Including Venture Science Fiction

The Triumph of Pegasus (novelet) F. A. JAVOR 5 The l'1aster of Altamira STEPHEN BARR 30 books A VRAM DAVIDSON 35 The Peace Watchers BRYCE WALTON 40 Trade-In JACK SHARKEY 55 Time-Bomu (verse) ARTHUR PORGES 67 Medical Radiotracers THEODORE L. THOMAS 68 Cynosure KIT REED 69 The Tht.':l Bubble G. C. EDMONDSON 78 The Search BRUCE SIMONDS 89 The Thing From Outer Space and the Prairie Dogs GAHAN WILSON 95 Science: The Heavenly Zoo ISAAC ASIMOV 96 Forwarding Service WILLARD MARSH 107 The Unknown Law (short novelet) A VRAM DAVIDSON 111 Editorial 4 F&SF Marketplace 128 lt1dex to Volume XXV I 130 Cover by Ed Emsh (illustrating "The Triumph of Pegasus")

Joseph W. Ferlllatl, PUBLISIIF.R Avram Davidson, EXECUTIVE EDITOR isaac A.simov, SCIDICE EDITOR Edward L. Ferman, MANAGING EDITOR

Ted White, ASSISTA:-IT EDITOR

The Afagl:=iuc of Fa11tusy aHd Science Fiction, Volume 26, No. 6, Whole No. 157, lut~e H64. Prrblished tno11thly by Macury Press, Inc., at 40¢ a copy. Annotal subscriptirm $-1.50; $5.00 iH Canada and the Pau American [Inion; $5.50 in all other cou11tn"es. Publi· catio11 office, J() Fern,• Street, Concord, Y. H. Editorial and general ma£1 should be sent to 347 East 53rd St., ,\'rw York, N. Y. 10022. Second Class postage paid at Concord, N. H.

Printed in U.S.A. © 196-1 by 1lfcrcur:y Press, luc. All rigllts1 including translations into other lanquci{1C..f, rc.urt·ed. Snbmissior~s must be accompanied by stamped, self·addresse4 ent:cloPt'S; the Publisher assumes no rcsponsibt"/ity for return of unsolicited manuscriPI.r. EDITORIAL

Has anyone beside ourselves ever heard of the Wizard of Mauritius? Did we dream him up? We will tell the story as we recall it, and see if it rings any chords or strikes any bells. The wizard, then, lived on the Indian Ocean 'island of Mauritius in the 18th century, when it was a possession of France. It was his practice to go to the top of a tall hill and there, having scanned the empty seas, predict the arrival of ships long long before they ever appeared over the horizon, by a sort of occult radar of which he alone possessed the secret. The wizard (whose name we cannot recall) ascribed his art to purely natural origins. The constant decomposure of organic matter in the oceans, he said, created gas which constantly rose to the surface, whence it was dissipated into the at­ mosphere . . . ships passing over the ocean .surface disturbed this pro­ cess and, in so doing, created another-which he called a meteor, in the older sense of the word, meaning atmospheric phenomena caused by luminous gases-and one which he had trained himself to observe. He continued to make these observations over the course of thirty years, and in only one instance did the ships announced fail to make their appear­ ance: He had heralded the arrival of a large fleet; it was learned, later, that a British fleet of just such size had indeed approached Mautitius , . . and then veered off. His observation, of long duration and attested record, finally caused the Governor of Mauritius to persuade him to go to France and place his talent at the service of the French government. The seer arrived in Paris just in time for the French Revolution-and was never heard from again. Thus, the story as we remember it. It was our belief that we had read it in a book at the home of Damon Knight, but Mr. Knight denies ever having heard such a story or owned or seen such a book. Pues! Did we dream up the whole thing? Has anyone else ever come across it? Has anyone any notion if there exists even a basis for it in science, in fact, however implausible or faint? We would like to think so, and we think (whether we like to or no) that wizards ought to stay the Hell home on their tropic island and keep their Secrets to themselves. -AVRAM DAVIDSON With a flourish of trumpets (an electronic tucket sounding from the side) and a feeling of elation and pride, we announce the first appearance in these distinguished pages of a rather new Science Fiction u;riter, F. A. Jawr. Mr. Javor was born in New Jersey in 1916 of a long-lived race-his father liced to be 107 -and attended Columbia, Fordham, and NYU without taking any degree. Dur­ ing W.W.ll he was a U.S. Naval photographer; he subsequently occupied himself with crafts so diverse as prestigitating at chil­ dren's parties and tcriting science fact articles for popular maga­ zines. Mr. Javor, who is fond of playing the organ and the violin, describes himself as "a compulsive reader of everything, includ­ ing labds . . . I read the EB through before I was fourteen." We hope to be favored with many more stories by the author of this one about Colin Hall and Ed West of the ARimals to Order firm, Mrs. Harrison Bullitt ( tclw Knew What She Wanted-and got it­ and got it), and Commodore Joshua Wall ..• a good man who kneu: his way around Procurement.

THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS

by F. A. Javor

IT WAS WORKING OUT BEAUTI· Pride, so named from the initial fully, just beautifully, and if Co­ letlers of their fledgling com­ lin Hall had been a less dedicated pany's name, Animals To Order, young man he would have been a gleaming black stallion with rubbing his capable hands to­ four perfectly matched white gether and perhaps even pound­ stockings and a diamond-shaped ing his equally young but not-so­ blaze on his forehead, was just sedate partner, Ed \Vest, on his being led to the edge of the ob­ ample back. stacle-planted ring and the roar Their entry in the jumper di­ of the crowd's approval was vision of the horse show, Ato's hackle-raising. 5 6 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Instinctively Colin's eyes flew finally decided to aim at in a mix­ to the six-inch screen he'd jerry­ ture of hope and desperation. rigged to monitor a select few bits Then the grinding press of work of the information being sent by and doing without, in which the the dozens of micro-transmitters gingerly placing into its embryo­ implanted under the skin, ad­ tank of the cell that was to grow joining the organs, the nerves, into the magnificent animal below even sampling the bloodstream of them was almost an anti-climax. the animal waiting to go through An anti-climax to the arduous its paces below them. task of mapping its gene pattern Information being transmitted and to the planning and the and recorded on the slowly turn­ tailoring of the solutions that ing tapes to be fed later into the were to be so delicately, so pre­ University's computer if they, he ciselv metered to it, but cmlv a and Ed, wanted a more com­ begi~ning of their g~mble- to plete analysis and, more to the save Animals To Order, their two­ point, if they could scrape to­ man partnership that gave prom­ gether the necessary service fee. ise but only of dying in the womb. But the complex and shifting He had plucked the salmon­ pattern of light on the jerry­ colored bank notice from the pile rigged screen, small though its of due-chits that had just fallen sampling was, was enough to let from the vac-tube beside their of­ Colin know how their animal was fice door. taking to what was by far the "A lethal gene," he said wryly largest massing of people he'd ever to Ed, sitting at what they'd been exposed to. An emotional hoped would be the desk of the crowd that this, perhaps the receptionist they'd never been greatest of the year's shows, never able to afford, straightening and failed to attract. rebending a paper clip. "A lethal A little too much salivating ... gene. A fatal deficiency in the pain response a little high. I told customer-forming enzyme." that rider he had a tender mouth. "I've been thinking about But all in all, Ato's Pride was that," Ed said, his face deadly taking this crowd's adulation as serious for once. "Animals To Or­ much in stride as he had that of der is basically a sound idea, but the smaller shows around the I think our trouble lies in the fact country they'd had to enter him that nobod,· knows we're alive." in to garner enough first ribbons to He clenched his fist. "If we could allow him to qualify for this only advertise." particular show. The wryness in Colin's smile This show that he and Ed had deepened. "It isn't ethical." THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 7 Ed flung down his paper clip. de-differentiate and then re-dif­ "It isn't ethical," he parroted. "So ferentiate and grow to restore the we sit around and wait for recog­ amputated limb. nition to come to us, and mean­ Sorrowfully, Colin had to tell while we starve." him that, although they could His voice went up a notch. grow an animal with short legs "Ten seconds. Ten lousy seconds or long legs or even transplant a in the middle of somebody else's developing leg, their science vid-cast. Ten lousy seconds." could not yet do what he asked "Relax," Colin said. "We could­ of it. n't scrape together the cash now Then there was the usual scat­ even if '"e could advertise. Our tering of requests from biology equipment. . . ." and genetics students for the re­ Ed waved a hand. "You don't sults of their most recent work have to tell me how much the sent quickly, please, by return rental on our equipment is cost­ vac-tube because there was only ing us. I signed the papers with this weekend coming up in which you, remember?" to get the papers completed and He stopped short and rubbed turned in. the back of his neck with his And the one solid order Ed palm. ''I'm sorry, Colin," he said. had mentioned. From a down­ "I don't mean to snarl at you but it country milk manufacturer. Four riles me. We've got a potentially heifers. All identical and match­ great service here and the rules of ing perfectly their trade mark. To our game make it something dirty be sent around to the various for professional people like us to state and bureau food exhibits to go out and holler in the crossroads promote the name of their com­ for people to come buy it." pany and product. It was not a Ed held up a finger and went particularly difficult assignment. on talking. "One order. One soli­ A great deal of research and gene tary order all the while we've mapping had already been done been in business. It'd gripe any­ by associations and others inter­ body." ested in food animals so that it It was true. Although they'd was chiefly a case of bringing to­ been open for half a year, their gether what he and Ed needed, business had produced little more and filling in the gaps to produce than inquiries like the tentative the animal they wanted. one from a physician who was hop­ Matching an animal to one in ing they'd run across an enzyme, the picture of a trade mark was not an acid, anything that might difficult because you had only to make the cells of an arm stump look at it to know how well you'd 8 F.'\KTASY .\:\0 SCIEXCE FICTIO~ succeeded. It was the intan~ible "Build four heifers . . . ?" Ed qualities that made for a chal­ was patently puzzled. lenge. "Of course not. I mean use our As for identical animals, na­ skills to build for ourselves an ture had been producing them for animal to do for us what the heif­ centuries. It was simply a case of ers are doing for the milk people. splitting the egg once, and then Call us to the attention of the pub­ splitting each of the daughter lic in general, and of our poten­ halves again. tial customers in particular." It was the heifer order that gave Ed was pulling his lower lip. Colin his idea, and staring at the "An animal for the express pur­ pile of due-chits on his desk made pose of getting publicity. . . ." the tussle with his conscience a And then his head came up. brief one. "Ed," he said, "we have "Hey, TV coverage, wire serv­ to do something to call attention ices, the sport commentators ... to ourselves." the Sport of . . ." "That's not hard. Let's go out Colin finished it for him. "Ex­ and blow up the Sub-Capital actly, the Sport of Kings. A horse." building." And now Ed's eyes were shining. ''I'm not joking. You remember "Great! We'll build the greatest, the heifer people?" the fastest race horse to come "Of course. Our one solitary down the pike since . " contact with that great world of "No," Colin shook his head. commerce out there beYond the "Not a racing horse." laboratory walls. \Ve w~re going "Not a race horse?" Ed looked to sweep it off its collecth·e feet puzzled again. with our brilliance. I remember." "No. The people we want to "They paid us for four animals notice us don't have racing con­ whose only purpose was to pro­ nections. Besides," and he smiled mote their company name and wryly again, "we can't ethically advance the sale of their product. afford to be that obvious. This Right?" has got to look like a labor of "Yes, but that money is long love. \Ve'Il build a horse to enter gone and the rent is due in in the next international showing . , . ," Ed counted on his fin­ at the New Arena." gers, " ... four days. \Vhat are "\Vait a minute," Ed said. you getting at?" "Doesn't the Dean's brother raise "Simply this," and now Colin horses?" spoke slowly, the excitement in him Colin shook his head. "Not growing. "What we did for them, Harrison Bullitt . . . his wife. we can do for ourselves." But do you know who is honorary THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 9 president of the horse show asso­ knows better. I repeat, what are ciation?" we waiting for? There's only four It was Ed's turn to shake his days rental left on the analyzer." head. "No." The electron analyzer. The "Commodore Joshua E. Wall." rental on the unit dug deep into "Commodore Joshua E. . • • their credit fund, but it was in­ Not Commodore Wall of Nav­ dispensable in their work. Off­ Air?" spring of the early instrument Colin nodded, the smile on his packets shot off to Earth's neigh­ face broad now. "That's right, boring planets to analyze and re­ Commodore Joshua E. Wall, port back by radio on their life Chief of Procurement for Nav­ forms, it had also done away with Air . . . and the man we've much of the time and tedious la­ been trying to get in touch with bor cost needed to map a gene since we first started." pattern when all the researchers "Don't keep the club so exclu­ had to work with before its ad­ sive. He's only one of a long vent were bits of absorbent paper roster of people who haven't re­ and a photographic plate exposed sponded to our maidenlike over­ to a diffracted X-ray. tures." He and Ed might have used "True, but if we can get him the University unit, but then its to give us a contract, then we don't rigid rules would have compelled need to worry about many of the them to be researchers working for others." the University, and not the co-es­ Ed pushed back his chair and tablishers of Animals To Order, stood up. "What are we waiting their independent and commer­ for then, let's get started. • . • cial enterprise. When is the next show scheduled And now the months of work, for?" he added. of lost sleep, of going back to the "Early November, but entries making of tutor-tapes for the Uni­ usually close in October." versity to earn the money to live "October! That's cutting it on, to keep open the skeleton of close for a full grown animal." their office, to pay for the hauling "Closer than you think. We've of Ato's Pride from show to show got to get him out and picking up around the country and the pro­ a fistfull of first ribbons before fessional riders required, for fees; that, else he won't be able to even all of it looked now to have been qualify for the big show. But tell worth it. From the sound of the me, Ed, can we wait until next Arena crowd's reaction to their year?" first glimpse of the black stallion, "My head can, but my stomach it was plain that his snowballing 10 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION reputation had reached here be­ date? Why the one who has the fore him, and that their gamble most boyfriends already, that's was at long last about to pay off. who." He felt Ed's elbow in his side, The Commodore went out of Ed's voice, over the sound of the Colin's line of sight, goin~ under­ crowd, exciten in his ear. "The neath their overhang, and in a . Commodore! Over there, on the moment, the little man as well. If other side of the ring. I think they really were coming to them· that's the Commodore coming to­ then thev'd be at the head of the ward us." ramp b~hind them in seconds. There were many figures in Colin forced himself to keep his bright blue formal clothes below eyes away from the spot. them across the arena, but Colin And then the Commodore was had no trouble making out the bearing down on them. "Mr. Commodore's wbite hair and Colin Hall?" beefy shoulders. And it did look as Colin turned his head toward though he was working his way the big, white haired man. "I'm through the assembled officials Colin Hall," he said and did not go and others in their direction. Well on to introduce Ed, stopped by a beyond the Commodore, Colin strangeness in the Commodore's noticed another man, also white manner. Somehow, the big man haired but built small, like a laoked oddly embarrassed. jockey, who looked to be follow­ "Mr. Hall," the Commodore ing the Commodore toward them. said, "there's been a question He tailed him to Ed's atten­ raised ..." tion. "The little man, just coming "Hall? West?" around the left side of the judge's The voice, not loud, but pene­ table. Do you know him?" trating, cut in on the Commo­ "No . . . ," Ed said after a dore. It was the small, white moment, "but he seems to be haired man. trying to give the Commodore a "Just a minute," Colin snapped, race. I hope it's a tie." irked by the man's abrupt manner ''You hope it's a tie?" and anxious to hear what the "Right. If you've got something Commodore had been about to to sell, there's nothing wrong with say to him. having two barsainers on the "You Hall or West?" the man grounds at the same time to sort said, still flatly. of encourage each other to make Colin turned in his seat to you more and more extravagant look full at the little man. "I'm offers. After all, who is the girl Hall," he said and wondered in town that everybody wants to why, with all the noise of the THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 11 crowd around them, he should a replant. Why?" There was cer­ suddenly get the feeling of being tainly nothing new about the in the midst of an apprehensive technique of removing a potential silence. egg from the dam of a desired "Mrs. Bullitt wants to sec you. animal, starting its growth in an Now." embryo tank and the!i replanting Annoyance flared inside Colin it in a mother animal to complete and he didn't try to hide it. its development. He and Ed had "Friend," he said to the little man used the technique with Ato's who might have once been a Pride for the one compelling jockey, "I don't know who you reason of its economy. It would are, but • . ." Colin stopped, have cost a great deal for the bat­ suddenly rehearing what the man tery of technicians and equip­ had said. "Did you say Mrs. Bullitt ment needed if they'd used a full­ wanted to see me?" span series of tanks to bring The man nodded. "Now." their stallion to homing size. Colin was torn. The Commo­ But to feed and control one dore was important to him and pregnant marc . • • ? Ed, and added to this was the fact "In other words," the Commo­ that some question had been raised dore said, "your entry was natural important enough for him to bora." seek them out at what must be, for "Yes," Colin nodded. him, a busy moment. But Ed and The Commodore spol;:e to the he frankly needed their jobs at the little man directly, his voice University and the wife of the sounding to Colin unnecessarily Dean's brother was known to be defiant. an impatient and irascible wom­ "Ato's Pride stays. And you can an. tell that to your employer." The Commodore settled Co­ The little man shrugged. "I'll lin's quandry for him. He spoke pass the word, Commodore," he to Colin, but his eyes were on the said, ''but you'll forgive me if I little man. "Mrs. Bullitt has remind you that it's the associa­ raised a question about the valid­ tion's rules committee and not the ity of your entry's breeding quali­ president who must pass on a fications. There will have to be a thing like this." hearing of course, but for now Colin thought he saw the Com­ tell me this. Was your jumper a modore's eves on the little man's ..." he groped for the expres­ waver. ''\Vait a minute," he said, sion, ". . . a test tube animal half wildly. Someone, and from all through his gestation period?" the sound of things it was Harri­ "No," Colin said, puzzled. "He's son Bullitt's intransi@;ent wife, 12 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION was trying to keep his and Ed's lin fleetingly. He had no idea that one hope out of competition. "You Mrs. Bullitt's interest, and invest­ can't pull our entry now. His ment, in horses was so great. event is about to start." And standing beside the desk, The Commodore turned away thumping its top with a hard­ from the little man. "He's right, sounding finger, a short woman, you know," he said to Colin. "I thick-bodied and dumpy looking don't have the authority for this, even in the smart green-and-white but I can call together the rules striped riding coat and sleek boots committee and I will." of a Major Hunt. "But the event, it's starting." Harrison Bullitt Colin knew "Not yet it isn't, and I'll have it from having seen him in the held off for as long as the crowd Dean's office at the University; will allow. Meanwhile," he indi­ the woman turning pale eyes and cated the small man with his a querulous mouth toward them head, "we'd better go along with as they entered, he assumed to be h1m.. " _ Mrs. Bullitt. "Let's go," the little man said, "Why didn't you knock," she not seeming to be the least bit began without preamble. "Martin, abashed by the Commodore's ob­ you know I don't like people walk-· vious dislike of him. in on me without knocking." And half seething, half numb, The little man beside Colin Colin let him lead them to the made no answer, but Harrison Owner's Suite four levels below Bullitt put a hand on his wife's the arena floor, and eight levels pudgy arm. 'We're not at home, below the street. dear. This is an office. It's all right The room he ushered them into for Martin to walk in here without was large and brightly lit. Neo­ knocking." plast walls niched and hung with Mrs. Bullitt shook off her hus­ award ribbons, platters, trophy band's hand. "I don't like people cups. Antique photos of horses to walk in on me without knock­ and behind the stylishly narrow ing. Martin?" And there was ven­ afra-wood desk, a fleshv-faced om in her look, all out of propor­ man in the customary bright-blue tion to the incident that had formal jacket. Behind him a huge sparked it. vistaphoto of open fields, fences, "Yes ma'm," the little man said white clustered buildings, pastur­ and his voice sounded sincere. ing animals. ABBY BULLITT There was a long silence while HORSE FARMS cut very large Mrs. Bullitt continued to stare at into the gateside panels. The size her hireling, long enough for Co­ of the establishment startled Co- lin to become conscious of his THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 13 own heavy breathing. In a reilex horse , . . a special horse of discomfort he cleared his throat and after you make it I want you and the woman's eyes snapped to to smash the mold or whatever it his face. is you use. I want it to be unique "You," and again she spoke . . . mine alone and no one else without preamble, "and you." ever to have another like it." And her eyes shifted to the space The light that had come into behind Colin where he knew Ed !\Irs. Bullitt's eyes as sl1e spoke stood, and back to his with a dart­ made Colin think shi\'eringly of ing motion of her head that some­ medieval princelings who would how made him think of a lizard have a craftsman's hands cut off he'd once seen catching flies. after he'd produced a work of art "You are the two young men for them so that he could not sur­ who call yourselves Animals To pass it for another, of architects Order?" blinded and put to death so that It was a question, but to Colin they could not build for another it somehow sounded like an ac­ prince, in another place, a palace, cusation. "Yes, ma'm," he said. a castle greater, or even the match "Speak up, speak up," she said. of, the one possessed by their exe­ ·'I can't hear you. I like people to cutioner. speak up when they talk to Ed's voice in his ear, ]ow, ur­ me." gent. "Hey, a contract for an ex­ "Yes, Mrs. Bullitt, we are," Co­ clusive animal with Bullilt Farms. lin said, louder, more than a little It may not be NavAir, but from annoyed with himself at the WliY the look of that vistaphoto behind her sharp tone had put him off the old man, it's no small-stake balance. Angry also that she cowl,d operation either. Don't haggle, bring disaster to his and Ed's man. After all, it's quick money long-held hopes if her objectien to and we've already done a lot of the their entry in the arena above groundwork with Ato." should stand. Harrison Bullitt leaned for­ "Good," the small woman in ward. Even sitting he was a big the striped riding jacket said. man, and, although he bore no The word of approval startled apparent physical resemblance to Colin. "Good? I . . I don't un- his wife, there was a certain flat­ derstand." ness about the expression in his "What is there to understand?" eyes that made the thought skim and her voice was impatient the surface of Colin's mind that sounding. "You say you can make here, Harrison Bullitt and his wife animals to order. Very well, I Abby, were two of a very unpleas­ want you to make one for me. A ant kind. 14 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "Animals To Order," Bullitt ones, shape the string to grow said. "What is it that you do?" into what we want it to be." Colin had answered that ques­ Harrison Bullitt shrugged his tion dozens of times. He did not meaty shoulders. "Sounds cut and need to grope for an analogy to dried to me." tell of his and Ed's work with the "I suppose it is, in theory. But living germ-plasm of animals; of we're dealing with a living organ­ the fascination and the monotony ism. It can be killed and quite eas­ of charting gene positions; of ily . . . or just die. A tempera­ converting desired qualities into ture can get a shade too warm or intricately interacting enzyme a shade too cold . . . or a stray patterns; of eliminating genetic cosmic ray can strike it . . • loads, the stores of harmful genes and it turns out in a way we carried by all sexually reproduc­ didn't predict. Just being alive, I ing species. guess, is enough for it to not al­ Of their bio-solutions and the ways do what you expect it to." organism growing in its succes­ "Sounds like pretty much of a sion of tanks, of the enjoyable slipshod operation to me," Harri­ tension of watching it until it son Bullitt said, and from his voice could emerge and survive without Colin didn't know if he was being their direction in the open world talked to or if the big man was and be, if they were as lucky as just thinking aloud and not par­ they were entitled to be for their ticularly interested or caring if he chosen profession was still as was heard. much an art as it was a science, But Bullitt went on. "Can you be exactly as they had envisioned switch parts around?" it at the start. Colin thought of fruit flies with But Colin's analogy was simple. misplaced wings, of experimental "Think of a chromosome as a animals with third eyes, of two­ microscopically tiny string of headed dogs. The early research­ beads present in every plant and ers had produced all of these and animal cell. Now each bead is a more, and with modem pressor gene that determines or helps to and laser beam techniques it determine some characteristic of would be even simpler to do. But its own animal or plant, like the it was one of those understand­ color of its eyes, the structure of ings that can exist between two its bones, the smoothness or men without ever having been roughness of its coat, everything mentioned or even thought of, about it. that he and Ed would not debase "What we do is sort of rework their profession by peddling side­ the beads, repair any damaged show freaks. THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 15 "We can," Colin said aloud, that can fly. Nobody, but nobody "but we won't." in the association, in the world, Mrs. Bullitt laughed shortly. will be able to top that." "That's one of the stupidest ex­ Colin could only stare at the pressions in the language. Young woman. She couldn't be serious, man, never say you won't do some but from the set of her face it was particular thing. You'd be ~ur­ plain that she was. "It's impos­ prised at the things you'd do if sible," he managed to say. "It's a the bind gets tight enough." physical impossibility." Colin had no answer for her Annoyance flared in Mrs. Bul­ except to hold his rising temper litt's pale eyes. She struck the arm in check. What answer did any­ of her chair sharply with the flat one ever have for boors, particu­ of her hand. "Don't use that larly influential ones like these word," she said. "I don't like it. two. Do you hear? I don't like it." Mrs. Bullitt dropped her heavy "But it is impossible," Colin figure into the plastiform visitor's said and he didn't know if he was chair beside her husband's desk, pleading for her to understand or letting her booted heels fly out in to hold on to his own sanity. He front of her as she did so. had never before in his life met Colin noticed roweled spurs people like this. and was surprised. He didn't Beside him, Colin heard Ed think anyone wore the spiked whistle through his teeth, softly to discs anymore, particularly to himself. "A Pegasus she wants. A ride valuable animals. flying, neighing, flaming Greek leg­ There were other chairs in the end she wants." room, two long sofas along oppo­ "A flying horse is a physical site walls, but Mrs. Bullitt did impossibility," Colin said. not wave them to a seat. Colin, Harrison Bullitt seemed amused Ed, and Martin off to one side of "Everything is impossible . . . them now, remained standing. until the price gets right. All The Commodore settling deep in right," and he sat up in his chair, the chair he'd dropped into when "let's stop this nonsense. How thev came in. much is it going to cost me?" ''I want a horse," the sitting Colin felt like a man trying to woman said matter-of-factly, keep his footing on a mound of "with wings." slippery sand. "You don't under­ "A horse," Colin started to say stand. It's not a question of mon­ and then did a mental double­ ey. It's not money at all." take. "A what?" Bullitt seemed to be getting "A great idea, isn't it. A horse annoyed. "I don't see that you 16 FAl"TASY AND SCIE!"CE FICTION should have any particular prob­ built saddle horse will weigh a lem. You said that you could thousand pounds and you know switch parts around. What's so better than I how large his muscles tough about grafting a pair of have to be just to move him around wings onto a horse?" on the ground. Even if we did The feeling of floundering on ..."he stopped himself. He was shifting sand deepened in Colin. beginning to think like these peo­ "A wing isn't just something added ple about the fantastic. onto the outside of an an.imal, and "£yen if we could," he correct­ it's. not an oversized shoulder ed himself and went on. "Even if blade. It's an integral part of the we could re-form his front legs skeleton, it has a full system of into some semblance of wings, the muscles to support it, to move it. muscle structures needed to lift Look." half a ton into the air would be He held up his arm, his fingers so huge that the poor beast prob­ extended, his hand bent down­ ably couldn't even stand under ward at the wrist. "It's like an their weight. Then to support all arm. The finger bones are long," that weight we'd have to make he made the stretching gesture the bones thicker and sturdier and with his other hand, slapped his that would add to the weight and arm. "These bones are there, ... don't you see?" he ended holding, supporting the tissues of helplessly. the wing itself . . ." "Weight," BulJitt said. "Don't "I never noticed much of a prattle about weight. Only last skeleton in a fly wing," Harrison night on TriV we saw a . . . Bullitt interrupted, not bothering some kind of a flying dinosaur. to hide the growing of his annoy­ Weight." he snorted. ance. "A reptile," Colin said, and it The sand was beginning to was quicksand he felt the suction have a sucking feel to it. "Yes, of. "A pterodactyl. But even the but a fly, any insect, has but the largest of those had only a twenty tiniest fraction of the weight of foot wing span." even a small bird. A bird," Colin Colin hadn't been watching said, grasping at a fact that would Mrs. Bullitt particularly, but now convince these two that he was she seemed to explode out of her not merely throwing up phony chair. "You see," she flung at her obstacles to milk them of their husband. "I told you there was no money. "The largest bird. A con­ point in trying to be nice to these dor. Ten feet across the wings. people. They know only one kind Weighs how much? Forty pounds. of language. All right, if that's the "Now a horse. Even a lightly way they want it." THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 17 Her eyes, flat and expression­ Ed's intent because his partner's less in spite of the anger in her next words were, "Not exactly, voice, bored into Colin's. "Young perhaps, but I do believe that man," she said, "I want a flying many legends, even the more fan­ horse. Are . . . you . . . going tastic, may well have a basis in ... to .. give ... it ... to ...me? fact." She spaced the words deliberately. Mrs. Bullitt took Ed's words for "I . . . I . . ," Colin floun­ ammunition. "You see," she dered and then was amazed to snapped at Colin. "Your partner hear Ed's voice. admits that it can be done." Calmly, rationally, Ed was say­ But Colin was staring at Ed. ing, "Now let me understand this Unbelieving. clearlv, l\Irs. Bullitt. You want us "What are you talking about?" to re~reate for you the legendary he half shouted at Ed. "What leg­ flying horse Pegasus. Is that cor­ ends and what facts?" rect?" And -Ed was looking him right Colin stared at Ed. Recreate in the_ eye and saying, "Almost . . , legendary . . . what had any legend . . . or folk saying. gotten into Ed? Like 'dumb blonde' for example. And then he heard Mrs. Bul­ You know that every once in a litt's voice. "Legendary. You mean great while someone comes up someone has already had a flying missing one of the pigment form­ horse?" ing enzymes. Naturally, they Colin's eyes snapped back to can't help but be blonde. But :\'Irs. Dullitt's face. Petulance they are also mentally retarded, seemed to be always in the set of and seriouslv. Somebodv noticed her mouth, but was there some­ the two con-ditions, ju~ped to a thing else there now? Did he see vastly broader conclusion than disappointment? the observation warranted, and Hope flared up in Colin at the there you are. But there was some method l1e thought he saw in basis in fact." Ed's apparent madness. If Mrs. Colin could only stare at Ed. Bullitt became convinced that The enzyme was phenylalaninase someone else had beaten her to and the mental condition phenyl­ the possession of a flying horse, pyruvic oligophrenia. But Ed even centuries removed in time, couldn't be serious about a Pega­ then maybe enough of the bloom sus. would be rubbed off the idea for Or could he? Ed was going on. her to abandon it. "And you remember the zoo on But he must have, couldn't the continent that was back­ have, but he must have misread breeding legendary animals?" 18 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "Backbreeding legendary ani­ "I . . . I'm sorry, Ed," Colin mals? They took modem cattle started to say, but he was inter­ and backbred them until they rupted by the opening of the door had a cow that looked like an ex­ they'd just come through. The tinct ancestor. \Vhere," he de­ Commodore emerged and slid it manded, "where are you going to shut again. He stood rubbing the get me the germ-plasm of a demi­ back of his white hair with the god to repeat the feat for a flying flat of one hand. "A flying horse," horse?" he said and shook his head. "A Taking firm hold of ·his voice flying horse." because he didn't know whether He looked at Colin. "I suppose to laugh or hit somebody or just it's impossible." bang his head on the panelled and Colin didn't feel like going trophy-hung walls, Colin said to through that one again. He nod­ the room in general, "Thank you ded. very much for your confidence in "Are you sure?" the Commo­ our ability. It is very flattering, dore persisted. "I don't want to but very much misplaced. We quote an old saw, but the one cannot build a flying horse. about doing the difficult right Thank you again and goodbye." now and the impossible taking a And he put a hand under Ed's little longer has a good deal to it, elbow and almost shoved him out I think. We are doing things to­ of the room, and into the passage­ day as a matter of course that we way, the angry voice of Mrs. Bullitt used to know were impossible." following them out. He smiled. "It used to be an "You'll be ba~k. I promise you. obvious fact that what went up You'll be back and remember, I had to come down." He paused won't be as easy to get along with and looked from Colin to Ed and next time." back to Colin again. "Have you Controlling himself, Colin slid checked any of our satellites late­ the door shut gently. ly?'' He turned to Ed. "What got into It struck C'..olin that the Com­ you? You know as well as I do that modore was beginning to sound we can't give her what she wants. like Harrison Bullitt. "I think I get Nobody can." your point, sir," he said, not be­ "Of course I know it," Ed said. cause he did, but because the "But that woman isn't rational. I quicksand feeling was back and was hoping to at least gain us a he wanted to get away from it and little time to figure out something, Abbv Bullitt's office. anything. The way it is now, Lord "No you don't," the Commo­ knows what she'll do." dore said, suddenly blunt. "I THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 19 thought of buying Ato's Pride, Their stallion was already in looked him over very carefully. his stall when they got to the ani­ Then I realized that if you can do mal-quarters level just below the for food animals what you did for arena proper. him, then you've got something I Slatted concrete floors, cush· can use. I could give you an ini­ ioned, with lagoons below to tial contract and I could defend catch the droppings. Lagoons con· it, I'm sure. But with Abby throw­ stantly running with their odor­ ing her weight around there's controlling washes. Show feeds, more to it than being willing to specially formulated to inhibit the justify your actions to an investi­ action of gas-forming bacteria. gating committee. She's thorough Everything doing its job of hold­ and she's fast. You'd probably get ing down, of eliminating, the hung up because one of your hogs characteristic offal odor. Doing it dribbled on the sidewalk." well too, but when all was said He shook Colin's hand and and done, a stable still smelled then Ed's. "You think about it," like a stable. he said. "And you look me up More than once Colin had when you get Abby Bullitt off wondered why the whole problem your back. Hear?" couldn't be eliminated at the And after the older man had source, so to speak, by just not left them to go back up the ramp, feeding the animals at shows in it was Ed who broke the gloomy the usual way. Penetra-dermal silence that he'd left behind him. units were standard items, avail­ "You know," he said, "he might able at any lab supply house. The just be right." concentrates were not expensive, "About getting Mrs. Bullitt off and they need be used only during our backs? I'm convinced." indoor shows and perhaps a short "No, about what we know is time before. impossible. We know that a horse A unit to feed an animal the can't fly and we know why not. size and weight of a horse need Maybe if we turn the whole thing use an area no larger than a upside down and start by assum:­ man's palm. There was no pain ing that a horse can flv. Now what reaction that . he'd been able to can we come up with?" detect, in fact, some of their lab But Colin's mind was numb. A animals even seemed to enjoy the horse can fly. Now the Bullitt warmed-air caress of a penetra­ virus was getting to Ed. A horse dermal feeding m~it. can fly. "Forget it," he said aloud. But, Colin supposed, a practice "Let's go secure Ato and then taken more or less for granted in check out." one field, was too startling a break 20 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIO:.-l with the traditions of another to mention of a board of trustees. be even talked about, much less He assured Colin and Ed of the adopted. Besides, from what he'd warm personal regard in which he seen of horse fanciers in recent held both of them. But when he was months, he was beginning to through talking and the phone was think they rather liked the smell back on its cradle his message was of horses. He knew that for him­ clear. self, he was beginning to find it The University no longer not altogether unpleasant. needed their unique talents in the They rubbed their animal thor­ making of its tutor-tapes. Not oughly behind his ears, accepted now, nor in the forseeable future. the condolences of the attendants "She moves fast," Fd said. for their hard luck at his not be­ "Fast." ing able to compete, showed their "She said we'd be back. I guess pass-out badges at the Manager's we could have more or less ex­ window. pected her to do something, but I He was a balding man behind never thought that this was the the grilled opening. He ran a fin­ kind of pressure she had in mind. ger down the tally-board at his It . . . it doesn't seem civilized elbow, ticking off their badge somehow." numbers. "Breaking a man's. rice bowl "Mr. Hall? Mr. West?" he said. seldom is," Ed said. "But cheer And when Colin nodded, went up, we still have an office with on. our name on the door." "Message for you to call this He laughed, and it was not a number." He passed a small fold­ pleasant sound. "That is if the ed slip through the bars of his cleaning people haven't told the grille. landlord we\•e been sleeping in it "Thank you," Colin said and for the past three months." unfolded the paper. "It's the The horse show ran from Tues­ Dean," he said to Ed. "I wonder day of one week through Tuesday what he wants?" of the next and, surprisingly to "I can guess," Ed said, "and I Colin, Mrs. Bullitt did not appear don't think I'm going to like it." to be put out when the rules com­ Colin dialed the University mittee found in their favor on the and flipped the phone switch to question of Ato's breeding raised multispeak so that Ed could hear. by her. The Dean sounded embar­ "You know," Ed said, "I don't rassed and he talked a great deal think she really wanted to win of the fine work Colin and Ed this one. After all, if she'd man­ were doing. He made a passing aged to get our entry disqualified THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 21 this time around, then she could­ It was after they'd checked out n't very wen have expected any and were striding up the ramp to animal we might build for her to the street that the thought hit Co­ be eligible, if she had in mind to lin. enter it in the future." He caught hold of Ed's arm "I think she might expect a spe­ and pulled him to a halt. "Ed," cial class, if not for her flying he said, "how do you know a horse, then for her." horse is a horse?" But Ed could be right. She Ed pulled his arm away roughly. meant only to keep their entry "I'm in no mood for jokes right out, to give them a charge, to en­ now," he said, "so do. me a favor courage them, she might say, to and skip it." see things her way. ''I'm not kidding. How do you He and Ed had won in the know a horse is a horse?" committee room, but it turned "All right, Mr. Interlocutor. out to be an academic victory. How do I know a horse is a horse? When they got down- to the stable Because it looks like a horse. level they found the shield-shaped That's how." Ed stopped. "You sheriff's notice taped to an up­ can't mean. . . ." right of Ato's stall. Some confu­ "That's exactly what I mean," sion among their creditors, the Colin said. "Tum our problem bank being chiefest. Until it inside out. Don't try to build a could be straightened out, their horse and make it By, instead, assets, Ato's Pride included, were take a creature that can fly al­ being impounded. ready and make it look like a Sudden, impotent, frustrated horse." fury poured through Colin. It was­ Ed was laughing. Colin n't quicksand. It was a solid brick thought he heard a hysterical wall and he was backed against note in the sound. it. He clenched and unclenched "A . . . a • • . thousand his fists . . . and felt complete­ pound bird." ly helpless. "It wouldn't weigh a thousand Ato's Pride made a little danc­ pounds. Birds are built different­ ing movement with his hoofs. He ly from horses. Hollow bones. tossed his head, his nostrils flar­ ••. Are you listening?" ing. But Ed was still laughing. "A "I'm upsetting our horse," Co­ • .. a horse with feathers." lin said. "Let's get out of here." "What is a feather if not a "Yeah," Ed said. "Yeah." And modified hair • • . and vice Colin noticed that his face was versa." white and he too was shaking. Ed was wiping his eyes. "Hoi- 22 FANTASY A:\"D SCIENCE FICTION low bones. Did you ever heft the said. "We're going back and we'll bones on a thirty pound turkey? sign her contract. We'll give her You build an animal as big as a something. I don't know what, horse, it's going to weigh like a but believe me, it will look like a horse. You've still got half a ton horse . . . and I promise you to lift into the air, and it doesn't . . . it will fly." much matter whether it's a horse At the Arena they found Mrs. muscle or a bird muscle that tries Bullitt in the Manager's office rat­ to do it. It still is an impossible tling a fistfull of papers under the job." balding man's nose while the Ed was right. To end up with handful of clerks in the room what theY. wanted, they would made it plain that they were too have to start with something just deep in their work to see . . . or as special. ''I'm sorry," Colin said, hear . . . what was going on. "1. . . I'm just not thinking Fleetingly, Colin wondered if she straight." wore those roweled spurs to bed. They made their way on up She did not seem surprised to the ramp and walked ·the not-so­ see them, nor did she seem in­ great distance to their office build­ clined to take Colin and Ed to ing. Colin laughed shortly when her own office. She half-turned they came in sight of it. "It's a away from the manager, the pa­ cold night. I hope 1\frs. Bullitt pers still clutched in a fist, to face hasn't managed to have us locked them. "You're back," she snapped. out." "I told you you would be." Colin thought he was making The waspish tone of her voice a bitter joke, but when they might have made Colin tum reached the door of their office, a around and walk awav from her small green placard hung on its only the day before. Now, in some knob. The terms of their lease perverse way, it made him stand dearly prohibited the use of the his ground. premises as living quarters. He was surprised at how quiet Would they kindly be ready to his voice sounded. "Yes, Mrs. vacate in the required three days. Bullitt. I think we're reach· to ac­ "She is a witch," Ed said, his cept your assignment." - eyes staring. The woman in the striped coat But all Colin could do was and boots made an abrupt motion pound his clenched hand against to one of the clerks and the girl the wall of the passageway until came to her immediately. "There's the pain of it brought him to some a blue envelope on my desk. Get semblance of calm. it," Mrs. Bullitt snapped. The girl "We're going back," he finally scurried out the door. THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 23 "I knew you'd be back," she and she meant to compel them to said to Colin and Ed. ''You see, give it to her for nothing. Abso­ it's all a question of understand­ lutely nothing . . . or else. ing people. It always is. People Under a University grant they never know what they can really do could, of course, use its facilities, until they absolutely have to do it its equipment, but at no profit to or else." themselves, not even a mention of She smiled and her face looked their names if the University was smug. "All I ever do is provide the not disposed to lift them from 'or else'." anonymity. Colin held his tongue, but be­ He ran his eyes down the page. side him he could hear Ed breath­ It was the standard University ing heavily. form, printed, with the usual The girl clerk came back and blank spaces for additional items Abby Bullitt took the long blue left to be filled in. envelope from her hand and But the items filled in were dropped it on the Manager's coun­ anything but usual. ter in front of Colin. "Sixty days," Colin gasped, his "Sign it," she said, leaving it eyes, unbelieving and dazed, mov­ to him to take out and unfold the ing from the smiling woman, to long shape of the contract for Ed, and back again. "Sixty days?" himself. "A little added incentive to Colin ignored the slight, but at keep you from dawdling," she his first glimpse of the printed said. "I know how you people like form he looked up at Mrs. Bullitt, to stretch things out when you puzzled. "This . . . this contract think you have hold of someone is with the University. I don't un­ you can take advantage of. Surely derstand. Yesterday your hus­ in sixty days you ought to have band .. ." something to show me. Now sign." "Yesterday's contract was with Ed took the contract from Co­ me. Today's is with the Univer­ lin's nerveless fingers, it rustled sity." loudly in his shaking hand as he She smiled and now she glanced down it. "Sixty days and seemed to be thoroughly enjoy­ we guarantee results." He flung ing herself. "I told you then that the contract on the counter. "The I wouldn't be as easy to get along way that's phrased, we could go with again." to jail for outright fraud if we And suddenly Colin was aghast don't deliver." as the full implication of what she Abby Bullitt had her arms meant to do struck him. She crossed in front of her, tight. She meant to have her flying animal, said nothing. 24 FANTASY A;\"D SCIENCE FICTION Silence hung in the room. that already flew. "It's a cosmetic Abruptly Ed snatched the problem now. Not engineering. It Manager's chained-down pen doesn't have to be a horse, it just from its stand and scribbled his has to look like a horse." name across the bottom of the Weight against size. Colin stiff paper. He shoved contract thought of fish that could distend and pen at Colin. "Here, sign this themselves with air. There was and let's get out of here." large size with small weight. He Through a haze that was red thought of a litter of fox terrier and gathering, Colin signed and pups he'd once handled. All flung down the pen. "Would you were solid, chunky, heavy in the like your horse to be of any par­ hand. All but one. The same size, ticular color," he said bitterly, but lighter than the others, so and was aghast to see that Mrs. much so that his hand had come Bullitt seemed to be taking the up unexpectedly when he'd question seriously. picked it up. It died, but it had "Arnold," she said to the bald­ been lighter. ing manager, "what is the name of They slept in the C niversity that liqueur we had at the Hunt dorm, ate in the cafeteria, and dinner last Wednesday?" they worked. Together at first, "Chartreuse, Mrs. Bullitt. then, as time pressed them and Chartreuse." there was still not a glimmer of "That's it," she said, and then success, they worked separately to to Colin. "Make it chartreuse." spread their investigations. And suddenly beside Colin, They worked with the cells of Ed was laughing and he didn't birds. Searching for size without seem able to stop. "A chartreuse weight. Speeding the develop­ horse. A flying, flaming, char­ ment of their dividing cells as treuse horse." much as they dared, projecting And in the open air of the the rest of the development by street Ed was still gasping. "Oh, a computer when they had even a chartreuse horse." tentative pattern to program, "Why not? A chartreuse horse guessing at more than they should is just as logical as a flying one." have. Ed went off in another fit of Anything, anything at all, that laughter. "Logic. Oh, my aching was large and could lift itself • • . logic. He's talking about from the ground. That to start logic." and the hope of plastic surgery, But logic was what they used transplants, for the rest. at first. Logic and Colin's wild Nothing. Not a thing. idea to start with a living animal Sixty days. Mrs. Bullitt. A THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 25 reckoning . • . and a reprieve. and set them up to be bombard­ Not of their asking, but of her ed. This one projected. pretty brother-in-law's, the Dean's, light for its size so I let it devel­ pleading for them, for more time. op. Just now it tried to attack A reprieve. A reprieve and a me." new contract. A contract the He held up a hand, the edge of Dean walked out of the room and it was bleeding. "It ran on its hind would not watch them sign. legs and took off right into the air Sixty days. No more. And this at me, its front ones going like time a cash penalty. Added. If crazy. So help me, Colin, I think they fail, they must reimburse the it was trying to fly." University in full for the loss. It was a lizard all right, non­ They seldom saw each other descript brown, the size of a smaD now, Colin and Ed. They slept dog, sitting on its haunches. And when they could, worked when Ed was right, it did look as they could, ate if they could. Ed though it was trying to fly when was trying irradiated cells now. it leaped for their throats and Gathering them from wherever he struck its teeth at their padded could. arms instead. "Sure it's as subtle as a shot­ They took what cells they gun," he'd said, "but nothing alive might need from it and, because today is of any help to us. We've it was so patently vicious, they de­ got to come up with something stroyed it. new." Cells died. That was expected. "That is a typical panic re­ Others went awry and were de­ sponse," Colin said. stroyed. But one. One cell devel­ "What else have we got left oped well and its tapes projected but panic?" Ed wanted to know. well. And then one blearv afternoon Sleek reptile head forming. Colin came awake in the dorm to Earless. No problem. Ears are Ed's shaking him. "Wake up," Ed easy to form and attach later. was saying, excited. "I think I've Front legs shaping up as tme got a lizard that's trying to make wings now, clawed toes long, well like a bird." membraned. Transplant leg buds Colin tried to shake the weari­ from another developing cell te ness out of his eyes. "A lizard?" chest of prime animal and hope "Yes, I got to thinking about musculature will develop enough how birds and reptiles are dis­ to support them. Compatability of tantly related, so I went over to tissue no problem. After all, aren't the reptile house, picked up what they actually all from the same cells I could, brought them back animal. 26 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Coloring a bonus feature, now, needs open air. Try it tomor­ though. They did not work for it, row. Call Mrs. Bullitt. did not plan it, but their animal University Field. Clear, beauti­ seemed to be developing a green­ ful day. They'd produced a mag­ ish, golden cast to its sleek skin. nificent animal. Ed laughed. "She might have her Golden green in color. Its nat­ chartreuse horse after all." ural position at rest seemed to be And the tension. The unholy sitting on its haunches, front feet tension. Out of its tank for days resting on the ground, the claws now, still won't eat, but seems to had fused into very acceptable be doing well on pcnctra-dermal looking hoofs. Its great wings not regimen. And as light, beautifully folded flat and down against the li&}lt as the tapes had predicted. body, but carried high so that University gym. Transmitting tl1eir tops, the leading bony edges implants in position, tapes set up, curving gracefully behind its monitoring screen ready. Long head and high arched neck, gave tether. Running, on hind legs like it a remotelY haloed look. predecessor, wings spread. Glide, The tail, ·although Colin could not true flight, a glide. Too weak not see it from this angle, was yet, too undeveloped. More plastic not like a horse's, and not like a work needed on that reptile head. lizard's either, but ftat and used Teeth also, still too carnivorous like an airfoil. A handsome beast, looking for a horse. Glad this one and, holding it by the bridle it is docile, not like its pappy. had learned to wear, Colin was Tushes. Remember tushes. After at once proud yet fearful of it. all, he is supposed to be a male Made uneasy by the look in its horse, you know. Why won't it eyes of waiting, of a biding of eat? time. Where is that Bullitt lllom­ They were working together an? now, but exhilerated. Intuiti8n mostly, no mapping. Pointless. She came, and riding a horse. To map, you needed the devel­ Ed swore and reached to help oped animal to see what its genes Colin hold their animal's bridle, would become. And if they did but it did not shy. It had never manage to develop one to suit seen any animal larger than a lab Abby Bullitt, what was the need dog before, but it seemed no more for a map? than mildly interested and stayed More trials. Flying now. Really sitting. flying, no tether, comes when But not Abby Bullitt. She'd whistled for, obeys hand signals dismounted and stood in front of too. Open air, too large for gym their animal now, hands clasped. THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 21

"He's beautiful. He's beautiful," blended in the sound. Was it de­ she repeated over and over, look­ light . • • or terror? Colin could ing up at his great head towering not tell. above her. The mount and its rider Colin looked away from the dimbed higher. The screams light in her eyes. She looked were fainter now, but the terror in hypnotized. Abby Bullitt's was plain. Toward And now Colin felt his animal the river and the tall cliffs be­ move. The biding eyes were look­ yond it the animal flew. And then ing down at Abby Bullitt, and it and the screaming were gone. slowly, magnificently, the great :But, airborne, it had been seen wings spread. Spread in a move­ and heard, and now the crowd ment Colin had never seen before. was gathering. Spread upward and outward until On the rim of Colin's con­ they seemed to blot out the whole sciousness the voice of Ed was of the morning's sun. shouting. "Oh," the woman gasped. "Oh, "Now don't worry. We know I must ride him." exactly where they are. The trans­ "No," Colin said. Something mitters, the police can home in on was going on here that he didn't the data transmitters. . . ." understand and his feeling of un­ But Colin wasn't really hear­ easiness was deep. "No, he's never ing him. Colin was staring at his been ridden before. Never even jerry-rigged monitoring screen. mounted." The pattern of light darting and But Abby Bullitt had her hand swirling across its face was a on the bridle. "Let go," she said. strange one for this particular ani­ "I must ride him." mal, but one not strange at all to "No," Colin said and then his Colin. He'd seen it before, many hand was bloody where she'd cut times, constantly almost, with it with her riding crop and Ato's Pride, and he recognized it snatched away the bridle. now with a growing horror. She flung herself onto the ani­ Somewhere, greedily, slaver­ mal's shoulders, into the hollow ingly, the Bullitt beast was at between the high-carried wings, long last feeding. her sharp spurs gouging. It screamed and it ran. On its Hunched, wrapped in blan­ hind legs as Colin had so often kets, holding steaming mugs, seen it do, its grafted front ones Colin aDd Ed, in the cockpit of tucked in, birdlike, and then it the patrol boat that had pulled was in flight. Again it screamed them out of the river. Ed still and now Abby Bullitt's voice was shaking his head. 28 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "It went for us. Did you see cling around them, great wings bow it went for us?" Railing. Lips drawn back from Colin didn't answer him, its bloodied teeth. knowing that Ed wasn't looking Claws. It looks like it's got for him to. Remembering the two claws on those feet and not of them in the police coptor, with hooves. the pilot and the man with the And then it struck. Like the heavy carbine. Tracking their ani­ huge beast of prey that it was. It mal, homing in on the emitting struck, swooping down upon signals of its data transmitters them from above and behind until, on the rocky face of the with a speed impossible to evade; cliffs, halfway up, they caught with a whistling and a shrieking the glint of the sun on its gold­ that Colin was sure he heard even green skin. above the clatter of their own "There!" Ed shouted, pointing, coptor blades. and the coptor hovered close. And into those blades it Crouched it was, on the jut­ plunged, and the impact was tre­ ting shelf. The great wings half mendous. unfurled, opening, closing, They hung there in the clear twitching. sky for a heart-stopping moment; "Do you think she's still alive?" the screaming animal and the the man with the carbine said, maimed machine. Then they fell. then, "Forget it." Fell the few hundred feet to the It rose to meet them. Hurling river and, into its chilling waters. itself at them with a ferocity that Beside Colin the coptor pilot brought to Colin's mind the vivid shivering in his blankets called image of its dog-sized predecessor. out to the man at the patrol boat's "Move!" the man with the car­ wheel. "See it yet?" bine was shouting at the coptor "No," someone called back to pilot. "Swing this thing aroundl him, and the man who had lost Give me a clear shot!" his carbine pulled his blankets But the pilot had already closer and said, "Forget it. He's swung his craft. Hanging on its not floating with all the lead I screw, he'd turned it like a pend­ put into him." ant bubble and the man was fir­ They were waiting for them ing. on the jutting dock when the Again and again Colin saw patrol boat swept close. On the him jerk with the recoil of his dock and coming out to meet heavy weapon but the great fly­ them in their hovering craft. The ing animal was still airborne. vidcasters, the reporters, the cu­ Upon them now it was. Cir- rious. Tl IE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS And after them the TriV cov­ 'Why not?" Ed said. "It's the erage of the inquest, the investi­ least we can do to show him our gations, the public's blatant, and appreciation for the contracts he's their colleagues' more discreet, wangled for us." inquiries into how they produced Colin laughed. "Those he says their miracle, until at last even he doesn't need to defend, not Ed turned to Colin in their office any more. But he doesn't want to one morning and said in genuine get fouled up with any committee dismay, "I know I wanted pub­ investigating expensive presents licity to put us over the top, eut to government people." enough is enough." "Tell him to take the horse and Colin smiled and waved the stop worrying," Ed said, and pale blue vac-tube message his from his expression Colin could secretary had just handed him. not tell if he was kidding or not. "The Commodore says thank "If they fire him, a growing or­ you but he doesn't think he ought ganization like ours can always to accept Ato's Pride from us, not use a good man who knows his as a gift anyway." way araund Procurement."

SPECIAL SUMMER ISSUE

Next month's July issue (on sale June 2) will feature CANTATA 140, a complete short novel by PHILIP K. DICK. It involves a most unusual presidential cam­ paign, and you will not want to miss it. The supporting cast will include several especially fine short stories. That small girl may, as an old woman, be still alive, who, walking , with an elder through a torch-lit cave in Spain, espied something which had lain buried in the Urn for centuries; and whose aston­ ished and pleased cry of Torol Toro! first disclosed to modern eyes the incredible speluncular murals of the stone-tool men. The bison bulls of Altamira and all their painted kith are no longer sus­ pected, as once they were, of being hoaxes. The what of them is accepted as a truth. The why may still be said, with measured caution, to have remained a mystery. Stephen Barr, who-like T_heodore Sturgeon-lives in fortunate Woodstock, New York, is the author of THE HOMING INSTINCT OF JOE VARGO (F&SF, Dec. 1959) and CALLAHAN AND THE WHEELIES (Aug. 1960). He takes the currently commonest viewpoint on cave art, takes issue with it simply and plausibly, takes us to see­ briefly and vividly, by the burning bracken and the smoking wick of the grease lamp-an hour quick and splendid and terrible in the days before men began to call on the Name of the Lord.

THE MASTER OF ALTAMIRA

by Stephen Barr

INSIDE IT WAS STILL VERY COOL, smelled of damp earth made the almost cold, and it was beginning pale flame of the stone lamp to get smoky from the grease lamp. flicker. He moved it over to his left They could smell Spring coming side to shield it. One of the women in like a warm draft from the out­ got up and went to where she side. could watch better. "Why do you keep doing that?" "He makes the animals and said an old man. then we, the hunters, go out of the "He makes animals that way," cave and the animals are there," said the strongest son. The one said the strongest son. One of the who was painting paid no atten_­ other young men grunted. tion. A small gust of air that "He does not go out to hunt." 30 THE MASTER OF ALTAMIRA 31 The painter paid no attention. The strongest son said, "It is a He put down the wet lump of bison with three legs which we ochre he was holding and picked can catch easily." He turned his up a piece of cinnabar and dipped face around over his shoulders at it into some grease in the hollow the others. "See: he makes the of a hot stone. game so we can catch them." "Why do you keep doing that?" "Sometimes they stand so that said the old man. they have three legs," said the "When the spring grasses are painter. "This one has." up," said the young man, "the ani­ "It is a great magic," said an mals will go away from this old woman. place. The ones that he is making "He makes the animals," said -and the ones outside. Then he will the strongest son. "This is not have to come with us." magic. The animals are there "In my day ..." said the old when we go out." man. "I like to do this," said the A woman said, "Shush! Your painter. teeth are gone, old one." A man sitting outside the mouth "You shut up," said the strong­ of the cave holding a granite ham­ est son. "Weed-picker! Root-dig­ mer over his knees said without ger!" He reached out and slapped turning his head, "Two men are at her. She giggled and moved to­ coming." The young men got up wards him. She was his half-sister from the piles of dry bracken. The and would soon be his mate. strongest son hissed at them and The painter put the piece of they all stayed absolutely still. cinnabar down on the edge of the Then he went to the man who was hot stone and wiped his right hand watching and listened with him. on his thigh. Then he picked up Inside the cave the women who the lamp and held it high over his had children took them to the head and stood back. The great back. The painter scooped up some shoulders of the bison had a rich molten grease with his hand into red glow from the cinnabar. The the lamp. It sputtered and flared neat front feet, the little hooves, up more brightly. were poised together. Over toward "Who are they?" said the the back of the cave was a blank strongest son very quietly to the space on the wall. He walked to it watcher. "Can you smell them?" and looked at it. Then he came He looked back at the young men back to his colors and hot grease. and made a throwing gesture with A young man said, "It doesn't his arm. Without taking their eyes look like a bison: it has only three from the opening of the cave they legs. Where is the other leg?" all picked up their throwing-flints 32 FA!\;T.~SY AND SCIENCE FICTION and came towards him. and they walked with their full The watcher said, "It might be weight on their feet. As they got to the two brothers: the ones you the edge of the faint circle of light drove out. They have bear-meat around the mouth of the cave they . . . it's too strong. I can't tell stopped. One of them let out his yet." breath noisily as they eased the "What's happening?" said the carcass onto the ground. old man. "An offering!" he shouted. "Shush," one of the women said There was a pause. and began to stroke his face. To­ "\\'hy?" said the strongest son. wards the back of the cave the Another pause. The newcomers drip of lime-water was audible whispered together for a moment. and the soft cooing sounds that the "\\'e have no stones. Can we mothers made to quiet their chil­ come to the cave?" dren. None of these made any "No! Leave the offering and real noise. come tomorrow with the sun­ The painter had put his lamp light." on a ledge and stood looking to­ Back in the cave the old man wards the opening, with his hands said, "What are they shouting hanging down at his sides. Once about?" he looked up sideways at his work. "Shush, I said!" said the wom­ Outside the young men stood an. She stopped stroking and hit with distended nostrils and their him on the mouth. He smiled and heads turning slightly from side to nodded his head. The painter side, to catch the direction of the went on with the aurochs, frown­ approachers. The watcher said, ing and squinting his eyes. "Yes: now I can smell them-the "It is a great magic," said the brothers." old woman. She couldn't see the The men moved silently out paintings: she was quite blind. into the darkness: it was impossi­ Outside, the men with the bear ble to see where they went. Even­ started to hoist it to their shoul­ tually some of them were halfway ders again. up the nearby trees, others up on "Leave the meat!" the face of the rock overhanging "We want to see the animals he the cave. The painter had gone has made." back to work. He was drawing a "No! They are ours: you may small aurochs in the blank space not look at them." on the wall. "Bear meat!" he said. There was the sound of the "Ha!" bear being lowered onto the grass. The two men with the dressed "Tomorrow? With the sun­ bear made no secret of themselves, light?" THE MASTER OF ALTAMIRA 33 "You can come with the sun­ can find nothing now across the light to the cave, but you may not hills. All the game is here in this look' at the animals. They are our cave. Nothing is left for us." The magic." watcher began to turn his head to­ The painter came to the mouth ward the place the faint sound of the cave with the lamp in one had come from. The strongest son hand and a piece of charcoal in stayed still, his eyes on the broth­ the other. "Shut up!" he shouted. ers, trying to get the new smell, "Children! Toothless old women!" but the bear was too strong. The The strongest son and the watch­ first flint hit the watcher in the er turned towards him glaring and throat, cutting it open. with their lips drawn back from Some of the young men ran in­ · their gums. The two men with the stantly to the mouth of the cave, meat watched this carefully. Then but most of them waited to drop they looked quietly over their as nearly as they could onto the shoulders and back again at the backs of the men that came run­ other three. ning in from the darkness. The The watcher put his hand on women were bringing out armfuls the strongest son's arm, and his of burning bracken which they mouth close to his ear. "Others put in front of the cave in a heap. have come," he whispered. The Their hair was singed, and they two men left the bear and came were shouting and stamping in a forward into the light from the loose rhythm. Nobody paid much stone lamp-they had obsidian attention to the fire. The strongest hatchets hanging from their wrists son held a man in his arms and by gut loops. The painter saw all dashed him onto the ground, and this. turned his head and snapped at He said, "The animals are one of the brothers who was crawl­ mine," and went back into the ing towards him with a stabbing cave. stone, and blood coming out of his Nobody moved. The newcom­ mouth. There was a tremendous ers stood confident and grinning number of these new men. with their shoulders hunched up. Some of the new men, the ma­ They were fingering the willow rauders, were now in the cave. grips of their hatchets, their eyes Most of the children had been first on the cave and then towards killed by this time, and now they the dark woods. A faint sound were looking at the women. Their came from the other side of the way of standing when they did clearing. this was to sway on their legs from "We must see these animals," one side to the other and make said one of the newcomers. ''\Ve their faces become lifeless. The 34 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION women most of them had their back to the body of the old man mouths open and clenched their and hacked at it again. eyes, holding their dead children. Some men came into the cave Near the mouth of the cave the carrying the painter, who was bit­ young man who had complained ing and grabbing. "Here is the mak­ about the painter was using both er of animals!" they said. "Show his hands to hold the wrist of an us where the animals are!" They enormous and unbeatable man. raised him and brought him down He thought he could hold this ter­ hard on the floor. Then they looked rible strength away. at the walls of the cave. Their One of the men who had got eyes were flat, and when they into the cave said, "Where are the came to the paintings the colored animals?" lines meant nothing to them. One The old man pointed at the of them said, "He must have an wall: he was too feeble to be amulet." frightened. The marauder looked Another one standing next to at the wall, searching for hanging the painter's body turned it over dried meat or crevices. He turned with his foot. "No," he said. "He furiously on the old man. "The hasn't any. He hasn't any magic." animals-the ones the magician The first one said, "I knew it has here! Where are they?" He was a lie. Come." killed the old man with his obsi­ It was an. hour or so before day­ dian axe before he could answer. light when they left, taking the He turned and looked at the women with them who were still wall again, his nostrils widening alive. They went back through the as he caught the smell of the spring woods, picking up the bear grease. He went over and sniffed meat on the way. They went down along the thick lines of the draw­ across the swamps and waded a ing. He sneezed because of the dry­ river that was there then. Finally ing ochre, and stood away from they and their shouting were lost the wall. He looked up at it again in the deep forest on the other side and tensed his muscles. The red of of the distant hills. the cinnabar in the bison caught In the cave the flame in the his eye, and he reached forward stone lamp guttered out. In a little and tasted it wit:h his finger. He while a glimpse of the dawn sun stared at the tip of his finger and made the bison's ruddy shoulder back at the wall. Then he went glisten with the congealing grease. BOOKS

ANALOG 2, John W, Campbell, ed., notion in Allen Kim Lang's tale Doubleday, $4.50 that dirt-farmers like the Amish can serve to help an agriculturally This is actually the third of the primitive society on another plan­ series, PROLOG TO ANALOG et up the road to technology, but having been the first, and is in the tale is so arch and cute that I my opinion a better book than felt over-full of schnitz-un-gnepp ANALOG I. Let's get into it. ·long before it was over. Other The notion that the future will see contributors are Mack Reynolds, weather control has appeared in James H. Schmitz, John T. Philli­ various SF stories, and the how fent, Christopher Anvil, and R. of it carried along the whole of C. Fitzpatrick-the latter with Theodore L. Thomas's The by far and away the best story Weather Man. It is both intriguing here, a brilliantly-done handling and logical that the men who di­ of a bran-new theme: emotional rect the weather should be more reactions show up a Ia radar on a powerfol than governments; and device's screen in police stations; the author goes right to the source, experienced operators are thus en­ i.e. the Sun, in detailing how abled to prevent crime . . . it's done; " ... a thin stream of sometimes. By no means as simple protons could be extracted from as my over-brief summary may in­ . . . a sunspot and directed dicate, the story is first-rate from against any chosen sunside part any angle and worthy of appear­ of Earth." Good. And how? By ing anywhere. sending men in space ships en­ veloped in a "thin film [of car­ GHOSTLY TALES OF HENRY JAMES, bon] [which] protected the en­ Leon Edel, ed., Grosset, $2.25 tire Boat from the searing heat . . . the way a drop of water Professor Edel is the Henry rides a layer of vaporized water James man, and, apparently as­ on a red-hot plate . . ," I don't suming that we have all read believe it for a minute, but it's a these stories as often as he him­ good story anyway. There's a nice self has, helpfully supplies each 35 36 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION one with an introduction in THE mLLS OF DIONYsus, Clark Ash· which he deftly manages to re­ ton Smith, privately printed. lieve us of any degree of suspense which we might otherwise have Ah me, it seems so long ago experienced in seeing for our­ that I climbed a crumbling old selves. Evidently we are expected tenement in the lost land of to read for style and moral alone Zothique to consult an astrologer -and, truth to tell, style and there. And here is a memorial moral is about all they have­ volume of selected poems by mine and, truth to tell, I don't care a erst guide, a labor of love by Roy hoot for either. I approached this A. Squires and Clyde Beck. Most collection with a negative indif­ of the poems, to quote the for­ ference to Henry James which I mer, "are not ... fantastics." did my best to overcome, I worked But some of them are, notably the hard at it, I didn't succeed. The lovely Amor Hersternalis- whispy, gauzy, precious, man­ Our blood is swayed by sunken nerized pieces-period pieces­ moons of the famous expatriate arouse And lulled by midnights long fore- in me nothing stronger than a de­ done; · sire to say that the emperor has We waken to a foundered sun no clothes ... But I will con­ In Atlantean afternoons; cede that perhaps he does have Our blood is swayed by sunken clothes and that only some un­ moons ..• fortunate malocclusion of the op­ -so, the first verse. This is a col­ tics prevents me from seeing lectors item, caviar to the general them. For those who can see them, (and if that appears with a capi­ and who want to see them all, tal g, heads will roll), and I list here they are: The Romance of the particulars as a public service. Certain Old Clothes. De Grey, A There are 3 3 poems, set and print­ Romance. The -Ghostly Rental. ed by hand, editions as follows: Sir Edmund Orme. Owen Win­ 65 copies on Warren's Antique, grtl17e. The Friends Of The paper cover, $3.75; 100 copies Friends. The Turn of the Screw. on same paper, casebound in half The Real Right Thing. The Third cloth, $6.50; 15 copies on Ham­ Person. The Jolly Corner. Joe ilton Andorra, casebound in full Kaufman's cover is typical of this cloth, with poem signed by CAS class of fancy paperbacks. I believe laid in, $25; "postpaid anywhere, I know what might have done Mr. net to all." This review is over­ James and his fiction a world of late and I don't know how many good, but I cannot be franker in a copies are still available; inquir­ family magazine. ies to Roy A. Squires, 1745 Ken- BOOKS 37 neth Road, Glendale 1, Califor­ CHARLESTOWN GHOSTS, Margaret nia. Clark Ashton Smith is often Rhett Martin, University of South compared to H. P. Lovecraft, his Carolina Press, $3.50 contemporary. A striking differ· ence between their poems is that Books by university presses Smith's, here, are so often devot­ used to follow a rather certain ed to love: a subject conspicu­ pattern. A Syriac, Chrestomathy ously absent from the recent vol­ With Paradigms From The Bib­ ume of Lovecraft's poems re· lical Chaldee might be one typi­ viewed earlier. cal title; and, for another, Esau Tatum Sloate, West Dakota Pio­ neer ("The University Press ac­ THROUGH THE ALIMENTARY CANAL knowledges the generous assist­ WITH GUN AND CAMERA, George S. ance of the estate and family of Chappell, Dover Books, $1.00 the late E. T. Sloate in making possible the publication of this . volume.") Add, perhaps, Euphe­ Well, well, it would be nice to mia Nethersole, Poetess of the say a nice word about this nice Old Poosapipick; and Industrial old (well, it seems old: 1930) Lard Rendering, 1880-1920, and work, now reprinted, which con· there you have the general pic­ tributed an enduring phrase to ture. Things have changed a lot the American language, although with university presses; only, the phrase itself was actually with the University of South Caro­ coined by Robert Benchley, who lina Press, maybe not so much. did the introduction. 0. Soglow, Viz., CHARLESTON GHOSTS, of Little King fame, is the illus­ by Margaret Rhett Martin, a south­ trator. The attractive little book em gentlewoman whose "art is "a satire of . . . academic training was put to practical use pomposity and ... cliche-rid­ when she opened an interior dec­ den travel literature," and some orating shop in Columbia [. . . ] notion of its style and contents is she is zealous in the arts of gar· indicated by chapter headings dening and creative flower ar­ such as We Go To The Head, ranging." At least one of the short Down To Digitalis, We Fish For sketches is based on Mrs. Martin's Phagocytes, In Cardiac Couutry, personal experience at Old House The Sources of the Bile, &c. Mild on Edisto Island, where she saw and old-fashioned, it may still re­ the hant, "quite distinctly, [of] a tain some of its original appeal to small man in a nondescript gray those who like their humor that suit and a gray hat. His eyes were way. cold and mean and full of hate." 38 FANT.-\SY AKD SCIENCE FICTION Some of us might have Bed the the well-known Fourth Avenue scene in loud terror. Not Mrs. M., booksellers, Biblo and Tannen), who "dozed fitfully until the which first launched the Bur­ clock told me that I might ven­ roughs Revival by reprinting ERB ture downstairs. I put on a robe books in the public domain, and and, after fortifying myself with the Estate of Edgar Rice Bur­ coffee, joined my hostess on the roughs, which greeted this action piazza." I am filled with admira­ with roars more of outrage than tion, and would not dream of dismay, have since kissed and doubting her for a minute. Many made up. Canaveral now pays of the tales are memorable in oth­ royalties on all the volumes and er ways than the authoress in­ is the authorized hard-co,·cr pub­ tended. The experience of being lisher (Ballantine Books is the tied all night to a tombstone in official soft-cover publishers). Childsbury graveyard, ghastly as One result of this has been the it must have been to the child vic­ release of l\fSS locked up since the tim, isn't nearly as much so as her old master's death in 1950. And name-Catherine Chicken. As one result of this has been SAV­ for Dr. Joseph Ladd, murthered in AGE PELLUCIDAR. To quote a duel by Ralph Isaacs, I can only Turgenyev, "One doesn't know say that the exempla of the doc­ whether to be glad or sorry." tor's noetrv Tl1().~e charms which TARZAN AND THE TAR­ beautify the nobler part/Which ZAN TWINS is billed as "the shine, fair maid: which centre at only Tarzan book which Burroughs your heart/ . . .") convince me wrote expressly for younger read­ that Isaacs was justified on liter­ ers." Good enough-but it is hard ary grounds alone. My favorite, to believe that SAVAGE PEL­ however, is the old lady of Old LUCIDAR was written expressly Goose Creek Plantation, who only for older ones. Of the two, the haunts people who read novels on juvenile is much the better-writ­ Sunday instead of attending di­ ten. In neither one is there much vine service. These itty-bitty tales trace of the characteristic bum­ are amiably and inoffensively blingly-ornate prose style of told. ERB's earlier writings, and while it is hardly missed in the kiddy SAVAGE PELLUCIDAR; TARZAN AND book, its absence is felt in the THE TARZAN TWINS, Edgar Rice other, for there is hardly anything Burroughs, Canavarel Press, $3. 50 else to make up for it. SAVAGE each etcetera is illustrated, inside and out, by J. Allen St. John; and Roy Canaveral Press (a branch of Krenke] did cover and interiors BOOKS 39. for THE TARZAN TWINS. In Saint, Escapade, Rogue, and others. this instance the pupil seems to As before, there is a brief essay have outstripped the master. ("Summation: SF 1962") by the editor, and a briefer one ("Books") THE 8TH ANNUAL OF THE YEAR'S BEST by Anthony Boucher. She is in er­ sF, Judith Merril, ed., Simon and ror, however, in identifying Walter Schuster, $4.50 Kerr, author of The Decline of Pleasure, with Walter Kerr, author An interesting and arresting of many poems published in F&SF. jacket design by J.,awrence Ratzkin My favorite story is the delightful graces the indefatigable Miss Mer­ SEVEN-DAY TERROR by R.A. ril's octave volume: published in Lafferty-my favorite of those '64, compiled in '63 from stories which I see here for the first time, published in '62. Haste is not one that is; the very good Gerald Kersh of the volume's faults . . . in­ and the really unusual R.C. Fitz­ deed, the volume has no glaring Patrick, for example, I mentioned faults, and has, I think, benefited in my reviews of the latest SEP and bv the inclusion of more stories and ANALOG anthologies. Among the exclusion of the chunks of non­ Name Authors, the 8th SF includes fiction of the sort found in earlier Harrison, Finney, Brunner, Leiber, volumes of the series. As before, Anderson, Aandahl, Bradbury, Miss l\1erril searches out and draws Ellison, Ballard, Brown, Clifton, upon sources not often used by Reynolds, Pohl, Russell (Bertrand, other· SF anthologists-Harper's, not Ray), Henderson, Dickson. The NY Times, SEP, Playboy, -AVRAM DAVIDSON

PUBLICATION NOTED:

Asimov, Isaac. The Human Brain. Houghton. $5.95. Non-fiction, illustrated. The Human Body. New Amer. Lib. 75¢. Non-fiction, illustrated. Bergaust, Erik. The Next 50 Years in Space. Macmillan. $5.95. Astronautics. Clarke, Arthur C. Profiles of the Future. Bantam. 60¢. Cleary, Jon. A Flight of Chariots. Morrow. $5.95. Novel of astronauts. Cummings, Ray. Beyond The Stars. Ace. 40¢. De Camp, L. Sprague. The Hand of Zei; The Search for Zei. Ace. 40¢. Del Ray, Lester. The Mysterious Sky. Chilton. $3.95. Non-fiction. Dick, Philip K. The Game-Players of Titan. Ace. 40¢. Galilei, Galileo. Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences. McGraw. $2.95. Gunn, James. Future Imperfect. Bantam. 40¢. Short stories. Lovecraft, H. P. The Dunwich Horror and Others. Lancer. 50¢. Thomas, Shirley. Men of Space. Chilton. $5.95. Biographies, illustrated. Van Vogt, A. E. The Voyage of the Space Beagle. Macfadden. 60¢. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. Dell. $1.65. Mr. Walton here con;ectures vision of a time when everything which now clutters up society-vice, crime, and impermissable urgings-have been cleaned off and tidied away . . . or have they? It is said that whenever the Supreme Soviet revises history, subscribers to the Soviet Encyclopedia are sent fresh-printed pages to replace the no-longer-applicable ones. Even if these are obediently razored-out and returned to be burned or pulped, even if the bright new ones are compliantly pasted in, still, still, there must always remain the awkward etJidences of repa~r.

THE PEACE Wii.TCHEBS

hy Bryee Walton

CHIMES ANNOUNCED A, GENTLE Everyone in this whole honey eleven-thirty curfew, and Peace of a world was warm together in Watchman Jimmy stopped whis­ one big sweet sculpture. Jimmy tling. smiled up at windows going dark. His patroling footsteps assumed Hundreds of eyes closing with af­ quiet reverence as all New Sunny­ fectionate winks for Jimmy. dale Apartment project doors and "Goodnight, Jimmy. We're all windows closed, locked, automati­ with you with love." cally sealed off human sound in ''I'm with you." air-conditioned and noise-proofed Jimmy hardly ever had to give rooms. out citations for social violations Watchman Jimmy faded to an after curfew. He'd used to hand ubiquitous shadow slipping around them out by the dozen. For litter­ the walks among uniformed trees ing, not curbing a dog, walking on and manicured patches of unruf­ the grass. Even a few instances of fled lawn smooth as glass pools. defacing public property, like But Jimmy felt a part of every with those kids carving their ini­ family up there closed off cozy and tials on fountain stones. There safe together. His genial young face were still some after-curfew viola­ wore a serene smile pinned to it tions. And a few peace disturb­ like a part of his uniform. ances, like that woman last week 40 THE PEACE WATCHERS 41 being scared dumb by an insect, Jimmy said with official gentle­ whole family panicked by a bug in ness. "Miss, it's late." But she did­ the kitchen. None of them includ­ n't answer, Jimmy smiled. "Hey, ing Jimmy had ever seen one of the it's after curfew, miss." ugly, poisonous little devils before, She watched him. She couldn't but he'd taken care of it neatly be a sleepwalker, like that poor enough. A Peace Academy gradu­ guy. Hopkins. Her hands wiggled ate, or so went tradition, could deal up at him like pale fish fins. neatly with anything. "Peace-watch-" And sleepwalkers were still seen "Yes, I'm the Peace \Vatchman." occasionally. They were usually "llp there-ba-ba-badddd brought back before they got lost " in the unpatrolled darkness and "\\"hat?" Jimmy still smiled as poisons of unsterilized zones. Any she ran to him and both her hands local 1\Iental Health Clinic held hard, but shivering, to his promptly cured a returned sleep­ arm. Her white face twisted. walker. Sleepwalkers weren't ser­ "Blooo-bloooo-" ious, of course, and they were Cold touched Jimmy that was getting scarce. But Jimmy wished not of the summer night or breeze. there were none at all. He was He held the girl up with reassuring oddly disturbed by even the grip and smile. "We don't want an) thought of a sleepwalker. social demerits do we? Now where Jimmy walked his beat. His do you live?" serene smile bobbed between walls "Deee-deee-" Her mouth of glass, chrome, brick, gleaming worked on without a sound like a steel and new white concrete. The pink-rimmed gill. Her eye~ moonlight reflected spanking new· stretched and strained toward a ness and a reassuring fragrance of nearby post-light. fresh anti-septic construction. It "Now, now." Jimmy's voice had sang around Jimmy, a big rebuilt assumed a doctor's confident reas­ engine in which no one heard a surance and confident kindness. knock or a squeak these days, not a 'Would you please give me your rattle or a ping. apartment number?" Jimmy stopped, then slipped to "307 -North-wing-" She the sidewalk's edge. No, it wasn't a bent away. Why, she was vomit­ new statue set up on the grass ing. He watched with puzzled since last night. It moved. Yes, a compassion. Some simple stomach girl. A slim girl in white pajamas. upset. Then why hadn't she or her Not a sleepwalker he decided family pressed the emergency but­ quickly. She saw him, motioned ton to call the local clinic's ever­ to him. A sleepwalker wouldn't. ready health corp? '42 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "I'll take you home. What's your serious crime. Like using hostile name?" language. Or maybe someone in "Lois-Palmer-" her family had been smoking ciga­ "It'll be all right, Lois." rettes. Some people still were "What will?" turned into addicts when they "Everything. You'D see." stumbled onto coffin nails buried somewhere. That was about the She finally let herself be per­ worst, Jimmy thought, his ear to suaded into the building and up in the door. What a shock it must be the elevator. But she kept pulling to see a loved one helplessly tempt­ back. Fever? Jimmy wondered. A ed into damaging the sacred tissue reactivated germ or old virus? Un­ and cells of life. How awful! But predictable little emergencies, mi­ Jimmy seemed to feel a quick, dim, nor accidents occurred, though not but precise excitement, as of a often. Jimmy had to adminster pleasure far in the future or lost in first-aid untU the clinic bovs the past. His smile felt strained. He showed. She might be stunned, jerked open the door. shook up, surprised by something. Lois promptly marched in ahead This diagnosis didn't satisfy him of him. He went in, shut the door. either. He felt sweat gathering at Lois turned her whole body slowly the edges of his hair. as if no part of her could move But as they approached the door separately from the rest. Jimmy _to apartment 3 0 7, she stopped followed her stare to the bedroom holding back. She walked firmly door, then his own gaze pried and looked straight ahead with a down to the rug. curiously blank expression, sort of The usual frantic, very selec­ like that sleepwalking Hopkins tive mental clicking occurred in now. But no, Jimmy thought, puz­ his head. His brain took in only zled. Not like that either. the minimum data necessary for "Here we are," be said, still with action. Blood. Holes in a broken a kind of smile. But his hand did­ skull. Eyes looking at nothing, as n't quite touch the doorknob. He dead as burned-out fuses . •listened. A corpse. Jimmy's eyes closed. A well­ He heard it again. A sound like oiled series of conditioned re­ an animal sniffing and panting. A sponses and associative patterns dog of course. what else? It faded went into action. After initial off, but Jimmy still hesitated. He conditioning by Psyche-engineers glanced at Lois who stared blankly at the Peace Academy, every at the door, waiting. This might be Watchman was regularly re­ the symptom of a. very rare but cheded, kept everready. Key THE PEACE WATCHJ>ItS 43 sounds and behavior and visual anti-life had not been entirely fil­ stimuli such as the sight of a tered out. To cope with it, the corpse, triggered a Watchman to Watchman had to admit even the immediate crucial action. existence of the unspeakable-the Death. Is this cessation of life deliberate killer, the monster, the the result of natural cause? An ac­ murderer that might be waiting cident? Or a symptom of the psy­ and hiding anywhere. cho, a victim of deliberate vio­ A Watchman could be aware of lence? all facts for a while, even know That had to be determined at why. He could know that universal once. peace had become necessarv for But between Jimmy who smiled human survival. He could. also and walked his beat, and the Jim­ know that the worst of conceivable my suddenly made aware enough diseases, then, was emotional. to take appropriate action, there Even the mildest symptom of hos­ was an inevitable spasm of sus­ tility could no longer be tolerated. pended shock. For a moment he The ultimately lethal virus was knew what color his dreams would anti-life. It was also the most con­ be if he ever remembered one. Red. tagious. All were terribly vulner­ Thick syrupy red. Hot and lapping able. No one seemed immune to at the white beach of his brain. fear and vindictiveness. No his­ Reawakened memory and neces­ toric sickness could burst into such sary awareness were always hor­ flaming epidemic and all-devour­ rors. They reached up again to ing plague. It had to be totally seize Jimmy like embalmed erased from all society or there dreams. Memories, images of un­ would be no society. The vindict­ leashed hostility continued- to ive virus had to go, preceded by the trickle on his brain like melted wiping out of its seedling fears. ice. So every new community every­ He leaned on the wall, head where had its Mental Health Clin­ back, eyes closed, mouth open, ic. The concentration was almost breathing shallow, as his face entirely on prevention. Hostility paled. It was like a moment of must be destroyed at its fear-roots. threatening dissolution. To act, a Out of sight, out of mind. It was Watchman had to admit the exist­ never seen. It was never spoken of. ence of the old disease-of that It no longer existed for people in which, in any normal state, must the light of day or conscious rea­ never even be named. Hate did re­ son. And at night all the world occur. Hostility still festered. The sleeps. vindictive heart still pulsed its All except the Watchers of the hunger to destroy. The virus of Peace. 44 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION And a Watchman could accept 'What do you want now?" Jim­ it only long enough to seal every­ my called through the door. thing about it off. Clean it up as "Just let me go out of here and if it had never happened. where I want, buddy." "\Vhere?" Jimmy opened his eyes and "I don't give a damn where. pushed off from the wall. Now he Anywhere away from you bastards didn't smile. His face seemed older, always watching and prying and lined. He blinked slowly while all measuring." points of light in the Palmer living "Why?" room multiplied as though the fo­ "None of your stinking peaceful cus behind his eyes had also sud­ business." denly changed. Only a hint of odd "You'll only do the terrible thing distortion remained in him, an in­ to yourself you did to Palmer." ner disturbance that even now must Hopkins laughed. "That's not not be more deeply defined or all, buddy. I go, Mrs. Palmer goes named. But he was calm, com­ too. I got this old biddy in here still posed, positive of every necessary alive and kicking a little. Know procedure. He had to be. It was a what else, buddy? I got more of matter of immediate quarantine, of what Palmer got. Plenty more pow­ the prevention of universal er where that came from." plague. ''You can't even get out of the - He moved, with a minimum of project," Jimmy said. thought or conscious feeling. "Maybe you won't either, you He knelt near the corpse, stud­ phoney little peace bastard." ied the oozing holes in the old Jimmy's mouth twitched, almost man's skull. He lifted the ID tag, imperceptibly. checked a photograph against the "I do something that's my idea, features on the rug. He went to the just mine and the hell with you bedroom door and kicked it open. prying bastards, that's all," Hop­ Two pale faces bobbed in semi­ kins yelled. "Stay off me. I found darkness. One cried out. The other this mean old black Betsy out in snarled. Jimmy slammed the door. the dark. It'll blow little old Mrs. He had recognized the face of Palmer's brains all over the damned the former sleepwalker, Hopkins. community center. I found a box Hopkins yelled through the door. full of slugs too, buddy. One for "Stay out. Let me be or you11 get every phoney peace creep gets in more like Palmer. A lot more before my way. I'll pile you up out on the I'm through." lawn. Won't that be something for Lois still stood looking blankly the peaceful morons to see in the at the wall as into a fog. morning?" THE PEACE WATCHERS 45 The conditioned directive "Mrs. Palmer. Hopkins threat­ flashed in Jimmy's mind; he knew ens to use the weapon on her if we where the stud was. In the design don't let him get away." on wallpaper near the top of the The ~line went dead. Jimmy door. He pressed and metal jaws stood behind Lois murmuring whirred and gave a stolid snap as soothing words as he took a plastic the door and wall fused into a bar­ vial from his belt kit, broke the rier of steel. Every new project antiseptic seal, slid out a glass had, on the directive of the Mental hypo syringe. He held Lois' arms to Health Authoritv, been constructed her sides with his left arm. With his with facilities ailowing any apart­ right hand he gave her a quick ment or room to be sealed off. skilled injection. She sagged, face Jimmy walked back across the softened and flushed with color. living room to the phone by the As Jimmy eased her down on the couch. He dialed the number that couch she smiled and gave a sleepy had clicked in his mind. little laugh. "I've seen you, you're "Special Services. Lieutenant Watchman Jimmy. You're cute." Manfred here." "So are you, Lois. Now go to "\Vatchman Hynes here, sir, on sleep." scene. New Sunnydale Apartment She yawned. "Goo'night, Watch­ project. Northwing, apartment man." 307:Class-A syndrome, that which "Goodnight, Lois. Happy must not be named, sir." dreams." "How many victims?" He stood, frowned down at her "One. Mr. Jerald Palmer, resi­ tranquil face. You could never tell. dent." They were all conditioned to blot "What about the psycho?" away and blank out certain con­ "Recent sleepwalker name of tagious sights and sounds. But you Hopkins, a neighbor of the Palm­ could never be sure. Something ers. I sealed him off in the bed­ contaminating kept slipping room, but he's got a hostage in there through here and the:J:.e, germin:Jt­ and an antique weapon. Class-AC ed in secret, burst out later, like power hand-gun. He's also got a with Hopkins. , box of slugs." But that was a MHC problem. "Witnesses." Jimmy could only watch and be "Palmer's daughter, Lois, She's ready. Ready to seal everything off. properly cut off or seems to be." Erase evidence. Clean, rinse, steri­ "They usually do seem to be. lize • Quarantine her and stand by." "Yes, sir." Lt. Manfred appeared to be "Wait, who is the hostage?" weary except for bright little eyes 46 FANTASY Al':D SCIENCE FICTION working everything in the apart­ Lt . Manfred turned. "Oh yes, ment over with quick selective skill. you're Hynes. I work with so many, He wore a sagging gray topcoat. I sometimes forget." He had thinning hair. He studied "I understand, sir." Jimmy awhile with the direct un­ "And you look so young. But age blinking gaze of microscopic lens­ isn't a factor at all is it? Of course es, while two men in the disguising not. Has nothing to do with rela­ clothes of ordinary citizens en­ tive immunity. They don't know tered, unfolEied a stretcher, put what makes some less vulnerable Lois on it and carried her out of than others. Some like Hopkins the apartment. can't resist at all. Why not? Why Then Lt. Manfred walked him?" around the foot of the corpse and Jimmy watched Lt. l\fanfred's listened at the bedroom door. face with growing suspicion. He "It's sealed," Jimmy reminded didn't answer. him. "Why in some do brain adhe­ "Oh yes." Lt. Manfred looked at sions unseal so easily and release his watch. Then he looked through dj_scovery after vicious discovery the window at the moonlight. supposed to have been buried? There was no sound anywhere un­ Poor devils." His mouth was set til he finally spoke. "Yes-another hard for a moment. "But then I sleepwalker." suppose it can never matter much "Less than a month ago," Jimmy why some are less vulnerable. than said. others when all of us are vulner­ "No doubt now at the clinics able-to some degree. Right?" I'm sure. Sleepwalking's definitely ''Yes, sir." Jimmy's skin tight­ a symptom of contagion. They ened. Why was Lt. Manfred em­ nearly always move after dark and phasizing the obvious? Was he just they're never conscious of doing it. thinking, speculating out loud, But they're compelled, against or was he dubious of Jimmy. Care­ their conscious desires. That's the ful perhaps, cautious, testing pos­ power of the damn thing!" sible weakness. Testing Jimmy's "I know," Jimmy said. power of resistence, the degree of "They find lethal items hidden awareness he could tolerate. out there in the dark. Could never Jimmy wiped his mouth on the find them awake-wouldn't even sleeve of his uniform. know about such things. They "Come along, Hynes." Lt. Man­ bring them back, hide them-and fred looked at his watch, smiled a later they go psycho. That's the little. "Odd how they usually coop­ pattern." erate with us and act at nights, as "I know that, sir: if they know. we can never do our THE PEACE WATCHERS 47 work during the rather harshly re· ward five, I believe, a permanent vealing light of day. They seem specimen, number 76 is it? I think compelled to help us. Wonder that would be in the new Retained why?" For Continued Research Sector." "I wouldn't know, sir. I'm only a The nurse was already checking \Vatchman." through a wall·projected file. ''Yes, "Just as I am basically. Mustn't number 76. Preserved research speculate on clinical matters, specimen, involuntary. Cataleptic right? Isn't healthy is it?" ward. You want him?" "I can't see what use it could "Yes, for two hours." be," Jimmy said. "Purpose? Strictly an official Jimmy followed Manfred into form enquiry." the hall and sealed off the main "Of course. The purpose is­ apartment door. In the elevator, he Peace." had a tight queer feeling as though "Yes, sir," the attendant said he were made of glass and that the nervously, and pressed a button. slightest thing might shatter Steel double doors behind the at· him ... tendant opened. "Three doors There was only sporadic emer· down, on your right. It opens au· gency traffic after curfew. Their tomatically from the outside." Special Services car that had been . "I know, thank you,'' Lt. Man· waiting for them outside the North fred said. w!ng was now the only car on the Jimmy couldn't remember if he road. Its motor made no more had been here before. sound than the sealed~ff sleeping There were probably things breaths from thousands of blacked· he couldn't remember, and even out apartments. more reasons why he never would, or never should . . . Jimmy followed Lt. Manfred, Number 76 sat motionless on a who carried a black nylon bag, steel shelf. It was built out of the down a corridor on the third floor wall in a small square room and of Statesville MHC Quarantine was the only furnishing. His close­ and Confinement Center No. 294. cropped head, small for the spread At the end of the corridor, a male of his shoulders, was scarred and attendant looked up from behind a the same width as his neck. His steel desk. There was nothing on skin was pale and ftaccid as he top of it but a console board flick· looked steadily up at an out~f­ ering. He looked at Lt. Manfred's reach window wand toward a hazed Peace Police card and stood up hint of moonlight. He gave no r& quickly. "Yes, sir?" action when Lt. Manfred and Jim­ Lt. Manfred smiled. "Closed my entered. 4X FA'\T.\sY Al':D SC!E:'\CF. FICTION Lt. Manfred turned the man's Watchers. There are replacements face down from the faint light. It even at Headquarters. Someone remained lax. His eyes were dull you know, some morning when and mildewed and reflected noth­ you come to the office, you find he's ing. gone. But you do seem to have ex­ "You seen this one before, ceptional resistance and control, Hynes?" . Hynes. I'll definitely recommend "I don't think I haYe, sir. I don't you to the Board. But you must al­ remember if I've ever handled this ways keep close watch on your­ kind of emergency before. I mean self." when you need to use one of the "Yes, sir." old ones." "Every case like this is just an­ Lt. Manfred's grin was quick, other test, Hynes, for us. How hard and sour. "76 had a rather much you can forget is vital. How revered name once. Chief Bane. much vou can remember is vital. One of the best. J'rc used him be­ It's th~ delicate balance. Yes, in­ fore." deed, Hynes. Forget a bit too much. "We need him because of !\Irs. you're gone. Remember too much, Palmer?" _ you're erased. No on ever knows "Partly. Sometimes it isn't easy how long he can go with a minimal to apprehend and quarantine a degree of operative memory.- You psycho. They aren't usually armed feeling all right, Hynes?" lethally like Hopkins, or threaten "Yes, sir." us with a hostage. Under special "Good, stay alert now." circumstances demanding vio­ lence, we need a special agent Lt. :\-lanfred still held the big like Chief Bane." Lt. Manfred's man's face between his hand;, face was suddenly tired and studying it earnestly. He took the drawn. "Yes, we keep some re­ plastic case from his pocket, got served for the dirty work. The out the vial, then the syringe. work we can't touch because we're "Hold him." too clean. We can't go that far Jimmy held the big man from can we, H¥,pes? \Ve're not that behind during the quick injection. immune are we?" As blood pumped the drug into Jimmy felt that twitch along his Bane's brain, Lt. Manfred said in mouth. "You don't have to explain clipped tones, "Calling Headquar­ all of that, sir. I already know ters, Chief Bane. Calling Chief that-" Bane, Headquarters. Chief Bane, Lt. Manfred smiled thinly. emergency ... emergency ..." "Sure you know, Hynes. But there The flab turned hard under are casualties even among Peace Jimmy's hands. He lost his grip THE PEACE WATCHERS 49 and was flung back against the ished boots. He slapped angrily at wall. Bane shook his head and ex­ his belt. ploded to his feet. Transformed "Where's my forty-five? Where by forces deliberately kept dor­ is it. Where's my big bastard?" mant in him but now awakened, "In the bag," Lt. Manfred inter­ Bane's face became fierce, even rupted quickly, and just as quickly vicious in a cynically grinning wiped from his face an expression way. It turned corrugated above of curious distaste. the brows. His hair began to shine "Leave it til we get outside." and ripple on his skull like a wet Bane frowned. "Who the hell animal's pelt. His eyes turned to are you giving me orders?" the brittle shine Qf gray metal "The only one who can give you shards. His muscles tensed and orders, Chief. Don't you even re­ swelled. "How the hell did I get member your Commissioner?" He tied up here?" smiled. "Let's go." ''You ran into some tough char­ Lt. Manfred opened the black acters, Chief. You needed a little bag as they approached the door of therapy." 3 0 7. He turner! his face away as he "Me?" handed Bane the weapon. Bane "You don't remember?" jerked it from Lt. Manfred's hand Bane stared with concentrated with an exultant grunt and spun absorption. He shook his head. the cylinder. He thrust himself. at "So what if I don't? Just remind me once toward the door. Lt. Manfred who the dirty finks are and I'll grabbed his arm. "Wait," he said, take it from there." and unsealed the door. "First is a special job. Chief. Bane's shaven head angled. He You can do it but no one else can. didn't understand the heavy me­ \Ve wouldn't trust anyone else." talk grinding in the walls. Such Bane's eye shone as he thrust his safety innovations had been in­ bullet head forward. His fingers stalled since Bane's quarantine flexed. "What's the squeal?" years before. Lt. Manfred put the black bag Jimmy avoided contact with on the bench, unzipped it, took out Bane as he hulled in through the a blue uniform and soft black boots. door. He gave them to Bane who began Only the black smudge on the dressing with fast implacable rug had changed, spread, turned grace. There was no wasted gesture darker, shone with a slight gleam nor any suggestion of lost balance, now like dried shellac. Bane had of fumbling. been briefed. He stepped casually Then he stood resplendent in over the corpse and looked at the full uniform. He stomped his pol- bedroom door. 50 FA;.;'TASY AND SCIE'\CE FICTIO"'

Jimmy watched Lt. Manfred descent blue~black thing, snub~ unseal the bedroom door then move snouted, eager, hungry, horribly away along the wall like a shadow. beautiful in some way. It glinted He sensed unwanted memory uncertainly then as through a film. arousing itself and sending a per~ It seemed to melt down like choc~ vasi\'e fear through him. He shuf~ late ... Bed backward into the wall. Lt. Lt. 1\Ianfred looked out the win~ Manfred was there leaning down. dow again, checked his watch. He studied Jimmy a moment, Jimmy slowly ran the Oat of his looked quickly away. Too quickly. hand along his wet mouth. Of Jimmy hoped it didn't show on his course it had to be cleaned out be­ face, but inside somewhere deep, fore daylight. It must not be seen. something itched and crawled like Nothing spread so fast and was so a spider. Something he dared not all~consuming as mental conta­ even name, not c\·en as an aware gion. Horror seemed to branch out Watchman. It wasn't purged. It everywhere in the darkness outside wasn't gone. It was there still, the window, out there in the dark~ cached away somewhere, hiding ness surrounding all the sealed off and waiting in the mind forever. senses and blinded eyes of night. He watched Bane and was sick~ He looked awav from the win­ ened not by Bane but by himself. dow and the night: He had thought He recognized the Bickering ad~ for an instant it was snowing. But mission of his own hunger, his own it was summer. He thought he had fascination at what he saw. He seen it through the clean sterile should feel that this was only an moonlight. The falling of slow and unavoidable necessity in the cause sootv snow. of Peace. But as he watched Bane "i.Tnderstand you're to try and his own pulse pounded faster. He save the woman," Lt. Manfred said. watched Bane's power and violence Was he really as controlled, as cool eager and free for release and en~ as his voice sounded? Who really vied him. He began to smell the knew? Who could know? Who acrid, residual chemistry of violent really knew about any of them. interaction building up. He Who knew about himself? What if reached up, felt saliva on the back Mrs. Palmer was saved, quaran­ of his hand. tined, cleaned out and returned to He felt the exhilarating concen~ the project? tration with which Bane studied You never knew if they were en~ the door. He could feel the horrible tirely clean. antique power gun coming up to "Slim chance to save her," Bane shine in the light, to dance like said flatly. He moved slowly toward something viciously alive, an iri~ the bedroom door again, grinning. THE PEACE WATCHERS 51 He stopped. He took another step. through the door. Blasts pounded Grinning, tantalizing himself with Jimmy's head. He wanted to find his own slowness, dallying with it, the door, get out, get away. But playing with it, loving what the something in him bound him to the world must not even name. Find­ wall in that block of frozen fasci­ ing it sweet . . . nation. He reached, found, Jimmy's sweating hands slid flat gripped Lt. Manfred's arm. across smudging wallpaper. His "Help me, sir," he said. breath burned. He knew that look He didn't hear Lt. Manfred an­ of Bane's now, that look of heavy swer. Flat roaring explosions anticipation. He had associated rolled out of the bedroom. The the look always before only with walls quivered. Fire seared Jim­ loving a woman. But he must never my's eyes. think of that vile comparison again Screams- -never-never-again- A high breaking cry "1 bust in," Bane was saying. "Speed, surprise might do it. De­ Silence stretched the moonlight pends if he opens on her before me. as Jimmy waited. His breathing If he doesn't I can get him first. If was quick and hard and his mouth he does, the woman's gone, that's was open and dry. He thought all. Unless I can get him quick something cold was crawling down enough, right in the head say." the cramping walls in the dark. It Lt. Manfred wore an odd smile, seemed to bend his body. It straight and all teeth. "If anyone reached for his brain. He moved can do it, Chief, it's you." away from the wall, kept moving, Bane shrugged. He took one made himself find the switch and more long stride to the door. bring back the light. i\Iouth firm, eves watchful, his en­ Bane leaned against the wall by tire body poi~ed and attuned to the shattered door into the bed­ \Try special and unspeakable ac­ room. His right hand pressed into tions, he laughed. He laughed low his stomach as though his thick and soft but with some kind of spe­ fingers were squeezing a tomato. cial ecstasy. Then he hit the light Jimmy stopped. He bent with arms switch. The room went dark but folded into his own belly, while out for a column of moonlight that of what ought to have been an im­ seemed to cover everything with a mense safe stretch of time and clin­ faint shine of frost. In the moon­ ics, jealous and naked patterns light Bane was etched out in a repeated with savage desires. primitive pattern of charcoal. The "He got her all right, first thing," weapon glinted. Jimmy heard the Bane said, his voice still sounding splintering impact as Bane crashed strong, but with a long space be- 52 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION tween each word. "First thing." His beautiful to them. Sometimes I al­ face was gray. It sagged under his most wish I could remember-" eyes. His eyes did not seem like Jimmy leaned against the wall. eyes now, but like black holes shot "\Vho was he? I mean, before?" there with a gun. His chuckling "Some local Chief of Police." Lt. laugh sounded like an animal Manfred's grin was only on. his noise. "But I fixed that nut though. mouth. "Not the Peace Police of He was frothing, that kind . . . I course." put him away . . . for good . • • Everything actually had been that one . . . for the freezer .•• carefully timed .. call . . . call . • . meat . . . wag- A minute later the cleanup men on . " arrived. They wore special suits, He started to fall. He straight­ although they looked on the outside ened. His eyes flared up again for like ordinary everyday clothing. a moment as though the pain and They went to work with their horror of that which must not even sprayguns. They hummed from the ·be named in the light of day, had bedroom. brightened and sharpened him to First the dissolving fluid. some inhuman degree of clear­ Then the sterilizing spray. mindedness. Then he collapsed on While Lt. Manfred called Con- the floor. trol Central. Lt. Manfred went into the bed­ "Peace Police, Field," He said. room and came back out. He moved "Lt. Manfred reporting K-58 slowly and seemed very tired. He cleaned up. Please list apartment hesitated, then knelt down beside 307, Sunnydale Project, vacated, Bane. cleaned, ready for occupancy. "His last job for us. Four holes in Thank you." him." He replaced the receiver. Lt. Manfred put one hand over The cleanup men finished with his eyes. "They feel so good doing the bedroom. They came into the it. It makes for a tough cure, you living room. The dissolving gun know. But when they're all gone, I made two long, slow, but steadily mean the ones like Bane, when consuming sweeps of its nozzle. they're gone, who'll do the dirty The remaining stuff of Bane work. Who'll do it then, Hynes?" and Palmer, stains, every sort of Jimmy's mouth felt partly para­ leftover, dissolved. Disappeared. lyzed. "Maybe by then we won't Antispetic spray hissed every­ need them." where, settled in a dew, quickly "No?" He looked down at evaporated. Bane's face. "He still looks happy, Then the cleanup men went out see? Something about it is horribly into the hallway and shut the door. THE PEACE WATCHERS 53 "Ready, Jimmy?" constant check on one another?" "Yes, Jimmy. And none of us Jimmy looked at Lt. Manfred. can know how many times we give His face was not altogether clear. way. Because each time we know, A mist seemed to have gathered be­ we have to forget. Forget often tween them as Jimmy tried to and long enough. Well-it should speak, tried to push himself away finally be dead forever. One day from the wall, but was afraid to cast there'll be nothing to forget." off from it again. Something in Something tingled through Jim­ him no longer seemed safely bat­ my like tiny shivers of glass. "How tened down at all- often does it happen everywhere, Lt. Manfred's eyes swam up every night?" A warning signal clear, and close, gentle and under­ flashed in his brain, pulled him standing. They shone with a warm up. unspoken nexus of common bind­ I'm afraid that wouldn't be ing memories. wise to know either, Hynes. But The Peace Police officer's hand quite often I imagine. However came up into view. The hypo­ they'll be weeded out. Someday dermic syringe shone as the plung­ there'll be nothing anyone will er moved back and a needle curved have to remember or forget. Re­ down. member to forget, or forget to "Nothing to be ashamed of," Lt. remember-" He coughed slightly, Manfred said gently. "Much we then pressed his lips together. For can't know, but one thing we do­ a moment his eyes wandered as if we know that any of us can lose he were thinking of some other control and fail to resist. It always time or place, then he frowned. happens, sooner or later." "That's the thing, Hymes. Every­ "How many times?" thing's got to be completely steri­ "We can't know that. It would­ lized everywhere. Absolutely clean. n't help if we did." Or there won't be anything. Will "That's why we have to keep a there?"

IT'S CORRECT TO CLIP! Filling in the coupon on the next page oft'ers the following advantages: I. Guaranteed monthly delivery to your door of the best in science fic­ tion and fantasy reading. 2. Reduced rate-it's cheaper to subscribe than to boy your copies at the newsstand. 3. An essentially unmarred copy of this issue-the coupon is backed up with this box, and its removal does not aft'eet the text of the surrounding material. 54 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION He smiled a bit sadly perhaps sounded the end of curfew as win­ at Jimmy. He raised the syringe. dows and doors unsealed and Jimmy winced. "They'll give me opened to the clear, crisp purified mine, too, Jimmy, at Headquarters. air. Don't worry. It's nothing special Voices, radios, electric hum­ for you. We all get it." ming, distant traffic warmed to "Is that the truth, sir?" a vast and happy drone. · "Sure it is. So until next time, Jimmy started whistling as he Watchman, good work. And happy walked out of the project toward dreams." the homebound tube. He smiled There was a vast burning pulse serenely at a very blue and empty when the needle went in. sky. The clean newness of his How many other times, he won­ world seemed even cleaner and dered again, and maybe he had al­ fresher and newer in early morn­ ways wondered about that. He also ing air. The sun itself might have knew, as he stopped knowing any­ been new. thing, that that was one of the As he looked back, he stopped most important items one should whistling a moment. That face always forget watching him from that corner window of the Northwing. Watchman Jimmy finished the He knew every tenant. But he last round of his night's beat. Day was sure he had never seen that poured smiling over the project face before. and bubbled between the build­ Must be a new tenant in 307. ings. It sparkled and danced over He waved. parks and playgrounds. Chimes "Welcome, neighbor," he said.

------···------Mercury Press, Inc., 347 East 53 Street, New York, N.Y. 10022 F-6 Send me The Magazine of FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION. I enclose 0 $4.50 for one year D $11.00 for three years. Name ...... •...... · ....•...... •••.• · • · • • • • · · · ..... Plecue print Address ••••••...•••.•...... •...... •... · · · · · • · · • · · · · · · .. City .. .. • • • • • ...... State • • • ...... • Zip # ...... Thirty-one year old Jack Sharkey, piano-player and composer, ex-PFC (Special Sevices), ex-high school teacher (English), ex­ advertising copy writer (Sears, Roebuck), ex-unsuccessful free­ lance writer, is the author of THE SECRET MARTIANS (Ace), two crime novels-MURDER, MAESTRO, PLEASE, and DEATH FOR AULD LANG SYNE (Abelard-Schuman; Holt,' Rinehart & ·winston), numerous stories in other SF 1TI(Jgazines, and non-SF stories and humor articles in the slick magazines, "most notably Playboy." He took time out last July 14 to get married, in which project he was assisted by the ex-Miss Patricia Walsh of Chicago: since Mr. Sharkey drove a Renault Dauphine and Miss Walsh was a French teacher, "Bastille Day seemed sin­ gularly appropriate." This story of Bob Terrill and Valerie his wife, may perhaps bring tremors to other mature (we do not say, "middle-aged") husbands of beautiful young wives: but not to us. Of course, we do have this tooth that's been bothering us, but­ Nonsense! Piffle! Readers, read on.

TRADE-IN

by Jack Sharkey

HF FELT THE PAIN-A SHARP, ly to the figure that lay curled be­ short knife-jab of pain-as he was neath the bedclothes, "I believe I rinsing his mouth out after a thor­ have a loose tooth." ough brushing. Seeking the source, The figure stirred, and a sigh he pushed his upper lip away found its way through the dark from the teeth, exposing healthy green blanket and rumpled coun­ pink gums and bright white inci­ terpane, then Valerie emerged sors. He prodded, pushed, tugged slowly at the upper end of the tan­ - And felt the pain again. More gle, like some honey-haired young annoyed than anything else, he moth forcing an egress from a rinsed and dried his hands and flaccid cocoon, and regarded him went back into the bedroom. steadily with sleepy brown eyes. "Do you know," he said musing- "Bump it?" she inquired. 55 56 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "No- At least, not that I can "I- I guess maybe you'd better." recall. Though I'm sure I'd remem­ While she dialed, he arose and ber a bump heavy enough to loosen began to dress, trying not to listen a tooth. It's a front one." to her conversation. Despite him­ "Let me see," said Valerie, self, however, he paused in the hunching up on her elbows till the midst of pulling on one sock as pillow supported her back against she repeated the time of the ap­ the headboard, and she could lift pointment aloud. "Today?" he her hands to push back the tangled said, with a quite boyish pout, as skein of her hair from the pleas­ Valerie replaced the receiver and antly long face, with its pointed slid out of bed on the side oppo­ chin. site where he sat. "He can't be a "Here," said Bob, sitting on the very good dentist if he has so edge of the bed and leaning to­ much open time." ward her. His forefinger pried up "He's excellent," said Valerie, his lip again, and he said, slightly standing in the bathroom door­ incoherent through the interfer­ way. "He had a cancellation." ence, "Th' fran' one- Onna Bob moistened his lips, then righ' ..." said, "You know- It doesn't have Valerie obediently took the in­ as much of a sting as it did . . , dicated incisor between her thumb Maybe it was a touch of neuralgia, and forefinger and gave it a little or something ..." In the doorway, wiggle. Bob instantly said, Valerie repressed a smile, and just "Mmmph!" and pulled away, com­ looked at him until his gaze pressing his lips over the area. dropped. "See?" he said, after the flash of "All right," he said, just as pain had subsided. though she'd been vocally insist­ Valerie nodded. "It looks all ent. "All right!" right, though . . ." "Two o'clock," she said, before "Maybe it's in the root," he said, shutting the bathroom door. ''I'll with unenthusiastic self-diagnosis. call you at work at one-thirty and "I wonder if I bit into something remind you." too hard-?" "I'll remember!" he said irrita­ "Shall I call the dentist?" his bly to the closing door. When he wife suggested, with calm con­ was sure it was quite closed, he cern, sliding over toward the bed­ added, "I won't be able to think of side phone. anything else today!" "What for?" he said, with sharp abruptness. Valerie simply lay Dr. Haufen stood by the win­ there and looked up into his face dow a long time, studying the until he reddened, and mumbled, small, still-damp X-ray negative TRADE-IN 51 in the tiny clamp. Bob, .slumped "Out?" Bob echoed stupidly. •A quietly in the chair with his head front tooth?" He considered this well back in the padded grip of possibility numbly, then with the headrest, tried not to clutch weary fortitude. "I- I suppose the ends of the chair arms too you can make me some kind of tightly, and his gaze unconscious­ false one, can't you? One of those ly avoided looking at the array of pivot-teeth? I can't attend to busi­ glittering steel instruments on the ness with a black gap at the front milky round glass shelf level with of my mouth. I have to meet a lot his chin, nor did he let himself of people, smile an awful lot ..•" even think about the corded drill "I can make you artificial den­ that nearly overhung his perch tures," the dentist nodded. "It will like the single claw of a one­ be less expense, in the long run, if legged mantis. we wait for the others to come "Mr. Terrill," the dentist said, out, first, however." finally turning to face him, a small Bob's stomach seemed suddenly frown between his neat grey eye­ filled with slowly congealing gela­ brows, "how old did you say you tine. "Others," he said, savoring the were?" sound of the word before letting , The question was unexpected. his mind apprehend its meaning. Bob sat up a little taller in the Then, "You mean I'm going to lose chair, his head free of the rest. some more?" "Thirty-six." The dentist seemed to come to The dentist nodded slowly, and a decision. Almost confidentially, then hung the clamp, with the he leaned closer. "Mr. Terrill," he negative still in its rubber jaws, on said gently, "I realize that your a small nail beside the drug cabi­ wife, a lovely woman, is but thirty net, then began puttering- al­ years of age. I find it quite under­ most distractedly- among some standable that you may have­ odds and ends of cotton, wire and shall we say- pa.red the facts a bit bottled anodynes on the ledge be­ when you married her. I mean, a neath it. He seemed to be thinking. man is young as he feels, there's "What's wrong with the tooth?" no gainsaying that, and to pass up demanded Bob. "Is it broken, in­ an opportunity for marriage sim­ fected, or what?" ply because of a mathematical fact Dr. Haufen turned to face him. would be folly in the extreme-" "It's dying," he said. "The nerve is "Wait, hold on, Doctor ..." nearly gone, and the periostial said Bob, sitting up very straight membrane has weakened consid­ in the chair, now. "What are you erably. It must come out, of saying? What are you trying to im­ course." ply?" 58 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION The dentist's smile was tolerant practiced care. "Just as you say, as he lifted the clamp from the Mr. Terrill," he said, in a soothing drug cabinet once more, and held tone that implied lack of interest up the X-ray negative to emphasize in the other's usage of the truth. his point. "People sometimes-for "The main thing to do is to get that really sound motives-deceive oth­ tooth out. Afterward," he contin­ ers. But an X-rav cannot lie." ued, his back still toward the chair, "I don't unde~stand," said Bob, "I would really appreciate your feeling sick and faint with appre­ telling me hoy you keep your voice hension. "What do you mean?" and face looking so youthful-" "Simply that your claim to be In mid-sentence, he had turned thirty-six," said Dr. Haufen, with back again, a wad of cotton, a tiny shrug, "in lieu of the evi­ dipped in a mild scarlet anesthetic dence on this exposed plate, is to be rubbed upon the gum about quite preposterous." the bothersome tooth before extrac­ "But Doctor-!" Bob blurted, tion, held in a shinv set of steel confused. "I am thirty-six!" forceps. But there ~as no one in "Not according to this," said the the chair to hear the end of the dentist, holding out the negative sentence, so he stopped, gave an for Bob's perusal. Bob stared at insouciant shrug (the bill for con­ the grey-and-white-prong-shapes sultation would be sent anyway), against the glossy black back­ and dropped the wet cotton into a ground on the photograph, and metal wastebasket. shook his head. "That means nothing to me," he He saw the glow of flickering said. "I have no idea what you're yellow candlelight out on the ter­ driving at." race as he repocketed his key and "All right," said Haufen. 'Til crossed the living room toward the spell it out for you. On your un­ bedroom. The candles, he noted supported word, you are thirty-six with a guilty pang, were melted years of age. Where, then, did you more than halfwav down, on the get the teeth of a man easily twice white-naperied table, between the that old?" polished silver and gleaming Bob's grip on the chair arms re­ china. He looked at his watch, laxed, and he slid downward un­ and saw that it was nearly half til the head-rest stopped his de­ past seven. The faint odor of pre­ scent. "But I am thirty-six ...1" pared food told him that dinner The doctor again smiled his tol­ must have long ago grown cold in erant smile; and turned away to the kitchen. the shelf under the drug cabinet, Feeling miserably culpable, he selecting his instruments with pushed open the bedroom door. 'BADE-IN ·Valerie, sitting white-faced and si­ "Well, of course he's wrongiH lent beside the phone, jumped to said Valerie. "You big silly! Spend­ her feet, and a flush of color leapt ing your entire afternoon roaming into her cheeks. "Your office the streets, sick with fright- Why called," she said, her normally didn't you come home?" well-modulated voice a bit shaky. "I was afraid to tell you." "They wondered if you were all "Me? Afraid to tell me?" she right." She came to him, then, slid asked, with amazement. "For heav­ her arms about his waist, and en's sake, Bob, why?" pressed the side of her face against Feeling decidedly stupid, he his chest. "I was just going to call flung his arms out . to the sides, the police," she murmured. "I gave raised his shoulders in ~ shrug, and you until half-past seven." slapped his thighs in embarrassed ''I'm sorry," he said sincerely. admission of his own idiocy. "Who "Was it bad?" Valerie leaned knows?!" he muttered, turning her head back to look up into his away. "I don't know what I ex­ face. "The dentist's, I mean?" pected you to do. Certainly not w Bob slid his own arms about her bite my head off. I don't know to keep her from leaning any fur­ why I didn't come home." th~r away. "Pretty bad," he said Abruptly practical, Valerie with great honesty. "One of the said, taking his arm, "Come into worst experiences I ever had in my the kitchen. Maybe I can salvage life." some of the dinner." "Let me see the tooth," said his He let her lead him across the wife, tilting her head for a look living room and into the kitchen. between his lips. "Does it hurt? Another pang of guilt hit him as Did he fill it?" he saw the wilting salads on the "Not exactly," Bob mumbled, sideboard, the congealed mess that his hand pressing her head gently would- at five-forty-five- have against his chest again, so that he been a spicy rarebit, the cold brown wouldn't have to control his facial toast stuck by its steam-wet under­ muscles against her curious gaze. side to the plates. "''m sorry, Ba­ "He says-He says it has to come by," he said, feeling perfectly rot­ out." ten inside. "All your trouble!" "Oh,Bob!" "Don't be foolish," she laughed. The warm sympathy in her "I can whip up a couple of ham­ voice touched a chord inside his burgers, and you can find the heart, then, and he began to blurt opener and -pour some beer, and out the entire terrible story. "He we'll manage fine." must be wrong," he said, when he'd Her hand on the door to the finished. "He's got to be wrong!" freezer, she turned her head to- 60 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ward him, her eyes deeply earn­ after listing a few in the area, look est in their pleading. "And the strange if he took off during next time your world falls apart at working hours for another dental the seams- Come home, huh? Or appointment so soon after the first, phone me? Or send a wire?" so he decided to utilize his lunch "Baby!" he sighed, and pulled hour. His waistline could stand to her up against him, covering the miss a meal. top of her burnished blonde hair , When he returned to the office with soft, urgent kisses. "Never at a little past one, however, his again, I promise. No matter what face was noticeably greyer, though happens, I'll come right home and no one remarked on it. Substanti­ tell you about it." ally, each of the two dentists he'd "Please do," she said, relaxing managed to see had said precisely against him. "That's what a wife what Dr. Haufen had. His teeth is for." Then, pushing away from were dying. Of old age. And he his embrace with a no-nonsense himself was only thirty-six, in air: "Let's get some food in that what should still be the golden stomach of yours, first. Then you years of health. can cry on my shoulder." "It doesn't make any sense!" he Bob laughed, and started look­ told himself furiously. "It's crazy. ing for the opener. I can't tell Val what's happen­ ing! A man can't tell a young wife The next morning, the tooth that he's suddenly hitting the other hurt worse than before, and its side of senile decay!" nearby companions were just this After fumbling for a pack of side of being comfortable. Valerie cigarettes that wasn't there, Bob had awakened when Bob did, left his desk and crossed the main though, and his tooth was the first office between the metallic chat­ thing she asked about. He licJ tering of the stenographers' desks chivalrously, ignored the pain to the lounge, where the vending when he sipped the icy orange machine was. He rummaged for juice beside his breakfast plate, the proper coinage, found it, and and set off for the office as though tugged the chrome-plated plunger in the prime of health, his reward over his favorite brand. It was being the sweet memory of her while gratefully blowing out the smiling face at the door to their first puff from his initial long drag apartment. on a hastily lit cigarette that he His first action at the office, glanced into the mirror on the however, was to get out the classi­ front of the machine. The ciga­ fied directory and start looking up rette dropped to the floor, and it dentists. It might, he reasoned, was a full minute before he no- 61 ticed it, and swiftly crunched When Valerie came in from the out its glowing tip under the sole terrace at his call, her lithe figure of his shoe. Unbelievingly, he still wrapped comfortably in a leaned closer to the mirror, and bright blue terrybloth robe, her took a really good look. morning coffee still held grace· He couldn't blame it on the fully over the saucer, words sud· lighting. The ceiling of the lounge denly failed Bob, and he just was alive with fluorescents, and stood there looking at her, open· radiated so much cool blue­ ing and closing his hands. white light that he'd have been "The tooth again?" she asked, hard-pressed to find a solitary after a silence, though the tiniest shadow anywhere in the room. So catch in her voice told him she'd he had to accept what he saw in sensed there was something else. the mirror as true. "I wish it were just that," he At forelock and temples, his said, approaching her. As- he came hair- thick, brown and healthy full into the sunlight that spilled just that morning, in the bath­ through the glass doors behind room mirror- was subtly streaked her, he saw Valerie's eyes widen, with silvery grey. And there was and then the cup and saucer fell the.merest trace of crinkling about from her hands and clattered un­ his eyes, gi'ling his skin the ap­ noticed on the carpet. pearance of still-soft flesh-colored "Bob- Your hair ••. Your crepe paper. face!" He couldn't go back to his desk. "Something's wrong," he said, It would mean crossing the main the pale sound of his own voice office again, and this time surely adding to his fear. "Something's someone would notice what was terribly wrong. Two other dentists happening to him. Bob turned confirmed what Dr. Haufen said, and went out the opposite door of Val. And now- This!" Dazed, he the lounge, crossed the corridor to sank into an armchair and stared the self-service elevator, and rode at the ·sodden brown coffeestain down, not letting himself think. on the carpet at his wife's feet. Out on the sidewalk, it was chilly, "Thirty-six years old. With the and he regretted having to leave teeth of a septuagenarian, and the his light topcoat back in the office. looks of a man nearing sixty." He couldn't, he felt, last out the Valerie sank down on the arm walk to the subway and the wait of the chair beside him, found his on the platform without scream­ hands, and held them between ing. He hailed the first cab with her own. "You'd better get into an upright flag, and gave his bed," she said. "I'll call the doc­ home address. tor." 62 F'\.NT... SY AND SCIENCE FICTIO!'I "What for?!" said Bob, sud­ be feeling much better after a lit­ denly snappish. "So he can smirk tle rest, Miss Terrill." at me and ask my real age?' Neither of them had said any­ "You must have something thing to disabuse his mind of the . . . Maybe a vitamin shortage," understandable error. Bob, sud­ Valerie said, breathlessly, "or it's denly unwilling to face Valerie, overwork, or- or some kind of or talk to her, had insisted she go virus ..." out and get the prescription filled. "Virus/" he spat scornfully. To give himself a bit longer time "What virus makes a man age of seclusion, he had falsified a decades in a few days?" sudden craving for peppermint "I don't know," Valerie said, schnapps, knowing that Valerie her eyes suddenly filled with tears. would have to travel far uptown to "But sitting here won't help. I've the German section to get it, the got to do something for you . . ." demand being miniscule any­ "All right," said Bob, suddenly where else in the city. She'd as­ contrite. "All right, honey. Call sured herself he was comfortable, the doctor. We'll see what he kissed him fondly, and had gone says." out. He rather hoped she'd take her time. He missed her awfully, Hours later, with the last faint but couldn't stand to watch her streak of sunset pink still glowing face when she looked at his. The on the ceiling of their bedroom, pink glow had vanished, and dark Bob lay silent, smoking listlessly, blue night was thick in the air of thinking and pondering and the bedroom when he heard her wondering. The doctor had left come into the apartment. just a few hours ago. He could find Rather than have to feign pleas­ nothing physically wrong with ure at drinking the syruppy stuff Bob, pronouncing him in great he didn't really like, he let his eye­ shape for a man his age. "What lids close, and breathed deeply age?" Valerie had asked, urgently. and regularly. After a moment, he The doctor- a stranger, their felt the light from the living room own doctor being on vacation­ fall upon his face, and could sense turned a curious stare at her. "Up­ her standing in the doorway, per sixties, I should suppose watching him. Then, softly, the . . ." he said, as if awaiting an door closed, and he could hear her explanation of her query. When making her way across the living none was forthcoming, he closed room to the kitchen, to put the bot­ his bag, prescribed a pep tle away until he was awake again. tonic, and left, with the terrible He listened, trying to follow words, ''I'm sure your father will her with his mind as she moved TRADE-IN 63

about the apartment. She was clos­ leaning far to one side, he could see ing the cabinet doors in the kitch­ his wife. Valerie was standing sip­ en. Now she was running herself ping a steaming, cup of coffee, fac­ a glass of water at the tap. Putting ing outward, her back to him. the empty tumbler upside down on Her sandwich lay half-eaten on a the drainboard. Opening the re­ small plate atop the terrace's low frigerator, taking something out, stone wall, between her slender closing the door. Now the bread­ body and the giddy drop to the box . . . the cutlery drawer street. Under the spell of the low­ ... A heavy metallic clunk­ hanging silver moon, her blonde What was it? The coffeepot, on hair was like coiled metal, lumi­ the burner, of course. She was nous tendrils of soft foam falling making coffee and fixing a sand­ to her shoulders in a beautiful wich, or plate of something, for cascade. herself. She stood so still she might Oddly miffed, Bob sat up in the have been carved from ivory, from bed. Naturally, Valerie had to ice, from cloudy crystal. She'd keep her strength up, but- Bob never been more lovely than at that found that he resented Val's mak­ moment. Suddenly, Bob wanted ing .herself a bite to eat while he to be with her. He turned from lay turning into- He didn't know the window and started for the quite what to call his metamor­ bedroom door. The soft moon­ phosis. The antic term Instant light could be kind to him, kind Methuselah flickered in his mind, to his grey hair and wrinkling and he shuddered. skin. This might be his final Now Val was coming back into chance to be with her looking the living room. He lay back, somewhat as he used to. Any ag­ ready to feign sleep if she entered ing of his body might easily be at­ the bedroom. But after a slight tributed to the inconstant glow of pause in the living room, she went the moon, grey hair becoming a out onto the terrace. Bob opened mere highlight, a wrinkle a mere his eyes. shadow, his stooped form a mere The moon had risen while he trick of the night. lay there, and the city through the With his hand still on the knob bedroom window lay dusted with of the half-opened door, Bob steely blue radiance, the pebbled­ paused. There was an indetermi­ and-tarred rooftops turning into nate emptiness to the living room shimmering fields of diamond. . . . Then he saw that the phone Bob got up quietly and stepped to was not on the table near the the bedroom window. It did not kitchen doorway. That was Val­ itself give upon the terrace, but by erie's short pause on her way to the 64 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIOJI"- terrace. She'd brought the phone ruefully. Bob's mind flashed back­ out with her. To call- Whom? ward. The other night. Just the Bob shut the bedroom door week before, he'd been out of again and returned to his bed, town on an overnight business pulling the blankets up about his trip. He'd phoned, but no one had chin. Beside the bed, blue moon­ answered. Val told him she'd light gleamed softly on the exten­ taken a sleeping pill before retir­ sion phone. Bob looked at it, then ing, that night. But it was the only lifted it and listened. Nothing but night she could have been out the dial tone. He hung up and lay without his knowledge. Feeling still, thinking. The bell inside the cold and sick inside, he kept lis­ base jingled slightly, and he knew tening. Val had lifted the receiver of the Their voices, their speech, other phone. He reached out, then struck a familiar chord. The con­ stopped himself. To pick up the versation could almost have been phone while she dialed the other one of his own, with Val, before one would break the circuit. He they were married. Uneasy mem­ counted to ten, then slid a finger ories moved across h,is conscious­ onto the button beneath the re­ ness, in an aura of ominous perti­ ceiver, put the recei\'Cr to his ear, nence- Dates she had not kept, then very gently let the button up. sudden disappearances in mid­ A soft, distant burring sound had evening, determined avoidance of barely met his ear when it cut off questions regarding her address, sharply, and a man's voice spoke her past, even her marital status on tl1e line. "Hello?" . . . There was a pattern to this, "1\'larty," said his wife's voice. Bob began to realize. But a puz­ "This is Val." zling pattern. Where did its "Val?" said the man. Then, "Val threads lead? What did it all Morrison?" mean? Bob felt a queer pang. Morri­ Bob couldn't think such son was Val's almost-forgotten thoughts for long. They scared maiden name. A cold film of per­ him, conjured up horrors inside spiration began to coat his face his mind that nearly blacked him and limbs as he listened, breath­ out with fear. Without knowing ing with nearly stealthy caution, why, he decided to go out, to get even though his hand covered the away from Val- Young, beauti­ mouthpiece. ful, vibrant Val-and think. "Had you given me up for Think, while his mind was still dead?" Val laughed. clear. "You left the party so abruptly His hands trembling, hard to the other night-" the man said control, Bob took the phone from TRADE-IN 6S his ear, almost hung it up, then "Yes- No. 1- I'm dizzy," he didn't dare risk the sound it might said, feeling unaccountable pan­ make on the line. He slid the re­ ic. "I want to go out, take a ceiver beneath the pillow, then got walk." The voice that spoke with up out of bed, fought against the his lips was a croaking shadow of pain that racked his legs and back, the voice that had been his. "Air and hobbled across the room to the -" he invented frantically. "I chair on which his clothing was need fresh air." folded. ''I'll help you out onto the ter­ The belt had to be tightened race," said his wife, coming two extra notches. His shirt collar smoothly toward him. "It's a love­ hung away from his vulture's neck, ly night." Then she had his arm even with the necktie pulled into in hers, and was smiling at him. a clumsy knot against it. In the Smiling down at him. moonlight, a shock of hair fell Bob hadn't known his bones across his eyes, and Bob saw that it could dry so much in so short a was snowy white, and that the time. Beside her, he was a gibber­ hand which brushed it fitfully ing, grey little monkey-creature in back was speckled with brown, clothes far too large for him, rais­ and networked with distended ing gnarled hands to ward off­ blue veins. He couldn't manage What? The warmth of her flesh his shoelaces; bending to fasten where she touched him burnt like them made him horribly giddy. hot irons. Her perfume was Gasping, finding it harder and musky, overpowering. Weakly, harder to see, Bob got somehow to trying to resist with limbs that the door, supported himself by his would scarcely move, he let him­ grasp on the knob until a wave of self be led onto the terrace, trying sick vertigo passed, then opened it to speak with a mouth that only and moved cautiously into the liv­ drooled wetly down his chest, ing room. He looked toward the blinking wild rheumy eyes that terrace. He stopped, frozen with barely focussed on objects any­ fear. more. Val assisted him onto a Valerie was at the terrace doors cold, canvas-and-metal chair on in sharp silhouette, standing like the moonlit terrace. "You're tired," some ancient terrible goddess with she crooned. "You should rest." the full moon at her back against A paralyzing lassitude seeped the vaulted sky, her face dark and along his bones like cool water. He unseen amid the -lustrous twining was sick, weary, spent. The moon­ aurora of her hair. "Why, Bob," light hurt his eyes. Life was sud­ she said, starting toward him. denly an intolerable burden. With "Feeling better?" an effort, he brought his eyes to 66 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIO!I sharp focus on the face of his wife. and hope to win. The years that The young, lovely face that be­ would have been yours are now longed to a girl barely out of her mine." teens. Some hidden reserve of Furry blackness was closing in, strength flowed into him, then, slowly botting the sky and the something that fought the creak of stark white moon from his vision. brittle ribs beneath icy skin, and With an effort that sent sharp let him speak. knives of pain through his totter­ "Who are you?" he said, num­ ing body, Bob lurched to his feet. bly. "What are you?!" He clung to the chair arms to sup­ Val, radiant in the moonlight, port himself. "You can't have my folded her arms and looked at him vears." with reluctant respect. Abruptly, · Val looked from him to the dropping the facade of solicitude, edge of the terrace before him, and she said, as if quoting "'Hunger, shook her head. "Don't. It will do Emptiness, Voracity, having no you no good," she said, outguess­ life of my own, only such life as ing him. "If you die of age or acci­ can be drained from others. I, and dent, now, it will make no differ­ others like me, have access to the ence. Your years are mine.'' Book of Age, wherein is recorded A hundred thoughts leap~d the allotted span of years of all through his mind in that moment. the peoples of Earth.'" Her voice Thoughts of the many haggard was hollow, dull, and incrediblv husbands of blooming wives, of exhausted. "To have even the sem"­ man's lifespan being statistically blance of life, I must steal the fu­ shorter than woman's, of the great ture from such as you. You would secrecy women relentlessly keep have Ji\'ed to be eighty." about their ages. "Ghouls," he She sat upon the low terrace gasped out. "You're all ghouls!" wall, watching him. Bob held him­ He suddenly began to cry, like self conscious with an effort, then a little boy. He sank with c;reak­ said, "How?" ing agony to his knees, then Val smiled. It was not affection, sprawled at her feet on the stone it was triumph. \Veary triumph. floor of the terrace, the shriveled "By marriage, you willed to be one offering at the feet of the seated with me. You joined your life to goddess. "1\Iercy," he whispered. mine, mine which is not life, but Valerie laughed. It sounded the craving for it. Every touch of mocking, derisive. my hand, every brush of my lips, And the sound sparked one last every embrace, has drained ·you. wave of strength through his dwin­ You cannot pit an eighty-year life­ dling consciousness, sent a final span against eternal emptiness flare of angry heat through the TRADE-IN 67 heart beneath his bony ribcage. time he'd gotten to the elevator, Bob grasped her ankles in his con­ his hair was no longer white, but torted fingers and lifted them its former dark shade. As he high as he was able, screaming out emerged in the lobby, he felt bet­ in the agony it cost him. He. heard ter than ever before in his life. her scream mingle with his own, Out in the street, late night then Valerie's ankles were traffic spun by the apartment wrenched from his grasp. building, roaring metal giants The scream dwindled, faded, towed by bright cones of light and when Bob fell backward and at the front. Bob looked beneath looked up, the low wall of the ter­ the spinning wheels of the passing race was empty. He felt the same cars for Valerie, for some sign of pain Val felt at the awful instant her. But there was no blood, no when she struck the street, then body, no disturbance anywhere something snapped like an over­ on the pavement. He finally found strained cable, and he was sudden­ the rag bundle that had been her ly at peace. clothing. It lay by the curb, in the It was half an hour before he gutter, smelling faintly of decay, was strong enough to stand. His and filled only with a thin powder­ ddthing fit much better. By the ing of grey and ancient dust.

TIME-BOMB

This is the bomb That dooms us all; Made by Mom; Pear-shaped, small. Involves no fission, No fiery mess; Just malnutrition And Togetherness. Gentlemen, the Womb: (Boom I) -ARTHUR PoRGEs THE SCIENCE SPRINGBOARD

MEDICAL RADIOTRACERS by Theodore L. Thomas

MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC PROCE• There's a fair list of scanning dures have spawned a brawling agents for the kidneys, and the youngster known as scanning. specificity of many iodine com­ When a radioactive scanning pounds for the thyroid has long agent is administered to a patient, been known. Certain dyes can be usually by injection, it accumu· tagged and used to scan the liver. lates in, specific tissues or organs. Tagged amino acids go to the A low-energy gamma ray detector pancreas. Tagged red blood cells picks up the radiation outside the from a patient can be used to scan body. In this way the organs or his spleen. The heart, and even the tissues can be mapped. Dis· bone, all now have their specific eased tissue or a tumor may show scanning agents. The list of such up as a region of reduced uptake agents is just getting started. of the scanning agent. In this Think how convenient it will manner the surgeon can locate the be when a scanning agent is final­ tumor and get some idea of its ly perfected that is specific for, size. say, the finger tissue. Radioactive The effectiveness of the scan­ fingerprints will be deposited ev­ ning procedure depends largely erywhere, even inside a glove. Ra­ on the specificity of the scanning diotracers specific for tissues on agent; it should congregate clean· the soles of the feet will insure ly in one organ or in certain tis­ that radioactive footprints will be sue without causing harmful side left wherever a man walks. Police effects. The list of such agents is work will be a cinch. suprisingly long. But the system could get out of The radiotracer scanning hand. The parts of the human agents used to scan the brain for body could be labelled to set up tumors include many compounds patterns that are unique to each such as diiodofluorescein that individual. Everybody could be contain iodine-131. Other brain· identified by scanning as he scanning agents contain radioac· walked down the street. The day tive atoms of copper or arsenic or may not be too far off for this chromium or bismuth or mercury, kind of thing, either. Say another and there are other useful isotopes. 20 years. In 1984. A near-murder occurred in a little suburban house on Long Island not many years ago; asked why, the near-murderer replied, simply, "She made me put socks over my shoes to keep from scratching the polish . . ." Kit Reed, herself a housewife as weU as a writer­ lmt we will say no more: Read. Read. Read Reed.

CYNOSURE

by Kit Reed

··~ow PoLLY ANN, MRs. BRAIN­ and cooked and went to PT-A ~rd might not like children, so I and bought every single new ap­ want you to go into the bedroom pliance advertised and just now with Puff and Ambrose till we she was a little sensitive about the find out." whole thing because clean as she folly Ann pulled her ruffies would, her husband had just ]eft down over her ten-year-old her, when there wasn't even an paunch and picked up the cat, Other Woman to take the blame. sausage curls bobbing as she Norma would have to be extra went. "Yes Marna." She closed the careful about herself from now bedroom door behind her and on, being divorced as she was­ opened it again with a juicy, pre­ especially now, when she and adolescent giggle. "Ambrose made Polly Ann were getting started in a puddle on the rug." a new neighborhood. They had a The three-note door chime good start, really, because their sounded: Bong BONG Bong. new house in the development Norma motioned frantically. looked almost exactly like aU the ''Never mind." others in the block, except for "All ri-ight." The door closed being pink, and her furniture was on Pollv Ann. the same shape and style as all the Theri', giving her acqua faille other furniture in all the other pouf pillows a pat and running living rooms, right down to the her hand over the limed oak tele­ formica dinette set visible in the vision set, Norma Thayer, house­ dining area; she knew because wife, went to answer the door. she had gone around in the dark She had been working at being one night, and looked. But at the a housewife for years. She cleaned same time, she and Polly Ann 69 70 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION didn't have a Daddy to come home and invite her to the next day's at five o'clock, like the other morning coffee hour which, if she houses did, and even though she recollected properly, would be and Polly Ann marked their held at Mrs. Dowdy's, the lime house with wrought-iron numbers split-level in the next block. and put their garbage out in pas­ Patting the front of her Swirl tel plastic cans, even though they housedress, she opened the door. had centered their best lamp in "Hello, Mrs. Brainerd." the picture window and the- kitch­ "Hello," Mrs. Brainerd said. en was every bit as cute as the "Call me Clarice." She rubbed her brochure said it was, the lack of a hand along the lintel. "Wood­ Daddy to put out the garbage and work looks real nice." pot around in the yard on Satur­ "Xerox," Norma said with a days and Sundays, just like every­ proud little smile, and let her in. body else, had put Norma at a "Brassit on the doorknob," Mrs. distinct disadvantage. Brainerd said. Norma knew, just as well as "Works like a dream. I made anybody on the block, that a some coffee," Norma said. "And a house was still a house without a cake ..." Daddy, and things might even "Never touch cake," Mrs. run smoother in the long run Brainerd said. without all those cigarette butts "No greasy feel " and dirty pajamas to pick up, but "Metrecookies," Mrs. Brainerd she was something of a pioneer, said, and her jaw was white and because she was the first in the firm. "And no sugar for me. neighborhood to actually prove it Sucaryl." out. "If you'll just sit down here." Now her next door neighbor Norma patted the contour chair. was paying her first visit and "Thanks, no." Mrs. Brainerd Norma's housewifely heart began smoothed her Swirl housedress to swell. If all went well, Mrs. and followed Norma into the Brainerd would look at the sec­ kitchen. tional couch and the rug of salt­ She was small, slender, lip­ and-pepper cotton tweed (backed sticked and perfumed, and she with rubber foam) and see that was made of steel. Norma noticed Daddy or no, Norma was just as with a guilty pang that Mrs. good as any of the housewives in Brainerd fastened the neck of her the magazines, and that her dish­ housedress with a Sweetheart pin. towels were just as clean as any "Something special," Mrs. in the neighborhood. Then Mrs. Brainerd said, noticing her look­ Brainerd would offer her a recipe ing at it. "Got it with labels from CYNOSURE 71 the Right Kind of Margerine." "I will." Norma bit her lip, She brushed past Norma, not even tom between hope and despair. looking at the darling little din­ "Oh, I will." ing area. "Hm. Stains even bleach "Cake," said Polly Ann just as · can't.reach," she went on, peering the back door closed on Mrs. into the sink. Brainerd's mechanically articu­ Norma flushed. "I know. I lated smile. She came into the scrubbed and scrubbed. I even kitchen with Puff, the kitten, and used straight liquid bleach." She Ambrose, the beagle, trailing dust hung her head. and hairs behind. "I think Am­ "Well." Clarice Brainerd brose might be sick." She got her­ reached into the pocket of her self some grape juice, spilling as flowered skirt and came up with she poured. A purple stain began a shaker can. "Here," she said. to spread on the sink. She said it with a beautiful smile. Norma reached out with the Norma recognized the brand. cleanser, wanting desperately to "Oh," she said, almost weeping ward off the stain. with gratitude. "He just did it again in the living Clarice Brainerd had already room," Polly Ann said. turned to go. "And the can is Norma's breath was wrenched decorated, so you'd be proud to from her in a sob. "Oh, no." Put­ have it in your living room." ting the cleanser in the little "I know," Norma said, deeply coaster she kept for just that pur­ moved. "I'll get two." pose, she headed for the living Her .neighbor was at the back room with sponge and Glamorene. door now. Norma reached out, The next time Mrs. Brainerd supplicating. "You're not leaving came she stayed for a scant thirty are you, before you even taste my seconds. She stood in the door­ cake . . ." way, sniffing the air. Ambrose had "You just try that cleanser," Done It again-twice. Clarice said. "And I'll be back." "It really does get out stains "The morning coffee. I thought even bleach can't reach," Norma you might want me to come to said, flourishing the cleanser can. the ..." "Everyone knows that," Clarice "Maybe next time," her neigh­ Brainerd said, passing it off. bor said, trying to be kind. "You Then she sniffed. "This will do know, you might have to enter­ wonders for your musty rooms," tain them here one day, and she said, handing Norma a can of • • ." She looked significantly at aerosol deodorant, and turned the sink. "Just use that," she said without even coming in and reassuringly. "And I'll be back." dosed the door. 72 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Norma spent four days getting those gas jets." Her voice was ready for the day she invited Mrs. muffled because of the oven, and Brainerd to look into the stove. for a second Norma had to fight ("I'm having a little trouble with back wild temptation to push the bottoms of the oven shelves," her the rest of the way in, and she confided on the phone. She turn on the gas. had just spent days making sure Then Clarice said, "It looks they were immaculate. "I just real nice. And thanks, I will have wondered if you could tell me some of your cake." what to use," she said seductive­ "No greasy feel," Norma said, ly, thinking that when Clarice weak with gratitude. "You'll real­ Brainerd saw that Norma was ly sit down for a minute? You'll worried about dirt in an oven really have some coffee and sit that was cleaner than any oven in down?" the block, she would be awed and "Only for a minute." dismayed, and she would have to Norma got out her best Cali­ invite Norma to the next day's fornia pottery-the set with the morning coffee hour.) rooster pattern-and within five At the last minute, Norma had minutes, she and Mrs. Brainerd to shoo Polly Ann out of the liv­ were sitting primly in the living ing room. "I was just making a room. The organdy curtains bil­ dress for Ambrose," Polly Ann lowed and the windows and said, putting on her Mary Janes woodwork shone brightly and for and picking up h~r cloth and a moment Norma almost im­ pins. agined that she and Mrs. Brainerd Vacuuming frantically, Norma were being photographed in be­ stampeded her down the hall and half of some product, in her liv­ into her room. "Never mind." ing room, and their picture-in "Arient did the job all right," full color-would appear in the Mrs. Brainerd said, sniffing the very next issue of her favorite air without even pausing to say magazine. hello. "The rest of us have been "I would ·so love to do flower using it for years." arrangements," Norma said, "I know," Norma said apolo­ made bold by her success. getically. Mrs. Brainerd wasn't listening. In the kitchen, she spent a "Maybe join the Garden Club?" long time with her head in the Mrs. Brainerd was looking oven. "I don't think you have too down. At the rug. much trouble," she said grudging­ "Or maybe the Music League ly. "In fact it looks real nice. But ..."Norma looked down, where I would take a pin and clear out Mrs. Brainerd was looking, and CYNOSURE 73 ~her voice trailed off. a less desirable neighborhood." "Cat hairs," said Mrs. Brainerd. "Ambrose tipped over Puff's "Loose threads." sandbox and got You Know What "Oh. I tried • • •" Norma all over the Boor." Polly Ann clapped her hand to her mouth went outside. with a muffled wail. Crumbs, hairs, threads, dust all "And scuff marks, on the hall seemed to converge on Norma floor . . ." Mrs. Brainerd was then, eddying and swirling, shaking her head. "Now, I don't threatening, plunging her into mean to be mean, but if you were blackest despair. She sank to the to entertain the coffee group, with couch, too overwhelmed to cry the house looking like this . . ." and it was then, looking down, "My daughter was sewing," that she spied the magazine pro­ Norma said faintly. "She knew I truding from under the rug, and was having company, but she things began to change. came in here. It's a little hard," END HOUSEHOLD she said, trying to smile engag­ DRUDGERY, ingly. "When you have kids the advertisement said. " YOUR HOUSE CAN BE Mrs. Brainerd was on her feet. THE CYNOSURE "The rest of us manage." OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Norma managed to keep the Norma wasn't sure what cynosure sob out of her voice. ". • . and meant, but there was a picture of pets ..." a spotless and shining lady, sit­ "The · coffee hours," Norma ting in the middle of a spotless said, maundering. "The garden and shining living room, ·with an club ..." immaculate kitchen just visible But Mrs. Brainerd was already through a door behind. Trembling gone. with hope, she cut out the accom­ Norma snuffled. "She didn't panying coupon, noting without a even mentio~ a product to try." qualm that she would have to "I made Ambrose a baby car­ liquidate the rest of her savings to riage," Polly Ann said, dragging afford the product, or machine, or Ambrose through in a box. "Is whatever it was. Satisfaction was that lady gone?" guaranteed and if she got satisfac­ "Gone," Norma said, looking tion it was worth it, every cent of at the way the box had scarred it. her hardwood floor. "She may be It was unprepossessing enough gone forever," she said, and began when it came. to cry. "Oh Polly Ann, what can It was a box, small and corru­ we do? We may have to move to gated, and inside, wrapped in ex- 74 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION celsior, was a small, lavender second. When it was over she enamel-covered machine. A noz­ propped him on the other side of zle and hose, also lavender, were the television set and carefully attached. Curious, Norma began put away the machine. leafing through the instruction Polly Ann cried quite a bit at book, and as she read she began first. to smile, because it all became "Now, honey, if we ever get quite plain. tired of them this way, we can re­ "EFFECfS ARE NOT NEC­ verse the machine and let them ESSARILY PERMANENT," she run around again. But right now, read aloud, to assuage her con­ the house is so clean, and see how science. "CAN BE REVERSED cute they are? They can see and BY USING GREEN GAUGE ON hear everything you want them THE MACHINE. Oh, Puff," she to," she said, quelling the child's called, thinking of the white an­ sticky tears. "And look, you can gora hairs which had sullied so dress Ambrose up all you want, many rugs. "Puffy, come here." and he won't even squirm." The cat came through the door "I guess so," Polly Ann said, with a look of insolence. smoothing the front of her velvet "Come here," Norma said, aim­ dress. She gave Ambrose a little ing the nozzle. "Come on, baby," poke. she said, and when Puff ap­ "And see how little dirt they proached, she switched on the make." machine. Polly Ann bent Ambrose's paw A pervasive hum filled the in a salute. It stayed. "Okay, room, faint but distinct. Momma. I guess you're right." Expensive or not, it was worth Mrs. Brainerd thought the dog it. She had to admit that none of and cat were very cute. "How did her household cleansers worked as you get them to stay so still?" fast. In less than a second Puff "New product," Norma said was immobile-walleyed and with a smug smile, and then she stiff-backed but immobile, look­ wouldn't tell Mrs. Brainerd what ing particularly fluffy and just as product. "''ll get my cake now," natural as life. Norma arranged she said. "No greasy feel." the cat artistically in a corner by "No greasy feel," Mrs. Brainerd the TV set and then went looking said automatically, echoing her, for Polly Ann's dog. She made and almost smiled in anticipa­ Ambrose sit up and beg and just tion. as he snapped for the puppy­ Moving regally, proud as a biscuit she turned on the ma­ queen, Norma brought her coffee chine and ossified him in a split- tray into the living room. "Now CYNOSUltE 75 '~&out the coffee hour," she said, come back tomorrow. I'll be ready, presuming because Mrs. Brainerd I promise you ..." took up her cup and spoon with Clarice deliberated, uncon­ an almost admiring look, poking sciously fingering her Good Luck with her fork at the chocolate earrings with one carefully cake. ("I got the stainless with groomed hand. "Oh," she said fi­ coupons. You know the kind.") nally, after a pause which left "The coffee hours," Mrs. Brain­ Norma in a near faint from anxi­ erd said, almost mesmerized. ety. "All right." Then, looking down, "Oh, what "You'll see," Norma said to the on earth is that?" closing door. "Wait and see if you And already dreading what don't see." she would see, Norma followed Then she made her way !\'Irs. Brainerd's eyes. through the spreading pool of wa­ There was a puddle, a disinct ter, and knocked on the bathroom puddle, forming under the bath­ door. room door, and as the women "I was making Kool-Ade to sell watched, it massed and began to all the Daddies," Polly Ann making a sticky trail down the said, gathering all the overflowing highly polished linoleum of the cups and jars. hall. "Come with me, baby," Norma "I'd better . . ." Mrs. Brain­ said. "I want you to get all cleaned erd said, getting up. up and in your very best clothes." "I know," Norma said with They were all arranged very resignation. "You'd better go." artistically in the living room, Then, as· she rose and saw her the dog and the cat curled next neighbor to the door, she stiffened to the sofa, Pollv Ann looking just with a new resolve. "You just as pretty as life in her maroon come back tomorrow. I can prom­ velvet dress with the organdy ise you, everything just as neat as pinafore. Her eyes were a little pie." Then, because she couldn't glassy and her legs did stick out help herself, "No greasy feel." at a slightly unnatural angle, but "You know," Mrs. Brainerd Norma had thrown an afghan said ominously, "This kind of over one end of the couch, where thing can only go on for so long. she was sitting, and thought the My time is valuable. There are effect, in the long run, was just the coffee hours, and the Canasta as good as anything she'd ever group ..." seen on a television commercial, "I promise you," Norma said. and almost as pretty as some of "You'll envy my way with things. the pictures she had seen in maga­ You'll tell all your friends. Just zines. She noticed with a little 76 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION pang that there was a certain fee," Norma said, leading Clarice moist loot.. about the way Polly Brainerd back to the living room. Ann was watching her, and so she "Your windows are just spar­ went to the child and patted one kling." waxen hand. "I know," Norma said, beam- "Don't you worry, honey. ing and capable. When you get big enough to help "And the rug." Momma with her housecleaning, "Glamorene." Momma will let you run around "\Vonderful." Clarice was for a couple of hours every day. hers. Momma promises." "Here," Norma said, plying Then, smoothing the front of her with coffee and cake. her Swirl housedress and refast­ "\Vonderful coffee," Clarice ening her Sweetheart pin, she said. "Call me Clarice. Now, went to meet Mrs. Brainerd at the about the Garden Club, and the door. morning coffee hours . . . We "Well," said Mrs. Brainerd in go to Marge on Thursday, and Ed­ an almost good-natured way. na Mondays, and Thelma Tues­ "How nice everything looks." day afternoons, and . . ." She "No household odor, no stains, bit into the proffered piece of no greasy feel to the cake," said cake. "And . . ." she said, turn­ Norma anxiously. "This is my ing the morsel over and over in little girl." her mouth. "What a good child," Mrs. "And " Norma said hope- Brainerd said, skirting Polly fully. Ann's legs, which stuck straight "And " Mrs. Brainerd out from the couch. said, looking slightly crosseyed "And our doggy and kitty," down her nose, as if she were try­ Norma said with growing confi­ ing to see what was in her mouth. dence, propping Ambrose against "This cake," she said. "This cake one of Polly Ann's feet because he " had begun to slide. "Marvel i\Iix," Norma said Mrs. Brainerd even smiled. with elan. "No greasy feel ..." "How cute. How nice." ''I'm sorry," l\lrs. Brainerd said, "Come see the darling kitchen," getting up. Norma said, standing so Clarice "You're-what?" Brainerd could look into the un­ "Sorry," Mrs. Brainerd said, clogged drain, the white and pris­ with genuine regret. "It's your tine sink. cake." "Just lovely,H Clarice said. "What about my cake?" "Let me get the cake and cof- "Why, it's got that greasy feel.• CYNOSURE 71 "You-l-it-but the com­ and she let Mrs. Brainerd have it mercial promised • • •" Norma with the lavender machine. was on her feet now, moving au­ First she propped Mrs. Brain­ tomatically. "The cake is so good, erd up in a corner, where she and my house is so beautiful would be uncomfortable. Then ..." She was in between Mrs. she reversed the nozzle action Brainerd and the door now, head­ and brought Polly Ann and Puff ing her off in the front hall. and Ambrose back to mobility. "Sorry," Mrs. Brainerd said. "I Then she brought her box of sew­ won't be seeing you. Now, if you'll ing scraps and all the garbage just close that closet door, so I from the kitchen, and began can get by ..." spreading the mess around Mrs. "Close the door?" Norma's eyes Brainerd's feet and she let Puff were glazed. "I can't. I have to rub cat hairs on the furniture get something off the closet shelf." and she sent Polly Ann into the "It doesn't matter what you back yard for some mud. Am­ get," Mrs. Brainerd said. "I can't brose, released, Did It. at Mrs. come back. We ladies have so much. Brainerd's feet. to do, we don't have time . . ." "So glad you could come, "Time," Norma said, getting Clarice," Norma said, gratified by what she wanted from the shelf. the look of horror in Mrs. Brain­ "Time," Mrs. Brainerd said erd's trapped and frozen face. condescendingly. "Oh. Maybe Then, turning to Polly Ann's you'd better not call me Clarice." laden pinafore, she reached for a "Okay, Clarice," Norma said, handful of mud.

CHANGING YOUR ADDR·ESS? The Magazine of FANTASY and SCIENCE FICTION will follow you anywhere providing you let us know six weeks in advance. Please be sure to give us your old address as well as the new one, and add the ZIP number. (If convenient, send the address label from the wrapper of the next copy of F&:SF you receive.) Subscription Service MERCURY PUBLICATIONS 34 7 East 53 Street New York, N.Y. 10022 From his home on a flowery street leading straight down hill to the Pacific Ocean, G. C. Edmondson sends us another story of the adventures he and his Mad Friend enfoy-if that is the proper word -in the United Mexican States. And considers certain problems in the realms of cosmogony, topography, and other things. The barge used in preliminary drilling for Project Mohole [he writes] was named CUSS I. I feel my nomenclature is more appropriate.

THE THIRD BUBBLE

by G. C. Edmondson

THE YOUNG MAN WORE A and seven assorted hearts, all still white shirt opened nearly to his beating. A semicylindrical swipe navel and tight black trousers. removed head and neck. Two With the disdainful deliberation slashes removed front flippers. of a matador he aimed the blunt The young man's white shirt re­ end of an ax. The turtle ceased mained immaculate despite the moving and faced the end with a welter of blood. stoicism marred only by a hissing I wondered at his flamboyance sigh and large oily tears. until I saw her. She was about The ax crunched like a claw seventeen, with long hair which hammer hitting a ripe cantaloupe. would have looked more natural Flippers thrilled. "The life is in north of a southbound palomino. the head," a policeman standing She wore a white blouse like the next to me said, somewhat un­ turtle butcher's save that hers necessarily, I thought. bulged more attractively. Her ca­ "Or occasionally in the gon­ pris fit like epidermis burnished ads," my mad friend added sotto with stove blacking. She was wit­ voce and in English. nessing the rite with none of With an effortless flourish the those minuscule shrieks and head young man cut around the bot­ turnings which Anglosaxon fe­ tom shell and lifted it to disclose males employ to disguise their an interesting array of innards taste for blood. 78 THE THIRD BUBBLE Another magnificent slash and "My feet," I groaned, "How the turtle butcher lifted legs and much farther?" tail. A shred of flesh held. He My mad friend hailed a capi­ twisted. A sizeable sac of body talist with two burros. fluids wrung out and wrought Built since the last hurricane, posthumous vengeance on his our hotel already showed signs of white shirt, face, and most of his decay. Holes in its palm frond trousers. walls admitted mosquitoes, bats, "Ay ay ayf" the palomino ex­ and small pterodactyls. I glanced claimed between giggles. at the newspaper on a table My mad friend raised an eye­ across from the bar. It was in brow. "Pocha," I muttered. My Spanish and its front page was judgment was vindicated when filled with poorly reproduced pic­ she spoke Californian Spanish to tures and misspelled names of the her progenitors. astronauts in the Russ-American Utterly crushed, the matador two-weeks-in-orbit shot. "Outer of sea turtles sloshed himself with space!" I groused, 'When'll we clean water. He finished butcher­ get enough money for some work ing silently, without flourishes. on Inner Space?" "He jests at scars who never My mad friend shrugged. felt a wound," my friend quoted. "You should be on my side. The I sighed and we trudged on seas'll fill more stomachs and save through soft sand. The humidity more souls than all that hard­ approached turkish bath propor­ ware. How long d'you think this tions. "What ever induced you to Bruderschaft's going to last before come to this Latin Limbo before the comrades go off on a new we got the magazine launched?" kick anyhow?" my friend asked. '1 didn't vote for him," my "The Mohorovicic Discontinu­ friend said. ity achieves a record thinness The barman was frantically some miles due \V of here." sloshing booze into a row of My friend gazed at breaking glasses. His assistant struggled to surf and as we passed a cross extricate himself from a bullet­ where some fisherman had headed football type who was ten. washed ashore he crossed himself. ing a story in some language the "How do you hold still long assistant didn't know. He escaped enough to drill a hole?" and I saw he was the self-petard­ "Four engines," I explained, ed turtle butcher. "Propellors pointing in. different "Cafe," my friend said, "And directions. One man sits before a do you have some Noche Buena left radarscope pushing buttons. from Christmas?" 80 FANTASY 1\:\D SCIENCE FICTION "I shall see." The young man wife exclaimed, "Where did yoJ ducked the bulletheaded giant's get it this time of year?" embrace on his way into the back "Millinery secret," my friend room. The giant began staggering grunted. in our direction. "Keeps it under his hat," I ex­ "The End of a Perfect Day," my plained. friend growled, but a pair of com­ "Speaking of secrets," my panions hastily steered the giant friend continued, "Why aren't back to the bar. One was dressed you still out on Blaspheme II?" in subtly ill-proportioned trousers "After months of mud, silt, and a flowered sport shirt with a strata of this'n thata, we hit vaguely muscovite look. The other something hard. I brought the athletic looking young man had tender in to pick up some dia­ splurged himself for some Ameri­ mond drill heads." can clothes, "Off some iron cur­ Wives abruptly ceased discuss­ tain freighter," my friend hazard­ ing whether haystack hair went ed. with the new botch look. "Did I heard occasional vowels, each somebody say diamonds?" within a fortification of high ex­ "Too cheap to smuggle," I plosive consonants. "Couldn't be," said, "And you'd look better with I said, "No ships in except my a string of. carborundum around tender." your neck." The turtle butcher brought bi­ There was sudden laughter at tuminous coffee and a bottle with the bar. "That short one," a lFife a bright poinsettia label. "Real said, "Is a woman." My mad beer!" I marvelled. My mad friend glanced at me and laughed. friend smiled wistfully. "They "Que hubo?" a wife asked. only make it once a year," he said. "Everybody was well into the Two rather attractive latin third reel of Eisenstein the Ter­ women stood in the doorway. The rible before I could sort the boys sun made it apparent that they from the girls." wore no slips. They removed A shadow fell across the table. wraparound skirts to reveal ber­ The entire band of bulletheads mudas and the athletic types at was smiling hopefully. the bar lost interest. "Blow," my friend said pleas­ "That wasn't exactly cricket," antly in English. "These ladies my mad friend said as they col­ don't need any Cuban rubles." lapsed at our table. "If they don't They stared in mute Slavic in­ like it," one replied, "Send a gun­ comprehension. The one in boat." American clothes was opening "Nodw Buena!" the other his mouth when a small dark THE THIRD BUBBLE 81 'man elbowed through and bared term for streetwalkers, "Will drift brilliant teeth in a coprophagous in and keep them happy." grin. The turtle butcher deposited a . "I don't believe it," a wife said. half empty bottle. Over poorly The Byzantine had a way of drawn terriers was printed GEN­ popping up just as we were get­ UINE SCOCH WISKY. The ting comfortable. No one had ever Byzantine gulped a gleason-sized learned more of his past than he belt. His eyes widened like a. cared to divulge. These usually freshly alimonied Californian's, conflicting stories centered about then he smiled again. "Poor chil­ a time machine and his birthdate dren," he sighed, "They get rest­ some 500 years in a nonexistent less in this climate." future. I had seen him once as "Why bring them to this third mate on a seagoing ferry, once as rate Fort Zindemeuf?" a Mexican army officer, once as Given half a chance, the BJ"" an alleged Secret Service man. zantine would never stop. 'What," I asked, "Are you up to "What," my friend hastily asked~ now?" "Will you accomplish with this In archaic Sephardic Spanish Mohole?" he said, "I conduct a tour." "Search me. My job is just A bullethead winked at a wife. keeping the radar going so we can The wife withered him. My mad center over the hole." I sipped friend coughed into his handker­ beer and tried to answer his ques­ chief. tion. "We ought to break through "You could pass for American," any day. Maybe it'll tell us how I told the withered one. the earth was created." With drunken solemnity he "It's all in Genesis," my mad said, "My primary allegiance, sub, friend said, and made a ritual is to the sovereign State of Texas." gesture of exorcism. What kind of travel agency Wives snatched bags from the would mix up a group like this? table. Staring, the Byzantine The Byzantine bullied them overfilled his glass and was still into seats at the next table. After pouring booze over the table. It a wistful glance at the wives, wasn't like him to get potted this they reverted to some plosive gab­ early in the story. "Is your liver ble where each sentence sounded giving out?" I asked. like an ultimatum. The Byzan­ There was a deafening silence tine wiped his face with a scented at the next table. Bulletheads handkerchief before muscling a stared at the doorway where the chair into our table. "Some wild late sun silhouetted an anatomical cattle," he said, using the latin ensemble. 82 FANTASY AND SCIEl'\CE FICTIO:-< "Tiger, tiger burning bright," "At least we won't call it that." my mad friend muttered. "But this is true." "Rascuachitlan has joined the My mad friend said something 20th Century," I decided. in Arabic. The sound alone could "How?" a wife inquired. have provoked another crusade. "Wild cattle who must face the "It starts with an astronaut just magistrate without consul or beginning turnover to go into counsel actually dare appear orbit," the Byzantine persisted. without skirts." "At least it isn't sf," a wife The silhouette was joined by said. two thicker ones. As thev fum­ "Then just at the moment of bled their sunblinded way across substitution-" the floor I realized it was the "The moment of what?" palomino. The turtle butcher "When the Great Ones pull sidetracked his trav and rushed him through the inspection hole to escort them. So~e instinct told and start the whirligig so radar me that the tight trousered palo­ will think he's orbiting." mino was communicating. My friend flagged frantically Bulletheads returned resigned­ and the turtle butcher came to ly to their drinking, save one who our table. Not, I noted, without a gazed regretfully at what might swift glance · at the palomino. have been. Even iron curtain "This sheep dip," my friend said, countries issue dresses for female "Is doing permanent damage to tourists. I wondered if this one the small gentleman's cerebrum. had lost her luggage. Kindly bring something less nox­ "Break through what?" my mad ious." He slopped the Byzantine's friend asked. I wrenched myself glass on the floor and tossed a back to the Mohole. match. There was a sputtering "The mantle; Earth's outer cov- whoosh. "\Von't even burn with a ering." blue flame," my friend grunted. "What do you expect to find?" The Byzantine screwed his "No two geologists agree." boina down on his head. "The The Byzantine glared morose- Great Ones," he said, "Are not too ly into his glass. "Is not good different. They're just waiting for scotch," he growled. us to catch up." "Could you do an article on it "I demand immediate integra­ for the new magazine?" my tion," my mad friend murmured. friend asked. "\Vhere do these Great Ones The Byzantine brightened. "I come from?" a wife asked. have a story," he said. The turtle butcher deposited a "We don't plan to run fiction." bottle. My mad friend studied the THE THIRD BUBBLE 83 seal and label. He passed it to madrileno. If you've eaten these me, looking exactly as someone regularly, I'm afraid it's going to might who had not had a drink taste fishy. As for the chorizo, I since a soul shattering episode in prefer my sausage of dog or Nord Afrique. I poured a short iguana." snort. "Legitimo; the leprechauns The palomino was turning 11·ashed their feet in this poteen." green. The Byzantine poured another "I still want some," a wife in­ gleason-sized belt. "Primoroso!" sisted. he exclaimed, "But why tastes "And you shall have some," my rrish so different from scotch?" friend said, "But let's cut out While my mad friend ex­ where the rest of us can have some­ plained how smoke is flued under thing approved by Good House­ the Irish floor and boils up keeping and Leviticus." through the rye in Scotland I "Dees gawhamma," a bullet­ studied the menu. It consisted of head asked in what was probably turtle. "Hungry?" I asked. My English, "Ees tortull?" friend nodded. I nodded. "Cahuama!" a wife exclaimed, They turned on the Byzantine ''It makes years that I do not with angry expostulations. My taste." friend flagged the assistant bar­ "Is it fit for human consump­ tender, pressed a wadded bill in tion ?" my friend asked. his hand, and said, "We wish to "It has six flavors," the wife eat elsewhere." continued, "Part tastes like beef, "I don't know my way," the some like veal, some like pork, palomino progenitor said, "Do some like chicken. Once during you mind if we go along?" difficult times we made chorizo." "Why not?" As long as the bul­ The palomino progenitor letheads and the Byzantine had leaned toward me and in English attached themselves • . . said, "I know cahuama is turtle "In ten minutes," the turtle but could you tell me about it?'' butcher said, "I finish." He shrugged apologetically and We finished ovr drinks and, continued in California Spanish, after endless waits before the door ''First time I've ever been here."' marked DAMAS, exited. Under "This wife," I cautioned, bug-haloed streetlights waited "Grew up in an isolated fishing three calandrias, the open car­ village. If you've been eating riages which handled most of naught but fish it's possible that the local transportation problem. hawkbill sea turtle will taste like "Courage," I consoled, "The beef, lall'b, chicken, or consum~ horses look tired." 84 FANTASY AND SCIENCE l'ICTION __ The turtle butcher had shed A policeman strolled down the his apron and combed his hair. street, gravely acknowledging He maneuvered the old folks into greetings frOm the open doorways. a calandria and crowded next to "Everything managed with deco­ the palomino. My mad friend and rum," my friend said. "T'was in­ I made room for the Byzantine. deed a sad day when the Parlor • After the astronaut has been House disappeared from the pulled through the hole," he said, Land of the Free and the Home "We. flashback and explain about of the Women's Club. the Great Ones." "So." He turned to the turtle "Vamonoooooooos !" the turtle butcher. "Which eating estab­ butcher shouted in imitation of a lishment gives you a kickback or train conductor. Drivers flicked just happens to belong to your whips and whistled between their uncle?" teeth. We passed to an older part The young man led us_ through of town. Open air restaurants a heavy door into the patio of a sweltered astraddle the cobbled large building with heavy win­ street's central gutter. "La zona," dowless walls to shut out the our hackman said. noisome stinks of the Great ''Did he say Zona?" a wife World. Its two stories gave onto a asked. cool central patio where an an­ "Zona de Tolerancia," the tur­ cient woman fussed- over washtub tle butcher explained. sized copper cauldrons. A small My friend and I looked at each grizzled man in loose white trou­ other in growing consternation. sers and guayabera was digging. "Wrong appetite," my friend mut­ His spade liberated a jet of steam. tered. My friend absently hummed a 'What's wrong?" the palomino snatch of Te Deum. progenitor twittered. "The young man deserves his 'We are enfiladed by whore­ commission," I said. houses," I grunted. "And a lifetime indulgence," "No importa," the turtle butch­ my mad friend added. er said, "Excellent restaurants. We were served, one recalci­ Families come." trant wife with cahuama, the rest The palomino abruptly of us with beef just emerging stooped. "Eight to five," my mad from its banana leaf shroud after friend murmured. She straight­ forty-eight hours underground. ened again and though strained, "Real barbacoa," my friend ex­ the capris had not burst. From ulted. the gutter she held a small neat­ I wrapped beef in a hot tor­ ly wrapped package. tilla, pausing only to slosh it with 'THE THIRD BUBBLE 85

·ted-green sauce made of tiny "On, H he insisted, HEarth is a ·magma-flavored chiles serranos sphere inside a sphere. We live on macerated with onion, jitomate, outer surface of inner sphere. oregano, and fresh coriander How else could we see stars?" leaves. "True barbacoa," I agreed, "How indeed?" my mad friend "Not that fraudulent pap from the wondered. backyard brazier which ulcerates The mortal gorge was ending. our vincible homeland." The old woman brought a fleeting The bulletheads performed memory of Act I, Scene 1, Mac­ heroic sleight of mouth. The Beth as she ladled up coffee and ubiquitous small boys trotted beer the inevitable final course of and iced glasses of instant in­ beans from her cauldrons. sanity from across the street. "Aft­ The palomino rummaged in er the Great Ones pull the astro­ her purse and discovered the naut through the hole," the By­ green wrapped package. Que zantine continued, "They indoc­ sera?" she wondered. trinate him into the nature of the It looked like sheets of unsepa­ universe." rated banknotes. Then I realized A wife stared morosely at tur­ they were lottery tickets, perfo­ tle stew. "This tastes like fish," rated to tear each into its hundred she complained. While my mad separately saleable cachos. friend and I laughed a boy re­ "What date?" I asked. She moved her plate and brought handed me a sheet. "Last week. 1Jarbacoa. Winners ought to be posted by "You will like this story,'' the now." Byzantine told us. The progenitor was recalling "Like a strawberry pizza," I stories of 8 million peso winners. said, but he was continuing. "How do you cash them?" he sput­ "In this story we prove that tered. "Help me and you'll get a space travel is impossible. After split. Everybody gets a split!" all, space is solid!" Across the patio the ancient man My mad friend grinned. "Now and woman regarded us. I know why the Index bans Gall­ The palomino progenitor made leo." a magnificent gesture and said "But what, then, is Earth?" "This is on me." He handed the "A bubble in the gently flowing old woman a note whose denom­ solid of space." ination precluded any hope of "And the Great Ones?" I asked, change and grandiloquently told "Where do they live?" her to keep it. I wondered how "On other spheres." much would revert to the turtle "Don't vou mean in?" butcher. 86 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION That young man reappeared "A yam like that would stll'e as with more calandrias. It was ten Kennedy put me on the Index PM. Offices and stores had just Librorum Prohibitorum. What closed and the local people were time's your boat leaving?" my hurrying home to supper. I won­ friend asked with his usual mer­ dered how much of a dent we had curial change of subject. made in what the inhabitants of "8 AM." this pension were going to get. He glanced at his watch. "How Momma sat beside the palo­ much farther to that miserable mino. Her husband shouted back hotel?" to us regarding the division of The turtle butcher's soulful spoils. "Why not wait and see if looks made me wonder if he was the tickets won?" my mad friend passing a stone. "We expect to hit shouted back. the Discontinuity any minute," I '1f space is solid why don't we said. "Maybe I can get away from fall up?" I asked. this Turkish bath soon." I slashed The Bvzantine leaned forward at the gnats which descended with sudden intensity and I saw each time we passed a street light. he was not as drunk as I'd thought. "Mira alli!" a wife exclaimed. •A planet is a one way screen. Walls were draped with numbers Gravity is the relentless seep of printed on muslin. "Alto/" I space pushing in." yelled. We scrambled into the lot­ The calandria lurched over a tery office. The Byzantine made missing cobble. My friend cast explosive noises and his bullet­ a jaundiced eye at the moon's di­ heads stood quiet. "How long are rection and said, "We progress you stuck with them?" I asked. from Penn Station to the Battery "Thirteen more davs but our via Brooklyn." plans may change. Would you "Oh, give the poor boy a care to join the tour?" chance,"' a wife said. "Afraid not. I've got work to In the lead carriage the turtle do." butcher's dyspeptic grimaces were "Where're you going?" my soulful. friend asked. "If gravity seeps in," I said, The Byzantine got that glassy "'The bubble will get full." look again and I suddenly noticed "It's been happening since the a hearing aid. He had once told Ur-bubble burst to create an ex­ me he expected to die at 40. He panding universe. Have you noted must be around 4 2 now. His eyes the circular bubble sign in primi­ focussed and he put his hand on tive religions, erroneously called my arm. "En serio, I have a fond­ the sun disc?" ness for you. I will happily bear THE THIRD BUBBLE 87 the. expense . f or you an d wives. " Back in first person, I noted. Bulletheads crowded around, "In an expanding universe," arguing like poorly carburated the little man continued, "The Vespas. "Right proud t'have y'all only way to travel is to go back ··come along," said one. The one a to that instant when the Ur-bub­ wife had insisted was female ble has just burst and step to one's edged closer. "Danger if you not," chosen destination. It's easy to she added. "We needing badly move forward again in time." women. " "A good idea for a story," my My mad friend had been mad friend said thoughtfully. watching the gambling crazed "Too bad I can't use it." palominos. _"Those tickets are "Too late," the Byzantine said, complete?" he asked, "Nothing and went to sleep. Moments later torn off?" They nodded. "If the we arrived and as the turtle butch· stubs weren't handed in for the er watched his palomino depart I drawing your discarded, unsold knew somebody else's bubble had tickets are about as valuable as a burst. The floor was crowded Nixon button," my friend said. now and an orchestra industri· Seeing his bubble burst, the ously ground out a mambo while progenitor tried to laugh but the locals, a tourist or two, and looked more as if his ulcer had the wild cattle twisted. As we just gone septic. He was remem­ crossed the floor someone released bering his 'this is all on me'. As a mass of balloons. Dancing horses clopped toward our hotel turned to bedlam as hairpins and even the turtle butcher sensed cigarettes popped them. The By· that the evening's magic had de­ zantine caught my arm. "You will parted. come?" he pleaded. "These Great Ones," I asked, "Sorry." I felt sudden shame "Why such a hurry to pull the when the little man I had always astronaut through the hole? Do regarded as a figure of fun shook they have to close it quick to keep my hand and spun so abruptly that from leaking gravity?" I could see tears fly. A balloon The Byzantine had lost inter­ rocketed across the floor and est in his own storv. "How do slapped me wetly in the face. they get from one planet to an­ other if it can't be done with The wives had put up their spaceships?" I insisted. He came hair and gone to bed. I sat on the to with a jerk and I wondered if balcony watching the moon sink he were drunk or tired. "Time into the sea jqst about where machine," he said, "That's how I Blaspheme II was tethered to its met the Great Ones." column of drill steel. l\f y mad 88 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION friend silently passed a rosary pretend he was in orbit." through his fingers. "Too bad "Oh, for Christ's sake!" my about the lottery tickets," he final­ friend snapped, "Give up sf for a ly said. while. Try knitting, or smoking "Did you notice how the By­ pot. Besides, the Great Ones pull zantine lost interest right in the them up through the hole." middle of his story?" "Right," I grunted. My friend nodded. "Wasn't •'I'm bushed," my mad friend drinking much either. I wonder if said. "In case you sail before I he's on the needle. Notice that get up, I'll be here another week. glassy stare and the way he was Think you'll break through by Hearing Voices?" then?" "Be funny if that hearing aid "Could be," I said. was a radio. I wonder what in­ "Well, good night. Don't forget structions the Great Ones would the article." He disappeared and give him." I sat watching the bulletheads Beneath our balcony the bul­ come out of the sea. Still in bath­ letheads erupted with packed ing gear, they set off with their bags. They trotted toward the bags. Why had that female ocean for a farewell swim. "Two thought it dangerous if we didn't out of three will step on sting­ go? rays," my mad friend guaranteed. And why didn't the Byzantine But there was only laughter as want to peddle his crazy theory they splashed into the quietly any more? The palomino pro­ lapping ocean. genitor had lost something he I had a sudden thought. "Could never really had. So had the tur­ we find that paper that was on tle butcher. But what bubble had the table this afternoon?" My burst for the Byzantin~? I yawned friend made an interrogatory and gazed at the gibbous moon grunt. "The pictures," I said, through half closed eyes. What "They look like that mixed bag of were they celebrating downstairs astronauts." popping all those balloons? "To My mad friend snorted and hell with it," I decided. The night began thumbing his rosary. was half gone and tomorrow I'd "This'd sure be the place to be out on that barge again. hole up if somebody wanted to Drilling the Mohole. : 'Aftn impre1sing upon our ace agent, Mr. Pettifogle (recently re­ turned from taking the Keely Cure) that his name was "not pro­ nounced 'Simmends' but 'Sigh-monds; • Mr. Bruce Simonds pro­ ceeded to impress him furthn with the following data: "I .s~and 5' 7~" in my athlete's feet, weigh 140 lbs after a haircut, measure 37-29-33, can do 41 very good push-ups, put the shot 43' 2'', run 50-yard dash in 6.5, the hundred in 12.5, the 660 in less than two minutes, the mile in 6:32, and belong to the schoors scholarship society." Dazed by these statistics Pettifogle inquired the age of our most recent Los Alamitos (Cal.) contributor. "Fourteen," said Mr. S.-adding, "I am pedantic, stingy, cowardly, lazy, leering. surly, despicable, dishonest, wretched, miserable, and doliche­ phalic. Also quite modest." Delivering his report on the author ~'f this funny poem about a robot mfgr., Pettifogle scribbled on the bottom in a shaky hand the Future of America is safe in the keep­ ing of such Youths as this, and stepped out for a Chumley Martini (see below for formula).

THE SEARCH

by Bruce Simonds

The first robots were pretty shoddy Back in the S(!venties. They were uncoordinated and clumsy And they thought too slowly And they didn't understand more than a few simple words And they would wash a dish to a powder If you didn't stop them in time.

SoinAugustof 1978 Arthur Chumley called in the Product Development Group Of Chumley Robot And in they came With the latest model. 89 90 fANTASY AND SCIENCB PICTION It clanked over to Arthur Chumley And said "Hello (klik) Mister (klik) Chumley (klik)." And put out its hand. But before Arthur Chumley could shake the hand It had knocked over a gilded bust of him Badly denting the halo. "This is not good," Said Arthur Chumley. ''\Ve must think, we must draw, we must work ''To build the More Perfect Robot. "Build me a robot "That does everything our present model does "But has none of its clumsy, uncoordinated movements. "And while you're at it "Knock its weight down to two hundred kilos." And he chased them all out of his office And he looked at the sales graph And he poured himself a bourbon-and-water. Easy on the water.

A year and two months later lnOctoberof 1979 The Product Development Group marchecl in proudly With their robot. It walked smoothly and gracefully over to Arthur Chumley And said "Hello (klik) Mister (klik) Chumley (klik)." And held out its hand Which Arthur Chumley shook. "Make me a Chumley Martini," Said Arthur Chumley. But the robot did not make him a Chumley Martini. Instead, it said "(Whir) (buzz) (klik) (whir) (klik) (buzz) (pafl)" And blew a $4.79 pentode tube Signifying Arthur Chumley had said something beyond its grasp. Whereupon Arthur Chumley leaned back And folded his pudgy hands over the convenient ledge Made by his stomach And said .. THE SEAllCH 91 "This is not good. ''We must think, we must draw, we must work "To build the More Perfect Robot. "Build me a robot "That does everything our present model does "And has a complete working vocabulary ''To fit its particular function. "And while you're at it "Get rid of that damn (klik) it makes switching tapes. • And he chased them all out of his office And he looked at the sales graph And he made himself a Chumley Martini: Three ounces of gin in a cocktail glass And smile at the portrait of Martini & Rossi.

Six years and six months later In April of 1986 The Product Development Group Trooped in With their robot. It walked over to Arthur Chumley And said "Good morning, Mister Chumley." And Arthur Chumley turned to the Product Development Group And said "Do you know what's going to happen if we- market this thing?" And the Group members all quivered And shook their heads And the robot said it did not. "I'll tell you what's going to happen if we market this thing," Said Arthur Chumley. "The entire American public is going to laugh at us "If we market this thing. "And do you know why?" And the Group members all quivered And shook their heads And the robot said it did not. 'Til tell you why. "Because they have a right to laugh at a company "That markets a robot "That says 'Good morning' at four-thirty in the afternoon." Said Arthur Chumley. 92 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTIO:S And he sat down at his desk And put his head in his hands And said ''This is not good. "We must think, we must draw, we must work "To build the More Perfect Robot. "Build me a robot "That does everything our present model does "And can see "And smell "And hear "And taste "And feel. "And while you're at it "Cover it with a soft, fteshlike substance "So it looks like a human being. "And just for the hell of it "Give it the ability to perceive a person's emotional state "From his actions "And know how to act accordingly." And he had a vice-president throw them all out of his office And he looked at the sales graph And he went to the liver bank.

Twenty-two years and eleven months later In March of 1999 The Product Development Group snivelled in With their robot. It seated the Group Chairman Remarking about how cold it had been last night. Then it walked over to Arthur Chumley And held out its soft, fteshlike hand Which Arthur Chumley ignored. Somewhat disconcerted The robot said "How are you, Mister Chumley?" Whereupon Arthur Chumley replied "Miserable. My wife had an affair with my best friend And my servants have run off with my plane And all my clothes. • And the robot smiled 93

ADd said ''You're joking, Mister Chumley.• And Arthur Chumley leaned forward And said ·. "You're right. I'm joking." And Arthur Chumley turned to the Product Development Group And said "I am proud of you. "I gave you a very difficult task: "To build the More Perfect Robot. "But you did it. "And now I will give you an even more difficult task: "To build The Perfect Robot. "Build me a robot that is a companion. "Build me a robot that is a friend. ''Build me a robot that can feel emotion "And can pass for human "And that, gentlemen, will be The Perfect Robot. • And he dismissed them from his office And he looked at the sales graph And he smiled For he knew that in a few years The Group would present him with The Perfect Robot. And they did Early in the May of 2039. Seven years and six months after that In December of 2046 The people from Beta Centaurus IV came. They didn't invade They just came And they're our very best friends now. They were interested in our technology Andoneday Arthur Chumley was talking to one of them in his office. They picked up the language rather quickly. He was telling it About the time And money And effort they had expended To build a robot That had smooth, agile movements 94 FANTASY AND SCIE.NCB JIICT10N And weighed only two hundred kilos And had a complete working vocabulary To fit its particular function And made no damn (klik) switching tapes And could see And smell And hear And taste And feel And was covered with a soft, fleshlike substance And could perceive a person's emotional state And act accordingly And was a companion and a friend And could feel emotion And could pass for human. Whereupon the Centaurian said "He can't do much of anything you can't do. 'Why not just hire people to do the same things?" And Arthur Chumley chuckled And leaned back And opened his mouth To tell the Centaurian why not. And then he closed his mouth And excused himself And went downstairs And hailed a cab And went home And dashed off a few notes to his wife and broker And packed four suitcases with stocks and bonds and money And closed out all his bank accounts And went to the spaceport And chartered a small ship And disappeared.

Not much is heard from Arthur Chumley these days. This is because He is running an opium farm In New Brasilia On Mars. His buyers come every eight months For their shiploads of opium TIIE SEARCH 95

~. np nothing is said About Arthur Chumley's strange refusal to use robots For it is known that he is somewhat eccentric~ He hires men to work the fields And they do. And Arthur Chumley sells And the buyers buy And nothing is said. ·

THE THING FROM OUTER SPACE AND THE PRAIRIE DOGS

by Gahan WiJson

ROCKET SHIP LANDED ON THE TEXAS PANHANDLE, one bright, sunny day, in the middle of a prairie dog colony. The top of the rocket unscrewed, with a harsh, grating noise, and out crawled a Thing from outer space. The Thing carried a death ray, a mind twister, a pain amplifier, and many other ingenious instruments of war, torture, and destruction. It drooled green drool and looked about for something to kill. When a prairie dog peeped out from its burrow, the Thing spun on its tentacles, and shot out a blinding beam of fire from one of its weapons which reduced the prairie dog to a cloud of idly drifting ash. The Thing burbled for joy and started hunting eagerly for more of the tiny creatures. At this point, two cleverly concealed trap doors opened in the ground, and from each of them rose a glittering, electronic cannon manned by a crew of uniformed prairie dogs. The ·cannons fired simultaneously on the Thing and destroyed it. "It's a good thing we were prepared," said the Captain of the prairie dogs, "But I could have sworn the humans would have launched the first attack." Moral: Watch out which fly you swat. SCIENCE 0

THE HEAVENLY ZOO

by Isaac Asimov

LAST SUMMER (JULY 20, 1963, to be exact) there was a total eclipse of the Sun, visible in parts of Maine, but not quite visible in its total aspect from my house. In order to see the total eclipse, I would have had to drive two hundred miles, take a chance on clouds, then drive back two hundred miles, braving the traffic congestion produced by thousands of other New Englanders getting this same notion. I decided not to (as it happened, clouds interfered with seeing, so it was just as well) and caught fugitive glimpses of an eclipse that was only 95 percent total, from my backyard. However, the difference be­ tween a 95 percent eclipse and a 100 percent eclipse is the difference between a notion of water and an ocean of water, so I did not feel very overwhelmed by what I saw. What makes a total eclipse so remarkable is the sheer astronomical accident that the Moon fits so snugly over the Sun. The Moon is just large enough to cover the Sun completely (at times) so that a tempo­ rary night falls and the stars spring out. And it is just small enough so that during the Sun's obscuration, the corona, especially the brighter parts near the body of the Sun, is completely visible. The apparent size of the Sun and Moon depends upon both their ac­ tual size and their distance from us. The diameter of the Moon is 2,160 miles while that of the Sun is 864,000 miles. The ratio of the diameter of the Sun to that of the Moon is 864,000/2,160 or 400. In other words, if both were at the same distance from us, the Sun would appear to be 400 times as broad as the Moon. However, the Sun is further away from us than the Moon is, and therefore appears smaller for its size than the Moon does. At great dis- 96 THE HEAVENLY ZOO 97 . tanm, such as those which characterize the Moon and the Sun, doo­ bling the distance halves the apparent diameter. Remembering that, con­ sider that the average distance of the Moon from us is 238,000 miles while that of the Sun is 93,000,000 miles. The ratio of the distance of the Sun to that of the Moon is 93,000,0001238,000 or 390. The Sun's apparent diameter is cut down in proportion. In other words, the two effects just about cancel. The Sun's greater distance makes up for its greater size and the result is that the Moon and the Sun appear to be equal in size. The apparent angular diameter of the Sun averages 3 2 minutes of arc, while that of the Moon averages 31 minutes of arc. • These are average values because both Moon and Earth possess ellip­ tical orbits. The Moon is closer ,to the Earth (and therefore appears larger) at some times than at others, while the Earth is closer to the Sun (which therefore appears larger) at some times than at others. This variation in apparent diameter is only 3 percent for the Sun and about 5 percent for the Moon so that it goes unnoticed by the casual observer. There is no astronomical reason why Moon and Sun should fit so well. It is the sheerest of coincidence, and only the Earth among all the planets is blessed in this fashion. Indeed, if it is true, as astronomers suspect, that the Moon's distance from the Earth is gradually increasing as a result of tidal friction, then this excellent fit even here on Earth i!i only true of our own geologic era. The Moon was too large for an ideal total eclipse in the far past and will be too small for any total eclipse at all in the far future. Of course, there is a price to pay for this excellent fit. The fact that the Moon and Sun are roughly equal in apparent diameter, means that the conical shadow of the Moon comes to a vanishing point near the Earth's surface. If the two bodies were exactly equal in apparent size, the shadow would come to a pointed end exactly at the Earth's surface, and the eclipse would be total for only an instant of tim!!. In other words, as the Moon covered the last sliver of Sun (and kept on moving, of course) the first sliver of Sun would begin to appear on the other side. Under the most favorable conditions, when the Moon is as close as possible (and therefore as apparently large as possible) while the Sun is as far as possible (and therefore as apparently small as possible), the Moon's shadow comes to a point well below Earth's surface and we pass through a measurable thickness of that shadow. In other words, after the

• One degree equals 60 minutes, so that both SuM a1lll Moms are about half a degree in diameter. 98 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION unusually large Moon covers the last sliver of the unusually small Sun, it continues to move for a short interval of time before it ceases to over­ lap the Sun and allows the first sliver of it to appear at the other side. An eclipse, under the most favorable conditions, can be 7 lh minutes long. On the other hand, if the Moon is smaller than average in appear­ ance, and the Sun larger, the Moon's shadow will fall short of the Earth's surface altogether. In other words, the small Moon will not com­ pletely cover the larger Sun, even when both are centered in the sky. In­ stead, a thin ring of Sun will appear all around the Moon. This is an "annular eclipse" (from a Latin word for "ring"). Since the Moon's ap­ parent diameter averages somewhat less than the Sun's, annular eclipses are a bit more likely than total eclipses. This situation scarcely allows astronomers (and ordinary beauty­ loving mortals, too) to get a good look, especially since a total eclipse of the Sun not onlv lasts for a few minutes at best, but can be seen only over that small P<>rtion of the Earth's surface which is intersected by the narrow shadow of the Moon. To make matters worse, we don't even get as many eclipses as we might. An eclipse of the Sun occurs whenever the Moon gets between ourselves and the Sun. But that happens at every new Moon; in fact the Moon is "new" because it is between us and the Sun so that it is the op­ pOSite side (the one we don't see) that is sunlit, and we only get, at best, the sight of a very thin crescent sliver of light at one edge of the moon. Well, since there are twelve new Moons each year (sometimes thirteen) we ought to see twelve eclipses of the Sun each year, and some­ times thirteen. No? No! At best we see five eclipses of the Sun each year (all at widely separated portions of the Earth's surface, of course) and sometimes as few as two. What happens the rest of the time? Let's see.

The Earth's orbit about the Sun is all in one plane. That is, you can draw an absolutely flat sheet through the entire orbit. The Sun itself will be located in this plane as well. (This is no coincidence. The law of grav­ ity makes it necessary.) If we imagine this plane of the Earth's orbit carried out infinitely to the stars, we, standing on the Earth's surface, will see that plane cutting the celestial sphere into two equal halves. The line of intersection will form a "great circle" about the sky, and this line is called the "ecliptic." Of course, it is an imaginary line and not visible to the eye. Never­ theless, it can be located if we use the Sun as a marker. Since the plane THE HEAVENLY ZOO 99 of the Earth's orbit passes through the Sun, we are sighting along the plane, when we look at the Sun. The Sun's position in the sky always falls upon the line of the ecliptic. Therefore, in order to mark out the .ecliptic against the starry background, we need only follow the appar· ent path of the Sun through the sky. (I am referring now not to the daily path from east to west, which is the reflection of Earth's rotation; but rather the path of the Sun from west to east against the starry back· ground, which is the reflection of the Earth's revolution about the Sun.) Of course, when the Sun is in the sky, the stars are not visible, being blanked out by the scattered sunlight that turns the sky blue. How then can the position of the Sun among the stars be made out? Well, since the Sun travels among the stars, the half of the sky which is invisible by day and the half which is visible by night shifts a bit from day to day and from night to night. By watching the night-skies throughout the year, the stars can be mapped throughout the entire cir· cuit of the ecliptic. It then becomes possible to calculate the position of the Sun against the stars on each particular day, since there is always just one position that will account for the exact appearance of the night sky on any particular night. If you prepare a celestial sphere, then; that is, a globe with the stars marked out upon it; you can draw an accurate great circle upon it re~ resenting the Sun's path. The time it takes the Sun to make one complete trip about the ecliptic (in appearance) is about 365~ days and it is this which defines the "year." The Moon travels about the Earth in an ellipse and there is a plane that can be drawn to include its entire orbit; this plane passing through the Earth itself. When we look at the Moon, we are sighting along this plane, and the Moon marks out the intersection of this plane with the starry background. The stars may be seen even when the Moon is in the sky, so that marking out the Moon's path (also a great circle) is far ea~ ier than marking out the Sun's. The time it takes the Moon to make one complete trip about its path, about 28 days, defines the "sidereal month." (See ROUND AND ROUND AND-, F & SF, January 1964.) Now if the plane of the Moon's orbit about the Earth coincided with the plane of the Earth's orbit about the Sun, both Moon and Sun would mark out the same circular line against the stars. The Moon would catch up with the Sun periodically. The Moon would make a complete circuit of the ecliptic in 2 8 days, then spend an additional day and a half catching up to the Sun, which had also been moving (though much more slowly) in the interval. Every 29lh days there would be a new Moon and an eclipse of the Sun. 100 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Furthermore, once every 29Ih days, there would be a full Moon, when the Moon was precisely on the opposite side of us as the Sun was so that we would see its entire visible hemisphere lit by the Sun. Only at that time, the Moon should pass into the Earth's shadow and then there would be a total eclipse of the Moon. Unfortunately, this does not happen ev~ry 29~ days because the plane of the Moon's orbit about the Earth does not coincide with the plane of the Earth's orbit about the Sun. The two planes make an angle of 5° 8' (or 308 minutes of arc). The two great circles, if marked out on a celestial sphere, would be set off from each other at a slight slant. They would cross at two points, diametrically opposed, and would be sepa· rated by a maximum amount exactly half-way between the crossing point. (The crossing-points are called "nodes", a Latin word meaning "knots.") If you have trouble visualizing this, the best thing to do is get a bas­ ketball and two rubber bands and try a few experiments. If you form a great circle of each rubber band (one that divides the globe into two equal halves) and make them non-coincident, you will see that they cross each other in the manner I have described. At the points of maximum separation of the Moon's path from the ecliptic, the angular distance between them is 308 minutes of arc. This is a distance equal to roughly ten times the apparent diameter of either the Sun or the Moon. This means that if the Moon happens to overtake the Sun at a point of maximum separation, there will be enough space between them to fit in nine circles in a row, each the apparent size of Moon or Sun. In most cases, then, the Moon, in overtaking the Sun, will pass above it or below it with plenty of room to spare, and there will be no eclipse. Of course, if the Moon happens to overtake the Sun at a point near one of the two nodes, then the Moon does get into the way of the Sun and an eclipse takes place. This only happens, as I said, from two to five times a year. If the motions of the Sun and Moon are adequately analyzed mathematically, then it becomes easy to predict when such meetings will take place in the future, and when they have taken place in the past, and exactly from what parts of the Earth's surface the eclipse will be visible. Thus, Herodotus tells us that the Ionian philosopher, Thales, pre­ dicted an eclipse that came just in time to stop a battle between the Lyd­ ians and the Medians. (With such a sign of divine displeasure, there was no use going on with the war.) The battle took place in Asia Minor sometime after 600 B.c., and astronomical calculations show that a to- . THE HEA~NLY ZOO 101 t8I eclipse of the Sun was visible from Asia Minor on May 28, 585 B.c. This star-crossed battle, therefore, is the earliest event in history which can be dated to the exact day.

·. The ecliptic served early mankind another purpose besides acting as a site for eclipses. It was an eternal calendar, inscribed in the sky. The earliest calendars were based on the circuits of the Moon, for as the Moon moves about the sky, it goes through very pronounced phase changes that even the most casual observer can't help but notice. The 29¥2 days it takes to go from new Moon to new Moon is the "synodic month" (see ROUND AND ROUND AND-). The trouble with this system is that in the countries civilized enough to have a calendar, there are im?ortant periodic phenomena (the flood­ ing of the Nile, for instance, or the coming of seasonal rains, or seasonal cold) that do not fit in well with the synodic month. There weren't a whole number of months from Nile flood to Nile flood. The average in· terval was somewhere between twelve and thirteen months. In Egypt it came to be noticed that the average intervals between the floods coincided with one complete Sun-circuit (the year). The result was that calendars came to consist of years subdivided into months. In Babylonia and, by dint of copying, among the Greeks and Jews, the months were tied firmly to the Moon, so that the year was made up some­ times of 12 months and sometimes of 13 months in a complicated pat· tern that repeated itself every 19 years. This served to keep the years in line with the seasons and the months in line with the phases of the Moon. However, it meant that individual years were of different lengths. The Egyptians and, by dint of copying, the Romans and ourselves, abandoned the Moon and made each year equal in length, and each with 12 slightly long months. The "calendar month" averaged 30lh days long in place of the 29lh days of the synodic month. This meant the months fell out of line with the phases of the Moon, but mankind survived that. The progress of the Sun along the ecliptic marked off the calendar and since the year (one complete circuit) was divided into 12 months, it seemed natural to divide the ecliptic into 12 sections. The Sun would travel through one section in one month, through the section to the east the next month, the section next to the east the third month and so on. Mter 12 months, it would ci>me back to the first section. Each section of the ecliptic has its own pattern of stars and to iden­ tify one section from another, it is the most natural thing in the world to use those patterns. If one section has four stars in a roughly square 102 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION configuration, it might be called "the square"; another section might be the "V-shape", another the "large triangle" and so on. Unfortunately, most people don't have my neat, geometrical way of thinking and they tend to see complex figures, rather than simple, clean shapes. A group of stars arranged in a V might suggest the head and horns of a bull, for instance. The Babylonians worked up such imagina­ tive patterns for each section of the ecliptic and the Greeks borrowed these, giving each a Greek name. The Romans borrowed the list next, giving them Latin names, and passing them on to us. The following is the list, with each name in Latin and in English: I) Aries, the Ram; 2) Taurus, the Bull; 3) Gemini, the Twins) 4) Cancer, the Crab; 5) Leo, the Lion; 6) Virgo, the Virgin; 7) Libra, the Scales; 8) Scorpio, the Scorpion; 9) Sagittarius, the Archer; 10) Cap­ ricomus, the Goat; 11) Aquarius, the Water-Carrier; 12) Pisces, the Fishes. As you see, seven of the constellations represent animals. An eighth, Sagittarius, is usually drawn as a centaur, which may be considered an animal, I suppose. Then, if we remember that human beings are part of the animal kingdom, the only strictly non-animal constellation is Libra. The Greeks consequently called this band of constellations "o zodiakos kyklos" or "the circle of little animals" and this has come down to us as the Zodiac. In fact, in the sky as a whole, modem astronomers recognize 88 con­ stellations. Of these 30 (most of them constellations of the southern skies, invented by modems) represent inanimate objects. Of the re­ maining 58, mostly ancient, 36 represent mammals (including 14 hu­ man beings), 9 represent birds, 6 represent reptiles, 4 represent fish, and 3 represent arthropods. Quite a heavenly zoo! Odd, though, considering that most of the constellations were in­ vented by an agricultural society, not one represents a member of the plant kingdom. Or can that be used to argue that the early star-gazers were herdsmen and not farmers?

The line of the ecliptic is set at an angle of 2 3 'h 0 to the celestial equator (see GHOST LINES IN THE SKY, F & SF, May 1964) since, as is usually stated, the Earth's axis is tipped 2 3 'h 0 • At two points, then, the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator and those two crossing points are the "equinoxes" ("equal nights"). When the Sun is at those crossing points, it shines directly over the Equator and days and nights are equal (twelve hours each) the world over. Hence, the name. THE HEAVENLY ZOO 103 One of the equinoxes is reached when the Sun, in its path along the ecliptic, moves from the southern celestial hemisphere into the north­ em. It is rising higher in the sky (to us in the northern hemisphere) and spring is on its way. That, therefore, is the "vernal equinox" and it is on March 20. On that day (at least in ancient Greek times) the Sun entered the constellation of Aries. Since the vernal equinox is a good time to begin the year for any agricultural society, it is customary to begin the list of the constellations of the Zodiac, as I did, with Aries. The Sun stavs about one month in each constellation so it is in Aries from Mar~h 20 to April 19; in Taurus from April 20 to May 20 and so on. (At least, that was the lineup in Greek times.) As the Sun continues to move along the ecliptic after the vernal equinox, it moves further and further north of the celestial equator, rising higher and higher in our northern skies. Finally, half way be­ tween the two equinoxes, on June 21, it reaches the point of maximum separation between ecliptic and celestial equator. Momentarily it "stands still" in its north-south motion, then "turns" and begins (it appears to us) to travel south again. This is the time of the "summer solstice" where "solstice" is from the Latin, meaning "sun stand-still." At that time, the position of the Sun is a full 2 3lh 0 north of the celestial equator and it is entering the constellation of Cancer. Con­ sequently, the line of 23lh 0 North Latitude on Earth, the line over which the Sun is now shining, is the "Tropic of Cancer." ("Tropic" is from a Greek word meaning "to tum.") On September 23, the Sun has reached the "autumnal equinox" as it enters the constellation of Libra. It then moves south of the celes­ tial equator, reaching the point of maximum southerliness on Decem­ ber 21, when it enters the constellation of Capricorn. This is the "winter solstice" and the line of 2 3lh 0 South Latitude on the Earth is (you guessed it) the "Tropic of Capricorn."

Here is a complication! The earth's axis "wobbles." If the line of the axis were extended to the celestial sphere, each pole would draw a slow circle 4 7 ° in diameter as it moved. The position of the celestial equator depends on the tilt of the axis and so the celestial equator moves bodily against the background of the stars from east to west in a direction parallel to the ecliptic. The position of the equinoxes (the intersection of the moving celestial equator with the unmoving eclip­ tic) travels westward to meet the Sun which follows its apparent east­ ward motion. 104 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION The equinox completes a circuit about the ecliptic in 2 5, 7 60 years which mean_s that in 1 year the vernal equinox moves 360/25,760 or 0.014 degrees. The Sun, in making its circuit, comes to the vernal equinox 0.014 degrees west of its position as the last crossing and must travel that additional 0.014 degrees to make a truly complete circuit with respect to the stars. It takes 20 minutes of motion to cover that additional 0.014 degrees. Because the equinox precedes itself and is reached 20 minutes ahead of schedule each year, this motion of the earth's axis is called "the precession of the equinoxes." Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the vernal equinox moves one full constellation of the Zodiac every 2,150 years. In the time of the Pyramid builders, the Sun entered Taurus at the time of the vernal equinox. In the time of the Greeks, it entered Aries. In mod­ ern times, it enters Pisces. In 4000 A.D. it will enter Aquarius. The complete circle made by the Sun with respect to the stars takes 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 10 seconds. This is the "sidereal year." The complete circle from equinox to equinox takes 20 minutes less; 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds. This is the "tropical year" because it also measures the time required for the Sun to move from tropic to tropic and back again. It is the tropical year and not the sidereal year that governs our seasons, so it is the tropical year we mean when we speak of t1ze year. The actual calendar year we use in the Gregorian calendar has an average length of 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 12 seconds, aml is thus 2 7 seconds longer than the tropical year. This will build up to one day in excess every 3,200 years. Sometime about 4700 A.D. there­ fore some leap year will have to be converted into an ordinary year and mankind will be set for another three millennia. The scholars of ancient times noted that the position of the Sun in the Zodiac had a profound effect on -the Earth. Whenever it was in Leo, for instance, the Sun shone with a lion's strength and it was in­ variably hot; when it was in Aquarius, the water-carrier usually tipped his urn so that there was much snow. Furthermore, eclipses were clearly meant to indicate catastrophe, since catastrophe always fol­ lowed eclipses. (Catastrophes also always followed lack of eclipses but no one paid attention to that.) Naturally, scholars sought for other effects and found them in the movement of the five bright star-like objects, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These, like the Sun and Moon, moved against the starry background and all were therefore called "planetes" ("wan­ derers") by the Greeks. We call them "planets." rHE HEAVENLY ZOO 105 The five star-like planets ·circle the Sun as the Earth does and the planes of their orbits are tipped only slightly to that of the Earth. This means they seem to move in the ecliptic, as the Sun and Moon do, pl'9- _gressing through the constellations of the zodiac. · Their motidns, unlike those of the Sun and the Moon, are quite complicated. Because of the motion of the Earth, the track made by the star-like planets forms loops now and then. This made it possible for the Greeks to have five centuries of fun working out wrong theories to account for those motions. Still, though the theories might be wrong, they sufficed to work· out what the planetary positions were in the past and what they would be in the future. All one had to do was to decide what particular influence was exerted by a particular planet in a particular constellation of the zodiac; note the position of all the planets at the time of a person's birth; and everything was set. The decision as to the particular influ­ ences presents no problem. You make any decision you care to. The pseudo-science of astrology invents such influences without any vis­ ible difficulty. Every astrologer has his own set. To astrologers, moreover, nothing has happened since the time of the Greeks. The period from March 20 to April 19 is still governed by the "sign of Aries" even though the Sun is in Pisces at that time nowa­ days, thanks to the precession of the equinoxes. For that reason, it is now necessary to distinguish between the "signs of the Zodiac" and the "constellations of the Zodiac." The signs now are what the constella­ tions were two thousand years ago. I've never heard that this bothered any astrologer in the world. All this and more occurred to me a couple of months ago when I was invited to be on a well-known television conversation-show that was scheduled to deal with the subject of astrology. I was to represent science against the other three members of the panel, all of whom were to be professional astrologers. For a moment, I felt that I must accept, for surely it was my duty as a rationalist to strike a blow against folly and superstitution. Then other thoughts occurred to me. The three practitioners would undoubtedly be experts at their own particular line of gobbledygook and horse fertilizer, and could easily speak a gallon of nonsense while I was struggling with a half-pint of reason. Furthermore, astrologers are adept at that line of argument that all pseudo-scientists consider "evidence." The line would be something like this, "People born under Leo are leaders of men, because the lion ·106 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION is the king of beasts, and the proof is that Napoleon was born under the sign of Leo." Suppose, then, I were to say, "But one-twelfth of living human beings, amounting to 250,000,000 individuals, were born in Taurus. Have you, or has anybody, ever tried to determine whether the propor­ tion of leaders among them is significantly greater than among non­ Leos? And how would you test for leadership, objectively, anyway?" Even if I managed to say all this, I .would merely be stared at as a lunatic and, very likely, as a dangerous subversive. And the general public, which, in this year of 1964, ardently believes iil astrology and supports more astrologers in affluence (I strongly suspect) than existed in . all previous centuries combined, would arrange lynching parties . . So as I wavered between the desire to fight for the right, and the sus­ picion that the right would be massacred and sunk without a trace, I decided to turn to astrology for help. Surely, a bit of astrologic analysis would tell me what was in store for me, in any such confrontation. Since I was born on January 2, that placed me under the sign of Capricorn-the goat. That did it! Politely, but extremely firmly, I refused to be on the program!

Handsome, Sturdy VOLUME FILES for Your Copies of- FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Each Volume File will keep 12 copies of FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION clean, orderly, and readily accessible. Sturdily built, the files are covered with a rich black and red washable leatherette, and the lettering is in 16-carat gold leaf. Reasonably priced at $2.50 each, 3 for $7.00, or 6 for $13.00, they are shipped fully prepaid on a money back basis if not satisfactory. Order direct from: JESSE JONES BOX CORPORATION Dept. Fe-SF ., P.O. Box 5120 ., Philadelphia 41, Pa Whether the main point of this brief and poignant Btory Ziel m the penultimate or the ultimate pllragraph, we leave to our read­ ers to think for themselves. It may give them-and it should­ something t~ think about in either case.

FOBWABDING SEBVICE

by Willard Marsh

}F PAIN HIT WHEN HE WAS pursued their unearned liberty dozing, he would awaken instant- down distant hallways. The night ly because it was the left side. music would later be augmented And even though the pain was in by an ambulance soloing its ar­ the wrong location, all that his rival or the muffied harmonies of lulled mind could initially report bedpans being washed. And after was terror on the left. It was hu- three evenings of it Phillip was miliating to be braced in a con- almost glad that the decision for stant cringe. For years now, he surgery had been made. (He pic­ had been creeping past obstacles tured it as something like clean­ of exertion. And scarcely into his ing out a carburetor. How did a forties he had developed an old man get gravel in his kidney in man's gait and an old man's ap- the first place?) prehensions. Meanwhile, his heart continued Shifting position gingerly, prowling his chest like the caged, Phillip lay there, conscious of his manic animal it was. A vicious throbbing kidney and of the brute requiring twenty-four-hour sounds and vistas of the six-bed humoring, it could leap free the ward as it sailed through another first time you got distracted by a evening under banked riding little binge, or even pulled too lights. Smoke rose from the busted tightly on a shoelace-and strike hip across the aisle as it lay moni- both you and itself a mortal toring an earphone, and other wound. And whenever it did, colleagues snored or muttered in would there be anyone to care? response to footsteps of the unin- He tried to tell himself that he had firmed, a separate race, as they made it through other lonely mid- © 1963 by Willard Marsh 107 108 FANTASY AND SCIJlNCE FICTION nights, and he would get through Phillip smiled. "Suppose I this one, somehow. He could do could ask for a rain check?" it, if he had to. Herb chuckled. Time passed, as it had to. And "Seriously though, I'm a little finally, with relief, he heard the worried, Herb. I have a fairly tread of Herb, the night attend­ weak heart." ant. His figure bulked up in the "I know. I saw your cardio­ half-light as he set the tray down gram." on the bed table. .-~ Phillip waited. "How'd it go this evening, Mr. "Well, what do you think?" he DeWitt?" asked at last. "Not too badly, thanks," Phil­ After a moment Herb said, "At lip said. least you'll have a good anesthetist Herb switched on the bedlamp, in Dr. Abrahms." his craggy, compassionate fea­ But it came too late to be en­ tures searching Phillip's. He was tirely reassuring. And at this a large man with a gentle touch. stage Phillip wasn't particularly "This should let you get a little interested in any honest answers. sleep." As he prepared the syringe, At last, Herb broke the intoler­ he said, "Which arm'll it be?'' able pause to ask, "Remember the "Doesn't matter." girl I was telling you about just Phillip felt the cool swab of the other night, Mr. DeWitt?" alcohol, the needle's sting, then "What? Oh yes, Milly." settled back while Herb pulled "Myra. M-Y-R-A," Herb said, up a chair to have a smoke. He, in soft reproach. "Of course, she too, was single, Phillip had dis­ isn't a girl any longer, because it covered; somewhere in his middle happened quite a while back. fifties, with a good portion of Anyway, do you remember the them spent right here. Not the man involved?" most significant career one might "Afraid not." elect, but for a man unburdened "Ackerman. Paul Ackerman." by either ambition or special skills, "That's right, I got it now. set in his easygoing ways, it was Myra and Paul Ackerman." probably a comfortable enough Phillip's gratitude for a little existence. In addition, he ran a conversation before the sedative business on the side that, from all took hold was undercut by his Phillip could gather about it, annovance at Herb's capacity for sounded more like a hobby than a wandering. Like all bad story­ source of revenue. tellers, he got mired in petty de­ "Well, all set for tomorrow tails and forgot the meat of the morning?" Herb asked. anecdote. FORWARDING SERVICE 109 "And Myra was one of your sons bureau wouldn't be available clients," Phillip said, remember­ for your clients," Phillip said, as ing. "What was it this Ackerman numbness nibbled at his outer fellow did to her, anyway?" fringes, "since the people they're ·. "It must have been something trying to get in touch with have­ terrible. She never would tell me." n't broken any laws." "Dear God," J>hillip thought 'Well, I don't know about with a tired smile. But the that," Herb said. "I mean, wheth­ drowsiness was setting in, and er or not you have to be involved any kind of talk was an improve­ in crime before the missing per­ ment over silently listening to his sons bureau will step in. But in own heart. Poor 1\Jyra, and poor any case, it's always too late to Ackerman, whose garbled histories call in any authorities." were lost in Herb's diffusiveness. 'What do you do, then? Run However it was that Ackerman advertisements?'' had hurt her, Myra had a change 'Well, not exactly. It's a sort of feeling years later and wanted of word-of-mouth arrangement." to let him know he could come And even with his eyes closed, home; all was forgiven. Phillip could sense Herb's awk­ "Come home, all is forgiven," wardness. "I just try to pass the Phillip murmured. "You must get information on, to whoever's li­ some pretty weird clients, Herb. able to be in contact." But then, that service you run Phillip laughed sleepily. "My sounds pretty much on the weird God, Herb, do you make any kind side, too." of income with such a sloppy Herb chuckled, but only after system?" And again he realized an instant's hesitation in which by the silence, that he had hurt Phillip realized he had been hurt. the older man. "I'm sorry, Herb, "I mean, it's a little out of the it's just that-" ordinary ·line of messenger serv­ "It's all right, Mr. DeWitt. I ices, you'll have to admit." haven't been explaining it well, "Oh, no doubt about it, Mr. but it isn't easy to explain. DeWitt. But it filJs a real need. There's no income involved," You see, when someone you have a Herb said quietly. "I wouldn't violent emotion about disappears capitalize on people's feelings. Be­ without a trace, it can be pretty sides, I can't even be positive that frustrating if you can't get word messages always get delivered. I to them. I'd like to think that I do a certain amount of duplica­ take over at the point where the tion, of course. Still, that's all my Dead Letter Office quits." clients have to go on .. - ." "J suppose the missing per- Phillip felt he must have 110 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION missed something. And while he Ackerman from Myra? It's not descended like a stone toward 'Come home, all is forgiven.' It's slumber, ripples of consciousness just 'All is forgiven.'" receding from him, he wondered Phillip began trembling. if he should become a client of "And one more, if it's all right Herb's. Was there anyone whom with you," Herb continued. "It's he had had a violent emotion to Stanley Papadakis: P-A-P-A, about who could be told, "Come like in papa; D-A-K-1-S." home, all is forgiven?" There may "Get out of here," Phillip said have been, but violent emotions hoarsely. "You're a maniac!" were all in Phillip's past. With a "No, I'm not." Herb rose re­ heart like his, they were too costly luctantly. "But I'm sorry you're a luxury. taking it this way. I'm not re­ Dimly, he heard Herb saying, sponsible for the facts of life or "You awake, Mr. DeWitt?" death, Mr. DeWitt." Phillip opened his eyes, turning After a moment, Phillip said, to Herb with a smile. And now "No, I guess you're not. What's he remembered his question. "I the message to Papadakis?" don't understand about your mes­ "That's better. I knew you were sengers, Herb. What kind of peo­ a gentleman, Mr. DeWitt." ple are they?" "What's the message?" "They're just ordinary, nice "'We all miss you so.'" Herb folks like yourself, Mr. DeWitt." hesitated, then said, "I guess 111 Curiosity made Phillip more shove along now. No hurry on awake. "But where do you get those, Mr. DeWitt. If you can't them, and what do you-" get to them just yet, they'll keep.'' "Why, I find them right here And listening to Herb's heavy on the graveyard shift," Herb tread going off, Phillip lay and said as gently as he could. wept the messages into his pil­ Fully alert now, Phillip sat up­ low, fixing them in his memory, right and stared at him. knowing there was no one who "By the way, Mr. DeWitt," he would ever have to bring remem­ said, "on that message to Paul brances to him. · George OrweU said, among other things, that aU the main cu"ents of political thought were authoritarian. And from such a cu"ent of thought came the police state, from the Spanish Inquisition to Nazi Germany, the sewer of history's political order. Although Sci­ ence Fiction has speculated on such a possibility in The U. S. of A., I doubt whether it has ever been done in such a subtle, personal account as the following-where Roger David Smith, 35, President of the U. S. A., is faced with a chilling decision, involving the "Rights" of the individual vs. the "Integrity.. of the state. E.L.F.

THE UNKNOWN LAW

by Avram Davidson

"THEN YOU WOULD SAY, SIR, to applaud politely. They faded that the United States has no from view as the 3D wall went plans for occupying any of the blank. A faint bell sounded and Asteroids at all?" a tiny light went on, set in the "The United States has no hood in the far corner of his desk. plans for occupying any of the He lifted the hood and took up a asteroids at all, at the present cup of the famous green tea which time. By that I do not mean to say was almost a trademark of his, that we have plans for occupation steaming hot as he liked it. Prior at any future time. Our action, to the campaign, "In public-cof­ our policy, in this regard, remains fee," his advisors had said. But fluid. What we intend to do must then came the ugly business in continue to take notice of the in- Brazil, followed by other coffee tentions of the other Space Powers" pricing itself off the market fol­ and the decisions of the United lowed by the popular coup d'etat Nations." in Formosa (which had,· for the There was a pause. The Presi- moment, scarcely anything to dent faced the assembled report- sell-except green tea!). For· ers. Then, "Thank you, Mr. Pres- mosa was popular, Rog Smith ident-" The reporters stood up was popular, coffee was not, Cly- 111 112 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Qler continued to drink coffee. It noise again, followed it by a ruder wasn't that that elected Smith, word, drank tea. anymore than hard cider elected "A small but time-honored tra­ Harrison, almost a century and a dition gets in its once-every-four­ half earlier. It had helped, years airing this afternoon when though. three major minor-or minor ma­ Now he sat in the privacy of jor, ha ha-officeholders pay their his White House office and sipped traditional call to greet the new his cup, watching the wall come president in person. Personal vis­ alive again-this time with open its with a President have become circuit 3D.-Steven Senty's bland increasingly rare, partly because face and voice giving the incon­ of security problems: how dan­ sequentia of the news. gerous they can be was demon­ "-and, a propose of the Presi­ strated by the assassination of dent's comments on the Asteroid President Slade and the attempt­ question, it is agreed that the oth­ ed assassination of President By­ er as yet unfilled cabinet position ers: and partly because of the will go to millionaire moonstate op­ perfection and improvement of erator Hartley Gordon, though as the 3D system. No official basis yet official confirmation is lack­ for this afternoon's ceremony ex­ ing. Gordon's readiness to bail the ists, but old-time residents of the party out of the hole the last cam­ District like to tell how it origi­ paign left it in hasn't been forgot­ nated. Back in George Washing­ ten. Gordon, however, sees him­ ton's time, it seems that-" Smith self as an organizer, not an ad­ touched the desk-dial. ministrator; privately tells friends The wall went blank, the Pres­ he will resign after clearing up the ident took another mouthful of 'mess' the Space Department is unfermented tea, and reflected now in. Likelv successors include sourly just how much he hated ex-diplomat · Charles Salem the "like to tell" locution. Did the Smith-no relation-" the news­ faces of old-time residents of the caster smiled; the President made District light up when they had a rude noise- "and Party Stal­ the opportunity to tell? Did they wart J. T. Macdonald, who gave chuckle, set up the occasion or up a shoo-in chance at his father's opportunity, did- Oh, well. He old seat in the House to direct looked at his watch. It was just ex­ President Smith's campaign in actly time. He touched his fingertip the Southeast. Those in the real to the Ready button. A bell know say that his chances are bet­ chimed, some rooms away. ter than might be expected." Pleased, smiling, he repeated Roger David Smith made a rude this, then three times, fast. Then THE UNKNOWN LAW 113 be frowned in self-reproof, with­ announced the callers. He frowned drew his hand. again, slightly, trying to remem­ Roger David Smith was thirty­ ber just exactly what it was the five years old, just past the mini­ retiring president had said to him mum age the Constitution sets for three days ago; quickly erased the the Presidency, and had occupied frown and let the thought fade. the office for exactly three days He smiled politely. The smile was and two hours. His dark, rugged not returned by the three minor face, marked with the scars of the major, or major minor officehold­ shrapnel he had picked up in ers, as they entered. Sumatra, showed no trace of the There was the usual brief see­ strain inevitable to the time and sawing before the order in which place. The new president had not they approached the president was even been born when Warren Ga­ decided. Anderson, the Federal maliel Harding was playing hide­ Armorer, was first; a square­ and-go-seek with his teen-age mis­ shaped, ruddy man, with crispy tress in the presidential cloak grey hair. After him, the Ser­ room; nor when John Calvin Coo­ geant-Secretary of Congress, Lov­ lidge took two-hour naps every e!, tall and bony and pale. Both afternoon on the sofa in his White wore the plaids which were, with House office. their short capes, fashionable for Some recollection of this may formal but less-than-ceremonial have been in the President's occasions. Dressed in the lime­ mind; just before the press con­ green which psychodynamicists ference he had made a teleview included among the preferred call (untapped-the presidential shades for work clothes was Ga­ circuit was said to be untappable: brielli, Civil Provost of the Capi­ he hoped so, but had taken care tal, elf-small and moving sound­ to keep the conversation innocu­ lessly; the President knew that he ous), and a woman's face was still held the Medal of Honor for his in his eyes and a woman's voice part in the assault on Telukbc­ still in his ears-would always tung. be, it seemed-and although poor Not one of them smiled. Harding had had enough difflculty The door closed behind them, concealing his own cheap amour, and, after a second or two, the the light which beat unceasingly silence was broken by the small down on whoever held the office noise of the door in the outer. of­ was now almost intolerable. fice being shut. Smith got up from the desk and "Gentlemen," said Roger Da­ faced the door just as it opened, vid Smith, keeping up the little just as the Chief Usher's voice smile, though with a little diffi- 114 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION culty. He extended his hand. Each In the silence which followed of the callers took it irf tum; still, this declaration Smith had time to none smiled. A feeling of unease - reflect that it all seemed damned settled on the President, not odd. He started to say, "Thank great, but definite. Thoughts of you," but Anderson was already other times he had felt it came to speaking. him in quick-rushing reflection. "We'll be as brief as we can, There was the time he had been sir," he said. 'We've made ·this summoned to see his CO, in Su­ same declaration to other presi­ matra, near The Rice Paddy, that dents-in happier times, in un­ dreadful summer, expecting to be happier times, and in times equal­ court-martialed for exceeding his ly unhappy. I've done it on five orders; instead he had been com­ occasions-I'm acting as spokes­ mended for his quick thinking. man because of seniority in office There was the time six Party lead­ -Love) and Gabrielli have done ers had called on him in his hotel it four times each." room at the Convention, to tell The President of the United him (he had been thinking) that States said, "I don't really know he stood no chance after all of " being offered the vice-presidential "You don't really know what nomination; instead they had this is all about, sir, do you?" Rog­ asked him to allow his name to go er David Smith shook his head. forward for the presidency. And The Federal Armorer nodded, on­ there was the third time, in be­ surprised. "Except-Well, I re­ tween the other two, when he had member now, just before we )eft first met the woman to whom for the inauguration, President he had earlier this afternoon spok­ Byers told me . . . let's see en on the teleview. She doesn't . . . he did tell me you would like me, was his instant thought come here today to tell me some­ then. But she had become his thing. And he said, 'You'd better mistress after all. believe them, too.' I remember She could not become his wife. now. I was a little surprised, but "Mr. President," said Ander­ there were so many other things son, "we have come to ask you to on my mind right then . . . And accept our felicitations on your besides that, only what I've seen selection as Chief Magistrate of the in the newspapers and 3D: very Republic, and to assure you that little." This was all damned odd, we stand, as always, ready to as­ the president thought. He thought sist you in maintaining the integ­ also of his appointments sched­ rity of our national confedera­ ule . . . the Ambassador of the tion." great (and sole remaining) neu- THE UNKNOWN LAW 115 tral power of the Nether Orient, thought brought others: his fa· two Western state governors ea­ ther's insistence, gentle but insist· ger to see what they could do ent, when young Rog Smith had about mustering regional support failed to make the Space Acad­ for the president's program (and emy, that he go to law school even more eager to see what they rather than Paris; then Sumatra, could do about mustering presi­ cutting short his legal career be­ dential support for their own fore it had really begun; the entry putative senatorial campaigns), into politics via a local "reform" the United States Representative club; then Sarra- to the U.N.-who, of course, For ten years, almost, every­ should have been scheduled be­ thing had been Sarra. Jim, too, of fore the governors: but politics course, but mainlv Sarra. The state had to go on as usual, no matter legislature, the ra.ce for the House what. Even if the "what" be the seat, getting Jim's father to use ever-shaky Condominium of the his great popularity and influence Moon, the threat of the South . . . And how had he, Roger American Civil War spreading in­ David Smith, repaid the old man? to Central America, the looming By putting horns on his son. For­ rocketry strike, and-not once tunately, the old man never and again, but again and again­ knew. But Jim knew-Jim must the matter of the Asteroids . . . know. He just didn't care. So­ Still, his appointments secretary Roger David Smith, here he was: had allotted fifteen minutes to the high school teacher's son, the these three men. So- youngest man ever to sit in the "As I understand it, this tra­ White House. Jefferson, Jackson, dition began when the first three Lincoln, the two Roosevelts . . • men to hold your office saved and now Rog Smith. And it was George Washington from an assas­ all Sarra. She would have made a sination attempt," said President damned vigorous president her­ Smith. "And that he promised self, he thought, not for the first them that they would have the time. Only she would never do it, power to nominate their own suc­ even if it were possible; she'd cessors and to greet every new rather have Jim be elected, had president on the third day of his the chance existed, and rule term. Isn't that-?" through him. Rule? Reign/ Anderson asked, "Correct? Not And, sighing, without being quite, Mr. President." aware that he was sighing, his Smith caught a fleeting resem· eye fell on the new Asteroid chart blance, in the older man's face, to they had installed only this morn­ his own father's. Quickly, the ing. White lights for the U.N., 116 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION blue for the U.S.A., red for the base a hope that the matter would U.S.S.R., yellow for the disputed be settled swiftly and peacefully. ones-ones which were, in Amer­ Delay meant either a successful ican eyes, disputed: the Russians, coup d'etat and an oligarchy like of course, had a different listing. that of the Venetian Republic­ His eyes came back to Ander­ rule by the heads of the great son, his mind recalled Anderson's families, secret police, dungeons, last comment. " 'Not quite cor­ and c\·erything hateful and dan­ rect?' Your jobs aren't civil service gerous to liberty-loving Americans and they're not on the patronage -or else civil war. The nation list, either. So-" was new, the nation was young Lovel, saying nothing, canted and weak, operating under a Con­ his long gaunt face a few inches stitution barely tried and largely toward his senior, who caught the suspect. British troops still main­ movement, nodded, and said, tained bases on American soil, "That's true enough, sir, about Spanish armies ringed our South­ our being traditionally allowed to ern and \Vestern borders, French nominate our successors. Not ex­ navies were on the seas; and the actly true about the assassination Indians-still powerful-were thing. Not the 1rlwle truth." evcrnYhcre . . The whole truth, Anderson "I\c never heard a word of went on to say, standing on the such a plot," Smith declared. ''I'm rug which a Persian ambassador not sure I believe it. Although-" had given Mrs. Grover Cleveland; memory flashed "-is this what the whole truth was that during President Byers meant when he \Vashington's first Administration, said I'd better believe you? Be­ at a time when New York was still cause-" the Capital, a great danger towards "It's all true, sir," Anderson the nation had arisen, arisen in said: "Great names were involved. secret-a cabal, as it was then Conway's Cabal was nothing in called. A plot to seize power, to comparison to it. Three men came force the new president to follow and brought the evidence before the direction of a group of men President Washington-they'd who-alarmed by the radical ideas served under him in the War of then emanating from France­ the Revolution-they presented intended a more rigorous system him with the evidence on his third of government. day in office. One was the Federal There was evidence, oh, there Armorer, William Dickensheet." was evidence in plenty. But it "One was the Sergeant-Secre­ was not evidence that you could tary of the Congress, Richard bring to court, on which you could Main," said Lovel. niE UNKNOWN LAW 117 "The third was Simon Stavers, when the Father of his Country, .no Civil Provost of the Capital," Ga­ doubt with his wig set aside and brielli said. perhaps his famous painful and President Smith stared at ill-fitting false teeth as well, de­ them. It hardly seemed possible to bated wh~t move to make and remain in doubt of these three make fast . . . and the candles men, known to be honorable ca­ guttered in the dimness. President reer men, sober, stable and loyal. Smith had his own problems, the But surely they had not come to United States of America under give him a history lesson? "Go on," the First Administration of Presi­ he said. dent Roger David Smith had its Those three (Anderson con­ own problems. They were heavy, tinued) discussed the matter a grave and great, and no one now whole night through with Presi­ spoke of or scarcely dared dream dent Washington. They debated of any "return to normalcy." as to what the right course would He leaned forward, caught up be. Speed-as it was counted in in this account (unaccountably, those days of slow and difficult till now, concealed from him) of transport and communication­ the Nation's first crisis under its speed was essential, if the coun­ Constitution. "What did they de­ try was to be spared either a tyr· cide to do?" he asked. anny whose end no man could "Immediate contact was made," foresee, or a bloody domestic war. Anderson said, in the same steady Wars, perhaps, and perhaps end­ tones he had use'd throughout, ing in invasion and conquest and "with those members of the Gov­ an end to national independence. ernment who were then in town." Despite the teleview, the lu­ He paused. His colleagues nodded minescents, the model on his desk slowly, gazing steadfastly at the of the latest moonship, Roger President. "The leader of the ca­ Smith felt something of that eve­ bal was known, his whereabouts ning so far back-he believed it were known. It was also known now, he did believe; it was im­ that if he were removed, the possible to doubt these three good scheme would collapse. It was men any longer: the archaic for­ agreed that the welfare of the mula of their greeting to him Nation depended upon-de­ ("... our felicitations on your manded-his removal. selection as Chief Magistrate . • • "He was, accordingly, re­ we stand, as always, ready to as­ moved." sist you in maintaining the integ­ "HO'W?" rity of our national confedera­ "The decision was, by pistol­ tion)-that long-distant night ing." 118 FANT... SY AND SCIENCE FICTION Smith half-turned his back and theless: authorizing a President struck his fist on his desk. to order the death of any person "Are you trying to tell me," he in the country whose existence cried, "that George Washington constituted what was later to be ordered the murder of a man he called "a clear and present dan­ couldn't convict on a fair trial?" ger" to the welfare of the Nation. And swung around to face them "My God!" said Roger Smith. again. Then__:a sudden rush of interest But they wouldn't admit the overcoming his shock-he asked, word, murder. Execution was not "How in the Hell did they miss murder. The slaying of an enemy Aaron Burr?" was not murder in time of war. "He skipped the country too Nor did "war" depend upon a soon. And by the time he came formal declaration. The welfare back he wasn't dangerous." of the Nation had to be the para­ "I see. \Veil-" mount thing in the eyes of its "There have to be limits, of Chief. The enjoyment of private course, 1\fr. President," the Fed­ scruples was a luxury with which eral Armorer explained. "The he had no right to indulge him­ President has to declare his inten­ self in his official capacity. tion to us. And he can only do it "Go on," said Smith. once. Once in each term of office, Could anyone looking back, that is. Because there have to be Anderson went on, doubt that the limits. There have to be-" His original decision was the best voice, for the first time, rose just one? It was obvious beyond doubt a trifle. even at the time. It had been ob­ After a moment, "I see," said vious also that similar situations the President. "How often-?" would arise again-and again "In the country's history? Sev­ and again. This was inevitable. So enteen times. Who carries out the there ~rew up a law [he said­ decision? One of us. How chosen? and the nods of his colleagues' By lot. Is there any danger of de­ assents confirmed his words], a tection? Almost none. Over the law unwritten, but, unlike the course of almost two hundred so-called "unwritten law" justify­ years," said Anderson, "certain ing a husband's killing his wife's techniques have been developed. lover, it was an unknown law­ Effective ones. How often during unknown except to the fewest our own tenures of office? Once." possible people-the men who President Smith swallowed. held these three offices, their pred­ "Who was ... killed?" ecessors, the President, and the "That question, sir, is not an­ ex-Presidents-but a law, none- swered." THE UNKNOWN LAW 119 "I see. I'm sorry. Of course not. even all of these could have oc­ Well, which one of you-" curred in the quarter-hour he'd "And that question, sir, is not just spent. even asked." "Have you anything else to tell There was silence. ''You'd bet­ me?" he asked, starting forward. ter believe them," ex-President "Only that at least one of us Byers had said. Was there some­ will remain in the District at all thing of a deeper, personal knowl­ times, in case of, well, immedi­ edge in Byers' voice when saying ate need, let's say . . . No, sir, it? Smith could not now remem­ nothing else to tell you." ber, the Inauguration, only mo­ Smith nodded. Anderson ments away, had driven anything glanced at his colleagues. Gabriel­ but bare reception of the words li, the most junior of the three in from his mind. He searched his office, spoke for the first time. memory; who had died-sudden­ "Mr. President, we tender you ly-during the previous Admin­ our renewed assurances that we istration, whose death might stand, as always, ready to assist have ... ? No name occurred you in maintaining the integrity to him. He glanced at the clock of our national confederation. set into his desk-top at a slant. And we ask your permission to The fifteen minutes were up. Dur­ withdraw." He was elf-small and ing that fifteen minutes anything some people found him amusing, might have occurred. Panama in­ but the President knew that be vaded by the Continentalists held the Congressional Medal of ("South America ends at the Honor for his part in the assault northern boundery of Mexico," on Telukbetung. Lopez-Cardoso was said to have said; he was dead now, could nei­ After those three came the am­ ther confirm nor deny it; but his bassador of the great neutral pow­ slogan of One Continent, One er of the Nether Orient, equally People, One Faith, One Destiny full of his grave misgivings about was certainly very much alive), American space policy and his the friendly but unstable Colored grave insistence upon increased government of the Free Cape American financial aid to his own State overthrown by either Black country, both couched in the most or White intransigents, another mellifluous English, And after "incident" unfavorably effecting him came one of the Western the Lunar Condominium-noth­ American state governors, slyly ing, it seemed, could affect it fa­ awkward or awkwardly sly, not vorably any more, further troubles even knowing the name of the in the still-vex' d Asteroids: any or diplomat who bad preceded him 120 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION but knowing just what to offer miliar odor of the man's cigars, and just what to demand in the but of course it was only fancy­ way of political horse-trading. the 3D hadn't gotten that far yet, Neither of these two were present despite continued efforts. There in person, of course. And after was not the slightest chance in him- the world of Jim's being any sort "What are you doing here, of menace in his physical person, Jim?" the President demanded, but-protocol was protocol. "The frowning. "Governor Millard was day I can't persuade Millard or a supposed to be next; you're not thousand vokels like him to trade down for an appointment until appointm~nts with me, that's the tomorrow afternoon." He was day I'll close the store and go fish­ brusque, not so much because he ing," Jim said, his ruddy face gave a damn about that as because glowing and cheerful as usual. he had been wondering-tired, "What did you promise him? disgusted, knowing that his im­ Off-shore oil rights on the Moon?'' pc!flding interview with the U.S. Macdonald leaned back in the representative to the U.N. would chair which he had taken, unbid­ bring new problems which neither den, and laughed. It was the fa­ weariness nor disgust could ig­ mous Macdonald laugh, with rich nore-had been wondering if echoes of his famous father, and there were any chance of his be­ -despite everything-Roger ing with Sarra that night. There Smith found himself smiling was, he had finally realized, no faintly. Jim had charm, if nothing chance at all. A President of the else. And there was damned little United States might sell his coun­ else between the charm and the try down the river or let it drift nothing else. down by incompetence, but he "\Veil, come on, Jim, what the could never under any circum­ Hell do YOU want?" stances let it be hinted that he J. T .. Macdonald smiled in­ had a mistress. Perhaps ten years dulgently. "Yes, I know, Rog: ago he might have gotten away okay, I'll make it brief, and then with it, so far had the pendulum you can let Nick Mason tell you swung from the old morality. But his latest hardluck story about the there had been one, or perhaps Rooshians and the Prooshians. two, scandals too many; now Okay. I spoke to Harley Gordon the pendulum was on the far just a few minutes ago, and he swing again. told me that he definitely will not James Thackeray Macdonald stay in office more than three smiled, waved his hand; Smith months, not if you offered him fancied he could smell the fa- Manhattan Island for a nickel THE UNKNOWN LAW 121 So what I want to know is, how mark of Sarra's as if it were a about my taking an undersecre­ promise from me. I am not to be tariate now, so I'll be able to step cornered that way. The Secre­ into his shoes without any trouble tariate is out. And that means, so when he quits?" is an undersecretariate.'' Macdon­ The faint smile on the Presi­ ald was still trying to speak, but dent's face had slipped easily into the President swept on over him. a frown. Macdonald's appoint­ "Besides, as far as I'm concerned, ment to a Cabinet position had it's been definite for some time been suggested . . . once . . . now that you would take a posi­ and not by the President, either. tion on my personal staff here. J. T.'s name had been, was being, Hasn't it? I value your talents, frequently mentioned by the me­ Jim, especially with meeting peo­ dia in this connection, however; ple face to face, and-" but speculation of this sort was But Jim wasn't taking the com­ too common for the President to pliment. Thanks for nothing, was think it seemed worth even an his attitude. He had no intention unofficial denial. He had assumed of becoming the Presidential Gro­ it would die down. But Jim ver Whalen, he said, pinning car­ seemed to be taking it seriously. nations on visiting dignitaries' "Have you talked about this wives, and glad-handing promi­ with Sarra?" Smith asked. nent Rotarians and Exempt Now the frown was Macdon­ Spacemen from the Middle West, ald's, as faint as the President's taking them on personally con­ smile had been. "Dammit, Rog, I ducted tours of the White House. don't have to talk over every little "I deserve better," he said, storm­ thing with Sarra. I have a mind of ily. "If you hadn't won in the my own, you know." Southeast you wouldn't be here-" "A Cabinet appointment is no "Yes, you're a good man for little thing, Jim. I never-no, smoke-filled rooms and rostrums, don't interrupt me-l never Jim, just as I've just told you: the promised it to you, I never even personal touch. But-listen­ suggested it. I know Sarra did the Southeast? Don't let's kid our­ mention it, but I never thought selves. The strategy there wasn't you'd think she meant it seriously. yours anymore than it was mine. Who it was that leaked the fact of It was Sarra's, all the way." your name having been proposed Macdonald uttered a short, ug­ at all I don't know, but I can't be ly word. Roger Smith's head committed by a leak, dammit! snapped back. ''You're talking to You have no right, none whatso­ the President of the United ever, to treat a lighthearted re- States," he said. 122 FANT.\SY AND SCIENCE FICTION Macdonald laughed. "No, I'm· dear old Ireland. The 1880's, not. I'm talking to the guy who 90's. Well, Parnell had a friend sleeps with my wife." named Captain O'Shea-Willie Smith stared at him, bleakly. O'Shea. Ever heard of him? No? Then he said, ''I'm turning you Doesn't matter. O'Shea, you see, off. You get out of there." was useful to Parnell-acted as But Macdonald shook his head. his confidential agent, took care "You talk to me or I talk to the of difficult matters for him, let his press. Okay?-" Smith said nothing, own political career languish in continued staring at him. "Okay," order to help Parnell's ... And Macdonald muttered. What he Parnell appreciated it. In fact, he was going to do, he said, leaning appreciated it so much that he back, and taking out a cigar, was determined to keep O'Shea hap­ to gire Rog a little history lesson, py. That is, not exactly Captain free . . . His expression, as he O'Shea, but Mrs. O'Shea. The lit his cigar, raised his eyebrows, beautiful Kitty O'Shea. Willie darted little glances at the grim­ wasn't good enough for her, it faced man viewing him, and would seem. Whether he lacked gazed at the smoke as it came looks, or glamour, or whether she swirling from his own pursed couldn't twist him quite so far lips, was that of an actor in a around her finger as she'd've liked classical "B movie" -a heavy, to, who knows. Anyway, whatev­ who has just announced that he is er it was that Willie didn't have "going to enjoy this, very much." Smith-oops, sorry: Parnell­ "Go ahead," Smith said. "But had it." just remember that 'vhile you are He grinned, lifting his upper getting this off your chest, or lip in front, and glancing side­ wherever the Hell vou've been ways at the other man. keeping it, that the job I have is "Did Willie know about it? the most difficult one in the Oh, you bet your life Willie knew world, and that the world isn't about it. He was nobody's fool. Of going to stand still for either of course he knew about it. Almost us. Now: Go ahead." right from the start. Why didn't Jim, who had lvaved his hand, he do anything?" Jim considered lightly, at mention of difficulty, his own question, shrugged. now nodded, puffed at his cigar. "Might be any one of a number of After a moment he said, "You've reasons. 1\laybe Willie didn't thin]< heard, I suppose, of Charles Stew­ that something was necessarily art Parnell." wrong just because an old book "Parnell? Parnell? The Irish-" said it was. Maybe Willie liked "That's the one. Home rule for Parnell-maybe he even lared THE UNKNOWN LAW 123 Parnell, hmm?-so much that he it. And the answer is still 'No.'" just didn't care. Or . . . may­ For the first time something be even . . . maybe Kitty was like uncertainty flickered across the kind of woman that no one MacdonaJd's face. "Ah, come on, man could satisfy, hey? Oh, I Rog," he said, almost pleadingly. don't just mean sexually. Maybe "You know something? I wouldn't she had other desires-power, make the worst Space Secretary in say. A lust for intrigue, for action, the world. I've followed things for-And maybe Willie figured closely, damned closely. I've read that, if there had to be another up on it very, ver-ry carefully. man, well, he'd rather it was Par­ I've got ideas which go beyond nell than anyone else. Could've re-organizing the bookkeeping sys­ been any of those reasons. Or all tem, which is about all that of them. Hey, Rog?" Hartley Gordon has in mind, or Roger David Smith continued just sitting tight and hoping that to stare at him, said nothing. the bogeymen will go away, which Now and then he raised a hand is all that Salem Smith has in and stroked the tiny scars on his mind." face. Macdonald took another "You've got ideas?" fleeting look at him, resumed. Evidently stung by the tone of "\Veil, where were we? Oh, the questioning voice, Macdonald yes-'And the song he sang/Was, went from ruddy to red. "Yes, I've "Old Ireland free" '-well. Home got ideas," he said. "And a lot of Rule. It was almost all wrapped other important people have the up, you see. Gladstone was all for same ideas-people whose sup­ it. Ireland was to have its own port you'll damned well be need­ government at last, with Parnell ing." His eyes left the President's as Prime Minister. Now, Willie face and rested on something in had worked as hard for the cause the White House room behind the as anv man. And he felt it was President; met the President's time that he had his reward. It eyes as he returned his gaze; for was a modest one-a place in an instant, fell; then faced him Parnell's Cabinet." squarely and defiantly. Smith After all, what difference did turned· his head. There it was­ it make who held what Cabinet the white, blue, red and yellow post? The actual work was always lights of the newly-installed As­ done by underlings, career men, teroid chart. drudges who delighted in details The President snorted. What and red tape and hard work . • • would Macdonald do? he de­ "Do you see the point, Rog?" manded. Occupy the Asteroids? The President nodded. "I see Was that one of his ideas? 124 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Yes, it was. It certainly was. hung askew. Then something The USA was tied hand and foot hateful and ugly entered it. Then in one big Gordian knot, he said. he caught control of himself once The Condominium of the Moon, more. just look at it! The Russians did "How much longer are the as they damned well pleased, and American people going to stand in return for being let alone they for this present set-up?" he asked. raised every kind of Hell imagi­ "How much longer are they going nable with what the United States to sit still and let the Russians get was doing. Whenever the United away with insisting that every~ States did anything, that is; which thing they've already claimed is was damned seldom • • • too theirs and that everything they damned seldom. And Mars? The haven't claimed belongs to the U.S. had one station on Mars, U.N.? Where does that leave us? count them, one; the British had The American people-" one; the U.N. had two; and the Smith got up abruptly, so Russkies had four I The same as abruptly that Macdonald jumped. everyone else put together. And "I don't know who put you up yet there were people claiming to this-" that the single American Mars "Nobody put me- Station was costing too much. "1 could make a good guess. "In a way they're right, Rog," You can tell them that they picked Jim said, confidently now-al­ the wrong cat to try the chestnut most cockily. "For a weather bu­ game. 'The American people'-? reau, which is about all we use it Listen, little Jimmy, the American for, it is costing too much. But­ people showed last November Rag-if we occupied the Aster­ what they wanted in the way of oids, then Mars Station could be leadership, and it wasn't your busier than New York! And­ hand that went on the Bible three rocketry strike? Hell, there'd be so days ago." much doing, we could double, "You-" triple their pay-the 'teers would "Me. That's right. And I'll tell be so busy making money they you something else, I'll give it to wouldn't have time to strike!" you right between the eyes, fellow "Uh-huh. And which ones -even if you didn't have these would you occupy? Just the ones dangerous ideas you still wouldn't we claim? The ones the Russians stand a chance at the job. Not a claim, too? Any unclaimed ones pip in a snow-hole. Because with~ we fancy? Or the whole works, out Sarra you're not worth a-" maybe?" Scarlet, his cigar fallen unn~ For a moment Macdonald's face ticed from his hand, Macdonald THE UNKNOWN LAW 125 n his feet gestured and yam­ struggles, major setbacks, and mered in incoherent rage. minor victories. "My appointing you, if you Smith interrupted him. 'What hadn't so obviously sold yourself in your opinion, Mr. Ambassador ··out, would have meant that she'd -in your personal and confiden­ be the brains of the post. And I tial opinion-_would be the effect don't need her there, I don't want of a scandal, an open and notori­ her there." ous and unsavory scandal, con­ Now silence fell. Outside, the cerning the personal life of the wet grey afternoon faded as the President?" exterior lights went on. Mason brought his mind to "Then it's 'No'," Macdonald bear upon this abrupt question said, very softly. He looked older, with visible difficulty. Slowly he he looked genuinely stricken, he raised his eyes and looked at looked a little sick. Smith. Then a tremor ran over his "It's 'No,' Jim." face. "I can hardly suppose . . . Jim nodded. ''I'll wait ... that this question is hypothetical, I'll wait until tomorrow. Just the Mr. President?" The President same. Because ... 'history les­ shook his head. In a voice still son' . . . Parnell said 'No' to lower, Mason asked, "Could this Captain Willie O'Shea, too, you . . . scandal of which you speak see. And then Willie sued Kitty be averted? Is it possible? Then for divorce, naming Parnell as " corespondent. He got the divorce. "Averted only at great cost to And Parnell got the axe. His party the welfare of the Nation, and kicked him out. Gladstone backed possibly, probably, involving dan­ off on Home Rule. Parnell died of gers to its prestige, its proper a broken heart. And Ireland functioning, and perhaps even its drowned in blood." peace." He paused in turning to go, Mason slowly raised his hand did not look back. and laid the palm against his face. "But I'll wait till tomorrow, "I may at least hope that the dan­ anyway," he said. ger could not be that great. Even so, it would then be a matter of N.cholas Mason, the United balancing dangers ... costs. I States Representative to the need hardly tell you-1 need U.N., his face noble and haggard, hardly tell you-at this juncture, thanked the President again for anything which would divide having asked him to continue in the country might well destroy the office. Then, in a low voice, he country. And then-you spoke of told his latest tale of defeats, our prestige-it's none too high 126 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION as it now is . . • I • • • " His Sarra's voice rang in his ears, her voice died into a whisper. face was before his eyes, and for Smith muttered, "I could re­ the first time he failed to draw sign, I suppose." comfort from either. Could she Mason snapped straight. "No deal with Jim at this late stage? President of the United States has Persuade him to do nothing? ever resigned! 1\fr. President! Could he be trusted to remain Had you forgotten who would suc­ persuaded? ceed you? If the present Vice­ Or should he, the President, President were put in charge of a give the man the office he coveted, chicken-yard, my money would and oblige him to live up to his be on the hawks and the weasels!" own first picture of it?-a sine­ Smith's face twisted. cure in which the actual work "You have been a soldier, Mr. was done by others? And depend P!esident," Mason continued. "I upon the tight reign of the Pres­ have not. But I know, and you ident from there on? surely know, that there is more But would Jim remain con­ than one way to win a battle. It tent? Might he not have more is up to you to decide which way "ideas"?-His own or others, it it has to be now. And . . . need might not even matter: Ideas, I say ... if I can in any way. policies, plans, purposes? Ambi­ . ?" tions-Where would it stop? The President shook his head. James Thackeray Macdonald, red­ faced little politician, the Secret Left alone, he got up and went President of the United States! to the windows. It was miserable But where, where had he got­ weather. Only three days ago he ten the nerve? Why-and how­ had been inaugurated, on a crisp after all these years, had he and sparkling afternoon. Despite brought himself to defy his wife? all he knew of the world scene, Except in those easy cajoleries the day had seemed flecked with which came so naturally to him, gold. He had caught sight of Sar­ and which had made politics his ra, face shining with triumph, natural field; except in these shal­ dressed in a grey robe which had lows he had scarcely ever seemed appeared to his eyes then as to have a mind of his own or an brighter than scarlet or crimson. ambition which was not Sarra's. Now the dying sun broke through Why, after all these years, had the clouds briefly and turned the the worm turned? wet walks and puddles red: yet For a long time, in the lower­ his mood was grey, greyer than it ing dusk, the President of the had ever been before in his life. United States stayed at the win- THE UNKNOWN LAW Ill dow, deep in thought. Then he to maintain the integrity of our drew the curtains and went to national confederation it is now the teleview. imperative for you to invoke the unknown law?" He had thought that the three "I have,'' said Roger David men might ask many questions­ Smith. or, rather, bring forth cautions Lovel's face was impassive, but and disagreements disguised as the skin seemed suddenly tighter questions-but they asked only upon the almost fleshless bones. two, after all. "What is his name?" he asked Anderson, this time, was silent. evenly. It was Lovel who spoke first. Softly, almost gently, the Pres­ "Mr. President," he began, ident corrected him. "have you concluded that in order "Her name," he said. •

/n this issue . .. Coming next month It has been six months since the murder of John F. Kennedy and, although a new presidential campaign is already approaching, the events of that tragic November weekend are still very much with us. All of which has made us more sharply aware of the responsibili­ ties and dangers of the Presidency of the United States than at any other point in our history. In this month's issue AVRAM DAVID· SON'S THE UNKNOWN LAW science-fictionally explores the presidential theme; and next month we bring you PHILIP K. DlCK'S CANTATA 140, about a presidential campaign of the future, in which the candidates and the issues are shockingly (but quite logically) different. Both stories were written before the death of President Kennedy. •************************* • :• MARKET PLACE t* • * •************************* * BOOKS-MAGAZINES EDUCATIONAL Why buy books? Send 10¢ for information & catalog to: Science Fiction Circulating Library, LOVE, WORK AND KNOWLEDGE-their definition P. 0. Box 1308, Sa. San Gabriel, California. Is the goal of our school and summer camp. Coeducational. Four to Eighteen. SUMMERLANE, Locate any book. Aardvark Fantasy, Bax 1749, Mileses 5, New York. Orlando, Fla. 32802. Teach you ESPERANTO, the world language, SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW contains concise, quickly. For details write: Milton, Kulosoaren• timely reviews of science fiction books, maga­ puistotie 38-1, Helsinki, Finland. zines, and paperbacks. Includes articles by Leinster, Norton, Anderson, Carnell, etc. Send for free sample copy. Box 1568, San Diego, FOODS California 92112. CHINESE APHRODISIAC? Crystallized, Candied1 SF and unusual books located. Free search. Ginger root, delicious confection and required Metropolitan Book Senllce, Box 6959, Washing­ ingredient in numerous oriental dishes. Gener• ton, D.C. 20032. ous imported package postpaid $1.00. Triangle, Durhamville, N.Y., 13054. Odd-Used Books. Grab Bag. Send $1.00 now. Offer limited to three. Jerry Barnes, 4102 Cheshire Dr., Concord, Calif. HYPNOTISM Science Fiction Magazines, Astounding, Amazing, Free Illustrated, Hypnotism Catalogue. Write f~9~~r, others 1930's. Carl Coots, Waverly, N.Y. Powers, 8721 Sunset, Hollywood 69, California. LEARN WHILE ASLEEP, Hypnotize with your Dcn't let them take YOUI Read HOW TO COL­ recorder, phonograph. Astonishing details, sen• LECT AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE FROM IN­ sotional catalog free. Sleep-learning Research SURANCE COMPANIES and learn how a claim­ Association, Box 24-FS, Olympia, Washington. on! took THEM. Crazy method but it worked. We're still laughing. You'll Iough tool Send $2.88 for hard-cover edition to Ohio Publishing PATENTS AND INVENTIONS Co. 6511 Bramble Avenue, Cincinnati 45227. Ohioans add 9¢ tax, unfortunately. PATENT SEARCHERS, $6.001 Free "Invention Rec­ ord". Information. Miss Hayward, 1029 Ver• 25,000 magazines for sale. Thousands wanted mont, Washington 5, D.C. in excellent condition; science fiction, weird, horror, spicy, western, adventure, others. Send INVENTIONS wanted. Patented, unpatented. Ex• list, enclosing stamp. Magazine Center, Box tensive manufacturers lists. Search service. Ap. 214, Little Rock. Ark. plicatians prepared. Financial assistance avail. able. For free details write New York Invention PAPERBACKSII Why pay a premium and keep Service, 141 Broadway, Room 817, New York 6, forever? Get books you haven't read in trade. New York. Mail 10 books plus $1.00 to PAPERBACK TRAD­ ING POST, YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO. Equal quantity and identical category will be returned SERVICES-AUTHORS via prepaid Parcel Post. WRITERS WANTEDI Leading Agency seeb books, "TEACH ABROAD"-18 r.oge narrative report­ stories, articles for sale to top paying publishers! openings, salaries, samp e resume-$2. "A Guide All subjects, lengths! Mail scripts today for To Resume Writing"-28 pages-$2. Benmark prompt sales actions: CARLSON WADE LITER· Books, Suite 536, 152 West 42nd Street, New ARY AGENCY, 475 fifth Avenue, New York 17, York 36, N. Y. New York.

Do you ltave sometltlng to advertise to sf readers? looks, magazines, typewriters, telescopes, computers, space-drives, or misc. Use tlte F&SF Market Place at tltese low, low rates: $2.50 for minimum of ten (10} words, plus 25¢ for eaclt additional word. Send copy and remittance to: Adv. Dept., Fantasy and Sdence Fiction, 347 /East 53 Street, New Yorlc 22, N. Y. 128 Posteriors, J'andemonium and paraphernalia. Original poetry on whatever sub(ect you choose, MISCELLANEOUS thirty lines for $1.00, postpaid. John Grammer, 1215 Battlefield Drive, Nashville, Tennessee. FOREIGN editions af The Magazine af FANTASY PUBLISH your book; Join our successful authors: AND SCIENCE FICTION-f- ~ample copies af lfJjblicity, advertising, promotion, beautiful each edition are available at 50!! each-British, books. All subject invited. Send for free ap· French, German, Italian. Send remittance to praisal and detailed booklet. Carlton Press, F&SF-Box 271, Rockville Centre, N.Y., 11570. (Dept. FSF) 84 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C. 11. HOMEBREW RECIPES-Beer, Ale, Liquon, Wines! Recipes, $2.00 postpaid. Supplies, Hydrometers STAMPS Price List Included! Research Enterprises, 29· MOB, Samoset Road, Woburn, Mass. FIFTEEN PLEASANT OFFERS plus valuable tips on stamps. Write Bileski, Station B, Winnipeg, Canada. Powerful self-improvement methodo. Send 25¢ for illustrated brochures. Emenel Company, 9o,ociOSTAM-PSSALEi li~rgain.lot: sets, packets, Dept. A, Box 125, Lincoln I, Nebraska. pictorials $1.00. Large assortment $2.00. High value packet $3.00. Literature and 52 stamps 5 cts. Persile, 436 N. Y. Ave. Brooklyn 25, N. Y. Oil Portraits· from Photos-Large Framed-18" x 24" on stretched canvas-for particulan write MAvffow"ER"st"AMP ALauM 25¢. 407 iliuS!rc.~ -Studio M, 277 Tyler St., Gary, Ind. tions. 64 pages. Approvals accompanying. NIAGARA STAMPS, St. Catharines 747, Ontario. Ray (Turn Off the Sky) Nelson says, "BOYCOTT sENsA iloNAL-coLoRFuL-PHr LAiEi:IC · sei;>Cifon PACIFICON II." . 10¢. Accompanying approvals. Ll NSTAMPS, ·St. Catharines 847, Ontario. WRENCH SET SPECIAL-Regular $1.00 retail each INTERPLANETARY POSTAL-ESSAYS 10¢. ExtraDr: set. Buy I set for 79¢, second set only 1¢. Send dinary colorful, interesting approvals. CROWN for catalog showing this and ather I¢ specials, STAMPS, Virgil 947, Ontario. FREE Gl FT OFFER and 32 pages of bargain priced merchandise for use in home, office, or shop: --·--TELEViSION Consolidated Services, 9 Joshuas Path, Central Islip, Long Island, N.Y., 11722, Attn: AI Neu· Convert Bla-ck-Whit.!TV ..to color inmoment5. mann, Sales Mgr. Send size screen, $2.98. Delecto Electronics, 4725 45th N.E., Seattle, Washington. Did you know that one of the hardiest, most leathery of all plants is the exotic Cymbidium WANTED TO BUY Orchid? One plant yields 18-24 blossoms the size of a BEM's ear. $7.95, postpaid with instruc­ Needed badlY.. Rhodomagnetic Digests May and tions. Schirmer's, Box 1182, Malibu, Calif. June 1950. Pease contact: Albright, 32-29 46th, Astoria, N.Y. HOMEBREWI European Beer, Ale Recipes! Pow• DOcSCiva-g;-MC9azineS.Wanted. Certain months erfull $1.00. Hydrometer Prices upon Request. of years 1933, 1934, 1935. Write Tobiska, 14737 Interstate Products, Box 1-X24, Pelham, New Arrow, Fontana, Calif. Hampshire. YOUR MARKET PLACE A market is people-alert, intelligent, active people. Here you can reach 156,000 people (averaging three readers per copy -52,000 paid circulation), Many of them are enthusiastic hobbyists­ collecting books, magazines, stamps, coins, model rockets, etc.-actively interested iT\ photography, music, astronomy, painting, sculpture, elec­ tronics. If you have a product or service of merit, tell them about it. The price is right: $2.50 for a minimum of ten (10) words, plus 25¢ for each additional word. Advertising Dept., Fantasy & Science Fiction 347 East 53 St., New York, N. Y. 10022 129 INDEX TO VOLUME TWENTY-SIX-JANUARY-JUNE 1964 Am.lov~ Is.uc: JESBY, EDWARD: Sea Wrack May 72 SciENcE: Round and Round Jan. 104 JoHNsoN, S. S.: The House By The Slowly Moving rmger Feb. 63 The Crab Apple Tree •••• Feb. 5 Forget It! •••••••••••••• Mar. 32 KNIGHT, DAMON: The Tree of A Piece of the Action •••• Apr. 28 Time (2nd of 2 parts) •••• Jan. 46 Ghost Lines in the Sky •••• May 93 LANG, ALLEN KIM: Thaw and The Heavenly Zoo •••••• June 96 Serve •••••••••••••••••• Jan. 88 BAGLEY, SIMON: Welcome, Com· LoRY, RoBERT: Appointment at rade ( novelet) •••••••••• Apr. 38 Ten O'clock •••.•.••••••• Jan. 123 BALLARD, J. G.: The Lost Leon- Mar-ti-an •••••••••••••••• May 89 ardo ...... Mar. 112 MARSH, WILLARD: Forwarding The Illuminated Man .••.••. May 5 Service .••.•.•.•.•••••• June 107 BARR, STEPHEN: The Master of MciNTosH, J. T.: Humanoid Altamira •.•.•.•••••••• June 30 Sacrifice (novelet) •..••• Mar. 84 BEcKER, STEPHEN: The New McLAUGHLIN, DEAN: One Hun­ Encyclopaedist •••.•••••• May 115 dred Days From Home •• Feb. 48 BLoCH, RoBERT: The Conven­ NouRsE, ALAN E.: The Compleat tional Approach Mar. 105 Consumators ...... •••• Apr. 84 BRIARTON, GRENDEL: Ferdinand PoRGES, ARTHUR: Time-Bomb June 67 Feghoot LXVIII Jan. 122 RANSOM, }AMEs: Fred One •••• Apr. 4 BRIDGE, JEAN: The Prodigals Mar. 31 REED, KIT: Automatic Tiger •• Mar. 4 BROWN, WENZELL: The Follower Jan. 29 Cynosure ..•..•...... •••• June 69 BucK, DoRis PITKIN: Come REYNOLDS, MAcK: Pacifist •.•• Jan. 5 Where My Love •••••..•• Feb. 113 RoBERTS, JANE: Three Times CARR, TERRY: Fanzine Fan- Around .••••••.•••••••• May 32 faronade •••••.•••••••• Apr. 77 SELLERS, J. P.: Urgent Message Apr. 56 Touchstone •.•••.•••.•••• May 103 SHARKEY, JAcK: Survival of the CLARK, CuRT: Nackles ••••..•• Jan. 97 Fittest ••••.••••••••••• Mar. 23 CLINGERMAN, MILDRED: A Red Trade-In •••••••••••••••• June 55 Heart and Blue Roses •.••• May 51 SHULTZ, HENRY: Oreste ..•••• Apr. 102 CoRSON, CHRISTOPHER: Invasion May 50 SIMONDs, BRucE: The Search ••. June 89 DAviDsoN, AvRAM: Books •••.•• Jan. - June SMITH, EvELYN E.: Little Greg- Sacheverell ...... Mar. 17 ory (novelet) •••••••••.•• Feb. 73 The Unknown Law •••••••• June Ill THOMAS, THEODORE L.: Our Fuz- DECLEs, JoN: Cantabile .••..• May 117 zy Moon ...... Feb. 35 DEMMON, CALVIN W.: You Have Pure Water From Salt •••• , • Mar. 70 To Stay Inside .••.•.•••• May 37 Van Allen Belts •.•••••••• Apr. 64 DENTON, KIT: Burning Spear •• Feb. 100 The Building of a Protein •• May 49 DoRMAN, S.: The Old Man Lay Medical Radiotracers June 68 Down (verse) ..••••..•. Apr. 65 TRAVEN, B.: Sun Creation ••• , Apr. 16 EDMONDsoN, G. C.: The Third TucKER, WILSON: The Fan: Bubble •••.•••.•••••••• June 78 Myth and Reality •••••••• Feb. 107 GoULART, RoN: Nobody Starves Feb. 37 UNDERWooD, R.: The Crazy Into The Shop •••.•••••••• Apr. 93 Mathematician •••••••••• Apr. 66 GREEN, JR., RoBERT M.: No Place VALENTINA, ZHURAVLEVA: Star• Like Where ...... May 38 light Rhapsody •••••••••• Jan. 21 HARRISON, HARRY: MS Found In WALTON, BRYCE: The Peace Bottle (verse) ...... Feb, 36 Watchers •••••••••••••• June 40 Incident in the IND •• , , • , Mar. 72 WELLEN, EDWARD: The Book of HuBBARD, P. M.: The Shepherd Elijah •••••••••••••••••• Jan. 114 of Esdon Pen •••••••••••• Feb. 28 WILDE, OscAR: Lord Arthur }ANIFER, LAuRENCE M.: In The Savile's Crime (novelet) Mar. 42 Bag •••••••••••••••••• Feb. 105 Wn.soN, GAHAN: Beware of the }AVOR, F. A.: The Triumph of Dog ...... Apr. 15 Pegasus (novelet) •••••••• June 5 The Thing From Outer Space June 95 130 I A MERCURY Pi.JBLIC~ TION

.f. ' The Magazine of F AI'~TASY and SciENCE FICTION has been awarded the HUGO as the world's best science fiction magazine. The award was made by the 21st World Science Fic­ tion Convention, held in Washing­ ton, D. C. This is the fourth time this magazine has been so honored, previous awards having been made in 1958, 1959 and 1960. We are also pleased to report that a special HUGO was awarded to F&SF Science Editor Isaac Asimov for "putting the science in science fiction." We think that science fiction and fantasy fiction have come to occupy a respected position in the spectrum of literature. Perhaps because they have come to represent nat the tri­ umph of imagination over reality, but rather a commingling of the two. Yet this remains a unique field, free of many of the fetters of contemporary fiction. F&SF is proud to be a leader 40c By subscription $4.50 a year in the field. However, the purpose of this magazine, first and foremost, is 347 East 53 Street New York 2J, N. to entertain. It is gratifying to receive awards, but we are well aware that a past honor is not a guarantee of . future excellence. We propose to con­ tinue to bring you the freshest, most stimulating entertainment in the field.