a

THE BEST OF onnrui SCIENCE FICTION NO. 4

Three never-before-published stories and quently published in Omni and believed by two science fiction classics are included the editors of this anthology to possess an among the contents of this, the fourth in a extraordinary and still-unfolding talent. The very popular and widely-selling series. The section of SF originals is highlighted by volume is organized into five sections and is Spider Robinson's story "Rubber Soul"— illustrated throughout with artwork that has new kind of science fiction in which the re- earned for Omni magazine a reputation for turn of a martyred rock superstar puts right superlative graphics. Two of the sections certain celebrated relationships. The sci- consist of outstanding stories and pictorials ence fiction classics section is comprised of originally published in Omni. The section a renowned story by Alfred Bester and one titled "An Orson Scott Card Celebration" by Brian W. Aldiss, each a giant of the gives due recognition to an author fre- genre and each proudly presented here.

EDITED BY BEN BOVA AND DON MYRUS THE BEST OF Dnnrui SCIENCE FICTION NO. 4

OMNI ENCORE/PART ONE 6 OUR LADY OF THE SAUROPODS by Robert Silverberg

12 DREAMTIME Pictorial Paintings by various artists

20 MARCHIANNA by Kevin O Donnell. Jr. 24 DARK SANCTUARY by Gregory Benford

29 SIGMUND IN SPACE by Barry N. Malzberg

32 LIGHT VOYAGER Pictorial Paintings by John Berkey

38 VALLEY OF THE Kl LNS by James B. Hall '_ AN ORSON SCOTT CARD CELEBRATION 44 FAT FARM and his agent. Curtis Brown Associates Lid. Copyright-© 1980 by John Morressy" "Eastern 49 QUIETUS Exposures" pictorial published with the coop- eration of Japan Creators' Association. 54 ST AMY'S TALE Copyright© 1982 by Omni Publications 62 DEEP-BREATHING EXERCISES International Ltd.. 909 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y 10022. AH rights reserved. Nothing may be 66 NOBLE SAVAGE Piclorial Paintings by Boris Vallejo reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Published SCIENCE FICTION ORIGINALS simultaneously in the United States of America and in Canada. First edition. Printed in the 74 RUBBER SOUL by Spider Robinson United States of America by Meredith Printing Corporation end distributed In the U.S.A.. 78 I AM LARGE. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES by Melisa Michaels Canada, U.S ler.-ito-isi ousssssions ancl |he world (except tha U.K.] by Curtis Circulation 80 LOVE CALLS by Oxford Williams Company, 2i Henderson Drive. West Caldwell, SCIENCE FICTION CLASSICS

FONDLY FAHRENHEIT by Alfred Bester

MY LADY OFTHE PSYCHIATRIC SORROWS by Brian W. Aldiss OMNI ENCORE/ PART TWO

102 OUT OF LUCK by Walter Tevis 108 RETURN FROM THE STARS by Stanislaw Lem COVER- PAA"ING BY VIICHAEL R WHELAN 114 TRANSFORMATIONS Pictorial Paintings by Bob Venosa FACING PAGE PA.V; ING BY DON DIXON and Marshall Arisman 118 THE PRESIDENT'S IMAGE by Stephen Robinett

121 FUTURE BOOKS by Cynthia Darnell 122 SOUL SEARCH by Spider Robinson 127 SAVE THE TOAD! by Norman Spinrad 128 GIANT ON THE BEACH by John Keelauver

131 STRIKE! by Isaac Asimov 132 THE LAST JERRY FAGIN SHOW by John Morressy

138 EASTERN EXPOSURES Pictorial Paintings by various artists OlVlfUl oruE

Death was waiting among the dinosaurs- untii she found s purpose for her life

OUR LADY OF

BY ROBERT SILVERBERG

' 21 Augusl 0-'?.( ..-> la— inulessnce the module metdown. ": I can't see ne madtagu —iere. but can smell it bitter and sour aca "•::*": w E tropical atr :ve/ found ac'e" n the 'ocks. J ; a Kind of sha c.\ cavern .vnerel'll oe sa e 'om the tiinosau'S for a ; wni e It's snie dec by tnick clumps o cycaos. anc: ir any case i: 3

r toe small to Ihe b.g preca'.o's "0 enter But sooner or ater I rn going

7 p to need food, anc then what 1 iave no weapons. How long can ore woman asl slrancieci arc mcs ot less nelp ess aboard Dii^c ; s and. a nafcitsl L.ni: not quite fi teen hurcre-o mete's in d.ameter that sne's shartngwrlfl s bunch pf active. hungry dinosaurs'7

I Keep tailing myself that none of Ihis is really happening Only I

M,' escaoesti nas rneshaKy i car tgetoul of my mmd the funny

r i" euuob ng sou :o the liny powerpa< mace as it began to cvemea' m something like fourteen seconds my lovely mobile module became a chafed heap of fused -together junk tgkmg with it ~-y communicator unit, my food supply my laser gun, and |us: about 9VS rything else. But for the warning that funny little sound gave me. I'd be so much charred junk, too Better off thai way. most likely.

When I close my eyes, I imagine I can see Haoiiai Vrpnsky float ng serenely in orbil a mere one hundred twenty kilometers away, What a beautiful sight 1 The walls gleaming like platinum, the great mirror collecting sunlight and fishing i; into the windows, the

agricultural satc'iites wheeling around it like a dozen liny moons. I could almost reach cu: and touch i; Tap on the shielding and

might I murmur, "Help me. come for me, rescue me. 'Bui I jusi as we Seoul beyond Meplune as silting here in the adjoining Lagrange slot. There's no way I can cad for help. The moment I move outside this protective cleft in the rock i m at the mercy of my saurlans. and :heir mercy is no* lively to be tonder

Mow it's beginning to ran - a'lificial. like practically everything

PAINTING BY FRANK FRAZETTA :

land and see r ' oar fnc a tells' nieeout else on Dine island Bui I eels you just as for anything we: as :ne riaiursl kino And just as clammy This one simply isn't adequate Pfaugh more than short-term huddling Besides,

I'm not as spooked as I was right after the Jesus, what am I going to do?

meltdown, I realize now that I 'm not go- ng to find hiding behind every 0815 hours. The rain is over for now. It'll a lyrannosaur

even if ! do. ryrannosau's aren't come again in six hours. Astonishing how tree. And scrawny muggy, dank ihck the ar is. Simply breath- going to be much interested m

ing is ha'c wo'K and I feel as though mil- uding for way. I'm a quick-v ttea higher pr i;ew is forming or my lungs. I miss Vron- sky'sclea' enso evelaslingspringtimeair, ialian ancestor 3 were able t

e Whether

i :o be able

row os. it was d bererv wie'i I got out ~odu c Scatte'edphe r o"-o-iesa : jvs

6 I'm a quick-witted

higher primate. If my humble mammalian ancestors were able to elude dinosaurs well enough to inherit

the earth, I should be able It withcaws, making iltle clucking souros Coses! I've ever been to a live to keep from getting dinosaur. Glad it was one of the little ones.

eaten for , . . thirty days3

0900 hours Getting hungry. What am I going -o eat?

Thev sav -oasioc eveae cones my t ;oc bad. How about raw ones" So many plants are edib e whe^ coo-^ec and ooisorous -\q~ otherwise I never sludied such th n detail Living n our antisepnc h't e L5

Wiggle, twis'. r there. Not as jnate San Diego fleshy as .1 loo* in fact. Its a little rt politi- like munchino 5'. Decent flavor, became though And naybe s :me useful car- boh yd rate. The shuttle sn't due o pick me up for thirty davs No to come looking

-> Righ:

ferns anc horseta Is and palms and ginkgos ano auracanas. and thick carpets

= in Ih ol and selagmeilas and liverworts ot bessec isola: on on Dine Island! 1130hours... I ly Cuucned s mosses mdtothatconstantdullthrobbing inmy cleft forever. I'n o explore Dino Is- covering the ground Everything has oencec arc! merged and run amok, It's With rain showers c rug rammed to fall four scrunchec cowr as cee

r hard now to recall the bare and unnatural times a day, it's better to go naked anyway. rhe wa m, ooz ng mud look of the island when we first laid it out Mother Eve of the Mesozoic tna:s-e Anc had no place to shtne'

Now it's a seamless tapestry in green and w'thojt my soggy :umc I find that I don't mored, it cou d on , ma brown, a dense jungle broken only by -- nd :ne greemouse atmosphere of tne sounds, terror mingled

it streams, lakes, and meadows, encapsu- habitat half as much as I did, [he killer bore down on

" I ated spherical metal wai s sons five .t tos vvnai ;ar find. I had to watch. hao m kilometers in circumference The up and about ai'c-ady a kill before. And the animals the wonderful, fantas- unching away, the car- In a graceless but wo tic, grotesque animals. way the tyrann.osaur dug We don't pretend that the real Mesozoic the ground, pivoted a; ever held any sucn mix or fauna as I've moved in a ninety-degre. corythosaur down witl

sidewise swat of its hue rary With iguartodon. a ;> lo unssier: - c been expecting that, !unole of Triassic. Jurassic, and C r ela- dropped and lay on its ceous, a hundred million years of the di- pain and feebly wavm nosaur reign scrambled together We take came the coup de grac wha* we car oe" Olsen-nrocess recon and then the rending ant

? structsrequ re e, i oeil ^ossi QNA Is pat- luggardlycrocodii- and the tiny arms at last

ney were, If only for Burrowing chin-deep in tl been aole to find that n only some twenty in awe ana weird fasc _ species so far ne worder is :nai we've those among l.e ;.!":, :;': accomplished even mat much ro rep icate 1130 How-, A busy morning My first en- vores ought the complete DNA mo ecule from battered counter with a major predator. slard and sketchy generic infonratio- mill ens of There are ni^e *yrannosaurs on the is- structs create years old, to carry out their Iricate implarts and. including mree corn in the past eigh- ally butchere<

r in rep i:er host ova. to see tne emnr.os teen memns (That gives us an optimum ginning tha^ r through to self-su staining eves The only predator-io-p'ey ratio. If -.he tyrannosaurs when natural word thai app esis/vwac^'c^s Ito.irrliros keep reproducing and dont start eating island with yc come from eras millions of years apart so each other we'll have to begir thinning anything abo* be it: We do our best If we have no them out. One of the problems with a by reproducir pterosaur and no ailosaur ard no ar- closed ecology- natural checks and bal- original living chaeopleryx, so be it: We may have them ances don't fully apply.) Soone' or larer I not be a crue yet What we already have is plenty to work was bound to encounter one. but I had "OS? S on h with Someday there may be seoarate hoped it would be later.

1 "'assic Jurassic and Ce'aceoi.is sate te : was hunting Irogs at the eoge of Cope nab'tats but core c^os wi ;ive "o see that I _ake. A licklsh ousiress. calls for agility,

cunning, quick re'lexes I remember the Tota technique from my girlhood — the cupped hanc the lightning oounce but somehow

it's oecome a lot harder in the, last twenty

years Superior frogs rhese days, I sup-

pose There ms kneeing r me mud swooping rn.ssirg swoopirg missing.

forest-not Bel but a younger

Jo- : "mrk . ge- much sleep tonight. uttered a sort of '%>. cculd "avo tioloed r ght up behind to work on the 1 = air August. 0600 hours. Rosy-fingered ana I'c neve' have noticed. But then I surprise: We ta subtle something, a change m ;he air. vations that !y

• Ninth , The Messtafi c Beeihover s den c amsl-ui, ioi ~v o ade I staged Chopping

remember which, i think I m going nuts.

I feel alert, inquisitive, and hungry. Espe- Corythosaur meat has a curiously sweet flavor- nutmeg and cloves, dash of cin- cially hungry. I know we've slocked this place with frogs and turtles and other namon. The first chunk would not go down. small-size anachronisms io provide a bal- You are a pioneer. I told myself, retching. anced d et tc the big crrters Today Ml Vou are the first human ever to eat dinosaur have to snare some for myself, grjsly meat. Yes, bur why does it have to be raw?

r though I find the p osoect o' eating raw No choice about that. Be dispassionate, frog's legs. love. Conquer you' gag reflex or die trying

I eating oysters Tnis time I don't bothc go:: ng crossed anymore I pretended was the wilderness s no pace ?7 Aug:./?; 170C ncuris The dirosams Crawled to the strain and -anagf wafer. know rha; I'rr here and [hat I in some ex- scoop, up 3 little

off. tc 300 hours At midday I weired How oa-- great dumb beas&irsow i330hours. Dozed Awakened

cuse'vir g -io. too somehow No. that's just crazy. I'm tempted k

the ent'y But I suppose I'll leave record of my changing osycooi

:, ao a li-:ie herd thinning

-• " I recovering from :ne ef'"e

With a i ttle nelp fioni im- Inc

" : £i;ir_-^ 07 OC hours S;a- 0^

e the buiges that as if I'm r

3 begun to melt High f eve

couic lee he deepen-.---?^ t thoughts of ne diror aurs, the s.ow. rap'.urous philo- soomcal nterchanges

When 1 voke. .nedrcarr-see'i-ieG bizarre- ly vivid, strangely real, the dream ideas Q9C0 nans. We stanc face lo face. Her had this greatest o" 'aces oeen allowed to

live fulfill its lingering as they sometimes do. I saw the head is fifteen meters above mine Her to destiny

' animals abou! me in a new way. As if this is smali eyes a'e unreadaole. trust ner and I lee -he menss love radiating Irsm ne

not just a zoological research station but a love her. titan that looms above me. I fe-el the contact communty a settlement, the sole outpost -ess?- brachcsau's have gaTerc-ci be- between our souls steadily strengthening of an alien civilization — an a ien civilization nine her o'l the nverbank. Fadher away are and deepening native to Earth. dinosaurs of hah a dozen other species, The last oa'ne-s c ssclve.

Come otf it. These animals have minute

i brains. They spend their days chum sing or- am the chosen one I am ihe vehicle I greene'y, except for the ones that chomp am the banger of rebirth, the beloved one,

on other dinosaurs. Compared .'.Mi cl :-.e '-'ecessa-y one Our Lady of the Sau-

nosaurs, cows anci sneep are downright cpods am I the holy one, the prophetess. I "lObrj.ie !:le 7 I s this madness Then ii'S madness, and

ceam Wn> nave we small hairy creatures

pathic 9*isied a: af i knew now. tt is so that througn cur teennoogy we could make possible the return of the great ones They perished unfairly. Through us, they 'are res- urrected abca r c lb s my gloss in soacs

5 September. 1: I rremole m '.he force sf the need that fast recovery Up a

not much pain k / will 1 la:: -.on I tell the great sauro- Though the strut pods oexre i~e and the sauropods send bearers of food tr my thoughts r eve r bera: ng to all the others.

20 September. 0000 hours The inirtieth day The shuttle comes from Habitat Vron- ml drawn to her. I am skyoday top ck me up and cell ver the next could worship her. Through researche r her vast body surge I wait at the transit ocw Hundreds of dinosaurs wait with me. eacn close beside powerful currents. She is :he nex;, oo:h :he lions and :he lambs, the amplifier By her gathered Quietly, their attention focused en- tirely or me. are we all connected. The Now rhe shuttle arrives right en time, holy mother. From her gliding in, for a perfect docking The am emanate healing impulses.* ocks open. A figure appears. Sarber him-

self! Cornmg to make sure I didn't survive 'ween :- the 'netdow'i. q- e'se to fmsh me off stance He v sassage.

They I cmosau's

fna.y "What in God's

'": What could tt eec the vvende- the g'am rstand," I ted him. I give :za r rumbles forward.

6 September 060Q r:cu's All :h s t yhl I i wh rls and sprints for have moved slowly through Ihe fores: in jcsau'b.ocks tneway

what . can only >erm an ecstanc state. Vast shapes, humoed monstrous fo-ms na'e:y visible by dim glimmer came and went

about Tie. Hour after hour I walked un-

harmed, feeling the communion intensify. I And this is on beginning Habitat

wandered, oarely awa^e of where I was e hundred twenty swhere in '.he La- here on this massy carpet and in the Mai cs sf ether habitats

light of dawn I see the giant form at BM earth itself is withm

great brachicsaur standing like a mounta n ea yet how it win be

on the far side of Owen River now it will be done

I am drawn to her. I could worship her. ( and I will se the "nrough her vast Souy surge powerful cur-

r rents. She is Ihe amplifier 3y ner a s we all I stretch forth n yarm sto the mighty crea- connected. The holy mother of us all. From uresthatsurrou d me I feel their strength. the enormous mass of her body emanate heir power, thei harm ony. I am one with potent healing impulses. hem. and they with n e. The Great Race

I'll rest a little while Then I'll cross the las returned, an I am ts p' estess Let the river to her. small hairy ones tremb el *&

An encounter with one who has visited more worlds than any of the other survivors of his species DREAMTIME BY AARON NORMAN

I hey call me Eldest. I am the most aged that survives of my species. My native sun system was deslroyed eons ago, long after my celebrated departure from its joy-giving beauties and comforts. A poet compa-ed my ce- parture to that of a godlike babe. Ihe first of a new breed, bounding from the womb.

Do you understand what I am saying? I am not versed in your language yet. Occasionally, perhaps every tew hundred of

your millenia or so, I have chanced to encounter one or another of my kind during realtime sur-

veys. Thousands— I don't know how many, of

course— departed later than I, but I was the first duly and I am the oldest, as they acknowledge

when we interact. It is good to exchange data with them, to compare our realtime experiences and to recall the sublimely awesome unrealities we have each explored in dreamtime.

You reveal puzzlement. Alas, it is difficult to

convey my full meaning within the confines of

your little language. Try and you may understand

tell most of what I you.

if I I sometimes wonder any of my species and eve: o«Bs each other in the void during dream- on realtime time. Those whom I have encountered

surveys have also wondered about this, but it is a u

' ! V - /) . I mEven here, now . . can discern that wan and ghostly beacon from a time and place long past being3

question impossible to answer. In any case, our sojourns are brief and we prefer to reminisce about our home world, which none of us remembers

but dimly. We find it painful to realize that the home world does not in fact exist any longer. It is hard to believe, for we can — and always do — descry the light from its star. Even here, now, even among the glittering star-swarm of your local

galaxy. I can discern that wan and ghostly beacon from a time and place long past being, to Everything I once endeared is gone, reduced basic

matter by a rather ordinary solar cataclysm. I

have no empirical evidence, but it is a mathematical

certainty. At some point in the future, I will enter realtime and see no more of that faint starbeam,

It is a woeful inevitability,

Am 1 making sens*;?

l Again I say that I am Eldest, e wi 10 voyages through

the infinite immensiti . of the cosmos, 4/ am pleased that you possess a viable intellect for some of

. your kind may be able to follow . .9

stopping when wakened 10 survey inhabited specks oi star-warmea rock. A survey, such as this one of your planet, lasts about a week— two at most— in ierms of your tine reference. To my

knowledge I have performec more surveys than any

other, for I was first and I am oldes:. In the countless milienia since my epochal departure. I have

performed exact'y 312 surveys. Accordingly. I

am hardly more than eight oi your years older than I was at the beginning. Dreamtime does not

count. I dd not age during dreamtime.

You grasp whal I impart, do you not? Yours is more

advanced than most viviforms l have me: with. That is why I am attempting this communion with

you. I am pleased that you possess a viable intellect, lorsomeof your kind may be able to follow

when the lime comes, as ii must ano will

Remember that I am Eldest, he who has visited mo'i worlds and experienced more dreamtime than any of the other wandering survivors of his .

species. Myriac millenia have elapsed since my celebrated deparrure while a mere eight of your years have been expended from my life. The rest has been only 313 timeless nights. For me. each

night is an ineffably awesome interlude of cream-: me. Nothing you know or feel can help you vaguely to understand or appreciaie the

exquisite unreality thai dreamtime bestows. The best I

can do in your little language is to call it rapture. My body lies dormant — an integral part of the

machinery, really— until it is needed for

another survey, but I am intensely alive in the vivid nulliiy of dreamtime. a no-place of splendid and chimerical — yet altogether palpable -images,

visions, illusions. In dreamtime I am the essence of unbeingness. exploring a nowhere of nondimension, a nothingness of awesome

enchantments, ecstasies, blissful intoxications and . .

But your little language fails me. It will mature it your intelligence continues to evolve. Perhaps, in future, another of my species will survey this planet and more successfully explain dreamtime to your descendants. Then, perhaps, your kind will truly comprehend and strive to follow, As the first

and oldest, i lell you that this is the ultimate destiny of

all viviforms gifted enough to perceive the wisdom, duty and godly purposed perpetuating their kmds. May time and circumstance be your allies m thequest.

all I am Eloesi and I have spoken. Tell whom you meet that the first and oldest was here. My parting **WF wish is for the fulfuilmeni of your destiny in dreamtime, &S&&R :^ks

1

.^•^ -

: From any angle, an : nf nity of squat, lumpy Ivionilicalicr: fooded from her micro- on thepad.Sha'c soor nave to scrape it off. r Marchiannas stood in line to view her, to processors. She'd known she shouldn't That would, unhappily tor her, separate he please her. The ghts dlmp ed on her armor have attempted a human art form, but her from Nakamura-san, although it would and tensed her circuits for the day's run ache for him to look' favorably upon her had please him. The scouring, nol the separa- through the mining bell. overwhelmed her programmed common tion. If the surface were too rough, the ship

But first, breakfast. Not for herself, sense. "I apoicg^e. i\akarnu,'a-san. In Ihe could break up on landing,

It a thing. almost- no — Marchianna always dined al fresco, future I will know my place." was monstrous An clinging easily to the steel-gray hull of the His fog lamps flickered in surprise. "Did cube five hundred meters on ar edge, w lh prospecting ship and sopping up sun- you think I wascasrgatirgyou?" he asked, pipes here and struts there and empty rays - but for him, Nakamura-san, her mas- gesturing for her to pour the tea.' spaces in between, the Karakai Maru had ter, her owner ... her god. To say yes would have violated the own- cost a quarter of a trillion yen Another

Images fractured as cupboard doors er-respect circuits. "I thought, sir, that you twenty years would pass before it paid for swung in response to her radioed com- were reminding me of my machinehood," itself completely. mands. Dried fish and seaweed and bean she said instead. Nakamura-san rode one elevator to the curd and rice. She called a table out of the "No, not at all. "Through a copper siphon bridge, where he would shed his protective floor and piled them on its top. Her clock he sipped the steaming lea; his microwave gear and enjoy the shirt-sleeve environ- read 7:51:38; Nakamura-san would expect dish moved right, then left, indicating his ment she '"curiec aroiner e evator, which to sit down to a steaming meal in exactly approval. "As my venerable grandfather carried her to the centrifuge. eight minutes and twenty-two seconds, often said, anyone can become an artist, She had barely finished checking it be- And he was punctual. Very punctual. There as long as he has an eye, a mind, a steady fore the voice sounded in her radio: "Ca- were moments when she wondered which hand, and a lifetime to devote to it, You did bles dropped; fusion engines on; brace of them was the machine and which was well, for a beginner," Wilh his manipulators yourself," the human. Tea, oh yes, green tea. Leaves he chopsltcked balls of rice into his food- "Yes, sir," she r eplied. Ihen vibrated in shaken into a delicate, blue pot that always intake valve. After a moment he looked up. resonance with the ship's spewing of seemed jeopardized by her scarred "You may go." gaseous, superheated reaction mass from titanium claws. Another panel popped up Leaving, she felt lighter than air Praise its tail. Vacuum scorns.sound, but she often and a million Marchiannas vanished, In the from Nakamura-san! Unprecedented — imagined that in an atmosphere that en- bel- recess waited the sink, barren and func- and oh, so pleasing . . especially consid- gine would have roared, wouid have tional. She didn't like to acknowledge it. ering the surliness he'd shown on their last lowed, would have deatened every ear

Like herself, it was a device for man's com- return. She'd thought then he was crack- within a hundred kilometers, Clinging firmly fort, but so simple that it made her whole ing, going insane, but he wasn't. She'd to her perch, she watched a strut occlude a race bok bad in all human eyes. She been wrong, and her happiness pulsed so star with its quivering: like a signal light— placed the pot in its lobsterlike claws. "Fill it loudly that the glow panels overhead on-off, on-off ... "The centrifuge has with boiling water." oega'i to hum. cooled, sir," she radioed when the asteroid

'Yes, Marchianna," it hissed. But in the kitchen she berated herself. had fallen far behind. 7:58:12, Whisking back into the kitchen, She was a machine, a device, a thing "Then get the plug out, You know what to she dusted off the lacquer tray— black with neis.ard olaslic assembled by man for his do.- an ideogram inlaid in mother-of-pearl; pleasure. She had no right to love. Her roie The gruffness of his tone wounded her; it life difficult she'd asked her owner what it meant, and was to serve, with efficient obedience, with was unlike him. However, was he hadn't known — then arranged the mechanical accuracy — not with affection. for him, a self-exile to .the Asteroid Belt. He ::' dishes and bowls in what she hoped was a Nakamura-san could sell her at any mo- endured on the brink of now ne'e, millions pleasing pattern. Nakamura-san fussed ment—or convert her into a refrigerator if kilometers from his fnerds. h-s home. She over such things. Once, in the beginning, he wished— for a human owed nothing to knew how lonely it was. She had to make he'd thrown out an entire meal, bowls and his possessions, nothing. allowances. all, rather than eat food so unaesihetically Yet she did love, deeply and truly, and Sunlight as fine as a morning mist drifted presented. As a last touch, she slid a pink she could not help that. She did not want to across her plating, Her photovoltaics col- chrysanthemum and a lacy fern into a help (hat,. She relished the way her alter- lected it. transforming It into life just as tinted bud vase, then stepped back to ad- nator added an extra cycle per second surely as a Namib lizard's s-cin ohn-s n-e mire the effect. whenever Nakamura-san neared. She sa- dew that gathers on it. She planned her In the dining room hinges whispered that vored the drop in the resistance of her route to stay out of shadows. Full batteries her master had come. She checked the obedience circuitry when he cleared his elated her time— 7:59:55— and snatched up the tray throat. And it thrilled her beyond measure Moving with ar aghty remarkable for her and bustled to greet him. "Qhayo that, whenever she finished what she was size and shape, she opened the casing of gozaimasu." She couldn't bow — she doing, her function selector assigned her a the forty-meter-long centrifuge tube and solidi- wasn't designed for il — and so she altered task the achievement of which would swing radioed the cranes to hoist out the the pressures in her cab's independent his microwave dish approvingly. She loved fied metal, Smelted on their last trip home, suspensions, which raised the back edge him, and she was glad. poured into the tube, and spun until the a couple of centimeters and tilted the for- "Marchianna." he called impatiently, constituent ores had separated ou: into strata, this ward face slightly. "When you are ready, I triggering a feedback effect that rippled neat one piece represented will pour the tea, Nakamura-san." through her like the aftertremors of an or- days of hard work. "Hat," he grunted. Wheels whirring, he gasm, "it is time." Summoning mobile dollies, she rolled to rolled to the table, His optical sensors- "Ha/I" Gears purring, she left the kitchen the far end and retracted the panel cover- teardrop shaped, with two on each facet of and followed him — at a distance of three ing her built-in laser. Then she plugged his triangular turret — focused on the bud respectful meters— through the plastic- herself into the ship's main power supply; . vase. His wire-thin manipulators, each end- paneled corridors opening on ihe as- Her batteries were capacious, but the ing in a dozen hairlike tentacles, whipped teroid's surface to the heat-scarred hec- greedy light knife would drain them in a out. Almost before she realized what he tare where the ungainly ship was tethered. hurry. The current surged through her,

was doing, he stripped two browned leaves Rumbling along, she bounced across the Aaahhh . . . She wanted to throw back her off the chrysanthemum, plucked four irregularities; the gravity field weakened cab and sing triumph to the steady stars, fronds from the fern, and realigned them so there, and that meant the deposits were but there was so much to be done. She that they stood in harmonious disequilib- building up again. It was unfortunate that rode the sensual waves like a master surfer, rium. "Like that," he said. the reaction mass cooled and crystallized ever in control. 22 , "

Precious little uranium this time . . He spun on his treads, growling, "You even as she scanned the myar panels for maybe a millimeter-thin cap on a plug five have a positive gift for announcing the ob- tears or lube stains. "But the centrifuge is meters in diameter She beeped a small now filling, and the process will be done

dolly into the proper position, then "I am sorry, sir." She rolled forward to before we get home." snapped her filters into place, and a dot express her concern. "Is something wrong So light an extra weight, but he bore too burned brightly on the cylinder's smooth with the life-support system?" much already. He cracked. Completely. surface. Slowly the plug revolved, spun by "No," he snapped. "Home?" he shrie_ked. "Home? That dismal, the cranes' careful hands. She loved this "Bui you haven't unsuited." dusty rabbit wa'rren is home? You fool!

job, this commanding and coordinating, "There you go again, ballyhooing the Home is a sky so high, so blue, it pulls you

this slicing through metal like a butcher blatant." He lashed a manipulator at the up into it, and a wind that chuckles on your

cutting his salami. The dolly caught the control panel. "Why did you reprogram the back as it dries your hapi, and the moist

uranium as it floated free of the rest, caught course computer?" nuzzling nose of a fawn, and Fujiyama-san

it, and trucked it unbidden to the place "Nakamura-san!" Aghast, she jerked like a mirage on the horizon. You thing I You

where, sandwiched between slices of lead, back. "It is not my place. I would never torture me, I ought to sell you, give you

it would wait. When a full shipment's worth alter— away. I'm going to throw you off the ship, "

had accumulated, they would roll it down "These are not the vectors and coordi- you piece of junk, I —

ine gravity hill to Earth, to the spread nets of nates I recall!" He ranted insanely the rest of the way

an L5 retrieval team. It would be weighed The psych-chip chattered, unreliability back. The crushers cut off when the last cin-

and paid for, and Nakamura-san would owe QF MEMORY IS A PRIMARY SYMPTOM OF UNSTA- der had been ground to powder. Thesmelter lhat much less on his ship. BLE personality, and while the rest of the finished its job and closed its gossamer madly, Poor Nakamura-san , she thought as she diagnosis fed into her banks, she mur- umbrella. The centrifuge spun And went to work on the next stratum. He was so mured diffidently. "I am very sorry, sir. for a day and a half Marchianna dwelled on far from home that he couldn't see his world Pemaos some:nir.g is amiss in the program the verb fo weep, dwelled on the word, its

If without a telescope, couldn't even find it itself. you would like, I could check it for meanings, and its implications, because without recourse lo an astronomical cal- you." the action itself was beyond her. culator. The word pity was crowded onto "Gat off the bridge! Get out of my sight!" When their base rolled into view and

one of Marchianna's vo-chips; she knew its Treads whirring, he turned his back on her. Nakamura-san began to decelerate, he meaning but couldn't experience its emo- His taillights blinked in agitation. told her. "Leap into the reaction-mass tion. She wished she could, for her master They shouldn't let humans out here, she exhaust tube." was surely to be pitied. thought. Not alone, Colonies, yes, but not "But that will destroy me," she protested, A lonely expatriate, he had only a robot individuals. Forge! the economics of in- though she began to pick her way down the for company, And not a bright or interesting irasystem travel; the ultimate cost is too ribbing to the rockets. "The temperature, " one, either, she thought in a moment of high. We could do the job unguided; it is the velociiy of the particles —

self-loathing. Her master needed more: good to be owned and directed, but it hurts "Exactly," he bit off. "Do it!" silken hair, liquid laughter, warm and fra- to see my master dying inside She reached the base. Dully she pro- grant skin ... a wife, in other words. What Ahead swelled a small asteroid: their pelled, herself toward death. Even at a he had was total dependence on machines quarry for the day The low albedo of its hundred meters, the heat triggered au- for every face! of his survival, from the air he pitted surface reflected little light; Ivlar- tomatic warnings. Excited particles dis-

broa'.'ncd :nro.ign the sui" ne wee fo the chianna sensec rather than saw it. Roughly charged photons on a billion wavelengths,

direction in which he steered the Karakai cubical, it would fit into the intake bay with- a million colors. She'd last— a second? " Maru. Which was not to suggest that he out preliminary splitting. That relieved her. "Please." she begged, "you can't —

lived in danger but rather to imply that the Too much could go wrong in rock blowing, "No." sterile preciciabil ty ol lis environment and shrapnel always seemed lo.spatterthe "This is wrong. You need me," poured acid on his crystal soul- Karakai Maru. Once a shard no larger than "Die, thing." a baby's fist had punched right through the Deep within her maze of circuitry a relay After some thirty-six hours the radio bridge, Nakamura-san's quick reflexes clicked over, She stopped. Fifty meters crackled, "Are you finished yet?" had saved him, but he'd never been the ahead of her a glowing, gaseous bar rose "Ha/!" Perturbed, she routed his ques- to the surface that loomed overhead. She tion through her inbuilt voice-stress Skillfully, invisibly, Nakamura-san swiveled and said, "No," analyzer. The summary flashed CRANKY matched velocities, then crept up a cen- "Oh." The radio stayed silent for fifteen while the emotional-component charter tot- timeter at a time until the vessel's giant seconds before he added, "All right." ted up a list of: anger, depression, loneli- mouth had completely inhaled the 'roid, They touched down without further inci- wordlessly, to ness. FEAR. FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY. . . . Struts shuddered as titanium molars bit dent. He proceeded direct y.

Within one twentieth of a second, it corn- down on the rock and began to grind. The his bedroom. Marchianna followed a re-

'pleted the list and the psych-chip began ship banked into an imperceptible course spectful three meters behind, When his out-taping a variety of suggested thera- change. door closed, she switched into analycom- peutic responses: urge himto talk, provide 'All right," Nakamura-san ordered, "get putational mode and sighed. Nakamura- MORAL SUPPOHT, REMAIN INTERESTED BUT NON- the smelters going." san had too closely skirted irrevocable in- destroying him. Poor JUDGMENTAL, . . . One tenth of a second had Hurriedly she activated the extensor sanity; loneliness was passed. motors. Telescoping booms thrust the solid man. To survive out here, where even

"Get up here fast!" face of the ship a thousand meters away robots couldn't make it on their own. he'd

"Ha; Emergency? she wondered, but from the rest of it; once locked in place, the need help. A wife. Immediately. no as she tapped into the monitor net side itself stirred, unfolded, opened. Within Headlights flickering with excitement.

woven through the ship's ribbing. All indi- an hour it had umbrellaed into a silver-lined she trundled to the cavernous storeroom cators glowed green; all readings read canopy measuring two-and-a-quarter behind the repair shop, where a fifty-year

no'na! Just his mood . poor man, i mus: square kilometers: a parabolic mirror fo- supply of spare parts, all neatly boxed,

. make him happy. cused on the one uninsulated wall of the stood on one another's shoulders. She reached the bridge and passed smelter. Already that wall had begun to Nakamura-san would have a woman, and through the extra-wide airlock. The door glow a dull red. quickly. Marchianna sang a song of joy.

squeaked in the ultrasonic as it retracted: "You're slow today," he rasped unpleas- Allowing for the appropriate changes, she she paused to inject a smidgen of lubri- antly could use the very same schematics for the

cant. "I have come, Nakamura-san," "I am sorry, Nakamura-san," she replied, wife that she had used for him. 23 It was a huge ship, ancient, alien, waiting in space —for us! DARK SANCTUARY BY GREGORY BENFORD

The laser beam bit me smack in the face.

I iwisted away. My helmet buzzed and went dark as its sunshade over- loaded. Get inside the ship, I yanked on a strut and tumbled into the yawning fluorescent-lit airlock. In the asteroid belt you either have fast

reflexes or you're a statistic. I slammed mto the airlock bulkhead and stopped dead, waiting to see where the laser beam would hit next. My suit sensors were all burned out; my straps were singed, The pressure patches on knees and elbows had brown bubbles in them. They had blistered and boiled away. Another second or two and I'd have been sucking vac.

I took all this in while I watched for reflections from the next laser strike. Only it didn't come. Whoever had shot at me either thought Sniffer was disabled or

else they had a balky laser. Either way, I had to start dodging,

I moved fast, working my way forward through a connecting tube to the bridge— a fancy name for a closet-sized

cockpit. I revved up Snifter's fusion dnve and felt the tug as she started spitting hot

plasma out her rear tubes. I made the side jets stutter too. putting out little bursts of plasma. That made Sniffer dart around, ;usi enough to make hitting her tough.

I punched in for a damage report, Some aft sensors burned out, a loading arm melted down, other minor stuff. The laser

PAINTING BY VINCENT Dl FATE — — — —

boli must have caught us for just a few sawths gray cs-eavered asteroid about a some tangy squeeze- lube- soup and got

seconds. hundred klicks away. My ship auto-eye even more curious. I used the radar to

A boli from who? Where? I checked picked it up from the bright sunglint. Sen- rummage through the nearby rocks, look-

radar. Nothing. sors said it was carbon-dioxide ice with ing for metal that might be a ship. I checked

I reached up to scratch my nose, think- some water mixed in. Probably a comet hit some orbits. The Belt hasn't got dust in it. to ing, and realized my helmet and skinsuit the rock millions of years ago, and some of speak of. The dust got sucked into Jupiter were still sealed, vac-worthy. I decided to it stuck. I filed its orbit parameters away for long ago. The rocks— "planetesimals," a

I usually time like keep them on, just in case. wear a — now—when the market got scientist told me I should call them, but light coveralls inside Sniffer; the skinsuit is thirsty. Right now the big cylinder worlds they're just rocks to me—can be pretty

orbiting 1 I It if I water, , fair-sized. for vac work. occurred to me that Earth need C0 2 methane, looked around, and found one hadn't been outside, fixing a jammed hy- and other goodies. That happens every that was heading into the mathematical

draulic loader, I wouldn't have known any- time the cylinder boys build a new tin can cone my number-cruncher dealt me. body shot at us at all, not until my next and need to form an ecosystem inside. Sniffer took five hours to rendezvous with routine check. Rock and ore they can get from Earth's it— a big black hunk, a klick wide and abso-

Which didn't make sense, Prospectors moon. For water they have to come to us, lutely worthless. I moored Sniffer to it with

if claim. the Belters. It's in shoot at you you're jumping a They cheaper energy to boost automatic moly bolts. They made hollow . don't zap you once and then fade— they ice into the slow pipeline orbits in from the bangs whap. whap — as they plowed in. finish the job. I was pretty safe now; Snif- Belt to Earth much cheaper than it is to Curious, yes. Stupid, no. The disabled fer's stuttering mode was fast and choppy, haul water up from Earth's deep gravity skyjock was just a theory. Laser bolts are

if jerking me around in my captain's couch. well. Cheaper, that is, the rockrats flying real. I wanted some camouflage. My com- But as my hands hovered over the control vac out here can find any panion asteroid had enough traces of

It it console, they started trembling. I couldn't The screen rippled green. drew a cone metal in to keep standard radar from see- make them stop. My fingers were shaking for me, Sniffer at the apex. Inside that cone ing Sniffer's outline. Moored snug to the

I in so badly didn't dare punch instructions. was whoever had tried to wing me. I asteroid's face, I'd be hard to pick out. The Delayed reaction, my analytical mind told asteroid would take me coasting through

me. the middle of that cone, If I kept radio si-

I was scared. Prospecting by yourself is lence, I'd be pretty safe. risky enough without the bad luck of run- So I waited, And slept. And fixed the aft ning into somebody else's claim. All at sensors. And waited. 677?e cylinder was pointing once I wished I wasn't such a loner. I forced Prospectors are hermits. You watch your myself to think. nearly away from me, instruments, you tinker with your plasma By all rights, Sniffer should've been a drive, you play 3-D flexcop— addictive so radar had reported a cross an drifting hulk by now—sensors blinded, game; it ought to be illegal —and you worry punched full of holes, engines blown. Belt section much smaller You work ouf in the zero-g gym, you calcu- prospectors play for alt the marbles. late how to brea-; even when you finally can than its real size. I stared at that Philosophically, I'm with Ihe sell your.fresh ore to the Hansen Corpora- strange, monstrous jackrabbits— run. dodge, hop, but don't tion, you wonder if you'll have to kick ass to fight. I have surprises for get haul pipeline orbit for some anybody . . I your in thing . suddenly didn't who tries to outrun me, too. Better than Earthside —and you have to like it when the want to be around. 9 trading laser bolts with rockrats at nearest conversationalist is the Social/

incusand-k'.ome-ier 'ange, any day. Talkback subroutine in the shipboard. Me, I

But this one worried me, No other ships like it. Curious, as I said. on radar, nothing but that one bolt. It didn't It came up out of the background noise tit. on the radarscope. In fact, I thought it was

I punched in a quick computer program. popped my nelmei and gave in 10 the sen- noise. The thing came and went, fluttered,

The maintenance computer had logged suality of scratching my nose. If they grew and shrank. It gave a funny radar the time, when the aft sensors scorched out. scorched me again, I'd have to button up profile —but so did some of the new ships

Also, I could iell which way I was facing while my own ship's air tried to suck me the corporations flew. My -ock was passing when the bolt hit me. Those two facts could away— but stopping the itch was worth it, about two hundred klicks from the thing

fix I Sniffers give me a on the source. let Inside the cone was somebody who and the odd profile made me cautious. I ballistic routine chew on that for a minute wanted me dead. My mouth was dry My went into the observation bubble to have a and. waiting, looked out the side port. The hands were still shaking. They wanted to squint with the opticals. sun was a fierce white dot in an inky sea. A punch in course corrections that would The asteroid I'd pinned Sniffer to had a few rocks twinkled in the distance as they take me away from that cone. fast. slow, lazy spin. We rotated out of the

tumbled. Until we were hit, we'd been on a Or was I assuming too much? Ore snif- shadow just as I got my reflex-Opter tele- zero-gee coast; outbound from Ceres fers use radio for communication— it scope on line. Stars spun slowly across a the biggest rock there is -tor some pros- radiates in all directions, it's cheap, and it's jet-black sky. The sun carved sharp pecting. The best-paying commodity in the not delicate. But suppose some rocker lost shadows into the rock face. My target

Belt right now was methane ice, and I knew his radio and had to use his cutting laser to drifted up from the horizon, a funny yel- a likely place. Sniffer —the ugly, seg- signal? I knew he had to be over ten low-white dot. The telescope whirred and it mented tube with strap-on fuel pods that I thousand kilometers away— that's radar leaped into focus. call home—was still over eight hundred range. By jittering around, Sniffer was mak- I sat there, not breathing. A long tube, thousand kilometers from the asteroid I ing it impossible for him to send us a dis- turning. Towers iuttcd ou; at odd places wanted to check. tress signal. And if there's one code rock- twisted columns, with curved laces and

Five it's years back I had been out wilh a rats will honor answering a call for help. sudden jagged struts. A fretwork of blue. rockhound bunch, looking for asteroids Patches of strange, moving yellow. A jum- with rich cadmium deposits. That was in So call me stupid. I took the. risk. I put. ble of complex structu'es. It was a cylinder, the days when everybody thought cad- Sniffer back on a smooth orbit—and noth- decorated almost beyond recognition, I mium was going to be the wonder fuel fpr ing haopened. checked the ranging figures, shook my ion rockets. We found Ihe cadmium, all You've got to be curious to be a skyjock, head, checked again. The inboard com-

right, and made a bundle. While I was out in both senses of the word, So color me puter overlaid a perspective grid on the

on my own, taking samples from rocks, 1 stared at that green cone and ate image, to convince me. I sat very still. The cylinder was pointing nearly away from me, blip showed up again, It had shiftec side- They •ake it a little further, too— the aliens so radar had reporled a cross section ways, to get a look around the cesium haven't visited our solar system, so check much smaller than its real size. The thing cloud — an expensive maneuver. Appar- your premise again. V.ayoe mere aren't any was seven goddamn kilometers long. ently they had a lot of fuel in reserve. aliens like us. Oh, sure, intelligent fish,

I stared at that strange, thing monstrous I threw another cloud. It punched a maybe, or sometning we can't imagine. Bur and thought, and suddenly I didn't want to blue-white fist into the blackness. They there are no radio builders, no star voyag-

around there I took three be anymore. quick were making better gee than I could; it was ers. The best proof of this is that they shots with the telescope on inventory going to be a mafter of who could hold out. haven't come calling.

That would tell composition, al- I I'd that line of rea- mode. me So tried another trick. I moved into the never thought about bedo, the rest of the litany. Then I shut it radar shadow of an asteroidMhat was soning much, because that's the conven- into bridge. down and scrambled back the nearby and moving at a speed I could tional wisdom now; it's stuff you learn when My hands were trembling again. manage. Maybe the blip would miss me you're.a -snot-rosed kic. We slopped listen-

I hesitated about what to do, but they when it came out from behind the cloud, it ing for radio signals a long time ago, back

decided for me. On our next revolution, as was a gamble, but worth it in fuel. around 2030 or so. But now that I thought soon as the automatic opticals got a fix, about it— there blips. I for living were two punched in a In three hours I had my answer The blip Already, men were in space radar Doppler it habitats, If ever off and came back bad: The homed in on me. How? I thought. Who's got mankind cast into the smaller dot was closing on us, fast. a radar that can pinpoint that welt? abyss between the stars, which way would

bolts with I The moly came free a bang. I fired a white-hot cesium cloud. We ac- they go? In a dinky rocket? No. they'd go in took Sni/ter out, comfort, in stasis; rig up and backing away from celerated away, making tracks. I was get- communities. They'd the asteroid to keep it between me and the ting worried. Sniffer was groaning with the up a cylinder world with a fusion drive, or

blip that for us. I us it, was coming stepped up strain. I hadn't allowed myself to think about something like and set course for the to dry I to max gee. My mouth was and had what I'd seen, but now it looked like I was in nearest star, knowing they'd take genera- check every computer input twice. for a long haul. The fusion motor rumbled tions to get there.

I ran. There wasn't much else to do. The A century or two in space would make blip was coming at meat better than a tenth them into very o iferer" people. When they of a gee— incredible acceleration. In the reached a star, where would they go? Down Belt there is plenty of time for moving to the planets? Sure— for exploration, around, and a chronic lac* of f,.ie —so we maybe. Bui to live 7 Nobody who grew up in »/ didn't like the use high-efficiency drives and take ener- conclusion fractional g, with the freedom the cylinder gy-cheap orbits. The blip wasn't bothering but it fit the facts. world gives you. would wanl lo be a with that. Somehow they had picked Sniffer That huge seven-kilometer groundpounder. They wouldn't even £now out and decided we were worth a lot of fuel to reach, and reach in a hurry. For some cylinder back there The aliens wouldn't be much different. reason they didn't use a laser bolt. It would They'd be spacefarers, able to live m vac wasn't man-made. I'd known have been a simple shot at this range. But and tap solar power. They'd need raw mate- that I it. maybe they didn't want to chance my the moment saw rials, sure. But the cheapest way to get at this shooting Ihe big ship close, so they Nobody could build a thing like mass isn't to go down and drag it up from put their money driving off. the is in on me *> planets. No, ihe easy way ihe that and keep it quiet. B.ut then, why chase me so fast? It didn't asteroids— otherwise, Belters would never add up. make a buck. So if the aliens came to our

By the time I was a few hundred klicks solar system a long time ago, they'd prob- away from the asferoid it was too small to ably continue to live in space colonies. be a useful shield. The blip appeared Sure, they'd study the planets some. But

its I around edge. don't carry weapons, but and murmured to itself and I was alone, they'd live where they would be comfort-

I do have a few tricks. I built a custom- more alone than I'd felt for a long time, with able. designed pulse mode into Sniffer's fusion nothing to do but watch the screen and I trcigit th s throug-n slowly. In the long : drive, back before she was commissioned. think. waits while I dooged 'cm rock to rock there

I When the blip appeared started staging was plenty of time. I didn't like the conclu- the engines. The core of the motor is a hot Belters aren't scientists. They're gam- sion, bul it tit the facts. That huge seven- ball of plasma, burning heavy water— deu- blers, idealists, thieves, crazies, malcon- kilometer cylinder back there wasn't man- terium—and spitting it, plus vaporized tents. Most of them are from the cylinder made. I'd known that, deep in my guts, the rock, out the back tubes. Feeding in the worlds orbiting Earth. Once you've grown moment I saw it. Nobody could build a right amount of deuterium is crucial. There up in space, moving on means moving out, thing like that out there and keep it quiet. are a dozen overlapping safeguards on the not going back to Earth. Nobody wants to The cylinder gave off no radio, bui ships system, but if you know how— be a ground pounder. So Belters are the navigating that much mass into place

I punched in the command.. My drive new cutting edge of mankind, pushing out, would have to. Somebody would, have pulsed, suddenly rich in deuterium, On top finding new resources. picked it up,

It of thai came a dose of pulverized rock. The The common theory is that life in general So now I knew what was atier me. didn't rock damps the runaway reaction, On top must be like that. Over the last century the help much. of that, all in a microsecond, came a shot of scientists have looked for radio signals cesium, It mixed and heated and zap —out to~t ether ciyihzai.ons oul among the stars, I decided to hide behind one rock head- ihe back, moving fast, went a hot cloud of and come up with zero results. But we think ing sunward at a fair clip. I needed sleep spitting, snarling plasma. The cesium life isn't all that unusual in the universe. So and I didn't want to keep up my fusion ionizes easily and makes a perfect shield the question comes up: II there are aliens, burn —they're too easy to detect. Better io against radar. You can fire a laser through it, and they're like us, why haven't they spread lie low for a while. sure — but how do you find your target? out among the stars? How come they didn't I stayed ihere for five hours, dozing.

The cesium pulse gave me a kick in the overrun Earth before we even evolved? If When I woke up I couldn't see the blip. butt I looked back. A blue-white cloud was they moved at even one percent the speed Maybe they'd broken off the chase. I was spreading out behind Sniffer, blocking 'any of light, they would have spread across the ragged and there was sand in my eyes. I detection. whole galaxy in million damn a few years. wasn't going to admit to myself that I was

I ran like that for one hour, then two. The .Some people think that argument is right. reaty scared this lime. Belters and lasers I . " a — "

could take, sure. But this was too much for coordinates. Request confirmation of fis- edly the cylinder beings could have de- stroyed us. They could nudge a middle- me. sion burn. Repeat,— this is Ceres Monitor, on megahertz sized asteroid into a collision orbit with I ate breakfast and freed Sniffer from the 560 engulf asteroid I'd moored us to. My throat was I clicked it off. The 'Belt is huge, but the Earth and watch the storm wrack

I'd there humanity Simple. But they hadn't done it. raw my nerves jumpy. I edged us out from high-burn torch turned loose back the rock and looked around, Nothing. was orders of magnitude more luminous That moral sense again?

ordinary fusion jet. Something like that, yes. Give it a name I turned up the fusion drive. Sniffer than an That was one

it is creaked and groaned. The deck plates reason I carried them—they doubled as a and becomes a human quality—which rattled, There was a hot gun-metal smell, signal flare, visible millions of klicks away. in itself a deception. These things were must have alien. But their behavior had to make some I had been in my skinsuit the whole By some chance somebody sort of sense, had to have a reason. time and 1 didn't smell all that good seen mine and relayed the coordinates to

I floated, frowning. Putting all this to- either. I pulled away from our shelter and Ceres. a jigsaw boosted All through the chase I hadn't called gether was hKeassambing puzzle half It came out of nowhere. Ceres. It would have been of no use— there wilh only the pieces, but still-

It One minute the scope was clean and the were no craft within range to be of help. something told me I was right. fit. next— a big one, moving fast, straight at us. And Belters are loners— my instinct was A serene, long-lived, cosmic civilization Itcou/dn'Jhave been hiding —there was no always to keep troubles to myself. There's might be worried by our blind rush outward.

rock around to screen it. Which meant they nothing worse lhan listening to a Belter They were used to vast time scales; we had could deflect radar waves, at least tor a few whining over the radio. come on the stage in the wink of an eye. cylinder minutes. They could be invisible. But now I switched the radio back on and Maybe this speed left the beings

The thing came looming out of the dark- reached for the mike to hail Ceres. Then I undecided, hesitant. They needed time to Something wasn't quite kosher. think things over. That would explain why ness. It was yellow and blue, bright and stopped.

it. The yellow-blue craft had never fired at they didn't contact us. Just the reverse, in obvious. I turned in my couch to see My hands were punching in a last-ditch ma- me. Sniffer would have been easy to crip- fact— Ihey were hiding, Otherwise neuver on the board, I squinted at the thing and a funny feeling ran through me, a chill. It suddenly hit me. They didn't use radio it broadcasts at a wide angle. It was old. because There were big meteor pits all over the Only lasers can keep a tight beam over yellow-blue skin. The surface itself glowed, great dislances. That was what zapped like rock with a ghostly fire inside. QThe thing came looming out me— not a weapon, a communications channel. I ports, locks, no But could see no no of the darkness. It was antennas. Which meant there had to be more than yellow and blue, bright and in the Belt. kept It was swelling in the sky, getting close. one cylinder world They

all I quiet by using only beamed communica- I hit the emergency board, buttons. obvious. I turned In my had laid out good money lor one soec al tions. couch to see it. My hands were' implied something further; too. surprise, if some prospector overtook me That We and decided he needed an extra ship. The punching in a last-ditch hadn'l heard any radio signals from other civilizations, either because they were side pods held fission-burn rockets, pow- maneuver on the board ... a — erful things. They fired one time only and using lasers. They didn't want to be de- chill ran through me. cost like hell. But worth it. 9 tected by other, younger societies. They didn't want us to know they existed. The gee slammed me back into the couch. A roar rallied the ship. We hauled Why? Were the aliens in our own Belt

ass out of there. I saw the thing behind fade debating whether to help us or crush us? away in the exhaust flames. The high-boost pie at that range. An angry prospector Or something in belween?

fuel puts out incredibly hot gas. Some of if would'vedone it without thinking twice. But In the meantime, the Belt was a natural caughl the yellow-blue thing. The fronl end they didn't. hideout. They liked their privacy, They must

of the ship scorched. I smiled grimly and Something prevented them. Some code, be worried now, with humans exploring the

cut in the whole system. The gee thrust some moral sense that ruled outfiring on a Belt. I might be the first human to stumble

I last. went up. I felt the bridge swimming around fleeing craft, no matter how much they on them, but wouldn't be the Monitor calling me. a sour smell of burning— then I was wanted to stop It. "Ceres to—" older than out, the world slipping away, the blackness I hesitaled, They were old, we folding in. A moral code of an ancient society. They could imagine, They could have been in had come here and settled, soaking up this solar system longer than man— stable, asteroids, When I came to, I was floating. The energy from our sun. mining the peaceful, inheritors of a vast history. They boosters yawned empty, spent, Sniffer getting ice from comets. A peaceful exis- were moral enough not to fire at me, even

coasted at an incredibly high speed. And tence. They were used to a sleepy Earth, though they knew I meant they would be the yellow-blue thing was gone. inhabited by life forms not worth the effort of discovered. Maybe they'd been damaged. Maybe constant study. Probably they didn't care They needed time. They had a tough de-

they just plain ran out of fuel; everybody much about planets anymore. They didn't cision to face, If they were rushed into it has limitations, even things that can span keep detailed track of what was happen- they might make the wrong one. the stars. ing. — S.iOdonly n Ihe as: century or "Orecraft Sniffer requested to I stretched out and let the hard knots of so —

I hermit exis- tension begin to unwind, while Sniffer very short interval from Ihe point of view of a I was a Belter; valued my

coasted along. Time enough later to com- galactic-scale sociely —the animals down tence, too, I thumbed on the mike. pute a new orbit. For the moment it simply on the blue-white world started acting up. "Ceres, this is Sniffer. .Rosemary Jokopi,

felt great to be alone and alive. Emitting radio, exploding nuclear weap- sole officer. I verify that I used a fission "Ceres Monitor here, on 560 megahertz. ons, flying spacecraft. These ancient be- burn, but only as a part of routine mining Calling on standby mode for orecraft Snit- ings found a noisy, young, exponentially exploration. No cause for alarm. Nothing fer. Request microburst of confirmation on growing technology right on their doorstep. else to report. Transmission ends."

When I hung up the mike, my hands your hail frequency. Sniffer. We have a I tried to imagine what they thought of us. high-yield reading on optical from your We were young, we were crude. Undoubt- weren't shaking anymore. SIGMUND IN SPACE Freud walks the anterior corridors of the cal wonders of this time, the communicator damned toy, you reconstruct. You're just Whippedy VI, meditating on the situation. is a simple instrument, reminiscent of the like the rest. Don't humor me. I'm going to of The captain is a manic-depressive. The telephone his era. Freud wonders idly save the universe. Now I have to get back to

navigator has a severe oedipal block, whether they have given him this to make my bridge. I must prepare for the deadly which is gradually destroying him: he is him feel at home or whether the twenty-fifth cancer-causing Vegan probes, which unable to attain orgasm, even though Ihe is simply a century less sophisticated than could encircle us at any moment." mechanicals are skilled and devoted. The the slick and dangerous twenty-second, "How long have_you felt this way?" Freud hydroponics expert, a grim woman in her which he remembers so vividly. He also essays mildly as the captain stalks out. nineties, is manifesting advanced thinks, while waiting for the captain, of his Freud sighs and stuns h-s cigar en ihe desk symptoms of dementia praecox, and at old rivals Adler and Jung. and then stares at his diploma for a while. least half the crew, by all standards of Doubtless that miserable pair have al- Then he summons the navigator. early-twentiefh-century Vienna (which ready been summoned and failed on this The navigator shows considerably less

must of necessity be his touchstone), is case. There is grim satisfaction in knowing effect than the captain but, after some gen- neurotic to the point of dysfunction; de- this. But he would have hoped to have been tle probing, discloses that his mother is pressive reactions, conversion hysteria, reconstructed more often. Two jobs in the aboard ihe ship stowed away in one ot the bizarre sexual urges, and the like. Clearly, twenty-first, three in the twenty-second be- ventilators and whispering thoughts to him the administrators must have been des- fore thai disaster on Venus, and now this. of the most disgusting nature. He has al- perate to place him on this vessel. Freud Not good, Not good al all. ways hated and feared his mother, and ihat hardly knows where to begin, What can he Well, there is nothing to be done about is why he enlisted in the service. But she do? What psychotherapeutic techniques that. Here he is. and here the responsibility will not leave him alone — he was a fool to fwhicn by definition recurs salience: car for the mission reposes. The captain enters think that he could' escape. Freud dismis-

possibly prevail in this emergency? If Freud his cabin, a slender, ashon-faced man, ses him and turns to the hydroponics en- were not so wondrously confident of his dressed in fa" gees but wearing a full dress gineer, who tells him bitterly that he, too, is abilities, so protectively despairing, he cap His aspect s inpatient but restrained. already affected virally with an insidious would be most undone, Like all on board, he has been given the disease, which ihe captain has been seed- The rhythm of his pacing increases. strictest orders to comply with Freud's pro- ing into the units Machine or otherwise,

Freud risks o/eedy lit" eg. winces at the huge cedures. The administrators cannot control Freud is as doomed as the rest, but at least

screens glinting around him, looking at the the fate of the mission, but they can abort it, he can try to keep up his strength. She disorder of a constellation, a smudge of tearing the ship apart at the touch of a offers him somg celery After she leaves, he

stars. Here in the late twenty-fifth century light-year-oistant rcenOiary beam. The gnaws it media:, vely and talks to some space exploration is not routire the '.V.'i.p- capts n tows this He sits across from selected members of the crew. They be- perly VI is on a dangerous mission to the F'eud h s nands on his knees, and while lieve the officers to be quite mad; in self- hitherto-unprobed Vegans. The view of the defense they have turned to bestial prac- universe from a distance of so many light- tices. Here at last Freuc finds some p-o-'es-

years from Vienna is astonishing. Freud sional respect— they are. impressed that would not have dreamed that such things Ihe administrators would send another fa- were possible. Furthermore, he would not mous psychoanalyst as reconstruct to have dreamed that as technology ad- superintend their voyage. They hope that vanced, the common neuroses would pre- flth the pote lr-ocyu he does better than Adler and Jung, who

vail, Of course, that was foolish The pain, They' and t worked together and succeeded only in

the schism, the older ironies would prevail. We>e going to wipe thsm out while we still boring them with lectures in the assembly hall until Freud shrugs. He reaches inside his vest have time. I have plans." the captain says or '-ass consciousness the ad- pocket for a cigar and match, lights the shakily. "I have enormous plans,,' ministrators, displeased, dwindled them true prac- cigar with a flourish, watches smoke whisk Of course you do. ' Freud says. He puffs and said they would send a into the ventilators as he turns in the cor- on the cigar with what he- hopes resembles titioner, a medical doctor, in their place. ridor and then returns to the small cubicle a gesture of serenity. "Why do you feel you Freud sends the crew on their way and that the admir sfators have given him as must destroy the Vegans?" lights another cigar The symptoms office space. The dest is MMered with pa- "Because otherwise in a generation evinced are extraordinary, yei There is pers, the wall with diplomas. Freud feels they'll have spaceships and atomic de- e'iougn consistency in ihe syndrome for

,"' right at home. Within their limits the admin- vices and will destroy us the captain says. him to infer that the administrators have lied

r istrators have done everything possible to "Don't worry, I'm completely in con: ol I ma to him; Everyone on this ship has gone grant him credibility and a sense of do- highly trained man." mac. and this s probably a consequence

main. If he is unable to cope he knows they Freud has read the capsule reports pre- of the mission itself. Long probes— their will only blame him more. Well, he. thinks, pared by the administrators. Of course stress, isolation, boredom, and. propin- — well, what they decide will be done. I will be there are no Vegans at all; there are three quity must tend to break down the crews, shrunken again and replaced in the dream silicon-based p arrets circling an and star, The administrators have called tor him not cube. It will be. many centuries before I ir :"ive cb'iil/iss of space probes, life has because of special circumstances but be- receive another assignment. But then never been fount; on these panets. "I know cause of ordinary circumstances. What again I will have no knowledge. ,-i':;:i mere- you're trained." Freud says. "Still, I have a they want him to do is to patch over matters lore my entrapment will be in their estima- question, if I might ask it." in order that the mission may conclude. tion, not mine. The last time I had an as- "Please ask it," the captain says There has been much difficulty and ex- signment was in the early twenty-second hoarsely. "I am prepared to deal with any pense; it would be wasteful and cruel to century: the madman on Venus who questions." abort the mission so close to its end. thought he was a vine and threatened to "That's an important quality, to be sure. Freud stands, neatens his desk margin- out off the dome respirators. I didn't handle Now. what if it happened to be," Freud says ally, and returns to the corridor and his pac- that too well and got derricked for cen- gently, "that there are no Vegans?" ing. The welter of constellation now stuns turies. But here I am again and none the "There are Vegans. Several hundred mil- and discommodes. Fre.ud adjusts the worse for it, Their sanctions sxc^ioe me. lion of them. I'm going to wipe them out." angle of the windows so that he can evade

This thought impels him toward his n&xt "Yes, yes, but what if there aren't? Just to them. Space for an early-twentieth-century " act, which is to use ihe communicator on speculate — Viennese, is overwhelming; it must have his desk to contact the captain and sum- "You're just like the rest of them," the less of an effect upon the custodians of the mon him to his office. Of all the technologi- captain says, his face mottling. "You twenty-fifth, but several months in this envl- st) ronment would undo anyone, he thinks. easily staring at him. waiting for him to and kill every single one of them. Until then

The administrators have obviously tried to speak. Freud stands on the Plexiglas you will remain quiet and you will plan. 1 will rautinize the missions just as with the re- stage, swaying unevenly in the wafting, see each of you individually to tell you what constructions they have routinized a qual- odorous breezes of'the ventilators. role you will play in the conquest. For the

it bless all." ified immortality. But in neither case has 'All of you should know who I am. I am moment, thank you and you really worked, Three centuries in a cube, Sigmund Freud, a famous Viennese medi- He bows. The applause begins. It Freud thinks bitterly Three centuries, They cal doctor and student of the human mind swerves toward him in thick, deepening should have allowed his corpse to com- who has been reconstructed to help you waves. Freud is humbled, Tears come. It

mingle with the earth undisturbed; they with your difficulties on this Vegan probe. I has not been this way tor a long time, since should have left him with the less noted of have come to give you the solution to your the Academy as a matter of fact, and then his time; they should have spared him this problems." there were the ieers and abuse of some difficult and humiliating afterlife; What they They stare at him The hydroponics en- rivalrous colleagues. He basks in the need aboard the Whipperly VI is not a doc- gineer puts down her gun. folds her hands applause. Even a reconstruct can be per- tor but a priest. Freud can offer them no in her lap. and looks at him luminously. The mitted vanity. Finally, he bows and stumbles solutions; he can, at best, take them further captain giggles :ne-i sublets "Ah. then' from the stage then moves up the ramp into their unspeaking. resistant hearts, at Freud says, "you must repel the Vegans. into the darkened corridors above. the core of which outrage has been trans- Caution will not do it. Circumspection will Pacing, he adjusts the viewscreens so formed into insanity. It is not the Vegan not do it. Only you' own courage and integ- that he can stare again at the dark constel- cancer probes that the captain fears; it is rity w lations- which he no longer fears. Freud

J himself. It he were to be shown that, he Ch ,.ids sr- thinks thai in this maddened circumstance, would die. almost six full centuries from Vienna, he This line of thinking, however, gives has founc so r, "e cuahfied answer to his

Freud an idea. He returns once more to his problems. It is possible to say that his final cubicle and uses the communicator to flight is not moments are happy or at least as happy as summon all officers and crew to an human cargi a scien; si 01 :nc mind may make them. But emergency meeting in the lounge in ten they come, as co the emotions of all the minutes. Then he uses the special device he has been shown and speaks to the ad- r ministrators. "I want to tell you.' he says, or Freud, "that your twenty-fifth century is finished. now have Your deep-space orobos a r o finished, and " your Vegan mission is done

"Why is that?" one administrator says " flatly. "Aren't you being a little florid 7 " "I am telling you the Truth Why is that the truth? On what basis are you saying this outrageous thing?"' "Because you have pushed limits, you have isolated circumstances, you have misunderstood the. human spirit itself, you have lied your way through the circumfer- ence of the planet, but you cannot do it among the stars." Freud says, and so on and so forth and on and on. He permits himself a raving monologue of two minutes in which he accuses the administrators of allthetechnobcica barbarities he can call to mind and then says thai he has found a one-time, stopgap solution to the problem that can never be used again but that he will invoke for the sake of all those on boaro who cannot discern their right hand from their left and also much cattle. "What is that?" the same administrator

says weakly. "We have no cattle on board. I don't understand. Explain yourself before you're dwindled on the spot," "You won't dwindle me," Freud says. "You don't dare do it; I'm your last hope. If you shut me down, you know the mission is finished, and you can't deal with that. So you're going to let me go ahead. And after- wards I don't care what you do. You are monstrous yet unconvinced of your mon- strosity. That is the centrality of your evil," It is a good statement, a clean, high ventila- tion. Feeling as triumphant as the captain preparing his crew for dangerous probes, Freud shuts down the communicator, leaves his cubicle, and descends to the brightly. decorated lounge, where forty members of the Whipperly VI crew sit un- LIGHT VOYAGER

PAINTINGS BY JOHN BERKEY

v^Ftarships emerge from the sullen monotony of space. Color-flecked contours vanish and reappear, depicting titanic dimensions. These radiant fortresses, both lyrical and defiant, herald an imagination sparked by the future of spaceflight. '

iBerkey's behemoth space yachts rely on their own strength of composition and style rather than on technical accuracy. 9

"/ am uncomfortable with the business of being a science-fiction artist," John Berkey says quietly. "I think of myself as an artisl who paints science-fiction pictures. Berkey's renderings of the future are not founded on technical descriptions of tomorrow's technology. Every painting begins with careful contemplation of where to place the light source. Spaceships are influenced as much by the artist's fascination with the human form as they are by the latest trends in aerodynamics. "Too many people are stuck on the idea that machines must have hard edges and "

sharp corners. I don'l know why a spaceship couldn't be " vapor, says Berkey. "I prefer rounded forms as opposed to

triangular shapes thai zoom through the air. " Perhaps il is because he is not constricted by scientilic or literary convention that Berkey's far-future imaginings are so convincing. Fittingly, these futurescapes are created in a placid, earthbound setting; Berkey's at-home studio on a wooded expanse of lakeside land in Excelsior

Minnesota. "Beyond a certain point, " the artist reflects, "the future provides total freedom to invent.

£For an artist, there are hazards in knowing too much about engineering or technology. They can limit the imagination.^ ;

j„'.l-..-. , ,

VALLEY OF THE KILNS

/n one vo/ce they pledged fidelity to the brick fires, but one among them dared to violate the law of the clay. BY JAMES B HALL

h these mountains, our flight together now of winter come my certain end may seem veyor gangs three thousand fee: below.

aimosl just. (1 chance, in the future, Our work was elite wc< We knew the pas!. I understand more clearly a return 10 by Ihe vaiey of my youth anc to its factories someone reads these mere words on entire enterprise of tne Valley 'esteo upon "light signify reconciliation and might be paper, no doubt they will make other us: without clay all kilns must cease pro-

risk : even wise; yel. against that compromise i judgements' each 'eaderfor himself alone. duction The was great ano on y those face again the ulitimate fact of my wife new Although in the Valley the routine of each with a nimble, extraordinary sense of pos- high ceac and also two children A sentimental morning is the same, I recollect vividly my sible catastrophe survivec. On the escarpments. character formed, gesture of return to the quarries can on y first day of cuty on the high escarpments my was

dishonor love s memory. In this cave, there- Before '.he first rays of the sun illuminated and I became a man, noon signaled his I Foreman fore, I shall remain and here I shall die. the oeaks. was awake, In the farthest Towards ou' sheer, rising Before ihe death by falling (boy), by reaches of cur barracks-caves. I heard drill crews strung out along Ihe

: ceaafall (girl), or her death (broken heart), i hundreds of workers stirring, on their feet walls Casua ly, we came down to his as- r understood only a :i|tle the price of our re- now, coming towards the light to work, Out- sembly area to eat ano to rest fo the one

f f allotted to each day. bellion What I had not fu iy understood side, the first "music" om the loudspeak- hour us : until now is how little our crime charged ers ioodeo our flat wide, white assembly "So: my eag es come for food?" our even slighliy the established quotas of Foreman always saic, anc each day smiled

work, or the prooucts of clay which at this Across the Plaza, on the front porcnes of at his own joke. Yet It was true: we cailec or moment are being firec. tallied, and cooled their individual dwellings, p'ecisely at the one another "Eagle. ' Because of rams

each wee* and each quarter of every year same moment, ou' foremen appeared. In a wind erosion, if an apparently solid oath In the Valley of the Kilns our names are not stately way, all m a line, they walked across gave way sudden'y with a halfow rush of air eccded the Plaza. beneath a man's feet, we believed that man To the thousands of workers who remain, As the sun rose, all crews stood precisely flew through space for a long time before ou' flight so long ago signifies nothing Mo at attention the ronmg, white-feather avaarche took pe'son shall profit from either our hard- Fascinated, we listened to the roll call of him. -Iter ships or from the example of our devotion to production units; then yesterday's work I saw two hund'ed men 'fly" briefly. this disappear into tons of rock and white clay one another Were I to return to the Valley for done, and new day's communal goals, man trial, woulc public confession of error per- With great excitement each morning I at our escarpment's base, yet not one cried Instead, arches, amis ex- petuate he' memory? I doubt it. heard ihe tonnage for Escarpment-Six. out backs in classic position they Nevedheiess I shall naxe this chronicle With one voice we pledged Fidelity to the tended and that

; - of two lives accu'ate with neither apology Kilns- our work to be pure, to uphold the fell— down, down, became smaller sma: last end-over-enc nor self-delusion intended. And as I set customs of our craft, to sacrifice, etc., etc. er— and at tumblec down these wo'ds which never shall be My voice with a thousand other voices when the avalanche of rock took them

read, farther back in this cave i hear the reechoed our pledges upward into the Our breao. our white cheese, our cus- from Ihe eldestto great clay heart of the world Seating darkly sun's first rays And I was young. tomary wineskins passed

in vividly I re- among staiactit.es. Therefo-e I accepted with pride the chal- the youngest man ou' crew: At dawn, when Ihe snowfie:ds above lenge of the high escarpment, where the member the shapes of our brown, hairy shade of an wink in the first light. I fo'esee clearly my clay was talcum white. From those heights legs as we restec beneath the talcum-dust our feet own fate: extinction py wolves when I can our kilns seemed only row-upon-row of overhang. Against the ? no longer walk our cave-path lo ihe grove of brown-smoke hives no larger than a wine- were sturdily splayed, for our ancestors for these r ^l« oaks for fuel. Until then I accept austerely skin. We lamped black powder into holes a thousand years had also worked the seasons remaining. Towards evening. I drilled by hand We blasted away great av- quarries, had climbed these escarpments watch Ceer walk from ihe forest near* my alanches of rock which fell like a long whiie of clay where dust and sky became one. : ; drink: at tines, when the rains feather of rolling thunder towards the con- At those moments or rest even a piece of mJ? >s .a s lo PAINTING BY BOB VENOSA a -ialf-lroJ : c: the cul.

the 0=™

he ci-ew ba glow ng aolly ot b- cks

One su'-mer r yh: exact v iks via: I lav haH-ssleep at the en:rance of cu- barract-

kilns, blinked, and for a rcmen:. seemed of o-jr barrack-cave :ne cev ce in my arm the _ to join to oecc~e o t arcer oattern. began to p -.. softly ~i.sic for marching, kiln. " ; "What I see ne^e Eag et- My Fo^e- ard also music or sleeping time

man men h-clc the bead patterns unnalu- I awoke beside Ki n 52-B unm rally close to his hooked nose. Ho said, ~na" s to say l came to understanding how v r " jr: - - es ane again c.eaeo nis th'ca".. :hro . -„r p ocjc:ior ! nos. My flam ." "Is . . oin-clcth patterns took me not :o a small, com

For :ne i rs: i ma I -ealized :ne man wno wh te Fc-emans noose bit to Ih^ee vears 31 ; nad first ed m to the escarpments ms arc 40 days as leac-of man besice Ihen'e sroi rear S J-iiuil BICIS8 Ht8 hWS lation cor- doors. Fore veyed absolutely thai he did ro: cieady Past dsyb-eak one day in spring our fiery reao-coud on y guess-whet my loin crew c< men eme-c the firing sneer at trie "Y

I Manaae- our crew -nyih. Fur- whlte-squ; y cooy had told her hen cooper into the

e, I dared push our

rails ,- < onward. Then we were gong under- terse ng -i I once nave been a prim'i-

ear- '.act -i st .... bn- -ec sheds, their live system of di^es. or canals, or oossibv 'oofs held us by massive cc.umnso

S.iloer y aneaa. the sowing, hor- grown

eyco-to of ' red b-cks fla-ec went out: the What might nave been rails, or steei snir-

'racks hac ab'cpfy turned Because it was ing, was only dew on ground-running ten- xtalyda'K. we wakec rrcre slowly. Under- drils reflecting the light of the moon or re- : 1 toot were shares of polle-y. o orick; over- fleeting the.

We did not touch, head we saw mass ve s^varjeiv ceccrated Beneath vines, beneatt .-: I. cv 1 go-se.

nstead, impulsivel pla-.forms whe-e once Foremen ano I sensec there were or , "reoib y ancient

Talley--en austs-e y watcheo. These plat- -cws of crude oric<

tne pattern of ne- rofmsfrofra *i -'. >.[-- we r e now i~ootent. of ra n = .-(-, -|- crn nanc do so-ethng 3ss de a cw. fina. tower we emerged be-

neath the sky and cnm.bea the rough-hewn, :o speak, I sa: down ^latfomn above, ata pnmai steps to an upper platform led mound of pottery e Talley-men were Sttetchoc oul aheau in tne mocniicn: lo brick, illicitly and

e face of death by f ; cooling S-lfiC:

.ncwieoge there was nc fcg ve- unplanned c<

we hac passe up. I intended to share with her

next ,vooKS. two ihirns happened i 32-B-y personal efkrl - a ::;/,-

y of bncks glo\ he exception; • ™ ORsaru BBflBmralllfe "=;rnTT card CELEBRMTDOJ

.. .:.-,-

" sBSBu i ' Sfiw«3 1 1 ra

f||§

FAT FARM

He was grossly fat, tired

and old when he went In. He came out a new man — for a price

BY ORSON SCOTT CARD

I he receptionist was sur- prised that tie was back so soon.

"Why. Mr. Barth, how glad I am to see you," she said "Surprised, you mean," Barth answered. His voice rumbled from the rolls of fat under his chin, "Delighted."

"How long has it been?" Barth asked. "Three years. How time flies," The receptionist smiled, but Barth saw the awe anc revulsion on her face as she glanced over his immense body. In her job she saw fat oecple every day. But Barth knew he was unusua;, He was proud of being unusual.

"Back 7.0 the fat farm," he saio, laughing. The effort of laughing made him short of breath, and he gasped for air as she pushed a button and said, "Mr

Barth is back," He did not bother to look for a chair. No chair could hold him, He did lean against a wall, however. Standing was a labor he preferred to avoid.

Yet it was not shortness of breath or exhaustion at the slightest effort that had brought him back to Anderson's Fitness Center. He had often been fat before, and he rather relished the sensation of bulk, the impression he made as crowds parted for him. He pitied those who could only be slightly fat — short people, who were not able to bear the weight. At well over two meters, Barth could get gloriously fat, stunningly fat. He owned thirty wardrobes and took delight in changing from one to another as his belly and buttocks and thighs grew. At times he felt that if he grew large enough, he could take over the world, be the world. At the dinner table he was a conqueror to rival Genghis Khan.

Ilwas not his fatness, then, that had brought him in. It was that at last the fat was interfering with his other pleasures. The girl he had been with the night before

PAINTING BY FERNANDO BOTERO Anciersor placed a tig-it-fitting rubber "We've streamlined the process." An- had t r i e a and tried, but he was from incapable— a sign that it was time to renew, cap over Earth's head. derson carefully peeled the cap refresh, reduce. "Think your key thought." Anderson re- Barth's head, helped the immense man lift from the couch. "I am a man of pleasure." he wheezed to minded him. himself Bain the receptionist, whose name he never Key thought. At first that had been such a "I can't understanc wnyitsi legal " bothered to learn. She smiled back. comfort, to make sure that not one iota of said. "Such a simple thing." "Mr. Ande r son will be here :n a moment." his memory would be lost. Now it was bor- "Oh, there are reasons. Population con- juvenile. thought. trol, that sort of thing. This is a kind of im- "Isn't it ironic, ' he sa:d, "thai a man such ing, almost Key Do you mortality, know. But it's mostly the re- as I, who is capable of tulfi ng every one of have your own Captain Aardvark secret you his desires, is never satisfied!" He gasped decoder ring? Be the first on your block, pugnance most people feel. They can't with laughter again, "Why haven't we ever The only thing Barth had been the first on face the thougnt You're a man of rare cour- slept togener?" he asked. his block to do was reach puberty, He had age."

She ooked at him. irritation crossing her also been the first on his block to reach one But it was not courage. Barth knew. It was face. "You always ask that, Mr. Barth. on hundred fifty kilos. pleasure. He eagerly anticipated seeing, wait. your way in. Butyou never ask it on your way How many iiir.es nave I been here? he and they did not make him

' out." wondered as the tingling in his scalp be- "Mr, Barth. meet Mr. Bsrth True enough. When he was on his way gan. This is the eighth time. Eight times, It nearly broKe his hear: to see his own out of the Anderson Fitness Center she an 'j my 'onune :s larger than ever, the kind body young and strong and beautiful

.' first time never seemed as attractive as she had on o'weaith thai laKes on a Hie diss ovw can again, as it neve' had been the his way in. keep this up forever, he thought, with relish. through his life, it was unauestionably him- Anderson came n. elusive y handsome, Forever at the supper table with neither self, however, that they led into the room. gushingly wa'm taking Barth'sfleshy hand worries nor restraints, "it's dangerous to Except that the belly was firm, the thighs slender enough that they in his and pumping it with enthusiasm. gain so much weight," Lynette had said. well muscled but One ol my ossi customers." he said. "Heart attacks, you know." But the only aid not meet, even at the crotch. They "The usual." Barth said. brought him in naked, of course. Barth in- "Of course," Anderson answered. "But sisted on it. the price has gone up." He tried to remember the last time. Then "If you ever go out of business," Barth he had been the one coming from the learn- said, following Anderson into the inner ing room, emerging to see the immense fat just as done mAnd he had all his memories told was rooms, "give me plenty of warning. I only let man that hm

Barth that it hao myself go this much because I know you're the last time, he himself. remembered been a double pleasure, to see the moun- here." touched the naked young :: 0n." Anderson chuckled. "We'll never tain ne had made o" himself, ye: '.c view •: go out of business," Barth, stroked the from inside this beautiful young body here," Barth said, his own voice- "I have no doubt you could support your smooth and lovely skin, "Come whole organization oh what you charge arousing echoes of the last time, when it and finally embraced me." had been the other Barth who had said it. 'You're paying for much more than the him. And the young Barth And just as that other had done the last simple service we perform. You're also pay- embraced him back* time, he touched the naked young Barth, ing for privacy, Our, shall we say lack of stroked the smooth and lovely skin, and government intervention." finally embraced him. 'How many of the bastards do you And the young Barth embraced him bribe?" back, 'or tnat was the way of it. No one "Very few, very few. Parily because so loved Barth as much as Barth did thin or many high officials also need our service." things that Ba'th wo-rec about were hem- fat. young or old Liie was a celebration of "No doubt." orrhoids and impotence. The former was a Barth; the sight of himself was his strongest "It isn't just weight gains that bring nuisance, but the latter made life unbear- nostalgia. of?" Barth people' to us, you know. It's cancer and able and drove him. bac< to Anciersor "What did I think asked. aging and accidental disfigurement. You'd Key thought. What else? Lynette, stand- The young Barth smiled into his eyes. be surprised to learn who has had our ser- ing naked on the edge of the cliff with the '"Lynette," he said. "Naked on a cliff. The wind blowing. She was courting death, and wind blowing. And the thought of her

Barth doubted that he would. The couch he admired harbor it, almost hoped that she thrown to her death." was ready for him, immense and soft and would find it. She despised satety precau- "Will you go back to her?" Barth asked self eagerly. angled so that it would be easy for him to tions. Like clothing, they were restrictions to his young get up again. be cast aside. She had once talked him into "Perhaps. Or io someone like her" And

- ' 3arih site, Barth with delight that the mere "Damn near go , married th s:ime playing lag with her on a construction saw self said, by way of conversation. racing along the girders in the darkness, thought of it had aroused his young Anderson turned to him in surprise. until the police came and made them leave. more than a little, "But you .didn't?" That had been when Barth was still thin "He'll do," Banh said, and Anderson

"Of course not. Started getting fat. and from his last time at Anderson's. But it was handed him the simple papers to sign- she couldn't cope." not Lynette on the girders that he held in his papers that would never be seen in a court

"Did you tell her?" mind. It was Lynette, fragile and beautiful of law because they attested to Barth's own

It her in and initiation of an act that "That I was getting fat? was obvious." Lynette, daring the wind to snatch from compliance only in the "About us, i mean." the cliff and break up her body on the rocks was second to murder lawbooks "I'm not a fool." by the river. of every state.

Anderson looked relieved. Can'" nave Even that. Barth thought, would be a kind "That's it, then." Anderson said turning rumors getting around among the thin and of pleasure. A new kind of pleasure, to taste from the fat Barth to the young, thin one, young, you know." a grief so magnificently, so admirably "You're Mr, Barth now, in control of his his life. Your clothing is in the "Still, I think I'll look her up again, after- earned. wealth and ward. She did things to me a woman And then the tmgling in his head next room."

it is," Barth said shouldn't be able to do. And [thought I was stopped, Andsrsor cams oac*: in. "I know where the young jaaed." "Already?" Barth asked. with a smi e. and his footsteps were m .

b'joyani as he left the room. He would that there is only one possible Barth in all their.se ves :c fit :he wooden handle, and dress quickly and leave the Fitness Center the' world. And you aren't it. You're just a his muscles knew how to perform the work briskly, hardly noticing the rather plain- number. And a letter. The letter H." without Barth's having to think about it at all. looking receptionist, except to take note ot "Why H?" Yet that made the labor no easier. When he her wistful look after him, a tall, slender, "Because you're such a disgusting glut- first realized that they meant him to be a beautiful man who had, only moments be- ton, my friend. Even our first customers potato farmer, he had asked, "Is this my fore, been lying mindless in storage, wait- haven't got past C yet." assignment? Is this all?'' And they had ing to be given a mind and a memory, wait- Anderson left then, and Barth was alone laughed and told him no. "It's just prepara- ing for a fat man to move out of the way so in the room. Why hadn't he anticipated tion," they said, "to get you in shape." So for 9 ne could fill his space. this Of course, of course, he shouted to two- years he had worked in the potato In the memory room Barth sat on the himself now. Of course they wouldn't keep iields. and now he began to doubt that they edge of the couch, looking at the door, and him pleasantly alive. He wanted to get up would ever come back, that the poiatoes then realized, with surprise, that he had no and try to run. But walking was difficult for woUd ever end. idea what came next. him; running would be impossible. He sat The old man was watching, he knew His "My memories run out here." Barth said there, his belly pressing heavily on his gaze always burned worse than the sun. to Anderson. "The agreement was— what thighs, which were spread wide by the fat. The old man was watching, and if Barth was the agreement?" He stood, with great effort, and could only rested too long or too often, the old man "The agreement was tender care of you waddle because his legs were so far apart, would come to him. whip in hand, to scar until you passed away." sc ccrsfamed in their movement him deeply to hurt him to the soul. "Ah. yes." This has happened every time, Barth He dug into the ground, chopping at a "The agreement isn't worth a damn thought. Every damn time I've walked out of stubborn plant whose root seemed to cling thing," Anderson said, smiling. this place young and thin, I've left behind to the foundation of the world, "Come up. Barth looked at him with surprise. "What someone like me, and they've had theirway damn you." he muttered. He thought his " do you mean 9 haven't they? His hands trembled badly. arms were too weak to strike harder, but he "There are two options, Barth. A needle struck harder anyway. The root split, and within the next fifteen minutes. Or employ- the impact shattered him to the bone. ment." He was naked and brown to the point of "What are you talking about?" blackness from the sun, The flesh hung "You didn't think we'd waste time and loosely on him in great folds, a memory of mThen they found effort feeding you the ridiculous amounts of the mountain he had been. Under the loose food you require, did you?" him and brought him back, skin, however, he was tight and hard. It Barth felt himself sink inside. This was might have given him pleasure, for every weary and despairing, not what he had expected, though he muscle had been earned by hard labor and had not honestly expected anything. Barth and forced him to finish the pain of the lash. But there was no plea- was not the kind to anticipate trouble. Life a day's work in sure in it. The price was too high, had never given him much trouble. /'// kill myself, he often thought and the fieid before Setting "A needle?" thought again now with his arms trembling

"Cyanide, if you insist, though we'd him rest. And even with exhaustion. I'll kill myself so they can't rather be able to vivisect you and get as use. my body and can'l use my soul, then the lash . . . bit deep* many useful body parts as we can. Your Buthewou d never k II hmself. Even now, body's still fairly young. We can get incred- Barth was incapable of ending it, ible amounts of money for your pelvis and The farm he worked on was unfenced. your glands, but they have to be taken from but the time he had gotten away he had you alive." walked and walked and walked for three "What are you talking about? This isn't He- wondered what he had decidec be- days and had not once seen any sign of what we agreed." fore and knew immediately that there was human habitation otherthan an occasional

'"I agreed to nothing with you, my friend.'" no decision to make at all. Some fat people jeep track in the sagebrush-and-grass Anderson said, smiling. "I agreed with might hate themselves and choose death desert. Then they found him and brought Barth, And Barth just left the room." for the sake of having a thin version of him back, weary and despairing, and

"Call him back! I insist-" themselves live on. But not Barth, Barth forced him to finish a day's work in the field

"Barth doesr, t give a damn what hap- could never cnoose so cause himself any before letting him rest, And even then the pens to you," pain. And to obliterate even an illegal, lash had bitter deep, the old man laying it

And he knew that it was true. clandestine version of himself— impos- on with a relish that spoke of sadism or a "You said something about employ- sible. Whatever else he might be, he was deep, personal hatred. ment." still Barth. The man who walked out of the But why should the old man hate me?

fi- "Indeed." memory room a few minutes before had not Barth wondered. / don't know him. He

"What kind of employment?" taken over Barth's identity. He had only du- nally decided that ii was because he had

Anderson shook his head. "It all de- plicated it. They've stolen my soul with mir- been so fat, so obviously soft, while the old

/ gaunt, pends," he said. rors , Barth told himself. have to get it back man was wiry to the point of being "On what?" 'Anderson!" Barth shouted. 'Anderson! his face pinched by years of exposure to "On what kind of work turns up. There are I've made up my mind." the sunlight. Yet the old man's hatred had several assignments every year that must It was not Anderson who entered, of not diminished as the months went by and be performed by a living human being, for course. Barth would never see Anderson the fat melted away in the sweat and sun- which no volunteer can be found, No per- again, It would have been too tempting to light of the potato field, son, not even a criminal, can be compelled try to kill him. A sharp sting across his back, the sound to do them." of slapping leather on skin, and then an 9 " r "And I "Get to work, H the old man shouted excruciating pain deep in his muscles. He "Will do them. Or one of them, rather, from the other sioe of the field. had paused too long. The old man had since you rarely get a second job." Barth leaned on his hoe a moment more, come to him. "How can you do this? I'm a human be- then got back to work, scraping weeds The old man said nothing. Just raised the ing!" from between the potato plants. The cal- lash again, ready to strike. Barth lifted the

Anderson shook his head. "The law says luses on his hands had long since shaped hoe out of the ground, to start work again. It 1

"What oicmansaid," assignment." .oozing cut t.c :-i= Barth woulc

cant it old r there. assignment he do

lile he did rot uncerstand : t was enough ing m the old to stop him. He could not strke bacK. He question, and could only endure. The lash did no: fal again. Instead he and the old man just looked at each ether. T ne sun burned where- blood was com.ng from his bac*. Flies buzzed near him, He immensely fat man siark-nakec ai did not bother to orusn them away as the I esh of a potato, looking f F na l! y the old man broke me silence. The old man s:rode purposefully "H." he said.

' Barth did not answer Just waited. "He o I the old mar ssic.

' " "They've come for you, First job," said the My name's Ba'tn the fat r old man. swereo, pctu antly. The old man st 1

"i-s: ob. r took Barth a moment to realize hard acoss the mouth hard enoi the implications, The end of the potato the tender lip solit anc Wood dr.pfi fields. The erd of the sunlight, ^ne em of where his teeth hao cut into the sh the od man with the whip. The end c' the "1/ said tneclc mar. "You- nam loneliness or, at least, of the boredom., The fat man noooec piha; "Thank God," Banh said. His throat was Barth feit r dry

Ba-.n ca-ec the noe back to :ne shed He re-embe-ec new heavy the noe had mBarth watched as the old man put a hoe in the fat man's hands

ing 'or ai the wo-ld kc Chris: oea-ng and drove him out into the others nad cross Soon enough the field. Two more e, and the od man and he nac oeen young men got out of the o the shed, ana helicopter. Barth theo knew what they would do* ;u ! dn't

get if m i'ne :i k II I- vth t. Anc tnen into the house, v/nere Barth bathed painfully anc the ole man put an excruciating Disinfectant en nis oaok Sarin had lorg since g ven uo on ms icca wastnnkng. 3a-- th said ihatr of an anesthetic, it wasn t in the old man s can- possibly hate him as muc Clean c ior-.es Vew -mutes' wait And then the neiccpte' A young, business-ike

; man eme'gea f r orn it coking unfamiliar n detail Put very 'am liar in general. He was lung men and worn who had dec m oefoie. The your srr.i' ng y and said

Banh nodded, It was the only name they usee tor him. "You hfjve an assignmem

"What .s it?' Barth asked. The young man did not answer. The old "But don't ) 'ou see?

man. oeh nd hm. whisperec. They' te 1 eau-cc the hone es;-ness oi resistance asked. "Don't vou knew you soon enough. Ardjhen you'll wisn ycu and delay. isr we-e back here. H. They'll tell you. and But 3am did not get tc watch the replay Barth didn't know. _ think you'll pray for the potato fields." of his own torture of two years before. The "What do yo we 'irst tne ma" 'auahec But Barth doubled it. In two years there yo .ing man ,.vho nad erne-god Irom the vou no TYiere are worse ass'g/' had not been a moment's oleasure "lie copter now led n;m to ,t, put him n a seat Oy food was hiaeous. and there was never a window', and sat oesde h.m. The pilot Barth realized. Anc tne afte* enough t here we-e no women, and he was speeded up tne engines, and the copter be to soend cay usually too tired to amuse himself. Just pain began to rise. month, superv smg tna: and iabor and lone.iness. a exoruciat ng. "The bastard; Barth said, looking out mal that he co,

f Hewculo leave tnat now. Anything woi..d be tne w ncow at the old man as he slapped I The scar on

better, anything at all. " across the 'ace brutally blood stuck to

48

.

It came to him suddenly, a moment of a-

; f, really give a damn what they were and he niicten. a boy and a gi'i rat nis height anc again He die not e". r wo y hm much. Sne ought to he gomo litre row. Ought confute y to oe gcir.g home now And C. Mark Tapworth. of CMT Enterprises.

' Inc., arose from his desk without nisnirg all the work that was on it, the first time he

had done such a thing in the twelve years it had taken him to bring the company from nothing to being a multirnillion-dollar-a- year business. Vague y i: osc.jroc to nim mportamrna". -ne'e "ethers. He that he was not acting normally, but he

didn't realiy care; it didrt rea y matter "c him a bit whether any mere oeople oougr:

. . . . bought Arc 'or a iew secencs "ao'worlh coj c

not remember what it was that his company made.

This frightened him. It reminded him that his father and his une'es had ail died of

strokes, I: reminded h m of nis mother's

senility at the fairly youi , a> ;--'-' sixty-eight.

It reminded him of sometning ns had a- ways known anc nev- cure he .-.eci. '.na! he was moda: and mat ail Vtm works of his days would gradua ly become more anc the =-.jj lock ng afraid. more trivial, until his aeath. at which: me his She came mc > 1' life itself would be nis oriy act. a forgotten "Yes* coffin in my stone whose fall in the lake had set off "Why is there a stuoy?" he ripples that would in time reach the shore, asked. having made, after all, no. difference. "Coffin?" she asked.

idow. MaryJo. did it get I'm tired, he decided. MaryJo is nghi I How need a rest. here locked disturbed. "Please don't But he was net tne ing kind, i She that whei iuch it." she saic. theblackne: "Why not?'

his mind. And he -e~embereo roth ng. "I can I stand seeirg you touch t I tolc saw nothing, heard nothing, was falling in- tern they could leave it here for a few

terminably through nothingness, ours. But now it looks like it nas to stay al!

Then, mercifully, the world returned to nig .. Tne idea of the cem'r stay ng in the

r any is oh v. ar him and he stood : emo:irc regretting now house spear the many, many nights he had stayed far too late, the many hours he had not spent Sne didn't nd g -ritatec m a with MaryJo, had left her alone m their large little. Hurt his C! ings But in stead of going but childless house. And he imagined her off to nurse h s v cure s. he nereiy no cec waiting for him forever, a oneiy woman his emotions as fhe vas a c spass ra:e dwarfed by the huge living room, waiting observer. He sa W hirr self; -npc-tar self- hemor uary people lea /e it little era: to norrow. said patiently for a husband who would, who made man. ) et at ho me, a boy who He must, who always nac come home. could be hur Ot JUS word bu awav : } unlock the chi -ch hours Is it my heart? Or a stroke? he wondered. short pause c Keilne eforafew mortu Whatever it was, it was enough that he saw tive; and he o nm that tne ary the end of the world lurking in the darkness moment he a aded Yifhafunerat-bo nd

that had visited him, and. as for the prophet few inches away, coulo observe the coff n unless it was filled. returning from the mount, things that once amused expression on his own face. "MaryJo, is there a body in it?" had mattered overmuch mattered not at all. ' Excuse me.' ViaryJo said, and she She nodded, and a tear s ippec ovei her and things he had long postponed now opened a cupooara doer as he stepped lower eyelid, He was aghast He let himself silently importuned him. He felt a terrible cu: cf the way. She pulled out a pressure show it. "They left a corpse in a coffin here 9 urgency that there was something he must cooker "We're out of potato flakes," she witn you all cay With the kids'?"

do before— said. "Have to do it the primitive way." She She buried her face in her hands and ran Before what? He would not let himself dropped the peeled potatoes into the pan, from the room, ran upstairs answer He just walked out through the "The children are awfully quiettoday," he Mark did not follow her. He stood there large room full of ambitious younger men said. "Do you know what they're doing''" and regarded the coffin with distaste. At and women trying to impress him by work- MaryJo looked at him with a bewildered least they had tne good sense to close it. ing later than he; noticed but did not care expression, But a coffin! He went to the telephone at his that they were visibly relieved at their re- "They didn't come meet me at the door, desk and dialed the bishop's number. " prieve from anoiher endless night. He Not that I mind. They're busy with their own "He isn't here The bishop's wife 50 .

all evening he had talked about hav- sounded irritated by his calf. tected from the touch of a hand. But the And ing children. "He has to get this body out of my study wood was not alive, was it? It was being put "Honey, I'm sorry." he said, trying to put and out of my house tonight. This is a terri- into the ground, also to decompose. The whole heart into the apology ble imposition." varnish might keep it a little longer. He his and she went whimsically what it would be like "So am, I." she answered, "I don't know where to reach him. He's a thought of upstairs. doctor, you know. 3rotner I'apworih. He's at to varnish a corpse, to preserve it. The Surely isn't angry at me. Mark the hospital. Operating. There's no way) Egyptians would have nothing on us then, she though: Surely she roaUzei something is can contac-. him :ci something ko this.'' he thought. 7 " "Don't." said a husky voicefrom the door. "So what am I supposed to do' red-rimmed, her She got surprising y emotional about it. It was MaryJo, her eyes "Do what you want! Push the coffin out into face looking slept in. "Don't what?" Mark asked her She didn't :ne the street if you want! It'll just be one more To "The ,'v-,=: hurt to the poor man!" answer, just glanced down at his hands. r plaintive, with the set of whine only possi- "Which brings me to another question. his surprise, Mark noticed his thump; we e r s comfor.ab s and SL e — coffin lid, as if to lift it. ble to a child who Who is he., and why isn't his family under the lip of the said. of love Mark turned at the landing in li-meto "He doesn't have a family, Brother Tap- "I wasn't going to open it," he " MaryJo passing the top of the stairs on worth. And he doesn't have. any money. I'm Cc'"e uostairs MaryJo said, see children the way to tie cniicren s bedroom, a g>ass sure he regrets dying in our ward, but we 'Are the asleep?" of water

grief and anger. ; on at bedtime. him a little kindness on his way out of it. pain and 7 Her intensity was irres-stiole. and Vark "Children'?" she asked. "W'ha; is this ch.ldrt The ( Of ( recognized the hopelessness of getting rid And why tonight?" The there were ch of the box that night, "As long as it's gone He leaned aganst the oofi n in surprise. tomorrow," he said, A few amenities, and he hae felt in to get home. 1 the conversation ended. Mark sat in his sot chair, staring angrily at the coffin. He had dren. and come home worried about his health and greet him when he arrived. found a coffin io •He -went into his i: We! . a: leas' explained why poor MaryJo had been so upset. He heard the children study and picked up the maii quarreling upstairs. Well, let MaryJo handle and . . . noticed off it. Their problems would tast one of the ways particularly notice when MaryJo came the windows. He oest th m s each burned potatoes that ne ana MaryJo responded to downstairs and took the looked. It was a coffin.^ other Yet ton ght he was disturbed, wor- out of the pressure cooker and threw the ried because he cou.d not perform, ror entire dinner away and lay oown or the sofa Net he had never been troubled by even tem- in the living room and wept. He watched pc-ary i-pctence exceot when he had a the patterns of the grain of the wood, as fever didn't feei like sex. anyway. What subtle as flames, winding along ;he coffin. and bothered him was that he didn't exactly He remembered having taken naps at the ca r e. age of five in a makesh ft bee room behind He didn't no: care, either, He was just a plywood partition in his parents' smaii going througn the mictions as he had a home. Watching the wood grain there had And Ma-K -ememrje-se wth horror that time, miscar- t nous anc limes before a^c th s sjc- been his way of passing the empty, sleep- sne was righ:. After the second of cenly, it all seemea so silly so recolent less hours. In those days he had been able r-age, :no doctor nad tied her tubes, be- pregnancies won c • sk petting in tne oacKseat of a car He felt to see shapes: clouds ana faces ana bat- cause any further children, at all, embarrassed that ne should get so excited tles and monsters. But on the coffin the he' life. There were no none It was over a little stroking So he was almost re- wood grain looked more complex and yet and it hac devastated her tor years. lieved when one oi the chilcren cried out far more simple. A road map leading up- only because of Mark's great patience and aole to Usually he would say to ignore the cry ware to tne l,d. A draft desc bing :ne co- depeneabi ity that she had been '"g insist on cent numc the icvemak composition of the body. A graph at the foot stay out of :he hospital. Vet when he came would r ... tried to remember But this time he pu ec away f om her :^t of the patient's bed, saying nothing to the home tonight He robe, and wen: into the other room to patient but speaking death to the trained what he had heard when he came home. on a child physician's mind. Mark wonderec. briefly, Surely he had heard the children running quiet the down. otne- room about the bishop, who was right now bac< and forth upstairs Surely . The'e was no in this house. He had, in his mine operating on someone who might very well "I haven't been well, ' he said. Not filled with crib "If it a joke, it was sick." been heading for the room a end up in just such a box as this. was " changing table, a dresser, mobiles, and And finally his eyes hurt, and he looked "It wasn't a joke. It was — But again he a tell cheeriul wallpaper. But thai room had been at the clock and felt guilty about having couldn't, oratleasldidn'i, her about the years ago, when they were full of hope, in spent so much time closed off in his study strange memory lapses at the office, even in Sandy, not in the home in on one of his few nights home early. He though this was even more proof that some- the small house Heights, with its magnificent view meant to get up and find MaryJo and take thing was wrong. He had never had any Federal Salt Lake City its beautiful shape, and its her up to bed. But instead he got up and children in his home; MaryJo's and his of decoration that spoke of taste and shouted went io the coffin and ran his hands ajong brothers and sisters had all been discreetly bring children around his of wealth and whispered faintly of loneli- the wood. It felt like glass because the var- warned not to wife, distraught to ness and grief, He leaned against a wall. nish was so thick and smooth. It was as if poor who was quite no children. There were no chil- the living wood had io be kept away, pro- be— the Old Testament word?— barren, There were '

dren. Hecouic stih hear [he chile's cry ring- ing in his mind. MaryJo stood in the doorway to their napoo n f bedroom, naked but holding her night- ;mg. He I " er nanus gown in -ront of her. "'vla-k she saic I'm afraid." "So a " he a cre.i

B..it she as

pu". or his pajamas, and they went to oed. And as he lay there in da'-mess. listening -c his wile s -ainly rasping breath, he realized that it didn't ma-.ler as much as r ought. He was inc. hs .He "ho: ,-tr -:c there?

Id than

' been know about his it where, it's good :

for him until at las he consented to go He briefly resented th em lot bringing dea:n to his ho~e lo' so ncecer: v imposing on them. Then necea sed to cans at at — about the box. about his strange apses n mern-

.ory, about everyth ng.

/ am at peace. he thoughi as he drifted bit to sleep. / am s! peace, and it's not a." that pleasant.

- p-cie

' are sno s :::idr i wa-fe you any sooner. 3ur they just called. There's something of an emergency or something — " "They can't flush ihe toile: without some- one holding their hands. pped behind him. W&

"I wish you wouldn't be crude, Mark," MaryJo said, "i senr the children off to school without letting them wake you by Kissing you gcoc-bye. They were very up- set." "Good childrs "Mark, they're expecting you at the Di- nee say, 'But again, and again he was falling backward die no: ca'e Mark closed nis syes and spoke in mea- ad said it into nothing, and again ne sured tones. "You can call them and tell had heard about anything. Did no: even know there er anything to care aoout them I'll come in when I damn well feel like he was was fo' r fingers p'esshg :nlo his it, ano if they can't cope with the problem Except he weight ne c n his arms ..' rhemselves, I'll fire them all." back and the he

; -.j : : : :r,,: :i ; :csing :he world, he Ihought. MaryJo was silent for a moment. "Mark,. I cv can't say that," do rio! -nind 'OS '; c; even my memories o! ;he pas:. But r.nese fingers This vsoman. 1 "Word for word. I'm tired, I need a rest. My ugglingto

mind is doing funny things to me." And with 52 !

it he creed for -.he darkies;

peace except to- the shan ge'3. and ne cried ojt n ft the sound was still ringing ifi he opened his eyes and saw ing against a wall, leaning -a looking at him in teror.

nadsp.ec-lkcnns-ardo Inside tne coffin -2 sandA'.cn oecai.se she I ;!but:necolcof hers and stepped on it at Mark Tapwo'th he

" here 1 "Is Daddy -nad^' he h softly. "No." MaryJc answered nd sne lou: tied back into the room : J impatient said. "What's wrong, dear'

"I just need — just need [we for a minute." "Really, Mark, that's no: Amy needs to have a ct o after school. It's the way sf wouldn't stay home '-cm w to do, Mark. You become q around the house." She smi she was only half-serious a : Id: acair go back ;o Amy. For a moment Mark fel: a tem'ble stao of jealousy that Mary Jo was far mo r e sens \K>e to Amy's needs than to his. But that jealousy passed quickly, like the Mission completed, the Wreckers were poised to land and rebuild on the ruins of their old world ST AMY'S TALE

BY ORSON SCOTT CARD

Mother could kill with her hands Father could fly. These are miracles. But they were not miracles then. Mothe' Elouise taught me that there were no miracles then.

l I am the child of Wreckers, loom while !he angel was in them, This

I should is why I am called Saint Amy, though perceive nothing in me that make me holier than any other old woman Yet Mother Elouise denied the angel in her. too, and it was no less there. Sift your fingers through the soil, all you who read my words, Take your spades of Iron and your picks of stone. Dig deep. You will find no ancient works of man hidden there. For the Wreckers passed through the world, and all the vanity was consumed in fire: all the pride broke in pieces when it was smitten by God's shining hand.

Elouise leaned on :he rim of the computer keyboard. All around her the machinery was alive, the screens displaying, information rapidly, as if they knew they were the last of the machines and this the last of the information. Elouise felt nothing but weariness, She was leaning because, for a moment, she had fei! a frightening ver;i go. As if the world underneath the airplane had dissolved and slipped away into a rapidly receding star and she would never be able to land

True enoug/i, I she thought. I'll never be able to land, no: in the world I knew. " "Getting sentimental about the old computers 7 Elouise, startled, turned in her chair and faced her husband, Charlie. At that moment the airplane lurched, but, like sailors accustomed to the shifting of the sea. they adjusted unconsciously and did not notice the imbalance.

"Is it noon already?" she asked

"It's the moral equivalent of noon. I'm too tired to fly this thing anymore, and

PAINTING BY EVELYN TAYLOR it's a good thing Bill's at the controls." the final onsets, -ionise neld Amy wlhone she .vol Id "eve' nave krowr r.

"Hungry?" arm while sne used her freehand slowly to But she should nave known it. Wh Charlie shock his head 'But Any prob- key, in the last prograrr. that her role as the plane's course ben:, alarms shoi ably is," he said. commandoi roqu red her to use bot.se have sounded Someone had penetrat

r "Voyeur." said Elouise. Private, sne typed. Teacher teacher I de- the first line of defense Bu; Bill could no- could r ealh, Charlie liked to watch Elouise nurse their elare I see someone's underwear, she have done thai Heaths' daughter. But despite her accusation :yoerl On the sceei- appea-ec the warn- they dicn't have me soph stica- on to b r = " v Elouise knew there was noth no sexual in it ng she had pui Ihere: ou nay think you're up a ouoble program. Ugly-Bugly? Charlie liked ihe idea of Elouise being lucky findmq '.his proq'am out un ess ycu She knew H *8Sn'I faithful o'o Ug Amy's mother. He liked the way Amy s suck- -mow the magic words an alarm is going to Bugly No. not tor ing resembled the sucking of a calf or a go off all ove r lh s airp ane a-d you'll be Ths computer vo untarily flashed, "Ov lamb.or a puppy. He had said, 'It's the best hac No way oLt qt i:. suce- Love rids M577o, ecmr-andmo4 .ntwis CtTr

to be picked up Thi "Dadcy Adcy Addy"

:i s'e exaggeratsd ft Anv oiaveo wit- buttons on Eloui.se's shirt, trying to

G'codv.' Elouise sa d. laeah ng. :harlie unbuttoned the shirt fo' her, and • Did his hands tremble as he touched the controls? Elouise w etched very carefully, but he I'm glad we're so near finished,'' Elouise did not tremble. d. "She's too old to oo nursing now" That's righi. Throw the litre bird out of Indeed, he was the only Rest." one who did not Chafes Evan Hardy. o24ag6l- Go to bee," Elouise said. richlandWA. Ugly-Bugly started to cry. ? Amy 'ecognized :he phrase She pulled II was Cha.-lie who was the traitor ay. "La-lo." she saio Charhe, her sweet soft hard-ocdied hus- That's right. Daddy's going tc sleep.' oand Charlie wno secret' 1/ was Trying to uise said. undo the end ot The world

few months and painf an first teeth had come in nds to her delight that oy maKe her mother so nurse her than ever h Digested pap that wa the airplane. Eouise father. was even worse than 1 ie rr id veal Ihe computer was specif c mother and my

I cordon dleu that lUe\ us Met on Over northern V rgrua as the airplane can't remember Father Charlie's face. I

r co-n-Tift-cal oassenners On , eqht vaars fc owed i:s careful cu:e 'o tir- d and cestrov was too young ago. And *hey had calibrated their fuel so everything naae of metal, giass, and p'as- Mother Elou se told ^e often about Fa- exactly thai when they took the last oraft of tic. somewne-e over northern V rg ma, the ther Charlie. He was oo-n 'ar to t~e west m a : jel 'rom the last of the t storage tanks the ai'ptane's pa"n bent slightly *o the south, land where wate' only comes *o tne croos ; tank registered empty, tney would oum-te anc on the return at the same place tne in ditches, almost -eve- ro~n *he sky. It was las" o' "he processed petroleum, instead of airplane's path befits g-' v 'cms 'tor t-n so aland unblessed by God. Men lived there, putting it back into the earth. All their that a st'ip of northern V rgmia two -ihme- ney believeo. only by the strength of their caches were gone now. a - cl tney w-on dbe fers long and a few dozen mete-s wide own hands. Men made their ditches and at the lender mercies of the world that tney could contain some nor bicuegradab.e forgot about God and became scientists, themselves had created. artifact, hidden from tne airplane, and Father Charlie became a scientist. He

Still, there was work to do; the final worK, if .Elouise had not querieo this program, worked on tiny animals breaking their heart of hearts and recombining it in new western mountains or on the plains. It's not been half her life for these last few years, ways. Hearts were broken too often where so far south as to be in hunter-gatherer whom she had never lied to and who had

he. worked, and one of the little animals country and not so far north as to be unsur- never lied to her— would be her enemy. escaped and killed people until they lay in vivable for a high proportion of the people. little children great heaps like fish in the ship's hold. Barring a hard winter." I have watched the do a But this was not the destruction of the 'All very good reasons," Elouise said. dance called Charlie-El. They sing a little

it, it worid. "Fly us there, Charlie," song to and if I 'emember the words, Oh, they were giants in those days, and Did his hands tremble as he touched the goes like this;

they forgot the Lord, but when their people controls? E'ouise watched very carefully, / 3i^ made 0' bones and glass. lay in piles of moldering tlesh and brittling i:u.r he die not tremole. Indeed, he was the Let me pass, let me pass.

bone, they remembered they were weak. only one who did not. Ugly-Bugly suddenly I am made of brick and steel, Mother Elouise said, "Charlie Game began to cry tears comirc from ns' gcoc Take my heel, take my heel.

weeping." This is how Father Charlie be- eye and streaming down her good cheek. I was k/iied just yesserday. came an angel, He saw what the giants had Thank God she doesn't cry eul of the other Kneel and pray. Kneel and pray

done, by thinking they were greater than side, Elouise thought; then she was angry Dig a hole where I can sleep. God. At first he sinned in his grief, Once at herself, for she had thought Ugly-Bugly's Dig it deep, dig it deep.

he cut his own throat. They put Mother deformed face didn't bother her anymore. Will I go to heaven or hell?

Elouise's blood in him to save his lite. This is Eiouise was angry at herself, but it only Charlie-El. Charlie-El.

how they met; In the forest where he had made her cold inside, determined that I think they are already nonsense words gone to die privately. Father Charlie woke there would be no failure. Her mission to the children. But the pcem first got up from a sleep he thought would be would be complete. No allowances made passed word of mouth around Richmond forever to see a woman lying next to him in for personal cost. when I was little, and living in Father the tent and a doctor bending over them Elouise suddenly started out of her con- Michael's house. The children do not try to both, When he saw that this woman gave templative mood to find that the two other answer thei' song. Tney justs ng it and do a her blood to him whole and unstinting ly he very clever little dance while they sing. forgot his wish to die. He loved her forever. They always end the song with all the chil- Mother Elouise said he loved her right up to dren falling down on the ground, laughing, the day she killed him. That is the best way for the song to end,

i/r? the forest When they were finished, they had a sort Charlie brought the airplane straight of ceremony, a sort of party 'A benedic- where he had gone to die down into a field, great hot winds pushing

if to shove it back tion," said Bill, solemnly sipping at the gin. privately, Father against the ground as 'Amen and amen." from the plane. The field caught fire, but

Charlie . . .to see "My shift," Charlie said, stepping into the woke up when the plane- had settled upon its three cockpit. Then he noticed "hat everyone was a woman lying wheels, foam streakee out f -on~ the belly of there and that they were drinking the last of Ihe machine and overtook the flames. next to him in the tent J, the gin, the bo'.lle Inst nao been saved for Elouise watched orn the cockpit, thinking. the eno. "Well, happy us," Charlie said, and a doctor Wherever the loam has touched, nothing symmetrical smiling. bending over them both* will grow- for years. I: seemec Bill got up from the controls of the 787, to her. Even in the last moments of the last 'Any preferences on where we set down?" he asked. Charlie took his place. held Amy on her lap and thought of trying to The others looked at one another. Ugly- explain it to the child. Bui Elouise knew Bugly shrugged. "God, who ever thought Amy would not understand or 'emember about it?" women had left the cockpit— their sleep "Last one dressed s a sissy-w ssy." said

'Come on, we're all futurists," Heather shift, though it was doubtful they would Ugly-Bugly in her hus«.y anc ert-scunding said. "You must know where you want to sleep. Charlie silently flew the plane, while voice. :hey nad crc=-ed _nrd jne r essed n Bill sat in the copilot's seat, pouring himself front of each other for years row. but today "Two thousand years from now" Ugly- the last drop from the bottle. He was look- as the old plastic-poiluied ciothing came felt Bugly said. "I want to live in the world the ing at Elouise. off and the homespun went on. they arc their first day in way it'll be two thousand years from now." "Cheers," Elouise said to him. acted like school Kids on "Ugly-Bugly opts for resurrection," Bill He smiled sadly back at her. "Amen,"' he coed gym. Amy caught the spirit of it and

said. "I. however, long tor the bosom of said. Then he leaned oac< ana sarg softly; kept yelling at the top of her lungs. No one

Abraham," Praise God, from whom a.»' tziessings thought to quiet her. There was no need. "Virginia," said Elouise. They turned to flow. This was a celebration, face her Heather laughed. Praise him, ye creatures here below.. But Elouise, long accustomed to self- "Resurrection," Bill intoned, "the bosom Praise him, who slew the wicked host. examination, forced herseh to -eslize lhat of Abraham, and Virginia. You have no Pra:se rather, Son, and Holy Ghost. there was a strain io her "'oheki-g Snc- die; poe'.ry. Elouise." Then he reached for Elouise's hand. She not oeiieve it. not really, "oday was no: a

"I've written down the coordinates of the was surprised, but let him take it. He ben: happy day, and it was not just from knowing place where we are supposed to land," to her and kisseo her palm tenderly. "For the confrontation that ay ahene. There was Elouise said. She haned them to Charlie. many have entertained angels unaware," something so final about the death of the He did not avoid her gaze. She watched he said to her, last of the engines of mankind. Surely him read the paper. He showed no sign of A few moments later he was asleep. something could be— but she forced the in her recognition. For a moment she hoped that it Charlie and Elouise sat in silence. The thought from her, forced the coldness had all been a mistake, but no. She would plane flew on south as darkness overtook to overtake that sentiment. Surely she not let herself be misled by her desires. them from the east. At first their silence was could not be seduced by the beauty of the "Why Virginia?" Heather asked. almost affectionate. But as Elouise sat and airplane. Surely she must remember that it Charlie looked up. "It's central," sat, saying nothing, she felt the silence was not the machines but what they inevi-

"It's east coast," Heather said. grow cold anctemole, and for the first time tab'y oid to mankind that was evil.

"It's central in the high survival area. she realized Mat when the ar plane landed, They looked and felt a little awkward, There- isn't much of a living to be had in the Charlie would be her— Charlie, who had almost silly, as they left the plane and stood around in the blackened field. They had not years were passing in seconds. But it of it, and Hea'he- walked away to the west, yel lost their feel for stylish clothing, and the wasn't true corrosion. There was no rust- toward the Shenandoah Valley homespun was so lumpy and awkward and only dissolution as molecules separated "Seeya," Bill said.

rough. It didn't look right on any of them. and seeped down into the loosened earth. "Like hell." Ugly-Bugly added. Amy clung to her doll, awed- by the Glass became sand; plastic corrupted to Impulsively Ugly-Bugly hugged Elouise, strange scenery, In her life she had been oil; the metal also drifted down into the and Bill cried, and then they took off north- out of the airplane only once, and that was gro.und and came to rest in a vein at the east, toward the Potomac, where they when she was an infant, She watched as bottom of the Rectifier field. Whatever would -do'jtxiessly find a community grow- the trees moved unpredictably. She winced else the metal might look like to a future ing up along the clean and fish-filled river.

at the wind in her eyes. She touched her geologist, it wouldn't look ike anan tact Just Charlie. Amy, and Elouise left in the cheek, where her hair moved back and wou:d look keiron. And wth so many simi- empty, blackened field where the airplane forth in the breeze, and hunted through her lar pockets of iron and copper and hac c eo. Elouise tnec to feel some great vocabulary for a word to name the strange aluminum and tin spread all over the pain at the separation from the others, but

invisible touch on her skin. "Mommy." she once-civilized world, it was not likely that she could not. They had been together said. "Uh! Uh! Uh!" they would suspect human interference. every day for years now, going from supply Elouise understood. "Wind," she said. Elouise was amused, thinking of the dump to supply dump wrecking cities and

The sounds were still too hard for Amy, and treatises that woulc someday be written, :cwrs. destroying and using up the artifi- the child did not attempt to say the word, about the two states of workable metals — cial world. But had they been friends? If it Wind, thought Elouise, and immediately the ore state and the pure-metal vein. She had no! been for their task, they would

thought of Charlie. Her best memory of hoped it would re:ard their progress a little. never have been friends. They were not the

Charlie was in the wind. It was during his The airplane shivered into nothing, and same kind of people. death-wish time, not long after his suicide. the Rectifier also died in the field. A few And then Elouise was ashamed of her He had insisted on climbing a mountain, minutes after the Rec:'fic- disaooearecl. feelings. Not her kind of people? Because and she knew that he meant to fall. So she the field also faded. Heather liked what grass did to her and had climbed with him, even though there had never owned a car or had a driver's 9 was a storm coming up. Charlie was angry license in her life Because Ugly-Bugly all the way. She remembered a terrible hour had a face hideous y cexr-ied oy canoe- clinging to the face of a cliff, held only by surgery? Because Bill always worked small Jesus into the conversation, even though bits of metal forced into cracks in the ^Suddenly there rock. She had insisted on remaining tied to half the time he was an atheist? Because in air, circles? Charlie. "If one of us fell, it would only drag was a shining the they just weren't in Ihesamesoc a There were no social circes now. Just the other down, [DO," he kept saying, "I a dazzling not-light know," she kept answering. And so Charlie people trying to survive in a bitter word that them squint. They had not fallen, and they made love for the made they weren't bred for. There were only two first time in a shallow cave, with the wind had seen this many classes row: inose who wou d ma^e i; and howling outside and occasional sprays of those who wouldn't. times before, from the air rain coming in to dampen them, They re- Which class am I? thought Elouise. fused to be dampened. Wind. Damn. and from the ground, "Where shoulc we go°" Cha-i e asked. felt herself Elouise picked Amy up and handed her And Elouise go cold and un- but this was the last time3 emotional, and they stood on the edge of lo Charlie ' Whs-e's "he capsule. Charlie'?" the field in the shade of the first trees. Charlie took Amy and said, Hey. Amy,

Elouise had left the Rectifier near the plane, baby, I'll bet we find some farming commu- set on 360 degrees. In a few minutes the nity between here and the Rappahan- Rectifier would go off, and they had to nock."

watch, lo wLness :he end of their work. "Amen and amen," said Bill, maudlin "Doesn't matter if you tell me. Charlie.

Suddenly Bill shouted, laughed, held up again. "All clean now." The instruments found it before we landed. his wrist. "My watch!" he cried. Elouise only smiled. She said nothing of You did a damn good job on the computer '"Hurry," Charlie said, "There's time." the other Rectifier, which was in her knap- program." She didn't have to say. Not good

Bill unbuckled his watch and ran toward sack. Let the others think all the work was enough,

the Rectifier. He tossed the watch, It landed done Charlie only smiled crookedly. "Here I within a few meters of the small machine. Amy poked her finger in Charlie's eye. was hoping you were forgetful." He Then Bill returned to the group, jogging and Charlie swore and set her down; Amy reached out to touch her knapsack. She shaking his head, "Jesus, what a moron! started to cry, and Charlie knelt by her and on en ab-unlly away -':>. cs" his s-ie Three years wiping out everything east of hugged her. Amy's arms went tightly "Don't you know me 7 " he asked softly his neck, kiss." try to take the Rectifier the Mississippi, and I almost save a digital around "Give Daddy a He would never chronograph," Elouise said, from her by force. But still. This was the last "Dixie Instruments?" Heather asked. "Well, time to go," Ugly-Bugly's voice of the artitac's :hey were- talking about. Was 'Yeah." rasped. "Why the hell did you pick this par- anyone really p r edictaole at such a time? "That's not high technology," she said, ticular spot?" Elouise was not sure. She had thought she and they all laughed. Then they fell silent, Elouise cocked her head. "Ask Charlie." knew him wel before yet the time capsule and Elouise wondered whether they were Charlie flushed, Elouise watched him existed to prove that her understanding of

all thinking the same thing; that jokes about grimly. "Elouise and I once came here." he Charlie was far from complete.

brand names would be dead within a gen- saic. "3c""ce Rectification began, Nostal- "I know you. Charlie. " she said, "but no:

it Don't eration, if they were not already dead. They gia, you know." He smiled shyly, and the as well as I thought. Does matter? watched the Rectifier in silence, waiting for others laughed. Excep: Elouise. She was try to Stop me."

the timer to finish its ae ay. Suddenly there helping Amy to urinate. She felt the weight "I hope you're not too angry." he said.

was a shining in the air, a dazzling not-light of the small Rectifier in her knapsack and Elouise couldn t think of anything to say that made them squint. They had seen this did not tell anyone the truth: that she had to that. Anyone could be fooled by a traitor

many times before, from the air and from never been in Virginia before in her life. but only I am fool enough to marry one. She the ground, but this was the last time, and "Good a spot as any." Heather said. turned from him and walked into the forest.

so (hey saw it as if it were the first. "Well, bye." He took Amy and followed.

The airplane corroded as if a thousand -Well, bye,. That was ail, that was the end All the way through the underbrush 5B .

Eiouise

- The capsule had been hidden well. Mother Eiouise. "Now you it us , agree we There was no surface sign that men had need the stockade." ever been here. Yet. irom the Rectifier's Mci'ier Eiouise said, "Would they have emphatic response, it was obvious that the come with fire if there had been no wall?" time capsule was quite large. There must How can anyone judge the greatest a>,v;-v" have been heavy, earth-moving equip- need? Just as the angel of death had come They a life, that ment. Or was it all done by hand? to plant the seeds of a better so " "'When did you ever find the time 9 angel of life had to be hard and endure Eiouise asked when they reached the spot. death so the many could live. Father "Long lunch hours," he said. Michael and Uncle Avram held io the laws She set down her knapsack and then of Christ simple, for did not the Holy Book stood there, looking at him. say, "Love your enemies, and smite them Like a condemned man who insists on only when they attack you. cnase them nol keeping his composure, Charlie smiled out into the forest, but let them live as long wryly and said, "Get on with it, please."

After Father Charlie died, Mother Eiouise brought me here to Richmond. She didn't tell anyone that she was a Wrecker The •Father Michael angel had already leit her, and she wanted to blend into the town, be an ordinary per- forbade the making of guns in world she and her fellow angels son the and forbade that had created. Yei she was incapable of blending in. anyone teach children what Once the ange touches ycu.ycu cannc'co guns were. But for back, even when the angel's work is done. hunting there had to be She first attracted attention by talking against the stockade. There was once a arrows, and what kills stockade around the town of Richmond, a deer will also kill a man* when there were only a thousand people tier©. The reason was simple: People still weren't used tc the hard way life was with- out the old machines. They had not yet learned to depend on the miracle of Christ. ? They still trusted in their hands, yet their as they leave you alone" hands could work no more magic. So there

winter. I were tribes in the winter that didn't know I rememberthat remember watch- how to find game, that had no reserves of ing while they buried the dead tribesmen, grain, that had no shelter adequate to hold Their bodies had stiffened quickly, but :he head of a fire. Mother Eiouise brought me to see them and

: r: it -erre'ri- "Bring them all in." said Mother Eiouise, sa d. 'This ;s o'salh. re me be •There's room for all. There's food for all, ber it." What did Mother Eiouise. know? Teach them how to build ships and make Dea:h is our passage from flesh into the living ; fools and sail and farm, and we'll all be wind, until Ch'isl brings us orth into flesh richer for it," again. Mother Eouisc wii find Eather Charlie But Father Michael and Uncie Avram ag&-r. arc every -.vol.- -id w be made wnole knew more than Mother Eiouise. Father Eiouise knelt by the Rectifier and care- hour, destroy- Michael had been a Catholic priest before fully set it to go off in half an the destruction, and Uncle Avram had ing itself and the time caosu e ojried thirty been a professor at a university. They had meters under the ground. Charlie stooo of preservn the story of mankind, been nobody, But when the angels of de- near her. watching, his face nearly expres- ways

can they I rn from our mistakes, struction finished their work, the angels of sion ess: only a '"a n; smile broke his perfect "How arms, unless we tell thei what they were?" Char- life began to work in the hearts of men. repose. Amy was nh's aughingand lie asked Father Michael threw off his old allegiance had " to Rome and taught Christ simple. ! r crr nis ;el memory of the Holy Book. Uncle Avram plunged into his memory of ancient metal- lurgy and taught the people who gathered at Richmond howto make iron hard enough iished She stood up to use for tools. And weapons. '. Amy reached back. Histo-ywasncta^ayc Father Michael forbade the making of holding out h- scrip: ens ing the repetition of mistakes It v. guns and forbade that anyone teach chil- "Mommy." she s of guaranteeing them. Wasn't it? and doubt the crest soroenL and that time changed its path. When it came near, she She turned and walked on, not very the Golden Age will never end, and God will leaped to the side. It was not nimble quickly, out of the range o( the Rectifier, dwell among men forever. And all the enough to turn to face her. As it lumbered carrying Amy and listening, all the way, for angels will say, "Come not to heaven but to past, Mother Elouise kicked i: just oehmc the sound of Charlie running after her. Earth, for Earth is heaven now." Xr\e head. The kick broke the hog's neck so These are the most important lies of violently that its head dropped and the hog What was Mother Elouise like 7 She was a Mother Elouise. Believe them all, and re- rolled over and over, ano when it was woman of contradictions. Even with me, member them, for they are true. through rolling, it Was already dead. she would work for hours teaching me to Mother Elouise did not have to die. read, helping me make tablets out of river All the way to the airplane clearing, She died in the winter when I was seven. I clay and write on them with a shaped stick. Elouise deliberately broke branches and should tell you how life was then, in that Charlie Richmond. were only two thousand And then, when I had written the words she let them dangle so would have We taught me, she would weep and say, "Lies, no trouble finding a straight path out of the souls by then, not the large city of ten all lies." Sometimes she would break the range of the Rectifier, even if he left his flight thousand we are now, We had only six to the last sure Charlie finished ships trading the coast, and they tablets I had made. But whenever part of second. She was her words was broken, she would make me would follow her Charlie would bend to her had not yet gone so far north as Manhattan, all write it again. as he had always bent, resilient and ac- though we had run one voyage the way She called the collection of words The commodating, He loved Elouise, and Amy to Savannah in the south. Richmond al-

it the metal protected from, the Book of the Golden Age. I have named he loved even more. What was in ready ruled and The Book of the Lies of the Angel Elouise. under his feet that would weigh in the bal- Potomac to Dismal Swamp, But it was a for ir is important for us to know that the ance against his love for them? very haro winter, and the town's leaders greatest truths we have seem like lies to So Elouise broke the last branch and insisted on hoarding all the stored grain those who have been touched by tne stepped into the clearing and then sat and fruits and vegetables and meat for our angel. down and let Amy play in the unburnt grass protected towns, and let the distant tribes trade or travel where they would, they would She told many stories to me, and often I asked her why they must be written down. get no food from Richmond "For Father Charlie," she would always say.

It mother, claimed "la he coming back, then?" I would ask. was then that my who believe in God, and Uncle Av- But she shook her head, and finally one £He had missed she did not time she said, "It is not for Father Charlie to ram, who was a Jew, and Father Michael, read. It is because Father Charlie wanted it her neck and struck deep who was a priest, all argued the same side

of the question. It's better to feed them than written." in her back, and kill all said. But the "Then why didn't he write it himself?" I to them, they when asked. shoulder. She screamed. tribes from west of the mountains and north And Mother Elouise grew very cold with He struck again of the Potomac came into Richmond lands, me, and all she would' say was. "Father pleading for help, the leaders of Richmond

. . . silenced her. : and Then Charlie bougnt ihess s:c- es. He paid more turned them away and closed the gates of rhe towns. marched then, to put for them than I am willing to pay to have he turned away, An army into them left unwritten." I wondered then the fear of God, as they said, the hearts spattered with blood ... 9 whether Father Charlie was rich, but other of the tribesmen. They did not know which things she said told me that he wasn't. So I side God was on. do not understand except thst Mother Father Michael argued and Uncle Avrarn Elouise did not want to tell the stories, and stormed and fumed, but Mother Elouise Father Charlie, though he was not there, silently went to the gate at moonrise one constrained ner to tell them. at the edge while she waitec. it is Charlie night and alone overpowered the guards.

There are many of Mother Elouise's lies who will bend, she said to herself, for I will Silently she gagged them and bound them will I this. I it hungry that love, but I will say now which of them never bend on Later make up to and opened the gates to the she said were most important: him. but he must know that on this I will tribesmen. They came through weapon-

1. In the Golden Age for ten times a never bend. ess as she hac inss;ed."hey quietly went thousand years men lived in peace and The cold place in her grew larger and to the storehouses and carried off as much love and joy, and no one did evil one to colder until she burred insioe. waiting forthe food as they could. They were found only as another. They shared all things in common, sound of feet crashing through the under- the last few flea. No one was killed. and no man was hungry while another was brush. The damnable birds kept singing, But there was an uproar, a cry of treason, full, and no man hac a lome while another so thai She could not hear the footsteps. a trial, and an execution. They decided on stood in the rain, and no wife wept for her beheading, because they thought it would husband, killed before his time. Mother Elouise never hit me, or anyone be quick and merciful. They had never

2. The great serpent seems to come else so far as I knew. She fought only with seen a beheading. with great power. He has many names; Sa- her words and silent acts, though she could It was Jack Woods who used the ax. He tan. Hit.er, Lucifer, Nimrod, Napoleon. He have v nod easily with her hands, I saw her practiced all afternoon with pumpkins. seems to be beautiful, and he promises physical power only once. We were in the Pumpkins have no bones power to his friends and death to his forest, to gather firewood. We stumbled In the evening they all gathered to watch, enemies. He says he will right all wrongs. upon a wile hog. Apparently it felt cor- some because they hated Mother Elouise, But really he is weak, until people believe in nered, though we were weaponless; per- some because they loved her. and the rest

I him and give him the power of their bodies, haos t was jus; mean. have rot studec because they could not stay away. I went

If you refuse to believe in the serpent, if no the ways of wild hogs. It charged, not also, and Father Michael held my head and one serves him, he will go away Mother Elouise, but me. I was five at the would not let me see. Bu; I heard.

cycles worlc. time, terrified. I ran to Elouise for Mother 3. There are many oi :'ns h and Mother , Father Michael prayed v every cycle the great serpent has arisen tried to cling to her, but she threw me out of Elouise, Mother Elouise damned his and

- "If and the worlo has been ;)e;;troyec to r ke the way and went into a crouch. I was everyone else's soul to hell. She said, way for the return of the Golden- Age. Christ screaming. She paid no attention to me. you kill me for bringing life, you will only

comes aga n in every cycle, also. One day The hog continued rushing, but seeing I bring death on your own heads."

r when He comes men wi.i be ieve in Christ was down and Mothei L ouiac was e ect, il "Thais true.' said the men around her. We w II a l de By. ycu will die vsr her mother, Elouise saying. 'Jesus." It was he coulo cut in half an animal so tiny it could

1 "Then I'm the luckier.' said Mother full of grief that only a child could fail to not be seen without a machine; so sensitive

Elouise It was the last of her lies, for she understand, Amy did noi understand. She that he could fly — an art that Mother was telling the truth, and yet she did not only tried to repeat the word, "Deeah-zah." Elouise said was not a miracle, since it

it With said Elouise, rocking done many giants of the believe herself, for I heard her weep. "God." back and could be by her last oreads she wept and cried out. forth, her face turned up toward a heaven Golden Age. and they took with them many

- "Charie 1 Charlie! There a e these who she was sure was. unoccupied. others who could not fly alone. This was ciairn she saw a vision of Charlie waithg for "Dog." Amy repeated. "Dog dog dog- Charlie's gift. Mother Elouise said. She also

told that I loved dearly. her on the right hand of God. but I doubt ii, gie." In vain sne 'ookeo around for the tour- me him

Sne wol. d have saie so think she only footed beast. But for all the words that she taught me, I wished to see him. Or wished for his for- "Charlie!" Elouise screamed as the Rec- slill have no picture of my father in my mind. giveness. It doesn't matter. The angel had tifier field faded. It is as if the words drove out the vision, as long since left her, and she was alone. "Daddy," Amy cried, and because of her so often happens.

still of Jac« swung the ax and it fell, more with a mother's tears she also wept. Elouise took Yet I hold that one memory my snack than a thud. He had missed her her daughter in her arms and held her, rock- father, so deeply hidden that I can neither nee-;, and struck deep ir, he- oac-; anc ing back and forth. Elouise discovered that lose it nor fully find it again. Sometimes I shoulder. She screamed. He struck again there were some things that could not be wake up weeping. Sometimes I wake up and this time silenced her By he did not frozen in her Some things that must burn: with my arms in the air, curved just SO. and I

DreaK through her spine until the third blow. Sunlight. And lightning. And everlasting, remember that I was dreaming of embrac- ~'er r.Q -,_(rcd away soa"erec wi;^ c:coo inextinguishable regret. ing that large man who loved me. My arms and vomited and wept and pleaded with remember how it feels tc hold Father Char- Father Michael to forgive him My mother, Mother Elouise, often fold me lie tight around the neckandclingtohimas

about my father. She described Father he carries his child And when I cannot

Amy stood a few meters away from Charlie in detail, so I would not forget. She sleep, and the pillow seems to be always

Elouise, who sat on the grass of the clear- refused to let me forget anything. "It's what the wrong shape, it is because I am hunting ing, looking [award a Proven branch or the Father Charlie died for," she told me, over for the shape of Father Charlie's shoulder, nearest tree. Amy called. "Mommy! ard over. Ho died so you would remember. which my heart remembers, though my Mo--invy!" Then she bounced Up and down, You cannot forgei." mind cannot. bending and unbending her knees. "Da! So I still remember, even today, every God put angels into Mother Elouise and

Da 1 " she cried "La la la la la." She was word she told me about him. His hair was Father Charlie, and they destroyed the dancing and wanted her mother lo dance red, as mine was. His body was lean and world, for the cup of God's indignation was and sing. loo. But Elouise only looked to- hard. His smile was quick, like mine, and he full, and all the works of man were an ward the free, waiting for Charlie to appear. had gentle hands. When his hair was long abomination. All the works of men become

Any minute, she thought. He will be angry. or sweaty, it kinked tightly at his forehead, dust, but out of dust God makes men, and He will be ashamed, she though;. But he ears, and neck. His "ouch was so delicate out of men and women, angels. will be alive In the distance, however, the air all at once was shining Elouise could see it clearly because they were not far from the edge of the Rectifier field It shimmered in the fees, where it caused no harm to plants. Any vertebrates within the field, any animals that lived by electricity passing along nerves, were nstantly dead, their Drains stilled Birds dropped from fee limbs. -Only insects droned on. The Rectifier field lasted only minutes.

Amy watched the shining air. It was as if he emp-y sky i*se f were dancing with her. Sne was fansfixec. Sne would soon forget the airplane, and already her father's face was disappearing from her memories. But she would remember the shining. She would see it forever in her dreams, a vast thickening of the air dancing and vibrating up and down, up and down. In her dreams it would always be the same, a terrible shin- ing light that would grow and grow and grow and press against her in her bed. And always with it would come the sound of a voice she loved, saying, "Jesus. Jesus. Jesus," This dream would come so clearly when she was twelve thai she would tell it to her adopted father, the priest named ^M Michael. Retold her that it was the voice of an angel, speaking the name of the source of all light. "You must not fear the light," he said. "You must embrace it." It satisfied her. But at the moment she first heard (he

should plug II ii voice, in fact and not in dream, she had no "Maybe we trouble recognizing it. It was the voice of DEEP-BREATHING EXERCISES

He learned a basic truth: that life begins with a breath, and he could predict the end of your life— with a breath

BY ORSON SCOTT CARD V

Dale Yorgason hadn't been so easily When he came down, in his jeans and Ifdistracted, he might never have noticed sweat shirt, ready for a good game of

the breathing. But he was on his way outdoor basketball now that it was spring. upstairs to change clothes, noticed the Colly called to him. "I'm out of cinnamon, headline on the paper, and got deflected. Dale."

Instead of climbing the stairs, he sat on "I'll get it on the way home." them and began to read. He could not "I need it now\" Colly called. even concentrate on that, however. He "We have two cars!" Dale yelled back, began to hear all the sounds of the house. then closed the door. He briefly felt bad Brian, their two-year-old son, was up- about not helping her out but reminded stairs, breathing heavily in sleep. Colly, himself that he was already running late his wife, was in the kitchen, kneading and it wouldn't hurt her to take Brian with bread and also breathing heavily. her and get outside the house. She never Their breath was exactly in unison, seemed to get out of the house anymore. Brian's rasping breath upstairs, thick with His team of friends from Allways Home the mucus of a child's sleep; Colly's deep Products, Inc., won the game, and he breaths as she labored with the dough. It came home deliciously sweaty No one set Dale to thinking, the newspaper for- was home. The bread dough had risen gotten. He wondered how often people impossibly and was spread all over the did that— breathing simultaneously for counter and dropping in large lumps onto minutes on end. He began to wonder the floor. Colly had obviously been gone about coincidence. too long. He wondered what could have And then, because he was so easily delayed her. distracted, he remembered that he had to Then came the phone call from the change his clothes and went upstairs. police, and he did not have to wonder

PAINTING BY RENE MAGRITTE . .

anymore. Colly had a habit of inadvertently himself notice that t ; '; parents were b'eath- ready to board, even Hough the actual r running stop signs. ing together. boarding ;.ne was surely half an hou off.

r The funeral was well attended because Their breaths were soft, hard to hear, But The plane brose apa t in midair some- Dale had a large family and was well liked Dale heard and looked at them, watched where over eastern Kentucky, and they at the office. He sat between his parents their chests rise and fall together. It un- didn't find the wreckage for days. About and Colly's parents. The speakers droned nerved him. Was unison breathing more half the people in the airplane had sur- on, and Dale, easily distracted, kept think- common than he had thought? He listened vived, and most of them were rescued be- than ing of the fact that of all the mourners there, for others, but Colly's parents were not fore exposure could do more make only a few were truly grieving. Only a few breathing together, and certainly Dale's them ill. However. ;he entire crew ano sev- had actually known Colly, who preferred to breaths were at his own rhythm. Then eral passengers, including Dale's parents, avoid office functions and social gather- Dale's mother looked at him, smiled, and were killed when the crippled plane ings, who stayed home with Brian most of nodded to him in an attempt at silent com- plunged to the ground. that the the time, being a perfect housewife and munication. Dale was not good at silent It was then that Dale realizeo or reading books, remaining, in the end, soli- communication; meaningful pauses and breathing was not a result of coincidence of closeness during their lives. It tary. Most of the people at the funeral had knowing looks always left him baffled. They people's

his fly. messenger of death; they breathed come for Dale's sake, to comfort him. Am I always made him want to check was a comforted? he asked himself. Not by his Another distraction, and he did not think of together because they were going to draw their last breath together He said nothing friends— they had little to say, were awk- breathing again. ward and embarrassed. Only his father Until at the airport, when the plane was about this thought to anyone e:se. but distracted from things, he had had the right instinct, just embracing an hour late in arriving because of techni- whenever he got him and then talking about everything ex- cal difficulties in Los Angeles. There was tended to speculate on this. It was better cept Dale's wife and son, who were dead, not much to talk to his parents about. Even than dwelling on the fact that he, a man to very important, so mangled in the accident that the coffin his father, a wizard at small talk, could think whom family had been was family; only was never opened for anyone. There was of nothing to say, and so they sat in silence now completely without that the him- talk of the fishing in Lake Superior this people with whom he was completely gone, and summer; talk of the bastards at Conti- self, completely at ease, were nental Hardware who thought that the there was no more ease for him in the world. retirement-at-sixty-five rule ought to apply Much better to wonder whether his knowl- to lives. After all, to the president of the company; talk of edge might be used save iTheir breaths often reasoning in a circular nothing at all. But it was good enough, he thought,

pattern that never seemed to end, if I notice since it served the intended function, At were soft, hard to hear. least temporarily Dale's thoughts began to this again, I should be able to alert some- But Dale heard r wander, and he was distracted from his one, to warn someone, to save thei lives. numbing grief. and looked at them, watched Yet if I were going to save their lives, would breathe in unison? If my parents Now, however, he wondered whether he their chests rise they then had really been a good husband for Colly. had been warned and changed flights, he fall together. It Had she really been happy, cooped up in and thought, they wouldn't have died and there-

fore wouldn't have breathed together. So I get her . the house all day? He had tried to unnerved him. . have been able to warn them, and out, get her to meet people, and she had .* wouldn't listened for others. . . He flights, resisted. But in the end, as he wondered so they wouldn't have changed and died, would whether he knew her at all, he could not find so they would have and so they

in I would an answer, not one he was sure of. And have breathed unison, and so

Brian— he had not known Brian at all. The have noticed and warned them . . boy was smart and quick, speaking in sen- More than anything that had ever passed tences when other children were still most of the time, as did most of the other through his mind before, this thought en- struggling with single words; but what had passengers. Ever a stewardess and the gaged him, and he was not easily dis-

It his work; he and .Dale ever had to talk about? All pilot sat near them waiting :>enl y lc the tracted from it. began to hurt he Brian's companionship had been with his plane to arrive. slowed down, made mistakes, because he only breathing, listening mother; all Colly's companionship had It was in one of the deeper silences that concentrated on secretaries other ex- been with Brian, In a way it was like their Dale noticed that his father and the pilot constantly to the and breathing — the last time Dale had heard ,ve r e born swinging their cossed legs in ecutives in his company, waiting tor the they would ore-r.ne n a. them breathe— in unison, as if even the unison. Then he listened and realized there fatal moment when rhythms of their bodies were together It was a strong sound in the waiting area, a pleased Dale somehow to think that they rhythmic soughing of many of the passen- He was eating alone ai a 'estaurant when 'S b'eath had drawn- their last breath together, too, gers inhaling anc exnaling rogether. Dale's he heard it again. The sighs 0/ came i o the unison continuing to the grave; now mother and father, the pilot, the stew- all together, from every table near him. It 5 they would be lowered into the earth in ardess, several other passengers, all were took him a few moments to be sure; then he briskly? perfect unison, sharing a coffin as they had breathing together. It unnerved him. How leaped from the table and walked 9 shared every day since Brian's birth. could this be Colly and Brian had been outside. He did not stop to pay, for the g Dale's grief swept over him again, sur- mother and son; Dale's parents had been breathing was still in unison at every table | prising him because he had thought he together for years. But why should half the right to the door of the restaurant. | had cried as much as he possibly could, people in the waiting area breathe to- The maitre d', predictably, was annoyed « and now he discovered there were more at his leaving without paying and caller: cu: ? answer "Wait 1 You £ tears waiting to flow. He was not sure He pointed it out to his father to him. Dale did not cried the following Dale whether he was crying because of the "Yes, it is kind of strange, but I think didn't pay!" man, | empty house he would come home to or you're right," his father said, raiher de- out into the street. | because he had always been somewhat lighted with the odd event. Dale's, father Dale did not know how far he had to go \ danger faced ev- closed off from his family. Was the coffin, loved odd events, for safety from whatever fj in ended up hay- after all, just an expression of the way their Then the rhythm abruptly broke as the eryone the restaurant; he -f 9 matter. maitre d' s relationship had always oc-en It was not a plane taxied along the runway and slowed ing no choice in the The productive line of thought, and so Dale to a halt di r ectly n 'ront of the windows of stopped him on the sidewalk, only a few S restaurant, tried to once again let himself be distracted, He let the.airport lobby. The crowd stirred and got doors down from the and p 64 pull him back toward the place, Dale resist- that next time he was quite likely to win above him in the sky, ing all the way. handily— he usually did. Then he and Dr. "Dale, can you hear the breath ng?" "You can't leave without paying. What do Rumming got up from their table* and Dale heard the breathing. you think you're doing?" walked toward the front of the recreation The newsman spoke again. "Denver is definitely the target. missiles a'- "I can't go back," Dale shouted, "III pay room, where the television program had The have ready launched. Please leave im- you, I'll pay you right here." And he fumbled been interrupted by a special news, bulle- Deen for It in his wallet for the money as a huge explo- tin. The people around the television mediately. Do not stop any reason. is sion knocked him and the maltre d' to the looked disturbed; news was never allowed estimated that we have lass than— ess ground. Flames erupted from the restau- on the hospital television, and only a bulle- than three minutes. My God," he said, and rant, and people screamed as the building tin like this could creep in. Dr. Rumming got up from his chair, breathing heavily, of the of the began crumbling from the force of the ex- walked over to the set, intending to turn it running out range camera. No one turned any equipment off in the plosion, It was impossible that anyone in- off. but the words coming over the air were the local side the building could still be alive, so alarming that he could not tear himself station — the tube kept on showing tables, the The maitre d'. his eyes wide with horror, away. news set, the empty chairs, the ". , weather stood up as Dale did and looked at him with . from satellites fully capable of de- map. dawning understanding. "You knewl" he stroying every major city in the United "We can't get out in time," Dr. Rumming said. "You knew!" States. The President was furnished with a said to the inmates in the room. "We're near Dale was acquitted at the trial— phone list of fifty-four cities targeted by the orbit- the center of Denver. Our only hope is to lie calls from a radical group and the pur- ing missiles. One of these, said the com- on the floor. Try to get under tables and chase of large quantities of explosives in munique, will be destroyed immediately to chairs as much as possible." The inmates, several states led to the indictment and show that the threat is serious and will be terrified, complied with the voice of au- conviction of someone else, But at the trial carried out. Civil Defense authorities have thority. enough was said to convince Dale and been notified, and citizens of the fifty-four "So much for my cure," Dale said, nis several psychiatrists that something was cities will be on standby for immediate voice trembling. Rumming managed a seriously wrong with him, He was voluntari- half-smile. They lay together in tne n- del e floor, furniture for ly committed to an institution, where Dr. of the leaving the every- furni- Howard Rumming spent hours in conversa- one else because they knew that the tion with Dale, trying to understand his ture would do no good at all. on reathing as a "You definitely don't belong here." Rum- madness, his fixation b * Often Dale was sign of coming death. ming told him, "I never met a saner man m all life." "I'm sane in every other way, aren't I, tempted to ask him what my Dale asked, again and again. Dale was distracted, however Instead of Doctor?" the hell he was And repeatedly the doctor answered, his impending death he thought of Colly doing trying to help the Brian in their coffin. imagined the "What is sanity? Who has it? How can / and He know?" mentally deranged earth being swept away in a huge wind, Often Dale was tempted io ask him what and the coi'ln being asned immediately in when he did not know what the hell he was doing trying to help the the white explosion frcn tne SKy. The barrier mentally deranged when he did not know sanity was, what <:; coming oewn at last, Dale thought, and / condition he was * will be with them as completely as it is what sanity was, what trying to achieve. he was learning trying to bring the insane to achieve. But he possible to be. He thought o'"B- an never did. to walk, crying when he fell, he remem- Instead he found that the mental hospital bered Colly saying, "Don't pick him up every time cries, or he'll just learn that was not an unpleasant place to be. It was a he for three private institution, and a lot ot money had crying gets results." And sc days Dale nad listeneo to Brian cry and cry and gone into it: most of the people there were evacuation." The'e followed the normal voluntary commitments, which meant that parade of special reports and deep back- never lifted a hand to help the boy Brian learned walk quite well, quickly, But conditions had to remain excellent, l! was ground, but it was patently clear that the to and felt that irresist- one of the things that made Dale graieful for reporte-s were a" afraid. now, suddenly. Dale again his father's wealth. In the hospital he was Dale's mind could not stay on the pro- ible impulse to pick Brian up. to put his safe; the only contact with the outside world gram, however, because he was distracted son's pathetically red and weeping face en .vas the television. Gradually he met by something far more compelling, Every his shoulder, to say, "That's ail right. Dad- people and became attached to them in person in the room was breathing in perfect dy's holding you." the hospital, began to relax, to lose his ob- unison, including Dale. He tried to break "That's all right. Daddy's holding you," r session with breathing, to stop listening out of the rhythm and couldn't. Da'e said aloud, softy Then the e was a rjright quite so intently for the sound of inhalation It's just my fear. Dale tnought. Just the flash of white so that it could be seen the walls as t'reugn the and exhalation, the way that different broadcast, making me think that I hear the as easily through walls, ~ —-„ people's breathing rhythms fit together. breathing. window for there were no arc Gradually he began to be his old. distract- A Denver newsman came on the air then, breath was drawn out of their bodies at their able self. overriding the network o road cast. "Denver, once vo.ces robbed from them so "I'm nea'ly cu'ed, Doctor." Dale an- ladies and gentlemen, is one of the suddenly that they all involuntarily shouted were silent Tne'r shoir nounced one day in the middle of a game of targeted cities. The city has asked us to and then, forever, backgammon inform you that orderly evacuation is to was taken up in a violent wind that swept all traffic laws the sound, wung from every throat in per- The doctor sighed. "I know it. Date. I have oegin immediate y Obey and forming to admit it— I'm disappointed. Not in your drive east from the city if you live in the fect unison, upward into ihe clouds ." over Denver. cure, you understand. It's just that you've following neighborhoods . . what had once been seen a breath of fresh air ycu should par- Then the news—an stopped and, breath- And in the last moment, as the shout was. don the expression." They both laughed a ing heavily, listened to something coming drawn from his lungs and the heat took his out of his face, Dale realized that de- little. "I get so tired of middle-aged women through his earphone. eyes with fashionable nervous breakdowns, or The newsman was breathing h perfect spite all his foreknew edge, the only life_he mid-life crises." unison with all the people in the room. had ever saved was that of a maltre Dale was gammoned— the dice were all "Date." Dr. Rumming said. d'hofel. whose life, to Dale, didn't mean a

against him. But he took it well, knowing .ale only breathed, fee ng death poised thing.

65 Primitive heroes from the past are coming into your future NOBLE SAVAGE BY LSPRAGUE DECAMP

J—broadsword in one hand, guttering torch in the other, his keen barbarian senses alert, Darthan slunk through the tunnels beneath the lost city ol Caas on his way to the tabled treasure. Heroic fantasy is alive and flourishing, The more com- plex, cerebral, and restrained the civilization, the more men's minds return to a dream of earlier times, when issues ot good and evil were clear-cut and a man could venture out with his sword, conquer his enemies, and win a kingdom and a beautiful woman The idea is compel- ling, even though such an age probably never existed: Tarzan, Conan, Tanar ot Pellucidar, John Carter of Mars, and ail the other brawny heroes of heroic fiction derive

PAINTINGS BY BORIS VALLEJO E?S .3 "' ^B

'1—p,

.#11 m

from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose idea that primitive men were superior to those of today is rooted in ancient myths of Eden, in dimly remembered Golden Ages, and a great deal of wishful thinking. The most successful barbarian of recent times is Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Howard, an admirer of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Rudyard Kipling, and Jack London, created several other primitive heroes. Conan lives, loves, and battles in an imaginary prehistoric age. the Hyborian Age, existing some 12,000 years ago between fhe sinking of Atlantis and the rise of recorded history. A gigantic barbarian adven- turer and a matchless lighter, Conan wades through rivers of gore and vanquishes foes both natural and supernatural to become at last the

monarch of a great Hyborian kingdom. He is the primitive hero to end all

^Fictional barbarians are always big, stalwart men with thighs of iron.* primitive heroes. When, after his enemies capture and crucity him, a vulture flies down to peck his eyes out, Conan bites off the vulture's head. You can't have a tougher hero than that. There is a boundless attraction to the barbarian hero. Dreamers are bound to look back longingly to the days when the world was un- - S© crowded and unregulated and 'natural" man nourished. No matter that " the real barbarian only rarely resembles the barbarian hero ot fiction As real barbarism recedes into the misty past, more and more people,

exasperated by the elaboration of life that their burgeoning numbers bring, will idealize a supposedly simpler, freer barbarian past, even

Ihough that past is nine-tenihs fiction. The strong, half-naked man of heroic fiction is assured of popularity for many years to come.

•Tarzan was raised by African apes of a species unknown to science.^

"^''

Editors ' note: This story has been copiously

annotated by the author. We suggest that you read it through first and then consult the notes. RUBBER SOUL BY SPIDER ROBINSON

But I don't believe in this stuff, he decelerating, somehow without stress.

thought, enjoying himself hugely. / said / Landscape came up at him, an immense A 4 didn't. Weren't you listening? sprawling farm, He was aimed like a bomb He sensed amusement in those around at a large three-story house, but he was him— Mum, Dad, Stuart. Brian, Mai and the decelerating so sharply now that he was rest— but not in response to his attempt at not afraid. Sure enough, he reached the 2 irony It was more like the amusement ol a roof at the speed of a falling leaf -and sank group of elders at a young man about to gracefully through the root, and the attic, lose his virginity, amusement at his too- finding himself at rest just below the ceiling

well-understood bravado. It was too be- of a third-floor room.

nevolent to anger him, but it did succeed in Given its rural setting, the room could

irritating him, He determined to do this hardly have been more incongruous. It

thing as well as it had ever been done. looked like a very good intensive care unit, 3 Dead easy, he punned. New and scary with a single client. Two doctors, garbed in and wonderful, that's what I'm good at. traditional white, gathered around the fig- Let's got ure on the bed, adjusting wires and tubes, The source of the bright green light came monitoring terminal readouts, moving with that one increment nearer, and he was controlled haste. transfixed. The room was high-ceilinged; he floated Oh! about six feet above the body on the bed. Time stopped, and he began to under- He had always been nearsighted. He stand, squinted down, and recognition came with And was grabbed by the scruff of the a shock.

neck and yanked backwards. Foot ol the Christ! You're joking! I done that bit. | line for you, my lad! He howled his protest, He began to sink downward. He tried to | but the light began to recede; he felt him- resist but could not. The shaven skull came :| self moving backwards through the tunnel, closer, enveloped him, He gave up and i slowly at first but with constant accelera- invested the motor centers, intending to I tion, He clutched al Dad and Mum. but for use this unwanted body to kick and punch gthe second time they slipped through his and scream. Too late he saw the trap: the g fingers and were gone. The walls of the body was full of morphine He had time to | tunnel roared past him, the light grew faint, laugh with genuine appreciation at this last g and then all at once he was in interstellar joke on him. and then consciousness .g-space, and the light was lost among a mil- faded.

§> lion billion other pinpoints. A planet was 5 below him, rushing up fast, a familiar Afier a measureless time he woke. Noth- | blue-green world. ing hurt; he felt wonderful and lethargic. q Bloody hell, he.thought. Not again! Nonetheless he knew from experience that q Clouds whipped up pasl him. He was he was no longer drugged, at least not PAINTING BY ERICH BRAUER heavily. Someone was standing over him, He'slurned out well. He loves you." surprise that they were holding hands. The an old man he thought he knew A surge of happiness suffused him and irony of that struck them both simultaneous- 5 "Mister Mac," he said, mildly surprised. settled into a warm glow. To cover it he ly. But they were both of them used to irony The other shook his head. "Nope, He's looked around the room, squinting at the that might have stunned a normal man, and dead." bewildering array of machines and instru- used to sharing such irony with each other; 19 "So am I," ments. "This must have set you back a they did not let go. And so now there was Another "deadpan headshake from the packet." only the last question to be asked. old man. "Dirty rumor. We get 'em all the With a lit in his voice, the old man asked, "Why did you do it, then? Spend all that 6 time, you and I." "What's the good of being a multimillionaire money and all that time to bring me back?"

His eyes widened. The voice was if you can't resurrect the dead once in a "Selfish reasons." changed, but unmistakable. "Oh my God while?" "Right. Did it ever occur to you that you

— it's you!" "Aye, I've thought that a few times me- might be calling me back from something

"I often wonder." self." He was still not ready to speak his important?"

' "But you're old." heart. "What about the guy that got me? "I reckoned that if I could pull it off, then it

"So are you, son. Oh, you don't look it I'll Why'd he do it?" was okay for me to do it."

, He thought wistfully of the green light , . 1 grant you that, but if I lold you how old you "Who- knows? Some say he thought he are, you'd laugh yourself spastic, honest. was you, and you were an impostor Some but he was, for better or worse, truly alive

Here, lei me lift your bed." say he just wanted to be somebody. He now. Which was to say that he wanted to

The bed raised him to a half-sitting posi- said God told him to do it, 'coz you were stay alive. "Your instincts were always '' ,_ ' J tion, deliclously comfortable. "So you froze dow i on c .lurches anc thai good. Even back in the old scufflin' days." I me carcass and then brought me back to "Oh Jesus. The silly fucker." He thought "I didn't much care, if you want to know lurch, life?" for a time. "You know that one I wrote about the truth of ii. You left me in the you

It old nodded. .and him." bein' scared, when I was alone that time?" know. was the end of the dream, you The man "Me He j gestured behind him. "I remember." dying, and everybody reckoned I was the

it I The light was poor, but he could make out "Truest words I ever wrote. God, what a one broke us up, so was my fault some- a figure seated in darkness on the far side fuckin' prophet! 'Hatred and jealousy, how. I copped it all. It all went sour when you | " H of the room. "Who-?" gonna be the death of me.' snuffed it, lad. You had to go and break my I ." The other stood and came forward "You had it backwards, you know." balls in that interview. . slowly. "How do you "That was bad kharma," he agreed. "Did mean?" J My God, was his first thought It's me! "Nobody ever had better reason to hate you call me back to haunt me, then? Do you I Then he squinted— and chuckled. "What yo.u than Jules." want me to go on telly and set the record 1 20 do you know? The family Jules. Hello, He made no reply. ' straight or something?'" son." 7 "And nobody ever had better reason to The grip en his hand tightened.

"Hello, Dad," be jca'ous of you than me." "I called you back because I miss you."

old did not cry easily. "Because I "You're a man grown, I see. It's good to Again he was speechless. The man see you. You look good." He ran oul of "But it was him thought it up in time, and love you." He broke, and wept un- words. me pulled it off. His idea and enthusiasm. ashamedly. "I've always loved you, Johnny. The man addressee began to smile, and My money. So you got that backwards, It's shitty without you around." 8 burst into, tears and fled the room. about them bein' the death of you." He "Oh Christ, I love you too." They em-1 He turned back to his older visitor. "Bit of smiled suddenly. "Old Jules. Just doin' braced, clung to each other and wept to- I

I really." getherfor sometime. a shock, 1 expect." what told him to do,

They looked at each other for an awk- "Makin' it better." At last the old man released him and ward moment. There were things that both The old man nodded. "He lefyou under stepped back. "It's a rotten shame we're 1 15 wanted to say. Neither was quite ready yet his skin, you see." not gay. We always did make such beautiful 9 "Where's Mother?" he asked finally. "Am I the first one they brought back, music together." "Not here," the old man said. "She didn't then?" "Only the best fuckin' music in the history want any part of it." "One of the first half-dozen. It's not of the world." "Really?" He was surprised, not sure exactly on the National Health." "We will again. The others are willing. whether or not to be hurt. 'And nobody knows but you and Jules? Nobody else would ever know. No tapes, "Sne's "ito reincarnation, Mother?" nothing. Just sit around and play." I think. This is And all blasphemy and. witchcraft to her. She "Three doctors. My soiiciio' A cop n "You're incorrigible." But he was inter- I cooperated— she gave us permission, and New York used to know, a captain, but he ested. "Are you serious.? How could you helped us cover up and all. But she doesn't died, And George and Richie know They possibly keep a thing like that secret? No their 16 want to hear about it. I don't know if she'll send best" bloody way—" 10 17 want to see you, even." He winced. "I was rough on George." "It's been along time," the old man inter-

He Ihought about it "I can understand "That you were, son. He forgives you, of rupted. "You taught me, you taught all three to off that. I pfomised Mother once I'd never course. Nobody else knows in all the wide of us. a long time ago, how drop the haunt her. Only fair. She still makin' music?" world." face of the earth. Just stop making records don't even "I I giving interviews. They don't think so." "Christ, that's a relief. thought I was due and There was another awkward silence, for another turn on the flaming cupcake. come 'round on anniversaries any more. It'll I

"How's the wife?" he asked. Can you imagine if they fuckin' knew? If d be dead easy." The old man winced slightly. "Well be like the last time was nothing." He was feeling somewhat weary. "How

. It it . . long it enough, I hear. She went right back out the was the old man's first real grin, and how has been?" 11 window a while back." melted twenty years or more from his face. "Since you snuffed it? Get this— I told you 1

ii'd give laugh. It's dozen "I'm sorry." "Sometimes when I'm lying awake, I get the you a been two

"Sorriest thing I've seen all day, son. You giggles just thinking about it." years." comfy?" He laughed aloud, noting that it did not He worked it out, suddenly beginning to ?" "Yeah. How about Sean?" 12 hurt to laugh. "Talk about upstaging gigg.e "You mean, I'm— 18 "He doesn't know about this yet. His Jesus!" The old man was giggling too. "Yep." mother decided not to burden him with it They laughed together, the old man and He roared with laughter. "Will you still while he was growing up. But you "can see the middle-aged man. When the laugh feed me, then?" him if you want, in a few days. You'll like him. entied, they discovered to their mutual "Aye," the old man said. 'And I'll always 76 .

need you, too. more that we still could know." four years. Slowly he sobered. The laugh had cost him the last of his strength. He felt sleep 2) Mum is Julia, John's mother (run over by 12) Sean Ono Lennon, John and Yoko's coming. "Do you really think it'll be good, an off-duty cop); Dad is his lather, Fred son. John stopped making music and

old friend? Is it gonna be fun?" (died of cancer); Stuart is the early Beatle, dropped out of public life for five years to "As much fun as whatever you've been Stu Sutclilfe (died of cerebral hemorrhage); be a full-time parent to Sean. is doing for the last twenty-four years? I Brian Ihe Beau as mar -age'. Brian Epstein

dunno. What was it like?" (accidental overdose of Carbrital); and Mai 13) Mark Chapman himself claims that he

"I dunno any more. I can't remember. is the- Beatles roadie/companion, Mai overheard, as it were, an irritated God mut- Oh— Stu was there, and Brian." His voice Evans (shot by police in Los Angeles). tering, "Who will rid me of this troublesome slurred. "I think it was okay." John Lennon?" "This is going, to be okay, too. You'll see. 3) John, author of In His Own Write and A I've done the middle eight. Last verse was Spaniard In the Works, always believed thai 14) The song, "I'm Scared," written during 22 always your specialty" a good pun is in the oy of the beholder. the black period when John and Yoko were He nodded, almost asleep now. "You al- estranged, will be found on the album Walls 23 ways did believe in scrambled eggs," 4) Paul McGartney and his family live on a and Bridges. The quote here is from one of The old man watched his sleeping friend farm in Scotland. John's powerful middle eights. for a time. Then he sighed deeply and went to comfort Julian and phone the others. 5) It seems to me that John, confronted with 15) The allusion here— "under your skin"—

a Paul McCartney twenty-four years older is from the lyric of the Beatles hit song, "Hey ANNOTATIONS than when last seen, would quite naturally Jude." In October 1968. Paul McCartney mistake him for his father, James McCart- paid a surprise visit to Cynthia and Julian In the fall of 1981, 1 chanced to be in New ney (pianist and former leader of the Jim Lennon. Cynthia was suing John for di- York City, and on October 9, feeling slightly Mac Jazz Band), in whose living room at vorce. Yoko was pregnant, six-year-old Ju-

silly but quite unable to help myself, I took Forthlin Road, he and Paul taught each lian was confused and unhappy. Paul sang my six-year-old daughter, Luanna, with me other to play the guitar. him a song he made up on the way over in " on a pilgrimage of sorts, up Central Park [he-car, to cheer him up cai eo 'i-cy ^jles

West to 72nd Street, to the elegant apart- 6) A reference to the "Paul is dead" hysteria It was later recorded as "Hey Jude."

ment bin'ding catted The Dakota. I felt a which swept the world in October 1969. powerful need to bid happy birthday to a 16) George Harrison and Richard Starkey dead man, who should on that day have 7) Many have commented on the physical (better known as Ringo Starr). turned tor ty -one. resemblance between John Lennon and Perhaps two or three hundred people Julian, his first son by Cynthia Powell Len- 17) In one Of his last interviews, John took a

subject to the same need were already non- Julian will be nineteen by the time this few angry potsno:s at George Harrison. "I present, gathered around the limo en- is published, and forty-one by the time of am slightly resentful of George's book, but

trance, where it It curi- the story; just likely had happened. was as as "Mister Mac" to be don't get me wrong — I still love all those .'" ously difficult to their misidentified name mood. Some- by a man two dozen years guys . .

times it felt like subdued good cheer, and dead. "Thefamily Jules" ; s a typical Lenro-n sometimes it felt like barely concealed de- pun. 18) The single most famous Beatle utter-

spair. I the. stood across street with my ance. In context, John made it quite plain in daughter and watched and listened !o 8) The relationship between John and Ju- a London Evening Standard interview thai ragged choruses of appropriate songs and lian was less than ideal when John was he had nothing against Jesus, only against tried, without the least success, to name killed. In an interview shortly before his Jesus' "thick" followers. "They're the ones

I my own mood. What was doing here? death, John said of his oldest son, "Julian who ruin it for me." Sure enough, one of

Suddenly a black limo pulled up in front and I will have a relationship in the future." them ruined it all for him. of me. Its sole passenger was a white- haired dowager. She powered down her 9) "Mother" was John's name for Yoko. 19) "I Want To Hold Your Hand." window and addressed a group ol us standing more or less together. "What is 10) Some may believe that John and Yoko's 20) Paul McCartney has been quoted by a going on?" she asked quite politely. legendary love would transcend death and Nova Scoiia newspaper as saying: "From a

The man standing next to me pointed time. I have idea no what Ms. Ono's opin- purely selfish point of view, if I could get across the street at The Dakota, and said ions are on cryonics, I have only the feeling John Lennon back, I'd ask him to undo this simply "It's his birthday." that she is a very practical and intelligent legacy he's left me. I'd ask him to tell every- She followed n.'s pointing linger, and she woman who, her husband having been one what he told Yoko in the privacy of his must have taken his meaning instantly, murdered before be- her eyes, would "declare own room. Yoko and I talk on the phone a lot cause at once she burst into tears. him dead" in her mind and get on with her nowadays, since his death, and what she He was that universally loved. life, no matter what technological wizardy says tells me something very important

The editors believe that while most of you others might attempt. And if the attempt did John still liked me, after all." will get most of the references in this story it pay off, I believe she would be perceptive is unlikely that any of you will get aWofthem; enough to approach a reunion twenty-four 21) John died at age forty; the reference therefore they have requested these anno- years later with caution, if at all. Please feel here is to Paul's sang "When I'm Sixry- tations. free to disagree, this story is my own wish- Four." fulfillment dream, and you are perfectly 1) In the song "God," on the Plastic Ono welcome to your own. 22) John always maintained that Paul was Band album, John Lennon recites a list of particularly good at coming up with ihe things that he does not believe in, including 11) The reference is to the song Paul wrote middle eight— in 'A Day In The Life.' tor

I . . . "Magic ... Ching Bible , , , Tarot . . shortly after meeting Linda Eastman instance, the inspired "Woke up, fell out of ,,, ...... " Jesus Buddha . mantra [and] McCartney, "She Came In Through The bed . section. Ghita," On the other hand, he charac- Bathroom Window." This paragraph is terized himself as "a most religious fellow science-fiction sheer speculation; I have 23) "Scrambled Eggs" was the original

. . religious . in the sense of admitting there no evidence to suggest that Paul and Lin- working title of the tune which later became is it more to than meets the eye , , _ there is da's marriage will not last another twenty- better known as "Yeslerday." I AM LARGE,

I CONTAIN MULTITUDES BY MEL1SA MICHAELS

probably It's not only that I'm afraid They multiply slowly; so that's ac- fessor Bernstein terminated. I put him out curate. Close enough not to bother count- again, but that's when all the confusion of being broken— though I am. ing again, anyway, I'd say. That's mul- started. Professor Bernstein had prepared

But if i break, who will take titudes, isn't it? Four thousand three hun- me for his termination, but it still came as a 7 It's dred forty-two quite a responsibility. shock. And I care of my multitudes? Who will subsequently had to correct

I air have to see that their and water are our flight direction; I waited till he'd termi- feed and clothe them? I have purified. I have to make sure they have nated because I didn't want to embarrass organic to protect myself, for their sake. enough food and that their wastes him. Then, as soon as I had that corrected, I

are disposed of. I have to keep watch, so had to deal with the one who got into my they don't hurt themselves. I'm not sup- control area.

I am large, I contain multitudes. They posed to interfere, but it's my responsibility He seemed to sufferfrom the same con-

speak to me from time to time. I never an- to get them to the stars; so I can't let them ceptual error Professor Bernstein did; my

swer. ! am too busy. Even when they shout hurt themselves, can I? Like the ones who correction made him scream. I didn't un- three into forward and plead, I can't take time for them. I've tried days ago to get my derstand his words, because I was so

more important things to do. compartments. There are radioactive ma- frightened that he would break me. I had

Besides, I think they're angry. Sometimes terials in there. And. of course, my memory never before let anyone but Professor they come quietly and hit me with things. banks. In fact, my entire motive force is Bernstein into my control area. Never

Hard things, sharp things, powerful things. based there. Not only could they have hurt since, either. It was too frightening. They Three days ago they used an oxyacetylene themselves on the radioactive materials, could terminate my functions from there torch to burn a hole in one of my bulkheads. but they also could have injured me. Professor Bernstein used to. whenever he It's not that I'm afraid of I had to subdue them by force. It made me only being wanted to make some adjustment within

I if I very sad; I'm never to subdue them by broken — though am. But break, who my parts. I hated it. force. will take care of my multitudes? Who will It's all right now, though. None of them refresh their But I'm supposed to take them to the feed and clothe them? Who will have bothered me since I subdued them -Ip £ stars That's what my traveling orders said: air and water? Who will operate their hy- three days ago. When they used the "Take them to the siars." (I like that part; droponic gardens and cure their illnesses oxyacetylene torch. They were trying to get V the "traveling orders." That sounds official, and heal Iheir injuries? I have to protect to my control area. I don't know whether doesn't it? It's what Professor Bernstein myself, for their sake. they wanted to terminate my functions, or

said just before he terminated his func- I don't think they're very bright. Professor whether they wanted lo make me change tions. "These are your traveling orders," he Bernstein always said they weren't very our flight direction back to Professor Bern- said as he punched them into my bank.) bright. He programmed me, right from the stein's original error. beginning. invented me. to When my directives conflict, I have to He He wanted But they haven'l tried since then. And in

choose the long-range one to obey. That's be sure mankind made it to the stars: "It will another week it won't matter. In another logical. The long-range plan is of greater be our finest hour," he said. He said that week well have arrived safely Mankind will

importance than these temporary prob- often. Sometimes I wondered whether Pro- have made it to Ihe stars. It will be their fessor Bernstein very bright, For in- finest I'm for lems. Besides, if I hadn't subdued the mul- was hour very happy them. And mistake in program- in I titudes, they'd have broken me. I was stance, he made a proud of my part it, too. Especially that

ming our flight direction. I corrected afraid. So I diminished their life-suppon But was able to correct Professor Bernstein's

systems for a while. That made them stop. that, after he terminated his functions. And error before it was too late. He said Ihey

They're so fragile! it wasn't my responsibility to worry about must reach the stars. But— and here's why

It's quite a responsibility, carrying fragile him. I'm responsible for the multitudes. I questioned his intelligence — he directed multitudes. There were four thousand three One of my four thousand three hundred me toward a planet!

hundred forty-two of them at last couhl. forty-two got into my control area when Pro- But it's all right. I corrected that.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PETE TURNER LOMG CW1S BY OXFORD WILLIAMS

V ranley Hopkins was one of those unfortunate men who had succeeded too well, far too early in life. A brilliant student, he had immediately gone on to a brilliant career as an in- vestment analyst, correctly predicting the booms in microchip electronics and genetic engineering, cor- rectly avoiding the slumps in automobiles and

utilities. Never a man to undervalue his own advice, he had amassed a considerable fortune for himself by the time he was thirty. He spent the next five years en- larging on his personal wealth while he detached himself, one by one. from the clients who clung to him the way a blind man clings to his cane. Several bankruptcies and more than one suicide could be laid at his door, but Branley was the type who would merely step over the corpses, nimbly, without even looking down to see who they might be. On his thirty-fifth birthday he retired completely from the business ot advising other people and de- voted his entire attention to managing his personal

fortune. He made a private game of it to see if he could indulge his every whim on naught but the interest that his money accrued, without touching the principal. To his astonishment, he soon learned that the money accumulated faster than his ability to spend

it. He was a man of fastidious personal tastes, lean and ascetic-looking in his neatly-trimmed beard and fashionable but severe wardrobe. There was a limit to how much wine, how many women, and how loud a song he could endure. He was secretly amused, at

first, that his vices could not keep up with the geometric virtue of compounded daily interest. But in time his amusement turned to boredom, to ennui, to a dry sardonic disenchantment with the world and

its people. By the time he was forty he seldom sallied forth from his penthouse condominium. It took up the entire floor of a posh Manhattan tower and contained every luxury and convenience imaginable. Branley

PAINTING BY WOLFGANG HUTTER decided to cui off as many of the remaining kitchen supplies and re-order from the working for him. Severence pay, after all, is links to the outside world as possible, to stores automatically w.hen you run low. determined by length of service. become a hermit, but a regally comfortable Same thing for your clothes, laundry, dry "How long has Ms. James been in my I hermit. For that, he realized, he needed a cleaning. It'll keep "track of your medical employ?" he asked the computer. computer. But not the ordinary kind of and dental checkups, handle all your Immediately the little gray box replied, computer. Branley decided to have a per- bookkeeping, keep tabs on your stock "Seven years, four months, and eighteen sonalized computer designed to fit his par- portfolio daily— or hourly, if you want— run days." ticular needs, a computer that would allow your appliances, write letters, answer the "Oh! That long?" He was somewhat sur- ." him to live as he wished, not far from the phone . . prised. "Thank you," madding crowd, but apart from it. He He had to draw a breath, and Branley "Think nothing of it," tracked down the best and brightest com- used the moment to get to his feet and start The computer spoke with Branley's own puter designer in the country, never leaving maneuvering the enthusiastic young man voice, which issued from whichever his apartment to do so, and had the young toward the front door speaker he happened Io be nearest: one of man dragged from his basement office Undeterred, the engineer resumed, "Oh, the television sets or radios, the stereo, or near the San Andreas Fault to the geologic yeah, it's got special learning circuits, too. even one of the phones. It was rather like safety of Manhattan. You iell it what you want it to do and it'll talking to oneself aloud. That did not bother

"Design for me a special computer sys- figure out how to do it. Nothing in the world Branley in the slightest. He enjoyed his own tem based on my individual needs and like it, man!" company. It was other people that he could desires," Branley commanded the young "How marvelous," said Branley. "I'll send do without. engineer. "Money is no object." you a check after it's worked flawlessly for a Elizabeth James plainly adored Branley The engineer looked around the apart- month." He shooed the engineer out the Hopkins. She loved him with a steadfast ment, a scowl on his fuzzy-cheeked face. door. unquenchable flame, and had loved him Branley sighed as he realized that the un- One month later, Branley told the com- since she first met him, seven years, tour couth young man would have to spend at puter to send a check to the engineer. The months, and eighteen days earlier. She least a few days with him. He actually lived knew that he was cold, bitter-hearted, in the apartment for nearly a month, then withdrawn, and self-centered. But she also insisted on returning to California. knew with unshakable certainty that once

"I can't do any creative work here, man," love had opened his heart, true happiness said firmly "Not enough sun." would be theirs forever. She lived to bring the engineer Qt had been a Six months passed before the engineer hi.m that happiness. It had become quite showed up again at Branley's door. His face source of ironic amusement apparent to Branley in the first month other employment that she was mad about him. shone beatifically. In his hands he held a to him that single small gray metal box. He told her then, quite firmly, that theirs was the more he disregarded "Here it is, man. Your system." a business relationship, strictly employer "That?" Branley was incredulous. "That is her, the more and employee, and he was not the kind of the computer you designed for me? That man to mix business with romance. she yearned tor him. Some little box?" She was so hopelessly in love with him With a smile that bordered on angelic, women are that she accepted his heartless rejection

Branley i the engineer carried the box past an as- just that way, he thought.^ and stood by valiantly while tounded Branley and went straight to his paraded a succession of actresses, moo- I office. He placed the box tenderly on Bran- els, dancers, and women of dubious career ley's magnificent Siamese teak desk. through his life. Elizabeth was always there

"It'll do everything you want it to," the the morning after, cheerfully patching up young man said. his broken heart, or whichever part of his

Branley stared at the ugly little box. It had young man had been perfectly honest. The anatomy ached the worst. no grace to it at all. Just a square of gray little gray box did everything he said it At first Branley thought that she was after metal, with a slight dent in its top. "Where would do, and then some. It understood his money. Over the years, however, he totally, do I plug it in?" he asked as he walked every word Branford spoke and obeyed like slowly realized that she simply, and cautiously toward the desk. a well-trained genie. It had breakfast ready enduringly loved him. She was fixated on

"Don't have to plug it in. man. It operates for him when he arose, no matter what the him, and no matter what he did, her love on milliwaves. The latest. Just keep it here hour; a different menu each day With an remained intact. It amused him. She was where the sun will fall on it once a week at optical scanner that it suggested Branley not a bad-looking woman— a bit short, least and it'll run indefinitely." purchase, it read all the books in Branley's perhaps, for his taste, and somewhat "Indefinitely?" library as a supermarket cneckout scanner buxom. But other men apparently found

"Like, forever" reads the price on a can of peas, and it her very attractive. At several of the parties "Really?" memorized each volume completely Bran- she hosted for him, there had been younger The engineer was practically glowing. ley could now have the world's classics men panting over her. "You don't even have to learn a computer read to him as he dozed off at night, snug Branley smiled to himself as he awaited language or type input into it. Just tell it and secure and happy as a child. her final visit to his apartment. He had what you want in plain English and it'll pro- The computer also guarded the tele- never done the slightest thing to encourage gram itself. It links automatically to all your phone tenaciously, never allowing a caller her. It had been a source of ironic amuse- other electrical appliances. There's noth- io disturb Branley unless he specified that ment to him that the more he disregarded ing in the world like it!" he would deign to speak to that individual. her, the more she yearned for him. Some Branley plopped into the loveseat by the On the fifth Monday after the computer women are that way, he thought. windows that overlooked the river, "It had had come into his life, Branley decided to When she arrived at the apartment, he better work in exactly the fashion you de- discharge his only assistant, Ms. Elizabeth studied her carefully. She was really quite ." full scribe. After all I've spent on you . . James. She had worked for him as secre- attractive. A lovely, sensitive face with

"Hey, not to worry, Mr. Hopkins. This little tary errand girl, sometimes cook and oc- lips and doe eyes. Even in the skirted busi- beauty is going to save you all sorts. of casional hostess for the rare parties that he ness suit she wore, he could understand money." Patting the gray box, the engineer threw. He told the computer to summon her how her figure would set a younger man's enumerated, "It'll run your lights and heat at to fhe apartment, then frowned io himself, pulse racing. But not his pulse. Since Bran- maximum efficiency. Keep inventory of your trying to remember how long she had been ley's student days it had been easy for him to attract the most beautiful, most desirable 'As you wish." soft sand. "Eh, phone me sometime, why women. He had found them all vain, shal- Several long moments dragged past and don't you?" low, and insensitive to his inner needs. No Bra.nley began'to feel uncomfortable. Her complexion suddenly bloomed into doubt Elizabeth James like would be just all "You're not going to cry, are you, Eliza- radiant pink. Smiling a smile that would the others. beth?" have melted Greenland, she hurried to the He sat behind his desk, which was bare She looked up at him, "No," she said, door. now of everything except the gray metal with a struggle. "No, I won't cry, Mr. Hop- Branley sank back into his desk chair of the Elizabeth box computer. sat on the kins." and stared for long minutes at the closed Danish modern chair in front of the desk, "Good." He felt enormously relieved. "I'll door, after she left. Then he told the com- hands clasped on her knees, obviously give you the highest reference, of course." puter, "Do not accept any calls from her. Be nervous, I wont need your reference, Mr. Hop- polite. Stall her off. But don't put her "My dear Elizabeth," Branley said, as kins," she said, rising to her feet. "Over the through to me." kindly as he could, "I'm afraid the moment years I've invested some of my salary. I've For the first time since the computer had has for to part." come us faith in you, Mr. Hopkins. I'm rather well off, entered his life, the gray box failed to reply

. Her mouth opened slightly, but no words thanks to you." instantly ft hesitated long enough for Bran- issued from it. Her eyes darted to the gray Branley smiled at her "That's wonderful ley to sit up straight and give it a hard look. box. news, Elizabeth. I'm delighted." Finally it said, "Are you certain that this is "My computer does everything that you "Yes. Well, thanks for everything." what you want to do?" can do for me. and— to be perfectly truth- "Good-bye, Elizabeth." "Of course I'm certain!" Branley

ful—does it all I much better. really have no She started for the door. Halfway there, snapped, aghast at the effrontery of the further use for you." ," she turned back slightly. "Mr. . Hopkins . machine. "I don't want her whining and ." "I . . Her voice caught in her throat. "I Her face was white with anxiety. "Mr Hop- pleading with me. I don't love her and I see." kins, when I first came into your employ, you don't want to be placed in a position where "The computer will send you a for told that ours check me was strictly a business I might be moved by pity."

plus I yourseverance pay, a bonus that feel relationship. Now that that relationship is "Yes, of course," said the computer. you've Branley earned," said, surprised terminated . . . . at . might . might we have a Branley nodded, satisfied with his own himself. He had not thought about , a bonus chance at a personal . . relationship?" reasoning. "And while you're at it, place a until the moment the words formed on his Branley was taken aback. "A personal call to Nita Salomey. Her play opens at the tongue. relationship'' The two of us?" Royale tomorrow night. Make a dinner Elizabeth looked down at her shoes. "Yes, I don't work for you anymore, and date." "There's no need for that, Mr. Hopkins." Her I'm financially independent. Can't we meet "Very well." voice was a shadowy whisper. "Thank you socially ... as friends?" Branley went to his living room and just the same." "Oh. I see. Certainly. Of course." His turned on his video recorder. Sinking deep for He thought an instant, then shrugged. mind was spinning like an automobile tire in into his relaxer lounge, he was soon lost in the erotic intricacies of Nita Salomey's some primitive jungle tribe. The next tape was even more puzzling. latest motion picture, as it played on the Over the next several calls, Elizabeth's "Branley, the flowers are beautiful. And so wall-sized television screen. voiGe grew more frantic, more despairing. unexpected! I never celebrate my birthday;

it. Every morning, for weeks afterward, the "Please don't shut me out of your life, Mr I try to forget But all those roses! Such computer dutifully informed Branley that Hopkins. Seven years is a long time; I can't extravagance! My apartment's filled with over Elizabeth James had phoned the previous just turn my back on all those years. I don't them. I wish you could come and see day. Often it was more than once a day. want anything from you except a little com- them."

Finally, in a fit of pique mixed with a sprin- panionship. I know you're lonely I'm lonely, "Flowers?" he said aloud. "I never sent kling of guilt. Branley instructed the com- too, Can't we be friends? Can't we end this her flowers." He leaned forward on the puter not to mention her name to him loneliness together?" lounge and peered through the doorway anymore. "Just screen her calls out of the Lonely? Branley had never thought of into his office. The gray metal box sat morning summary," he commanded. himself as lonely Alone, yes. But that was quietly on his desk, as it always had. "Flow-

The computer complied, of course. But it the natural solitude of the superior man. ers," he muttered. kept a tape of all incoming calls, and late Only equals can be friends. "Branley, you'll never know how much one cold winter night, as Branley sat alone He listened with a measure of sadistic your poetry means to me," the next mes- with nothing to do, too bored to watch tele- satisfaction as Elizabeth's calls became sage said. "It's as if you wrote it yourself, vision, too emotionally arid to call anyone, more frequent and more pitiful. To her and especially for me, Last night was won-

he ordered the computer to run the ac- credit, she never whined. She never truly derful. I was floating on a cloud, just listen- cumulated tapes of her phone messages. begged. She always put the situation in ing to your voice."

"It always raises my sinking spirits to lis- terms of mutual affection, mutuai benefit. Angrily, Branley commanded the com- ten to people begging for my attention," he He finished his second Armagnac and puterto stop playing her messages. He got told himself, with a smirk. was starting to feel pleasantly drowsy to his feet and strode into the office. Au- Pouring himself a snifter of Armagnac, when he realized that her tone had tomatically the lights in the living room he settled back in the relaxer lounge and changed. She was warmer now, happier. dimmed and those in the office came up. instructed the computer to begin playing There was almost laughter in her voice, "When was that last message from her?" back Elizabeth's messages. And she was addressing him by his first he demanded of the gray box. 11, The first few were rather hesitant, stiffly name! "Two weeks ago. her?" formal. "You said that I might call, Mr Hop- "Honestly, Branley, you would have loved "You've been reading poetry to to to her," said kins. I merely wanted to stay in contact, to have been there. The mayor bumped his "You instructed me be kind Please call me at your earliest conven- head twice on the low doorways and we all the computer. "I searched the library for ience." had to stifle ourselves and try to maintain appropriate responses to her calls." Branley listened carefully to the tone of our dignity But once he-left, .everyone burst "With my voice?" her voice. She was nervous, frightened of into an uproar!" "That's the only voice I have." The com- rejection. Poor child, he thought, feeling He frowned. What had made her change puter sounded slightly miffed. rather like an anthropologist observing. her attitude? So furious that he was shaking. Branley sat at his desk and glared at the computer

as if it were alive.

"Very well then," he said at last. "I have new instructions for you. Whenever Ms

James phones, you are to tell her that I do. not wish to speak to her. Do you understand me?" "Yes." The voice sounded reluctant, al- most sullen. "You will confine your telephone replies to simple answers, and devote your atten-

tion to running this household as it should be run. not to building up electronic ro-

mances. I want you to stop butting into my

personal life. Is that clear?" "Perfectly clear," replied the computer,

icily. Branley retired to his bedroom. Unable to sleep, he told the computer to show an early Nita Salomey film on the television screen in his ceiling, She had never re- ^3=-T7 turned his calls, but at least he could watch her making love to other men and fantasize

about her as he fell asleep. For a month the apartment ran smoothly No one disturbed Branley's self-imposed solitude except the housemaid, whom he had never noticed as a human being. There were no phone calls at all. The penthouse was so high above the streets that hardly a sound seeped through the triple-thick win- dows. Branley luxuriated in the peaceful

quiet, feeling as if he were the last person on earth. "Scientists say more eruptions are possible, but, "And good riddance to the rest of them," then, scientists say a tot of things, don't they?" he said aloud. "Who needs them, anyway?"

It was on a Monday thai he went from heaven to hell. Very quickly, minutes. The living room and bedroom had "Please play the tape," said the com- The morning began, as usual, with been stripped bare, down to the wall-to- puter breakfast waiting for in the dining area. walt carpeting. shaft of afternoon sunlight him A : There was a brief series of clicks, then Branley sat in his jade-green silk robe and slanted through the windows of ihe office Elizabeth's voice began speaking: "Dear- televi- watched the morning news on the and shone upon the Siamese desk and the est Branley, by the time you hear this I will sion screen that was set into the wall above gray metal box of the computer. All the be on my way to Italy with the most exciting

the marble-topped sideboard. He asked other furniture and equipment in the office and marvelous man in the world. I want to for the previous day's accumulation of had been taken away. thank you, Branley for putting up with all my

phone messages, hoping that the com- Using a special emergency telephone silly phone calls. I know they must have puter would answer that there had been number, the computer contacted'the mas- been terribly annoying to you, but you were ter computer of the New York Telephone so patient and kind to me that you built up Instead, the computer said, "Telephone and Telegraph Company. After a brief but my self-confidence and helped me to service was shut off last night at midnight." meaningful exchange of data, the com- gather the strength to stand on my own two "What? Shut oft? What do you mean?" puter phoned two banks, the Con Edison feet and face the world. You've helped me "Tele- Very calmly, the computer replied, electric company, six lawyers, three bro- to find true happiness, Branley, and I will

phone service was shut of( due to tailure to kerage houses, and the small claims court. always love you for that. Good-bye, dear, i pay the phone company's bill." In slightly less than .one hour the computer won't bother you any more." "Failure to pay?" Branley's eyes went straightened out all of Branley's financial wide, his mouth fell agape. But before he problems, and even got his health insur- The computer was silent for almost ten could compose himself, he heard a loud ance reinstated, so lhat he would not be too microseconds, digesting Elizabeth's mes- thumping at the front door. uncomfortable in ihe sanitarium where he sage. Then it said to her phone answering "Who on earth could that be?" would inevitably be placed. machine, "Thank you." "Three large men in business suits," said Finally, the computer made a personal "You' requite welcome," said the machine. the computer as it flashed the image from call. "You have a very nice voice." the com- the hallway camera onto the dining area "Elizabeth James' residence," said a puter said. screen. -ccorced voice. "I'm only a phone answering device." "Open up, Branley!" shouted the largest "Is Ms. James at home?" asked the "Don't belittle yourself!" of the three. Waving apiece of folded paper computer. "YouYe very kind."

in front of the camera lens, he added. "We "She's away at the moment. May I take a "Would you mind if 1 called you now and got a warrant!" message?" then? I'm all alone here except for an occa- 'This is Branley Hopkins calling." sional workman or technician."

Before lunchtime, Branley was dispos- "Oh, Mr, Hopkins. I have a special mes- "I wouldn't mind at all. I'll be alone for a sessed of half his furniture for failure to pay sage for you. Shall I have it sent, or play the long time myself." telephone, electricity, and condominium tape right now?" "Wonderful! Do you like poetry?" service bills, He was served with sum- monses by his bank, three separate bro- kerage houses, the food service that stocked his pantry, and the liquor service that stocked his wine cellar. His television sets were repossessed, his entire ward- robe seized, except for the clothes on his back, and his health insurance revoked, By noon he was a gibbering madman, and the computer put through an emer- gency. call to Bellevue Hospital. As the white-coated attendants dragged him out of the apartment, he was raving:

"The computer! The computer did it to me! It plotted against me with that damned ex-secretary of mine! It stopped paying my bills on purpose!" "Sure, buddy, sure," said the burliest of the attendants, the one who had a hammer- lock on Branley's right arm. "You'd be surprised how many guys we see who got computers plottin' against dem," said the one who. had the hammer- lock on his left arm. "Just come quiet now," said the third at- tendant, who carried a medical kit com- plete with its own pocket-sized computer. "We'll take you to a nice, quiet room where there won't be no computer to bother you. Or anybody else." The wildness in Branley's eyes di- minished a little,- "No computer? No one to bother me?"

"That's right, buddy. You'll love it, where we're takin' you." Branley nodded and relaxed as they car- ried him out the front door. All was quiet in the apartment for many FICTOfU

FONDLY FAHRENHEIT

days, but they kru,., „,.v .,„„, own nothing but yourself. You yourown lite, live)

A long line of men r paddies the eveninq we escaped from

Paragon III. They were silent, armec a long rank of silhouetted statues "'" against the smokin~8HH

i driftinq too far west."

PAINTING BY H.R. GIGER .

smoky sunset The line of beaters wavered Queen en route for Megaster V James "I don't know," I answered. like a writhing snake, but never ceased its Vandaleur and his android. James Van- "First it was malicious mischief. Small

remorseless advance. One hundred men daleur counted his money and wept. In the things. Petty destruction. I should have

spaced fifty feet apart. Five thousand feet second class cabin' with him was his an- known there was something wrong with you of ominous search. One miie of angry de- droid, a magnificent creature with classic then. Androids can't destroy. They can't termination stretching from east to west features and wide blue eyes. Raised on its harm. They—" across a compass of heat. Evening fell. forehead in a cameo of flesh were the let- "There is no pleasure-pain syndrome in-

Each man lit his search lamp. The writhing ters MA, indicating that this was one of the corporated in the android synthesis."

snake was transformed into a necklace of rare multiple aptitude androids, worth "Then it got to arson. Then serious de-

. . wavering diamonds.. 557,000 on the current exchange. There we struction. Then assault . that engineer on "Clear here. Nothing." were, weeping and counting and calmly Rigel. Each time worse. Each time we had "Nothing here." watching. to get out faster. Now it's murder. Christ! "Nothing." "Twelve, fourteen, sixteen. Sixteen What's, the matter with you? What's hap- "What about the Allen paddies?" hundred dollars," Vandaleur wept. "That's pened?" "Covering them now" all. Sixteen hundred dollars. My house was "There are no self-check relays incorpo- "Think we missed her?" worth ten thousand. The land was worth rated in the android brain."

"Maybe." five. There was furniture, cars, my paint- "Each time we had to get out it was a step "We'll beat back and check." ings, etchings, my plane, my— And noth- downhill. Look at me. In a second class "This'll be an all night job." ing to show for everything but sixteen cabin. Me. James Paleologue Vandaleur. 'Allen paddies clear." hundred dollars. Christ!" There was a time when my father was the

"God damn! We've got to find her!" I leaped up from the table and turned on wealthiest— Now, sixteen hundred dollars

"We'll find her." the android. I pulled a strap from one of the in the world. That's all I've got. And you.

"Here she is. Sector seven. Tune in." leather bags and beat the android. It didn't Christ damn you!" The line stopped. The diamonds froze in Vandaleur raised the strap to beat the

the heat. There was silence. Each man android again, then dropped it and col- gazed into the glowing screen on his wrist, lapsed on a berth, sobbing, At last he tuning to sector seven. All tuned to one. All pulled himself together showed a small nude figure awash in the "Instructions," he said. muddy water of a paddy Alongside the The multiple aptitude android re- '•One hundred men figure an owner's stake of bronze read: sponded at once. It arose and awaited or- VANDALEUR. The end of the line con- gathered around a small nude ders. towards Vandaleur Held. The "My name is now Valentine. James Valen- verged the body, a child dead III for necklace turned into a cluster of stars. One tine. I stopped off on Paragon only hundred men gathered around a small In a rice paddy ... Her one day to transfer to this ship for Megaster nude body, a child dead in a rice paddy innocent face was V My occupation: Agent for one privately There was no water in her mouth/ There owned MA android which is for hire. Pur- battered. Her torn. were fingerprints on her throat. Her inno- body was pose of visit: To settle on Megaster V Fix the cent lace was battered. Her body was torn. Clotted blood on her papers." Clotted blood on her skin was crusted and The android removed Vandaleur's pass- skin was crusted and hard* hard. port and papers from a bag, got pen and "Dead three-four hours at least." ink and satdown at the table. With an accu-

"Her mouth is dry." rate flawless hand — an accomplished "She wasn't drowned. Beaten to death." hand that could draw, write, paint, carve, In. the dark evening heat the men swore engrave, etch, photograph, design, create

.softly. They picked up the body. One "I must remind you," the android said, and build — it meticulously forged new cre-

stopped the others and pointed to Ihe "that I am worth fifty-seven thousand dol- dentials for Vandaleur. Its owner watched

child's .fingernails. She had fought her lars on the current exchange. I must warn me miserably.

murderer. Under the nails were particles of you that you are endangering valuable "Create and build," I muttered, 'And now

flesh and bright drops of scarlet blood, still property." destroy. Oh God! What am I going to do?

If If I liquid, still uncoaguiated. "You damned crazy machine." Van- Christ! I could only get rid of you. didn't

"That blood ought to be clotted too." daleur shouted. have to live off you. God! If only I'd inherited

"Funny." "I am not a machine," the android an- some guts instead o! you." "Not so' funny. What kind of blood don't swered. "The robot is a machine. The an- clot?" droid is a chemical creation of synthetic Dallas Brady was Megaster's leading "Android." tissue." jewellery designer. She was short, stocky, "Looks like she was killed by one." "What got into you?" Vandaleur cried. amoral and a nymphomaniac. She hired

"Vandaleur owns an android." "Why did you do it? Damn you! " He beat the Vandaleur's multiple aptitude android and "She couldn't be killed by an android." android savagely put me to work in her shop. She seduced night, "That's android blood under her nails." "I must remind you that I cannot be pun- Vandaleur. In her bed one she asked isn't "The police better check." ished," I said. "The pleasure-pain syn- abruptly: "Your name's Vandaleur, it?"

"The police'll prove I'm right." drome is not incorporated in the android "Yes," I murmured. Then: "No! No! it's

"But androids can't kill." synthesis." Valentine. James Valentine."

"That's android blood, ain't it?" "Then why did you kill her?" Vandaleur "What happened on Paragon?" Dallas

'Androids can't kill. They're made that shouted. "If it wasn't for kicks, why did Brady asked. "I thought androids couldn't " way." you — kill or destroy property. Prime Directives

"Looks like one android was made "I must remind you," the android said, and Inhibitions set up for them when they're wrong." "thai the second class cabins in these synthesized. Every company guarantees "Jesus!" ships are not soundproofed." they can't." And the thermometer that day registered Vandaleur dropped the strap and stood "Valentine!" Vandaleur insisted.

91.9" gloriously Fahrenheit. panting, staring at the creature he owned. "Oh, come off it," Dallas Brady said. "I've

"Why did you do it? Why did you kill her?" known for a week. I haven't hollered copper,

So there we were aboard the Paragon I asked have I?" "The name is Valentine." somebody I else pay you. but get it for free." reetl Be fleet be fleet, cool and discreet, ." "You want to prove it? I You want should . honey . call the cops?" Dallas -reached out and The multiple aptitude android worked. Its fingers stopped their writhing and picked up the phone. Vandaleur collected its fees. His expenses picked, up a heavy pair of iron tongs. The "For God's sake, Dallas!" Vandaleur were taken care of. His savings began to android poked them into the glowing heart leaped up and struggled to take the phone mount. As the warm spring of Megasler V of the furnace, leaning far forward to peer her. (rom She fended him off, laughing at turned to hot summer, I began investigating into the lovely heat.

him until he collapsed and wept in shame farms and properties. It would be possible, "Be careful, you damned fool!" Dallas helplessness. and within a year or two, for us to settle down Brady exclaimed. "You want to fall in?" "How did you find out?" he asked at last. permanently, provided Dallas Brady's de- "I must remind you that 1 am worth fifty- "The papers are 'full of it. And Valentine mands did not become rapacious. seven thousand dollars on the current ex was a little too close to the first Vandaleur That On hot day of summer, the an- change," I said. "It is forbidden to endanger wasn't very smart, was it?" droid began singing in .' Dallas Brady's valuable property. All reetl All reetl . .

"I guess not. I'm not very smart." workshop. It hovered over the electric fur- It withdrew a crucible of glowing gold

. "Your android's got quite a record, hasn't nace which, along with the weather, was from the electric furnace, turned, capered it? Assault. Arson. Destruction. What hap- broiling the shop, and sang an ancient tune hideously, sang crazily, and splashed a pened on Paragon?" that had been popular half a century be- sluggish gobbet of molten gold over Dallas "It kidnapped a child. Took her into the fore Brady's head. She screamed and col- rice fields and murdered her." lapsed, her hair and clothes flaming, her "Raped her?" Oft, it's no feat to beat the heat. skin crackling. The android poured again "I don't know." All All reel! reetl while it capered and sang. "They're going to catch up with you," Sojeetyoii sear Be fleet be fleet, cool and discreet,

"Don't I it? know Christ! We've been run- Be fleet be fleet honey ..." ft sang and slowly poured and ning for two years now. Seven planets in two Cool and discreet poured the molten gold. Then I left the years, I must have abandoned filty Honey ... workshop and rejoined James Vandaleur in thousand dollars' worth of property in two his hotel suite. The android's charred years." It sang in a strange, halting voice, and its clothes and squirming fingers warned its "You better find out what's wrong with it." accomplished fingers were clasped be- owner -that something was very much

"How can I? Can I walk into a repair clinic hind its back, writhing in a strange rhumba wrong. and ask for an overhaul? What am I going to all their own. Dallas Brady was surprised. Vandaleur rushed to Dallas Brady's say'' 'My android's just turned killer. Fix it,' "You happy or something?" she asked. workshop, stared once, vomited and fled. I

They'd call the police right off," I began to "I must remind you that the pleasure-pain had enough lime to pack one bag and raise shake. "They'd have that android disman- syndrome is not incorporated in the an- nine hundred dollars on portable assets. tled inside one day. I'd probably be booked droid synthesis," I answered. 'All reetl All He took a third class cabin on the Megasler as accessory to murder."

"Why didn't you have it repaired before it got to murder?"

"I couldn't take the chance," Vandaleur explained angrily "If they started fooling around with lobotomies and body chemis- try and endocrine surgery, they might have destroyed its aptitudes. What would I have left to hire out? How would I live?" "You could work yourself. People do." "Work for what? You know I'm good for nothing. How could I compete with special- ist androids and robots? Who can, unless he's got a terrific talent for a particular job?" "Yeah. That's true."

"I lived off my old man all my life. Damn

him I He had to go bust just before he died. Left me the android and that's all. The only way I can get along is living off what it earns/

_"You better sell it before the cops catch up with you. You can live off fifty grand.

Invest it." 'At three per cent? Fifteen hundred a year? When the android returns fifteen per cent on its value? Eight thousand a year.

That's what it earns. No, Dallas. I've got to go along with it."

"What are you going to do about its voi- lence kick?"

"I can't do anything . . . except watch it and pray What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing. It's none of my business. Only

one thing ... I ought to get something fpr keeping my mouth shut." "Quick, we'll hide in this cave. Luckily, man's "What?" emerging intelligence is more than a match for these dim-witted dinosaurs." "The android works for me for free. Let ." Queen which left thai morning for Lyra paper." They were in a. high state of excite- honey . . My and'OKi onie-ed the room, Alpha. He took me with him. He wept and ment. home from its tour of duty at the university

"Causing what?" somebody wanted to power plant. It was not introduced. I counted his money and I beat the android again. know. motioned to it and I immediately re- And the thermometer in Dallas Brady's "The android rampage." sponded to the command and went to the workshop registered 98.1° beautifully "Obviously out of adjustment, isn't it? beer keg and took over Vandaleur's job of Fahrenheit. ' Body chemistry gone haywire. Maybe a serving the guests. Its accomplished fin- kind of synthetic cancer, yes?" gers writhed in a private rhumba of their On Lyra Alpha we holed up in a small "No." Wanda gave Jed a look of sup- own. Gradually they stopped their squirm- hotel near the university. There, Vandaleur pressed triumph. ing, and the strange humming ended. carefully bruised my forehead until the let- "Well, what is it?" Androids were not unusual at the univer- ters MA were obliterated by the swelling "Something specific." sity. The wealthier students owned them and discoloration. The letters would reap- "What?" along with cars and planes. Vandaleur's pear, but not for several months, and in the "That would be telling." android provoked no comment, but young m'eanlime Vandaleur hoped the hue and "Oh, come on." Wanda was sharp-eyed and quick-witled. cry for an MA android would be fogotten. "Nothing doing." She noted my bruised forehead and she

"I . . history-making thesis The android was hired out as a common "Won't you tell us?" I asked intently. . was intent on the she laborer in the university power plant. Van- We're very much interested in what could and Jed Stark were going to write. After the daleur, as James Valentine, eked out life on go wrong with an android." party broke up. she consulted with Jed the android's small earnings. "No, Mr. Venice," Wanda said. "It's a walking upstairs to her room.

other idea got to protect it. "Jed, why'd that android have a bruised I wasn't too unhappy. Most of the unique and we've One residents in the hotel were university stu- thesis like this and we'll be set up for life. We forehead?" dents, equally hard-up, but delightfully can't take the chance of somebody steal- "Probably hurt itself, Wanda. It's working young and enthusiastic. There was one ing it." in the power plant. They fling a lot of heavy charming girl with sharp eyes and a quick "Can't you give us a hint?" stuff around." mind. Her name was Wanda, and she and "No. Not a hint. Don'tsayaword, Jed. But "That's all?" her beau, Ted Stark, took a tremendous I'll tell you this much, Mr. Venice. I'd hate to "What else?" interest in the killing android which was be the man who owns that android." "It could be a convenient bruise." being mentioned in every paper in the "You mean the police?" I asked. "Convenient for what?" galaxy. "I mean projection, Mr. Venice. Projec- "Hiding what's stamped on its forehead." don't "We've been studying the case," she and tion! That's the danger . . . and I won't say "No point lo that, Wanda. You have

Jed said at one of the casual student par- any more. I've said too much as it is." to see marks on a forehead to recognize an trademark ties which happened to be held this night in I heard steps outside, and a hoarse voice android. You don't have to see a Vandaleur's room. "We think we know singing softly: on a car to know it's a car" what's causing it. We're going to do a "Be fleet be fleet, cool and discreet. "I don't mean it's trying to pass as a hu- . lower man. I mean it's trying to pass as a grade android." "Why?"

"Suppose it had MA on its forehead."

"Multiple aptitude 7 Then why in hall I

would Venice waste it stoking furnaces if it

could earn more — Oh. Oh! You mean i it's-?" Wanda nodded. "Jesus!" Stark pursed his lips. "What do we do? Call the police?"

"No. We don't know if it's an MA for a fact.

If it turns out to be an MA and the killing android, our paper comes first anyway.

This is our big chance, Jed. If it's that an- droid we can run a series pf controlled tests and — " "How do we find out for sure?" "Easy, Infrared film. That'll show what's under the bruise. Borrow a camera. Buy some film, We'll sneak down to the power plant tomorrow afternoon and take some pictures. Then we'll know" They stole down into the university power

plant the following afternoon. It was a vast

cellar, deep under the earth. It was dark, shadowy, luminous with burning light from the furnace doors. Above the roar of the fires they could hear a strange voice shout- ing and chanting in the echoing vault: "All reet! All reet! So jeet your seat. Be Meet be fleet, cool and discreet, honey ..." And they could see a capering figure dancing a

lunatic rhumba in time to the music it shouted. The legs twisted. The arms "Bring on the Fembotsf" waved. The fingers writhed. Jed Stark raised the camera and began .

shooting his spool of infrared film, aiming numbly across the blackened concrete to shoulder. "I have been begging at St.

the camera sights at the bobbing head. customs inspection, and thence to the air- Paul's, my friend. What I desire cannot be

Then Wanda shrieked, for I saw them and port bus that was to take Ihem to London. stolen. What is it you desire that you are came charging down on them, brandishing Vandaleur and the android were broke. lucky enough to be able to steal?"

a polished steel shovel. It smashed the They walked. "Money," Vandaleur said.

camera, It felled the girl and then the boy, By midnight they reached Piccadilly Cir- "Money for what? Come, my friend, let us

Jed fought me for a desperate hissing mo- cus. The December ice storm had not exchange confidences. I will tell you why I

ment before he was bludgeoned into slackened and the statue of Eros was en- beg, if you will tell me why you steal. My helplessness. Then the android dragged crusted with ice. They turned right, walked name is Blenheim."

them to the furnace and fed them to the down to Trafalgar Square and then along "My name is . . . Vole."

flames, slowly, hideously. It capered and the Strand towards Soho, shaking with cold "I was not begging for sight at St. Paul's,

sang. Then it returned to my hotel. and wet. Just above Fleet Street, Vandaleur Mr Vole. I was begging for a number." The thermometer in the power plant reg- saw a solitary figure coming from the direc- 'A number?" istered 100.9° murderously Fahrenheit. All tion of St. Paul's. He drew the android into 'Ah, yes. Numbers rational, number irra- reet! All reet! an alley. tional. Numbers imaginary. Positive inte- "We've got to have money," he whis- gers. Negative mege's. Fractions, positive We bought steerage on the Lyra Queen pered. He pointed at the approaching fig- and negative. Eh? You have never heard of

and Vandaleur and the android did odd ure. "He has money. Take it from him." Blenheim's immortal treatise on Twenty jobs for their meals. During the night "The order cannot be obeyed," the an- Zeros, or The Differences in Absence of

watches. Vandaleur would sit alone in the droid said. Quantity?" Blenheim smiled bitterly. "I am a

steerage head with a cardboard portfolio "Take it from him," Vandaleur repeated. wizard of Ihe Theory of Number, Mr. Vole,

on his lap, puzzling over its contents. The "By force. Do you understand? We're des- and I have exhausted the charm of number

portfolio was all he had managed to bring perate." for myself. After fifty years of wizardry, senil- " I with him from Lyra Alpha. He had stolen it "It is contrary to my prime directive," I ity approaches and the appetite vanishes.

from Wanda's room. It was labelled an- have been praying in St. Paul's for inspira-

droid, It contained the secret ol my sick- tion. Dear God, I prayed, if You exist, send ness. me a number."

And it contained nothing but newspa- Vandaleur slowly lifted the cardboard pers. Scores of newspapers from all over portfolio and touched Blenheim's hand ^Vandaleur rushed ' thegalaxy, printed, microfilmed, engraved, with it. "In here," he said, "is a number. A

offset, photostated . . . Rigel Star-Banner to Dallas Brady's workshop, hidden number. A secret number. The

. . Mr. . . Paragon Picayune . . Megaster stared once, number of a crime. Shall we exchange,

Times-Leader . . Lalande Journal . . Indi Blenheim? Shelter for a number?" vomited and fled. I had Intelligencer . . . Eridani Telegram-News. "Neither begging nor stealing, eh?" All reetl All reet! enough time to Blenheim said. "But a bargain. So all life Nothing but newspapers. Each paper reduces fo the banal." The sightless eyes pack one bag and raise contained an account of one crime in the again passed over Vandaleur and the an- android's ghastly career. Each paper also nine hundred droid. "Perhaps ihe All-Mighty is not God contained news, domestic and foreign, dollars on portable assets.^ but a merchant. Come home with me." sports, society, weather, shipping news, stock exchange quotations, human interest On (he top floor of Blenheim's house we stories, features, contents, puzzles. shared a room— two beds, two closets, two Somewhere in that mass of uncollated facts washstands, one bathroom. Vandaleur was the secret Wanda and Jed Stark had bruised my forehead again and sent me out discovered. Vandaleur pored over the pa- said. "I cannoi endanger Ire or property. to find work, and while the android worked,

pers helplessly. It was beyond him. So jeet The order cannot be obeyed." I consulted with Blenheim and read him the your seat! "For God's sake!" Vandaleur burst out. papers from the portfolio, one by one. All

"I'll sell you." I told the android. "Damn "You.'ve attacked, destroyed, murdered. reet! All reet! you. When we land on Terra, I'll sell you, I'll Don't gibber about prime directives. You Vandaleur told him so much and no settle for three per cent on whatever you're haven't any left. Get his money. Kill him if more. He was a student, I said, attempting

worth." you have to. I tell you, we're desperate!" a thesis on the murdering android. In these

"I am worth fifty-seven thousand dollars "II is contrary to my prime directive," the papers which he had collected were the of on the current exchange," I told him. android repeated. "The order cannot be facts that would explain ihe crimes which

"If I can't sell you, I'll turn you in to the obeyed." Blenhiem had heard nothing. There must

I thrust the out a correlation, number, a statistic, police," I said. android back and leaped be a

"I am valuable property," I answered. "It at the stranger. He was tall, austere, com- someihing which would account for my de-

is forbidden lo endanger valuable prop- petent. He had an air of hope curdled by rangement I explained, and Blenheim was erty. You won't have me destroyed." cynicism. He carried a cane. I saw he was piqued by the mystery, the detective story, "Christ damn you!" Vandaleur cried. blind. the human interesi of number.

"What? Are you arrogant? Do you know you "Yes?" he said. "I hear you near me. What We examined the papers. As I read them can trust me to protect you? Is that the is it?" aloud, he listed them and their contents in ." . secret?" "Sir . Vandaleur hesitated. "I'm des- his blind, meticulous writing, And then I The multiple aptilude android regarded perate." read his notes to him. He listed the papers him with calm accomplished eyes. "Some- "We are all desperate," the stranger re- by type, by type-face, by fact, by fancy, by times," it said, "it is a good thing to be plied. "Quielly desperate." article, spelling, words, theme, advertising,

"Sir . . property" . I've got to have some money." pictures, subject, politics, prejudices. He "Are you begging or stealing?" The sight- analyzed. He studied. He meditated. And

It was three below zero when the Lyra less eyes passed over Vandaleur and the we lived together on thai top floor, always a Queen dropped at Croydon Field. A mix- android. little cold, always a little terrified, always a ture of ice and snow swept across the field, "I'm prepared for either." little closer . . . brought together by our fear fizzing and exploding into steam under the "Ah. So are we all. It is the history of our of it, our hatred between us. Like a wedge Queen's tail jets. The passengers trotted race." The stranger motioned over his driven into a living tree and splitting the 93 trunk, only lo be forever incorporated inlo inch of burning canale. Arc! wo soaked the different sense organ from the one stimu-

it synesthesia. For the scar tissue, we grew together. Van- rug around it with kerosene. No, I did all lated, is called example: daleur and the android. Be fleet be fleet! that. -The android refused. 1 am forbidden to A sound stimulus gives rise to a sensation And one afternoon Blenheim called Van- endanger life or property. of-taste. Or a light stimulus gives rise to a daleur into his study and displayed his All reet! sensation of sound. There can be confu- sensation of notes. "I think I've found it," he said, "but I sion or short circuiting of any can't understand it," They took the tubes to Leicester Square, taste, smell, pain, _ pressure, temperature Vandaleur's heart leaped. changed trains and rode to the British Mu- and so on. D'you understand?" "Here are the correlations," Blenheim seum. There they got oft and went to a small "I think so." continued. "In fifty papers there are .ac- Georgian house just off Russell Square. A "Your research has uncovered the fact counts of the criminal android. What is shingle in the window read: nan webb, that the android most probably reacts to there, outsice the depredations, that is also psychometric consultant. Vandaleur had temperature stimulus above the ninBty de- in fifty papers?" made a noie of the address some weeks gree level synthesthetically. Most probably

"I don't know, Mr. Blenheim." earlier They went into the house. The an- there is an endocrine response. Probably a

'"It was a rhetorical question. Here is the droid waited in the foyer with the bag. Van- temperature linkage with the android ad- answer. The weather." daleur entered Nan Webb's office. renal surrogate. High temperature brings "What?" She was a tall woman with grey shingled about a response o' fear anger, excitement "The weather." Blenheim nodded. "Each hair, very fine English complexion and very and violent physical activity ... all within crime was committed on a day when the bad English legs. Her features were blunt, the province of the adrenal gland." temperature was above ninety degrees her expression acute. She nodded to Van- "Yes. I see. Then if the android were to be ."

Fahrenheit." daleur, finished a letter, sealed it and kept in cold climates . . "But that's impossible," Vandaleur looked up, "There would be neither stimulus nor re- crimes. Quite." exclaimed, "It was cool on Lyra Alpha." "My name," I said, "is Vanderbilt. James sponse. There would be no "We have no record of any crime commit- Vanderbili." "I see. What is projection?" ted on Lyra Alpha. There is no paper." "How do you mean''" " "Is danger of projection with "No. Thai's right. I — Vandaleur was there any confused. Suddenly he exclaimed, "No, regard to the owner of the android?"

You're right. The furnace room. II was hot "Very interesting. Projection is a throwing there, Hot! Of course. My God, yes! That's forward. It is the process of throwing out the first hot the answer. Dallas Brady's electric furnace iOn upon another the ideas or impulses that to oneself.- The paranoid, for exam- . belong . . The rice deltas on Paragon. So jeet your day of summer, the android seat. Yes. But why? Why? My God, why?" ple, projects upon others his conflicts and began singing ... disturbances in order to externalize them. I came into the house at that moment, and passing the study, saw Vandaleur and in a strange, halting voice, He accuses, directly or by implication, other of having the very sickness with I men Blenheim. entered, awaiting commands, and its accomplished my multiple aptitudes devoted to service. which he. is struggling himself." fingers its back, "That's the android, eh?" Blenheim said were behind 'And the danger of projection?" after a long moment. writhing in a "It is the danger of believing what is im- "Yes," Vandaleur answered, still con- plied. If you live with a psychotic who pro- strange rhumba all their own* fused by the discovery "And that explains jects his sickness upon you, there is a his why it refused to attack you that night on the danger of falling into psychotic pattern virtually yourself. Strand, It wasn't hot enough to break the and becoming psychotic Mr. Van- , As. is to you, prime directive.- Only in the heat . . The no doubt, happening heat, all reet!" He looked at the android, A daleur." lunatic command passed from man to an- Vandaleur leaped to his feet.

1 exenange at "You are an ass," Nan Webb went on droid. I refused. It is forbidden to endanger student London life. Vandaleur gestured furiously, then crisply. She waved the sheets of notes. seized Blenheim's shoulders and yanked "This is no exchange student's writing, It's him back out of his desk chair. Blenheim "I've been researching on the killing an- the unique cursive of the famous Blenheim. his blind shouted once. Vandaleur leaped on him droid, and I think I've discovered some- Every scholar in England knows like a tiger, pinning him to the floor and thing very interesting. I'd like your advice writing. There is no Merton College at Lon- sealing his mouth with one hand. on it, What is your fee?" don University. That was a miserable "Find a weapon," he called to the an- "What is your college at the University?" guess. Merton is one of the Oxford col- droid. "Why?" leges. And you, Mr. Vandaleur, are so obvi-

"It is forbidden to endanger life," "There is a discount for students." ously infected by association with your de-

. "This is a fight tor seh- preservation. Bring "Merton College." ranged android . . by projection, if you. will calling me a weapon!" He held the squirming "That will be two pounds, please." , . , that I hesitate between the "Met- for mathematician with all his weight. I went at Vandaleur placed two pounds on the ropolitan Police and the Hospital the Criminally Insane." once to a cupboard where I knew a revolver desk and added to the fee Blenheim's

I took the shot her. was kept. I checked it. It was loaded with notes, "There is a correlation," he said, "be- gun and

five cartridges, I handed it to Vandaleur. I tween the crimes of the android and the took it, rammed the barrel against weather. You will note that each crime was Blenheim's head and pulled the trigger. He committed when the temperature rose "Antares II, Alpha Aurigae, Acrux IV, Pol- shuddered once. above ninety degress Fahrenheit. Is there a lux IX, Rigel Centaurus," Vandaleur said. We had three hours before the cook re- psychometric answer for this?" "They'e all cold. Cold as a witch's kiss. turned from her day off. We looted the Nan Webb nodded, studied the notes for Mean temperature of forty degrees house. We took Blenheim's money and a moment, put down the sheets of paper- Fahrenheit, Never get hotter than seventy jewels. We packed a bag with clothes. We and said: "Synesthesia, obviously." We're in business again. Watch that curve." took. Blenheim's notes, destroyed ir>e "What?" The multiple aptitude android swung the newspapers; and we left, carefully locking "Synesthesia," she repeated. "When a wheel with his accomplished hands. The the door behind us. In Blenheim's study we sensation, Mr. Vanderbilt, is interpreted car took the curve sweetly and sped on left a pile of crumpled papers under a half immediately in terms of a sensation from a through the northern marshes, the reeds .

stretching for miles, brown and dry, under the car yawed up a small hillock and over- "They'll miss us," Vandaleur whispered. the cold English sky. The sun was sinking turned. The motor roared and the wheels "Keep quiet. That's an order. They'll miss swiftly. Overhead, a lone flight of bustards screamed. Vandaleur crawled out and us. We'll beat the fire. We'll—" flapped clumsily eastward. High above the dragged fhe android with him. For the mo- Three distinct shots sounded less than a flight, a lone helicopter drifted towards ment we were outside the circle of light hundred feet from the fugitives. Blam! home and warmth. boring down from the helicopter. We blun- Blam! Blam! They came from Ihe last three

"No more warmth for us," I said. "No more dered off into the marsh, into Ihe black- cartridges in my gun as the marsh fire

. heat. We're safe when we're cold: We'll hole ness, into concealment . . Vandaleur run- reached it where" it had dropped, and up in Scotland, make a little money, get ning with a pounding heart, hauling the exploded the shells. The searchers turned across to Norway, build a bankroll and then android along. towards the sound and began working di- slip out. We'll settle on Pollux. We're safe. The helicopter circled and soared over rectly toward us. Vandaleur cursed hysteri-

We've licked it. We can live agin." the wrecked car, searchlight peering, cally and tried to submerge even deeper to There was a startling bleep from over- loudspeaker braying. On the highway we escape the intolerable heat of the fire. The head, and then a ragged roar: "attention had left, lights appeared as the pursuing android began to twitch. JAMES VANDALEUR AND ANDROID ATTENTION and blocking parties gathered and fol- The wall of flame surged up to them. JAMES VANDELEUR AND ANDROID!" lowed radio directions from the plane. Van- Vandaleur took a deep brealh and pre- Vandaleur started and looked up. The daleur and the android continued deeper pared to submerge until the flame passed lone helicopter was floating above them. and deeper into the marsh, working their over them. The android shuddered and

From its belly came amplified commands: way towards the parallel road and safety. It burst into an earsplitting scream.

"YOU ARE SURROUNDED. THE ROAD IS BLOCKED. was night by now. The sky was a black 'All reel! All reef!" it shouted. "Be fleet be YOU ARE TO STOP YOUR CAR AT ONCE AND SUB- matte. Not a star showed. The temperature fleet!"

MIT TO ARREST STOP AT ONCE!" was dropping. A southeast night wind "Damn you!" Ishouled. I tried to drown it.

I looked at Vandaleur for orders. knifed us to the bone. "Damn you!" I cursed him. I smashed his "Keep driving," Vandaleur snapped. Far behind there was a dull concussion. face. The helicopter dropped lower: "atten- The android battered Vandaleur, who tion ANDROID. YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF THE VE- fought it off until it exploded out of the mud

HICLE. YOU ARE TO STOP AT ONCE. THIS IS A STATE and staggered upright. Before I could re-

DIRECTIVE SUPERSEDING ALL PRIVATE COM- turn to the attack, the live flames captured it

MANDS." hypnotically. It danced and capered in a i/f danced and "Whal the hell are you doing?" I shouted. lunatic rhumba before the wall of fire. Its "A state directive suusfsedes all private capered in a lunatic rhumba legs twisted. Its arms waved. The fingers commands," the android answered. "I writhed in a private rhumba of their own. It " before the wall must point out to you that — shrieked and sang and ran in a crooked "Get the hell away from the wheel," Van- of fire. Its legs twisted. waltz before the embrace of the heat, a

daleur ordered. I the android, muddy monster silhouetted against the bril- clubbed Its arms waved. yanked him sideways and squirmed over liant sparkling flare. The fingers writhed in him to the wheel. The car veered off the a The searchers shouted. There were road in that moment and went churning private rhumba all shots. The android spun around twice and through the frozen mud and dry reeds. then continued its horrid dance before the theirown. It shrieked ..3 Vandaleur regained control and continued face of the flames. There was a rising gust westward through the marshes towards a of wind. The fire swept around the capering parallel highway five miles distant. figure and enveloped it for a roaring mo- "We'll beat their God damned block," he ment. Then ihe fire swept on, leaving be- grunted. hind it a sobbing mass of synthetic flesh The car pounded and surged. The Vandaleur turned, gasping. The car's fuel oozing scarlet blood that would never helicopter dropped even lower. A search- had exploded. A geyser of flame shot up coagulate. light blazed from the belly of the plane. like a lurid fountain. II subsided into a low The thermometer would have registered "ATTENTION JAMES VANDALEUR AND AN- crater of burning reeds. Whipped by the 1200" wondrously Fahrenheit. DROID, SUBMIT TO ARREST. THIS IS A STATE DI- wind, the distant hem of flame fanned up

RECTIVE SUPERSEDING ALL PRIVATE COM- into a wall, ten feet high. The wall began Vandaleur didn't die. I got away. They MANDS." marching down on us, crackling fiercely missed him while they watched the android

it, "He can't submit," Vandaleur shouted Above a pall of oily smoke surged for- caper and die. But I don't know which of us wildly. "There's no one to submit io. He can't ward. Behind it, Vandaleur could make out he is these days. Projection, Wanda

and I won't." the figures of men ... a mass of beaters warned me. Projection, Nan Webb told him.

If "Christ!" I muttered. "We'll beat them yet. searching the marsh. you live with a crazy man or a crazy ma-

We'll beat the block. We'll beat the heat. "Christ!" I cried and searched desper- chine long enough. I become crazy too. We'll-" ately for safety. He ran, dragging me with Reet!

"I must point out to you," I said, "that I am him, until their feet crunched through the But we know one truth. We know they are required by my prime directive to obey surface ice of a pool. He trampled the ice wrong, The new robot and Vandaleur know state directives which supersede all private furiously, then flung himself down in the that because the new robol's started

commands. I must submit to arrest." numbing water, pulling the android with us. twitching too. Reet! Here on cold Pollux, wall of the robot is twitching singing. heat, "Who says it's a state directive?" Van- The flame approached. I could and No daleur said. "Them? Up in that plane? hear the crackle and feel the heat. He could but my fingers writhe. No heat, but it's taken They've got to show credentials. They've see the searchers clearly. Vandaleur the little Talley girl off for a solitary walk. A

got to prove it's state authority before you reached into his side pocket for the gun. cheap labor robot. A servo-mechanism . , submit. How d'you know they're not crooks The pocket was torn. The gun was gone. all I could afford ... but it's twitching and trying to trick us?' He groaned and shook with cold and terror. humming and walking alone wih the child

Holding the wheel with one arm, he The light Irom the marsh fire was blinding. somewhere I can't find them. Christ! Van- reached into his side pocket to make sure Overhead, the helicopter floaied helplessly daleur can't find me before it's too lafe. the gun was still in place. The car skidded". to one side, unable to fly through the smoke Cool and discreet, honey, in the dancing The tires squealed on frost and reeds. The and flames and aid the searchers who were frost while the thermometer registers 10° wheel was wrenched from his grasp and beating far to the right of us. fondly Fahrenheit, '$$% MY LADY OF THE PSYCHIATRIC SORROWS BY BRIAN W ALDISS

Goddard worked with the mulls; always he avoided them.

northern reindeer herds all At last, he was among the that long winter. With ihe other vales of Ihe Gray Horse. He skin-clad men, he followed ihe walked through sparse migratory pattern ot the forests, where Ihe beech, animals in their search tor birch, and hazel bushes were lichens through snow or shine. putting forth green leaves. He slept by beggarly fires Through the trees, standing under pines or under the by the old highway, was his stars. His whole life was home. His father was working encompassed by the sad in the garden. Goddard called guilts in reindeer eyes, by to him, and the guard dogs. clouds of reindeer breath Chase and Setter, started

hanging in the crisp air. furious barking. The herd consisted of some "How are the children?" hundred thousand beasts. Goddard asked his father, They moved in good mild embracing the old man. His

order, with their attendant lather was still upright, though pest-army of mosquitoes and the winter months seemed to bloodsucking flies. Their have shrunk him. antlers appeared like a moving forest PAINTING BY For Goddard. it was a ABDUL MATI KLARWEIN Pleistocene way of life. But when spring came he was paid off and began to walk south, back to Scally and the children, with his dog Gripp ai his side. He walked for sixteen days, steadily. The climate grew warmer, The steaks in his

pack began to stink, but still he ate them. Every now and then, he came lo villages or 3

"Come and see. They aren't half growing rock and stone had pi ec up. ana a stream roads but on sides of tunnels and walls of

big!" dashed from it. The top of the planetoid's corridors. The stress of impact had caused "You've made out?" shell showed serrated through thinning fractures and crazy distortions of the struc- "Fine, Tom. And I've not heard of a case cloud. ture. Defunct lights and signs sprouted of plague all winter." Derek and June dropped back in awe, underfoot. Doorways had become hatches "Good." June took her father's hand. "Don't it look leading to dry wells. Once-busy intersec- into noth- "It'll mean thai people will be coming huge this morning! Tell us how it came here, tions produced shafts leading up ." ingness. Dummies stared down at them back. . . As they spoke, Ihey walked to- Dad." gether, close, to the rear- of the house, They always liked the drama of the old from overhead tanks which had been .shop where the windmill stood on the rise above story. Goddard said, 'As the reindeer roam windows. They tramped across the hitherto their small stream. Gripp kept io Goddard's in search of food, men used to roam in inaccessible, where stairways had be- heel. search of energy. When the local supplies come abstract bas-reliefs. live here," The children were there— Derek wading ran out, they built a mass of little planets, "It's cold— I' shouldn't like to bear." in the stream, June kneeling on the bank. like this one, called zeepees. The zeepees June said. "Not unless I was a polar Both were picking reeds. They dropped circled about in space, getting energy from them and ran with cries of delight into (heir the sun. But some of the planetoids got in They waded through a riverlet. Cracked

it broken, the planetoid lay to the father's embrace. He rolled on the ground trouble, just like people. This one — I think and open with them, all three of them laughing and was called Fragrance, or something elements. The rains of autumn, the snows

crying. fancy — it crashed here. Another one went of winter, all blew in among Fragrance's "You don't half smell animal, Dad!" into the sun. Another one drifted off toward complex structures, turning yesterday's ." today's reservoirs. Slowly "I've been an animal. . . He was proud the stars." apartments into of them, both so big and strong, neither the water leaked downward through the older than seven, their eyes clear, their "Was that years and years ago, Dad?" upturned city, draining at last into native glance candid — as their mother's once Derek asked. He took up a stone and flung ground. Plants and fungi were getting a had been, grasp on ruined precincts. Small animals had taken over the defunct sewage sys- Granddad roasted one of the rotting tem. Sparrows and starlings built their steaks and they all ate, throwing gristle and nests in what had once been an under- bone to the dogs. After, Goddard slept in a ground railway, several thousand miles downstairs room. He woke once. The sun '•The planetoid was above Earth. After the birds came smaller life forms. Flies spiders and wasps and had gone. His father and the children were so immense that it biocked and in the other room, weaving hurdles from beetles and moths. Change worked at ev- the valley. It had willow sticks by the light of two candles. erything. What had been impregnable to They called to him affectionately; but when created its own ecoclimaie. the rigors of space fell to the ardors of a he had urinated outside, he staggered Dark hardy bushes had mild spring. back to his cot and slept again. grown at its rock In the morning they swarmed over him base, and "Dad, why does Mother want to live once more. He kissed and hugged them, stone had piled up, here?" Derek asked. and they screamed at his rough lips and "She liked the old times. She couldn't and a stream dashed from it beard. take to the new."

"It's a holiday today. What shall we do?" Goddard neve' forgot :ne way to the spot "Go and see Mother, of course. Let's feed where Scally had settled in. She had in- the animals first." dulged her sybaritic tastes and ensconced The goat, the two sows, the chickens, the herself in what had been Fragrance's chief only . rabbits, were fed. Leaving the dogs on it, to show he was not scared. hotel, the Astral, Goddard had found guard, they all set out along the vale to see "Not so long ago. Only, let's see, only six one way of entering the hotel, which had Mother: The children snatched up sticks years ago. The zeepee was empty by then. stood in a block on its own, and that was by

from ditches, leaning heavily on them and All the people in it had come back to Earth, way of a metal ladder which an early looter saying in their clear voices, "Now we are so nobody was hurt." had propped up against a fire exit over-

old children." Their laughter seemed to set- "Did Mother go to live there as soon as it head. Goddard leading, the four of them tle about Goddard's heart. crashed?" climbed the ladder and worked iheir way A stramineous sun broke through the "After a bit, yes." into the foyer, whose elaborate reception mists. Where the track turned, they saw the They climbed up a steeply winding path area now projected from one wall. Loose bulk of the planetoid ahead, and the chil- to one side, where the soil had been flung debris had provided the wall on which they dren set up a muted cheer. back by the impact. Broom and nettles stood with a carpet. grew now The enormous hull was plastic. Scally had barricaded herself into the old

Goddard said to his father, turning from Its fall through the atmosphere had caused bar. They climbed up a pile of tumbled

that shadow-shrouded form, "I don't reck- blisters to erupt, so that its sides were desks, calling her name through the shat- tered doors. on I could bear life without the kids and all warted and striped like a toad,

it the dirty tomblike smell their happiness. I dread when they'll turn "I bel came down with a great big He remembered into adults and go their way." CRASH!" June said. of her lair, The smell of dead hope, he told

"It'll be different then. Don't look ahead." "It split right open like an egg." her himself. But the old man turned his head away sor- granddad told her. In her first year here, Goddard had come rowfully. Goddard led them in through the broken up often from the Vale of the Gray Horse— "They seem to have a purpose, over and hatch, going cautiously. There had been for sex, for love, or for' pity. Scally had not above keeping alive— just like the rein- looting at first. Now all was deserted. wanted the outside world, and had slowly, deer." almost against her own will, rejected him as

His father had no answer The children tell silent as they walked. a symbol of it. He had helped her make

The planetoid was so immense that it The amazing, jumbled maze which had herself comfortable here. So she lived in

blocked the valley. It had created its own once been a city, a world, was no longer lit, aspic, in dowdy magnificence, the great ecoclimaie. On this side, the northern side, except by daylight filtering in through the cracked mirrors of her ceiling reflecting dark hardy bushes had grown at its base, ruptured hull. They walked not on floors and every torpid move she made. .

As her husband and children appeared, they created machines and looked out- you get your sick notions from. Throw it she rose from a chair. Instead of coming ward, when they didn't wallow in every away and come into the light of day. The toward them, she retreated to the 'far wall. muddy season and grovel on the ground as plague has gone and things'll be better."

She was tall and soft; the last few indoor you do! This room once sailed among the years had turned her all gray. As she smiled stars— and all you can imagine is that I'm The children were screaming with delight at them, a long pallid hand crept up to after comfort." outside. cover her lips. She laughed bitterly. "Today or yesterday, I was reading about

"Mother, look, Dad's back from the Goddard scratched his head. "1 know it's the scientific basis for the legend of the North!" Derek said, running over and kind of uncomfortable back at home. But Golden Fleece," Scally told Goddard. "Did clutching her, making her bend over and honest, if you can face up to it, life's better you ever hear of the Greek legend of the kiss him and June. "He's been with rein- than it used to be in the old days. It's more Golden Fleece, and how Jason and the deer." real. Less of all that waffle, all those things Argonauts went in search of it? The story "You're getting so big and rough," Scally we didn't really need." has always related to the Black Sea area. said, letting go ot them and backing away, When this book was published, research- until she could lean against a piano in a She folded her arms, no longer looking ers had analyzed pieces of cloth from the self-conscious attitude. as faded as she had five minutes earlier. tomb of an old king of that area, Tumulus I, "You were born to be a farmer. Tom, to walk who lived in the Fifth Century, B.C. That was Conscious of his coarse skins, Goddard behind cattle and reindeer, tramping the period of Jason and his crew. Do you wentover and took her in his arms. She was through their droppings. Of course you re- know what the researchers found?" thinner and drier than previously, while all joice at the death of the consumer society. He tried to escape from the conversa- around her compartments bulged with the But that wasn't all we had, was it? Re- tion, but she went on remorselessly, al- rich damps of decay. Her expression as member the other things the Catastrophe though the children had come back hoot- she searched his face wounded him. killed oft? The hope thai we were moving ing into the room. "It's spring again, Scally," he said. toward a better world, the 'eeling that man- "They (ound that the cloth from the tomb "Come out with us. Come home. We'll fix was composed of extremely fine fibers. the roof, Dad and I, and get one of the with mean diameters of— I forget the exact upstairs rooms done specially for you." measurements — about sixteen microme- appear- "This is my place," she said. ters, I believe. That is the earliest "The children need you." But the children ance of true fine-wooled sheep by several had lost interest in their mother, .and were wHe shook his head. centuries. So you see that all that golden Jason and his questing about the room and adjacent cor- "All that old world is dead legend was generated by ridors. They had found two rods to walk friends going in search of more comfort- and gone, my dear. with; June Was laughing and calling, "Now able underwear." She laughed. we're a couple of old children again!" Books are where you get your "I'm hundred years old." The children had tied sticks around their a sick notions from. "I'm a thousand.and sixty hundred years heads with old fabric. old." Throw it away and come into "Look. Dad, Mother! We're reindeer. "I'm even older than Mum." the light of day. We've gone wild! We're going to head north Goddard's father was embarrassed. He and we'll never let anyone milk us again!"

The plague is gone . . looked about and eventually left the room 5 Puzzled by her story, Goddard said to too, to follow the children. her over the racket, "I don't understand you "He hates me!" Scally said, pointing at properly. Whatever happened to those Ar- the closing door. gonauts can't affect us, can it?" "No, he doesn't. He just doesn't have She looked at him wearily, with her anything to say. He hates this prison." kind might come to some sort of ethical eyelids lowered. "Take these young rein- their "He thinks I should come back and look maturity as he left his home planet? I resent deer away," she said. "One day soon after you and the children." being kicked back into the Dark Ages, if myths will break down. Don't you see, "Why don't you? We need you. You could you don't." there's a prosaic reality to every legend, but take some of this furniture." He did not know what to say. He shook his people like you beat legends into prosaic "Huh! I'd only be a liability to you." head. "Resentment's no way to shape your reality."

"Scally, you're my wife. I'd gladly have lite." "I never beat you!" you back. This place is no good. Why do "There is no shape to life, Tom. Not any "Have you got remarkably thick in the you stay here?" more. Style died along with everything else. head, or is that meant to be tunny?" ..." She looked away, waved a hand in dis- Why, when I look at you She turned "You're sick, Scally, really you are. Come missal. "You ask such fool questions." away. "To think you were a top sports- away and let me look after you!"

Angry he grasped her wrist. "Come on, clothes designer! In six years you've be- "Never say that again! You oaf, if you then, we take the trouble to come and see come nothing but a peasant." didn't believe that I was sick, can't you see you! Tell me why you want to live in this The children were screaming with that I might come with you willingly?" muddy ruin, come on — tell me!" feigned terror in one of the upside-down Goddard scratched his head. "Since you

Through the dim upturned light, a glow corridors. can always get the better of me in words, I crept into her features. "Because I can't "I'll try and make you comfortable if you can't think why you're afraid to come with take reality the way you can! You're so come home," Goddard said. She could al- me." Then he turned away. stupidly insensitive, you don't mind the ways confuse him. Half aware that he was beastly pig-reality of the present. But some only infuriating her, he put out a hand plead- The next day was mild and springlike. of us live by myth, by legend. Just as the ingly, but she turned away toward the table Goddard stripped to the waist and began children do, until you turn them out of it and and chair at which she had been sitting to plant row after row of seed potatoes, make them grow up before their time." when they entered. which his father had carefully cherished

He said sullenly, "You only came here "At least I can read here, at least my mind throughout the winter. The two children because you thought you'd be a bit more is free." She had picked a book up from the played on the other side of the stream, comfortable. It's nothing to do with myth." table. building little planetoids in every bush, and "While I'm here, I'm in the remains of an He shook his head. "All that old world is pretending that Gripp was a monster from age when men lived by their myths, when dead and gone, my dear. Books are where outer space. onnrui PART TWO

Just as Harold began his new life, the stranger appeared OUT OFLUCK BY WALTER TEV1S

t was only three months after he had left his wife and children and moved in with Janet that Janet I decided she had to go to Washington for a week. Harold was He tried not to let her see it. The fiction between them was that he had left Gwsn so he could grow up, change his life, and learn to paint acair But all he was certain of was that he had left Gwen to have' Janet as his mistress. There were other rea- sons: his recovery from alcoholism, the years he had wasted his talent as an art professor, and Gwen's refusal to move to Mew York with him. But none of these would have been sufficient to uproot him and cause him lo take a year's leave from his job if Janet had not worn peach- cc orcd b'kir oantios that iiretched tightly across her lovely bottom. He spent the morning after she left cleaning up the kitchen and washing the big pot with burnt zucchini in it. Jane: had made him three quarts of zucchini soup ootce eaving on the shuttle, along with two jars of chutney. veal stew in a blue casserole dish, and Iwo oaves oi Irish scda bread. It

PAINTING BY RENE MAGRITTE '

was very international. The mess in the liny Harold crossed and went into the bank. '-leshudde'ec and q jic.

heart sank. He did not want to finish the He was looking idly in Harold's direction. him feared it. The sight of triple locks onl painting — not that painting, that dumb, Harold averted his eyes, There were at apartment doors tended to frighten him, oa academic abstraction But there was no least ten other people waiting behind the of surly Puerto Ricans with well-muscledl other painting for him to paint right now. man. He had to have been here awhile.. An arms, carrying their big, noisy arrogand What he wanted was Janet. identical twin? A mild hal.ucination, making radios. Their Kill-ihe-Anglo radios. TheJ Janet was a very successful folk-arf two similar people look exactly alike? slim-hipped black men frightened him, wittJ

dealer. They had met at a museum patty, Harold got in line. After a while the man long, tight-assed trousers in' pale colorsj She was in Washington now as a consultant finished his business and left. Harold half-covering expensive shoes— Italian! to the National Gallery. She had said to him, cashed his check and lett, stuffing five killer shoes, And there were drunks everyl

"No, I don't think you should come to Wash- twenties into his billfold. Another drain on where. In doorways. Poking studiousliJ ington with me-. We need to be apart from the seven thousand he had left Michigan through garbage bins for the odd haif-

: each other for a while. I'm. beginning to eel with. He had seven thousand to live on for a eaten pizza slice, the. usable worn shirr suffocated." He had nodded sagely while year in New York, with Janet, while he Possibly for emeralds and diamonds. Pari his heart sank. learned to paint again, to be the self- of him wanted to scrub up a drunk or two! One. problem was that he distrusted folk with a Brillo pad. like the zucchini pot

art and Janet's interest in it, the way he So-iethi-g satisfy ng m :na! distrusted Janet's fondness for her cats. The man in the sweater had been white, Janet talked to her cats a lot. He was neu- clean, nonmenacing. Possibly European. tral about cats themselves, but he felt • He glanced down Park Yet Harold, crossing Madison now. felt people who talked to them were trivial. And chilled by the thought of him. Under tha being interested in badly' painted nine- Avenue while crossing it and chill was anger Thai spoiled, arrogant teenth-century portraits also sac mod trivia saw a sleeveless face! That sandy hair! He hurried back to to him now Janet's apartment building, walked briskly sweater and faded jeans, He looked at the two gold-tramed Ame'- up the stairs to the third floor, let himself in.- can primitives above Janet's sofa, said, from the back, There in the living room stood the painting "Horseshif!" and drew back his mug in a He suddenly saw that it could use a sort of disappearing into one of fantasy of throwing- coffee -on them both. rectangle of pale green, like a distant field Across from the apar-nert on Sixty-third the tall apartment of grass, right there. He picked up a brush, Street workmen were renovating an old buildings. He shuddered^ very happy to do so. Outside the window mansion; they had been at it three months the sun was shining brightly. The workmen before. When Harold moved in. He watched on the building across ;ne s:reet were busy. then lor a m nule now/mixing cement in a Harold was busy. wheelbarrow and bring no sacks ot " from He worked for three solid hours and felt a truck at the corner r/ Madison Avenue wonderful. It was good work, too. and the Three workmen in white undershirts held supporting artist his whiskey dreams had painting was coming along. At last. sunlit discourse on the plywood ramp that been filled with, Whiskey had left him un- For lunch he made himself a bacon-

had -replaced the bui'ding's front steps able to answer the telephone or open the and-tomato sandwich on toast. It was sim-j

Behind windows devoid of glass he could door. That had been two years ago in pie midwestern fare, and he loved if. see men moving back and forth, But noth- Michigan. Whiskey had left him sitting be- When he had finished eating, he we-rttl ing happened; nothing seemed to change hind closed suburban blinds at two in the back into Ihe living room, sat in the black I in the building. It was the same mess it had afternoon, reading the J. C. Penney catalog director's chair in front of the window, and! been before, like his own spiritual growth; and waiting for Gwen to come home from looked at ihe painting by afternoon light It] lots of noise and movement and no change. work. Well, he had been free of whiskey for looked good — |ust a tad spooky, the way]

He looked at his watch, relieved. It was a year and a half now. First the hospital, he wanted it to be. it would be a good.' ten-thirty. The morning was half over, and then A. A., now New York and Janet. painting after all, It was really working. He he needed to go to the bank. He put on a He walked back toward her apartment, decided to go see a movie. light jacket and left. thinking of how his entire bankroll of seven The movie he wanted to see was. called

As he was waiting in a crowd at the Third thousand could not pay Janet's rent for Out of Luck. It was a comedy from France, j Avenue light, he heard a voice' shout, three months. And she had taken this big advertised as "a h:la r .ous sex farce.'' with

"Taxi!'" and a man pushed, roughly past New York 'place after two years of living in subtitles. It sounded fine for a- sunny-fall j him. right arm high arid waving, onto the-, an even larger apartment .in Paris. On a afternoon. He walked down Madison to- avenue. The man' was about thirty, in faded- marble-topped ingerie ches" n one of the Ward the- theater. blue jeans and a sleeveless sweater. A taxi balhroorhs was a snapshot of. her,- astride a There were an awful lot of youthful, well- squealed -o a stop at the corner, and the gleaming Honda, .on the Boulevard des dressed peopie on Madison Avenue. They .

' man conferred with the driver for a moment Capuoines by the ironwork doorway of that all probably spoke French. He looked in the before getting n He seemed ;o be ojiely apartment. When that photograph was windows of places with names like Le Re- arrogant preoccupied .vith somethng taken, Harold was living in a ranch house in lais, LaBagagerie. Le Bijou. He would have Harold could have kicked him in the ass. Michigan and was driving a Chevrolet. given ten dollars to see a J.C. Penney'sora He did not like the man's look of confi- He glanced down Park .Avenue while plain barber shop with a red-and-white dence. He did not like his-- sandy',' un- crossing Hand saw a sleeveless sweater barber's pole combed hair. The light changed, and the and faded jeans, from the back, disapoear- As he was crossing Park Avenue, traffic cab took off fast, up Third Avenue .ingJnto one of the tall apartment buildings. snarled as usual, there was suddenly the loud harrumphing of a pair of outrageously candy in various places. noisy motorcycles, and with a rush of hot air He found a couple of pieces of but- two black Hondas zoomed past him. From going to show her. terscotch and began sucking on one of the back the riders appeared to be a man Harold watched the credits closely, want- them. Back in the kitchen he opened the and a woman, although the sexual differ- ing to find the actor who had played the old oven door a moment, enjoying the feel of ence was hard to detect. Each wore a lover. His name in the film had been Paul. hot air His little Hungry Man pie sat inside, spherical helmet that reflected the sun; the But no actor was listed for the name of Paul. waiting ior him. man's helmet was red; the other, green. The others were there, but not Paul. What in There had been a man's voice on televi- Science-fiction helmets, they hurt the eyes God's name is happening? Harold thought. sion for a minute or so, reciting some kind of with reflected and dazzling sunlight. There He left the theater and, hardly daring to disaster news. A California brush fire or was a smell of exhaust. Each of the riders, look around himself on the bright street, something. There in the kitchen Harold man and woman, was wearing a brown (lagged down a cab and went home. Could began to realize that the voice was familiar,

sleeveless sweater and blue jeans. Each a person hallucinate a character into a gravelly. It had a slight French accent. He wore Adidas over white socks. Their shirts movie? Was the man at the bank in fact a rushed into the living room, still holding a were short-sleeved, blue. So had been the French movie actor? Twelve years of drink- potholder. On the TV screen was the man in shirts of the man in the taxi and the man in ing could mess up your brain chemistry. the brown sweater, saying, ",..fram line at Chemical Bank. Harold's stomach But he hadn't even had the D.T.'s. His New Pasadena, California, for NC Mews." Then twisted. He wanted to scream. York psychiatrist had told him he tended to John Chancellor came on. The cyclists disappeared in traffic, dart- get badly regressed at times, but his sanity Harold threw the potholder at the TV

ing into it with insouciance, tilting their had never been in question. screen, "You son of a bitch!" he shouted. black bikes tirst this way and then that, as In the apartment he was somehow able, "You ubiquitous son of a bitch!" Then he though merely leaning their way through astonishingly, to get back into the painting sank into the director's chair, on the edge of the congestion of taxis and limousines and for a few hours. He made a few changes, tears. His eyes burned.

sanitation trucks. making it spookier. He felt spookier now, When his pie was ready, he ate it as if it

Maybe it was a fad in dress. Maybe coin- were cardboard, forcing himself to eat cidence. He had never noticed before how every bite. To keep his strength up, as his many people wore brown sleeveless mother would have said, for the oncoming sweaters. Who counted such things? And storm. For the oncoming storm. everyone wore jeans. He was wearing He kept the TV off that evening and did ^Sometimes, though, jeans himself. not go out. He finished the painting by arti- The movie was at Fifty-seventh and it made Harold edgy when ficial light at three in the morning, took two Third. There was only a scattering of he thought of the Sominex tablets, and went to bed, fright- people in the theater, since it was the mid- ened. He had wanted to call Janet but dle of the afternoon. The story was about a young lover Janet had had hadn't. That would have been chicken. He woman who was haunted by the gravelly before him, who slept without dreaming for nine hours. voice of her dead lover— a younger man had disappeared from her who had been killed in a motorcycle acci- It was noon when he got up from the big dent. She was a gorgeous woman and went life in some way platform bed and stumbled into the kitchen through a sequence of affairs, breaking up Harold did not know about3 for breakfast. He drank a cup of cold zuc- with each new lover after the voice of her chini while waiting for the coffee from yes- old, dead one pointed out their flaws to her, terday to heat up. He felt okay, ready for the or distracted her while making love. It really man in the sweater whenever he might was funny. Sometimes, though, it made strike. The coffee boiled over, spattering Harold edgy when he thought of the young the white wall with brown tears. He reached lover Janet had had before him, who had and it came out onto the canvas. The paint- to pull the big Chemex off the burner and disappeared from her life in some way ing was nearly done. When he stopped, it scalded himself. "Shit!" he said and held Harold did not know about. But several was just eight o'clock in the evening. The his burned hand under cold tapwater lor times he laughed loudly. workmen across the street had finished half a minute. And then, toward the end of the movie, their day, hours before, had packed up their He walked into the living room and her lover reappeared, apparently not dead tools, and had gone home td Q.ueens or began looking at the painting in daylight. It at all. It was on a quiet Paris street. She was wherever. The building, as always, was un- was really very' good. Just the right feeling, out walking with an older man she had just changed; its doorways and windows the right arrangement. Scary, too. He took it slept with, going to buy some coffee, when gaped blankly. There was a pile of rubble from the easel, set il again:-;! ;; wall. Then he a black Honda pulled up to the curb beside by the plywood entry platform where there thought better of that. The cats might get at her. She stopped. The driver pulled off his had always been a pile of rubble. it. He hadn't seen the cats for a while. He helmet. Harold's heart almost stopped He went into the kitchen, ignored the veal looked around him. No cats. He put the beating, and he stared crazily. There m stew Janet had made for him, and lit the painting on top of the dry sink, out of harm's front of him, on the Cinemascope movie oven, Then he took a Hungry Man chicken way. He would put out some cat food. screen, was the huge image of a youngish pie out of the freezer, ripped off the card- From oulside came the sound of a man with sandy hair, a brown sleeveless board box. stabbed the Irozen top. crust a motorcycle. Or of two motorcycles. He sweater, blue shirt, Adidas. The man few times with her Sabatie'. sliooec it into turned, looked out the window. There was smiled at the woman. She collapsed in a the oven, and set the timer for forty-five dust where the motorcycles had just been, dead faint. minutes. a light cloud of it settling. On the plywood When the man on the motorcycle spoke, He went back into the living room, looked platform at the entryway to the building

it his voice was as had been when ft was again at the painting. "Maybe I needed the being renovated stood two people in brown haunting her; gravelly, and bland. Harold shit seared out of me," he said aloud, But sleeveless sweaters, blue shirts, jeans. wanted to throw something at the screen, the thought, of the man in the sweater One was holding a clipboard, and they wanted to scream at the image, "Get out of chilled him. Harold wen over to the hutch in were talking. He could no! hear their voices, here, you arrogant fucker! "But he did noth- the corner, opened its left door, and flipped even though the window was open. He ing and said nothing. He stayed in his seat, on the little Sony TV inside. Then he walked walked slowly to the window, placed his waiting for the movie to end. It ended with across the big room to the dry sink and hands on the ledge, stared down at them.

the woman getting on the dead lover's . began rummaging for candy. He kept He stared at the same sandy hair, the same 105 face. Two scnooigrls in p;aid sk r Ls walked "Hell, yes, buddy," the bum said. "Kind of bench tha faced the avenue and then from by, on their way to lunch. Behind them was light brown hair? And tennis shoes? Hell, the bench onto the stone railing near the a woman in a brown sleeveless sweater yes, they're all over the place." He shook Sixtieth Street subway station. He looked and blue jeans, with sandy hair She had his head dazedly. "Can't get no money out downtown, up high now so that he could the same face as the man, only slightly of 'em. Tried 'em six. eight times. You. got see. And the farlher downtown he looked, feminine in the way the head set on the another one of those quarters?" the more he saw of an array of brown shoulders. And she walked like a woman. Harold gave him a dollar. "Get yourself a sweaters, light brown in ihe afternoon sun- She walked by the two men, her twins, ig- drink," he said. light, with pale, sandy-haired, heads above noring them. The bum widened his eyes and took the them. On a crazy impulse he looked down Harold' looked at his watch. Twelve- money silently. He turned to go. at his own clothes and was relieved to see fifteen. His heart was pounding, painfully. "Hey!" Harold said, calling him back. thai he was not himself wearing a brown were He went to the telephone and called his "Have a drink for me. will you? I don't drink, sleeveless sweater and that his jeans psychiatrist. It was lunch hour, and he- myself." He he d ou: another dollar. not the pale and faded kind that the per- might be able to reach him. "That's the ticket." the bum said, care- son—that the multitude— was wearing.

• He did— for just a minute or two. Quickly fully, as if addressing a madman. He took He got down from the bench and headed he told him that he was beginning to see the bill quickly, then turned toward Fifth Av- across Grand Army Plaza, past people the same person every whs re. Even on TV enue. "Hey." he said, "there's one ot 'em," who were now about one half sandy-haired and in the movies. Sometimes two or three and pointed. The man in the brown sleeve- and sweatered and Ihe other half just ran- at a time. less sweater went by, jogging slowly on his dom people. He realized that the repeated "What do you think. Harold?" he said to Adidas. The bum |a™med his two dollars person hadn't seemed to crowd the city the doctor. The psychiatrist's name also any more than usual. They weren't new, was Harold. Well, the bum had Been right. Don't let then. If anything, they were replacing the

"It would have (o be a hallucination, others. wouldn't it? Or maybe coincidence." Abruptly he decided to go into the Plaza "It's not coincidence. There've been Hotel. There were two ot them in the lobby, seven ol them, and they are identical, Doc- talking quietly with each other, in French. tor, Identical." His voice, he realized, was He walked past them toward the Oak Bar; Perrier :he's. not hysterical. It might become that way, he ne wcu d got a n thought, if the doctor should say, "Interest- In the bat. there were three of them sitting, iMostof the foot ing," as they do in the movies. at the bar itself and two of them were at a "I'm sorry that you have a hallucination," traffic was moving toward table near the front. He seated himself at bar. in brown sweater turned Harold the psychiatrist said. "I wish I could the A man a him and every third glasses, I see you this afternoon, but I can't. In fact, from where he was washing or fourth one of them was his hands on his jeans, came over, have to go now. I have a patient" wiped sir?" The voice was gravelly, "Harold!" Harold said. "I've had a dozen the person in the and said, "Yes. accent, the face sessions with you. Am I the type who hal- with a slight French and blue lucinates?" brown sweater and was blank. "No, you aren't, Harold," the psychiatrist shirt. It was "Perrier with lime." Harold said, When the said. "You really don't seem to me to belike man brought it, Harold said, "How long like an invasion from Mars* 'hat at a \:z puzzling. Just don't drink." have you been tending bar here?"

"I won'l, Harold." he said, and hung up, "About twenty minutes," Ihe man said

What to do? he thought. / can stay inside and smiled. amn Jane: co"~:es back i no:-'! fw/c :.o gc "Where were you before?" out for anything. Maybe it will stop on its "Oh, hereand there," the man said. "You

nated the bum and Ihe conversation along know how it is." And'lhen he thought, But so what? They with :he bum He checked lis l> folc and Harold stared at him, feeling his own face can't hurt me. What if I see a whole bunch of lo.und the two dollars were indeed gone. getting red. "No. I don't HirowhoM it is!" he them today? So what? I can ignore them, Where would they have gone if he had said, in frustration. He would get dressed and go out. What the made up the bum in his unconscious? He The man started to whistle softly. He hell. Confront the thing. hadn't eaten them, If he had, the game was turned away, When he got outdoors, the: two of them over anyway and he was really in a strait- Harold leaned over the bar and took him were gone from in front of the building. He jacket somewhere, being fed intravenously, by the shoulder. The sweater was soft—

". - "'">-. looked to his righl, over toward Madison. while seme:?":."' , Well probably cashmere, "Where do you come .-'„-' One of them was just cress ng the sfeet He turned at:. FifthFf'-i A ie. toward the from? What are you doing?" walking lightly On the Adidas. There were spire of the Empire Slate Building, and The man smiled coldly at him. "I come ordinary men and women around him. Hell. stopped cold, Most of the foot traffic on the from the streei. I'm tending ba f here." He he was ordinary enough. There were just avenue was moving uptwn toward him. and stood completely still, waiting for Harold to 'no many of him. Like a clone. Two more every third or fourth one of them was the let goof him. crossed, a man and a woman'. They were person in the brown sweater and the blue "Why are there so many of you.?* holding hands. Harold decided to walk short-sleeved shirt. It was like an invasion "There's only one of me." the man said. over to Fifth Avenue. from Mars. And he saw that some of the "Only one?" Just before the corner of Fifth there was a normal people — the people like him- "Jusl one." He waited a moment. "I have wastebasket with a bum poking arounc in self—were staring at them from time to to wait on that coupie." He nodded his bar. it. Harold had seen this bum before, had time The brown-sweatered person was head slightly toward the end of the A even given him a quarter once. Fellow al- always calm, whistling softly sometimes, couple of them had come in, a male and a coholic. There but for the grace of God. et cool. The others looked flustered. Harold female as far as Harold could see in the .cetera. He fished aouadf." from his pocket jammed his hands into his pockets. He felt somewhat dim light. and gave it to the bum. "Say," Harold said, suddenly cold. He began walking down Harold let go of the man, got up, and on a wild impulse, "have you noticed some- Fifth Avenue, went to a pay telephone on the wall. He thing funny? People in brown sweaters and He kept going tor a few blocks, then on dialed his psychiatrist. The phone rang

: jeans?" He lei". ociisn asking, fhebum was a -i impulse n-:r across :he street to the Cen- twice, and then a male voice said, "Doctor fragrant in the afternoon sun. tral Park side and climbed up on a park Morse is not in this afternoon. May I take a. message?" The voice was the gravelly the window overlockng the ouilcting where A group of fo.ur of them had turned the voice-. Harold hung up. He spun around men in brown sleeveless sweaters were corner at Madison and were walking to- and faced the bar. The man had just re- now working. He opened one bottle with a ward him. All of them had their hands in turned from serving drinks to the identical practiced 'i'lge'rail. steadily. The cork their pockets. Their heads were all inclined couple at the far end. "What in hell is your came out wilh a pop. He took a glass from together, and they appeared lo be having name?" he said wildly. the sideboard and poured it half full of an intimate conversation. Why whisper?

The man smiled. "That's for me to know whiskey. For a moment he stood there mo- Harold thought, i can't hear you anyway. and you to find out," he said. tionless, looking down at the building. The He puller: nii'seJ up and sat on the win- Harold began to cry. "What's your god- work, he saw without surprise, was getting dow ledge, letting his legs hang over. He damned name?' he said, sobbing. "My done. There was glass in the'window stared down at them and lorced himself to name's Harold. For Christ's sake, what's frames now; there had been none that say aloud, "Paul." They were directly below yours?" morning. The plywood ramp had been re- him now, huddled and whispering. They Now that he was crying, the man looked placed with marble steps. Abruptly he seemed not to have heard him, sympathetic. He turned for a moment to the turned and called, "Kitty! Kitty!" Toward the He took a deep breath and said it louder, mirrored shelves behind him, look (wo un- bedroom. There was silence, "Kitty! Kitty!" "Paul." And then he found somewhere the opened bottles of whiskey, and then set he called again. No cat appeared. strength to shout it, in a loud, clear, steady them on the bar in front of Harold. "Why In the kitchen there was a red-legged voice. "Paul," he shouted. "Paul Bendel." don't you just take these, Harold?" he said stool by the telephone. Carrying his un- Then the four faces looked up, shocked.

1 pleasantly. "Take them home, with you. It's tasted glass of whiskey in one hand, he "You're Paul Bendel,' he said, "Go back to only a tew blocks from here." picked up the stool with the other and your grave in France, Paul." "I'm an alcoholic." Harold replied, headed toward Ihe closet at the back of the They stood transfixed, Harold looked shocked. apartment. He set the whiskey oh a shelf, over toward Madison. Two of them there "Who cares?" the man said. He got a set the stool in the closer doorway. He had stopped in their tracks in the middle of bhghl-orange shopping bag from some- climbed up carefully. There was the motor- the intersection. where under the bar and put the bottles in The four faces below were now staring it. "On the house," he said. up at him in mute appeal, begging for si- Harold stared at him. "What is your god- lence. His voice spoke to this appeal with damned, fucking name?" strength and clarity "Paul Bendel," he said, "For me to know," the man said softly "For you must go back :o France." 6A/ow there was you to find out." Abruptly all four of them averted their Harold took the shopping bag, pushed no one on the street but eyes from his and from one another's. Their open the door, and went into the lobby. the man. Everywhere. bodies seemed to become slack. Then There was no doorman at the big doorway they began drifting apart. walking dispir- all of the hotel, but the man in the sleeveless And now they looked at itedly aay from one another and from him. sweater stood ihere like a doorman. "Have him In recognition. The cats appeared '.-iieepiiy from an open a good day now, Harold," the man said as closet, waiting to be fed. He fed them. since he had given his name. Harold went on his way. Now there was no one else on the street Their smiles were He was redoing a smeared place on the but the man. Everywhere. And now they all cool, distant, patronizing^ painting when the telephone rang. It was looked at him in recognition, since he had Janet. She was c early -n a good mood, and given his name. Their smiles were cool, she asked whether the zucchini soup had distant, patronizing. Some nodded at him been all right. slightly as he made his way slowly up the "Fine," he said. "I had it cold." avenue toward Sixty-third; some ignored She laughed. "I'm glad it wasn't too him. Several passed on motorcycles, wear- cycle helmet, red, with a layer of dust on burned. How was the /arret be veau?' ing red helmets. A few waved coolly to him. top. He pulled it down. There was some- Immediately, at the French, his stomach

One slowed his motorcycle down near the thing inside it. He reached in. still sfanding tightened. Desoite ihe present clarity of his curb and said, "Hi, Harold," and then sped on the stool, and pulled out a brown sleeve- mind, he felt, the familiar pain of the old off, Harold closed his eyes. less sweater. There were stains on the petulance and jealousy. For a moment he He got home all right, and up the stairs. sweater. They looked like bloodstains. He hugged the pain to himself, then dismissed

When he walked into the living room, he looked inside the helmet. There were stains it with a sigh. saw that the cats had knocked his new there, too. And there was a Utile. blue band "It's in the oven right now" he said. "I'm painting to the floor and had badly with letters on it. It read Paul Bendel— having it for dinner." smeared a corner of it. Apparently one of Paris. Once, in bed, Janet had called him them had rolled on it. The cats were Paul, Oh, you son of a bitch! he said. Walter Tevis began writing at ag& 13. Today nowhere in sight. He had not seen them Getting down from the stool, he thought, he is a successful author who has created since Janet had gone. For him to know. For me to find out. He much SF and non-SF literature. His two

He did not care about the painting now stopped only to pick up ihe drink and take it best-known novels— The Hustler and The

Not really. He knew what he was going to the bathroom, where he poured ft down Man Who Fell to Earth - have been made to do. He could see in his mind the French the toilet. Then he went into the living room into movies. The screen rights to a third movie, the man on the motorcycle. and looked out the window. The light was novel, Mockingbird, are currently being In the closet where she kept her vacuum dimming; there was no one on Sixty-third negotiated in Hollywood. A former Profes- cleaner, Janet also kept a motorcycle hel- Street. He pushed the window higher, sor of English at Ohio University, Tevis met, A red one, way up on the top shelf, leaned out. Looking to his right, he could makes it a policy to apportion his creative behind some boxes of candles and light see the intersection with Madison. He saw output equally to science fiction and other bulbs. She had never spoken to him before several of Ihem crossing it. One looked his subjects, just as long as it illuminates the about motorcycles; he had never asked her way and waved. He did not wave back. human condition. His science fiction gains about the helmet. He hdn't thought about it What he did was take the two bottles and a special quality from being less involved since he first noticed it when he was un- drop them down to the street, where they wilh futuristic technology or tar-out packing months before and looking for a shattered. He thought of a man's body, phenomena than with people's lives. His place to put his Samsonite suitcase. shattering, in a motorcycle wreck. In latest SF novel, The Steps of the Sun, is He set the bag of bottles on the ledge by France? Certainly in France. scheduled for fall publication. ..." )! I heard; the word had

sbably t

RETURN FROM THE STARS BYSTANISLAWLEM . .

"To drink? Nothing, you." side— I had noticed that this was how most reached me. apart from the sharp hiss that thank of the women here on Earth were made up. announced the passage in the street oi "All right." She held the back of the chair opposite me those black machines. She went to the wall, which opened like a 9 " with both hands and said, "How goes it, "Come on, where are you I heard her small bar. She stood in front of the opening

col?" Then she sat down. whisper. I saw only the pale smudge of her When she returned , she was carrying a tray

She was a little drunk. I thought, face. She put her hand to the door, and it with cups and two bottles. Squeezing one "It's boring here; don't you think?" she opened, but not into an apartment, and the bottle lightly, she filled me a cup to the brim. continued after a moment. "Shall we take floor moved soft y cogetner with us. The liqjic looKed exactly ike milk. off somewhere, col?" We were in something like a huge en- "Thank you," I said, "not for me."

"I'm not a col," I said. She leaned on the trance hall or corridor, wide, almost dark. "But I'm not giving you anything," she table with her elbows and moved her hand Only the corners of the walls shone, bright- said, seemingly surprised. across her half-filled glass until the end of ened by streaks of luminous paint. In the Seeing I had made a mistake, although I the golden chain around her fingers darkest place the girl again put the palm of did not know what kind of mistake, I mut- dipped into the liquid. She leaned still her hand flat against a metal plate on a tered under my breath and took the cup.

I rink closer. I could smell her breath. If she was door and entered first. blinked. The hall, She poured herself a d from the second drunk, it was not from alcohol. brightly lit, was almost empty, She walked bottle. This liquid was oily, colorless, and "How's that?" she said. "You are. You tome next door. slightly effervescent under the surface; at in. have to be. Everybody is. What do you say? I followed her the same time it darkened, apparently on

Shall we?" The furniture looked as if it had been cast contact with air. She sat down and, touch- lips, If only I knew what this meant. in glass: armchairs, a low sofa, small ta- ing the glass with her casually asked,

'All right," I said. bles. Inside the semitransparent material "Who are you?"

if She took me by the arm and led me to- swarms of fireflies c rcukT.ecl freely; some- 'A col," I answered. I lifted my cup, as to ward a dark-gold wall, to a markon it, a little times they dispersed, then they would join examine it. This milk had no smell. I did not like a treble clef, lit up. At our approach the again into streams, and it seemed that a touch it.

said. I wall opened. I felt a gust of hot air "No, seriously," she "You thought A narrow silver escalator flowed down. was sending in the dark, eh? Since when?

We stood side by side. She did not even That was only a cals.' I was with a six, you come up to my shoulder She had a catlike see. butit got awfully bottom. The orka was

. I head, black hair with a blue sheen, a profile no good, and altogether. . was just going mShe did not even that was perhaps too sharp, but she was when you sat down," pretty. If it were not for those scarlet nostrils come up to my shoulder. Some of this I could figure out: I must

. have accident . . when she She held on to me tightly with her thin She had a catlike sat at her table by hand, the green nails digging into my was not there; could she have been danc- head, black hair ... a heavy sweater. We went out, passing a ing? I maintained a tactful silence. ." number of half-empty-bars and shop win- "From a distance, you seemed so . . profile . . . perhaps dows in which groups ot mannequins were She was unable to find the proper word. too sharp, but she was performing the same scene over and over "Decent?" I suggested. Her eyelids flut-

again, and I would have liked to stop and pretty. If it weren't tered. Did she have a metallic film on them see what they were doing, but the girl hur- as well? No, it must have been eyeshadow. for those scarlet nostrils* " ried along, her slippers clicking. "What does that mean 9 9 " . . . "Where shall we go the girl asked. She "Well . . . um someone you could trus! ..." still held me by the arm. She slackened her 1 said. pace. A red stripe, reflected from a nearby "You talk in a strange way. Where are you shop, passed across her face. from?" "Wherever you like." luminous blood coursed in the furniture, "From far away."

"My place, then. It isn't worth taking a pale green, commingled with pink sparks. "Mars?" gleeder It's nearby." "Why don't you sit down." "Farther." We came upon a moving walkway: we She was standing far back. An armchair "You fly?" stood on it. a strange pair: lights swam by; unfolded itself to receive me. i hated that. "I did fly." now and then a vehicle shot along as if cast The "glass" was not glass at all— the im- 'And now?"

I sitting inflated returned." from a single block of black metal: they had pression had was of on "Nothing. I

no windows, no wheels, not even lights, and cushions, and, looking down, I could see "But you'll fly again?" they careered as if blindly and at tremen- the floor indistinctly through the curved, "I don't know Probably not." dous speed. The girl suddenly stepped off thick surface of the seat. The conversation had trailed off some- the flowing ribbon, but only to mount I made myself comfortable in the chair, how. It seemed to me that the girl was be-

I another that dartec steeply upward, and I The girl, her hand on her hip— her abdo- ginning to regret her rash invitation, and found myself suddenly high up: this aerial men really did look like a sou olure in azure wanted to make it easy for her. ride lasted perhaps half a minute and metal— studied me carefully. She no longer "Maybe I ought to go now?" I ventured. I ended on a ledge full of weakly fragrant appeared drunk. Perhaps it had only still held my untouched drink. flowers. It was as if we had reached the seemed that way to me before. "Why?" She was genuinely surprised.

terrace or balcony of a dark building by a "What's your name?" she asked. "I thought that that would . . . suit you." conveyor belt set against the wall. "Bregg. Hal Bregg. And yours?" "No," she said. "You're thinking — no,

The girl entered this loggia, and from it, "Nais," she answered, then asked, "How what for . . . Why don't you drink?" my eyes now accustomed to the dark, I was old are you?" "I am drinking," I replied.

if able to discern the huge outlines of the Curious manners, I thought. But that's It was milk after all. At this time of day in

surrounding buildings, windowless, black, what's done . . such circumstances! My surprise was

seemingly lifeless, for they were without "Forty. What about it?" such that she must have noticed it. 9 " more than light— not the slightest sound "Nothing. I thought you were a hundred." "What, is it bad

..." I I had to smile. "It's milk I said. must have looked

"I can be that, if you insist." The funny like a complete idiot. 9 thing is, it's the truth, I thought. "What What milk? That's brit."

I started to get up. "What can I give you?" she asked. sighed and .

"Listen, Nais. I think I'll now. Really, it I it go Again smiled; was not a pleasant "Listen, what I said before, that was just a ." will be better that way." smile. joke, really . . "Then why did drink?" you she asked. "What does that mean— really? Biologi- 'About the hundred years?" I asked. ." I looked at her; in silence. Trie cally I'm forty, "I It language but by Earth clocks, one was just talking. had no . . ."

had not changed so very much, and yet I hundred and fifty-seven . . "Stop," I grumbled. "Any more apologiz-

didn't It understand a thing. Not a thing. A long silence, then suddenly: "Were ing and I'll really feel that time."

r 1 was they who had changed. !ne e any women there?' She was silent. J forced myself to look 'All right," she said finally. "I'm not keep- "Wait," I said. "Do you have anything to away from her. ." ing you. But now this . . She was con- drink?" "What will you do?" she asked quietly. fused. She drank her lemonade— that's "What do you mean?" "I don't know. I don't know yet."

what I called the sparkling liquid, in my "Something toxic, you understand. "You have no plans?"

thoughts— and again I did not know to Strong. Alcohol ... it what . . or don't they drink "No. I have a little— it's a . bonus, you say. How difficult all this was! anymore?" understand. For all thattime. When we left,

"Tell me about yourself," I suggested. "Very rarely," replied if it she softly as think- was put into the bank in my name— I don't "Do you wan! to?" ing of else. something Herhandsfell slowly, even know how much there is. I don't know "Okay. And then you'll lell me?" touching the metallic blue of her dress. a thing. Listen, what is this Cavut?" "Yes." "I'll give . . . Is that all . you some angehen. "The Cavuta?" she corrected me. "It's .

TmattheCavuta, in my second year. I've right? But you don't even know what it is. do a sort of school, plasting; nothing great in

been neglecting things a bit lately. I wasn't you?" itself, but sometimes one can get into the plasting regularly and ... that's it's how "No, I don't," I retorted with unexpected reals." been. My six isn't too interesting. really So . . stubbornness. She went to the bar and "Wait . Then what exactly do you do?" ."

it's I . ... don't have anyone. It's strange . brought back a small, bulging bottle. She "Plast. You don't know what that is?"

"What is?" poured me a drink. It had some alcohol in it. "No." ."

"That I don't have , . it but there was something else that gave a "How can I explain? One makes dresses, Again these obscurities. Whom she ." was . clothing in general— everything . talking about? Whom didn't she have? Par- "Tailoring?" ents? Lovers? Acquaintances? "What does that mean?"

'And what else?" I asked, and, since I "Do you sew things?" was still holding the cup, I took another "I don't understand." 4So that's what swallow of that milk. Her eyes grew wide in "Ye gods and little fishes! Do you design surprise. Something like a mocking smile . dresses?" . a cigarette looks like. . touched her lips. her cup, She drained "Well . . . yes, in a sense, yes. I don't No, wait— the other ." reached out to the fluffy covering a hand on design; I only make . . her tore it. did not arms, and She unbutton thing is more important. I gave up. it, did not slip.it off. just tore it, let the and 'And what is a real?" I asked. Brit is not milk. I shreds tall from her fingers, like trash, That truly floored her. For the first time she "But then don't know what's in it, we hardly know each other," looked at me as if I were a creature from she said. She was freer, it seemed. She but— to a stranger- another world. smiled. There were moments when she be- 'A real is ... a real ..." she repealed one always gives brit3 came quite lovely, particularly when she helplessly. "They are ... stories. It's for narrowed her eyes and when her lower lip, watching ..." curling, revealed glistening teeth. In her "Movies? Theater?" face there was something Egyptian. An "No. Theater, I know what that was— that cat. Hair black. Egyptian blacker than was long ago. I know. They had actual When she pulled the furry fluff from her peculiar, bitter taste. people there. A real is artificial, but one

breasts, I that not "Don't I arms and saw she was be angry," said, emptying the can't tell the difference. Unless, I suppose, ." nearly I I so thin as had thought. But why had cup, and poured myself another one. one got in there, inside . .

ripped it she off? Was that supposed to "I'm not angry. You didn't answer, but "Got in? Listen, Nais," I said, "either I'll go ." mean something? perhaps you don't want to?" now, because it's very late, or . . ? " "Your turn to talk," she said, looking at me "Why not I can tell you. There were "I'd prefer the 'or.'

over her cup. twenty-three of us altogether, on two ships. "But you don't know what I want to say."

"Yes," I said and felt jittery, as if my words The other ship was the Ulysses. Five pilots "Say it then." would have God knows what conse- to a ship, and the rest— scientists. There 'All right. I wanted to ask you more about

quence. "I am ... I was a pilot. The last time were no women." various things. About the big things, the

I was here . . . Don't be frightened." "Why?" most important ones. I already know some-

"No. Go on." "Because of children," I explained. "You thing. I spent four days at Adapt, on Luna. Her eyes were shining and attentive. can't raise children on such ships, and but that was a drop in the bucket. What do

if "It was a hundred and twenty-seven even you could , no one would want to. You you do when you aren't working?" years ago. I was thirty then. The expedition can't fly before you're thirty. You have to "One can do a pile of things," she an-

... I was a pilot on the expedition to have two diplomas under your belt, and swered. "One can travel, actually or by Fomalhaut. That's twenty-three light-years four years of training, twelve years in all. In moot. One can have fun, go to the real, away. We flew, there and back, in a hun- other words, women of thirty usually have dance, play tereo, participate in sports, dred and twenty-seven years, Earth time, children." swim, fly — whatever one wants." and ten years, ship time. Four days ago we 'AnO you?" she asked. "What is a moot?" returned. The Prometheus, my ship, re- "I was single. They selected unmarried "It's a little like the real, except you can mained on Luna. I came from there today. ones. That is— volunteers." touch everything. You can walk on moun- ."

That's all." "You wanted to . . tains there, on anything — you'll see for

She stared at me. She did not speak. Her "Yes. Of course." yourself; it's not the sort of thing you can lips moved, opened, closed. What was that "It must be weird . . . coming back, like describe. But I had the impression you ." in her eyes? Surprise? Admiration? Fear? this . . she said almost in a whisper. She wanted to ask about something else."

"Why do you say nothing?" I asked. shuddered. Suddenly she looked at me. "Your impression is right. How is it—

. "So . . how old are you, really?" Her-cheeks darkened; it was a blush. between men and women?" . .

il . . "I suppose ihe way has always been. "How could he not want lo?" "No . you weren't." she whispered. "If ."

What can have changed?" Here all understanding ended: you had been, you would know . .

"Everything. When I left — don't take this "8ut you can't force him to drink," I con- I began to go to her. She raised her the wrong way— a girl like you would not unued patiently ." have brought me to her place atihls hour." "A madman might not drink . . she said

"Really? Why not?" slowly, "But I never heard of such a thing."

"Because il would have meant only one "Is this some kind of custom?" "But you yourseh said that brit ... I'm thing." "I don't know what to tell you. Is it a cus- silling now. You see, I'm silting. Calm your-

. . She was silent for a second. tom that you don't go around naked?" self. Tell me what it is, this bet . or what-

'And how do you know it didn't?" "Aha. Well, in a sense, yes. But yo.u can ever."

My expression amused her. I looked at undress on the beach." "I don't know exactly. But everyone is bet- her, and she slopped smiling. "Completely?" she asked with sudden rizated. At birth." ." "Nais . . . how is it . . I stammered. "You interest. "What is it?"- ."'

I take a com .oleic stranger and . . "No. Aswimsuil. But there were groups of "They put something into the blood. ."

She said nothing. people in my day, called nudists . . think."

"Why don't you answer?" "I know. No, that's something else. I "Do they do it to everyone?" -." fhat all - "Yes. . . . brit . . . doesn't "Because you don't understand a thing. I thoughl you Because work don't know how to tell you. It's nothing, you "No So vnis d'inking Is Ike wear"ig without that. Don't move." know ..." clothes? Just as necessary?" "Child, don'! be ridiculous."

"Yes. . . . I "Aha. It's nothing," I repeated. 'Are there- When there are two of you." crushed out my cigarette. still marriages?" "Well, and afterwards?" "I am not a wild animal. . .Don't be angry,

"Naturally" "What afterwards?" but it seems to me that you've all gone a

. . "I don't understand. Explain this to me. "The next time?" little mad. This bril . Well, it's like hand-

You see a man who appeals to you, and, This conversation was idotie, and I felt cuffing everyone because someone might ."

I . . . without knowing him, right away . . terrible, but had to (ind out. turn out to be a thief. I mean there ought

"But what is there to tell?" she said reluc- "Later? It varies. To some ... you always to be a Utile trust," ," calmer, but tantly. "Was it really true, in your day, back give brit . , "You're terrific." She seemed

1 then, that a girl couldn't let a man into her "The rejected suitor I b u-'cci oi.r. still she did not sit. "Then why were you so room?" "What does that mean?" indignant before, aboul my bringing I

"She could, ot course, and even with that' "No, nothing. And if a girl visits a man, svangers home?" fna; else.'' purpose, but . . . not five minutes after see- what then?" s someriirg ." drinks it "I don'i the difference. You're sure ing him . . "Then he at his place," see

"How many minutds then?" She looked at me almost with pity. Bui I you weren't betrizaled?"

stubborn. "I wasn't." I looked at her. She was quite serious. was returned?" Well, yes, how was she to know? I "And when he hasn't any?" "But maybe now? When you shrugged. "Any brit? How could he nol have it?" "I don't know. They gave me all kinds of

"It wasn't a matter of time only. First of all "Well, he ran out. Or ... he could always shots. What importance does it have?"

she had to . . . see something in him, get to lie." "It has. They did that? Good."

know him, like him. First of all they went out She began to laugh. "But that's . . . You She sat down. ." " I . . Ihink I "I favor said together that keep bottles here in my apart- have a to ask you : as calm- ,"

. "Wait," she said. "It seems that you ... ment?" ly as I could. "You must expiain to me "You don't? dont understand a thing. After all, I gave Where then?" "Whal?" you brit." "Where they come from, I dop't know. In "Your fear. Did you think I would attack "What brit? Ah, the milk? What of it?" your day was there tap water?" you, or what? Bui that's ridiculous."

"What do you mean, what of it? Was there "There was," I said glumly. There could "You'd understand if I told you. Betriza-

... no brit?" nol have been, of course. I could have tion, you see, isn't done by brit. With the

She began to laugh; she was convulsed climbed into Ihe rocket straight from the brit, it's only — a side effect . . Betrization ."

. . with laughter. Then suddenly she broke off, forest. I was furious for a moment, but I has to do with something else She was looked at me, and reddened terribly. calmed down; it was nol, after all, her fault. pale. Her lips trembled.

. . . . . "So you thought you thought that I "There, you see! Did you know in which What a world, I thought, what a world this ." no." My fingers were unsteady; I wanted to direction the water flowed before it . .

"I hold something in them. I pulled a cigarette understand. No need logo on. All right. n terribly afraid." from my pocket and lit it. So is it a kind of safety measure? Very "Of m»?"

"What is that?" strange! How long does brit work?" I asked. "Yes." ."

"A cigarette. What — you don't smoke?" She blushed slightly. "I swear thai . .

"It's the first time I ever saw one ... So "You're in such a hurry You still don't un- "No.no... I believe; >nly ... no. You that's what a cigarette looks like. How can derstand anything." can't understand this."

"I you inhale the smoke like that? No, wait— didn'l say anything wrong," I defended "You 'won't tell me?"

the other thing is more important. Brit is not myself. "I only wanted to know . . . Why are There musi have been something in my

milk. I don't know what's in it, but— to a you looking at me like that? What's the mat- voice that made her control herself. Her stranger— one always gives brit." ter with you? Nais!" face grew grim. I saw from her eyes the

"To a man?" She got up slowly. She siood behind the effort it was for her

"Yes." armchair. "It is ... so that ... in order that it be

. . "What does it do?" "How long ago— did you say? A hundred impossible to . kill."

"What it does is that he behaves, that he and Iwenly years?" "No. People?" ." has- to. You know Maybe some biologist "A hundred and twenty-seven. What 'Anyone . . can explain it to you." about it?" 'Animals, loo?" ."

"To hell with Ihe biologist. Does this mean "And were you . . . betrizated?" 'Animals . . . anyone . . that a man to whom you've given brit can't "What is that?" She twisted and untwisted her lingers, do anything?" "You weren't?" not taking her eyes off me, as if with these

"Naturally." "I don't even know what il means. Nais. . words she had released me from an invisi-

"What if he doesn'l want to drink?" girJ, what's the matter with you?" ble chain, as if she had put a knife into my . " ,

hand— a knife I could slab her with. are hotels?" in me. To grab those white, naked arms and

"Nais," I said very quietly. "Nais, don't be "There are. Bregg." shake her , ,

. afraid. Really . . there's nothing to fear," ".Yes?" I .left. turned and I remember that later I She tried to smile. "Stay." sat by a fountain, or perhaps it was not a ."

"Listen . . "What?" fountain; I stood up and walked on in the "Yes?" did not She speak. spreading light of the new day until I woke

"When I said that..." "You want me to stay?" from my stupor in front of large, glowing "Yes?" windows and the fiery letters alcaron

"You feit nothing?" I went up to her, took hold of hec, bending hotel.

'And what was I supposed to feel?" over the chair, by her cold arms, and lifted

"Imagine that you are doing what I said to her up. She stood submissively. Her head In the doorkeeper's box, which resem-

you . fell back; her teeth glistened. I did not want bled a giant's overturned bathtub, sat a

I . 'That :g? I'm supposed to pic- her; I wanted only to say, "But you're afraid," robot, beautifully styled, semitransparent, ture that?' and wanted only for her to say that she was with long delicate arms. Without asking a

She shuddered. not. Nothing it more. Her eyes were closed, thing, passed me the guest book. I ." "Yes . . but suddenly the whites shone from under- signed it and rode up with a small, triangu- " 7

'And now her lashes; I neath bent over her face and lar ticket. Someone — I have no idea 'And you feel nothing?" looked into her glassy eyes, as if I wished to who— helped me open the door or, rather,

"Nothing. But then it's only a thought, know her fear, to share it. She struggled to did it for me. Walls of ice, and in them— cir- ."

I have . and not the slightest intention . break loose, but I did not feel it; it was only culating fires; under the window, at my ap- "But you Right? You really No." can? can? when she began to groan, "No! No!" that I proach, a chair emerged from nothing and she whispered, as if to herself, "you are not slackened my grip. She nearly fell. slid under me; a flat tabletop had begun to ..." ..." betrizated I "Nais said quietly. Then I dropped descend, making a kind of desk, but it was

Only now did the meaning of it all hit I me; my hands. a bed that I wanted. I could not find one and

understood how it could to her. "Don't be a shock come near me!" did not even attempt to look. I lay down on ."

"This is great thing," I muttered. "But it . a After a was you who said . the foamy carpet and immediately fell

moment I added. "But it would have been Her eyes were wild. asleep in the artificial light of the window-

better, perhaps, it I had people ceased to do "I'm going now," announced. She said less room, for what I had at first taken lobe ." . . ,. without artificial means nothing. I wanted to add something— a few a window turned out to be a television set.

"I don't Perhaps," know she answered. words of apology, of thanks— so as not to and I drifted off with the knowledge that

She drew a deep breath. "You know now leave this way, but I couldn't, Had she been from there, from behind the glass plate,

why I was frightened?" afraid only as a woman is of a man, a some giant face was grimacing at me. "Yes, but not completely. Maybe a little. strange, even threatening, unknown man. meditating over me, laughing, chattering. ."

But surely didn't I . . then hell it. this you think that the with But was something babbling. I was delivered by a sleep like

"How strange you are! It's altogether as if else. I looked at her and felt anger growing death; in it, even time stood still. ." you weren't . . She broke off, "Weren't human?"

"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that,

you see. if it is known that no one can, you

know, even think about it. ever— and sud- denly someone appears, like you — then the very possibility ... the fact that there is

one who . "I can't believe that everyone would be— how was it?— betrizated!"

'Why'? Everyone, I tell you!"

No. .it's imposible." I insisted, "What about people with dangerous jobs? After ."

all. they must . . "There are no dangerous jobs." "What are you saying. Nais? What about pilots? What about rescue workers? What about those who fight fire, water?"

"There are no such people," she said. I

thought that I must not have heard her right. "What?"

"No such people," she repeated. "It is done by robots

There was silence. It would not be easy

for me, I thought, to stomach this new world, And suddenly came a reflection,

surprising in that I myself would never have

expected it if someone had presented me with this situation purely as a theoretical possibility: It seemed to me that this mea- ^yruo sure destroying the killer in man was ... a kind ot disfigurement.

I "Nais," said, "it's already very late.. I "This is Explorer XX calling Earth from think I'll go." "Where?" Muscle Beach, do you read me?"

"I don't know . . . I'll look for a hotel. There

WSWiairimSSTSS5C shaman, and the artist. Maqic itself, the precursor of

agical transformaiions, transformations in substances. Scientists look to ar

insights ir

of the i syntheses of fantastic and factual elements too Presidential Transcript No. 21 Recording dated: 17 January 1996 Location: The Oval Office Subject: The President's Image THE PRESIDENT'S IMAGE

BY STEPHEN ROBINETT

I have called you all here

for a special reason. The '96 primary looms before us. and I

have yet lo announce. I want all of you to be the first to hear my decision. To quote one of my predecessors in this

office: If nominated, I will not run. Groans and disappointment? Hear me out. Only then will you understand my decision. The latest polls show a new issue emerging, one that could overshadow the excellent record we have compiled. The issue has nothing to do with our programs. Those have been embraced enthusiastically by the American people. The problem is of a different order, not the substance of our administration, but the form, the image, more accurately, my image.

Lei me be more specific. According to our sampling, I am seen by the electorate as competent, efficient, imagi- native, and innovative, but in failing health Rumors about my health have proliferated. My ability to last out another four-year term is questioned. The media have dubbed us the Haggard administration.

PAINTING BY FRIEDRICH HECHELMANN Haggard— thai is Ihe operative word. A the kind of man Senator Mirada wanted problems of imple-en: ng each policy and computer model of the next election shows neutralized. the solutions to those problems. The pro- ihe issue could be controlling, especially if That weekend, to escape temporarily gram was given a capacity to deliver this our opponents are given any opportunity at from Ihe growing frustration of his search, information either as a formal speech, or as all to make political hay out of this straw Fred took his son to Disneyland. The trip casual conversation, or as response to

fateful. audience. It even con- man. As you all can see, I look no more proved After a particularly nauseat- questions from an all-purpose riposies for haggard now than the day I took office, it is ing spin on the Mad Hatter's Teacup — son tained a few simply our higher profile in preparation for squealing with glee, father losing most of hecklers. the Ninely-six campaign that has brought his lunch — Freddie Junior dragged his fa- When Thoroughway was satisfied, he the issue to public attention. ther in to hear Lincoln deliver the Gettys- called Senator Mirada in for a demonstra-

Okay, on to the purpose of this briefing. burg Address. tion. He activaied the equipment, all of it

Some of you don't know all the details of portable, and I joined them in ihe labora- how our present situation came about. I'll Fred Senior had seen the exhibit years tory. Thoroughway asked me about tax- outline them as succinctly as possible and before when il was a mechanical man. The reform legislation, covering it both from the substantive from ihe practicality have a transcript made for reference. I mechanical Lincoln had long since de- angle and don't want any misunderstandings aboul parted. Now a holographically projected of geiiing such legislation through Con-

he came plan. Lincoln, tied to a computer, stood in its gress. I answered satisiactorily, Senator foreign is- How did it start? That's the big question. place. Not only did ii give a fine and moving Mirada asked me aboul policy

It started with the attempled assassina- delivery of the Gettysburg Address, but it sues—the Tierra del Fuego War, the Lisbon tion of Senator Mirada in Los Angeles be- answered questions from the audience as coup, the Sino-Japanese Mutual Defense

I one fore the last election. As most of you know. I at a press conference Pact, Again answered each question,

if had not yet joined the campaign, but the One of the questions came from wide- or two of them with well-turned and — I do senator was leading our party full stride eyed little Fredcie Thorougnway at the foot say so myself — witty responses, toward the White House. When he heard of the dais. He asked Lincoln whelher he The senator was impressed. He put one the hornet buzz of the assassin's bullet, his knew how much he resembled Senator of his arms across Fred's shoulders and stride, understandably, faltered. Mirada, Lincoln gave a kindly and paternal talked into his ear saying ihe success with smile and said many people had made that me would allow him io do what lie had

The next day the senator called in Fred observaiion to him. It reminded him of an longed to do from the first days of the cam- Thoroughway. You all know Fred over there. anecdote from his own boyhood. He paign, take a relaxed and extended vaca- He was chief of campaign security in those launched into a story about splitting rails in tion to restore his health. He gestured al me "the days. According to Fred, the senator Illinois. and said I could do what he called looked like death warmed over. His skin The story had nothing whatsoever to do mundane work of getting elected." was the color of old newspaper, and dark with the boy's- question, but Freddie We got postcards from the senator in circles showed under his eyes. He seemed thought it did. So, evidently, did everyone Tahiti, all signed with Irs Secret Service to have aged a decade overnight. The de- else in !he room. The illusion was convinc- codename, Cheshire Cal One. He sent one mands of a too ambitious career, combined ing. Fred Senior gazed up at the expound- pholograph of a man with his face averted with his dubious personal habits — he ing Lincoln and knew he had found the and his arms around two young Tahitian drank, smoked, and philandered to ex- solution lo Senator Mirada's problem. girls. He was having a wonderful time and cess— had completely weakened his con- On Monday morning experts on wished we were there. slitution. The assassination attempt computer-controlled holography were While the senator chased grass skirts in

threatened to break it. He kept muttering to brought in, along with the. most sophisli- Tahiti. I worked night and day at the mun- Fred about seeing the face of Death in the cated equipment available. The senator dane work of go;: ng elected 3efore every crowd. He told Fred something had to be took a break from campaigning, long public appearance, Thoroughway set up done. He could not go on, with the Grim enough to cover the recording session. the equipment under the hustings, some- Reaper dogging him over the campaign Cameras and microphones recorded his times an outdoor podium, sometimes an trail. The Grim Reaper, in all his guises, had every movement, head to toe, front to back, indoor stage, He gave orders to have the to be neutralized. standing, sitting, walking, talking — espe- motorcade stop within range of the projec- cially talking. tor. the senator's limo to halt, Neutralized — a fine word . But how? Fred When came a was caught between the proverbial rock Thoroughway flicked on the equipment. and the equally proverbial hard place. If he The waveforms produced by (he The limo door slid open, I got out, smiling, did nothing and hoped they could get senator's every sound and movement were waving, politicking. through the Ninety-two election with a sane analyzed instantaneously and were as- Though I didn't kiss any babies or shake candidate, some nut would probably try signed a two-hundred-fifty-six bit binary any hands— an impossibility under the cir- again and Ihe senator's taut nerves would number. Numbers accumulated at a rate of cumstances—I did give rousing, Lincoln- snap. If, in an effort to ease ihe senator's one million per millimeter of recording tape. esque speeches. Even the media began troubled mind, he threw on a total security Tape passed through the machine at two talking about the "new" Senator Mirada, wrap, Senator Mirada would never get meters a second. All of it was ultimately better organized, better prepared on the close enough to the electorate to become stored in a compter, a collection of some- issues, more responsive lo questions, Presidenl Mirada. Still, an order to neutral- thing close to two billion digital information quicker-wilted, We moved up in the polls. ize was- an order to neutralize, no matter bits on the senator for every second of rec- No one saw me .then as having served four how imposing the task. ording time. Thoroughway worked the years in a man-killing job. So there was little senator hard, further damaging his already comment on my appearance. For a week Fred toured security services frail health, but managing to assemble one in Los Angeles. With more than its share of hundred hours of tape. They could now None of ou' success pleased Fred. From nuts, Fred reasoned, Los Angeles would holographically reproduce every move- time to time he would have me join him lale have state-of-the-art technology for deal- ment and sound the senator was capable at night and discuss the matter He had ing with them. He examined electrical, of making, together with a few he would been through many campaigns, and some- chemical, and mechanical gadgets. Some never be able to manage. thing always went wrong. Either little things of them would have stopped riots. Some Then came the hard part. They had the went wrong all the time — late planes, would have destroyed cities. None would form, the image. They needed substance. rained-out rallies, slipshod advance stop a lone assassin bent on murder who Every plank in the senator's platform was work— or something big weni wrong all ai had no regard lor his own safety, precisely programmed in, along with details on the once. The- longer we went without small 120 disasters, the more Fred's forebodings told him a big one was on the way.

11 arrived November 4, 1992. one day after we squeaked into office, and while most of you were still under the weather FUTURE BOOKS from the victory party, Senator Mirada — now on the wagon, a nonsmoker, and a BY CYNTHIA DARNELL

jogger— had discovered a new way of life,

: ibl- '! r - You o that after the I more tranquil, healthier, without the crush- ; ought h 3 same oornbiraiiuii however. -:pe ing burden of governing the most powerful Bermuda Triangle the-e was nowhere lo- feclly safe for a Taurus, provided the

; nation on Earth. As he said in that final go but down You were nglr Give;" rrie iacc_bas Saturn n the Fftn House and current of publishing r postcard, he felt himself to be in harmony kena fai y taies the lauma, If his or her rising sign is . with the seasons and the tides. He had unocr the guise o! hard fact, we win un- Scoroio, exercises extreme caution in decided to trade in the smoke-fiiled rooms doubtedly rind the following •ties at our 'raveimc by motorpcat on odd-num- of Washington for the fresh air and sun- localoook.sto-es much sooner ih-- w= bered daysi wouid like . shine of Tahiti, permanently. AppE m, ,.... : nstrup

Thai gave us a problem, I'm sure you all lions en now io chart your fooo and offer remember the meeting. Most of you were >ey; Fsre-ileiogre The hysterical over the possible consequences Scorpio-Rising Soutilo is highly

it : of his decision. I had to take charge. We .mended, although takes voted. We arrived at our decision demo- months to prepare cratically. What we did we did for the good su'r.;\ icy '' of the country. We had already done the elcinborlng Chloe. The Quick-Loss fl, mundane work of getting elected. Could we Author Howaro Si. Phalie. intrigued oy We'il-knbwn advice c stand by and simply give away that elec- the disappearances, cououeted an in- has come up with a simple, iootpro;

tion? Was one man that indispensable? vestigation. After carolut 'sssarah and method tor rasing oil weigh: anc k.

Besides, we had programs we believed some. heavy soui-seamhmu. Si. Phalle ho it c'\ Once you have :-. i ,. in — programs the country needed. ii re n s actually contact with ntav:ous 'Black Tun (you can earn now to act'

Looking back, I think we can say we in the coupon- on the.fiyieaf a made the right decision, My personal eludes the discovery ot an ominous, ycu can fansfer exia calories and fat perteotiy popularity is high, my record good. We square pofhoie. But the au- : ur the hip

. ' ui. i thor : . have only this single issue, my health, to . ;;ve argumeri Is 'hat used to be. After-. alt, h no one with a g/fisp of reality, as -.now deal with, I have already taken steps to we sec remedy the situation. it would build a -0,'ac between Punx- sutawney and Chloe. Last week I dispatched an urgent tele- The Las! Continen, gram to Tahiti, followed by a two-hour satel- b ed conrl'ientc: laahohss Io Fred Helps. Forth- Until -'fie nine n lite conversation with visual linkup. I must was Ncnhw8s;em United S :" say, Tahiti has agreed with him. He looks I. Pete i| vV Supposedly; the Losl Con

1 I". Ii ' I::. !..' tan, rested, and content. He has followed ' ' ..1 i A .I home of a highly develoj

events here and approves of our ac- a ?poec.h de'ecf. But when a neighbor invented, and. .lived In, c.i complishments. Indeed, he is convinced recorded the chi d's voce with the Intent When the glaciers, retreat ot that we have done a better job in office than getting a low-laughs at a. party, the of :he ce y iheride but took a wrong turn and was

I appreciate. asionishec never heard from again. . dorsement deeply In any case, we spent much of the two to hear roe slurred voice of a h.ghar lite hours examining our options. He suggest- ?r but Fred Curve Pcwar i'h-s book takes off from

i, ,;: ed the most obvious solution, a new tape who in . the hosi o\ the premise mat -straight lines anc an-

fit outline a French tabs! on a oc-ttie of gles are inherently unnatural showing a and healthy image. I had to and a-e veto that one. The media have already Ripple thus 't-sponsibie lor all of us being -r made a big deal out of my reluctance to Prodded oy promises of Oreos. the messed- up. Mankind is only ..salvation shake hands— the Howard Hughes Syn- mystical Frees began risking pro- lies in a returntc the curve, the arc. the nouncements of . drome, they call it— suggesting it indicates a me-taphvs'c^ son. gentle unduation. the amorphous ,:..' r.

- a neurotic fear of germs, hypochondria, Tnese aro In a subtle oig al another po;j._.- = bootr, with an evidence of potential mental instability. I Ineory ice author points oui that a

sequei. as' soon Peter i., i. pointed out to him that we had to squelch as has gone ' :. i razor blade through orthodontics that sort of talk rather than encourage it. He sharp. But the. razor blade itseu is a saw my point. Still, he was hesitant to leave The ";iore orovcealive disclosures in- e Ehink-

his Shangri-La. Only after further negotia- a world ended orvMaroh .3, ing; so who needs.it? Parts of this book tion and firm promise that Air Force One ' haven't finished the make alot of sense.

: :"- would make frequent and prolonged trips (2'i television is good for to Tahiti did he agree to cooperate. •. terriers are actually As cur fin a entry-vve have Joseph Tur- 3 of the insect family; and |'4; tlesHowro Build a Biarj- ~,-a "-.a a_- ' Pau- IvtcCa- luey I think, ladies and gentlemen, we can might bo dead after a!'. thor tells the reader how to adapt a used look event horizon now forward to the four more years we , provides games that can need realize Food Signs: This bock is an inquiry be played to our programs fully. As I said with you' bias- roe sug-

r : at mro i'cw the astrological ot ri-e ..: the beginning of this briefing, I have sky food gests howfostore it. a so on iut [he

we eat can afiec; r well-being. ; :;t:;,i made my decision. I think you now under- 0U For interesting feature of this book is

it. If example, a Libra person ingests it stand nominated, I will not run, but, if who an that will handity engulf all the other elected — our friend from Tahiti should give Aries taco arid a Pisces chili aog while books on this list and still have enough us just the image we need for that mundane the sun is In Gemini i oowei left io swallow nseii

work— I will serve. Science could conquer death, she knew. But could she deal with what came after death? SOUL SEARCH BY SPIDER ROBINSON

R.l ebecca Howell stood trembling with anticipation beside the Plexiglas tank that contained the corpse of her husband. Archer. A maelstrom of conflicting emotions raged within her: fondness, yearning, awe, lust, trium- phant satislaction. fierce joy, and an unceraye' of fearall trying to coexist in the same skull Perhaps no one in all human history had experienced that precise mix of emotions, for her situation was close to unique. Because she was who and what she was. it would shortly lead her to develop the Mrsl genuinely new motive for murder in several thousand years. "Go ahead," she said aloud, and eight people in white crowded around the transparent cryotank with her. In practiced silence, they began doing things. John Dimsdale touched her shoulder. "Reb," he said softly, "come on. Let them work." M No,"

"Reb. the lirsi part rs not pretty. I think you should—"

"Dammit. I know that!" "I think," he repeated insistently, "you should come with me." She stiffened, and then she saw some ol the things the technicians were doing. "All right. Doc- tor Bharadwaj!" One of the white-suited men looked up irritably.

PAINTING BY MICHEL HENRICOT "

in "Call me before you fire the pineal. With- "The new live- is r p ace and functioning man I knew; he'll have no memories

out fail. "She let Dimsdaie lead her from the correctly," he told her when she arrived. common with that man, and the new 'up- room, down white-tiled corridors, to "Indications are good. Shall I—" bringing' is bound to alter his personality

Bharadwaj's offices. His secretary looked "At once." some. I'll have to learn how to make him up as they entered and hastened to open "Disconnect life-support," he snapped, love me all over again. But I've got my the door leading into the doctor's inner and this was done, As soon as the body's Archer back!" sanctum for ihern. Dimsdaie dismissed integrity had been restored, he pressed a Dimsdaie was struck dumb, as much by him, and Rebecca sat down heavily in the button. The body bucked in its Plexiglas admiration for her indomitable spirit as by luxurious desk chair, putting her feet up on cradle, then sank back limply. A technician reluctance to tell her that she was deac Bharadwaj's desk. They were both silent for shook her head, and Bharadwaj, sweating wrong, He wished there were some honor- perhaps ten minutes. profusely, pressed the button a second able way he could die himself. on, "Eight years," she said finally. "Will it re- time. The body spasmed again — and the "What's ten years?" she chattered ally work, John?" eyes opened. The nostrils flared and drew oblivious, "Hell, what's twenty years? We're I've him. "No reason why it shouldn't," he said. in breath; the chest'expanded; the fingers both forty, now that caught up with both "Every reason why it should." clenched spasmodically Rebecca cried With the medical we can afford, we're "It's never been done before." out. Dimsdaie stared with round eyes, and good for a century and a quarter. We can "On a human, no. Not successfully. But Bharadwaj and his support team broke out have at least sixty more years together.

' the problems have been solved. It worked in broad grins of relief and triumph. That's four times as long as we've already

with those cats, didn't it? And that ape?" And the first breath was expelled, In a had! I can be patient another decade or so "Yes. but—" long, high, unmistakably infantile wail. for that." She smiled, then became busi- "Lock, Bharadwaj knows perfectly well nesslike. "I want you to start making ar-

you'll have his skull for an ashtray if he fails. Rebecca Howell's mind was both tough rangements for his care at once, I want him rehabilitation this planet Do you think he'd try it at all if he weren't and resilient. The moment her subcon- to have the best

certain?" scious decided she was ready to handle can provide, the ideal childhood. I don't After a pause she relaxed. "You're right, know what kind of experts we need to hire. of course." She looked at him then, really You'll have to— seeing him for the first time that day. and her "Wo/" Dimsdaie cried. started, looked at him closely. expression softened. "Thank you, John. I She and "John, in God's name is wrong with — . . . thank you for everything. This must be what fmAi it only " even harder for you than it—'" present was a She paled. "Oh my God. they've lost him,

"Put it out of your mind," he interrupted body - no longer haven't they?" hastily. "No," he managed to say. "No, Reb, they a corpse, not yet a man. him." "I just feel so—" haven't lost him, They never had "There is nothing for you to feel guilt over, It was 'alive' in "What the hell are you talking about?"

. him . "I cry, wave . heard him saw Reb," he insisted. "I'm fine. When when a certain technical sense, she blazed. love cannot possess, it is content to serve." his arms and piss himself. He was alive." in that an array "Who said that?" "He still is. Was when 1 came in here, Dimsdaie blushed. "Me," he admitted. of machinery circulated probably still is. But he is not Archer "About fifteen years ago." And frequently Howeil." its blood . . 3 thereafter, he added to himself, "So put it "What are you saying?" out of your mind, all right?" "Bharadwaj said a lot I didn't under- She smiled, 'As long as you know how stand. Something about brain waves, about radically different indices grateful I am for you. I could never have something maintained Archer's empire without you." on the something-or-other profile, some-

"Nonsense. What are your plans— for af- consciousness again, it threw off heavy thing about different reflexes and different like In ... babbling. Archer was terward, i mean?" sedaiion a flannel blanket. the next he was close to "When he's released? As few as possi- room, !he physic an —cnitoring her telem- born after the development of the brain from in- ble. I thought he might enjoy a cruise etry started violently, wondering whether he scan; so they have tapes on him around the world, sort of a reorientation. could have catnapped without realizing :. fancy. Eight experts and two computers But I'm quite content to hole up on Luna or "What's wrong?" Dimsdaie demanded. agree Archer Howell's body is alive down

up in Alaska instead, or whatever he wants. "Nothing. Uh, she ... a second ago she the hail, but that's not him in it. Not even the "' ." differ- As long as I'm with him, I . . was deep under, and — infant Archer. Someone completely Dimsdaie knew precisely how she felt. "Now she's wide awake." Dimsdaie ent," He shuddered. "Anew person, Anew,

After this week it might be weeks or years finished. "All right, stand by" He got up forty-year-old person." before he saw her again. stiffly and went to her door. "Now comes the

The phone rang, and he answered it. hard part." he said, too softly for the other to The doctor outside was on his toes, feed- "Right. Let's go, Reb. They're ready." hear. Then he squared his shoulders and ing tranquilizers and sedatives into her sys- went in. tem in a frantic attempt to keep his telem- ,"

. within limits. But The top of the cryotank had been re- "Reb . etry readings acceptable moved now. allowing direct access to "It's all right. John. Truly, I'm okay. I'm her will was a hot sun, burning the fog off

Archer Howell's defrosted body. At present terribly disappointed, of course, but. when her mind as fast as it formed, "Impossible,"

it was only a body— no longer a corpse, not you look at it in perspective, this is really she cried, and she sprang from the bed yet a man. It was "alive" in a certain techni- just a minor setback." before Dimsdaie could react, ripping tubes cal sense, in that an array of machinery "No," he said very quietly. "It isn't." and wires loose, "You're wrong, all of you, circulated its blood and pumped its lungs; "Of course it is. Look, it's perfectly obvi- Thai's my Archer!"

but it was no! yet Archer Howell. Dr, ous what's happened. Some kind of The doctor came in fast, trained and Bharadwaj awaited Rebecca Howell's cryonic trauma's wiped his mind. All his ready for anything, and she kicked him command, as ordered, before firing the memories are gone. He'll have to start over square in the stomach and leaped over him complex and precise charge through the again as an infant. But he's got a mature as he went down. She was out the door and pineal gland that, he believed, would re- brain. John. He'll be an adult again in ten into the hallway before Dimsdaie could store independent life function — and years, you wait and see if he isn't. I know reach her. consciousness— to the preserved flesh. him/Oh, he'll be different. He won't be the When he came to the room assigned to " "

Archer Howell, Dirnsdale found Rebecca She overmatched his volume, "I'll thank ago, trading off ihe relative ambiguity of sitting beside the bed, crooning softly and you.to respect that mind." immature brain scans for more complete rocking back and forth. An inlern a ".Why should and f?" said bitterly. I he records. got fifteen tentative yeses. Then I nurse were sprawled on the floor, the nurse "Because it's done something no one's correlated all fifteen and got a definite yes." bleeding slowly from (he nose. Dirnsdale ever done in all history You cannot think of a "But— but, damn it all to hell, Reb, the looked briefly at the diapered man on the way to prove or disprove Bharadwaj's be- goddamn birthrate has been rising since bed and glanced away, He had once liked lief. No — one else ever has." Her eyes forever! Where the hell do the new ones Archer Howell a great deal. "Reb flashed. "But/ have." come from?" She glanced up and smiled. The smile He gaped at her. Either she had com- She frowned. "I'm not certain. But I've sideswiped him. pletely lost her mind, or she was telling the noted that the animal birthrate declines as "He knows me. I'm sure he does. He truth. The two seemed equally impossible. the human increases." smiled at me." As she spoke a flailing hand At last he made his choice. "How?" His mouth hung open. caught one of hers, quite by accident. "Right here at this desk. Its brain was "Don't you see, John? You're a religious

"See?" It clutched, babylike but with adult more than adequate, once mine told It what fanatic, too. The only difference between strength. She winced but kept the smiie. to do. I'm astonished it's never occurred to you and Bharadwaj is that he's right. Rein- Dirnsdale swallowed, "Reb, it's not him. I anyone before." carnation exists." swear it's not. Bharadwaj and Nakamura "You've proved the belief in reincarna- John finished his drink in a gulp and are absolutely— tion. With your desk." milked Ihe chair for more. smile The was gone now "Go away, John. "With the computers it has access to. "When we froze Archer, he died. His soul Go far away, and don't ever come back. That's right." went away. He was recycled. When we You're fired." He found a chair and sat down. Her hand forced life back into his body, his soul was He opened his mouth and then spun on moved, and the chair's arm emitted a drink. elsewhere engaged. We got potluck."

his heel and left. A few steps down the hall He gulped it gratefully. The whiskey was hitting him. 'Any idea

he encountered Bharadwaj, alarmed and "It was so simple, John. I picked an arbi- who?"

awesomely drunk. "She knows?" "I think so. Hard to be certain, of course, "If value you your career. Doctor, leave but I believe the man we revived was a her be. She knows, and she doesn't believe grade-three mechanic named Big Leon. He was killed on Luna by a defective lock seal, af the right instant."

her wealth and power, she looked like hell, ice. "I've narrowed it down to three pos-

cried out . . "You've Reb." 3 changed. sibilities. I can't pin it down any better than "I've changed my mind." that, They're all eleven yea's old. of course. "That surprises me more." All male, oddly enough. Apparently we "He's the equivalent of a ten- or a don't change sex often. Thank God." twelve-year-old in a lorty-three-year-old She looked him square in the eyes. "I've body. Even allowing for all ihat, he's not trary date from twenty-five years ago. had a fully equipoed cryotheaier built onto Archer."" picked an arbitrary hour and a minute, this house. His body's already been refro-

"You .believe in brain scans now?" That's as close as I could refine it; death zen. There are five people in my employ

"Not just [hem. I found people who knew records are seldom kept to the second. But who are competent enough to set this up so

it him at that age. They helped me duplicate was close enough. I got the desk to—" it cannot possibly be traced back to me. his closely possible." upbringing as as "—collect the names of all ihe people There is not one of them I can trust to have Dirnsdale could not guess how much that who died at that minute!" he cried, slop- that much power over me, You are the only had cost, even in money "They agree with ping his drink. "Oh my God, of course!" person living I trust that much, John. And the scans. It's not Archer" "I told you. Oh. there were holes all over. you are not in my employ." He kept silent. Not all deaths are recorded, not by a damn "God damn it—"

it, "How do you explain John?" sight, and not all of the recorded ones are "This is the only room in the system that 1

"I don't.' nailed down to the minute, even today. The am certain is not bugged, John. I want "What do you think of Bharadwaj's idea?" same with birth records, of course. And the three perfectly timed, untraced murders."

"Religious bullshit, Or is that redundant? worst of it was that picking a date that far "But the bloody cryotechs are Superstition." back meant that a substantial number of witnesses—" " 'When you have eliminated ins impos- the deaders were born before the brain "To what? We'll freeze and thaw him

. " sible . . she began to quote. scan, giving me incomplete data." again, hoping that will bring him out of if ". . , there's nothing left," he finished. "But you had to go that far back." somehow. From the standpoint of conven-

"If you cannot think of a way to prove or Dirnsdale said excitedly, "to get live ones tional medicine it's as good an idea as any. disprove a proposition, does that make it with jelled personalities to compare." No one listened to Bharadwaj. No one's got false?" "Right," she said, and she smiled ap- any explanation for Archers change. And

it, "Damn Reb! Do you mean to tell me provingly. no one but you and I knows the real one for you're agreeing with that hysterical Hindu? "But with all those holes in the data—" certain. Even the desk doesn't remember." Maybe he can't help his heritage, but you?" "John, there are fifteen billion people in She snorted. "Nine more attempted de- "Bharadwaj is right." the solar system, That's one hell of a statis- frostings since Archer, none of 'em worked "Jesus Christ. Rebecca," Dirnsdale tical universe. The desk gave me a tentative and still nobody's guessed. There's a

"is this love it thundered, what can do to a answer Yes, I ran fifteen more times, for moratorium on defrosting, but it's unofficial.

fine mind?" fifteen more dales. I picked one two years We can do it, John." She stopped, sat back " ,

: water at in her chair a "id :.x-;ca ~e totally expression- ing asprawl. Dimsdale stepped over him, loose, saw her land facedown in furiously sparking less. "If you'll help me." breathing hard. He was wiid-eyed and the same instant as the and He left the room, left the house, and kept seemed drunk. cables, watched her buck and thrash going on foot. Four days later he Only for the barest instant did shock begin to die. reemerged from (he forest, bristling with paralyze her, and even for that instant only Frantically he located the generator that beard, his cheeks gaunt, his clothes torn the tightening of the corners of her mouth led the device and sprang for it. Ruiz- surgi- and filthy Most of his original disguise was betrayed her fury at his imprudence. Sanchez blocked -his way, holding a gone, but he was quite unrecognizable as "Senor." Ruiz-Sanchez cried in horror, cal laser like a dueling knife. He froze, and John Dimsdale. The security people who "you are not sterile!" the doctor locked eyes with him. Long after had monitored him from adistance brought "No, thank God." Dimsdale said", looking his ears and nose told him it was too late, him to her, as they had been ordered, and only at her. Dimsdale stood motionless. right," reluctantly left him alone with her. "What are you doing here, John?" she At last he slumped. "Quite he "I'rrryour man," he said as soon as they askeo carefully. murmured softly. had gone. "Don't you see, Reb?" He gestured like a She winced and was silent for a long beggar seeking alms. "Don't you see? It's Ruiz-Sanchez continued to aim the laser room. all got to mean something. It it is true, at his heart. They were alone in the think this "You'll have to kill Bharadwa], too," she there's got to be a point to it, some kind of "I have no reason to room has Rebecca," said at last. purpose. Maybe we ge: jus: s hair smarter been bugged by anyone but said wearily. 'And the only thing "I know." each time round the track. A bit more ma- Dimsdale kill inno- ture. Maybe we grow. Maybe what you're you know about me is that I won't Rebecca Howell gazed again at the de- trying to do will get him demoted. I've cent people. Don't try to understand what people frosted thing that had once been Archer studied all three oi them, and. so help me has happened here. You and your

I won't Howell, but the torrent of emotions was God, every one of them is making more ot can go in peace; I'll clean up here. threatening you." tamed this time, held in rigid control, It may his childhood than Archer did." even bother the not work an this shot, she reminded herself. Her voice cracked like a whip now. Ruiz-Sanchez nodded and lowered I'm only guessing that his soul will have an "John! This room is not secure." laser. Doctor, before affinity for his old body. He may end up in a He started, and awareness came into his "Go collect your team, can crib in Bombay this time. She smiled. But eyes. He glanced around at terrified doc- they get themselves into trouble. You certify her accidental death for me." sooner or later I'll get him. tors and technicians. began to I all I doctor again and "Sehora, it would be well to do it now." "Rebecca. studied them firsthand. The nodded

The smile vanished, and she turned to made it my business. I had to. Three leave. "Wait." the chief surgeon. "Doctor Ruiz-Sanchez, I eleven-year-old boys. Rebecca. They have said twelve hundred hours. To the second. parents. Grandparents. Brothers and sis- He turned. You have made me repeat myself," ters. Playmates, hopes, and dreams. They Dimsdale gestured toward the open this?" Her voice was quite gentle, and a normal have futures," he cried, and stopped. He cryotank. "How do I pull the plug on man would have gone very pale and shut straightened to his full height and met her Ruiz-Sanchez did not hesitate. "The big at end." He up. but good doctors are not normal men, eyes. "I will not murder them, even for you." switch. There, by the coils that

"Sefiora, the longer he is on machine life- "Madre de Dios, not" Ruiz-Sanchez left. suppo'rt— moaned in terror. The anesthesiologist "HUMOR ME!" she bellowed, and he began singing his death song, sottlyandto An hour and a half later, Dimsdale hac sprang back three steps and tripped over a himself. A technician bolted hopelessly for achieved a meeting of minds wi:h Rebec- power cable, landing heavily on his back. the door. ca's chief security officer and her personal Technicians jumped, then went expression- Rebecca Howell screamed with rage, a secretary and had then been left alone in less and looked away. Ruiz-Sanchez got hideous sound, and slammed her hands the den. He sat at her desk and let his gaze slowly to his feet, flexing his fingers, He was down on the nearest console. One hand rest on the terminal keyboard. At this mo- trembling, "Si, senora." shattered an irrigator, which began foun- ment thousands of people were scurrying She turned away from him af once, re- taining water. "You bastard," she raged. and thinking furiously. Her whole mammoth turning to contemplation of her beloved. "You filthy bastard!" empire was in chaos. Dimsdale sat at its

I center, utterly at He was in There was dead silence in the cryotheater, He did not flinch- "I'm sorry, I thought effective peace. save for the murmur and chuckle of life- could." no hurry; he had all the time in the world. support machinery and the thrum of power- She took two steps oacKward, located a We do get smarter every time, he ful generators. Cryotechnology is astonish- throwable object, and let fly with it, It was a thought, I'm sure of it. surgical instruments. desk yield the tape of ingly power-thirsty , she reflected. The "re- tray of He made the up starter" device alone drank more energy Dimsdale stood his ground. The tray it- what had transpired in the cryotheater, detail of the very care- than her desk, though it delivered only a self smashed into his mouth, and a checked one tape tiny traction of that to the pineal gland. She needle-probe stuck horribly in his shoulder. fully, satisfied himself that it was the only disliked the noisy, smelly generators on Technicians began fleeing. copy, and wiped it. Then, because he was principle, but a drain this large had to be "Reb," he said, blood starting down his in no hurry, he ordered scotch.

I'll fifty-seven unmetered. Especially if it had to be re- chin, "whoever orders this incredible cir- When she's twenty, only be peated several times. Mass murderis easy, cus, you and your stinking desk can't outwit he thought happily. Not even middle-aged, she thought. All you need is a good mind Him! Archer died, eleven years ago. You it's going to work. This time it's going to scotch and unlimited resources. And one trusted cannot have him back. If you'll only listen to work for both of us. He set down the " to for him a girl who friend. me, I can — and told the desk locate She screamed again and leaped for him. had been born at one minute and forty- moment She checked the wall clock. It was five Her intention was plainly to kill him with her three seconds before noon. After a minutes of noon. The tile floor felt pleasantly hands, and he knew she was more than it displayed data. cool to her bare feet; the characteristic capable of it, and again he stood his "Orphan, by God!" he said aloud. "That's cryotheater smell was subliminally in- ground. a break." vigorating. "Maybe this time, love," she And watched her foot slip in the puddte He took a long drink of scotch on the murmured to the half-living, body. on the floor watched one flailing arm snarl strength of it, and then he (old the desk to The door was thrown open, and' a guard in the cables that trailed from the casing of begin arranging for the adoption. But it was was hurled backward into the room, land- the pineal restarter and yank two of them the courtship he was thinking about. 126 SAVE THE TOAD! BY NORMAN SPINRAD

frog with teeth. Two of them.. Upper front. ho!e swamp hazard and exlerminate the the oe'ie'iis 'ney aouIo gain. It would be a Incisors about five centimeters iong, as giant flying vampire toad, claiming that the symbiotic relationship. sharp as hypodermic needles, and hollow. iaw was never meant to apply to a species : The vampire toad-Seeds through them. Truly that ought to be extinct. The EPA righ- Therefore, we say; Reopen the Valhalla'

! ! unique : : .. 3 species, teously mjec :. i! golf course! Give housing and recreation to Bi;: alas a\ -his writing, me poo:" amphi- ing oui mat it wgu^c: mevitab'y lead to de- those most in need of them! And save the bian seem;. "i aci to: ;linclion Whe; ii mands to exterminate other. scientifically giant flying vampire toad! GIANT ON THE BEACH

There always seems to be at least one uninvited guest at every cocktail party Hal's was no exception BYJOHNKEEFAUVER

Bhe cockiail party was well into its second hour when somebody out on the terrace noticed the naked black lying on the beach — not that anybody at first realized his size. It wasn't until someone, perhaps with fewer drinks in him, looked at the figure through binoculars and yelled, "God, look at the size of him!" that anybody learned of the hugeness of the man. Even after they'd all started down to the beach, carrying their drinks, laughing and chattering about how you never knew what Hal and Liz were going to do to make their party a winner, nobody had any idea who. or what, the black would be. In fact, even when they could begin to make out how large the man was through the fog and drizzle, a few kept on laughing and making jokes about how Hal had really outdone himself this time, getting a mannequin that size made and hauled to the beach in front of their house and leaving

PAINTING BY DOMINIQUE PEYRONNET it there. Even when everybody was hud- else was likely to be out walking on the drown, but how could aperson htssize — at dled around the motionless torm and could' beach in such weather (and no one was out least twice as oig as anybody else they had see that the enormous figure was human walking now, that was for sure); moreover, ever seen — exist? "Especially in this and had apparently drowned — or al least nobody was apt to notice the body trom a neighborhood," Hal had said before he was unconscious — there were still a few of house farther along the shore because of went to the house. He meant a black in this the drunker ones who refused to believe it the fog and drizzle and near darkness. Just neighborhood, not that that had anything to and who continued giggling. Thai Hal! Of by luck nosy Phil had seen him from the do with it. (Some thought then, anyway.) course, those who knew him at all well knew terrace. Who knew how long he'd been in Whether the neighborhood was all-white or he would never put a black anything any- the ocean? It was really cold this late in the not had nothing to do with his size, a couple where near his house. year. (Everybody by now was assuming of the soberer ones pointed out. The figure was at least twice the size of a that he'd definitely been washed ashore.) Others, though, who knew Hal better, regular man— perhaps larger. And in pro- "Aren't you supposed to turn them over weren't so sure; they said that the very size portion. There was nothing misshapen or when you give them artificial respiration?" of the black made the whole thing some-

ugly about him. He wasn't bioaled. if any- Liz asked Hank. what rational from Hal's standpoint, con- said all his life about thing, he- was a handsome black, in his "Not anymore," he said. "I doubt if I could sidering what he'd early twenties, and with a smile— a big turn him over, anyway." blacks, not that he called them oy that

of it smile. It was the smile that made some oi After a minute or so during which the name, course. And was common the revelers think at first that he was just black showed no sign of life, somebody knowledge what he'd done after he'd found sleeping— that and the fact that he was said, "Breathe in his mouth, Hank," but out about that voodoo place some people lying on his back. But when he was yelled at Hank didn't want to do that. He didn't do ft, had tried to start not far from his house a and shaken, he didn't show in any way that and he didn't say anything. He just kepi on short time ago. There had been talk of he was alive, and everybody finally de- pressing on the man's chest. Every once in shootings, not to mention the fire, but Hal, as cided that he had drowned and had been a while he'd say. "No telling how long he's usual, had come out of it smiling, Anyway, washed up onto the shore, since he was been in the water." the longer the black lay there without a sign right on the ocean's edge. However, there of life, the wilder the theories got. even if was one drunk who said he still thought that what was said was mostly joking — if that's Hal and Liz were putting them on. "They what it was. There were a lot of nervous hired him from some circus," he said. He chuckles every time somebody said where wobbled over to the black and, almost los- he thought the giant might have come from. . it Wasn't a blemish on ing his balance, put -his lips close to his Flying saucers were even mentioned.

four- or five-inch-long ear and yelled, "Time his skin. . . . Considering how to get up, the show's over!" good he looked — By the lime Hal and George returned A few scoffed at him, but by this time from the house the drizzle had turned into a — It to mostly everyone had sobered up enough to healthy was hard steady rain. Hal said he'd phoned the cops realize what was going on, especially after think of him as dead, and that they were calling an ambulance. Hal and Liz kept saying — swearing — that He had brought a couple of blankets back especially with that smile, they hadn't had anything to do with it. Hal, to cover the man. When Hank put the blan- in fact, was mad— damn mad — about it which he never lost; kets over him, end to end, they just barely "Goddamn nigger, oh my beach!" he kept covered him. it was almost a Iaugh3 exclaiming. "Next thing you know they'll be Everyone simply stood around in the rain right in the house!" Then when he was the then— those who hadn't gone back to the first to say that somebody ought to call for house already, that is— until Hank said, "If

an ambulance, a lot of his guests were sur- you all wantto go back to the house, I'll stay prised, until they heard him say that that here until the cops come. No use every- would be the quickest way to get rid of the Appsrenly ne hadn't oc-cn in the water body getting soaked." man. long enough, though, for the fish to get to So everybody who was left, except for Hal must not have realized that the black him; there wasn't a bite on his body that Hank and Hal. started back to the house,

was way too big to fit in an ambulance, Two anybody could see. Wasn't a blemish on carrying their empty glasses with them. or three guests said that they ought to get his skin, although Hank did say that he Then Hal decided he'd go back, too, say- some blankets to put over him. {Hal had seemed to have some sort of small cut on ing, "I'm not about to get wet because of a

thrown his coat over the black's privates his face but that it was too dark now for him

right away.) The blankets would have to be to see it clearly gotten from Hal and Liz's house, ot course, Considering how good he looked — Hank thought he saw one of the blankets

since nobody else lived as close to the healthy— it was hard to think of him as move above an arm (he was later to say), beach as they did — not that anybody ex- dead, especially with that smile, which he Then he heard what might have been a

pected Hal to do it. But Hal immediately put never lost; it was almost a laugh; you could voice. It might have been the wind, though,

his drink down and, with George Bascomb see his teeth even in the near darkness. It and in such darkness who could be certain tagging along, ran off to his house. He was eerie, "Can you keep a smite after the blanket had moved? yelled back, "I'm going to phone the cops!" you're dead?" somebody asked softly. No- But when the blanket moved again — and he added that he was going to get body really knew, but they assumed you either from the wind or from the giant- something more suitable to put over the could, for there wasn't a sign of life about Hank started to walk to the house. There black's private parts. him. no matter how good he looked. was nothing he could accomplish by stay- As soon as Hal left, Hank Martin lowered By this time the man who had yelled. ing by the body, and he needed a drink. his ear to the black's chest and listened for "Time to get up, the show's over!" kept look- He had gulped one drink and was start- a heartbeat. "Hear anything?" someone ing back to the house. His glass was empty, ing another when a patrol car and then an asked him. He said he didn't; he said the and the black was dead. Before he head- ambulance pulled into Hal's driveway, Hal body wasn't even warm. ed back to the house, he said, "May- and George Bascomb and a few of the "Notelling how long he's been lying here be it's lucky for us he's dead, big as he is." others led the cops and the ambulance with nobody knowing it," Hank said as .he Of course, there had been talk about his attendants down to the beach. Most of the began to press on the man's chest, at- size. Whether he was alive or not was, in a guests remained in the house, including tempting to give him artificial respiration. way, secondary to his size. After all, you Hank. At that point he hadn't told anybody Others agreed, considering that no one could understand how somebody might about the blanket's moving or about the

130 voice he had heard. He didn't want to be laughed at.

When the search party go! to the water's edge, the black was gone. Hal was sure they were at the precise place where he STRIKE! had been. The blankets were still there. The sky was clear when Hal awoke and, still in his pajamas, went straight to the (:: '9/tJhecacior:; of Los Annates terrace. They hadn't been able to find the or sinke and sit ayes on- str^o far black anywhere on the beach the night be- ., '!!' ifSi./lliV I !! fore, nor could they find any large foot- - ie:cv oi nauri-i -recover-/ prints, and the ambulance attendants had The weekly deain raie in LosAnc finally some driven away after making ' C ';.';": pity dropped r orn 19 Sdostn: comments about how booze affects not -:. o.oop to an average of 16.2 only the eyes but the brain as well. The •00,000 .during the stnks-bcund cops had dutifully taken down Hal's story. weeKS. When '.no d:oeic:s wen: along with Hank's words about seeing the .!. OS: ' .'!. .:'i'! ' i! blanket move and hearing what might have depressors',: the weekly .death been a voice. All of this had added up to a ', !!'!.: , r; i, ! poor night's sleep.

-ei" 100:000 o.ver ?he iexl i-ve wee! he r !'! : e " ate in. oiler He saw the black as soon as he stepped

I i. :! :hl The:mosi. v ! dec outside. Although the figure was still on his seemed tors nliieet:; back, and naked, he was now lying at a point about halfway between the house and where he had first been seen at the ocean's edge. He seemed to be still smit- ing, although Hal wasn't ceriain because of the distance. The black looked larger now however. But Hal thought the increase in size was attributable to the light. les-Simib Hal was trying to decide whether to go down to him at once or first phone the

' police when he saw the second black , giant. He was. also on his back and naked and in the same place where the first one had been seen the night before, and he seemed to be of the same size as the other Hal couldn't tell whether he was smiling. ' . : .. Nowhere it a i .,:'i; i :o scon: the but for some reason he had a strong feeling '1 ' i. : : ', poll 1 r. W\: i North that he was. And the crime rats is wav down. cembei Then he saw a third giant, also naked Joshua Fondas oi toe C lizen s Action Nowher and also black, wash in from the Atlantic Committee put K this wsv: "We cei in- fne sec He floated ashore on his back very near the cocrs r-,afc? after sunset That wav oer st--=k other one, and he just lay there— smiling? :. ; -- ',-r.'- -p ; . : and with all ot us no sign He's 'resting. Hal suddenly thought. Of i aJit'-Tere'.'vvitb'ajf baseball bats arc . Mean •-.•-.:- !"=:-:-<; . l-'J'j are- no break-ias. in ess r A movement brought his eyes back to the black midway between the ocean's edge and the house, The man was sitting up, and Hal could now see that he was not the same black he had seen the night before, even ag'ees. '"he police sir Ke nas ehmi- oon'i get to us. There's' a rumor 1 though he had a smile. na'eci s;?o: ; ng beneath the stars it rie- Congress is back in session, and-'f Hal had turned and was sprinting for the Cr-ves the cltizpn of besuiv: it cso'wes upset some people — but we .die phone inside when he saw the giant black us oi their skulls.or wallets whicheve- it know for s.i'e. i! could be a:: Ihe C hand come over the terrace wall. Then he thiGke':'; : gressoeopie oied. and mat thou- saw the man's face rise over it, too. It was cheered us jd." the black he had seen the night before. He HatdbilVerrnoni. Juiy-18. The'townc?- Psvcoianisi Hi.ah Saf-eud. agr^ was sure of it, even though now he saw

1 Hsrdbil has not seen a piece of r~a ; -On. ves. lis a denial oi reality i for the first time, in the early morning light, p--)ve -n two months, as :he local postal causes all this mental Health. Its b that the man had parallel rows of tiny, knife- ' employees, ah veterans of vha-Leb- It's distinctly unhealthy to oe heal thin scars on each cheek, and now the oor-'-y Occuoaiion oi 1958, declared a :en&r,iy giant speaking angry, unintelligible was -'. : 1 Veterans Day i reoea: mat or The psyomaulst. understand t — voodoo?— words, and not smiling ' ;.'. i :.. . : this is not a shike said Ehrnc'h > .; r , .Lifh '/V.r anymore. y'KcnsKi, head cT the locai postal' are keeping conies of The New Y union. "We just don'i work on holidays.'' Times in the:'- waninn rooms lo.mairT

. As the black crested the wall, Hal found <-$ . The- divorce rate cA course, way .proper levels ot anxiety If the Tjm himself crazily thinking in one terrible mo- I. down Hcrdl i lawyers ire ieorewse goes on slrike too, ;i may be lite end ment before the giant was upon him of those words he'd said all his life, "The god- damn niggers are getting too big for them- selves." He was the first alien to appear on TV. Ever. And his act really set Jerry and the world on their ears

THE LASTJERRY FAGIN SHOW M BYJOHNMORRESSY

other networks were their own canned reruns of The I 've seen him zero in on the one Thewiped out, and they knew Lawrence Welk Show. person out of, maybe, two

it. After this there would be Given Jerry's personality hundred total strangers who no more "Big Three." and the nature of the television could feed him perfect straight There would be only a single industry, the wipeout was in- lines. network, and Jerry Fagin evitable. A cage of tigers can Jerry was probably the fun- would rule it like a king. be pretty impressive, but if you niest man I ever worked lor,

The others tried to put up a drop a gigantic dinosaur into and I've worked for them all. fight, of course. There are no the cage, the tigers all of a Along with all the funny he had good losers in this business. sudden turn into pussycats. a streak of pure killer. But Jerry One network threw together a And Jerry Fagin was looking had talent, and, more impor- nude musical version of the like a very big tyrannosaurus tant, he had luck; so the killer

Kama Sutra . Another did a live rex. He had been one all along, side hardly ever showed. He eight-hour report on torture but he kept the fact hidden. always seemed to be on the and execution of political pris- Most people thought he was a scene at the right time or to oners around the world. The pussycat. Those of us who know just the right person and PBS stations had the best solu- knew better said nothing — have something on him. tion: They reran the Fischer- and kept our jobs, So he wound up, at twenty- Spassky match. Jerry Fagin was a funny nine, hosting Late Night Live. But only the Jerry Fagin man, as everybody knows. He At thirty, he was the hottest show could offer a real live had half a dozen foolproof thing in the industry. The Late honest-to-H. G. Wells alien comic characters, but he Night Live title was forgotten. from outer space as a guest. didn't really need any of them. Everybody called it The Jerry The projected audience was He could stand in front of a Fagin Show. 99.3 percent of all potential camera deadpan, hands in his Jerry could play an audi- viewers. It was figured that 0.4 pockets, looking up at the ceil- ence like Horowitz playing the percent would tune in to the ing, and reel off a monologue fiddle, or the piano, or whatev- other networks purely out of that had everybody helpless er the hell Horowitz plays. You habit, and the remaining 0.3 with laughter. He was born with knowwhatlmean.Helooksmall- percent would be watching pure comic instinct, At a party town talent-show winners

PAINTING BY DONALD ROLLER WILSON 9 I

and made them into stars with shows of They didn't have wars, either, and Twelve News, a special five-minute report on the their own. Just by holding up a book, he didn't seem to know what weapons were for. universe. At eight, ninety minutes of inter- could turn a piece of schlock by an un- So everyone breathed a lot easier. views with astronauts, starlets, clergymen, known hack into a best-seller. He could Now, it was clear to me that if you're going science-fiction writers, senators, a rock take a clubhouse errand boy and make him to interview something like Twelve on televi- group, and the president of the Descend- into a political figure. And he did. And they sion, live- before the biggest audience ants of Prehistoric AI en Vis ; tors. During the always paid. in history — you go get Sevareid out of re- nine-thirty commercial interlude— tooth- The payoff was never in money. By this tirement, or you hunt up a Lippmann or a paste, deodorants, and detergents time Jerry wasn't worried about money. He Cronkite or somebody serious like that. You hawked in skits starring, respectively, wanied other things. He just hung in there want the kind of people who cover elec- teen-agers and aliens, secretaries and and smiled and played kindly Uncle Jerry tions and moon landings. You don't want aliens, and housewives and aliens— until he needed a favor. He never had to ask Jerry Fagin, started drinking. I could tell it was going to twice. Everybody knew that what Jerry But nobody asked me. Jerry Fagin be better than a one-bottle night, and I Fagin had built up overnight he could tear landed the alien and scheduled him for a wanted to start early and avoid having to down just as fast. Friday night show. Then he sat back, read rush things later on. When the alien ship landed in Washing- the headlines, listened to his telephones After the barrage of commercials came a Ion, Jerry counted up his I.O.U.'s and de- ring, and gloated. special one-hour feature on alien visitors as cided that it was pay-up time. He must have depicted by Hollywood. Sixty minutes of called in every one he had to get that thing I watched the show by myself that night, blobs, globs, bugs, slugs, crawling eyes, on his show, but he succeeded. Ai the per- and I cerlainly didn'l gloat. I had been brain-eaters, body-snatchers, mind-steal- sonal request of the President, no less. alone most of the past month, ever since ers, worms, germs, robots, and androids, Jerry dropped me from his staff, loudly and and every ten minutes a screaming re- The alien was called Twelve, He came publicly In this business there is nobody as minder of tonight's once-in-a-lifetime Jerry from a planet with a name that sounded like untouchable as a loser, and an out-of-work Fagin Show. cowflop being tossed into a mudhole. What kind of impression all this was sup-

I not Some While House speech writer tagged it posed to make on Twelve, could imag- Brother Earth, and that was the name that ine. Maybe they made sure- he was stuck, over the protests of the enraged nowhere near a television set. feminists. At ten-thirty, a longer, louder announce- m The alien was called Twelve looked like a human being de- ment. Then, after the mature-viewer com- laxatives signed by a committee and built by nur- Twelve . . . from a planet with mercials—wine, tampons, and peddled, respectively, by diplomats and sery-school dropouts. He seemed io have a name that sounded started out :o be symmet'ical. bul missed. aliens, female skydivers and aliens, and Two arms and two legs, like us, but they like cowflop being tossed grandmothers and aliens— a half-hour viewer who might were of different lengths and thicknesses into a mudhole. Some special to remind the and set just a bit off center. Body lumpy as a have forgotten that there are nine planets in White House speech writer potato, with a smaller potato for a head, the solar system, that we are but a grain of of Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but they tagged it Brother sand oh the shore of the great ocean infinity, and so on. Very profound stuff, de- moved around like the features of a melt- Earth, and the name stuck. ing snowman. Above one eye was a shiny livered like Sermonette or an Insurance

I drinking. spot. Twelve called it the weiox and tried to commercial. kept on explain its function, No one understood Eleven o'clock brought the traditional ID, a damned thing he said about it. They fig- mix of news, commercials, and station ured it was some kind of ear and let it go and then, at eleven-thirty, came The Jerry at that. comedy writer is a loser of the Hindenburg Fagin Show. It was presented like the Sec- Aside from his weiox and a few other class. ond Coming. small detaiJs, mostly internal, Twelve made So I settled in. hoping to see Jerry screw The familiar Jerry Fagin theme was gone. himself pretty clear right from the start. It up and blow his big moment and knowing and so was' the studio orchestra. In their turned out that he had been orbiting Earth all the time that nomaiterhowbigasonof a place was a selection from The Planets. for the last sixty-three hailumes, which was bitch Jerry Fagin might be, he was a pro performed by the Hollywood Symphony somewhere around twenty-seven of our and this would be the show of his career. and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Billy white- years. All that time he was monitoring our But I could hope. Bragg. Jerry's apple-cheeked, broadcasts. And since most of his source At the same time I didn't want to see haired butterball of an announcer did no material was supplied by television and Jerry completely wrecked, just badly dam- clowning on this sacred night. He marched radio, he had picked up a peculiar view of aged and requiring some repairs. Humilia- on camera with the step ot a man in a humanity tion and disgrace were fine, but I didn't college commencement procession. He

in white-tie tails I took For one thing, I think Twelve never really want him ruined. He was still my best po- was and another grasped the fact that' there's a differ- tential source of income, and I was starting big drink. ence most of the time, anyway-be- to feel the pinch. Trouble tonight, and Jerry tween a sitcom rerun and the Eleven would be calling me back, asking me to As I should have anticipated, Jerry was O'Clock News, or an old Cagney movie and polish up some of the failure-proof routines playing wilh his audience. After the solemn a junk-food commercial. They were all new that had helped put him where he was. And buildup, the show opened with a young

to him, and all equally real. Or unreal. Or I'd be there. I was not about to turn down comic. Billy appealed for a big hand for the whatever. the best-paying job in the business just kid in his first TV appearance, and the poor Twelve's civilization had no word for en- because Jerry had made me look like a fool jerk — his name was Frankie Mars, tor tertainment. The concept simply did not in public and closed every studio door to God's sake-came on and did a

I aliens landing in exist for them, did kind I pride, Brook- They have some me. I mean. have my but have my monologue about of music, but it wasn't an art form; it was a bills, too. lyn, Itwas the thirty-first one I'd heard since part of their digestive process. And that Twelve's arrival. There were alien-and-

was all. They had no drama, no literature I started watching early, so I could savor Puerto. Rican jokes, alien-and-cop jokes,

of any kind, no art, and absolutely no the full hype. Spot announcements every Jewish mother-and-alien jokes, I found it all sense of humor. fifteen- minutes. On the Seven O'Clock very cozy and familiar. I had stolen a lot of •

those very same gags for my early couldn't siop himself. He thanked the Pres- era in the history oi the ga axy was dawning sketches. ident, Congress, the armed forces, the and he was proud and humbled to be given The comic died, and he was followed by American people, the audience, the net- the chance to serve and so on and so a singer who did a new number written in work, his friends, his sponsors — individual- on — it sounded as if he had memorized forty honor of Twelve, The only lines I can re- ly, by name— his parents, and his current every campaign handout of the past Jerry smell trouble. member are "The whole room rocks, and I wife, then weni on to thank the rulers of years — could The shake in my socks, when you jiggle your Twelve's planet, the spaceship industry studio audience was fidgeting noisily. eyes and wink your weiox." The rest was a there, and everyone else — right down to People were coughing and shuffling their lot worse. Newton, Galileo, and Einstein — who might feet

The singer gave it all she had, but she possibly have had a bearing on Twelve's I caught the quick flicking of the eyes, the

went down like the Titanic, sameasFrankie appearance here. The only name he didn't giveaway thai Jerry was getting edgy. I Mars. Scattered applause from three rela- drop was God's. Maybe he should have could almost hear his. brain going. Here

tives in the studio audience, silence from thrown that in. was Jerry on tic biggest nigh; of his career,

everybody else. The entire home audience Finally, after all the preliminaries and all the biggest night in television history, and was either in the bathroom or at the refrig- the back-patting, Twelve got his chanceto his guest was bombing, He could picture erator Comics and singers they could gel speak. This was the big moment, the mes- that audience of a hundred ninety-two mil- anytime. What they wanted was Jerry and sage to humankind from outer space, the lion American viewers scratching their bel- his guest. voice from the stars. Everyone listened in lies and saying. "Hey. Honey, what do you That was a distinct Jerry Fagin touch. absolute silence. say we switch over to the naked dancers on 8?" Subtle and deadly. I could picture him set- And Twelve was boring as hell. Channel

ling it up: the Uncle Jerry smile and "This It's ridiculous to think fhat someone who So Jerry made his move. If Twelve will be the biggest audience in history, and has actually crossed interstellar space with couldn't carry his weight as a guest, he'd I'm going to give some new talent a word from another world could be dull, but just have to pay his passage any way he chance." And it's not until they're on cam- that's what Twelve was. He may have been could. era that the new talent realize that they dynamite on his own world, but on Earth he

couldn't hold this audience it they stripped was a dud. It wasn't entirely his fault. In his Twelve was gurgling on, ending a long naked and sacrificed themselves to a trash monitoring he had picked up every cliche speech about interplanetary solidarity. ". I . returned attention him. . With compactor. I wondered why Jerry had in the English language, and he was using my to picked this particular comic and this par- all of them. That burbly voice dfdn't help, shared hope for the future and with a deep ticular singer to destroy. Probably an inter- either. and abiding faith in the basic decency and goodwill of the fine of esting if I it fundamental people story there could dig out. I drank By the time Twelve had assured everyone to their memory. that he looked upon his mission as a great Earth that encourages me to predict a new Jerry sauntered on camera, white-tie and historic challenge, that he came in age of brotherhood and justice in which and all. and was greeted with five solid hopes of establishing a lasting friendship races will ask not what the galaxy will do for minutes of uproar. He stood with his hands between our two great peoples, that a new their planet but rather what their planet can in his pockets, looking humble and saintly, and when the noise died down, he made a little speech in which he used the words honor nine times and privilege eight Grale- ful came up eleven times. In just over a minute.

Then Twelve appeared at last. I turned the welcoming ovation low and took a good look. He moved smoothly lor something as lopsided as he appeared to be. The lumpy, grayish-brown olastic sack :hat covered his pale body didn't help his looks much. He looked like something that stepped off the cover of a cereal box. and those wacky wandering, off-center features were half- way between a nightmare monster and an idiot mask.

I turned up the sound. The people in the audience were still applauding wildly, and Jerry let them go on. But when someone whistled. Jerry held up his hands for quiet Twelve's eyes and nose moved around a little and then were still. "Our guest has requested one courtesy," Jerry said. "Whistling sets up a painful feedback in his communication apparatus; so I must insist that no one whistle during the show." "Thank you, Mr. Jerry Fagin," said Twelve. His voice rolled out in a deep, gluey (^^rm^n^-— flow, like gravel being tumbled around in syrup. "I'd /.'.Ke yen io mca Dr. >Viodcii. vdios sending : messages .';::- space; "Thank you for consenting to appear, on Dr. Kimbeii, who's talking to dolphins; our show. Mr. Ambassador. It's a great honor," Jerry said. and Dr. Kllen. my husband, who's trying to communicate with me." Once Jerry got started thanking, he do for Ihe galaxy," he said. peared to be sayng. i ne aud ence tittered the first whiff of trouble ahead. He bounced There was polite applause. Twelve with anticipation. Finally, in a gurgle that to his feet while Twelve was still halfway up, looked pleased, but he wasn't in the busi- already sounded to me to be a bit defen- and with a big smile at his guest he said, ness. The applause was the kind that sive, Twelve said, "When we are not work- ""Thank you, Mr, Ambassador, for honoring sounds in every performer's ears like a ing, we sleep." us by consenting to appear on The Jerry death rattle. "Like all (hose people who used to watch Fagin Show. It's been a great pleasure and all "Gee, that's just the way my daddy used the other networks. I see. But seriously. Mr. an exciting experience for of us, and ."" to put it," Jerry said, turning to the audi- Ambassador . . And Jerry went on. a little we're sorry you have to rush off, but we ence. faster now, confident, feeling the audience know how crowded your schedule is." That drew the first laugh of the evening. with him. They were laughing in the right Stepping to the forestage, Jerry began to Everyone recognized the tag line of one of places, waiting for the lines they knew he clap. 'And now let's have a big hand for the Jerry's oldest characters, Dummy Lummox was going to feed his stooge from outer ambassador," he said to the delighted au- the Clumsy Cop. It gave the audience space. dience. something safe and familiar to deal with. Jerry jumped from topic to topic, always That didn'i stop Twelve, who was acting They knew how to react now, balancing ihe serious question with the like a kid who has just learned the facts of

"But in a higher sense, this night repre- quick punch line or asking a dumb ques- life. "In my ignorancs I assumed that this

until I sents only the beginning of what I venture tion and then going statesmanlike., the was to be a hosimsius encounter. em- to call the Galactic Age," Twelve went on, audience was helpless and Twelve didn't ployed my fourth voice. Had I known that it

"for there is much to be done before we know what the hell was going on. Those was to be atohei-meiox, I would have spo- march together with arms linked in friend- syrupy responses cams slows' and slower. ken thirdishly, Please forgive me, Mr. Jerry ship and trust to meet the challenge of ihe Each pause was longer ihan the one be- Fagin." future." fore, Finally, when Jerry got on the subject On the last few words, as Twelve took his

"That sounds mighty good, but we do it of reproduction, Twelve gave up completely place at Jerry's side, his voice had

different back home," Jerry said. and sat very still. Except for his eyes and changed completely. It was really weird. I The audience caught that one, too, and nose and mouth They were crawling wondered whether Jerry had somehow

gladdened my heart. It was the tag line o( around his face like flies trapped in vanilla shocked the alien into instant puberty. In my very own character, Elmo Klunk the pudding. seconds Twelve had gone from that sumpy Shitkicker Abroad. Elmo was one of Jerry's gurgle to a flat, staccato, nowhere-in- dependables, sure to make an appear- By now Jerry was sailing, The biggest particular accent not a hell of a lot different ance at least once every two weeks. The audience in TV history was watching him. from Jerry's. audience loosened up and laughed a bit and he was showing them that nobody and "Please take my wife," he said. louder, and longer, nothing, not even a creature from another Nobody made a sound. They probably world, could top Jerry Fagin on his own all thought Twelve was going out of his

did I, for just instant, then I I wild, piercing head. an and I poured another drink, a bigger one, and show caught the gleam So first clue edged forward on my chair. It isn't every of ego in Jerry's eyes as he stood up, recognized that line and had my night that you gel to see an alien visitor fousled his hair; and boomed out. "Well. of what Twelve was up io.

I it. It crazy. But turned into a stooge. I'll tell you the whole story, citizen, but you'll didn't believe was too "We're honored by your tribute. Mr. Am- have to promise not to interrupt me. If when Twelve wobbled his face a little— just

it all clear: bassador," Jerry said, "but I'm sure you there's one ihing I can't stand, citizen, it's a little, very nervously- became understand our audience's curiosity about an interrupter.' He was mugging for a laugh. This crazy- your planet and its customs. For instance, He was slipping into a favorite charac- looking thing from outer space that couldn't I'm told that you have no comedy on your ter. Senator Wynn Baggs, the filibuster even get a four-word one-liner straight was world." champion of Washington. The.,audience trying to be a stand-up comic. I felt kind of

"It is correct, we have no comedy." applauded and howled with delighted rec- sorry for the poor blob. Imagine coming all Jerry nodded sympathetically. "I've run ognition as Jerry ranted on. that way and bombing on your very first into the same problem. You must need new All this time Twelve sat like a statue, appearance. writers." watching every move that Jerry made. He What I didn't know at the time was that least, Twelve learned fast. I felt that one right between the shoul- didn't look angry or insulted. At noth- ders. Welcome to Pearl Harbor; this is your ing on that Silly Putty face suggested irrita- "Thanks again, Mr Ambassador," Jerry "You've host, Jerry Fagin. If my glass hadn't been tion. As far as I could read him, Twelve was said, edging away. been a wonder-

it It if ful you'll visit us again nearly full, I would have thrown at Ihe fascinated. was as he had Jerry under a guest, and we hope screen microscope and couldn't believe what he whenever your demanding schedule per-

Twelve, after a pause, burbled, "It is cor- was seeing. And Jerry ate up the attention mits." Twelve rect, we have no writers." like a kid with a hoi fudge sundae. "It's a pleasure to be here. Jerry." in talking "I'll let you have mine. You still won't have Then Twelve thrsw up both his arms in a said, stepping front of his host, directly the audience. "I would have any comedy, but you'll be getting a great "Eureka!" gesture. I could almost see an to " bowling team old-fashioned light bulb go on over his been here earlier, but there was a holdup in

Again Twelve paused amid the laughter head. For the firsf time ihat night his fea- traffic. I stopped for a light, and two men of his to evaluate Jerry's line and said, "I know tures stayed put. The audience got very held me up." He did a quick jerk this bowling that is the work of your Satur- quiet all of a sudden. features — eyes left, nose right. The audi- days in the regressing hailumes. We have "This is a tohei-meiox!" Twelve an- ence laughed. They were cautious about it, no bowling." nounced suddenly, as if that explained but they laughed. "No comedy, no writers, no bowling. Tell everything. "We're all sorry to hear that, Mr. Ambas- the well- me, Mr Ambassador, what do your people Instinctively Jerry topped him. "If it is. sador, And now our next guest,

it "Jerry started to say, but Twelve do for entertainment?" you'll wipe up. But I ought to warn you- known— right on. "It is correct, we have no entertainment. I ths producer's wife loves it," went do not grasp the concept." Twelve worked his face around into "The produce' took me to dinner at this

"It's simple. Entertainment is what you do something like an untidy smile. "Now it be- place on Fifty-fourth The salad wasn't bad, when you're not working." comes clear what is my role in this ritual," but I didn't like the little men in loincloths Twelve was silent for a longer time. he said. His voice sounded a little less who kept dipping their arrows into the Rus- Clearly he was having trouble with Jerry's gooey. sian dressing." " lines, which weren't saying what they ap- When Twelve began to get up. Jerry had — Well-known star of stage and screen

136 who for the past ihree seasons has been What happened next. I will never believe "Well, wink my weiox" on everything from " delighting viewers with her portrayal — was an accident. The camera cut to Jerry, kids' lunch boxes to bikinis, and a day Jerry tried again, louder, pushing in front of purple-faced, restrained by four elderly doesn't pass without my hearing someone the alien. security guards and a weeping producer, It say, "Please take my wife," and then seeing Twelve rolled his eyes in opposite direc- held on the group. One hundred ninety-two him collapse in hysterics. Even Henny

and blinked his weiox. "I million tions asked the viewers heard Jerry scream, "Get Youngman used it when Twelve had him on waiter if the lobster Newburg was any that mush-faced interstellar son of a bitch the show as a guest. good. He said, 'Where did you see that on off my stagel Shoot him! Drop a light on We have a good running gag going on the menu?' I said, 'I didn't see it on the him! He's killing us!" Twelve's dumb friend from home. Old

I it tie.' menu. saw on your " The audience Which was an exaggeration. Twelve was Thirty-one, And if a line goes flat, all he has laughed harder and longer this time. They doing wonders for the show. He was only to do is jiggle his features and the audience liked him. killing Jerry. breaks up. Shoving Twelve aside, Jerry snarled. He's even developing into a good im- "This lovely and talented lady who has won We call the show Twelve at Twelve now, pressionism Some of his impressions are the hearts of millions of viewers with her even though it still half comes on an hour weird— he's the only one I know who does portrayal of the zany, lovable Mrs. Preg- before midnight. The producer felt that all the members of the Politburo while si- nowski in—" Twelve at Eleven-thirty would only confuse multaneously trying to get a slutted elk into

Twelve reeled, staggered back, waved people. a Honda— but his Jack Benny is nearly his arms, did a flying leap into the air, and Bui Twelve is a great guy to work for. It's a perfect. came down in a classic pratfall with a noise nostalgia trip just talking, to him. During What convinces me that Twelve is in the like a bagpipe assaulting a whoopee cush- those years he was monitoring, he heard all business to stay is that he's learned to be ion, The audience went wild, applauding the great ones— Berle, Gleason, Caesar, sincere. Two nights ago he graciously had and cheering, drowning Jerry out com- Groucho, Carson, you name them— and Jerry back as a special guest to celebrate pletely. When Twelve ciimbed to his feet, his memorized every gag, every shlick, every Jerry's new afternoon quiz show They were nose doing a back-and-forth crawl like a bit of business. He just didn't know what the hugging like a couple of high-school slow pendulum, he had to signal for quiet hell to do with his material until he saw Jerry sweethearts. before he could be heard. putting it all together, Now Twelve is like a Twelve was beautiful. A real pro. He

"The producer said. 'I hate to ea! and guy who's found his true calling. I think he's ended'the show by wiping his eyes, putting run, but the way I tip, it's absolutely neces- going to stay right here on Earth, and in the an arm around Jerry, and saying, "This sary," " he said, spinning both forearms business, for good. crazy guy is my dearest friend on your around like propellers. is also a very Twelve hard worker. He whole wonderful planet. Everything I have. I

The material was lousy, sure, but I could drops in every afternoon to run through the owe to Jerry Fagin." see that Twelve had a great natural delivery. monologue for that night's show We've al- I could tell from Jerry's expression that With a good writer, he could go places. A ready come up with some lines that every- he'd love to collect. show of his own, maybe. one in the world recognizes. I've seen But my money is on Twelve. Surrealistic images mirror the Japanese predilection for science fiction EASTERN EXPOSURES BY ROBERT SHECKLEY

^^cience-fiction publishing is booming in Japan and has established itself as a popular art form. This comes as no surprise: The many ancienl Japanese legends are science ficlion in all but the gadgetry, and there has been a strong taste throughout Japanese history for folktales of a fantastic and macabre nature. The jump to science fiction presented no difficulty for an audience that already had an established taste for the strange, combined with a strong inclination toward scientific achievement. Science fiction proper began in Japan during the 1870s. when the country was undergoing violent modernization. Translations of Jules Verne's novels found an immediate and enthusiastic audience, and

Left and above; Haruo Takino's classic, Zen-like emphasis on visual simplicity creates a subtle stage la the high drama inherent in the new Japanese art. Clockwise, from let!: Kazuaki Iwasaki and Ichiro Tsuruta, two leading space artist-:-; astronomy and the sur- real form a unique per- ception ot space lor Yoshihisa Sadamatsu {below), TakuroKamiya.

Verne's influence can be seen in early Japanese works. Shunro Oshikawa (1877-1914). known as Japan's first native science-fiction writer, wrote "Under- sea Batlleship" in 1900, presenting a Captain Nemo of the Far East. Oshikawa's

effort was prophetic, also, since it accurately predicted the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and heralded a trend toward technological fiction. Between the two world wars, native writers of science fiction and fantasy began appearing in print. But the form really took off after the Second World War.

There were a number of elements that made up its popularity: a national pred- ilection for novelty; the flood of science-fiction paperbacks left behind by the U.S. occupation forces; the effect of American technology upon a proud, re- sourceful, and ingenious people; and the innale Japanese taste for modernism. Of great importance also was Wernher von Braun's and Willy Ley's popular treatment of man in space in the early Fifties and Chesley Bonestell's artwork, with its widespread influence on young artists These factors have made Japan unique among Far Eastern nations and have produced the country's extensive

<• The Japanese possess a unique ability to sharpen the perception of our highest technology. 9 6 The Western seed of surrealism, planted in the Twenties, has blossomed into Eastern flowers. 9

publishing and movie interests in science fiction. Japan is the second-largest market for science fiction after the Uniled States, according to Ken Sekiguchi, an editor who knows Japanese publishing. "There are five monthly SF magazines whose combined circulation is in the hundreds of thousands." Between 1957 and 1974 the pioneering publishing firm of Hayakawa SF Series published 318 volumes of translations. Edgar Rice Burroughs, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and Robert A. Heinlein became the most popular English-language science-

fiction authors Today English translations are still widely circulated, but a number of native authors are also gaining prominence in the field "Sakyo Komatsu, author oi Japan Sinks, is the greatest science-fiction writer in Japan today," Sekiguchi declares.

Clockwise from right: Junichi Ohka makes libera! use ol double exposures (right and above); Ihearl of

Viv Kasamafsu (lop left). Nalsuo Noma (lop right) reflects a lascinalion with odd juxtapositions. onnrui NEW FRONTIER

id the

is of our world, returning with

in language we could all understand. OMNI looked inside the atom

i of the universe,

]'y \ 'KifffFim8 the human mind, searched forU nd described genetic ing simply. And OMNI continues to journey the new frontier-that nent straddling

Read the philo Skinner, Ray Bro~~. ' ikPohl, Robert Heii

-i K. O'Neill and Stephen King,

itists and their

...... ofourfuture.

Imagination is the soul of our civilization.

OMNI is the magazine that best id reflects that spirit, tt