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VOL, 5 APRIL, 1949 NO. 2 TWO NOVELS OF TOMORROW DEATH QUOTIENT John D. MacDonald 8 “You must lay down your arms—because before the week is out, this planet will be no more!’’ THE EARTH KILLERS A. E. van Vogt 50 Eye to eye with Earth’s most terrible destroyer, Morlake absorbed the knowledge that branded him "Traitor!” TWO SCIENCE-FICTION NOVELETTES DHACTWHUl—REMEMBER? Wilfred Owen Morley and Jacques De Forest Erman 84 You must remember—for the destiny of the race lies in your hands! SON OF THE STARS F. Orlin Tremaine 110 Once you entered the Door, that valley was the Universe! FOUR SHORT STORIES

I, MARS Ray Bradbury 35 Barton’s younger selves lived on, tormenting him for his living proof that their hopes were dead! ALL OUR YESTERDAYS John Wade Farrell 42 It was strange that of these two men, separated by centuries, one must die for the other! DARKSIDE DESTINY James MacCreigh 75 "Tonight 3'ou must solve the secret written in the moon’s eternal stone—or die!” DELUSION DRIVE Peter Reed 100 The kid didn’t know that once in the Space Rip, you’re dead—or only a grey thought in the mind of a machine! DEPARTMENTS AND FEATURES FANDOM’S CORNER Conducted by James V. Taurasi 6

THE SCIENCE FICTIONEER . . Conducted by Frederik Pohl 72 MISSIVES AND MISSILES The Readers 105 LAWRENCE PORTFOLIO 109 Illustrations by Bok, Giunta, Lawrence and Paul. Cover by Lawrence.

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The massive metal plate curled slowly

up on eitiier side . . .

CHAPTER ONE Foray

ECOND Lieutenant Martin Rhode stood well back from the cave S mouth and watched the slow dusk settle over the Chemung valley. By force of habit, he kept his hand cup- ped around the glow of his cigarette, A Novelette by John D. QUOTIENT MacDonaM

though there was no chance that it the silver-grey shape of the river a could be seen from aloft- quarter-mile away. Far down the slanting throat of the “Anything new?” Martin asked cave a shaft of light glowed, and Deressa. Rhode turned, angrily warned the man “Same old picture. Enemy patrols who had carelessly parted the black- penetrated our lines at several points out curtains during last night. Main lines still sta- “Sorry, Martin,” the man said as he tic. Our rockets were mostly intercep- came up. Martin recognized the voice ted, but a few got through and did of Guy Deressa, the civilian respon- unknown damage to enemy shore in- sible for convoy loading. stallations. As usual, the camera rocket They stood together, looking toward failed to get through interception.” 9 10 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Martin yawned. “This was the land coast. Six months later the ‘twenty-minute’ war,” he said. expanded beachhead reached to within There was no mirth in Guy Deressa’s eighteen miles of where the city of Al- answering laugh. “Twenty minutes or bany had once stood. It reached south twenty years. Somewhere in between. to Atlantic City, and north to the Are you going to see Alice this trip?” eastern shore of Hudson Bay. “If she can get away from the station And for a year and a half the lines hospital. But only for a few minutes. had remained practically static. It wa*= We'll -.have, to turn around, and get vicious war, -without principle, with- back here before daylight. How many out mercy. Due to the decentralization vehicles? They told me there’d be of facilities and the use of vast under- twenty.” ground defensive net^works, the useful- “Only eighteen could pass inspec- ness of the atomic bomb had become tion. The load is small arms and small much like that of a sledge hammer for arms ammunition- High-velocity stuff.” driving a tack. In the Second World There was a lean, dark alertness War, no sane artilleiy commander about Martin Rhode. During the three would have tried to kill a single man long years of invasion, he had learned on a distant hill by the use of a 240 mm. to relax in his idle moments. He had howitzer. learned how to seek cover, how to kill, The parallel of trying to smash a how to harden himself to the death of small outpost with an atomic bomb those who were close to him. was a close one. The production of each The atomic bomb had proven to be bomb was a serious drain on the re- an almost perfect weapon during the sources of the weakened nations. There first two weeks of the war. Ivlillions had been a return to guided missiles had died. But human courage and re- with high-explosive warheads. A dead- source had rendered obsolete the vast, center hit with such a rocket would do white flare, the mushroom cloud. as much damage to the personnel in- In the first weeks of war, every volved as would the far greater and center of industrial production in the more wasteful power of the atom- United States had been wiped out, The nations of the world had, for along -with an estimated forty-five mil- all practical purposes, given up the lion people. But from the secret laun- symbols of independent nations. There ching stations that were undamaged, were merelj" “we” and “theyn” the retaliatory rockets had smashed The invader had a bridgehead of the vast resources of the potential equivalent size in Brazil, and the third invader. focus of combat was along the Salween There followed a lull of almost a River, where an industrialized India 3mar, wdiile each participant licked had joined forces with Burma and Siam wounds, decentralized, made a national to halt the invader in the heart of the inventory of tools and resources, and malarial countryn established new production facilities in For a year and a half it had been a deep places in the 'earth. war of knife and pistol and bare hands. Having suffered the least damage, As the rockets became more accurate, the invader -was able to equip a fleet so did the interceptor rockets. As the and, after almost 'crippling losses, es- powerful vortex stations increased the tablish a beachhead on the New Eng- fury and height of their invisible aimed DEATH QUOTIENT 11

cyclones, the crewed bombers flew ever The group split up and the men higher. As pestilence struck, the inocu- sauntered to their trucks, clambered lations became more effective, and bac- up into the high cabs. The driver of teria distribution had been abandoned the lead truck was already behind the as an effective weapon. wheel, wearing a black blindfold so In the end, both sides had learned that his night vision would be at peak that .the weapon which would win as soon as they rolled out the tunnel would be brave men, armed with por- entrance. table weapons, who could kill 'other On handy brackets in each cab were brave men at close quarters. the lightweight Galton guns, with their Martin Rhode lifted the cigarette full drum load of two thousand of the to his lips with an awkward gesture. tiny twelve-caliber slugs, ready to Each week the stiffened shoulder be- fire at muzzle velocity of 6000 feet came more limber. .Soon, he knew, he per second, a cycle of fire of 1500. would be returned from detached ser- No man had ever survived who had vice to his orig'inal unit, and would been hit in any part of his body by a once more head up his trained and ex- Galton slug within a half-mile range. perienced patrol on their nightly fo- The impact of the slug produced hy- rays into invader territory. As he drostatic shot, exploding the heart.

thought of it, fear was a cold, wet Veiw little talent was needed to fire .substance in his guts. Combat had a Galton gun effectively, as the drop been a hell of a lot different than he was only an inch and a half at six had expected. He had been eleven hundred yards. years old when he sav/ the nrovies of The massive trucks were loaded with the Jap surrender in Tokyo Bay. At more Galtons and tremendous loads of that time he had lived in a dream ammunition. world where he was staunch Marine a When they were ready, the tunnel running cursing up some sandy beach, lights snapped out. The driver of the hurling grenades, thru.sting with the lead truck took off his blindfold and baymnet. as the curtains drew back, they could see ahead the pale oval of the tunnel entrance. E MASHED the cigarette out against the rock wall of the The starters whined and the mo- cave, followed Guy in through tors caught, roared. The lead truck the blackout curtains. Eighteen huge lurched into motion, crawling out trucks, loaded, with the tai'ps tied through the tunnel entrance, turning down, stood nose to tail on the quasi- left to reach the junction of what had

level floor of the cave. The drivers once been Route 17 . The destination stood in a small group, laughing and was near the relatively undamaged talking. town of Oneonta, a division supply Since the roads had been pretty point some nine miles beyond the well smashed, the trucks were semi- town where camouflaged elevators tracked vehicles with drive on the would take the huge trucks, one at a front wheels as well, deisel-powered, time, down to the third level for un- weighing twelve tons empty. loading. Division vehicles would dis- “Okay,” Martin shouted. “Ready to tribute the supplies fror-i there. Roll.” The invader bomb tiiat had smashed ”

12 SUrER SCiEI'ICE S'i'OiiiES

Binghampton had been exploded at a the delicate radar would give them height of nine hundred feet. The radia- warning.

tion from the jumbled debris had long When it happened the driver, star- since dropped below the danger point. tled, braked the truck too fast and the The vast patch of vitrified earth made jagged sound of crashes from the rear maximum night speed possible-. told that he had piled up the convoy. As the hours stretched out, Martin Martin Rhode was hurled, cursing, Rhode slouched in the seat and thought against the windshield. of Alice. He remembered how wan and All Martin could think of was a tired she had been the last time he perfectly straight bolt of lightning,

* had seen her. Her resistance was low, thicker than any lightning flash he and in a forward area, she was in more had ever seen, driving straight down danger than he. He found himself from the cloudless heavens to bury wishing that the woman’s draft had itself in the earth with a thick, chun- qualified her for factory work in some king noise that seemed to shake the safe place far behind the lines, rather road. than in a forward hospital where there “Sorry, sir,” the driver said in a was constant danger of being over- high nervous— voice. “I was startled and run by an enemy patrol. I couldn’t

She too, had seen a lot of death. The “It’s done now,” he said shortly. He moments they had together were pre- climbed down to take a look. All the cious beyond description, and his heart other drivers were out of their trucks, ached when he thought of the way looking over the damage. her slim shoulders trembled when his Of the eighteen trucks, only three arms were tight around her. The world were so disabled as to be unable to was giving the two of them a damn continue. The driver of one of the poor break. The war was sapping their disabled- trucks was a competent- youth. Should she die, there would be looking sergeant. Martin said, “Get in

little point in any of the rest of it. the lead truck, sergeant. You know He knew that she felt the same way the destination. Take the trucks on too. through. Whatever that thing was, it Brogan had felt that way. Brogan seems to have made a hell of a hole and his girl. They had stolen supplies up ahead. I’m going to stay and find

and a light plane and headed for the out what it is. Give that hole a wide Canadian wilds. He smiled wryly in circle. You twp men, you’ll stay with the darkness. Brogan had picked what me. Pick us up on your way back,

- he thought was wild and empty coun- sergeant.” try, and had landed directly above one It took ten minutes to get the trucks of the biggest synthetic food plants in running condition untangled from in the country. the disabled trucks. The two drivers The drumhead trial had lasted forty stood near Martin Rhode and watched minutes. They had shot Brogan’s wife the convoy lumber off, turning sharply first. Then him. Desertion in time of across country to avoid the huge hole war. made by whatever it was that had He felt sleepy, but knew he should flashed down out of the night sky. remain alert. If the invader’s aircraft, When he shut his eyes, Martin could so high as to be invisible and almost still see the after-image of the blue- inaudible, appeared over them, only white line drawn from sky to earth. DEATH QUOTIENT 13

The two men who had remained behind were obviously nervous. Martin tested his flashlight against It was like a nightmare of the palm of his hand, said, “You two childhood. . . . men stay well back while I take a look. Go on back to that crest and get

on the far side of it so that if it should blov/ up, some kind of a report will ing down over the edge. I’m shining get back. I’ll take a hand set and tell my light down into the hole. It’s' be- you what I see.” ginning to clear a little. Dust from the The starlight was bright enough to broken concrete is still broiling around show him the dimensions of the vast down there, so I can’t see very w'ell. hole. He gasped as he saw it. estima- It’s beginning to clear a little. Now I

ting its diameter at a hundred and can just vaguel}' .see the bottom. It eighty feet. The aged concrete of the seems to be about six hundred feet

highway had been sliced as cleanly as deep. It’s hard to estimate it. From knife. though by a sharp here it looks as though the object

He . said, “The hole seems to be took a curved path after it entered close to two hundred feet in diameter, the ground. The concrete here on the

and it is very regular. Seems to be edge is still warm to the touch from i made by a cylindrical object much the pressure and friction. I can’t hear larger than any rocket known to be in an3Tiiing or smell anything.”

use. I’m approaching it on the con- He stood up and walked back, say- crete. Now I’m on my stomach look- ing into the hand mike, “One of you ”

14 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES men come over here to the trucks.” And ... Wait! Yes, I can— seem to They found one truck which was in detect some sort of move good enough working order to get over to the rim of the hole. Its winch ^B^WENTY minutes later, hearing carried two hundred feet of fine wire i no further sound, the listener, cable. By robbing the winches of the one Corporal Denty, came cau- other two trucks, Martin was able to tiously to the edge of the hole. He link up a cable six hundred feet long. whispered to Pfc. Chase, “Not a peep In forty minutes he was ready, and out of him for nearl}^ a half-hour.” with his feet in a loop at the end of They both looked down into the the cable, his good arm wrapped around darkness. Denty was the one who un- the Cable itself, the mike close to his hooked the spotlight, spliced wires lips, he gave the details of his descent so they could shine it down. They saw to the second man whom he had pos- the empty loop of the cable far below. ted a good quarter-mile from the edge “Cave-in maybe?” Chase asked. of the hole. “No, it couldn’t be. I would have heard

“The walls seem to be smooth. The it. What the hell happened!” object penetrated the topsoil and then “You want to go down and look!” crashed through various strata of rock “Not me, brother!” without appearing to change its shape “Let’s get out of here!” or size. Now the side walls are gra- “Suppose he’s okay and wants to nite. There is considerable seepage of be hauled up?” Water. Now I can plainly see that the “If he rvas okay we would have hole curves. Yes, it is a sharp curve. heard something. This makes me ner- !” From here, it looks as though it might vous. Let’s get the hell out. Come on be a full ninety-degree turn. I can feel Before dawn, after the empty vehi- an odd throbbing in the air around cles had returned to the Chemung me. . . . Now the curve is so sharp Valley cave, a distant tower radioed a that I’m scraping against the far side report in code to the Commanding of the hole from the side where the General of Advance Section Three. truck is parked, After I slide down a The general’s name was Walter Argo, bit further, the slant will be shallow and he was a very tired and very ap- enough that I can climb down.” prehensive man. But he was algo very In a few seconds he shouted up the familiar with the odd tricks that ima- shaft, “Hold it right there. Don’t haul gination can play in time of war. up until I give the order.” He passed the report on to his G-2,

Leaving the loop resting^against the who in turn gave it to the Staff Ord- rock slope, he gave one quick glance nance Officer who passed it on to up at the bright stars, then walked Colonel Rudley Wing, the Rocket down to where the side became the Disposal Officer, who assigned it to floor of what seemed to be a mam- Captain Jakob Van Meer, who, Shortly * moth tunnel stretching away into the before noon, picked up the necessary gloom. equipment and a squad of nine tech- He turned his light down the tunnel. nicians and two disposal trucks and His voice was tense as be said into headed back for the rear area of Ad- the mike, “I can see a shining object vance Section Three to the spot that reflects my light. It’s only about indicated in the radio. a hundred feet from where I stand. Jakob Van Meer was a doughty DEATH QUOTIENT 15 little officer with a fat slack face, sleepy felt panic and extreme exhaustion. He eyes and enough raw courage for a said he was being forced somehow to dozen men. desert his post and run like hell. Even He whistled softly as he saw the the men six miles back felt very de- size of the hole. Even in the autumn pressed. After a time, the feeling of sunlight it looked ominous. depression lifted. They went cautiously He deposited his radio truck a good back to the hole. The one who had six miles away after he saw the hole, gone mad was dead. So was Van Meer and made very certain that each broad- when they hauled him up. His face cast word was being inscribed on the was contorted. The examining doctor metal tape. If this was a new weapon, said there was serious damage to the Jakob Van Meer would give future inner ear. He also said that the cause disposal experts plenty to go on, of death was the generation of inter- when he himself went up in bits at nal heat in the bodies of the two men. the heart of a mighty blast. You know the answer to that one, One trustworthy man stayed on the sir.” “Hypersonics !” the general gasped, brink with the special winch equip- ment. Before Van Meer went down the his face white. effective than any- hole, he listened to the verbal account “Yes, but more thing of before. Panic of Corporal Denty, then put what we’ve heard within hundreds of yards. Black seemed to be a gigantic stethoscope , depression six miles flat against the ground and bent over away.” to listen. Argo picked up a pencil and tapped the point gently against the steel sur- He frowned. “Damn ! I can hear something down there. But there’s no face of his desk. “The projectile regularity ..to it. Just some miscella- was what generated this hypersonic neous thumping. Well, go ahead; lower wave ?” away.” “There’s no other answer.” Colonel Rudley Wing, a lean and “Then that must be its purpose. I sallow man, felt a thickness in his can't see how we can rightly anticipate throat as he read the report which a dual function there.” was, in effect, the obituary of Jakob “What are your orders, sir?” Van Meer. He shut his jaw hard and “Take one of Joe Branford’s walked down the dimly-lighted corri- engineer units and seal the hole up for dor to the offices of General Argo. good.” Argo saw him at once, had him sit Wing was relievea not to be asked down and held a ma.tch for his to send another man. He knew that he cigarette. would go himself rather than send Wing’s voice sounded odd in his another of his officers. And he did own ears as he said, “That oversized not relish the thought of hypersonic rocket, sir. One of my ... No. My death. best officer investigated. He got Two hours after dusk the explosives halfway down when it all went blasted and hundreds of tons of crum- wrong.” bled rock and dirt filled the vast cavity. “Exploded?” All civilians living within five miles “No. This is pretty odd. The man of the edge of the hole were ordered to on the brink went off his nut. Then a evacuate the area, and military roads man posted three hundred yards back were diverted to alternate routes. 16 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“Well, sir, we sealed it. Did a good CHAPTER TWO job, too. When we were I’d say about five hundred yards away, I looked The Wall back and saw dirt and rock go up like lice POWELL sat on the a fountain. I didn’t hear any second edge of the hard cot in her explosion. It looked as though the A cubicle a quarter-mile under- dirt went up about two thousand feet. ground. The circulation fan high in We went like hell to get out of there, the corner made a soft droning. but even so, a hunk of rock as big as The lid of her foot locker was open, my fist came down through the hood and through tear-dimmed eyes she and disabled us. The driver said he stared at the smiling picture of Mar- could make temporary, repairs. Two tin Rhode, taped to the inside of the of my men and I went back and took look. hole as clean as a lid. It had been taken the day he enlis- a The was ted, the day after the bombs had wiped whistle. The diameter at the brink out ten major cities. So long ago. was so much bigger that we couldn’t Countless thousands of years ago. seal it again. Not enough stuff with us. I thought I’d report, She was a tall girl, her dusky blonde So better hair pulled tightly back, her uniform sir. Do you want me to try again?” crisp and white. But her face was Wing looked at him for long mo- puffy with tears. ments, then stood up. “Come along. She held her own wrist so tightly I want the general to hear this.” that the nails bit into the skin, and General Argo listened, asked a few yet there was no pain which could questions, then said angrily, “That

equal the pain of her great loss. affair is taking too much of my time.” "There will, of course, be a post- He opened a switch on the interphone, humous decoration,” Colonel Wing said, “Benny? I’ve got a special job had said genly. for one of your boys. Pick a good one, What good is that? When those one that can drop a lump of sugar strong brown hands are sealed in the into a cup of tea from eighty thou- eternal darkness far below the sand. Low level work. I want a four- shattered earth. thousand-pound D.A. dropped into She heard the distant determined some mysterious damn hole we’ve got whine of one of the ward buzzers. She in the rear area. Have your boy get sighed, stood up, brushed a wisp of the dope from Colonel Wing. Thanks, hair back with the back of her hand. Benny.” It was bed four again. The double The runway started in the heart of amputation. With swift and gentle a mountain. Johnny Roak had the fingers she injected the morphine. ship airborne by the time he hit day- The lieutenant of engineers saluted light. The jets lifted the ship in an crisply and Colonel Wing smiled almost vertical climb as Johnny tiredly, said, "How did it go?” whistled between his teeth. It was one There was a taught look about the of the hit-and-run bombers, capable of young man’s mouth. “What’s down a top speed of eleven hundred, and a in that hole, sir?” minimum speed of forty, once the “We don’t exactly know. Some sort huge flaps were at full. As the tight of device that generates supersonic cockpit began to heat up, Johnny in- waves, we believe. Why?” ereased the refrigeration. Directly un- DEATH QUOTIENT !7

der him, ' concealed by the bomb-bay his fingers. “Nobod)' had a chance.” doors, was the egg he was to drop. The lead truck of a fast convoj' In the map panel sandwiched between stopped dead much faster than any

dials, the three-dimensional map, syn- brakes could have brought it to a halt. chronized for ground speed and It was on the alternate route which direction, moved smoothly. was supposed to take it around tlic He saw that he was nearing his area where the mysterious rocket had target and decided to take a practice fallen.

run at it, then make a 180° and The two men in the lead truck were come back. When he was ten killed instantly, and the single man miles away he looked at the landscape in the second truck was badly injured. and frowned. The autumn grass and The third truck was so far back that leaves had an odd look. Almost as the driver had time to wrench the though they had been scorched. The wheel over and slam into a deep ditch. hole seemed to be well inside this The truck overturned, but the driver scorched area, pos.sibly at the middle was uninjured. The other trucks of it. He saw that very soon he would managed to stop without serious begin to pass over the scorched area. injury. He began once more to whistle. It The first man to reach the lead was a nice day. truck saw that the hood was curiously Colonel Benjamin Cord wheeled on crumpled. The door was jammed, but the young captain and said, “Let me he climbed up 'and flashed his light know when you begin to need my in the window. The heavy motor had permission to spit, or wash your face. crushed the two men where they sat.

Send another plane.” .A.S yet he hadn’t seen what they had Three hours later Colonel Cord hit. He stood and flashed his light flung open the door of the general’s ah.ead. There wo.s nothing there. He office without knocking, Argo was on wondered if some sort of dud artillery the verge of reminding Cord of the shell had hit the truck dead center. common courtesies when he saw the He walked up to look, and slam- expression on Cord’s face. med into something solid. It was so

“What on earth is the matter, unexpected tliat it knocked him down. Benny?” he asked. He flashed his light and saw . . .

“That —^ that damnable hole! It’s nothing. By then several other men cost me three planes and three good had come up to him. He warned them, men.” and then advanced cautiously. His Argo’s e3'es widened. “How?” fingertips touched a smooth hard “The first ship blew up in midair. surface, a surface that was faintly So did the second ship, and at just warm to the touch. The other nc'i about the same place. The third time thought, he was suffering from shoe'; I sent two, one trailing the other at a until he finally grabbed one of thcri mile. The third ship gave a running and thrust him against the invisible verbal account. Apparently that hole vvali. It was higher than they could you talk about is the center of a reach and, at the deep ditch, it fol- parched area. The following .’,hip re- lowed the contour so tl:at there was ported that as the third ship reached no place to crawl under or lAeasure the edge of the parched area, it blew the thickness of the obstacle. up. Just like that!” Cord snapped They talked about it being some 18 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES new sabotage device planted there by Nations, was permitted to board the an invader patrol, but it was too far silent elevator and ride, with his body- in the rear to have been so planted. guard, up the two-thousand-foot shaft

One of the men suggested that it to the observation room. might have something to do with the The observation room fronted on large rocket that had fallen in the a sheer rock wall in one of the lesser area, but he was laughed down. The peaks of the Sangre de Christo Moun- rocket was three miles away. tains. A pow'erful electric motor slid Their lights shone through the back the wdiole wall of the observation the wall heavy because the obstacle without any of the distortion room ; was of vision which would have indicated outer surface of it was made of slabs a glassy substance. of native rock. The man who had first discovered Stanford Rider was a tall lean man the obstacle lifted one of the Galton with a pale, pouched face, sparse guns from a truck and, standing six sandy hair and alert blue eyes. Years feet from the barrier, held the gun at before, the lines in his face had ac- waist level and fired a prolonged centuated his gift of laughter. But bitrst. There was no danger of rico- the years of war and danger, the chet, because the heat generated by constant threat of defeat, had sagged impact at that velocity turned the those lines into a continual morose- tiny slugs immediate!}^ from a solid ness, almost apathetic in its perpetual to a gas. The gun made its high siren intensity. wail, and the area of impact glowed His eyes brightened when he saw red-white with the hot gases. After the blue of the sky, the misted purple the burst that point of the barrier of the far mounains. No three- was too hot to touch. When it had dimensional color photography, no cooled, they were able to feel no amount of synthetic sunlight could scratch or dent on its surface, thus compensate for the reality he proving it to be a harder substance witnessed. than any they had ever encountered. He knew' that even as he had step- They found a drurn which contained ped into the elevator tw'o thousand tracer load, and one man took a gun feet below, radar watch had been re- back two hundred yards. He fired doubled and fighters had been sent short bursts at a constantly inci'easing up so high as to be invisible. Inter- angle. A thousand feet above the road ceptor rockets lay fat and sleeping in the thin white lines of the tracer slugs the deep launching ramps, their dull still stopped sharply at the barrier. stubborn noses shining metallically, The convoy was reorganized and their single-purpose brains ready to before they left, one man found white begin functioning at the first thrust paint and slapped huge crosses on the of incredible acceleration. invisible barrier to warn any subse- Pie stood, his shoulders slumped, quent convoy. He was subsequently his arms hanging slack at his sides, commended for this foresight. looking at the sunlight through wdiich he could not walk in freedom. Far N PLEASANT days, Stanford below', in the warm guts of the inner Rider, the President of the Uni- earth, the nine-man War Council w'as O ted States, Supreme Commander in session. Later he would listen to of the United Forces of the Allied the transcription after all repetitions DEATH QUOTIENT 19 and asides had been deleted. More de- the barrier appears to be parched, as cisions to be made. More lives to be though it had been subjected to great lost. They were getting ever more heat. It is surmised that certain civilian anxious for him to launch another at- personnel may have been trapped in- tack, impatient of the way he insisted side the barrier, but close watch has on waiting for further development of disclosed no sign of them. the robot gun carriers. “The barrier appears to be imper- He remembered the utter failure of vious to all except light rays. Close the last attack, the horror and the watch with high power spotting agony of knowing that it had failed, scopes has indicated, no activity within and as he remembered, his mouth the area enclosed by the barrier. The twisted. Yes, the attacking force had thickness of the barrier is not accu- reached the sea, splitting the invader rately known. By close observation of forces in half, but rocket supply had the rn,ovement of dried grass just in- failed, they had been cut off and those side the barrier, it is believed to be who were not killed had been sent extraordinarily thin, possibly less than into slavery, the weapons they had an inch in thickness. carried being turned on their “No reasonable conjectures can be countrymen. made. Morale within this section is The potential attack was even more suffering due to there being no official questionable in light of the odd new explanation of this phenomenon. Were development in Advance Section such a barrier to be created so as to Three. He puzzled over the report he enclose some of our essential subterra- had read. It was a war of technology, nean production facilities, our position and he felt fear as he realized that the would be seriously affected. invader had created something bejrond “Recoinmeiidations ; 1. That the their ability to understand. best scientific minds available be sent What was the name of the division immediately to examine the barrier at commander? Oh, yes. Argo. Able man. first hand. 2. That an atomic bomb be He had sent in a very complete re- placed so as to explode against the port. “The point of entrance of the barrier.” lar^e rocket appears to be the center Yes, it was a good report. Within an point of a circular, transparent impene- hour or so, he would hear the report table barrier having a diameter of 9.14 of the results of the atomic blast. miles. The suface of the barrier has a He took a long look at the sunshine, temperature of 88.1 degrees, and it then turned and signaled to the guard. accurately follows all ground contours. The motor droned and the wall slid An attempt was made to tunnel under slowly back into place. With tired, it, using the newest type mole, but at heavy steps he w'alked into the eleva- ninety feet below the surface, the mole tor. As it started down, he leaned struck the barrier and was unable to against the inside wall and closed his progress. Tests have indicated that eyes. the barrier reaches higher than the ceiling of any ship based here, but ield IMarshal Torkel Jatz no attempt has yet been made to stretched out on the hard cot strike barrier guided missile F in his headquarters and frowned the with a

at stratosphere height, i.e. above one up at the ceiling. He knew that he was hundred miles. The vegetation inside in no physcal danger, and yet he was 20 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

oddly uncomfortable. His headquar- Wh}^ did they keep sniping at him? ters were two thousand feet below Was Rinelli doing any better in Bra- the surface of Manhattan Island. zil ? Was Sigitz performing any Above him were the shattered buil- miracles along the Salween? dings, the lethal radioactivity that had If only he could have the pleasure resulted, from the undemvater explo- of the company of a few of those sions which had hoisted countless bureaucrats for several ^yeeks. He’d millions of tons of radioactive sea take them out and give them a look water high in the air, the in-shore wdnd at the vicious night-patrol warfare, carrying them across the shattered let them hear the dread siren scream of buildings and empty streets. the Galton guns, let them see a soldier The entrance to his headquarters struck by one of those tiny slugs, the was through an amazingly long lateral instaht convulsive death.

tunnel which connected with a win- What thev^ couldn’t understand was ding shaft, the opening of which was that there were no targets for the roc- beyond the boundaries of dangerous kets, no concentrations of production radioactivity. facilities. And the use of spies was He thought of the bitting sarcasm technologically obsolete. Each man of the last orders he had received from in the defending forces, before being his home country. Yes, they were given knowledge of any installation, growing tired of the holding war, tired was tested with the serums. of the ceaseless drain on resources and He remembered the attack that had manpower. split the beachhead into two parts, Ah, but they did not understand and had almost succeeded. Another these people. Yes, the invasion had such attack would be due before long, been successful, and the beachhead, tie hammered his fist against the stone in the first weeks of surprise, had wall, cursing the scientists of his grown enormously. But these people country. fought for their home soil, prodigious After being spurred on to peak acti- in their courage, reckless in their hate. '.ity, 'it was the defenders who, after They could not understand it at all, had dev'cloped a new weapon. He home, but all he could do was to cling didn’t know very much about it .yet. tenaciously to his perimeter defences Just one report of it. and continual^ request new and bet- An aerial photograph had given the ter wea.pons which would once more rocket command a faint target, a traf- give him the edge, make a further ad- fic pattern in the hills of the Chemung vance possible. Valley, and what looked like a cave He snorted. They were politicians entrance. who continually nibbled at him. Jatz Ten huge rockets had been launched had no interest in politicians. He was simultaneousl}^ with the idea that a soldier, a lean, hard, tough man in possibly one or two -would get through. his middle forties, a man who, if The observers had reported that the necessary, could go out into the filth entire flight of -rockets had been des- and mud of the lines and carry the troyed at the highest point of their burden of a combat soldier. A man arc. No interceptor rockets had gone who could handle any command in up. Of that the observers were certain. his forces, from datoon leader to Their report said that it was as though Field Marshal. all ten rockets had hit some solid ob- DEATH QUOTIENT 21

ject towering high above the earth. of course, a feeling of horror, primi- His aide walked briskly in, saluted, tive, superstitious awe at seeing any- his hand slapping the side of his thigh thing so completely alien. But that as he brought his arm down smartly. had gradually diminished in intensity. “Sir, the robot gun carrier that was The fear that didn’t diminish was captured in the northern sector is the acute physical fear of the sweat- ready for inspection.” ing and the pain. He had walked a Jatz stood up wearily, and he knew little way along the floor of the raw that in his heart he was afraid. Robot tunnel, the loop of cable behind him. gun carriers, ray screens, rockets deto- Then he had seen movement. He had nating harmlessly miles above the tried to tell of seeing the movement, earth. How soon would they be driven and suddenly he could not move. The back into the sea? sweat boiled out of his body and he had stood, his underlip sagging away CHAPTER THREE from his teeth, unable to change even the focus or direction of his glance. The Beast The pain was in his ears and his

head. Because it seemed to be focused ARTIN RHODE had learned in his ears, he thought of hypersonics. many new and intricate con- He could see slow, fumbling move- volutions of the emotion ments in the distance, faintly lighted commonly known as fear. There was. by a glow that seemed to come from a

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It irttit dealtr doer not bava It — write Fbllip Hottb I Ca, Ud., Inc., Dept. MZ7, 119 FIfIb Avenue, Ne« Talk 3, 1. 1, enclosing tor Ml ilia package - 22 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES huge metallic thing that filled the ture from space, and that it was tunnel from wall to wall. accustomed to far lesser gravity. He could not move, and the fum- The mental fingers moved in his bling thing had come toward him, brain with more certainty. The and it was like a nightmare of child- thoughts said, “You are a primitive hood, himself unable to turn, unable to creature. Where are your masters?” escape. It was a large thing, greyish He found his lips could move. white, moving along the dirt floor of “There are no masters,” he said, star- the tunnel. tled by the sound of his voice in the

Because his eyes were still focused silence. He tried to lift the microphone on the distant place, he could not look to his lips but he could not move it. life at it. “You are the apex of on this Greyish white, moving along the dirt planet,” the thoughts said. floor. And he was ashamed, somehow. It was as though mental fingers Humbled. As though contempt had fumbled at his mind. It was as though somehow been put in his mind. It a stranger were fitting an unfamiliar was primitive and absurd to have made key to an unknown door in a strange sounds with his lips. house in a foreign city ... The creature seemed to be contem- Thoughts, unexpressed in words. plating him. Suddenly the mike slip- Thoughts to which he had to fit the ped, fell to the short length of flexible words. cord, banged against his thigh. The thought of heaviness, and in- Woodenly his hands unbuckled the tense cold. He could not move. Slowly straps and the equipment fell to the the odd pressure on him diminished, crushed rock floor. and with a great effort he turned his With even regular steps he walked glance downward. toward the big shining ship from His eyes had become used to the space. As he walked he marveled that faint glow. The thing on the floor was one part of his mind could accept or- a vast, pulpy, obscene caricature of ders and issue the neural instructions a man. Naked and grey. Eyes with to the necessary parts of his body faceted prisms protruding from the without his being aware of the action face, a tiny furred orifice below the until it was under way. For the first eyes, and a wide lemon-yellow • gash time he began to wonder if actually that was a mouth. Ten feet tall if the walls of the deep hole had fallen standing, he guessed. The arms were in on him without warning, and this oddly jointed and there was something was one of the early dreams in death. horribly wrong about the hands and Behind him he heard the click of fingers, the fingers curling to the out- small stones as the creature followed side of where the wrists should be, him laboriously. A vast port was open rather than in toward the body. in the stern of the ship. He stepped Something else horribly wrong. The through and his second step inside the suety grey fat of the body was drag- ship, in the warm blue-grey glow, ged down toward the floor of the sent him floating toward a far wall. cave, and the creature moved with The sensation twisted his stomach great difficult as though it were being and he was suddenly and violently ill. subjected to a centrifuge. He compre- When he turned, the creature was hended that this was an alien, a crea- behind him, and it stood erect. He saw DEATH QUOTIENT 23 that the hairless head was far too small endless corridor, illuminated by the for the massive body. In the lesser gra- blue-grey radiance that seemed to shine vity inside the ship the big creature out from the metallic corridor walls. moved with the controlled ease of a Everything was too big. man on earth. Martin’s slightest His steps carried him down the hall movement sent him blundering out of in long bounds, halting him before control. another doorway. He went into the He turned sharply and floated into room and he was alone. It was a room a slow fall as another of the creatures twenty feet square, half as high. He appeared in a huge doorway to his could move freely. He wanted to look right. out in the corridor again. But when He knew that they communicated he tried to go through the doorway, with each other, as alien thoughts he ran against an invisible, transparent seemed to rush through his mind, just substance. He could not get through beyond his ability to comprehend. He the doorway. He removed most of his detected the contempt of the second clothes, and made a rude bed of them. creature, and it seemed a sharper scorn He was tired and he went to sleep, as than that which the first one had though ordered to sleep. expressed. One quick thought seemed to smell awakened hearing a throb of death, and the first one protested of power, a distant clanking. and there was a mental shrug from the He was in a different part of the

second one. A mental shrug which ship : a larger room with a huge port said, “Do what you please with it.” in one side. He stood up, forgetting the The second creature turned and left. gravity, smacked lightly against the The one who had crawled on the tunnel high ceiling and floated down gently. floor and now stood erect sent flashing He looked through the port and saw into Martin’s mind a vague thrust of a vast square room. The two creatures amusement, of casual interest. Martin he had seen before tvere outside the suddenly realized that it was the same ship, and yet they moved easily. The sort of emotion that he might express room had evidently been hollowed out concerning a strange dog who had of the solid rock. It appeared to be at wandered across his path. least two hundred feet square and At that, the creature’s amusement fifty feet high. The side of the ship seemed to grow more intense, and had been brightened in some manner Martin guessed that he had intercepted so that the radiance of it filled the and interpreted the thought. furthest corners of the room. The air inside the ship was very hot, When he looked more closely at the and very moist. The creature seemed two creatures, he saw that they wore to sweat not at all. Martin Rhode felt close-fitting suits of metal. He guessed his clothes clinging to him. He was that the garments duplicated the gravi- still nauseated from the effect of the tational conditions existing within the lesser gravity. ship. Once again his legs began to move He was puzzled by t’neir activities, without his volition, thrusting him apparently they w'ere assembling some awkwardly against a wall, then carry- sort of equipment, but it was foreign ing him through the doorway. He to anything in his experience. The gasped as he looked up a seemingly way they walked about was odd, due to 24 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES the extra joint in their legs, a joint “This will be difficult for a primitive v/hich was like a second knee bending to comprehend. AVe are two of a in the opposite direction. warrior race. This planet is much as A huge cube of milky glass, thirty our planet must have been countless feet on a side, rested near th^e far wall. eons ago. I have never seen our home Within the cube he could vaguely make planet. My brother and I were born out the intricate form of what appeared in space, as were thirty generations to be a large natural crystal formation, befoi'e us. We are accustomed to lesser hexagonal in shape. The crystal seemed gravity, and the constant heat inside to shimmer behind the clouded walls our ship. Your planet is cold, and of the cube. gravity makes us very heavy. My Supports slanted out from the top brother has requested that I destroy four corners of the cube as though tbs you, as we have learned from you all

cube were supporting the weight of a that is necessary for us to know. But far greater area of the ceiling. I hav^e a foolish sentiment about you. He saw no other representatives of You are as our race must have once

tlie odd race, and began to wonder if been. To see you is to look into the only the two of them had arrived in dim past. AVe have seen many primi- this space.ship which had punched its tives on many strange planets that, way down through the Earth’s crust, circle unknown suns. You are more as though diving into v/ater. like what we must have once been A great desire for sleep welled over than any we have yet seen. Thus, liiin and he let himself sink to the floor. there is a sentiment that fills my mind Something about the warm, moist air when I look on you arid think on

inside the ship, he guessed. . . . your desperate, petty little wars, like He awakened the second time on a children with rocks and slings.” high bench. One of the creatures stood In the thoughts there was such a looking down at him, and he saw the 2:)0wful impression of great age and fine hair encircling the oval orifice in aloofness that Martin Rhode felt small

the middle of its face move as it and awed. breathed. The lemou-yellow slash ol His lips trembled as he expressed its mouth showed no semblance of the thought, “You called your people teeth. a warrior race?” The mental fumbling was gone. The “Like yours. In the beginning tribe thoughts were clear, precise, incisive. fights tribe, then city fights city, then “You are of a warlike race. We nation fights nation, then continent

have had difficulty with your people. fights continent. That is your present A has been placed around this area stage. Should you survive this stag.;, to keep them away.” One word was a you will find planet fighting planet, blank. He had no word to fit the th.en solar system fighting foreign solar thought. It gave him the impression system, and at last galaxy warring with of immovable force, a linkage of galaxy. AA^ho can tell? Possibly beyond particles of pure force. that is universe making war with “Where are you from?” Martin universe, or dimension against dimen- flhode proiccted the thought as clearly sion. In each step there is always the as he could. possibility of mutual extermination, far place.” and with that, the peace that living

“Y/ho are you?” things can find. Only in death is there !

DEATH QUOTIENT 25

peace, and death is the final step,” the implications of the statement. He There was horror in those thoughts. wanted to believe that it was some Horror and great age and great sort of a trick, and yet the calm resignation. certainty in the thoughts that had “We have b'een at war with another lanced his mind made belief inescapable. race for eight hundred of your life- “Kill all of us! All of us!” he said times. This other race is aquatic, and aloud. filled their spaceships are with the “Believe me, creature, it is something fluids of their home planet, long since that you will eventually do to your- destroyed. Our great fleets are no more. selves if we do not do it. For uncounted All told, we probably have no more generations we talked of the end of than five thousand ships, four hundred war. Now we know—there is no end.’’ thousand individuals out of the millions hlartin searched unsuccessfully for upon millions who once existed. This some way to refute the alien’s argu- small patrol ship of ours was pursued. ment. Impossible. The alien had all The ships from which we fled are the weight of fact on its side. Fighting somewhere in this vicinity.” down his despair, Martin asked, “How Martin’s head rvas whirling. He will you explode our planet?” thought, “What are you planning to do “AVith an ancient technique. It is a here?” technique that you creatures possess, “We will make certain preparations. The power of the atom. It was used Then we will let our presence here be without avail against our — .” Again known. When the pursuing ships are that thought for which there was no within proper range, we will explode word. “Our power is derived from the this planet. We will die, of course, but controlled oscillation of crystals sub- the gases of the explosion with great jected to electromagnetic impulses. speed, will engulf some of their ships That is what drives this ship at speed and the heat will kill a great many equal to forty times the circumference of them, boil them alive in the fluids of your planet within a space of time of their ships.” equal to three pulsations of the organ Martin Rhode’s mind rocked under which circulates your blood.

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26 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“With the power of the crystals, we no denying the truth of the thoughts will compress hundreds of thousands of he had read.

tons of the matter of which your planet He gue,ssed that it was a half-hour is composed into a very small space. before the creature came back. “This

It is the principle which limits the is a simple device. Apparently your maximum size of planets through whole planet is served with less power molecular compression at the core. than is needed to operate our small The atoms will be crushed. With this ship. Within a few hours I can con- small substance of enormous weight, struct a device which wdll enable you

we will have a fuse. By heating it to reach every one of these devices on instantaneously to critical temperature, your planet, covering simultaneously once again through the crystal, we will all bands and wavelengths. Do many induce a chain reaction which will of your people have them?”

detonate this planet. That is the work “Every soldier wears a small one on my brother is doing now. He is setting- his wrist. Orders are given over them. up the necessary equipment to begin There are few dwellings on the planet the task of compression. The ultimate without one.” bit of matter will have ten million The alien grimaced. “My brother times the density of water.” does not object to my amusing myself

Martin was silent. The thoughts by giving all of your people some small were once again clear to him. period of peace before death.” “I can feel your grief and your sense of loss, creature. You are thinking N THE long ward there was soft that those of your race will continue music, selected for its therapeutic with their pointless war up to the I value. It also concealed the moment of extinction. You are think- drugged moans of the seriously ing that if you could escape, you could wounded. warn them. They would think you mad. Alice Po'well was marking a chart They cannot come to this place because when the music faded and the strong

of the . Your wish is futile.” voice,, the familiar voice rang out. She

Martin spoke aloud ; “Could you dropped the pen and put her hand to could you give my people some her throat. unmistakable evidence of all this? Just “This is Martin Rhode speaking. My so they would stop fighting for the voice is coming simultaneously from short time they have left?” every radio set in the world. The earth Re could read no expression in the has been invaded from outer space. The faceted eyes. There was a slight barrier which you cannot penetrate movement of the lemon-yellow mouth. protects these strange beings while “It might be amusing. What they work. I am held captive. I know mechanical device do you use to com- their plans. ...” municate with each other? I will speak On Colonel Wing’s desk was a to my brother.” picture of his wife and children. They “I dropped a short-range radio on had died during the first week of the the floor of the tunnel.” war. After Martin finished speaking. The creature stood up and left. Colonel Wing picked up the picture

Martin Rhode sat on the bench, his and sat very still, looking at the face in his ha,nds. So this was the familiar, faces. climax of the empty years. There was Field Marshall Jatz listened until DEATH QUOTIENT 27

the voice died, and then he struck his planet. Then thejjr will no longer aide heavily in the mouth. “Listen!” doubt.” he roared. “Another weapon they have An hour later the hookup was ready. developed! What is wrong with our A small room near the rear of the people?” ship. A large metallic object, shaped The aide crawled to the doorway, like a funnel.

blood smearing his chin. The full impetus of the thoughts Sanford Rider sat at his long desk, crashed in on Martin Rhode’s brain. his face in his hands. After Martin In the beginning the thoughts had been had stopped speaking he began to like awkward fingers. Then they had laugh. The tone of his laughter crept achieved deftness and finish. But he constantly higher and the tears began knew at that moment that all that had to run down his face. It took a long gone before had been gentle, almost time to quiet him. tender. These were not thoughts to be articulated into words. These were raw In all the places below the hard crust emotions, driven into his mind as of the world, people listened to the though by a pneumatic hammer placed words of Martin Rhode. Many of them against the grey jelly of his brain. did not understand his language. But He recoiled and he felt his mouth many millions did understand, and it twisting, heard his own weak scream was easier to believe that it was a echo in his ears. In his mind he saw trick than to believe what Martin a huge image of one of the aliens, Rhode had said. faceted eyes blazing. The fear was like Martin Rhode stood and looked into no fear he had ever experienced. It the shining screen as the huge grey- w'as complete and utter horror! Then

white creature manipulated the dials. it w^as as though he were snapped off In a barren ravine men fought and died, into space, looking down at the Earth, and blood stained the rocks in the pale a planet the size of half a grain of sunshine. rice. Huge ships ripped noiselessly by, “You see, creature, they did not headed for Earth. Then once again he believe you. It' is as I told you.” was below the Earth’s surface. The Martin felt grief well up within him. two grey-white creatures stood, intent, “Can’t you do anything to make them watching a vieiv-screen. Red light believe?” he asked desperately. emanating from the heart of a crystal No thought came to Martin for many played fitfully across a dark one-inch minutes. Then he received the thought cube which rested in the centre of a of laughter. Wry laughter. huge plate of grey metal. “You creatures do not communicate Once again he was in outer space. thi'ough thought. I believe I am begin- The ships drove closer to earth. This ning to understand your psychology. time Earth seemed to be the size of I will hook up the drive crystal of the a baseball.

ship, using it to amplify my thoughts. Suddenly it erupted into a glaring I will use you as a target so that my sheet of white flame which engitlfcd thoughts will be ke}md to the minds the spaceships, and he fell fainting' to of your creatures. Then I will give the floor. each of them a clear mental picture of When he awakened, before his eyes, me, an impression of great fear, and he interecepted the thought of anger. a view of the destruction of this He looked up into the face of the 2S SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

creature. “You nearly destroyed the quit. Go home. See wife before — !” effect, creature. In the midst of it you boom made a loud sound with your mouth. It “Not a bad idea. Hell, if any officers gave me pain. Do not do it again.” see us though, we’ll both be shot.” In response the man merely pointed CHAPTER FOUR with his thick thumb. Joe looked over his shoulder. Fifty feet away the The Final War lieutenant in charge of Joe’s patrol stood chatting with an enemy officer. OSEPH HUDDY, one of eight They both seemed excited. survivors of a daylight infiltration “Something tells me the war’s over,” J patrol, stood up behind the rock Joe said wonderingly. where he had sought shelter. He General Argo and Field Marshal rubbed the back of a dirty hand Jatz looked at each other with impas- across his wet forehead and glanced sive faces. Suddenly Argo grinned. apprehensively toward the grey sky. “I’m going to get myself court- He thought, “That Joker that talked martialed for this little tea-party.” this morning wasn’t kidding!” He did Jatz relaxed and scratched his head.

not think it odd that, though he had He looked worried. “I also. Never failed to believe the broadcast at the should have come hefe to this country time, he suddenly believed it now. If in the first place.” asked, he would have said, “Hell, all Argo said quietly, “We’ve been try- of a sudden I could see those zombies, ing to convince you people of that, you the big grey boys. Scared me, damn know.”

if it didn’t!” Jatz grinned. “You have been very Dazed, he looked up the small ravine. convincing, my friend. But somehow One of “them” was standing in plain ... I do not know how to say it. We

sight. By force of habit, Joe snatched were enemies. Now we are both . . . up his forgotten weapon, leveled it at men. Brothers. Like two relatives the stocky foreigner. But suddenly he fighting and along comes a peacemaker thought that it was pretty silly to get and they both turn on him. Now we all hot about killing one of “them” have a strange race. A stronger when there was a far greater dang^. enemy.” His finger relaxed, slid off the trigger. "Would you like to take a look at With sudden resolution, he tossed the barrier?” the gun aside, yelled, “Hey there!” For a moment Jatz hesitated. Then The stocky man looked down toward he shrugged. “I have nothing to fear him, grinned nervously. A few from you, my friend. I would like moments later they had exchanged very much to take a look at this barrier.

cigarettes, were squatting ott ^eir I lost rockets against it and thought heels. it wae something you people had “I be damn,” Joe said. “Yoo all of devised.” a sudden saw that big grey thing too?" “We thought it was something you “I see,” the man said, his eyes round pat there.’^ and wide. He shuddered. Side by side they walked down the “What about this war we’re having?” long corridor toward the waiting Joe asked. elevator. Their staff officers followed The man thumped his chest. “Me, I along, seeing nothing particularly DEATH QUOTIENT 29

strange in this odd and amicable our lives. At least for these last few alliance. da3'S there will be peace among men All over the world hate was forgot- of all nations. Our ps3'chiatrists have ten'—hate for other men. Fear of other told me that the visions we all saw men was forgotten. In its place was were activated by a projection of hatred of the invader from space, fear thought more powerful than we can of the sudden death of the world. contemplates. It is futile to question The three battle fronts of the world the accuracy of the visions we all saw. dissolved. The leaders of all nations AVe saw our planet being destro3'ed in flew by fastest means to the hidden order to wipe out the ships of some field in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains unknown race which is at war with A lean and tired man presided at the str-angers from space who have the long polished table. His name was invaded our planet. Stanford Rider. “In this perilous extremity, I invite “Possibly all of you share m3' own your suggestions.” feeling of guilt. We, the statesmen and Every known force was applied to politicians of the world, made possible the barrier. The most powerful atomic the conditions which resulted in this explosion ever released on Earth was deadly and barren war which has laid detonated close to the barrier. waste our countries and impoverished Squadrons of high-explosive rockets our peoples.” exploded in sequence, in unison, in He paused, saw reluctant agreement bursts of ten, fifty and five hundred, on every face. He continued. “Now expended their fury against the barrier. we are met on a far different battle- And in the end they accomplished no field. Now our conflicts between more than would have been achieved nations are childish by comparison. We by one small Boy armed with a pebble are in the position of small creatures and a dry stick. of the forest beneath whom has bSen placed a mighty charge of explosives. r ARTIN RHODE felt the distant It may be that we will be as powerless rumble and thud, heard the I to alter the course of events as the M^ flakes of rock dropping from wild creatures would be to halt the the tunnel roof. He learned to operate operation of the time fuse on the the clear and perfect screen and hidden mines. watched the efforts to destroy the “These may be the last few days of barrier. He saw that peace had come

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30 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES to the world, and smiled wryly, know- will be released instantaneously. This ing that for the first time since crude planet will cease to exist, as it becomes, pictures were scratched on the walls for a brief space, a supernova.” of caves, no men were locked in combat Martin Rhode stood and his nails bit anywhere in the world. Here and now into his palms and he gulped the hot, was the dream of all Utopians. moist air in shallow breaths. The The alien had gained such new crystals began to glow and a low hum- facility with Martin’s mind that he ming sound filled the chamber. Their could reach him from great distances. glow was pale violet, and as the sound “My brother has completed his increased, the glow rose through the preparations. It may inl:erest you to spectrum. By the time the glow was watch the actual operation. Soon we a hot, angry red, the humming had will be ready.” risen to a shrill scream. The scream The huge room that had been faded away and Martin was torn by the hollowed out of the rock had been agony of hypersbnics. enlarged to an incredible distance. The cube shrank! So slowly at first Martin Rhode stood near the glowing that he could barely see the change, hull of the spaceship and saw that six and then more rapidly. Soon the top crystals stood at equal intervals surface was level rvith his e3res, then around a dull black cube that measured he could see the top of it. From the ten feet on a side. cube came an angry crackling, a groan The thoughts knifed into his mind. of tortured matter. It was the size “All the matter excavated here has of a hatbox. Constantly smaller. He been compressed into that cube. It felt his internal body heat rise under weighs half a million tons. The atomic the unheard whine of hypersonics and structure is partially crushed. Stay the crystals vibrated until they could where you are. This final operation be seen only as deep glowing spots, will completely crush the atomic struc- spots. ture, compressing it to a smaller area Suddenly the pressure stopped. than exists at the heart of any known Martin’s knees sagged and he nearly planet. This final operation will com- fell. As though hypnotized, he walked press that cube until it is two slowly forward so that he could see centimeters on each side.” more clearly the tiny cube. Martin gasped. Half a million tons The thoughts that he intercepted contained within a space of eight cubic were thoughts of satisfaction, of centimeters accomplishment. “The large block is resting on a He stood and looked down at the metal plate. After the compression metal plate. The cube was black, and operation, the small cube will be sup- it shone like polished ebony. ported by the thick metal plate, which Then he noticed an odd thing. It is electronically stiffened to hold it. appeared to be sinking into the metai One crystal will be brought closer to plate, and the metal seemed to be it, with its heat potential focused floating away from it as though directly upon it. At that point we will suddenly molten. attract the attention of our pursuers Even as he looked down at it, the and wait until they are within range. warm and satisfied thoughts that had Every last fragment of the atomic come to him changed abruptly to energy in half a million tons of mattei alarm. He caught scattered phrases. DEATH QUOTIENT 31

gravity too great . . . metal The running creature stumbled, fell . not strong enough . . . reinforce quickly heavily against the instrument panel

. . . full power. . . and tumbled to the floor. The massive Quickly he conipreliended that with metal plates curled slowly up on either the full half-million tons of weight, the side, and then there was an odd noise, tiny cube was like the point of a huge like a cork pulled from an enormous pyramid, and by pure weight it was bottle through the underside of the sinking into the plate like the. sharp plate. point of a drill. He screamed again, the sound tear-

The alien ship was hovering out there, waiting . . .

He looked and saw one of the grey- iiig his throat as he watched the white creatures running awkwardly twisted faces of the two creatures.

toward an instrument panel which it When he paused to catch his breath, had left but a few seconds before. their thoughts came clearer to him, and He remembered the anger that he in them he sensed resignation, as had witnessed when- he had screamed though someone were saying sadly and faintly under the shock of the softly, “Too late, too late.” Their anger emotional images that had been placed was gone. The crystals were inert. in his mind. There was a dim sound, the crackling Even as the creature reached a pulpy and grinding of rocks, and that hand out toward the instrument panel, diminished into the distance, into the

Martin Rhode threw his head back silence. Then there was nothing. . . . and screamed with the full power of his lungs, screamed knowing that the artin knew that the tiny cube alien vibration would torture them, was sinking into the earth screamed with the anger and pride and M gaining speed with increased courage of all outraged mankind. momentum, and not even the resource.- 32 S’TPEH SCIENCE STORIES

of the two alien creature, could, halt smoke rose from the tiny hole in the

its progress. - plate and an acrid, sulphurous odor The}^ ignored him. They turned, filled the cavern. clothed in the light mail, and began to There was a rumbling sound, a low walk toward the ship; two towering roaring, in the bowels of the earth. The grey-white creatures out of an obscene smoke danced grey-white in the glow dream of horror. He knew that they of the ship. Martin Rhode stood frozen ignored him because he was too puny, and helpless, his stained fist still too poweless. clenched, his teeth meeting in the flesh With a low sound in his throat he of his lower lip. attacked them from behind, and even The low roar was louder and the as he charged, he felt their thoughts, metal plate quivered, was suddenly dim because they were not directed at flipped over, as by a careless giant. him, thoughts of escape from this Martin Rhode suddenly realized that place. ... the enormously heavy pellet had One started to turn even as his hand plunged down into the molten heart of reached out. The mail ripped like wet the planet, providing an escape channel cardboard and his hard hand bit for the lava that boiled far below. through the very substance of the He was hearing the yowling birth creature, cleaving through the damp, of a volcano—and he was powerless porous flesh. His hand struck the to escape. He would have to remain creature in the small of the back, fixed until the increasing heat boiled ripped through, staggering Martin with the blood in his veins. the lack of resistance so that he fell, The creature was closer to the open- bounded to his feet to see the creature ing, and as the first tentative reddish he had struck moving feebly against glow/ seared the mouth of the orifice,

the rock floor, his thick body fluids it tried feebly to move away. lemon-ymllow in the glow from the But with the old, familiar clarity, the ship. thoughts arrowed into Martin’s mind. Once again the anger struck him He heard the mental laughter of the and he bounded toward the remaining thing; wild laughter; the absurd, one, feeling the paralyzing whine of hysterical laughter of a being defeated liypersonics, feeling the sudden heat by a far rveaker creature. that invaded his body. But he retained The laughter slowly ended, and in the will, the power to strike one blow its place came something oddly like before he became motionless. His compassion. clenched fist punched through the “Go !” the thoughts said. “Go chain mail, slammed deep into the quickly !’’ abdominal cavity of the thing, and it The hypersonic spell was suddenly fell back toward the place rvhere the broken and Martin backed slowly metal plate lay, warped and useless. away, his arm shielding his face from But the faceted eyes still watched the increasing heat. him and he stood, his face slack, try- A viscous gout of lava arced up, ing in vain to break the paralysis splattered across the dying thing, and engendered in him by the vibrations. in ]\Iartin’s mind was the scream, The creature held a grotesque hand telephathed in naked clarity. over the torn hole in its middle, and He raced into the ship, down the

tried to get up. Beyond it a wisp of long corridor, out the rear port into DEATH QUOTIENT 33

the tunnel the ship had made, floating Slowly and painfully he got to his and falling while in the ship, clawing feet, trapped in the odd warmth behind raggedly at the smooth walls in his the barrier. He strained his eyes, star-

eagerness to leave. ing into the night, trying to see if the No cable dangled as a means oi atomic bombs had been tried at that

escape when he reached the bend ; but place, leaving dangerous radioactives the explosions had made the hole like behind, which might sear him even a vast funnel. Far above him sparkled through the barrier. The earth was the night stars. Sobbing aloud with pitted with high explosives, but he reaction, with new fear, he clawed his could see none of the vitrification that way up where the slope seemed the would indicate the use of atomics. most gentle, ripping his hands on the A distant thud and rumble behind jagged rock, tasting the blood in his him made him turn sharply. A red mouth from his mangled lip. Once a glare was spew'ing up into the night, foothold crumpled and he slid, spread- the reflected glow pinkening the clouds eagled down for a dozen feet, stopped that were shunted aside by the invisible and clawed his way up with new barrier. He guessed that he had covered anxiety. nearly four miles since clambering out At last he rolled panting, on the of the deep pit. Even at that distance ground, the deep cavity beside him. he could clearly make out the glowing The air was hot and still. He ran white-hot clots of stone thrown toward along the road, stumbling, falling, the sky. getting up once more, his breath He was weak and he leaned one hand wheezing and rasping in his throat, against the barrier for support. The tears of weakness filling and stinging barrier w^as indubitably created and his eyes. maintained by some device aboard the It seemed to him as though he were spaceship. The spaceship w'as near the

running in a dream. Flis legs Were heart of the inferno. . . . leaden, heavy, dull, and the pain was Suddenly the support was gone and a jagged skewer in his side. he sprawled awkwardl}'-, cool air strik- He ran against something solid, ing his face. The barrier was gone as

collapsed, his fingertips touching the if turned off by a distant switch, gone

firm warmth of the barrier, the con- as though it had never existed. crete of the road warm and rough He made his w'ay'across the shattered against his inflamed cheek. earth. On a high crest he saw the HATE TO SHAVE Yi Try a Star Blade on those tough stubbie patches — those spots where whiskers are wiry and skin tender. Feel the smoother, better shave you get. Sturdier Star Blades are precision-made to take and hold a sharper edge. Try better shaving at a real saving.

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lights of dwellings far ahead. It was “You see, Rhode, we know for a so long since man had lived above certainty that to survive we must put ground, had been able to show lights an end to wars of man against man. during the night. We have come to the end of that partic- Once again there were tears on his ular era. The volcano, now five 1 face, but this time they were tears of thousand feet high, is a living memorial joy and thanksgiving. to the narrowness of our escape. From now on all nations will begin to forget fter the conference, held for the narrow boundaries of nationalism the sake of convenience in the and begin to think of the human race A great hall deep under the moun- as a unit. Our combined resources will tains, five of them rode up in the bring the stars closer.” elevator: President Rider, Martin The fervor of his tone had increased Rhode and the three guards. as he had spoken, and Martin Rhode The wall was already rolled back was infected by his enthusiasm. For the first time, in the observation room. Stanford the dream seemed Rider’s shoulders were straighter than possible. Rider sighed. they had been in many a day. Martin “But you’ve got to do more than to listen to an old man Rhode was still lean and haggard from his dreams, It is his experience. mumble Rhode. stupid The conference of the heads of for me to try to make the gesture of nations at which Martin Rhode had thanking you in the name of humanity. given a detailed summary of his eight Your own continued existence is your reward. I’ve lined series of con- days of captivity had been over for up a ferences with of a half-hour. the top technologists all nations. pick “I hope I made them understand, They intend to your brains, Rhode, find just little sir,” Martin said. and out a They stood side by side looking out bit about the power crystals.” across the wild and lovely mountains. Martin felt sharp disappointment.

“They understood,” Rider said simply. There was something else. . . . “How long will all this last, sir?” Rider laughed. “You don’t have a Martin asked. poker face, my boy. And I guess I’m “What do you mean, Rhode?” teasing you a little. Those conferences “Before we got to war again. Before will start the day after tomorrow. In

it all starts over again.” the meantime I took the liberty of Rider’s smile was amused. “Ah, the sending for a ... a certain young pessimism of youth! No, Rhode, I woman. She should be here by now.” believe that you have underestimated Martin turned quickly toward the the effect of all this. You must realize elevator, then regained control of him- that for a few moments a great and self, turned back and said, “Thank you, deadly fear was implanted in the minds sir.” of men. Fear of the unknown. Fear of But Stanford Rider had already for- distant worlds and stronger beings. We gotten his presence. The lean man was all know now that the universe is standing, his hands locked behind him, peopled by beings more terrible than looking out over the fair land where ourselves, and no man living will forget he and all his people could once again that fear. It will find its way into song walk free and unafraid in the light of and story. the sun. !

Akme on Mars, yet not alone

. .. Few oM Barton’s younger I, selves lived on, hating, tormenting him for his living {woof that dieir hopes ware dead

he phone rang. MARS A grey hand lifted the receiver. T “Hello?” “Hello, Barton?” “Yea,”

“This is Barton I” “What?” 35 !

36 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“This is Barton!” show you how lonely the years are.

“It can’t be. This phone hasn’t rung End it, kill yourself! Don’t wait! If

in twenty years.” you knew what it is to change from The old man hung up. the thing you are to the thing that Brrrrinnnng is me, today, here, now, at this end.” His grey hand seized the phone. “Impossible,” The voice of the young “Hello, Barton,” laughed the voice, Barton laughed, far away. “I’ve no way

“You have forgotten, haven’t you?” to tell if you ever get this call. This The old man felt his heart grow is all mechanical. You’re talking to small and like a cool stone. He felt the a transcription, no more. This is 2037. wind blowing in off the dry Martian Sixty years in your past. Today, the seas and the blue hills of Mars. After atom war started on Earth. All twenty years of silence and cobwebs colonials were called home from Mars, and now, tonight, on his eightieth by rocket. I got left behind!” birthday, with a ghastly scream, this “I remember,” whispered the old phone had wailed to life. man.

“Who did you think it was?” said “Alone on Mars,” laughed the young the voice. “A rocket captain? Did you voice. “A month, a year, who cares? think someone had come to rescue There are foods and books. In my you?” spare time I’ve made transcription

“No.” libraries of ‘ ten thousand words, “What’s the date?” responses, my voice, connected to phone Numbly, “July 20th, 2097.” relays. In later months I’ll call, have

“Good Lord. Sixty years ! Have you someone to talk with.” been sitting there that long? Waiting “Yes,” murmured the old man, for a rocket to come from Earth to remembering. rescue you?” “Forty-sixty years from no^v my own The old man nodded. transcripto-tapes will ring me up. I “Now, old man, do you know who don’t really think I’ll be here on Mars I am? Think!’.’ that long, it’s just a beautifully Jronic “Yes.” The dry pale lips trembling. idea of mine, something to pass the “I understand. I remember. We are time. Is that really you. Barton? Is one. I am Emil Barton and you are that really me?” Emil Barton.” Tears fell from the old man’s eyes. !” “With one difference. You are “Yes eighty. I am only twenty. All of life “I’ve made a thousand Bartons, before me!” tapes, sensitive to all questions, my The old man began to laugh and then voice, in one thousand Martian towns. to cry. He sat holding the phone like An army of Bartons over Mars, while a lost and silly child in his fingers. The I wait for the rockets to return.” conversation was impossible, and “You fool,” the old man shook his should not be continued, and yet he head, rvearily. “You rvaited sixty years. old waiting, went on with it. When he got hold You grew always of himself he held the phone close to alone. And now you’ve become me his withered lips and said, in deepest and you’re still alone in the empty anguish, “Listen! You there! Listen, cities.” oh God, if I could warn you ! How can “Don’t expect my sympathy. You’re I? You’re only a voice. If I could like a stranger, off in another country. ! ; !

I, MARS 37

I can’t be sad. I’m alive v.dien I make “Barton? Barton. Have lunch with ?” these tapes. And you’re alive when me ? The Rocket Inn you hear them. Both of us, to the “Right.” other, incomprehensible. Neither can “See you. So long!” warn the other, even though both re- Brrrrinnnng spond, one to the other, one automatic- “That you, B.? Thought I’d cheer ally, the other warmly and humanl}". you. Firm chin, and all that. The I’m human now. You’re human later. rescue rocket might come tomorrow, to It’s insane. I can’t cry, because not save you.” knowing the future I can only be op- “Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomor- timistic. These hidden tapes can only row, tomorrow.” react to a certain number of stimuli Click. from you. .Can you ask a dead man to But forty years had burned into weep ?” smoke. Barton had muted the insidi- “Stop it!” cried the old man, for his ous phones and their clever, clever heart was sickening in him. He felt repartee. He had sealed them -into the familiar great seizures of pain. silences. They were to call him only Nausea moved through him, and black- after he was eighty, if he still lived. ness. “Stop it! Oh God, but you were And now today, the phones ringing, heartless. Go away!” and the past breathing in his ear, sigh- “Were, old man? I am. As long as ing, whispering, murmuring, and re- the tapes glide on, as long as secret membering. spindles and hidden electronic eyes Brrrrinnnng read and select and convert words to He let it ring. send to you. I’ll be young, cruel, blunt. “I don’t have to answer it,” he I’ll go on being young and cruel long thought. after you’re dead. Goodby.” Brrrrinnnng “Wait!” cried the old man. “There’s no one there at all,” he Click. thought. Brrrrinnnng “It’s like talking to yourself,’’ he .'i-RTON sat holding the silent thought. “But different. Oh God, how phone a long while. His heart B different.” gave him intense pain. He felt his hands crawl uncon- What insanity it had been. In sciously toward the phone. youth’s flush, how silly, how inspired, Click. those first secluded j^ears, fixing the telephonic brains, the tapes, the cir- “Hello, old Barton, this is young cuits, scheduling calls on time relays Barton. One year older, though. I’m Brrrrinnnng twenty-oiie today. In the last year I’ve

“Morning, Barton. This is Barton. put voice brains in two hundred towns !” Seven o’clock. Rise and shine on jMars, I’ve populated it with a^^D-

Bi'rrrinnnng i gant Bartons!” “Barton? Barton calling. You’re to “Yes.” The old man remembered go to Mars Town at noon. Install a those days six decades ago, those telephonic brain. Thought I’d remind nights of rushing over blue hills and you.” into iron valleys of Mars, with a truck- “Thanks.” ful of machinery, whistling, happy. Brrrrinnnng Another telephone, another relay. ! .

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES 33 I

Something to do'. Something clever doned the grim fantasy of the median- } and wonderful and sad. Hidden voices. ical lie. Listen! Are those footsteps? J

Hidden, hidden. In those young days Smell! Isn’t that strawberry pie! No, ' when death was not death, time was he had stopped it all. What had he ’ not time, old age a faint ech.o from the done with the robots? Flis mind puz- | long blue cavern of years ahead. That zled. Oh, yes ... { young idiot, that sadistic fool, never He moved to the dark canal where

j thinking to reap the harvest so sown. the stars shone in the quivering waters. i

“Last night,” said Barton, aged LTnderwatcr, in row after fish-like twenty-one, “I sat alone in a movie row, rusting, were the robot popula- , theater in an empty town. I played an tions of Mars he had constructed over old Laurel and Hardy. Laughed so the years, and, in a wild realization of

j ' much. God, how I laughed.” his own insane inadequacy, had com- “Yes.” manded to march, one two three four!,

into canal plunging, bub- , “I got an idea today. I recorded my the deeps, bling like sunken bottles. He had killed voice one thousand times on one tape. ^ remorse. Broadcast from the town, it sounds like them and shown no a thousand people living there. A com- forting noise, the noise of a crowd. I RRP.RINNNNG. fixed it so doors slam in town, children Faintly a phone rang in a light- sing, music boxes play, all by clock- less cottage. works. If I don’t look out the window, He walked on. The phone ceased. if I just listen, it’s all right. But if I Brrrrinnnng. Another cottage ahead, look, it spoils the illusion. There’s only as if it knew of his passing. He one solution. I’ll populate the town began to run. The ringing stayed be- with robots. I guess I’m getting hind. Only to be taken up by a ringing, lonely.” from now this house — Brrrrinnnng The old man said, “Yes. That was now that, now here, there! He turned on. your first sign.” the corner.. A plione ! He darted “What?” Another corner. Another phone! “The first time you admitted you “All right, all right!” he shrieked, were lonely.” exhausted. “I’m coming!” “I’ve experimented with smells. As “Hello, Barton.” !” I walk down the deserted streets, the “AVhat do 3'-ou want smells of bacon and eggs, ham steak, “I’m lonely. I only live when I filets, soups, come from the houses. speak. So I must speak. You can’t All done with hidden machines. shut me up forever,” Clever?” “Leave me alone!” said the old man, “Fantasy. Madness.” in horror. “Oh, my heart!” “Self-protection, old man.” “This is Barton, age twenty-four. “I’m tired.” Abruptly, the old man Another couple of years gone. Wait- hung up. It -was too much. The past ing. A little lonelier. I’ve read War sherry, run restaur- pouring over him, drowning him. . . . and Peace, drunk Swaying, he moved down the tower ants with myself as waiter, cook, enter- stairs to the streets of the town. tainer. And tonight, I star in a, film at The town was dark. No longer did the Tivoli—Emil Barton in Love’s red neons burn, music play, or cooking Labor Lost, playing all the parts, some smells linger, Long ago he had aban- with wigs, myself!” !

I, MARS 39

“Stop calling me,” the old man’s He peered at the poles, the towers, the eyes were fiery and insane. “Or I’ll kill boxes. Where? Where was this town’s you !” voice hidden? That tower? Or that “You can’t kill me. You’ll have to one there! Where! So many years find me, first!” ago. So long gone. So forgotten. He “I’ll find you!” A choking. turned his head now this way, now

“You’ve forgotten where you hid that, wildly. It must be that tower 1 me. I’m everywhere in Mars, in boxes, Was he certain? Or this box here, or in houses, in cables, towers, under- the transformer half up that towe’"' raised the rifle. ground I Go ahead, try I What’ll you He call it? Telecide? Suicide? Jealous, The tower fell with the first bullet. are you? Jealous of me here, only All of them, he thought. All of the twenty - four, bright - eyed, strong, towers in this town will have to be young, young, young? All right, old cut apart. I’ve forgotten. Too long. man, it’s war! Between us. Between The car moved along the silent mel A whole regiment of us, all ages street. from twenty to sixty, against you, the Brrrrinnnng I !” real one. Go ahead, declare war He looked at the deserted drugstore. “I’ll kill you!” screamed Barton. Brrrrinnnng Click. Silence. Pistol in hand, he shot the lock off "Kill you !” He threw the phone out the door, and entered. the window, shrieking. Click. a warning. In the midnight cold, the ancient “Hello, Barton? Just all the towers, automobile moved in deep valleys. Don’t try to rip down things up. Cut your throat Under Barton’s feet on the floorboard blow own .” that way. Think it over . . were revolvers, rifles, dynamite. The roar of the car was in his thin, tired Click. bones. He stepped out of the phone booth

I’ll find them, he thought. Find and slowly and moved into the street and destroy, all of them. Qh, God, God, listened to the telephone towers hum- how can he do this to me ? ming high in the air, still alive, still He stopped the car. A strange town untouched. He looked at them and lay under the late twin moons. There then he understood. was no wind. He could not destroy the towers. He held the rifle in his cold hands. Suppose a rocket came from Rarth, 40 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

impossible idea, but suppose it came hausted from the flight. Can you come tonight, tomorrow, next week? and help?” landed on the other side of the planet, “Yes, yes.’ and used the phones to try to call Bar- “We’re at the tamac outside town. ton, only to find the circuits dead? Yes, Can you rush by tomorrow?” imagine! “Yes, but—” Barton dropped his gun. “Well?” “A rocket won’t come,” he argued, The old man petted the phone, piti- softly, logically with himself. “I’m old. fulljn “How’s Earth? How’s New It won’t come now. It’s too late.” York? Is the war over? Who’s Presi-

But suppose it came, and you never dent now? What happened?” knew, he thought. No, you’ve got to “Plenty of time for gossip when you keep the lines open. arrive.” Brrrrinnnng. “Is everything fine?” “Fine.” “Thank God.” The old man listened e turned dully. His eyes to the far voice. “Are you sure you’re were blinking and not seeing. Captain Rockwell?” H He shuffled back into the drug- “Damn it, man!” store and fumbled with the receiver. !” “I’m sorry “Hello?” A strange voice. He hung up and ran. “Please,” pleaded the old man, They were here, after many years, brokenly. “Don’t bother me.” unbelievable, his own, who would take “Who’s this, who’s there? Who is it? him back to Earth seas and skies and Where are you?” cried the voice, sur- mountains. prised. He started the car. He would drive “Wait a minute.” The old man stag- all night. Could he do it? What of his gered. “This is Emil Barton, who’s heart—It would be worth a risk, to see that?” people, to shake hands, to hear them “This is Captain Leonard Rockwell, near jmu. v Earth Rocket 48. Just arrived from New York.” The car thundered in the hills. “No, no, no.” That voice. Captain Rockwell. It “Are you there, Mr. Barton ?”, couldn’t be himself, fort)' years ago. recording like “No, no, it can’t be, it just can’t.” He had never made a “Where are you?” ‘ that. Or had he? In one of his depres- “You’re lying, it’s false!” The old sive fits, in a spell of drunken cynic- man had to lean against the booth ism, hadn’t he once made a false tape of a false landing on Mars with a wall. His blue e3^es were cold blind. “It’s you. Barton, making, making synthetic captain, an imarginary crew? fun of me, lying to me again !” He jerked his .grey head, savagely. No.

‘This is Captain Rockwell, Rocket He was a suspicious fool. Now was no 48. Just landed in New Schenecty. time to doubt. Pie must run under Where are you? the moons of Mars, hour on hour. “In Green Town,” he gasped. What a party they would have! “That’s a thousand miles from you.” The sun rose. Pie was immensely “Look, Barton, can you come here?” tired, full of thorns and brambles of “What?” weakness, his heart plunging and ach- “We’ve repairs on our rocket. Ex- ing, his fingers fumbling the wheel. : ! !

I, MARS 41 but the thing that pleased him most at a signal, they burst into silver was the thought of one last phone chorus ! A nest of ugly birds scream- call: Hello, young Barton, this is ohl ing' barton. I’m leaving for Earth today ^Vutomatic receivers popped up.

Rescued ! lie chuckled -weakly. The office whirled. “Barton, Barton, !” He drove into the shadowy limits of Barton ! New Schenectady at sundown. Step- He throttled the phone in his hands, ping from his car he stood staring at the voice, the youth, the time of long the rocket ‘ tarmac, rubbing his red- ago. Fie mashed, choked it and still it dened eyes. laughed at him. He throttled it. He

The rocket field was empty. No one beat it. He kicked at it. He hated it ran to meet him. No one shook his with hands and mouth and blind raging hand, shouted, or laughed. eye. He furled the hot wire like ser- He felt his heart roar into pain. He pentine in his fingers, ripped it into knew blackness and a sensation of red bits which fell about his stumbling falling through the' open sky. ITe feet. stumbled toward an office. He destroyed three other phones.

Inside, six phones sat in a neat rov,'. There v.-as a sudden silence.

He waited, gasping. And as if his body no-^v- discovered Finally a thing which it had long kept secret,

Brrrrinnnng. it seemed to decav'' upon his tired He lifted the heavy receiver.’ bones. The flesh of his eyelids fell

A voice said, “I was wondering if away like flower petals. 'His mouth be- j’ou'd get there alive.” came a withered rose. The lobes of The old man did not speak but his ears melting rvax. He pushed his stood -with the plione in his hands. chest with his hands and fell face The voice continued, “An elaborate down. He lay still. His breathing joke. Captain Rockwell reporting for stopped. His heart stopped. duty, sir. Your orders, sir?” After a long spell, the remaining “You,” groaned the old man. two phones rang. “Howl’s your heart, old man?” Twice; Three times. !” “No A relay snapped soine-\vhere. The “Hoped the trip would kill you. Had two phone A'oices were connected, one to eliminate you some way, so I could to the other. live, if you call a transcription living.” “Hello, Barton?” “I’m going out now,” replied the old “Yes, Barton?” man, “and bld-sv it all up. I don’t care. “Aged twenty-four.” I’ll blow up everything until vou’re all “I’m tweiiL3’-six. ’We’re both young. dead!” What’s happened?” “You haven’t the strength. Why do “I don’t know. Listen.” you think I had you travel so far, so The silent rom. The old man did fast? This is your last trip!” not stir on the floor. The wind blew in The old man felt his heart falter. He the broken window. The air was cool. would never make the other towns. “Congratulate me. Barton, this is The war was lost. He slid into a chair my twenty-sixth birthday!” !” and made lo’w sobbing, mournful “Congratulations noises from his loose mouth. He glared Laughter drifted out the window at the five other, silent phones. As if into the dead city. All of space-time shifted. . . . Gahn felt the scream tear his throat, felt the brink of nothingness, and screamed again. . . .

42 —

By John Wade Farrell

It is more than a problem of focus. your head. You don’t mind if we It is more than a question of intellec- strap your arms down. Of course not. tual curiosity. Though the tendency Heeney, the guard, sat on the far is for divergence to swing back to side of the corridor. The kitchen chair norm, it is recognized that objective was incongruous, red and cream, interference in any case may have a chipped paint. He had thumbs under long range effect sufficient to cause ob- the gunbelt and a slant of sun into the jective alterations in present society. deathhouse cell block picked out the Thus, the entertainment quotient of enlarged pores of Heeney’s pendulous Crime-seeking is perforce limited to nose, the blackheads at the corners of those tenth-level mentalities where, due his loose mouth. to knowledge, thalamic motivations Homrik vralked over to the cell door, can be recognized as such, and dis- felt the chill of the bars in his srveating counted. Any attempt by a tenth-level palms. He looked steadily at Pleeney, mentality to indoctrinate any lesser was half amused to see Heeney turn mentality in Crime-seeking procedure away rather than meet his glance. will result in social isolation for an “Suppose it was you in here, indefinite period. The clearest analogy Heene)^,” he said softly. of the danger of objective interference “I didn’t kill any dames,” Heeney is of that the primitive man v/ho, cling- said sullenly. ing to a limb, it off saws between his “That’s right. Neither did I, body and the trunk of the tree. Heene)'-. Suppose, knowing your own innocence, you were in here, like I am. OHN HOMRIK sucked on the What would you do? What would cigarette butt until the red ring you say?” J crept fingers, close to his then “I wouldn’t be in there,” Heeney with rigid nails he snapped it against said. the steel wall of the cell. The sparks Homrik' grinned and there was no died. showered, humor in it. “I’m in here, Heeney. “Like that,” he thought. “Just like And I didn’t kill a ‘dame’. I didn’t kill that.” Please be seated, Mr. Homrik. anybody.” We want to put this black cap over Heeney scowled, said, “Fella, I’m

One man sal in his death cell, hoping for the miracle he knew would never come. Another watched him, owl-syed, across the ahyss of time; and neither dreamed that their lives were bound up together that of these two, who were separated by centuries, one must die for the other! 44 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES not as smart as you are. But if it was Sarcasm. Irony. “And you, John me, I wouldn’t die before I made a Homrik, you’ rushed to her, cut the full confession. It would make me feel leash, untied it from her young throat better. You ought to get- it off your and then called the police?” chest.” “Yes.”

John Homrik laughed. “You too, Brazen accusation, throat of iron. Heeney. You too.” He walked over, “Then how do you explain that your sat on the cot, lit another cigarette. He fingerprints, not hers, were on the looked at his hands, fingers outspread. chair, your thumbprint, not fiers, on The long months of prison hadn’t the metal buckle of the leash? How faded all of the deep fan. His hands do you explain the scratches on your were deft and steady. They had called face, the shreds of skin, proven to be them the hands of a killer. And these yours, under her fingernails, the were the hands that so soon would be bruise on her shoulder? You have told forever stilled. Coffin hands. Rotting us, John Homrik, that in the evening hands. Cold and dead after the con- before she was murdered, you cheered vulsive twitch when the current hit. her up, that the two of you indulged in With a quick movement he put them horseplay, and that is how you were behind him. A sad knowledge filled scratched and she was bruised. I ask him. He was innocent of murder, but the court, would a young girl, gay and no man would ever believe it. The happy enough to wrestle and fight hap- pattern of the trial had been too clear. pily with her husband, turn around and

“Yes, I knew that Anna had been hang herself? No, this was murder 1 unfaithful. But she was just a kid. Foul murder!” Just eighteen. I forgave her. Certainly He sat on the cot and thought of I forgave her. I tried to keep her Anna’s smile, of the limp, dead heavi- cut her from punishing herself over it. She ness of her body as he had wanted to kill herself. That was no down, her staring eyes, thickened good. That would solve nothing. I tongue, black-mottled face. wanted to keep what we had. The two And though he thought there were tears, more. of us. Love and a home. No, it wasn’t no more he sobbed once gone. Yes, I forgave her. I was away, And in his heart he told Anna that in for a year. He saw her loneliness. I a very little while, in another fifteen forgave her. It didn’t matter.' Only hours, he would be with her. Anna mattered to me. We were to- Heeney belched, then began to stuff gether again. She wept. I comforted tobacco into his pipe with a blunt her. In the night I woke up. She thumb. wasn’t beside me.” John Homrik looked up at the far corner of his cell. Odd! It was as Stentorian voice, pointing finger. though he had detected some move- “And, John Homrik, you would have ment out of the corner of his eyes. But the jury believe that this child bride, of course there could be nothing there. this young girl, left your side in the Of course. darkness of the night of June eleventh, took the puppy’s leash, knotted it about her throat, stood on a chair, tied AHN, the younger, stood tense it around the stem pipe and then with anticipation. With hurried kicked the chair away?” G stride he went over to the com- screen, set the controls so “That . . . that is what happened.” munication ALL OUR YESTERDAYS 45

that, should anyone call ' him, the Luria liked the ancient ways. And so screen would advise that Gahn, the did he. A common yearning for the younger, was not at home. days that were gone. Mixed with his anticipation was a Should any of his friends of the tenth

sense of guilt and defiance. The Law level see her coming to his rooms . . . said that a tenth-level mentality should But none would. The acid of jealousy mate wnth a tenth-level mentality. His filled him as he thought of Powell. lips twisted in scorn as he thought of Luria spoke of Powell. He was eighth- the brittle, cool women of the tenth- level also, a hulking brute of a man.

level. • Gahn shuddered in distaste. If she

Coldly he realized that the feeling should prefer Powell . . . of guilt was the result of the stratifica- The door swung open with a sud- tion of society, drummed into him since denness that startled him. Luria,

he was first able to take the examina- smiling, shut it softy behind her, then tions for the first level at the age of came quickly across to him as he ad- four. vanced to meet her. Luria of the Defiance was the answer. What cobalt eyes, the honey flesh, the would they have him do? Mate with rounded warm arms and soft lips. Dextra? That would be like the clash The golden mesh of her single gar-- of bitter crystals. No, his blood ment made tiny chimes as he held her yearned for the flowing warmth of close, inhaled the heady fragrance of Luria of the eighth level. With mild her. and affectionate condescension, he “Darling!” she said. It was a word realized that she would never, never they had found in the ancient books. A progress beyond the eighth-level. He word that was no longer used, except had left the eighth level when he was by the two of them. seventeen. And in five more years he They both knew that what they had could aspire to the eleventh-level. was forbidden. And thus it was more But should a man mate with an in- sweet. There were many games. In tellectual equal? There was a basic one, he was a senator in the days of fallacy in that reasoning. ancient Rome and she was a barbarian He felt the anticipatory thud of his slave girl, and their love had to be pulse. With nervous fingers he again kept from all the others. adjusted the arrangement of the slim Two hours later she was languorous pastel bottles on the ancient tray. beside him like a great golden cat. She

NATwm mmiiKs PRODUCTS commioN, mw vm, n. y.pu vs lau mmm mtsm. S6 wwar. 70* mtN mmi stms 46 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES ran her fingertips down his cheek, “Then this silly little Crime-seeker along the line of his jaw and said, affair should not come between us. “Gahn, you are a Crime-seeker. Is that Goodby, Gahn.” not true?” He heard himself saying, “All right, For a moment his voice took on a Luria. I will show it to you. Together tenth-level mentality speaking to one we will watch it.” In his mind there taken. of the eighth level. “We do not speak was fear, but the step had been of that.” She turned to him, her smile bril- liant, and lifted her lips to be kissed. Her eyes glittered angrily, and she “Now, Gahn? Now?” pouted as she turned away. “Very Hand in hand they went into the well, then. We do not speak of any- front room. darkened the room, thing.” He unhooded the mechanism, arranged Though he caressed her, kissed her two chairs side' by side si.x feet from indifferent lips, her sulky eyes, it was the three dimensional screen. The in- many long minutes before she would strument panel swung into his lap, respond. Then her arms held him and he locked it in place. tightly and she whispered, “Tell me “You must promise never 'to speak about being a Crime-seeker.” of this,” he said. He could not risk making her angry “I promise,” she said, her eyes warm. again. He said, in an indifferent tone, “This, as you know, is a device for “Oh, it is nothing. Just entertainment time-travel. W e do not go back in time, provided for us of the tenth-level. It of course, but the lens and microphone is like a club, you know. Restricted of the seeker equipment can be placed membership.” * in whatever era we desire. I ... I have She pouted. “I know what you do,” found the crimes of the middle twen- she said. “You go into the i^ast and tieth century most absorbing.” watch the ancient ones. For us they “How do you decide where to start?” have silly plays, made-up things. “Here is a reference book. This one Things without blood and reality. contains a list of all executions in the They are stupid. I hate them. I want United States between 1940 and 1950. my entertainment from life. I am still Select one.” annoyed with you, Gahn. And I will Luria ran a tinted finger down a never come here again unless you show page selected at random. “How about me how it is done.” this one? A man named John Homrik, He laughed uneasily. “But that is executed at Ossining, New York on against the rules, Luria. I could do the third of February, 1949, at six in no such thing. You have to be pre- the morning. It says here that he pared for . . . for Crime-seeking.” killed his wife on June 11th, 1948, in She looked at him coldly, stood up their home at two ten Main Boulevard, and fastened the cflasps on the gold Kingston, New^ York.” mesh garment. “Anything }'ou say, “It sounds like a routine case. Let’s Gahn'. I must go now. I am to meet Powell.” try a different one.” He held her wrist. “Don’t go, Luria. “No,” she said, pouting. “I like his Please!” name. And I want to. see him kill the woman.” “You said you loved me,” she said | coolly. The screen came to life, and Gahn, “I do. I swear I do!” with practised fingers, selected cen- ALL OUR YESTERDAYS 47 tury, year, month, day, hour. The showman’s knack, Gahn, the younger, geographical selector was so compen- brought the lens to within a foot of sated as to allow for the movement of John Homrik’s face, saw the writhing the planet. The Ossining quadrant lips, the livid complexion, and then it I was familiar to him, and he brought the was covered by the hood. lens down through the grey roof of He moved the lens back, and then the death house at exactly five minutes the man leaped against his bonds under of six on the morning of the third of the surge of current—and was still. February, 1949. Pie heard Luria gasp at the three-dimensional color image on e darkened the screen, the screen. brightened the lights in the

is . . “This all . real,” she said in a H room. “Enough?” he asked. small voice. Her pretty, almost animal, face “Just as it happened.” twisted and she said, “No, Gahn. I . . . He made minute adjustments, then I liked the way he looked. He looked took his hands from the dials. There strong and . . . like a man. In these was the bitter clang of steel, and a da3^s there are no men like that.” small group of m.en with grave faces “No men that stupid,” he said cut- stood in the corridor. They were seen tingly. at an angle, from a spot three feet “Gahn, I understand that you Crime- above their heads. seekers try to find where justice has A tall man wdth a grave face held a miscarried. I want to see titat 'man small black book and, in archaic Eng- kill his wife.” lish, he was reading, “I am the re- “You have seen enough.” .” surrection and the light . . “In that 'case, you have seen enough !” His voice droned on as the prisoner of me, Gahn came out of the cell. He was a tall He sighed. Having given in once man with a strong face and a bitter before, it was easy to give in this time. mouth. His fists were clenched, the With flying fingers he set the dial, his' leg of trousers slashed. found 'the year, the da}”-, found King- He stood, shoulders straight, the 'Ston. It took fifteen minutes of search back of his head shaven bare, walked before he found the proper street, the in the center of the group of men proper house. toward a door at the end of the cor- When he focused on the house from ridor. a distance of one hundred feet in the Gahn heard Luria’s heavy breathing. air, he saw the white vehicles parked He glanced at her, saw in the dim glow in front, and knew that he had to set from the instrument panel that she his time back just a bit. The screen was leaning forward, her lips parted, a blurred, cleared, and the cars were still wisp of her golden hair unnoticed there. Further back. It was night. across her forehead. • Rain fell. He moved the lens down He smiled tightly in the darkness. into the house, but could see nothing The little group walked to the door, in the darkness. Slowly he reversed and he kept the lens behind them, the time until suddenly he saw light. following them. The voice droned on, John Homrik, a different John Honi- and they heard the muffled tread of the rik, a laughing John Homrik, was shoes against the concrete floor. teasing a sturdy young girl who stood The chair was waiting. With a at a mirror, combing long pale hair. ”

48 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Suddenly she turned and said, “You ment and they heard her whisper, can say it’s all right a thousand times, “Good-by, my darling!” but that doesn’t make it all right.” The chair thudded over, J and she He sobered instantly. “Anna, dar- hung, writhing, twisting, her face con- ling, I know you as well as I know torted, blackening, her hand flailing myself. You’re not a cheat. You’re the smooth plaster wall, until at last not dishonest. I love you. One day she hung quietly. I’ll meet him. I want to hurt him, but He moved the lens back to the bed- not you, Anna.” room. John Homrik stirred in his sleep, Her eyes were not laughing. “You and flung one arm out across the empty hate me,” she said softly. space beside him. The light from “I love you.” the room shone across him. Suddenly

“John, I’m not worthy of you. 1 . . . he sat up, knuckling his eyes. I spoiled everything for us. Every- He walked out, stood transfixed, thing!” screamed, “Anna! Anna!” Tears rolled down her face. He went As he cut her down, lowered, her to her, held her tightly. “Nothing is dead body tenderly to the floor, Gahn spoiled,” he said. darkened the screen. He turned up Luria whispered, “He is not going the lights in the room. to kill her.” Luria’s face was pale, and there were Gahn shrugged. He w'atched the tears on her smooth cheeks. “He didn’t screen, saw the man and woman of a kill her! He didn’t kill her!” she said. thousand years before hold each other Gahn smiled. “You see? You are tightly, saw the devotion and intensity taking it too seriously. All that hap- of their love. The bedroom light pened a long, long time ago.” clicked out, and in the screen they “But it happened! It happened to could see only the glow of the dial him! Don’t you see? He didn’t kill of the alarm clock, but they could her, he tried to save her, and for that hear the whispered endearments. Gahn they . . put hita in that chair.” . reached out, took Luria’s hand, held “I’ve seen m'any such cases,” he it tightly. said calmly.

“He will soon kill her,'” he whis- She jumped up. “How can you be pered. so cold? Couldn’t he be . . . w'arned, If could stop it, Cautiously he advanced the time or something? you I’d think you’d have the decency to.” dial, releasing it w'hen a dim light filled the room. The woman, Anna, stepped Gahn felt smoothly superior. “Of out of the bed, stood very still, looking course I could stop it. It would be down at the sleeping face of her hus- very simple in this case. All I would band. Then she moved so quickly that have to do would be to move the lens for a moment Gahn lost her. down until it appeared to penetrate his skull. Actually at the vision point He found her again in another room, there is a mild electrical discharge, and the light was on. She held a sufficient to awaken him abruptly. And leather thong in her hand, and tears — then he would catch her in time and streaked down her face. She moved !” a chair over under a steam pipe, knot- “Let’s do it she said, her eyes ted the leather thong around her glowing. smooth throat, tied it firmly to the pipe He laughed. “My dear girl, don’t be over her head. She stood for a mo- absurd! To alter the objective past .

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS 49

would be like kicking out the bottom He watched carefully, thinking that block of a tower. Luria had hit on a very good case. He “We are built on that past. As you decided to mention it to Jellery and saw, Homrik appears to have been a Blanz. They would enjoy it. The man of intelligence and determination. motives of the woman in the case were Sturdy If he lived and his wife lived, some of rather obscure; interesting. their descendants would be alive to- little girl. Quite young. Guilt com- day. And who knows what alterations plex, apparently. they would have made? That’s why The light clicked on in the bedroom this whole procedure is limited to of a thousand years before. Anna slid tenth-level mentalities. We can per- her firm young legs out of the bed, ceive the dangerous results of doing stood up and looked dorvn at her sleep- such a foolhardy thing. It is only ing husband. She turned toward the theory that any interference with the bedroom door. Gahn, the younger, past would result in a divergence plus smiled and reached for the dial so as to a tendency to return to the norm. For follow her. all we know, there would be no ten- But instead of the dial, his fingers dency to return to the norm. How do touched the warm flesh of Luria’s we know this is a ‘norm’?” plump hand. He looked at the screen, She looked at him for long seconds, saw the head of the sleeper growing sa

moved over to him, pushed the con- as to fill the whole screen, and he in- trol panel aside and slid onto his lap, stantly realized that Luria had merely her warm arms around his neck. She pretended to agree, that she was try- daintily bit the lobe of his ear, and ing to awaken the sleeper, that she then whispered, “I -want to look at it was attempting to make an objective all again. I want to watch her hang change in their common past, in the herself.” heritage of small events that supported He laughed. “You’re a bloodthirsty the wmrld as they knew it. minx, Luria. Well, there’s no harm in Even as he seized her hand, he knew

it.” it was too late. The lens slipped She went and sat in her own chair through the mastoid bone of the

close to him, and he dimmed the room sleeper into moist darkness . .

lights, turned it on again. This time All space-time shifted in a grinding, he had no difficulty in locating the shuddering wrench, that seemed to proper place and moment. (Continued on Page 127)

for

IMPORTANT* KREML KBKMK never leavcA mxj while fiakes •tidcj residue on hair as 00 many <3*eamy mressims* Toa ean’t beat this sensational new ebeml to oontDoI bah that won't Btaj put. fiarveloos after diampooing — a real test. Also added advantage of dbyo of BOTH hair and scalp removes Forty million people died in thirty minutes. THE

By A. E. van Vogt

CHAPTER ONE stabilizers. But the flow of upward movement was as slick as oil, and the Maiden Voyage acceleration brought nothing more than a feeling like that of a hand he rockjet climbed steeply up on squeezing his stomach. a column of crooked fire. In the At sixty miles above Kane Field he T machine, Morlake could feel the leveled off and put the new plane turbulent impluses of the gyroscopic through its paces. After five minutes SO Eighty miles up, eye to eye with mankind's most terrible destroyer, Morlake helplessly absorbed the knowledge that branded him: **Traitor to Earth! Kill on sight!”

hi turned on the radio and spoke softly. “Blocked.” “Morlake calling Gregory.” “Cosmics?” “Yeah?” Laconically. “Registering.” “She likes the climate.” “Good.” The engineeidng officer “How’s the ultraviolet?” sounded satisfied. “Until somebody 51 : ”

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES figures out a way of blocking cosmic penthouse into hell with them. And rays completely, we'll be satisfied with they meant it too, after a fashion. niinimums. Speed?” The plane began to shudder. At

. “About one banana.” That was code eighty miles the jets were silent and for seven hundred useless, ^nd the hammering of the “Feel anything?” rockets was a sharp sound carried by “She’s singing a lullaby.” the metallic frame. The rockets were “Sweet, huh, at one banana. What not meant to carry the load alone. All do you think, generally?” the smoothness was gone from his “Sadie’s going to be with us for quite marvellous machine. Morlake paused a while.” for a final look at the universe. “As smug as that, eh?” The engineer It wms tremendously, unnaturally turned away from the mike. His voice, dark outside. The stars were pin- though still audible, grew tiny. “Well, points of intense brightness, that did general, there you are. She ticks.” not twinkle or glitter. The sun, far to “Ought to,” was the faint reply. “We his left, was only approximately round. were beginning to sweat. She cost four Streamers of flame and fire mist made hundred million to develop.” it appear lopsided and unnatural. A The engineer’s voice had a grin in quarter moon rode the blackness di- it. “W’here do we go from here? Mars? rectly overhead. Or the moon?” The rockjet, moving very slowly, “Sadie is our top, boy. And we’re not more than a hundred miles an hour, lucky to have her. The new Congress was over Chicago now. The city was is tired of our costly little experiment, lost in haze, quite invisible to the and rvants to reduce taxes. The new naked eye. But on the radar screen President thinks the development of every building was etched, and there weapons leads to war. He doesn't— like was no mistaking the Star-Telegram war, and so in this year of 196^ structure. Morlake waited until the He must have j;hought better of hairline sights directly under his seat what he intended to say. There was were touching the shadow of the build- .silence, though not for long. Gregory’s ing, and then he carefully tilted the faraway voice said, “What’s next?” nose of the plane downward. “Dive,” said the general. He was in no hurry, but presently The engineer’s voice approached the the front aiming device was pointed mike directly at the image on the radar “Morlake.” screen. The speedometer was edged “I heard.” over to a thousand miles an hour, when

“Okay. See if you can hit O’Ryan.” there was a dazzlingly bright flash in Morlake grinned. The three test the sky behind and above him. Some- pilots of Kane Field played a game thing big and hot as hell itself flashed against the famous isolationist pub- past him, and began to recede into the lisher. Each time they dived they distance below. chose as target the Star-Telegram Morlake cringed involuntarily. He

building, which peered seventy stories had time to think : A meteorite ! Speed into the sky beside the flat, dead-look- about fourteen hundred miles an ing waters of Lake Michigan. The hour. Below him, the bright flame idea was, if anything went wrong, they fuzzed and winked out. He stared at

might as well take O’Ryan and his it astounded, removed his foot from :

THE EARTH KILLERS 53 the accelerator; and then, there, him, not even a secondary girl friend. twenty feet away, was the object. And He hated the place. Windy, dirty, it was not a meteorite at all. wretched, miserable, hot in summer,

Morlake gazed at the thing, in blank cold in winter . . . No, there was noth- horror, as the radio embedded in the ing there, nothing at all. But the yeast cushions beside his ears clicked on, of plans fermented with violence and and Gregory’s voice shouted direction.

“Morlake, we’ve just got word: Nev/ “Morlake, damn your soul, answer !” York, Washington, scores of cities me destroyed in the last ten minutes by Answer me, answ^er me, answer me! giant atomic bombs. Morlake — get Over all the mad schemes that were away from Chicago with Sadie. She’s now springing full-grown into his our only working rockjet. Morlake, head, one took precedence. If he could you hear me?” deflect the bomb into the lake, five He heard, but he couldn’t speak. He million people would have a chance for sat frozen to the controls, glaring at life. the atomic bomb twenty feet away. Fle knew better. Even as he shoved his plane over on fingers of wan jet- fter a blank period, Morlake fire, and felt the metal frame jar stirred like a sick dog. His re- against the bomb, he knew that the A flexes began to function in a greater bombs needed only to fall into dream-like fashion. His eyes shifted the vicinity of cities. Direct hits were heavily over the instrument board. unneccssarj'. Slowly, he grew aware that the world But he pushed with the plane’s verti- around was becoming brighter. A cal jets. His body shrank, expecting faint dawn glimmered in the distance the blow of radiation. And at first to either side, and the blaze of light nothing happened. There was not below was like a vast fire bowl into enough air to give power even to those which the bomb and the ship were superjets. falling. “Morlake, for God’s sake, -where are He thought: The flame that had you?” seared his ship when the bomb first He was too intent for words to reach passed him—that must have been its him. He had a fear that he -^vould push forward rocket tubes slowing the the plane too hard, and that the curved thing, so that it wouldn’t burn up from fuselage would roll itself away from sheer speed in the thick atmosphere the streamlined bomb. Delicate man- lower down. ipulation, touch, pressure, oh, so deli- The thought passed as though it had cate. never been, as if the thin, shrieking The movement began slowly. He wind building up outside had torn it noticed it first on the hairline sighting from his brain. In its place, a formless device in front of him. O’Ryan was no mind stuff, seeking shape, pressed and longer directly below. At that instant quivered inside him. Plans too fleet- of infinitesimal success, the bottom of ing to be comprehended multiplied and the bomb flashed white fire. One burst coalesced. Impersonal plans involving only, but it jarred his precious contact. death for his body. Impersonal, be- He felt his machine slip clear of the cause the city below was not his city. bomb, and with a shock he saw that his

No one in it knew him or cared about sights were once more pointing —

54 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES straight at the newspaper skycraper. later estimated that each of the bombs The bomb has reacted to his press- dropped generated flash heats of forty ure. It must be on a beam, and thousand million billion degrees centi- couldn’t be diverted. Almost instantly, grade. Everywhere, the forces released the bomb offered one more surprise. were too great to be confined. The As he sat in a haze of uncertainty as balance of a hemisphere was shaken. to his next move, it sent a flare of light Earthquakes convulsed regions that billowing over the rockjet. Morlake had never known a tremor. And all shrank, and then the light was gone. that afternoon and night the ground

He had no time to think about it, settled and quivered with a violence because that had not been paralleled in the “Morlake, you blankety blank, save histor}^ of mankind. !” Sadie By mid-afternoon of the first day, a Anger, despair, hate, frustration and stricken people had begun to rally and the beginning of insanity—all were in reintegrate. Senator Milton Tormey, that shout. Morlake would have ig- recovering from food poisoning in nored it too, would have been almost Florida, brought together two aged, unaware, but at that split instant his ailing Congressmen in a resort hotel, gaze touched the altimeter. Twenty and the three issued a manifesto order- miles. Only twenty miles to earth. ing a six-month period of martial law. The fever of his purpose burned out In Berlin, General Wayne, command- of him. Suddenly, he thought of Sadie ing American occupation forces in as those desperate men at Kane Field Germanjq demanded that all countries were thinking of her. Sadie, the sleek, in Europe and Asia open their borders the gorgeous, Sadie of the high tail, the to American planes. Delay or refusal first of a fleet not yet built. would be construed as a confession of He spurted his forward jets. And guilt, and would bring instant retalia- saw the bomb sink below him. In- tion from secret American atomic stantly, it was gone into the mist. He bomb bases. began to turn, to try to pull her out of The national guard was called out. her dive. Three times he blanked out, Radar and sonar stations were put on and came to again, dizzy but alive. battle alert, and throughout the night Finally, the plane level. Morlake was hastily-armed men and women stared brought her nose up, and climbed, on a sleeplessly up into the skis, waiting for long slant at an acceleration that the paratroop armies that would surely clenched his body. arrive with the dawn to conquer a Behind him, below him, there was a devastated nation. glare as of a thousand times ten thou- Morning broke over the thousand sand suns. A supernal blaze it was, horizons of America, and the sky and unmatched in the sidereal universe ex- land were still untouched by alien cept by the unthinkable fires of a sounds and alien purposes. The sun Nova-O sun at its moment of ultimate came up out of the east. People were explosion. able to look at their red-eyed neigh- bors, and to realize that the complete ATASTROPHE for a continent! end of their world was not yet at hand. Forty million people in fifty After a week the enemy had still shown major cities died in a space of no sign. It took a month for American not more than thirty minutes. It was plane patrols, fleets of planes and THE EARTH KILLERS 55

divisions of men, to discover that no nearer, they ceased to look so human. nation on earth was organizing for He glanced away quickly, and care- war. Everywhere, peaceful scenes met fully guided his machine between them the frenzied searchers. They retreated and the shelter. finally, reluctantly, from lands the}' had A fierce wind was blowing as he so summarily entered. clinibed to the ground, but except for Day by day it grew clearer that the that, silence lay over the military air enemy had struck a mortal blow at hub of the continent. He stepped Earth’s most powerful nation. And he gingerly over the wreckage of the un- had done it so skilfully that he was derground entrance, and made his way going to get aAvay with it. down cracked steps. Plexiglass lights glowed in the upper corridors, un- wice, Morlake, returning to touched by the secondary violence that base after his wild flight, made hadTaged through the corridors them- T the sweep over Kane Field. The selves.. ifirst time, he was- past before he recog- Everywhere the walls were smashed. nized the super-airfield. The second Ceilings had crashed down, and he time he savored the desolation. could hear the remote thunder of loos- The surface buildings, the control ened girders and earth and cement, lowers, the markers, the lights were tumbling to form barriers in the depths down. Planes in twisted heaps on the of the supposedly impregnable cham- field and beyond. The rvreckage spread bers. Morlake fumbled past two such into the distance southward as far as partial obstacles, came to a third that

he could see ! Planes and parts in every blocked his passage completely. Then, degree of destruction, sections of metal as the ceiling a few' yards behind him buildings, chunks of cement, of brick, rumbled ominously, he began his re- of plastic and glass, and miles of treat to the surface. splintered lumber. A giant had trod He reached the open air, breathing thi^ land. hard, and forced himself out of pity to Morlake settled his machine on its examine the less damaged bodies. All vertical jets, like a helicopter, near one w'ere dead. He floated around the field, of the underground entrances. As he landing a dozen times to search shells came down, he saw a score of human of buildings, and to peer into under- figures sprawled almost at the mouth ground entrances. He found tw'o men of the entrance. When he rolled whose pulses flickered with faint life.

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56 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

They failed to react to the stimulants ried executive officers. They agreed in his first aid kit, so he loaded them that his best course was to fly to one into the jet. Up in the air again, he of the secret bases. It was to them turned on his radio, and at first the that he mentioned for the first time ether seemed silent. It was only when that he had seen the Chicago bomb. he turned the volume almost to full All three men grew excited, and he that a faraway voice scratched through had a hard time getting away. They to him. It kept fading out, but each were certain that experts would be able time it came back in, so that he did not to make much of his experience. lose the continuity It was some time before he was "... People in cities over fifty allowed to approach the secret field. thousand are ordered to leave, but all His radio roared with alarms and merchants in -those cities must remain warnings that he “must leave at once.” in their stores. Repeat: merchants He insisted that the commanding offi- must remain. Those who leave with- cer be informed of his presence, and out authorization will be shot . . . Sell finally he was permitted to set his your goods to anyone who comes in, machine down into a cavernous ele- rationing’ all customers . . . One suit, vator, and was drawn underground. one blanket. . . . Groceries, about two He was ushered into the office of weeks supply. . . . General Herrold, and at that time he “People in cities or towns of less made only a brief report. He told the than fifty thousand, stay at home. Un- general the circumstances under which derstand—stay at home! .... Repeat he had seen the Chicago bomb, and emergency warning to people on Lake paused, waiting for the flood of ques-

Michigan. A tidal wave is sweeping tions he expected. up from Chicago at a speed of approxi- For a long time the old man looked mately four hundred miles an hour. at him, but he asked for no details. All shore towns will be destroyed. And Morlake was being ushered into Wait for nothing. Leave at once his quarters on the next tier down be- “ ' . . . Flash ! London. Great Britain fore the meaning of the man’s thin- announces declaration of war against lipped hostility penetrated. “By God,” unknown enemy. Other countries fol- he thought, “he didn’t believe me 1” lowing ...” It was staggering, but it couldn’t be

Morlake’s mind couldn’t hold to the helped. No matter how incredible it words. The selectivity was too poor, sounded, it was his duty to tell what the voice a mere segment of remote had happened. sound. And besides, the first stunned He wrote his report as best he could, calm was slipping from him. He sat in then phoned the general’s office that it his plane, thinking of millions of men was ready. After some delay he was and women whose bodies had been re- told to remain in his quarters, that an duced not to ashes but to atoms . . . He officer would come for the report. That was profoundly relieved when he was chilling, but Morlake pretended to, reached his first destination, a small see nothing wrong. When the officer military airport near a sizeable city in had come and gone with the document, Iowa. The two men were rushed off Morlake lay down, conscious of un- to the local hospital. While his utterable weariness. But his brain was machine was being refueled, Morlake too active for sleep. had a brief conference with three wor- Reaction to all the straining tensions THE EARTH KILLERS of the day took the form of blank hor- failing to observe the direction from ror, of a frank disbelief in what his eyes which the bomb was coming.” had seen. Slowly, his emotions became For Morlake, the deadly part was more personal. He began to picture the that he knew no one. He was not per- possibilities of his own situation here, mitted to subpoena character witnesses where a suspicious martinet was in from fields to which men he had known command. “Damn him,” he thought in had been scattered. By the time the a fury. “All the radar stations design- two rocket experts had testified, he ed to spot bombs coming down near recognized that he was doomed. cities must have been destroyed. And Shortly after his arrest, when one of that leaves only what I saw.” his guards had whispered that fully But what did this experience prove? half the officers of the secret field had It was the one major clue, so far, to lost members of their families in the the identity of the enemy. And it bornbing, he had realized what weight seemed valueless. of emotion was against him. These

Weeks had still to pass before he men, twisted by disaster, could not feel, would realize how tremendous a clue see, or think straight. it really was. The crisis came swiftly after he him- self was called to the stand.

CHAPTER TWO “There is no doubt in your mind,” the judge advocate said, “that what Morlake, Traitor you saw was an atomic bomb?” “It was an atomic bomb.”

RDER in the court.” “And it was coming straight down?”

The hastily convened court- “Yes, it was. Absolutely straight.” martial was about to begin. “This was about how high above the “It is the intention of the prosecu- ground?” tion,” said the judge advocate after the “At least seventy-five miles.” preliminaries were over, “to bring evi- Pause; then, gravely: dence that will establish one or the “Captain Morlake, you have heard other of two chages against Captain experts testify that any bomb accur- Morlake. The first charge is that he ately aimed from any point on the did not, as he has claimed, see an earth’s surface would have been de- atomic bomb, and that in fact, his pur- scribing a parabolic curve of some kind pose was to procure cheap notoriety at that height?” for himself out of a nation’s most pro- “I have heard the witnesses.” found agony. It is the opinion of the “And what do you conclude from prosecution that, if the court finds him their testimony?” guilty of this charge, the penalties Morlake was firm. “A short time should be severe in proportion to the ago I was convinced that our rocket monstrousness of the disaster that has science w’as superior to that of any befallen our country. other country. Now, I know that "The second charge,” the judge ad- we’ve been surpassed.” vocate continued, “is more serious. It “That is your sole comment on the assumes that Captain Morlake did, in death of forty million Americans. We fact, see the bomb, as he has stated, but have been surpassed.” that he has deliberately falsified his re- Morlake swallowed hard, but he con- port, or else was grossly negligent in trolled himself. “I did not say that- SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

The bomb was coming straight down.” ed the omission' to the day sergeant. “Hadn’t you better think that over, “Okay, you go along with the potato Captain ?” planting detail.” Insinuating words. He knew wdiat Morlake went, telling himself that, if they wanted. In the short time since his name were ever again missing from the trial had been scheduled, the prose- the board, he would report to the office cution had had several bright ideas. of the clerks who made up the work The previous night they had come to sheet. him with drawings of hypothetical tra- It wasn’t that the work hadn’t been jectories of bombs. Every drawing good for him. He had always been as was on a map of the world, and there hard as nails, and his internal muscles were three different points of origin were so perfectly balanced and organ- illustrated. If he would agree that the ized that, in all the army air forces, he bomb had been slanting slightly in had proved by actual test that he could any one of the three directions, he withstand more acceleration than any would be a hero. other man. still opportunity, “You have an Cap- And he felt better now, healthier, tain,” said the judge advocate silkily, more awake, more alive, more appreci- “of being of great service to your ative of life. But he didn’t like planting country.” potatoes. The army farm used the old, Morlake hesitated miserably. “I’m primitive mjethod of bending down to sorry,” he said at last, stiff with fear, place each seed-spud by hand ... By “but I cannot change my testimony. It noon, he was sweating and tired. was coming straight down.” The mid-day dinner was eaten in the The sentence was thirty years, and field. Men squatted on the grass with he was lucky. Within a month of his their plates and cups. And the chatter trial men were being hanged from took exactly the same form as on the lamp posts, and sedition trials sprouted day before, and the day before that, like weeds over a land that could not and so on back into infinity. discover its attacker. .” “The bombs . . “Hey, did you hear what that new guy said the other day, N THE ninety-fourth morning, about somebody staggering out of an Morlake put on his fatigue suit undamaged basenient in New York O as usual. He had only the City?” “Some character in the Middle vaguest sense of ever having done any- West is saying the bombs could only .” thing else, the routine was so much a have come from the Moon . . “ part of him; On the way to breakfast . . . It’s the Germans, or I’ll be dipped .” he glanced at the bulletin board, where in . . “I’ll put my money on Russia .” the day’s work sheet had already been . . “Hell, if I was General Wayne in posted. Ploughing the east field. Berlin, I’d—” Planting potatoes in the valley. Re- The detail sergeant climbed lazily to pairing the east fence. Cleaning the his feet. “Okay, generals, up and at stables. Transferring feed to a new those potatoes, before the bugs move barn. in.” It was the usual pattern, with only The afternoon lengthened. About one thing missing. His own name was four o’clock a car detached itself from not attached to any one of the details. the haze that hid the farm buildings Immediately after breakfast he report- five miles to the north. It came lazily THE EARTH KILLERS • 59 along a dirt road, disappearing behind lieved the third item was Robert Mor- trees and into gullies, but always it lake, and so far his sole thought was came into view again, each time nearer, that the bombs must have been

and obviously as puzzling to the detail launched from the Moon . . . Morlake sergeant as to the prisoners. The ser- smiled \yryly. He could imagine him- geant and his corporal walked slowly self trying to convince other men that towards the road as the car approached, they must go to the Moon to find out and stood waiting for it. the name of their enemy. !” Up, down, up, down—The remaining “Morlake guards kept things moving. The Morlake straightened slowly and ploughs whuffed and thudded through turned. It was the corporal who had the soil folding the fresh dirt over the gone with the sergeant to the car. In seed potatoes. The horses champed the near distance, the machine was and swished their tails. One of them turning noisily around. Morlake noisily passed water. Up, down, up, saluted. down—Morlake, sweating and breath- “Yessir?”

ing hard, alternated the rhythmic “You’re wanted at the office. You movement \>^^ith glances at the nearing weren’t supposed to come out on a car and with his own thoughts. detail this morning. Come along.’’ Of the various articles and news- Five minutes later, Morlake knew paper editorials that he had read in the that he was being presented with an farm library, only one, it seemed to opportunity to escape. Morlake, contained a sensible idea: The purpose of the bombing had not HAT had happened Morlake been to destroy the nation or conquer discovered gradually. On the it, but simply to change its political W East Coast, General Malian character. With the vociferous, noisy, Clark, ranking staff officer surviving, highly-educated, politically conscious declared martial law on the afternoon people of America’s world-cities out of of the bombing. -For three months he the way, power would revert to the worked eighteen to twenty hours a day

isolationist , agricultural communities. to integrate the shattered armed forces Every capitalistic state in the world and to organize the country. Railway, would benefit from the markets from telephone and telegraph lines were re- which American industry would have paired, and postal services resumed. to withdraw. And the dozen Commun- Priorities and rationings were insti- ist states had their ow'n reasons for tuted, and an industrial census taken. appreciating the end of American in- At the end of seventy days he. had a fluence in Europe, Africa and Asia. picture of the country’s resources. By If the enemy w'ere not discovered for the eightieth day, industries that

several years, it w'as likely that the needed each other’s products were be- elected representatives of cautious ing coordinated on a vast scale. Troops states to retaliate. cities and national farm would not dare patrolled towns ; a Only three facts known about curfew was put into effect severe pen- were ; the aggressor: He existed. He had left alties were invoked against mobs and no clues in his own countries. And he mob leaders. Mass hangings of known

had dropped his bombs straight down Communists ceased. • People with for- onto at least one city. eign accents Avere still being molested, Unfortunately, the one man who be- but the cases grew more isolated daily. 60 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Fi'om the eiglity-fiftli to the eighty- R3 . No one there could fly the rokjet. eighth day, the general took a holiday, “It’s a special plane,” an air-force during which time he played dice, ate, major explained to General Flerrold. “I rested and slept, and listened only to remember that the man who was to emergency reports. Back at his head- test it had to go to the factory and quarters, he moved into a new office. learn all kinds of preliminary things “From now on,’’ he told reporters, before he was even allowed to warm “I’ll delegate all except a minimum of her jets. The difficulties, I understand, administrative work. I will devote my derive from an intricate combination attention to picking up technical mat- of rocket and jet drives.” ters at the highest' level. I’m an engin- “Oh I” said General Herrold. He eer, not a politician. What I want to thought about it for some minutes, know is, what the hell happened to our then, “It wouldn’t take you long,” he advanced stuff on the day of the bomb- suggested, “to learn to fly it, would ing? A¥here is it, and who’s alive that it?” knows something about it?” The big young man shrugged. “I’ve Late in the afternoon of the ninety- been flv'ing jets for years—” he began. first day, he looked up bleary-e3red He was interrupted. “Uh, Major from a mass of papers, and called in an Bates,” Herrold said, “the officer in adjutant. question, Captain Robert Morlake, is “There’s a report here that S29A in prison for a most heinous offence. was scheduled for a test flight on It would be a grave setback for dis- B-day. A¥as the test made? If so, cipline if he ^vere freed merel3- because what happened?” he can £[3- a plane. Accordingl3q I shall Nobody knew until the following have him brought here, and no doubt morning, when a lieutenant produced he can teach you to 03- the plane in a a report form Field R3 in Texas that dav’ or so. I want you to hold no con- the rockjet S29A had landed there a versations with, him except on purely few hours after the destruction of its technical matters. You will carr3f a base, Wayne Field, ninet3^-two da3\s gun, and remember that the plane is before. more valuable than the man.”

“Wh.o the blank,” said Clark, “is the Bates saluted. “I’ll handle him, sir,” misbegotton incompetent in chai'ge of he said confidently. R3 ? Herrold? Oh!” Fie subsided. He had once been pW|iIE moment the rockjet was high under Herrold’s command, and one ob- S enough, Morlake zipped her over served certain amenities with former into a power dive. Behind him, superiors. Late, though, he remarked Major Bates clawed for the nearest to a ranking officer ; “Herrold is an old handhold. fool. If a man under him has twice as “Fley !” he yelled. “What the hell do much sense as another, he can’t tell you think you’re doing?” the difference. Drive, abilitv', leader- Morlake wasn’t sure. He had de- ship—he can’t see them.” He scowled. cided at the moment he was sentenced “W ell, the best bet, I suppose, is to to virtual life imprisonment that he have the machine brought here. Inform would not accept the verdict of the Flerrold, will 3mu?” court. But exactly what was going to The order for the plane caused a tur- happen now he didn’t know. moil in the upper officialdom of Field “Now, look. Morlake,” Bates said in :

THE EARTH KILLERS 61

a voice that trembled slightly, “this is would take easily, it was up to the one not going to get you anywhere. There’s man who knew the facts to persuade hardly any fuel in the tanks.” them. That was why he had wasted no His thought ended. He jumped, as time. Morlake said nothing, but sat he saw that the ground was really blank-brained, waiting events. The rushing towards him now. Behind day was clear as glass, the earth below him

plainly visible. It looked closer than it “Morlake, for God’s sake, what do was. you want?” “For God’s sake, man!” The other’s “Your gun” nerve was tottering badly. “You swore “Do you intend to kill me?” you still stood by your oath of allegi- “Don’t be a fool. Hurry.” ance to the United States.” The earth was a huge valley, with Morlake broke his silence. “I do.” rearing hills no longer looking so flat. “Then what—” Morlake felt the gun shoved past his

“I happen to be the only man who shoulder. He snatched at it, shouting: knows how to find the enemy. If I let “Get back! Back, away from me!” myself stay locked up. I’d be violating He knew that would be hard, like my oath.” climbing the side of a house. But he It sounded wild even to Morlake. It waited while the sweating officer fum- probably seemed pure insanity to bled away from his seat. He could hear Bates. And Morlake did not fool him- the man cursing with fear. And his self. He felt emotional about this. It own heart was pounding, his body was not reasoned, objective, what he rigid, when at last he came out of his was doing. He had had a three- dive, and began to climb towards the month’s taste of a life sentence of hard l;lack regions of the stratosphere. labor, and the passionate beliefs he The stars were as bright as jewels held, his justification for this, were before he leveled off and began his rooted as much in horror of his fate as race with the diminishing supply of in patriotism. fuel. At the rockjet’s most economical The bomb had come straight down. speed, thirty-five miles a minute, be

If, as the experts maintained, it sped through the darkness above an couldn’t have come from Earth, then ocean of light. it had come from the Moon. Since that He had two intermingled hopes: was not an idea to which Americans That he would be able to reach Kane

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62 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Field and that he would find it we’ve got all the fuel you want. None deserted. The first hope was realized of the tanks were busted by the earth- as the field swam into view in the dis- quakes. Roll her over this way.” tance. The second ended in dismay, He was in no hurry, but talkative, as he saw that the entire area swarmed curious. While his men attached pip- with men, with tractors, cranes, trucks ing to the tanks Morlake indicated, he and piles of material. asked pointed questions, which Mor- Morlake came down from behind a lake answered or evaded with a laugh. low hill some distance from the nearest He knew how to talk to this kind of group of workers. men, and the only trouble was that out “Get out!” he said to Bates. of the corner of one eye, he saw Bates “I’ll see you hanged for this 1” the come into sight over the hill, and flag big man snarled. But he got out. He down a truck. The truck headed did not move off immediately nor did swiftly toward Morlake. When it was Morlake. There was a prolonged a third of a mile away, Morlake climbed silence, then; into the plane. “Tell them,” Morlake said, “that I’m— “Thanks,” he said. taking the plane because—because The foreman waved cheerfully. He paused. He felt a desperate desire “Give my regards to the general.” to justify himself. He went on, “Tell The truck was tooting its horns them the top speed of Sadie is 47 miles madly as the rockjet became airborne. a minute, and that she can climb 80 Morlake’s sense of exultation did not last long. He had enough fuel fly miles—in 7 minutes plus, but tell to them ” He hesitated, for if his words around the earth. But his problem was were given publicity, the unknown to convince the people in authority that enemy would read them also—“tell only by inventing and building a space- them not to waste any more time ship could they ever again hope to be building duplicates of Sadie. She isn’t free of danger. Where, how would he fast enough, she can’t go high enough start? What ought his pattern of to reach the men who dropped the action to be? atomic bombs. And that’s why I’m When he came right down to it, he taking her. Because she’s only a hadn’t really given that much thought. second-rater, and therefore worthless. Goodby.”. CHAPTER THREE He waved his hand. The vertical jets hissed with power. The machine Hare and Hounds reared slowly, then the rockets fired several bursts, and the ground began to ine bullet-proof cars drew up flow below like a tremendously swift before General Clark’s head- river. Morlake headed over the hills, N quarters one day some ten straight towards a place where there months after the bombing. There was had once been pipes leading up from an a scurrying of men from the first four underground fuel tank. Men were and the last four. Everywhere guns working there amid a tangle of twisted showed prominently, as the guards metal, but some order had already drew a cordon around the center car. been established. He landed. As soon as the maneuvers were com- A foreman, a slim, rugged-looking pleted, a flunkey hurried forward and young man, came over, and said, “Sure, graciously opened the door of the THE EARTH KILLERS 63 big machine. Then he moved back. cabinet. On one wall was a huge map Senator Tormey stepped out. He of North America, with pins stuck into

frowned as he saw that no one had yet it. The red pins indicated that Robert come out of the general’s office to meet Morlake had definitely been seen in him. Then as the general himsell those areas. The green pins meant that appeared in the doorway, a smile he had “almost -certainly” been in thc- wreathed the handsome though heavy vicinity. The yellow pins were rumors,

face, and he walked over and shook and the blue pins represented points at hands with the officer. which a plane resembling S29A had “Got all the Morlake stuff ready tc been observed. Each pin was numbered show me?” he asked. and the- numbers referred to a card

“All, ready,” Clark nodded. “I’d index file, which contained a synoj.)

have invited you to see it before il sized history of the hunt for Robert I’d known j^ou were interested.” ilorladce. The inde.x itself was based Tormey took that as an apology. He on files of documents, which were ke])) had come a long way in the past four in a cabinet beside tlie map. months. On.B-day he had called for "At first,” General Clark explained. martial law, to last for six months, anr) “iMorlake’s idea seemed to be to con had then found that the army was not tact old friends of his. On the second prepared to turn the government ovei day after refueling at Kane Field, he to him at the specified time. The approached the residence of Professor .” available press and radio echoed with Glidden in California. . . the senators protests. He had no ambi-

tions himself, but it was time for the fter watching Glidden Grove government to be returned to civilians. one day, Morlake got up at

As the ranking survivor of the federal A"• dawn, and walked two miles to , congress, it was his duty—and so on where the low, long building of Dr. And so on and so on. Glidden’s reseai-ch institute spread That was the beginning. And as beside the banks of a winding stream. army ruthlessness, as personified by A caretaker was puttering beside the tens of thousands of officers, had as open door of a stucco, Hollywoodish usual alienated ninety per cent of the laboratory. He answered Morlake’s population, the senator was soon riding query curiously^: a crest of protest meetings, of which “Dorman? He lives with the profes- the army, in the person of General sor. I guess the cook will be up by Clark, finall}^ took .cognizance. this time. That's the house, over The senator was invited to head- there.” quarters, and taken into the confidence It was a glassed, tree-sheltered of the military. He became a habitual bungalow. As Morlake stode along a member of General Clark’s dice club, walk lined with towering shrubs, a and his advice was sought on every woman emerged from a side path that important administrative problem. It led up from the creek, and they almost was the army’s bid for civilian support, collided.

and it seemed to work. It was the woman who was startled, “This way,” said General Clark, “to Morlake said nothing. Ninety-four days what we call the Morlake room.” on the prison farm had frozen hi.s It was a small room. There was a nerves.

desk and a chair in it, and a filing The woman was dark-haired and : ”

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES ,

blue-eyed; she wore a wrap-around everything there is to know here.” dressing gown and a bathing cap. “Mr. Morlake did not doubt it. He was Dorman,” she echoed. “Oh, you mean beginning to be fascinated. It cost the secretary.” Her manner became him an effort to keep his mind to his

indifferent. “Probably still in bed. It’s purpose. The woman said ; “The world

a habit of people like that to sleep until is absolutely wretched, detestable and

it’s time to punch the clock.” incorrigible. Here it is little more than Her tone was carelessly contemp- three months after B-day, and— tuous. Morlake, who had been about “After what?” to pass on politely, paused for a second “Bomb day. That’s what the arm}^

look. She was not the world’s most calls it. You can’t go on saying ‘the

beautiful woman, but it seemed to him day the atomic bombs were dropped,’ that he had never seen a more passion- or ‘day of the catastrophe.’ You can’t ate face. Her lips were full and sensu- even expect people to remember that ous, her eyes large and bright, her B-day was July 17th, can you?” manner immensely assured. She did not wait for an answer, for “Aren’t you a little early,” she asked, they had reached the house. “for visiting the help?” “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll slip into

She was irritating, and Morlake didn t my bedroom, and open the living-room like her at all. “May I by any chance,” door for you.” he asked, “be speaking to Professor Morlake did not wait. The moment

Glidden?” she di.s,appeared around the corner, The remark pleased her, for she he followed. It had taken him a minute laughed. She stepped confidently up to to catch on, but he was too conscious him, and hooked her arm in his. She of danger to be fooled by a fast-talking said, “I’ll ask the cook w'hich room is woman. She had recognized him, and

3-our friend’s. You mustn’t mind me she would probably telephone the too much. I like to get up when the police before opening the front door.

birds start singing, and it makes me There were three patio doors along cross to have to wait five hours before the side and all of them were unlocked, there’s anybody to talk to. I’m the but onl}' the third one opened into an physical type. Immense eilergy; and unoccupied room.

ihe only reason my brain is any,good He knew it was possible that the

at all is because I never worry. Do you woman had snatched up a gun in know anything about endocrinology?” passing, but he was beyond that kind

“Never heard of it,” said Morlake, of fear. . . . The situation in the living- truthfully. room was ideal for melodrama. She “Thank God,” said the woman. She was at the phone, her back to him, kdded, “I’ve been swimming in the saying urgently, “Keep trying! There old swimming hole—enlarged by dam- must be an answer!” Morlake put his ming, cemented into a pool, and hand over the mouthpiece, and took the improved by a teu-thousand-dollar receiver from her instantly acquiescent heating system for cool days and fingers. For a long moment the woman nights. Just a little gadget of the sat frozen, and then slowly she turned professor’s, hot and cold running water. and looked at him, her eyes widened. iYould you like to know all the local Morlake did not replace the receiver,

gossip? I’ve only been a guest twent)’^- but stood there holding it tightly. He four hours, but I already know said in a monotone ”

THE EARTH KILLERS 65

“How did you recognize me?” them, to build up the nucleus of his She shrugged. “Newspaper pictures organization. He realized that he had all over the house. Your friend, Dor- been forestalled by a group that had man, talking about you, saying he anticipated his plans and made a thor- can’t believe you’re guilty. But you ough study of his life history. When are, aren’t you? I’ve seen desperate we came on the scene we found that men before.” virtually every friend he ever possessed

Where? Morlake wondered, but all had been under surveillance on that he said was: morning. A hundred different methods “Who were you phoning?” were used to' gain intimate access to “The police, of course.” the different people involved. It was Answering that required no thought.— very thorough.” “The police would have replied “How do you account for their pre- he began. And then he stopped, as the paration?” The senator was standing operator’s voice sounded from the ear- with closed eyes. phone. He jerked the instrument up. “It is our opinion,” said Clark, “that “Yes,” he said. “Hello.” they intended to rescue him from the “The party the lady called does not prison farm, and kill him.” answer,” trilled the female voices. “But how did they know about him?” Morlake said, “Are you sure you The general hesitated. “Our theory have the right number?” Beside him there is a little wild, but the men who the woman gasped. Before he could have gone over Morlake’s written state- guess her intention, she reached down, ment and court-martial evidence grew snatched the cord, and, with a jerk that interested in the flare of light that must have jarred her body, tore the enveloped the plane immediately after wires out of the box. . . . the bomb had rebuffed Morlake’s attempt to throw it off-course. We N THE Morlake room at supreme think that that light was used to take headquarters. General Cla r.k a television picture of the rockjet.” I paused in his narrative. Senator Tormey said slowly: “Oh!” Tormey was silent. Finally, “What did Morlake do next?” “Who was the rvoman? Did you find • out?” It w'as Morlake who broke the The officer shook his head. “I can’t silence in the living room of Professor remember the alias she used at Glidden Glidden’s bungalow. Grove, but that name and a dozen “Where is your car?” he said. others that she employed are all in the The woman seemed resigned. “I’ll index there.” Clark motioned toward get my car keys, and drive you back the cabinet. to your plane. I suppose that’s where “You think she was after Morlake?' you’re heading.” “Definitely.” He went with her, conscious that “How did she happen to be at that he could trust no one, now that he. particular spot within two days after knew. And that there wasn’t time to Morlake’s escape?” talk to Dan Dorman, or to ask the “That,” said the general, “was what questions he had intended to ask Dan’s worried Morlake. Then and there he employer, Professor Glidden. He had abandoned his plan to approach old come to Dan first of all, because of friends of his, and attempt, through his connection with the world-famous 68 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES physicist. Depressing to be here at “Yep, I got her, then I couldn’t get the spot, and realize that he had to you.” leave without having accomplished Another woman ! Morlake felt a anything. thrill, then a sharp anxiety. It was Ten minutes later, the woman parked as he had feared. The connection had the car a hundred feet from where been established. He hesitated, but Sadie was drawn up under trees. “It’s there was no drawing back. a pretty plane,” she said. “How fast “Will you call again?” can it go ?” “Sure. Got the number?” “Just over a hundred miles a minute,” Morlake was as ready for that a.s said Morlake carelessly. “Get out.” he could be. “Let .me see. Hmmm,

“W-what?” She must have thought can’t think of it offhand. But I have

he was going to kill her, for she turned it here somewhere.” pale. “Please,” she begged, “I’m as As he began to search aimlessly innocent as you are. I know nothing.” through his pockets, he saw that she Morlake gazed at her curiously, but was examining her notebook. She he said nothing. Let her sweat for a looked up. minute. He didn’t have time to question “Never mind, I wrote it down. her, and so he couldn’t judge how Lucy Desjardins, 476 Hartford Street, deeply she was involved. Not that Crestolanto 9153.” it would have made any difference. He For a moment Morlake could only was neither judge nor executioner. He trust himself to nod, then it was time locked the car doors, then slipped the to speak again. keys into his pocket. He saw that the “Just a moment,” he said. woman had regained control. “Yes?” “It’s only two miles,” she said. “I “Did the party, uh, say anything, ought to get there before breakfast. when you couldn’t get her through to Goodby and—good luck.” me ?”

He sent the rockjet straight up until “Yeah, she said it didn’t matter or the world was black, and stars were something like that.” points of light above him. Then he “Oh !” said Morlake. “In that case flashed out over the Pacific, and, turn- don’t bother.” He mustered a laugh. ing, came back in, coasting over trees “She’s a dammed touchy woman. I .straight into a deep arroyo. His ’new dont want to get her down on me hiding place was less than half a mile again.” from Manakee, California, the town He went out, perspiring but momen- four miles from Glidden Grove, where tarily relieved and jubilant. The feeling the telephone exchange must be didn’t last long. The woman had said located. it didn’t matter. That meant she had A bus coming along the nearby high- understood. The gang would be way made his trip easy, and enabled swinging into action. him to inquire about the location of He hailed a cruising taxi, and had it the exchange. . . . There were three take him to the suburbs. As soon as girls at the switchboard. One of them, it was out of sight, he raced along the a washed-out looking blonde, said: highway and across the fields to his “Something went wrong with the machine. The moment he was inside line, so I drove in. Did you get the^ the cockpit, he turned on the radar, party?” and waited. THE EARTH KILLERS 67

At first there was nothing. The sky had struck was the knowledge that was empty, except for a haze of out there somewhere on the surface of immensely high clouds. After thirty- the Earth, cunning devil-men were seven minutes, a shadow darkened the waiting for the slightest hint that their screen. It was too far away, too high identity had been discovered that, to

to form a clear image. But it was save themselves, they must be prepared

unmistakable, and it moved along with to rend the entire earth. great speed at a height of about a Their leaders would deny all accu- hundred and twenty-five miles. sations, would charge a conspiracy, Morlake kept spinning his radio dial, and, with the tremendous advantage of

and suddenly it caught and stopped, as control of the Moon, wmuld be able to

a voice said: launch bombs toward any target ajt “. . . Got away, looks like. We’ve will. been east and north and south, and out Mprlake quailed at the picture, and over the water, and there’s not a sign knew that his new plan to seek out of anything moving. His machine must the gang must parallel and complement be capable of far greater speed than we his greater purpose of forcing a reluc- believed.” tant people to crawl up from the caves The answering voice was faint. of fear into which their minds had “Don’t give up. Take nothing for collapsed, up to the special bravery granted.” and imagination that would be needed A third voice broke in loudly, “Hey, for the conquest of space. who’s that talking. This is army station At dawn, on his third morning in Miklaw. Identify yourself.” the arroyo, Moidake made sure the There was a faint laugh from the radar screen w&s blank, and then flew nearest voice, then silence. in a great circle around the Capistrano radar station of the army, to Cresto- CHAPTER FOUR lanto. He spent all that day watching 476 Hartford Street. It was a plain A Better Rat Trap two-story structure, and during the

morning it showed no sign of life. or Morlake, hiding, waiting, About mid-afternoon, a woman came planning, in the arroyo near out of the front door and walked to the F Manakee, time passed slowly. It nearby market. It rvas not the woman was a strangely sad period, one man who had been visiting Professor Glid- alone wondering how he could con- den’s home, but a slim, distinguished- vince a nation that he was right and looking young woman with hair their leaders were wrong. Ghosts of slightly greying at the temples. forty million dead adults and children When she had come back, he wrote haunted his dreams, but already the a letter to General Clark, describing fact that they had existed was a what he intended to do. He mailed the shadowy fact in his mind. To him, letter shortly after dark, and then he who had no family, and who had had waited for black night. It was half-past the experience of friends dying in a nine by his watch when he crawled

war, death was not the ogre that it through a window, and moved stealth- was to those who had never been ily toward the living-room, where' a

trained to face it. light was visible through a partly

Far more real than the death that open door. . . . : :

68 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

ENATOR Tormey asked, “And The general turned to face the bigger then what happened?’’ man. “When Morlake escaped with General Clark shook his head. S29A, I received a garbled account of “We have no ditect information.” what had happened. It was so garbled, Pie pointed to a red pin rooted in a in fact, the loss of the plane so impor- small west-coast city. tant, that I flew to Texas by jet, saw “There, Morlake made one of his the court-martial papers of Morlake, four attempts to interest the general and began to realize what tremendous public. According to our reports, a information had been bottled up. woman did all the preliminary advertis- Naturally, I relieved Herrold of his ing for a lecture Morlake intended to command instantly, and by the end of give. According to our information, it the week we had the information which was this second woman. The lecture I have described. Better still, our was a flop. About a dozen people radar station at Capistrano sarv the turned up, most of them old women, image of the enemy spaceship v/hich

who thought it was a new religion, in was searching for Morlake, and so we

which the Moon had been proved to had definite evidence that ' rvhat he be heaven.” stated in his letter -was correct.

“Then it would appear that Morlake “When Capistrano saw it, the space- and this, uh, nameless woman joined ship was about two hundred miles up. forces.” They couldn’t estimate the speed, but

“Never,” said the general, “have I it was terrific.” had reports of a bolder couple. They He rvent on matter-of-factly were quite cautious at first. Now “Normally, we might have paid no they’re absolutely fearless.” attention to such a report. So many, The senator was silent. He wore many reports come in hour after hour contact lenses, behind which his intense to all military districts. But at this blue eyes gleamed with alert fires. time, on the basis of Morlake’s written General Clark walked to a window, statement to General Herrold, our and gazed out past the formal park experts decided that they had narrowed toward the distant blue of hills. the possible origins of the bombs to Without looking around he said: three “Last night, you asked me ajpout “Two of them were the likeliest Morlake, and I invited you to come points on Earth. If we decided on here. This is in line with the army’s either of these, we’d have to assume policy of cooperating with elected that our men or our instruments for representatives of the people. As you detecting radioactivity were at fault. know, w^e intend to permit the congres- We rejected these possibilities because sional elections next fall and the presi- the piles necessary for the creation of dential elections in 1968, and so the ^•ast quantities of radioactive materials country will resume its normal demo- could not escape detection. That left cratic functioning. What you do not the third alternative, which assumed know is that, though the elections will the bombs to be of extraterrestrial be held as scheduled, the announce- origin. I accordingly ordered the design ment about them was made with the and construction of five spaceships, intention of lulling the enemy.” and since it w^as always just a matter From behind him, Tormey said of money, in this case a billion dollars slowly, “I don’t think I understand.” a ship, we had no difficulty. The ships :

THE EARTH KILLERS 69

will be operational by next -week.’’ The}' parted on that note. The senator made a strange sound. It was not a word, and he did not EXTLEMEN,” said Senator

repeat it. Instead, he walked unevenly 1 Tormey, “this is my friend, to a chair and sat down. Morle}’ Roberts.” “General,” he mumbled at last, “3^11 There was a grunting response. Mor- make me dizzy. You mean that all lake sat down, and rvatched the dice this uproar about Morlakc has been bounce briskly from the far end of unnecessaiy ?” the tabic. He did not look immediately “Very necessar}-.” Clark was deadly at General Clark, but concentrated on serious. “His desperate efforts to get making his first bet. Presently, he

us to do something made it look as picked up his winnings for the roll, and

if we were paying no attention to him. pressed his arm ever so lightly against We even ridiculed i\Iorlake’s propa- the gun in liis shoulder holster. It was

ganda. Pcrsonall}', I think i\Iorlakc still there, ready for the crisis which caught on, but right now I’d give a lot oiignt to come in a few’ minutes. to have a talk with him. The time has Pie lost twice in a row', and then come for coordinated action.” won three times on his own roll. As The senator said blankly, “But this he gave up the dice finally, he took his means war.” first good look at General Clark. .A

“W e’ll smash them in one day,’ pair of e3-cs as sharp as his own met Clark said coldl3'. “No one else has that one searching glance. The general ’dared to mobilize, for fear of rousing said casually

our suspicion. We’ll put a million men “So it’s me you’re here to contact, into their cities overnight. We’ll exe- Roberts ?” cute every man who had anything to Morlake brought his hand to the do w'ith the bombing of this country. edge of the table, with the fingers held For once, no one will have an excuse.” slightly downrvard and barel}' touch-

“And all this in about two weeks?” ing the surface. From there it was one “Possibly less.” foot to his gun. There was a long silence. At Iasi Pie said steadily; the senator climbed to his feet. “General, you're a smart man, but

“It seems kind of funny after that, you haven’t figured it quite right.” to talk of social activit}’, but are you There was an undertone in his voice, still having your crap game tonight?” the beginning of tension, the begin- “We don’t dare change our habits ning of deadl}' intent. Like darkness now.” blotting out da}', the atmosphere “How many will be there?” of the room changed. Some of the “Six, besides yourself.” officers looked at each other, puzzled.

“Wonder if I could bring along a Senator Tormey said: - young friend of my wife’s?” “It’s getting warm in here. Uh, I’ll “Whyy sure. Which reminds me. call one of my guards and have him When is your ladj' coming dowm here?’ open the w'indow's wider.”

Tormay smiled. “Couldn’t tell you. “I’ll do it, sir.” Alorlake was on his She thinks I ought to retire from feet, without waiting for acquiescence. politics, and therefore she won’t esta He examined the w'iiidow-s and, as blish an official residence. She’s pretty- he had expected, the “glass” was a much of a traveler.” bullet-proof plastic. What he did then ”:

70 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

was rooted in a profound discovery he Picture a wealthy congressman, unscru- had made during the previous six pulous and with unlimited ambitions.

months: the discovery that if you say It is very easy for him to think of you will do something and then go and himself as a man of destiny, frustrated do something similar, no one will by the stupidity of others. Having notice the difference—for a while-. become senator, he discovered in two Without a qualm, he closed and successive presidential campaigns that locked the three windows, and then he he had no chance to become chief of returned to the table. The dice rolled state. His wife began to suspect him whitely against the background of the shortly after she married him in 1959, green cloth. Senator Tormey won from and pretended to play along. But she several of the officers. As he was raking didn’t realize the truth until B-day. As

it in. General Clark said: you know, he was in a safe place on “Morley Roberts. The name is that day—very fortuitous. Afterwards,

familiar, but it is the face that makes his main opposition was the army. It a better identification. Suppose we was clever of him to authorize martial change the name around a little, and law — which would have been done say Robert Morlake, former Captain, anyway. It was clever because he was

army air forces, court-martialed, thirty later able to use it in his propaganda.” years at hard labor. Am I getting Morlake paused, and smiled to relax warm ?” his eyes, to loosen his body, because The general’s voice went up, “Wait, the moment had come. gentlemen !’’ The men at the table “His big opportunity came — it froze, two with their chairs pushed seemed to him—when I appeared on back, one with a hand under his coat. the scene, as guest, of his wife. He

The senator was the first to relax. He saw it as his chance to kill General was sitting at the side of the table, Clark and his staff, and throw the and he hummed a small tune under his blame on me. I, of course, the highly breath. Clark said softly: publicized escaped army —convict, would “You came here tonight as the guest also be found dead, and of Senator Tormey. I presume he Morlake broke off. He said, “What’s knows who you are.” the matter, senator, has your nerve “I’m sure,” Morlake said, “that* the gone? You’re not going to go down senator must have recognized me, but like a weakling, are you ?”

you will know better than I if he’s The sweat was almost a mask on the made inquiries about me in the last heavy face. Tormey brought his hand two days. But now I’d better hurry. up, and put it in his vest pocket. He

Gentlemen, this is a dangerous moment, fumbled for a long moment. Morlake not because of me directly—I’m only said: a catalytic agent — but because my “I see, senator, that you’re activat- appearance gave a certain person an ing your little radio, calling your

opportunity to carry out a. previously agents outside.”

conceived plan. As if to punctuate the w'ords, there “It was my intention,” Morlake was a crash of bullets on the window. went on, “that he should use me for Everybody except Morlake jumped, this purpose so that I might use him Morlake said tantalizingly for mine. “Toq bad.” “A brief case history is in order: He reached across the table, and ” :

THE EARTH KILLERS 71

snatched a tinj^ instrument from the been restrained, too, by the knowledge senator’s vest pocket. The man grabbed that he had acted with remorseless angrily at his hand, but he was too logic. slow. Morlake neither saw nor worried. “Hmin,” said Morlake. “One of the The senator’s eyes were open and star- printed variety.” ing widely. There rvas blood on his With a visible effort, the other man lips. straightened. “Never heard such non- “Senator, what is the name of the sense,” he snarled. “You’ve arranged enemy ?” this drama with bullets against the That got them. General Clark came window. If you think .such a simple closer. An officer who had gone to scheme is going to work against me, calm the guards at the door half turned }mu’re— back into the room. Even Senator He stopped. His eyes, staring Tormpy stiffened. straight into Morlake’s, widened. He “You can gt) to hell,” he muttered. must have reali.^ed that his denials Morlake said, “Hurry, man, you’ve were meaningless here, that the plans only got a minute—a minute.” already boiling in his mind, to rtse The horror of that struck deep. The the radio and the press, his control of thick face twisted. “Die!” the senator the party, of the country, his skill at mumbled. “Why—I’m going to die.” propaganda—all that meant nothing to The idea seemed to grow on him. He this deadly young man. He had not struggled, gasping for breath, then even time to cry out in sudden terrified subsided. He lay so still for a second realization of his fate. that he looked dead. His eyes opened wearily. He looked up, and mumbled he two shots that Morlake fired “W as that my wife... at broke the big man’s lungs. Crestolanto, in that house?”

T Tormey slumped over on • the Morlake nodded. “She used your table, then slid down to the floor, organization. She received all Cali- Morlake paid no attention to the fornia reports. That enabled her to armed officers in the room. They could locate me no matter which local agent

have shot him as he knelt beside the saw me first. She had decided that if dying man, but his very helplessness I came to Crestolanto she would ask was his safeguard. They watched, me to help her. It was she who toured their bodies rigid, and they must have (Continued on Page 128)

Mystery and adventure make good readiog thef make good fhtening tool NICK CARTER UNDER ARREST Sundays, 6:30 p.m., EST. Sundays, 9.*00 p.m., EST. Lon Clark as radio’s N!ek Carter KRee Captadn Scott’s adrenlBres SHERLOCK HOLMES HIGH ADVENTURE Mondays, 8:30 p.m., ESI Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m., EST. Selected mystery dramas adrenture of afl kinds GREGORY HOOD Mondays, 8:00 p.m., EST. I* enjoyment waitSitg for you In Tales from his casebook of these excitiog litdto progremt mmi BiiOADOASTiNe mim, mo. This department is published as a service to readers o£ Super Science Stories. For further information about any of the books reviewed here, Conducted by Pohl send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Book Review Editor in care of this magazine.

FANTASY BOOKSHELF MISSION ACCOMPLISHED by Jerry Walker. Cosmos Publications, New York. $2.75. APE AND ESSENCE by Aldous This story of international spies Huxley. Harper & Brothers, New battling and intriguing over the secret York. $2.50. “atom rays” contains almost every By the Twenty-second Century, the ingredient that modern science-fiction Third World War has been over long has cast oft and outgrown. There are enough to let the children of the deadly Mata Haris, inept professors, a survivors grope back toward some sort /‘scientific” vocabulary culled from the of society. A Rediscovery Expedition early adventures of Tom Swift, sinister from New Zealand, the only unharmed Japanese agents, and about as much remainder of civilization, makes con- plot and good writing as you will find tact with the new nation on the coast on the head of an average pin. The of Southern California—a savage and publishers announce that MISSION decaying theocracy of Evil, founded on ACCOMPLISFIED is being made into the strangely plausible assumption that a motion picture, which is a pity. the Devil has seized control of the world and of humanity. ALL HALLOWS' EVE by Charles Most of the story is told as a movie Williams. Pellegrini & Cudahy, New scenario, a vehicle which gives Huxley York. $2.75. opportunity to employ a narrator and In London of today’s time, but an Chorus to point up his moral. For empty and barren London, wander two science-fiction readers w''ho relished the lonely girls, knowing that something savage satire of BRAVE NEW has happened to them but not quite WORLD, this new Huxley will be well realizing that they are dead. When a worth reading. For others, the story mystic named Simon the Clerk bridges may seem diffuse in its purposes and the gap between life and death in an mystical in approach. incredible scheme to dominate two n ;

THE SCIENCE FICTIONEER 73 worlds, he brings peace and release to fact that now at last a bibliography of the dead girls—and destruction to him- fantasy is available almost warrants self. overlooking the faults of the present Charles Williams has uncounted ad- \'olunie. Apart from the almost in- mirers in England and the Continent, evitable Inclusion of some stories but his books are almost unknown which are by no means fantasy and wjrich very definitely here. It is a credit to Pellegrini & omission of many Cudahy that they have brought his are, the most serious flaw in the work to America, for he has a rare and CHECKLIST is its $6 price—which librari- delicate talent for fantasy, but it is a makes it a fine investment for pity that this publication did not occur ans and collectors, but hardly^ worth- until after his death. ALL HAL- while for the casual fantasy reader who LOWS’ EVE carries an appreciative wants only a reliable guide to further critical introduction '"by T. S. E]iot, readuig. which adds enormously to the enjoy- The publishers reveal that seven ment of the book. y'^ears of research and checking library files w'ent into the compilation of the THE WEB OF EASTER ISLAND CHECKLIST, which is not surprising. by Donald Wandrei. Arkham House, What is surprising is that so much of Sauk City. $3. the research was done in library card- From an ancient Druid burying files and so little in the collections of ground in England to the aircraft-filled fans throughout the country, who skies of Earth’s farthest future, this could have done wonders toward short- novel proceeds in million-year jumps. ening the time of research and improv-

Carter Graham starts it off by dis- ing the accuracy'- of the book. covering a peculiarly horrid little image which has the unhappy property NO HIGHWAY by Nevil Shute. of bringing death in strange forms to William Morrow, New York. $2.75.

its owners ; in tracking down the secret If it had not been left over from an- of the image he discovers the existence other experiment and available to the of strange beings from outside time first research man w'ho asked for it, and space which own the world and use Mr- Honej' would not have chosen a it for their own purposes. Hopelessly tailplane from a new model transport he battles against them, knowing that for his experiments in the study of he cannot win. metal fatigue; if he had not used that This is fantasy^ rather than science- tailplane, he would never have found fiction, despite the time-travel theme himself in a series of adventures in- even as fantasy, it lacks logic and co- volving a flight in another plane of the herence as a novel. Yet Donald Wan- same model, which he knows is doomed drei’s talent for making the flesh creep to crash. makes individual sections of tire book NO HIGHWAY is science fiction of excellent and rewarding in themselves. a rare and delightful sort, w'hich seems

to come only from England ; it is rem- THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC iniscent of the novels of E. C. Large LITERATURE, edited by Everett F. rather than of any magazine science- Bleiler. Shasta Press, Chicago. $6. fiction writer. There is science in Here is a book that has needed doing plenty—and good, sound science, for for almost a generation, and the mere Mr. Shute is a former aviation research 74 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

man himself. There is even a brief ex- a curse. AAdiile awake, Jan lives bis nor-

cursion into ' fantasy, involving clair- mal life except that he is accused of voyance on the part of a child. But the committing an untidy murder of the

period of the story is today ; and the djinn’s; but while asleep, his mind in- huge new aircraft on which the story is habits a body in another world peopled hung differs only in detail from ships primaril}^ by djinni, v.diere humans are now ill commercial use. Don’t expect lower than slaves. gadgets or weird fantasy in NO Jan’s fight against danger on two HIGHAVAY but do expect a tremend- ; ^vorlds at once is a rollicking humorous ously enjoyable scientific romance. fantasy. It is as untidily written as Hubbard’s worst, but in comparison by Bechdolt. THE TORCH, Jack with his two recent books it is very Prime Press, Philadelphia. $2.50. good indeed. In the post-Atomic-War New York ‘t. of the year 2078 A.D., civilization has THE FOURTH BOOK OF JOR- been ver)'' nearly destroyed and the KENS by Lord Dunsany. Arkham local government is a form of medieval House, Sauk City. $3. feudalism. A young soldier-aristocrat. Flere are thirty-three stories of Captain Fortune, finds that his sym- new Jorkens and his cronies of the Billiards pathies are with the commoners ratlier Club, ranging from an anecdote of a than his own blue-blood fellows in ; duel with rubber knives spiritual- trying to reconcile his ideals with loy- to a ist’s message from the Moon. Some- alty to his state, he helps precipitate a thing than half revolution which destroys the reigning more of them are fantasies, but even of the fantasies the oligarchy and gives mankind—in New bulk are presented with double-edged York, at least—another chance at pro- endings, leaving gress. it up to the reader to decide accept Read as an adventure story pure and how to them. Jorkens has carved out a niche for himself simple, THE TORCFI is neither dull among literary heroes, and his admir- nor unrewarding. But m e a s u r e d ers will want this book without ques- against the claim of being, in the m- tion. For the average fantasy reader flamed words of its publishers, “one of it offers an evening’s entertainment, the finest pieces of prophecy ^nce but little more. Daniel told off the Babylonian king

. . . one of the finest stories ever written of man’s everlasting fight for MOONFOAM AND SORCERIES by liberty”, it falls ridiculously short. The Stanley Mullen. Gorgon Press, Denver. story was originally published nearly Here are thirteen short stories and thirty years ago, and its theme has twenty-six poems by a young fantasy been handled far better by many publisher-w'riter. Few of the stories are writers since. of fully professional quality, and most indicate only a f)romising literary SLAVES OF SLEEP by L. Ron talent which is a long way from being Hubbard. Shasta Press, Chicago. $3. fulfilled. The illustrations by Roy Jan Palmer, a milksop heir to mil- Hunt are uneven but, apart from the lions, accidentally breaks the seal on highly decorative jacket, generally in- an ancient Arabian jar and releases a ferior. For dyed-in-the-w'ool collectors djinn, who promptly places him under only. DARKSIDE DESTINY By James MaeDreigh

Ona lunar night they had given nr^HE moon tamed out to be almoet him, a night fotirleen Earth days I as predicted. Air—sero; surface long, to solve the riddle that was pumice and naked rock; watery written in letters of stone on the vegetation, animals—none. Moon’s dead surface — or die! I didn’t mind. I was rather pleased, 78 ”

76 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

in fact. It was a triumph for our Well, what did you expect? No air astronomers, that they’d been able to or water — life has to sustain itself tell so accurately the conditions on the somehow.” surface of a body a quarter of a million He grimaced without answering. miles from their eyepieces. Of course, He stood up gently, experimentally. the three-hundred-inch mirror showed There’s no gravity to speak of on the everything on the surface of the moon moon. Standing up for the first time that was more than two hundred feet is quite an experience. Not exactly long, or rose high enough to cast a pleasant, but not unpleasant, either.

two-hundred-foot shadow. But it w'as - I watched him, grinning partly still quite a feat, and I took pride in because he was a funny sight, solemnly it. flexing his knees and rising completely Fowler didn’t. I think he was dis- ofl the ground in a short, lazy hop appointed. He’d spent a lot of his every time he straightened them, and father’s millions on building the partly through relief from tension. I Pioneer, and I think he wanted a little wished for a cigarette, but that was more for his money than the satisfac- out of the question, of course. We tion of confirming the guesses of a had too little air. bunch of astronomers. When he thought he’d got the hang

He was glued to the belly-window of it, he tiptoed daintily past me and as I, in the front, brought the ship stared out the front port, brows down. He was supposed to be helping knotted. me land the ship, but we could have “It’s st) dark,” he complained, crashed through every mountain range “Maybe— if we could see a little on the satellite for all of him. Not a better single word did he say, of warning or “No such thing,” I said. “There advice, till we finally touched the aren’t any halfway measures here. surface and skidded to a stop, throw- We had to land on the dark side, or ing up a hundred-foot shower of broil. Don’t think I like it—I had to powdered pumice in our wake. land in it.” I leaned back and breathed hard Well, there was no point in going for a while, conscious of the moisture into that. that was all over my face, the jutpping I unbuckled my harness and repeated muscles at the base of my neck and in Fowler’s exhibition, getting my moon • my upper arms. Sheer nerves, the legs. The worst thing about it, I result of as racking a five minutes as found, was that my stomach was used I’ve ever spent. Fowler hadn’t turned to gravity, and had a tendency to a hair. want to come up in the absence of it. He unstrapped himself and looked But I managed to keep from disgracing at me glumly. When I’d caught my myself. After a while it was rather breath and was convinced my voice pleasant. wouldn’t be too shaky if I tried it, I Fowler was watching my antics, said, “What’s the matter, pal? No but without amusement. As soon as men-in-the-moon ?’’ he saw me looking at him, he said He flushed. “No,” he admitted, “How do you know that life needs “Not as far as I could see.” air or water to exist, Ken?” “And you certainly were trying,” I “I don’t,” I said. “But it seems agreed. "A fine lot of help you were. logical. How else?’ DARKSIDE DESTINY 77

E FROWNED thoughtfully. up I was taut as a drumhead and “Well, what is life?” he asked. soaked through with sweat, but I “A living creature is a sort of couldn't remember any more of the

it takes stored heat dream than that horrible sensation of transformer ; energy — in the form of food — and fl,eeing. . ; . converts it into motion And neuro- Fowler was asleep by the rvindow. electrical impulses, and heaven knows AVhile I rvas trying to decide whether

what all. But it’s the transformation to wake him up or not, he solved the of energy that counts. Why does life problem for me. One eye opened and have to take its energy out of looked at me, then he yawned and got cold storage, so to speak? I can up. imagine a living being right here on He was red-rimmed around the eyes, the moon. Instead of eating, it would and badl}’’ in need of a shave—but. absorb cosmic rays, or the radiation he grinned. “Let’s eat,” he said. “It’s from the sun itself, or some form of been a long time.” energy that we don’t know about on AA^e ate, but on the fly. Our attention Earth, because the atmosphere cuts wasn’t on the sandwiches we chew^ed

it out. It could use its energy direct nor the hyped coffee. AVe hunkered and quite as efficiently as—” down by the port as we ate, staring I shrugged. “You have a vivid out the window'.

imagination,” I said. “Anyway, let’s To us, it was morning, you see. But not argue about life. What we need a Lunar night lasts fourteen days. AA’e

now is that life-in-death the poets still had the electrics going in the talk about—namely, sleep. I’m shot.” ship. Outside was unrelieved black- And I was; it had just come over ness, with only the superbly brilliant me. AVe’d gone thirty-eight hours stars for light.

without sleep, Fowler and I. The AA^’e had landed about two hundred strain Had ended, and the reaction was and fifty miles from the terminator, setting in. in the direction of its motion. Creep- Fowler looked at me moodily, but ing toward us at ten miles an hour, in didn’t say anything. I invited him to little more than a day the sunlight take the hammock while I curled up on zone w'ould be reaching us. AA'e’d

the floor, but he shook his head planned it that way, because we would without answering. want to see how the satellite looked So I took the hammock ana went to with the harsh, naked sun pounding

sleep about four seconds after I lay down on it. But at first we had to get down. Fowler was still at the port, out on the surface of this new sphere looking out, when I closed my eyes. in our vacuum suits. And that we I had bad dreams. The reaction from could do only in darkness, for even the trip caused them, I guess; that the thick hull of the Pioneer, triply and the strangeness of our surround- shielded and insulated by every means ings. But they were pretty bad, all we knew, could scarcely keep out that about something chasing me for fierce heat. The suits would have let hundreds of miles across the surface enough of the rays sift througii to of the moon, while I went bounding parboil us in an hour. along in hundred-foot leaps that were Fowler gulped down the last of his not quite enough to escape from this coffee and pushed himself gently to thing that followed me. AAHien I woke his feet. 78 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“Let’s move,” he said. “We’ve got as far as the eye could see. But those a couple of things to do before the sun were the only lights on the surface gets here.” of this world, except for a thin, sharp I joined him at the lockers where rim of light along the topmost spires our vacuum suits were stored. We of a mountain range far off on the broke them out, tested the valves, horizon. checked the oxygen charges, found Fowler and I had worked out a rude them in working order. I took out sort of code with the lights—^we had the brace of speciall)^-designed pistols no radio. Fowler dot-dashed me to he’d had made — powered by com- follow him and set off with huge pressed-air capsules. Compressed air, sprawling bounds across the landscape. expanding in a vacuum, is more explo- The footing was unpleasant — soft sive than any mixture of chemicals, and dust-fine underneath, wuth the and a good deal lighter besides. One sharpest sort of hills and crevasses to

I gave to Fowler, the other I stared leap over. On earth it would have at thoughtfully for a second, then been impossible. Some of the crevasses shoved into the clamp at the side of rvere forty feet wide, and deep beyond my suit. Fowler gravely followed my the ability of my eyes to measure. But example. He forebore saying anything, of course, being nearly weightless as for which I was grateful. True, I had we were, we could soar over them meant it when I said there could be without effort. no life on the moon. But it was as I signaled to Fowler to slow down, well to take no chances, I thought. . . . but he waved his torch at me angrily We dragged the flare charges out and kept going. He w'as heading for to the middle of the cabin floor, where a comparatively level bit of ground we could get them when we needed about a mile away. them. Then we slammd the locker That’s where we found the city. doors shut, leaving most of our It was a town in Lilliput, a doll supplies unpacked. That could wait. village. It was tiny—and it was old, The two of us in our bulky vacuum battered, smashed by the impact of suits crowded into the tiny airlock, countless meteor swarms. closed the door, lug'ged it down against Fowler got there before me, and he the heavy pressure gaskets. Then, was kneeling, peering into an opening straining, we opened the valve that in a three-foot structure. He looked bled the atmosphere of the lock into up at me as my last leap plowed up the void outside. When the last of a feathefy cloud of moondust beside the air had shrieked through the lock, him. we closed it again. There was no There was excitement in the way he pressure to hold it now the outer door bobbed his head, the gesturing of his ; opened easily to our touch. The first arms. This was what he’d come a men to set foot on the surface of quarter of a million miles to see. This another world, w-e stepped out into the Was his goal, attained just when it powdery, soft blackness. .seemed lost forever. I bent down to look beside him. E LEFT the landing beam The building had no roof, nor did it aglow atop the Pioneer, and seem ever to have had one. Whatever W we each had a heavy electric the beings were that had built these torch that could throw a clear spot Idtten-hutchcs, they had never been

1 ! !

DARKSIDE DESTINY 79

more than eight inches in height. The stresses that come twice in twenty- buildings were empty. I poked my eight days, when the lines of the hand through the opening—no door terminator pass and the sun’s blazing hung in it it looked though there fieat suddenly expands the frigid rock, ; as had never been a dooi-—and pulled out and its later passing cools it as one of the objects. quickl}^ These are not important

Well, it might have been a hassock forces, but they are all that work on

for a pygmy, or a child’s much- the moon. ' Thousands of years was , battered building block on Earth. It the minimum, beyond question. And was three inches high, vaguely cubical. no life can survive a hundred thousand Fowler plucked the thing from my years. gauntleted hand. He revolved it in Then I swallowed abruptly, and the his fingers, bending his face-plate low certainty I’d just felt went skittering

over it, his helmet light throwing a awa}v A tiny figure I saw—no, two wide cone of light upon it. of them, in the light that my bobbing

I let him have it, stood back for a helmet lamp had cast for a second look around. into the lee of a meteor-fragment. I marveled at finding the town at Two tiny figures, standing motionless all. The buildings were minute ; there —but real were only a few dozen of them, wide- It took me a handful of seconds to scattered over the relatively flat plain collect myself. Shock—it was next to on which we stood. Whoever the the greatest shock I’d ever had moon-beings might have been, they But I stood there motionless, eyeing lacked architecture. The buildings them, the rays of my head torch play- were utilitarian as a foot-rule, and no ing over their tiny bodies. They were more graceful. Squat, octagonal objects perhaps a dozen yards from me, watch- of the pumice-like rock that composed ing me as steadily as I watched them. most of the moon’s surface. I watched Tiny non-human bodies; small heads Fowler. He was placing the hassock- with one glittering eye, watching me. like object gently back in the structure. He looked about, then leaped for didn’t move. After a I HEY another building, almost identical to I moment I saw they were not the first. There was eagerness in the watching. I stepped to one side.

speed with which he bent down to peer The eyes did not move ; the figures within, disappointment in the slow twfitched not an inch. way his back straightened when he'd I thrust with my feet against the seen it was as empty as the first. clinging, pow'dery rock dust, flew I knew what he was looking for. through the air and landed before

People ! And looking around the plain them. Still no motion. at the roofless houses, T knew he’d And I picked one of them up, and never find what he sought. saw why. They were not alive. By You see, those buildings had been the rock-hard feel of them, the chillness there a long, long time. There is no that even my vacuum suit could not air on the moon. No dust storms; no keep out, they never had been.

rain or hail ; no freezing water to Statues. begin the slow process of erosion. I dot-dashed to Fowler, who saw There’s only the eon-seldom pattering and came plunging toward me. I of cosmic silt, and the heat-and-cold looked closely at the figurine I held 80 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

in my glove. Nine inches high, black but it was somehow wedged there; it as the ebony heart of hell’s overlord, broke as I dragged it out. inhuman as a Gila monster. They were The piece I held in my hand was fear-dreams in the wrong end of a like a cylinder, long and glittering. It telescope, stepped-down nightmares. was empty, open at both ends. I The horrible thing was that there prodded around for what had broken had been humanity in them. The off, but the fine pumice dust had hidden

proportions of the limbs, the shape of it. the skull—these were human. But the L handed the thing to Fowler, bloated torso, the face that was nothing nodding. It was interesting. It proved but a great faceted eye in a blank that these moon men had known the convexity of rock, the sharp, wavy art of metal-working. But the Lunites,

hair . . . those were noxious. There dead or alive, held only repulsion for was neither nose or mouth, nor did me. I felt stifled, homesick. the models for these figures possess I waved to Fowler and made back ears. The slender, three-fingered hands, for the ship, guided by the beacon we though, were almost human, and well had left burning on the hull. When designed for the shaping of tools. I got back I passed the time while I Fowler was beside me. I handed waited for him to return by bringing the tiny thing to him, glad to be rid out the equipment that went with the

of it. If these figures were accurate Earth-flare. Setting that off was our

representations of that which had next job. I was anxious to get it over. lived on the satellite, I was grateful I was anxious to get the whole trip for their death. over, and' to get back to Earth. Almost I could hear Fowler’s bellow of excitement as he saw what I gave nd surprisingly, when Fowler him. came back, he seemed almost

I turned away and left him with it. A of the same mood. The statue had made me oddly queasy. He still held the metal tube as he There was no reason, but I wanted to came through the pressure chamber.

stay away from it, as far as possible. He laid it down as he took off his

I looked around. There was a bowl- suit, but picked it up again and gazed

shaped depression the size of a small at it contemplatively. A nod was all

amphitheater a few hundred rods off. the greeting I got.

I leaped over to it, examined it. It “You look low,” I said. was lined with pumice, as was all “I feel low” He stared at the metal the moon. tube. “I came a long way for.this. I That was the spot, I thought, for felt sure the moon would have life, our signal flare to Earth.- A crude some kind of life.” reflector. I memorized the location. of I tried to cheer him up. “You were the spot. almost right,” I said. “Just a little

Fowler was signaling to me frantic- late.” . ally. I bounded over to him, and he “A million years too late.” pointed to a recess beneath the boulder. I saw it with shock—the man was

I bent low to peer at it. heartbroken! He’d joked a lot about There was a glittering object within life on the moon, but I should have I seen by the the shelter of the meteoric boulder. I known ; should have prodded at it with my space gauntlets. reckless way he'd poured his fortune DARKSIDE DESTINY 81 into the Pioneer, the eagerness with I gestured to Fowler and we returned which he glued himself to the windows to the ship. as we came down on the moon for the “Who’ll set it off?” Fowler asked first time, that it was more than a drearily when \Ve were inside. He joke to him. Fowler had wanted to be seemed to have lost interest in tjie the first man to see extraterrestrial whole expedition. The disappointment life. As a boy, he’d read fantastic of finding the moon a dead planet stories of pink Martians and lavender after all had hurt him deeply. monsters from Proxima Centauri. The I shrugged. We flipped a coin. It wonder they’d implanted within his fell heads for Fowler. mind had remained with him ever Less than ten minutes later—I’d since. shuttered the window's on the flare “Let’s send off the flare,” I said. side—the entire landscape lighted up “We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of with a harsh blue-white glow'. It lasted us.” for a handful of seconds, and died. Well, we lugged out the great trans- Earth had been notified that the parent bowl I’d invented, attached the first interplanetary voyage W'as suc- detonator leads to the terminals, and cessful ! The thought had not come ran the lines a quarter of a mile away. to me for hours; I’d almost forgotten.

Whoever set it off could lie down The papers on Earth would be rushing there', behind one of the doll-sized be shriek- out extras ; the radios w'ould buildings. Closed eyelids would be no ing our names. All over the planet, protection against the flood of light men and women would mention us to that would come from that flare, scaled each other. History would never

to be visible an astronomical distance forget. . . . away. And neither of us had any I began to take an interest in things desire to go blind. again. It was absurd to be so sickened, All that remained to be done was so almost frightened by a handful of to get the batteries from the ship and tiny objects of stone. I felt better than hook them up. I rose from where I’d I had since I’d seen the first of them. hooked in the wires to the detonator, Almost eagerly I waited for Fowler’s leaving the battery leads open, and return. took a step toward Fowler. Something crunched rustily under alf an hour passed, and Fow'ler my foot. didn’t return. An hour passed, I looked down. It had been one of H and I decided to investigate. the devil dolls—now it was nothing at There was no reason, no reason at all all. Rock or not, the things were for him to delay. He knew I 'was incredibly fragile. Even my light moon- w'aiting for him before going on with weight had crushed this one. There our work. Despite his mood, he were two more nearby, with one of wouldn’t keep me waiting like this the glittering metal cylinders beside unless there was something wrong. them. I went out to look for him. I bent down to examine the wreck- The moon was never emptier than age, and wished I hadn’t. Horrible as then. There was I, a single human, the things were when they were whole, alone in a silent blackness. Me in my the crumpled, smashed fragments at frabric-held bubble of air that all the mj feet were infinitely worse. void around the nvoon was tugging at 82 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES with every iota of suction it could all the supplies out in our rush to muster up, trying to steal it from me visit the moon’s surface a few hours so that I would freeze and the blood before. I picked them up and put them would burst through my skin and con- in the locker.-? too. Working helped geal there, and I would die alone on to clarify my thoughts. the moon. . . . I made a neat job of it . With The mountains were harsh threats Fowler’s personal belongings in the all about me, and the soft powder lockers, there was no -longer room underneath was a trap. A dull red glow enough for all the equipment. Two of superheated metal showed me spare air flasks, the boxes of ammun- where the remains of the flare were ition for the pistols, an emergency cooling off. I struck off in the direc- torch were left over, I heaped them on tion that led to where Fowler had set the chart table and stood regarding off the detonator. them abstractedly for a second. He was still there. I sealed my helmet again, went into He was dead. the lock, started across the surface of the in the longest leaps I could I picked him up effortlessly, stepped moon manage. terminator leant over a gargoyle figurine and bore his The was a fifty hours almost weightless body back toward miles away now. I had five before it reached me. the ship. His gun dropped from his Five hours would be plenty for what hand as I lifted him. A thin liquid ran I had to do. from the hole in his suit that the bullet I found what I was looking for— had made, but it soon froze and let no more run through. Fowler’s gun. I clipped it to my pres- sure suit without examining it and More heartbroken than I had seen, was about to start for the ship when I he had been. Disconsolate enough, saw the devilish figurine crouched disappointed enough to carry out his immobile there, seeming to watch me, one duty to me—to notify the Earth of with its gleaming metal tube hugged our arrival—and then to take his own to its scant chest like a precious treas- life. I could have picked up his gun ure. There was no rhyme or reason in and taken it with me, but I wanted no it, but a sudden rush of emotion came part of the weapon that had destroyed over me. And what I had once done my friend. ' by accident I did now with malice. It was hard work getting him My steel-bound boot came down on through the lock, but I managed it. the crouched doll, and when it Came The pumps filled it quickly when I’d up there were only fragments of sealed the outer door, I stepped and curiously-shaped blackness where the inside. statuette had been. I put Fowler down on his own cot That made me feel a little better. and stood back to look at him. The But I could feel my jaw muscles work- half-inch slug of the air pistol had been ing, could feel how my legs faltered kind to him. Only a tiny hole had under me as I bounced across the been ripped in the fabric of his rough plain, could feel my arms mov- pressure suit. Just big enough to kill ing spasmodically instead of w-ith a him— smooth flow of effort as they swung Wearily, I gathered up his gear and by my side. began to stow it away. We had left Nervous—I held tight to what con- DARKSIDE DESTINY 83 trol I had left. I needed it, badly. what our flare had done for a few There was work to do. seconds. And perhaps we would have A moment’s work setting the fuel been gone by then. Perhaps, on other gauges, and the rockets bellowed, fal- parts of the moon’s surface, the danger tered, then sang out an even roar of did not exist. power. Through the nose port I could Strange that pure light could be so see the sharp black-and-incandescent deadly! I remembered what Fowler line of the terminator on the slope of had said about creatures that might a jagged mountain forty miles or more live on energy directly, receiving it, away. transforming it, giving it out. That

I cut in the lift rockets in the explained the roofless houses, the nose, then loosed the main jets. The scanty architecture. It was odd, in a hull groaned and scraped for a scant way^ that having acheived that much, second, then that noise stopped and Fowler had not carried the thought to the ship was in free flight in the clean its conclusion. Odd that he had not emptiness of space. realized that that which lives by light, I set course for Earth, slowing the in darkness must be dead. But the acceleration of the ship so that the death need not be permanent. It was

planet would have a chance to revolve like any machine; stop it, and it is

beneath me till the home port in the dead. But the touch of power can

Puget Sound area was within flight bring it to life again. range. I picked up Fowler’s gun and

I locked the controls and got up, looked at it closely, though that was wearily shedding my suit. not necessary, I had been right it was ;

If only we hadn’t set off the flare, it empty.

wouldn’t have happened. Not then, at I had known it would be, ever since

any rate ; not until the terminator the moment 1 saw the three boxes of reached us and the sun’s light came ammunition, all we had brought with blasting down to do for fourteen days us, with the seals still unbroken. DIAN OF THE LOST LAND

By Edison Marshall

A strange, lost people ... a taee that Time forgot ... a man who dated to seek into the dawn of history to find a love that was stronger than the centurlea ....

Don’t miss this engrossing novel in the April issue! Reserve your copy now! Do you recall the m&amns satellites they would lamhent flames spurting from their ex- f j of that alien VJOrsi? If you tended hands, swooping down like hawks and bearing away the fairest of the maids. dOfI you mastjL speakZ. — tor£ you have the power to decide^ not only the fate of the doomed purple men^

84 —

DHUCTWHU!- REMEMBER?

CHAPTER ONE I’m thinking of Andrew Milton; he’d been known for over twenty years to Don’t You Know? his students at that midwest university as a hidebound conservative. So I don’t

HACTWHU! think you’d call „ him the fool. Then, Remember? Fletcher Amsbury. At one time or If that word means anything another he’d been in the service of

to you, it means a lot to us all. Maybe nearly all of the allied nations, during I can awaken some latent memory in the second world war. So you can’t say

you. Your mind may hold the Rosetta he was a fool ; fools don’t last in bis Stone destined to recapture a lost game. As for me, Stanley Denning

secret of time and space. . . . well, maybe, . . . Three lone men, lost in the jungle, We were three lone men and an with only a dream to guide us. obsessing dream, pushing our way into Plodding stubbornly on, after our the heart of well-nigh unexplored guides and bearers had deserted us. wilderness, somewhere in South Amer- Leaving a trail behind us which we ica. Perhaps we were fools, too. But knew would soon be obliterated. Hack- 85 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES iug- onr way ahead, when what maps But on the third night after the men ihere were warned ns v/e could expect who had accompanied us broke and nothing' here but fever and siow or would go no farther, we came upon the 'lulde:: ileath. great black city alone. Three madmen, What drew us to this lost world? I and an impossible dream made real. can't answer tliat for certain even now. AYe stood in silent awe on the out-

All I know is that as . long as I can skirts of the ebon metropolis- I couldn’t remember, Anisbury and I had even whisper to communicate my dreamed of finding a colossal black emotion to the others. But there was cit’y, hidden in this jung'le. It was the no need. most persistent clrcaiu I've ever heard I wasn’t afraid, simph:" wonder-struck of. grew np together, Anisbury and before the bigness and beauty of it. I

I, and we used to tell eacii other stories was ashamed to break the silence. of the citj-, and try to. guess it.s Finally Amsbury swallowed, choked:

’Tic.P.n mg’. “This is as I have dreamed of it.” But from the very first we kiierv we AA’e stood on the fringe of the jungle must nc\'cr tell anyone else—unless in the moonlight, .staring across a th-ey gave the sign first. strangely clear expanse at sheer, jet- Then one day Amsbury came in and black walls that must have climbed a said simply: “Get ready. I think I knoit full fifty feet into the air. And they

'.vhere it is.” stretched in either direction as far as I hadn’t beard him enter my. apart- we could see. ment I hadn’t seen him since the barriers. ; There was no break in those beginning of the war. But I got right And they were Aibaddon black. up and started packing. Three acol3Tes of an ancient mystery, I knew what ..\msbnry knew, without worshipping before their dream. AA^e asking. couldn’t see much of the -wonder city And while v.e were checking out itself, yet; only its spires and colon- of the hotel, Amsbury mentioned the nades peered down on us from behind word of which you may have a hazy those walls. recollection- “Dbactwhu.” Pie didn’t Milton .said: “I don’t remember how upon it than if he were noting the to get in. There’s nothing that looks time. But a tall, gray-haired man pijt like a gateway, arch or any other means say it loudly, and put no more emphasis of entrance. Do you remember, down the paper he was reading. Amsbury, you, Denning?” “My name is -\ndrew Milton,” he I roused myself from contemplation .said. “I overheard.” of the jet wall before us. “No, I can’t

And before either Amsbury or 1 remember how to get in.^’ could say anything, he added : “I will “There was a path,” Amsbury go with you.” whispered, “a path as white as that After that it was the roil of tires, wall is black, and almost blinding tlie rumble of trains, and the throb of against the barrier. It led up to an ship's motors. Heat, and the soft opening in one of the spires. The path dipping of canoe paddles in green river was resistant, yet it seemed to have no waters.. Silent parading along beaten thickness whatsoever. I was afraid to trails, then struggling into untrodden step on it, yet I did ...” territory. The desertion of our guides “And walked into the tower?” I and porters. asked. ” — ”

DHACTWHU !—REMEMBER?

He shook his head- “There’s a break crawled into them without saying in my dream, then. The next thing I good night. remember is being inside the city-p- alone.” OMEONE was shaking me awake. Milton stretched. “I’m for shut-eye For a monent I wasn’t quite sure

right now. Maybe you’ll dream the S where I was. Then it was all clear missing link tonight. Let’s continue in my mind- “Sorry, Fletch,” I tomorrow. You’d better turn in too, mumbled. “I’ll be right up.”

Denning—it’s your turn to stand “It’s I. Milton,” came a voice.

second watch.” “Amsbury is gone.” “I’ll come soon,” I answered. “The I sat upright, then, and all the shards moon isn’t very high now, and I want of sleep fell off. “That’s what I wanted to wait until it’s over the far tower. to tell him!” I gasped. “I wanted— to Maybe something— will happen then. I warn him to w'ait for the moon have a hunch “What are you talking about?” Milton started, his hand fumbling I shook my head. “I’m—I’m not awkwardly at his hip. “Over there,” he entirely sure, but there’s one thing I breathed tensely, his eyes flaring to seem to remember indicate the direction. We crouched “Amsbury told us about a sort of instinctively, our eyes straining in the white road leading* down from the

dim lights, hearts hammering. tallest tower. But it isn’t safe to walk

“Some animal?” whispered Amsbury. on it until the moonlight is full on the “Probably just my nerves,” muttered spire. And you have to hurry, even Milton as we drew back, “but we can’t then, because there’s just enough time be too careful.” He was silent a for a man to walk it quickly.” moment, then he murmured, “Have you any idea what this road “Dhactwhu!” is?” And something like a chill shot I shook my head. “But maybe we’ll through me, yet it wasn’t terror. It was find out when we see it-” a kind of secret joy, but there was sad- We followed Amsbury’s trail up to

ness mixed up with it, and the melan- the blank space between the walls of choly lent a desperate quality to the the city and the jungle surrounding

joy. . . . it. Amsbury had passed this Avay; his “Now you know?” I asked him prints led off to the right. anxiously- They kd to a point, then broke off, He looked pained. “I ought to,” he as if Amsbury had dissolved into thin sighed. “I thought that when we found air.

this place, just the sight of it would I looked up at the forbidding black open something that’s been locked up walls and rested my hand on their inside me. Locked up inside all three glassy surface. “There’s no use look- of us. But I still don’t know any more ing,” I said. “We won’t find Amsbury than I did yesterday.” tonight.”

“I wonder if we came too late?” I Milton nodded. “For some reason, I said gloomily. believe you.” He shrugged his shoulders. “If “And,” I added, “I think there’s only there’s a way into the city, we’ll find one way we can get into this city. it” Tomorrow night, when the moon is W« prepared our sleeping bags and high—when the moonlight touches that ”

88 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

tower. Then we will be able to see “Wait!” I warned- “Wait for the j exactly what— moon!” Milton’s eyes swept across the star- hlilton looked up into the heavens. studded sky. “Why not?’’ he whispered. The rays from the full moon were not “Why not mechanisms activated by yet directly on the tower. lunar rays? We know’ there are I reached down, picked up a branch elements in the light reflected from the from the ground, and flung it upon the moon which are not found in ordinary blinding highway. It seemed to melt

sunlight.” into the pure white of it, then disappear. “So? Well, you’re the professor. It “That must be what happened to !” looks as if we may uncover plenty of Amsbury secrets, if we can ever get into the Milton’s voice was a hoarse whisper. city.” “Gone—vanished. Disintegrated.” I’ll never know how we managed to endure waiting through that next day, he moon had climbed higher, waiting for night to come. now. We w'-ere crouching by the great w'all, T I threw another branch onto

watching Luna lift herself into the it off, little the path ; bounded a piece

sky, and every faint stirring of air of it breaking loose and lingering near seemed to whisper, “Dhactwhu!” And the edge—unharmed. “It’s safe,” I said, with every breath we echoed that an unaccountable calmness controlling whisper. my voice. If only we could remember! It I took a deep breath and hesitantly seemed then as if the fate of worlds stepped up onto the white road. rested somewhere in the inner meaning It was solid, substantial as any con- of that alien word. And, in the end, we crete highw’ay I’d ever put my foot on. came to know that we were right. I took a few more steps, trying not to Finally the vigil was over: The look down.

moonlight glowed upon the great w'all. If I closed my eyes, it would feel the Milton grasped my arm. “Look—the same as if I were going up an ordinary !” tower ramp in the city, back home. I kept The lunar rays hadn’t touched that that thought in mind, and kept on great spire yet, but something else was climbing, Milton right behind me. As happening, and I felt fear race up and we drew near I could see what looked down my spine. For something was like a doorway in the dark. emerging from the windowless tower, Milton paused. “Don’t stop,” I something that looked partly like a warned him. “There’s no telling how two-dimensional snake, and partly like long this thing will be safe.” a wafer-thin river of light, flowing Ironic time to talk of safety, when down to meet us. we were about to step deliberately into White, it was, this languorous, what might well be a death-trap. I writhing wonder—a blinking white tried not to think about the diabolic that contrasted perfectly with the w’elcoming devices with which some abysmal black of the city. ancient cities were strewn, as I went “The white path!” breathed Milton. through that door. xA.n instant later, "Amsbury’s enchanted entrance into Milton was beside me. the city!” He started forward, as if to “Why did you stop?” I asked him-

leap upon it. He grinned. “Just dropped some- ”

DHACTWIiU !—REMEMBER? 89 thing. My watch. See?” He pointed to a Avooden dummy. That AA^as my first it, resting on the white ramp a short impression, and it stayed. There was a way back. — grace and suppleness in his movements “Don’t go after it ” I started to say, Avhich made me think of seals sporting then the watch melted into the white- in the sea. He Avas simply clad: a ness, and Avas gone. Vanished—just cossack skirt, ski-jumper’s trousers, like that first branch I’d thrown on it. and sandals.

We couldn’t see from here, but it Avas Strangely, it Avas the colors of his plain enough that the moonlight no costume Avhich affected one most longer bathed the tOAA'er. BeloAV us, the strongly. Purple and black! Tl>e colors highAvay was retreating, coming back that had ahvays had a strange effect to its source. upon me—almost as strong as that of

“Fantastic!” breathed Milton. the single Avord the being uttered as it !” “Utterly and completely fantastic stood looking at us. !” “But real,” I added. “Dhactwhu He nodded. “Quite real. And Avhen fantasy becomes stark, objective fact, CHAPTER TWO it’s no use going into philosophical discussion about .it. We have to find The Purple Man out why, now.”

As if to punctuate that thought, the or a second my entire being doorway through Avhich Ave’d come surged AAuth exaltation. I started seemed to fill in, becoming the same F foi'Avard, eager to return his ultimate black as the walls around us. greeting, as if I’d found a long-lost For a moment we Avere in total dark- brother. But something tugged at my ness, and I kncAv hoAv a trapped animal subsconscious, Avarned me to Avait. I feels. clutched Milton’s arm. “Don’t answer,”

Were Ave trapped? I fumbled around I murmured as softly as I could, speak- my belt for the handlamps Ave carried, ing in the back of my throat, moving unfastened mine. my lips as little as possible. “I’ve a .” But before I could snap it on, the hunch . . room began to brighten, as if someone Milton nodded shortly. “Hello,” I behind the scenes Avere Avorking a called out in as genial tones as I could rheostat, until the entire chamber Avas muster. “We come as friends.” I held bathed in a sourceless gloAV. out both hands, and repeated the AVord. “It’s bare,” Milton murmured, “and “Friends.” no sign of an exit—” The purple one strode forAvard, no

“Back against the wall !” I Avhispered. trace of expression on his face. His “There’s something— eyes Avere fathomless, black. Over at the far end of the room, the “Habla usted espanol?” I asked him-. wall was parting; our hands fell instinc- No repljn Milton, the professor, tried tively to the heaA'y service pistols Ave French, German, Latin, Russian and carried. What manner of being Avould that mixture of Romantic languages, come through that portal? A giant Esperanto. The figure shook its head, spider? A monster bat? and repeated the Avord Avhich still sent It was a man—or, at least, it looked shivers of anticipation up and doAvn human. I slid my pistol out. my spine. The man was tall, with a face like “Dhactwhu 1” — — — ;

so SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Could i,'- be a test? Was he repeating' wonder if it -will open for anyone.” He the word-'iii ‘he hope of some betraying stepped backward quickly; again the response iron, us? section slid aside. Milton tunit'l to me gloomily. We hurried after the purple man, “Unless he has some way of reading somehow feeling more secure, our pis- minds which I doi-'bt—we’ll have to tols ready as w-e kept an eye out for resort to the old-fashmned system.” any more of the devil dogs. He shrugged. “Never 'nind, we can Our guide was up ahead in the pas- ” learn a lot in sage w^e had entered. The faint glow He broke off suddenly, bis eyes fixed seemed to be following us. We could on the doorway behind the figure. I see a short distance ahead, but already followed his gaze, and started at the the section through v%diich we had come sight of the creature there. was dark. It was vaguely like a dog, but not a We followed the solitary figure to a nice dog. It might have been the inspir- small room, containing only a wide ation for those legends of the hounds couch and a small table. On the latter jof Hades. A huge creature, eyes glow - a large flagon stood, filled with some

ing phosphorescently, long fangs gleam fluid I didn’t recognize ; two handleless

ing, body streamlined, it crouched I ups were beside it. there. Crouched, and Without a word or gestui'e our guide “Look out !” cried Idilton, seizing Oft us. the purple man’s arm and pulling him Pfilton went up to the wall where we to one side. It was too late; the impact had entered. Nothing happened. Care- of that hurtling mass of killer-flesh f'jlly he went around the -entire wall- hurled him to the floor. surface of the cubicle, his hands run-

T grabbed my gun, but tire purpU ning along the smooth face of it. No man v.-as already grappling with the doors appeared. monster. Pie tlirust a fist into that hell- “It seems we’re invited to stay,” I ish throat, rvhile the hound clawed a-nd said. coughed and struggled, trying to rend Milton dropped on the bed. “How’s its way free. your hnneher working?” I dared not fire for fear of hitting I fingered my forehead, absently the man, but in an instant I saw a poured out a cup of the fluid into the break, and slammed the gun-butt down flagon. “AVish I knew. Something hard on the creature’s head. Tiiere was w-arned me it wasn’t wise to let on we i sound of bone cracking, a yelp, and it knew anything about ‘Dhact'whu’ yet. went /imp. I don’t know whether that was because I whirled round to the sharp report of Purple-face, or what.” I raised the of Milton’s pistol, to see a second hound cup to my nose. “This smells all right.” twisting in midair from the impact of a “If they wanted to do away with us, heavy slug. It fell heavily to the floor, they wouldn't have to resort to poison,” kicking. Milton pointed out. The purple being rose, apparently “Unless there were rival factions in unhurt- He motioned us to follow him, this city, and one side wanted to dis- and walked toward the wall on another credit the other—we two being guinea side of the room. A section slid aside pigs in their game.” we followed him through. "Oh no, Mr. Baker! Not that!”

“Noiseless,” observed Milton. “I Milton drained his cup and set it down. ;

DHACTWHU '.—REMEMBER? 91

“The stuff really tastes all right, too.’’ Down limitless corridors the purple I followed suit, then stretched out on man bore me, until at last we stepped the bed. It had a comfortable resilient out into daydight. A clear, bright day feel. “That being the case. I’m for a where the azure of the sky' above was short rest. We can try to figure out a painted thing, hardly to be believed. strategy later. Unless my eyes have I saw now that the solid masses within gone back on me, the light in here is the city' were also of that Same jet fading.” material that composed the magnificent

“Call me if any food appears,” he walls. yawned. There was not much to aee from, my “Have idea the position the sky' constituted most of you any what com- ; position of this place might be? Or my' range of vision, and seemingly about that resistant ra)'- we walked reaching down from above me were on ?” several of the taller buildings and the Milton shook his head. “Your guess distant wall. There were no breaks in is as good as mine.” any' of the buildings that I could see. “And Amsbury,” I said. “Is he A bird was circling over us it ; dead?” swooped down toward the wall, as if “You saw what happened to ni}' to light upon its inner surface—and watch—and to that branch.” suddenly it was a bloody', headless^ "I saw it,” I admitted. “But they thing, wings beating frantically' to sus- didn’t disintegrate; they disappeared.” tain its dy'ing body.

Amsbury might still be alive. . . . The purple man bore me to a large platform, circular in shape, slightly HETHER the dreams preceded raised above the ground level, where be

reality, or were inspired by"- it, joined a similar figure. I could not see W I shall never be sure. I cannot at first, then the other figure moved so recall the precise order of events, yet that I could see that it, too, bore a man

I know this came first : I awoke to find slung carelessly under one arm. Milton. myself paralyzed. It was as if I had no I saw the second figure raise his arm, corporeal structure whatsoever, but pointing to the sky. were sheer,, matterless entity, capable And suddenly' the ground rvas of receiving sight and sound slipping away from under me. impressions. There was no consciousness of I saw the purple man departing from motion, no dizziness. I could see the the room where we lay, bearing the spread of terra firma, apparently curv- body of a man under his arm, carrying ing up around me, see it gradually it easily^ It was Milton he carried flattening out, flattening until at last Milton, lying utterly relaxed. Through it was the outer surface of a spheroid. the section of wall went the purple Around me the azure had become a man, then I was alone in the night and deeper blue and now and then we the timelessness of that room. 1 would plunge into titanic banks of couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. clouds so that I could see nothing else Presently the alien returned and bent around me- over me. I could still feel nothing, but How fast were we going? There was the shifting vista told me that I, too, no sense of motion or time, nor could had been lifted, and was now being I feel the friction of my ascent. Yet, borne away. now that I recall it, it seems that we 92 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

could not have been rising at any great tell is that at last I saw a spheroid speed, otherwise my clothing might approaching us and that gradually it

well have ignited like a meteor. grew and srvelled until it filled the Below us, to one side now, I could entire range of my vision. And the see Earth diminishing gradually into a black of space grew lighter until it compact mass, luminous and blue. The became a deep/ green. And rve plunged medium through which we were travel- into cloud-like masses, the verdant hue ing had now become dark and we must lightening, until at last the face of this have been well beyond the stratosphere. world rpse up and engulfed us and There was a brightness emanating we came to rest- from the figure carrying Milton, a One more thing I cannot explain. coruscating brightness that looked for At one point in that interminable all the world like the fiery train made journey across the void, I saw that we by Fourth-of-July sparklers hurled into were surrounded by a host of beings the air. And around me I could see the like the ones bearing Milton and my- glowing lights of stars, more stars than self. In their arms they carried lovely I had ever seen on earth. dark girls, motionless as we were. I realize now that I could not have They were a vast troop of purple- seen them in their true light, those faced beings, their arms raised rigidly celestial bonfires, glowing incande- above their heads, and a trail of corus- scently against the utter night of inter- cations emanating, seemingly, from

planetary space ; had their real their very fingertips. For a time we brilliance struck me, my eye would were all in this stellar company, then have been burned-out cinders, my brain they moved away from us and soon a wilted brown lettuce-head. were out of my limited line of vision. No longer could I see the Earth. We But that was before the green world might have been floating still in space. came out of space. We had long passed the point where We landed on a raised circular plat- motion could be judged by the appear- form, mate to that on earth save that ance of other objects; our acceleration, it was located on an open plain. The however great in itself, was nothing beings that bore us stood unmoving compared to the pace of these other until the seeming “'earth” before us masses; was, relatively speaking, no slid aside and we were taken down into motion at all. an airlock and the door to the surface I am not an astronomer, so I cannot slid shut above us. But not before I tell what course we took through the bad seen that the tall grass that grew lanes of space to come to our destin- on the plain was yellow, that a small ation. Even now, when it has been orange sun hung in a sky in which explained to me again and again, I do other stars were visible, and that the not understand. They have made it as ground of this weird planet was a simple as they could; have tried to steelish gray.

clarify it by likening gravitational forces to winds and currents upon our RECALL being carried again own terrestrial oceans. through corridors, of being placed For all I know, lustrums, decades, I upon something that looked like might have passed—years and years of an operating table; then all impres- the void to a distant world. All I can sions drifted away as true sleep over- Earth time—while we flashed through came me. And my dreams were all of —

DHACTWHU !—REMEMBER? 93 the journey recently done, except tliat what point in the known universe ‘here’

I was swimming in luminous ether, is. I’m not yet sure. But we arrived from world to world, in pursuit of dark- safely, ,and we’ve been in this place haired sirens. for several — days. And out of space came the purple "They performed an operation on us ones to snatch my prizes away from back in the black city so we could me; from behind dead, dark satellites endure the space-vo3'age they ;

they would rush, lambent flames reversed it l>ere. Only it took you spurting from their extended hands, longer to come out of whatever species swooping down upon our party, of anesthetic they use than I.” swooping doAvn like hawks and bearing "Then my impressions that we were away the fairest of the maids. carried here b^- the purple-faced brutes, I would fly in pursuit, but they were just dreams? We came in a would wheel and fling a word which sf)accship?”

wrung all power out of me, so that I He shook his head. “Your impres- fell helplessly in the illimitable abyss. sions were the same as mine, judging And as I fell, the word whould echo in by what yoU were mumbling in your my ears with a growling thunder, as of sleep. I’ve been up and around all day, doom unguessable. but haven’t seen much. Th-ey didn’t “Dhactwhu!” want to start language instruction until

And I knew that if I could but 3'ou were awake.” remember the meaning of the word, I sighed. "No thought helmets?” the overhanging doom would be “No thought helmets, no h^'pnotic averted, the dark-haired girls no more teachings, no telepathy. It appears tormented, and the evil purple ones there’s no royal road, we’ll have to learn would depart and become a happy the hard way. But chances are they’ve

. people. . . organized the technique of teaching So finally, despair haunting my language sO’ we can be on primitive heart, I screamed the word aloud, Speaking terms in a few daj's.”

hoping the potent sound of it would Milton was right about one thing: shatter the mechanism by which the they did have the business of teaching purple ones flashed through space. wonderfully organized. It took us only !” “Dhactwhu three weeks to get to the point where And the timbres of the word sped we could make ourselves understood faster than a bullet of light. Arrowing about simple things. through the ether, they overtook those They let us out into tire underground who scintillated in the distance, so city, let us roam free. But I could not that they fell like lightning-blasted enjoy such freedom, exploring this branches, toppling into the abyss baby world within the parent planet. where I floated helplessly. In the back of mj^ mind something was But one of the purple beings reached stirring constantly, making me ever out and grasped my shoulder and more impatient to discover the crux became of this whole affair. Before it svas too

Milton 1 late, an inaudible voice warned me; I was sitting up in a comfortable before it was too late! bed. “Milton! where are we?” Why did those thoughts come to me He smiled and shrugged his should- then? I don’t know. I thought them as ers. "We’re — here. Just precisely at Milton and I strode about among ! ”

94 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

strange sights. I tried desperately to the world we have left, but we could

remember something as rve gazed npon endure it if our attentions were occu- lush growths of yellovr plant-life, pied with delving into the mysteries watching the odd-shaped birds twitter- here. But ivhen that is forbidden us,

ing in the yellow trees, felt the steel- what is there for us to do but pine away gray “earth” beneath our feet, and let like captured animals?” our eyes follow the pink clouds in the “Only men of our world do not pine greenish “sky.” Had I known, I don’t away peacefully, Athann-5,” I added. think I would have guessed we were “They take action.” not upon the surface of the planet, par- We waited anxiously as the purple ticularly after we were caught in a man considered our ultimatum, his face shower one day — a shower that as inscrutable as ever. The closest we spattered us greenly, like ink spots had ever known him to approach an And I missed the smell of earth after emotion was an occasional expression that rain. And green grass, brown of approval about our progress with earth, blue water. Purple color here, language, or our deductions from what but blue v.’as seldom seen. little we had been able to see. He had

. Even now, I dream of blue skies. . . seemed to understand that such bits It is hard to tell of the city, for v/e of praise spurred us on and made us

were like content if the ever any men moving through a dream. — , word had There were moving ways as well as meaning to him. footpaths; tliare were three-wheeled “I am not sure you are as yet entirely vehicles corresponding to taxis—only ready,” he replied, “in spite of your without drivers. And we rode those remarkable progress, but this unbal- moving ways, trod those paths, and anced condition of which you speak amused ourselves by being driven makes the step advisable. Very well, around in the robotaxis—without see- then, we shaU go to Althann now.” ing a sign of human habitation. “Althann?” AVe learned exactly one answer to “The original. Althann is as you; I tile countless questions we fired at our and Althann-1, 2, 3 and 4 are but alien mentor: bis name. dupHcMes—machines.” Milton, I think, was more amazed LTHANN-S, as we had come to than I. “Why didn’t I reali.ze that?” ^know the single plum-colored he ga.sped. “It explains innumerable A being who had been our things about you. But you didn’t seem instructor, guide and sole companion to act like a metal being; you seemed— since our arrival on the green world, to require food and rest just as we did not seem surprised ivlien one morn- “I am not composed of metal,” he ing we faced him with a demand for interrupted. “Nor am I a machine in straight ansivers to the myraid inquir- the sense that I have wheels, "wires, ies he had been evading. springs, levers or other artificial, tooled “A¥e are unhappy,” said Milton. parts within me. I am—what you “Curiosity is a prime factor with us, might call a chemical copy.” AItliann-5, and every time you refuse He cut further conversation short us an answer we feel disturbed and by motioning us to follow him. We uneasy. Now we have reached the went out of the room, out of the build- 'n-eaking point. ing into one of the automatic taxis, “AAb? cannot help being lonely for heard him give the instructions into the :

DHACTWHU !—REMEMBER? 95

address-port. The room we had just regal and incredibly ancient about her. left, the building, the street outside now She extended a patrician hand—warm, seemed to take on new aspects; we slim, as lovely as could be offered by thought of them as if for the first time, the loveliest woman of our own people.

wondering if they would look the same “Dhactwhu,” she whispered. when we knew the secret of this Amsbury-Althann shook his head- underground city. “They don’t know either, Thanya.” He A short trip, then we disembarked at nodded to us. “Let’s go.” one of the few taller buildings, rode a

spiraling escalator to its top floor. VEN if I had the space to The tension was such that I didn’t describe in detail what Milton retain much of what I saw, even though and I saw in that projection room I was straining my eyes in all direc- (what we’ve seen many times over tions. We followed Althann-5 through since) such a description would be rooms and corridors, entering at last impossible. There exist no words in any what might easily have been an attrac- of the two thousand Terrestrial tive apartment in uptown New York, experience in the general tongues ; no allowing for the oddities of furniture memory of the human race as referent design and appliances. for the unfamiliar terms. Just one The android addressed the stranger example will suffice: I have said that who stood, his back to us, before what the skins of these people were purple, appeared to be a screen with a type- that purple was the most common color writer keyboard below it- on this world. To us, but not to them. “They are here, Athann.” The color-perceptions of these people The man turned. are more complex than our own; to Milton stuttered first, “Am— them there exist four primary colors !’’ Amsbury red, yellow, blue and indigo, all with permutations and combinations which "There’s no time for detailed explan- we cannot sense. ations now,” said Amsbury after hand- On the screen we saw the golden clasps and the first shock of seeing our age of the Elders, the builders of the friend again had worn off. “Except black city of the jungle and of count- to tell you that the white path broad- less others, some of which are known cast me here—disintegration then either in their ruined forms, or in re-integration.” legends. The remains on Easter Island, “But you—Althann!” I gasped. the fantastic Zimbabwe, the better- He smiled. "Only by adoption. The known legendary^ Atlantis—these are original Althann made me his heir. but a few. Come into the next room and look at We saw them, in colossal factories, some films. The entire history of these produce great mirrors which were per- people is recorded on microfilm. The fect reflectors, saw these flawless mir- reason we’ve kept you waiting so long rors placed in exact alignment, watched is that Thanya and I have been going Avide-eyed as light itself was captured over the historical library and carefully between these polished surfaces and selecting the material we have to sho'.v reflected between them indefinitely yoii.” until its cosmic speed was tamed, its A door opened and a purple-skinned composition altered, until it metamor- womiwi entered. There was something phosed into a solid mass; became in — ,

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES fact, the elusive material of which the On the red planet they found a city in the jungle was constructed. A strange form of semi-vegetable life, form of matter hard beyond imagining, living syrabioticaily with crustacean to the eye blacker than total blackness, .sand-d^velling mammals. The Elders darr.ble to the end of time. made, contact with this stapledonian • solid s.iw far their And, in a less form, we creature, found it ,to be by ^ them thus produce the resistant ray superior in iiiteliigence. actually not a two-dimensional beam, Then came the fateful expedition

but a super-flexible “tape” w'hicli which, marked the final step in the ,, appeared to have no thickness. existence of th^" Elders. A slight defect And we saw the plat'grounds of these in the mechanism of an exploring ship, people, vast areas where nature wa.s a forced landing wherein several mem- permitted to run its course unchecked bers were mortally hurt, and the ship —where tliey went to lead the primitive damaged beyond hope of repair. And. lives of savages, fashioning their orvn the Martian intelligence made the weapons and tools, choosing caves for Elders a proposition. It was hopelessly homes. During the winters in these bound to Mars as long as it existed side playgrounds they decorated these caves by side with the crustacean-creature; with drawings of the -plants and it had progressed there as far as it animals about them, using the crude could possibly go. paints they could make themselves. But if it were to establish symbiosis I remember ejaculating to Milton as with Earthmen, new vistas would be. !” I saw this: “The Cro-Magnards And opened. With them, it could explore

Amsbury nodded, “Quite right. Many the entire universe; it could bring to were killed, or suffered death through them senses and perceptions they them- natural causes in the playgrounds; it selves could not hope to develop for is their puz.z;le remains which the many centuries ; it could make them paleontologists of our people and make nearly immortal. them wonder what happened to the Some of the party, fatally injured, Cro-Magnard race. would soon die. Why not, asked the “No remains of the Elders, other intelligence, try an experiment; perform than these, have been found because operations upon these members, which in the cities, their dead were ajways the Martian supermind would direct. disintegrated.” Unless their brains had been damaged,

“Then, what happened to them?” it could save their lives by taking direct whispered Milton. command of their bodies-

“Watch and you’ll see,” the lovely I do not think I have ever seen so Thanya replied. dramatic and intense a scene as this I sank back, my attention again episode, as the expedition discussed and focused on the screen, wondering if argued the question. Would not this scenes of terrific w'arfarc or natural symbiosis rob man of his individuality catastrophe would appear. But I hadn’t —make him little more than a physical begun to understand. servant of the Martian? Dying mem- We saw the Elders constructing bers of the expedition finalty settled rocket ships bound first for the moon, the dispute by insisting that the oper- then the planets; saw th-era rcacli ation Ije performed—with the under- Earth’s satellite successfully, then land standing that they would be put to on Mars. death bv' their fellows should their DHACTWHU !—REMEMBER? 97

actions indicate that their identities had itors of the human race of today.” been submerged. Thany'a said, “We kept in close touch As breathless as if we were in the with Earth and it is all recorded. You wrecked rocket, Milton and I watched may see later. Changing conditions, the intricate operation, beheld the disease and survival of the most fit actions of the first New Men. changed them. But the human brain, There was a difference—but even the even in the stunted primitives, most skeptical of the expedition had to remained. And part of the brain con- admit that the marriage of Mars mind tains ancestral memories. Not the same to earthmen did not seem to make the memories in the case of every earthmen less human. individual; some have little or none. The reel ended with a way of com- “But we are satisfied there arc some munication with Earth being found, so humans alive today who still remember !” that the entire party was rescued. the' Elders Amsburv turned to us and said, “Gan “You mean,” said Milton, “that you guess now what happened to the ‘Dhactwhu’ refers to ‘memory of the Elders?” Elders’?” “The human race on Earth became “You are very near right,” she said. “ New Men!” I said. ‘Dhachtwhu’ is the beginning of a Thanya nodded. “Yes, with the phrase—a proverb which the Elders exception of a small colony. But why knew. It refers specifically to the treat- did they leave Earth?” ment of a certain sickness—one which “It must be that there was something we had conquered long before the first about Earth which the Martian could flight to Mars.” not endure. So they simply packed up Her eyes went wide. “But that was and moved.” thousands of years ago—tens of The purple patrician nodded. “You thousands! We had forgotten about are right,” she said. “You will see the such things, because when we became exodus in the next film.” what we are today, the control our brains now had over our bodies was y BRAIN was a carousel for such that no sickness could touch us, hours after we had seen the Ave thought. No accident could barm us M culmination of the flight from for long, unless the brain were hope- I Earth to Ygrinat. Yet, dazed as I was, lessly damaged. We could replace lost my curiousity was still unsatisfied. members as crustaceans do. “Amsbury, you still haven’t explained “But now—for over a century—our one of the prime my'^steries. Why are entire race has been sick. We have been the New Men living in an underground dying, and are helpless to combat the city here—and where are they? What illness- We do not know what it is; we became of Althann? Where are haven’t been able to find out.” Thanya’s people? “Then,” whispered Milton, “your “And what is Dhactwhu?” hope is to find some person on Earth Amsbury turned and glanced at his Avho has the knowledge y'ou seek in !” purple companion, bis eyes pitying- his hidden memories “You remember my saying that some “Yer. Somewhere on Earth there of the Elders chose not to become New must b*, a man or woman—-perhaps Men and to remain on Earth? They' several persons—who remember. Who, did so, and in time became the progen- when they hear the word ‘Dhactwhu,’ — —

98 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES will be able, without thinking, to repeat She nodded mutely as she lingered the entire phrase. over the form of a little girl, lying “We know this is so, because there amidst masses of soft, violet hair. “This are a number who are stirred by the is Thanala,” she said without further syllables. You three, for example. comment. “There must be someone who !” remembers completely DO not know how long we slept, “But how can such a person or for we were thoroughly exhausted persons be found, Thanya?” I from the nervous strain of the past

“That’s where we come in,” Amsbury day; all I remember is being shaken answered for her. “One of us must go and arising sleepily *to see Amsbury back and try to find some way of fully dressed- His throat was husky getting the message before the world. as he spoke. And that is going to be a job. “It’s happened, Stan. Sooner than I “Althann-S will take one of us back expected. We must prepare at once.” and remain in the city with Anthann-4. “What?” There are always some duplicates there “Thanya—during the night.” to keep undesired attention away and “Thanya! Oh, no! Then—then only ?” to transport anyone who might be able those children— to help the people of Ygrinat.” “All who are left of the New Men.” “Which of us shall go back?” asked I dressed absent mindedly. I was .” Milton. “I would prefer to stay . . choking as I asked, “What can we do, “We’ll settle that later,” replied Fletch? Thanya gone, and we know Amsbury. “First we must plan a cam- nothing of this city, really. What can paign—figure out as many practical we do?” ways as possible of spreading the mes- “The city will run itself for a sage to the people of Earth without thousand years to come; the duplicates attracting attention to what we’re —there are a good many of them left doing-” will help us. Thanya gave them orders I turned to Thanya. “Are there some time ago to cooperate with us.” many of your people now?” I looked out the oval window at the

The purple of her skin became very rising orange sun, then remembered it faint. She shook her head wordlessly, was artificial. “But why was this city and arose. “Come,” she said simply, built beneath the surface?” I mused to .” “I will show you . . myself. The chamber to which Thanya took “They originally thought the sick- us looked like a mausoleum. We gazed ness was due to sopnething in the upon an even dozen little coffins, each atmosphere—something that came containing a charming child. from outside. They -spent years in “They are all,” w'nispered Thanya. removing, sterlizing everything below “Five boys and seven girls—the last and sealing it off—but it didn’t help. twelve children born. We decided to They are almost all gone, now, unless — •” put them in suspended animation as Dhactwhu . . soon as they were old enough, in hopes Milton joined us later. “Two of us that Dhactwhu might be found and must stay here and wait. How shall they would have a chance to live.” we decide?” My mouth was dry. “These are “I’ll go back,” declared Amsbury. all—?” “Unless one of you feels he can’t bear ! !

DHACTV/HU '—REMEMBER? 09 staying here indefinitely. It really isn’t help them. But to have the super-civil- essential, I suppose, if you feel you ization of a race thousands of years in must go back to Earth. The androids advance of us dumped suddenly in our .” can keep matters going . . laps—it could only mean disaster. “I’ll .stay,” I said. “So long as I know “I think I know what is on your

I can return when I want to. I’ll stick mind, Amsbury. You plan not only to around.” awaken Dhactwhu, but also quietly to

“Likewise,” said }iIiIton. kidnap a small group of people who can Amsbury nodded approvingly. “Very be trusted and bring them here—to well, then. Stan—you’re the writer; form a colony?” you’re to write up the general outline “Right! Stan, you thought you saw of what has happened to tis. I’ll try to some of the duplicates carrying girls in get it published back on Earth. It may their arms on your way here, eh? Well, take a long time, because care is essen- I canT promise anything in the way of tial—we must not attract attention to beauties, but you’ll see some Earth

if the city in the jungle or to what we are people coming here soon ; and I can doing. Not yet. find any likely ladies with adventurous “Just how I am going to go about spirits, your vision will come true to a spreading the word Dhactwhu without certain extent.” letting on the why and wherefore, I Althann-5 is taking Amsbur}'- back haven’t figured out. Can’t do it here. to Earth with this manuscript. If you’ve But I’ll find a way when I get back.” Martian heritage, surely you will not “But why the secrecy?” fail to speak

Milton cherved the ends of his mus- "Whoever you are . . . wherever you

tache. “Lord, look at the mess they’re are . . . speak the full phrase in the making of atomics ! This is too much language of the Elders, and you will for the human race to get all at once. be heard. If these people can be revived, then Dhactwhu they can help us—and peidraps we can Remember?

Three Famous Classics 0 .£ Fantasy!

THE EYE OF BALAMOK By Victor Rousseau

Over the rim of the burning desert he went, driven by the wanderlust into the strangest land that the mind of man could ever dream of.

DEVIL RITTER By-Max Brand

Caught on the flywheel of a weird and twisted master mind. . . One of the greatest stories of a human dracula. THE RED DUST By Murray Leinster

More adventures of Burl in the amazing future. ... A companion story to “The Mad Planet.” DELUSIOM DRIVE

The space rat was green, had never been in a vessel

that used the dread Rip . . . He had to learn the hard way that once yot/vs entered the Rip, yot/re dead —or only a grey thought in^he mind of a machine!

SHIPPED out on the Leandor, off, because it was the same sort of one of the middle-sized freighters thing I was used to—at least it felt I of the Troy Line, as a cook’s that way. helper. We were packed to the ports As soon as the initial load was over, with hydroponic tanks for the colony I forgot mj^self and called over to the on Negus IX, and the scuttlebutt was young man, whose name was Jameson, that we were bringing back a full load saying, “What’s so funn}' about this of the high vitamin concentrate that Space Rip?” they were growing there. I’d read He gave me a sour grin and said,

about it in the Space Times. “Greeny, hey? We aren’t in it yet. We I signed on at the Troy offices and take physical drive to our reference the man gave me my sign-on bonus point and then rip off.” and told me what day to climb aboard. I shut up,, wanting to bite my tongue I got there early and swaggered into off. the port, hoping that any crew member After a little while he said, “You’ll I saw would notice that even though I know when it starts, Greeny.” was eighteen, I was a hardened space He had a nasty, superior way about rat. My kit was battered, but I had -no him and I didn’t answer. But I saw plans of telling anybody that it got that he kept licking his lips and that that way on a beat-up excursion liner he was afraid. in the VEM run. I wanted them to It made me afraid to watch him and think I’d been outside the system and so I just watched the underside of the knew all about Space Rip, which was bunk overhead. the way the Leandor traveled. My remark had been stupid. I’d read A sleepy guy showed me where to enough about Space Rip to know that go to pick a bunk and when I got there, nobody has been able to explain the a fellow about my age was unpacking feeling. his duffel. He nodded absently and The big gyros made a distant throb- after I’d picked a bunk and stowed my bing hum and I knew that they’d made stuff in the locker, I went to find the a course correction. Somebody at the cook. He hadn’t come aboard. PA mike said, “Hold your hats, rats.” At noon sharp, when the last man I grabbed the bunk stanchion to came aboard, the ports were dogged brace myself, but it wasn’t that kind down and the PA told everybody not on duty to hit the sack. By instinct I looked up at the speaker mesh. When I looked back, Jameson was nearly on I felt a lot better when we blasted me, the knife upraised I 100

102 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

of a jar, the sort that you can brace “From what I heard, the Rip changes

yourself against. It felt as if I had been the ship into something that isn’t

swatted by a huge club, and yet instead physical and then it reassembles it on of a club it was made of sharp knives the other end.”

set close together. The knives were so He snorted. “If it isn’t phy^sical, what

sharp that my body offered no resis- is it? They say it’s a concept. You and tance and so the big club passed right I are concepts, just ideas in the head of

through me, leaving me . . . sort of some damn machine. You know how misty and vague. Apart at the seams. fast we’re going this minute ?”

I noticed the greyness then. All “No,” I said humbly. colors gone- Eveiything was a shade “‘You aren’t moving. You’re gone. of grey^ and everything had a slight, Just as though y^ou never existed. almost noticeable flicker about it, like That’s what they say. You have the old movies in the museum. ceased to live, boy. But just when you All feeling of movement rvas gone. stopped living a damn mechanical

While I was trydng to get used to brain got a concept of you and it’s

it, the PA, with blurred tone, somehow shoving that concept through space at far away, said, “Cook’s helper. Report a slow lope of eight trillion, seven hun- to the galleyu” dred and seventy^ billion, six hundred Walking rvas-a misty sort of dream and forty-four million miles an hour.” and w'hen I staggered against the I put the knife down and stared at

corridor wall there vras a funny unsub- him. “Asteroids,” I said weakly. tantialness about the wall and about “Ha!” he said. “Nothing to fear, the hand that touched it. boy. Can an asteroid make a hole in a The cook, a big sweating vision in concept? A man’s thought is quicker. black and grey, waved a cleaver in my He looks at a star fifty light years

face. “I tell you again,” he said, his away. By looking at it, boy, he has voice coming from far off like pushed his mental concept right to that

voices in a dream, “the underlying star in nothing flat. But he can’t think philosophical concept is unsound.” so good. Not so clear. This me- “I’m Bill Torrance,” I said. chanical mind has a slow brain but an

“Sure, sure. Hello. I’m Doc. As 1 accurate one. When it changes us was saying, boy^, they haven’t agreed back to physical matter at the end of on the concept. This is my thirty-fifth the Rip, we’re just like we were when rip and I wish they’d make up their it got the concept.” minds. Start dicing those- onions. “Is ... is that why every'thing looks “Dakin’s formula gives the speed. misty and funny?” Very simple, boy. The square root of “Right, boy^ The machine can’t the distance in light years equals the think except in terms of shades of grey. cube of the trip time in weeks. This You follow me so far?” trip is three weeks, so simple mathe- “I ... I think so.” matics gives ymu a distance to Negus “Now here’s where I fall off at the IX of seven hundred twenty-nine light first curve. The machine, boy, dema- y^ears. Not accurate, you understand. terializes itself and turns. itself into a Just rule of thumb. What do you know concept and comes right along with us about the Rip, boy?” because it’s part of the ship. That’s I was weeping over the onions. They where I find the philosophical flaw. If had authority. I sniffed and said, we exist only in the mechanical brain DELUSION DRIVE 103

of a machine as a concept, how in rels over our exact status —whether or Gehenna can that mechanical brain be not we existed, and if so, where we a part of the concept It’s like the snake were. eating his own tail!” I took a lot of riding from the others It made me sick. because of it being my first Rip. They

He reached over my shoullder' and kept asking me how I liked it until the picked up an onion. “You think this question got as boring as that hot

is an onion? Well, it isn’t, boy. It’s weather question about whether it’s a mechanical thought of an onion being warm enough for you. whisked across space at just the same One stocky, goodnatured engineer speed that you are. You know what? told fine stories about the adventures You can open a port and throw that of Silas McCurdy, the first space pilot, onion out!” and rvhat happened when McCurdy, I was getting dizzy. “But the air trying to achieve the speed of light

. . . space ...” wdth a physical drive, ran afoul of Fitz-

“No, boy. The concept is of a ship gerald’s Contraction and, for a time, with the air in it. And of ports with disappeared entirely. Another one that hinges. So you can open the port of was good was about how McCurdy the concept but you can’t let the air out helped the scientists find the right of the concept. What’s the matter, frame of space. boy,” he said, peering into my face. Jameson was morose and gloomy, “You look sickisli.” ignoring everybody. He kept looking “Look, Doc,” I asked, “so the onion at me in a funny way that made me un- is a concept. And so am I. So why do comfortable.

I w^ant to eat the onion ? Why do I Four of us w'ere in the same cabin. have to?” I had as little to say to Jameson as he “Because the thought picture of you had to me. The days turned into is so accurate that you’re built with weeks and soon there was that air of every urge and hunger intact. You’d expectancy aboard that always signals be damn uncomfortable if you stopped a port ahead. !” eating We were due to come out of the Rip at noon the next day when the stocky g'NSIDE of three days I got a little engineer caught me just outside my a used to the dreamy look of every- cabin and said, “Kid, I don’t want to

thing, the faraway sounds, the soft upset 3''OU or anything, but that Jame- feeling of the steel plates. But I knew son is a bad actor. He’s got a reputa- that I could neA’cr be matter-of-fact tion that isn’t so hot. You must have about it. In my sleep I dreamed about been snotty to him the first day out what W'ould happen if the machine because he's had it in for you ever didn’t materialise us at the end of the since. I figure the least I can do is trip. I had nightmares about going warn you. I think the guy is going on and on forever, a thought that had off his wagon.” missed its target. He meant what he said. “But what

Looking around, I could see that it can I—” got on the nerve.s of the others too. He forced a small autcmatic into my Nobody seemed to have enough to do. hand. “Here, Kid. You borrow Betsy. There rvere interminable Bull sessions, She’s loaded and ready. If Jameson many of them turning into bitter quar- goes off his rocker completely, he’U 104 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

surer than hell come after you with and lay still, a trickle of grey blood that sheath knife of his. Just keep an coining from the corner of his sagging eye on him.” mouth.

He went off down the corridor. I I knew that I could not live through

put the automatic inside my blouse and it. I stared dowm at the knife handle went into the cabin. Jameson was on in horror. The life W'as draining out his bunk, staring at me. His deep-set of me. eyes seemed to glow and his mouth “Hold your hat, guys,” the PA said was a tight, brutal line. abruptly. I knew then that the engineer was Coming out of the Rip was unim- right. portant compared with death. If I reported Jameson to the captain, There was a spinning madness and I might be laughed off the ship. I the vast club which had smashed asked Doc for his advice. He told me through me at the beginning of the Rip to keep my mouth shut and keep the smashed up in the other direction, fill- gun handy. ing in the vagueness, solidifying that All that evening Jameson stared at which had meen misty for so long. me and his eyes seemed to glow bright- er every hour. I went to sleep at last, I blinked in the brighter light, my after several hours of tossing and mind reeling under the sudden impact turning. of color.

In the morning it was even w'orse. Then there' was loud laughter and When I went to the mess hall, Jameson Jameson, a wide smile on his face, was was right behind me. I could almost coming toward me with his hand out. feel the point of that knife in my back. My first thought was that the gun had At eleven-thirty Doc sent me back to been loaded with' blanks. He wanted my bunk. Jameson was there. The me to shake hands with him, and me other men in the cabin were w'atching wdth a knife that he had driven into

him as though they were afraid of him. me ! But the knife was in its sheath The silence and tension mounted. at his belt and there wasn’t any hole in Jameson sat on the edge of his bunk, me. took out the knife and began to clean Doc came in yelling, “How’d he take his fingernails. After each nafl he it? How’d the Kid take it? Any glanced over at me. guts?” He turned to me and said,

The PA startled me when it said, “Boy, they take it easier, these days. “Five minutes’ w'arning.” Why, on my first Rip they told me that By instinct I looked up at the the ship was lost and then they opened speaker mesh. When I looked back a port and every damn man jack Jameson w^as nearly on me, the knife jumped out into space and left me upraised. The other men yelled. There alone. Thought I’d go nuts. Of was no chance of avoiding the thrust. course, since this is only a concept With his face twdsted, he sunk the when you’re in Rip, everything goes knife deep into my belly with all his back to exactly the way it was when strength. He moved back and his lips we started the Rip.” wTithed like grey worms. My hand Jameson found my hand. His grip closed on the butt of the gun. I pulled was solid and good. it out and emptied it into his chest. “Come on, space rat,” he said. “I !” The slugs drove him back and he fell know where there's a good bar N THIS issue we’ve made some progress in several directions, but we still haven’t got that hefty letter department we mentioned hopefully in the I January S.S. We’ve had many more letters than we expected this early, but there simply wasn’t room for them all. To those whose letters were crowded out—many thanks, and please try us again. We lead off with a minor 'whirlwind stirred up by one L. Shaw. The following two letters are representative;

Dear Editor; of the possibilities have not yet been com- If you don’t mind, I should like to rave pletely covered by writers. Besides, atomic at the sci-fan calling himself Larry Shaw. energy is the only practical means in view (That’s what his mother calls him, top—Ed.) for the propulsion of spaceships. Little room Despite the huge words, gleaned carefully is needed for fuel storage with an atomic from some unabridged dictionary, his ietter engine in use while conventional engines appears slightly juvenile. If he’s looking for require a great deal of fuel storag:e space to time. argument he’s going to get it. run for weeks or months at a First of all, his suggestion to eliminate In your suggestions I noticed no alternate rockets and spaceships from science fiction methods and/or mechanisms to take the place seems to stem from the fact that ideas now of those you reject as out of date, etc. advanced by writers may someday be of a It was fun reading SSS, already I’m anxious classified nature and that they (rockets and for the next issue to come out on the news- spaceships) are old “stuff” in science fiction .stands. You have a first class magazine that anyhow. Larry!! How in all hades are "ive hits the spots missed by the pure fantasy and to transport our brave lads, lassies and BEMs technical science fiction magazines. out into our own and distant galaxies for the Yours very truly, purposes of exploration and colonization un- Clark .E. Crouch less we have some materia! means of getting Box 824 then! there? Perhaps you have some method Richland, Wash. in mind? Come now, Mr. Shaw, surely you will allow Dear Editor: we poor fans to have our heroes equipped This is tile first time I have ever read your with some weapons. Disgun, raygun or some- magazine. It is wonderful. Ail eiccept that thing! Perhaps if they rvere armed with letter from Larry Shaw. He is an insult to knives no national or international secrets the Science Fiction Readers. He and his would be exposed. Try fighting tlie night- super-sonic thinking processes should be mares I’m willing your way with a knife and exiled to the furthest star in the universe, see how fast you switch over to a dis or ray but sadly enough, I do agree with him on one gun. thing—“Kill that sub-title, ‘The Big Book of “Atoms are out,” Larry calmly states. You Science Fiction’.” mean that the writers of science fiction should I think the best story in the book is “-V drop the subject which they practically Handful of Stars” by Walter Kubilius. brought into the world. If you are old What happened to Bradbury? “The enough you will remember that stf maga- Silence” is not up to par. zines had atomic bombs long before scientists Keep up the good work, it is great. began to work seriously on atoms with a Sincerely, bomb in mind. It would be like a father W. H. Gaskins, Jr. deserting his son at an early age, to drop the 5600 Queens Chapel Rd. subject of atoms and atomic energy when all Hyattsville, Aid. 105 106 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

To get the outraged fans off our Kuttner’s The Black Sun Rises struck me as the best of the lot, and especially inter- neck, we asked the infamous Shaw to esting as an example of the way Hank was pen a reply. Here it is: writing circa 1943, as opposed to the work he is doing now. His talent was manifest even then, but he has come a long way. Dear Wobblehead: Ray Bradbury is without a doubt eons ahead Well, I admit that’s one way to get me to of the field, both in weird and science fiction, keep writing letters to your book. Always did with his brilliant writing and significant fic- love these battles, whether I took part in tion. The “Silence” is a nice sketch, but them or not. Best gosh-durned thing about hardly representative of thi.s writer at his best. fandom, tjiey are. So now, you old editor I enjoyed Kubilius’ “A Handful of Stars,” you, kindly get your natural-born lazy bones and Sanford Vaid's “The Other” W'as well out of the way and give m.e room to swing done of its type. Cartmill was particularly the axe. disappointing in view of the fact that his last You, Junior Gaskins. Of course I'm an yarn for SSS was a minor classic. insult to the Science Fiction Readers. That’s Since Super’s strong point always was its what I’m supposed to be. steady, often remarkable, improvement, I But what’s this about the furthest star in expect that the next issue will be a lot fresher the place? You think there ain’t fans there and better. I’d bet on it. too? Shows all you know! Shows what Your art staff is virtually perfect. Re- kinda fan you arc! Anybody that don’t know production of both text and pix leaves much the difference between Waiter Kubilius and to be desired—a temporary expedient, Ray Bradbury ain’t got no right to talk, mayhap? The departments are fine, with anyway! the exception of the quiz, which is deadwood Clark E. Crouch, you old Clark E. Crouch in any magazine. The book reviews are well you, what you mean calling me a sci-fic fan? done, whether or not the reader happens to Want a fat lip? And talking about big words, agree with them. The summary of Austin what’s those— rvords you got ahold of your Hall’s creaking novel is a masterpiece of own self “unabridged” and “dictionary”? something or other. What’s them mean, wise guy? Suggestion Box; More off-trail writing by Yes, I said eliminate spaceships. Elimin- the newer authors; Keller, Bradbury, and ate the brave lads, lassies and BEMs, too. de Camp; avoidance of lurid covers; lots of They’re all stereotypes. And galaxies-schma- Bok and Paul if possible; a long letter sec- laxies! When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen tion; early resurrection of Astonishing Sto- them all! Let’s free our minds of such ries. narrow horizons! Many thanks for giving us SSS again, and Atoms stay out! You may like their possi- here’s wishing you the very best of luck. bilities, but I don’t. Besides, it may interest Sincerely, you to know that science-fiction swiped them Chad Oliver, from Daddy Warbucks in the first place. 2400 Tow'er Drive, Hah ho! Can’t fool a literary gourmet like Austin, Texas. m^ chum. Oh yes, there’s one more thing I must add Dear Editor: to my list of forbidden material. No dad- nev.’ science-fiction pulp is just what 'we blamed semantics, see? I don’t believe a A word of them. need! Welcome! You made one ghastly mis- take, Anybody else tired of living? however. Why, in the name of all that’s did have table Bloodthirstily, • Bemmj^, you to put the Larry Shaw of contents on page four? It may seem a small thing to the table of contents, 1301 State St. you but is much better on page five or any other Schenectady 4, N.Y. odd-numbered page. That way there is less handling of the magazine. Take a poll; look Dear Editor: at other magazines who have their table of The return of SSS to the stfantasy scene contents on an odd page and see how much is welcome indeed, particularly so because of better it is to handle it. You wouldn’t change the fact that, at the time of its unfortunate it anyway. (You’re so right! — Ed.) lapse into suspended animation, the magazine The cover by Lawrence was super. THE was well on its way toward becoming tops in BLACK SUN RISES by Henry Kuttner its field. I hope it’ll be around now for a was average or a little below for him. A long w’hile to come. HANDFUL OF STARS was the best novel- Despite my enthusiasm at its reappearance ette (all my opinions, of course), followed (I took time off during exam week to read by MOONWORM’S DANCE and last by it, which isn’t the smartest move I ever THE BOUNDING CROWN. Somehow made). I’m afraid that the contents of the James Blish’s stories all seem lik so much January issue were nothing to make even junk to me. Maybe it’s the attitude I read the most rabid fan go delirious with ecstasy. them in or something. Not that the stories were poor, but they The shorts were, just average. THE SKY seemed a bit dated. Am I correct in guessing WILL BE OURS was good but low on plot. / that most of the material was on hand from CAB.A-L told a lot in a short bit of space,"' the old Super? it started off with a jump. THE OTHER MISSIVES AND MISSILES 107

was a good yarn but those kind can’t be much good in this cheap set-up.” And there ground out wholesale and production is what is another two bits that isn’t headed your way. counts (like Ray Bradbury for instance). By the way, who are the editors of SSS? Speaking of Ray, his THE SILENCE wasn’t I see that the original ed Fred Pohl is a so hot in my opinion. Anyway, I suspept columist and welcome. (Well pot.—Ed.) you only wanted his name on the cover in How about Dorothy Les Tina? Say! What the first place. Ray U a good writer but this the heck do I want for twenty-five cents? story was lousy. Till next time — To sum it all up, A HANDFUL OF Rosco E. Wright, STARS was the best novelette; THE SKY 146 E. 12th Ave., WILL BE OURS the best short; you ought Bogene, Ore. to move the table of contents, get better

paper; so long till ne.’ct month. . . . Dear Editor: Richard, R. Smith the effect 6 East 44th St. I was going to say something to Wilmington, Delaware, that the caliber of stories would be decreased with another market open, but after reading the ones you had to offer remarks are_ un- Dear Editor: necessary. All were well knit, unpretentious, I would like to request, or rather beg, all and ino&nsive and acpomplished just what science-fiction and fantasy fans in the Port- they were supposed to do: entertain. I land area to get in touch with me, as I plan suppose that in keeping with the movement to form a live-wire science-fiction fan organi- I should praise Ray Bradbury to the stars, zation for fans in this area. I believe that but it is hard to get worked up about his a city of Portland’s size should have a science- work anymore. The only way he can go fiction fan club of some sort, don’t you? There nov/ is down and that doesn’t seem very surely must be a number of fans in likely. this area, as all those science-fiction maga- The only other remark I have to make zines don’t disappear all by themselves. Until has to do with.the story 'THE BOUNDING next issue, CROWN. What happened? Did you run I remain, out of space? It resolved so quick that I S. M. Parks thought that I had skipped some pages. It llv3 N.E. Thompson reminded me of a gangster movie after the Portland, Ore. Chicago censors had got through cutting ont the scenes of violence. Hi, ho. Ed. matter Hello Lazarus: Here’s to a better mag, old No what kind of a mag you turn out I’H still The first of the revised triple S calls for buy it, for I am a loyal fan, true and blue. sincere praise and a smattering of com- (Said with hat held over heart.) plaints. “Stiff”ly yours, First: I like the tone and balance of your Robert A. Rivenes stories. You are far enough off the beaten 157 N. Euclid Ave. path to avoid being repetition of a your C>ak Park, 111. competitors. Your stories fall i.Uo two general groups, the philosophical theme and the adventure of Dear Editor: tomorrow type, and I prefer the former First let me congratulate you on the which included: revival of SUPER SCIENCE STORIES. THE SILENCE — excellent writing. Of all the magazines which ceased publica- MOONWORM’S DANCE—Food for tion during the war, I most regretted seeing thought. this one go. I can remember a good dozen A HANDFUL OF STARS — I hope it stories which will live forever in my memory. isn’t so. GENUS HOMO — Camp and Miller — The other stories were all good, but seemed March, ’41. a bit tveafc. For a first issue you did in- LOST LEGION — Monroe — Nov., ’41. credibly well. PENDULUM — Bradbury and Hasse — As for art: The cover was very tasteful 'Nov., ’41. but apparently off register on all copies. Can CROSS OF MERCRUX— (I don’t re- anything be done about this? Also the in- member) — Feb., ’42. terior printing took so poorly that you mur- SUNKEN UNIVERSE — Merlyn — May, dered Bok’s excellent artwork. What’s wrong ’42. with the presses up in Canada? (Bear with CUBE FROM SPACE — Brackett—Aug., us; we’re working on it. — Ed.) ’42. In your book reviews as elsewhere in your WE GUARD THE BLACK PLANET — very interesting departments I’d like to see Kuttner — Nov., ’42. some more attractive type selections. Take A PLANET CALLED AQUELLA — a look at the old SSS and the current FAN- WoIIheim — Nov., ’42. TASTIC NOVELS. Now where an old THE ANGULAR STONE— Hasse — reader like myself will buy the mag because May, ’43. of content, a new reader may pick up a copy, EXILE — Hamilton — May, ’43. thumb through it, look at the sloppy print THE DARKER LIGHT — Cartmill — job and say: “Hell, there can’t be anything May, ’43. , 108 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

THE PERSECUTORS — Cartmill—Feb., I would also like to hear from anyone ’43. having Volume 1 complete of ASTONISH- READER. I HATE YOU — Kuttner — ING STORIES. I am compiling informa- ’43. tion on that publication also and have Vol- These are stories I will never forget. umes 2, 3, and 4 completed, but nothing on But for the present issue, front to back. Volume 1. Will someone give me a hand? The cover: Good symbolism but poor re- Thank you. production; it should have the clear-cut look The new SUPER SCIENCE STORIES of F.N. and F.F.M. is very good. There are some bad stories, The Black Sun Rises — Henry Kuttner; CABAL leading the list, but aside from that this is the start of what could be a great atrocious cover (and by Law^rence, of ail novel. It is not a novel, however, merely an people!) the mag is a worthy addition to any introduction. fan’s librarj'. Keep up the good work! The Silence — Ray Bradbury; neatly done If any reader of this letter lives in any in Ray’s own completely unorthodox stvle. U.S. Possession, Africa, South America or Since I first ran into his stuff in ’42, he nas the Far East, he can- be sure of receiving become one of the best short-story writers future issues if he will write me enclosing in the fantasy field. his address and a few friendly comments Moonworm’s Dance — Stanley Mullen; on our favorite subject. Science Fiction. this new author has written the best story Since a number of copies are being sent to of the new issue. Keep him. Australia (to the Futurian Library) this The Other—Sanford Vaid; good short on offer does not apply there; nor does it apply an old theme. in Canada or England for obvious reasons. The Bounding Crown — James Blish; Joseph B. Baker, always good for a new slant. 1438 Addison St. A Handful of Stars — Walter KubiUus; (Basement Apt.) Walt is always good for a new concept. Chicago 13, 111. The Science Fictioneer; a good depart- ment. How about a department especially Dear Editor: devoted to answering questions about authors, Congratulations on the revival of your such as is Lyle Monroe a real person or one magazine' SUPER SCIENCE, I think it is of the pen names of Robert Heinlein, as so headed toward the top in the list of science often rumored? (Monroe is Heinlein. — Ed.) fiction. The Sky Will Be Ours — Manly Wade I have only one complaint to make and Wellman; throughout the years Wellman ^s that is that the story “The Black Sun Rises’’ managed to turn out some fairly good stories, wasn’t long enough. thouprh he has yet to write a classic. I am hoping that you will continue to pub- Missives and Missiles.— expand, expand! lish such wonderful stories as you published (Yessir, yessirl—Ed.) in the January issue. Cabal — Cleve Cartmill — I was very dis- As I have written to several sf. mags, and appointed in this story. It is not anywhere never had a letter published, I don’t expect near the standard set by Cartmill in “The to get this one published. Darker Light’’ and "The Persecutors’’. I hope you have every sort of good luck Some requests: and success there is. And keep up the good Could you persuade Ross Rocklynne to work. continue the “Btarkness” series from Aston- Happy wishes, ishing? I miss them very much. Also Mer- Steve Shipman, lyn’s “Sunken Universe’’ could only have 520 N. 7th St., been the beginning of a novel or series. Frederick, Okla. Could you persuade him to finish? Finally and forever — trimmed edges improve the Dear Editor: appearance of a magazine tremendously. Congratulations on reviving S.S.S. again, Sincerely, and in my humble opinion your first ish was W. R. Clark, great. The stories stack up like this: Box 307, 1. A HANDFUL OF ^TARS (KubiUus) Alma College, 2. MOONWORM’S DANCE (Mullen) Alma, Mich. 3. THE BOUNDING CROWN (Blish) 4. THE SILENCE (Bradbury) Dear Editor: 3. THE OTHER (Vaid) 6. (Well- Now that SUPER SCIENCE STORIES THE SKY WILL BE OURS has finally begun to appear again I would man) The other two don’t count. I know a lot like to compile a complete file of information of Kuttner fans aren’t going to like this, but on the back issues. Unfortunately I have I’ve never yet seen a Kuttner yarn I've reallv only the following: Volume 1, Numbers 1 liked. The artwork was above average, with and 3; Volume 2, Numbers 2, 3 and 4; Vol- the exception •i page 60-61. ume Numbers 2 and 4; Volume 4, Num- 3, about more Bradbury, Wellman, Ku- bers 3 and 4. Out of a total of sixteen issues How bilius, and Mullen? Also try and get Fearn, I have the above nine listed. If anyone with Heinlein, Leinster. Please 1 Please! the other seven will please contact me, we and But Don’t give us poor fans any of those One- could get together and get all the dope tofctbar. (Contlnued on page 129) , ANEW UWMCE PORTFOLIO!

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This offer is good only in XJ.S.A This offer is good only in U.S.A SSS MAT SSS MAY Roger lived through those stirring days again with the long-dead pioneers of the Destiny.

CHAPTER ONE

The Door

he trouble is—” Roger Hammond, 3rd Recorded Genera- T tion, looked at his grandson with — eyes still bright with fever “Some-

110 ION OF THE STMS

By F. Orlin Tremaine

body miscalculated . . . perhaps as “You’ve been a little curious about long ago as fifty years.” the Door, Roger?" Roger waited anxiously. “Yes, sir.” The old man’s tongue liked at his Roger 3 nodded slightly. “Of course. parched lips; he swallowed. For a Just like your father at your age. Just moment young Roger thought he had like me. Well, now’s the time. As wandered into delirium again. His soon as I’m over the fever and able eyes closed tight, then opened slowly. to walk, I’ll take you through. You’ll

The sky met the hills that circled the valley; the streams rose at one end and vanished at the other; and once you entered the single doorway, the valley was the Universe .... Only the doomed dared pass that portal—and follow the terrible pathway to which k ledf

Ul 112 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES understand then; I couldn’t explain some commonplace everyday event. it to you now. All right?” “Four more people died today,” she “Yes, sir.” said. “That leaves only four hundred Roger felt vaguely uneasy as he left and sixty-one. There’s less work .” the sickroom. He wanted to go through required of course. . . that mysterious d^or; he wanted to Roger sat up suddenly and reeled

know ; but there was nevertheless some- in his line. The two young. people sat thing ominous in the way Roger 3 still for a long moment- Their bodies spoke of it—in the very fact that no rocked slowly, as though to counter- one went through that door until he balance the rolling motion of a deck was adult. on a smooth sea.. Cattle, grazing He returned to his room and, moving nearby, braced themselves slightly as automatically, took his fishing rod from though thetq too, felt the motion. its rack. Half-formed thoughts tumbled “It’s a small world,” Roger said over each other in his brain as he finally. “Listen Ruth—have you ever rode down in the automatic elevator, —guessed ?” turned away from the village, and She nodded. “Sure. Lot? of times. walked along familiar paths across Lots of guesses. Come on. ’’''She stood meadow, field and orchard. up and held out a hand to him. They Roger Hammond, 5th Recorded Gen- started slowly across the pasture to- eration, lay on the grassy bank of ward the village two miles away. a stream, fisbpole carefully balanced Roger turned his head slowly, eyes on one knee. His eyes squinted at the following the horizon. sky that hung like a painted bowl above “This can’t be all there is,-” he said. the sun, but his thoughts raced far “The farms, and then the hills, and beyond that sun and sky. He was then the sky. The streams come up going through the door at the end at one end of the valley and disappear of the valley! And he wouldn’t be at the other. Rain every fourth day. seventeen until next week. It was un- Sun the other three days- Same heard of- Something was very wrong. temperature the year ’round. A popu- Perhaps it had something to do with lation that stayed the same for five the strange fever that had taken so generations till this epidemic.” He many. . . . paused. “And grandfather says some- “Something eating you?” Ruth body miscalculated. It all adds up. Eaton was standing over him, a quizzi- We’re prisoners. This is no world.” cal frown between her wise brown eyes. She glanced at him cool brown eyes. “You look like a man with a problem,” “It’s a pretty good place to live, she added, and sat down casually on though,” she said lightly. And we’re the grass beside him. not supposed to talk about it, re- Her dark hair, long and almost member?” After a while she spoke straight, fell over her slim shoulders: again. “At least you’re going through casual, like everything about Ruth. Her the Door. Thing of me, chum. I have costume was identical with his; white to keep on guessing.” cotton shirt open at the throat, tan Roger grinned ruefully and nodded. shorts, socks and low shoes. After that they walked in silence to- “I’m going through the Door,” he ward, the group of plastic buildings at told her. the end of the valley. Lights were be-

Sh« nodded, as if he had mentioned ginning to appear in the windows as ” —”

SON OF THE STARS 113 they neared the village. The arc of cidentally, might conceivably disinte- the sky seemed no more than five hun- gr.ate the planet. Yet atomic power dred feet away at this point. could gh^e men a life of complete happi-

They entered one of the buildings ness if only it were used for the benefit quietly. . The automatic elevator car- of all.” ried them upstairs. It stopped at the Roger 3 pressed the little box against fourth floor and the door opened. a blue spot on the Door. Tumblers “Good night, Rog.” Without warn- fell, one after another. Roger held his ing she leaned forward and kissed him breath as the door swung inward. He lightly. Then the door closed behind felt as though a heavy weight lay on her and the elevator continued upward. his chest. Roger found himself whistling tune- “Come on.” The elder Hammond lessly as he opened the door to his took Roger’s arm and guided him apartment. He stopped and shook his through the opening in |the hillside. head. The door swung silently shut and "Women,” he said softly. locked. They stood in a white-tiled room ten he three-quarter-mile walk to feet high, forty feet square. Three the Door seemed long. Old desks were ranged neatl}'- in the middle T Roger Hammond 3 tired easily; of the floor. All along the wall were they had to stop every hundred yards couches, and on several of them men while he got his breath. Roger 5 sighed were sleeping. One man, sitting alone with relief when they finally reached at a desk, jumped to his feet as they the iron semi-circle of guard railings. entered. He spoke respectfully to old Roger 3 fumbled in his popket and Hammond and grinned at Roger. drew out a little plastic box. He set “News, Frank?” Hammond stepped three tiny dials carefully at 1-8-7, show- around the desk and glanced at a chart. ing the combination to Roger 5. Then “No trouble, sir. Objective on he pressed a button and held the box course. Speed constant. Estimate against the gate lock. Roger watched seventeen days four hours.” every move; listened to every sound. Roger Hammond 5 started violently. He heard tumblers fall rhythmically, He said with difficulty,— “Objective and the gate swung back silently. Be- speed—Do you mean fore them stood the Door. They moved “Yes, Roger,” the old man’s voice toward it, then paused. was gentle. “Instead of being prison- Roger 3's voice sounded raspy, un- ers in a vast machine on Earth (as you pleasantly dry. “My great-grandfather, may have guessed) we have been your great-great-grandfather, con- traveling through galactic space for ceived and carried out this project, nearly a century of Earth time—search- Roger. Many of the people in the valley ing for a new planet fitted to our needs. have no idea what it means. Your father should have been guiding “Before we go in, let me tell you this this expedition now, but when he much. The world you know was passed away two years ago I found it created as a solution to the problem of necessary to carry on until you— nuclear fission. In the larger world Hammond’s words stopped suddenly. from which we come, the nuclear He swayed and gripped the desk. fission process threatened to destroy Roger and Frank Johnson were at his all life. Chain reaction, resulting ac- side quickly but he shook his head and Uj _ SUPER SCIENCE STORIES “ went on. until }’ou were ready. to learn the stoi'y behind this whole

It is 3'our place to assume the Ham- project. Reading steadily, you can t mond :esponsibility—and to do it be- cover the log in about twenty hours.

' fore your time.” Then we’ll tour the shell. I’ll try to Roger blinked and frowned, trying keep things quiet so you can concen- to accept the alien idea and make it trate. Want to start?” seem real inside his head. Finall}^ he Roger nodded. The thought fitted said, “That explains the rolling motion through his mind that he must grow of the land.” up fast. He sat down at the desk and “Yes,” Frank Johnson confirmed. turned the logbook back to page one. control “We haven’t enough men to It was dated November 1, 1947 A.D. the stabilizers. Flaven’t had for nearly Location: New York City. two months. That is why we must His eyes focused on the fine script, land this time, no matter what.” and mechanically he started to read. "A friendly planet?” The words Gradually, despite himself, he grew sounded absurd to Roger even as he fascinated. Flours flew by but he did spoke them, but Frank nodded gravely. not look up. “We hope so,” he answered. “If not we can live aboard indefinite!}'. W e’re self- Nov. 7: Lecture .before the committee appears successful. Long discussion. sufficient and impregnable—until we Rockefeller and Guggenheim representa- of or something run out something tives seem impressed but say govern- gives out.” ment assistance will be required. Old Roger Flammond smiled at the Nov. 9: Met the President today with repre- younger man and the boy. Slowly the sentatives of Congress, Senate and the luster faded from his eyes. He military. All were politely interested. More impressed by the statements of the swayed; his legs collapsed and he fell. two big foundations than by mine. Will- in- Frank and Roger bent over him ing for experiment to proceed but ques- stant!}'. There was no pulse. He was tion availability of funds. Funds needed admittedly equal to amount spent on gone, but the smile was still on Iris lips. atom bomb development. Cost estim- Johnson stood up and pulled the boy ated at two billion dollars. to his feet. Roger 5 rvas trembling, Nov. 17: Military after consulting experts and Frank put an arm around his concluded ship would be valuable shoulders. weapon. Suggest going ahead with plans t available Through a film of tears Roger be- with ))roviso that shell will be for cither peaceful or military use. Had came aware of other figures about him. to agree, but I pray it will never be meeting Hammond’s fall had awakened the weapon. Special executive authori-sed secret procedure, subject to sleeping men, whose faces bore the ok,'.y of plans and specifications. Spent lines of near-exhaustion. One after four hours explaining charts and drawings. another they shook his hand, and he noticed that the eyes of all of them Dec, 31: Plans okayed. Location okayed: Nevada. Construction to be started im- glistened. mediately.

VENTS crowded Roger. Frank Dates faded from Roger’s conscious-

1*1 1 Johnson, second in comniaird, ness. Flis eyes flew across the written

became his inseparable com- liiie.s, and his mind filled in the details panion and tutor. Frank was forty, wliile visions grew into a swiftly- jfan, muscular, quick and accurate. moving panorama. Through the eyes “Your first job,” he told Roger, “is of a man with an indomitable purpose —

SON OP THE STARS 115 he saw the vast cities of the past teem- grew on the pasture lands, a plastic ing with life; cities in which millions town of six-story buildings rose at one of human beings lived and played and side of the huge, man-made valley. worked. And through the interplay of The streets between the buildings were activity communication he the narrow a single loop of wagon road and saw ; part those cities played in the nation around the town provided for all neces- a nation rushing headlong toward a sary deliveries. Four of the buildings crisis, a climax! housed facilities for the unit factories He contacted steel mills, mines, rail- of the self-sufficient wmrld. Here cloth ways, watched great factories at work. would be Avoven, hides tanned, grain The scene shifted and he saw ten thou- ground into flour, utensils made and re- sand men, moving like ants, construct- paired, schools,operated, entertainment ing dwellings; making a steel cradle,, provided. the gravity repellor five miles in diameter take shape be- , Meantime units tween two mighty mountains in Avere installed Avith utmost secrecy. No Nevada. blast of destructive jets would be He saw steel girders rising into needed to send this tiny earth aloft. It place, and madiinery—endless machin- could rise gently from its cradle, thrust ery—moving across the desert floor to its Avay from the atmosphere of the be sw'allowed in tlie huge interior of a planet and pick its course toAvard a dis- forming globe so vast it dwarfed all of tant univei'se if its pilot chose. man’s past efforts. There Avas no fear of damage from A year spun b}"; two years; three; meteor shoAvers. The repellor units four ! A gigantic sphere rested be- Avould Avard them off. There need be tween the mountains—a sphere of no fear of frictional heat, for the great case-hardened steel plates, cantilever sphere could sIoav its motion to the

steel girders bracing it rigidly to an drifting point. inner shell op-e hundred feet from the outer surface. Between the two shells CHAPTER TWO were catwalks, tubes, luminous discs that seemed to give forth energy. The Challenge Long lines of trucks, li|;e segmented worms moved up wdnding ramps wdtli P'Sf'iHE months sped by. The earth loads of earth which were dumped on i Avas gripped by panic. Inside a steel diaphragm that bisected the the sphere, Roger saAV the little sphere. Painters sprayed blue paint artificial valky become a growing area. acro.ss the dome above to simulate a Fie saw three streams rising in the sun- sky. Engineers rigged a mighty hills, joining, and floAving in a mile- lamp that would move slowly across long river big enough for boats and for that sky during each tw^elve-hour day. swimming, to a swamp Avhich SAval-

Oxygen tanks were installed behind lowed it at the other side of the valley. the hills that rose around the artificial He saw the eager volunteers stream plain. AVater refreshers were moved aboard the sphere. There Avere tAA'o

into position their pumps, condensers ; ; hundred scientii^ts and their Avives; tAvo an artificial gravity grid. Food sup- hundred artwans and their wives, this plies, grass, fruit and nut trees, berry group including doctors, dentists, vet bushes. erinarians, and other essential profes- Plastic houses were built while grass sional people. There were four 116 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

hundred horticulturists, farmers and early days of the colony again as its dairymen together with their wives. members adapted themselves to their Almost four hundred children, none new duties and to each other. At first

over five years of age, accompanied it had seemed a lark to be cut off from tlialr parents, bringing the total popu- Earth, yet sufficient unto themselves. lation to slightly under two thousand There was no hardship. There were soak. no crop failures, no long droughts, no All had been chosen carefully. Not early frosts or havoc-raising storms. a single individual whose body showed From the control room, the nature of hereditary weaknesses, or discernable which was unknown to nine out of ten traces of disease, had been permitted to of the sphere’s residents, the first enlist in the company that was to popu- Roger Hammond kept daily contact late the sphere. with the White House in AYashington. Except for the scientists (all sworn The rumblings of war, that had struck

to complete secrecy) every person in fear across the land, speeded its pre- the company believed he had been paredness program. But the weapons selected to live in an impregnable fort- which the military wanted to install in ress-hermitage until the war was past the Destiny were not yet forged. May and the danger of annihilation ended. passed, June; July. And then, under Even the wives of the scientists them- date of August 3rd, 1952, Roger 5

selves held that belief. Only two hun- found a terse message ; “The President dred odd technical specialists and en- instructs me to suggest that you move gineers knew what lay before them. outward at once. Cleveland, Ohio, has No person aboard the huge craft was been destroyed. No further orders will

more than 30 years of age, except be issued to 3^ 11 . No further comuni- Roger Hammond. Hammond was cations will be attempted. Good luck. forty-two. —Secretary to the President.” The ports to the outside world were Roger lived through those stirring closed and sealed. The inmates gradu- days again with his white-haired great- ally became accustomed to their new great-grandfather. He could almost life. hear the order sending the crew to Seventy of the scientific group went stations. He felt the beathless hush through the mysterious steel door at of expectancy as the sphere rose slowly the end of the valley every Monday and from its cradle like a gigantic balloon,

remained behind it a full rveek. This bringing panic to country-dwellers shift, thirty-five on tour and thirty-five who saw its shadowy form against the off, maintained an arduous twelve-hour .sun. He heard the exhaled breaths as schedule checking the self-repairing the engineers finally looked up from machines with their sealed atomic banks of gauges that told a story of motors. This gave the men each a perfect mechanical responses. There two-week rest between week-long duty had been no faulty operation in the tours, and kept them physically and whole gargantuan machine. So per- mentally healthy despite the strain of fect was the operation of the internal the tremendous responsibility that and external gravity screens, that of all rested on each one. the Destiny’s crew, no one but the en- Roger’s vision grew as his imagina- gineers suspected that the sphere was tion grasped the details of those first in motion.

days aboard the Destiny. . He lived the As he read, Roger watched through !

SON OF THE STARS 117 his ancestor’s eyes while the Destiny near enough to Saturn to obtain in- passed the moon, so shimmeriiigly valuable photographs in color of the bright in the full glare of the sun that planet and its rings. heavily-smoked glass was used to Neptune and Uranus were on the far screen the telescopes. Photographs .side of the sun. Pluto would be their Avere made for later study, but the last sight of the Sun’s family. satellite was too close to Earth to re- Six and a half months after leaving main stable in case the planet disinte- Earth they moved on past the outer- grated. So they dared not stop. Out- most planet of the solar system. Ham- ward they went, the thrust of the mond set his course for another sun, gravity repellors building acceleration and the repellors pushed the gigantic as the distance increased. craft through space, building toAvard They passed through a meteor the speed of light. swarm that lighted the darkness like for sparklers hundreds of miles ; a show ife in the little Avorld inside that held men spellbound at the ob- continued placidi}" through the servation ports. But the meteors parted L years. The eighteen hundred as though by magic to let the Destiny residents Avere unaAvare that they had pass through unscathed. Another point left the cradle between tAVO Nevada proven. The repellers had ended mountains in North America. Noav and meteor hazards for all time. then someone Avondered Avhether the Past Mars, just close enough to Avar had not reached a conclusion by study it. Giant lichens could be ob- noAV, but as the years passed the ques- served. Some forms of animal life tions came less often. The older gen- doubtless survived, but man obviously eration became resigned to a pleasant could not. fate; the ncAv generation remembered Relying on their repellor screens, no other AA'orld. they veered only slightly above the Normal life Avas being preserved so ecliptic to avoid the densest area of the it could be transplanted Avhen the time asteroid belt. At length the field was came. The population Avas kept stable past. When a resident died, the couple at the Jupiter loomed ahead, frightening in head of the Avaiting list Avas permitted its immensity, its moons circling like to have a child. Marriages betAveen flies about a dead carcass. But the AvidoAvs and Avidowers Avere encour- gravity here was so great that a human aged, and seA’eral such unions Avere body would sink to the surface like a consummated. puddle of jelly TAventy. years passed before the first Month after month, the Destiny violence occurred in the community; plowed through space. Five months and that Avas due to a sudden dementia, had passed before Saturn loomed like the cause of Avhich Avas obscure. The a pinwheel on a Fourth of July evening man who had committed the assault in America. Its three glorious rings Avas confined and treated psychiatric- built a halo, thousands of miles wide,' ally; a glandular disturbance Avas dis- of luminous color around the gigantic coA'ered and corrected. He resumed orb of the planet itself. Nine moons his place in the community at the end spun around the gigantic planet in of three years. varied orbits and speeds. Roger Hammond 5 Avas still reading Roger Hammond guided the Destiny when he drifted -into sleep. He Ava.s ”

118 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES liiiaware of being lifted to a couch, or It seemed to him that it had been ages of tile pillow that was placed beneath .since he had eaten- He caught a his head. He had been reading steadily sliadowy movement at the door and for ten hours, and had been awake for tried to call, but the door slowly shut twenty-seven, under, a heavy nervous and he svas alone. strain. Islinutes later Dr. Hughson came in, He ivas still unconscious when some- smiling. He felt Roger’s forehead, one noticed he was developing a fever looked quickly under the lids at the and had him carried back to his plastic whites of his eyes and smiled again. apartment in the village. In his mind’s Ruth Eaton, standing close behind the eye, he ivas still watching the glorious doctor, smiled also; a tired smile that panorama of the heavens as the spoke volumes. Destiny left the Solar system behind Then memory clicked in Roger’s and thrust its way torvard the outer head. galaxies. “I’ve had the fever?” he asked sud- denly, trying to sit up. Dr. Hughson 4 and his young ap- "Steady, boy, steady. You’re all right prentice, Douglas White 5, had slept now. The fever has been conquered. little in many weeks. The climax of You’re going to be all right. As soon the strain that had been groiving for as you've had your first hot meal you two long years showed in their tired may sitjUp. Then we’ll see.” faces. Betv/een visits to critically ill “But — the rolling motion — it’s patients and their test-tube studies of stopped— the deadly epidemic, there had been no Ruth took his hand “Steady, chum,” time for rest. she said. “Yes' it stopped six days ago. But a slow feeling of triumph was You’ve been unconscious for twenty- growing in both men. Under the three days, but everything is all right microscope a new bacillus had been now.” isolated. After long months of .frantic He looked at her, surprised. tria!-and-error it had been found tliat “Then—you know?” the bacillus, though it resisted penicil- “I nursed you, Roger. You talked lin, was unable to withstand a brew of a lot. Youi: mind wandered. Yes.” w'ate.rcres.s which had been gathered Roger looked across at Dr. Hughson, from a chance growth in one of the and rmted tlie look of sleeplessness in smaller streams. the physician’s eyes. He turned back On the twelfth day of Roger’s illness, to Rtith. “When did you last see Frank Johnson summoned every re- Frank Johnson?” maining scientist and engineer, sick or “T'lvelve days ago. Fie called just well, for extraordinary duty. They to- before he took all the remaining engi- talled only si.vty-six now. Together, neers tlu'ougli the Door. None of them the thirty men not on dut}' went has come back 3’et.” through the door to join those alrearh’ Something like panic gripped Roger. at the control stations. “.Dr. Hughson, I have to go through the Door immediately. Can I make And on. the twenty-third day after it if Ruth gees with be had been gripped b}' the fever Reger me?” opened his eyes after j long, natural The doctor nodded. “Perhaps I sleep and gazed blankly at the ceiling. should go with you?”

His eyes were clear. He was hungry! “No harm in it, I think.” : ,

SON OF THE STARS 119

The journey to the Door was an that lined the walls and dropped his effort for Roger, supported though he head into his hands. was on either side by his nurse and Weakness seemed to permeate doctor. Cold drops of perspiration Roger’s body. He lay back on the stood out on his forehead, glistening couch and closed his eyes. There was like dew in the morning sun. But his a tense silence in the room until he head was clear and his temperature opened them again. His decision was normal. made. It was with a sense of deep fore- “We three,’’ he said slowly, “may boding that he set the dials on the be the only persons aboard who know little box and pressed it against the that we’ve been traveling through lock of the guard-fence. And it was space for a hundred years, so there with a deeper dread that he pressed it will be a new regime aboard. The three against the blue spot on the vault-like of us will have to take control.” He door in the hill and waited for it to sat up. “We’ll have to take care of swing inward. But he led his com- Frank,” he said, “and the others as we panions inside with firm, unfaltering locate them.” steps. Dr. Hughson nodded. “I’ll attend to that, and arrange for services. His Frank Johnson’s head rested on his wife succumbed three weeks ago.” arms as though he had leaned forward “Thank you, doctor.” Roger con- from exhaustion and fallen asleep tinued to talk slowly, deliberately. across the desk. Dr. Hughson went “We’ve apparently landed on some quickly to his side and touched his planet and are secure for the time face. It was cold, and still with the being. We can learn about that later. stillness of death. First we’ve got to rediscover our own On a signal board at the far side little world. We don’t even know of the room, little red markers had how to get about the hull, and the dropped beside many numbers. A maze of machinery under us fills key-chart at the base of it was marked several cubic miles. And we’ve got to keep life normal in the valley while BLUE—Okay we explore and make plans. GREEN—Adjustment needed “I wonder,” he mused, “if the atomic war the Destiny sailed away from a RED—Illness or accident hundred years ago left greater prob- Earth than face now?” Roger deliberately counted the lems on we number of red markers that had fallen. CHAPTER There were sixty- five—and Frank THREE Johnson had been in the desk room. New World “I’m afraid. Dr. Hughson,’’ Roger tried to keep l^e panic from his voice, “that your new medicine came too late he remaining population of the for the crew. The fever germs must Destiny's valley became more in the outer sections. T cheerful with the passing of time. have thrived best And that means that there’s not a man The last traces of the apathy which alive who knows the secrets of the had followed the scourge of the epi- Destiny 1” demic disappeared. He set down on one of the couches In the control room, adjoining the 120 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES council chamber, the triumvirs under- Hughson nodded. took a study of the galactic space “I’m coming along, Roger,” Ruth charts which showed the course fol- said, but Hughson vetoed the idea lowed by the Destiny, thus hoping to abruptly. determine their present location. This “If our guess is correct,” he said, proved too difficult a feat for novices “there’ll be a body at almost every to accomplish on short notice, but it control point. These must be brought led to the discovery of a “transport in. There are only two seats.” plan” chart of the lower hemisphere Ruth turned away, and Roger paled. which housed the machinery. Mono- “I’ll go, Roger, while you watch the rail cars provided fast travel between controls,” Hughson said. “I’m ao- control points, running beside railed customed to death.” catwalks. These cars seated two men Roger shook his head. “It’s my job, each, and were operated by pressing doctor. Tell me what to do. I’ll bring destination buttons on the dash-panels. them in.” Ruth noticed a station marked Sun Without another word Hughson

Control and pointed it out. She pressed brought a rubberized sack from a

a button opposite to it, marked Ready cabinet and handed it to Roger. Car, experimentally. Instantly a wall The car rolled silently along, sway- panel slid back, disclosing a tube- ing slightly beneath its overhead rail. shaped carrier slung below a steel rail. Fluorescent tubes lighted along the It was rounded at both ends and con- way as the carrier approached, and tained two leather seats, one ahead of were turned off after it had passed. the other. By their light he could see consider- “This seems like as good an investi- able distances back into the maze of gation point as any,” Roger remarked, machines and supports on both sides stepping toward the car. of the track. He could see catwalks “Just a minute,” Dr. Hughson inter- branching off to each separate mech- rupted. “Let’s make certain that if anical unit, and could make out plat- you go out you’ll be able to return.” forms running around the casings of He studied the bank of buttons on the great power units. front-seat panel of the little carrier, “And all this,” he thought, “was then compared it with the one on the made possible by the discovery of transport plan board. They were atomic power, which may have been identical in number, position, and used to destroy the world!” markings. Seven minutes from the starting “I guess it's safe,” he admitted, “but point the car slowed and stopped let’s send an empty car on a trip first. alongside a twenty-foot-square plat- Then we’ll be sure.” form of polished aluminum. Along its The car departed silently. After back was a bank of instruments and fifteen minutes, Hughson pressed the gauges. In the center was a table con- button marked Return opposite Sun- taining a miniature model of the valley, control.. About seven minutes passed, with the sky represented by a glassite then the wall panel slid open as the dome. A tiny pinpoint of light showed car came to a stop, still swaying gently almost midway across the dome. Roger

from its arrested motion. checked it with his watch. The sun “Satisfied, doctor?” Roger asked, was operating properly! smiling. Roger didn’t linger. Sprawled on SON OF THE STARS 121

the floor beside the table was a wasted The suggested possibilities turned figure, almost a caricature of a human their thoughts to the outside even be- being. As quickly as possible he slid fore they had covered all the circuitous the sack over the head and managed routes inside the lower hemisphere. to get the body inside. It was not a “Actually,” Ruth argued, “there’s no pleasant job, and his nausea made sense in trying to find a way to get him forget the tragic part of the affair outside until we make sure we can until the job was done and the sack live if we succeed.” safely deposited in the rear seat of The men agreed. The tests would the car. be made as quickly as possible by Dr. From the front seat, he pressed the Hughson, who understood atmospheric Return button on the panel, then held requirements. He began at once check- his breath. The car glided smoothly ing the equipment. ahead on a wide loop of track. It Meantime Roger and Ruth studied passed the Artificial Gravity Control the telescopes. A model showing six center and he saw another body co-ordinating points on the outer sprawled there, hands clawing at its shell indicated that the view could be throat as though the man had observed from any one of the six suffocated. directions. Four points were equally The awe and grandeur of the expanse spaced around the mid-section, one was of operating machinery, the size of the at the top of the globe and the sixth power tubes which ran diagonally, like was at the bottom. It was cither a struts, between them, kept his mind periscopic arrangement, which seemed occupied until the car slowed down, a doubtful, or a television setup. panel slid open and two anxious faces The instrument itself was a central broke into smiles. cone three f«it wide at the base, He stumbled out onto the platform. anchored to the floor, and set with

“We can conquer it, given time,” he bullsey-e lenses around which the barrel said, after his lungs had drawn in two of the telescope apparently moved, and deep breaths in the air-conditioned through which it seemed, in some room. “It is tremendous, breathtaking, manner, to focus. The regulators were and I saw only two of the control apparently automatic and, at Roger’s stations.” suggestion, Ruth pressed one of the buttons. There a humming noise. The he triumvirate of the Destiny, was yard-long barrel of the scope moved like many explorers, were diverted slowly around the central cone until it T from their main purpose many contacted a bullseye. The humming times by exciting new discoveries. Be- stopped but a high, almost inaudible, yond a door that opened only to the whine continued. Roger put his eyes ray from the little black box, Roger against the visi-glass and an exclama- found an Observation Room built tion broke from his lips. against the outside shell of the great sphere. It contained powerful tele- “Ruth! Look! Buildings!” scopes, instruments for testing atmo- The girl took his place and studied spheric composition and pressure, radar what she saw for a full minute. It controls—even radio broadcasting and was clear as though she stood in the receiving sets together with auxiliary street near them. Rocky, shale-filled telegraphic keys and earphones. soil stood out, free of any hint of vege- !

122 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

tation, but from it rose a massive wall tains, so we may be at a high altitude,” perhaps twenty feet high built not only Roger told him. by skilled masons, but by beings who “And there’s more,” Hughson went knew how to hew and move huge rocks. on. “No traces of fumes or dangerous “It might,” she said, looking up, “indi- radiations of any kind. Furthermore, cate that life has disappeared from the gravity is identical with that of the this area. Certainly there is no reoeni- earth as nearly as I can calculate it.” sign of life, even of vegetation.” The two men looked at eath other Roger tried again. He studied the suddenly, then turned almost as one elevator wheel slowly. The field of toward the control room and the mono- vision rose. He was looking at snow- rail cars. Roger pressed the button capped mountain peaks, and below the marked Gravity Grid Control. The snow line he saw trees panel door slid back. Without a word, “There’s air and moisture, Ruth,” they climbed into the seats of the he said. “Look now.” waiting carrier. Their excitement increased as they “Wait here, Ruth,” Roger said as moved the scope to another port, but the car slid away in its traveling light-

only a precipitous wall of shale faced path. Eleven minutes later it stopped them. The third presented a similar at the control station platform, with view. But the fourth opened a vista the inevitable model on the table. They of a tree-filled valley a few miles away scrambled across the floor to the con-

it, trol with snow-clad • peaks above board with its bank of gauges. apparently stretching off into infinite The indicators stood at zero. The distance. power had been shut off from the arti- “Bottom port next.” Roger’s voice ficial gravity grids! had lost its thrill of excitement. “It It was with mixed feelings that the looks like a nearly dead world. The two men rode back toward the central earth couldn’t be in much worse shape.” control room. The car swayed gently The humming sounded again as the as it slid along under its rail between gears turned in machinery they could banks of machinery that stretched use but didn’t understand. The high away on all sides like a vast metal whine followed. Roger looked from forest. the bottom port, stiffened and turned Life within the valley could prob- slowly away. ably continue for a long time, placidly “We’re at least three hundred feet and comfortably. But the chance of up from the ground! Johnson and the release to a bigger world seemed engineers did a wonderful job, settling remote. us between tw'o mountains, braced up-

' right, without damage or even a jar, S THEY rejoined Ruth in the apparently here stay. we but we How control room, Hughson made need those men right norv!” A one further suggestion. !” “Good news, children Dr. Hugh- “Douglas White’s hobby, from the son came into the room, beaming. “The time he was a tot, has been radio and air on this planet -is clear, pure, breath- telegraphy. Hade he lived on Earth able. It is slightly rarified, as earth he doubtless would have been a liam’ air v/ould be several thousand feet with a shortwave station of his own. aboye sea-level, but men can live in it.” He’s read every book in the library on “We’re braced between two moun- the subject and I think we can trust : ! —

SON OF THE STARS 123

him. Let’s put him to work on tlie the message. Pause. Repeat. Pause.

radio. Let him get the sets operating, Repeat . . .

try any signals he can devise, try the There was a long silence in the ear- Morse Code. It can do no harm and — phones, then : “Stand by for one hour.” who knows but that it may do seme The rvords were clear, but the speaker good?” seemed to have difficulty pronouncing Douglas White was instantly en- them. raptured by the chance to study the White was tremendously excited. He apparatus. Within three hours, he dared not leave lest he miss a vital was tapping out an S.O.S. in Morse signal, yet he knew the others would

Code, over and over again, on one want to be present w'hen it came. This frequency after another. With ear- was one of the most significant mo- phones plastered to his head he listened ments in their lives. They were in as though he had been using radios contact with a speaking being from all his life instead of just reading and outside the sphere—for the first time dreaming about them. in 97 years

For two hours there w'as no result- As it happened, the three came back ing signal from his experimental in time to find their radio expert in a broadcasts. But as he tuned his state of almost apoplectic frenzy. receiver in on one of the higher "It came!” he yelled as they entered frequencies he heard music, and almost the door. "I asked w'here we’re down. jumped out of his chair. They answered me in English and Without stopping to consider any- said to stand by!” thing he set the broadcast wave steady The following twenty minutes were on this beam, stepped up the power, the longest any of the four had ever and broadcast over and over, “S.O.S., experienced. It was too good to believe S.O.S., S.O.S.” —and yet—progress must have gone In a half-hour a recognizable answer on during the past hundred years. came. Douglas White was alone at Perhaps other ships—even colonies the receiving set w'hen a voice broke The radio crackled suddenly. White into the musical program, saying some- adjusted his dials and turned on the thing he thought sounded like Spanish. loudspeaker. The voice of an elderly That w'as all he needed. He answered man boomed out clearly. in his best, slowly enunciated English “You say you are aboard the space- "Speaking from the space traveler ship Destiny ivhich left earth in 1952?” Destiny which left Earth in 1952. Can White handed the microphone to you locate us? Can you tell us where Roger, who answered quickly; "That we are dowm?” is correct. Can you tell us where we He waited a moment, then repeated are? Have you got us located yet?”

— TO OUR READERS — We are constantly experimenting in an effort to give you the very best reading surface obtainable. For this reason, there may be occasional slight fluctuations in the thickness of this magazine. Now, as in the past, every magazine bearing the Popular Publications seal of quality will continue to have the same number of pages, the same wordage, the same unparalleled value in top-flight reading enter- tainment that has been and will continue to be our Popular Fiction Group guarantee —the best reading value obtainable anywhere at any price! SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

The voice broke in: “All in due course. AVe need better identification. Jokes have been played before. What date in 1952?”

“August third, from Nevada, under command of Roger Hammond, at the suggestion of the President as con- veyed in a message from his secretary NATURFS REMEDY (NR) TABLETS after Cleveland, Ohio, had been des- —A purely veg;etable laxative to relieve constipation without the usual griping, troyed. Is that sufficient?” sickening, perturbing sensations, and “Ample,” does not cause a. rash. Try NR— you will the wice answered. “Your see the difierence; Uncoated or candy statement is accurate. I am Emmett coated—their action is dependable, thor- Brown, curator of the of ough, Y«t gentle as millions of NR’s have Museum proven. G^a 23c boxand use as directed. Natural History in Boston. I was called because your signals seem archaic. TOMORROV^ AlRtOHT ^ “Our finders place }iour message FUSSY STOHMOt?, source as the upper Andes Mountains ISfFRRtACn in Peru, South America. Indians have miGSTKei, been fleeing the area in panic spread- mm FOR mmm THETURfm! ing tales of a moon that came down from the sky. Can you carry on?” Roger cleared his throat: “We can MoBf Finbb in 2 Yeors live aboard indefinitely,” he said. “The Go as FBpidly m 70^ time snd^blHtles pefsoft. Conria o^Taleot faygetmentadiool wora—prepares f<^eol}«(;;o [ Destiny is wedged between two moun- l^ttranee tfan. Standard H. S. texts satmUed. .Diploma. Mjtmk tat fi. 6. simjeeta elreadr ceomleiM!. 8h>sl* nblecte If ooslrod. Bhrb Bdipol AikMettm ! tmt nneoriMS for aSnuaeoMSft tains, undamaged, but her bottom port ie botlneu and hido*^ awl aodalir. Son’t bo boecncaTpod nil Liwr llte. B»» Bleb Sebool aradnato. Start row tmlnlzer Dow. Irea Beoatia ea reonest. Me ^%»tloo. is three hundred feet above the ground. » <»

The answering voice of the curator continued: “Stand by, then. We’ll talk with you every night at five o’clock. A rescue party will be organized at once. But, let me warn you to be pre- pared for a changed earth. Asia and Europe are still deserts, but New America has grown until we number twenty million souls !” There was

pride in the voice as it added : “Good night. Carry on.” Deathlike silence pervaded the ob- servation room. “'W e’re back home !” Roger said, at last. “Home on the Earth we’ve never seen before !” His arms tightened around Ruth Eaton. “Did 3'ou hear? HOME!” 124 '

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Continued from page 6) story, best cover, best illustrations, best author, best editor, etc., etc., in both the fan and the pro field. After months of writing to the top men and women in the stf. field and This FREE TEST recording their suggestions and ideas. feiis you if it’s Van Houten has decided that the time worth training! has come to hold a convention to set up an Awards Committee. Van Houten • Maybe you can develop into a aucceasful, money- has suggested that editors, authors, making commercial artist. Our graduates have been publishers, fans other interested and doing it for 84 years. This persons meet in April of 1949. new, scientific test reveals how much talent you have. Find out. Mail the coupon. If you’re interested, write to Ray S Van Houten, 409 Market St., Paterson I ART INSTRUCTION, INC. 3, N. J., and he will supply you with Dept. 3939 Mirmeopolit 15, Minn. I additional information. He has recently 'Please send me your Free Talent Test. c prepared a small booklet, reporting on - - - - Aff* all the letters and suggestions he has I received up to August 1, 1948. A I limited number of these may be I obtained from him at 10(J. I m Fan-Mag Reviews GET EASILY SPACEWARP, Vol. 4, No. 2, pub- $$$ Selling greeting cards, napkirw, coasters, stationery and a lished monthly by Arthur H. Rapp, complete line with name on. Costs nothing to try. S<«d for samples and Selling Plan on iK^proval. 2120 Bay St., Saginaiw, Mich. IS^f. 21 pages of light and sometimes WELCOME 370 Plane St,, Dept. A, Newarir 2, N. i. humorous doings of the fans and pros. Good mimeographing, though the Build steady Repast Business little light. paper is a No lavootaMBt— Ne Kxporieneo. UNION UBEL BOOK MATCHES PEON, Vol. 1, No- 3, published I Olreot from Amcriea’a Lsrsest SxclualTe Uoiott Label Book Mstob Manuf&otnrecs. monthly by Charles Lee' Riddle, PNl, Wo Teature PETTY Glamour CMrla, UHIOH nlce^andsome Dm aerlea aad K]^ AJV USN, 2116 Edsall Court, Alameda, DISPLAY DOUBLEBOOK MATCBCBSe Make BIO PROFIT QUICK. Write To- Calif. 5c a copy a year. pages .flay lor SPECIAL OFFER S&d FRBB. ; 25c 20 POWERHOUSE Belling kit. of good fiction, poetry, articles and """^SUPERIOR MATCH CO- Pept. S-49, TSas 8. Creenweod, CWeeso features. Well mimeographed, with a good cover by Grossman.

SPEARHEAD, Vol. 1, No. 3, irregularly published by Thomas H. Carter, 817 Starling Ave-, Martinsville, Va. 10c. 37 pages full of good material by the top fans and some pros. AVell worth the dime. The cover by Ray

Nelson is an improvement over the first two issues. 225 —

IWOBLB THE SHAVES — REASON WHY! FANDOM’S CORNER OGHT to the pack — SMART BUY! ^ THE SYDNEY FUTURIAN, No. 0. 13, published by the Futurian Society of Sydney, Australia. 5^. 8 small-size pages of the goings-on in the “land

down under.” Read how it feels to live in a land where no stf. or fantasy

magazines are published and Ameri- ,

can stf. magazines are banned. Contact Vol Molesworth, 160 Beach St., • • • Coogee, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia. CTIinV JIT trained m«owin liishevpod- dIUUl Ai Muinila tions and bisrseranccessln bnameaa CHRONOSCOPE, Vol. 1. No. 1, and piiblicUfe.GivateropportanitiefiQowtbaiievcrbei09e. More Ability; More Prestige: Mora Mo!KwS„t'”iS;L KS published quarterly by Redd Boggs, train at bonra daringr spars thne. of-Z^.B. 'CM" Dscsss ws fnrowh sH 'll. iDctadinr M-votoms Law Ubrarp. Low coat, eaiiy oar Taloabia 4&-pairs '*Law Twirohig for LeadsrsbtD 2215 Benjamin Street N. E., Minnea- ud “Bvidsnco” books FBSE. Smd NO^ U^LLE ZXT|CNSIpJI UKiVE^lTX»4 :i^ Souih polis 18, Minn. 15(il. One of the best A Corretpondencc iTTEtitution, Dept. 43^»r’L, Chicago 5, HU' mimeographed magazines, well illus- fIiSS& trated with cover and some inside EAEN CASH SHOWSS^® TO FiRSEs^OSS pages in colors. Write at onceif^n want this finemade^to-measoresnitl Yoa two \ eanf^etftbyt&lgnsafewordora from frieDds,aDde&mupto 9 $10. $12 in a da^. xoor bonne salt helps yon take more orders FANTASY REVIEW, Vol. 2, No. I withlate3tBtYle,iziade'to-measaresu&ranteedsaitsatama2* I insiy low priees^ Also complete line of L&dies'Ta!!ored Suits. No oypcrieixce, no money needed. Write TODAY f<«! FREE published bimonthly by Walter I 11, I 3AMPLBS*~teIlins abont yoarself—a^e, etc. No i^ligratksnl

' Gillings, 115 Park Road, PIONEER TfllLORINB CO; gSggT.a7‘ggrr°al?^.1fi-. Wanstead Ilford, Essex, England. With the next Over $2.©0 Every Ho&srI issue this magazine will increase num- Sell name plates for front doors ber of pages and raise its price to 25^1

FREE Sample, Write Dept. 184 and well Avorth it. This is a 20-page National Engravers printed magazine covering the entire 214 Summer St. Boston, Moss. pro field. Books and magazines of the are due ti M niiiiii, U.S., Canada and England reviewed RELIEVED and previewed. This issue features Bob litli till! ail o! Frazier’s “First of the .Fantastics,” an article about one of the first stf. maga- zines, “The Frank Reade Library,’ published way back in 1892. Note: Readers are cautioned that MAKE $$$ EASILY because of the unavoidable delay Selling greeting cards, napkins, coasters, stationery and between the time these reviews are a conxplcte line with name on. Costs nothing to try. Send for samples and Selling Plan on ai>provaL written and the time they reach print, MERIT GREETING CARD CO. specific issues mentioned here may be 370 Plane St., Dept. V, Newark 2, N. J* out of print and newer ones current. JIWELRY WAMTS© It is also suggested that you enclose All kinds. Highest cash prices paid for rings. Jewelry, spec- payment when you write for a sample tacles, gold teeth, diamonds, brokon and usable watches, etc. Cash mailed promptly. W’rite for FBHB shipping container. issue of any of these mags. And when LOWE’S, DEPT, PF Holland Bldg., St. Lonls, Uo. you request information from fan edi-

tors, it is always wise to enclose a Sf A stamp for reply. Publishing fan Tlilj hsw 128-page book, ’'StaBimering, Its Cause and 3^ Corrit'ion," describes the Bogae Unit Method for scieniiilc correction of BtammMlng and stuttering mags is a hobby and most, if not all, Gutvess.^ul for 48 years. Boyu^ Dapt 492^ Circle Tower, tatflacapons 4, ind» are published at a loss. 126 '

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

(Continued from page 49) learn A Trade HOWI ” tear all atomic structure, shift it in- stantaneously into a new pattern. i PRAiaicfli Gahn felt the scream tear his throat, SHOP TRAINING! felt the brink of shuddering nothing- ness, and screamed agai; In Our Chicago Shops AUTO MECHANICS WELDING-ARC and GAS The tears dimmed her eyes so that DIESEL MECHANICS MACHINIST REFRIGERATION PIANO the steam pipe above her head was a TUNING BODY-FENDER weaving blur. Once again she tried, Above Approved For G. I.’s and Civilians Ont of Amarlta't loading Prmthal ScbeoM and then she heard the pound of feet 7 floorM of Fully fguipped Shops Ovor 4S,000 Successful Graduafus behind her, heard John’s hoarse cry, Expert Individual Initrueilon learn by Doing—low living Expense and then he had pulled her off the chair . Fsfabllshed 1902—Day end Evening Cfassns down into his arms. Also the following Home Study Courses He rocked her back and forth and PLASTIC REFRIGERATION DIESEL ——CALL IN PERSON OR MAIL THIS AD said thickly, “Oh my darling! My TO— poor, silly darling! I nearly lost you.” GREER SHOP TRAINING (Dept. 15) 460 South SUie SU Chicago 5, III. And suddenly she knew that only Please eend without obligation free infocmatloo ngard- ing trade cheeked aboTe. (Bpeeltr whether too are s Veteran or OIvlUan the fates had kept her from being a ) Name fool—knew that she could never leave ac« him. Never. Tears were salt on her City Btate___ lips as she tried to tell him.

Goland spat into the yellow dust, showed his broken teeth in a wide grin, EBusiness and began to shake his begging bowl CSeaa and HotbproeC rags and npbolftay ^ the home". Patented omlpmeat. Bto shop needed. Duntclean Dealer'a grOM Pteftt BP again. Surely the Martian sun was to $30 a day EACH sendoa maa. Xtoa Nationally Adrertlsed mtvIom enato Meat too hot, even for a space tramp. It eastomen. Easy to leant Onteiay eataWBaned. Easy terms. Send today for FBSE l^klet— had given him strange visions. Even 9U1 details, noAv they were fading from his mind. .7.4PL ItUNOlS How absurd to think he was someone named Gahn, the younger, messing around with a screwy time-machine. Waking dreams in the hot Martian sun are weird. And all that guff about tenth-level minds. Nice babe in that dream though. Eighth-level, whatever that meant. A nice lush blonde crea- ture named Luria. Reminded him of obstactea trim energy you bavc oTcrlooiGed* that waitress about ten-fifteen years The Roeicrncltiaa snow how and will help the teat povera cooteoL ago in the NewMex terminal. He fioundance ice yoarweu Write for book, The Mastery Lilt tells how bits Pm looked with disgust at the few may receive meee foe •may and ma dawn ioe yoiu Addwan of metal in the begging bowl and be- ScrUie H.N gan to shake it vigorously, yowling in The Rosicrucians his cracked voice, “He’p an ole man San Joaa *—AMO&C— Caufonua ! ole git back to Earth He’p an man 'The RoeicxuclaDe ace NOT a raii^ous organizadoa** !” git back to Earth SUPER SCIENCE STORIES -&Lyed my Life Continued from page A God.MBd for OAS-BEARTBTJRN” 71) the country with me for all those weeks.” tl'UM tfftn oev teeac. General Clark dropped down beside BEMOANS Acid iadigesWoB 25e Morlake. “Senator,” he said, "for God’s sake, the name of the country, the enemy ?” The dying man looked at him with the beginning of a sneer on his lips. “The country has only one name,” he

LUALLC fitMllM UhNi^. 417 So. Dwtoni $L said. He laughed a Satanic laughter, A Gorre»pX, Boston, Mass. The war was over. Irrevocably. I2S .

MISSIVES AND MISSILES AUHELS Carpenters (Continued froni page 108) Guides Man-to-Save-the-World blurbs that have been and Builders running wild in the stf mags since the end 4va!$'.^6 of the war. Why not let the nasty old Mar- tians blow up the earth for a change? Oh, all right, if you’ve gotta save the earth find some other way to save it. Maybe two-men- to-save-the-world stuff, huh? Mutations are out too. Hey, I got sixteen correct answers in your quiz. What does that make me? (I never shoot sitting ducks.- — Ed.) That's all for now, but I’ll be back. Dread- ful thought, isn’t it? Bov to Qse tbe steel Are you going to revive ASTONISHING Eotfisvs—HovtobuUi ^ ^ too? I hope — A mitre box—Hov to use tbe ohaUt Uoe—Hov to use mies and scalea—Hov to mok© Joints Carpenters art«hroette*-Sokvlog mensnratloii Neil Graham, .. — — strengtlTjoC R.R. 4 —ow to set girders and eills^Bow to _ bouses and roofs—Hov to estimate eosta^^Eow Mitchell, Ont. to butid bouses, barns, gaimgee. btmsiOQVi. ete. Canada. —HoV to read and crov plans—JDravUjt vsf SDeelfleatlons—How to excavate’—How to tee settings 12. 13 and 17 on the steel iquaro—Bov to build hoists and soalXoids—skyughto—Hov tn to Interior trim— build stairs—Hov put on , - , ^ Dear Editor: Hov to bang doors—How to lath—lay Qoora—Hov to paint

There is no doubt tiiat you have finally AUDEL. PiiblUhen, 49 W. 2314 St. H«W Ydrit 10. N. Y. done w'hat the fan world has been waiting and hoping for in reviving Super Science. done this, the next thing Now that you have Nam*. to do is revive Astonishing Stories. You can charge fifteen or Uventy cents for it. I doubt if you would have any trouble getting it. I would gladly pay a quarter myself. OccupaUon— But to get on with the analysis of the pen January issue. Cover: I guess it is just my personal preference, but I just don’t take to these symbolic covers that seem to be all the rage these days. This strengthens my Hew to Moke Mouey witli belief that the eover should portray a scene Sintple Cartoons'' from some certain story. Put Lawrence on A book everyone whoI HimMkai t.to drawHraa inside pics and Finlay on the- cover. ihooid have, it io — Inside pics: Glad to see you have Bok and free; no obtlsatt^. I FREE 8t»ply addroM I BOOK Paul back. nisn I know that I am sticking my neck out G ARTODttieTII’ eXCHANOe a yard for Finlay fans to lop off on Nos. 1 Dr«U»*ndt«(doboiMr quiz. Get rid of it review of future and put a yMS. W« oipp% M S«t«* ^EE. Write issues in its place. The department heads •Cb MAira GABMOIT CO. Bipl, »« are all O.K. except the one for the quiz. Stories: 1. A Handful of Stars. More. Much more. 2. The Bounding Cro-wn, More from Blish. RAINCOAT SPECIALS 3. Black Sun Rises. This would be The An,aA>iV*3vtl FORMER FOR BOYS first except that I don’t like this type. This ol9eor-»t7led f\/\ sabardio© treaebcoatAte^ 4. The Sky Will Be Ours. Good plot. * VU^ ^ .80 haa jeke lining. Bet-Fj 5. Moonworm’s Dance. Not bad. Who is ia cboulders, storm- vv this Mullen? piaoe. shoulder straiM, and t big dash poek- ets. Weathersealed by Imprognole. Men's 6. Cabal. This would have been better if sizes 24-4S, shortv r^ulsr. or long lengths. Hoys’ E^zes 4-16. it had been about three times as long. 7. The Silence. SEND NO MONEY iSST 8. The Other, Essence of hack. ebarge. Print name, ad

so I’ll si^n off. STRABO MFG. BO., Dept. PB - 13 W. 17 St., N. T. 11, fi, I In closing, let me beg you to stay clear of —

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“Atom Doom” stories. This hack has caused the ruin and demise of. one science fiction magazine, and had part in the wreck of another one. I would also like to put out a plea to anj'- one who has magazines to sell or trade. I hereby guarantee, v/orld avithout end, that Weftr rteo on 5 day apprevsTI anybody who writes me will be answered. papar flSSd eau^^ middle joUrt ^ >S Bok. More Paul. Lawrence on in- rfw ftoanx Far posteaa f2.95 plus 0Oe > More and postal dhargce .. orders sent postpaid. Weor Tln^^ diSat tf not-'ObBDltitely satlsOcd, return ftr xto! nfSa, MO fotvlgn C.O.D.’s, Sincerely yours, KRArrSMAN Robert Kenneth Paris 149.'. W. Tfiome, Dept. B'lOS, ChlesRO 29, m. 230 Spring Lake St. IMVENTOkS . Madison\nIle, Ky. Leom hw? to protect yoar InrentiMi. BpeciaDy prspaftid Dear Editor: 'TaUnt Guide" cootidiiing dettlled infermation cooconriac patent protectltxi and procedure with “Record of larentiiFn" This is the first time I have ever made form will bo forwarded toyou upon request-^thont obllaartloD. comment on any reading material, either ver- OASmeS A. OVBIBS & HASVSY MC0S90M ballj'’ or written, during mj. 38^4 years visit Registered patent Alfomeys to this overgrown rock, although i probably 9ZS-D CUIricf Notional Cidg. Woshl.-iQ!on 3, D. C. have read at least a carload of S.F. durin,g my time.

Now it may be that my taste has matured, or it could be that the quality of writers has depreciated; then again it could be that so Watch makers in crest dcmanci. 'Tnln £tsp> many things I once enjoj’-ed as pure romantic '•by-step, undep«eiperU. We furntsh tooli, «o -/Interference with presort ^b, ODPortunl^ to fiction are now fact and commonplace that icssom. f fret la business for yoarwu. 10 easy the wealth of material has reached near exhaustion. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know it is an awful waste of time to read a dozen stories to get one good one.

However, this note is not designed for complaint, but rather for praise. This little story “THE SKY WILL BE OURS” by Make mtmey. Know noWtto DreiUc tsam trMn horeee. Write3 toCavtoCay Mfor this bochbool; M. W. Wellman seems to combine that qual- _ „ FREE, together with offear at ity of feasibility and logic woven into an a coarse la Antmsl Breeding. If you are tatereated.in Oaltlng and Riding the 8aad?e impossible fantasy. Few writers seem to cheek here Do ii todati—tiofo. . ( ) achieve that, lately. While reading the story BESRY SCHOOL OF HORSF.»IAN8HIF one is cognizant that it could not be so, Oept* 844 Pleasant Hill, Ohio although V'ery entertaining. But later one has the feeling this must have already hap- pened, just the way it was presented. Like rare wine, it tastes better .after you have it BayMrraaMRT down, even than while drinkin.g it. Sun m.to m Please do not think I am setting myself up Wrflo ftisa BccAJet fjT ^|P critic. I realize qualifications Bi>aPr;c*lM as a my lack of INDSPSNDSNT IRON WORKS for such a noble calling. However, I do know 2440 EAST 7310 STRST. DOT. yp what I like and sometimes I even know why LOS ANgaS. CAUfOWdA I like it. At any rate if this fella can turn ’em out like that just every-now-and-then, I’m for having more of his stories. WANDERLUST Frankl}', I am an avrid reader of another S.F. monthly. Have been reading it off and on since I was a kid in high school. Your —brings thousands of readers to RAILROAD MAG- January issue is the first me for me. I hap- AZTNE Others are attracted by an interest In pened to have a little more time than usual locomothre operation, ratiroad bsiory, persouadties, la.st week and having finished my usual SF or new developments, all of which they find cxcit- meal for this month I bought it on impulse. I to something, because I nearly ingiy presented In photos and feature articles in had buy had worn out the vendor’s magazine racks, look- the big, T46 page ing for something to pass the time with. I’m RAILROAD MAGAZINE afraid I’m about to be proselytized. Yours sincerely, E. 42nd St., N. Y. City 17 203 Sam L. Dennison ,3704 Mt. Everest St.

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