If This Goes On by Robert Heinlein ”

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ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION TITLE REGISTERED U. S. PATENT OFFICE

CONTENTS FEBRUARY, 1940 VOL. XXIV NO. 6 The entire contents of this magazine has not been published before and is pro- tected by copyright and must not be reprinted without the publishers’ permission.

SERIAL IF THIS GOES ON— Robert Heinlein ... 9 First of Two Parts An Astounding Nova story—one of the most powerful sto- - ries science-fiction has produced—the tale of a dictator- ship hiding behind the mask of a false cult in America! NOVELETTES AND THEN THERE WAS ONE . . . Ross Rocklynne ... 53 The Voice taught the selfish ones what real selfishness was!

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF . . L. Ron Hubbard . . .130 He stole odds and ends—the Empire State Building—Grant’s Tomb—the Pennsylvania Station—for his model railroad. , SHORT STORIES LOCKED OUT ...... H. B. Fyfe 42 It’s dumb foolishness to get locked out of your own car but it’s worse when you’re locked out of your spaceship! MARTIAN QUEST Leigh Brackett ... 78 There’s more than one way to kill a cat—hut the best way to get a Martian Khom was to drown it in cream!

HIGH FREQUENCY WAR .... Harl Vincent . . . .102 Pinky had forgotten, when the frequency hit him—hut ' somehow—somewhere—he had something he had to do

BOMBARDMENT IN REVERSE . . . Norman L. Knight . . 124 Problem for artillery plotters: spot an enemy gun two miles away firing from the middle of next week! ARTICLES

BOTANICAL INVASION . , . . . Willy Ley 91 Plants that ought to have come from Mars or Venus but didn’t. Plants as screwy as de Camp’s animals!

LUNA OBSERVATORY NO. 1 , . . R. S. Richardson . .113 A professional astronomer suggests detailed plans of what would be needed in an astronomical observatory on the Moon. READERS' DEPARTMENTS THE EDITOR'S PAGE 5

BRASS TACKS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSIONS . 6 The Open House of Controversy. IN TIMES TO COME 41 Department of Prophecy and Future Issues.

ANALYTICAL LABORATORY ' . . 41 An Analysis of Readers’ Opinions. Illustrations by M. Isip, R. Isip, Kolliker, Kramer, Ley, Rogers and Schneeman COVER BY ROGERS

Monthly publication issued by Street & Smith Publications, Incorporated, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y. Allen L. Grammer, President; Henry W. Balston, Vice President anti Treasurer. Copyright, 1940, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc., New York. Copyright, 1940, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc., Great Britain. Reentered as Second-class' Matter, February 7, 1938, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under, Act of Congress of Mareh 3, 1879. Subscriptions to Canada, Cuba, Dom. Republic, Haiti, Spain, Central and South American Countries, except The Guianas and British Honduras, $2.25 per year. To all other Foreign Countries, including The Guianas and British Honduras, $2.75 per year.

All characters used in fiction and semi-fiction stories in this magazine are fictitious. Any similarity in name or characterization to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. We do not accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. To facilitato handling, the author should inclose a self-addressed envelope with the requisite postage attached, and artists should Inclose or forward return postage. SMITH PUBLICATIONS, INC. • 79 7th AVE., NEW YORK, N. Y. IT ISfl’T fl scitnct— yfT!

Robert Heinlein, in his “If This Goes On— presents a civilization in which mob psychology and propaganda have become sciences. They aren’t, yet—and maybe Americans can be as thankful for that as for their two great and good friends—the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (The Pacific merits the name; it does more to enforce pacific intention than any other thing on Earth, being the widest.)

Psychology isn’t a science, so long as a trained psychologist does—and must—say “there’s no telling how an individual man will react to a given stimulus.” Properly developed, psychology could determine that; the corol- lary is that it could then select the precisely correct stimulus to bring forth any desired reaction. This would, unquestionably, make for a far more orderly world, this ability to select the right push-button in a man’s mind, and make him react as dependably as any other machine.

Unfortunately, an insane man is one who sees things—the world, the Universe, his fellow men—in a way different from that seen by the rest of the world. Now that means two possibilities; he may be wrong, or the world may be wrong. If he’s wrong, he goes where he’d do the least harm to the world. If he’s right and the world’s wrong, he goes to a university and becomes another Einstein or Newton.

But if psychology were a real science, able accurately to control the immaterial “material” of its study, there’d be a rather strong tendency to decide first that, since one man says the regiment is out of step, the one man needs a few psychological push-button stimuli readjusted.

It would make for an infinitely more orderly world, such psychology of the individual, and propaganda, which is the psychology of the mass, but someone, or some organization, is going to make the decisions as to whether the world or the man is wrong.

With properly developed psychology and propaganda, we’d have no lost minds, we’d have far more order—but we might, of course, have even more and more vicious wars. For only a true God couk? decide always correctly, always justly, and without prejudice.

Because, naturally, if you have a human, or group of humans, doing the deciding—a really good psychologist would, by the very action of his science, be able to make them, react to selected stimuli in a selected way! And he might be right, and the world wrong, or the other way round. But nobody would know, by that time. The world would have been made to agree with him heartily. The Editor. — : —

BRASS TACHS

Stuart’s in retirement. But Astounding ingly on a part I had completely forgotten or the wall of energy that kept the atmosphere in Unknown will get his stuff if any- the cave. He proved that such a force screen

one does . was not only impossible, but even if it would work, it would break down the atmosphere it

Dear Editor : was protecting. J might find something pleasant to say some- On second thought, couldn’t you give us more where near the end of this letter. And I might of Don Stuart? Please? “Forgetfulness” was not. just about perfect.— Lawrence Miller, 2740 Vin- Starting with illustrations: That cover cent Avenue, Norfolk, Va. gr r-r-r. You’re going to get plenty of kicks on that. I’ll bet. Gilmore is worse than Gladney. Williamson Orban is a cartoonist—and his drawings for Van has a novel coming up in Vogt’s excellent story look like a reject from the . Unknown. funny pages. Stories: I’m not going to list them, but Van Dear Mr. Campbell Vogt’s “Discord in Scarlet” is truly outstanding. Like many others I had an impulse to write Sehachner and Smith light hard for last. Smith, a rave letter when the October number came I believe, cops the honor because his story is out. I’m glad I waited. Good as the October longer. (He would be a swell author if his plots : issue was. it is totally eclipsed by the Decem- weren’t so much hash. He has a wonderful com- ber copy. Great Klono himself couldn’t have mand of English.) done better. Which brings me to Smith’s un- paralleled Departments: Editor’s page—excellent. Read- “Gray Leusman.” It is superb ! And T ers’ pages—interesting, well thought out, humor- liow I hate the thought of waiting two years for ous. Analytical Laboratory—good for a laugh another sequel. When it does come, ill like to any time. I don’t see how you manage to give see the Arisians run up against some really for- midable opposition us such a good mag when the majority of read- ; something that would al- most ers are half-witted. I began to suspect it long match even their mighty intellects. The ago when they rated Wandrei so high—when interlude between Eichlan and Eukonidor gives Loveeraft received such an unmerited panning" you just an inkling of the dramatic potentiali- when Don Evans’ “The Last Hope” failed to ties of such a conflict. However, 1 shall venture place first. Tsk, tsk. Placing “Shawn’s Sword” no farther than merely making the suggestion, and “Rust” last. Indefensible. “Rust” was al- humbly leaving the details to Dr. Smith. 1 most as good as Robert Moore Williams’ poetic I agree somew'hat with A. A. Smith of King- ston, (?nt., in that “Robot’s Return.” (Come to think of it, that Weinbaum’s stories have wasn’t received well, either, was it?) : been matched personality for personality by Dr. Authors: Don A. Stuart is first by a large Smith. However, these two are not alone on majority. C. L. Moore second, and Lester del their pinnacle. Williamson’s Legion sagas be- Key third. Don Evans, L. Sprague de Camp, long in the same roster, and one or two of his L. Ron Hubbard, Harry Bates, and a few oth- yarns that have not appeared in Astounding are ers. Why not some stories by Clark Ashton every bit as good. His incidents may not be as Smith in either Unknown or Astounding? cataclysmically gargantuan as Smith’s or as Had an interesting experience the other day subtly flawless as Weinbaum’s, but his style is you might like to hear. No? Fine, here goes. as unique as either and clearer and more com- prehensible far A friend of mine, it developed, is an inveterate by than Smith. Jack William- scienee-fietioneer. From way back. However,, son’s stuff has an easy, racing greatness about it that has lie claimed that it was all fantasy, and said never been duplicated in science tic- he could pick an error in the science of any lion. His knack for naming characters is un- matched, his plots are varied, indeed, story 1 would care to name. Hm-m-m, What and peo- pled with would you pick? Anyway, I decided that Wein- entities and creatures that never cease to fascinate. He is, in short, favorite haura was about, tops and thought I would have my fan- some fun by mentioning the Red Peri. tasy author. Getting on to things, E. Well, believe it or not, the fellow not only other A. van Vogt’a remembered the entire plot, but picked unerr- Co7itinued on -page 157 j

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Any insurance company has rec-

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tistics show that if an "accident

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truck—people get maimed or kilted —suits pile up—yet the driver never does anything wrong.

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as the author suggests, "DEATH'S

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features that will thrill you in FEBRUARY • onKnonin NOW ON SALE CENTS PER COPY The second NOVA story Astounding has

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A tale of Dictatorship in America-—but dictatorship carried i» its logical, deadly end! The ultimate of the "leader principle" is— Tihe Prophet! Dictatorship hiding behind the mask of a false cult! JO

If THIS GOES on

By Robert Heinlein

It was cold on the parapet. I I must perforce wear constantly. I slapped my numbed hands together, patted my vortex pistol. That was then desisted for fear of disturbing my defense should any of the un- the Prophet. My heart was not at godly seek to approach the revered ease. I felt a vague unrest, not ac- person of the Prophet. counted for by the chill night air, nor I heard footsteps approaching by the long, fatiguing watch. along the parapet, and I brought my I was young then—a legate newly pistol to the ready, thumb on the graduated from West Point, and a safety latch. But it was only the guardsman in the Angels of the Lord, Tyler-of-the-Watch, making his the personal guard of the Prophet rounds. His voice came to me. Incarnate. “Watchman, what of the night?” At my birth my mother had con- I answered mechanically, “Peace secrated me to the Church, and I on Earth,” and added, “It is cold. was brought up to revere and ven- Elder Brother.” erate my spiritual elders. At “Bitter cold, my Brother,” he eighteen my Uncle Absolom, a senior agreed, “even in the Temple.” He deacon, had used one of the appoint- passed on by, his pistol and bandolier ments alloted to each member of the of paralysis bombs slapping his Council of Elders to send me to the armor with each step. I had hoped military academy. that he would stop for a few friendly I was happy at West Point. The words, but, doubtless, he was anxious ideals of the service had seemed per- to get back to the warmth of the fect and right. I hadn’t minded the guardroom. routine. On the contrary, I had I sighed and returned to my lonely rather enjoyed it—up at five, two vigil. I mused glumly on the dif- hours of prayer and meditation, then ference between life here in New classes and lectures in the manifold Jerusalem and life as I had en- subjects of a military education, visioned it when I was a cadet. The strategy and tactics, theology, mob Palace and Temple were shot psychology, basic miracles. - In the through and through with intrigue afternoons we practiced with vortex and politics, I was forced to admit. guns and blasters, drilled with tanks, Where now, was the proud and al- and hardened our bodies with ex- truistic motto of the Service: “Non ercise—the friendly monastic life of Sibi, Sed Dei?” I knew, too well, the barracks. I longed for it. that the priests and deacons, minis- But now, in spite of prayer and ters of state, and Palace function- fasting, I sometimes envied my aries all appeared engaged in a brother, Lemuel, who enjoyed the scramble for power and favor at the easier discipline of the Rocket Patrol. hand of the Prophet. Even the offi- He did not need to bother with the cers of my own corps, the Angels of ritualistic spear and buckler, which the Lord, seemed corrupted by it. IF THIS GOES ON— 11

Far down the inner corridor op- origin in the Middle West, not a hun- posite me a light shone briefly. I dred miles from the Spring of Truth, glanced at the telechronometer where the First Prophet was incar- strapped to my wrist. Yes, that nated. would be the Virgins ministering to Our talk became cheerful, even the Prophet. animated, and the haunted look left her eyes, leaving them dark and A little form engulfed in a dark lovely. Her whole face held a wist- cloak slipped past me and stood at ful poignant beauty. the parapet, staring at the stars. Her name, she told me, was Sister I spoke: “Peace be unto you, my Judith. Sister.” My telechronometer, animated by She turned and answered me, the master clock at the Naval Ob- “Anti to you, little Brother.” servatory, tinkled its tiny chimes. As she faced me I saw the Seal of She gasped: “Oh, I must run,” and Solomon on her forehead, the mark was off before I could speak. of the personal family of the Prophet. The watch wore on, while I “Your pardon. Elder Sister. I did dreamed thoughts of a peaceful do- not see.” mestic life, tucked away on a farm “I am not annoyed.” She paused somewhere in the hills that rim the and seemed to invite conversation. Mississippi Valley — blasphemous I knew that it was not proper for us thoughts, for they included Sister to engage in private conversation, Judith. for her mortal body was dedicated to My own service was not forbidden the Prophet, even as her soul was to marry, though promotion was the Lord’s, but I was blue—and faster without it and the highest lonely. ranks always went to those who as- “Do you attend the Holy One this sumed the full priesthood possible night, Elder Sister?” I asked, to ’ only to bachelors. But her service make an opening. forbade it, and well I knew it. So She nodded, and some vague fear perhaps my thoughts were not too seemed to haunt her eyes. “Yes, I serious—certainly I did not believe serve tonight, my Brother, but I have myself to be in love with her on ten as yet some ten minutes before I minutes’ aequai n tanee—neverthe- must be at the portal. I came out less, I indulged in the sin of longing here to feel the peace of the stars.” for worldly comforts. “It must be a memorable privilege Sometime later, an hour perhaps, to serve him directly.” my reverie was broken by a commo- Again that veil of trouble and tion from within the Palace. I fear. “No doubt. I cannot say, for dashed down the inner corridor, and tonight is the first time my lot has found a knot of women gathered been drawn.” around the portal. Two or -three I changed the subject, and in- more were hurrying someone out the quired how long she had been in portal which led to the Prophet's New Jerusalem, and whence she inner apartments. As I approached, came. Only a few months, she told this figure collapsed and they eased me, and she had been reared in upper^ it to the floor. New York State. There she was “What is the trouble?” I shouted, sealed to the Prophet at the Albany and drew my side arm clear. Seminary. I told her in turn, of my An old woman intercepted me. 1 * ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“It is nothing. Return to your post, thoughts to yourself, however. You Legate.” haven’t admitted this to anyone else, I heard a scream.” as yet?” “No concern of yours. One of the I answered with a negative. Sisters grew hysterical while attend- “Then don’t. I wouldn’t even talk ing the Holy Prophet.” it over with our chaplain. He’s a “Who was it?” broad-minded old chap, but he might “You are inquisitive. Sister feel it necessary to relate it to his Judith, if you must know.” superiors. You 'wouldn’t want to My heart gave a convulsive face the Inquisition, even if you are bound. Judith! free of overt sin. In fact, especially “Let me help her!” My cry was in such a case, it is well to avoid the involuntary. I started forward, but Question.” the old woman’s implacable face I shuddered at the thought—and barred my way. I am not overly timid. “What nonsense is this! The My mind chewed wearily over its Sisters will return her to her cell. black, uncertain thought. A ques- Since when do the Angels of the tion occurred to me. “Zeb,” I asked, Lord minister to nervous Virgins?” “what do you suppose got Sister She was right, of course. I made Judith so upset when she attended an unwilling retreat to my post. the Prophet?” “Huh? I don’t know. She takes As the next few days wore past, I her religion pretty seriously, doesn’t found it impossible to get Sister she? Sets a lot of store by it?” Judith out of my mind. Each night I assured him rather stiffly, that I watched for her to appear, even Judith was truly devout, devout as though I would not admit to myself any mother would want her daugh- that I was doing so. But she did ter to be. not appear. He gave me a slow grin. “I keep I shared an apartment in the forgetting that you are one of God’s bachelor officers’ quarters with Ze- Innocents, yourself. A girl as re- badiah Jones, another Legate, three ligious and as untouched by the classes senior to me at West Point. world as you describe Judith to be, I had been one of his plebes when might find a lot of things about the he was a first classman. Now we Holy One to shock her. A man were intimate friends, and he my doesn’t get to be political boss of a only confidant. He noticed my pre- country as big as this just by doing occupation and taxed me with it. I good deeds, thinking holy thoughts, was reluctant to talk, but his -sym- and saying his prayers.” He stopped pathetic attitude led me to unbur- suddenly. “What was that?” den my soul. Much to my surprise, We had been strolling on the broad he was not shocked that I had al- terrace surmounting the south tur- lowed myself to become interested ret, in order to be free of the sur- in one of the Virgins. So I told him veillance of the eye and ear con- the rest of my story; my doubts and cealed in every room of the quarters. troubles, the incident in the corridor, I had heard the shouting to which how I had hoped to see her again. Zebadiah referred. We moved to the He nodded sagely. edge and looked down. A crowd of “I quite understand, old fellow. fifty or sixty persons was charging You would do well to keep your raggedly up the slope that led to the ”

IF THIS GOES ON— 13

Palace walls, and ahead of them, flee- man dressed in country clothes, ing from them, ran a man with head rather than one of the women or chil- averted, dressed in a long gabardine. dren. He was headed for the Sanctuary He told me. “It was Snotty gate. Weems.” His lip curled. Zebadiah glanced down and an- I remembered Weems well enough. swered himself. “So that’s all the He was two classes senior to me at racket is. Just some of the rabble the Point, and had made my plebe stoning a pariah. Probably some year something better forgotten. fool careless enough to be caught “So that’s how it was,” I answered. outside the ghetto after five o’clock. “Hm-m-m—I don’t think I could I don’t think he'll make it, do you?” stomach the Secret Service.” His prediction was immediately “Not as an Agent Provocateur, at realized. A large rock caught the least,” he agreed. “Still, I suppose figure between the shoulder blades, the Council needs these incidents lie stumbled and went down. They occasionally. These— rumors about were upon him at once. He the Cabal, and all struggled to his knees, was struck I caught at this last remark. by a dozen stones at once, and went “Zcb, do you really think there is down in a heap. He gave a broken, anything to this Cabal? I can’t be- high-pitched wail, then drew a fold lieve that there is any organized dis- of the garbardine across his dark eyes loyalty to the Prophet.” and strong Roman nose. He pursed his lips. “Well—there A moment later there was noth- certainly has been some trouble out ing to be seen but a pile of rocks, on the West coast. Oh, forget it; and one protruding slippered foot. our job is to keep the watch here.” It jerked and was still. I turned away, nauseated. Ze- badiah caught my expression. II. “Why,” I said defensively, “do But we were not allowed to forget these pariahs persist in their heresy? it. Two days later the outer guard They seem such harmless fellows, was doubled. I was delighted to find otherwise.” that Zebadiah’ had been assigned to Zebadiah cocked a brow at me. the same night watch and post as “Perhaps it’s not heresy to them. myself. The long hours of the night Didn't you see that fellow resign were much less tedious with some- himself to his God?” one to share them—for me, at least. “But that is not the true God.” As for Zebadiah, I wearied him with “He must have- thought other- endless talk of Judith, and of how wise.” unhappy I was with things as I found “But they all know better; we’ve them in New Jerusalem. told them so, often enough.” One night he checked my inter- He did not answer, but smiled at minable complaints. “John,” he me in an irritating manner. I per- said, “do you love this Sister?” sisted. “Don’t you think it is right I demurred. I had not admitted to stone the ungodly?” even to myself, that I felt anything He changed the subject abruptly. more than concern for her welfare. “Did you notice who threw that first He cut me short. stone?” I hadn’t, and told him so; “You do, or you don’t. Make up all I remembered was that it was a your mind. If you do, perhaps T 14 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

can help. If you don’t, shut up Half the mess may know that yo about her.” received something in your napkii I did not pause to ponder long. I Why in God’s name did you bo] took a deep breath and answered, through your meal and rush awa “I believe I love her, Zebadiah. It like that? Then to top it off, yo seems a strange thing, an impossible hand me the note in our apart men

thing, and most surely a sinful For all you know, the eye read i thing, but there it is.” over your shoulder, and electrostate “Aye, all of that, and folly to it for evidence.” boot. But I can see there’s no use I protested my innocence. II to talk prudence to you. I can prob- continued: “Never mind. I knoi ably get a message through to her, that you didn’t intend to put us bot if you wish.” in jeopardy. But remember this T caught his arm. “Would you, The first principle of successful ir Zeb?” trigue is never to be seen doing any “I said so. But don’t forget; it’s thing unusual, no matter how harm court-martial at least—and possibly less it may seem. You should lntv the Question.” remained in the mess hall the usua “I’ll chance even that.” time, chatted the usual time there “Very well, then; what is the mes- after, neither more nor less, am sage? awaited an opportunity to read it I thought for a moment. It would What have you done with it?” have to be something short. “Tell “I tucked it in the pocket of nr her that the Legate she talked to the corselet. Don’t worry; I'll swalkn night her lot was drawn is worried it.” about her.” “Not so fast. Wait here.” He lef “Anything else?” me and returned a few minutes la lei “Yes—tell her that I am hers to “I have a piece of paper in my ham command!” of the same size and shape. I’ll pas it to you quietly. Find some pre At luncheon the next day I text to reach for your pocket, am found a scrap of paper folded into exchange the two slips of papei iny napkin. I hurriedly finished my Then, and not until then, is it saf meal, and slipped out to read it. to destroy the note.” I complied, but asked for an ex I need your help and am grateful for planation. it. Will you meet me tonight? “Don’t you see? If the eye sav It was unsigned, and written in char- you receive the note, or saw yoi acterless uniform script of the com- read it, but failed to read it itself mon lectroriter. you will be searched. They rnus When Zebadiah returned to out- find what they seek.” apartment, I showed it to him. He “What is on the second sheet o glanced at it, and remarked in an paper?” idle tone of voice: “Some notes for gaming at dice? “Let’s take a walk. I feel stuffy “But that’s forbidden, too!” after so much food.” “Of course. If they think tha When w-e reached the open terrace, they have uncovered evidence o and were out of earshot, he cursed gambling, they will not think it i me in low, dispassionate tones. evidence of a much more serious sin “You’ll never make a conspirator. At the worst, you will get a wigging —

IF THIS GOES ON— 15 and a small fine. Remember this, rapidly oyer the walls, snapped it

John; if you are ever suspected of off, and returned it to her person. anything, always try to make the “You may speak now,” she said, ev idence prov e guilt of some minor “but not too loudly. There is neither offense. Never try to prove lilv- eye nor ear concealed in this place.” vvhite innocence. Human nature be- She slipped away. ing what it fs, yolir chances are bet- I felt a gentle touch at my sleeve. ter the other way.” “Judith?” I whispered.— Sure enough, the contents of my “Yes. Yes ” she breathed, and pockets must have been photo- the gentle pressure increased. graphed almost as quickly as I Then my arms were around her, changed uniforms. The Executive and my lips found hers. She gave a Officer of the Guard called me into little, startled cry, then relaxed in ray his office not thirty minutes later, arms, and responded with endearing and asked me to keep my eyes open clumsiness. for evidence of gambling among the It is of no importance to anyone junior officers. It was a sin, he said, else what we talked about for the that he hated to have his younger next few minutes. Suffice that the officers fall into. He clapped me on magic which I had felt those ten min- the shoulder as I was leaving. utes on the parapet a long, long week “You’re a good boy, John Lyle. A ago, had touched her, too. Aye, and word to the wise, eh?" changed her. Presently, I asked her about the Half the watch passed with no matter that had been worrying me. sign of Judith. I felt as uneasy as a “Judith,” I said, “what happened cut in a strange house. Zebadiah while you were attending the kept me strictly to commonplace Prophet? What wag the trouble?” routine. At long last, there came I could feel her shaking. “John the sound of soft footfalls from the John, it was horrible!” inner corridor, and a shape appeared “What was?” at the doorway. Zebadiah stepped She pulled herself together. “I in front of me, and motioned me to had expected to see someone saintly remain at my post. He returned al- —almost div ine. But he wasn’t like most at once and signaled for me that at all. He was just a cynical, to enter, with a finger at his lips. I sneering old man. I went in and entered and my eyes searched out took my post as doorkeeper, as I had the figure in the gloom. It was not been instructed. He was talking with Judith, but some woman strange to another man, one of the deacons. me. I started to speak, but Ze- The things they talked about badiah’s big hand covered my shocked me. He made a remark mouth. oh, a terrible, worldly thing—and The woman took me by the arm they both laughed. and urged me down the corridor. I “Then he noticed my face, and glanced back and saw Zebadiah sil- scowled at me. ‘What’s troubling houetted in the doorway, alert. My you, my girl?” he said. At first I guide paused and pushed me into a couldn’t answer, then I quoted scrip- tiny alcove, then she drew from some ture to him. He seemed astounded, recess in her clothing, a small in- then angry, and called for the Senior strument which glowed with a dim Sister, and told her, ‘Take this stupid violet radiance. She passed this wench out of here, and see that she 16 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION is better trained.’ Then they took on Mexico. There still remained the me away.” problem of how to do it. I told her I comforted her as best I could. that I would talk it over with She went on: Zebadiah, and that he was bound to “But that wasn’t the worst. The have some feasible plan. I was not Senior Sister questioned me the next so sure of it, myself; it is one thing day, and we had—well—an argu- to assist at a Palaee intrigue, quite ment. As a result of that, the another to be an accessory in any- Prophet sent for me, and gave me thing as treasonable as our plan. a tongue-lashing. I really mean it. Judith had a suggestion. “You He told me that it was not my busi- know the Sister who guided you here. ness to think, my duty was to obey No? That is Sister Magdalene. I and to believe, and that if I had any am sure it would be safe to tell her, doubts as to his divine authority, to and she might be willing to help us. forget them. But he made me have She’s very clever.” doubts. Oh, John, what am I to do? I agreed, and started to comment, I’m afraid!” when she stopped me. “We will do something—some- “But John, dearest, what will you how.” do?” “But what are we to do, John? I “Me? I hadn’t thought, of that. must leave this place—escape from I shall have to stay here.” New Jerusalem! My lot may be “And not see each other again? I drawn any night. I couldn’t bear to w-on’t go.” attend him again. I’d . . . I’d say “But you must go. The Prophet something rash, and get the In- will—” quisition! I think already they be- “Better that, than to go without gin to suspect me of dealings with the you, now that I have found you.”

. . . the Cabal!” “But Judith, darling, listen to rea- I did not know how to answer her. son. You, viust go.” Escape was difficult at best, and even “Not without you.” if she escaped, where could she go? We were interrupted by Sister No citizen of the United States Magdalene. “Quick,” she snapped, would dare give shelter to an 'un- “your companion signals you.” veiled Sister. She would be almost I dashed out to the parapet, and certain of arrest, probably within was just in time to face the Tyler. twenty-four hours. Nevertheless, He exchanged challenges with us, she could not remain here. To have and then the ubiquitous old fool her in danger was intolerable. wanted to chat! He settled himself “You must escape. We will find a down on the coaming and com- way.” menced maundering of inconse- quentials, picking his teeth the We discussed the possibilities. while. I wished heartily that the Canada was a bare three hundred night had been as cold as a week miles away, but the border was ago, even as I made conversation in closely guarded, and extradition too the fashion normal to a man bored likely. Mexico was safer, but it was by a night watch. distant, and she would be stranded At last he got to his feet. “As I in a strange land without money, was saying,” he babbled, “I may be and no knowledge of the Spanish past forty, and getting a little slow tongue. But we eventually settled on my feet, but I’ve still a fast eye — —— — ”

IF THIS GOES ON— 17

with the blade, aye, and with the once useful military art. Zebadiah bayonet, too.” He was boasting of learned the phrase rapidly, but in- a picayune fencing victory of the sisted on repeating it to perfection. past week end. He walked over to- Five minutes later they ceased, some ward the Palace door. “Perhaps I fifty yards from the corridor door had belter take a turn through the and that much nearer to the guard- Palace,” he added, “we can’t take room. I could hear the Tyler puffing too many precautions these days. from the repeated lunge-and-retreat. They do say the Cabal has been “That was fine, Jones” puff— ” active again.” He took out his “you caught on handsomely —puff torchlight and flashed it down the —“I think I will let you inspect the corridor. corridor” puff—“you’ve given me a I froze solid. If he went down proper workout” puff—“lucky for that corridor, it was beyond hope me that a true bout does not need to that he could miss two women go on so long" puff—“God keep crouching in an alcove. you.” But Zebadiah was on the alert. “God go with you, sir,” replied “Stay a moment. Elder Brother. Zebadiah, bringing his blade up to Will you show me that timed riposte salute. with which you won that last bout? As soon as he was clear, I hurried It was too fast for the eye to fol- back to the alcove. The women were low.” still there, huddled far back against lure. He rose at once to the the wall. “He’s gone,” I reassured “Glad to, son,” he replied in flat- them. “Nothing to fear for a while.” tered, self-important tones, “Draw Judith had told Sister Magdalene your blade. En garde! Cross blades of our dilemma, and the three of us in line of sixte. Disengage and at- discussed it in hurried whispers. tack me. There! Hold the lunge Sister Magdalene advised caution, and [ will do it slowly. As your and said she could frame the draw- point approaches any chest” (Chest! ing of the lots to protect Judith for The old fool was as potbellied as a a fortnight, at least. “That will give kangaroo!) I engage it with the forte you time to make plans.” She of my own in line of quarte and force — paused, and listened. “Quiet my point over your blade in riposte She faded silently out of the cir- seconde. But I do not complete the cle. Then a thin pencil of light riposte! Strong as it is, you might flashed out and revealed a figure parry it. Instead, I beat your blade crouching on the floor outside the out of line, and attack where I will, alcove. I dived and was on him be- always in a different place. Come fore he could get to his feet. Fast now, try it!” as I was. Sister Magdalene was as quick. She landed on his shoulders Zebadiah followed the directions as he went down . He jerked and was with care, though clumsily at first. still. They tried it again, and again. At the conclusion of each phrase, the Zebadiah came running in, and Tyler retreated a step in order to checked himself at our sides. “John! avoid the unbated point of Zeba- Maggie!” It was a tense whisper. diah’s sword. In spite of my fear “What is it?” and preoccupation, I watched it, for I answered. “We’ve caught a spy, it was an artistic demonstration of a I think.” 18 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Zebadiah flashed his light. “That’s true.” “You’ve knocked him out.” “There’s just one answer—there’s “He won’t come to,” came Mag- nothing else for it—the Cabal!” dalene’s voice out of the darkness, “I slipped a vibroblade between his III. ribs.” “Holy Spirit!” “The Cabal?” I repeated stupidly. “There wr as no other way. Be glad Judith gave a horrified shudder.

I didn’t use steel, and spill blood for “Why . . . why, that would mean them to track us by— What do we our immortal souls! They worship do now?” Satan!” “Let’s see who it is. Turn him He turned to her. “I don’t believe over, John.” I did so, and the light they do.” flashed again. “Look, John—it’s She gazed at him. “Are yon a Weems. Well, he’s no loss to any- Cabalist?” one. Now what to do with him?” “No.” He stopped for a moment. You “Then how do you know?” could almost hear him thinking. “And how then,” I added, “can “John!” you lead us to them?” “Aye.” It was Magdalene who answered. “Keep the watch on the parapet. “I am a member—as Zebadiah If anyone comes. I’m inspecting the knows.” corridor. This clay must go in the Judith shrank back from her, but incinerator.” Magdalene pressed on, directing her Judith broke her silence. “I’ll help words to Judith. “I understand you. There’s a refuse chute on the your feelings, Judith. I was once as floor above.” There was a girl! horrified at the idea of anyone oppos- They were back in less than five ing the Church as you are. Then l minutes, though it seemed longer to was called on to serve the Prophet, me. By the time they returned, old and found what a lying sham it was.” Snotty’s body had no doubt been re- She put her arm about the younger duced to its primordial atoms in the girl’s shoulders. “We aren’t devil- fierce disintegration blast. I worshipers, my dear, nor do we fight breathed easier at the sight of them. the True Religion. Rather, in the Zebadiah was curt. “The watch face of persecution, we have kept will be relieved in ten minutes. This alive the flame. Trust us, my dear. tears it. We’ve got to hold a quick You know what this self-styled council of war and think our way out Prophet really is. How can the cult of this.” he heads be the true Church? If you We all offered suggestions, most come with us, we will do everything of them impractical to the point of in our power to aid you. Otherwise, ridiculousness—all but Zebadiah. we dare not risk it.” Then he spoke straight to the point. Judith searched her face in the “We all agree that something must faint light from the doorway. “You be done, or we’ll never be able to help swear that this is true? The Cabal Judith. And worse than that, we all does not war against the Lord Him- stand in mortal danger of the Ques- self, but only against the Prophet?” tion.” “I swear it, Judith.” “Aye.” Judith took a deep breath, then let> “Yet none of us has a plan?” it out with a sigh. “God guide me,” ” 2 ”

IF THIS GOES ON— 19

she said, “I cast my lot with the stodgy tasks of preparing for a new Cabal.” day. Presently, T found an excuse to Magdalene bent down and kissed lay my hand on Zeb’s shoulder, and her, then quickly faced us men. squeezed out dots and dashes in an- “Well?” swer: “O-K—I—U-N-D-E-R-S-T- I answered at once, “I stand with A-N-D— Judith,” then whispered to myself, The day was a misery of nervous “Dear Lord, forgive me my oath. I monotony. I made a mistake dur- must do this thing!” ing formal guard mount, a thing I Magdalene was staring at Zeba- haven’t done since I was a plebe. dlali. He shifted uneasily, and spat When the working day was finally upon the tiles. “Did I not propose over, I returned to our quarters and it? But we are all damned fools and found Zeb lounging with his feet on will burn for this night’s work.” the air conditioner, trying to work an acrostic in the New York Times. There was ny further chance for His corselet was unbuckled, his hair talk until the next day. I woke from mussed. He quite evidently had not troubled dreams, and eyed without a care in the world. As I came in, favor, my breakfast tray. From the he looked up and greeted me, “Hie, next room 1 heard the buzz of son, what’s a six-letter word meaning Zebadiah’s shaver, and the merry ‘pure in heart’?” sound of whistling. He entered my “You’ll never need to know,” I an- room and pulled the covers from me, swered, sitting down and commenc- all the while spouting a running ing wearily to remove my armor. His stream of persiflage. “Up you come, eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. son! God’s sunshine is wasting. It’s “Why, John, don't you think I a beautiful day, and the snail’s on shall reach the Heavenly City?” the thorn!” He grasped my wrist “Possibly—after ten thousand and pulled me toward him. eons in Limbo.” His grip seemed nervous. His I heard a knock at the door, then forefinger twitched against my skin. it was shoved open, and I saw the I thought for a moment that his face of Timothy Klyce, senior legate nerve was cracking under the strain of the other watch, and brevet cap- of the pretense, then I noticed that tain. He addressed us in nasal Cape the twitching was curiously regular. Cod speech, “Hello, you chaps, want He was signaling to me in code! to take a walk?” “B-E — M-A-T U-R-A-L — This was very bad luek,T thought, Tim was a hard man to get rid of, S-H-O-W— N-C)—S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E —W-E — W-I-L-L—U-E—C-A-L-L- and the most punctiliously devout in E-D — F-O-R — E-X-A-M-I-N-A- the corps. T- 1 -O-N—D-U-R- 1 -N-G—T-H-E— I was trying to think of an excuse, U-E-C-R-E-A-T-r-O-N—P-E-R-I- when Zeb spoke up. “Don’t mind if O-D—T-H-I-S—A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O- we do. Could we stop by town? N— I’ve some shopping to do.” I was disconcerted by this turn of Through it all, he kept up the flow events, and tried to object, maintain- of inconsequential badinage. ing that I had some paper work to I showed—I hope—no surprise. complete, but Zeb cut me short. I got up and went about the normal “Oh, come on. I’ll give you a hand AST— —

29 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

on it tonight. The fresh air will do freely and vountarilv offer yourself you good.” to the service of this order?” We went out by the lower tunnels. We each answered, “I do.” I walked along silently, wondering Our interrogator turned to the what we could do to shake om* un- other, “Hoodwink and prepare welcome companion. We had just them.” entered a little jog in the passage- Leather helmets were placed over way, when Timothy raised his hand our heads, which covered them com- in a gesture to emphasize some point pletely, save only the mouth and in his conversation with Zeb. His nose. Then vve were ordered to strip hand passed near my face and I felt off our clothes. I felt a sharp prick a soft insufflation across my eyes, the of a hypodermic in my forearm. merest breath of air, and suddenly From there on, my recollection is vague. cold I was blind. Something was pressed against my ribs on the left side in back, and I realized, dimly, that it Before I had time to cry out was the hilt of a vibroblade that even as I repressed the reflex to do needed only a thumb on the stud- so—I was grasped firmly by my up- switch to sound taps for me, but I per arm. Timothy continued his felt no alarm. There were questions, sentence without a pause. The grip many questions, to which I re- on my arm guided me to the left, sponded automatically, unable to de- whereas, my memory of the passage ceive, even had I the wish. I remem- led me to believe that the turn ber them in snatches: should have been to the right. After “ —of your own free will and ac- a few moments the blindness grad- —” “ cord —conform to the ancient ually wore off. Apparently vve were —” “ established usages —a man, still walking along the tunnel, with free born, of good repute, and well Timothy in the middle, grasping each recommended.” of us by the arm. We stopped in Then, for a long time I stood front of a door—a door that shivering on the cold tile floor, while shouldn’t have been there. Timothy some spirited discussion took place knocked once, then appeared to lis- around me. It had to do with my ten. motives in seeking admission. I No voice spoke that I could hear, could hear each word and knew that but he answered: pilgrims, “Two my fate hung in balance, that a duly guided.” word would cause to spring out from After a short wait, the door the cold hilt pressed into my back opened. We entered, it" closed a blade of cold energy, thereby set- silently behind us, and there, facing tling the argument and me with if. us, was a masked and armored guard, And I realized that the discussion with blaster drawn. Reading behind was going against me. him he rapped once on an inner door. Then a contralto voice was lifted Immediately there issued from it, an- over the others, vibrant, dominating. other figure similarly armored and It was the voice of Sister Magdalene. masked, who approached us and In my drugged condition, I welcomed asked us separately: “Do you seri- it simply as a familiar sound, with ously declare, upon your honor, that, no thought of her possible effect on unbiased by friends, and unin- my fate. fluenced by mercenary motives, you But the pressure of the hilt re- IF THIS GOES ON— 21

taxed; I felt the prick of a hypoder- sion and the symbolic meanings of mic again. When I came to myself, the working tools of that profession. a strong baritone voice was intoning But I must tell you of my surprise

• a prayer: at the instant the hoodwink was “Vouchsafe Thine aid, Almighty taken from, my eyes. Standing -be- Father of the Universe—love, relief, fore me, vested in the symbols of his and truth to the honor of Thy holy office, and wearing an expression of name. Amen.” almost inhuman dignity, was the fat, And the answering chorus, “So ubiquitous Tyler of my watch, Mas-

. mote it be!” ter of this lodge! Then T was conducted around the The ritual was long, and the time room, while questions were put to was short. When the lodge was for- me from time to time. These ques- mally closed, we gathered in an in-

. tions were symbolic in nature, and formal council of war. I was in- were answered for me by my guide. formed that the senior brethren had Then my progress was checked, and already decided not to admit Judith 1 was asked if I were willing to take to the order at this time, as she was a solemn oath pertaining to this de- to be spirited away to Mexico, and gree, and was assured that it would it seemed safer not to extend un- in no material way interfere with necessarily the circle of those who duty that I owed to God, myself, knew the local secrets of the Cabal. family, country, or neighbor. Zebadiah and I, being of the Palace I answered, “I am.” guard, could be of real service to the

1 was then required to kneel on Cabal, and were consequently ad- my left knee, with my left hand sup- mited to membership. porting the Book, my right hand Judith had been given hypnotic steadying certain instruments there- instructions which, it was hoped, on. would prevent her from revealing The oath and charge was one to what little she knew, if she should chill the blood of anyone foolish be exposed to the Question. I was enough to take it under false pre- told to wait and not to worry; that tenses. Then I was asked what, in the senior brethren would take the my present condition, I most desired. steps to remove Judith from danger. I replied, as I had been coached to With that I was forced to be satis- do: “Light!” fied. And the hoodwink was stripped For three successive days Zeb- from my head. adiah and I reported during the reccreation hour, for instruction, each

hr is . not necessary, nor desirable, time using a different route and a that 1 record here the rest of my in- different means to escape detection. struction as a newly-entered brother. It became evident, that the architect Suffice to say that the instruction who designed the Palace had been was long, and of solemn beauty, and one of us, for many were the unde- there was nowhere in it any trace of tectable peculiarities of that pon- the macabre and blasphemous devil- derous pile of masonry. At the end

, worship that common gossip alleged. of the third day we were fully ac- It was filled with reverence for God, credited senior brethren, qualified brotherly love, and uprightness, and with a speed possible only in time of included instruction in the principles crisis. of an ancient and honorable profes- On the fourth day we entered the oa ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION lodge room, using the sigHS and pass- tones with the lodge Master. They words appropriate to our new rank, ceased talking as we came in. to find the lodge not in session. In- Zebadiah ran his eye over the stead, some three or four of the group, and demanded, “What's up, brethren were gathered around Mag- Maggie?" dalene who was consulting in hurried She looked at me, and hesitated

Illustrated by Hubert Rogers

Someone loosened the hoodwink, and I opened my eyes to see two grim, armed warriors of the Cabal covering me— —

IF THIS GOES ON 23 before replying. “Judith has been quire the Auto da Fe, the mind of arrested.” the accused was usually weakened, I thought that my bodily func- even shattered, by the experience. tions would stop, and that 1 would The lodge Master perceived my give up the ghost then and there. agitation, and directed the Junior I am not an unusually cowardly man, Warden to examine me as to my and a truly craven character cannot progress in memorizing the mysteries last through West Point, but there intrusted to me during the three dayo is something about danger to a loved past. Much against my will, I re- one that freezes the blood of the peated after him the words of the bravest. rituals. He forced me with relent- “The Inquisition?” I faltered. less kindness to concentrate on the “I am afraid so,” she admitted. intricate rhetoric. “They took her away early this Somehow, nearly three hours morning, and she has been held in- passed. At last came three raps at communicado for some eight hours.” the door and the Tyler-of-the-Lodge “Has any charge been filed?” admitted Magdalene. I sprang up .asked Zeb. from my chair, and rushed to her. “No.” “Well?” I cried. “Well?” “Hm-na-m—that looks bad.” “Peace, John,” she answered, “I “But what can we do?” I ex- have seen her.” postulated. “How is she? Is she all right?” Magdalene’s eyes showed her pity. “Better than you have any right “There is nothing you can do. You to expect,” she told me. “Her mind couldn’t get within five guarded is still there. As for her body, it’s doors of her. As for the rest of us, young and healthy. Barring a scar well—” or two, she should recover com- The lodge Master finished the pletely.” sentence. “There is little that the I started to ask another question, rest, of us can do. Magdalene is the but the Master cut in. only one of us who has access to the “I gather from your words, Sister inner Palace. It is in her hands.” Magdalene, that they had already I turned to her, and questioned put the Question to her. How, then, silently. did you manage to see her?” She sighed, and said, “I’ll go, but “As to that, Peter,” she responded, there is probably little that I can do.” addressing the lodge Master by his With that she left. given name, “the Chief Inquisitor is an old acquaintance of mine. I sent And we waited. And waited. a message in to him, then begged a And waited. It is difficult for any respite for the girl.” of you who have not lived in the “He agreed to that?” The Master shadow of the Inquisition to appre- was plainly surprised. For that mat- ciate the awe and dread in which we ter, so was I. held it then. We knew no details “Oh, that? There was something about it, but we sometimes saw the he wanted me to do; I agreed to do unlucky ones who had faced it it, in exchange for this favor.” when they lived. But rarely were She went on, “Apparently, Judith they able to give any coherent ac- fainted rather early in the proceed- count of what they had undergone. ings; She may not have had time to Even if the Inquisitors did not re- be questioned about any of us. On ” —

a ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION the other hand, the Inquisitors are tapping out my reply. Truly, the slv—they may be playing with us. Cabal had long arms. What do you think, Worshipful Mas- ter?” IV. Peter pondered it. “You say she has only a reprieve?” We relieved the watch at mid- “For twenty-four hours—to gain night. As soon as the marching strength to be questioned again.” footsteps receded into the night, t “Do you think they suspect her told Zebadiah of the partial instruc- of association with the Cabal?” tions I had received. I inquired of “Frankly, I do. I think it is both him whether or not he had been that, and she has been chosen as an given any to pass on to me. He had object lesson to other Virgins—to not; there was nothing for it but to teach us not to object to the re- wait, while wondering whether or not quirements of our service.” something had gone wrong. “We cannot,” the Master decided, About an hour had passed when “chance it. She must go tonight. I beard a hiss from the doorway Senior Warden, attend me! The rest leading to the inner corridor. I ap- of you, leave! Your instructions will proached cautiously and made out a reach you.” female form. It was too short to be Magdalene. I never knew who she Dinner that night was a trial. was, for she shoved a piece of paper After the Chaplain had intoned his in my hand and fled. blessing did best to lengthy I my I consulted Zeb. “What shall I join in the noisy chatter while eating do; read it with my flash? That food that threatened mechanically seems risky.” not to stay down. Seated next to “Open it up, first,” he counseled. me was a dour classmate of mine, I did so, and found that it was cov- Grace-Of-God Bearpaw, half Chero- ered with fine script which glowed kee Indian, half Scotch. He and I with a faint radiance. It was pos- had little in common and rarely sible to read it, yet no spying eye talked. Tonight he was as taciturn could possibly detect me doing so. as ever. In the course of the meal The message was terse, but specific: he placed his foot so that it rested partially on mine. I impatiently At the middle of the watch on the moved my foot out of the way. But stroke of the hour you will leave your his foot found mine again, and post, and enter the Palace by the door pressed against it. Slowly and where you received this note. Forty door, take the stair clumsily the pressure increased and paces from the on your left, climb two flights, pro- in dots abated, spelling out words ceed to the north fifty paces. There and dashes: you will find a guard at the doorway “—hold steady you fool,” he on the right, which leads to the Vir- you, spelled out, “you have been chosen gins’ quarters. He will not resist but you must use a paralysis bomb will take place on your watch —it on him, fourth intensity, in order to you will receive the details then—eat provide him with an alibi. At the far and start talking—take a large strip end of the central corridor, there is of adhesive tape on watch with you the cell you seek. There will be a light burning over it, and a female —six inches by a foot—repeat mes- — guard. You must completely disable sage back her, but you are forbidden to kill her. I managed, somehow, to eat while Use the adhesive tape as a gag and IF THIS GOES ON— 25

blindfold. Take her keys, enter the forward, and peered around the turn. cell, Sister She and carry away Judith. There stood the guard. I had been will be unconscious. Bring her to your assured that he would not resist, but post, and hand her to the Tyler-of-the- Watch. I took no chances. I slipped a bomb You must make haste from the time from my belt, set it by touch to you paralyze the portal guard, as an fourth degree, pulled the primer, and eye may see you pass the lighted door- counted slowly to five to allow for way, and the alarm may sound before you have completed. the point-blank range. Do not swallow this note; the radi- It burst with a little tinkly pop, ant ink is poisonous. Drop it in the and I ducked back out of range of incinerator chute at the head of the the rays. A few seconds later I stairs. Go with God. reconnoitered. The guard was slumped down in a heap, his fore- At the two muted strokes of the head bleeding slightly where it had middle watch, I leaned my spear struck on a fragment of the bomb against the wall, unbuckled my case. I stepped over him, quick sword, and placed it by the spear. march, and slid down the central hall Zeb thrust a gauntleted hand in mine of the Virgins’ quarters. Almost at and squeezed until I winced. Then once, I saw the end of my search. I was away. Two—four—six—forty But I stopped, nonplused, for the fe- paces. I groped along the left wall, male guard, instead of walking a found the opening, and felt around post, was seated with her back to with my foot. Ah! There were the the cell door. There was no doubt steps. One flight, two flights—I al- in my mind that I could overpower most fell headlong when I stepped her, but considerable doubt as to on a “top” step that wasn’t there. I whether I could do so before she steadied myself. Where was that could scream for help. refuse dump? It should be at floor level and the instructions said “head But I had no time for elaborate of stairs.” I couldn’t find it. I felt plans. Even now the eye might have around frantically, then debated noticed the condition of the portal whether to show a light, or take a guard. I removed my right gaunt- chance on keeping it. Then my let, and placed the adhesive tape hand found the latch; with a sigh of across my palm, sticky side out. relief, I tossed away the evidence Then with my left hand I threw my that would have incriminated so right gauntlet so that it arched over many others. Then I was beset by the woman’s head, and struck the doubts. Was that the incinerator floor beyond her. chute? Could it- have been a de- When it struck she turned her livery panel, instead? I open the head and I leaped. My dive carried panel again, and listened. Was that us both to the floor, but my hand the crackle of the disintegrator? I was across her face, and she was thrust one arm far in, and drew it gagged. I tapped her lightly across back hastily, almost blistered the base of the brain with the edge through my gauntlet. I resolved to of my palm. She went limp. have no more doubts, but to trust I searched her for the keys. Then my instructions. I was in the cell, and my beloved Forty paces to the north the pass- was in my arms! age made a jog. That was not in the Her face was white and her heart instructions. I paused, crept slowly beat softly. She did not stir when 26 ASTOUN DING SCIENCE-FICTION

I picked her up. Her gown slipped almost as big as lie was, and I knew and I saw some of what had been him to be short of wind; despite these done to her. I vowed a solemn row handicaps, he made good time, run- to pay it back in kind, sevenfold, if ning with short, waddling steps, his flesh could live that long. fat belly jouncing. I had no time to be gentle, but I stood staring after them, my wits swung her into the rescue carry, over elsewhere, when Zebadiah recalled my right shoulder, my right arm be- me to the present by shoving my tween her knees, right hand grasping spear into niv hand, and starting to her right wrist. Then I swung away buckle on my sword belt. at a dogtrot. “Look alive, man!" he hissed; The guard still lay where I had “that general alarm means us. You’re left him. T thought I had won clear, supposed to be on guard duty, you and was just stepping ov er him when know!” I heard a gasp from the side corridor 1 finished strapping on my sword, on my left. Why are women rest- and drew and cocked my pistol. less at night? If this female had not Then we stood back to back, super- risen in the middle of the night, I ficially correct in our alertness; for might have nev er been seen at all. unless the disturbance took place I ran my best, burdened as I was. within the limits of our post, we were The sheltering darkness was wel- forbidden to leave it for any reason come, but there was no telling how whatsoever, unless directed to do so long it would remain dark. Who- by competent authority. ever it was that had seen me was For some minutes we waited. We morally certain to give the alarm. could hear the sounds of running Unless l was clear of the Palace be- feet and challenges. The Officer-of- fore the lights went on we were al- the-Watch ran past us into the most certain to be apprehended. I Palace, fastening his corselet over his lost precious seconds locating the night clothes as he ran. I almost stairway—I overran it in the black- blasted him out of existence before ness, and had to retrace my steps, he answered my challenge. Then the and feel around for the opening with Relief Watch Section swung by in my free hand. column of twos at double-time, the At last I found it, none too soon, Relief Tyler at their head. for I thought I could make out Gradually the excitement died sounds of people stirring about and away. One hour after I had left my shouting somewhere behind me. post to rescue Judith, the Relief Down two flights, a headlong ran to- Watch Section came tramping back. ward the parapet, and I was out un- Instead of passing on by, they halted, der the stars with my precious load and our two reliefs fell out of ranks.' —just as the corridor lights flashed We turned over our post to them on behind me! Almost simultane- and fell in with the section. ously, the general alarm gongs went altogether, with a deafening dis- off V. sonant jangle. But Peter, the T.vler-of-the- We were marched into the guard- Watch, was waiting at the door. He room, formed into platoon front and grabbed Judith from my arms with- left standing at attention. Then we out a word, and set off up the para- waited—and waited—and waited. pet toward the guardroom. She was The guardroom chronometer chimed —

IF THIS GOES ON— 27 the third hour of the watch. “Well?” The Officer-of-t he-Watch strolled No one answered him. around the room, and k)oked us over. “Speak up! Some one of you One man in the rear shifted his knows something about this. An- weight. His accouterments clat- swer up—or would you all rather tered a trifle. It was a deviation face the Question?” from military precision that would A murmur ran down the ranks have gone unnoticed at dress parade, but no one spoke. but tonight his reprimand was swift He ran his eyes over us again. It and sharp. The tension increased. caught mine and I stared back It was evident that they intended truculentlv. to make us tired and nervous before “Lyle!”'' questioning us. I thought of Zeb- “Aye, reverend sir.” adiah’s warning concerning how to “What do you know of this?” engage successfully in deception, and ‘T know that I would like to sit resolved not to let them shake my down, reverend sir!”

1 nerve. How would I feel, and how He glared at me, then I saw7 a would I act, if I were totally innocent gleam of amusement in his eye. and ignorant of the night’s affairs? “Better to stand before me, my son, Interested and stimulated at first, than to sit before the Inquisitor.” probably. Curious as to the cause of But he passed on. the alarm. Then what? For an hour or more he questioned I tried to imagine what my feel- us. Zeb and I came in for neither ings would have been at the inter- more nor less attention than the rest. minable ordeal of remaining at atten- At last he appeared to give up, and tion. Apprehension? A little, per- directed the Officer-of-t he-Watch to haps, but I had been so smugly dismiss us. virtuous in the past that it would I was not particularly relieved, for not have occurred to me to fear seri- it was a foregone conclusion that ously for my own skin. Outraged every word spoken had been rec- virtue was more nearly in character. orded, that cinema records had been Yes, and a feeling of resentment at made of our very expressions, and being made to stand at attention like that by this time the psychoanalysts any plebe being hazed by upper were plotting curves, and cheeking classmen. our answers against our past be- That was the line to take! I con- havior patterns. centrated on the idea until I had Zeb is a wonder. We had no more actually induced the appropriate than reached our quarters when he emotions. commenced to prattle of the night’s By the time the Commander of the events from a viewpoint of complete Guard had arrived, I was white- innocence. I caught the cue and lipped with anger. I did not like him groused about being treated like a much, anyway. He was a short, bunch of pariahs. “We are officers officious little man, with a cold eye and gentlemen,” I protested. “If he and a supercilious manner. Now' he thinks we are guilty of some offense, stood before us, his priest’s robes let him prefer charges.” thrown back from his shoulders, his I lay awake in bed for a long lime, thumbs caught in his sword belt. He wondering about Judith, wondering jutted his stiff spade beard at us and frantically, whether or not she was scowled. safe. As I was reassuring myself for S3 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION the thousandth time, that the course He hesitated. “Hurry up, then!’" of events indicated that the author- I thought furiously as I pulled on ities were still in the dark, and there- my clothes. How could I leave some fore, she must have reached a hiding sign that would serve to indicate place, I felt a touch on my arm. I what had happened to me? I stalled tensed, but relaxed when T was given as long as I dared, pretending to jam the fraternal grip of the lodge. It a zipper on my boots, and fumbling was the Tyler-of-the- Watch, Peter, clumsily with all my dressing. An the lodge Master. idea finally came, not a good one, but He pressed his lips to my ear. it would have to serve. quiet,'’ whispered, “I “Remain he I pulled down a sweater along with must give you certain psychological some other clothing and threw it on treatment.” I felt the bite of a hypo- the bed. As I selected the clothing injection. dermic, the bruise of the I needed to wear I contrived to ar- His voice droned close to my ear, range the arms of the sweater so softly, insistently. “You saw noth- that it simulated the position a ing unusual on watch tonight. Un- brother of the lodge assumes in giv- til the was the watch alarm sounded ing the Grand Hailing Sign of Dis- was quite without incident—” On tress. I announced that I was ready, ni>l on, he droned, instructing my praying silently that some brother subconscious in a false memory pat- would see it and guess the meaning tern. I relaxed into unconsciousness. before my room servant policed my quarters. I was awakened by someone I was blindfolded before we shaking my shoulder roughly. I reached the inner Palace. We went sprang up, and faced four armed down six flights of steps, four below- men. One of them had his blaster ground level, as I figured it; and drawn and pointed at my middle. reached a compartment filled with “Come along,” he said brusquely. the breathless silence of a vault. They were wearing the uniform of The hoodwink was stripped from my the Angels of the Lord without iden- eyes. I blinked. tifying insignia. But each head was completely covered with a black “Sit down, my boy, sit down and mask which shrouded every feature make yourself comfortable.” I but the eyes. By their masks I knew looked into the face of the Chief them; proctors of the Chief In- Questioner himself, saw his warm, quisitor! friendly smile and his collie-dog eyes. I assumed indignation. “What are “I am sorry to get you so rudely out you doing here?” of a warm bed, but there is certain “Come along.” information needed by the Church. “Show me your order!” Tell me, my son, do you fear the The leading figure gestured with Lord? Of course, you do; your piety his blaster. Two of the others took is well known. And you love the my arms and urged me roughly to- Prophet, don’t you? Of course, of ward the door, the third falling in course. Then you won’t mind assist- behind. I shook at them and pro- ing me in this little matter. It’s to tested. “You have got to let me the greater glory of God.” He dress. You’ve no right to drag me turned to his black-robed assistants, out half naked, no matter what non- hovering behind him. “Make him sense I may be accused off!” ready—and pray be gentle.” —

IF THIS GOES ON 29

I was handled quickly and Questioner broke in on my reverie. roughly, but not painfully. There I answered mechanically, the first was something about the touch of thing that came into my head. these operators that seemed to show I have no way of telling how long that they regarded me as so much this went on. They brought me inanimate matter to be handled as back to sharp reality with another impersonally as cordwood. They hypodermic. stripped me to the waist and fastened The Inquisitor was examining a certain apparatus to me; a rubber slight bruise and little purple dot on bandage tight about my upper arm, my right forearm. He glanced up. electrodes to my wrists, a tiny mirror “What caused this, my boy?” to the pulse on my throat. At a “I don’t know, reverend sir.” control board on the left wall one “I am not so naive as that. You of them made a few adjustments, •are causing us a great deal of trouble. threw a switch, and on the opposite That is regrettable.” He motioned wall a shadow show of my inner to his crew. They strapped a helmet working sprang into view. on my head. “Look here, Lyle.” A little light danced to my heart- He pointed to a <3?agram on the wall. beat, my blood pressure’s rise and “You will observe that this is a rep- fall was plain, and other data whose resentation of the brain, that bulbous meanings were unknown to me, were part is the thalamus, covering it is spread to view. I concentrated on the cortex. The sensory centers of remembering the natural logarithms the brain are marked for you to see. from one to ten. You may know that the nerve action “You see our methods, son. Effi- df the body has certain electrical ciency and kindness, those are our effects. We have analyzed your bywords. Now tell me—Where did electrodynamic characteristics. I you put her?” am afraid I shall find it necessary to I broke off with the logarithm of heterodyne your normal senses.” twelve. “Put who?” He nodded. “Commence.” “Why did you do it?” A light blinded me. An explosion “I am sorry, reverend father, I crashed in my ears. My right leg don’t know what it is I am supposed jerked with pain. “Where did you to have done.” put her?” My throat contracted and Someone slapped me hard, from I choked. A noise started low and behind. The little lights on the wall soft, then climbed higher and higher, danced and jiggled. The Inquisitor until it screamed out beyond audi- studied them thoughtfully for a mo- bility. Something struck me in the ment, then spoke to an assistant solar plexus; I doubled up. Then I “Inject him.” itched intolerably. “Who helped For a second time that night a you to do it?” Then commenced a hypodermic pricked my skin. They rhythm of pain and agony. Light allowed me a short reprieve while the — sound—pain — sound—heat—cold drug took hold. I continued with pain— “Who told you to do it?” the effort of recalling logarithms. Pain and light—sound and pain But that became too difficult. I “Where is she?” Searing heat was growing drowsy, lackadaisical. sound—pain and light— “Why did Nothing seemed to matter. I felt a you do it?” Silencfe—pain and mild and childish curiosity about my sound. surroundings. The soft voice of the I suppose I fainted. —

so ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Someone was slapping me across methods differed in no important re- the mouth. “Wake up, Lyle, and spect from the technique used in the confess! Zebadiah Jones has given Middle Ages, nor from those used you away!” more recently in China, except that —his knowledge of neural anatomy I blinked and said nothing at first. was incomparably greater, and his It was not necessary to simulate a knowledge of the psychology of be- dazed condition beyond speech. But havior made his operations more the words had been a tremendous adroit. In addition, he seemed com- shock and my brain was racing furi- pletely free from any sadistic emo- ously. Poor old Zeb! Hadn't the tion in his work, and was, therefore, lodge Master had time to give him more coolly efficient. psychological treatment, too? It But I shall omit the details. never occurred to me to suspect that I have no idea of the passage of Zeb had broken under torture alone. time. I must have been unconscious T naturally assumed that they had several times—at least, I remember tapped his subconscious mind. I being brought around more than wondered if he were already dead. once with stimulants and ice. I And I had gotten him into this. My don't think I told them anything of heart was heavy with remorse. any importance; not while I was con- My head jerked from another scious, at any rate, and the lodge numbing blow. “Wake up! You Master's instructions to my subcon- can hear me—Jones has revealed scious may have protected me while your sins!” I was out of my head. “Revealed what?” I mumbled. I recall vaguely, coming semi- The Chief Inquisitor motioned awake at one time, and hearing a assistants aside and leaned over me, voice. “He'll do. His heart is his kindly face full of concern. strong.” “Please, son, do this for the Lord Finally I awakened as if from a and for me. Don’t go to judgment long sleep. I was stiff, and when I with this sin on vour smd. Confess,* shifted my weight my side hurt me. and let death come with your sins I opened my eyes and looked around. forgiven.” I was in bed in a small, cheerful “So you intend to kill me?” room. A sweet-faced young woman He looked faintly annoyed, and in a nurse's uniform came smoothly changed his tack. “I did not say so. to my side and felt my pulse. I know that you do not fear death. “What’s happened?” I asked her. What you should fear is to meet your “Is it all over, or is this just a rest?” Maker with vour sins still on your “Be quiet,” she admonished me, soul. Confess!” “you are still too weak to talk. You “Reverend sir, I have nothing to are safe among the brethren." confess." “I was rescued?” Instead of replying to me he gave “Yes; now be quiet.” She held up instructions to his staff in low, gentle my head, and gave me something to tones. “Resume. The mechanicals drink. I went back to sleep. this time; I don’t wish to burn out his brain.” It took some days for me to con- It would be unkind to tell in de- valesce and catch up on events. The tail, what he meant by these instruc- infirmary where I spent the first few tions. His notion of mechanical days was part of an extensive series IF THIS GOES ON— 31 of apartments underlying the base- arranged your sweater in the Grand ment proper of a department store Hailing Sign of Distress, wc might in the city. There was some sort of both have faced the Inquisition and underground connection with the neither one of us come out alive. I lodge room under the Palace. The went straight to the lodge Master. owner of the department store over- He ordered me to take cover in Ihe head was a Past Grand Master of lodge room and wr ait. Then he ar- the lodge, and an important source ranged your rescue.” of liaison with the outer world. The Interested as I was, my mind shelves of his store fed us and clothed wandered. “Zeb,” I pleaded, “where us. By tapping in on his commercial is Judith. Can’t you find her and lines we had visiphone connections bring her to see me?” with the outside. His delivery trucks He looked puzzled. “Didn't they were available to spirit fugitives to tell you?” or from our clandestine quarters. “Tell me what? No—1 haven’t His manifold commercial activities seen anybody but the nurse and she were a complete and plausible blind Won’t talk. Don’t keep me in sus- for our extensive operations. pense, Zeb. Has anything gone Successful revolution is Big Busi- wrong? She’s all right, isn’t she?” ness—make no mistake about that. “Sure “she’s all right, but she’s been In a modern, complex, and highly gone for a week. In Mexico by now. industrialized State, revolution is not We got a report back two days ago.” accomplished by a handful of con- Relief and disappointment strug- spirators, whispering around a gut- gled within me. Relief won. “Well, tering candle in a deserted ruin. No, that’s that,” I said, “for the time be- it requires countless personnel, sup- ing. Did you say a week? What plies, modern machinery and modern day is this?” weapons. And to handle these fac- “It’s been nine days since you were tors successfully, there must be arrested, John. You were a sick loyalty, secrecy, and superlative staff baby—still are, in fact.” organization. “I’m all right,” I grinned, “I’m too I do not believe the Cabal would tough to kill. But bring me up-to- have developed as soon as it did, nor date; what goes on in the Palac-e?” operated as efficiently for revolution, “I don’t know.” had not the lodge existed before the “Huh?” time of the First Prophet as an an- “I haven’t been back. cient, nationwide secret fraternity. You didn’t think I was still on duty, did Zebadiah came to see me the first you?” day of my convalescence. I was overjoyed. “Zeb!” I cried, “I was “I hadn’t had time to think about afraid you were dead.” it.” “Why did you think that?” “Well, naturally, I couldn’t go I explained to him the dodge that back after 1 had ducked to avoid the Inquisitor had worked on me. arrest; I was through. No, my fine He shook his head: “As a matter fellow, you and I are both deserters of fact, I was never even arrested.” from the United States Army—to be I must have shown my surprise, for picked up on sight, with every cop he continued, “I have you to thank and every postmaster in the coun- for that, old man. If you hadn’t left try anxious to earn a deserter’s re- a sign, I could guess at when you ward by turning us in.” -

m ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

I whistled softly, and let the im- “Out West. You’ll know' soon plications of the remark sink in, enough. Did you have any specialty at West Point, any subject in which you excelled?” VI. “I stood pretty high in ballistics, I had joined the Cabal on im- and in chemistry of explosives.” pulse, more or less. Certainly, under “Hm-in-m, good enough. How the stress of my newborn love for were you in applied miracles, and in Judith, and in the excitement of the mob psychology?” events that came crowding over me “I was fairly savvy in miracles, but as a result of meeting Judith, I had I guess I’m too dumb for psycho had no time for calm consideration. dynamics.” I had known rationally, that to join “Well, we can’t have everything. the Cabal was to cut all my ties with I could use another technician in my past life, but I had not realized morale and propaganda work, but if it emotionally, deep down inside. you can’t, you can’t.” What would it be like to never again wear the uniform of an officer and a “Zebadiah stood first in his class gentleman? I had been proud to in mob psychology. The comman- walk down the street, or to enter a dant tried to persuade him to enter public place, aware that eyes fol- the priesthood when he graduated.” lowed me and admired. “I know; Zebadiah would be a real propaganda unit, but he I put it out of my mind. My hand asset to any was to the plow—there was no turn- must go West, too. Zebadiah is too interested in Magdalene. ing back now. I was in this till we much We won, or until we were executed for don’t believe in letting such couples treason. work together in the same unit; it The lodge Master called on me a might distort their judgments in couple of days later. He sat on the emergencies.”

edge of my bed , and crossed his arms over his round paunch. “Feeling I spent several days on light duty better, son.” reading proof on the Iconoclast, a “I could get up, if they would let smug, mildly critical, little reform- me.” from-within newspaper which the “Good. I’ve been trying to de- Cabal used to pave the way for its cide,” he continued, “what to do with field—missionaries. It was a “Yes, you.” I raised my brows but said but ” paper, just the sort of thing nothing. “It would be simple to arouse doubt in the minds of the enough to assign you to a desk job stiff-necked and intolerant. here—we are shorthanded. I’ve had When the surgeon O. Iv.’d me for Zebadiah working sixteen hours a duty, the staff metamorphist took me day, trying to straighten out the fil- in hand. He had me measured and ing system—but it is wasteful to photographed, recorded my voice, keep two smart young military men analyzed my walk, and had a master at desk jobs which civilians could fill. card made up of my physical char- No, I think I will send both of you acteristics. I watched the card- to General Headquarters, and let sorter go through several thousand them put you to work.” cards, and was beginning to think “General Headquarters—where is that I was a unique individual, re- that?” sembling no one else sufficiently to ” —

IF THIS GOES ON- S3 permit me to be disguised success- “I’m afraid this one is out, then. fully, when two cards popped out al- He’s a concert baritone. I can make most together. Before the machine a lot of changes in you, but I can’t clicked to a stop there were five cards make a trained singer of you. It’s in the rack. Hobson’s choice. How would you “A nice assortment,” the meta- like to be Adam Reeves, commercial morphist mused as he looked them traveler in textiles?” He held up a over, “one synthetic, two live ones, a card. deader, and one female. We can’t “Do you think I could do it?” use the woman, not for this job, but “Certainly—when I get through you might keep it in mind. It might with you.” come in very handy some day to know that there is female citizen a A fortnight later my own mother whose proportions and characteris- wouldn’t have known me. Nor, I tics are nearly like yours that you so believe, could Adam Reeves’ mother could impersonate her.” have told me from her son. Reeves “What’s a synthetic?” I inquired. himself, was available to work with "Eh? Oh—it’s a composite per- from the second week. I grew to like sonality, very carefully built from him very much while I was studying faked records and faked back- his personality, in order to imitate it. grounds. A risky business at best, He was a mild, quiet man with a, for it involves tampering with the retiring disposition, which always archives in Washington. I don’t like made me think of him as small, al- it, for there really isn’t any way of though he was, of course, my height, completely filling in the background weight, and bony structure. We re- of a man who doesn’t exist. I’d sembled each other only super- much rather patch a man into a real ficially in the face. background of a real person.” But that was no obstacle to the “Then lfhy do you use synthetics staff metamorphist. A simple opera- at all?” tion made my ears stand out a little “Sometimes we have to disguise more than nature intended; at the one is of the brethren and there no same time they trimmed my ear available real personality for him to lobes. Reeves’ nose was slightly assume. to create one Then we have aquiline; a little wax under the skin for is particularly him. That the caused mine to match. It was neces- case when have to a we move sary to cap severaF of my teeth in fugitive, like yourself, in a hurry. order to make our dental repair work Now let me see,” he added, shuffling match, and my skin had to be through the cards, “we have two to — bleached a shade or two, since his choose from work kept him less in the sun. “Just a minute,” I put in, “why do The most difficult thing in match- you keep dead men in the file?” ing him physically, and the last to “Oh, they aren't legally dead be applied, was artificial fingerprints. when one of the brethren dies and it An opaque, flesh-colored plastic was is feasible to hide the fact, we main- painted on my fingers, then my tain his public personality for future fingers were sealed into molds made use. Now then,” he continued, “can from Reeves’ fingers. It was deli- you sing?” cate work and hard to get a satisfac- “Not very well.” tory result. One finger was done SI ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION over seven times before the meta- four hours’ rest, then the lodge Mas- morphist would pass it. ter sent for me and gave me my or- Much more difficult for me was ders. the tedious drill in imitating Reeves’ VII. personal peculiarities—his walk, his gestures, the way he laughed, his “Lyle,” he said, “Reeves is due to table manners. These things taxed catch the Comet for Cincinnati this my mediocre histrionic talent to the afternoon. Are you ready to go?” utmost. My coach grew exasperated les, sir. with my slowness. “Good. What are you to do?” “Confound it, Lyle, won't you ever “I am to carry out my—I mean it? life will depend on it. get Your his—selling schedule from here to the learn!” You’ve got to coast. I check in at the West coast “But I thought I was acting just branch office of United Textiles Co., like Reeves,” I protested. and proceed on his vacation. In “Acting! That’s just the trouble. Phoenix, Arizona, I am to attend You were acting like Reeves. It was church services at the South Side as artificial as a false leg. You’ve Tabernacle. I am to linger after the got to stop acting, and be Reeves. services, and thank the priest for the Try it now. Worry about your sales inspiration of his sermon, in the schedule, think about your last trip, course of which I shall reveal myself think about commissions and dis- by means of the accustomed usages counts and quotas. Go on. Try it.” of our order. He will enable me to Every spare minute I studied the reach General Headquarters.” current details of Reeves' business “Quite correct. In addition to affairs, for I would actually have to transferring you for duty, I am go- sell textiles in his place on the trip ing to make use of you as a messen- back to the coast. And I had to ger. Report to the psychodynamics learn a whole trade, that of mer- laboratory at once. The chief tech- chandising textiles. Before I finished nician will instruct you.” re- with that I had acquired a new “Aye, sir." spect for business men. I had al- The lodge Master rose from his ways thought that buying and sell- chair, and came around his desk to ing things was simple, but I found me. “Good-by, my son. I sha’n’t it to be very complicated. There see you again before you leave. was a great deal too much detail to Guard yourself well, and may the be learned by ordinary methods. I Great Architect aid you.” was forced to fall back on the old “Thank you, sir. Is it phonographic tutor stunt and wear permitted to inquire is the message I carry of earphones to bed. I never sleep well — great importance?” under those conditions; I woke up every morning with a splitting head- “Quite important?” ache, and my ears—which were still I shall have to be satisfied with tender from the operations—-sore as that, I thought, as I bade him two boils. good-by, but I shall know what the

But it worked, all of it. In two message is in a few minutes. short weeks I was Adam Reeves, I was mistaken; I did not find commercial traveler, right down to out. At the psychodynamics lab- my reflexes. I was allowed twenty- oratory I was told to sit down and 3 ,

PM 'J* WMM MS^irni

r/ ti Wrf*#*

f (• .».'% v.-J , .

#** ' -^Ot •'"'••Viii# 'lift':;** .*<..•: .-a

“Confess, John! It’s useless now. Jones has spoken, and told us the truth—he failed you!” relax. “Prepare yourself for hyp- “You're all through,” I was told, nosis, Brother. Make your mind “carry out your orders.” easy, and as free from thought as you “But how about the message I was can.” I relaxed and waited. Pres- to carry?” ently 1 drifted off. “You have it.” I came to with the pleasant, calm “Hypnotically? But if I am glow which usually follows hypnosis. arrested. I’ll be at the mercy of any AST— 86 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

psycho-investigator who examines worry about catching your ship,” he me!” told me, not unkindly, “they can’t “No, you won’t be. Don’t, you leave until we clear their passenger worry. Your instructions have been list.” He shoved a pad under my keyed to a signal word, and your sub- nose. “Your fingerprints, please.” conscious mind has been told not to Silently, I made the necessary im- remember until it hears that word. prints. He glanced at them, at the 'You cannot possibly give away the prints in my travel pass, and the message, awake or asleep, until you prints in their files which Reeves had hear the signal.” made a week before. “That’s all, I glanced at my telechronometer, Mr. Reeves. A pleasant trip.” and was surprised to see how late it I thanked him, and left. was. Apparently, I had been, under The Comet was not too crowded. hypnosis for the better part of two I selected a seat by a window, well hours. I must hurry. forward, where I could watch the captain and the navigator at the con- The rocket port at New Je- trols. I had just settled down, and rusalem is more conveniently located was unfolding the late afternoon than it is at most of the older cities. edition of the Holy City, when I felt There was a transtube station just a touch at my arm. across from the department store “Will you step outside, plea'se?” which hid the Cabal headquarters. It was a police officer. T located the tube marked “Rocket I was herded outside along with Port,” found an empty cartridge, four other male passengers. The and strapped myself and my luggage sergeant was quite decent about it. in. The attendant sealed me in, and “I’m afraid I must ask you four to almost at once I was at the port. return to the station for further I bought my ticket, then took my identification. I’ll order your bag- place in line at the end of the queue, gage removed, and have the passen- outside the police station. In spite ger list changed.” of myself, I was a trifle nervous. 1 let out an exclamation. “But I Here was the first test. I must get must be in Cincinnati, tonight!” my travel pass validated under the “I’m sorry.” He turned to me. suspicious eyes of police officers, who, “You’re Reeves, aren’t you? no doubt, were on the lookout for Hm-m-m, you’re the right size and John Lyle, renegade army officer. build. Still—let me see your pass The line moved slowly. The police again. Didn’t you arrive in town seemed to be taking an unprece- just last week?” dented amount of time with each “That’s right.” passenger. That did not seem en- couraging and my nervous fears in- He went through my papers again. creased. But the wait itself helped “Uh, yes—I remember your -arrival; me. By the time my turn came, I it was Tuesday morning on the Pil- had myself in hand. I presented my grim, Well, you can’t be two places papers to the sergeant. He thumbed at once, so you can’t be the chap we through them deliberately. I are looking for.” He handed ray glanced at. the station chronometer, credentials back to me. “Get back and back at the timepiece on my in the ship.' Sorry we bothered you. wrist. You others come along.” The sergeant looked up. “Don’t I returned to my seat, and picked IF THIS GOES ON— ST

up my newspaper again. A few min- the gold-and-erimson banner of the utes later live first heavy surge of the Prophet and the slim pennant of a rockets threw us toward the west. bishopric. As I watched, the first wave of the crowd broke against the There must be a peddler’s pack temple steps. A squad of temple somewhere on my family tree. I not guides trotted out of a side door to only kept Reeves’ business engage- the left of the massive front doors of ments in Cincinnati, I enjoyed it as the temple and set up their tripods we!!. I actually bettered his quota on the broad terrace at the head of and earned him quite a bit extra in the steps. Then the scene shifted commissions. I don’t quite under- to another viewpoint. We saw the stand it, but I found that I got as crowd hurrying toward us, and close much intellectual and emotional up. Apparently, the operator was satisfaction out of persuading some using a telephoto lens from some- hard-boiled retailer that he should where on the temple roof. increase his line of yardage goods, as What followed was as beastly a of I had ever gotten out military thing as I have ever been forced to work. I ceased to worry about my watch. Instead of blasting them disguise at all, and concerned myself mercifully out of existence, the exclusively with the subject of tex- guards had aimed low and were burn- tiles. ing off the legs of the rioters. One I left for Kansas City on schedule, moment the first wave of the mob and no trouble with the police had was running toward me up the steps; in getting a visa on my travel pass. the next they stumbled and fell, the for matter, they ques- Nor that had cauterized stumps of their legs jerk- tioned routine me in more than a ing convulsively. fashion on my arrival. As the rocket I snatched up the headphones was fairly well filled I was forced hanging behind the seat in front of to share a seat with another passen- “ me and listened. —apolis, Minne- ger, a well-built chap in his middle sota. The situation is well in hand, thirties. We looked each other over and, in all likelihood, no additional when we sat down, then each went troops will be required. Bishop Jen- about his own affairs. I called for nings has declared a temporary state a lap table and busied myself by of emergency, and martial law will straightening out the order blanks rule until order is restored and the and other papers which I had ac- ungodly instigators punished for cumulated doing business in Cin- their sins. A period of prayer, fast- cinnati. He gave his attention to ing, and penance will commence at the news broadcast flashing on the once. television screen at the forward end of the car. “The ghetto has been closed and I felt a nudge some ten minutes all local pariahs with their families later, and looked around. My seat will be transferred to the reservations mate flicked a thumb toward the in Wyoming and Montana. Let this televue screen. There displayed was incident be a warning to the un- a scene in some large city, presum- godly, everywhere, who might pre- ably in the United States. I saw a sume in their wicked hearts to dis- large public square filled with a rest- pute the divine rule of the Prophet less mob. They were surging toward Incarnate! a massive temple over which floated “You have been observing a spot- ”

38 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION news broadcast made by the Argus finger of his left hand—just a ridge News Service through the facilities as my West Point class ring had left of the National Televue Network.— on my hand. But it meant nothing; There will be a short pause for lots of men wore heavy seal rings on

I took off the phones. Why blame that finger. I did, myself, in imita- the pariahs? That mob wasn’t made tion of Reeves. Still—if he had worn up of pariahs; I saw their faces. a big, heavy ring on that finger for many years, why had he stopped? I could see that my companion It seemed a trifling thing to worry was affected by the grisly sight we about, but a hunted animal lives by had just seen, but I could not tell in noticing trifles. I was never con- just what way it affected him. I let sidered very bright in psychology— it him speak first. had kept me from winning cadet “Serves them right, the fools! chevrons at the Point, but now might What possessed them to go charging be a good time to make use of what up against a fortified position like little I had learned. I ran over our that?’’ His words were low, but in- conversation in my mind, and re- tense. T think he spoke more to him- called his first remark. The first self than to me. thing he had noticed about the news “Why did they riot?” I inquired. broadcast was the recklessness of the charge. to “Eh? Blessed if I know. There mob’s That seemed be- must be some heresy abroad up speak a military viewpoint. north.” He frowned and pinched While we w? ere chatting the his lip. “I can’t see why anyone steward served tea. In leaning should want to rebel against the offi- across my companion to serve me, cers of the Holy One.” he slopped a cup of hot tea, splash- ing let a I agreed. “Leaving religion out my companion who out yelp muffled exclamation. of it,” I added, “for there is no ac- and counting for the crazy notions of a “B. J. oaf!” heretic, there can be no doubt that I helped him repair the damage the government is doing a good job with my handkerchief while think- of running the country. Business is ing furiously. B., J.! That was an good— it has been for me, at least.” expression used by West Pointers And I smiled contentedly. and no others. A civilian would have We discussed politics, business said awkward, clumsy, or fresh— conditions, and the like, for some never B. J. Therefore, he was not time. He seemed a simple, harmless what he purported to be, but an fellow, conservative and - conven- army man. Since he was not wear- tional. As we talked I looked him ing his ring, and gave no indication over, I was uneasy for some unde- of his profession in a rather long fined reason—perhaps some sixth chat, he must be deliberately con- sense of the hunted. Some pecul- cealing his identity. Ergo, he was iarity about his hands caught my probably a Secret Service operative. eye. What was it? I glanced back Was he after me? If so, he had at them. No, nothing out of the made two bad breaks in my presence. way. Perhaps he wasn’t assigned to me, Then I noticed it again—nothing perhaps it was sheer accident that we of importance. He had a calloused were together. Even so, only the ridge on the last joint of the third clumsiest tyro would make such slips — —

IF THIS GOES ON— 8ft

In maintaining an assumed identity. and I ignored him. But I was glad, Now the army secret service was at last, to be aboard the rocket for not clumsy. It was directed by some Denver, and to note that he was not of the most subtle brains in the a passenger. That was no assurance country. It was contrary to reason that I was not followed; perhaps my that this chap should be lacking in relief was unreasonable. finesse— if he were a secret agent. We grounded at the new field ad- There was an inescapable con- joining the town of Aurora, ten miles clusion: Assuming that he was what east of downtown Denver. The po- I suspected him to be, then he had lice examined my papers and finger- given himself away to me on pur- printed me in a perfunctory-enough pose, in order that I might suspect fashion. I was about to stuff my him! But why? Obviously, I was passbook into my wallet, when the under suspicion—apparently they desk sergeant said: “Bare your left intended to make me nervous, to arm, please, Mr. Reeves.” spoil my judgment. Why? It could I asked for an explanation, even not be simply that they were not as a white-jacketed orderly with a sure that I was the man they wanted. red cross on his sleeve was sponging Had that been the case, I would have the hollow of my elbow and insert- been arrested and put to the Ques- ing a needle. tion. They must desire me to be “Just a routine matter, Mr. free, but frightened; in order that I Reeves,” I was told, “the public might run for cover, and lead them health commissioner must protect to my fellow conspirators. the mountain resorts against the When T first became aware that spread of epidemics.” my companion must be a spy on my It was a thin explanation, and trail, I was frightened—filled with seemed thinner yet, when, after the that cold, nauseating fear that can orderly had taken a ten c. c. sample be compared only to seasickness of my blood, I was required to wait hut now that I thought I knew their in a side room of the police station. motives, I was calm again. What I had plenty of time to consider. would Zebudiah do? “The first prin- The situation didn’t look bright to ciple of successful intrigue is not to me. I knew of no medical precau- be surprised into any unusual tion peculiar to the mountain States action—’’ That was the tip, sit tight that would necessitate some sort of and do nothing. Play dumb. That blood test for ordinary travelers ought not to be hard—for me. and yet the excuse was sufficiently plausible that I could not afford to I arrived at Kansas City, checked take alarm and try to escape. in at the port police station, and The room in which I waited was a went about my business. The fas- temporary structure, hastily erected cinating details of merchandising on the new field. All that sepa- soothed my mind and made me for- rated me from the sergeant’s office get that I was a fugitive, who might was thin bulkhead of molded plas- expect arrest at any moment. I tic. I could hear muted voices on caught sight of my erstwhile com- the other side. Possibly if I pressed panion one day, coming out of the my ear to it, I could make out the New Muehlbach Hotel as I was go- words. On the other hand, I could ing in, but our eyes did not meet, not afford to be found eavesdropping. —

40 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

I moved a chair over to this thin vibrobolts; if so, I would never know wall, and sat down, leaning back on what hit me. But I could make out the two rear legs of the chair in such no indication of the necessary power a fashion that the top of the chair leads, and trigger connections. More back, my shoulders, and the back of probably, in such a temporary struc- my neck were pressed against the ture, there would be nothing but con- wall. Then I pretended to read a tact alarms on the sill and frames. discarded newspaper I had picked up There might not be even so much as from the floor. a selenium circuit. By turning my head I could press I became aware of talking on the one ear against the wall. I waited other side of the bulkhead, and and listened. strained my ears. For some minutes nothing was said “What’s the blood type?” that was of interest to me. The “Type one, sergeant.” sergeant told a story to his clerk “Does it check?” one which would have resulted in a “No, Reeves’ is type three.” fortnight’s penance had a proctor Oh-o! Make a priority call to overhead him—and was rewarded Main Laboratory; we’re taking him with ribald laughter. Some routine into town for a retinal.” reports came in. I waited. I needed no one to interpret these Facing me as I listened, was an cryptic remarks. I was caught! open window looking over the rocket Since my blood type didn’t check, field. A small ship appeared on the they knew7 positively that 1 was not horizon, swelled at once to a gaudy Reeves. Once in Denver, and the streamer of fire, circled the field, and blood-vessel pattern of the retina of landed about a quarter of a mile either of my eyes photographed, it away. The pilot taxied toward the would be just a matter of time until administration buildings on his they knew with certainty, my real auxiliary motor, and parked outside identity—the time necessary to the window, not twenty-five yards telestat it to the Bureau of Investi- away. gation, and receive a report. I recognized her type at once; she I dived out the window. was a Sparrow Hawk, mark III, a I lit on my hands, rolled over in speedy little pursuit job with frac- a tight ball, was flung to my feet as tional controls as well as gyros, seven I unwound. If I set off an alarm, tail jets set in a three-degree cone, I didn’t hear it as I pounded toward and an eighteen-hundred-mile radius the little flyer. at cruising speed. I knew her as well The door was open, jets were as I knew my own hands, for 1 had warm, and the ignition was not pushed one just like her, playing sky- locked. There was help for the son polo for Army. That was the year of a Widow! I didn’t wait to taxi we had licked both Princeton and clear, but blasted away at once, hop- Navy. ing that my exhaust would de- The pilot got out and walked moralize pursuit. We bounced over away. I measured the distance to the ground, the little darling and I, the ship with my eye. If the ignition for perhaps a mile, then I lifted her were not locked—I looked at the bow ten degrees with the gyros, and window. It might be equipped with scooted away to the west. TO BE CONCLUDED. —

41

Crowded somewhat this month, by the necessity of an Analytical Laboratory reporting on two months’ issues, this department can report only essentials. First, is the fact that next month presents another astronomical cover an unusual view of Uranus. Being merely a featureless, cloudy ball, Uranus woidd not ordinarily offer a striking astronomical study, but by picking a particular moment, under exceptional circumstances, the artist—Gilmore has gotten an extremely beautiful picture. Among the stories: I suspect there is going to be some question in the—minds of those who have read Heinlein’s first part of “If This Goes On ” as to whether he can maintain the power and sweep in the second installment. He does. If anything, he exceeds it. Particularly recom- mended in next month’s installment: the names of the giant land cruisers used in attacking New Jerusalem; his analysis of the science of propaganda; the magnificently interlocking police measures he suggests; the communica- tion methods used in the final battle. THE ANALYTICAL LABORATORY

First, the held-over Laboratory report on the November Astounding. We were not surprised to find “Gray Lensman” taking first place easily. The next three places were hard-fought. Having promised to report pan- nings as well as bouquetings, I feel bound to report that “Spacewreck" and “This Ship Kills” got an even balance of praise and condemnation, probably, I suspect, largely because of unusually strong competition, rather than by any reason of lack of individual merit.

1. Gray Lensman (Part II) E. E. Smith 2. Power. Plant Harl Vincent 8. Habit Lester del Rey 4. Misfit Robert Heinlein

Second, the Laboratory for the December Astounding:

1. Gray Lensman (Part III) E. E. Smith 2. Discord in Scarlet A. E. van Vogt 3. Sculptors of Life Wallace West 4. City of the Corporate Mind Nat Schachner 5. The Nova Edwin K. Sloat

And, on that issue, there was a tooth-and-nail fight for places from top to bottom! 4*

LOCKED OUT

He felt unutterably foolish—locked out of his one- man spaceship by dumb moves. Took him a white

to realize that maybe it wasn't funny at all-—

By H. B. fyfe

Illustrated by Frank Kramer

The odds were who knows how lever set into a hollow beside the many million to one, but it had hap- poi't. That was when he had fixed pened. things. “It would be me,” grumbled Keith. He must have pulled the lever too “Just my luck. No matter where x-oughly in his haste. The port, in- that damned pebble was going, I’d stead of swinging neatly shut, had have been right in the way. And jammed while still ajar. Something on top of that, I have to go and had gone wrong with the operating make it worse!” mechanism. He swore. That was before he had Keith had been annoyed but not begun to realize how serious his sit- worried. The port would neither uation really was. close completely nor open, but he Here he was, three days out of had decided to leave it until he had Mars, a quarter of the way to the seen the other damage. nearest asteroids, sitting on the out- Judging from the groove in the side hull of his rocket. And likely metal of the hull, a meteor about the to stay there because he was locked size of a football had struck the out. rocket a glancing blow. The whole It had started when Keith, an as- port was dented, and where the teroid prospector on his way from groove crossed the edge of it to con- Mars, had put on his spacesuit and tinue across the hull, the door was gone outside to see what had hap- fused tight. pened when a diminutive meteor Fortunately, there was no air leak. had glanced off his small, one-man So now, he was locked out. Keith rocket. From the feel of the blow, sat cross-legged on the hull beside

he had judged it to have hit on ox- the port and contemplated it glumly. near the port air lock. Then he had He was not worried yet, but he did found that the lock would not open not know just what to do. All he from the inside. had with him in the way of tools In a rush to detect any injury to was an iron bar he had carried with his craft, Keith had hunied to the some vague idea that he might need other port on the opposite side of to pry out the meteor if it had pene- the ship. He had passed through and trated. There was a six-inch knife paused briefly to close the outer door in a sheath at his belt, part of his by means of the external control suit equipment, and he had, of course. 43

He pried angrily at the stubborn lock door. It didn’t budge. his flashlight; but they did not seem pector might come along the same to be of much use. curve from Mars and catch him in The port, a cylinder two feet thick, this ridiculous plight. The story closed flush with the hull. Its nar- would spread to every spaceport in row, half-inch-thick rim fitted snugly the system: how Tom Keith, the into the hull around the entrance space-dopey prospector, had locked where there was a corresponding de- himself out of his own ship. pression in the streamlined metal. True, there was a deep groove in it, Tired of sitting there idle, but he did not see how he could get he rose and walked across the top of a purchase for his iron bar. He fer- the ship to the starboard air lock. vently prayed that no other pros- 'This was open about two inches. —

44 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Here the ruddy glow of the hull, space, with a million sparkling gems faintly lit by the red planet beyond of light surrounding him, making it the stern, was supplemented by the all seem like a dream. He felt fear gleam of the electric bulb inside the creeping upon him, and almost air lock. Since the outer door was reached out for something in reac- still partly open, this had not been tion to man’s age-old instinctive fear automatically turned off. The pro- of falling. jecting rim, two feet or more from It was nearly fifteen minutes be- the hull—the thickness- of the door fore his eager feet stood once more plus the inches it was open—offered on the hull. He resolved to be more him an opportunity. careful in the future. “And then,” pondered Keith, This time he moved farther “there might be be something to around the port, where the gap be- done with the wiring of the control tween the rim and the hull was less. lever.” He fitted the end of the bar under He had a pocketknife with an as- the projecting rim. He soon found sortment of blades that included a that it was too narrow to hold the screwdriver, but it was where it natu- end of the bar when he lifted up on rally would be when he wanted it his end, and he had no weight to in his pocket, under the spacesuit. speak of with which to push it down. Maybe he could use his sheath knife There was no place he could get lev- if he had to. erage. Taking a small mirror that hung “Let’s see,” he muttered to him- on a chain from his neck, he looked self, “I wonder if I can put the bar at the dial of the oxygen tank on his lengthwise under the rim and pull back. His oxygen, he estimated, was on both ends. Maybe I just ought good for two hours. Meanwhile, he to slam it one, and trust to the jar had better be doing something. to loosen it. Still,—I think I’d better Keith took a grip on his bar and not try that yet ” He felt along “1 tried to insert it into the opening the rim with clumsy gloves. hope left by the jammed port. He cursed to Sol none of the other boys come a blue streak when he found that the along this curve and find me like this bar was a fraction of an inch too before I have a chance to get in. I thick. With the persistence of an- doubt it, though. I took off ahead ger he attempted to force it. With of them all, and I’m still going.” the result, not unnatural, that it Yes, he was still going. Now that slipped, allowing him to project him- he would be willing to turn back to self into space as the resistance sud- Mars, as lie should have immediately denly disappeared. he was struck by the meteor, he “Oh, hell!” swore Keith as the could not reach the controls. metal of the hull receded. He knew He took one end of the bar in each he would float back, given time, since hand, bent, and slipped the middle the ship was the only matter here- under the rim, tangent to the main abouts to attract him. Neverthe- cylinder of the door. Then he pulled less, it was hard to watch himself hard to straighten up. A man’s losing contact with the only haven strength in space, free of gravity, was he had, the only solid, material thing considerable; perhaps he coidd force anywhere near him. the port into a plane parallel with He floated there in the dark of the hull. —

LOCKED OUT 45

Unfortunately, gravity—or its I certainly can’t stay out here for absence—did not much affect the rest of the trip!” the present situation. The port re- He stood on the unbreakable glass sisted with all its powers of friction of the control room portholes and and insisted on remaining jammed. gazed longingly down at the lighted Iveith had a second's exultation when room. There was the control desk, he felt something give slightly, but its levers and push buttons and dials lie discovered that he had merely shining leeringly up at him; there bent the rim. He bent it in two was his padded chair, equipped with other places, then gave up. straps for take-offs so that he would “Well,” he thought, “I’ll see about not break his silly neck with the that lever.” shock of his rockets; there were the He drew his sheath knife and instruments he had laid aside— Only focused his flashlight on the control a few feet away, yet more surely out lever. He confirmed what he already of his reach than the very stars. knew: that the lever moved easily “NO!” shouted Keith, and the enough but without producing any sound thundering in the confines of results. He began to unscrew the his helmet. “There must be some metal fitting that protected its base. wr ay out—I mean in. I just haven’t Perhaps the wiring— thought of it yet. This is too damn In spite of frequent slips of the silly for words. Lock myself out! knife point, he finally succeeded in Hell! It just isn’t done!” ripping out astonishing quantities of He strode aft for want of some- fine wire without gaining any knowl- thing to do. He stood disconsolately edge of what might be the trouble. on the rocket tubes, awaiting in- There did not seem to be much to spiration. Off to the starboard a lose, so he did not hesitate to tinker. star moved. He stared. Another The lever remained impassive to all ship! manipulation. Keith scurried around the rocket “Well, it’s a cinch I’m not getting tubes until the tapering tail was be- anywhere this way,” decided Keith tween him and the moving dot of at last. light. It must be Larry Jensen’s He sheathed his knife and stood up Firefly. She was the only ship that stiffly. There was nothing he could could have overhauled him so think of that would help here. He quickly. Larry carried a crew of walked toward the nose of the ship, four, which meant there would be thinking hard. that many more idle eyes on the It was beginning to dawn on him look-out for another ship. He hoped that the situation might be more none of them had happened to have than annoying. It might become a glass on his ship. They might be- dangerous. Fantastic, he thought, come curious and investigate, in that such a trivial slip as closing a w hich case he would become a laugh- port wrong or pulling a lever a little ingstock. The man who locked him- too roughly could result seriously; self out! and yet—here he was, the sardine on He skulked for some time on the the outside of the can. And without far side of the ship, walking moodily a can opener! up and down. Inspiration was cour- “To tell the truth,” Keith told teous; it did not interrupt his himself, “I don't quite see how the thoughts. It looked as if he would hell I’m going to get inside. And have to sit out here until the rocket 46 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION arrived at the asteroid belt. Even Enraged at his helplessness, Keith longer, because there would be noth- seized his bar and swung viciously ing to stop it then. at the flap where the base of the “Wow!” he remarked to himself. triangle formed the end of the rec- “That’s the answer. What do I use tangular hatch. Except that he to stop when I land in a planet? nearly lost his grip on the bar when The parachute. And where is the it bounced off, nothing happened. parachute carried? On the topside, He could detect only a small scratch. with a sliding hatch in the hull to “Not even a dent,” he muttered let it out. Tom, my boy, you’ve got disgustedly, and sat down on the it at last. There’s a manhole at the hatch. “Well, wrong again. What bottom of that ’chute compartment, now, I wonder?” I know.” He lifted the mirror and read the He bounded forward, peeped cau- dial of his oxygen tank. He had tiously around the hull to make sure about an hour before he had to the Firefly was going about its busi- change to his emergency tank. ness, then made straight for the Meanwhile, he must think of some- parachute hatch. thing. “Let’s see,” he conferred with him- Keith had some difficulty in self, “I’ve got to analyze this sys- locating it at first, since the metal tematically. Parachute hatch—out fitted very precisely and he did not of the question. Port lock—smeared wish to attract possible attention by by meteor, nothing doing. Starboard the use of his flashlight. Toward the lock—jammed. Well, maybe 1 could bow was a triangular flap that was jar it open.” raised by the lever that thrust the He took the bar and went over small pilot ’chute out during a land- to the air lock. After trying once ing. Reaching aft from this was a more in vain to pry it open, he knelt hatch that slid back as the main on the hull. He took a good hold parachute was pulled from its com- with his left hand on the wires dan- partment. gling from the cavity left by the con- He drew his knife and tried to trol lever, and gripped the bar by probe into the fine crack where the one end. Then he put a good-sized triangular flap came to a point over grunt into the swing and brought the sliding hatch. The blade was the bar down on the jammed port. not thin enough to go in very far. The port stayed just as it was, He estimated that it reached no except that the rim showed one more more than half an inch, and the dent in its battered surface. metal was thicker than that. He swung again with everything Nevertheless, he slid the point he had, and this time he made an along the crack from one end to the obvious mark. The port still did not other. There -was apparently no budge. catch that could be opened, no way “It can’t be!” cried Keith. “If I of prying up the flap. Pie went all can make a dent in that, it ought to around the hatch, with no success. move!” He could insert the knife hardly at The air-lock door thought not. all into the horizontal slits where the Keith subjected it to a really insane sliding part of the hatch fitted battering, crumpling the thin rim smoothly under the streamlined and leaving marks of his rage all outer metal. over the port; but he Was not reach- LOCKED OUT 47 ing the source of the trouble. The of passing anything as big as a man jam-up was somewhere inside the air through that little hole, assuming lock, in the mechanism rather than that I could get the wheel out of in the door, which served merely to the way in the first place.” protect the jam. He turned away and began to The bar bent beneath the weight walk up and down. The sky watched of his blows. Finally, brittle be- him with a million bright, tiny eyes, cause it had had time to radiate waiting—wa iting. away the greater part of the heat “Come on, Tom,” he muttered. it had possessed when he had “You can't leave it at this. Aren’t brought it out, it snapped in half. there any other openings in this He staggered to his feet, staring canr* at the half left in his hand with an He pivoted at the end of his beat expression of hurt surprise. The and started back toward the rocket other piece had already disappeared tubes. The rocket tubes! into the dark of space. The rocket tubes! He tried to run Keith never knew how long he in his excitement, and took off again, stood there staring at the broken floating his leisurely way sternward bar, the symbol, it seemed, of his and swearing colorfully. Gradually helplessness—of man’s humble power he settled to the hull. By the time compared to the cruel, cold strength he had, and had reached the rock- of the void. At last he roused and ets, the first enthusiasm had worn hurled the piece of iron after the off. other. He knew vaguely that he “Humph!” he grunted. “They’re ought to have kept it. He did not not any too big. Especially the six assets just have so many now that in the circle. Guess I’d better try could afford to fling them away. he the main one in the center. I can swing myself down by this little Keith took to walking around steering rocket—there!” and around the ship. It was better, He maneuvered himself past the he found, than standing still. It was gaping muzzles that had blasted him in the course of this pacing that he away from Mars and thrust his hel- was brought to a halt by the thought met into the main tube. of what lay opposite the parachute He switched on his flashlight; for, hatch. On the bottom of the ship though the distant Sun and Mars lit were the compartments from which the ship from aft, little light slipped the three rectangle landing wheels past his bulky, spacesuited figure. were let down. He turned back- and found the He noticed that the lining of the tube was already somewhat pitted spot. It seemed strange to be look- and worn from the explosions of the ing down at them instead of lying liquid hydrogen and oxygen. on his back in the dirt of a spaceport field to examine them. Neverthe- “And Horner swore he did a first- less, he located the places where they class refining job! Wait till I get were concealed. The sight cooled hold of him!” his ardor. Then it occurred to him that he There was even less chance than might never again “get hold of” any- at the 'chute hatch. one. He crawled ahead. The light “And even if I did open one some- finally showed the end of the tube. how,” he reflected, “there’s no chance There were three holes there, a —

48 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION smaller one between two others. The charge of fuel awaited his touch on two larger holes supplied the liquid the controls. hydrogen and oxygen, while the Keith crawled out. small one injected kulite, the syn- “No use butting my head against thetic catalyst that lowered the tem- that solid mass of metal,” he growled, perature of the furious explosives “but this is going too far! I sup- without lessening the drive. pose everyone has to die sometime Keith looked curiously at the but this is so damn foolish!” slightly projecting jets of the firing He swung up to the hull and mechanism, which studded the cir- grouchily wandered forward. Pres- cumference of the tube about a foot ently he found himself at the port from the end. He had never been air lock. He kicked experimentally inside a rocket tube before—that at the fused groove where the meteor was usually left to those repair men had passed. No, that was not the who made a specialty of it—but he answer. could see how they spat out sparks A light moved out in the void. An- to ignite the fuel sprayed through other ship! Farther away this time, the grills over the fuel vents. but Keith was glad to see it. He He sought for some way of get- had had about enough. He was be- ting through. Perhaps something ginning to get scared. Let them was removable. Perhaps the base of laugh if they wanted to; he would the tube could be unscrewed. No, be satisfied if someone would pull the rocket tube was a solid unit, him out of this hole. He no longer backed up by several feet of tough cared what followed. alloy to withstand the shock of the He ran forward and waved wildly explosions and connected to the rest in case anyone should have sighted of the ship only through the three his ship and continued to watch it. feeding vents. He unscrewed the The other rocket drew abreast of grills over the vents after much him, some ten or fifteen miles dis- grunting and poking with his sheath tant. knife—they had been partially fused Keith ceased his violent exertions. tight. His light showed some ob- He switched on his flashlight and struction a short distance up each tried to signal. With pounding heart pipe, which he guessed to be the he watched for some sign that he lower valves, beyond which the next was “hitting” the stranger. In space. — —” — —

LOCKED OUT 49

with no air to diffuse the light, no depths of the void. Any help he beam was visible. His only chance needed he must supply himself. was to make the torch point directly Pacing distractedly around the at the observer so as to throw a disk ship, he paused now and then to of light on him, and at ten miles kick at the battered port of one or

“Come on, you can do it!’’ he en- the other of the air locks, but neither couraged himself as he strove to showed the slightest sign of loosen- steady his shaking hands. “Steady, ing. now. Steady, there! No, that’s not In a frenzy of desperation he flung himself down over the control room

port and it The ship passed onward. hammered madly upon with his gauntleted fists. Below, the banked levers and buttons gleamed Keith sat upon the hull. After mockingly up at him. He scrambled, a time he read the dial of his oxygen exhausted, to his feet and wandered tank again. Half an hour left. In dazedly about the hull. Why could the small mirror he caught a glimpse not just one of the ships that had of his face. There was light enough, been at the spaceport pass near him? since he happened to be facing the Just one. It was not fair that he distant, shrunken Sun, to see that he should have not a single chance was likely to have a bad burn. He He remembered that he had had did not feel the warmth that Sol was two chances, and had thrown them capable of causing even at this range, aw-ay through fear of ridicule. Or because his suit was insulated had he thrown them both away? He against the passage of heat either had tried to signal the second ship. way. The rays of the Sun had, how- Maybe they had seen him, and had ever, played through the face plate gone on anywr ay. Maybe they did to his skin, which was showing the not think it worth wdiile to stop for effects. just one man. The dirty— Was it He sat there with his back to the too much trouble Sun for the best part of the half- He was calmed by the necessity Occasionally turn hour. he would of changing his oxygen tanks. He to scan the void fc : another moving accomplished this without mishap, point of light that might mean a having to close the valves to his hel- rocket ship. No more came. Space met and on the hoses of the tanks w as limitless, and the others who had only a moment. The discarded tank left for the asteroids at the same spat out a faint halo that represented time, or immediately after he had, the last of the gas, vaguely visible could have chosen hundreds of here in space. Keith had an idea as courses that would not bring them he gazed blankly at the tank. As even within sight of him. Keith things stood he had only an hour. wondered if he were the same man “Only an hour,” he thought. r w ho tw o hours ago had hoped so fer- “Only an hour to find a way, or only that no one would vently discover an hour, to wait for something. I his predicament. He could hardly have only an hour to live. To be. believe he had been so blind. And after that I—just won't exist. For the twentieth time he rose and As if I never was peered all around. Nothing. Even He shook himself impatiently. the two ships that had passed him Well, maybe he could manage to -had long ago vanished into the stretch it a few minutes longer. —

m ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Maybe he could “cheat” a little. He Keith stopped with the knife picked up the empty tank and poised below the oxygen vent. He started toward the stern. A further looked at the empty tank before him thought made him return 'and re- —at the knife—at the flashlight move one of the outside thermom- “I wonder,” he muttered uncer- eters from beside the control-room tainly. Still, these were all he had porthole'. with which to gain an entrance to the ship. He might as well try as Once more Keith swung him- to sit out there and suffocate by de- self across to the main rocket from grees. the steering tube. He crawled in Coming to a decision, he turned to and inched his way along, keeping the hydrogen pipe. Having un- his flashlight shining ahead of him. screwed from the tank the cap from In the vacuum, its beam did not which dangled the metal hose that light up any part of the tube save fastened to his helmet, he placed the that directly before him. It served container under the r ent and probed his purpose, however, which was to with his knife blade. He managed keep from cracking his helmet at the to get most of the drop into the end of the tube. tank, although some spilled. He He reached the end and examined poked again, with better results. As the vents. The grills he had already he became more practiced, he spilled removed, on his other expedition less. He did not care to hold the into the rocket. Experimentally he knife continuously in the valve and tb rust the blade of his knife into let the hydrogen run down the blade one of them. into the tank. It would probably “Now, with a little luck,” he told trickle over his glove, and although himself, “I ought to be able to fill his suit was insulated so as not to a tank with oxygen—if all goes well.” conduct heat very well—still, -252! He pushed the knife farther, and Having obtained what he consid- just then when he thought it would ered a sufficient quantity, he be too short, he succeeded in forcing squirmed out of the rocket tube and the valve. He snatched back the pulled himself back to the side of knife as a blob of liquid plopped out. the hull. There he set the tank in It spattered against the metal of the the sunlight to warm. When the rocket tube, where it began to shrink contents had expanded to a gaseous gradually. The rockets were consid- state, they would be under pressure. erably warmer than the liquefied gas, He made sure the cap was tight. since they had been receiving the While he waited, he took a look rays of the distant Sun. The liquid at his emergency tank’s dial. It was sucking up the metal’s warmth might be close, but he thought he and expandng under the lack of pres- had enough. He walked along the sure into a gas. top of the hull, pausing to stare long Keith poked the thermometer at the top of the parachute hatch. into the diminishing puddle. The After a while he went back for the space thermometer showed -252.5 C. tank. This, then, must be the hydrogen He opened the hose valve slightly, vent. Oxygen boiled at over -183. not trusting the dial. A powerful jet The other vent was the one he of gas blew out to disperse in the wanted— emptiness of space. He closed it and Or did he? carried the tank up to the hatch, — 4

LOCKED OUT 61 where he set it down. He laid the to get you out. Both ports, the flashlight beside it and drew his ’chute hatch, and even a little bit knife around the portholes—all banged up and dented in. From the outside! Some three days later a group of If you couldn’t even get out, what ?” mechanics eyed each other puzzledly happened as they followed Keith across the “Oh, that,” began Keith. Mars-4 Spaceport. Frequently one “Come on, come on,” demanded or the other would pause to glance the chorus. “Give!” back at Keith’s ship and scratch his Keith “gave.” head. The original ground crew He told about the meteor, how he could be distinguished by the vari- had jammed the port in his haste, ous tools they carried; but many and of his subsequent fruitless at- others, pilots and off-duty ground tempts to penetrate the rocket’s men, had drifted over to swell the stubborn defenses against space. accumulating crowd. When he arrived at the point where Keith, in a lighthearted mood he had carried the tank of hydrogen not at all reminiscent of his despair up to the parachute hatch, the si- three days before, led them to the lence in the place was as that of the canteen, where he ordered drinks all tomb. Even the fat proprietor had around. This invitation was re- forgotten his work and joined the ceived with polite but somewhat re- audience. strained thanks. Keith looked “And then?” demanded the burly around. mechanic, as Keith paused. The semicircle of men, breathing “And then—well, this may seem deeply and quickly in the thin air of screwy; in fact, if I hadn’t been Mars, seemed like a pack of panting, partly off my nut at the time, I expectant wolves. probably would never have thought “Well?” demanded a burly me- of it,” said Keith. “I sucked in as chanic when the silence was begin- much oxygen as I could and discon- ning to become oppressive. He laid nected the oxygen tank. I switched the oxy-acetylene torch he bore down the flashlight on and very gently on a table. cracked the bulb. It stayed lit just “Well, what?” parried Keith. the same, since space is as good a The burly one pulled out a chair vacuum as was in the bulb in the very deliberately and sat down with first place. When I got the glass off, an air of being above childish play. I laid the flashlight on that spot on Another of the ground crew ampli- the ’chute hatch—you saw that fied the question. spot?” “Look, Keith,” he pleaded, “you “You bet,” nodded the husky. left here six days ago—only six days “Rather hard to miss, what?” —and in a ship that was in perfect drawled one of the pilots. order. I went over her myself. You “Well, on that spot. Then I couldn’t have gone anywhere in that opened the valves on both tanks and time. There’s no place that near, played the gases out of the hoses except the moons and they’re private over the same place. An object at property.” bright-red heat, or around 900 de- “You come back,” a third took up grees centrigrade, will ignite a mix- the plaint, “with your ship closed ture of hydrogen and oxygen. The so tight we have to cut our way in filament of an electric bulb when lit AST— — ” —

St ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION goes well over 2000. So the flash- seen me trying to repack it later! light bulb ignited them and I had and after about ten miles of it, I a fairly decent oxy-hydrogen torch.” found I could get down. My head “Ah!” The sigh rustled through was spinning by that time. I un- the room. “Then that’s what made screwed the manhole at the bottom the spot with the hole.” with my last breath and fell through." “That was it. I had an oxygen “Lucky you didn’t pass out,” said drunk on, and T didn’t hold it quite a tall pilot. “You could have suf- steady. You know, an oxy-hydrogen focated right there in your own ship, flame is plenty hot—it’ll reach 2500 with your helmet shut and the air in an inclosed space, although mine blowing out into space.” wasn’t inclosed—but it doesn’t give Keith shivered. much light. I wasn’t always sure “You’re right. Fortunately, I got just where it was hitting. Then, my helmet open just before things later, just before I had cut all the went completely dark. My lungs way through, I was beginning to were retching for air by then. You want air pretty badly. That’s why know how you— I messed the whole place up.” “Yeah, I know,” nodded the pilot “But you cut through,” remarked quietly. He 'id. There had been a someone. “That was what counted.” time “I suppose so. I lasted just long “Well, that’s about all,” said enough to make it. I burned the Keith. “I closed the manhole while hole through the flap of the hatch. I got hold of myself and broke out Then I had to yank the thing up. fresh tanks of oxygen. Then I I reconnected the oxygen tank to packed the ’chute in on top of me my helmet, but there wasn’t much as best I could, and swung back to- in it. It helped, though, until I got ward Mars. I figured I’d better have a one-handed grip in the hole I had the can put back into shape before cut, and pulled the flap open.” I went any farther.” “Those things aren’t easy,” said “Man, were you lucky!” was the a mechanic. “They have them set to open just so fast and no faster.” “Was I!” agreed Keith. “At least ^ “Well I know. It seemed like I’m glad you can’t get locked out hours to me,” laughed Keith. “I from Mars.” put all I had into it; I knew if I “Speaking of space cans,” spoke didn’t get through then, I was the burly mechanic, picking up his cooked. It finally came open. I oxy-acetylene torch from the table, shoved back the sliding hatch, clawed “here—you better carry a can opener at the parachute—you should have from now on.” A course in enforced selfishness

Jafee, my “dummy” president, Jafee. “D’you want a revolution on was boiling. He called me by radio- your hands?” phone as soon as he got in from “We won’t have a revolution.” Venus. “I’m the guy that takes the brunt “You can’t keep this up,” yelled of all this,” he yelled. “There’s a —

54 ASTOUN DING SCIENCE-FICTION hundred thousand Venusians on my “D’you mind if I sit here?” hands and they're screaming bloody “There’s other tables," I pointed murder. They’re yelling worse than out significantly. I am. They want better working Then I met his eves, and my skin conditions. They want normal Earth chilled. pressure. They want better wages. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked They want heat. The mines get you,” he said in his soft voice. “Per- cold!” haps I should say that I sat here ‘T can't do anything about it,” I with the single intention of telling insisted. you a story.” “They’ll get you!” he hissed. “A story?" I managed huskily. “Aw, be yourself, Jafee. Nobody “Yes." He laughed genially, and, even knows I own Venusian Metals, as the waiter came up, took it upon And even if they did, they couldn't himself to waive the waiter away. prove it. You tell them if they don’t The waiter went away and I said like the way things are, they better nothing. ship back to Earth where they came “First,” he resumed, “the story from. And another thing. Maybe concerns six men, of whom there you won't like this. But another now remains but one. Also, it con- wage cut goes into effect June 1st.” cerns a planet where you can make He was shocked into silence. Then a jump of one hundred nineteen he broke down. “Chief,” he said miles, in a straight line, and land wearily, “I suppose you must be run- on the same planet.” nin’ into financial difficulties. I sup- My throat wr as dry. I remem-

pose you have to treat these fellows bered Venusian Metals, which I the way you do to make your profit. owned. I had the impression of a But I’m tellin' you it's better to lose cat plaving with a mouse. money than trample human beings “This story has a moral,” he went the way you're doing,” on. There was mockery behind his

“I can’t help it," I snapped. “It'S genial blue eyes. “A moral which I the way the system is run. I abide hope you have no trouble finding. by the rules of the game.” Let us begin.” “I guess so," he said wearily. And he ordered himself a highball Before I hung up, I cautioned him and began. once more never to mention my His voice flowed evenly; his voice name in connection with Venusian painted pictures. As he spoke, the Metals, and he agreed listlessly. music, and the gayly laughing cou- Jafee was chicken-hearted. T couldn’t ples, and the Moon of the Sky Gar- be—not if I wanted to make a nice den faded away. The word pictures showing on my books. he painted so artistically, combined with my own imagination, carried That night I was eating alone, at me back ten years. The story be- the Sky Garden. Music was play- gan to unfold in, a secluded, richly ing, anti the Moon was shining. furnished room atop the Venus I had just finished my aperitif, and Building. Men were there, big busi- was studying the menu, when a ness tycoons, huddled around a ta- short, somewhat plump man with a ble; six of them. scar across his clean-shaven face John March—owner of freight weaved his way round the dance lines, airlines, trucking concerns floor and seated himself at my table. was speaking, his too-steadv, slightly ” —

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 55 distended eyes roving around to meet of the Western Hemisphere, coughed those of his audience. delicately. He was a thin, emaciated “We could control the world mar- sort of man. “It sounds foolproof,” ket,” his pompous voice rumbled. “I he admitted cautiously. “Then the tell you, it’s as good as done, if we idea is to broaden our holdings,— get together on the idea!” He lev- squeeze out the independents “ eled a thick, rigid forefinger at each —and jack up prices,” the chain- of them in turn. “Hagerstown, food store owner Lemlev put in, snapping distributor throughout the western his thin fingers. “It’s a cinch, if hemisphere. Probably the most there ever was one!” powerful of us all. Latham, food Latham—the food distributor distributor throughout Asia, Europe, drummed an expensive eversharp on and parts of Australia. Wright, food the glassed-over table, his expression- retailer in I don’t know howr many less, slightly ironic face turned to- countries; but he’s managed to sneak ward Hagerstown. “Yes,” he agreed, his companies in so that he has a “it’s a sound idea. I, for one, make fine network across the world. Lem- no objections. But it means that we ley, chain-store owner if there ever have to strengthen our own forces by was one. Myself”—he tapped— his combining.” He smiled with a trace swelling chest pompously “trans- of derision. “We’ll keep it secret. portation: railroad freight lines, air- And in order to protect ourselves lines, and trucking concerns. Vane, I don’t think any of 11s would mind shipper: he could keep wheat and a sticking knives in the others’ backs dozen other staple products out of —we’ll sign certain agreements. Europe with his signature alone. Count me in, March.” “What does all this lead up to? “Me, too,” said Lemlev. Listen!” And they listened, and they Vane and Wright added their watched, March’s own enthusiasm votes, and lastly, in accordance with striking fire to their own; filling their his overcautious principles, Hagers- minds with plans; unfolding a pic- town came in. ture that was worth looking at! There was wine, and it made a They saw March’s immense, pleasantly gurgling sound as it was ringed hands trace the picture of a poured. narrow-necked bottle. The lower March stood up, rocking back and part of the bottle, said March sig- forth on his heels, a pleased, proud nificantly, represented the food sup- expression on his heavy face. ply; represented the farmers, and the “Gentlemen, to the food monop- billions of acres of food-producing oly!” land. Six glasses clinked, and the toast “Seal off the neck of the bottle!” was drunk. said March, his distended eyes glow- They spent a few minutes justify- ing. “How do you get the stuff in- ing themselves. side out? How? “What’s dirty about it?” said “You don’t,” said March. He Lemley. “It’s the system we live hunched forward, whispering. “Gen- under, understand? It’s dog eat tlemen, we are the neck of that bot- dog! Now', fellow's, it looks to me tle! The outlet! The food distrib- like the first step lays with Vane. utors, the retailers, the transporters. We’ll starve England—gently, of Need I go on ?” course.” He went on talking, and Hagerstown, the food distributor Andreas Vane listened, at times in- —

50 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION terspersing florid, genial comments, “Hagerstown, you are unspeak- his whole body shaking as he able. A cautious, timid soul of a laughed. man, you like to stick daggers in They discussed, these six men, and your opponents’ backs. Thus you the more they discussed it, the more have won out; by making sure there plausible and honest it became. They was no opposition; that nothing glowed with their own enthusiasm. could strike out at you. What couldn’t be done with the food “March, John March. A man as monopoly? Food ruled man! men go, though there are unhealtliy During a momentary silence came blue lines under his eyes, and his an interruption. overfed stomach is beginning to pro- The walls, which, as is the com- trude. A rascally scoundrel, who has mon belief, have ears, broke loose taken by brute force, beaten his op- from their age-old silence and spoke. ponents down with one thought: to rise above them and secure the power “A commendable plan,” said the he needs to feed his vast ego. walls. “Will you remain motionless, “Robert Latham, I confess that I while I decide which of you is the like you, at times. You see your- filthiest?” self for what you are. You can sneer And they remained motionless, for at yourself. You can see through the voice of the walls held a threat the petty artifices of others. Thus, that congealed their blood and stiff- you are tolerant, though impatiently ened their muscles so that they so. You can be strong at times, but quickly became statues acquiring a your own self-condemnation weakens green patina. you. But this does not excuse you The calm, derisive voice of the from your just deserts. You are walls said: “You first, Derek Lem- greedy, you are a trampler. You !ey. I think very little of you. used to have a splendid body, but You’ve done so many dirty things excesses are beginning to decay it. I can’t begin to remember them all. So much for you. Ah u’ve treated the human race like “Henry Wright, your hypocrisy is the devil. Your chain stores are a too obvious! Studying your face sore on the planet. Most of your now, I would feel a burst of doubt products are stamped with the seal if I did not know you well. You of approval of the Housewives Food look much younger than your thirty- Purity League—a seal of high value nine years; perhaps in your early in the minds of all people, including twenties; just a young, inexperi- yourself; since it is your ovyn, con- enced little man, caught in the net cealed, self-operated invention. set by five others, eh? Is that what “Andreas Vane,” said the voice of your china-blue eyes and your inno- the walls, without a second’s hesita- cent expression is supposed to mean? tion, “your name is appropriate. I’m sorry. Try your hypocrisy on You are proud and vain and fat, and others; it will work, as it has in the eternally boasting your selfmade- past. ness; rose from the gutter; devoted “That completes the roll.” every minute to getting ahead. As The Voice was silent. I recall it, you used to curse the March’s thick lips set. capitalist for holding you down; now “Who are you?” he said, without you’re a capitalist and holding others moving. down “It doesn’t matter,” AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 57

“How d’you know so much about I am going to make the experiment. us?” It should be enjoyable. A game. “Made it my business. T supposed Something to amuse me. To avenge that some day I’d have to judge the world at the same time. Yes, it you.” shall be done. Please remain mo- March’s temper was beginning to tionless.” rise. And there was a flash of light be- “You judge us!” he snarled. “I’ll fore their eyes. teach you to judge!” His chair clat- Andreas Vane cowered back from tered back. He came t» his feet, it, knew it for what it was, in his angry red lights flickering in his eyes. last moment of consciousness. An He started toward the wall closet, anaesthetic bomb. A sickening odor for it was there his realistic mind that could take all semblance of life knew the intruder was. He started from a man’s body. Andreas Vane —and that' was all. Something was a quick thinker, in spite of his touched his sleeve, lightly. He smugness. He tried to hold his looked down. The sleeve of his coat breath. No use. He had the mo- was singed, badly, and one side of mentary ’gratification of knowing the cuff was gone. that the others had been caught, Nobody had seen from which di- too. Everything was dark, then. rection the flash had come. March stood frozen. Vaguely, after that, he felt the Lemley’s thin lips moved. “Bet- rumbling vibration of a ship cutting ter show your good sense,” he mut- through the emptiness. His harden- tered. ing arteries almost burst with out- Breathing heavily, March slowly raged pride. He almost woke. But returned, picked up his chair, and again came the sickening odor. sat down. The next time he awoke, he strug- The Voice said mockingly, “Re- gled out of his torpid state without sistance is useless, I assure you. hindrance. He came to full con- “I have, as you may guess, a little sciousness cautiously. Quiet, all plan. The question is, I think, around; and though he strained his whether any of you is fitted to sur- ears, he heard nothing. His eyes vive. You may remember the law were still closed; he felt his muscles of survival of the fittest? It has gone balling, his nerves beginning to quite to pot since the Industrial stretch. Revolution. Perhaps it can be re- He forced himself to remain calm, vived for a short time. I wonder and did. which of you is most fitted for sur- He opened his eyes and saw light. vival. Light? It was so dim that it was “And, not only do I wonder, but just about two shades above dark- —

53 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

ness. It was a pale-violet in color, eyes at a distance which must have ghostly, and came form the sides and been five or ten miles at least. below. He made the astounding dis- He discovered, suddenly, that he covery that he was standing—which could move, by sliding his magnetic was not astounding at that, since he shoes across the metallic surface. felt, instinctively, that there was no Moreover, he found a switch which gravity. He wriggled his corpulent regulated the current flowing into fingers and discovered they were in- the shoes. He essayed a few steps. cased in gloves. Gloves of a pliable, “Must be an asteroid,” he mut- thin material; the kind they used tered. Bis bushy eyebrows drew with spacesuits. Nonconductors. down in a frown. In the half light, That one fact gave Andreas Vane he made more discoveries. One was part of the picture, and his pendulous that strapped around his waist, lips began to tremble. He clamped hanging from his right side, was a them determinedly. plain scabbard; in the scabbard was He was quite evidently clad in a a sword. Vane drew it halfway, spacesuit, and breathing air from a shuddering. It was a long, slim, hor- tank, and being kept warm with elec- rible-looking weapon; it fluoresced tric coils. He moved his arms, dis- in the violet light, a slim needle of covered the niche in the side of his death. suit from which these operations His jowls quivered. “Ugh!" were controlled. Besides them there With repulsion, he started to throw were other buttons and tiny, finger- it away; but suddenly remembered sized switches. the Voice, and thus retained his grip. He returned the weapon to its scab- His flesh crawled. “The experi- bard, shivering. Where were Hagers- ment begins,” he said to himself huskily. town, Lemley, March, Wright, and Latham? Near here, somewhere? Gingerly, he tried to raise one foot. Other articles he found were: a He failed. He stooped over, and powerful flashlight, a food kit, swung looked at his feet. His shoes if — across his back; a pair of powerful shoes they could be called—were binoculars, and—an ordinary, old- large, massive, metallic. The sur- fashioned six-shooter in a holster on face they were resting on was metal- his left hip. lic. His shoes, quite evidently, were Lastly, he discovered that his hel- magnetic, and were the only thing met was equipped with a radio send- that held him in one spot. ing and receiving outfit. He expelled The light, he saw, came from no his breath in relief. This was more one direction. It simply emanated. like it! He decided that the metallic surface Every operation was controlled by- for it — was that—was fluorescent, switches and buttons set into the or something akin that. to The sur- niche at the hip of his suit. With face itself was wavy, had no projec- an eager, jerky motion, he snapped tions, no rubble, and stretched away the headset on. to all sides until failed he to see it He Wet his lips. Then, “Halloo! any more. Halloo! March! Lemley! You, The peculiar thing was that he Hagerstown! Halloo, there!” seemed to be at the bottom of a His flaccid lips were beginning to huge bowl, for the metallic land set disappointedly when a carrier stretched away and lost itself to his wave abruptly sounded. A voice — ”

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 59

the Voice, Vane knew it was “Damnation!” he bawled angrily,

spoke. thus getting into it himself. But it “Very good, Vane! You have col- remained for March’s bull voice to lected your wits more swiftly than shock the others into silence. the others. I would advise you, in- “Shut up!” he roared. “Who’s got cidentally, to retain all your equip- any ideas? Shut up! You, Hagers- ment. Particularly— if I may sug- town!” gest it—your sword.” Hagerstown, the food distributor, The Voice would not speak again, said in a strained voice: “I’m not no matter how pleadingly Vane ad- certain. The gravity’s so weak, we dressed, nor how badly he lost his must be on an asteroid.” considerable temper. “What d’you mean—weak?” He shouted and yelled, but only Wright said. “There isn't anv at succeeded in deafening himself. His all.” lips curled bitterly and he was silent. “Where’re the stars?” Lemley de- He looked at his right hip resent- manded of Hagerstown, witheringly. fully, and shivered. Latham spoke up, his well-bred Why did he need the sword? voice faintly amused. “Outside, of course. The whole thing’s too ob- He walked around for a while, his vious. Our friend dropped us into sweating face strained. Then he a hole in the ground.” stopped, and devoted himself to get- March growled reluctantly, “I ting in touch with his associates. He guess Latham has got it right. By kept his receiver on constantly, un- the way.” He tried to keep the gruff til he had the good sense to con- note in his voice, but failed. “Who serve power. Thereafter, he turned else has a—sword?” it on at intervals of two minutes. Apparently, everybody, not only March came in on a flood of in- had a sword, but a Colt revolver, vective, and Vane, wincing, shut off binoculars, flashlight, and food kit, the receiver for a few seconds until in addition to the regular appurte- the tirade stopped. During that nances of a spacesuit. time, Hagerstown came in, fright- “Something,” said Lemley cheer- ened, bewildered, pleading. fully, “is very, very screwy.” Lem ley’s voice, thin, irritated, “We’ve been kidnaped,” March snapped back at him, “Oh, for God’s rumbled dangerously. sake, shut up! all’s on the Who Wright smirked, “That’s news.” line?” Hagerstown’s teeth made a rat- “Latham and Wright are missing, tling sound. “It . . . it’s a plot. so far,” Vane said. “They’ll come in. Some rival concern, out after our Where are you?” interests.” “Don't be silly!” snarled March. “Where’re you?” “It’s that damned . . . that Hagerstown’s thin, frightened damned Voice,” said March tensely, voice started to speak, but Latham, a raw note of fury creeping into his coming in with a burst, drowned him tone. “I’m going to see personally, out; and Wright’s soft, resentful that he gets what’s coming— to him, voice came after his. For a while, the bloated, egotistic Vane’s helmet was a madhouse, with “S-sh!” Hagerstown’s voice five different, metallic voices blast- blasted out in a scared whisper. ing away at the same time. “How d’you know he’s not listening ” —

80 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

to us? No sense aggravating the others. And one—and only one man! Treat him softly!” winning out. “To hell with that!” Lemley “Each,” said the Voice, mockingly, snapped contemptuously. “Treat— “trying to comer the food supply.” him the way he deserves. If you March’s breath broke loose. “How about listening to me for a “You’re talking out of your head.” second?” Vane bit out angrily. “Of “I am telling you that one of you course the Voice is listening to us. beasts will, at the end of—five weeks, He spoke to me,” Vane said self-im- shall we say?—yes, at the end of portantlv. He added significantly. five weeks, one will remain alive. “He told me to be sure and keep my Simply because he possesses the food sword.” monopoly. What is so wrong with March explosively started to that? There is no food on this world, speak, and suddenly subsided, in save what you now possess your- shock. There was a strained silence. selves, in your food kits. Why is “Wh-what’s the reason for that?” that different than cornering the Hagerstown stammered. “Swords? food supply on another world, the Dangerous beasts down here?” Earth? “Dangerous beasts? Yes, indeed! “It is the same, of course,” the They are called: March, Vane, Voice went on smoothly. “Each of Lemley, Hagerstown, Wright, and you has enough food in his kit to Latham! iast him three days; and water “Each of you will need his sword enough for three days. By being and his revolver and his wits to pro- charitable, I would suggest that each tect himself against the other beasts. of you can live, on what he now has, Do you understand?” about five days. But what if one man should manage to get all the “Who said that?” March broke food available? The food and water the silence. that the others have? I should think “I didn’t,” said Vane. His nerves he could keep himself alive for five were thrumming, and the palms of weeks at least.” The Voice hovered his hands were more clammy than liltingly. “It all works out very was ordinary. cleverly, you see.” Other denials floated in like “You’re seriously contemplating ghostly whispers. this?” said Latham, in a voice that turned to steel. “It was the Voice,” whispered had Wright. “I guess he’s having his “I'm not contemplating it. You * little joke.” He laughed hollowly. are. I simply set myself up as a judge, lay down the rules, and re- Lemley made an irritated sound. the winner with what I con- “All right, Voice,” he snapped. ward to be just reward freedom. “What d’you mean? What’s the ceive a — who lusts most for survival will, joke, then? Wliat fool trick you try- He I believe, be the lucky man.” ing to pull on us?” “What if we decide not to play the “No joke and no trick, I assure game?” That was March, snarling. you,” said the Voice amusedly. “You may consider yourselves beasts in an The Voice was almost sorrowful. arena, each fighting the others to “I think,” it said, “that you will.” the death. A free for all, you know. “/ won't!” Hagerstown quivered. Each trying to win out over the “I’d never enter into anything like —

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 61 that. March! Latham! Vane! you choose. By a process of elimina- Y-you wouldn’t T know!” tion, then, locating one another is “Why,” said the Voice, “did you quite simple; be he friend or—vic- omit Lemley and Wright?” tim.” There was a moment of shocked “Victim!” gasped Hagerstown silence. Hagerstown whispered, in a rackingly. . . fiend! “A'ou . you voice that made Vane’s scalp tingle, You expect us to hunt each other “You wouldn’t—would vou, Lem- out, to kill each other, for the mere ley?” purpose of continuing to live? We

Lemley chuckled . “Pick your own won’t, you understand? I know hearse, lanky!” what we’ll do,” said Hagerstown, “Shut up, Lemley!” March roared with a sudden burst of inspiration. furiously. “And you, Hagerstown, “We’ll band together. We can hear don’t be such a sniveler. That’s your carrier wave, too. We’ll hunt Lemley ’s idea of a joke.” you out, and butcher you the wav “Ha-ha!” said Lemley in faintly you want us to butcher each other.” disgusted tones. “No, Hagerstown,” said the Voice, “Of course,” resumed the Voice, with pity. “I think that nothing like still mockingly, “it may come about that will happen. For, you see, I —by a very long chance indeed am outside the planet, you are in- that you’ll all band together and side. And there is no way out—for refuse to treat each other as beasts you. Come, come!” the Voice said of the arena. In which case, of coaxingly. “Don’t you see there’s course, you’ll all starve together.” no alternative? Give yourselves up Wright said plaintively, in his to this game, for the longer you de- young voice, “I don’t see what I’ve lay, the less becomes the food sup- done to merit this. It’s unfair. Be- ply, and, therefore, the greater the sides,” he hesitated, “even if we demand. If you delay too long, it wanted to get together, we couldn’t. is likely you’ll be forced to resort There isn’t any way to locate each to—cannibalism.” other.” “My God!” said Hagerstown, and sounded as if he was going all to The Voice chuckled. “Sure you pieces. just want to get together, Wright? “Ugh!” said Lemley. “I’ve heard Maybe— Well, let/ that go. About that no matter how you fix human locating each other, it’s very simple. steaks, they still turn your stomach." Each of you, perhaps you’ve noticed, “Your sense of humor is cutting,” has a different carrier wave tone. snapped Latham in disgust. “Listen You’ll doubtless learn which carrier you, whoever you are, I have no in- wave belongs to which person. By tention—at the present time, any- rotating the loop antenna atop your way—of killing anybody. . But you helmets so that, the carrier wave you forgot ammunition belts for these want comes in at its strongest—that out-of-date Colts.” is, by taking the, minimum—you’ll “The guns are loaded,” said the be able to locate the person you Voice. “That will be sufficient. want to locate. In order to find out There are a few other points I will which direction the tone is coming have to mention. One of them is from, you’ll find four collapsible iron that you can jump.” grids which, when expanded, will cut “Jump?” said Vane, the shipper. off radio waves from any direction “Wherever you want to. Perhaps

”

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE Oft you’ve suspected that the arena in of you to take the minimum on question is a hollow planet, quite evei'ybody else, and try to keep perfectly hollow, too. A few feet everybody’s location in mind. Then, more than one hundred nineteen if anybody starts roaming, we’ll gang miles, I believe. You see?” up on him.” “Ye gods, no!” Vane said in exas- Lemley snickered. “You forget peration. “How could we jump any- we can’t keep our waves on all the where we wanted to? We’d simply time. Fact is, if we were smart, we’d fall back.” shut them off whenever possible. We “Of course you would—if there have to conserve power.” were any gravity to pull you down. “Shut up for a minute and give But there isn’t any in a hollow us a chance to get your location,” planet. You can, therefore, jump said Wright sullenly. “I’m not tak-

- clear across the diametex , one hun- ing any chances.” dred nineteen miles, and you’ll land “You don’t have to be afraid of at exactly the speed you take off. I me,” babbled Hagerstown. “I’m tell- advise you, by the way, to land on ing you right now I’m not— your feet; and the second you land, “You make me sick!” March shot you activate the electromagnet in out. “Why can’t you be as sensible your shoes. The interior of the as Vane, or some of the rest of us.” planet is entirely metallic. Vane laughed deprecatingly. “I’m “A few other points: The planet not exactly composed, but I am has a rotational period of twenty-five rather keeping a grip on myself, at hours plus. All six of you are on that. Well, I suggest we all get to- the equatorial line, spaced evenly. gether in a group. That way, we’ll The line-up is as follows: Latham, know what the othei’s are doing.” Lemley, March, Wright, Vane, Hag- “When will we sleep?” inquired ei'stown. The planet rotates in that Lemley. direction; from Latham to Lemley, “When will we sleep?” Hagers- and so on. town took up the refrain, his voice “I think,” mused the Voice, “that going tremolo. “How will we know that is all. Now, I need only to the ones who are awake won’t be watch. Good hunting, my friends. plotting the murder of those who And, rest assured, I’ll return in five are asleep? I tell you, I can’t stand weeks. Good-by!” it! I’m going to sit right here and “Wait a minute!” Hagerstown defend myself!” screamed piercingly. “Oh, oh,” said Wright. “There it But the Voice was gone, and its starts.” carrier wave with it. “What starts?” That was Latham. Wright was smirking. “Aristotle “Do SOMETHING, you fools!” or some other Greek said that when shrieked the food distributor. “Can’t a social group got above six they’d you see what this means?” start breaking up into little cliques. “Shut up, Hagerstown!” said What chance have we got when our Latham, in a cold voice. sociable little group starts breaking There was a long, uncomfortable up?” silence. “Who’s breaking away except Latham spoke again, coldly. Hagerstown?” said March fiercely. “There has to be some kind of or- “You think I’m going to trust my- ganization here. I would advise each self to a pack of wolves? No, thunk — ”

ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION you. I’ll stay here, and wait for you Vane, Hagerstown. We’re spaced guys to bump yourselves off.” equally.” ‘‘That goes for me, too,” said Lem- “Which gives us the same chance, ley, who seemed, in his own callous like runners at the start of a race,” way, to be enjoying the situation. said Vane gloomily. “The two ‘‘Leave your radios on, fellows. I’d cliques are mixed together, too. No- like to know which one goes first.” tice that?” “And who does the job, of course,” “By Heaven,” snarled— March, “if smirked Wright. I ever get out of this The silence was clammy. Vane Latham heaved a sigh of resigna- found himself breathing abnormally tion. “Keep cool, March. Vane, I fast. When he spoke, his voice was guess you’re our destination. The hoarse. three of us form a triangle, the two “You, March, Latham, myself legs equal in length. March and I we’ll get together, and talk this are at the ends of the base line. So »> over. if March and I take the jump, well “All right,” said Latham, his voice land at about the same time.” hard as steel. “The point is,” said March, “how March agreed, and without pay- fast can a man jump?” ing any attention to the three others, “Look at it this way. We don’t they talked the matter over. It was have to overcome gravity, only our quite easy to believe that the merest own inertia. We can assume it takes jump would carry them from side to a high jumper about a second to side of the planet, traveling at any jump six feet. The acceleration rate angle. Latham suddenly remem- on Earth is thirty-two feet, isn’t it? bered that Newton had once dealt That is, at the end of a second, a with the theoretical problem; had freely falling body is falling at that proved that at all points on the in- speed. Then our athlete not only terior of a hollow planet, the forces jumps six feet, but jumps fast of gravitation canceled out. So if enough to overcome that thirty-two this planet was theoretically perfect feet. Although none of us are ath- in its hollowness—that is, practically letes—far from it—we ought to be homogenous, and with practically able to make around thirty-four, or equal diameters in all directions thirty-six feet. True? Get set, then, then the thing would work. March. Watch your chronometer, Talking it out, they discovered it and we’ll figure our actual speed later would not do to meet at the center on. Get set, go!” of the planet. They’d miss each other, inevitably, since inequalities Latham flexed his powerful kgs, on the surface would cause them to and shot himself up from the hard, deviate from the vertical; and since, unyielding surface of the planet at their velocities, arising entirely from an angle determined by Vane’s car- the speed with which they jumped, rier wave. would certainly not be uniform. “The record for the high jump," he “We’ll meet at a point where one thought cynically. of us happens to be, then,” decided He had his head turned toward Latham. “Agreeable? All right. the blackness above him. He noted As I see it, all six of us are on the now that somehow he had acquired interior equator. The order rims: a rotation, for he slowly turned un- myself, Lemley, March, Wright, til he saw the fluorescent surface be- AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 65 neath. It was like nothing so much Even Lemley, Hagerstown, and as a huge bowl, with the sides steep- Wright were fools. Going to sit and ening in an even curve. As he moved wait until the others killed each other outward, at a speed he could not off, were they? Why didn’t they get. guess with any exactness yet, the up and do something? rim of the bowl continued to extend Latham’s gloved hand dropped to outward, but grew fainter in the the hilt of his sword. His lips twisted process. Within fifteen minutes, he in grim humor. “Why,” he asked could see only the faintest gleam of himself, “don’t I do something?” He lavender luminescence. Another five pulled out the sword, for amusement minutes took even that. Then, to ‘slashing it back and forth. It was all intents and purposes, he was sus- an epee, no good for slashing, but pended in a void of absolute black- an excellent weapon for piercing a ness. He could, of course, feel no man’s body. motion, since his speed was constant. Suddenly, a thought came to him, He got in touch with March, ex- and he turned on his receiver. He changed a few comments, and then received two carrier tones. Whose told Vane to turn his carrier wave were they? He was about to use his on after an hour or so, and switch transmitter, when one went off. But it back in after that every five min- he spoke anyway. The tone sounded utes or so. lltf1 Vo n “When we land,” Latham ex- “That you, Vane?” he said plained, “we’ll turn our sets on, and sharply. then you’ll catch our wave. That “Huh? No, this’s me.” Lemley ’s way we’ll find each other without voice was unexpectedly genial. “I wasting power.” just had my picker-upper on to see “Hurry it up,” said Vane dispirit- if I couldn’t snatch up a bit of con- edly. “This is the first time in versation. This is the damnedest years I haven’t had somebody place. Ghostly. You know what I around to keep me company. Don’t meanr be surprised if you find a raving “It’s worse out here,” said lunatic. I’ve got plenty of time to Latham. “Dark.” brood about my past sins.” “I guess so. I feel all washed out. His guffaw almost split Latham’s Tired. Notice nobody else’s got their eardrums. He turned off his receiver receivers open. Maybe”—a harsh in disgust. Vane, in Latham’s opin- laugh crept into his voice “maybe ion, was an egotistical fool, though they’re out visiting.” at times he seemed to have a level “Maybe,” said Latham crypti- head. The Voice.—damnation, what cally. He was about to sign off with- could you call the fellow?—had had out another word when he thought Vane down to a T. And for that to himself, “Why do that? Lemley matter, he’d also had friend Latham isn’t so bad, though he’s got the down to a T. moral sense of a turtle.” To Lemley Latham scowled to himself. There he said, “I’ll get in touch with you was something unbearably senseless again.” about this whole thing. They were “O. K.,” Lemley said, yawning. all fools, everyone of them. Plan- ning some way out of this mess. By the chronometer above Good God, couldn’t they see there Latham’s eyes, he timed his trip wasn’t any way out? across as something more than four 63 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION and a half hours. During that time, “Keep your insinuations to yourself. he got hungry and thirsty. Without I’ll try again.” thinking about it, he swung his food But Vane’s carrier wave did not kit around, drew out the water tube, show up. and sucked water—just one mouth- A grim smile played around ful. Then he stopped, frowning. Latham’s hard lips. Was Vane the “Five days,” he mused to himself. type that would hunt up another For the first, time the real situation man with malice aforethought? Else, hit him. He let the water tube roll why would his carrier wave be off? back into the food kit. “I’m not Or was he—dead? Either dead or hungry, after all,” he mused, and roaming, that was certain. frowned. March and Latham finally agreed The first suggest ion of light came, to work their ways toward each and grew in intensity, until the vio- other. Latham pulled up one of the let-tinged “bowl” took shape. He collapsible screens on his helmet, dis- was rotating, now. He didn’t feel covered it cut off part of March’s like landing on his head, particularly waves, thus knew that March was at this velocity. At the last mo- in that direction. March’s wave ment he managed to twist around so strengthened as he moved. that his body was parallel to the Coincidentally, Wright’s also loud- surface. Thus he struck on his hands ened. and feet. He had already switched “I’m warning you!” Wright shot current into his shoes, and thus was out. “If you fellows try to hem me held fast with no danger of a re- in, I’ll jump, straight up!” bound. He stood up, and reflecting “Oh,” Latham said, carelessly, that he had not been able to contact “don't forget we’ve got six-shooters.” Vane once in the hours he had been Fie smiled. floating, switched on his headset. “You’re threatening me!” Wright, Three carrier waves came in. One panted. “You hear that, Lemley? belonged to Wright, another to You hear that? If my wave is sud- March, another to Lemley. Both denly cut off, you’ll know who did ’ Hagerstown and Vane were missing. it.” Wright, the food distributor, was The chain-store owner yawned. suspicious. and are too “You March “That,” he said, “would be a shame.” damned near, Latham. I’m warning “You needn’t be such a fool,” you to keep away. I’m not being growled March. ganged up on by anybody.” “Where’s Vane?” rumbled March. Latham said patiently, “What I'm is how we happened to “I couldn’t contact him on the way wondering down.” land so near Wright, March. Didn't start for Vane?" “How long have you been down?” we out demanded Latham. “It’s a screwy set-up,” Lemley “Well, it took me about four hours yawned. and twenty minutes.” March suddenly came out of the “I managed it in twenty minutes gloom, and as he saw Latham rushed more than that. You’ve been here toward him, in a pure gesture of longer than I have.', Are you certain relief; Latham's lips hardened, and you haven’t heard Vane—or seen he stepped back, and pulled his six- him?” Latham’s voice was ugly. shooter from his waist. He was a “I said I didn't!" March blazed. capable shot. 5

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 67

“One step nearer, March,” he said “Just about,” March nodded in coldly, “and you get it in the belly.” surprise. March gaped. His hands flew up “The sound is carried through the and clasped his helmeted head. He helmet's. Now listen. Did you ever groaned. “My God, Latham. stop to think that our Nemesis told You’re crazy; we’re all crazy! You us this planet was rotating?” thought / was coming after you? 1 The railroad magnate frowned. was relieved, that’s all — relieved!’’ “Y-yes.” He seemed unable to comprehend it. “While we were floating across the Latham remained cold. “Perhaps planet toward Vane, the planet was it was a gesture of friendship. I carrying Vane away from us, and really wouldn’t know. At any rate, putting Wright in his place. So I’d suggest that neither of us make that’s where we landed.” any sudden motions.” March jerked his head up and March agreed limply, still shaking stared at Latham. “Good God!” his head. “Well, here we are,” he Latham smiled twistedly. “Now said wearily. “So what?” what if there was a master mind thought of that be- “Let’s see if our sacred line-up is among us who preserved.” fore we did? And put it to some Lemley, for some reason, had switched off. Latham made repeated calls before he came in again. Hagerstown answered, then Wright. Vane was missing.

The order was somewhat mixed up due to March’s and Latham’s movements, but the three others were in their correct places. That meant then, that instead of landing in what might have been termed Vane’s sector, March and Latham had landed in Wright's. Latham thought about this for a while, and then thought of some- thing which began to bring some sort of order out of the chaos. His ca- pable jaw set, and he made a mo- tion to March to switch off his radio entirely; Latham did the same, and then beckoned March. But March was suspicious and made vigorous denials. Impatiently, Latham put his arms above his head. March nodded energetically and did the same, and then approached. Latham maneuvered until their helmets were touching. “Can you hear me?” AST— .

68 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

use and got Vane out of the way, town is now, we’ll land where Vane afterward figuring out where he will be.” should be, and jumping there?” March nodded doubtfully. "How do you know Vane’s out of Latham found Hagerstown’s car- the way?” March’s voice was shaken. rier wave, and by careful rotation of "Well,” Latham conceded, “he his antenna, and setting of his might be jumping around at that, screens, found the exact course. v with iiis own plan in his head. In “Hard business, this,” muttered

„ that case, all of us are still alive, March. “Jumping at an angle.” aren't we?” His lips twisted again. They set themselves, swayed to His gray eyes lidded. “You know,” the correct angle, cut the circuit to he suggested, “it’d be much better their shoes, and pushed themselves if Vane was dead.” out. March nodded, his eyes staring. “I know,” he said huskily. “The Latham watched his chronom- food supply would begin to localize.” eter, and when four hours was up, For a moment they drew their placed his binoculars to his eyes, and heads back and stared at each other waited for the first sign of light. In with a series of new thoughts in their a few minutes, it came. Latham eyes swept the binoculars over the ter- “I'm hungry now,” the railroad ritory he could see. The land below magnate said bluntly. “But I'm was a huge bowl, fluorescing, and afraid to eat. Haven’t got the was, on the whole, smooth. Latham nerve.” suspected he should see Vane, if the man were anywhere in that area. “Of course. But if Vane's dead, there’s one man at least who’s got March, who had one arm hooked ten-days’ food supply. If he’s not through Latham’s, sighted Vane too sick to eat.” He added slowly, first. Or at least they supposed it “Maybe we better find out who was Vane. “He’s standing up,” said March. killed Vane—or if he is dead.” “Mow?” “I gue: he’s alive.” “Why should he fall down?” “We'll go where Vane should be,” They landed safely, perhaps a said Lat’ mile from the figure, and started im- He stooped over and with the mediately in that direction, and sharp metal tips of his gloves drew finally reached the standing figure, a circle on the metallic surface of the which proved to be that of Andreas planet, and marked six dots, spaced Vane, after all. equally, on the rim of the circle. He And he was truly dead, a sword studied it for a moment. Then he having evidently been plunged straightened up. through his spacesuit, into his back. “While we were crossing the There was a jagged gash in the suit planet,” he mused, “the planet ro- where the air had rushed out. Vane tated one sixth. Wright’s position had died mostly from the sword moved where Vane’s was. Vane’s thrust, but partly from asphyxiation. moved where Hagerstown’s was. His face was purple, and his swollen, Hagerstown’s where mine used to be. bloody tongue was protruding from Mine where Lemley’s was. Lemlev’s his month. His food kit was empty, where yours used to be. So by set- both of water and of food. ting our course toward where Hagers- ‘7 couldn’t have done it,” said .

AND THEN THERE WAS" ONE 6 !>

March, staring at Vane without Tt-iey found Hagerstown by the repugnance same process they had used on Vane. “Of course not,” Latham con- They came up on him from two di- ceded. He did not bother to make rections. Hagerstown was standing a denial himself. He stood swaying upright, swaying slightly, his mag- on his magnetic shoes, thinking; netic shoes holding him firm to ihc March looked at him queerly. - “I planet. March and Latham came up think Hagerstown did it.” behind him, their headsets off. Latham raised his eyebrows. March threw Lat ham one fierce look, March went on, still looking at and then drew his sword, and was Latlram significantly. “All Hagers- about to plunge it into Hagerstown’s town had to do was to know, that back, when Latham grasped his arm. the planet rotated—or to remember Latham’s cynical lips formed the it, rather. He remembered that and words, “Maybe he didn't do it, after made his plans accordingly. Also, all. He’s asleep.”-

Vane’s • sector was right next to March’s heavy face wrinkled as if Hagerstown's, and was rotating to- he hadn’t heard aright. With a half- ward Hagerstown’s. All Hagerstown angrv motion he turned on his head- had to do was to jump at a very set, and gestured to Latham. Latham low angle. Just", skim the surface of shrugged and turned his set on. the planet and land wh re Vane was. “You’re crazy!” March rasped. Then find him.” “Didn’t we decide Hagerstown was “Vane wop Id have fought back,” guilty?” mused Latham. “No. maybe he “Lemley and Wright can hear us woujdn't. Nobody YI suspect Hagers- talking,” suggested Latham. town of that.” “To hell with 'em! Didn't, we?” “A cornered rat will fight harder “I’m not sure now. Look.” Again than a free one.” Latham drew a circle on the metal “What, do v.e do? Fd suggest we surface. “Lemley could have done go after Hagerstown. The man’s got it.” a mind;” Latham exclaimed, in a March said in a rage, “Lemley burst of wonder. “He must have couldn’t have done it! We were jumped all the way back to where talking to him while we crossed.” Ire was supposed to be. By the time “We were tumbling around in we had landed and found each other, empty space. We couldn’t have he had plenty of time to jump back.” known where Lemley was. He could March's thick lips set, and his have jumped across to where he gloved hand fell to his sword. Ilis knew Vane would be. He could liurff formed five words. “Let’s go have murdered him, and then and get him.” jumped back to where he was sup- Latham smiled quizzically. "To posed to be. By the time he got get even with him? To punish him? back, the planet would have rotated Or to get his food supply?” two sixths.” ’ “What does it matter?” March's shoulders sagged, and a “This is leading up to one thing,” pallor came to bis face. “ Then we said Latham. don’t know about anybody. By the “What?” same, token, Wright could have done “Eventually, unless we have the it!” His face was wild. good sense to separate, one of us is Latham studied him, his hard eyes going to murder the other.” half lifted. “You think we’re not —

70 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE- FICTION getting any place. Only one man laughing. His own laughter was a gone.” hell inside his helmet. Tears began March looked at Hagerstown’s un- to run down his cheeks, and he dou- protected back and pointed. His fin- bled up in midspace, and felt as if ger was trembling. “What's the dif- he was being torn across the stom- ference?” his lips said. ach, torn clear in two. Latham nodded. “What is the “I’m crazy,” he thought to him- difference?” he said, quizzically. self. “And I thought I was strong. Then. “Have you ever killed a I’m a weakling. But God, I can’t man?” stop.” March panted, “Certainly I did. But he did stop, eventually, gasp- Once.” ing. Exhausted, he felt every mus- “That tells me a lot. You don’t cle in his body relax; he drifted, trem- mind making the confession, which bling, and determinedly set his lips, means that you believe none of us forcing himself to breathe evenly, except one— will remain alive. If to think logically. it’s you, there’s nobody to snitch. If After perhaps ten minutes, he said it isn’t you, it doesn’t matter any- weakly, “Hagerstown.” way.’’ Hagerstown spoke cautiously. “Is “I never did believe that more something wrong? You sounded as than one would escape.” if you’d lost your mind.” “But subconsciously you did. “You,” said Latham, and laughed Now you don’t. Which makes it a again. He caught himself. “It’s certainty. You’re willing to murder you that’s wrong. You shouldn’t be Hagerstown.” alive. March should have killed you. March’s eyes were bloodshot, and Did he—or didn’t he?” he was crouching like a beast. “Cer- “That’s what 1 started to tel! you tainly I am,” he snarled. “Why when you took the fit.” Hagers- waste time? Why not get it over town’s own voice had a suggestion with?” of hysteria. “I must have been “By the same token, you’re willing sleeping, but I woke up and turned to murder me.” Latham felt a pe- around and he was coming at me culiar boiling in his stomach. He with his sword. God! There was had never been sick inside a space- only one thing I could do. I shot suit. He clenched his fists and did him. He’s dead.” The food buyer’s the only thing that seemed sensible. voice quavered. “If this keeps up. Bent his legs as far down as they I’ll go crazy,” he aid hoarsely. would go, snapped off the current in “Where are you now?" his shoes and jumped. “Here. Where I’ve always been! And left March with his victim. Wasn’t that the agreement?” Latham still felt sick, but it was “I didn’t know there was any half in loathing of himself. He agreement,” said Latham wearily. closed his eyes and knew he was He managed to think cynically trembling. again. “You took his food, of course.” He was on his way an hour before “Somebody else besides March is he caught anybody’s wave. dead,” Hagerstown whispered. He listened to the babbling, horri- “Sure. Vane. How did you fied voice with an incredulity that know?” Latham snapped. turned to hysteria. His stomach be- “There were two food rations in gan to heave, and he knew he was March’s kit.” AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 71 n ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Latham groaned, and shut his He landed awkwardly, and with eyes, his nerves beginning to ball some force, but struggled to his feet, up. March. March. March! and slid across the surface in the pe- “Hagerstown,” he said, “protect culiar' Manner necessitated by mag- yourself. With three food rations, netic shoes. you're a worthy prize for anybody. He dropped to one knee, and Perhaps you’d better discontinue trained his flashlight on the face of your pacific activities and do some the murdered man. The sightless scouting around yourself. I still eyes of Wright stared up at him. A don’t see how March could have had bullet had evidently got him in the time to do it.” He groaned again. back, and death had come from a “Nobody has his carrier wave on,” combination of asphyxia and bleed- Hagerstown protested in fright. ing. There was blood caked a round “They could have had their re- W right’s mouth, frozen into crystals. ceiver on.” Latham sighed. “Go to Lemley, then, had been the mur- your own hell, Hagerstown. I’m on derer. Latham came to his feet the way to mine.” And he cut Con- and stared up into the darkness. nections. He thought vaguely, “I must have the desire to kill. Anybody at all. Foit a long time Latham drifted But I haven’t got the guts to kill in a state of semicoma. Then the without provocation. Lemley mur- familiar sight of land brought him dered Wright. Thus T have the pro- back to full consciousness. From vocation. I make myself. believe Fin force of habit, he took out his avenging Wright—when Wright binoculars, and scanned the territory. wasn’t worth avenging. No one down there—yet. As he ap- “No. I want Lem ley's food sup- proached the surface, of course, the ply. That will give me three rations surface rotated away under him. He and Hagerstown three rations. And kept the binoculars to his eyes, and Hagerstown’s a cinch!” .suddenly stiffened. There were two His lips twisted again, and lie figures down there. Only one was stood there, waiting for Lemley’-. moving. Suddenly it stopped. carrier wave. Latham craned his eyes, but saw ft came in presently. “Anybody only that that figure had a gun in home-'” said Lemley. “I’m picking its hand. He heard nothing, but up somebody. Have you committed

r saw one of the figures drop. With- murder yet, friend? I’ve heard it’s out the waste of a second, the killer the newest fad.” worked over the body swiftly, then “Don’t be funny," said Latham, stood upright. Suddenly it jumped, coldly, “What are you doing?” at an angle. Frantically, Latham “Fating." said Lemley cheerfully. trained the binoculars on it —but Smacking sounds came over the re- sight was lost in the darkness. ceiver. “But concentrates aren’t He knew one thing only: one of very satisfying.” the figures had. been Wright, the “Whose concentrates—yours or other Lem ley. A process of elimina- Wright’s?” tion would reveal the murderer. And Latham’s receiver was silent for a Latham felt that he would have no full ten seconds. Lemley laughed qualms about killing a man who de- harshly. liberately, and with aforesight, killed “My own,” he snapped: then he another person. laughed more agreeably. “So I mur- .

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 73

< ion'd Wright, did I, Latham? How trained it downward. With the other

many arc left, by the way?” hand, he turned on his headset . “Myself, you, Hagerstown.” Hagerstown’s and Lemley s waves

“How do you know I murdered came through.

yy right, Latham?” Lemley ’s voice “Fine,” said Lemley. “Here wc was mocking. “Maybe it was are, all together. Have you com- Hagerstown.” mitted your little murder yet, 5 saw you. Hagerstown?” “Hin-in-m. Well, what’s the dif- “I had to,” mumbled the food ference? Whether 1 did, or you did, buyer in a broken voice. "It was or Hagerstown did. It all comes out either March or noe.” the same in the end. And even if “My,— ray”—Lemley clicked his 1 did murder ’im, what about it?” tongue “what an innocent little Latham frowned and hesitated. man. In a short while, Hagers- Lemley wouldn't confess anything if town, there will be only two—unless the finger of God was on him. “Stay Latham has only thoughts of peace where you are,” he growled. “I’ll on his mind. Care to land ami talk see what Hagerstown has to say.” this over, Latham? After that, we Lemley snickered again. “Why can murder each other at our lei- bother about Hagerstown? O. K., sure.” O. K., I’ll he here wailing.” A suck- “Your gun is drawn,” said Latham ing sound came from the receiver. coldly. “That's rav own water,” Lemley in- ho s yours. formed Latham, and broke connec- “I prefer to keep mine handy.” tions. “So do I. Go ahead and land, though.” But Latham already had his lo- Latham managed to stabilize him- cation. He set himself at the cor- self, and for once floated down feet- rect angle, and jumped: and once he first. He switched current into his was beyond the light, he knew a shoes, hit with a jar, and stuck, sense of desolation and a loneness; swaying. as if the juice of life had been Lemley was not more than fifty pumped out of him, lea ving his bones feet distant, the metal parts of his dry. Futility was in his mind. The suit reflecting the faint violet light. utter uselessness of everything. If They eyed each other without speak- he could only drift like this, for- ing for several seconds. ever, just the hare glimmer of “Why don't you shoot?” said thought to keep him. alive— like an Latham coldly.

amoeba. “It happens that I’m not a. mur- He would have to kill Lemley. derer at heart. Why accuse me of Ar>d then, as a matter of course, Wright’s murder? Why not Hagers- I Hagerstown town?” Again he was using his binoculars. “Don’t he absurd, Lemley.” And saw Lemley, standing upright, Latham’s eyes narrowed, and his with his own binoculars up to his legs forked to take care of the gun’s eyes, staring into blackness. lie was recoil. “Hagerstown couldn't pos- looking directly at Latham. sibly have arrived where Wright was “Damnation!” Latham said with before I did. Because I definitely a sudden wildness. lie drew his six- left him behind.” with gun a trembling hand and “Well—so naturally, if Wright ” —

74 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION was left dead,” Lemley mused, “then and water from Latham’s kit, and the murder was pinned on me.” He placed the supplies in his own. was lost in thought. Latham saw He hadn’t yet made a good start him nod his head in confirmation of toward the food monopoly, for now his thoughts. “Yes, Latham, T think —all told —he had the food supply I see how it was done now. Hagers- of only two persons: himself and town is your man. Go peddle your Latham. peanuts somewhere else. After you finish off Hagerstown,— come back Hagerstown must have cut con- here and we’ll talk nections in the excitement, and "My God!” babbled Hagerstown. though Lemley listened for an hour “You talk as if I’m just a pawn in his wave did not come through. a game. You, Lemley, accuse me “Huh!” he grunted sourly. of a murder you did yourself! I “Damned if I’ll let him come and warn you,” he panted, “if either of get me. I’ll go hunting myself.” you comes near me. I’ll fight! I’ll He only had a slight idea where shoot you like I shot March, and I Hagerstown was. He should he mean it!” His breath came rack- somewhere near where lie had been ingly. originally. That was two sixths of “Good act,” said Lemley, offhand. the circumference of the planet “What about it, Latham? You want away, in a direction opposite to the to go across and get—damn you!” planet’s rotation. Lemley took a Laham’s gloved finger released the guess and jumped at an angle, his trigger, and a hard smile stretched guess being based on the position of his lips as he saw Lemley stagger, Latham’s dead body. Latham’s and heard curses coming through his head, as Lemley remembered it, had receiver. Lem ley’s face was wild been lying “across the equator.” with fury. Latham pulled the trigger The ears, therefore, pointed out the again, disappointedly saw that he’d equatorial plane. missed. Lemley didn’t seem to be He didn’t trouble to time himself, dying either. and was surprised when the first Something exploded in his brain. glimpse of light came through. Un- A Hare of brilliancy mushroomed up. hurriedly, he placed his binoculars to Ife knew, with a shock of horror, his eyes, and for the first time that lie was screaming, screaming since he had actually stayed in his unendingly. The brilliancy died. place, and had done no jumping—he He caught a glimpse of a pale-violet saw the effect caused by the gradual world, with Lemley outlined against diminution of light. He scanned the it. He was still screaming, but not huge bowl of light, and was disap- so piercingly now. The pale-violet pointed when he saw no sign of lxjcatne paler, approached darkness, Hagerstown. became darkness absolute. His “Better luck next time,” he screams stopped. He knew, with a thought. “Hell! How do you get burst of utter grief, that he was dy- down in one piece!” His eyes popped ing. as he saw the surface rushing up at Lemley stood over him, his thin him. He threw his arms back, and face set in a scowl. “Damn fool,” his feet came down. At the last lie said, his voice cracking. “Damn minute, he remembered to bend his fool!” knees. He stooped and extracted food Lemley hit, and felt as if he was i

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 75 breaking himself off at the ankles. again, with only a slight rotation. Tie had forgotten to send current The bowl was approaching swiftly, through his shoes, and when he got and the dot that was* Hagerstown his bearings again he discovered, in was growing in size. Lem ley held dismay, that he had bounced up the gun in front of him, his lips from the surface of the planet, and drawn back over his teeth. was slowly—very slowly—drifting “Here’s where you get yours!” away. He squirmed around vainly, Closer, closer. Hagerstown was trying to throw himself back the standing with his hands on his hips. mere two or three feet between him Evidently he had thought to find a and a solid surface. He continued badly wounded man. Lem ley was to move upward at a slow, steady almost on top of him when Hagers- rate—perhaps no more than a foot town looked up. A look of wild a second. alarm crossed his face. He ground out a curse of exasper- Lemley pulled the trigger. ation, and regarded the receding sur- “You’re dead!” he yelled with the

face in perplexity. He frowned. full power of his lungs . “You're “O. K.,” he said slowly. He dead! Fall down, damn you!” blithely switched on his headset. Hagerstown did not fall down. His “Hagerstown,” he snapped. No lips were open in a snarl of pure answer. He tried again and again, hatred and fright. He pulled his over a period of five minutes. His gun and blasted away at Lemley. calculating eyes sparkled. He swore He crouched, and shot no less than audibly, and ended with a groan of three times. Lemley wildly shot pain; not too loud, not too soft, but again. He was hanging then without exactly the right note. motion, but this second shot sent Then he snapped off his headset, him spinning back again, away from and waited, as he slowly drifted up- the surface. ward, so slowly that after two hours Wildly, he pulled the trigger once the huge bowl was still plainly more, aiming as best he might. He visible. yelled furiously when he saw that At the end of three hours, he was Hagerstown was still standing; using his binoculars, anxiously. though naturally, he remembered, he What he was waiting for came ab- couldn't fall. ruptly. A tiny speck, just large Then he couldn’t fire any more. enough to be discerned, suddenly Partly because of the distance, showed up where the rim of the bowl mostly because he had only two bul- faded out into blackness. It was lets left, and he knewche’d need them moving, silhouetted against the vio- to cut his velocity down. let light. Lemley’s breath broke His arm dropped, and in abject loose, and exultantly, he waited until disappointment, he watched Hagers- Hagerstown-—for it was he—landed. town recede. The man was still Then he pulled the Colt, lined him- standing. But—his arms suddenly self up, and fired. dropped to his side, and his knees The recoil sent him into tremen- buckled. Lemley excitedly put the dous velocity, and started him tum- binoculars to his eyes, but all he bling head over heels. He delib- could see was Hagerstown as a small erately stiffened himself at full receding dot. Lemley could not length, and by thrashing about with know if he was dead. legs and arms stabilized himself He must have crossed the planet 76 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

in less than an hour. When land For amusement he jumped, using showed up, he tired at the land, five dead bodies as his landmarks. twice. His formerly furious speed He became so proficient in this art was cut to a slow drift. But within that once he made a perfect bull's- twenty minutes lie had landed. eye and landed square on March's 1 1 is gun was empty, hut, neverthe- spacesuited chest —from a point clear less, his brow furrowed, he figured on the opposite side of the planet. where Hagerstown should be; and so Once—although ammunition was jumped. His angle was only slightly limited—he made a flight across a off, but he had to walk for two miles. diameter of the planet in a little Hagerstown was dead, standing more than thirty minutes. It cost up, blood frozen around his nostrils. him ten bullets. In his food kit were the food ra- He lost count of time, but knew, tions of four people, all told: his by the amount of food and water re- own. Vane’s March’s, and Wright’s. maining, the approximate number of “What a shame!’’ said Lemley, days that passed. mockingly. “The prime devil of us The last of his food went. One all. So March murdered Vane? Not day later, he was forced to drink the at all, although it might have been last of his water. possible. You murdered Vane and Lie waited ten hours, his nerves told Latham that March had had tensed. Finally he snapped on his two rations in his kit. You also headset. "Voice,” he snapped, “the murdered Wright, and must have famine's on. The population is about used at least six bullets in order to to die out." get there before Latham, who The hands of the chronometer had thought you were me. But l mur- gone around once more, and Lem- dered you. So laugh that off, cry ley 's tongue was beginning to swell, baby!’’ when a carrier wave sounded, and the Voice spoke, amusedly. So, since Lemley had cornered the “The famine’s over, Lemley.” It food supply successfully, his was a spoke no more, though Lemley swore soft life for five weeks—within lim- thickly. Lemley stayed awake un- its. On the food and water question til he couldn't hold his eves open: he had to discipline himself rigor- and then slept. ously. “It’s only a habit, anyway,” When he awoke, he was in a little he told himself philosophically. cell, lying on a bed, wearing his ordi-

ROMEOSlet love-making Don’t your be spoiled by a

cough due to a cold . . . Keep Smith Brothers*

Cough Drops handy. Black or Menthol, just 54. Smith Bros. Cough Drops are the only drops containing VITAMIN A Vitamin A (Carotene) raises the resistance of mucous membranes of nose and throat to cold infections, when lack of resist- ance is due to Vitamin A deficiency. .

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE 77 nary suit. He jumped to his feet, food since—in a commercial way, of stood looking around him, cau- course. He’s fairly respected in some tiously. Before him was a table, not quarters now. 1 might say he’s a heavily laden, but with enough to new edition of himself—though the feed him twice over. He ate—and pages are becoming somewhat tat- drank—and when he had finished, tered again.” sat down on the bed and started to “Where’d you get the story?” dem an < 1 ex p ! anation s “Does it really matter?” He He never got them. There was a stared at me intently, his eyes ac- puff of light, and a sickening odor quiring a certain paleness. Before assailed his nostrils. I knewr what he was doing, he was “Oh, damn,” he thought, and lost on his feet, still staring at me. consciousness. “But I think you know the moral.” The flump man with the scarred And then he was gone. face stopped for the first time since Slowly the soft music and laugh- he had begun the story. He ges- ing couples of the Sky Harden

tured to a waiter who had been im- reached my mind again. I paid my

patiently staring at our table. He check and let, , and went to a pri- ordered a drink and raised his color- vate phone booth. less eyebrows at me. da fee’s voice answered presently. “I don’t feel like drinking,” I said, “Oh, you, chief.” He seemed dis- although my throat was dry. “I’m gusted. not hungry either,” 1 said at the “1 want you,” I told him, “to draw waiter. The waiter went away. up a report of the various complaints I foreed my eyes back to those made by the employees of Venusian of the plump man. Metals.” 1*0 on. “What good will that do?” he said “That’s really all of the story. sarcastically. Lem ley won out. Perhaps lie should “Plenty. I’ve recently had a have. The debonair shall inherit the change of heart. Sure, voluntary. Earth.” And there won't be a wage cut. I

“I thought it was ‘The meek shall might actually manage an increase, ” inherit the Earth.’ instead.” “Some Biblical students claim that “For Heaven’s sake,” Jafec said in was the result of a bad translation. an awed tone. I prefer ‘debonair.’ At any rate, the “Change the letterheads and en- word conveniently applies to Lern- velopes. Take your name off. Put ley. One of his characteristics is that mine on. Since I’ve decided to he seldom took anything seriously. change my ways, I might as well He was easygoing.” come out in the open. There was a hardness behind his “D. Lemley, president— D. Lem- genial blue eyes, “i'll say this much Icy— Hell, does it sound that bad?” for Lemley. He woke up on Earth, I!c had been choking. “ after his strange experience, and did ’Sense me, chief,” he said apolo- some serious thinking. The result of getically. I could almost hear him that was that he broke his chain scratching his head. Finally he ad- stores up into a hundred small com- mitted, “It’s just that I can't under-

panies and sold them to individual stand what got into you, all of a. buyers. He's had nothing to do with sudden.” There's mere than one way to kill a cof—but some-

times drowning if in cream is smart! Particularly,

when the "cat” is as tough as the Martian Mhom.

By Leigh Brack!!

Hr disembarked at Them, heart He presented his papers at last to of the Rikatva Area, a pale, stooped the Assistant Commissioner, a lean, shadow of a man, young from his saturnine Martian from over Tchava face, but old and hopeless from his way. eyes. With him nearly five hundred “Martin Drake,” read the Com- other passengers on the ancient missioner. “Single. Occupation, spacefill) climbed down into the dry secretary.” He scrawled his name red earth that was their last hope of as though sick of seeing it and economic freedom. grunted, “Secretary! And not a Rikatva and Telia va, the Mar- farmer in the lot of ’em, I’ll wager! tian Reclaimed Areas. The Tri- All right, Martin Drake; you’re out Council—great minds of three on the edge of the settlement, with worlds—had poured money into the other single men. Makes less them in an effort to give the un- fuss when we lose ’em.” wanted overflow of a crowded civili- And while Martin Drake was zation a chance to get off the public pondering that remark, the long line charity rolls. Water, brought in pushed him on, down to tables tanker ships from wetter worlds; where guards rummaged in the Venusian humus, acid phosphate, ni- scanty lug-gage of the newcomers. trate nitrogen, to make the alkaline Drake submitted liis for inspec- desert fruitful; after that, crude tion. “Any firearms?” demanded shacks and cruder implements, the guard, and patted him expertly. scrimped together with what was Drake shook his head. left from the funds wrung so hardly The man next ahead of him in line from resentful taxpayers. had an automatic taken from him, It was common talk throughout and commented, “Still remembering the Solar System that the Areas last year’s outbreak, eh? Made you were a failure. Only the destitute work for your keep, then, didn’t still had hope. they?” The young man breathed the thin “I wouldn’t be too smart,” the air and shivered. When special guard retorted. “If the guys that guards herded the mob across the have to foot the bill for this outlay landing field to the supply houses, keep on howling, and you yellow- he followed with the quiet obedience bellies don’t make a better showing of a well-broken beast. on the credit side, we’ll still have The flame-bombs stopped the incredible toughness of the thing only momentarily. army pay, and you’ll be right back there was something about Them, on the streets!” unscreened now by sheds and The line shoved Drake on and on. hangars, that made the lost, old look Eventually he found himself in the deepen on Drake’s face,

1 one street of Them , clutching his al- Huddled and squalid under the lotment of tools, seeds, and clothing, huge loom of the water tanks, the and the halter of a vaard; an ugly, cheerlessness of Them was horrible; hairless Martian edition of the h(*-se, here and there rose the shattered with harness-galls and a waiting marble spires of the ancient city, malice in its little yellow eyes. And mute prophets of futility. "

80 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Drake sighed and drew out his in patched overalls, crowned with a land card. tangle of black curls that danced in the breeze. She was glowing and The words meant nothing to him. strong and confident, and Drake He looked about for a source of in- stood in awe before her. She took formation, and was abruptly con- the rein from his hand, tying it scious of a clamor arising down the deftly while he stared and could not street. People began to pour out of take his eyes away. the bars and happy joints in a drab, He was still staring when she morbidly curious crowd, and the red looked up to ask his name. Drake dust of the unpaved way rose in a stammered it out, drinking her in as choking cloud. though she were something he had Only one man stayed behind, a never dreamed existed, and wanted tali Venusian, his boots spread wide never to forget. He saw her flush, apart, his cloud-colored eyes nar- and never thought of rudeness. rowed as he watched the crowd mill Dimly he knew that the crowd was and turn back upon itself. A sun- swirling back toward them, but her browned man of slow, massive voice came clearly. strength, with something of the “I'm Terra Brooke. My father Earth's hard honesty in the set of has the farm next to Tels'.” his big-boned head and curling yel- Terra. Earth. No other name low beard. Drake became painfully would have fitted her. Just looking aware of his white skin and unde- at her roused a strange new joy in veloped body. But lie had to find Drake, something that sang for no his home. lie gripped his land card reason except that he was looking and tapped the tall stranger hesi- at her. tantly on the shoulder. The shock of Tels’ great hand on The cloud-colored gaze flicked half his shoulder was like a physical contemptuously over the Earth- pain. “Have you never seen a man's stooped thinness, "Well?” woman?" demanded the Venusian Drake—shewed his card. “Can you shortly, spinning him round. tel! me Drake gasped out “No!" just as The tall man cut him short with the edge of the crowd curled round an unenthusiastic grunt. "Your them. Terra's brown face paled, land is next to mine. I'm going home and she turned her head away. now. Come if you like.” He ges- “Let's go, Tels,” she pleaded, tured to a two-wheeled cart with a climbing into the cart. “I don't vaard between the shafts. “Get in, want to see.” and tie your beast behind." Tels didn't hear her. Harsh- Drake bent over the cart tail, faced, he tightened his grip on fumbling clumsily with the halter Drake’s shoulder, thrust him bodily end. The vaard jerked its head per- through the crush, to where men versely, and the knot would not carried a blanket-cov ered thing on a make. He heard the Venusian’s de- stretcher. risive grunt, and went scarlet. Then “Look there, Earthpuppv! That's slim brown hands reached over his, what’s driving us from the land. and a clear voice spoke in his ear. That's what you city-bred weaklings “May I help?” can't fight. But Ivhom doesn't Drake looked rip. A girl stood care. He gives no quarter to weak- beside him, a slender, smiling angel lings. Go on. Look!” ”

MARTIAN QUEST 81 He ripped the blanket savagely —Drake flushed. “I didn’t mean from the huddle on the stretcher. - ” He broke off, staring. “Look at Drake retched and held down a that vineyard!” writhing stomach. The man be- The others looked, startled? then neath was dead. Naked to the waist, they turned questioningly to Drake. the manner of his dying was hor- “What about the vineyard?” ribly plain. Something had struck growled Tels, and Terra added, more him in the side, crushed his ribs and kindly, “It’s only one that Khom has snapped his spine and laid his en- stripped.” trails bare. “Yes,” said Drake excitedly, “but Something had done that with one look at the vines! They’re eaten blow. right down to the ground.” “Khom?” faltered Drake. Mar- Tels stared at him. “Of course.

tian for Destroyer. “But what . . . So is the desert scrub he eats. So is what is it?” everything he touches. What of 'Tel s’ strange burst of savagery it?” had burned out with the sight of “But how strange for a lizard to death, lie muttered, “The great eat wood!” desert lizard,’’ and turned to his “Perhaps,” said Tels. “But he cart. Drake stumbled after him, eats it, Karthinan, and everything white and shaken. else beside.” The road they followed out of “I suppose,” added Terra gently, Them ran between dusty fields, set “it’s because there’s so little food in to beans ami alfalfa and yellow Mar- the desert; only the scrub and the tian grapes. Here and there the land cactus. Khom needs a lot of food, was stripped hare of green things, as and I guess he’s learned to use all though a plague of giant locusts had there is. He even gets his water

descended. Irrigation ditches, a. from the cactus, you know.” stink of fertilizer, furrows cut square Drake nodded; for the first time across the wind, weathered shacks his face was animated.— “Odd, isn’t without a. shrub or a shade tree, and it? Adaptability ahead, the open desert. Drake “All that interests me,” Tels in- looked out across the flat emptiness terrupted, “is dinner. And oven that of it, and heard for the first time the I hate. Beans! When my melon low laughter of its drifting earth ripens. I’ll have something sour to under the hand of a wind that never cut the rotten dust from my throat!” stopped. “Ugly, isn’t it?” said Terra Drake had dinner at Tels’ shack Brooke’s low voice. “But it’s all we that night. Terra wanted it. She have.” explained that she often cooked Tels’ “It’s better than nothing at all,” supper when he was late in town.

said Drake with a. queer, cold bitter- Khom the Destroyer had stripped ness. “Anything is better than their vineyards not long before, and that!” Iter father was not well, so any com- Tels studied him in his slow way. pany Terra had, she had at Tels’ “Your clothes are good,” he said place. Tels came for Drake, to show finally, “and your thinness is not him the way, and before they left from starvation. T think you don’t Drake’s shack, the Venusian faced know what ‘nothing at all’ can him. mean.” “For Terra’s sake you are wel- 82 ASTO UN DING SCIENCE-FICTION

come,” lie said, 1 1 is eyes embarrass- and wind and barrenness.” He rose ingly steady on the Eartlnnan’s thin abruptly, thudding his fist with sav- face. “But look you, stranger.” age gentleness against the wall. “On Idie curling blond beard was thrust Venus,” he said softly, “there is dark “ rockily forward. I will marry earth that doesn’t blow, ami rain. Terra when my farm is settled. And Rain!” she is no street wench, to be stared Terra laid a sympathetic hand on at. You come for dinner, that is his shoulder. “It is a hard place, all!” Martin. And since the trouble last Drake's face flushed angry scarlet, year, they won’t let us have guns.” but Tels’ broad back was turned. Drake remembered the man in the They went in silence to the neigh- supply shed. “What happened?” boring farm. “Some of the settlers here got Terra was an expert cook. The tired of fighting. There are bar- strong desert hen was like pheasant, barian tribes in the desert; they live

I he baked red cactus and mixed by plunder. North of us are the beans from the fields fit for a po- radium mines. The settlers sent the tentate, for all Tels’ grumbling. barbarians against Rikatva to keep Drake’s dinner went down in a the soldiers busy, and went and at- dream; a dream filled with a black- tacked the radium mines. There haired angel rattling dishes on an was fighting, and a lot of men died ancient stove. before it was over. So all guns are The overalls had been replaced by forbidden here.” a simple print dress, and the sweet “But the lizards! Haven’t you slim lines of her made Drake’s throat any protection?” ache. He was a confusion of unfa- Tels shrugged. “Guns are not miliar feelings. He flushed and much use against Khom. Only his clicked and stammered, and wished eye and his throat are vulnerable, himself a hundred miles away, and and since he feeds only at night, it’s yet nothing would have made him hard to hit them. We ail keep go. flares; the light sometimes drives Terra talked to him a good deal, him off. So far he has let me about the Areas; Tchava, she said, alone.” was no better off than Rikatva, and Changing the subject abruptly, the whispers of a sudden stoppage of he said, “Here, you, Earth man; see funds grew steadily louder. The what I have raised.” lizards were worse than any Biblical There was a box full of black scourge, killing without mercy when earth in the warmest corner by the disturbed at their feeding. Khom stove. Drake saw that the condi- was the greatest enemy; dust storms tions were as much like Venus’ sul- and dryness and grudging fertility try dampness as anyone could make could be whipped in time, but Khom on Mars. He studied the pallid was the harvester of the crops. melon vine with its two long fruits, Terra smiled suddenly at Drake. and said; “Never been on your own before, “Wouldn’t it have been better to have you?” grow it in a culture?” “No,” Drake admitted humbly. Tels glared. “A culture!” he “My uncle raised me.” snorted, and held out his hands. Tels snorted. “You picked a fine “Not while I have these to dig in place to come to,” lie growled. “Dust the earth!” 6 —

MARTIAN QUEST 83

Terra’s eyes were suddenly shin- The frosty air bit into Drake as ing. “First the lizards, now growth- he followed them outside. Roth cultures. Are you a scientist?” moons were up, throwing crazy shift- Drake's thin face showed sudden ing patterns on the fields. Tels was lines. “No,” he said dully. “No, leaping for the vineyard, shouting I'm not a scientist. I’m a—-secre- terrible things in his own tongue. tary.” Drake made out several blots of Terra studied him. “Show me darkness, eight or ten, that had in- your hands, Martin Drake.” dependent movement. They were Puzzled, he held them out. Then, among the grapes, and the neat rows abruptly realizing, he snatched them of vines were broken now like crum- back, thrust them deep in his bling battlements. pockets. Terra smiled and shook Tels threw the flare. A lurid glare her head slowly. burst over the vineyard, and Drake “Stains, and acid burns. You’re saw Khom, disturbed at his feeding. no secretary; you’re a chemist.” Wicked triangular heads shot up Drake was shaking, and his eyes from the ruined vines, horny rep- were hollow. "1 thought I was, tilian heads framed in ruffs like once,” he muttered. “Now I’m just Triceratops. Bodies two feet longer a farmer, out on the edge of things than a tall man raised high in omi- where Khom can get me without nous preparation on strong clawed making a fuss!” legs, and tails “Whv did you lie?” demanded Drake shivered, remembering the Tels. dead man on the stretcher, torn in Terra, tense with some strange two with one blow. Khom had a urgency, rushed on uncaring. tail as long as his body and his head “Martin, I think a scientist could together; a mighty, supple flail save the Reclaimed Areas! We can’t armed with rows of deadly spikes. do it ourselves, and the Tri-Council Tels was still running toward the can’t afford to send experts out here invaders, mad with the rage that to work, perhaps for months and takes a man when he sees the work months. Rut you’re one of us, Mar- of his hands destroyed. The vaard tin. You could try!” in the stable screamed on monoto- “Try-—what?” nously, terrified by the rank scent “To destroy Khom! Guns and of the lizards. Tels stopped sud- poison won’t do it, but science could denly, began throwing clods of earth, find some way, I know it!” She shaking with a bitter, dreadful caught the Farthman’s bony shoul- wrath. ders impulsively. “Will you do it?” Terra yelled a frantic warning. And while Drake stared at her, Eight of the lizards turned abruptly trembling, while Tels’ harsh laughter from the glaring light of the flare, rocked t he room, there came from running swiftly, high on their legs outside a horrible hoarse screaming; like monstrous crocodiles. But one, a rasping shriek of fear that set the larger than the rest, stayed behind hair prickling down their necks. to do battle. Tels swore a furious oath and A clod burst squarely between its sprang for the door, catching a flare eyes. Opening wide a gaping mouth from a shelf as he ran. Terra’s set with strange rodential teeth, brown face paled, and she said one Khom charged. word: “Khom!" Tels turned to run, twisting frau- AST— 84 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION tieally aside from tiie sweep of the can’t poison our crops. No, Mar- wicked tail. But Khom was swift. tin”— her eyes caught his, held them The spiked bludgeon swung, struck —“only science has a chance, ft’s viciously. Tels, a hoarse scream of up to you!” agony stifled in his throat, was tum- There was a sudden sound from bled limply aside into his broken the cot; a. feeble ghost of Tels’ boom- vines. ing laughter. The Venusian had Drake had a momentary glimpse wakened. of a. back armor-plated like a battle “You ask too much. Terra,” he cruiser, ami huge jaws agape with whispered. “You ask a little weak- silent laughter. Then Khom had ling to lift the land on his shoul- shot by them, out into the dark, ders.” whispering desert. Drake rose, flushing. Terra said quietly: Tuns was still breathing. Strain- “What are you afraid of, Martin ing, panting, Drake and 'Berra car- Drake?” ried him back to the shack. The Again the husky laughter. “Tie's girl was white, dry-eyed. Unhesi- afraid of death, girl! He’s afraid of tatingly she stripped the blood-sod- work anti pain and hunger, but most den shirt from the Venusian; drew of all he’s afraid of death. 1 saw a long, shuddering breath. his face when he looked at the dead “Right arm and shoulder broken,” man in Them!” she whispered; “and 1 think some Drake stood like a stooped, taut ribs. Poor Pels, to be so foolish!” thing of marble, head averted, while Her lingers bit into Drake’s soft Terra shook her dark curls and an- muscles. “(Jet the doctor, Martin. swered. The hospital is the big white house “No, Tels. You’re wrong. It’s in Them. Ride Tels’ vaard. And life Martin Drake's afraid of!” hurry!” Drake swung suddenly to face Drake hurried. But the one them, his thin hands clenched until thought in his mind was: “She loves the bones gleamed white. Tels. 'Berra loves Tels.” can judge me, people!” Later that night he sat with Terra “You you he out at them. weren’t beside the Venusian’s cot. The doc- burst “You born owing your life, food, clothing tor had set the broken bones, the schooling had, to some- molded a great clumsy east around and you one else. uncle took me; S had Tels’ upper body. "He'll live,” he My nothing when my parents died. ]’ve said, and left. never had anything. Since I was Terra placed her hand on old enough to talk, I’ve been paring Drake’s. “You see now why you my uncle back what I owed him. must try to destroy the lizards?” “He had me taught chemistry, not Drake spread his hands. “Why because 1 liked it, but because lie not men with (lame guns, or atomic thought I’d be the most use to him bombs?” in the laboratories. George Breok- there’s “It would take years, and ner, of Interworld Enterprises, who no money.” hated his sister because she defied “Poison, then.” him to marry my father. My father, Terra shook her head. “Khom you see, was a failure, a visionary eats no flesh, drinks no water. We scientist who died a pauper. Uncle ”

MARTIAN QUEST 65

George had little hope for me, but he Next morning every house in the made me work! I took orders and Reclaimed Areas found a printed cleaned test tubes and mixed solu- proclamation at its door. tions, but I never worked as an in- Due to the high cost involved and dependent chemist. I wasn't worth the untenability of the land, it has be- it. [ was my father's son, and de- come impossible for the Tri-Council to pendent on my uncle for my bed continue to finance the Reclaimed and my dinner. Areas in their present state. Wishing to give the Areas every pos- '‘It’s easy for you to be strong sible chance, the Tri-Council has ar- independent! weren’t and You ranged a public hearing on the fourth taught from babyhood that you were of November, two Martian weeks from utterly worthless and incompetent, today. If. at this time, reasonable existing on charity. There did come proof can l>e shown that the Areas may be placed on a sounder basis, a day when T had my doubts. I the Tri-Council will take the matter thought 1 had stumbled on some- under advisement. thing in the laboratory. I thought However, all residents are requested I could prove to my uncle that I to hold themselves in readiness for im- mediate abandonment of Rikatva and was worthy of consideration as an Tchava. individual. I thought ... I thought I could prove it to myself.” Drake was sitting on his bunk, the His voice faltered. He pressed crumpled paper at his feet, when his palms to his throbbing temples, Terra Brooke came in. She came and his words were almost inaudible without knocking; standing there, when he went on. her black curls disheveled, her eyes "I made my experiment; secretly, strained and tired in her white face, because I wanted it to be a surprise, she seemed dazed and queerly uncer- something no one could ignore. tain. Well, I succeeded! Drake stared at her blindly. “1 destroyed five thousand dollars “.There’s nothing left now,” he said worth of equipment in the resulting tunelessly. “I've got to go back to explosion. How I escaped death, I my uncle. There's no place else don’t know; I wish I hadn’t. But f where they'd take me. He ... he had made a stupid, foolish mistake; said I’d come back.” if it hadn’t been after hours, I might Terra's bands made an aimless have killed every man in the labora- gesture. Her lips moved, but what- tory. E knew then that my —uncle ever words were back of them died was right. I ... I ran away in her throat. Terra put her hands gently on his “Why did you come?” asked trembling shoulders. '“You can help Drake.

us here, Martin. I believe in . . you.” “I —. I don't know. Perhaps Martin Drake met her eyes. “You I thought ” She broke suddenly, don’t understand, Terra,” he said covering her face with' her hands. simply. “I can’t help anyone. I Drake could see the tears shining haven’t it in me.” between her fingers. “ He turned and went out, walking — I thought you might still save slowly across the ravaged fields us, Martin Drake,” she said, very where the stumps of the grapevines low. “But you couldn't. Maybe were gnawed clear to the earth, and Tels was right. Maybe you are a behind him there was silence in the weakling!” Her eyes were sud- cabin. denly shining fiercely into his. ” . ——

86 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“What, about Tels? He has, to go way to begin; Ivhom didn’t offer back too, to a stinking swamp that himself to be studied, there were no swallowed his land on Venus. What research laboratories, no fellow sci- about the hundreds of people who entists to help. Then, on the eighth hoped to live here; the thousands night, Khom made a raid across more who might have found new life Drake’s land into the inner circle of here? Thev have to go back, to the farms, and the furious, hate-filled charity rolls. What about my settlers drove him back with flares,

father and . . . and me, Martin pursuing him right to the edge of the Drake?” desert. Drake, caught in the fore- Somehow Drake found himself on front of that tide of battle, had his feet and repeated, “Why did you barely time to turn his vaard loose come?” — to escape by itself, and then run for “Because ” The fierce tense- the comparative safety of Tels’ ness went suddenly out of Terra’s shack. From there, he saw three body. Her head dropped; Drake men die under Khom’s tail, and saw strained— for her whispered, “I don’t his own shack go up in flames from know a random flare. There was nothing sane, nothing Poking morbidly through the ordered. In the last day and night ashes in the morning, choking over he had lived a hundred years. He a vile stench that rose and went had lost all identity with himself, all streaming out to the desert on the sense of the ordered pattern of steady wind, he found something. things. He tilted Terra’s tear- Holding his breath, he knelt and streaked face up and looked into her pawed the ashes away with his eyes. It wasn’t a conscious act; hands. some strange, hungry yearning, Charred, head and tail partially something beyond anything he had burned away, but body still intact, ever in his narrow existence known a young Khom lay in the ruins. before, took his body and moved it. Only eight feet long, but old enough He took Terra Brooke in his arms to have musk glands that sent up a and kissed her. stench, along with the charred flesh, For long ' she lay a moment that could have been smelled in quivering against him. Abruptly, Tchava like a wild thing, she wrenched Drake gasped for air, but he away and struck him, hard, across didn’t leave. Here was a chance to the face. Then she was gone, run- .study the enemy first hand. The ning like a deer across the naked armor plate had preserved the im- fields, portant parts of the carcass. He Drake stood still, his fingers had no instruments, no facilities, but against his bruised cheek. “I don’t it was just possible know,” he whispered. “I don’t He shook his head. This was the know! But what difference can it ninth day. Still make? I’ve failed anyway! Two Martian weeks. That’s ten Earth He dragged the brute clear of the days. Ten days!” ashes, borrowed a tarpaulin and a sharp knife from Tels, and began his Eight of those precious days went bloody task. by in a hopeless search for some It was a sickening job, cutting and point of attack. There seemed no slicing and handling things that were MARTIAN QUEST 87 never meant to be seen. The tar- propped up on his cot, wrinkled his paulin kept the sun off, and Drake nose iu disgust. stayed on the windward side, but all “You stink,” he said. “Go and day that musky reek went trailing wash off that damned lizard.” out into the desert, seeped clingingly Drake hadn’t realized. Stammer- into his clothing. ing an apology, he added, “My -” And, at last, he sat back on his clothes were burned. 1 haven’t— heels and whistled. “So that’s how “Take mine,” said Tels. “Put he gets away with his wood! An ex- wash!” tra stomach, supplied with an en- Drake shivered under the cold zyme culture—just like a termite. shower in the crude bath, climbed Protozoans, of course, to digest the gratefully into Tels’ clothes. For cellulose for him. One-celled ani- lack of anything else to do with mals, living in an alkaline culture; them, he left his own reeking gar- got to be alkaline, because every- ments on the floor. thing that grows here has an alka- It was a gloomy meal, the more line reaction in the digestive system. so because it seemed all the vaards “So Xhom is just a big, four- in Rikatva were having the nervous legged termite!” terrors, and the incessant shrieking To confirm his surmise, he bor- rasped nerves already ragged. Sev- rower] litmus paper, used in soil eral times Drake and Terra looked testing, and the enzyme culture out, but there was no sign of lizards. showed an alkaline reaction. For a In the shifting moonlight the desert moment Drake was enthusiastic. was always full of shadows. Then his shoulders sagged. Inter- “Get the melons,” said Tels abruptly. well esting, but it didn’t help him any. “We might as eat It didn’t show him any way to de- them as leave them here to rot.” stroy the beasts. And tomorrow Terra brought them. Drake’s was the Council hearing. throat ached at the sight of her; the spring, the joy, the life was gone He didn’t even bury the carcass. from her. She was a little like him In a few days there’d be nobody left now, patient and defeated. to smell it. “Did you find anything?” she There over Tcls’ was smoke cabin; asked. Terra was getting supper. Drake Drake spoke to them mechani- crossed the fields, hating to see the cally about Khoru’s digestive appar- two, to parade his failure, but un- atus, accepting his share of the pale able to stay alone. After all, he bad Venusian fruit. Tels found no joy in no place to go. the prized melon now; his face was Somewhere, down the outer line stony as he bit into his portion, of farms, a vaard voiced a querulous “Little animals living in his scream. As Drake entered the cabin stomach?” he grunted around a he fancied he saw a stirring out in mouthful, and shook his head. “It the desert, a flickering of low, swift does not help us.” shadows, but the double moonlight Drake sighed and took a bite. was tricky and a freshening breeze Instantly he choked and gasped over was shifting the whispering sand. a corrosive sourness. The melon was Terra turned from the stove; just acid, not pleasantly, like alkaline for a second there was hope in her citrus fruits, but with a biting, eyes. It flickered out, and Tels, astringent acerbity comparable only 83 A STGTJNDING SCIENCE-FICTION to some mess in a test tube. He the culture would kill the protozoans gagged and retched, snatching for —and Khom would starve to death!” water. Tels snorted. “You talk non- TcJs’ blond beard crinkled to a roar sense! Khom will not be fed by of laughter. “Earthpuppv! If you hand, those melons will not grow ever come to Venus, you'd better get here naturally, and besides, there is some little animals to live in your but one plant.” stomach and drink your acids for “Hydroponics, Tels! Growth cul- 5 you! ’ tures. A ring of specially con- Drake was suddenly, transfixed structed tanks, fencing the Areas; staring at the melon with a sort of nutrients, auxin, vitamins, intensify- awe. “My God!” he whispered. ing chemicals. They can ship more “That’s it!” vines from Venus; Khom can eat them as fast as they grow. Inside Startled questions, sudden blaz- of six months, there won't be a liz- ing inspiration, were drowned ut- ard left in the desert!” terly in the high, wild shriek from “You’ve got to get away, Martin.” Tels’ stable. Other vaards picked Terra caught his shoulders. “You’ve it up, until the shack was ringed got to get that knowledge to the with screaming beasts. And this Council tomorrow. Khom will be time the running shadows in the all around us in a moment. You've desert were close in the fields, and got to get away!” solid. Drake stared at her unseeingly. They congregated, dozens of them, “Get me pencil and paper, in a milling swirl around a charred quickly.” slowly, unbeliev- and butchered corpse that sent its Tels turned an musky stench out on the wind. ing rage hardening his face. “You would go? You would leave Terra Tels, lips tight with pain, joined here?” them at the window. “Never have Drake was silent. The girl put I seen them like that. Look, they paper on the table; he wrote, rapidly. break a little; some are coming this Tels saw what he wrote. way. But there is nothing in my fields!” “Will fear make you forget even your idea?” he said softly, and Drake’s face was while in the struck suddenly with his good arm. lamplight. “There’s something in your bath. My clothes, with the Drake went down. Tels, while smell of Khom on them. The corpse with pain and anger, cried: “Run, has brought them in; now they’re Martin Drake! We ll hold off the coining here, after me!” lizards. Bun, damn you!” Terra’s hands were clenched; the Drake staggered up, gripping the cords stood out on her wrists. “Mar- paper. “We’ve all got to get out of tin,” she said, “what did you mean here. Those brutes have the scent just now, about the melon?” of my clothes now; in a few minutes break in.” Drake’s eyes were on those mill- they’ll ing shapes. “Khom depends on “He’s right, Tels,” sighed Terra. wood-cellulose for his food. The Drake caught her look and winced. protozoans that digest it for him She’d had hope before; now she live in an alkaline culture. This knew he was a coward. melon is acid. Introducing it into “The stable,” be said, “is the only ”

MARTIAN QUEST R9 chance. They may not find us for lighter. The vaard will have a bet- a while. Bring the flares. Terra.” ter chance to get —away. Besides She took the webbing sack of you’re . . . you’re them, offered her other arm for Tels He stopped abruptly, loosing the to lean on. Drake opened the door, halter. “Go now. Terra. Hurry!” and stopped. She was close to him in the dark; suddenly there were soft, warm lips Khom was everywhere. Great on his, firm and vital. Then she was armor-plated shadows slid wide- on the nervous beast, shoving the jawed in nervous circles about the door wide. “Throw a flare, Martin! shack, drawing ever closer. The Keep throwing them, until I come vaard in the stable screamed as back!” Drake had never heard one scream Tels grinned. He hadn’t seen that before, and every beast in Rikatva kiss. “Terra is a real woman! was answering. There was a preg- Where are the flares? I have one nant tension in the air; Death had hand left!” come in from the desert. Drake saw her go, in the white Drake hurled a flare. Khom drew glare, low on the vaard’s neck, flying back, and the short path to the in a wide circle for Them. Then he stable was momentarily clear. looked at the prowling, silent things “Come on!” he yelled, and broke into in the naked fields. a run, helping to bear Tels’ half- “Afraid?” growled Tels. helpless weight. Martin shooked his head. “I . . .

* Glaring light and lashing tails, I don’t know. Look, Tels! There and armored heads that grinned hate they go!” at them. Then they were in the Khom had made up his mind at odorous dark of the stable, with the last. There was a crash and a splin- vaard thrashing and shrieking. ter as Tels' shack door went in; the , Drake caught its head-rein; some- flimsy walls rocked, cracking at the thing in the touch of his hand joints as the great bodies went hurt- quieted it. ling in. They were mad, now. In He held out the paper to Terra. a moiVient they would scent the in stable. “Take this to Them. Get it into humans the responsible hands. Then, if you “I'll kill a few!” snarled Tels, and can, bring help. Now go, before lobbed two flares in quick succession Khom closes in!” at his shack. Wood grows dry on She didn’t understand. She Mars. In five minutes it was aflame. stared at him, clutching the paper “Mv God!” groaned Drake. with the fate of the Reclaimed Areas “That’s done it. Here they come!” written on it. “But Martin! You Balked of their objective, the . . . Tels—” lizards turned to the stable. In a Hardly knowing where the words grim, silent horde they came through came from, driven by something the blowing dust, the flames red be- deep within him, Drake plunged on. hind them. The two men hurled the “T don’t matter; Tels doesn’t matter. precious flares, trying to keep a ring Nothing matters but getting that of light around the stable, and Khom paper where it has to go. The prowled in nervous jerks, beyond the Council meets tomorrow morning! blaze, stopped, but only momen- You ride better than I, you’re tarily. ”

90 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Without warning, Tels crumpled he’d set fire to the barn. Just keep to the floor. His face was gray,— the circle closed as long as the flares sweat on his forehead. “I can’t last. Why? Because Tels is in he gasped, and fell back against the there, and maybe— Well, a man wall, half fainting. lives as long as he can. Drake knew fear, then; the full im- He had the last flare in his hand pact. of it, cold and brutal. Tels’ when he stopped. “Tels!” he strength was taken from him. He shouted. “Tels, look! Flares all stood alone, Martin Drake against along the fields there. Terra’s the Destroyer. And with that icy brought the settlers. We’re saved, realization came another knowledge. Tels!” He had a job to do, and it didn’t mat- He ran inside, seeing as he did so, ter whether he was afraid or not. that Khom was breaking his battle It occurred to him, fleetingly, that formation as the flares sizzled up maybe this was the secret of living. from the rear, heading out into the Picking up the half-empty sack, desert again. Tels still leaned Drake flung the door open; he could weakly against the wall, but he held aim better from the outside. Two up his hand. Drake took it, pre- of the beasts had got through al- pared to help them up. ready. A well-placed flare drove “No!” said Tels. “I’ll faint if I them back, but he didn’t dare let it stand up. Shake it, Earthpuppy. happen again. Much closer, and Shake it!” —

91

Bowel, invesion

The Martians may not have invaded Earth, bat same of the

plants Earth has should have come from there ! A companion

piece to de Camp's animals, meet Earth's screwy plants!

By lililly Ley

Illustrated by Willy Ley

It is very significant that the voy- nourishing diet, but form the raw age across the Atlantic Ocean, which material for a drink twenty times as led to the landfall of Christopher potent as the heaviest Roman grape Columbus on one of the small West wines that ever caused him a hang- Indian islands, is regarded as the end over. The Hercynian Forest would of that period in human history that be gone, and all roads—some dating was later termed the Middle Ages. back to his own time—he would find Although Columbus himself did not lined with yellow flowers—evening know he had discovered a new con- primroses from Virginia. tinent and refused to admit it until People would smoke, as they did his death, and even though it was occasionally in his time, too, but to- by no means the first discovery of bacco from the New' World, not America, it was the one that really hemp. They would eat red fruits changed the face of the Earth. he never saw, tomatoes; pull thick, I want this sentence to be under- sweet roots from the ground he never stood quite literally. The face of the heard of, sweet potatoes—not a Earth, apart from human cities, night-shade family member like the bridges and flams and political bor- potato, but belonging to the con- ders, has changed in many important volvulus or morning-glory family. respects since then. If one of those He might encounter squash and the educated ancient Romans—say good plant that produces tapioca. He old Cains Plinius Secundus himself would learn that pulling teeth does —came back to life, be would mar- not have to hurt, thanks to another vel at the new plants growing in plant from the other side of the At- abundance everywhere in the coun- lantic Ocean—the coca. He would tries near the Mediterranean he probably appreciate the many uses knew so well. He would find his of rubber and the taste of cocoa just people living mainly on something as much as anybody else in the even he had never heard of, namely world. maize. But the very landscape would Farther up in the North he would have changed, too. Agaves and find his Teutons, Goths and Cimbri cacti dominate it. Both are of of the Hercynian Forest living on American origin, but they are so fa- plant things dug from the ground miliar now that a painter of histori- potatoes—that not only provide a cal subjects a few decades ago un- —

92 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Fig. 1. Welwitscbia mirabitis—which ought to have come from Mars, but actually comes item Africa. knowingly used them us background what was exchanged? Or will an- for his paintings illustrating the ad- other painter create historical mu- ventures of Ulysses of Ithaka. rals showing the “Columbus of

If lie had known America in his Space”—who really opened the way time he would find a multitude of to Mars—stepping from the air lock changes, too. He would see that the of his historical spaceship lying in a bisons have disappeared, and that patch of scintillating flame bushes the white settlers had brought with that two hundred years later were them all their customary plants and imported to Earth from Venus? animals: horses and cattle, sheep and goats, sparrows am! cabbage butter- There actually is some uncer- flies, honey bees and bedbugs; tainty about a few plants at pres- plants: rye and wheat and barley- ent. Cotton, for example, was known corn, peas and lentils and oats, dan- in the New World as well as in the delion and clover, water cress and Old before the exchange took place. flax, red beets, sugar beets and tur- Rice may be a plant that existed on nips. both hemispheres. It is classic opin-

It is obvious to compare the past ion that sugar cane, banana and fig crossings of the Atlantic to the fu- originated in Asia, and the coconut ture crossings of space from America in the East Indian Archipelago. But to Venus or Mars. There will be a some botanists contend that they are Half Ericson who first accomplishes also American. Some others have a .successful crossing, but without doubted whether tobacco is purely immediate results in the way of colo- American or whether it also grew nization. And there will finally be somewhere in the far southeast of a Christopher Columbus whose voy- Asia. A few zoologists also doubt age will be the first of commercial whether the horses that roamed all importance. And then an exchange over America during the Tertiary- of animals and plants will begin. period really did become completely

But the point is: Will people, four extinct before the Spaniards intro- or five centuries later, still know duced European horses. BOTANICAL INVASION 93

I can easily imagine similar con- plant forms only two large leaves troversies five or six centuries after during its entire lifetime, but by the the advent of space travel. And I action of the wind—and also by ir- can picture an eager young botanist, regular growth of the trunk—they after following these controversies are slit and shredded to ribbons. If for a number of years, attempting a they were left in one piece they general roundup of all plants on would have a width of about five Earth that are not of terrestrial ori- feet. The sexes are strictly sepa-

gin. Records of space travel being rated; i. e., one individual plant pro- somewhat incomplete and he him- duces either male or female “flow- self being unable to read Twentieth ers.” Century English, French or German The young and eager botanist and also unable to consult botanical would not know' that WclwiLtchia works of the period just before the mirabilis was discovered in 1860 by first spaceship left Earth, he will the explorer and botanist Friedrich have to go by looks and by guesses. Welwitsch w'ho, serving a contract That will not be easy because the w'ith the Portuguese government, looks might not be very different. made extensive trips in the western Similar surroundings will produce parts of Africa. What might puzzle similar forms on all planets, and the future botanist wmuld be a close since it is permissible to assume that resemblance of Welwitschia to a life on all the planets of our Solar number of terrestrial fossils. Truly System originated from one cloud of remarkable, he would write, that on cosmic spores, the products of iden- one planet there should be a plant tical surroundings might look very surviving that is practically the same much alike. as the fossil plants on another planet. There would be one plant which Remarkable and strange, but not in- he would classify as being of Martian credible, he would reason, because origin with hardly a moment’s hesi- tation. -Welmtschia mirabilis grow- ing only in one spot on Earth—save for a few specimens in botanical gardens-—in southwest Africa. Restricted to the so-called Namib, a strip of desert land about thirty miles from the coast, the plant grows in sand of noticeable salinity where occasional rainfall provides the nec- essary amount of water. Wehoit- schia is really a tree; i. e., it forms a woody trunk which looks like a big round table. When the plant is

about a. century old, that immense trunk measures about twelve-fifteen feet around, but is only between one and one and a half feet high! The darkly colored trunk seems to be the center of a large number of long rib- bonlike leathery leaves that grow to a length of ten feet. Actually the Fig. 2. Amorphopballus titanum. Fig. 3. Rafflesia arnoldi. A lovely /lower—it looks and smells like a three-loot slab of exceedingly dead meat. This one ought to have come from Venus—but didr/t. horses ;ilso had to be introduced to den boasted specimens of these the American continent again, al- strange plants, while they could be though they had been there when found only on Sumatra and some of their evolutionary ancestors had the surrounding islands. There ex- been discovered. istecl a short mention in one of the early books on space travel that one Mars, however, did not contribute ship had crashed down into the much to the flora of Terra. A few rhimbas of Sumatra—this was prob- doubtlessly certain cases—-men- ably the ship from Venus with seeds tinned in records of interplanetary or seedlings of those plants on board, travel—and this Welwitschia—the Spectacular things they were, to date of importation of which was not be sure, certain to attract the atten- on record and went probably back tion of explorers. One of them was to pioneering times. But its hardi- listed in the botanical catalogues as ness, strange appearance, its scat- Amorphophallus titanum, the other tered distribution on Mars, its re- as Rafflesia arnoldi—evidently the stricted habitat on Earth and the names of the pilots of that ill-fated obvious salinophilous habits clearly space vessel. (Actually they were pointed to the planet of origin. discovered in 1818 by Dr. Arnold The more spectacular contribu- and Stamford Raffles.) Both of tions came from Venus without a these plants needed that typical doubt. Almost every botanical gar- damp, warm, fever climate; both of — —

BOTANICAL INVASION 95

them imitated the smell of decaying shape like a somewhat misshapen flesh to attract scavenger insects and discolored pineapple growing on just like the flowers of Earth emit the branches of trees. It was not a sweet smells to attract beautiful but- parasite, however. Its roots did not terflies. force their way into the branches of That flower Rafflesia was nothing the tree, but served merely as an- but a gigantic flower, living on the chorage. The plant made its own roots of other plants. More than living, like other plants, by means of three feet in diameter, its five gigan- the chlorophyll in its green leaves. tic petals, reddish with yellow spots, It merely sat on trees to be closer it looked like five large pieces of raw to open air and the Sun. And the meat deplorably lacking freshness. “bulb” was not a fruit, but a stor- The calyx was big enough to hold age container for water. The con- more than a gallon of water, and the tainer was not solid, but full of holes whole stinking flower weighed about and passages—some of them covered twelve pounds. Spawn of Venus. by a fungoid growth and all of them The other one, Amorphophalius ti- inhabited by tropical ants. The fact tanum—-Giant Ivrupi—preferred the that it was not one particular variety forests of the mountains of Sumatra, of ant that inhabited the Myrine- and resembled, in general, terrestrial codia plant made one suspect that plants a little more. Possibly it had the plant was not a recent arrival. mutated in the meantime, as plants And that fungoid growth seemed to often do when brought into new sur- be merely an accidental infection, roundings as proved by the classic utilized by the ants, if present, but example, the evening primrose not introduced by them if absent. Oenothera Lamarckiana—that, com- Had that eager young botanist ing from Virginia, began to mutate been able to read Nineteenth Cen- on Dutch soil. The plant was really tury Dutch he would have found not much more than a gigantic bulb, quite a different story about Myrme- weighing almost a hundred pounds codia. He would have found that it and measuring four feet around its had been discovered on the small thickest part. That bulb produced island of Ambon or Amboina in one large leaf every year, lasting for about 1670 by the “Plinius Indicus” six or seven months and then dying —as his contemporaries called hint off. But one year it produced a Georg Everhard Rumpf. Ilumpf, flower instead that looked similar to who, according to the customs of his an immensely overgrown calla lily. time, called himself Georgius Ever- The yellow shaft in the center ardius Rumphius, had been bom in reached ten feet high into the air, the Ilanau in South Germany in 1827. outer leaves were green on the out- He had left his native city before he side and purplish on the inside. That was twenty years old, bound for flower, also smelling of decay like South America. But his ship was that of Rafflesia lasted only a few captured by the Portuguese. He was days. brought to Portugal and kept there as a prisoner of war for three years. Probably a third plant of that Released eventually, Rumpf went to sector of Earth, the plant Myrme- Holland, where he joined the services codia, belonged also to the early im- of the Dutch East Indies Co. in portations from Venus. 1653. In the fall of the same year Similar to a pineapple, it looked in he arrived at Amboina, a small —

A8T0VN DING SCIENCE-FICTION

island about halfway between Cele- Waterland. But the Watoland was bes and New Guinea. His duties as sunk by a French privateer. For- “Koopman”—merchant—with a pay tunately there existed a copy of the of two Dutch guilders a day inter- six books, they arrived safely in Hol- fered with his: researches in the be- land six years later; the other six ginning. but his superiors soon real- books followed one year afterward. ized that he was much better as an It is this book which contains the explorer than as a trader and re- first description of Myrmec.od.Ut. For lieved him as much as possible from many years the plant was believed such work. to be an outstanding example for a During his stay on Amboina—he three-sided symbiosis of plant, ants died there at the age of seventy-five, and fungi. Only recently it has been

blind and considering himself a fail- proved that the symbiosis is only an ure—he wrote not only a dictionary accidental sharing of living spare. of the Malay language, but also a The ants use the hollows of tire Myr- history of Amboina, a description of mecodia plants as living quarters Amboina and books on the animals without giving anything in return and plants of that island and sur- but also without harming the plant roundings. Aside from a more gen- —and the fungi are really only an eral work, only the plant hook found accidental infection. And since there its w'ay into print after an adven- exists no true symbiosis between turous fate. It is the famous “Her- Myrmecodia and ants, no particular

barium A in boinensc .” In 1670 variety of ant can be expected in a, Rumphius’ eyes failed and he fin- Myrmecodiu plant—just those that ished his work in a state of complete happened to be around when the blindness. In 1687 a fire devastated plant was still unoccupied by other the settlement and part of the manu- ants. script was destroyed by the flames. In 1(100 the first six books of the Leaving ihe fictitious theme of plant w'ork were finished—Latin this article for a little while and re- translation. They were sent to The membering that strange and rare Netherlands on board the sailship “tree” from the Namih of southwest Africa, I like to add that the ances- tors of Welmtscliia were found in the Karroo formation. The Karroo formation, belonging to the Permian

period of geological history, is the subperiod which produced those strange Theromorpha and Thcrio- donta—reptiles with skulls and teeth resembling those of mammals to such an extent that it was often dif- ficult—when they were new to sci- ence— to say just what they were, mammals or reptiles. It is from there that the first real mammals came, and it is certainly justifiable to picture them gnawing Welwit- schia plants.

Fig. 4. Myrmecodis— Ike living ant-hill. My point is that WeltviUchia is —

BOTANICAL INVASION 97

the Ginkgo tree is by no means squeamish about its climate; it thrives practically everywhere. There are two New York examples —one in Central Park and the other on a street in the Brooklyn Heights district. In South Africa, India and Aus- tralia there are trees the casual ob- server believes to be either palm trees or tree ferns. They are Cy- cadeas and have nothing to do with either palms or ferns, but are related to the conifers—unbelievable as it may seem from their appearance. During the age of the dinosaurs, these Cycadeas were much more nu- merous than they are nowadays and formed—together with many kinds of araucarias—the forests that not only harbored the smaller dinosaurs, but also offered an opportunity for arboreal reptiles to practice the art of flying. The most remarkable among those survivors i'rdm former periods are also the most impressive and, at any Fig. 5. Sequoia gigantea—the tree event, the largest plants alive today: with the asbestos bark. Not even sequoias. a blowtorch will make it burn! the The height of one of them, the just as much a “living fossil" as all General Sherman Tree, is 272.4 feet. those famous animals like platypus, The trunk, which probably weighs echidna, the lung-fish c-eratodus, the something around 62.5 tons and con- reptile tuatara and the recently dis- tains 50,000 cubic feet of lumbyr, covered, coeloeanth fish. But while measures 101.6 feet at the base—cir- those animals are famous, hardly - cumference. Its average diameter at anybody ever heard of living fossils the base is 32 feet; 120 feet above among plants. They do exist, how- ground, it is still 17 feet—and 14 ever, and Welmtschia is only one ex- feet, 180 feet above ground. The ample. main branch of the General Sherman Another one is the Ginkgo tree tree is larger than any tree in the Ginkgo biloba—which survived in eastern States, it measures 6 feet east Asia.- It was discovered in 1690 8 inches in dianteter and is 140 feet in Japan by the physician Dr. long. If that tree grew in a city it Kaempfer. It existed in its present would reach as high as a sixteen- form during the Tertiary period. story building—but it could not Close relatives of the Ginkgo lived grow in a city because the average during the carboniferous period and city street would be much too nar- fossil varieties have been found on row for it. every continent except Africa. But While the General Sherman Tree 98 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

art of writing as practiced by the whites. In 1858 the other type of sequoias was discovered in Sierra Ne- vada. The story goes that fleeing Indians led their white pursuers into what is now Sequoia National Park. Again British botanists made a preliminary description, thinking that it was a new genus of trees which they termed Wellingtmiia gi- gantea. American botanists, slightly angered about that patriotic name, retaliated in referring to the trees as Taxodium Washingtoniana. They were wrong, too. But it was not un- til a number of French botanists made very thorough researches that it became known that the new trees were sequoias. They then were named Sequoia gigantea. The sequoias are not only “living fossils” and the “largest living things on Earth,” but they are also the old- est living things on Earth. While there is no method to determine the Dictyophora indusiata, which grows the living giants, it the “veil” in a matter of minutes. age of has been found that fallen sequoias were be- is titled the “largest living thing on tween twenty-five hundred and Earth,” its rivals are only slightly thirty-five hundred years old. The smaller. General Sherman Tree and the other There are two varieties of sequoias very large sequoias are believed to alive nowadays, the smaller one be- be just beyond the three-thousand- ing the redwood, which grows more year limit. These trees can grow that closely to the coast of California and old because their wood is particu- which was discovered first. It was larly immune against forest pests.

Eater Crespi, accompanying the Tt. also does not burn easily, a*nd even Portola expedition, who made the if it does the tree usually succeeds first mention of them-—1769. In in covering the wound, ft takes 1828 small branches of redwood scores of years, but time does not ''time into the hands of English bota- greatly matter with those trees. nists. They believed that it was a Just as the Ginkgos, that survived new variety of swamp cypress and only in one corner of the Earth, are consequently named the trees Taxo- now spreading again to all the coun- dium sempervirens. Exactly twenty- tries they once inhabited, the se- four years later Stephan Endlicher quoias are also reconquering the recognized the “newness” of the tree planet. Both types thrive well in and named it Sequoia sempervirens, other climates, too, and there are in honor of the Indian chief Se- forests and groves of sequoias—both quo-ya, who invented an alphabet types—not only in many European for his language in imitation of the countries, but also elsewhere. 7 1

BOTANICAL INVASION 99

It might be remarked in passing found all over the western parts of that not only American sequoias are Central Europe. It had made itself used to strengthen European forests, at home completely unnoticed. Since but many other American trees as it was found mainly in —or fairly well, mainly Douglas firs. And it close to—forests with American was in the vicinity of Douglas firs trees, the presence of the Lady with that a very strange invader was dis- the Veil seemed fully explained. Ac- covered recently. One day an ama- tually it is not. The American trees teur photographer saw a kind of were, as has been stated, mainly mushroom that looked strange and Douglas firs, coming from the west beautiful. The light was still good coast. The other varieties of Ameri- enough to permit the taking of a can trees also came from the west picture, which was then sent to a pic- coast—but Dictyophora grows ture magazine and published with a mainly in those American States that caption asking the readers to say border the Atlantic Ocean. And it what kind of plant it was. does not grow at all anywhere near the places the trees had been origi- The editors were very much sur- nally. prised to receive a number of fairly Stranger than all those things, excited queries ' from professional however even stranger than the botanists, explaining that the picture — living fossils are the familiar lichen. doubtlessly portrayed a specimen of — They are double plants, not “dou- Dictyophora duplicata—the North ble” in the sense of the “double American variety of the well-known w'orrn” Diplosoon paradoxum where and famous Dictyophora indusiata , two individual worms grow together of South America—the “Lady with crosswise, but double in a much more the Veil.” thorough way. Fungi and algae The development of the “Lady combine to make up lichen, one of with the Veil” looks very much like the many strange things we would one of those movies where you see not know were it not for the micro- plants grow. During the day it is scope. That lichen are actually the nothing but a small round bulb, result of such a close symbiosis was aptly termed a “Witch’s Egg.” At proved by several botanists who dusk that “egg” suddenly opens, a hollow white stalk grows to a height of about four inches in half as many hours. It is crowned by a greenish hat, looking exactly like the things ladies put on their heads when they are in style. There is no sign of the “veil” yet; it appears suddenly, un- folding from underneath the “hat” in a few minutes. All the beauty lasts only for a few hours. How- ever, this “mushroom flower” is also designed for scavenger insects that carry its spores away. The search started by the chance photograph soon brought results. Fig. 8. Pilobolus, the origins The North American variety was inventor of the cannon! AST— —I

100 ASTOUN DING SCIENCE-FICTION managed to separate the fungi and few days the spore-bearing parts be- algae, grow them each alone and gin to sprout. Like tiny inverted then reunite them to form the origi- wine bottles of milk-white glass they nal lichen. look, topped by a glistening black Recently it has been announced “pill” of spores. The tiny bottle that some lichen—T am not certain grows and swells until it suddenly whether all of them—are triple alli- bursts with a faint but audible plop- ances, the third ally being bacteria ping sound, throwing its capsule of of the type azotobacter. All of which spores to a distance of three feet makes them acquire a high curiosity always aiming in the direction of the value—provided you know these source of light. things—but they are not much to Many beautiful photographs and show around. recurrent mention in popular maga- If you want to, however, you can zines have made pilobolus fairly well get a spectacular though small plant known in our time. without much trouble if only your But—of course I don’t know— olfactory sense is not too easily of- think it is quite possible that a few fended. hundred years hence, when horse I am referring to pilobolus, the dung might be as hard to get as, say, “pill thrower,” or “shooting fungus.” Okapi dung nowadays, people might All you have to do is to gather some be fooled with pilobolus. Fifty years horse dung—not too fresh, not too ago “spiritualists” in Europe made old—from a stable. You carry the their audiences gasp about their spores of pilobolus home with you, powers of mental concentration although you cannot see them. What capable of moving even inanimate remains to be done is to cover the bits of wood—using Mexican jump- manure with some kind of a glass ing beans. Five hundred years from cover to prevent it from drying out now old space veterans may astound too much, put it in a warm and not audiences with the “shooting fungi” too bright place and wait for five or they are displaying. And they may six days. solemnly pledge their word for it The spores of pilobolus, that seem that these fungi are not native to to be present everywhere and that Earth, but that they gathered them followed the horse to America, de- in the dark caves near the twilight velop in the meantime, and after a rim of Venus. — —

As a general rule, you can pretty safely caping compounds, No one was injured by fert on it that elements heavier than cal- the element. No one got that far. cium are apt to be bad medicine if their Since fluorine is the most active of all compounds get into the human system; non-metals, it can’t be displaced from its similarly, those below calcium arc safe, if compounds by another dement, as chlorine they aren’t caustics, like sulphuric acid or can be released from hydrogen chloride by •sodium hydroxide. There is one shining, tbe action of oxygen, to form water. .‘tinging exception—fluorine. Fluorine’s the Chlorine, oxygen, bromine—all active non- tough guy of the elemental gang. It’s a metals themselves—all form unstable chlo- light element—just between- the two essen- rides, oxides or bromides that break down tial metabolic elements oxygen and sodium. under heat. Not fluorine. That method But fluorine and its compounds are pure was closed. poison. Electrolysis releases oxygen from water, Furthermore, fluorine has the distinction chlorine from hydrochloric acid, II re- of being the only element that was known, leases oxygen, not fluorine, from a water and worked with, for a considerable period solution of hydrofluoric acid—and pure by all chemists, without being isolated. hydrofluoric acid won’t conduct electricity, Most elements—once tbe concept of ele- so can’t be electrolyzed. Further, fluorine, ments matured—were discovered in rare even when finally freed, was found to form ores, or isolated as soon as anyone realized so many complex addition compounds there was something to isolate. where fluorine adds itself on any old way, Not fluorine. For three quarters of a so to speak, to almost anything in the century—and the nineteenth century at neighborhood—that it would disappear that, when chemistry was making its most even when there was, seemingly, no place rapid strides, under its greatest leaders for it to disappear to. It readily and rap- fluorine defied them. idly ate holes in graphite, gold, and plati- Oxygen, second most active of the non- num electrodes. And—generally—in the Rsctallie elements, can be separated by sim- chemists that worked with it. ple heating of such compounds as potas- Finally, after seventy-five years of effort sium chlorate. Chlorine is readily driven on the part of the world’s chemists, Alois- out of combination. But fluorine is so san, in 1886 succeeded in driving it out thoroughly, viciously and voraciously cor- of combination. Hydrofluoric acid alone rosive, and so determinedly locked up in wouldn’t conduct the electric current compounds, that no unstable fluorine com- that might break it down—but potassium pound was ever discovered! fluoride, dissolved in the liquid hydrogen Guessing that fluorine—which they well fluoride, did. In a platinum tube, using knew existed as' the acid principle in such platinum-iridium electrodes, the tough guy common minerals as fluorspar—was com- of chemistry finally gave up. Electrolysis bining with the silica of their glass vessels, filially saturated the solution with all the chemists beat that possible loss. They possible addition compounds, smashed the made the chemical ware out of fluorspar. fluorine free more rapidly than it could Fluorine released in fluorspar vessels would, corrode and combine with the stubbornly

if given a. chance, drive oxygen out of any resistant platinum-iridium alloy, and forced oxides present, and take its place. So they it to appear in the free state. excluded oxides—including water. Once free, methods of handling it could To make life merrier for the chemists be devised, its properties determined, and striving to drive out that virulently active a better understanding gained. Today, if element, it forms many gaseous compounds it were needed, it could be generated and — practically all exceedingly poisonous. In stored fairly readily. But it retains the the course of their efforts to isolate the distinction of having held off two genera- dement, during seventy-five years of con- tions of modern chemists who knew darned tinued efforts, half a dozen chemists died, well it was there, and couldn’t break it or were permanently invalided by the es- loose to save ’em. Arthur McCann. 102

HlGH-fREQU(nC!l 111!

Old Pinky had been wrecked by high frequency somehow—but he had an urge to tight that war—

By Harl Vincent

Illustrated by Schneeman

Vou could see that the fellow at gassed, or perhaps caught up in one the recruiting officer’s desk was do- of those invisible wave eddies from ing his level best to stand erect in a frequency bomb—something, any- his baggy clothing. He turned a way. battered felt hat over and over, in He didn’t remember. Nobody did. nervous, clawed fingers. In his Pinky didn’t even know where he pale eyes there was a far-away look came from, or who he was. There and almost servile pleading. His were thousands like him. But Pinky nondescript, rose-hued whiskers were was different. Most of those other something to remember. poor devils, who’d been through the “But listen,” he was insisting first awful days when the combined mildly, “there must be something a air fleets of the Quadruple Alliance guy like me can do. Even if I am a had swept over the eastern seaboard little lame. I just got to help.” and inland, were all w-ashed up. Sergeant Hurley screwed up his Pinky wasn’t; at least, he wouldn’t scarred features in a grin that was admit it. He drifted from one half- meant to be kindly. “Sorry, Pinky,” ruined city to another, to the small he said. “Not in this man’s army. towns even, always trying to enlist. Looks like you’ve seen enough of this Of course, they wouldn’t let him. rotten war, anyway.” He earned the sobriquet Pinky “Not even in a ground kitchen?” by the color of his beard, which had the mild one wheedled. not been removed in he didn’t know “Not even anywhere. Hell, man, how long. He was broke, of course, we got physical exams. Take a walk and had to depend on canteens or re- now, like a good guy.” The' hard- lief stores for occasional shelter, or boiled sergeant shook his head sadly a meal, or a too-big pair of shoes. at the nearby noncom as the man Most of the time he spent on the shuffled away. “Poor old geezer,” road. He was too sick even to be he muttered. a good hobo; he was bent and t wisted whatever Pinky wasn’t old. He wasn’t forty and lame from had hap- yet, but might have been anything pened to him. But he kept going up to sixty. To look at him, you’d and he kept trying to enlist. think he wasn’t quite all there. He It was cold tonight. Pinky held wasn’t. In the early days of the war, the collar of his threadbare coat up in 1974 or maybe 1979, something around his neck with skinny fingers. had happened to him. He’d been He dragged himself along the State 103

The old man crouched lower, shook his head dazedly, and looked about more sharply—more understandingly— road that led out of town. He now7 he'd remembered to stop in the didn't know how far it might be to canteen back in that burg. It's hell the next one. All he knew was that, to be cold and hungry, wherever he was, it was way back No traffic on this road and no of the lines. You couldn’t even hear lights at all. Must be a blackout gunfire back here, or see a flash in around this part of the country, the sky. He was hungry and wished Dimly against, the brooding sky —

101 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

ahead. Pinky caught the outlines of “Gee!” He exclaimed. “You scared

a group of fairly large buildings on the devil outta me. I thought it was a low hill. Not a light there, either. a corpse falling down the stairs.” He limped on up the hill, hungrier Pinky Waggled the whiskers in an and colder than ever. apologetic grin. “Guess I was just There was a high iron fence, a about all in,” he admitted. gravel drive leading to an open gate. “I’ll say you were! You are yet.” Pinky went into the grounds. It Bright brown eyes narrowed in their would be warmer sleeping alongside inspection of Pinky. “How long one of those buildings than in the since you’ve eaten?” open. Then he saw a closely shut- “Oh, I don’t know”—negligently. tered light shining from a basement “Couple of days, I guess.” window. He moved cautiously to- “I thought so. Here, can you walk, Pinky?” ward it. There was the faint hum Everybody called that with- of machinery that throbbed in that him basement. The window was partly out being told. One look at the odd enough. open and a grateful warmth from foliage was Pinky said: “Sure, can walk,” let inside enveloped Pinky as he moved I and the young fellow take his arm. next to it. He could see the glitter- They walked through the aisle of ing machines and a lot of clocklike the shiny, machines gadgets and lights on the wall. humming and There were steps leading down to a into a sort of locker room where there was a table and a few padded, board sort of hall. It would be warm chairs. down there. Perhaps he could curl up out of sight. “Sit down,” directed the young- chap, “and I’ll get you a bowl of He was halfway down the steps soup. What’s your name?” when a door opened and a glare of “You named me, already.” light and damp heat swept over him. There was a chunky young fellow The dungareed one, opening a can he took locker, in greasy dungarees coming toward from a grinned ap- preciatively. him with a wrench in his hand. With “What? Pinky?” he laughed. the light at his back, you couldn’t see his face. Pinky threw up his Pinky nodded and his pale eyes arm to ward off the blow he ex- twinkled. “Suits, doesn’t it?” pected. Then something went “Sure does. Well, mine’s Slim wrong inside of him. He couldn’t ’cause I’m so short and wide. Slim breathe at all and his muscles went Harvey.” He was busy with a pan limp. He slumped down and just and the soup, and an electric grill. forgot everything. “All you get is soup, Pinky. At first. In an hour or so you can have some When Pinky came to, he was in sandwiches and stuff. Your belly’s flat where it was warm and light. The too for more, right away.” chunky fellow was holding up his Pinky nodded again. This Slim head and pouring something down Harvey knew what he was doing. his throat. Whiskey. The heat of “What is this place, Slim?” it in his stomach revived him and he “The university. Doc Buckley’s, sat up and blinked owlishiy. The you know.” Young Harvey had out young chap in the dungarees laughed a bowl and the thick soup steamed relievedly. in. “This is the power plant for the ”

HIGH-FREQUENCY WAR 105 whole place down here and I'm sup- Pinky’s cheeks flushed to match posed to he engineer. Doc’s lab is his beard. “No,” he admitted. — up above, in the same building.” “Holy smoke! Amnesia and The soup smelled great and Pinky A bell rang faintly out where the began ladling it in. “Let’s see,” he machines hummed and Slim jumped said, “Buckley’s the one’s been work- up. “Come along,” he said, “while ing on a new weapon or something, I see who that is. You can have isn’t he?” more eats later and bunk here to- “Yeah. That’s why the blackout night.” followed. felt all around here. Been working for a Pinky He warm over inside. It wasn’t just the grub. year, year and a half, and nothing he’d found a friend. iloing yet.” Slim Harvey sat across He knew the board table, eying his guest curi- didn’t until a minute ously. He know later, that Slim had saved his life. “Must be swell,” said Pinky, be- “It’s Doe Buckley,” the engineer tween swallows of hot soup, “to be explained after he had answered the working here. Government subsidy, audio call. “He’s up in the lab and isn’t it?” wants me for a while. So you wait Harvey’s eyes narrowed, though right here in the engine room. And the friendly did not die out. gleam whatever you do, don’t try to go “Say!” he exclaimed. “What ’re you outside the building.” doing around here, really?” “Why?” asked Pinky, innocently. His guest looked into nothingness. Then hastily: “Of course, I “Just been trying to enlist.” wouldn’t.” “Where’d you come from? “There’s a frequency barrier all Where’d you try and enlist?” around the building, Pinky. It's Pinky waved the soup spoon in a what dropped you on the stair. vague arc. “Around,” he said. You’d be dead by now, if I hadn't “Just about everywhere. J don’t re- hauled you in.” member.” Slim was gone then through a hall and Pinky sat on a bench A light seemed to burst on Slim narrow of machines to this Harvey. “Let’s look at your arm,” near one the mull he demanded. over. Of course, with government research going on here, that’s what Pinky laid down the spoon and they’d do. A lot of guards outside pulled up a ragged sleeve. The soup the fence would be a dead give-away was finished, anyway, and he felt to any enemy detectoscopes that belter. Harvey peered at the skinny might scan the area. But they forearm and noted the droop of the couldn’t see a freak barrier, and it hand at the wrist. was a sure defense against spies. “Hell’s bells, man,” he sym- Pinky whistled at the thought of his pathized. “They freaked you; and own narrow escape. If Slim hadn’t that let’s you out. Gee, for a min- been coming to the door just at that ute, I thought you was a spy. But time, he’d have been shriveled up to a freak bomb can do anything. a cinder by now. Lying in the fre- Don’t you remember about it?” quency swirl for only a few minutes, “No.” would do it. You were helpless once “Don’t know your real name or they’d put you to sleep—unless where you come from?” someone like Slim was there. 108 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

The soup was taking effect . Pinky on the cords that held his arms be- dozed off where he sat, lulled by the hind his back. drone of the machines. He dreamed “Yeah. Don’t talk so loud or blissfully of signing enlistment pa- they’ll be hearing, us. There’s a pers and getting a uniform. Then couple of guys with him I know are suddenly he was awake with a start. Allied agents. They’re up to some- Something had awakened him, some- thing. That’s why Doc got me up thing not right with one of the ma- here. To have me out of the way chines. It was groaning loudly, as when they loaded up the generators if in pain or something. Pinky downstairs. What they’re up to, I looked at the clock and saw he had don’t know, but it’s bad business. slept for two hours. Slim wasn't And we’ve got to stop it —somehow.” back yet. Something was wrong, Slim was free now and Pinky helped somewhere. him limber up bis arms. “What can we do?” he whispered. Pinky went near the groaning A thrill, such as Pinky could not re- machine and saw a curl of smoke member having ever experienced, ran arise from a gadget at its end. Slim through him. He’d manage to serve ought to know about this. Hobbling the United States, somehow, whether to the audiophone, Pinky tried to they wanted him or not! put through a call to Buckley’s lab. “I don’t know.” Slim sounded No use; the thing seemed to be dead. sort of hopeless. “We can audio the He’d have to find Slim, himself. military, for one thing, only that He found him by instinct and by might be too late.” feel, at last. halls stairs The and the “Audio’s cut off,” Pinky told him. were in utter darkness, so it was a “They would do that. Well, come slow job. And when he did find Slim along-—let’s see what we can do our- it in rubbish-cluttered was a corner, selves.” Slim grabbed his hand in huddled in with a pile of junk, bound the darkness and they felt their way and gagged. Pinky went to work on along to another stair. the gag and had it off swiftly. He At the head of this flight was a was worried about that sick machine. door under which a slit of light ap- “Slim,” he said frantically, “I had peared. Behind the door was the to find you. One of those machines sound of voices in monotone and the of yours is making a terrible noise. sudden keening scream of some And now, you’re like this. Who did mechanism coming swiftly up to it?” speed. The scream held its high note “Never mind that machine,” Slim for a second and broke off abruptly. whispered. “It’s only an overloaded A chorus of guttural exclamations generator. It won’t burn out. Get followed. the knife out of my hip pocket and Slim opened the door a crack and set me loose.” peered inside. “We’ll sneak in,” he breathed. “There’s a transformer “Who did it?” repeated Pinky, that’ll hide us.” getting the knife and sawing at the Pinky followed him and softly cord that held Slim. closed the door. From their vantage “Buckley. He’s a traitor, the point behind the bulky transformer skunk.” case lie could see three men ab- “A traitor!” Pinky had the en- sorbed ly regarding a large video- gineer’s legs free and was working screen. Its news audio was off. ” —

HIGH FREQUENCY WAR 107

“ “The tall guy’s Buckley,” whis- —out 22Z and 23Y!” roared the pered Slim. military announcer. “Blackout sec- tions 22Z and 23Y. Allied air forces This was the main laboratory, a advancing in this sector. American huge room with a great dome over- fleet and fan barriers rising to de- head and with all sorts of apparatus fense. But a few minutes ago there along the walls, in the center, and was a mysterious interruption to the scattered here and there. Pinky fan barriers. Either something went looked around it and was amazed by wrong or the Allies have a new the number and size of the queer- weapon. To prepare, orders are to looking machines and by the gadgets blackout sections 22Z and 23Y. that clustered around some, making Blackout— them look like Christmas trees. His Buckley grinned satanieally as he gaze returned to the man Slim had flipped off the sound. The video said was Buckley. Something ten- continued. The American defense uously obscure stirred in his mem- fleet was up with feeler-rays, spring- ory as the man turned his head ing toward the enemy. Cross-rays slightly. There was a certain darted down. A burst of white flame familiarity to that aquiline profile. enveloped an entire enemy squad- Buckley was talking to the two squat ron. Three American squadrons men with the close-cropped hair, in flared into sudden incandescence and that thick, foreign tongue. That, were gone. But the enemy was al- too, was vaguely reminiscent of most at the fan barrier. They could something. not pass that. Unless breathed “What’re they doing?” There was suddenly, here beside Pinky. them, that shrilling crescendo they “Watch.” had heard in the hall. If Pinky had Pinky gave some attention to the jumped a foot before, lie jumped large videoscrcen and gasped at what six now. Every roseate whisker far-off pickup he saw. The was stood on end. His skin tingled from sweeping a blasted, mountainous the electrification of the air. Blue region. Alleghenies! The front- The flame lashed from a huge helix high line pill-boxes were here, the main in the dome. And when the screech strongholds which had held back the of the frequency generator had risen Allied advance for more than a year. to its peak and held it a second, those The view shifted to the skies where far-off fan barriers flicked into black- a hundred V’s of tiny light points, ness. The enemy fleet, was inside! could be seen approaching. A Q. A. The second line defense would have in battle formation! The view fieet to take up the battle. swept down again to the front lines

. “Gee!” husked Slim. “That was and a dozen fans of pale-blue light done from here. What’ll we do?” lanced skyward. The men at the strange stirring videoscreen were silent, tense; so Pinky had a were the two behind the transformer. within him. He was thinking in a The war was here, with them! new and unaccustomed way. Things Buckley moved his hand to a lever long forgotten were surging up from and the silence was blasted by the his subconscious. Not clearly at all, blare of the news audio. Pinky but pricking into the .conscious. jumped a foot and Slim hung on to “Wait,” he told Slim. “Listen to him. what they’re saying.” The three at —

10S ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION the videoscreen were jabbering ex- Pinky passed a shaking hand citedly. across his brow to wipe away the sud- “Huh, who can understand that?" den beads of perspiration that were grated Slim. dripping into his eyes. “Wait “I can.” Suddenly Pinky found wait,” he begged. “It hasn’t come, he could understand the jargon. A yet. But I'll know in a minute, little. Some words. Enough. It maybe.” was amazing. A terrific struggle was going on “You see!” Buckley was exulting. within his brain. He knew there was “I told you. We now have them in- something to be done, something side. We will do the same with the that was within his consciousness, second and third barriers and on but hidden. Something that was every front. In a week, the war will fighting to be out. Meanwhile, thou- end—with our victory.” sands of his countrymen were dying. “Suppose we are discovered before The flashes in the sky and on the then?” one of the squat ones re- terrain beneath told him that. Why torted. didn’t they turn off the video so he “I have arranged,” said Buckley. couldn’t see? The three over there “The stupid fools of the American at the controls were jabbering anew, government will not suspect the but Pinky didn’t listen. He was great Dr. Buckley. Already, I have the permission to isolate here for ten days to complete what they think is to be the great new weapon. By the time they suspect, it will be too late—for them.” Pinky’s wrath mounted. With each word he understood better. And other things besides the language he was remembering. Things— well, maybe this fool would not be so smart, after all. Maybe Pinky could find a way at last to serve his coun- try. “Whal'd they say?” demanded Slim. “Too much to tell. Slim. But they're planning to end the war from right here and have everything arranged. I think it is to be by what might be called— a multiple frequency propagation ” Pinkv's lower jaw- dropped as he realized what he had said. Where had those words come from and what did they mean?

Slim was equally incredulous.

“Why, you . . . you seem to know something. Do you know what to do?” ”

HIGH-FREQUENCY AVAR 109 sweating to listen to that small inner think it will work. Are you game to voice of bis consciousness, trying to risk your life with me?” fish out something tremendously im- Slim gaped at the new Pinky. portant. “Gee, if I’d have known what you “What can we do? What can had on the ball! You bet, I’m anyone do?” Slim was whimpering game.” now in horrified despair. Pinky gripped his hand and whis- pered, “Thanks. And trust me, Slim. It was weird. Here everything Here’s what I want. I’m going (o was so calm anti comparatively still. sprint for those controls back there. Out there, less than a hundred miles They’re bound to see me on the way away, bloody warfare was raging. A unless their attention’s distracted. country on its last legs was being It’s up to you to do that.” wiped out of existence. And three “How?” men, only three, were doing it. “By staying right here and yell- Three against two, Pinky was think- ing. Let them start this way and ing, and the three with many times begin their shooting. But keep un- those odds in their favor. der cover as much as you can. Once Fan barriers in the second line I get to those unused controls, I'll radiated upward. The American de- have them stopped.” fense fleet almost in its was down Slim’s eyes bulged. “How’d you entirety. Again Buckley reached for know what— a control. The squeal of the gen- “Never mind that now\ Still erator keened toward the upper limit trust me?” *>f audibility. Once more Pinky's The engineer looked long and whiskers bristled. And then he hard at his erstwhile guest and what knew! He knew! He hugged the he saw convinced him. “Yes; say humming transformer case. It was the word.” the very transformer that hid them, the one supplying this energy. Its Pinky peered around the corner of radiations were restoring memories. the transformer, seeing that their Of course. He grabbed Slim’s arm three enemies were absorbed in the with fingers that were suddenly of videoscreen. “I’m going to crawl,” he whispered, “for ten feet. steel. They probably won’t notice at first, but Slim winced and bis eyes widened, when you see me that far, it’s time looking into those of his companion. to start yelling. I’ll do the rest.” “Why . . . why, what the hell?” he gasped. “You’re a different guy.” “Go ahead. Shoot,” husked Slim. Pinky was a different guy. “We’ll Pinky started crawling into full sight of the three, at right angles to lick them at their own game,” he their line of vision. feet grated. “You and I, Slim. And I Ten away know how.” was another transformer. Fate was against him; one of the squat aliens “You do? How?” gasped the en- spied him before he reached it. Gut- gineer. turals rolled forth and a hissing, stab- got to take big “You’ve a chance. ray scorched across Pinky’s neck Slim. So’ve I.” just as Slim commenced yelling. “But, do you know? Are you sure Pinky leaped to his feet and scooted it’ll work?” for his controls. Forgetting caution. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance. But I Slim came out of hiding. 110 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Buckley, you crook!” Slim “Go ’way!” shouted the engineer. screamed, plunging directly into the “I’ll get this bird, myself. I’ll break line of fire. “You traitor! You’re his dirty neck.” finished!” Slim almost did just that, though Momentarily confused, the enemy he was bleeding and panting when began blazing away wildly. A sear- he rose and swayed groggily over the ing pain stabbed through Pinky’s prostrate foreigner. shoulder as he zigzagged toward his Pinky chortled and said: “Good destination. From a corner of his work.” eye he saw Slim fall with dungarees “Think I’d let you do everything?” smoldering. Six more feet and he’d Young Harvey glared, wiping the be at those controls. One of the blood from his mouth. “And now, squat ones was almost on him. dammit, you've got to tell me all Pinky lashed out with a suddenly about everything.” strengthened right arm. The man “When we fix them up for a while. sprawled, mouthing thick curses, his Slim.” Pinky pointed to one of the ray pistol clattering to the floor. three who was stirring. “Where’s Pinky grabbed the gun and a control some cord or wire?” knob in sweeping opposite motions It didn’t take them long to truss of his two rejuvenated arms. A up the precious trio and lay them fluorescent green blazed eerily down side by side on the floor. When they from high in the dome as a bank of had finished, they examined one an- old, dusty vacuum tubes lighted. other’s wounds. Pinky had a clean There were no further hisses of stab- hole burned through his shoulder, rays. missing the joint entirely. Slim’s Bellowing encouragement to Slim, burn was horribly deep, a crinkled, Pinky brought down the pistol butt white-lipped groove across his nod- on the clipped head of the one who dle. Painful, both wounds, but self- had dropped it. Crack! One of the cauterized. That was one good thing three was out of the fight. Odds about the stab-rays; unless they were even. And those radiations reached a vital spot, there was little from the dome had neutralized the real danger. energies of the ray guns. “Well,” said Slim, when they’d Pinky catapulted across the floor finished, “come clean, now. All the renegade doctor at Buckley. The way. You faked the amnesia, didn’t tripping the release of his gun was you? And the paralysis?” frantically. Disgusted at its refusal Pinky shook his head and Slim to operate, he foolishly flung it away could see that his eyes had lost the just as Pinky landed on him. That far-away look and the pallid hue. mistake cost him any chance he may “No, I didn’t fake anything, Slim. have had, for this raging redbeard The radiations from that trans- wasn’t fighting by any sporting rules. former restored my memory and the Not now. Not in this. Pinky was use of my limbs. That’s all.” fighting for his country and no holds, about knowing or anything else, barred. He “It isn’t all. How up- smashed down the pistol on Buck- about this?” He jerked a thumb the green flare that was ley’s skull and the man sank down. ward toward Slim had not been so fortunate. still on. His opponent bad him tied in a knot Pinky laughed and went to switch on the floor. Pinky went to help. it off. ” ”

HIGH-FREQUENCY WAR 111

5 “All right/ he agreed, when he tion. It was easy, with a little make- came back, “I’ll come clean.” up—even with the military. Also, Slim was goggling at the video- on account of the reputation of the screen. The enemy fleet, caught be- real Dr. Buckley, who was always tween the second and third barriers, a stanch patriot.” was being blasted out of the skies by Slim’s brow'n eyes seemed about the reserve American fleet and by to pop from their sockets. "But you the searching vibro-rays from the —then you— ground. “Yes, I’m Francis Xavier Buckley, “Too bad their plans went wrong,” if that’s what you’re driving at. chuckled Pinky. “Oh, the war’ll be Naturally, I knew about things here over in a week, all right, just as Var- when I remembered. And, in- dos said. But the victory’ll be ours, cidentally, Vardos rayed me right not theirs.” here and sneaked out, leaving me in “Vardos?” asked Slim, blankly. the wave swirl. But I managed to Pinky indicated the unconscious crawl out of it and away before it one Slim had known as Buckley. could kill me and consume me, as it “He’s not Buckley,” he averred. always does if given enough time. “Name’s Vardos. He was assistant He thought that was what happened. to the real Buckley a couple of years But I was the wandering, mentally ago. Started just before the war did. lost, partly crippled Pinky you first And he knew the real doctor had saw'. You see, the frequency used something that would make this by him and1 in what we call freak country invincible in warfare. His bombs, acts first on brain and nerve job was to get the dope on Buckley’s cells. Electric charges are built up weapon. And he rayed Buckley with in individual cells, first producing un- the same frequency radiated from the consciousness, then paralysis, by im- regular bombs. Left him to die in plantation in the nerve ganglia. A the swirl. Once Buckley was out of definite multiple wave harmonic will fhe way, he tried to discover the release those charges and cure Ihe secret of the weapon. But there were sufferer. That’s what happened to a few things Buckley had kept in his me behind the transformer. It took head, it until only so took Vardos two shots to do it. But it’s done. recently to learn the important It was sheer luck I stumbled into the activating tie-in. That’s why he de- old cottage. Luck, or a buried rem- manded and got the isolation. It nant of familiarity and memory.” took time for him. He doesn’t — Slim was dancing around him, try- know a thing about the rest of the ing to hug him. “Gee!” he kept re- apparatus here. That’s why he peating awedly. didn’t know' what I was up to when “Ouch!” yelped the man who had 1 ran for those controls. None of been known as Pinky. “Keep away the other stuff in here has been used from that shoulder. And let me since Buckley, himself, went out of finish. Might as w'ell get it off my the picture, only the main thing—the chest multiple frequency propagation now.” mechanisms.” “I’m just a punk operating en- “But how could— gineer. I wouldn’t know',” apolo- “There was enough similarity be- gized Slim. tween Vardos and Buckley so he “Yes,, you will. It’s simple, the could get aw ay with the impersona- principle of the multiple frequency 112 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

propagation. You know that all fleets and their ground forces and modern weapons and defenses are de- - blank out their defensive barriers. pendent for their effectiveness on We have them licked.” some sort of radio frequency pro- “You mean you have them licked.” jection. Various high frequencies Slim looked his companion up and produce various results. And for down with approval. “You sure are many years man tried to neutralize a different man, Dr. Buckley.” various destructive effects by super- The real Buckley grabbed his arm. imposing frequency upon frequency. “Listen,” he laughed, “until I get It was done in some cases— like the these whiskers off, yon call me stab-ray. But to bring stratoplanes Pinky. You hear?” down or to stop fan barriers or trench “All right—Pinky,” chuckled Slim. moles, complex radiations were re- “And what do we do next?” quired. That’s how I developed the “We go down to your bailiwick multiwave apparatus. It produces and feed me those sandwiches you a great number of individual fre- told me about. I’m hungry. Then quencies separated in definite multi- we audio Regional Headquarters and ples between which there are hetero- have these babies picked up for quick dyning effects which result in an in- trial. I imagine they’ll look nice un- finite number of beat notes to cover der the cone swirls they use on any result desired. Vardos only spies.” found the one combination which could close down the fan barriers and Vardos was stirring, groaning, permit the Q. A. fleet to drive muttering curses. His eyes, widened through the space where formerly with horror as they rested on the an electronic wall had been erected. man who was the real Buckley. It happens to be the same combina- Even with the pink disguise, he tion which will release the cell recognized him. charges in a sufferer such as I had Pinky turned away and said to become. Simple enough, isn't it?” Slim: “Let’s go downstairs. I want “It isn’t,” Slim said decisively. to juggle a pair of shears and your before get the military “But it’ll have to do. So now what?” razor we on “So now we can produce any com- the job.” bination of harmonics we want. We “O. K., Pinky,” grinned the en- can render powerless the enemy gineer. “And the eats.”

"I Talked with God" (Yes, I Did—Actually and Literally) and, as a result of that little talk with God some ten You, too, may find and use the same staggering years ago, a strange new Power came into my life. Power of the God-Law that I use. It can bring to After 43 years of horrible, sickening, dismal failure, you, too, whatever things are right and proper for you brought to a sense of over- this strange Power me to have. Do you believe this? It won’t cost much to whelming victory, and I have been overcoming every find out just a penny post-card or a letter, addressed undesirable condition of my life ever since. What a — r to Dr. Frank B. Robinson, Dept. Moscow, Idaho, change it w as. Now—I have credit at more than one 0, bank, I own a beautiful hpme, drive a lovely car, own will bring you the story of the most fascinating a newspaper and a large office building, and my wife success of the century. And the same Power I use is and family are amply provided for after I leave for here for your use, too. I’ll be glad to tell you about In addition these material bene- shores unknown. to it. All information about this experience will be sent I have a sweet peace in my life, r am happy as fits, you free, of course. The address again Dr. Frank B. happy can be. No circumstance ever upsets me, for I — Robinson, Dept. Idaho. Advt. Copyright have learned how to draw upon the invisible God-Law, 9, Moscow, under any and all circumstances. 1939 Frank B. Robinson. ns

LUi OBSCfiVflTOfiy flo.1

An observatory on the moon would be fine! But—why? And

what would if need? And what would they study? A profes-

sional astronomer examines the question from a practical side.

By R. 8. Richardson

Illustrated by Schneeman

A full-scale astronomical ob- unfortunate, but until we get away servatory is one of the few really ex- from that factor of bad location, pensive things in the world that can we’re going to continue to “see be guaranteed not to make money through an atmosphere, darkly.” for those who invest in it. Even It’s also unfortunate, even more cyclotrons look now as though they so, that we can’t as yet build one might turn into money makers, what beyond Earth’s atmosphere—on the with the artificial radioactive ele- Moon, say. But the men who first ments they’re making, though a few set out to undertake that task are years ago they seemed a pretty good going to face some magnificent prob- bet as a one hundred percent no- lems, and not mere years, but dec- return investment. ades, of planning will be needed to Yet, for some reason, probably solve them. rather nonunderstandable to those What are some of these problems? to whom money represents not only On what factors will success depend? a good, but the only, measure of ac- Can we guess at its general design complishment, men are found to and, equally important to its ef- build them. Other men are not only fective use, its administration? willing, but anxious, to spend years These questions can be answered planning for them. And it does mean in two ways. One invokes the free years of planning, analyzing the and unhampered use of imagination, faults of all that have been built, try- together with an implicit faith in the ing to see some way out of not only powers of future generations to go on any given fault, but all known, and conquering nature. Then, with ma- possibly as yet unknown, faults. terials of infinite strength, and One of the greatest of all faults in unlimited sources of energy and ma- known telescopes and observatories chines that, defying nature, are abso- is the location of the observatory. lutely accurate, we proceed to erect Without exception, they have been a structure according to the dictates placed in extremely bad positions, of our fancy. This method is the one under circumstances that vastly hin- commonly employed in science-fic- der them, reducing their effectiveness tion, where it is perfectly legitimate. to not more than about thirty per- But for an article, it is a bit too in- cent of their theoretical maximum. flationary—too much like playing They’ve all been built on Earth. It’s poker with a pinochle deck. There- 114 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION fore, in our attempt to describe con- is largely determined right at the ditions in the future, we shall be start, before ever the ground is guided by what has been most suc- turned or a bolt driven. cessful in the past, and try to keep our speculations within at least rea- Probably the most important fac- sonable bounds. tor of all is the personality of the Let me add also that we shall be founder himself. He should be a concerned only incidentally with man of enormous will power, deter- such matters as methods of trans- mination, and enthusiasm for his portation, design of spacesuits, et work. This enthusiasm he must be cetera. These are of vital impor- able to impart to others and inspire tance but they are separate prob- them with the same fervor that ani- lems, outside the present discussion. mates himself. Tt is here that most The creation of a great observa- of our “pure” scientists fail to qual- tory can generally be divided into ify so miserably. And I have no four overlapping periods. hesitation whatever in placing them clear down at the bottom of the in- 1. Somebody gets a powerful urge trovert class. T make no pretense to to build a telescope surpassing any a knowdedge of psychology, but 1 in existence. think expert opinion would back me 2. After thinking it over he de- up on this. cides to go ahead and build it, either And astronomers are among the by doing it himself (Herschel, Lord worst of the lot. They are great peo- Rosse, Lowell) or by persuading , ple to quibble over details, to view someone else to finance the project with detachment, and to subject to for him (Hale) . analysis. They shrink from the 3. Having received assurance that rough-and-tumble, thick-skinned, the instrument he has in mind can try-and-get-it attitude of the com- actually be built, a site is selected mercial world. But these are the with the greatest care, a general pro- conditions that must be faced to gram of research outlined, and engi- raise the money for a research insti- the tele- neers set to work designing tution and keep it functioning scope and its accessories. smoothly. Therefore, our chief of 4. The director gathers together staff must be a man who not only men of proven ability, who can get can dream dreams, but one who can the maximum results from powerful make them come true as well. He instruments of the highest quality. must have the knack of persuading They aid him in establishing the ob- captains of industry to dig into their servatory and in carrying out his pants pockets for millions, and also program of research. take the keenest interest in the light Naturally, many variations are from the farthest star. possible, and events do not always The ideal director would be a man follow in such logical order. But the like the late George Ellery Hale, who development of most big observa- founded the Yerkes Observatory, tories can usually be broken down the Mount Wilson Observatory, and into these four steps. Notice that the one now going up on Mount three of them are preliminary in Palomar. Like most geniuses he be- character. This is as it should be, for gan when comparative young—at the whole general tone of the insti- the age of twenty-four, to be exact. tution, its future format so to speak. When most budding scientists are 8

LUNA OBSERVATORY No. 1 115 worrying about their doctor’s oral, Lowell and Mount Wilson are the and wondering if they can find a po- only large active observatories that sition with enough salary attached come to mind not connected with to it to get married on, Hale had some university. The former is fi- already secured the money from nanced through a trust fund left by Mr. Charles Yerkes to finance the Pereival Lowr ell, while the latter is construction of that observatory. a department of the Carnegie Insti- Evidently Hale got plenty of ex- tution of Washington, D. C. For perience at this time in raising some reason, people almost invaria- money for science, for after the tele- bly assume that Mount Wilson is run scope and main buildings were com- by the Federal government. The pleted, hardly anything remained letters “C. I. of W.” on the observa- for current expenses. Once, in mak- tory truck often lead people to in- ing a speetroheliograph, they ran so quire if it is part of a work-relief short of funds that instead of buying project of some kind. a lens from an optical company, they Here someone might argue that had to shop around for it, finally the government would be the ideal picking one up in a pawnshop in St. sponsor for our observatory. Per- Louis. haps in the future, in a society widely Practically all of the big observa- different from ours, this may indeed in this originated tories country have be true. But at present it seems in this way—from the gift of a rather unlikely. A glance through wealthy man to a university. The the annual reports of the United the ob- university promptly names States Naval Observatory will show servatory after him, and supports it the reason why. The trouble lies in out of their own funds, special gifts demonstrating that an astronomical and endowments. The Lick Ob- observatory is of value in connection servatory is a branch of the Univer- with a basic function of government; sity of California, the new Macdon- that is, a Federal bureau must in ald Observatory belongs to the Uni- some way “promote the general wel- versity of Texas, and the 200-inch fare.” And even its most ardent sup- was a gift from the Rockefeller trus- porters would doubt whether a con- tees to the California Institute of gressman could be convinced of the Technology. pressing necessity for measuring the intensities of interstellar sodium lines, or darkening at the limb in eclipsing variables. The results show, then, that ob- servatories thrive the best when founded by a grant from a powerful philanthropic organization, con- trolled by a university. Let us hope that its officers and trustees will be liberal, farseeing men, always recep- tive to new ideas and eager to co- operate with the staff, yet slow to proceed upon a new course until all the facts are in, and carefully weighed in the balance. AST— 116 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

How much money will be needed? operation of a big telescope is a rela- Detailed figures on the different tively easy matter requiring one or parts of an observatory are hard to two men at the most. It is the over- find, and expenses will naturally vary head, and the money spent on men widely with the times. The total and women who never look at a cost of the 100-inch when completed star, that swells the budget. Perhaps in 1917 was $540,000. In 1926 one $5,000,000 would not be too much to expert estimated that a 300-inch keep the machinery running through- could be built for $18,000,000, and it out the year. is understood that the California Institute must stay within a budget With the financial end of our of $12,000,000 on the 200-inch. The project disposed of, let us now look latter includes not merely the big over the Solar System for the best mirrors and dome, but the accessor- site available. Here w7 e are con- ies and dwellings, too—such as the fronted at the very outset by the “Lamasery” where the astronomers fact that we don’t know how fast will stay while on Mount Palomar. the spaceships of the future can (They claim everyone is so happy travel. In science-fiction we have be- up there that it’s just like living in come so accustomed to spaceships the land of Shangri-La.) But our flitting from planet to planet that expenses will be so unusual and on we accept it as a matter of course, such a different scale, that we should a commonplace almost. Whereas at least ask for $100,000,000 for the Jules Verne used up half a book get- first extraterrestrial observatory, ting his characters off to the Moon, which would be a very generous the trip is now made in a paragraph grant as scientific grants go, but or two. If spaceships can attain a still quite moderate compared with speed of 50,000 m. p. h., then one the price of a few7 battleships. location is possible. But if more rea- Operating expenses of an observa- sonable velocities of the order of tory depend primarily upon the size 3,000 m. p. li. are the limit, then our of the staff and the liberality of the only choice is the Moon. The desira- trustees in giving the astronomers bility of establishing an outpost on money for the various gadgets they an airless world more distant than are always inventing. These range the Moon is not immediately ob- from automatic guiding devices that vious, and is worth explaining in a ring a bell when a plate is properly little detail, since it lies at the bot- exposed, to interferometers for de- tom of the whole matter. tecting planets revolving around the The fundamental purpose of an stars. Mount Wilson, with a staff of extraterrestrial observatory is to get twenty-one astronomers, fifteen as- rid of the air currents in the Earth’s sistants and computers, sixteen me- atmosphere that blur the image, and chanics, and ten clerks, got along in secure a sky absolutely black. 1937 on a budget of $217,081. Our A telescope on the Moon would extraterrestrial observatory will un- eliminate the first and worst of the doubtedly need a larger “ground astronomers’ foes, but the sky would crew,” and the demands for special still not be one hundred percent equipment will be heavier. black because of the zodiacal light. By far the biggest item will be On Earth the space penetrating for transportation, something com- power of a lens or mirror is limited paratively insignificant today. The by the sky fog that begins to show LUNA OBSERVATORY No. 1 3 17 when an exposure runs too long, even telescopes are now sent out to tenta- when no artificial light is near. This tive sites to scout the seeing condi- comes from three Sources in the fol- tions. Counters would be set up lowing amounts: fifteen percent per- near the spaceship automatically re- manent aurora, twenty-five percent cording the number and magnitude scattered starlight itself, and sixty of the impacts received during the percent zodiacal light. We rid our- day. Only in this way could we de- selves of the first two as soon as we termine whether the Moon could get beyond our atmosphere. But even be seriously considered as a we are forced out to one of Jupiter’s location for an observatory. If the satellites to avoid the last. At the danger is insignificant, then opera- minimum, this would mean a jour- tions could be started at once for ney. of 390,000,000 miles, and to the underground living quarters, make it in a year requires a speed of machine shops, and storerooms. 44,500 m. p. h. Once these were well underway, the Instead of regular trips back and success of the enterprise would be forth at short intervals, the staff practically assured. would have to live on some isolated The absence of an atmosphere world permanently, and it is very also simplifies matters in that there doubtful if many married men would would be no point in putting the take the job. There would be an ad- telescope on a mountain peak, as we vantage in having such an observa- are compelled to do here. On the tory, however, because of the longer contrary, some smooth plain would baseline available for stellar paral- be selected where supplies could be lax work. At present hardly any easily unloaded, taking care only stars are left with parallaxes large that the horizon is unobscured. Since enough to be measured by the direct we would want to keep in communi- trigonometric method. cation with the Earth, Selene I would be on the side of the Moon The matter of distance, then, that always faces us. To see the forces us back to the Moon, which, entire sky the site should also be after all, is not such a bad location, near the lunar equator. The Mare especially for the first one. At a Tranquilitatis just north of the cra- v elocity of 3,000 m. p. h. the journey ter Maskelyne might be suitable, would take only eighty hours, cer- which is close to the Equator and tainly a decided convenience. The superficially smooth, judging from Moon is a world of respectable size, its telescopic appearance. yet so light that its surface gravity It would be of the utmost impor- is but one sixth of the Earth’s, which tance, especially in the early experi- would be of tremendous help in mental stages, that a two-way com- working under highly uncomfortable munication system be established at conditions. once. There appears to be no reason The main difficulty anticipated is why this could not be done by radio, from the meteoric bombardment to rather than a code of light flashes, which the men and instruments are. for example. Reflection of radio sig- constantly exposed. This is so im- nals from the Moon is possible right portant that the chief purpose of now, according to J. H. Dellinger, the first expeditions would be to radio chief of the National Bureau of make a report on the statistics of Standards, so that there should be meteor fall, just as men with small no difficulty in the future. 118 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

The two principal requirements three tenths minutes, which happens for interplanetary wireless communi- to correspond to the distance of cation are that the signals be broad- Venus when at inferior conjunction. cast on a frequency sufficiently high Interplanetary radio looks possible. to pierce not only our own atmos- phere at the angle of incidence used, In the operation of terrestrial ob- but that of the planet’s as well. The servatories, the source of power has highest critical frequency for the always been a problem. By neces- ionosphere at vertical incidence va- sity they' are located on a mountain ries from 6,500 kc at sunspot mini- peak or plateau far from large (’en- mum to 12,000 kc at maximum. A ters of population. This means that planet closer to the Sun than the power must he transmitted over long Earth might have an atmosphere distances or else generated on the more highly ionized than ours, which spot—a costly proceeding in either would necessitate the use of higher case. frequencies than these. But for air- On the Moon, however, we would less bodies like the Moon and Mer- be foolish not to take advantage of cury, the difficulty does not exist. It the vast supply of energy that is is interesting to note that signals ours for the asking. For two weeks have already been received from the Sun is shining in a sky unstained outer space after a delay of four and by clouds or haze. What could be LUNA OBSERVATORY No. 1 119 simpler than to make the Sun do As a protection against meteors it our work for us? is proposed to inclose the entire in- This could be accomplished by strument with three coats of armor solar engines similar to those now in separated from the telescope tube operation on a small scale by C. G. itself by a space of several feet. Abbot of the Smithsonian Institu- These coats would have no connec- tion. They would consist princi- tion with the telescope or its driving pally of parabolic mirrors continu- mechanism. Since they have to ab- ously turned toward the Sun by sorb the shock of impact they cannot mechanical means, which reflect be mounted too rigidly but must light onto blackened tubes, or boil- have a certain degree of “give” to ers. The steam generated would be them. used to run a small turbine that A most interesting point is that in drives a direct current generator. dealing with meteoric velocities of Banks of large storage batteries the order of 20 m. p. s., a heavy metal would conserve the energy needed to such as lead would afford more pro- operate the mechanism and provide tection than material of high tensile power during the long lunar night. strength, such as steel. The reason Internal combustion engines would being that when a force acts very be out of the question owing to their quickly the inertia of the reacting high consumption of oxygen. substance is of more importance than its hardness. This may be In addition to running the ma- shown by suspending a heavy ball chinery, the generator would also from the ceiling by a string with supply current to heat the bearings another string attached underneath. of the various instruments, which A strong steady pull on the lower otherwise would freeze up immedi- string will break the one above. But ately. No lubricant can work satis- a sudden jerk will cause the lower factorily at a temperature of minus one to snap, because the force acts one hundred degrees Centigrade. so quickly that the upper string is Several locations for the telescope momentarily protected by the inertia are possible, but after lengthy con- of the heavy ball. The analogy here sideration it has been decided to put is far from perfect, but perhaps it it out in the open. mammoth No conveys the idea. The two inner dome of the type required Earth on coats could be of steel to stop me- would be necessary, since is there no teoric iron and exploded particles need to guard against wind and rain. from the outer coat, since their ve- adequate protection But would be locity would be greatly reduced after necessary against the scorching rays the initial collision. of the Sun and the impact of me- These concentric shields should teors. extend so far beyond the mirror and The former would be provided by its mounting that the opening in the a heliograph on which is mounted a sky is nothing but a tiny hole. A screen, moved at such a rate that meteor would then have to be mov- the telescope is always in shadow. ing almost straight toward the mir- This screen could also be readily ror to score a hit—an event which raised or lowered, or run by moving the statistics gathered on meteors wheels to any desired position on must first have shown to occur at in- the concentric circular tracks pro- tervals long compared with the prob- vided for it. able lifetime of the telescope. Oli- 120 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION vier estimates that a million meteors shaped, with the smaller end strike the Moon daily. On this basis, pointed toward the center. The ef- one would hit an area twenty-five fect is known as coma, and if the feet in diameter on the average of star field is fairly large, can be very once in thirty years. And since only troublesome. those moving directly toward this Opticians have long known how area are effective, this interval to correct a telescope for coma, but should he extended to several cen- to do it in practice is another story. turies. The Ritehey-Chretien reflector re- cently installed at the Naval Ob- Now for the telescope itself. The servatory is one way to get around size of the mirror would appear to it, and the Schmidt camera is an- he limited chiefly by the question of other. Unfortunately, neither of transportation. In the opinion of these schemes is suitable for mu- experts, at present anything can be particular use. built up to a hundred feet in aper- The difficulty has been finally ture—provided one has the money overcome by Dr. F. E. Ross of the to pay for it. We will be conserva- Yerkes Observatory, who has pro- tive on our maiden venture, however, duced a correcting lens which, when and start out with one of twenty-five placed in the cone of rays just in feet, or three hundred inches, in front of the plate, gives a large field aperture. free from coma. Ross lenses are now We have already assumed that in- in use at F/3.3, and in his latest re- terplanetary communication has port he says he thinks he can also been realized, hence there seems make them work at F/2.0. to be no point in designing a tele- The mounting would be of the scope to study the members of our equatorial yoke type used on the own system. Like the 200-inch, it 100-inch and in a slightly modified would be intended primarily for form on the 200-inch. This style of stellar work and exposures of faint mounting combines great stability nebulae. This calls for a tremendous with remarkable ease of operation. concentration of light to keep the We would see to it, however, that exposure times down. The 200-inch one feature of the 100-inch mount- is to have a ratio of F/3.3. Suppose ing is not included. It is not gener- that we go a little further and make ally known that the 100-inch can- the eye of Selene with a value of not be pointed farther north than F/2.0, giving a principal focal length seventy degrees, which means that of six hundred inches. if a nova flashed out within twenty At this point I can hear someone degrees of the pole, the astronomer object that the field of view with a there would just have to stand and mirror at F/2.0 would be so re- look at it. stricted as to make it virtually use- less. This also was one of the prob- The ideal substance for the mir- lems encountered in connection with ror would be an alloy which might the 200-inch. In a telescope of short be called Mirrorite. It would consist focal length only the stars near the of metals having the reflecting power center of the field are round and of silver, the zero coefficient of ex- sharp. A little outside of this lim- pansion of invar, the freedom from ited region they begin to be egg- tarnish of stainless steel, and the lightness of magnalium.* Until such has been a remarkable substance ‘'Jlte 'Winner found, we will have to remain con- tent with a single block of glass of oftke. lAJahe- first quality having a high quartz content, and coated with aluminum. Observations would be taken from air-tight compartments within the telescope tube itself. One would be in the form of a capsule six hundred inches above the mirror at its prin- cipal—Newtonian—focus. In this way the light is focused directly onto the plate with a single reflec- tion. Rather curiously, this system can be used to advantage on a small reflector and a very large one, but not on one of moderate size. HE Korda model, champion of the 1939 The 36-inch Crossley reflector of T International Wakefield Meet, is the ideal the Lick Observatory has the plate- gift for young men and boys! holder mounted at the center of the 2 WONDER RECORDS: tube within arm’s reach of the as- THE NATIONALS—in 1937 the Korda model tronomer on a platform nearby. But shattered all records by staying aloft for 54 minutes. the 60- and 100-incli reflectors are WAKEFIELD TROPHY—in 1939, Korda’s so big that it would be almost im- plane broke all international records with possible to get at a plateholder this 43 minutes, 15 seconds in the air—more than far away without grave danger to the 3 times as long as its nearest competitor! mirror—and incidentally—to the FOUR-FOOT WINGS: observer himself. On the other hand, The Korda model is sturdily constructed and rectangular sides. a central observing booth would has trim, easy-to-build take up too much room. FREE TO YOU! The Korda model is the undisputed rubber- has to un- Therefore the beam powered WORLD'S CHAMPION MODEL dergo a second reflection with more PLANE OF 1939! Kit contains everything loss of light to the plateholder on necessary to making the plane, including full-size plans. the side of the tube. A 300-inch mirror, however, has ample aperture We offer this amazing kit to you ABSO- LUTELY FREE with a one-year subscription to to accommodate an observing cham- ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION. ber within the tube without, causing a serious loss of light, since the areas go up as the square. ASTOUNDING Ti The other observing booth would SCIENCE-FICTION be at the lower Cassegrain focus im- 79 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y. mediately below a small opening at Inclosed is $2.00. Kindly send me AS- the center of the mirror. Light TOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION magazine for one year and Dick Korda’s Wakefield reaches it from small convex mir- Champion Model. (Due to duty, Canadians rors housed within the capsule at please remit $2.25.) the Newtonian focus, and compactly Name mounted so as to be easily turned aside when not in use. Three con- Address

City State * An alloy of 31 parts magnesium and 69 parts aluminum. 122 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION vex mirrors would be available, giv- cial photographic lens was used ing. longer equivalent focal ratios. that gave photographs of the sky In addition, a third mirror system twenty degrees in diameter at one would reflect light down the hollow shot. polar axis to a constant tempera- Similarly, for the systematic in- ture laboratory far underground. vestigation of supernova*, a powerful Very long focal lengths are possible wide-angle telescope was the best with this so-called Coude form of bet, capable of photographing large mounting, of the order*of F/30 or areas of the sky with great speed more. The big advantage here is. and uniformity. For this program an that the beam always comes from 18-inch F/2 Schmidt was put on the same direction, making possible Mount Palomar where it has been in the of a stationary spectrograph use operation since September, 1936 . By of high dispersion, instead of a small January, 1938, over three thousand one clamped to the telescope. nebulas had been searched and three 'Fhe central capsule at the New- .supernovas discovered with this lit- tonian focus would also be an- enor- tle instrument, that looks like a hen mous time saver, in that it does away house beside the 200-inch dome. with the clumsy cages to which the Often, too, a small device at- auxiliary mirrors have always been tached to the big mirror will speed attached heretofore. At the 100-inch it up tremendously. The photogra- it takes several hours to switch from phy of the spectra of faint extra- the Newtonian to the Cassegrain galactic nebulae had astronomers form, or vice versa. Often the poor worried not so long ago, for it began night assistant, after getting to bed to look like the number within at five in the morning, has to toil reach of the 200-inch would be muck all afternoon getting the cages into smaller than had been expected. position for work that night, and Perhaps a telescope of larger aper- then report back for duty at seven ture should have been attempted. in the evening. Then someone got the idea of try- ing out a Rayton short-focus camera the spectograph. at The huge l mirror might be lens in One likened to a sun surrounded by a F/0.59 was found to cut the expo- satellite system of minor instruments sure time down at the 100-inch by a and accessories. Frequently a small factor of eight—immediately open- telescope can do some job even bet- ing up new depths of space for ex- ter than a large one, on the same ploration at a negligible cost. principle that an elephant gun isn’t necessary for hunting rabbits. Cases While operations are going for- continually keep coming up in which ward on the Moon, the computing it is desired to make a quick survey staff at the home office will also of a large portion of the sky. have plenty to keep it busy. For A few years ago the Carnegie In- one of the first things the astrono- stitution wanted to make a mosaic mers will need are tables to reduce map of the: Milky Way by fitting star positions determined on the separate photographs together. The Moon from one date to another. 100-inch with its small angular The Moon’s axis of rotation describes aperture would have been at a big a circle three degrees in diameter disadvantage. Consequently a spe- around a point in the heavens near LUNA OBSERVATORY No. 1 123 the fifth-magnitude star 36 Draconis, gears to follow such a motion, espe- once every eighteen point six years. cially when we consider that it The result is to make the stars con- doesn’t even have the grace to pro- tinually shift their apparent posi- ceed uniformly.* tions in the sky—hardly enough to Otherwise, the celestial sphere be noticed by the eye—but by would behave about the same as it amounts intolerable for the crudest does here. Stars would still rise in sort of astrographic work. the east and proceed across the sky The. Earth’s axis has a similar mo- toward the west, but at a rate more tion around the same star, only in than twenty-seven times slower than our case the circle is described in a on Earth. Constellations in the period of twenty-six thousand years, northern and southern hemispheres and has a diameter of forty-seven de- would generally correspond to the grees. This is the famous precession same ones we are accustomed to see- of the equinoxes, and is the reason ing there. The complex path of the why star catalogues always have to Moon in space would not make the state the year to which they re- slightest difference in the positions ferred, as otherwise the star posi- of the stars. The only thing that can tions would be of little value. Since affect them is a shift in direction of the rate of the motion is accurately the Moon’s axis with respect to some known, the co-ordinates of a star fundamental plane of reference, such can then be found for any date be- as that described above. fore or after. The calculations are Peering ahead, we can see the as- quite simple, but if done in a hurry tronomer of tomorrow making rou- a mistake can easily slip in. tine trips back and forth between his Many times an astronomer has comfortable office on the Earth, with measured the position of a comet or its computing force, library, and lec- asteroid with reference to the fixed ture rooms, and the observatory it- stars nearby, and in his anxiety to self on the Moon. Consulting the publish his results, applied the re- program on the bulletin board, he duction for precession with the finds himself down for two weeks at wrong sign. This is always embar- the 300-inch beginning the first of rassing, for it will invariably come the month. Then he is transferred to light later on, when the comet’s to the Schmidt, while Hicks goes on orbit is accurately known, and his at the 300-inch. He also notes from positions stand out in glaring con- the daily lunar report that old else trast to those of everyone con- Doakes is still fooling around at the cerned. 50-inch with that photometer of his. On the Moon this motion of the Well, guess he’d better get packed pole is much faster than for the tonight and make sure his spaeesuit Earth, but smaller in amount. If is O. K. Ho hum. Tough luck hav- it were very fast, the stars would ing to spend a month on the Moon keep constantly drifting out of view with those two bores. in the telescope, regardless of how it accurately was mounted. The ef- * The cause of this lunar motion is hard io fect could be overcome by strenuous explain without getting technical about it. ISriefly, it arises from the peculiar circumstance guiding, or by a driving mechanism that the pole of the Moon's orbit, and the pole of the Moon’s equator, both revolve around the that allowed for it. But it would be pole of the ecliptic so that all three keep in a straight; line, with the pole of the ecliptic in a nice problem figuring out a set of the middle. — —

124

ARDfntm in mmi

Even the best of military men gef confused

about locating guns when they're fired from

two miles away in the middle of next week.

By Borman L. Knight

Illustrated by IV). Isip

The following narrative is an excerpt about four fifths that of Mars they from "Galactic Chronicles,” a monumen- are devoid of skeletons either inter- tal work on extraterrestrial history by the nal or external, being as boneless, Earth-born Martian historiographer, llrai the Younger, who flourished about 2(300 flexible, and elastic as terrestrial gas- A. D. He regards the tale as of doubtful tropods. A rudimentary calcareous authenticity and is inclined to classify it dorsal shield bears witness to their as merely an interesting legend. It is molluscoid ancestry. hereby reproduced as no more than that. The Dzoranian epidermis is dyed Along the outer reaches of an ob- an emerald-green by cells of pigment scure star cluster in the constellation akin to chlorophyll, but of a photo- of the Swan there revolves a plane- synthetic activity enormously more tary system, one of the worlds rapid in its functioning. Whether whereof is known to its inhabitants the possessors of this useful integu- as Dzoran—but this fact is of little ment should be considered as animal moment, inasmuch as in their tongue or vegetable beings is a debatable the name signifies simply "the point. They derive sustenance from world.” In truth, neither the name their highly carbonated atmosphere, of the world nor the speech of its from the radiations of their binary dwellers may be accurately repre- sun and from imbibing the mineral- sented on the printed page, since the ized waters of their world. The life vocalizations of that peculiar race cycle of each individual begins as a defy recording in all available sys- seedlike embryo, incased in a horny tems of phonetic symbols. There- shell the size of an orsil melon, which fore all names of persons and locali- needs must be planted in suitable ties hereinafter referred to must be soil for its further growth. construed as mere approximations. Now at the time of which wo Such things as numbers and units of write, the entire world of Dzoran measure are translated in terms of was divided into two empires, Km re familiar equivalents. gon and Nyandra, which long had The Dzoranians are erect biped been upon terms of mutual toler- beings provided with a pair of ten- ance. This happy state of affairs tacular arms—and beyond that they was disturbed by an act of the Estra- bear little resemblance to either man gonians, who proceeded to drain a or Martian. Due to the low density swamp which lay along the borders and feeble gravity of their planet of the empires at a point where the “By means of the belt,” he said, “I will go into the future a bit.” Whether that was where he went or not, he went elsewhere or elsewhen— common boundary had never been party to the dispute would consider carefully surveyed or clearly defined. the claims of the other, and we must The Estragonians laid claim to the record the painful fact that a state fertile land for their hothouse nurser- of active war resulted. ies. By either Martian or Terrestrial This claim was not wholly unjus- standards, it seems to have been a tified, since it was the initiative and somewhat amateurish war. It was energy of the imperial Estragonian prosecuted in a spirit of exasperation government which had carried out rather than of actual rancor. The the project. Nevertheless the em- Dzoranians were never a bellicose pire of Nvandra invoked an agree- people, and the military arts had not ment of long standing which speci- been practiced for many generations. fied that all boundary disputes Their armies had evolved into ex- should be arbitrated. But neither alted police units. Consequently 126 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION there were encounters, scarcely the means whereby they were perpe- worthy of the word “battles” and trated.” more aptly described as tremendous “You were assigned the problem brawls, in which edged weapons were in the expectation that you would wielded with vigor if not with ex- do so,” responded Mordagond, elon- pert ness. There were casualties, but gating the filaments of his stalked the people of Dzoran have astonish- eyes to the limit of their elasticity. ing powers of recovery from bodily “What have you discovered?” damage. “The enemy is firing upon us with At this stage the Nyandrian forces a gun which discharges explosive dumfounded their opponents by re- shells.” viving the military use of explosives. "Ridiculous!” protested Morda- The Estragonian capital, Strofander, gond. “Strofander is one hundred was thrown into a turmoil by a se- and twenty miles from the border. ries of mysterious bombings. A cer- There is not an artillery piece in tain officer of the intelligence divi- Dzoran outside of a museum, and sion, one Fethwarn, was detailed to none of them would throw a projec- investigate these incidents. tile the required distance if anyone were foolhardy enough to fire it. Wherefore, in due time the intel- Also, Nyandra has not had time to ligence officer, Fethwarn, sought out build a gun capable of the perform- Mordagond, the chief of the Estra- ance you postulate.” gonian high command, at the latter’s “Our neighbors of Nyandra have field headquarters. At the moment had more time at their disposal than both armies had desisted from the you suspect, and they have con- onslaught by mutual consent, since structed a gun,” said Fethwarn. “It the day was one of very fine Dzo- is mounted—not on Nyandrian soil, vanian weather—high humidity, pel- but on ours—-slightly more than one lucid skv, blazing sunshine—ideally mile from Strofander.” suited for relaxation and absorption “This is no time for jesting!” de- of the rays of the double sun. Feth- clared Mordagond angrily. “Allow warn advanced with sinuous and re- me to point out that the area you silient stride through a forest of giant mention is thickly populated and fernlike growths which were, in fact, heavily policed. Also that ninety sentient creatures rooted in the percent of the explosions have oc- spongy soil. There were eyespots curred in the interior of buildings, upon their fronds, and they parted and that the flight of shells would be before him as he approached. He quite audible—whereas no such found Mordagond and his staff in a sounds have been reported by a sin- sun-drenched clearing, reclining in gle one of a multitude of witnesses. serpentine coils upon a carpet of Obviously we are dealing with an or- liehenous stuff which rippled and ganized conspiracy which seeks to whispered, although there was no terrify us with time bombs.” wind. “Time bombs?” repeated Feth- “O deep-rooted and overshadow- warn. “In a sense you are correct; ing tree of wisdom,” began Feth- in the sense in which you use the warn, disposing himself before Mor- term you are mistaken. You have dagond in the shape of a prostrate in mind a bomb of the slow fuse or letter S, “I have solved the nature of the clockwork type. That was my of the attacks upon Strofander and original theory. Rut the truth is BOMBARDMENT IN REVERSE 12? otherwise, and quite amazing. I ob- you shall have photographic proof. tained the first clue from an incident Six hours after the removal of the which recently took place in the wa- projectile from the imperial residence ter crypts of the imperial residence. an invisible agency blasted a large A projectile appeared therein, under opening from the outside, through the very eyes of the crypt warden, the masonry into the crypts. It is but failed to explode. Its descent just such an opening as would have shattered a magnesiaware drum of been made by the shell in its flight. rare old lithia water, aged in the It was then that I realized that it crock, and the shell half buried itself had been launched from a point in in the concrete pavement. The the future, and so understood the warden swears that the missile true nature of my problem. With seemed to materialize out of thin this as a clue, I mastered the work- air, and I personally verified the ings of the mechanism in the base of absence of any opening through the shell, then had it attached to this which it could have entered.” belt of copper.” “Outrageous! Incredible!” cried Mordagond. “You examined this Fethwarn indicated a small case projectile, of course?” plated with metallic cobalt, riveted “I did, with the permission of His to his belt. Imperial Verdure—may his years be “This curious invention is fairly forever green,” affirmed Fethwarn. obvious in principle and could have “I ordered that it be carefully trans- been developed before this,” contin- ported to the steelworks at Strofan- ued Fethwarn. “When in operation der, where it was taken apart under it reorients the wearer in time. I can my supervision. By some oversight now move freely or stand still in time the detonator had been omitted. when I so desire. Observe: I shall But in its base was a curious mecha- advance a few seconds into the fu- nism which first baffled me, then led ture.” me to an astounding discovery. The Fethwarn inserted the jointless Nyandrians are attacking Strofander tendrils which served him as fingers with shells which traverse not only into certain apertures of the cobalt- space, but time as well.” plated case and vanished. After a “I fail to understand you. Every brief interval he reappeared. object, moving or stationary, tra- “From the angle and depth of verses time,” Mordagond objected. penetration of the projectile into the “You and I are traversing time; in floor of the imperial water crypt, to- other words, we continue to exist.” gether wdth the perforation in the “We traverse time at the normal wall, I roughly estimated the spatial rate, in the normal way,” observed direction and distance of the gun Fethwarn. “This projectile did not. which fired it. A point above one It was fired from a gun on a mobile mile from Strofander was indicated, mount furnished with a time drive. near the crossroads hamlet of Nelfir. Strofander is being bombarded from From the time interval between ap- the middle of next week—from half pearance of the projectile and its past ten in the morning of next penetration of the wall of the crypt I Wednesday, to be exact.” deduced the time range of the trajec- “You are undoubtedly mad,” de- tory, using the correlation equations clared Mordagond. of Dzath. A brief excursion into the “T appreciate your feelings, but future verified my deductions. I ob- 128 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION tained a photograph of the weapon enting myself along still another in action.” time axis at right angles to that of He presented a small silver-edged the gun, and approached it as an in- folder to Mordagond, who opened it stantaneous, invisible entity. I and curved his stalked eyes above walked among the gun crew, clam- it incredulously. bered upon the gun, inspected it in “Why, the gun and the gunners detail. I endeavored to tamper with are in the middle of the crossroads!” its mechanism, to dislodge members marveled Mordagond. “And there of the crew from their positions, but are wayfarers near at hand who seem it was as if everything was com- entirely oblivious to its presence, al- posed of infinitely massive material though it is in the act of firing!” welded to the spot. Then I realized “Those are wayfarers who shall be that since, relative to their time axis, at that point at half past ten next any physical force which I exerted Wednesclay morning,” explained endured for zero time—or almost Fethwarn. zero time—the effects thereof would “But why do they disregard the of necessity also be zero, or infinitesi- gun?” mal.” “Ah, when I tell you the answer to Mordagond pondered Fethwarn’s that you will indeed admire the in- words, then remarked: genuity of the Nyandrians. Both “I have thought of a difficulty. the gun and those who serve it are How does the gunner know that his equipped with duplicates of this de- shots are finding the target?” vice at my side, which functions both “The solution of that problem is as time drives and as—what shall I simple but ingenious. The Nyandri- call them?—as time arresters. The ans have—or I should say, they had piece and its crew are existing along —a secret observer in Strofander another time axis at right angles to wrho was in telephonic communica- the direction of our ‘normal time,’ so tion with the gunner. When the gun that from our point of view they are moved to its position through space existing perpetually in the same in- and time it unwound a telephone stant. To them time passes in its cable behind it.” accustomed fashion; their timepieces “A telephone line from now to tick on in the usual way. To them next Wednesday? Marvelous! But we ‘normally’ existing creatures and the observer is in the present and our environment seem frozen, immo- moving normally through time. 'lire bilized in the conditions of that in- interval between now and then con- stant. They find themselves in a stantly grows shorter.” motionless, statuesque world.- When “The cable reel automatically we ourselves shall arrive at that in- draws in the slack. I might add that stant in the course of our ‘normal’ I oriented myself along the time axis progression through time, no one of the cable and cut it —somewhere will be aware of the object at the about next Tuesday noon—when I crossroads because it will seem to ex- discovered its presence.” ist only for a fleeting, infinitesimal “We must duplicate these devices moment. It will have appeared and of the Nyandrians—in quantity,” vanished again too quickly to regis- decided Mordagond. “We must be ter upon our perceptions. In effect, able to immobilize our forces in the it becomes nonexistent. same instant of time as theirs, in “I secured the photograph by ori- time to prevent ourselves from being —

129 surrounded in time—if I make nay- self dear.”

And, since the technicians of Es- tragon were no less able and re- sourceful than those of Nyandra, it-' was done even as Mordagond de- creed. The warfare between the two empires moved into next week, then into the week after next, side- stepped to and fro along, an ever- increasing complexity of mutually perpendicular time axes. The bom- bardment of Strofander ceased, and along its humid arcades—tufted with sentient, undulating moss—-the green-skinned populace went about their affairs untroubled. The con- less tending armies communicated Featuring in pictures The and less frequently with the present. SHADOW, America's most popu- Eventually Mordagond requested lar mystery character. a parley with the Nyandrian com- mander, Esthondar. IRON MUNRO “May you grow ever greener in The Astounding Man, born on Jupiter, ad- ventures in a new universe. the radiance of the two suns,” be- gan Mordagond cordially. “We have DOC SAVAGE shifted our time axis at least sev- The scientific adventures of the gigantic enty-five times. Just where in time Man of Bronze. are we? Should we not now devote FRANK MERRIWELL thought and calculation to the some Introducing something new in football a problem of returning to a normal unique forward pass. orientation?” NICK CARTER “Your words are as a fountain of The super sleuth you saw in pictures now water from the depths of Dzoran,” appears in the comics. responded Esthondar. “I have been pondering the same question. I BOB BURTON weary of this endless combat in a One of Horatio Alger's beloved characters in a mysterious adventure. silent, motionless world. Let us commence immediately.” BILL BARNES So it came about that the two The famous aviator lines up against the armies returned, somewhat confused Yellowjackets who are attempting to rule the world. Many Others. to their own proper time—a long And and tortuous journey. They felt only a slight chagrin on learning that — in the absence of any certain in- as to the outcome of the formation ALL NEW COMICS war—the boundary dispute between Estragon and Nyandra had been NOT REPRINTS duly arbitrated before the first ma- 10c PER COPY jor offensive had begun. And peace prevailed thereafter upon Dzoran. JSO

THE FROffSSOR IK fl THIff

The author of "The Dangerous Dimension" brings

forth an even whackier professor than Henry Madge!

By L. Bon Hubbard

Illustrated by Frank Kramer

FOREWORD I.

Tt was about two o’clock in the No one knew why he was called afternoon and Sergeant Kelly, hav- Pop unless it was that he had sired ing imbibed a bit too much corned the newspaper business. For the beef and cabbage at lunch, was doz- first few hundred years, it appeared, ing comfortably at his desk. He did he had been a senior reporter, going not immediately hear the stumbling calmly about his business of report- feet of Patrolman O'Rourke, but ing wholesale disaster, but during the when he did, he was, in consequence, past month something truly devas- annoyed. tating had occurred. Muttering Sergeant Kelly opened his eyes, noises sounded in the ranks. grunted, and sat slowly forward, Long overdue for the job of city hitching at his pants which he had editor, lately vacated via the under- unbuckled to ease his ballooning taker, Pop had been demoted instead stomach. of promoted. Ordinarily Pop was bitter seen too His eye was offended at first, by not a man. He had Patrolman O’Rourke’s upset uniform many cataclysms fade into the stale- and then, suddenly, interested. And ness of yesterday’s paper. He had what sergeantly eye would not have obit-ed too large a legion of gen- been? For Patrolman O’Rourke’s erals, saints and coal-heavers to ex- anything from life but its mouth was slack and his eyes could pect eventual absence. But there were have been used as bowling balls. He limits. ran into a spittoon and heeded its thundering protest and departure When Leonard Caulborn, whose not, at all. Bracing his tottering self diapers Pop had changed, had been against the desk without changing elevated to city editor over Pop’s his dazed expression, O’Rourke tlecaying head, Pop chose to attempt gulped: the dissolution of gaul in the manu- factures of Kentucky. But even the “It’s gone.” latter has a habit of wearing away “Well!” Kelly. said Sergeant and leaving the former friend a “Don’t stand there like a. jacka- mortal enemy. Thus it was, when napes! Speak up! What’s gone?” the copy boy came for him, that Pop “The Empire State Building,” swore at the distilleries as he arose said Patrolman O’Rourke. and looked about on the floor where 9

“I like models, you know—little things,” explained

the professor. ‘‘I ... eh .. . like to make them.” he supposed his head must have Pop limped toward the office, filled rolled. with resentment. “Mr. Caulborn said he hada see- Leonard Caulborn was a wise yuh riglitaway,” said the copy boy. young man. Even though he had AST— ”

133 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION no real' knowledge of the newspaper “And you’re going to give me as- business, people still insisted he was signments,” said Pop. wise. Hadn't he married the pub- Caulborn smiled wearily, evi- lisher's daughter? And if the paper dently thinking it best to cajole the didn't make as much as it should, old coot. “All right, here's an article didn't the publisher have plenty of I clipped a couple months ago. Get stockholders who could take the a story on it.” losses and never feel them—much, When Caulborn had fished up the anyway. magazine out of his rubble-covered Young and self-made and officious desk he tossed it to Pop like a citi- if not efficient, Caulborn greeted zen paying a panhandler. Pop not at all, but let him stand be- Pop wanted to throw it back, for fore the desk a few minutes. he saw at a glance that it was merely Pop finally picked up a basket and a stick, a rehash of some speech dropped it a couple inches, making made a long while ago tg some Caulborn look up. physics society. But he had gained “You sent for me?” said Pop. ground so far. He wouldn’t lose if. “I sent for you— Oh, yes, I re- He backed out. member now. Pending your retire- Muttering to himself he crossed ment you’ve been put on the copy to his own desk, wading through the desk” rush and clamor of the city room. It was plain to him that he to “My what?’' cried Pop. had make the most of what he had. It “Your retirement. We are retir- was unlikely that he’d get another ing all employees over fifty. We cli9.ncc need new people and new ideas “I’ll show ’em,” he growled. “Call here.” me a has-been. Well! Think I can't “Retirement?” still Pop was gap- make a story out of nothing, does ing. “When? How?” he? Why, I’ll get such a story that “Effective day after tomorrow. he’ll have to keep me on. And pro- Pop, you are no longer with this mote me. And raise my pay. paper. Our present social security Throw me into the gutter, will policy—” they?” “Will pay me off about twenty He sat down in his chair and bucks complete,” said Pop. “But to scanned the article. It began quite hell with that. I brought this paper lucidly with the statement that Han- into the world and it’s going to take nibal Pertwee had made this address me out. You can't do this to me!” before the assembled physicists of “I have orders— the country. Pop, growing cold the while, tried to wade through* said ad- “You are issuing the orders these dress. When he came out at the days,” said Pop. “What are you go- end with a spinning head he saw that ing to do for copy when you lose all Hannibal Pertwee’s theories were your men that know the ropes?” not supported by anybody but Han- “We’ll get along,” said Caulborn. nibal Pertwee. All other informa- “That will be all.” tion, even to Pop, was so much poly- “No it won’t either,” said Pop. syllabic nonsense. Something about “I’m staying as reporter.” transportation of freight. He “All right. You’re staying as re- gathered that much. Some new way porter then. It’s only two days.” to help civilization. But just how. THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 133

the article did not tell—Pop, at stepped back and was instantly least. smitten by a sign which shouted: Suddenly Pop felt very old and 1,000,000 VOLTS very tired. At fifty-three he had Bewore! ten thousand by-lines behind him. Me built to had the World-Journal Pop felt a breeze chill him as he its present importance. He loved stared at his fingers. But they were the paper it going to and now was still there and lie was encouraged. hell in the hands of an incom- Moving toward the gate be found petent, and they were letting him off other signs: at a station halfway between no- where and anywhere. And the only BEWARE OF THE LIONS! way he had of stopping them was an impossible article by some craekbrain Pop searched anxiously for them on the transportation of freight. and, so doing, found a third: He sighed and, between two shak- AREA MINED! ing hands, nursed an aching head. And: TRESPASSERS BURIED II. FREE OF CHARGE! A pavement-pounding reporter Uncertain now7 Pop again stared is apt to find the turf trying—and so . at the tiny house. It began to re- it was with Pop. Plodding through mind him of a. picture he had seen the dismal dusk of Jersey, he began of Arizona’s gas chamber. to wish that he had never beard the But, setting his jaw to measure up name of Hannibal Pertw: ee. Only to the threats around him, he the urgency of his desire to keep go- sought the bell, avoiding the sign ing had brought him thus far along which said: the lonely roads. Grimly, if weakly, GAS TRAPS lie at last arrived at a gate to which a Jerseyite had directed him. And the one which roared: With a moan of relief he leaned against a wire-mesh fence and DEATH RAYS breathed himself to normalcy. It KEEP OUT! wasn’t that he was getting old. Of course not! It was just that he He almost leaped out of his body should have worn more comfortable when a voice before him growled: shoes. “What is your business?” He looked more observantly about Pop stared. He backed up. lie him and became interested. turned. Suspiciously he eyed the Through this factory fence he could emptiness. see a house, not much bigger than an At last, rapidly, he said, “I want architect's model, built with exact- to see Hannibal Pertwee. I am a re- ness which would have been painful porter from the New York World- to a. more esthetic eye than Pop’s. Journal.”

The fence itself next caught his There was a click and a. square of interest. He fingered the steel-mesh light glowed in a panel. For sec- with wonder. At the top the poles onds nothing further happened and bent out to support three strands of then, very slowly, the gate swung in- savage-looking barbed wire. Pop ward. 131 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Boldly—outwardly, at least—Pop facts, I should be very glad to give marched through. Behind him the you a decent break.” gate clicked. He whirled. A little “Oh yes! Certainly. You must tongue of lightning went licking its see my garden!” chops around the latch. “I’ve just seen it,” said Pop. It took Pop some time to perma- “Isn’t it beautiful? Not a bit like nently swallow his dinner. He any other garden you ever sur- glared around him but the strange veyed.” change in the atmosphere soon regis- “Not a bit.” tered upon his greedy senses. “Such wholesome originality and Here the walk was only a foot such gigantic trees.” wide, bordered by dwarf plants. “Huh?” What Pop had thought to be shrub- “Why, over a thousand feet tall, bery was actually a forest of perfect some of them. Of course trees don’t trees, all less than a yard tall but ordinarily grow to a thousand feet. with the proportions of giants. Here The tallest tree in the world is much too were benches like doll furniture less than that. Of course the Aldrich and a miniature fountain which deep is 30,930, but then no trees tinkled in high key. Sundials, sum- grow in the ocean. There, now! merhouses, bridges and flowers—all Isn’t the garden remarkable? I’m were tiny, perfect specimens. Even so sorry to w'allc you all over the the fish in the small ponds were place this way, but I have recently nearly microscopic. given my cars to charity.” Pop approached the house warily “Hey” said Pop. '“Wait. We as though it might bite. When he haven’t been anywhere.” stood upon the porch, stooping a “No, indeed not. My garden is little to miss the roof, the door only a small portion of what I have opened. yet to show you. Please come in.” Pop followed him into the house, Standing there was a man not almost knocking off his hat on the five feet tall, whose face wr as a study ceiling. The house was furnished in of mildness and apology. His eyes somewhat garish fashion and, here were an indefinite blue and what re- again, everything was less than half mained of his hair was an indefinite its normal size, even to the oil paint- gray. He was dressed in a swallow- ings on the walls and the grand tail coat and striped pants and wing piano. collar, with a tiny diamond horse- “Please be seated,” said Hannibal shoe in his tie. Nervously he peered Pertwee. at Pop. Somehow Pop squeezed himself “You are Mr. Brewhauer from the into a chair. There was a tingling Scientifi c Investigator?” sensation as though he was receiving constant shock. he “No. I’m from the New York a rather But it no heed. Determined to get World-Journal.” paid a story, he casually got out his ciga- “Ah.” rette case and offered Hannibal a “I came,” said Pop, “to get a story smoke. this lecture you handed out a on The little man started to refuse couple months ago.” and then noticed the case. “What “Ah.” an unusual design!” “If you could just give me a few “Yeah,” said Pop, and pressed the ” ” ”

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 335 music button. “The Sidewalks of that lecture. If—you could tell me New York” tinkled through the what it is about room. “Lecture?” "Fascinating,” said Hannibal. “That you made before the “What delicate mechanism! You physics society. Something about know, I’ve made several rather small moving freight.” things myself. Here is a copy of the “Oh! ‘The Pertwee Elucidation of Bible which I printed.” And in the Simplification of Transportn- Pop's hand he laid the merest speck tional Facilities as Applying to the of a book. Freight Problems of the United Pop peered at it and somehow States.’ You mean that?” managed to open it. Yes, each page “Yes. That’s it!’’ appeared to be perfectly printed. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Pertwee does There was a slight tingling which not refer to the subject now.” made him scratch his palm after he “Air.— Wait, aren’t you Air. had handed the volume hack. Pertwee?” “\7 "And here is a ear,” said Hanni- es,— indeed. Now about my bal, “which I spent much time con- trains structing. The engine is quite per- “Just some comment or other,” fect.” And thereupon he took the pleaded Pop. “1 couldn’t under- inch-long object and poked into it stand just what it was all about.” with a toothpick. There was a re- “There’s nothing half so lovely as

sultant. pur. a, train,” said Air. Pertwee, almost “It runs,” said Pop, startled. firmly. “Of course. It should gat about a Pop took out his case and lighted hundred thousand miles to the gal- a cigarette. lon. Therefore, if a car would make “Would you mind pressing that the trip and if it could carry enough button again?” said Pertwee. gas, then it could go to the Moon. Once more the worn mechanism The Moon is only 238,857 miles from tinkled out its music. When it had Earth, you know.” And he smiled done, Hannibal took the ease and in- confidently. He had forgotten about spected it anew with great atten- the car and it started up and ran off tion. his hand. Pop made a valiant stab “You said something about for it and missed. Hannibal picked trains,” said Pop. it up and put it away. “Pardon?” “Now I must show you around,” Pop took back his case and put it said Hannibal. - “Usually I start firmly away. “You spoke of trains. with the garden— There may be a story there.” “We've seen that,” said Pop. “Oh there is, there is,” said Hanni- “Seen what?” bal. “But I don’t talk about it, you “The garden.” know. Not with strangers. Of “Why,” said Hannibal, “I said course you are not a stranger, are nothing about a garden, did I? I you?” wish to show you my trains.” “Oh, no, indeed,” said Pop, mysti- “Trains?” fied because be could see no bottle “Have you ever played with about. “But let’s get on to the trains?” trains.” “Well—I can’t say as I have. Hannibal bounced eagerly up and You see, Mr. Pertwee, I came about led his caller through the house. 138 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION pausing now and then to show other at their feet, were seemingly miles of instances of things done very small. track leading off in bewildering tangle of routes. Finally they reached the train “My trains,” said Hannibal, room and here Pop stopped short in caressingly. amazement. For here, spread out Pop just kept staring. There

Pop bent down. In the center of the very large hole was a very small building. It looked like the ex-apartment house, but— ” ” —

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 1GY were toy stations and semaphores cited about it for he had never had and miniature rivers and roads and a chance to play with trains as a boy underpasses and sidings and and now it seemed quite logical that switches. And on the tracks stood they should interest him as a man. a whole fleet of freight cars in a Finally Hannibal brought the cars yard. Engines stood about, ready back to the New York yard and to do the switching. The round- broke tip the last train. With a sigh houses were crammed with rolling he took off his hat and stood up, slock and, in short, nearly every type smiling apologetically. of equipment used was represented “You must go now,” said Hanni- here. bal. Hannibal was already down on his “Look,” said Pop. “Just give me knees at a switchboard. He grabbed some kind of an idea of what you up a top hat and plonked it on his were talking about in that article so head and then beamed at Pop. I can mention— it in the paper.” “Cargo of' strawberries for Chi- “Well cago/’ said Hannibal. Ife threw half “I’ll do you some good,” said Pop. a dozen switches. The engines in “Do you understand anything the freight yard came to life and about infinite acceleration?” began to charge and puff and bang “Well, no.” into cars, making up a train with- “Or the fourth dimension?” out any touch from the operator ex- “WellllHIIU— cept on the control board. “Or Einstein’s mathematics?” “That bare space away over there “No.” is Chicago,” said Hannibal. “Then,” said Hannibal, “I don’t Pop saw then that this room was think I can explain. They would vast enough to contain a replica of not believe me.” And he laughed the United States and realized with softly. “So you see, you wouldn’t a start that these tracks were each either. Good night.” one a counterpart of an actual rail- And Pop presently found himself road line. Here were all the railway outside the gate, confronted once routes in the United States spreading more with the long walk to the sta- over a third of an acre! tion and the long ride back to New “This is New York,” said Hanni- I ork. bal, indicating another bare space. A fine job he’d done. No story. "Only, of course, there isn’t any- Still— Say! Those trains would thing there yet. Now here we go!” make a swell yarn. A batty little The freight, made up, began to scientist playing with toy railroads move along the track faster and Sure. He’d do it. Play it on the faster. It whistled for the crossings human interest side. Great minds and rumbled over the rivers and at leisure. Scientist amuses self stepped into a siding for a fast with most complete model road in freight to go by, took on water and the world— Yes, that was it. finally roared into the yard beside Might do something with that. the bare space which was Chicago. But he’d never get far with it. Here it w’as broken up and other en- Trudging along he reached for his gines began to reform it. cigarette ease. He fumbled in other In the space of two hours, Pop pockets. Alarm began to grow on watched freight being shunted all him. He couldn’t find it! More over the United States. He was ex- slowly he repeated the search. ” — ” —

138 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Hurriedly then he tore back to about to rush on when he saw Pop’s the gate and shouted at the house. expression. But the only reply he got was “Hey, you look like you need a printed on the sign: drink.” “I do,” said Pop. TRESPASSERS SURiED The reporter glanced at Caul- FREE OF CHARGE! born’s door. “So he’s making it tough for you, is he? The dirty rat. Never mind, Pop, when better news- III. papermen are built they’ll all look Pop, it might be said, was just a like you. Something will break little proud of having turned out a sooner or later presentable story where no story had “I’m leaving tomorrow.” been before. And, feeling the need “Say, look now! Don’t quit under of a little praise, he finished off his fire. You know' .what ails that guy? story the following morning and took He’s scared, that’s all. Scared of it to Caulborn personally. most of us and you in particular. Canlborn, in a lather of activity Why, hell’s bells, you belong in that which amounted to keeping half the chair. We’re losing money, hun- staff enraged, pushed up his eye- dreds a day, and when it gets to shade—which he wore for show thousands the publisher himself will and stared at Pop with calculated get wise— coldness. “I’m being laid off,” said Pop. “Well?” “You? For God’s sake!” “That story you sent me out on,” Pop wandered back to his desk. said Pop, putting the sheets on Caul- Two other reporters came over to born’s desk. “You didn’t think there commiserate with him and curse was any story there. And you were Caulborn but Pop didn’t have any- right as far as news—was concerned. thing to say. He just kept on pulling But human interest old odds and ends out of his desk, “Humph,” said Caulborn, barely throwing many of them aw'ay but glancing at the type. He was, in making a packet out of the rest. truth, a little annoyed that Pop had “You’re not leaving today, are gotten anything at all. When Caul- you?” said a third, coming up. born had taken this job he had “What else can I do?” said Pop. known very well that there were And he went on cleaning out his others in the office who had more desk, looking very worn and old and seniority, more experience, and quiet. He scarcely looked up when therefore a better claim. Caulborn passed him, on his way out “You call this a story?” said Caul- to lunch. born. “You think we print any- thing you care to write? Go back It was about one o’clock and he to the copy desk.” And so saying was just tying a string around his he dropped the sheets into the waste- belongings—a pitifully small pack- basket with an emphatic gesture of age to show for all his years in this dismissal. city room. The phone rang on the Pop was a little dazed. He backed next desk and Pop, out of habit, out and stood on the sill for seconds reached across for it. before he closed the door. A hurry- “Gimme rewrite,” barked an ex- ing reporter jostled him and w'as cited voice. ” !

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 139

“I’ll take it,” saitl Pop suddenly. Grant’s Tomb was. I was about a “This’s Jenson. I’m up on the block away when I heard shrieks Drive. Ready?” and I came tearing down to find that Pop raked some copy paper to him traffic was jammed up and that and picked up a pencil. He was a people were running away from the little excited by the leg man’s tone. place while other people ran toward “Ready.” it. I asked a nursemaid about it “At twelve-forty-five today, and she’d seen it happen. She said Grant’s Tomb disappeared.” there was a rumbling sound and then “Huh?” suddenly the Tomb began to shrink in size and in less than ten seconds “Get it down. The traffic on the it had vanished.” Drive was at its noon hour peak and “Was anybody seen monkeying the benches around the structure with it?” said Pop, feeling foolish were filled with people. with- When, instantly. out warning, a rumble sounded, the “A chauffeur said he saw a little alarmed populace— guy in a swallowtail coat tear across “To hell with the words,” cried the spot where the Tomb had been.” Pop. “Give me the story. How did “How many dead?” it happen?” “Nobody knows if anybody is “I don’t know. Nobody knows. dead.”

There are half a. dozen police cars “Well, find out!” around here staring at the place “How can I find out when every-

No luck, my friend, you’re off her book,

The girj can’t stand that bristly look.

For thrifty shaves . . : clean, easy# quick,

The Thin Gillette sure turns the trick 140 body that was sitting on the steps and all completely disappeared?” ‘‘What?” “They’re gone.” “Somebody is crazy," said Pop. “No bodies?” “No Tomb.” Complete Training For You “I got this much,” said Pop. NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU DO “You hoof it back there and get If you are sincerely* ambitious and interested stories from the witnesses.” He hung FREE LITERATURE in making good in the fast- growing Iiiest-L and Gas Engine field, immediately investi- gives full details up and whirled to shout down the gate National's training plan. It will (it. 3V1aif the coupon your circumstances. A 1*1 an for every Man. line desks, below. literature For those seeking immediate shop- training of “Grant’s Tomb's gone! sent postpaid. No as well as for those who cannot give up obligation. present employment and income. Get Columbia on the phone. We got A Flexible Pre-tested Training Plan to have a statement from somebody We are definitely interested in helping men of limited income and “blind alley" job that knows his stuff. You, Sweeney, holders . This plan fits your needs. For ::4 t years National Schools, a recognized leader grab an encyclopedia and see if any- in trade education, has helped thousands of men to success. Time-tested shop methods. thing like Fascinating, efficient preparation. Get the this ever happened before. facts immediately. Morton, grab a camera and get out NATIONAL SCHOOLS there for some pictures. Dunstan! Los Angeles You go with Morton and find the relatives of the people that have van- ished along with the Tomb. Get going!” Nobody asked any questions be- yond a stammer of incredulity. No- body thought of tearing out to find Caulborn. Sweeney, Morton, Dun- stan and others went into a flurry of activity. “Branper!” cried Pop into the in- teroffice phone. “Start setting up an -,.l ironing with . the, extra. We’ll be on the street in new Streamlined Diamond. ( Self-heating, instant heatcon- trol, triple pointed base, heat- half an hour. Second extra in an proof rosewood handle. Rust-, proof CHROMIUM finish for, hour and a half with pictures.” lifetime service. No tiring: hot stove work or dangerous cords — Burns 96% AIR, only 4% ' “Is this Pop?” ' kerosene (coal oil). It ac- tually IRONS FAMILY “Yeah, this is Pop. What are WASHING for 1 CENT./ you 30 DAYS HOME TRIAL! waiting for?” Enjoy Diamond Ironing for • month at our risk. Write for . $8 . 00 , $ 10 , full particulars of Trial offer! “O. K. Half an hour it is.” Akron Lamp Mfg.Co. - " $14 A DAY & being made. Write at once. 1003 iron St.. Akron, Ohio ACCOUNTING JL. the profession that pays- Accountants command good in- ing knowledge unnecessary—we come. Thousands needed. About prepare you from ground up. Our 17,000 Certified Public Account- training is personally given by ants in U. S. Many earn #2,000 to staff of experienced C, P. A.’s. #10,000. We train you thoroughly at Low cost-— easy terms. Write home in your spare time forC. P. A. now for valuable 48-page book examinations or executive account- free, “Accounting, the Profession ing positions. Previous bookkeep- That Pays.” LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY. A CORRESPONDENCE INSTITUTION Dept. 163-11, Chicago THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 141

“Louie, get some shots of Grant’s in him was appalled. The newspa- Tomb out of the files and rush them perman went into action. down to Composing.” Pop pxdled “Goodart,” roared Pop, “get a his old typewriter toward his camera down to the Empire State. stomach and his fingers began to It’s disappeared.” flash over the keys. Hunt and “Check,” said Goodart, dashing punch it was, but never had a story away. rolled so swiftly. In five minutes it “Copy hoy!” yelled Pop. And was streaming down to Composing. into the phone, even while he started

Pop got up and paced around his t lie second story, he yelped, “Brun- desk. He rumpled his graying hair ner. Limit the first extra. Get set and looked unseeingly out across for a second. Story coming down. the City Room. He had pinch hit The Empire State Building has dis- as night editor so often that he did appeared.” not question his authority to go “O. K.,” said Branner. ahead. And still nobody thought of “Get some pictures down to Bran- Caulborn. ner on the Empire State,” shouted Pop. His fingers were blurring, so Shortly a damp proof was rushed fast they raced over the keys. up. The copy boy hesitated for a “New York is going piece by moment and then laid it on Pop’s piece,” said a reporter. “Oh boy, desk. Pop looked it over. “O. K. what a story!” Let. it run.” “Call the mayor, somebody!” said The boy loped away and" Pop, Pop. “Tell him about it and ask reaching for a cigarette, again him what he means to do.” missed his case. Instead he hauled “Check,” said a cub eagerly. up a limp package and lighted a “No such incident in the encyclo- match. The phone rang somewhere. pedia,” reported Sweeney. “Take it, Pop,” said a reporter. “Unprecedented,” said Pop. “Law- Pop took it. son and Frankie! You two get “Who’s this?” said Pop. cameras and rush downtown to be “Freeman. Grab your pencil.” on hand in case any other big build- “Got it,” said Pop, beginning to ings exit. Copy boy!” tingle at the tone of the leg-man. And the second story was on its “The Empire State Building dis- way to Composing. And still no- appeared about five minutes ago.” body remembered Caulborn. “Right,” said Pop. Pop went back to the window, hut “Fin down at Precinct— About the Empire State was just as in- three seconds ago a 'cop came stag- visible as ever. gering in with the news. I haven’t “Columbia says mass hypnotism had a chance to look.” or hysteria,” said a girl. “Get right down there and see,” “Get their statement,” said Pop. said Pop. “Grant’s Tomb vanished “Got it.” just before you called.” “Check.” “Dress it up and shoot it down.” Pop put down the phone and “Check.” dashed over to the window. But in Pop walked around his desk. vain he searched the skyline for any Again he reached for his cigarette sign of the Empire State Building. case and was again annoyed to find “Gone,” he said. The human being it gone. He lighted up, frowning ” ” ” ” ”

112 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION over new angles, one eye hopefully but a hole in the ground. There was on the phone. a rumble and then the thing van- “Find out how many people are ished. Seemed to cave into itself usually in the Empire State,” said but there is no debris. It’s gone. Pop. All gone.” “Check,” said a reporter, grabbing “O. K., Pop,” said Tim, his mill a phone. beginning to clatter. “Don’t try to call the Empire “Copy boy!” shouted Pop, point- State!” said Pop. “It isn’t there!” ing at Tim. “Pictures of Pennsyl- The reporter looked silly and vania Station!” He grabbed a changed his call to the home of a phone. “Branner! Keep adding to director of the Empire State. that extra. We got pictures coming of Pennsylvania Station. It’s gone.” Certain that the story would “Penn— Oh boy, what a story!”— keep breaking, Pop was not at all Pop hung up. “Angles, angles surprised when Frankie called. The phone rang. “Pop! This’s Frankie. Pennsyl- “This is Lawson. I just heard vania Station’s gone!” that Grand Central disappeared. “Penn— Full of people?” I’ll get down there for some pictures “And trains and everything!’* and call you back.” cried Frankie. “There’s nothing “Pennsylvania Station just went,” there but a hole in the ground. I said Pop. was lucky, about a block away and “The hell,” said Lawson. saw it, happen! You said big so I “On your way,” said Pop. figured Pennsylvania— “Gone,” said Lawson. “The story!” Pop reached for another phone “Well, there was a kind of rumble which was clamoring. and then, all of a sudden, the sta- “This is Jenson again. I been tion seemed to cave into itself and checking all the angles. About a it was gone!” thousand— people saw it disappear “Statements!” when “A little guy in a swallowtail coat ‘‘What? What’s gone—now.” almost knocked me down running “Why, Grant’s Tomb away. He was scared to death. “Hell, kill it. The Empire Slate, Everybody was trying to get away. Pennsylvania and Grand Central And right on the corner one of our have gone since then. Get down boys was shouting our first extra. here with your photographer.” The whole building just disappeared, “I haven’t seen him. Did you that's all. People, trains, every- send one?” thing. You —ought to see the hole “Get down here. Do you think i>i the ground this is a vacation? Bring in your “Get statements and rush your yarns. They’ll just make our fourth pictures back here. Don’t be a extra.” damned photographer all vour life.” “O. Tv., Pop.” “O. K, Pop.” “Got a statement from the mayor. “Pennsylvania Station,” yelped He’s yelling sabotage,” said the Pop. “Tim, get this for rewrite. cub. “He says he’s phoning the gov- About five minutes ago, Pennsyl- ernor to call out the militia. He vania Station disappeared, people, says they can’t do this to his town.” trains, everything. There’s nothing “Banner for extra number three,” ” ” — ” . . .

143 barked Fop into Fie phone. “Mayor Objects. Calls Out Militia. Story coming down.” He jabbed a finger at the cub’s typewriter. "Roll it out and spread it thick. They’ll be half panicked by now. Stab in a human-interest angle. Make ’em take it calm.” “Check,” said the cub nervously.

Pop walked around his desk and again reached for his cigarette case, to again discover that it was: miss- ing. “Angles—two men with swal- lowtail coats— AMAZINGLY EASY Pop whirled, “Eddy! Take this WAY TO GET INTO lead. Mystery man seen in two catastrophes. A small man with a swallowtail coat was present today ELECTRICITY at both the vanishing of the Tomb and Pennsylvania Station. Was seen 12 Weeks’ Practical Training to run across place where Tomb had in the big Chicago Coyne Shops been and collided with one of our Let us prepare you for your start in a good paying field. Let » teach you how to prepare for positions that lead to good salar- reporters just, after Pennsylvania dis- ies in Electricity-—NOT by correspondence, but by an amazing way we teach right here In the great Coyne Shops. You get a appeared. Got it?” practical training In 90 days. Electricity offers many opportuni- ties to the trained man. Prepare today to take your place in the “Cheek.” great field of Electricity. Mail coupon today. Pop went over to the window. The LEARN BY DOING — IN 90 DAYS BY ACTUAL WORK-IN COYNE SHOPS State still gone. Empire was A 1 don’t care if you don’t know an armature from an air brake — I don’t expect you to! Coyne training is practical “learn-by-dolng'* thought was taking definite form in training. Don’t let lack of money bold you back from getting all de- tails of my amazing plan. his mind now. For some reason he to Hannibal MANY EARN WHILE LEARNING kept harking back If you need part time work to help pay your expenses, we may be able to help you as we have hundreds of others. When you graduate Pert wee. Railway stations, ciga- ™e’Jl give you lifetime employment service. And, in 12 biicf weeks, in the great shops of Coyne, we train you as you never rette case, swallowtail coat dreamed you could be trained ... on one of the greatest outlays of electrical apparatus ever assembled . . . real dynamos, engines, Freeman came dashing up. “She’s power plants, autos, switchboards, housewiring, armature winding and many other branches of Electricity. sure gone.” ELECTRIC REFRIGERATION “What?” AIR CONDITIONING “The Empire Slate. There’s noth- Right now we are including additional instruction in Electric Re- frigeration and Air Conditioning without extra cost so that your ing hole in the ground. There training will be more complete and you can get into this marvelous, but a rapidly expanding field. were umpteen thousand people in- I1V7T Till?® Coyne is your great chance to — • AV A 9 get into Electricity. This school side and there’s no sign of them is 39 years old — Coyne training is tested. You can find out every- thing absolutely free. Simply mail the coupon and let us send you the big, free Coyne book . . story the with photographs . facts “O. IvJ Do me a about * • • opportunities. Tells you how many earn expenses while training and how we assist our graduates in the field. state of the city—how calm they’re No obligation to you. So act at once. Just mail coupon. S|pK|||| taking it. Smooth them down. BIG FREE BOOK! containing photo- graphs and ' telling the complete story -/ S> t Third extra on its way and you’ll absolutely 0 — FREE. ‘10f * make the lead in the fourth.” COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL “Right,” said Freeman. “But you SOOS. PAULINA ST., Best. IO-4S, CHICAGO, ILL. oughta seen that cop— H. C. LEWIS, Pres,. COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL “Don’t tell me. I don’t buy the Dept. 10-45, SOO S. Paulina St., Chicago, III. I Dear Mr. Lewis* Without obligation send me your big, free it.” catalog paper. Write with facts about Coyne Training and details of your I “Plans” to help me. “O. K., Pop.” I Name . Age Pop turned back to his desk. He Address l was so preoccupied that he did not City . State — J ” ”

144 husky see a dark cloud come thundering GET BIG | through the City Room. Caulborn, with a copy of the first extra in his hands, bore down upon what was obviously the center of the maelstrom. “Did you do this?” he cried, shak- ing the extra under Pop’s nose. “Sure. What about it?” “Why didn’t you call me? You know where I eat lunch! How do you know this story is true? What AMAZING NEW do you mean spreading terror all 37 FEATURE over the town? How is it that we Training Course Big Muscle Building get a paper out so quick when Save money on this amazing conrae of physical Builder Exerciser culture. Big Husky 10 Cable Muscle there’s else 200 Lbs. Resistance (Adjustable). Wall Exerciser foil nobody on the streets? back and Bhoulder development. Head 4arness (adjustable)* Attachments. Skip! and Foot Gear. Rowing Machine If this is a farce, then we ll be in Shadow Boxer. Completely Illustrated 1 Rene The Great AN Course "ROW TO GET STRONG" . MODS—EAT dJ STRONG. Secrets of Jiu-Jitsu. JWrestlmg Holds. Dutch plenty. Civil and criminal GROW to Get Big Bicepsj Feats of Strength. Special Ways — Strengthen Your Back. Muscle Gauge.. Test Your Ownf actions Strength. Secrets of Chest Expansion. Stomach r Muscles. Powerfor Legs and Thighs. For Men Only, J know. *'e®’ S facts you should J*“*/*Y u 1 “It takes guts to run a paper,” **30 Day Training Schedule" that tell a you what to do 9 numerous other fea- 1 each day and 1 tures. All This-For only $2.99. said Pop coldly. Send your name and address. We’ll ship everything out by re- turn mail. Pay postman only “If that’s what it takes, you’ve got $2.99 plus postal charges. Out- side U. S. cash with order. too many. Now we’ve got to check HERCULES EXERCISES everything we’ve printed. If 49 East 21st St. Dept. A-13 New York, N.Y. O I.P.O.Ine. you’ve got another extra on the rollers, we’ll have to kill it and find Develop a — out if Powerful “The third extra is on the street,” Grip said Pop. Caulborn stared, growing angry. “And you took the authority with- out even trying to find me?” NEW STREAMLINE BENJAMIN AIR RIFLES WITH LEVER “A story has got to go when it’s HANO PUMP v . - , l gg .22 hot,” said Pop. “All right! All right! And you ran this one so hot that you’re driv- HARD ACCURATE SHOOTIMS WITH CHAMBERED AIR i You c.n us. new models BENJAMIN AIR RIFL!: WITH LEVER HAF.i: ’ ing New York into a panic! Get PUMP anywhere, for practice firing or just pHnking around the house J or camping, fishing, hunting, etc., at lowest cost. Shooting force is t adjustable depending on AIR PRESSURE—amazing maximum power ” * 4 out!” and accuracy-^will penetrate to 1 Hair triggererfiritfiring without lunge or recoil. Single Shot B8 $7.50. RepeaterBB $9.00. Rifled Cal. i 22 or 177 Single Shot $8. SO. Ask your dealer all about them or I “What?” write for complete specifications—targets and blueprints f FREE if requested. We also make a complete line of BENJAMIN AIR PISTOLS for target and small game. WRITE TODAY. “I said get out!” towered Caul- BENJAMIN AIR RIFLE CO., 884 MARION ST.,i*ST. LOUIS, MO., U. born. “You’re through, finished, washed up. Today instead of to- morrow'!” And, nursing his injured MAGIC importance, Caulhorn flung off to his office. DISC The City Room was very quiet. HEATS WATER Pop stood for a little while and IN H SECONDS then, with a shrug, picked up the Millions need Speed Kins—gives you hot water package on his desk. fast and cheap. Prop into any pan of water Pocket Sizo plug into socket—in 60 seconds you have hot water. Rush your name for sample offer for use SAMPLES “Well,” he sighed, “it was fun or demonstrator. Plenty cash profits for agents. No money. Just send name. Postcard will do. I FOR AGENTS.I while it lasted.” DES moines, iowa SEND NAME!! nU'VfAlNII-WAYMFHmru, VU.,Ml p eP t,361, Walnut Bldg. “You’re going to take him at his ” ” ”

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 145 word?” said somebody. “Just be- Oh, if this hunch he had was cause you were smart enough not to wrong! wait? He’s just— sore because you He marched through the minia- did it so swell ture forest down the miniature path “Maybe,” said Pop. and ducked to mount the porch. But “You’re going to quit like this?” there his purpose was eased. said Freeman. Hannibal opened the door and “No. Not like this,” said Pop. gazed sadly at him. “Whatcha going to do?” said the “It will be so much work to re- cub. pair that gate,” said Hannibal. — Pop hefted his package. He “Well . . . uh . . . you see looked grim. “I was very busy. You are Mr. Frothingale from the Atlantic Sci- IV. ence Survey, are you not?” At dusk Pop approached the “I’m from the World-Journal,” fortress of Hannibal Pertwce. But said Pop. this time he did not lean against the “You’re sure you are not from the fence or spend time in reading signs. railroad company?” True, he could not miss: “Ah,” said Pop. “Well—I am very sorry but I BEWARE OF THE LIONS! can’t ask you in tonight. I am so busy.” but, having seen none on his previ- “I . . . er . . . came after my ous visit, he refused to be alarmed. cigarette case,” said Pop. In fact, he so unswerving of was “Cigarette case?” purpose that nothing short of light- “Yes. I lost it when I was here ning itself could have stopped him before. I would dislike having to and he had an antidote for that. part with it permanently.” At a garage he had managed to separate himself from five dollars “Oh, that is very shocking. Did you lose it here?” he could ill afford, an electrician from a pair of insulated gloves, and “I had it when I was here and the heaviest pair of wire cutters he didn’t have it after I left.” could carry. “Mightn’t you have dropped it in Breaking and entering would be a the garden?” very serious offense, but he was first “I had it while I was in the house. going to give Hannibal chance. a You don’t mind if I come in and For several minutes he waited look, do you?” dutifully at the gale, hoping that “Why . . . er— the mysterious voice would again But Pop was already shouldering speak. But this time it did not and past Hannibal Pertwee and the little the house remained as dark as it was could not but give way. How- small. man ever, Hannibal skipped to the fore “You asked for it,” muttered Pop. Very painstakingly he inspected and guided Pop into the minute liv- ing room. •the latch. Then he donned the rub- ber gloves and took the cutters and “I was sitting here in this chair,” went to work. In a few minutes the said Pop, looking under it. gate was swinging open, leaving its Hannibal fidgeted. “Isn’t it lovely latch behind. weather?” ”

148 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Swell,” said Pop. “You don't Grumbling to himself, he stood mind if I look elsewhere?” on the platform, waiting for a train “Oh, yes! I mean no! I am very to carry him back to New York. He busy. Really you will have to go.” could swear that there was some con- nection between the forest, mini- “But mv cigarette case,” said the ature car, the Pop, edging toward the train room, trains and the van- ished buildings. “is "very valuable to me." “Dja hear about them things dis- “Of course, of course. I appre- appearin’ in N’York?” said a loafer. ciate your predicament. But if I “Yeah,” said Pop. had seen it and if I find it— Oh, “Awful, ain’t it?” said the loafer. dear, what am T saying?” “Yeah,” said Pop. said suddenly crafty, “Well,” Pop, “It’s them Nazis,” said the loafer. “I trouble further. I can won’t you Pop took out his cigarette case. It see are.” he ex- how upset you And still contained several cigarettes so, tended his hand. “Good-by, Mr. evidently, Hannibal did not smoke. Pert wee.” Pop lit up. He was about to re- Eagerly Hannibal grasped the of- place the case when he wondered if fered hand. Swiftly Pop yanked any harm had come to it. He Hannibal close to him and gave him pressed the music button. No sound an expert frisk. The cigarette case came forth. leaped out of Hannibal’s pocket. “Damn him,” said Pop. “Broke Pop looked at it with satisfaction. it.” Well, he could have it fixed. “T wonder,” said Hannibal, dis- Hannibal, the loon, had probably trait, “how that got there?” worn it out. The train came at last and “So do I,” said Pop. “And now if Pop — settled himself for doze. I could inspect your trains again a He could think best when he dozed. But his “Well yes. All right. Just come — neighbor wasn’t sleepy. this way.” And he stepped through “Ain’t that awful what them Reds the door. did in New York?” Pop was so close behind him that “I hear that people are runnin’ he almost got cut in half when the around trying to lynch all the Reds door slammed shut. There was the they know about. Course some of a shot bolt and Pop’s rumble don’t believe it was the Reds, and I against the door had no ef- weight hear tell the churches is full of peo- for fect at all. He swore and dashed ple prayin’. I’m goin’ in to see for door the hall. Another slammed myself, but I’m tellin’ you you won’t there. Pop stood glaring through catch me walkin’ into no buildings.” the walls at Hannibal. Then he got “Yeah,” said Pop. another idea and rushed outside to The train lippety-clicked endlessly, take a tour of the house. But there saying the same thing over and over: was nothing to be seen. “Pop’s through, Pop’s through. For two hours Pop prowled in the Pop’s through.” garden. But the night was cold and About eight he wandered out of Pop was hungry and, at last, he had the station to straggle haphazardly to be content with his victory in re- uptown. He was trying to tell him- covering his case. He went off up self that he was g!ad he was the road in the direction of the sta- through. No more chasing fire en- tion. gines for him. What a hell of a life —

it was. Never any regular sleep, always on the go, living from story ONLY to story. Well! Now he could settle down and rest awhile. Yes, that was the ticket. Just rest,. There was that farm his sister had A FEW left him. He’d go up there in the morning. Place probably all falling to pieces but it would be quiet. Yes, LEFT a helluva life for a white man. He’d followed the news for years and now all the stories he had covered were *|FHREE boolcs for $1.00, Usual price $2.25. lumped into one chunk of forgetful- ness—and he was as stale as yester- Each novel is cloihbound, contains over 250 it ever day's newspaper. What had pages, and has a full-color jacket of a scene gotten him? Just headaches. taken directly from the contents. Shuffling along, head down, hands deep in his jacket pockets, lie SEND NO MONEY IN ADVANCE! coursed his way to Eighth Avenue. From far off came a thin scream of a You Pay When The Postman Delivers! police siren. Pop stopped, instantly Check the three books you want on the handy alert. The clang of engines followed, swooping down a side street near coupon below. him. He raced up to the corner and watched the trucks and police cars stream full blast. He whirled to —MU COUPON TODAY by CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLICATIONS uncertain. a taxi and then paused, Dept. F-A Gradually he lost his excitement 79 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y. list- until lie was again slumped Send me three books which I've checked lessly. Far off the police sirens and below. 1 will pay the postman $1 upoi bells dwindled and faded into the delivery. surflike mutter of the city. [ ] Fortune Unaware* ‘'Taxi, buddy?” [ 1 Inca's Ransom Pop glanced toward the back ADVENTURE t 1 Rod Poarls driver. He .slowly shook his head STORIES £ 1 Other Folks' Money and pulled out his cigarette case. £ 1 Golden Isle

He lighted up and puffed discon- £ 1 Wolf Country solately. A saloon was nearby and £ 1 The Circus-Girl Wife he wandered into it to place a foot £ I Broken Melody on the rail. LOVE £ I The Greatest of All “Rye. Straight,” said Pop. STORIES £ 1 Weaver of Dreams

£ 1 A Girl Like Sylvia The Britisb-looking barkeep £ 1 The Lonely Heart pushed out a glass and filled it with an expert twist of his wrist. Pop NAME. downed the drink and stood there for a while staring morosely at his ADDRESS reflection in the mirror behind the pyramided wares. CITY STATE “Fill it up,” said Pop. Canadian readers must remit with order. The barkeep did as bidden. “Ain’t AST—10 ” —

148 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION that awful about them buildings and to think. He went out into She all?” be said the while. "The street. wickedness of this city is what Why was he so certain that it was brought it on. Just yesterday I says Hannibal? He understood nothing lo a gent in here, I says, ‘A town as of that man’s plans and certainly ’ ” sinful as this— there were thousands of swallowtail Pop took out his cigarette case. coats in New York City. But still "Yeah.” This bar had dwindled in size. “ ‘A town as sinful as this cannot Was it not possible, then, that the meet —but one fate in the mighty buildings had done likewise? And if wrath they had, mightn’t tiiey still be

S Woo s - S h ! there? He mulled this for a long Pop w as jarred out of his wits. time, standing at the curb, occa-

The whole bar had vanished! sionally hearing the wonder of a. The whole bar, complete with would-be customer in the saloon. lender! “Taxi?” persisted the driver. The mirrors were still there, but "Yeah,” said Pop. But before he that was all! got in, his abstraction led him to A drunk who had been sitting at a take out his cigarette case and light side lahle looked unblinkingly in the up. Then he entered the cab. "I direction of the phenomenon and want to go to the place Grand Cen- then, with great exactness, lifted his tral Station was.” glass and spilled the contents on “0. K,, buddy,” said the cabby. the floor. Unsteadily he navigated to the street. He pondered profoundly as be Pop’s news-keen mind examined waited for lights and when the all the possibilities in sight. Was it driver let him out near the police possible that someone had come in cordon which had been placed that door and done this? Had Han- around the hole, he thought he had nibal followed him? a glimmering of the meaning behind Absently he started to pay for his this series of events. drink, coming to himself only when He paid and strolled along the for he saw certain that he no longer line. leaned on the bar. He looked at the “Awful, ain’t it?” said another floor where the planks were pat- spectator. terned as the bar had stood. And “Yeah,” said Pop. then Pop received another shock. He edged up to an officer. “I’m There was the bar! from the World* Journal. I to About an inch long! want examine that hole from the bottom.” Almost lost in a crack between the flooring! “Sorry. Can’t be done. I got Hastily be picked it tip, afraid of strict orders.” hurting it. He could barely make A few minutes later, Pop was out the bartender who did not seem wandering about the hole. The to be moving. Pop put the thing- in street lights were sufficient for his a, small cardboard box he found in inspection and, very minutely, he the refuse and then stowed it care- covered every inch of the ground. fully in his pocket. Then, finding nothing he again This opened up a wide range of risked bunions by doing it all over, thought and he needed air in which again without result. He got out THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 119

and walked away, toward the site He shut his eyes and counted to of the Empire State. ten. On the way he paused and bought When he opened them the cab was some cigarettes, filling his case. still gone. When he had finished he wandered Then he looked more closely at on down the avenue. the pavement and stooped down.

But his inspection of the hole Here was the cab, a. little less than where the Empire State had stood an inch long and proportionate in left him once more without clue. the other two dimensions. He was very weary and muddy when Pop put it in his cardboard box. he had finished, for it was difficult But nobody was near him. Evi- walking. dently no one had seen this happen He stood onc

S W OOssssh ! right on disappearing! And the cab folded into itself with To keep his sanity Pop vowed to such rapidity that Pop’s eye could complete his inspection. He moved not follow. to the next cab in the line in which Pop trembled. the driver was dozing. The cabby AMAZING COMBINATION OFFER THIS BEAUTIFUL FOR DESK ONLYJSiV 1.00 WITH ANY REMINGTON PORTABLE TYPEWRITER,

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'Th£ feiffiingtSft Noiseless Deluxe Portable Typewriter is sold on a trial basis with a motley -back guarantee. Address... If. after ten days trial, you are not entirely satisfied, we will take it back, paying all shipping charges and refunding your gobd will deposit at onoe. You take no risk.;Send coupon at once. 150 woke with a start and reached auto- matically back for the door. OLD BOOKS “I want to go to Pennsylvania Station,” said Pop. And then, find- WANTED ing he still held the cigarette case (We pay big cash prices for thousands of different in his hand, again opened it to take titles. We have bought over 9,000 books from men and women in every state in the Union! We have paid out. another cigarette. as much as $500.00 for a single book. We paid Mr. S W 0 O s 8 s s h ! Kuchler of Wisconsin over $1,000.00 cash! For ex- ample, we will pay you cash for the following books And this second cab was gone! in our price list: as described began to tremble violently. Pilgrim's Progress $4,000.00 Pop Adventures of Tom Sawyer 200.00 His heart was beating somewhere Old Swimmin' Hole 75.00 Black Beauty 100.00 near his tonsils. With a quick Treasure Island 50.00 glance around he reached down and Scarlet Letter. 35.00 Venus and Adonis .5,000.00 picked up the cab and slid it into Snow-Bound... 45.00 Uncle Tom's Cabin 50.00 his box. Leaves of Grass 250.00 "Hey you,” said a loitering cop. Ben Hur 25.00 Last of the Mohicans 50.00 “What you doin’?” Moby Dick..... 100.00 “Pi . . pickin’ snipes,” said Pop Little Women 25.00 . MfflcGuffey Primer 100.00 hurriedly. Tamerlane & Other Poems 5,000.00 These are but a few of the many thousands of books “Well, get along.” we want. DON’T SEND BOOKS until you have Pop got without further waiting. checked our latest list giving full information. Don’t delay—a single old school book, story book, Bible, It was quite clear to him now who history, travel, almanacs, newspapers, letters, poetry, doing this. Himself! The ciga- autograph, etc., may bring you $25, $50, $100, $500 was or even $5,000 cash for certain books. Better investi- rette case! Hadn't it jerked a little gate NOW. Send IGc coin or stamps to American Book Mart, 140 S. Dearborn St., Dept. 577, whenever these things had gone? Chicago, and we will send you latest list of old books And wasn’t he guilty of murder we want to buy and cash prices we will pay. if these drivers and the bartender were dead? When he was on a dark street he ANY PHOTO ENLARGED surreptitiously inspected the case by Stir 8x10 Inches er smaller if tfe- tirad. Same price ior full length or the faint glow of a shop window. lmet form, groups, landscapes, pet c animals, etc., or enlargements of any But there wasn’t anything unusual par* of group picture. Safe return of 47 original photo guaranteed. 3for$1.00 about it. Pop looked around and SEND NO MONEY found a trash can. If this case was and within a week you will receive your beautiful enlargement, gnaranteeu fadeless. Pay postman 47c ptrin l-oatasre — or send 49c with order and we pay postace . Big doing if, it certainly could make this 2L6x20-inch enlargement rent C.O.D. 78c plus postage er Bend 80c and we pay pontage. Tak e advantage of this amaz- ing offer now. Send tour photos today. Specify size wanted. trash can dwindle. Pop pushed the STANDARD ART STUDIOS, I l3S.j£ffcrsc»St., Dcpt.770-A, Chicago opening button. Nothing happened. He pushed the music button. Again nothing happened. He breathed a sigh of relief. Then HOME-STUDY he was wrong about this. It wasn't BUSINESS TRAINING his cigarette case, after all. Some- Your opportunity can never be bigger than your body was following him, that was it. preparation. Prepare now and reap the rewards in earlier and larger success. Free 48-Page Books Tell Somebody was sneaking up and do- How. Write now for book you want, or mail coupon ing these things to him. Well! He’d with your name and address in margin today. D Higher Accountancy Business walk around and keep close watch Modern Salesmanship Correspondence O Traffic Management O Credit and Collection 1 and maybe it would happen once Law: Degree of LL.B. i Correspondence Modern Foremanship Commercial Law D 1 more. his attention was dis- D Industrial Mgm’t Expert Bookkeeping J When Business C. P. A. Coaching Management Business English tracted by the case, this other per- Effective Speaking Stenotypy son— Sure, that was the answer. UNIVERSITY LASALLE EXTENSION Pop, feeling better, walked on to A Correspondence Institution DEPT. 165-R CHICAGO the next avenue. He took his stand THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF 151 on the corner near a large apartment found himself in a commercial street house. This was fair game. And where great drays were parked. He when the other person came near, went on. Before him was the water- he would take out his case and then, front. bow, grab the malefactor and drag A packing ease stood upon a him back to the paper for interview. wharf. Pop chose it for a test and In a few minutes a fellow in very stood there for some time, pushing somber clothes came near. Pop took the case’s buttons. But the packing out his cigarette case and started to case stayed very stubbornly where open it. it was. SWoosmlr! And then, quite by accident. Pop And the apartment building was pushed both buttons at once! gone! SWoOssssh! Pop was shaken up by the vibra- The liner which bad been at the tion of its going but he did not lose pier abruptly vanished! his presence of mind. He snatched There was a snap as the after lines the bystander and bore him to earth. went. There was a small tidal wave The full light of the street lamp as the seas came together. shone down. Pop had missed his aim! He had captured a minister of the He had gotten over being stunned gospel! by now. His first thought was to Very swiftly Pop got away from snatch the hawser which had not there, leaving the minister staring parted. He hauled it swiftly in. after him and then, seeing the hole The ship was barely attached to the where a building had been, praying. line. Very carefully Pop looked at the tiny boat, perfect in all details, By a circuitous route. Pop came but. less than three inches long. He back to the hole. He almost broke looked hurriedly about and shoved a leg getting down into it, so steep it into his pocket. were the sides. But he forgot that A steward was running in circles when he found the tiny thing which on the dock, yelling, “They've stole had been a building. It looked like it! They’ve stole it! Help, murder, a perfect model, about five inches police! They’ve stole it!” high. Pop, hearing a crowd gather That “murder” set badly with on the street, got out of there, stuff- Pop. He got out of there. ing the building in his pocket. There Ten minutes later he was in a was a sting to the object which was phone booth. The night editor’s very uncomfortable. voice boomed over the wire.

A 1 ! Pop’s fine ideas had gone “Joe, this is Pop. Look, I’ve got glimmering now. It teas the case. a bar, two taxis, an apartment build- It had to be. And to test it out he ing and an ocean liner in my pocket. had probably slain hundreds, maybe Stand by for an extra about mid- thousands of people. But his news night.” sense was soon uppermost again. “You—huh? Sleep it off. Pop. At a safe distance from the site he And drink one for me.” again inspected the case. He pressed “No, no, no!” cried Pop. first one button and then the other But the wire was dead. and still nothing happened. It shook Pop walked out of the booth, his orderly process of thought. He turned around and walked into it went on his way, case in hand, and again. He dropped his nickel and .”

1£3 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION began a series of calls to locate bis “What about those people you can man. see in them?” said Pop. "World-Journal,'’ said Pop at last. “They’re not moving. Can’t I “1 want Barstow of Pennsylvania make people in model form, too?” Railroad.” Pop was alternating warm and “This is Barstow. But I’ve given chill, for he knew he was dabbling in out statements until I’m hoarse, very serious matters. Anxiously he ('ail me tomorrow.” looked at the clock. As though by “You'll be at the World-Journal in that signal, Caulborn came in. two hours if you want your station Caulborn had had a drink too back.” many the evening before and he was “Call me tomorrow,” repeated the in no condition to see Pop. voice. ‘And lay off the stuff. It “What? You here again?” ain’t, good for you.” There was a “That’s— right,” said Pop. “And I click. have Pop sighed very deeply. “There’s no use begging for that So they wouldn’t believe him, huh? job. We don’t need anybody. Get Well, he’d show ’em! He’d show out or I’ll have you thrown out.” ’em! And he reached across the desk for And he loped for the station. his phone. Pop’s handy feet sent Caulborn sprawling. Pop instead pushed the V. button “I won’t,” said Hannibal, definite “Send in Mr. Graw,” said Pop, for the first time in his life. calling for the publisher. They sat in Caulbom’s office and “I’il blacklist you!” cried Caul- the clock said ten. Caulborn had born. “You’ll never work on an- not. yet come in. other paper!” “I’ll take chances,” said Pop. Hannibal Pertwee showed signs of my Air. Graw, very portly, stepped having been mauled a bit. And in. saw and scowled. even now he tried to make a break He Pop Caulborn was dusting off his pants for the door. Pop tripped him and in protest. set him back on the chair. “What’s this?” said Mr. Graw. “It’s no use,” said Hannibal. “I “He won’t get out,” said Caul- won’t tell you or anybody else. After born. “He sent for you. I didn’t.” what, they did to me, why should I do anything for them?” “Well, of all the cheek!” In the center of the room sat a Pop squared off. “Now listen, you gunny sack. Carefully wrapped up two. I been in this business a long within it some items Pop had found time. And I know what a story is occupying the vacant spaces in the worth. You’re losing money and vicinity of “New York” on Hanni- you need circulation. Well, the way bal Pertvvee’s toy railway system. to get circulation is to get stories. Now!” “I’ll have you for burglary,” said Hannibal. “You can’t prove any- “I won’t,” said Hannibal. thing at all. What if I do have some On the table Pop laid out the four models of buildings? Can’t I make objects from the gunny sack, the models of what I please? And Pennsylvania Station, Grand Cen- they’re just models. You’ll see!” tral, Grant’s Tomb and the Empire ” ” ” !

State. Then from his jacket he took the bar, the two taxis, the apart- Arrest Him Officer! ment house and the steamship. f “I won’t!” cried Hannibal, at- I’LL HAVE COMPLETE FACTS ON tempting another break. Once more THE OTHER FELLOW TONIGHTS Pop pushed him back to the chair. “What are these?” said Mr. Graw. “Just what you see. The missing buildings,” said Pop. “Preposterous! If you have gone to all this trouble just to make some foolish story— Pop cut Mr. Graw’s speech in half. “I’ve 'gone to plenty of trouble, but not to have anything made. These are the real thing.” “Rot,” said Caulborn. “I won’t!” said Hannibal. “Well, in that case,” said Pop, “I’ll make you a proposition. If I restore these to their proper places, can T have my job back—perma- nently?” “Humph,” said Mr. Graw. “If you can put back what this city has lost, I’ll give you your job back. Yes. But why waste our time— “Then call Mr. Barstow of the Follow This Pennsylvania Railroad,” said Pop. Man! ECRET ServiceOperator No. 38 is on thejob . ; . follow him “You get him over here on the through all the excitement of his chase after the counter- S feit gang. See how a crafty operator works. Tell-tale double and I’ll put the buildings finger prints in the murdered girl’s room that help him solve

. the great mystery! BETTER than fiction because every word back.” is TRUE. No obligation. Just mail me the coupon ana get— — [ “But how VDW The Confidential Reports Again Pop cut Mr. Graw down. E No. 38 Made to His Chief the best part of it all is this it call, that’s all. can’t af- And — may open ydur eyes to “Just You the great opportunity for YOU as a well paid Finger Print ford to run the risk of losing this Expert. This is a young, /orf-growing profession. The kind of work you would like. Excitement! Thrills! Travel! A regular chance.” monthly salary. Reward money. And remember: graduates of — this school HEAD 41% of all Identification Bureaus in the “If you’re talking nonsense U. S. Quick! Mail the Coupon NOW and I’ll send you these Free Confidential Reports growled Mr. Graw. But he put INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE through the call. 1920 Sunnyside Ave., Dept. 2771 Chicago, Illinois

Caulborn was licking his lips in Institute of Applied Science a anticipation of what he would have 1920 Sunnyside Ave., Dept. 2771 Chicago, Illinois J done to Pop. What Caulborn had Gentlemen:—Without any obligation whatsoever, send me the Reports of Operator No. 38, also your illustrated suffered in loss of pride yesterday Free Book on Finger Prints and your low prices and Easy Terms Offer. Literature will be sent only a could all be made up today. He’d to persona stating their age. show Graw! Name *

Address It was an uncomfortable wait, ‘. while Hannibal protested at inter- Age si vals and Caulborn rubbed his hands. ”

154 SECRETARIES, STENOGRAPHERS But at last Mr. Barstow. in a sweat., loping in. and TYPISTS an Expert came “You called me, Graw? By God, STENOTYPIST I hope you’ve got news.” Graw pointed at Pop. “This idiot today s preferred i Stenotypists win . jobs and better pay. Stenotypc’s / claims to have your station. lie says 'machine speed, accuracy and ease / make your work faster, better,/ this is it.” easier — and you get the credit. / Frogressive executives welcome / Barstow snatched up the “model” this machine way of taking die- / lation. Stenotypy iscasy tolearn of Pennsylvania. It stung his hands --easy to write—easy to read. You can now become a Stenotypist and he put it back. He turned to in your spare time — at low cost and on convenient terms. Write for interesting, free booklet, “Advantages to Pop. “Is this a joke? That’s a per- You in Stenotypy,” describing the many opportunities in — and telling how you may master it successfully. fect replica, certainly, but Stenotypy STENOTYPE COMPANY THE “Look,” said Pop, “this is Hanni- Dent. 165-ST *101 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 111. bal Pertwee, probably the smartest scientist since Moses.” High School Course “Oh, you,” said Barstow. “So you know him,” said Pop. at Home Many Finish in 2 Years Go as rapidly as your time and abilities permit. Course “He used to bother us quite a equivalent to resident school work — prepares you for— entrance to college. Standard H. 8. texts supplied bit,” said Barstow. “What is it Diploma. Credit for H. S. subjects already completed. Sinjrie sub- jects if desired. High school education is very important for ad- vancement in business and industry and socially. Don’t be handi- now.” capped *11 your life. Be a High School graduate. Start your request. No obligation. training now. Free Bulletin on “Ah, we get somewhere,” said I American School, D pt. H17, Drexel at 58th, Chicago Pop. “Barstow, if this gentleman replaces your Pennsylvania Station and these other objects, will you Hi-Ftandard automatic, .22 caliber Model “B” for Jong make a contract with him?” rifie cartridges. Model “

Quick beat at turn of valve— Slips Into Any STOVE, . hotter, no dirt, ashes or drudg- RANGE or FURNACE, cry. Burns cheap oil new way—* r signed the agreement. Graw and no clogging up. GUARANTEED, r

SENT ON TRIAL efficiency, Caulborn shrugged and witnessed it convenience and economical oper- ation. Write for with their names. PBFF RIIBNFB OFFER to agents who BltE DUHiiLn will demonstrate and take orders. Wonderful money-maker, spare or full lime. Write quick—a postal card will do. right,” UNITED FACTORIES, A- 104 Factory Bids-, Kansas City, Mo. “All said Pop to Hannibal. “This is what you used to be begging for. You’ve got it now. Go ahead.” Is Your Rupture And indeed Hannibal Pertwee had undergone a change. All trace of HERE? sullenness was gone from his face, re- Why continue to suffer with rupture ? placed by growing hope. “You Stop your worries and fears. Send for the facts about my perfected truss mean,” he said to Barstow, “that invention—the Brooks Appliance for really consider reducible rupture— with the auto- you’ll my proposi- matic AIR-CUSHION support that tions? That you utilize gives Nature a chance to close may my the opening:. Thousands bought by findings?” doctors for themselves and patients. “I’ve said so in this paper,” said Senton Trial—Made-to-measure, individual fitting for man, woman or child. Low-priced, sanitary, durable. No obnoxious springs or hard impatiently. pads; no metal jrirdle to rust. Safe and comfortable. Helps Nature get Barstow results. Not sold through stores— beware of imitations. Write today for full information sent free in plain sealed envelope. Hannibal rubbed his hands. “Well, BROOKSAPPLIANCE CO.££3S$£t you see, gentlemen, my idea was to ”” ” ” ”

THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF US

reduce freight in size so that it could space,” continued Hanffibal. “I be shipped easily. And so I analyzed just release the bubble— the —possibilities of infinite accelera- swoooOOSH ! tion The taxi increased in size like a “Spare the lecture,” said Pop. swiftly inflated balloon. The tic-tic- “Get busy. They won’t understand tic of its engine was loud in the anything but action.” room. The cabby finished opening “Ah, yes. Action. May I have the door and then turned to where the cigarette case?” he had last seen Pop. Pop handed it over. “What address, buddy?” and then “You— see, you turn it upside down he saw his surroundings. He stared, and gulped, looked at the ring of re- “Wait!” cried Pop. “My God, porters and office men and hastily you almost made them come back in shut off his engine, shaking his head here. You want to kill all of us?” as though punch-drunk. Hastily he hauled Hannibal outside, “Now the bar,” said Pop. taking the bar and a taxi cab with Hannibal pushed the buttons him. again and, suddenly:

“Now,” said Pop, setting them swoooOOSH i down in a cleared space. The bar was there, full size. Hannibal caressed the case. “It The British bartender finished fill- was very ingenious, I thought. I ing the glass with an expert twist of had been waiting for this very thing. his wrist. “And I says, ‘A sinful city — ’ ” Apparatus would have been noticed, like this will sooner or later- He you see, but this was perfect. One had been turning to put away the can stand on the edge of a crowd bottle. But now he found no mir- and press the buttons, both together, rors, only the reaches of the City Room. His British de- and the atomic bubble within is set calm almost into nearly infinite acceleration. It serted him. spins out and engulfs the first whole Pop handed the drink to the cabby instantly it object it embraces and sets it spin- who tossed down. ning in four dimensions. Of course, “Now wc better not have a bar in as the object spins at a certain speed, this place,” said Pop, “if I know re- porters. Cabby, you and the bar- it. is accordingly reduced in size. Einstein— keep step back here out of the way. Do your stuff, Hannibal.” “Just push the buttons,” said Pop. SW OOssssh! Click, click. “Oh, of course. You see, to stop SWoOssssh! the object from spinning we have And both bar and taxi were toy- merely to engulf it with an atomic sized instantly. The cabby began to bubble spinning in four dimensions, — wail a protest, but Pop shoved the all opposite to the first tiny car into his hands. “The buttons,” said Pop. “We’ll make it grow up shortly,” said Pop. “Down in the street. Hannibal turned the case around Frankie! You and Lawson get some so that it would open down. He cameras. Freeman, you call the pointed it in the general direction of mayor and tell him to gather round the tiny taxi. for the fun. Sweeney, you write up “It compresses time as well as an extra lead, telling the city all is ” ” ”

156 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION well.— I'll knock out the story on said Graw. “I need rest. And so, this Mr. Managing Editor, I leave you “Oh, no, you won’t,” said Graw. to your editions.” “Huh?” said Pop. —“But you said, • The roof-raising cheer which went in front of witnesses up from half a hundred throats “I don’t care what I said. I’ve about them made Pop turn lobster- suilenly got an idea. Who got out color. Savagely he faced around. those extras so fast yesterday?” “Well?” said Pop, “what are you “Pop did!” yelled Sweeney, in- waiting for? We got an extra edi- stantly joined by a chorus. tion to get. out and that means work. Graw turned to Caulborn. “At Hannibal, you trot along with first I believed you. But when I got Frankie and Lawson. They’ll help to thinking it over after I found— out you put them buildings back. And how fast they really had come listen, Frankie, don’t miss any “He didn’t mean nothin’ by it,” shots.” Hastily he scribbled out the said Pop. “He’s just a little young.” addresses where ship and taxi be- “Pop,” said Graw, “you can’t have longed and then shooed them on his iob.” their way. “Well, I didn’t say—” Pop took up the package he had “Pop,” said Graw, “I’ve got a bet- left at the switchboard. He went ter spot for you than that. You’re into the office marked “Managing managing editor. Maybe you can Editor” and laid his belongings on make this son-in-law of mine amount the desk. He shed his coat, rolled to something if you train him right.” up his sleeves and reached for the

“Mana . . . managing editor?” phone. gaped Pop. “Copv boy!” he shouted. “I’m going to slip out of the job,” “O. K„ Pop.”

LUBRICATION

.Since friction exists, it being both necessary and evil, something in the form of a lubricant must be used on bearings that are intended to last. Oils—animal, vegetable or mineral—are, of course, the answer. Sometimes some soap is added, and it’s called grease. But there is quite a range of jobs where lubrication becomes a problem for imagination, not specification. For instance: liquid air making apparatus must function at more than 150°C. below xeio, at which temperature oil is, first, not a lubricant and, second, under the circum- stances—high concentration of liquid oxygen—-as welcome as a charge of nitroglycerine. It makes a swell high-explosive. Score one for imagination: They use liquid air as a lubricant on the bearings. Another, somewhat similar problem, arose in the liquefacation and commercial pump- ing of chlorine, required in tanks in large quantity for such purposes as chlorination of drinking water. Chlorine reacts with oil, taking the hydrogen out and leaving a grimy sort of soot. The "oil” they use is a lubricant, unharmed by chlorine, and, actually, non- corrosive! Pure, one-hundred-percent sulphuric acid—oil of vitriol, the ancients called it. In addition, in hydro-electric plants, where sand inevitably accompanies the water, bearings would be chewed out pretty swiftly ordinarily. So they use rubber bearings and water as a lubricant. Armor-piercing naval shells use iron as a lubricant—to ease their passage through chilled-steel armorplate. In various other applications, lead, sulphur, and, of course, graphite serve as lubricants. Arthur McCann. .i

BRASS TRCKS PARENTS!...TYPING CAN Continued from 'page 6 PROVE THAT CHILD’S MARKS “Discord In Scarlet” presents as strangely poign- ant a picture oi‘ an alien monstrosity as I have ever read. A newcomer, and one with infinite promise, is this van Vogt. His story gets sec- ond rating, and not so far behind the Smith epic, either. Still another newie, Wallace West, scores third with “Sculptors of Life.” Its trump cards were its complex situations, its crackling dialogue and a ding-dong climax of the kind that leaves a reader slumped in his chair making feeble twit eliiug motions. Better still, the yarn was superbly illustrated by Schneeman. “Thundering Peace” rates fourth, and de Prominent educators say Camp’s article fifth. Scliachner has never ap- $|00 A WEEK TO pealed to me, at least not during the last two typing improves marks .. years.' His “City of the Corporate Mind” is * I OWN A CORONA encourages neatness » the only mediocre story of the issue. H Plus smoll down payment Two-color il Lustrations? Well, you must ad- aids expression. Give your mit that van Vogt’s yarn was peculiarly adapted FREE DEMONSTRATION child a better start in life to such treatment. I’d much rather see smooth AT AU DEALERS paper throughout, so long as you have Isip and with a Speedline Corona. Schneeman on the art work. Wes so and Rogers are excellent, also; Rogers especially on llie "Eight year olds” learn to cover. Two cartoonists you can forget are Gil- type easily... and benefit SPEEDWE more and Orban. I'll never forgive the latter for the mess he made of “One Against the Le- by it all their lives. Mail gion.” The book jacket was fine, but the rest for folder today! —ye mortal gods ! Another thing that I like is coupon CORONA portraits, especially in serials. What I wouldn’t give for a treatment of Giles Habib ula by Wesso ! L C SMITH & CORONA TYPEWRITERS INC As for wants get another Williamson novel ; Desk 2, 133 Almond Street, Syracuse. New York as soon as you can, shorts or novelet tes by Rob- ert Block, Don Stuart and van Vogt, and I Please send me free folder describing Speedline Coronas. won’t have a thing to kick about. Bill Brudy, — - ... Wolverine, Mich. Name — —

Hm-m-m, hut Sturgeon said FCC did City-

clamp down . Dear Mr. Campbell: The last two issues of Astounding I have been AGENTS WANTED! CLERKS, FACTORY, able to lay iny hands on—September and De- MILL or OFFICE cember—are just about the best issues of any WORKERS. Rare Opportunity. Earn Extra sei-fic magazine I have read, and I do not mean Money. 50% Commission Soiling METAL SO- maybe. What I think of that guy who operates CIAL SECURITY LIFE-TIME PLATES and the Tail ue Newsstand, however, is something else BILLFOLDS. Seud 25c with your S.S. Number entirely. I missed the first two installments of: FOR SALESMEN’S OU.TFIT. Smith’s great “Gray Donsman.” Which, since WM. HAM ENT the last Smith yarn I had seen before that was SESS W. Lexington St. Baltimore. Maryland “Skylark of Valeron,” made me plenty liuhu, as wo say down here. Here is my forty cents for the October and November Astounding, which I •YOU CAN hope you are not out of yet. Oh, yes : I missed them because he never ordered ’em. If he did TRAIN TO Be an ARTIST order ’em, and there are more sci-fi c readers on this rock than I think, someone is gonna be mad Trained Artists Are Capable of Earning $30* $50, $75 at me. ... Weekly. Jlany of our graduates are noiv enjoying suc- cessful Art careers. Our practical method makes it fun Fit’s and FI ashovers : PR's to Rogers’ cover .to learn Commercial Art, Cartooning and Designing at for the September issue. Those spaceships are home, in spare time. Write for details in FJlKU BOOK, more like spaceships than anything I have seen “Art for Pleasure and Profit’’, explains course and de- yet—also to Sell neeman’s illustration for scribes TWO ARTISTS* OUTFITS included. State age. STUDIO 2I2P, WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF ART 1 1 15a 15th Street, N. W. Washington, O. 0,

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158 How To Develop “I’nrccs Must Balance.” That is really some technique—although his idea of a television jig- ger is pretty had. On a spaceship they could AMAZING not waste space like that, and especially on a racer—and those knobs are just artistic license, if there is such a thing. 1'Iashovers to the guv who put Brass Tacks in the middle; I like my PSYCHIC POWERS! P*. T., Discussions, and such at the fast, and like to breeze from one story lo another. Do you want MONEY LOVE SUCCESS — — Mr. Drew*: neglect Seme of the Here is a most remarkable Book, "YOIJR Yon can not friction in ' Thrilling Chapters: PSYCJUU POWERS «fe 110W TO DE- the byfheboof si rapslifter. If you let friction Dreams, Visions VELOP THEM" by Pi of. liereward Car- slide. 1 cannot think of a way lo keep it. from rintilou, Ph.D., noted Psychk Scientist, Their imiHtrlarce -il arc, assuming the gadget is rotat- Fear and Worry-— endeavors to show how to Get What You ing ejock wise. With all your spokes continually Dow 10 banish. Want through Spiritual Forces and Powers Crystal Gating, that are reputedly latent in us, but are rotating at a constant speed, the weights are Automatic Writing, little understood or used. In simple, easily also continually pushing outward due to <»P understood lessons, he reveals many deep Ouija Board, Plan- centrifugal force and the ring is pushing in, Occult Secrets of Hindu Yogi and Spirit — chette. How to do it. or. rather, Power. Let him explain the tremendous preventing from pushing outward, Telepathy—Jlow to the weights, read other ueople's Power of Mind over Matter and point out and what have you got? Friction, the of Infi- consequent minds & sain by it. to you how to* contact Source A slowing down of the motor. A Clairvoyance— D ow nite Power to be the Master of your Des- machine that does not work. Here is how to tiny! Are you seeking Money, Love. t o <3 e v e 1 o p and prove it: Build one and then hold your hand profit, by this Power. Power, Health, Success, Peace, Happiness? against file part where the weights ret urn to Medium — How to "Within YOU is the Power to Gain Your I heir train yourself to be Desires, Make Your Dreams Pome True starting point -hut don’t hold it there too a Successful Spir- and Promote Success am! Happiness,” is long sincere advice. Prof. Farrington states itualist Medium. About artists the Haunted Houses — that YOU have dormant Powers of untold — perennial question ; No Value within your own Mind, which if Paul , or, at most, back covers sous humans. i How to prove, ‘cure. Persona! Magnetism properly used, will enable YOU to Get If I looked like one of those things he calls | You from Life! These mys- How to develop it. What Want humans, I would not he writing this- I’d be six Hypnotism How to terious Occult Power Secrets, which Prof. ! — feet under. He is good on machinery, space- Hypnotise, and how Partington explains, are used today by ships, and such, but: to prevent others thousands to sway others and bend them bis humans slink. What from Hypnotising to their Will, it is said. Learn these color was Xtl on the cover of December Astound- you, also how to Mystic Secrets of Occult Truth as known ing? That red again—otherwise the cover was to the Wise Ones of the Earth! YOUR Life protect, yourself quite O. K. I like the new two-color technique, from evil influences. is what YOU make it! Grasp this won- also; it: proves that Astounding is fops: in This Big Book derful Opportunity to be taught these said the Held. Also the smooth edges, - also tells about— marvelous Mystic Secrets of Power, which, winch most oilier

I t - it is declared, many have followed to Suc- mags have yet to get. Wish give Topliecy , For une you’d your Tell ins, Occult cess, Love and Happiness! Learn to get artists credit lines on the stories where the pic- Magic. Witchcraft, the Utmost from YOUR MIND and put ture does not take up a full page. It’d 1 m ip Evil Eye, Reincar- Dies© great Secrets to use to advance You identify ’em they are occasionally bit nation, Spiritual- above others and Gain all of Your De- — a bash- ism, Spiritual Heal- sires! Hard covered, 358 large, dynamic ful. y’know. i n r, Psycbometry, pages, 41 Chapters of startling, Electrify- Rogers & Rogers: Evangeline Booth did not H u m a u Aura, ing and Fascinating revelations of Great start the Salvation Army. Trances, Self- pro- Interest to every person seeking success. Apparently you never heard of Vache] Lind- jection, Seances, Pay postman $1,98 on delivery, plus 20c say (another man) and his poem, “Oneral Wil- How it feels to extra for postage, or send the $1.9S and "pass over" at we pay postage. Satisfaction GUARAN- liam Booth Enters Into Heaven." Jt. is George Death, and what TEED or Money Returned. Eliot, if my memory serves me right, not Elliot. happens, H ow to Copyright 1940 by- Damon Knight: D’yoti mean to say there were converse with dead nudes in Astounding? Ye gods and petit pois- loved ones, and CO. Library 84 sons. of all things! (I have seen I 001 other Secrets ASTROL worse— one of Occult Power! Mai n P. 0. Box 72, BRO OKLYN^ N-JT. of the newer mags was quite spicy- and L do mean spicy for its first few issues.) Relieve Asimov: T dare you to sit in the same room Itch Fast with a bottle of ammonia (open), for a half- hour. I can’t even walk by the stuff. orMonej Back Brainstorm : Why not get someone to do a sci-tic “comic’’ mag, using Weinhaum. Smith. For quick relief from itching of eczema, pimples, athlete's foot, Campbell, Keller, and sin'll, and a coupla good scales, scabies, rashesand other externally caused skin troubles, artists, only have the story trail under the pics use world-famous, cooling, antiseptic, liquid D. D. D. Prescrip- and not in them—like Tarzan usta lie in the tion. Greascless, stainless. Soothes irritation and quickly stops dailies. I agree with C. Hamilton the most intense itching. 35c trial bottle proves it, or money R. on "Ether Breathers’’ a good yarn, hut it oottfd not back. Ask your druggist today for D. D- D. PRESCRIPTION. ; hare happened. The ECO polices the bands too strictly fox* that, and they clamp down hard on One Cent a~Day offenders. The yarn about tbe traveling farmer and the farmer’s daughter could not have gone out on the air, although “damn” and “stink” may Brings $100 a Month have got by. Thumbs down on “alco-pill Alice,” but not tbe dancing in the aisles— I think they’d Over One Million 8ix Hundred Thousand Dollars in cash benefits let hep-eats and nig-cutters get by occasionally. already been paid to one-eent-a-day policyholders by National have And nix on the strip-tease. F’r all 1 know, the iTotedive Insurance Co., the oldest and largest company of its kind. FCC may now be looking for Mr. Sturgeon. new policy pays maximum Principal Sum benefits of $4,000, Their Another Brainstorm: If increasing to $6,000. Maximum monthly benefits of $100 are pay- you’ve got one of able up to 24 months. Large cash sums are paid immediately for those really important things' that you want on fractures, dislocations, ete. Also liberal benefits are paid for any a cover, but not mussed up b.v type, why net and every accident. Same old price—just one cent a day. Age put it on a back or inside cover? limits for policy—men, women and children—ages 7 to 80 years. Which just about runs me out. SEND NO MONEY Aloha. C. J. (Mike) Fern, Jr., Box 107, For 10 days’ free inspection of policy, simply send name, age, ad- Lihue, Hawaii. dress, benefit iary s name and relationship. No application to fill out, no medical examination. After reading policy, which will be mailed to you, either return it or send $3.05, which pays you up A h, yes! The annual review. Votes for for a whole year—505 days. Write National Protective Insurance Co., 403 Pickwick Bldg., Kansas City, Mo., today while offer is still open. best-o f-the-year now open. Dear Mr. Campbell The more I see and read the other science, Write Stories fiction magazines on the market, the more i like your own. Mi*. Grace Blanchard had M. W_ M. B M •in IDEA for a ctery. Wo wHSfeV m The December Astounding, for instance, is far triticiaed her Btory gave , AlMli in issued it and told superior to any other mag the field a new title her . , . WHERE TO SEND IT. She eot a substantial check THE FIRST TIME during the same period. Your own editorials OUT. Thatia a THRILL many of onr graduates have each month. Let 22 years of experience guide YOU. Endorsed by Jack London. and comments are tops; the illustrations are suf- ficiently good—but could be better; most impor- aSMPSMSE tant, stories are nearly always good, often mFREE BOOKLETm nmtion of our oersonal your criticism and manuscript sales service. No obligations. Write! exceptionally so. lnctitut«(£8U» Dept.137 Fort Wayne, Ind. HMsier ) 1, 1 I’d like to mention the stories I thought — —; : —

BRASS TACKS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSIONS 159 really “Avstnunding,” that were published by you (1) “Gray Lensman”: hot stuff. Only disap- during the. past year. pointment in this installment was the lack of a January: “Maiden Voyage/’ terrific mental struggle between the Arisians February: “Crucible of Power*’ and “Lorelei and the Boskonians. But still of Space.” (2) “Space War Tactics.” Good article. March : “Star Crash” and “Follow the Bounc- (3) “Habit”—nice. Would like to see Del Rey ing Ball.” do some more like “Helen O’Loy.” His last few April : “Cosmic Engineers’* and “Worlds Don't have lacked something. Care.” (4) “Misfit.” Just good. May : “The Day is Done” and “Special (5) “There Ain’t No Such”: this article might Flight.'* have been classed higher if the subject matter June: “The Morons’* and “Done in Oil.” had been of larger size. July : “Black Destroyer” and “Trends.” (6) “Power Plant”: somewhat vague in spots; August : “The Luck of Tgnatz," “Pleasure somewhat good here and Ihere. Liked it better Trove,” “Stowaway/’ and “The Blue Giraffe.” than I did his last. September: “Ether Breather” and “Forces “Spacewreck” and “This Ship Kills” tie for a Must Balance.” very bad last place. Both sounded like Wellman October: “Gray Lensman/’ “Space Bating/* repeating himself in a different style and differ- and “A Question of Salvage.” ent publication. Engelhard! fell flat with bis November: “Gray Lensman” and “Habit.” ghost hooey. Wouldn’t he need a cat whisker December: “Gray Lensman” and “Thunder- and an amplifier to get sense out of his flying ing Peace.” crystal? Lots of my ratings don’t check with those in Tell us more about what’s comlug in In Times the Analytical Laboratory. In fact, a great to Come and I do sorta like to see the letters many of the yarns, some of them by “name” and discussions in the middle of the mag. authors, I didn’t care for at all. So what? Rogers is an excellent cover man. Koll, Stanley Wells, 235 Noe Street, San Francisco, Sehneeman and Cartier are very good. Why not, Calif. let Cartier try his exaggerated effect on a cover? Toss Wesso out. And a competing survey for best-of-the- Your Editorial Robots also hit the spot. An analysis year! of Jameson's article reveals the following facts : Dear Mr. Campbell: A fleeing ship will be readily able to dodge The year is at an end once again; therefore, attack by gunfire by lifting just above the firing it is almost a command for every fan to whip plane between the two vessels fighting. This together his list of “bests” for the year. I like could be done, I believe, fast enough to avoid to call myself a fan. Logically, then, I should nearly all shots fired. Of course there’s always offer tny selection for immortality. the accidental element. The year produced no outstanding novelettes. Then it seems that the only logical weapon These, however, I associate with a pleasurable would be a rocket bomb guiding itself at the target. There feeling : “Discord in Scarlet,” “The Luck of Ig- would be no human element to natz,” “The Blue Giraffe,” “Pleasure Trove,” govern acceleration of any kind. Radio would “Black Destroyer,” “Greater than Gods,” “The not do because of the possibility of static inter- Morons,” and ‘'Crucible of Power.” In this di- ference, et cetera. vision “Blue Men of Yrano” and “Cloak of Finally war in space seems improbable except Aesir” tied for last place. “The Last Hope” in very extraordinary cases. Fighting shall be was a disappointment. done in air and on land or under the sea until “General Swamp, C. I. C.” takes the prize as someone invents Smith’s inertialess drive. the dullest tale of the year. The trite “wading- I will tell you. if these aticles keep up, even through-a-story” suggests a pun the fans themselves will begin to doubt the Folio wing no logical scheme, I shall now jump possibility of things seientifietional. Horrid to an evaluation of the covers. Two portraits thought!—Dale Tarr, 810 Elm Street, Cincin- take first place : the one of Saturn and the one nati, Ohio. of Van Vogt’s “Black Destroyer.” The latter P. S. Last Unknown almost entirely unsatis- has an emotional content which easily sets it factory. Whassa matter? Monocle okay. apart from every other cover. My vote for the most entertaining story goes to “Et her Breather,” by Theodore Sturgeon I’d say - H2S would come under the head the most touching, “The Day Is Done,” by Les- ” ter del Key ; positively the worst in all divi- ing “cruel and unusual punishments sions, “When the Half Gods Go,” by A. R. Long; Dear Mr. the most meaningful, “Palooka from Jupiter,” Campbell Unbelievably. I liked the cover for November by N a t Sc li a eh n e r. Astounding. In fact. liked last - The above should give some idea of what one I month’s, too consider it. all in all, about the best in recent reader likes, blit 1 wonder what all the readers months. If Rogers keeps this think of 11)39 iu Astounding’s history? It would up kind of work on the front, hang onto him. But 1 reiterate: be interesting to find out. May I make this no more Gladney ! request, then, in order to achieve that end? I Can’t would like each reader to mail a penny comment on “Gray Lensman” for two post reasons. card to my address below. This card would give One is that I wanted to read “Galactic Patrol” again before starting this one. and the following information : 1. The best-liked haven’t finished yet. story of 1931); 2. The least-liked story; 3. The GP But mainly for fear of having to wait best-liked article, and 4. The best-liked cover for another installment. Sight unseen, however. I’ll nominate it for Astound- painting. I shall organize the data and report ing's back to you as quickly as possible. Other points best of 1939, thus heating all the other boys to wire. of interest can be written on the card at the the In second place, I’d sav, would come “Greater Than Gods” and third “Black De- writer’s discretion. Is this O. K. ? (Come on, then, fans!) stroyer”—both in the same issue! And “One Against the Legion” probably would 1 forgot to mention the article I liked best: rank fourth. I’m not sure it is “The Other Side of Astronomy,” by R. S. what the trouble with “Cower Plant” is. Richardson.—Donn Brazier, 3031 N." Thirty-sixth It looks like a good story, and yet SLrerl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. after I was finished with it I didn't: feel any bet- ter for the experience of reading the yarn. Too technical, probably. Then, too, there wasn't any- thing particularly fantastic about it, other than Cartier’s too busy to take on more work. that it was iu the future and had an alomie power plant and death-ray. Dear Campbell : Heinlein gets my vote for best-story-eomplete- I'll take a poke at you this month and say in-issue. Good work. And let’s hope the readers that you had one of the poorest story line-ups don’t overlook the fact that such mathematical that you’ve had in some time. marvels have existed. Some time ago, either : ! — :

ICO ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Ripley or Mix — memory fails me— bad an item a whole tuneful on that one. And while not ©n a man, who was supposed to be abie to watch wishing anyone at all any bad luck, how about a freight train pass, then tell the total of the a chaser to “The Luck of Ignatz”? This is defin- numbers on the sides of the cars —running up itely upper-bracket material, and very well into the millions. And he was supposed to foe done up. right. Sounds pretty farfetched, and yet As to articles, we’ll hand Mr. Jameson the "Habit” is a pretty good example of what a fur-lined beer mug. He really came through leal author can do with a plot after a couple of w ith the “Space War Tactics” itinerary. Wh< n backs have wrecked it. Though the business of this outfit bids me farewell next summer, I ant finding different means of utilizing gravitational taking up engineering, so-o. L. Sprague do attractions is becoming a little worn. Camp’s “There Ain’t No Such” didn’t have (foe When starting to read "This .Ship Kills,” and appeal that Jameson’s article did. three fourths of the way through, I was all set Covering the covers; how about giving Wesso to tell Engelhard! to come home, all’s forgiveu. ami Rogers a joint dictatorship on the covers? But that last page! I've run across some pretty The covers lately have been fine, especially the puerile endings, but this one isn't far from being Lensman cover on the October issue. If was the worst. definitely O. K. Sehneeman’s illustrations arc r Booh pretty good ; I admired most his non- certainly a sw ell waste of space. Why not just explanation of the visitor from space. In such a add a bit more to the stories instead? For in- yarn there’s no need to go into long- winded de- stance, why not a longer synopsis on page fi of scriptive and explanatory passages, for they the November issue? It would have been more merely tend to slow’ up the story, "Space War interesting—though one just doesn’t need re- Tactics” did a nice job of further debunking the minders on I)r. Smith’s stories. His next one fantasy authors’ various space battles. But they on page 16 helps but little, et cetera. Hut - shouldn’t let Ley and Jameson stop them from just turn to page 53, by Wesso ! Now ain't that owing their imaginations, even if it isn't (scien- Bumpin’? Right up ye old alley, methinks. His tifically accurate. And do Camp was fully up next on page 108 is above average too, ye«. To to his high standard. I adore those little faces go on a point or two, Jet me nominate Dip for cn the animals in Hatcher’s drawings third spot, his pic for “Habit” being up near the As you may know, a fan magazine editor can limelight in this issue. —Arthur A. White, «'V;0 foe counted upon to receive practically anything Cam)) Moran, SP-1, Olga, Washington. through the mail, with the exception of subscrip- tions, to his pride and joy. Therefore, Paul Vcgenitz recently intruded himself into my mail box—or rather mail slot—with a Query about the science note on page 52 of the current Astounding. He says: “If it is true that H-S is six times as deadly as HON, why don’t they use it in lethal chambers? Then The criminals would go out in an appropriate atmosphere. Why rot make the punishment tit the crime; 5 ’ I don’t pretend to know the answer, but maybe you do. Keep up the excellent work on Unknown—but please, no more Prester John. Some more like “None But Lucifer,” “Sinister Barrier,” “Divide and Rule,” and “Returned from Hell”—the theme saved the treatment there—would be liked. And shorts like "The Cloak,” "The Misguided Halo,” and "The Bronze Door.”— Harry Warner, Jr., 303 Bryan Place, Hagerstown, Maryland.

Ignatz may be back— Dear Mr. Campbell Just a letter of appreciation from an avid reader of your magazine ever since when. It has been my intention to write to you for quite Kome time and let you know what I thought of Astounding. It is undoubtedly tops in sienee- tkfion, and the adoption of smooth edges, €t «?, does mean a lot to your readers. Keep up the good work ! The immediate cause of this letter is one of the stories in the November issue, namely “Mis- fit,” probably as you guessed, because of its direct relationship to the present C. C. C., of which 1 am now a member. It is a line organi-

zation ; and there are a large number of men in this camp who never miss an issue of Astound- ing. It has been a pet peeve of mine that no SCIEHCE Discussions one ever gave up a story with the basis that Robert Hcinlein produced this month. When he Well—they may not be eyes, but they did, well, I just had to write and thank you. sure are crossed! Congratulations to you both on a timely tale and a well told one at that. Dear Mr. Campbell And so to some plain and fancy blood-lelting. The beautiful thing about s.-f. articles and Rating for November: First . . . “Gray Lens- L. S. de Camp in particular is not only the good man.” Second . . . “Misfit.” Third . . . “Power solid science handed out in a more-t ban-pleasing Plant.” Fourth . . . “Habit.” Fifth . . . “Space- manner, but also the interesting variations on tv reck,” and sixth . . .‘‘This Ship Kills.” It is the main theme that immediately come to light bard choosing. To elaborate : For Heaven’s to the science student. sake, don’t let Dr. Smith get away from your Yes, planarias are favorites, and rightly so, magazine. He is the best there is in the field of too. Not only are they the most primitive struc- s.-f . writing, and his present “Gray Lensman” ture with a definite head-and-tail end, top ami has plenty on the ball. No. 2, “Misfit,” as I said bottom and differentiated sides, it is also the before, is new and well told. Plums aplenty to first animal with anything that would pass for Mr. Hcinlein on this one, and more like it. a brain. It has two sets of nervous systems, Don’t let me forget to commend that swell too. The anterioposterior (bead to tail) and story “General Swamp, C. I. C.” Ring the bolls the “cross” system. The latter sees to it that : — .

*101 both thi* right and left sides gel together in 2E iSSj their movements, f=£ ps Mr. do Camp mentions the marvelous ability of regeneration that plana ria possesses. It’s in- lOMxr Vnm Uapw Uswcr UwttfY Owin' teresting to note, however, that it the worm is tarot PikTEX futon* ‘tarncc toot* hmx iifoiscn towrr faogrr cut in two too close to the head, the head will FlRBHir afOBOT Ucnwrr not grow another body, as is usually the case. but will grow a second head. Behold, we have KNOW ELECTRICITY a plana ria built like a ferryboat I Then, again, if the head end is split longitudinally, the proc- As Experts Know It ess of regeneration will produce a plan aria with What about future V safe not the man (wo iieads placed like the heads of fairy-tale your Who is today? Surely who is contented to stand still! Know your job thoroughly- -prepare giants. yourself for jobs ahead'. To do just this thousands of men have used There is. however, one impression of planaria that the article left that I would like to change. The Croft Library of It is true that planaria appears to be cross- eyed. In fact, the more you look at it the more - Practical Electricity cross-eyed it becomes. But the “eves” are not The Crcft Library is a complete eleefrical educator. It is founded are on practice—on 20 years of shirt-sleeve experience—on work as it eyes in the accepted sense of the word ; they cry from is actually done. It is jammed from cover to cover with the kind merely light precipient organs, a far can but of hard-headed facts you want. Written so that the beginner the highly specialized organ we know, very easily understand it, yet so sound, so thorough, that it is the daily well suited to planaria's limited need and struc- guide of 59,000 highly paid electrical workers and engineers. Croft ture. tells you the things you need to know about motors, generators, armatures, commutators, transformers, circuits, switchboards, dis- if you pre- There is another little animal, or tribution systems—electrical machinery of every type—illumination fer, animalcule, that is deserving of notice be- in its every phase—the most improved methods of lighting—lamps cause one of its methods of eating seems to be and lamp effects, etc.—how to do a complete job, from estimating a direct “steal’' from the plant family. This is it, to completion. family Kuylcna riridis ., a member of the great 6 volumes, 2155 pages—New low price of one-colled animals. Protozoa. This little ani- No money down—Easy payments. and bo- mal is often described in both zoological Fill in and mail the coupon attached and we will send you the en- tanical textbooks because it seems to be an in- tire set of six volumes for ten days’ Examination on approval. We termediate stage between plants and animals. take all the risk—you assume no obligation. If you decide to keep, of Euglena is small— I might better say micro- the books, send $1.59 in ten days and the balance at the rate $.1.00 a month. Send the coupon NOW and see the books for yourself. scopic—oval and colored green. At the anterior m end is a long whip like filament: called the flagel- lum. used to procure food and aid in moving EXAMINAYfON ~CO WPON about. At the base of the flagellum is a rudi- McGRAW-HILL BOOK CO., 330 W. 42nd St., New York mentary mouth or c.vstostome into which are Send me for ten days’ examination on approval the Croft Li- swept small particles of food material found in brary of Practical Electricity If satisfactory I will send you monthly until the price of $10.50 the water. Dissolved organic materials in the $1.50 in 10 days and $3.00 is paid. If not wanted, I will return the hooks postpaid. water comprise pari of its food and th«t rest it (To insure prompt shipment write plainly and fill in all lines.) manufactures. With the aid of light and the Name chlorophyll found in body, carbon dioxide and mineral salts in the water are built into food Home Address • by photosynthesis. Euglena is one of a very City and State limited nuinmbcr of one-celled animals that are able to make their own food like plants. Now if that isn’t the germ of a story, I’ve never read a word of s.-f. Of course Dr, Smith takes first place this month. I have a sneaking feeling that he never wrote any better than lie did in part two of his current epic. Mr. de Camp’s article comes sec- ond and Hurl Vincent pulls in at third, just uos- ing “Space War Tactics” into fourth place. “Habit” comes fifth, and the rest can straggle in any old way. There, that's the first time I’ve rated both articles along with the stories, and they surely deserved it. The art work has improved a hundred percent since the summer months Just about your best artists are working for you now. The cover doesn’t seem to mean anything, hut it’s pretty, so “I ain’t kneed.” Finlay pulled a dirty punch when he palmed that cover off on us several months ago, and I suggest you forget he exists. If the fans like liis style, call in Jack Binder; lie used that method of slipling instead of shad- ing when Finlay was still in diapers. And be- sides. he's a better artist. —Charles Jarvis, 201)7 - Iglehart Ave., fc5t. Paul, Minn. START

Maybe schools don't mention it for fear $1260 to $2100 YEAR it'll put ideas in someone’s head. Fresh- Many appointments each — men love to find out why you shouldn't year. Franklin Institute mix strong H ,SO and KMnO,. / fi . Dept.W-194 GET READY Immediately Rochester, H. Y. Dear Mr. Campbell j for 1940 Examinations Phineas McGarrity. commander of the Space Gentlemen : Rush to me. the O FKKT) ol charge, list of Navy Destroyer KPdSM . stomped up ramp Men — Women and into that worthy tub like grim death going U. S. Government big pay dependable jobs. Send b’RKIfl in for a roasting-tube man. In the wake of the Mail Coupon O mighty struggled two privates, oversized bur- O 32-page book describing sal- dens hindering them no little. Today / aries, vacations, hours, work, “All hands, attention !” blasted the com- etc. Tell me liow to quality for mander, the din in the hollow destroyer forcing SURE one of these jobs. all to clap hands to ears. “We are now at war with Mars. In seventy-two point 'three seconds f Name vve lilt into free space to engage each and every / enemy ship we cross hairs with. Make ready!” • Address ; - - S es

An oflV-ov hurried rip. “The pack ages, sir.

Government war plaits. 1 presume.'’ MeGarmy purpled with exasperation. “No,,

von confounded idiot ! They're hack numbers of Astounding Soienee-Kicthjn. We've never been in a space war before, but all there is to know about one is in those books. Wh.v, Ibere'L- arli* eles about armament, technique, ami all phases of offense, defense, attack and retreat. And the stories are just chock-full of really clever strategy. All right, gentlemen. (Jet to readinfe, e W ’ 1 1 h a v e f ] ii s wav won b« •fore 1 1 1 e a rtifi n finish harvesting their ptkowwa bean Crop.” That’s a little thick, isn’t, it? Hut. anyway, Correspondence Courses when fighting without the stratosphere becomes fashionable, science lief formers will turn over slightly and say that: it was old stuff to them a ami ©.?u<-»iiw:-;a books, slightly OOUHs?3S . CORRESPONDENCE couple of centuries ago. uhmJ. sold. Rented. Exchanged. All. sub. .Satisfaction guar- anteed. Cash paid for used courses. Cnmpleie eMails and bargain A little imagination helped that article on catalog Fiee.- Send name. Nelson Company, 0-215 Manhattan tactics he quite interesting. So radio rocket liytiding, Chicago. torpedoes are No. 1 weapon for skirmishes in vacuo. What: will he the fad come next month? Somehow J still .have a fender spot for those Patents Secured projectors that will volatilize tungsten at a hun- dred miles. Where would I)r. Smith be without PATENTS SECURED, Two valuable booklets sent free. Write beams and shields? As 1 read it, to date, Kin- jtnmrdia|glx?v V^tor Evans & Co., 5U3-B, Victor Building, nison has cracked only one nut. with a projec- ! tV ash * ngtctfi tile, and he had to hold that one put with beams INVENTORS—-Time Counts—-Don't risk delay in patenting your while* lie stuck the muzzle in the victim's face. ’mention. Write for new 48-Page Fre'e book. No charge for 1 would have liked to have read that note preliminary- information. Clarence A. O’Brien, Registered Patent >n hydrogen sulphide some time ago instead of Attorney, Dept. OB51, Adams Building, Washington, D. 0. now. Friends have given my basement lab a INVENTORS: HAVE YOU a sound, practical invention for clear berth, claiming it reeked to the high heav- sale, patented or unpatented ? If so, write Chartered Institute of ens— when 1 could smell nothing whatsoever. American Inventors, Dept. 19- A, Washington, JD. C. 1 have felt notoriously rotten, sans' convulsions, not tying up the disorder with the arch- villa in sulphide until way later. In mortal fear of the D electives—Instruct i ons deadly arsene, yet sniffing freely of hydrogen that was by no means odorless ! . Why do not DETECTIVES EA TEN BI(T MONEY. WORK HOME. TRAVEL. higli-school instructors, at least give note of

particulars Experience 1 1 .DETECTIVE free. unnecessary. Writ© these seem i n g,l y i m po r t a n f fa c t s ? Or aren't 1 oy ’ CEO lit; 2040 Broadway, York. E WAGONER, -A New re < t awa of them ? ) r a re h ey j u s f; hop i ng to get r i of a a 1 1 u o,v f re of 1 1 1 1 1 ETEOT l V ES—SECRET INVESTIGATIONS—TRA IN 1NG. Horne d n a nee or two o r the si — Travel—Fingerprint— Particulars Free. Chief Mulliea, 57?- semester?. Orpheum Building, Jersey City. Oh, the folly of youth with raw elements! -'•• -. - 90 1— — Phosphorous burns hurt one's lingers, I »oo;e found. I’ve heard talk that it does excellent Photo Finishing—Developing work under the nails, hut fortune denied me this experience. Sodium lifers water. Hydrogen A't J.Asai ATA%Ol’R SNAPSHOTS IN NATORAI. COLORS. and air can explode, and blow glassware and Boll develop©*!, ,8 .Natuxai Color Prints, only 23e. Reprints, do, lye all over the place, no eyes spared. ( .'usu- Amazingly beautiful. ' Natural Color* Photo, Janesville, Wisconsin. ally drifted front the other side of town a ru- mor that another enterprising young "chemist’’ had blown a rock to hits with a drop of nitro- Help Wanted—Instructions glycerin. There were three ol us ibis time. We would also blow a rock to bits. So a short MAGIC DISC .heats water without gas, coal or oil. Tremendous while thereafter we find Jacques walking around teller. Big profits. Pocket* samples for agents. Rush name for the back yard with a tube of "something.” seek- Free Offer. Nuway, Dept, a 302, Des Moines, Iowa. ing a rock suitable for purposes at hand. The M. M. EARNED $2*>7, three weeks, raising mushrooms in cellar! "something*’ got warm and bubbled and gave Exceptional, your cellar, ff so b f es .1 < but shed perhaps suitable. We buy o m c rowu urn ; and a *q u e s actually crops. Book free. United, 3848 Lincoln Ave., Dept. 532, Chicago. decided to set the lube down and walk a short

distance away as a safety measure. « Sorry to disappoint you. It just wouldn't go off.) Baby Chicks Happy to say, T am still with limbs ami head, although there is a slight cloud in the left eye. COLONIAL CHICKS low as $5.40 per 1 Ort. World's largest Kxperienoe “Av ill -leach a lot of things in lime, balcheries. Leading Breeds. Also Sexed and Hybrids. Big Chick and one of them is that, it’s far less painful Almanac Free. Colonial Poultry Farms, Box 1UI7, Pleasant Hill, Mb, to heed cautionary notes than to disregard them. And I’d better discontinue relating the perils of Dynamite Jones, and say a word about the Journalism—Instructions big story Half of "Gray ,J>nsman” has gone by. .Inst about as fast afe the latest model "Skylark” with a half dozen Bergen holms BE A REPORTER—Write news. Proofread, See yourself in print l herein. 1 with 7- Step Course. Carlisle Publishing Co., Box 1739, Boston, What happened? like to read about 3*5 ass. Kinnisnn, and how good he is; hut why doesn’t lie perform? Action! It’s lacking. So far Hi a lac tic Patrol” has it heat by a hundred Old Gold .& Money Wanted secs. There may be a redemption in the second half. That sphere-qf-negat ion thing looks profit* ising. And W'hat happened to the negative-iner- OLD MONEY WANTED. Do yoti know that Coin Collectors V ay- up to $100.00 for certain U. S. Cents? And high premiums tia idea? Smith iflgnt ioned it once, and I’ve for all rare coins? I buy all kn^ds. Semi 4c for Large Coin beeu waiting for something unusual ever since. ii'oldf)'. May mean much profit to you. B. Max Mehl, 440 Mehl Did I hear someone say it was a shame Wesso Bldg. FoyI, Worth, Texas. , didn’t illustrate "Gray Densman” instead of GOLD—$35 OUNCE. Ship old gold teeth, .crowns, iewelry, Schiieonian ? And that after the messy things watches—receive cash by retjjrn mail. Satisfaction Guaranteed. that nearly disgraced "Galactic Patrol”! (Josh, Free information. Paramount Gold Refining Co., J50G-G Hennepin, but they sure die hard, these followers * of sci- Minneapolis, Minn. ence-fiction. "Gray Bensman” first. “Power Plant” sec* Music ond. I have nothing further to say. Please, please, -don’t hold back Uranus much longer. We've had only one plate this year, BAWA IIAN GUITAR* like Natives play, Learn at home. Writ© that, was seven long months ago. .1, for Free, i I fustratedk booklet* Oahu Sc^oJ of Music, 21937 Payne, and — C. Cleveland, Ohio. Dean, 53 Shrewsbury Avenue, Red Bank, N. J.. ! ' GENDIN e gate odeBNo.fi MFRS. > M ORIG.i 3/WCf LC SMITH

^***'*-' --*~”v ( r. ! W&£e257Latf! Positively Lowest Price Ever Offered! Easiest Terms in History! Buy direct from us at 1/3 mfrs. orig. price and un- only . save over $70.00! Beautifully rebuilt and neees- conditional 2 yr. guarantee. No down payment sary— “10 day Trial. Hurry”—oniy 237 at this price! 90a week.

DOWN NO MONEY Mounted on casters, can be moved by 10 DAYS TRIAL touch of Easy Terms—8c a day

No obligation. Send no money. See before you buy on wide-open 10 day Trial. If you keep it, pay on easiest terms in history—less than 8c a day (only $2.00 a month). You get this genuine late office model L. C. Smith beautifully rebuilt with all standard improvements — basket shift, standard 84 character, 4-row keyboard, shift lock key, back spacer, 2 color ribbon, ribbon reverse, stencil cut- ting device, tabulator, etc. Ball bearing through- out—quiet operation. Thousands paid $102.50—it’s yours for only $29.90 (cash price). No risk, money back guarantee 2 YEAR GUARANTEE Our full 2 year ironclad guarantee is your posi- tive assurance of satisfaction and long service ! This L. C. Smith is shipped to you on its merit alone. You must be satisfied that this is the biggest, best years typewriter bargain ever offered ! Our 30 of Hail Fair Dealing Backs Up This Guarantee. OFFICE INTERNATIONAL ITrtWKlItK tAbnANut, ueyi. o-iia IDEAL FOR HOME OR 231 W. Monroe St., Chicago, Illinois This late L. C. Smith with basket shift is the machine used Send me L. C. SMITH (F. O. B. Chicago) at once for 10 days’ trial. If I the by schools, large corporations and business houses keep it I will pay $2.00 per month until easy term price ($32.90) is paid. all-purpose typewriter for corre- country over. The perfect, If I’, am not perfectly satisfied I can return it express collect. spondence, office work, billing, manifold work, etc. Has all FOR QUICK SHIPMENT GIVE OCCUPATION AND REFERENCE. modern improvements you need, stands hard service—and Easiest terms ever offered Namey -A-ge it's yours at only $2.00 a month. | | —less than you would pay to rent an inferior machine. Address! _ | Town..^ State 1 ONLY 237 at this Price—BUY NOW! sent on receipt of first payment. If you send _ IJ ATP-> Free Typewriter Stand | I I If payment is enclosed, HURRY. Only 237 at this price—they'll sell out quick. nU L. payment now stand shipped immediately. I offices, warehouses or mark (here. Our direct-to-you policy, no branch P dealers makes this amazing value possible. Ovlittojo“.sTTisF~D~CUST~MERsl\LTOVER THe"wOrTd. GOOD FRIENDS AGREE.

"THERE'S EXTRA PLEASURE . . AND Whatever price you pay per EXTRA SMOKING IN CAMELS!" pack, it's important to remem- ber this fact: By burning 2 5 % average ORTH, East, South, West, you’lt hear the same slower than the of the 15 other of the largest-selling N story: One true yardstick of cigarette pleasure is brands tested—slower than any slow burning! Kenneth E. (Nick) Knight (below, lejt) of them — CAMELS give a smoking plus equal to confirms the experience of millions of smokers when he says: “One of the first things I noticed about Camels was EXTRA SMOKES their slow burning. I figure that’s why Camels smoke so 5 PER PACK! much cooler, milder and taste so much better.” Howard McCrorey adds: "To me Camel’s slow burning means extra pleasure and extra smoking per pack.” Yes, the costlier tobaccos in Camels are slower-burn- ing! Enjoy extra pleasure and extra value in America’s No. 1 cigarette... Camels!

Cigarettes were compared re- cently.. .sixteen of the largest-

selling brands . . . under the searching tests of impartial laboratory scientists. Findings were announced as follows:

CAMELS were found to 1 contain MORE TOBACCO BY WEIGHT than the aver- age for the 15 other of the largest-selling brands. CAMELS BURNED 2 SLOWER THAN ANY OTHER BRAND TESTED- 25% SLOWER THAN THE AVERAGE TIME OF THE 15 OTHER OF THE LARGEST- SELLING BRANDS! By burn- ing 25% slower, on the aver- age, Camels give smokers the equivalent of 5 EXTRA SMOKES PER PACK!

In the same tests, CAMELS 3 HELD THEIR ASH FAR LONGER than the average time for all the other brands.

MORE PLEASURE PER PUFF... MORE PUFFS PER PACK! PENNY FOR PENNY YOUR BEST CIGARETTE BUY

Copyright, 1939, R. J. Reynolds Tob. Co Winston-Salem, N. C. Another scan by cape!736