of trees. A roadside sign in- when Dexter dashed up to him. sters advanced upon the convert- he turned his back on the grisly formed him that he had reached He took a sip from the schooner ible and began licking the repast and set out sadly for his destination, that its popula- of beer that sat on the bar before chrome off the grill with a long, Sugardale. tion was 350, and that its speed him. “Got troubles, have you,

tong-like tongue. Meanwhile, its He had not gone far before his limit was 20 mph. The popula- young man?” companion circled to the rear stalled thought-processes got into tion, however, was nowhere in “My car,” Dexter said. “I was and took a big bite out of the gear again. evidence, and the speed limit driving along the road and —

trunk. There was an awesome seemed silly in view of the ab- “Got ate up, did it? Well, it’s CRUNCH! and the convertible rriHE FALLING star he had sence of cars. not the first one to get ate up gave a convulsive shudder. been assigned by his editor A scared-looking housewife, around here.” Jeremiah Smith At this point, Dexter got out to write up had been an unusu- upon whose door he knocked, faced the doorway that led to the and ran. More accurately, he ally brilliant one according to the told him he’d probably find the lobby. “Mrs. Creasy, get this jumped out and ran. A hundred report the paper had received. local minion of the law at the young man a beer,” he called. feet down the road, he stopped Maybe its unusualness did not Sugardale Inn, “sucking up beer A plump middle-aged woman and turned. He was just in time stop there. Maybe it was some- the way he always is when he whose dark hair fell down over to see monster No. 1 bite off the thing more than a mere meteor- should be out earning his mon- her eyes like a thicket came right headlight. CRUNCH! Not ite. Certainly the two monsters ey.” The Inn turned out to be a into sight behind the bar. She to be outdone, monster No. 2 bit could not be classified as local sagging three-story structure in flicked a cockroach off the drain- off the right taillight. CRUNCH- woodland creatures. desperate need of a paint-job. board with an expert forefinger, CRUNCH! An acrid odor af- All of which was fine as far as There was a model A sedan drew Dexter a schooner and set

fronted Dexter’s nostrils, and he copy was concerned. But it didn’t parked in front of it, the first it before him. Jeremiah Smith

discerned a faint yellow haze bring his convertible back. automobile Dexter had seen. paid for it. “Drink her down, hovering about the convertible. Presently he saw two sizable Formerly the establishment had young man,” he said. “I know The rear wheels went in two deposits of slag at the side of the provided a haven for weary how I’d feel if my car got ate up.” bites. The 250 HP. motor re- road, and approaching them travelers. Now it provided a Manfully, Dexter dispatched quired three. CRUNCH- more closely, he discovered that haven for contented cockroaches. half the contents of the schooner, CRUNCH-CRUNCH! The up- they were still warm. Could they Its fin de siecle bar was a col- after which he introduced him- holstery caught fire and began be the remains of a previously lector’s item, and standing at it, self and explained the nature of to bum. A gout of flame shot up devoured automobile? he won- one foot propped on the brass his mission to Sugardale. “I nev- as the gas tank exploded. Far dered. What an ignominious fate barrail, was a lone customer. He er figured on an3dhing like this, from discouraging the two mon- indeed to overtake a car! He was tall and thin, and somewhere though,” he concluded. sters, the resultant inferno mere- looked at the two deposits once in his sixties, and he was wear- “You must have made it ly served to whet their appetities. more before moving on. All he ing blue denim trousers and a through just before the road- CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH- could think of were two piles of blue chambray shirt There was block was set up,” Jeremiah said. CRUNCH! elephant dung. a lackluster badge pinned on the “You were lucky.”

146 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 147

L Dexter started at him. “Lucky! down the road at a brisk pace, ing been badly trampled in the into the front seat beside him. I lost my car.” wound through woods, dales, pas- recent past. The road took them to the main “Pshaw. What’s a car to a tures and fields. Dexter hadn’t He pointed out the signs to highway, and not long thereafter newspaper man when a Big the remotest idea where he was Jeremiah. “See how those sap- Jeremiah turned off the highway Story’s in the air? Take this when at last Jeremiah pulled up lings are flattened? No human into another road — a familiar newspaper fellow I saw on TV beside a grove larger and darker being did that. I’ll bet if we fol- road heralded by a familiar sign Saturday night. He —’’ than the others. lowed that trail, we’d come to the that said, SUGARDALE THREE “Big Stories went out long The old man squinted into the remains of the first car they con- MILES. Two slag deposits ago,” Dexter said. “Newspaper- lengthening shadows. “Seems to sumed. Whose car was it, by the marked the spot where once men work for a living the same me them auto-eating tanks ought way?” Dexter’s proud convertible had as anybody else. Get back to my to make better reading than a “Mrs. Hopkins’s new Buick. stood. He gazed at them sadly car. Aren’t you going to do any- common ordinary falling star.” She’d just started out for the city as they passed. thing about it?” Halfway out of the car, Dexter on one of her shopping trips. She Jeremiah looked hurt. “I’ve al- stared at him. “You mean to tell was so scared when she came SUDDENLY Jeremiah brought ready done everything I can do. me you don’t see the connec- running back into town her hair ^ the model A to a screeching The minute I saw those tanks I tion?” was standing straight out behind halt. The two desecrators of the knew it was a job for the army, “What connection?” her head. Maybe, though, it was American Dream Incarnate were and the state police agreed with Dexter got the rest of the way because she was running so fast.” in the midst of another repast. me. So we notified them, after out. “Between the automobile- Abruptly Jeremiah leaned for- The victim this time, judging which we advised everybody to eaters and the spaceship, of ward and squinted at the ground. from the still-visible star and the stay indoors and to keep their course.” “Looks almost like a big foot- O.D. color scheme, was an army cars under lock and key. All we Jeremiah stared at him. “What print right there, don’t it.” He staff car. The grill and the motor can do now is wait.” Jeremiah spaceship?” straightened. “But if the darn were already gone, and half of sighed. “Crazy, if you ask me. “Oh, never mind,” Dexter said. thing is a spaceship like you say, the roof was missing. Yellow

> Tanks eating automobiles!’ “Show me the fallen star.” how come it buried itself?” haze enshrouded the sorry scene, “I imagine,” Dexter said It was in a clearing deep in the “Because whoever or whatever and the countryside was resound- thoughtfully. “that our diet woods. Or rather, the crater-like was piloting it didn’t — or could- ing to a series of horrendous would give them pause too. hole it had made was. Peering n’t — decelerate enough for an CRUNCHES. Where did this star of yours down into the hole, Dexter saw orthodox landing,” Dexter ex- “Do you think if I sort of fall?” the dark, pitted surface of what plained. “Lucky it hit the clear- zoomed by, we could make it?” , “In Ed Hallam’s north timber could very well have been an or- ing. If it had hit the trees, you’d Jeremiah asked. “I hate to go all

lot. Take you there, if you like. dinary, if unusually large, mete- have had a forest fire on your the way around the other way.” There’s not much to see, though orite. There was nothing that hands.” “I’m game if you are,” Dexter — just a big hole in the ground.” suggested an opening of any Jeremiah looked worried. said. Dexter finished his beer. “Come kind, but the opposite wall of the “Maybe we’d better be getting ZOOOOOOMMMMMMM! on,” he said. crater did look as though some back to the road. I feel kind of The two monsters didn’t even heavy object had been dragged guilty leaving my model A sit- look up. 'T’HE MOriEL A parked in — or had dragged itself — up to ting there all alone.” “You’d think my model A front of the Inn turned out the level of the clearing. The Dexter followed him back wasn’t good enough for them,” to be Jeremiah’s. They took off underbrush showed signs of hav- through the woods and climbed Jeremiah said peevishly.

148 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 149 “Count your blessings. Look, culean yank on the wheel. “Well, back of Jeremiah’s weather- hot-rod. We’ve got them under course, there’s someone up ahead.” Dexter here seems to think that beaten neck. “I trust we’ll have constant surveillance, of with all the under- The “someone” turned out to our falling star is a spaceship and no trouble finding suitable ac- and what trample it’s easy e- be a two-star general, a chicken that they landed in it, and I’m commodations in Sugardale, brush they colonel and an enlisted man. Jer- inclined to believe he’s right.” sheriff.” nough to track them. But we emiah stopped, and the trio “After seeing the VEMs in per- “Mrs. Creasy’ll be glad to put can’t stop them. They eat our fragmenta- climbed into the back seat. “Ate son, I’m inclined to believe he’s you up at the Inn, if that’s what gas grenades and our your staff car, did they. Gen- right myself,” Colonel Mortby you mean,” Jeremiah said. tion grenades, and they’re imper- eral?” he chuckled, taking off said. “I think that what we have vious to our tank killers and our again. “Well, that’s the way it to do with here,” he went on pres- rs. creasy was more than antitank mines. A small A-bomb care of them nicely, goes.” ently, when the general made no M glad. Indeed, from the way would take assuming there’s an “The name,” said the general, comment, “is a form of metal- she looked at the two officers and but even here large enough whose middleaged face had a based life capable of generating the NCO through her thicket of area around isolated enough to permit us greenish cast, “is General Long- an internal temp)erature of at hair, you would have thought and A-bomb, there’s no way combe, and I was on my way to least three thousand degrees they were the first roomers she’d to use an into it.” Sugardale to reconnoiter the sit- Fahrenheit. The acrid odor they had in months, discounting the of herding them there uation before committing any give off while ‘feasting’ probably cockroaches, of course. “It just so happens that Smith troops to the area. This is my arises from a substance analo- The general said petulantly, is such an area,” Jeremiah about ten aide. Colonel Mortby, and my gous to our gastric juices which “Let’s get down to business. said. “Tillson Valley — of here. You’d have driver. Sergeant Wilkins.” their heat-resistant stomachs sup>- Colonel. I want an armored com- miles south of “Sheriff Smith at your service,” ply to accomplish ‘digestion,’ pany brought up immediately, to vacate Old Man Tillson, he’d be glad to go if said Jeremiah. “This here’s Dex- only in this case ‘digestion’ con- and I want the fallen-star area course, but it worth his while. He ter Foote, who came to Sugar- sists primarily in melting down put off limits at once. Have the you made thing but weeds dale to do a Big Story on our the metal they consume and in sheriff show you where it is.” He hasn’t grown a pension. falling star.” isolating its waste matter, after turned to Sergeant Wilkins. “Ser- anyway since he got his and “Tell me about these VEMs of which the pure metal is repro- geant, get on the phone as soon Just sits around all day beer.” yours, sheriff,” General Long- cessed into ‘body tissue’ and the as the colonel gets off it, and ar- sucks up of get- combe said. waste matter is thrown off in the range for my personal Cadillac “But there’s still no way there,” Gen- Jeremiah twisted around. form of slag. I think we might go to be delivered here first thing.” ting the VEMs out “VEMs?” so far as to call them a couple of After phoning his paper, Dex- eral Longcombe objected. “ said, ‘Vehicle-Eating Monsters’,” animate open hearths.” ter headed for the dining room “Tell me, general,” Dexter your Colonel Mortby interposed. He Dexter had turned around in and sat down beside General “have they eaten any of was a small man with a pleasant the front seat and was looking at Longcombe. “Anything new on jeeps or trucks or personnel car- youthful face. “It’s standard army the colonel admiringly. “I think the VEMs, General?” he asked. riers?” operating procedure to give an you’ve hit the nail right on the General Longcombe sighed. General Longcombe shook his of op- object a name before investigat- head, sir,” he said. There were shadows under his head. “They’ve had plenty ing it.” General Longcombe was scowl- eyes, and his cheeks showed signs portunity to, too.” “Oh.” Jeremiah twisted back ing. “We’re here to survey the of saggihg. “They’re still in cir- “I have a theory,” Dexter said. again, saved the model A from situation. Colonel, not to jump to culation. Scared the wits out of a The look that promptly settled going into the ditch with a Her- conclusions.” He addressed the couple of teenagers and ate their on General Longcombe’s face

150 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 151 no bones made about what he ual appeal. To return to our them at them first, did they General Longcombe offered no thought of presumptuous young visitors from Planet X. Suppose not?” comment. He app>eared to be reporters with theories. Colonel that all their lives they’ve been Colonel Mortby nodded. “I see deep in thought. Mortby, however, was consider- eating metal in various but unin- what you mean. Sort of like “My car is in West Virginia,” ably less biased. “It won’t do any spired ingot forms — the metal- throwing candy to a baby. I’ll Colonel Mortby said. harm to listen to what he’s got lic equivalents, let’s say, of beans buy your theory, Mr. Foote.” “My car was eaten,” Dexter to say, sir,” he pointed out, “and and bread and hominy grits. Now “And now, if I may,” Dexter said. it may even do some good. It’ll suppose they find their way to continued, “I’d like to propose a General Longcombe opened ” be at least a day before the ship another planet where visual ap- means of getting rid of our un- his mouth. “My car — he began. is excavated and even then we peal in metallic creation is a ma- wanted visitors from Planet X.” Sergeant Wilkins entered the may not know any more about jor occupation, and suppose that General Longcombe sighed. room and saluted smartly. “The the sort of life forms we’re deal- shortly after disembarking from “Very well, Mr. Foote. Go on.” general’s Cadillac has just ar- ing with than we do now.” their spaceship they come upon “You mentioned earlier, sir, rived, sir,” he said. a new convertible. Wouldn’t they that there was no way of herding I^EXTER NEEDED no fur- react in the same way we would the VEMs into an isolated area. I^LD MAN Tillson co-operated ther invitation. “I think it’s react if all our lives our diet had However, I think there is a way. readily enough, once he was pretty clear by now,” he began, been confined to beans and bread Suppose we were to remove all assured that he would be in- “that our two visitors from Plan- and hominy grits and we trav- of the automobiles from the vi- demnified not only for his ram- et X aren’t attracted by metal in eled to another planet, disem- cinity with the exception of one, shackle house but for the young just any old form at all, but by barked and came upon a delicious and suppose we were to park mountain of beer bottles that metal in the form of new, or near- birthday cake just begging to be that one in the middle of Tillson stood in his back yard, and the ly new, automobiles. This strong- eaten? Wouldn’t they make pigs Valley as bait, with a remote- command post was moved forth- ly suggests that their landing was of themselves and start looking controlled A-bomb underneath with to the lip of the valley. unpremeditated, because if it had for more cakes?” it?” Jeremiah Smith was allowed to been premeditated they would “But if it’s the ornate nature of “But how would they know go along as an observer, and have come down in a section of our late-model cars that attracts that the bait was there?” Dexter was accorded a similar the country where such metallic them, why did they eat the staff “Through association,” Dexter favor. By evening, everything concoctions are in plentiful sup- car?” Colonel Mortby asked. said. “All of the automobiles was in place. The colonel’s Cad- ply — near a city or a 'large “And why did they eat the teen- they’ve consumed thus far were illac, parked in the valley’s cen- town, or close to a heavily trav- ager’s hot rod, and our gas and in operation shortly before they ter, had something of the aspect eled throughway. fragmentation grenades?” began to eat them, so by now of a chrome-bedizened lamb rest- “But what is it about these “I suggest,” Dexter said, “that they must have established an ing on an altar of crab grass, but- new cars of ours that they find they ate the staff car because at vmconscious relationship between tercups and mustard weeds. Sur- so irresistible? Let’s try an anal- the moment there weren’t any the sound of the motors and the rounding it were half a dozen ogy. Suppose that one of us has other cars immediately available. taste of the metal. Therefore, if floodlights, suspended over it was gone into a bakery to buy a As for the teenager’s hot rod, I we keep the bait idling and set a microphone, standing next to birthday cake and that money is imagine it was loaded down with up a P.A. system to amplify the it was a pole supporting three no object. Which cake is he most enough chrome accessories to sound, eventually they’ll hear it, P.A. speakers, and located sev- likely to buy? The answer is ob- sink a battleship. And as for the their mouths will salivate and eral hundred feet away was a vious: the one with the most vis- grenades — your men threw they’ll come running.” TV camera. Beyond this imprqs-

152 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 153 ” ””

sive display, Old Man Tillson’s ything that strikes their eye. “Monsters!” he screamed, “I’ll reaction with some kind of a homestead could be discerned, They make contact .” with the au- blow you to Kingdom Come per- ray. I wonder . . He shook his and beyond the homestead rose thorities first, and then they go sonally!” and stomped into the head wistfully. “What a weapon, his mountainous collection of running across the countryside tent. though.” beer bottles. and start grabbing up everyrthing Dexter and Jeremiah started He and Colonel Mortby and Colonel Mortby came out of that strikes their eye.” to put on their cobalt-blue glas- the tech were standing by the the command-post tent and Colonel Mortby grinned. ses. Abruptly thunder sounded, chrome-stripped carcass of the walked over to where Dexter and “You’ve got a good point there, and a shadow darkened the land. Cadillac. Dexter and Jeremiah Jeremiah were standing, looking Mr. Foote. Well, I’m going to see Looking skyward, Dexter saw had just come up. “My theory down into the valley. He handed if I can’t grab forty winks or so it — turned out to be a little bit off- each of them a pair of cobalt- — it’s been a trying day.” The ship. The saucer. Which- center,” Dexter said. “You see, I blue glasses. “If you watch the “Me too,” Jeremiah said, head- ever word you cared to apply to overlooked the possibility that blast, make sure you wear these,” ing for his model A. it. But whichever noun you our children aren’t necessarily he said, raising his voice above Left alone, Dexter wedged a chose, you had to prefix it with the only galactic small fry who the amplified purring of the Cad- flashlight in the fork of a little the adjective “gigantic,” for the run away from home and get illac’s motor. “You’ll be glad to tree, sat down in its dim radi- ventral hatch alone, which had themselves in Dutch. My birth- hear that the two VEMs are al- ance, got out pen and notebook, just yawned open, was large e- day-cake analogy still holds true, ready on their way, Mr. Foote — and began his article. The Solid nough to accommodate the but I would have done better to our walkie-talkie squad just Cheese Cadillac, he wrote, by Sugardale Methodist Church. have compared our late-model called in. However, the creatures Dexter Foote . . . In the command-post tent, the automobiles to appetizing candy move so slowly that they prob- Dawn found him dozing over general, as yet unaware of the bars, or Easter baskets filled with ably won’t be here before dawn.” page 16. “There they are!” some- UFO’s presence, was giving the jelly beans and chocolate chick- Dexter came out of a brown one shouted, jerking him awake. countdown in an anguished voice. ens.” study. “One thing still bugs me,” “The filthy fiends!” “Two — The general regarded him he said. “Why should two mem- The “someone” was General In the valley, the two .VEMs blankly. “I’m afraid I don’t fol- bers of a race of extraterrestrials Longcombe. Joining him, Dexter were trying vainly to extricate low you at all, Mr. Foote.” technically intelligent enough to saw the two VEMs. They were themselves from a huge metallic “Did you ever turn a pair of build spaceships behave like a moving relentlessly across the net that had dropped over them. hungry kids loose in a candy pair of gluttonous savages the valley floor toward the helpless “One — store, sir?” minute they land on another Cadillac. Jeremiah came up, rub- On the lip of the valley, Dex- Understanding came into Gen- planet?” ing his eyes. Colonel Mortby ter Foote was grappling with an eral Longcombe’s eyes then, and “But you explained that,” Jer- could be discerned through the insight. he turned and gazed sadly at his emiah pointed out. “They just entrance of the command-post “Zero — chromeless Cadillac. “I wonder if can’t resist eating American au- tent, leaning over a technician’s Pfft! . . . they have castor oil on Planet tomobiles.” shoulder. X,” he said." “I’m afraid I got carried away The two VEMs reached the 6iTT WASN’T a dud after all,” “I bet they have its equiva- by my analogy. Civilized beings Cadillac and began licking off the General Longcombe said. lent,” grinned Dexter Foote. simply don’t go running across chrome with their long, tong-like “They cancelled out the chain- — ROBERT F. YOUNG the countryside the minute they tongues. General Longcombe land, and start grabbing up ever- went wild. He waved his arms.

154 GALAXY SWEET TOOTH 155 J

I

^ALHOUN regarded the com- ^ municator with something like exasperation as his taped voice repeated a standard ap- proach-call for the twentieth time. But no answer came, which had become irritating a long time ago. This was a new Med Service sec- tor for Calhoun. He’d been as- His work was healing the sick signed to another man’s tour of — but this planet was already duty because the other man had been taken down with romance. dead! He’d gotten married, which ruled him out for Med Ship duty. So now Calhoun listened to his own voice endlessly repeating a call MED SHIP MAN that should have been answered immediately. Murgatroyd the tormal By MURRAY LEINSTER watched with beady, interested Illustrated by ENSH eyes. The planet Maya lay off to port of the Med Ship Esclipus Twenty. Its almost circular disk showed full size on a vision screen beside the ship’s control board. The image was absolutely clear and vividly colored. There was an ice cap in view. There were conti- nents. There were seas. The cloud system of a considerable cyclonic disturbance could be noted off at one side, and the continents looked reasonably as they should, and the seas were of that muddy, indescribable tint which indicates deep water. Calhoun’s o\yn voice, taped an hour earlier, sounded in a speaker

156 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 157 ”

as it to calls! don’t get any scatter- went again the communi- skyward all about it. Then there of half an hour, and never a word We down to cator and then to the extremely should be people greeting Cal- out of them!” signals either. We went visible world a hundred thousand houn cordially and welcoming “We’ve been in orbit twelve two diameters and couldn’t pick thing. we have a pas- miles away. Murgatroyd with smiles and pet- hours,” said the voice from empti- up a And “Calling ground,” said Cal- ting. ness. “Calling all the while. No senger to land. He insists on it!” houn’s recorded voice. “Med Ship “Calling ground,” said the re- answer. We don’t like it.” communications Esclipus Twenty calling ground corded voice yet again. “Med Calhoun flipped a switch that "OY ordinary, to report arrival and ask coordi- Ship Esclipus Twenty — threw a vision screen into circuit between different places on a nates for landing. Our mass is It went on through the formal with the ship’s electron telescop>e. planet’s surface use frequencies fifty standard tons. Repeat, five- notice of arrival. Murgatroyd A starfield appeared and shifted the ion-layers of the atmosphere oh tons. Purpose of landing, waited in pleasurable anticipa- wildly. Then a bright dot cen- either reflect or refract down past planetary health inspection.” tion. When the Med Ship arrived tered itself. He raised the magni- the horizon. But there is usually at a port of call humans gave him fication. The bright dot swelled some small leakage to space, and ^1 'HE recorded voice stopp>ed. sweets and cakes, and they and became a chubby commer- line-of-sight frequencies are gen- There was silence except for thought it charming that he drank cial ship, with the false ports that erally abundant. It is one of the the taped random noises which coffee just like a human, only passengers like to believe they annoyances of a ship coming in kept the inside of the ship from with more gusto. Aground, Mur- looked through when in space. to port that space near most feeling like the inside of a tomb. gatroyd moved zestfully in soci- Two relatively large cargo ports planets is usually full of local Murgatroyd said: “Chee?” ety while Calhoun worked. Cal- on each side showed that it car- signals. Calhoun said ironically, “Un- houn’s work was conferences with ried heavy freight in addition to “I’ll check,” said Calhoun curt- doubtedly, Murgatroyd. Un- planetary health officials, politely passengers. It was one of those ly. “Stand by.” doubtedly! Whoever’s on duty at receiving such information as workhorse intra-cluster ships that The Candida would have ar- the spaceport stepped out for a they thought important, and tact- distributed the freight and pas- rived off Maya as the Med Ship moment, or dropped dead, or did fully telling them about the most sengers the long-haul liners had done, and called down as Cal- something equally inconvenient. recent developments in medical dumped off only at established houn had been doing. It was very We have to wait until he gets science as known to the Interstel- transshipping ports. probably a ship on schedule and back or somebody else takes lar Medical Service. Murgatroyd padded across the the grid operator at the spaceport over.” “Somebody,” said Calhoun Med Ship’s cabin and examined should have expected it. Space Murgatroyd said “Chee!” again darkly, “is going to catch the the image with a fine air of wis- commerce was important to any and began to lick his whiskers. He devil for this!” dom. It did not mean anything to planet, comparing more or less knew that when Calhoun called The communicator loudspeak- him, but tormals imitate human with the export-import business on the communicator, another er spoke abruptly. actions as parrots and parrakeets of an industrial nation in ancient human voice should reply. Then “Calling Med Ship,” said a imitate human speech. He said, times on Earth. Planets had elab- there should be conversation, and voice. “Calling Med Ship Esclipus “Chee.’” as if making an observa- orate traffic-aid systems for the shortly the force-fields of a land- Twenty! Liner Candida calling. tion of profound significance, then cargo-carriers which moved be- ing-grid should take hold of the Have you had an answer from went back to the cushion and tween solar systems as they’d Med Ship and draw it planet- ground?” again curled up. once moved between continents ward. In time it ought to touch Calhoun blinked. Then he said “We don’t see anything wrong on Earth. Such traffic aids were ground in a spaceport with a gi- curtly; aground,” the liner’s voice com- very carefully maintained. Cer- gantic, silvery landing-grid rising “Not yet. I’ve been calling all plained, “but they don’t answer tainly for a spaceport landing-

158 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 159 ” ”

!

grid not to respond to calls for planet a hundred thousand miles The voice from the Candida portant. Every human-occupied twelve hours running seemed away. Calhoun glared at the said hopefully: world was supposed to have a ominous. image on the port screen and “Can you authorize us to re- Med Ship visit at least once in “We’ve been wondering,” said guided the telescope to the space- fuse to land our passenger for his four years to verify the state of the Candida querulously, “if there port city — Maya City. He saw own protection? He’s raising the public health. could be something radically highways and blocks of buildings. devil! He insists that his business Med Ship men like Calhoun wrong below. Sickness, for ex- He saw the spaceport and its demands that he be landed.” offered advice on public-health ample.” landing-grid. He could see no A word from Calhoun as a Med problems. When something out of The word “sickness” was a sub- motion, of course. Service man would protect the the ordinary turned up, the Med stitute for a more alarming word. He raised the magnification. spaceliner from a claim for dam- Service had a staff of researchers But a plague had nearly wiped He raised it again. Still no mo- ages. But Calhoun didn’t like the who hadn’t been wholly baffled out the population of Dorset, tion. He upped the magnification look of things. He realized, dis- yet. There were great ships which once upon a time, and the first until the lattice-pattern of the tastefully, that he might find could carry the ultimate in labo- ships to arrive after it had broken telescope’s amplifying crystal be- practically anything down below. ratory equipment and specialized out most incautiously went down gan to show. But at the ship’s He might find that he had to personnel to any place where to ground, and so carried the distance from the planet, a quarantine the planet and him- they were needed. Not less than

plague to their next two ports of ground-car would represent only self with it. In such a case he’d a dozen inhabited worlds in this call. Nowadays quarantine regu- the fortieth of a second of arc. need the Candida to carry word sector alone owed the survival of lations were enforced very strict- There was atmosphere, too, with of the quarantine to other planets their populations to the Med Ser- ly indeed. thermals; anything the size of a and thus to Med Service sector vice, and the number of those “I’ll try to find out what’s the ground-car simply couldn’t be headquarters. which couldn’t have been colo- matter,” said Calhoun. seen. “We’ve lost a lot of time,” in- nized without Med Service help ‘We’ve got a passenger,” re- But the city showed quite sisted the Candida. “Can you was legion. peated the Candida aggrievedly, clearly. Nothing massive had hap- authorize us — Calhoun reread the briefing. “who insists that we land him by pened to it. No large-scale physi- “Not yet,” said Calhoun. “I’ll Maya was one of four planets in space-boat if we don’t make a cal disaster had occurred. It sim- tell you when I land.” this general area whose life sys- ship landing. He says he has im- ply did not answer calls from “But — tems seemed to have had a com- p)ortant business aground.” space. “I’m signing off for the mo- mon origin, suggesting that the Calhoun did not answer. The ment,” said Calhoun. “Stand by.” Arrhenius theory of space-travel- rights of passengers were extrava- ALHOUN FLIPPED off the He headed the little ship down- ing spores was true in some gantly protected, these days. To screen. ward, and as it gathered velocity limited sense. A genus of ground- fail to deliver a passenger to his “I think,” he said irritably into he went over the briefing sheets cover plants with motile stems destination entitled him to puni- the communicator microphone, covering this particular world. and leaves and cannibalistic ten- tive damages which no spaceline “I suspect I’ll have to make an He’d never touched ground here dencies was considered strong could afford. So the Med Ship emergency landing. It could be before. His occupation, of course, evidence of common origin. would seem heaven-sent to the something as trivial as a power was seeing to the dissemination The planet had been colonized Candida’s skipper. — Calhoun could failure ” but he knew that was of medical science as it developed for two centuries now, and pro- relieve him of responsibility. wildly improbable — “or it could under the Med Service. The Ser- duced organic compounds of The telescope screen winked be — anything. I’ll land on rock- vice itself was neither political great value from indigenous and showed the surface of the ets and tell you what I find.” nor administrative. But it was im- plants, most of which were used

160 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 161 1

in textile manufacture. There in the landing-grid. There were ^ with Murgatroyd frisking a little There wasn’t. Calhoun could

were no local endemic infections no ground-cars in motion on the ^ in the expectation of great social look out through the grid founda- to which men were susceptible. splendid, multiple-lane highways. success among the people of this tions and see long, sunlit and ab- A number of human-use crops At thirty miles altitude there world. When Calhoun cracked the solutely empty streets. He ar- were grown. Cereals, grasses and were still no signals in at the spaceport building. the atmo- i outer airlock door he smelled rived * grains, however, could not be sphere, though when he tried something. It was a faintly sour, There was — there had been — grown because of the native amplitude-modulation reception that had the qual- a green area about the base of the 1 astringent odor ground-cover motile-stem plants. he picked up static. was not a living But there I ity of decay in it. But it was no structure. There All wheat and cereal food had to was no normally modulated sig- I kind of decay he recognized. plant left. Leaves were wilted and be imported, which fact severely nal on the air at any frequency, f Again stillness and silence. No limp. The remains had become limited Maya’s population. There At twenty miles no. collapsed stems — At fifteen I traffic-noise; not even the almost almost a jelly of were about two million people on miles, broadcast power was avail- inaudible murmur that every city and blossoms of dark olive-green. the planet, settled on a peninsula able, which proved that the plants were dead; but not land- Ij has in all its ways at all hours. The in the Yucatan small up. Sea and a ing-grid was working as usual, I The buildings looked as buildings long enough to have dried area of mainland. Public-health tapping the upper atmosphere for should look at daybreak, except They might have wilted two or surveys had shown a great many electric charges to furnish power that the doors and windows were three days before. things about a great many sub- for all the planet’s needs. open. It was somehow shocking. Calhoun went in the building. j

jects . . . but there a was no men- ten miles I From down to A ruined city is dramatic. An The spaceport log lay open on

tion of anything account ^ of to for ground-touch, Calhoun was busy. abandoned city is pathetic. This desk. It recorded the arrival

the failure of the spaceport • to It is not too difficult to land was neither. It was something freight to be shipped away — respond to arrival calls from rockets, i Candida a ship on with reason- new. It felt as if everybody had undoubtedly — on the space. Naturally! ably level ground to land on. But uneasily in orbit somewhere 1 walked away, out of sight, within now The Med Ship drove on down, landing at a specific spot is sign of dis- some- i the past few minutes. aloft. There was no and the planet revolved beneath thing else. Calhoun juggled the Calhoun headed for the space- order. It was exactly as if the it. ship to descend inside the grid with Murgatroyd people here had walked out to , port building As Maya’s sunlit hemisphere itself. His rockets burned out pen- puzzledly at his side. look at something interesting, and j ambling

enlarged, Calhoun kept the tele- cil-thin holes through the clay ; Murgatroyd was disturbed. There hadn’t come back. scope’s field wide. He saw cities, and stone beneath the tarmac. He should be people here! They Calhoun trudged out of the and vast areas of cleared land cut them off. should welcome Calhoun and ad- spaceport and to the streets and where native plants were grown Silence. Stillness. The Med mire him — Murgatroyd — and buildings of the city proper. It as materials raw for the organics’ Ship’s outside microphones he should be a social lion with was incredible! Doors were manufacturies. He saw very little Merchandise picked up small noises of wind all the sweets he could eat and opened or unlocked. true chlorophyll green, though. blowing city. display, ex- over the There was all the coffee he could put into in the shops lay on Mayan foliage tended to a dark no other sound at all. his expandable belly. But nothing actly as it had been spread out olive color. — No. There was a singularly happened! Nothing at all. to interest customers. There was deliberate clicking sound, not “Chee?” he asked anxiously. no sign of confusion anywhere. A T FIFTY miles he was sure loud and not fast. Perhaps a “They’ve gone away,” growled Even in a restaurant there were that the city streets were click — a double click — every Calhoun. “They probably left in dishes and flatware on the tables. empty even of ground-car traffic. two seconds. That was all. ground-cars. There’s not one in The food in the plates was stale, hadn’t There was no spaceship aground Calhoun went into the airlock, sight.” as if three days old, but it

162 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 163 the century, Murgatroyd, I don’t like this. I don’t like it a bit!”

II

N THE way back to the Med O Ship, Calhoun stopped at an- other place where, on a grass- growing planet, there would have been green sward. There were Earth-type trees, and some native ones, and between them there should have been a lawn. The trees were thriving, but the ground-cover plants were col- lapsed and rotting. Calhoun picked up a bit of the semi-slime and smelled it. It was faintly sour, astringent, the same smell he’d noticed when he opened the airlock door. He threw the stuff away and brushed off his hands. Something had killed the ground-cover plants which had the habit of killing Earth-type grass when planted here. He listened. Everywhere that and living soul on board. Nobody had humans live, there are insects yet begun to spoil. The appear- people still sometimes tried to able to contrive a be- birds and other tiny creatures ance of everything was as if write an ending to. It was the ever been explanation. which are essential parts of the people at their meals had simply, story of an ancient sailing ship lievable Calhoun to Mur- ecological system to which the at some signal, gotten up and called the Marie Celeste, which “Only,” said “this is on a larger scale. human race is adjusted. They walked out without any panic or was found drifting aimlessly in gatroyd, of this city walked have to be carried to and estab- disturbance. the middle of the ocean. Tliere The people about three days ago, and lished upon every new world that Calhoun made a wry face. He’d was food on the cabin table, and out didn’t come back. Maybe all the mankind hopes to occupy. But remembered something. Among the galley stove was still warm. the planet did the there was no sound of such living the tales that had been carried There was no sign of any trouble, people on there’s not a com- creatures here. from Earth to the other worlds of or terror, or disturbance which same, since operation anywhere. It was probable that the bel- the galaxy there was a completely might cause the ship to be municator in understatement of lowing roar of the Med Ship’s unimportant mystery story which abandoned. But there was not a To make the 164 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 165

( colony on Maya emergency rockets was the only ond and a half, and went on again “where did they go? The ques- put the human real noise the city had heard for half a second. tion’s really where could they go! on a peninsula. went east,” said Calhoun since its people went away. Frowning, Calhoun raised his There were about eight hundred “They lines with The stillness bothered Murga- eyes to a very fine color photo- thousand people in this city. presently. He traced highways go troyd. He said, “Chee!” in a sub- graph on the wall above the pow- There’d be cars for everyone, of his finger. “Three only they dued tone and stayed close to er dials. It was a picture of the course, and two hundred thou- east; that’s the way hadn’t Calhoun. Calhoun shook his head. human-occupied part of Maya, sand cars would take everybody. could go quickly. They sure they’d have to go but Then he said abruptly: taken four thousand miles out in But that’s a lot of ground-cars! been when “Come along, Murgatroyd!” space. It had been enlarged to Put ’em two hundred feet apart they knew where to go got their He went back to the building four feet by six, and Maya City on a highway, and that’s twenty- they did. So when they housing the grid controls. He could be seen as an irregular six cars to the mile on each lane. warning, they left. On three high- didn’t look at the spaceport log group of squares and triangles Run them at a hundred miles an ways, to the east. And we’ll follow the hell they this time. He went to the instru- measuring a little more than half hour on a twelve-lane road — them and ask what ments recording the second func- an inch by three-quarters. The de- using all lanes one way — and ran away from. Nothing’s visible tion of a landing-grid. In addition tail was perfect. It was possible that’s twenty-six hundred cars per here!” to the to lifting up and letting down to see perfectly straight, infinitely lane per hour, and that’s thirty- He went back Med

. Murgatroyd skipping with ships of space, a landing-grid thin lines moving out from the one thousand . . two highways Ship,

drew down power from the ions city. They were multiple-lane make sixty-two . . . three high- him.

. highways the airlock door closed be- of the upper atmosphere and highways, mathematically ways . . With two As a click from broadcast it. It provided all the straight from one city to another, they could empty the city in un- hind them, he heard energy that humans on a world and then mathematically straight der three hours, and with three the outside-microphone speakers. doubled could need. It was solar power, — though at a new angle — until highways close to two. Since He listened. It was a in a way, absorbed and stored by the next. Calhoun stared thought- there’s no sign of panic, that’s clicking, as of something turned a layer of ions miles high, which fully at them. what they must have done. Must on and almost at once turned off then could be drawn on and dis- “The people left the city in a have worked it out in advance, again. There was a two-second tributed by the grid. During his hurry,” he told Murgatroyd, “and too. Maybe they’d done it before cycle, the same as that of the drain. Something drawing descent Calhoun had noted that there was little confusion, if any. it happened . . . whatever it was power kilowatts went on and broadcast power was still avail- So they knew in advance that that happened.” six million able. Now he looked at what the they might have to go. They were immediately off again every two It a sound in instruments said. ready for it. If they took any- TTE searched the photograph seconds. made outside micro- The needle on the dial showing thing, they had it ready packed which was so much more de- speakers linked to noise power-drain moved slowly back in their cars. But they hadn’t tailed than a map. There were phones, but it didn’t make a and forth. It was a rh5dhmic been sure they’d have to go be- mountains to the north of Maya in the air. The microphone clicks movement, going from maximum cause they were going about their City, but only one highway led were induction; pick-up; like to minimum power-use, and then businesses as usual. All the shops north. There were more moun- cross-talk on defective telephone back again. Approximately six were open and people were eating tains to the west. One highway cables. million kilowatts was being taken in restaurants, and so on.” went into them, but not through. Calhoun shrugged his shoul- almost to his ears. He out of the broadcast every two Murgatroyd said, “C/iee!” as if To the south there was sea, which ders up seconds for half of one second. in full agreement. curved aroxmd some three hun- went to the communicator, Then the drain cut off for a sec- “Now,” demanded Calhoun, dred miles from Maya City and “Calling Candida —” he began,

166 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 167 and the lifeboat, descended into answer almost leaped TTE CUT off the communicator theft. We medical characters liner’s down his throat. things. atmosphere and going out again. and prepared for activity can’t usually afford such “Candida was. It had left a parachute to Med Ship. Come outside the ship. Presently he and Or have an excuse to steal them. It in! Come in! What’s happened times, so behind, and now went back to Murgatroyd went to look for But these are parlous down there?” space to rendezvous with its transportation. The Med Ship we take a chance.” “The city’s deserted parent ship. without couldn’t be used for a search op- “Cheer said Murgatroyd. any sign of panic,” said Calhoun, fugitive “That,” said Calhoun impa- eration; it didn’t carry enough “We want to find a “and there’s power and nothing they tiently, “will be the Candida’s pas- rocket fuel. They’d have to use a population and ask what insistent enough.” seems to be broken down. But it’s ground vehicle. ran away from. As of the moment, senger. He was as if somebody said, from scowled. The Candida’s had ‘Every- It was again shocking to note it seems that they ran away He body clear had said its passenger de- ouf and they did. that nothing had moved but sun nothing. They may be pleased to voice That doesn’t happen on a manded to be landed for business whim! shadows. Again it seemed that know they can come back.” What’s Calhoun had a prej- your next port of call?” everybody had simply walked out Murgatroyd again said, “CheeP’ reasons. And against some kinds of busi- The Candida’s voice told him, of some door or other and failed Calhoun drove through vacant udice would think their hopefully. to come back. Calhoun saw the ways. It was somehow nerve- ness men who important than “Take a report,” commanded windows of jewelers’ shops. racking. He felt as if someone own affairs more Calhoun. else. Two standard “Deliver it to the public Treasures lay unguarded in should pop out and say “Boo!” at anything health office before, he’d made a plane- immediately you. plain view. He saw a florist’s any instant. He discovered an years on Texia land. They’ll get it to Med Ser- shop. Here there were earth-type elevated highway and a ramp tary health inspection galactic sector. It vice sector headquarters. I’m go- flowers apparently thriving, and leading up to it At a cloverleaf II, in another a single ing to stay here and find out some strange beautiful flowers he drove eastward, watching was a llano planet and Illimit- what’s been going on.” with olive-green foliage which sharply for any sign of life. There giant business enterprise. with He dictated, growing irritated throve as well as the Earth- was none. able prairies had been sown which de- as he did so because he couldn’t plants. There was a cage in which He was nearly out of the city an Earth-type grass ground-cover explain what he reported. Some- a plant had grown, and that plant when he felt the chest impact of stroyed the native thing the ground-cover serious had taken place, but was wilting and about to rot. But a sonic boom, and then heard a —the reverse of the entire there was no clue as to what it a plant that had to be grown in trailing away growling sound situation here — and was. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t from planet was a monstrous range for a cage . . . which seemed to come gi- certainly a public health affair. He found a ground-car agency, farther away as it died out. It beef cattle. Dotted about were cat- But any emergency the size of perhaps for imported cars, per- was the result of something gantic slaughterhouses, and this one involved public health haps for those built on Maya. He traveling faster than sound, so tle in masses of tens of thousands by factors. went in and from the cars on that the noise it made far away were shifted here and there “I’m remaining aground to in- display he chose one, an elaborate had to catch up with the sound it ground-induction fields which Ultimately the vestigate,” finished Calhoun. “I sports car. He turned its key and emitted nearby. acted as fences. will these same report further when or if it it hummed. He drove it carefully He stared up. He saw a para- cattle were driven by slaughter is possible. Message ends.” out into the empty street, Murga- chute blossom as a bare speck induction fences to the “What about our passenger?” troyd sitting interestedly beside against the blue. Then he heard houses and actually into the “To the devil with your pas- him. the even deeper-toned roaring chutes where their throats were fraction of senger!” said Calhoun peevishly. “This is luxury, Murgatroyd,” of a supersonic craft climbing slit. Every imaginable as extracted “Do you please!” said Calhoun. “Also it’s grand skjrward. It could be a space- a credit of profit was 168 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 169 ”

I

from their carcasses, and Calhoim harness boimced. He didn’t know “No,” said Calhoun p>olitely. “I much of the Med Service! You had found it appalling. how to spill the air. The chute just left there. It’s deserted. I’m pjeople try to meddle in things He was not sentimental about dragged him. not going back. There’s nobody that are none of your business!” cattle, but the complete cold- Calhoun sp>ed ahead, swerved there.” — Calhoun did not answer. The bloodedness of the entire opera- and ran into the chute. He “But I’ve important bus muddy man, clutching the attache tion sickened him. The same cold- stoppjed the car and the chute The other man stared. “It’s de- case tightly, waded through the bloodedness was practised toward stopp>ed with it. He got out. serted? But that’s impossible!” olive-green plants to the car and the human employees who ran The man lay in a hopieless “Quite,” agreed Calhoun, “but climbed in. Murgatroyd said cor- the place. Their living quarters tangle of cordage. He thrust un- it’s true. It’s abandoned. Unin- dially, “Chee-c/iee!” but Allison distaste. were sub-marginal. The air stank skilfully at it. When Calhoun habited. Everybody’s left it. viewed him with of cattle murder. Men worked for came up he said suspiciously: There’s no one there at all.” “What’s this?” the Texia Company or they did “Have you a knife?” The man who called himself “He’s Murgatroyd,” said Cal- not work. If they did not work Calhoun offered a knife, polite- Allison blinked unbelievingly. He houn. “He’s a tOTtnal. He’s Med they did not eat. If they worked ly opjening its blade. The man swore. Then he raged profanely. service p>ersonneL” and ate, — Calhoun could see slashed at the cords and freed But he was not bewildered by “I don’t like beasts,” said Alli- nothing satisfying in being alive himself, There was an attache the news. Which, upjon consider- son coldly. on a world like that! His report case lashed to his chute harness. ation, was itself almost bewilder- “He’s much more iniportant to to Med Service had been biting. He cut at those cords. The at- ing. But then his eyes grew me than you are,” said Calhoun, He’d been prejudiced against tache case not only came clear, shrewd. He looked about him. “if the matter should come to a businessmen ever since. but opened. It dumpjed out an “My name is Allison,” he re- test.” incredible mass of brand new, p>eated, as if there were some sort Allison stared at him as if ex- T>UT A parachute descended, tightly packed interstellar credit of magic in the word. “Arthur pjecting him to cringe. Calhoun ^ blowing away from the city. certificates. Calhoun could see Allison. No matter what’s hap- did not. Allison showed every It would land not too far from that the denominations were one pened, I’ve some business to do sign of being an important man the highway he followed. And it thousand and ten thousand cred- here. Where have the people who expjected his importance to didn’t occur to Calhoun not to its. The man from the chute gone? I need to find them.” be recognized and catered to. help the unknown chutist. He reached under his armpit and “I need to find them too,” said When Calhoun stirred impatient- saw a small figure dangling be- drew out a blaster. Calhoun. “I’ll take you with me, ly he got into the car and low the chute. He slowed the It was not a service weapon. It if you like.” growled a little. Calhoun took his ground-car as he estimated where was elaborate, practically a toy. “You’ve heard of me.” It was place. The ground-car hummed. the parachute would land. With a dour glance at Calhoun a statement, confidently made. It rose on the six columns of air He was off the twelve-lane he put it in a side pocket and “Never,” said Calhoun politely. which took the place of wheels highway and on a feeder road gathered up the scattered money. “If you’re not hurt, suppose you and slid across the field of dark- when the chute was a hundred It was an enormous sum, but he get in the car? I’m as anxious as green plants, leaving the para- feet high. He was racing across packed it back. He stood up. you are to find out what’s hap>- chute deflated across a number of crushed- a field of olive-green plants that “My name is Allison,” he said pjened. I’m Med Service.” of rows, and a trail went all the way to the horizon in an authoritative voice. “Arthur down plants where it had moved. when the parachute actually Allison. I’m much obliged. Now LLISON MOVED toward the It reached the highway again. touched ground. There was con- A car. Calhoun ran the car up on the a I’ll ask you to take me to Maya siderable wind. The man in the City.” Med Service, eh? I don’t think highway’s shoulder, and then sud-

170 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 171

1 denly checked. He’d noticed the death of a particular genus of chains. On Texia the landing-grid swung back on the great road something. cannibal weeds. rose near a town called Corral beyond the little city, Allison re- of He stopped the car and got out. It did not exactly add up to and the principal meat-packing garded the endless fields dark- Where the ploughed field ended, anything in particular, and cer- settlement was named Roundup. green plants with much the same and before the coated surface of tainly wasn’t evidence for any- Whatever the name Tenochit- sort of interest. “Interesting,” he said abruptly the highway began, there was a thing at all. But Calhoun drove lan would have suggested, though, space where on another world one on in a vaguely puzzled mood. was denied by the town itself. It when Tenochitlan fell behind and would expect to see green grass. The germ of a guess was forming was a small, with a pleasing local dwindled to a speck. “Very inter- On this planet grass did not in his mind. He couldn’t pretend type of architecture. There were esting! I’m interested in land. that’s business. grow; but there would normally to himself that it was likely, but shops and some factories, and. Real property, my corporation on be some sort of self-planted vege- it was surely no more unlikely many strictly private homes, I’ve a land-owning tation where there was soil and than most of a million human be- some clustered close together and Thanet Three. I’ve some holdings sunshine and moisture. There had ings abandoning their homes at others in the middles of consider- on Dorset, too, and elsewhere. It • been such vegetation here, but a moment’s notice. able gardens. In those gardens just occurred to me: what’s all now there was only a thin, repel- also there was wilt and decay this land and the cities worth, lent mass of slimy and decaying Ill among the cannibal plants. There with the people all run away?” Calhoun, “are foliage. Calhoun bent down to it. was no grass, because the plants “What,” asked who’ve run?” It had a sour, faintly astringent ^^HEY came to the turnoff for prevented it, but now the motile the people worth attention. smell of decay. These were the a town called Tenochitlan, plants themselves were dead. Ex- Allison paid no He Thoughtful. ground-cover plants of Maya of some forty miles from Maya City. cept for the one class of killed looked shrewd. here to buy land,” he which Calhoun had read. They Calhoun swung off the highway growing things, however, vegeta- “I came said. “I’d arranged to buy some had motile stems, leaves and to go through it. tion was luxuriant. miles. I’d buy flowers, and they had canniba- Whoever had chosen the name But the little city was deserted. hundreds of square price were right. But listic tendencies. They were the Maya for this planet had been Its streets were empty, its houses more if the are, it looks like the local weeds which made it im- interested in the legends of Yuca- untenanted. Some houses were — as things possible to grow grain for human tan, back on Earth. There were apparently locked up here, price of land ought to go down use upon this world. many instances of such hobbies though, and Calhoun saw three or quite a bit. Quite a bit!” depends,” said Calhoun, “on And they were dead. in a Med Ship’s list of ports of four shops whose stock im trade “It left alive Calhoun straightened up and call. Calhoun touched ground reg- had been covered over before the whether there’s anybody returned to the car. Plants like ularly on planets that had been owners departed. He guessed that to sell it to you, and what sort of this were wilted at the base of the named for countries and towns either this town had been warned thing has happened.” spaceport building, and on an- when men first roamed the stars, earlier than the spaceport city, or Allison looked at him sharply. other place where there should and nostalgically christened their else they knew they had time to “Ridiculous!” he said authori- have been sward. Calhoun had discoveries with names suggested get in motion before the highways tatively. “There’s no question of seen a large dead member of the by homesickness. There was a were filled with the cars from the their being alive!” genus in a florist’s, that had been Tralee, and a Dorset, and an Eire. west. “They thought there might be,” growing in a cage before it died. Colonists not infrequently took Allison looked at the houses observed Calhoun. “That’s why There was a singular coincidence their world’s given name as a pat- with keen, evaluating eyes. He they ran away. They hoped here: humans ran away from tern and chose related names for did not seem to notice the ab- they’d be safe where they ran to. something, and something caused seas and peninsulas and moimtain sence of people. When Calhoun I hope they are.”

172 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 173 Allison ignored the comment. another. There was no sign of erinarians never had tormals for troyd displayed. They coincided His eyes remained intent and any movement in its streets. It patients. They were invariably in with irregularities in Murga- shrewd. He was not bewildered moved along the horizon to the robustuous good health. They troyd’s heartbeat, coming at ap- by flight the of the people of left and rear. Presently it disap- contracted no infections from proximately two-second intervals. Maya. His mind was busy with peared. other animals; they shared no The tautening of the muscles contemplation of that flight from Half an hour later still, Murga- infections with anybody else. The lasted just about half a second. the standpoint of of a man busi- troyd said: Med Service discovered that tor- “But I don’t feel it!” said Cal- ness. “Chee!” mals possessed a dynamic immu- houn. He stirred uneasily. A moment nity to germ and bacteria-caused Murgatroyd whimpered again ^1 'HE CAR went racing onward. later he said “Chee!” again. diseases. Even viruses injected and said, “Chee-chee!” The endless fields of dark Calhoun turned his eyes from into their bloodstreams only pro- “What’s going on?” demanded green rushed past to the rear. the road. Murgatroyd looked un- voked an immediate, overwhelm- Allison with the impatience of a The highway was deserted, just happy. Calhoun ran his hand over ing development of antibodies, so very important man indeed. “If three strips of surfaced road, the tormaVs furry body. Murga- that tormals couldn’t be given the beast’s sick, he’s sick! I’ve got ” mathematically straight, going on troyd pressed against him. The any known disease. Which was of to find — to the horizon. They went on by car raced on. Murgatroyd whim- infinite value to the Med Service. Calhoun ojjened his med kit tens and scores of miles, each pered a little. Calhoun’s hand felt Now every Med Ship that and went carefully through it strip wide enough to allow four the little animal’s muscles tense could be supplied with a tormal until he found what he needed. ground-cars to nm side by side. sharply, and then relax, and after carried a small, affectionate, He put a pill into Murgatroyd’s The highway was intended to a little tense again. Murgatroyd whiskered member of the tribe. mouth. allow all the produce of all these said almost hysterically: Men liked them, and they adored “Swallow it!” he commanded. fields to be taken to market or a “Chee-chee-chee-cheel” men. And when, as sometimes Murgatroyd resisted, but the processing plant at the highest Calhoun stopped the car, but happened, by mutation or the pill went down. Calhoun watched possible sp>eed and in any imagin- Murgatroyd did not seem to be simple enmity of nature, a new him sharply. Murgatroyd’s diges- able quantity. The same roads relieved. Allison said impatiently, kind of infection appeared in hu- tive system was delicate, but it had allowed the cities to be de- “What’s the matter?” man society — why — tormals was dependable. Anything that serted instantly the warning — “That’s what I’m trying to find defeated it. They produced spe- might be poisonous, Murgatroyd’s whatever the warning was — ar- out,” said Calhoun. cific antibodies to destroy it. Men stomach rejected instantly and rived. He felt Murgatroyd’s pulse. analyzed the antibodies and syn- emphatically. Fifty miles beyond Tenochit- The role of Murgatroyd in the thesized them, and they were The pill stayed down. lan there was a mile-long strip of Med Ship Esclipus Twenty was available to all the humans who “Look!” said Allison indignant- sheds containing agricultural ma- not only that of charming com- needed them. So a great many ly. “I’ve got business to do! In chinery for crop culture and panion in the long, isolated runs millions of humans stayed alive, this attache case I have millions trucks to carry the crops to mar- in overdrive. Murgatroyd was a because tormals were pleasant of interstellar credits, in cash, to ket. There was no sign of life part of the Med Service. His tribe little animals with a precious ge- pay down on purchases of land about the machinery, nor in a had been discovered on a planet netic gift of good health. and factories. I ought to make further hour’s run to westward. in the Deneb sector, and men had some damned good deals! And I Then there was a city visible made pets of them, to the high I^ALHOUN LOOKED AT his figure that that’s as important as to the left. But it was not served satisfaction of the tormals. Pres- ^ sweep-second watch, timing an3Tthing else you can think of! by this particular highway, but ently it was discovered that vet- the muscular spasms that Murga- It’s a damned sight more impor-

174 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 175 tant than a beast with a belly- noticed yet. But I think intervals, we’ll no- , Service gadget linked together to mic the skin crawled on ache!” tice it presently.” ‘ serve ' as cattle fences. They act the back of his hands. He glanced Calhoun looked at him coldly. Allison seemed to be dazed at ^ like fences, though they’re pro- at Allison. Allison’s hands were “Do you own land on Texia?” the affront given him. It appeared jected through the ground. Cattle tightly clenched. he asked. to be unthinkable that anybody become uncomfortable when they “There’s a ground-induction Allison’s mouth dropped open. mighf lay hands on him. try to cross them. So they draw fence in action, all right,” said Extreme suspicion and unease ap- “What the devil has that to do back. So men control them. They Calhoun calmly. “You notice? It’s peared on his face. As a sign of with me?” he demanded angrily. move them from place to place a cattle fence and we’re running unease, the his hand went to the “And what did you hit me for? by changing the cattle fences, into it. If we were cattle, now, side coat pocket in which he’d You’re going to pay for this!” which are currents induced in the we’d turn around and move put a blaster. He didn’t pluck it “Until I do,” Calhoun told him, ground. The cattle have to keep away.” out. Calhoun’s left fist swung “you’ll be quiet. And it does have moving or be punished by the “I don’t know what you’re talk- around^ and landed. He took Alli- the devil to do with you. There moving fence. They’re even ing about!” said Allison. son’s elaborate pocket blaster and was a Med Service gadget once driven into the slaughterhouse But his hands stayed clenched. threw it away among the monot- — a tricky little device to pro- chutes by ground-induction fields! Calhoun slowed the car still more. onous rows of olive-green plants. duce contraction of chosen mus- That’s the trick on Texia, where He began to feel, all over his He returned to absorbed observa- cles. It was useful for re-starting induction fields herd cattle. I body, that every muscle tended tion of Murgatroyd. stopped hearts without the need think it’s the trick on Maya, to twitch at the same time. It In five minutes the muscular of an operation. It regulated the where people are herded like cat- was a horrible sensation. His spasms diminished. In ten, Murg- beat of hearts that were too slow tle and driven out of their cities heart muscles tended to contract atroyd frisked. But he seemed to or dangerously irregular. But so the value of their fields and too, simultaneously with the rest, think that Calhoun had done some businessman had a bright factories will drop, — so a land but one’s heart has its own beat something remarkable. In the idea and got a tame researcher to buyer can find bargains!” rate. Sometimes the normal beat warmest of tones he said: link that gadget to ground induc- “You’re insane!” snapped Alli- coincided with the twitch. Then “Chee!” tion currents. ! suspect you know son. “I just landed on this planet! his heart pounded violently — “Very good,” said Calhoun. that businessman!” You saw me land! I don’t know so violently that it was painful. “We’ll go ahead. I suspect you’ll “I don’t know what you’re talk- what happened before I got here! But equally often the imposed do as well as we do — for a ing about,” snapped Allison. But How could I?” contraction of the heart muscles while.” he was singularly tense. “You might have arranged it,” came just after a normal con- The car lifted the few inches “I do,” said Calhoim unpleas- said Calhoim. traction, and then it stayed tight- the air columns sustained it above antly. “I made a public health in- ly knotted for half a second. It the ground. It went on, still to spection on Texia a couple of A LLISON assumed an air of missed a beat, and the feeling was the eastward. But Calhoun drove years ago. The whole planet is a offended and superior digni- agony. more slowly now. single, gigantic, cattle-raising en- ty. Calhoun drove the car onward No animal would have pressed “Something was giving Murga- terprise. They don’t use metal at very much less than the head- forward in the face of such sen- troyd rhythmic muscular spasms,” fences — the herds are too big to long pace he’d been keeping to. sations. It would have turned he said coldly. “I gave him medi- be stopped by such things. They Presently he looked down at his back long ago. No animal. Not cation to stop them. He’s more don’t use cowboys — they cost hands on the steering wheel. Now even Man. sensitive than we are, so he re- money. On Texia they use and then the tendons to his fin- Calhoun stopped the car. He acted to a stimulus we haven’t ground-induction and the Med gers seemed to twitch. At rhyth- looked at Murgatroyd. Murga-

176 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 177 troyd was completely himself. He cattle fence would have been very at such-and-such a speed, and it ought to let you take what this looked inquiringly at Calhoun. mild. It would have been low- went so far and no farther. And damned thing would give you. Calhoun nodded to him, but he power, causing just enough un- they would organize themselves But — here!” spoke — with some difficulty — easiness to be noticed. It would to apply this carefully worked Allison had panicked. The idea to Allison. have moved from west to east, out information. of a cattle fence suggested dis- of it “We’ll see — if this thing — slowly, and it would have reached It would not occur to any comfort, of course, but did not builds up. You know that it’s the a certain spot and there faded them that they had learned how imply danger. The experience of fence, for huge Texia — trick. A ground — in- out. And it would have been a to be driven like cattle. a cattle designed duction unit set up — here. It mystery and an uncomfortable hoofed beasts instead of men, was drove people — like cattle. Now thing, and nobody would under- ^ALHOUN, of course, could terrifying. Allison gasp>ed. He we’ve — run into it. — It’s hold- stand it on Maya. In a week it only reason that this must made convulsive movements. Cal- ing people — like cattle.” would almost be forgotten. But have happened. But nothing else houn himself moved erratically. He panted. His chest muscles then there’d come a stronger dis- could have taken place. Perhaps For one and a half seconds out of contracted with the rest, so that turbance. And it would travel there were more than three uses two, he could control his muscles. his breathing was interfered with. like the first one; down the length of the moving cattle fence to get For half a second at a time, he But Murgatroyd, who’d been of the peninsula on which the the F>eople prepared to move past could not. But he poked a pill made uneasy and uncomfortable colony lay, but stopping at the the known place at which it al- into Allison’s mouth. before Calhoun noticed anything same spot as before, and then ways faded to nothingness. They “Swallow it!” he commanded. wrong, was now bright and frisky. fading away to nothingness. And might have been days apart, or “Swallow!” Medication had desensitized his this also would have seemed mys- weeks apart, or months. There The ground-car rested tranquil- muscles to outside stimuli. He terious. But nobody would sus- might have been stronger mani- ly on the highway, which here would be able to take a consider- pect humans of causing it. There festations followed by weaker went on for a mile and then able electric shock without re- would be theorizing and much ones and then stronger ones again. dipped in a gentle incline and sponding to it. questioning, but it would be con- But there was an inductive cat- then rose once more. The totally But he could be killed by one sidered an unfamiliar natural tle fence across the highway here. level fields to right and left came that was strong enough. event. Calhoun had driven into it. Every to an end here. Native trees grew, A savage anger filled Calhoun. Probably the third use of the two seconds the muscles of his trailing prejKisterously with long Everything fitted together. Alli- cattle fence would be most dis- body tensed. Sometimes his heart fronds. Brushwood hid much of son had put his hand convenient turbing. This time it would be missed a beat at the time that his the ground. That looked normal. to his blaster when Calhoun men- acutely painful. But it would breathing stopped, and some- But the lower, ground-covering tioned Texia. It meant that Cal- move into the cities and through times it pounded violently. It vegetation was wilted and rotting. houn suspected what Allison them and past them, and it would seemed that the symptoms be- Allison choked upon the pellet. knew to be true. A cattle-fence go down the peninsula to where came more and more unbearable. Calhoun forced a second upon unit had been set up on Maya, it had stopped and faded on two He got out his med kit, with him. Murgatroyd looked inquis- and it was holding — like cattle previous occasions. hands that spasmodically jerked itively at first one and then the — the people it had previously The p>eople of Maya would be uncontrollably. He fumbled out other of the two men. He said: driven — like cattle. Calhoun disturbed and scared. But they the same medication he’d given “Chee? Chee?” could deduce with some precision considered that they knew it be- Murgatroyd. He took two of the Calhoun lay back in his seat, exactly what had been done. The gan to the westward of Maya pellets. breathing carefully to keep alive. first experience of Maya with the City, and moved toward the east “In reason,” he said coldly, “I But he couldn’t do anything

178 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 179 IV

^ALHOUN was in very bad shape when the sports car came to the end of the highway. First, all the multiple roadways of the route that had brought him here were joined by triple ribbons of road-surface from the north. For a space there were twenty- four lanes available to traffic. They flowed together, and then there were twelve. Here there was evidence of an enormous traffic concentration at some time now past. Brush and small trees were crushed and broken where cars had been forced to travel off the hard-surface roadways and about his heartbeat. The sun through undergrowth. The twelve shone brightly, though now it was lanes dwindled to six, and the un- low, toward the horizon. There paved area on either side showed were clouds in the reddened sky. that innumerable cars had been A gentle breeze blew. Everything, forced to travel off the highway to outward appearance, was altogether. Then there were three peaceful and tranquil and com- lanes, and then two, and finally monplace upon this small world. only a single ribbon of pavement But in the area that human be- where no more than two cars ings had taken over there were could run side by side. The dev- cities which were still and silent astation on either hand was and deserted, and somewhere — astounding. All visible vegeta- somewhere! — the population of tion for half a mile to right and tangled. the planet waited uneasily for But this was the greatest and frightened. They couldn’t return left was crushed and then the narrow surfaced the latest of a series of increas- worst of the torments. And it to their homes. They couldn’t go And ingly terrifying phenomena to hadn’t ended. It hadn’t dimin- anywhere. They hadn’t prepared road ceased to be completely It curved around a hil- come to an end. Up to this time ished. After three days it con- for an emergency to last for days. straight. ground the strange, creeping, universal tinued at full strength at the They hadn’t brought supplies of lock — and here the was longer perfectly flat and affliction had begun at ode place, place where previously it had food. no — and moved slowly to another, and stopped and died away. It began to look as if they were came to an end. then diminished and ceased to be. The people of Maya were going to starve. o And Calhoun saw all the

180 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 181

L. likely that have found sav- fered at all. He’d had half as ground-cars of the planet gath- given to Allison to have the effect he’d he arrived at much of the medication as Cal- ered and parked together. they’d had on Murgatroyd. That age disorder. But three days after the houn himself, and his body weight There were no buildings. There had come about. He’d driven on. sundown flight from the cities. There was was only a tenth of Calhoun’s. were no streets. There was noth- But the strength of the inductor food to speak of, and water He’d made out all right. Now he ing of civilization but tens and field had increased to the intol- no be- drastically short, and the fu- looked expectantly at what scores of thousands of ground- erable. When he stopped the was were only beginning to came a jammed mass of crowd- extraordinary to sports car he showed the effects gitives cars. They were the vehicle that suspect that they would never be ing men about at, stopped at random, their of what he’d been through. look through the invisible able to leave this place — and had come fronts pointed in all directions, Figures on foot converged highway. They they might die here. barrier across the their air-column tubes thrusting upon him instantly. There were that desperately for news to Men left the growing crowd hoped into the ground so that there eager calls. Murgatroyd about the sports car to find indi- produce hope. But might be trouble getting them “It’s stopped? You got , somebody to viduals who could give orders. waited zestfully for clear again. through? We can go back?” him cakes Calhoun stayed in the car, resting welcome him and offer Parked bumper to bumper in Calhoun shook his head. It undoubtedly from the unbearable strain he’d and sweets, and closely placed lines, in theory was just past sunset and many undergone. The ground-inductor presently a cup of coffee. twenty-five thousand cars could brilliant colorings showed in the fence had been ten miles But nobody did. be parked on a square mile of western sky, but they couldn’t cattle mile was not bad. Only It was a long time before there put color into Calhoun’s face. His deep. One ground. But there were very of the noticed it. After was a stirring at the edge grayish Murgatroyd had many times that number of cars cheeks were and his eyes fallen miles Calhoun and Allison crowd. Night had fully were deep)-sunk, and he looked two here, and some places were un- miles in suffered; but the medication then, and for miles and suitable for parking, and there like someone in the last stages of in the ground them to take it. But all directions lights exhaustion. said heavily: strengthened were lanes placed at random and He inhabitants there’d been a long, long way in cars of Maya’s there’d been no special effort to “It’s still there. We came drew upon the center of the induction-field glowed brightly. They put the maximum number of cars through. I’m Med Service. Have existence was pure tor- broadcast power, naturally, for you got a in which in the smallest place. So the sur- government here? I Off ment. Calhoun’s muscles defied their motors and their lights. face transportation system of the need to talk to somebody who can part of every two-second to one side someone shouted. Cal- planet Maya spread out over give orders.” him for his headlights for cycle, and his heart and lungs houn turned on some fifty sprawling square miles. constantly about to give a guide. More shoutings. A knot Here, cars were crowded closely. TF he’d asked two days earlier seemed even the pretense of working. of men struggled to get through There, there was room be- there up much would have been no pres- In that part of the cattle-fence the crowd. With difficulty, tween them. But it seemed that answer, because the fugitives he’d hardly dared drive ently, they reached the car. as far as one could see in the twi- were only waiting for disaster field, a through,” faster than a crawl, in order to “They say you got light there were glistening vehi- to come to an end. One day earli- keep control of the car when his panted a tall man, “but you can’t cles gathered confusedly, so there er, he might have found men with ” body was uncontrollable. get back. They say — was nothing else to be seen but authority busily trying to arrange own Alli- presently the field strength Calhoun roused himself. an occasional large tree rising for drinking water for something But lessened and ultimately ended. son, beside him, stirred. The tall from among them. like two millions of people, in the Murgatroyd looked cor- man panted again; Calhoun came to the end of entire absence of wells Now or pumps president. dially at the figures who clustered “I’m the planetary the surfaced road. He’d waited or ways of making either. And if about the car. He’d hardly suf- What can we do?” for the pellets he’d taken and he’d been a day later, it is rather 183 182 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN !

“First, teeth chattered. listen,” said Calhoun off the power broadcast ourselves! creeping disaster before which LLISON’S tiredly. A was a business man and We’ve got to do something im- they’d all fled, — it was not a He He’d had a little rest. he’d thought as one. Not mediately. The whole planet’s natural catastrophe, but an arti- up to now much, but some. The actual decisions in offices, work here. There’s no food! There’s no ficial one! Men had made it! He’d made he’d done in driving and secretaries three hun- water! Something has to be done They’d been herded here and with attorneys dred-odd the decisions miles from Maya City before we begin to die!” their wives and children were and clerks to make was trivial. But the continuous, and safe, without any “But,” said Calhoun, “if you cut hungry because of something men practical and lately violent, spasms for any consequences of his off the power you’ll die anyway! had done! concern heart and breathing muscles financial ones. had You’ve got a couple of million A low-pitched, buzzing, hum- other than been exhausting. possible consequences He heard Mur- people here, and you’re a hundred ming sound came from the crowd He saw and now. He’d gatroyd say ingratiatingly, “Chee- miles from food. Without power about the sports car. For the mo- to himself, here chee-chee-chee,” and put because he con- his hand you couldn’t get to food or bring ment, nobody asked what could landed on Maya on the little animal to it matter too important quiet him. here. Cut the power and you’re be the motive for men to do what sidered the “The thing still anybody else. Even you ran away stranded here. Without pow- had been done. Pure fury filled to trust to from,” said Calhoun with effort, closer with Calhoun on the way er you’ll die' as soon as with it.” the mob. Calhoun leaned riding “is a type of ground-induction only been elated and There was a sound from the to Allison. here, he’d field using broadcast power from the car astonished at the success of the listening men around. It was “I wouldn’t get out of the grid. It’s used He’d raised his on Texia to partly a growl and partly a groan. if I were you,” he said in a low intended coup. confine cattle to their a while he’d believed pastures “I’ve just found this out,” said tone. “I certainly wouldn’t try to aim. For and to move them where they’re as the sole proprie- Calhoun. “I didn’t know until the buy any real property at a low that he’d end wanted to be. But it colony on Maya, with was designed last ten miles exactly what the price!” tor of the for cattle. It’s a cattle fence. plant growing for his profit, It situation was, and I had to come Allison shivered. There was a every could kill humans.” factory earning money here to be sure. Now I need some vast, vast stirring as the explana- and every and every inhabitant his people to help me. It won’t be tion passed from man to man. for him, been the most XJE WENT on, his voice gain- pleasant. I may have enough Figures moved away in the dark- employee. It had dream. The de- ing strength and steadiness medication to get a dozen people ness. Lighted car windows winked grandiose possible as he spoke. ob- tails and the maneuvers needed He explained, pre- back through. It’ll be safer if I as they moved through the flowed into his cisely, how a ground-induction take only six. Get a doctor to scurity. The population of Maya to complete it field was projected in a line at a pick me six men. Good heart was spread out over very many mind. chattered. At right angle to its source. It could action. Sound lungs. Two should square miles of what had been But now his teeth Calhoun he Would be moved by adjustments of the be electronics engineers. The wilderness, and there was no ten words from be torn to pieces by the apparatus by which it was pro- others should be good shots. If elaborate communication system literally jected. raging men about him. His at- you get them ready. I’ll give them by which information could be millions of credits “But — but if it uses broad- the same stuff that got us through. spread quickly. But long before tache case with it would be proof of cast power,” the planetary presi- It’s desensitizing medication, but dawn there’d be nobody who in cash — chose to say. dent said urgently, “then if the it will do only so much. And try didn’t know that they’d fled from whatever Calhoun to the power broadcast is cut off it has and find some weapons for them.” a man-made danger and were Allison knew terror down to his soul. But he dared stop! If you got through it Voices murmured all around. held here like cattle, behind a bottom of Calhoun’s side, coming here, tell us how to get Men hastily explained to other cattle fence, apparently aban- not move from single sentence in through going back and we’ll cut men what Calhoun had said. The doned to die. even though a 184 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 185 the calmest of voices would de- joining twelve-lane highways had tered, and stopped, and chattered his car up to eighty miles an hour. stroy him, and he’d never faced shrunk. Behind him, other head- again, and at long last he panted The other cars followed faithful- actual, understood, physical dan- lights moved into line. Calhoun’s despairingly: ly. To a hundred. They did not ger before. car moved away into the dark- “Are you going to let the thing drop behind. The car hummed Presently men came, one by ness. The others followed. kill me?” through the night at top speed — one, to take orders from Calhoun. Brilliant stars shone overhead. Calhoun stopped. The cars be- a hundred and twenty, a hundred They were able-bodied and grim- A cluster of thousands of suns, a hind him stopped. He gave Alli- and thirty miles an hour. The faced men. Two were electronics hundred light-years away, made son two pellets and took two him- three other cars’ headlights faith- engineers, as he’d specified. One a center of illumination that gave self. With Murgatroyd insistently fully kept pace with him. was a policeman. There were two Maya’s night the quality of a accompanying him, he went along Allison, said desperately, mechanics and a doctor who was vivid if diffused moonlight. The the cars which trailed him. He “Look! I — don’t understand also amateur tennis champion of cars went on. Presently Calhoun made sure the six men he’d asked what’s happened. You talk as if the planet. Calhoun doled out to felt the twitchings of minor mus- for took their pellets and that I’d planned all this. I — did have them the pellets that reduced the cular spasms. He was riding into they had an adequate effect. He advance notice of a — a research sensitiveness of muscles to exter- the field which had been first de- went back to the sports car. project here. But it shouldn’t nally applied stimuli. He gave in- vised for purposes remote from Allison whimpered a little have held the people there for structions. They’d go as far into the herding of cattle or humans, when he and Murgatroyd got days! Something went wrong! I the cattle fence as they could but applied to the first use on the back in. only believed that people would reasonably endure. Then they’d planet Texia, and now applied to “I thought,” said Calhoun con- want to leave Maya. I’d only swallow the pellets and let them the second here. versationally, “that you might try planned to buy as much acreage act. Then they’d go on. His stock The road became two, and to take off by yourself, just now. as I could, and control of as many of pellets was limited. He could then four, and then eight lanes It would solve a problem for me. factories as possible. That’s all! It give three to each man. wide. Then four lanes swirled off Of course it wouldn’t solve any was business! Only business!” Murgatroyd squirmed disap- to one side, and the remaining for you. But I don’t think your Calhoun did not answer. Alli- pointedly as this briefing went on. four presently doubled, and then problems have any solution, now.” son might be telling the truth. Obviously, he wasn’t to make a widened again, and it was the He started the car up again. It Some businessmen would think it social success here. He twelve-lane was an- turnpike that had moved forward. The other cars only intelligent to frighten people noyed, and he needed more space. brought Calhoun here from Maya trailed dutifully. They went on into selling their holdings below Calhoun tossed Allison’s attache City. through the starlit night. Calhoun true value. Something of the sort case behind the seats. Allison was noted that the effect of the cattle happened every day in stock ex- too terrified to protest. It still did T>UT the rhythmic interference fence was less than it had been changes. But the people of Maya not increase the space left on the with his body grew stronger. before. The first desensitizing could have died! front seat between Calhoun and Allison had spoken not one single pellets had not wholly lost their For that matter, they still Allison. word while Calhoun conferred effect when he added to it. But might. They couldn’t return to Four humming ground cars with the people of Maya beyond he kept his speed low until he their homes and food so long as lifted eight inches off the ground the highway. His teeth chattered was certain the other drivers had broadcast power kept the cattle- and hovered there on columns as they started back. He didn’t endured the anguish of passing fence in existence. But they could of rushing air. Calhoun took the attempt to speak during the be- through the cattle-fence field. not return to their homes and lead. His headlights moved down ginning of the ride through the Presently he was confident that food supplies if the power broad- the single-lane road to which cattle-fence two field. His teeth chat- the cattle field was past. He sent cast was cut off, either.

186 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 187

L ”

of you’ve ac- Over all the night surface of the photograph in the spaceport Calhoun made an abrupt grunt- fore others what cused personally. You seem to the world of Maya there was light building showed. A large highway ing noise. Phrasing the thing that me that planned a criminal only on one highway at one spot, went into those mountains for a needed to be done was practically think ! act. That the action I know of — and a multitude of smaller, lesser limited distance only. a blueprint of how to do it. Sim- the research project I’d heard of lights where the j>eople of Maya A ground-inductor projector ple! He’d need the two electronics that it became — that it got waited to find out whether they field always formed at a right engineers, of course. But that — out of hand is likely. But I am would live or die. angle to the projector which was would be the trick . . . entirely in the clear. I did noth- its source. It could be adjusted He drove on at a hundred ing in which I did not have the V — the process was analogous to thrity miles an hour with his lips advice of counsel. I am legally focusing — to come into actual set wrily. The three other cars unassailable. My lawyers — ^ALHOUN considered coldly. being at any distance desired, and came behind him. Murgatroyd ^ They were beyond what had the distance could be changed. To watched the way ahead. Mile ii^^HAT’S none of business,” been the farthest small city on drive the p)eople of Maya City after mile, half-minute after half- Calhoun told him. “I’m a the multiple highway. They eastward, the projector of a cattle minute, the headlights cast bril- man. I landed here in the would go on past now-starlit fence — about which they would liantly blinding beams before the medical middle of what seemed to be a fields of plants native to Maya, know nothing; it would be totally cars. Murgatroyd grew bored. He health situation. I passing many places where trucks strange and completely mysteri- said, “Chee!” in a discontented serious public had happ>ened. loaded with the plants climbed up ous — the projector of the cattle fashion and tried to curl up be- went to see what haven’t the to the roadway and headed for fence would need to be west of tween Allison and Calhoun. There I’ve found out. I still whole answer the factories which made use of the people to be driven. Logically, wasn’t room. He crawled over the answer, — not the the human popula- them. The fields ran for scores of it would belong in the mountains. seat-back. He moved about, back an3Tway. But is in a state of some miles along the highway’s length. Practically, it would be con- there. There were rustling sounds. tion of Maya danger. I They reached out beyond the ho- cealed. Drawing on broadcast He settled down. Presently there privation, not to say had end it. But I’ve nothing rizon, — perhaps scores of miles power to do its work, there would was silence. Undoubtedly he hope to guilt or in- in that direction, too. There were be no large power source needed draped his furry tail across his to do with anybody’s off to or criminal in- thousands upon thousands of to give it the six million kilowatts nose and gone soundly nocence of crime square miles devoted to the grow- it required. It should be quite sleep. tent or anything else.” ing of the dark-green vegetation easy to hide beyond any quick Allison spoke suddenly. He’d Allison swallowed. Then he confidence: which supplied the raw materials or easy discovery. Hunting it out had time to think, but he had no said with smooth for Maya’s space exports. Some might require weeks of searching. practice in various ways of think- “But you could cause me in- hundred-odd miles ahead, the But the people beyond the end ing. convenience. I would appreciate ” small town of Tenochitlan lay of the highway couldn’t wait. “How much money' have you it if you would — would — huddled in the light of the distant They had no food, and holes got?” he asked. “Cover up what you’ve done?” star-cluster' Beyond that, more scrabbled down to ground-water “Not much,” said Calhoun. asked Calhoun. . highway and Maya City. Beyond by men digging with their bare “Why?” “No! I’ve done nothing wrong. that — hands simply would not be ade- “I — haven’t done anything il- But you could simply use dis- Calhoun reasoned that the pro- quate. The cattle fence had to be legal,” said Allison, with an un- cretion. I landed by parachute to jector to make the induction cat- cut off immediately — while the convincing air of confidence, “but complete some business deals I’d tle fence would be beyond Maya broadcast of power had to be con- I could be put to some inconveni- arranged months ago. I will go City, somewhere in the mountains tinued. ence if you were to accuse me be- through with them. I will leave on

188 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 189 ” ”

the next ship. daybreak. But now I doubt That’s perfectly a person of some influence. I utes later. Calhoun slowed and come though, that you open and above board. Strictly could do a great deal to your the other cars closed up. He it. I do suggest, business. But you could make a benefit. I’d be glad — opened a window and called: turn off the car headlights and do some shooting if ^ an unpleasing public image “Are you working around to “We want to go to the landing- get set to turns up. I don’t know of me. Yet I have done nothing guess at a price I’ll take?” asked grid first. Somebody lead the anybody or not.” any other business man wouldn’t Calhoun with the same air of way!” whether they will inside. He do! I did happen to know of a curiosity. A car went past and guided He led the way went to the research project — He seemed much more curious the rest assuredly to a ramp down turned on lights. He showed the “I think,” said Calhoun without than indignant, and much more from the now-elevated road, and place where dials actually being heat, “that you sent men here amused than curious. Allison through utterly dark streets, of amount of power amount with a cattle-fence device from sweated suddenly. Calhoun didn’t which some were narrow and used of the enormous dials now Texia to frighten the p>eople on appear to be bribable. But Allison winding, and came out abruptly available. Those small power Maya. They wouldn’t know what knew desperation. where the landing-grid rose sky- showed an extremely considering that the cities was going on. They’d be scared; “If you want to put it that way ward. At the bottom its massive drain, on the grid. they’d want to get away. So you’d — yes,” he said harshly. “You can girders looked huge and Cyclo- of a planet depended be cities were dark and emp- able to buy up practically all name your own figure. I mean it!” pean in the starlight, but the But the needle the colony for the equivalent of “I won’t say a word about you,” higher courses looked like silver ty of people. The demand forth, rhyth- peanuts. I can’t prove that,” he said Calhoun. “I won’t need to. lace against the stars. wavered back and the conceded, “but that’s my opinion. The characters who’re op>erating mically. Every two seconds But for power went up by you want me not to state it. your cattle fence will do all the hey went to the control demand Is that kilowatts, approxi- right?” talking that’s necessary. Things T building. Calhoun got out. six million for “Exactly!” said Allison. He’d all fit together, — except for one Murgatroyd hopped out after mately. The demand lasted been stopped. For a shaken to the core, but he item. They’ve been dropping into him, dust clinging to his fur. He half a second, and in managed the tone and the air of place all the while we’ve been shook himself, and a ten-thou- second and a half the power million a dignified man of business dis- driving down this road.” sand-credit interstellar credit cer- use was reduced by six cussing this period only an unpleasant subject “I said you can name your own tificate fell to the ground. Murga- kilowatts. During with ventilators fine candor. “I assure you figure!” Allison’s voice was shrill. troyd had made a soft place for automatic pumps and you are drew on mistaken. You agree that “I mean it! Any figure! Any!” sleeping out of the contents of and freezing equipment you can’t prove your suspicions. Calhoun shrugged. Allison’s attache case. It was as- the broadcast power for energy. If you can’t de- prove them, you “What would a Med Ship man suredly the most expensive if not Then the six-million-kilowatt shouldn’t state half sec- them. That is sim- do with money? Forget it!” the most comfortable sleeping mand came again for a ple ethics. You agree to that!” He drove on. The highway cushion a tormal ever had. Allison ond. Calhoun looked at cattle fence,” said Cal- him curi- turnoff to Tenochitlan appeared. sat still as if numbed. He did not “The ously. for half a second Calhoun went steadily past it. even pick up the certificate. houn, “works “Are waiting It’s in- you for me to tell The other connection with the “I need you two electronics out of every two seconds. you my price?” road through the town apjjeared. men,” said Calhoun. Then he said termittent or it would simply “I’m waiting,” said Allison re- He left it behind. apologetically to the others, “I paralyze animals that wandered provingly, “for you to agree not Allison’s teeth chattered again. only figured out something on the into it. Or people. Being intermit- to cause me embarrassment. I The buildings of Maya City be- way here. I’d believed we might tent, it drives them out instead. won’t be ungrateful. After all, I’m gan to appear, some twenty min- have to take some drastic action. There’ll be tools and parts for

190 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 191 equipment here, in case some- wouldn’t have thought of that!” the east. It was more than prob- strangers who were living where thing needs repair. I want you to bit into a stale sandwich He able that ground cars could run the cattle-fence projector was set make something new.” and went outside. Allison sat . . into on current supplied for one and a up . They can go the The two electronics technicians limply, despairingly, in his seat half seconds out of every two. jungles where there’s nothing to asked questions. in the car. can give , They might run jerkily, but they eat, or they themselves need,” said cattle fence is going “We Calhoun, “an “The off,” would run. up.” interrupter that will cut off the said Calhoun without triumph. He moved toward the door of power broadcast for the half-sec- “The people of the city will prob- ALF AN HOUR later, the the control building once more. ond the ground-induction field is ably begin to get here around amount of power drawn Allison said desperately: suppKJsed to be on. it sunrise.” Then should from the broadcast began to rise “They’ll have hidden their turn on the broadcast power for “I I did nothing legally — smoothly and gradually. It could equipment. You’ll never be able the second and a half the cattle wrong!” said Allison, dry- mean only that cars were begin- to find it!” fence is supposed to be off. That throated. “Nothing! They’d have ning to move. Calhoun shook his head in the will stop the cattle-fence effect, to that I the — prove knew what Forty-five minutes later still, starlight. and I think ground consequences of the research proj- a car should Calhoun heard stirrings outside. “Anything that can fly can spot be able to work with power that’s ect would be. That couldn’t be He went out. The two men on it in minutes. Even on the available for proved! It couldn’t! I’ve three half-seconds So done guard gazed off into the city. ground one can walk almost .” out of four.” nothing legally wrong . . Something moved there. It was a straight to it. You see, something The electronics men blinked at Calhoun went inside, observing ground-car, running slowly and happened they didn’t count on. him. Then they grinned set that the doctor was also ten- and who without lights. Calhoun said un- That’s why they’ve left it turned to work. Calhoun went exploring. nis champion, and the policeman disturbedly: on at full power. The earlier, He found a lunch box in a desk who’d come to help him, were “Whoever was running the cat- teasing uses of the cattle fence with three very stale keeping keen eyes on the city and sandwiches tle fence found out their gadget were low-power. Annoying, to in it. He offered them around. the foundations of the grid and wasn’t working. Their lights start with, and uncomfortable the It appeared that nobody all other places from which flickered, too. They came to see second time, and maybe some- wanted to eat while their families trouble might come. what was the matter at the land- what painful the third. But the at the fine — end of the highway — There was a atmosphere ing-grid. But they’ve seen the last time it was full power.” were still hungry. achievement in power-con- of the lighted windows. Got your He shrugged. He didn’t feel The electronics men called trol room. The power itself did on blasters handy?” like a long oration. But it was the two mechanics instru- to help build not pass through these But the unlighted car turned obvious. Something had killed something. They explained ab- ments, but relays here controlled and raced away. Calhoun only the plants of a certain genus of sorbedly to Calhoun that they buried massive conductors which shrugged. which small species were weeds were making a cutoff supplied the which world with power. “They haven’t a prayer,” he that destroyed Earth-type grasses. would adjust to any sudden six- And one of the relays had been said. “We’ll take over their ap- The ground-cover plants — and million-kilowatt demand, no mat- modified. When the cattle-fence paratus as soon as it’s light. It’ll the larger ones, like the one Cal- ter what time interval was in- projector closed its circuit, the be too big to destroy, and there’ll houn had seen decaying in a volved. change in A the tempo of power went off. When the ground- be fingerprints and such to iden- florist’s shop which had had to the cattle-fence cycle wouldn’t inductor off, went the power went tify them as the men who ran it. be grown in a cage — the ground- bring it back on. on. There was no longer a barrier And they’re not natives. When cover plants had motile stems “That’s fine!” said Calhoun. “I across the highways leading to the police start to look for the and leaves and blossoms. They

192 GALAXY MED SHIP MAN 193 were cannibals. They could move Wheat can be grown here now, their stems to reach, and their whenever and as much as the leaves to enclose, and their flow- people please. It should make CLIP this pretty prosperous planet, DON'T ers to devour other plants, even a perhaps small animals. The point, not having to import all its though, was that they had some bread.” limited power of motion. Earth- style sensitive vines and flycatch- ground cars of the inhabit- THE COUPON- er plants had primitive muscular ants of Maya City did begin of Galaxy intact for permanent possession!* - if you want to keep your copy local sunrise. Within an tissues. The ground-cover to arrive at token ... if you’re devotee Why mutilate a good thing? But, by the same plants had them too. And the cat- hour after daybreak, very savage- condition, you ought to subscribe. enough to want to keep your copies in mint tle-fence field made those tissues ly intent persons found the pro- your copies earlier. For another, you re You really ought to. For one thing, you get contract spasmodically. Powerful- it off. run out -the mail never does. jector and turned sure you'll get them! Sometimes newsstands on a plain sheet of paper ly. Violently. Repeatedly. Until By noon there was still some (And you can just put your name and address below. We'll know what you mean... they died of exhaustion. The full- anger on the faces of the people and mail it to us, at the address power cattle-fence field had ex- of Maya, but there’d been little provided you enclose your check!) terminated Mayan ground-cover or no damage, and life took up years Galaxy has published the finest stories plants all the way to the end of course again. Murga- In the past few its normal Pohl, finest writers in the field — Bester, Heinlein, the east-bound highway. And troyd appreciated the fact that by the Asimov, Sturgeon, Leiber and nearly everyone else. inevitably — and very conveni- things went back to normal. For will right on, with stories that are ently — also up to the exact spot him it was normal to be wel- In the next few years it go where the cattle-fence field had comed and petted when the Med just as good ... or better. begun to be projected. There touched Ship Esclipus Twenty won’t. Just subcribe Don’t miss any issue of Galaxy. You can make sure you would be an arrow-shaped nar- ground. It was normal for him to today. rowing of the wiped-out ground- move zestfully in admiring hu- the other hand, your habit is to read them once and cover plants where the cattle-field society, and to drink coffee *(lf, on man the go on to something new — please — feel free to use had been projected. It would nar- with great gusto. coupon! It's for your convenience, not ours.) row to a point which pointed pre- And while Murgatroyd moved cisely to the cattle-fence project- in human society, enjoying him- or. self hugely, Calhoun went about m “Your friends,” said Calhoun, his business. Which, of course, (SO' additional “will probably give themselves up was conferences with planetary GALAXY Publishing Corp., 421 Hudson Street, New York 14, N. Y. per 6 issues and ask for mercy. There’s not health officials, politely receiving , . I Enter my subscription for the New Giant 196-page Galaxy much else they can do.” such information as they thought Then he said: important, and tactfully telling (U. S. Edition only) for: “They might even get it. D’you recent de- 24 Issues $8.50 them about the most 6 Issues @ $2.50 12 Issues @ $4.50 @ know, there’s an interesting side velopments in medical science. effect of the cattle fence. It kills What else was a Med Ship the plants that have kept earth- man for? type grasses from growing here. — MURRAY LEINSTER

194 GALAXY Sealed, 1- to r.: Bennett Cerf, Faith Baldwin, Bergen Evans, Bruce Cation, Photo by Philippe Halsman Mignon G. Eberhart, John Caples, J. D. RatclifT Standing; Mark Wiseman, Max Shulman, Rudolf Flesch, Red Smith. Rod Serling

12 famous authors start a new kind of writing school

If you have writing talent worth developing, on each assignment completed by a student here’s an opportunity never before available: . . . revising, correcting, and advising. Twelve of America’s most famous authors The Famous Writers School is less than have created a school of professional writing three years old. Its first students are not due to help you develop your skill, talent and to graduate until later this year. Yet, many craftsmanship , . , and to pass on to you their have sold their writings to such varied publi- secrets of achieving success and recognition. cations as The Reader’s Digest, Redbook, This unique home-training program is su- Popular Science, True Story. pervised by Rod Serling, winner of five Em- To select people with writing talent worth mys for TV writing; Pulitzer Prize historian developing, the 12 Famous Writers have de- Bruce Catton; best-selling novelist Faith signed a revealing Talent Test. The coupon Baldwin; humorist (Dobie Max Gillis) Shul- will bring you a copy, along with a brochure man; publisher-columnist Bennett Cerf; about the School. Your completed Test will famed sportswriter Red Smith; Rudolf Flesch, be graded without charge or obligation by top authority on readable writing; noted lan- one of the School’s instructors. If your Test guage expert Prof. Bergen Evans; famous indicates writing talent, you are then eligible mystery novelist Mignon G. Eberhart; J. D. to enroll in the School, You are, however, un- Ratcliff, called by Time “America’s No. 1 der absolutely no obligation to do so. craftsman in the field of non-fiction"; and top ad men John Caples and Mark Wiseman. Famous Writers School These famous authors have developed a Dept. 6307, Westport, Connecticut remarkable series of textbooks, lessons and I am interested in finding out whether I have writ- writing assignments that present — in a clear ing talent worth developing. Please mail me, with- and stimulating way — what they have learned out obligation, the Famous Writers Talent Test. in their long, hard climb to the top. Mr. The School’s Mrs Age instructors are themselves Miss professional writers. Under the supervision Street of the 12 Famous Writers, these instructors City Zone work with students by mail, just as magazine and book editors work with many established County State The School is accredited by the authors. And they spend up to several hours Accrediting Com- mission of the National Home Study Council.