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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.

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