Including Venture Science Fiction

Greenplace TOM PURDOM 5 After Everything, What? DICK MOORE 17 Treat (verse) WALTER H. KERR 33 Breakthrough JACK SHARKEY 34 Books AVRAM DAVIDSON 42 Dark Conception LOUIS J. A. ADAMS 46 One Man's Dream SYDNEY VANSCYOC 53 The New Encyclopaedist-Ill STEPHEN BECKER 62 Where Do You Live, Queen Esther? AVRAM DAVIDSON 65 Science: The Black of Night ISAAC ASIMOV 72 On The House B. C. FITZPATRICK 82 Portrait of the Artist HARRY HARRISON 86 Hag (verse) RUSSELL F. LETSON, JR. 94 Oversight RICHARD OLIN 95 The Third Coordinate (novelet) ADAM SMITH 98 Letters 127 F&SF Marketplace 129 Covet' by Ed Emsb (illustrating "The Third Coordinate")

Joseph W. Ferman, PUBUSBER Avram Davidson, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Jsaac Asimov, SCIENCE EDITOR Edward L. Ferman, MANAGING EDITOR

Ted White, ASSISTANT EDITOR

The Ma.gasitte of Fantasy and Scient:e Fiction, Vol•me 27 No. 5, Whole No. 162, Nov. 1964. Published mo•tthly by Me~c•~Y P~ess, Iru:., at 401 a copy. Annual sNbscription $4.50; $5.00 in Canada and the Pan American Un•on; $5.50 in all other countries. Publi· cation office, 10 Ferry Street, Concord, N. H. Editorial and general mail shoNid be sent to 347 East 53rd St., Nn» York, N. Y. 10022. Second Class tostage ta.id at Coru:ord, N. H. Printed in U.S.A. C 19M by Me~c•~Y Press, Iru:. All rights, including translatiDfts into other langU~Jgesl. reserved. Submissions must be accompa,.ied by stamped, self·add~essed envek>pes; the rublisher as.

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Name ••••••••••••••••••••••...... ••••••••••••••••••••• Please print Address .....•••••••••...... City • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • State ...... • • . • • . . • . Zip # ...... • 4 Drugs which stimulme t'M 8et1.9e8 • • • drugs which free the mind from the bounds of lime and ordinllry time-bound metabolism . . . pyschological techniques which bind the mind, finding its weak spots and hitting both hard and painlessly • . . Some of these are already facts, others may soon be facts. Few writers are ro aware of the political possibilitiu inherent in them, and the dangers inherent in the possibilities, as is Tom Purdom. StroU with 1dm now through Gt-eenplace, A Nice Place To Lwe, and see for yourself.

GREENPLA(;E

by Tom Purdom

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OP GREBN­ swer from a big, hulking man like place, Nicholson seared himself in the sec would have made him feel the wheelchair and took. the drug a lot better. From the look of him, injector out of his shirt pocket. he had thought the sec might en­ Rolling up his sleeve, he uncov­ joy a fight. The big man's face ered the lower half of his biceps. seemed to be set in a scowl of For a moment the injector trem­ permanent disgust with a world bled above his 8esh. which made such trivial use of He put the injector down. muscles. Ever since the invention Twisting around in the chair, he of the voicetyper, which had made looked up at the sec standing be­ the old trade of stenographer-typist hind him. obsolete, sees had been the lowest "Will you help me if I get into class of unskilled labor, status a fight?" symbols hired on a temporary "I don't get paid to fight," the basis merely to carry their employ­ sec said. er's files and dictating equipment. "I thought you might do it for He turned around in the chair. pleasure." Across the street the late afternoon "I work for money." sun fell on the lawns and houses Fear was a tingling nausea in of Greenplace. Children were yell­ his chest and stomach. A yes an- ing and he could smell the grass. 5 6 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION What was pain like? He couldn't Again the injector trembled remember. He had been forced to above his biceps. He shook his endure it only once in his life, head disgustedly. He pressed the twenty-four years ago when he had · release and two cc's of red liquid been twelve and the doctors had shot into his ann. Behind him the given his left eye a new set of mus­ sec stiffened. He put the injector cles. Could he take it? Would he back in his pocket. beg them for mercy? It was a beautiful Saturday af­ "Don't think they don't know ternoon in late summer. He was you made that last survey," Bob sitting in the shade of a tall apart­ Dazella had told him. "Never un­ ment tower, the last one for sev­ derestimate the Boyd organization. eral miles. In front of him Green­ Every time a lawn gets mowed in place looked comfortable and that district, it goes in their com­ pleasant. Lawn mowers hummed puter. You'd better go armed. Be­ across the grass while their owners lieve me, you go into Greenplace watched them with sleepy eyes. On unarmed and you may come out a every lawn there was at least one cripple." person sprawling in the sun. Glued to the middle finger of Greenplace had been built in the his left hand was a scrambler, a early 1970's and it was typical of finger length tube which fired a its period. Every block had fewer tight beam of light and sound in a than fifteen houses and every pattern designed to disrupt the hu­ house had a lawn and a back vard. man nervous system. In his lower He sat tensely in the chaii. He left shirt pocket he had a pair of could feel the chemistry of his fear bombs loaded with psycho-active mingling with the disturbing gas and in the bottom of the wheel chemistry of the drug. He felt like chair he had installed a scent gen­ a pygmy with a wooden harpoon erator and a sound generator. He waiting to go out and do battle didn't know what the two gener­ with one of the giant creatures that ators could do for him if he got swam in the oceans of Jupiter. into trouble, but they had been the Congressman Martin Boyd was only other portable weapons he probably the most powerful man could think of. He didn't think in the United States. He had been anything could help him very the undisputed boss of the Eighth much. MST -melasynchrotrinad Congressional District since 19 52. -had one bad side effect. It dis­ Now that medical science had con­ rupted coordination. Once the quered death, or had at least given drug hit his nervous system he most people an indefinite life would be a helpless lump of flesh span, his organization might very for the next four hours. well control the district forever. In QUENPLACJ! 7 addition to his forty-eight years his ears told him his coordination &eniority, Boyd had accumulated was already degenerating. wealth, a first-rate psych staff, and The sec pushed him forward. control of the House Rules Com­ His head was swaying from side to mittee and the Sub-Committee on side. He tried holding it steady and Culture and Recreation. Modern failed. The landscape swung across psych techniques were so powerful his vision. politicians and social scientists MST was the most powerful unanimously considered Boyd un­ psychic energizer on the market. beatable. It multiplied the powers of ob­ His head rolled to one side. He servation and the rate and quality scanned the clouds and the blue of thought by a factor somewhere sky and he estimated the wind ve­ between three and seven. The user locity and what kind of weather observed data he would never they were having in Nigeria, have observed in his normal condi­ where his wife was on a weekend tion, and his mind invented and shopping trip. His hand suddenly discarded hypotheses at a dizzying appeared between his eyes and the rate. The drug was only eight years clouds. He tried to return it to the old but it had already been respon­ arm of the chair and instead sible for several breakthroughs in slapped the bare skin below his the sciences. Thanks to four bril­ shorts hard enough to sting. liant insights by drugged experi­ He tried to lower his head and menters, his own field of psycho­ look at Greenphtce. He found him­ therapy had leapfrogged several self looking at the apartment tow­ decades. The black arts of social er on his right. He noted the num­ manipulation had also advanced. ber of floors and the number of He heard the wheels of the windows per floor and developed a chair rumble on the street and he highly original theory about the ef­ calculated how much heat they fects of high rise apartment living, were generating and formulated combined with current toilet train­ two contradictory hypotheses about Ing procedures, on the Oedipus what the motion of all the wheeled complex of classic Freudian psy­ vehicles on Earth was doing to the chology. Before he could take his annual temperature and rainfall of eyes off the tower, his drug accel­ the northeastern United States. erated brain composed a witty Smoothly, without breaking his paragraph about the theory for his stride, the sec rolled him off the popular column in Current Psy­ street onto the sidewalk. chology. On the first lawn two boys "Let's • . • g. . g . . ooo . . " His mounted on electric rhinos were tongue and lips felt normal but engaging in a duel with stunner 8 FANTASY AND SCIENCI! FICTION swords. A heavy man in dirty could learn enough about the vot­ shorts and an unbuttoned shirt ers to fight a strong campaign. looked away from the combat and Turbine engines whined in his glanced at the wheelchair and its ear. "Cop," the sec grunted. occupant. His eyes narrowed. His An open police car swung past face hardened and he stuck a cigar his bobbing eyes. In the front seat butt in his mouth, and then Nich­ two policemen and a panting dog olson's head rolled again and he stared at him. saw the people watching him from The policemen slid out of his the other side of the street. Several vision. For a moment he and the people had actually gotten out of fat man with the cigar eyed each their lounging chairs and stood up. other. The boys had stopped joust­ All the way down the block, every ing and the man was standing, eye over twelve years old was look­ with his legs spread and his arms ing at him. folded in his chest, in front of the He had seen the same kind of exact center of his house. There hostile looks last month when he was a comic resemblance between had surveyed a neighborhood near the human figure and the front of here on a weekday morning. Fear the house. Both were extremely of strangers and mind probers broad for their height. The fat seemed to be part of the condition­ man had a fat house . . . ing the Boyd organization im­ "Just a minute, mister. Hold posed on the District. A big or­ on." ganization didn't have to psych Fear erased everything but the the voters by riding around openly policemen from his nervous sys­ drugged. Boyd's psychers could tem. Their exact appearance use more subtle methods: survey­ Bashed into his consciousness and ors disguised as salesmen and he formulated three hypothetical maintenance men; community car­ models of their personality struc­ nivals at which the booths and ture. His right hand shot toward amusements were concealed psych the sky and then dropped over the tests; even, when necessary, ar­ arm of the chair. He moved it resting people and releasing them again and this time it landed on with many apologies and no mem­ the arm. Underneath his fingers he ory they had been psyched during could feel the reassuring plastic of their detention. the buttons which controlled the Nicholson's organization con­ generators. sisted of five men and at present "Sss ... ttt ... oooopp ..•" he was the only trained psych man The sec stopped. The cops got in the group. An MST survey was out of the car, one of them hold­ the only way a small organization ing the dog on a u-shaped leash, CUENPLACIL 9 IUld stepped in front of him. The ''You want us to run you in for one without the dog held out his disturbing the peace?" hand. "We aren't making noise. You "May I see your identification, have to make· a noise." please?" ''You're a real lawyer, aren't "You making an arrest?" the sec you?" asked. The buttons controlling the gen­ "Just a routine check." erators were still under his fingers. "We don't have to." In his condition it would be hard "Don't have to what?" the cop to punch out a particular code, but with the dog said. he could surprise them with a "You have to arrest us for some­ blast of almost anything, from the -thing. No arrest, no ID." roar of a rocket to the smell of Nicholson wondered where the horse manure, and then get them sec had learned that bit of law. with the scrambler and flee. But The big man might not be bright that would end the survey before enough to hold a regular job in a it started. modem economy, but he seemed "Get them out of here," a man to have learned a few things about yelled. "Don't take any back talk." dealing with cops. He was certain All over the block people started the Boyd organization already yelling at them. knew who he was and most of his "Send them back where they life history, but when you were came from!" fighting modem psych techniques "Sic the dog on 'em!" you never knew what piece of in­ The cop gestured at the excited formation might be crucial. The people. ''You aren't disturbing the best rule was to tell them as little peace?" as you could. A little girl ran toward them 'What are you doing here? Who across the nearest lawn. "Go away, are you working for?" bad man! Go away! Bad man! Bad The sec didn't answer. The man!" Her mother screamed at her grinning dog bobbed across Nich­ but she kept on coming. At the olson's vision and he felt a new edge of the lawn she stumbled over stab of fear. The thick muscle in a drainage ditch and fell on the his mouth quivered. sidewalk. "Aaaag ... verrr ... ggg ..." "Mybabyl" The cop scowled at the sec. "I The girl lifted her face from asked you a question." the sidewalk and screamed at him The sec remained silent. A through her tears. Her mother ran bony hand jerked the leash. The up and bent over her. "Poor baby. dog growled. Poor little thing." Glaring at him, 10 FAMI'ASY AMD ICIBHCB FIC'DON the mother lifted the sobbing child He observed everything but his to her shoulder and carried her to­ brain refused to produce any the­ ward the house. "There, there. ories. He took it all in, the people, We'll give you something to eat. the elaborate toys, the houses, the Stop crying now. Stop crying. How food and amusements scattered on about a nice piece of candy?" blankets and lawn tables, and even The dog growled again. ''Who as it flowed through his nerv­ are you working for?" the cop re­ ous system his brain obstinately peated. planned escape routes and what to The sec remained silent. The do if they attacked. He couldn't cops glanced at each other. The think about anything else. one holding the dog grinned. "Let He tried to get his cowardice him do what he wants." They under control. He wanted to tell trudged back to their car. the sec to turn around, but he Nicholson waited. The car did­ valued his self respect too much. n't leave. Ahead of him the people Nothing could justify running standing on the lawn looked like away. Too much depended on this. some kind of macabre gauntlet. Always in the past men who had He was supposed to tum right accumulated so much power and at the corner and spend the next wealth they couldn't be removed three or four hours cruising from office by normal political through the neighborhood. Every­ means had eventually been re­ where he went people would be moved by death; men with slightly standing on the lawns yelling at more advanced ideas had taken him. How long would it be before their place and society had lagged they got violent? only a generation or so behind "Gggg . . . goo . . . aaa . . . technology. Now death had been aann ..." abolished and the rate of technical The sec pushed him forward. change was accelerating. He was The people might curse him, but here because he was convinced the whatever they did, even if they hid only alternative to what he was in their bedrooms, they would tell doing was social collapse. him something about themselves. He tried to get his mind back Even the shape of their homes and to work by making it review every­ the stuff scattered on their lawns- thing he knew about Boyd's politi­ was revealing. · cal career. His thoughtflow could­ "Snooper!" n't be controlled. Every time a new "Go back to your garbage pit! .. voice screamed at him, he began The cops followed him down thinking about self defense. the block. "Stop him! Don't let him go any He was too scared to function. further!" GBDNPLA.Cit u A girl jumped iD front of the Twenty or thirty people sumnmd­ wheel chair. "He's from that milk ed the chair. The sec tried to push company. I saw it on television. through and then stopped- They're trying to make us buy bad "Is that the truth?" a man milk. He's trying to poison us!" asked. "Who are you working for, The sec tried to move around mister?" her. She threw out her arms and Most of the faces were young. stepped back. She danced down There were a lot of teenagers in the street in front of the chair. these older developments. The "They're poisoning the milk! eyes of the men told him they had They're poisoning the milk!" She been attracted by lust as much as was black haired and mercurial. A by violence. Some of them were black dress swirled around her looking at the girl more than they body. Flickering lights from two were looking at him. jewels in her collar, a popular type His tongue quivered. "Nnnnn. of cosmetic, played on her face and . . . " His hands appeared before bathed her features in swiftly his eyes and he pulled them down. changing patterns of light and He was matched against a first­ shadow. rate craftsman and he was help­ Her name was Betty Delange. less as a cripple. Her hair color had been changed Somewhere in the crowd he and her body seemed more volup­ heard music with a strong rhythm tuous, but he had examined and a loud, thumping bass beat. enough pictures of Boyd's people A young man was holding a gadget to be sure it was her. She was the which looked like a radio but had best psych technician in the Boyd to be a psych device. The rhythm organization. They were fielding was exactly the same as the rhythm their biggest guns right at the start of the lights moving over the girfs of the war. face. "He'll fix us so we have to buy "How do you know he's from it! He'll make us drink his poison! that milk company?" an older man Stop him!" Her voice rose to a asked. panic-stricken scream. "Why don't "I know. I saw it on television. you stop him?" It was on the news this morning." People moved toward them Boom, boom, boom. "They11 make across the lawns. A few of them us drink their poison." Boom. ran but most of them walked. Even 'They'U make us drink their pol­ with a scream like that it was hard luted mille!'' Boom, boom, boom. to get people excited nowadays. The music was getting louder. Life was comfortable and pleasant. The melody was fading out and Faces swung past his eyes. the beat was coming in. Strong 12 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PJcnO'N rhythms were one of the most ef­ long enough to know what woula fective techniques ever devised for work on these people. Upsetting breaking people down and making enough of a crowd to make a dif­ them more suggestible. They had ference wasn't the same as tempo­ been used in voodoo and in classic rarily surprising two policemen. brain washing and the current Sound and scent had to be used tribe of witch doctors still found with precision. They could be ef­ them useful. The people crowding fective only when you knew your around him probably weren't even target. He might generate a stimu­ aware the beat was driving their lus which would actually fortify emotions toward violence. the girl's incitements. Even if he The faces looked at him. Vio­ broke them up temporarily, what lence wasn't natural to them. They would keep them from chasing bated him because he was a stran­ him? ger and a spy, but if the girl hadn't The girl drew herself up and Etppeared on the scene they would pointed her finger at him. Tower­ probably have stayed on their ing over him, she arched her back lawns and released their anger so her breasts stood up. with their mouths. "He's a snoop," she yelled. His head was still swaying back "Who cares who he's working for? and forth. His thoughts were still Do we want a snoop in our neigh­ completely concentrated on saving borhood?" his skin. They had him in a neat They looked at each other. They trap. If he used the scrambler or were still hesitating. Probably not the psycho-active gases before they one of them had ever before hit a attacked, the cops would arrest human being. him for assault with a dangerous He felt sick. He had come here weapon. If he waited until they fearing violence, but now that he (lttacked, be would only be able to was confronted with the reality, eliminate one or two before the the ruthlessness of Boyd's staff rest of them ripped him to pieces. disgusted him. Speeding off on a His right hand groped toward tangent, his brain tried to imagine the arm chair and the buttons the kind of personality this girl which controlled the generators. had to have. He couldn't figure out By making very small movements, Boyd or any of Boyd's people. he could almost control his mus­ They were total mysteries to him. cles. Sound or scent might break Didn't they understand? Mankind up the steadily growing crowd long was living in a new age. If human enough for he and the sec to break life could last forever, then it was 'through and run for it, but he even more sacred than it had been hadn't psyched the neighborhood in the past. GREENPLACE 13 A boy slithered between two fifteen percent should have been sets of bare legs. Standing in front smokers. His brain was psyching of the wheel chair he looked at again. Most of the people here Nicholson with the cruel face of a were young enough to have child mocking the village idiot. He reached their teens after the big was carrying a huge ice cream anti-smoking campaigns of the cone, several red streaked scoops Seventies. Why would there be of vanilla piled in a high, dripping more smokers in Greenplace than tower. in the almost identical neighbor­ "How do you eat, mister? Show hood he had surveyed last month? me how you eat." The fist dropped and the blow "Get him out of here," a girl snapped his head back and then said. forward, past the blue sky, the The boy thrust the ice cream working jaws, the lips sucking on across Nicholson's lap. Startled, cigarettes, the artificially voluptu­ Nicholson moved his left hand. ous girl, the people edging toward The ice cream shot from the boy's the chair, the fat bodies-the boy fingers and splattered on the side­ had deliberately moved his hand walk. The boy stepped back and so he would knock the ice cream brought his hands up to his face as out of it!-the lawns, the houses if he were warding off a blow. like big, soft, edible. • • • "Teach him a lesson!" the girl Orals! screamed. 'What are you waiting They were all orals[ E11eryone for? He's spying on our minds. in Greenplace was an orall He's poisoning our milk. Get him! "Give it to him! Teach him! Get him! Get him!" Teach him!" Boom. Boom, boom, boom. How could every person in a Boom. Boom, boom, boom. neighborhood this large belong to A hand grabbed his shirt collar. one psychological type? Could Faces moved toward him. Eyes even Boyd's organization be that stared at him over cigarettes and powerful? No wonder they had slowly chewing jaws. jumped him before he was a block More than half the people here in! were smoking. They were pulling him out of A hard, masculine hand slapped the chair. He could feel blood run­ his face hard enough to make his ning down one side of his face. eyes water. He moaned and in­ The hysterical beat of the music stantly felt ashamed. The hand came to him through a ringing ear. drew back and balled into a fist He couldn't waste time with the­ and his right hand tightened its ories. They were going to hurt grip on the chair arm. Less than him. Compared to what he was 14 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PICTION about to suffer, the pain he had grabbed his arm and spun him just experienced was trivial. around. Pain made him close his He gave the man who was pull­ eyes. Somebody kicked him in the ing him out of the chair a blast of ankle. He opened his eyes and the scrambler. Confusion and dis­ through the brawling bodies he orientation distorted the man's saw the sec fighting with a strange face. Screaming and flailing his smile on his face. arms he stumbled backward into The smell of human vomit filled the people pressing behind him. the summer air. Behind his back the sec made a All around him people gagged. U:range sound. His mind was rac­ The hands released him at once. ing ahead at full speed. It had He fell back and hit the ground only been a few seconds since· the waving his arms like a baby. He second blow had hit his face. was gagging, too. The smell was His fingers wiggled on the but­ enough to nauseate any normal tons of the control panel. Formula human. On a crowd of orals the Eighty-two. Only two digits. Each effect was terrifying proof of the button had a different texture, a fragility of the human personality. scheme he had worked out to help People pressed their hands against him use the generators while he their faces and backed away from was drugged. Two tiny points the chair with bent spines. A girl pricked his middle finger. Eight. He toppled over and blacked out. A pushed. man old enough to be his father He waved the scrambler in stumbled away from the smell and wide, sweeping . arcs. It wouldn't then tripped and lay on the grass hold them off forever but he only gagging and yelling for help. The needed a few more seconds. stench permeated the air and A rabbit punch sent pain shoot· clung to the inside of the nostrils ing up his left arm. Hands grabbed and the mouth. It penetrated to his shoulders and shoved him for· the center of the oral personality ward and up. As he rose out of the and evoked terrors which had hid­ chair, his forefinger slid across the den in the psyche since infancy. It 5IIlooth, hemispheric surface of the was the pungent, smothering anti­ Two button. thesis of everything the oral per­ He collided with the people sonality needed and desired. standing in front of the chair and Retching, hysterical, . pursued by the crowd yelled with triumph. an odor they would never forget, Their behavior was straight out of the crowd stampeded. the textbooks. The sec reacted fast. Strong A fist hit him in the stomach. arms picked Nicholson up and He thrashed wildly and a hand dropped him into the chair. Wheels Glli!ENPLACB 15 rumbled on the sidewalk. The girl the first, but it was too fantastic jumped in front of them and then to occur to anyone until the evi­ jumped back when the sec nearly dence became overwhelming. Im­ ran her down. Even she looked agine the power of an organization sick. which could arrange for every per­ Fleeing backs swung across his son in a neighborhood to be one vision. To an experienced thera­ type! The Boyd organization had pist the agony tearing through all to be destroyed. This alone was those psyches was as vivid as any­ enough to make him a fanatic. thing he had ever suffered with The police vehicle tried to fol­ his own consciousness. No cau­ low them but the sec took to the tious modem psychologist would lawns and managed to evade it. have explained personality types In the process Nicholson did with Freud's theories of infant de­ enough psyching to confirm his velopment, but it was still true theory. That evening he called there were patterns of behavior Bob Dazella in Washington and which fitted Freud's terminology. they both shook their heads over People who got most of their what he had learned. pleasure and their psychological "It must be great for them when security from eating usually re­ they're campaigning," Dazella said. leased their aggression with their "Hundreds of voters, acres of ter­ mouths and made love with their ritory, ten percent of Boyd's dis­ mouths more than with their trict, and they can manipulate ev­ hands; tended to read certain ery psyche in it with one tactic. I kinds of literature and watch cer­ wonder how they set it up." tain kinds of television programs; "Advertising's the best theory and could be manipulated by sym­ I've come up with. They could aim bols and appeals involving food all their ads at orals. It still would­ and the mouth and the emotions n't be easy. Why don't you check associated with the full, distended around and see if Boyd ever had belly. There were at least ten such any kind of financial interest in personality types in current psy­ Green place? Maybe he was in a chological theory-Freud had only position where he could control described four, but the world had the ads for a few years." changed and Freud hadn't known "It's a good thing you worked it four types never applied for psy­ out. They could have killed you." choanalysis-and theoreticians be­ Dazella was a second term Con­ lieved, or at least hoped, every per­ gressman, an archaic political sonality on Earth could be classed specimen these days. Mter he in one of them. turned off the phone, Nicholson He should have seen it from sat in his study and thought about 16 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION the campaign three years ago the psych technicians maneuver­ which had first put Dazella in the ing across the Eighth Congression­ House. That had been his first al District as both sides_struggled taste of modern politics. It hadn't to control the voters's minds and been pleasant. That time Dazella neutralize the work of their oppo­ had nearly gotten killed. nents. He could see violence, and This campaign was going to be danger, and all the dirty playing worse. He could imagine the ef­ with the human mind he resented forts the Boyd organization would and wanted to eliminate forever make to control the minds of him­ from human society. self and his friends. They would He had won the first battle, but attack his psyche with every weap­ that only meant he had to stay in on in the modern arsenal. As the war and fight a hundred more plainly as if it were a drama pro­ battles. He almost wished he had jected on a screen, he could see lost.

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AFTER EVERYTHING, WHAT?

by Dick Moore

THE NEAT LITTLE FARM BROKE "Yeah. Used to be a lot of them, utterly unexpected out of jungle­ I hear, couple thousand years ago. matted crags. One moment there Never hear of them now, though. was only foliage tumbling away Hawke says he's the last." below the flier to New Brazil's in­ "You know him, Oluchak?" definite horizon. The next, a small "Sure. Everybody around here white house balanced serenely on knows him. But like I said, he a naked outcrop, and fields stepped keeps pretty much to himself." down orderly before it, terrace un­ "And is he really-a Super­ der terrace, to the rim of a line of man?" bluffs. Oluchak heaved a profound Shawn stared down and looked breath, and his voice grew low in wonder. His pilot caught the with some remembered emotion. glance. "Yes. No doubt about that." "Curious fella lives down there. "Exactly what is remarkable Name of Hawke. One of the old about him?" Supermen. Claims to be the last of Oluchak stared out the transpex the line. Uves there alone since for a long time. Then, pensively, his wife died -she was an ordi­ "Ever watch a spaceship landing, nary human, a lawyer's daughter when you're right at the edge of from up the coast. He still buys the dock? You know it's not going his stuff in town, but he never to touch you, but all the same you hangs around long any more. It's can't chase away the feeling that a beyond me how he makes that little couple thousand tons of metal is spread pay. Jungle soil hereabouts about to squat right down on top is poison to most crop plants." of you. Well-that's the feeling I "The last Superman?" get, looking at Hawke." 17 18 FANTASY AND SCUtNCJt FICTION "He's-daage10us?'' were they? Two thousand years "No. He's harmless, l guess. At ago they had been bred, in old least I never beard diHerent. It's Earth's great Age of Science. They not that. Matter of fact, be's not were supposed to be endowed with e\tell very big. I've seen lots of men the perfection of every human bigger. But all the same, when capability. Strength. Speed. Lon­ you're looking at him you feel gevity. Toughness. Genius. Telep­ about two inches tall. He's friend­ athy and more mysterious pow­ ly enough. '¥on can't dislike lrim, ers. Peaceably, it seemed, they had hardly. But you get the feeling he gathered into their hands leader­ isn't just quite human." ship in evCl')' spl1ere, and for a 'Well yes, but what sort of su­ century or more they had been su­ per-characteristics does be show? preme. Then . . . what? Unusual strength. terrifying intel­ No :revolution, no conspiracy, ligence, ability to read minds or no overt disturbance of any size influence dice, or what?" was recorded. Yet in the next ages "Well, myself, I've never once the leaders _were ordinary hu­ known him to do anything out of mans. Somewhere in between, the the way. But now you take that Supermen had simply dropped out jungle farm of his. He raises drug of the picture. plants on it. I suppose those would It was not recorded that they grow better dawn there than most emigrated or made any agreement kinds of crop. But no other man I to withdraw from the primacy they know of would try such a thing in had so easily gained and held the first place. The weeds and against all competition. History vines grow six feet a minute and said only that once they were fore­ the bush is crawling l\

TREAT

There was one day a year we could relax and be our plastic selves, one day or, rather, night, when we could let go, dismiss the bother of daily fossil faking, the rigid hoax of identity which rodded our aching backs and turned our ego covering to leather, one day in all the year to loose the tether and frolic in the meadows of their tricks.

What 1ettings go we had, what meltings of tension, what suspenseful waitings for the gatherings and the soft shriekings of dusk. And yet, despite the season's grotesque love, the little monsters may have wondered why we answered the bell in what they thought were masks.

-WALTER H. KERR "Nol Nol" we shouted when informed thai a Computer Story by Ernest Hemingway (or perhaps W iUiam F aul'kner) had been found and was available to us, cheap. "No! No more Computer Stories!" Somehow, this one by fertile, friendly Jack Sharkey got through the ba"ier to us-we read it, unwarily-we bought it. Mr. Sharkey is now (our Mr. Pettifogle happily informs us,) with PLAYBOY. We wonder if PLAYBOY uses computers ... ?

BREAKTHROUGH

By Jack Sharkey

MERILL HUNNECXB:R PUSHED The man's eyes clouded slightly, his way through the curious crowds but the smile remained. that were swiftly gathering outside "Have a seat," he indicated, the cracked, flaming edifice he had meanwhile putting the puzzle, with just departed moments before the some slight show of reluctance, in­ explosion, and-walking down the to a side drawer of the desk. Then broad avenue like a man in the he unclipped a pen from the breast grasp of a smiling dream-made pocket of his shirt, uncapped it, his way to central police head­ and waited politely with the point quarters. A pert young lady in a poised over a pad of thick yellow trim, dark blue uniform told him paper while Merill sat down. the location of the particular de­ "Now, just tell me what's hap­ partment he sought, and he made pened, as simply as possible." his way there in the same clear-eyed "I wish I could," said Merill, his but somnambulistic fashion. He lips forming a ghostly echo of the entered the room and stopped be­ other man's smile. "My crime is fore an old wooden desk behind anything but simple, however." which a heavy-set, pleasant-faced The cloud deepened in the other man in mufti was fiddling with a man's eyes. "You say your crime?" bent-nail puzzle. The man looked he asked softly, the tip of his pen up and smiled. "Can I help you?'' making a quick notation upon the "I want to report a crime," said pad. "May I have your name and MerilJ. address, please?" 34 BJtEA:KTHROUGH' 35 "My name i:' Merill Hunnecker. repititious dunning of facts into Until today, I \Vas employed at school children. Information which Jefferson Cybemetics." Merill saw the machine is to have is coded, the man's eyebrows raise a trifle, punched onto a card, and fed to its though his eyes remained on the memory banks. Thenceforth, it pad before him. "Yes," Merill said, 'knows' those facts and cannot for­ answering the unvoiced query, "the get them. Were the punched cards research building which was blown in readiness, the machine could up not half an hour ago, the reason learn the entire Bible in under an for all those wailing sirens your hour." window does not quite keep out." "I see," nodded the man behind "Go on, Mr. Hunnecker," said the desk. "Go on." the man, pen waiting. This time, "Well," said Merill, "after the though, his pale blue eyes rose and second full year of operation- met Merill's gaze for a short, silent appraisal before returning to the One of my men taught it to play pad. chess. The names and values of "I'll have to start back quite a pieces, rules of moving, and object few months," Merill said. "Other­ of the game were all that were wise, you won't understand. And necessary. From the moment the even then, I'm not sure you'll-" coded card was fed into the ma­ "I'm paid to listen, Mr. Hun­ chine, it knew chess. It knew every necker,'' the man said, with no hint possible move, every possible coun­ of sarcasm. "Go ahead." termove. Unlike many a novice "Well, as you probably know­ chessplayer, it could not be duped No, come to think of it, tl\ere's at the outset by the annoying three­ no reason anyone outside scientific move "fool's checkmate". It would circles would know-At any rate, play by typing its moves on the I am the inventor of an advanced coded keyboard at its forefront, and computing machine, the sort popu­ the person playing-at first the man larly referred to as an 'electronic who had taught it; later, his co­ brain'. The machine was com­ workers who thought it fun to pit pleted a little over two years ago, at their minds against its own-would the Jefferson building. I was in make the move the machine had complete charge of its operation indicated. Their amusement soon and education." wore thin, however. Because. from "Education?" asked the patient the start, it never lost a game. Per­ scribe, his tone puzzled. verse as the ways of the world are, "A useful term," Merill said, this insignificant talent-chess­ with less patience than his auditor. playing-became a SMt of 'narra­ "It's much less wearisome than the tive hook' for the news-hungry 36 PANTASY AND SCDNCI!. PIC'tiON press. Its manifold other talents creation, I could not help but be they ignored. But a machine that a bit boastful. I daresay I showed played games was News. As a mat­ more than a modicum of enthusi­ ter of fact, chess being an intrinsi­ asm in replying to those parrot­ cally mathematical game, this 'tal­ brained slaves of the almighty ent' was no more spectacular than deadline. Their greatest area of in­ an adding machine's 'talent' for quiry, of course, concerned the­ arriving at the correct solution to to them- astounding 'fact of the the problem of two-plus-two. I was machine's inability to make even against having the building invaded one careless move in a chess game, by masses of scribbling reporters with the result that it could never and lady editors of small-circula­ fail to win. I explained in the sim­ tion family magazines, but-The plest terms at my command, hop­ men financing the projec ~ (like ing their scurrying pencil-points most inventors, I am myself im­ could capture something that pecunious, and must turn to those would read sensibly in the evening of less mentality but greater busi­ editions. ness acumen to achieve my ends) "It cannot lose," I told them, -These men were highly in favor ''because it has no- in the literal of what they termed "good pub­ sense of the term- self-conscious­ licity." I protested in vain against ness. It does not know it exists; in the interruption of my work. I was that area only does it differ from asked-politely but inflexibly-to the brain of a human being, who "be congenial." I concurred with also possesses a mind, the self­ what small grace I could muster. aware controlling force of the phy­ And then, this morning, the re­ sical brain. And because it is una­ porters converged upon me. At first, ware of itself as an entity, it lacks I was hard put to be polite with pride in achievement; therefore, it them. After answering a number of cannot fear losing. For, with a lit­ insane queries, however, I began to tle thought, you will see that it is forget who they were and why they only a man's concern-or worry, were at the laboratories as I if you will-over the outcome of warmed to my subject. The ma­ a game that causes him-unless, of chine, I should explain, has been course, he lacks the basic mentality my pet project for most of my adult -to lose it." life, gestating in my brain for many I paused at this point to fill my years before its actual physical pipe, tamping down the tobacco 'birth' at Jefferson Cybernetics. De­ with care, in order to-I must con­ spite my natural antipathy to the fess-look like the stereotype of gaggle of goggling newspeople, the learned scientist to those dun­ once I began to speak about my derheads, all agog at the thought of BU&K.'I!ID.OUGH 37 recording for their readers the tale through a more commonly known of a multi-million-dollar artifact game, the one called 'Buzz'. In that could not be beaten at an in­ this, as you know, a circle of peo­ consequential game. A pipe, I ple begin to count off the cardinal knew, made me look intelligent to numbers from one, varying only them (as though brain-power was when the sequence reaches either an adjunct of physiognomy)! a number divisible by seven, or But I had been ordered to be one containing seven as a digit, congenial, and congenial I was, such as seventeen. On these num­ though my 'intimations of deep bers, the person whose turn it is thinking' were brought on-just must say 'Buzz', and then the fractionally, mind you-by an count reverses its way around the inordinate dread of coming off circle. Played at high speed, some­ second-best to my own creation. one is almost certain to err in At any rate I made my hoped-for 'tricky' areas such as twenty-seven impression upon the cameramen, and twenty-eight, the seventies two of whom took my photograph themselves, or-should the game on the spot. Oddly ingratiated, I somehow proceed beyond eighty­ puffed a thin column of pale blue four-at numbers like ninety-one, smoke toward the ceiling of my ninety-eight, one-hundred-five, office, smiled as wisely as I knew and so on, since most persons sel­ how,and- dom learn their multiplication ta­ ("Excuse me," said the man be­ bles beyond the twelves, and hind the desk. "I was under the seven -divisible numbers become impression you were at the site of difficult to recognize." the machine." They scribbled my words with "Oh, no," said Hunnecker. diligence and haste, and I felt "Smoking cannot be permitted quite pleased with myself as I con­ near an electronic brain; it must tinued. "Now, a human being­ be kept in a constantly air-puri­ in the game of 'Buzz'-becomes fied room because its parts are edgy. His emotions impinge upon sensitive to dust, smoke or any the processes of his mind, the sort of airborne particle." longer he is forced to stand upon "I see," said the dogged scrive­ his mental toes, as it were, dread­ ner, and Hunnecker went on with ing the moment when he will err. his story:) But my machine could have no "Since the workings of a chess such difficulty, simply because it game," I informed them, "are not would be coded to remove sevens familiar to the majority of your from its memory, and to simply readers, perhaps I can best exem­ employ the term 'Buzz' in their plify the machine's function place; that is, to say 'Buzz' at ev- 38 FANTASY AND ICDNCB FICTION ery seventh point in the sequence, digit numbers instantaneously­ at every seventh number in each could not be performed as well, or group of ten, and upon all ten better, by a person, if his mind numbers in each seventh group were not 'cluttered' with drives, of ten, in place of the arbitrary random memories floating unbid­ terms 'seven, fourteen, seventeen' den across the consciousness, in­ and so forth. In this way, it could terruption by exterior sounds not err. It would have no choice (which even if consciously un­ but to type 'Buzz' at the proper noted would trigger and involve moments, since only the word the subconscious), a bad taste in 'Buzz' would be available to its the mouth-or a good taste, for selector-circuits." that matter-an itchy underarm "Professor Hunnecker," a re­ . . . A billion distractions which, porter interrupted me. even consciously unobserved, I bestowed upon the man my would clog the functioning of the most benign, just-short-of-patron­ brain. By long years of training in i?;ing smile, Amicable Wisdom concentration, a man can learn to patiently awaiting exploitation for duplicate the feats of this ma­ the masses. I gave no nod, but he chine, of course. But to do so, he seemed to sense one from my mien, gradually becomes valueless as a and went on, "-are you saying man. He is nothing more than an that a human mind is inferior to incarnate computer." your electronic brain's?" His ball­ "You mean he's a kind of ma­ point hovered hopefully over his chine, himself?" pad of paper. "In a sense, yes," I said, noting Apparently, my whilom expla­ with brief annoyance that my pipe nation of the difference between had gone out. 'What he has actu­ a "brain" and a "mind" had not ally become is-" I let a twinkle registered with the man. I toyed steal prematurely into my eye, so for a moment with the notion of that the slow-witted group could reminding him as sardonically as gather their laugh-forces in readi­ possible of this lapse, but then re­ ness, "-a crashing bore." I let called my enforced congeniality their appreciative chuckle fade, and subdued the impulse. "Not then went on to particularize, "Ht precisely," I answered with a would have the sort of mind that smile. "What I am doing is simply would analyze incoming data; if showing you that the thing which you asked Why does the chicken differentiates the two is the fact cross the road?' he would ponder that a person can choose wrongly. for a second, then inform you that Nothing this machine can do­ in order to respond to your query and I include multiplying by ten- he would need the qualifying in- BirU'XTHROUGH 39 formation regarding the age and facts both true and false; it can­ size of the chicken, season of the not learn 'There are no such things year, width of the road, annual as fairies', for instance, because if amount of traffic, and the like, be­ the 'things' do not exist, then the fore giving you a possible motiva­ word 'fairies' is incomprehensible tion for the fowl's abrupt shift of to the machine. That is, it cannot roadside-related juxtaposition. As conceive of having a term for I said, a crashing bore." something that is not." ''Then the machine has no "What," asked the woman, "is sense of humor?" demanded a the reason for this spewing-out of tight-suited woman with unat­ the card, Professor Hunnecker?" tractive features arranged into a She hastened to add, seeing the look of wistful disappointment scowl I could not quite forefend~ and sympathy. "That is, I fully understand the "It cannot have!" I said,· prob­ psychology of the examples you ably a bit testily, so slow were gave-the one-plus-one-is-three, they to grasp the simplest con­ and the no-fairies-but what I cepts. "Humor is dependent upon wanted to know were the elec­ the mind's recognizing an incon­ tronic reasons." gruity. A man slipping on a ba­ "Oh, I see," I said,. smiling once nana peel is laughable only be­ more. "It's quite simple~ There cause a vertical biped has been would be no room, as it were, forced into an unwillingly hori­ within the machine's circuits to zontal position. My machine, in overlay this new information atop the adjoining chamber to this of­ those stating the unequivocal op­ fice, cannot countenance such a posite. If it knows 'one plus one thing as an incongruity; you can­ equals two', for instance, any oth­ not program something built to be er notion is summarily· rejected." forever correct with the additional "But," the woman frowned, information that things are-on "isn't that precisely what a man certain occasions-incorrect. To does, when given· the false infor­ a man, a child's hopeful statement mation? I mean, his mind knows that one plus one equalled three 'two' is the proper answer, so would be amusing; to my machine, when he hears 'three', doesn't he one plus one equalling three is in­ do-in a physical way-what the admissible. Were I to feed this machine does?" outrageous arithmetical solution I realized, after a long moment, into the card-slot, the machine that I was staring at· the woman, would not laugh. It would simply Staring stupidly·. ")' beg your ~ spew the card right out again. It don?" I said. cannot-as can man-'know' "It just seems to.me..-of course, 40 FANTASY' AND SCIENCE FICTION I'm no electronics expert, but­ forced a sigh through my lips, and It does seem to me that whether a said, ''I'm sorry, but I must retum man's mind causes his vocal ap­ to my work. I thank you all for paratus to say 'Ha-hal' or the ma­ your interest." And, so saying, I chine causes its card-slot to eject turned away quickly and went the coded card, that the reactions from my office through the door to were comparable. The machine the brain-chamber, leaving the has no vocal apparatus, so it­ open-mouthed reporters to fold well-'makes do' • • •" Her voice their note-pads and file slowly out, trailed off into a dismal little si­ puzzled and dissatisfied at the lence of acute embarrassment, bothersome speculation that wom­ whether at her own theorizing or an had aroused. Speculation to not, I could not be certain. which I had not replied. "Are you intimating," I said, To which-until I checked-! feeling a funny crinkling about could not reply. my eyes, and knowing some of the The chamber behind my office color had drained from my face, is tall and broad, in order to house "that perhaps my machine, after the massive construction of the all, has a sense of humor?! ... brain. I stood before the metal But that would imply it had a face of the brain, the towering, mind, Madam!" I shook my head featureless face, simply gazing at with unwonted violence. "It does it a long time-or perhaps only a not. It cannot. It is a mere brain, minute or two-1 cannot· clearly the tool-the instrument-of that remember. Then I sat at the low force we call the 'mind'. It has not table before it and typed the ques­ that prime requisite for true in­ tion, "What is the fifth power of telligence, self-awareness I" four raised by the fourth power of "But it must have," averred the five and divided by the third pow­ woman, looking almost attractive er of six?" The question appeared in her pretty confusion and un­ upon the sheet before me; the ease. "If it did not, how would it coded card appeared in a slot at know that it had those one-plus­ the typewriter's base. I put the one-equal-two circuits into which card into the orifice of the ma­ the coded one-plus-one-equal­ chine and depressed the switch three programming would not­ that would start it functioning. uh-fit?" The relays clicked, the machine's I did not reply at once. Then, innards tootled and piped and I did not reply at all. Instead, I pinged, and then the typewriter­ glanced-over-elaborately, I fear geared to translate the machine's -at my watch, and announced, coded responSes automatically­ "Where has the time gone to l ?" I typed its reply: BREAKTHROUGH 41 "Can I have a pencil and pa­ Said Hunnecker, "I made quite per?" sure of that . . . There was no one and nothing inside the build­ Hunnecker said, "I left the ing at the time . . . but the ma­ chamber then. But I returned chine." shortly thereafter with a large The other man blinked. His satchel containing explosives, mouth did one or two silent little caps and wires, a timer, and a tiny things. His hands twitched to­ detonator. I knew where the wards the telephone, his eyebrows charges would do the damage, and moved. Then he recovered com­ I placed them carefully. mand. "Well, now . . . uh . . . "And then I blew the machine professor," he said gently. "You're into smoking bits. And then I not in the right department here. came here." This is the Homicide Division. The man at the desk said, "And Did you know that?" how many people, to your knowl­ Hunnecker sighed, slightly edge, were still inside the build­ smiled. "Oh, yes," he said, on a ing at the time?'' rising inflection. "Oh, yes .••"

CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS? The Magazine of FANTASY and SCIENCE FICTION will follow you anywhere providing you let us know six weeks in advance. Please be sure to give us your old address as well as the new one, and add the ZIP number. (If convenient, send the address label from the wrapper of the next copy of F&SF you receive.) Subscription Service MERCURY PUBLICATIONS 347 East 53 Street New York, N.Y. 10022 A CENTURY OF CREAT SCIENCE nc­ mance is the better word: it utter­ TION NOVELS, Damon Knight, ed., ly demolishes the notion that in­ Delacorte Press, $4.95 visibility is desirable); and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE seems "This collection attempts to likelier and truer with each new show the origins and development advance in psychology and chemo­ of good science fiction over the past therapy~ " . . . man is not truly tentury," says the editor. Good one but truly two [. . . J the state show. Centuries are shorter than of my knowledge does not pass be­ they used to be-this on(! covers yond that point. Others . . . will 78 years by my handy pocket outstrip me on the same lines; and abacus. N'importe. A shocking . . . man will be ultimately known number of people have never ac­ for a mere polity of multifarious, tually read Robert Louis Steven­ incongruous and independent den­ son's STRANGE CASE OF DR. izens. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, or THE ABSOLUTE AT LARGE, Herbert George Wells's THE IN­ by Karel Capek (R.U.R. and WAR VISIBLE MAN, relying on the WITH THE NEWTS), does not moom-pitcher versions. Shamel read easy to start with. I always You must read them at once, do am uneasy when people with you hear? And if you haven't read names like Hrdlika and Przvan are them lately, then read them again. described in translation as "Mr.", Like, in this collection. Each novel anyway. But the idea is novel and is preceded by a short (very short) worthy of Anatole France. Man essay on its author. named Marek invents a device Anyone would say that Wells which derives atomic energy from was the sounder scientist and that coal (or anything else), doesn't Stevenson was no scientist at all, merely split the atom, but "uses it but a romantic. Yet THE INVISI­ up completely." With the result BLE MAN, though possibly the that God, contained in as well as better novel of the two, remains containing all matter, is "hurl[ed] an unfulfilled-though quite logi­ as a byproduct into the world" and cal-romance (perhaps anti-ro- "Zoos[ ed] upon the earth like a 42 BOO ItS 43 flood." Great gimmick and there &oro-fauna or fauno-8ora of the are some amusing things in the planet is not only different from book. But mostly the possibilities any other ecological system, it are not developed to anywhere fights back, too. I think that those near where they should be. Tsk. who haven't read it will be pleased GULF is pretty good Heinlein. to have done so. Shamefully, no It starts off with a Chase, A Cap­ credits are given to the designer of ture, and an Escape, all slam-bang this collection's jacket, which is not razzle-dazzle sis-boom-bah, in the bad. marvelously convincing Heinlein­ esque ·future-and then-and GREEN MEDICINE, Margaret B. then-just as we're on the edges Kreig, Rand McNally, $5.95 of our seats and screaming, Cap­ tain Heinlein swallows one of Dr. Dr. Claude Uvi-Strauss, whose .Jekyll's peerless powders, and then TRISTES TROPIQUES we re­ Professor Heinlein takes over. His viewed here earlier, mentioned description of the supermen among that drug companies sometimes as­ us is plausible, but the story never sisted anthropologizing expeditions regains its original pace or hold. in return for tips on native drugs; Tsk, tsk. what they did with them, the an­ In E FOR EFFORT, T. L. thropologists seldom learned be­ Sherred gives us a long, hard look cause "drug companies are a close­ at a favorite SF notion, the device mouthed lot." Well, Mrs. Krieg which is a double-edged sword. In has succeeded in opening their this case, a sort of intertemporal mouths. There's material here, in interspacial viewoscope. I'm hard this book on the search for new put to it to say much about this botanicals, for a thousand SF sto­ story. I know it was a sensation ries. How about this, just to start when it came out, c. 1 7 years ago, with: "Bacteria have been brought though I missed it; I give Mr. back to life after having been sealed Sherred full marks for sincerity; in Siberian salt deposits for 650,- it reads well enough . . . but it 000,000 years; when they were leaves me tepid. And I am perhaps injected into mice, the animals too close to Richard McKenna's died of generalized bacterial infec­ HUNTER, COME HOME, hav­ tion within twelve hours." Or, ing bought it for this Magazine, to "plant tissue culture" -don't both­ do it justice. It deals with the at­ er cultivating the whole plant, just tempt of a bunt-centered culture the desired tissues in a laboratory to turn a planet into one great soup. "The results, u says the au­ shooting area for the essential rite thor, "can border lipon science fic­ of passage into manhood. The tion ... FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Ironic that "some of the best hotter or colder or wetter or dryer leads so far have been gleaned or any of that; no, we've had a from Stone Age peoples" and are plague again . . . and this one af­ now being investigated for use in fects, fatally, everybody but "pure space travel! No short review could Negroes." The action takes place cover the infinity of fascinating in Mr. Bateman's Britain, where things touched upon by this book there are about I 00,000 Negroes, -the new science of marine phar­ only. Such a small number of sur­ macology, hallucogenic drugs, vivors would have a damned diffi­ "primitive peoples still living in cult time of it keeping everything close association with the plant from sliding, anyway; noch der tsu, world," little-known learnings such when the number of scientists, en­ as ethnobotany, paleoethnobotany gineers, technicians, people expe­ [won't some workers in these fields rienced in government, etc., is as please try their hands at Science small as it is among Negroes. I'll Fiction!?], and pharmacognosy, lay my bottom (or, for that matter, psychic energizers, nematodes (mi­ my top) dollar that the author is croscopic worms) as a cause in the no Negro. For one reason, he seems decline of the Mayas, the quest for to have no better notion of the quinine and its centuries-long ob­ many types of Negro-spoken Eng­ stacles, the use of IBl\1 machines lish than to create one uniform di­ in assaying 15,000 species of alect consisting of dropped gs from plants for alkaloids, and on and on. present participles and dropped us The author has written a lot for from second person pronouns. I've magazines like This Week, Read­ spoken with North American, er's Digest, Good Housekeeping, South American, West Indian, and and so on, and her prose often African Negroes-never met one shows it. Nevertheless, a book well­ that said, "Yo'." And his characters worth reading, infinitely hopeful, are all conventional fiction types, infinitely stimulating. too. The story is improved neither by the introduction of Dr. Martin Luther King as "the Rev. Wesley WHEN THE WHITES WENT, Robert Baron" or by two surviving white Bateman, Walker, $3.9 5 men who pop up from one of those convenient mines or caves. The Well, here is this year's British­ book is not entirely without inter­ type British SF novel, i.e. an ex­ est, but it seems almost entirely trapolation on a single-stroke ca­ without merit. tastrophe. This time it doesn't get -AVRAM DAVIDSON BOOKS 45

NIC3D' oF MASKS, Andre Norton, spaceship wreck, is offered a new Harcourt, Brace 8t World, $3.25 face and a chance to escape the Dipple if, in return, he will decoy Andre Norton has several Basic the son of an important official Plots which have served her well away from his heavily guarded ref­ in recent years. In this, her latest uge. juvenile, we have Plot A : an or­ Nik will do "anything!" for a phaned boy in a "Dipple" -a camp­ new face, and the face he's given town for the displaced of the last turns out to be that of a fantas\' interstellar war-who, Horatio­ hero hom in the mind of Vand~. Alger-like, rises from his humble, the boy he is to lure from safet)·. if not hopeless, surroundings to The initial confrontation be­ win a better place for himself in tween the two is skipped over by society. Miss Norton, an irritating habit she As with most of the other books sometimes exhibits in letting cru­ using this plot, the society-only cial scenes occur off-stage. But it lightly sketched-is an unpleasant is just past this point that the true mercantile-feudal sort with the story opens, for Plot A is concerned merchants, traders and statesmen with the development of the protag­ occupying the upper rungs, and a onist under hazardous and adven­ variety of less appealing and servile turous conditions. positions ladled out to the masses None of Miss Norton's Plot A below. To one side of all this exists books have been memorable, and the Space Patrol and its antithesis, this one is no exception. It is among the Thieves Guild. neither her best nor her worst. It is The youthful protagonists of more than adequate as a juvenile, these books are usually-by no and remains essentially a rousing fault of their own -on the wrong adventure story as good as most for side of the tracks when the book those who enjoy them. opens. In this story Nik Kolheme, his f~M:e repulsively scarred by a -TED WHITE

PUBLICATION NOTED Anderson, Poul. Three Worlds to Conquer. Pyramid. so;. de Camp, L. Sprague. Elephant. Pyramid. 7S;. Non-fiction, Ulustrated. Einstein, Charles. The Day New York Went Dry. Gold Medal. 40;. Farmer, Philip Jose. Tongues of the Moon. Pyramid. so;. Ferman, Joseph W., ed. No Limits. Ballantine. SO;. Stories from F8rSF's one-time sister magazine, Venture. Hamilton, Edmond. Battle For The Stars. Paperback Library. 50;. Trying to write biographical data fora pseudonymouscoUaboration poses certain difficulties, and authors of thu one have come up with nothing more helpful than "Lewis]. A. Adams is a man of many parts. He has served in both the Anny and the Navy, and is cu"ently working on his second B.A." It is difficult to say, in these moiling, toiling days of changing relationships between the Ameri­ can ..races'" whether the sounds we hear are the trumpets pro­ claiming "the year of ]ubilo" or those of the ·alarm-beU in the night." Or both. Or perhaps neither. Certain seasons seem ap­ pointed for change, and when the hour comes, for better or worse or unclassifiably different, no man or men can hold them back. This story wiU probablfl shock you.

IJABK CONCEPTION

by Louis J. A. Adams

FouR BLOCKS DOWN THE STREET, in the gutter, stores pinched to­ opposite the courthouse with the gether, two storefront churches. It Confederate monument and the was a darker world-here there stack of cannonballs on the lawn, were no white faces-and even the Grove Avenue was a row of anti­ sun seemed duller and hotter. It septic, air-conditioned storefronts. was the way things were. The windows looked like magazine He looked out the window at the ads. White faces moved here, in street below for a long time. He'd the stores, in the courthouse-the come a long way from New York, black faces were hidden, in kitch­ in years as well as distance. Some­ ens, in storerooms, or invisibly times he wondered why he'd come mowing the courthouse lawn. It at all. was the way things were. Doctor William Roosevelt Four blocks in Mississippi can Brown turned away from the win­ be a long way. On the other side dow that mirrored the Bington of the overpass, Grove Avenue was scene below feeling the sense of peeling paint, chipped brick, and loss and futility that had gripped ten-year-old cars, a smashed bottle him for a loag time. He looked 46 DAJlK CONCEPTION 47 around his neat, out-of-date exam­ "All right-show them in." ining room and brought his mind At the door, Miss Emmet looked back to present time. back, unsmiling. "She's pregnant, His nurse came in the door. She Doctor." was a thin, brown girl, much light­ She ushered them in. Cadwell er than his own color and she had came first, then the girl. Cadwell's worked for him for about a year. eyes darted here and there about She was attractive in her white the office, never resting. He was a uniform and Brown had cat and lean man and once he had been moused her for a long time with­ tall, but now his height seemed an out real enthusiasm. He liked her illusion and he walked bent, his and once he had kissed her in the body queerly out of focus. A group darkness of the drug room, but of white men, drunk on raw moon­ they had broken quickly away, and shine, larking, had caught hi.Dl that was all. Now it was strictly stealing chickens. They had lashed business. him between the front bumpers of "Eli Cadwell," she said. two cars and backed away gently "In the waiting room?" he asked, until his bones and joints had torn surprised. and cracked. That had been in the She nodded. next county and a long time ago, Cadwell was among the people before Brown had come here. Brown had counted as least likely Mostly they didn't do that sort of to show up in his office, although thing any more. They had other once they'd been friends. But that ways of dealing with you. had been long ago, before Brown The girl, Mary Lou, was obvi­ had gone north to med school, ously pregnant. She was tiny and when Cadwell had been able to low breasted, her hands nervouscy think of something other than his carried over the hump of her stom­ festering hate. ach. She watched her husband lilce "He brought his wife in," the a silent wren and her eyes were nurse said. fearful when she looked elsewhere "Miss Emmet," he said formal­ in the room, more fearful when ly, "are you telling me that Eli she looked at him. Cadwell is married?" "You want me to look at her, She nodded. "Since last month. Eli?" I thought you knew. Mary Lou Cadwell nodded."Just look," he Shipman." said. Brown picked at his neat mus­ Brown pointed at his nurse, tache. "She's about fifteen, Eli's who waited at the door. "Go with over fifty," he said with irritation. her, Mary Lou. She'll show yt)u "Yeah." what to do." 48 FANTASY AND SCIENCII PICTION She looked at her husband, through. "For the newspapers, awaiting his nod. When it came man. To let 'em know jus' the way she shuffled, head down, follow­ things is. I mean to let all them ing Miss Emmet. white bastards know that a virgin Cadwell limped around the pregnant and she a black girl. room. Brown watched him study They say here," he said pointing the signed picture of Thurgood at the bible, "that it happen before, Marshall and the Brotherhood of but they lie all the time with their Man framed certificate. Jesus Crise this and Jesus Crise "Is that baby yours?" he asked. that and they put us down with it Cadwell turned back and his and spit on us." His eyes were cold eyes came up and he smiled crafty and unsane. "Now I got us sourily. "You're a smart son of a a God and now we rise up and bitch, Brown. You figure it out." grind them to blood." He pulped Then his eyes went down and a the world together by grinding his look of secret triumph came in his hands savagely. "And we'll kill all smile. "You jus' examine her, Doc­ the rest, all of the ones that don't tor." He sat down in a chair and stay with us." got out a worn bible "''ll read me a "That would mean me," Brown little of this hogwash while you're said. doing it." "Sure, you." His lips made a "White men, black men, and vicious parody of a smile. "Bad as God," Brown said, feeling the them. You try to live with them. tiredness come. "All right, Eli." You one of them tries to get us to He went into his tiny obstetrics march to the courthouse. You room and examined the girl. She fooled some of them, but not me. lay passively, without curiousity, All them big people you got here under his hands. in town. What good that do? When he was done he said: March a few times and they stick "Stay here with the nurse, Mary you in the gut with a club or hose Lou. Jill be back in a few minutes." you off and you noplace-noth­ He closed the connecting door be­ ing. You can't live with them­ hind him. you got to kill . . . " "Eli," he said, "did you know Brown held up his hands. your wife's a virgin?" "You're wrong, Eli." The old man nodded crookedly. "Don' you call me Eli! Call me "I want a paper sayin' it. I mean Mr. Cadwell or don' calJ me. to get me papers from fo', maybe You're no white man to call me five doctors saying it." Eli or Boy." He moved up close 'What for?" and for the first time Doctor Brown Now the triumph came lashing could smell the com whiskey on his DAlllt CO'RCEPnON breath, sour and strong. '1'm not has to be a female." wrong." "Why?" Cadwell almost shout­ Brown shook his head and re­ ed. treated behind his desk out of Brown controlled his exaspera­ breathshot. He looked down the tion. He said: "Every woman is a titles of his books, then took one female because she has two X down and thumbed until he found chromosomes. The male has one X the right place. and one Y. If the man gives an X, "Here! Crumm, Weizmann and during intercourse, the woman Evans, 'Heredity, Eugenics, and gives another X, which is all she Human Biology.' See here-'Par­ has, and the baby is a girl. If the thenogenesis.' Now read what it man gives a Y the woman still gives says. It says it's possible for a vir­ an X and the baby is a boy. But a gin to have a baby. It's extremely woman who conceives without a rare, but it's possible." He thrust man has nothing but X chromo­ the book at Cadwell. "Read!" somes and so the baby has to be a Cadwell took the book suspi­ girl.'' ciously. In a moment he thumped "You mean it ain't a miracle?" it with a finger. "I don' make out Cadwell said uncertainly, partially these words.'' But he went on read­ beaten down by the Hood of words. ing. "That's right.'' After awhile he looked up. "It Cadwell looked away and when say a virgin can only have a girl he looked back there was a sign of baby, not a boy baby." craftiness in his eyes. He said "Yes.'' slowly, as if to himself: "But mos' "Well, you been a big Jesus people, they don' know that. They Chrise man. How you explain think it's a miracle. It still mean that?" Cadwell challenged trium­ somethin'." phantly. "Not for what you want it fo1. Doctor Brown kept the self­ You start giving stories out to the taught carefulness · in his voice. newspapers and it will come ouJ You learned to be careful when just like another freak story. You you were a negro doctor in Bing­ tell anything else then maybe you'll ton. get a few people lathered up and "I'm not trying to explain Jesus. maybe some killed.'' I didn't examine Jesus or his Moth­ Cadwell said, very quietly: er. I'm only saying that your wife ''They's more of us in this statR is pregnant with a fully intact and than they is of them." inelastic hymen and that medical "Sure," Brown said desperately, science says it's possible, but the "but you haven't got the answer to child born in such circumstances it there. Hate and bloodshed is no 50 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICI'ION solution to hate and bloodshed. AU pine woman. "All right, Mary Lou. of the things worth having are Just lay still and relax." He crossed coming for us. All you'll do is set it over to the sideboard and picked back." up a sterile instrument pack lying Cadwell's face tensed with lines there. Miss Emmet, the nurse, of bitterness. "I don' want what watched him with curious eyes. you want, man. I want what they 'What you goin' to do?" Mary got and for them to be like me . Lou asked, her eyes big and afraid. now. I want to lead me a lvnch "I won't hurt you," he said. He mob and hang someone who 'look placed the towel around her legs at one of our girls. I want to rent and, with surgical care, slit the me some of my land to one of them hymen. and let them get one payment be­ She gave a cry of outrage and hind. I want them to try to sen' surprise and Brown heard the door they kids to our school. I want 'em to the room open with a whoosh of to give me back mvself like I was air. before, when I didn't hurt so bad "What you do to Mary Lou?" that 1 better off dead." Eli Cadwell demanded. He held out his hands so Brown Brown turned on the water tap could see the pink, calloused at the sink and calmly scrubbed palms. "I do it with these, Doctor. his hands. He watched the girl sit Now I want a paper from you say­ up on the table. There was a thin, in' nothin' but the hones' truth. I red line of blood on the towel. want you to write me a paper and Cadwell saw it also. With a say that you look at Mary Lou and howl of rage tl1at was also a sound that she a virgin and pregnant. of pain he stepped forward to the You a black man and I'm a black sink and swung his fist at Brown. man. You give that to me-that Brown saw it coming, and tried to paper." move away. He went down hard. Brown looked at the old man "Get out of here," he heard Miss steadily for a moment and then he Emmet say. "I'm going to call the said evenly: .. I want to finish my police. You get out of here!" examination. I'll be back." Cadwell ignored her and looked The old man smiled and made down at Brown. He said: "Maybe his eyes go sleepy. "I'll wait," he I take that little knife and cut you said. He sat his crooked body in a so you neveT bother no one again. chair and Brown felt the terrible Maybe that the answer fo' you. But weight of those eyes until he closed I think I let you stay like you is. the door. You know it, too. Maybe you a doctor, but when the white boys Brown looked down at the su- see you then you jus' another nig- DARK CONCEPTION 51 ger." Without turning his head he almost nothing of Eli Cadwell. said to the sobbing, frightened girl Sometimes on his rounds, he on the table, "Mary Lou, you get would hear a little of him as he your clothes on." heard of others, but the old man Bro'Yn came up to a sitting po­ seemed peaceful and appeared to sition and the old man kicked him be working his tiny area of rented bard. Brown felt the breath go out ground. It wasn't until the middle of his lungs and he slid back down, of December that he really heard the hurt almost gone now in semi­ anything of interest. One of his consciousness. patients told him that Mary Lou He heard the old man say: had had her baby. . "You an Uncle Tom. You eat their When they were back in the car spit and you take their learn in'. after seeing that patient Brown White men wrote them books out told Miss Emmet, "I think we'd there. White men can't change this better go past Eli Cadwell's." baby. When this baby born I'm She shook her head. "Don't go. goin' to raise him up to hate the You'll only get in trouble." way I hate; They's goin' to be a He looked at her. "You want me line that baby draw someday and to take you back to town before I you goin' to be on the wrong side. go over?" Boy baby or girl baby-hate like I After a minute she said, "No" hate. We see what this virgin's in a suddenly tired voice. baby be when it grow up." "Now that the little girl is here I He took Mary Lou's hand in his want to try to help," he explained. and they went on out the door. "Maybe he'll let me check them When they were gone Brown let over. I'd give a lot if some of these Miss Emmet help him to his feet. people would give up their mid­ He looked at himself in the mir­ wives and come to me. There'd be ror. There was a large welt on his fewer to bury." chin and his ribs were sore, but The house was a small cabin, he felt no worse than he had when old and unpainted. On behind he had been hit by the firehose in there was an outhouse. Both were the march on the courthouse. He in the state that comes shortly be­ would not allow Miss Emmet to fore total collapse. Brown pulled call the police. He was not sure they his car up into the rutted, red dirt would come anyway. drive and walked through the fire­ He sat down in his chair. De­ weed that winter had not quite spite the pain in his face and chest killed. he didn't feel bad, not bad at all. No one answered his knock. He started back for the car' oddly re­ Through the faD Brown heard lieved. He saw Miss Emmet watch- 52 FANTASY AND ICDNCB FICTIOM ing him with frightened eyes. "Hoi' on there," she said. •1 A voice called tO him from spose to pass on a message to you/' down the road and he recognized "To me?" Brown said in sur­ Mrs. Jackman. She was stout and prise. old and she wore a tired red sweat­ "Yeah, he said to tell you they er over her dress. She waddled to­ named the boy Elijah after his pa." ward.s him. Slowly Brown said, "It was a "They gone off," she said boy ..." breathlessly when she was close "Oh, yeah. Real buster of a enough. boy." He went on up to her. She lived With her message delivered, she down the road and she was a part left and Brown watched her walk time midwife. He looked at her back down the road to her own hands, the nails encrusted with place. He stood there for a minute dirt no soap would reach, and just thinking and then he went sighed to himself. back to the car. "Where?" he asked. "I feel like a drink,'' he said. "I. don' know," she said. "Eli "Doris, do you feel like having a never talk much. After the baby drink?" born, Eli pack that old car and She looked at him. "All right,'' thev all leave." she said. ,;How soon after the baby was There wasn't any place to hide, born?" really. In twenty years he might 'Three, fo' days," she said. "I be dead, anyway. He thought about tol' him that was too soon, but he it for a minute, and then he don't listen. He give me his mule reached across and opened the fo' ten dollahs and helpin' with glove compartment. He took out a the baby like I done. He sold his bottle and some Dixie cups. tools, too. I don' think he comin' "Merry Christmas,'' he said. back." "It isn't Christmas yet," Doris "Thank you, Mrs. Jackman,'' said. Brown said and started to turn. "Oh, yes," he said. "Oh, yes." From Hawaii, where iiB author now lives, come• the stm-y of Rybac, who lived-if that is not too mong a verb-chiefly for Anderson, alJhough he might have said that he lived chiefly because of An­ derson ... no mere chopping of words, either. And at the bottom of the tideless, dolorous inland aea, the last chapter of the saga WGS played out •••

ONE MAN'S DREAM

by Sydney VanScyoc

IN HIS TANK, RYBAK SLEPT. HIS ered, groaned and heaved. It want­ hands, spotted with decades, soft­ ed unspeakable things of her, and ened by maintenance fluid, bobbed it would have them. folded under his head. His hair Except that Anderson had leapt rose in grey sheafs and his legs, the top step and was thrusting knobbled and veined, ebbed under Lyrica behind, Sying with his his shrunken rib cage. His beard blade bared and thirsting. His feet flowed. made swift patterns on the mar­ He was old and dying. bled floor. He thrust, retreated, He was yet unborn. teased. His eyes gauged. Then, in the single sparsely lit He feinted, scampered. chamber of his mind that still held Lunged. consciousness, Anderson was lop­ Skewered. ing up the marble staircase, dark The monster staggered, bel­ eyes piercing, long and melan­ lowed once, and bloodied the mar­ choly face taut. ble with its carcass. Its claws At the top of the staircase, Lyr­ pawed feebly, then its tongue ica screamed. Her hands crept up lolled. her breasts, up her throat, over the Lyrica fell to Anderson's shirt. terrified orifice of her mouth. She Her hair Sowed down his chest, backed, groping the rail. strands of golden lava, burning. He The monster snarled from the touched it, gently, and his dark darkened doorway. Grunting, it eyes glowed. padded, Sowed and waddled, slav- But then he was at .the 'bottom 53 54 FANTASY AND ICI&NCB FICTION of the staircase while she sobbed The girl frowned earnestly. at the top. He was through the 'Well, one of the ones with rela­ marbled hallway, Bickering, and tives still living Just think how out the door into nothingness. they hate it. A man makes lots of Somebody stood by Rybak's money and then when he's dying, tank. instead of leaving it to his rela­ "Do you think he can hear?" The tives, like they think he will, be girl's giggle filtered through the has himself tanked. At least until long, fluid-dimmed tank room. She the money runs out or somebody wore plaid kicker straps attached to finds a cure for whatever was a metal waistband and a white wrong with him. A lot of them bosom snugger. She was very have been cured out already, in young. "Daddy says the doctors just thirty-two years. But Daddy think some of them know what's go­ says if anything was to happen to ing on, sort of. Like sometimes you the wrong tank, the relatives would hear in your sleep. Like a part of sue the hide off. He says-" their minds won't stop even though "Shove Daddy." The boy sbuf­ they're supposed to." Oed, glaring. The boy grunted and twitched "ButTeff-" one shoulder. He was a pimpled Abandoned, Rybak bobbed on a wand, a mop of hair. "Makes me tide of disturbing words, words sick. Like a bunch of blind fish, or that had penetrated even as far as those kids in bottles the bio prof his one remaining chamber of con­ keeps. They oughta throw them sciousness: until the money runs out." out. The girl's giggle died nervously. Where was Anderson? "I thought you'd like it, Teffry. Did Anderson know about the Otherwise I wouldn't have pes­ money? tered for the passes. Daddy says Was it fair to Anderson to pol­ they can keep them as much as two lute his chamber with thoughts of hundred years, maybe longer with money? the new maintenance Ouid." Even as he wondered, dimly, Grunt. Twitch. An offended, the chamber cleared and Anderson black-eyed glare into Rybak's tank. was backing across the landing "Well, it wasn't easy getting plain with Lyrica behind his out­ passes, even if Daddy is assistant flung arm. The aliens advanced, director," she said, hurt. "He says golden garments fluttering. Jew­ if anything was to happen to the eled eyes glowed. Antennae flut­ wrong one of the tanks-" tered and stingers twitched. Lyrica ''The wrong one, huh?" He snort­ made no sound but her tumbled ed. ''Politics!" hair gleamed eloquently, fearfully. ONE MAN'S DREAM 55 The plain spread flat to the hor­ glared into Rybak's tank. "How istence had been enough, his Dick­ long has he soaked?" crouched disabled behind alien The subordinate consulted his backs. Lyrica shot a worried records. "Three years, five weeks." glance. "More," she gasped. "His funds expire when?" He He continued to back, crouch­ snapped pudgy fingers. ing slightly. "Where? How many?" "Tomorrow. To the penny." His landing _suit irridesced in the The director scowled. "Three green sun. years? I thought he was in for ag­ "From our left. I-I can't count ing and general deterioration too them." Her breath came -in a sob. extensive for practical replace­ He glanced to the new party. ments- in the foreseeable future." They advanced slowly. He rapped out the formula impa­ "From our right!" she cried. tiently. He turned to the third party. "He is, sir. In twenty or thirty That was when he saw the fourth years we may have the proper min­ advancing from the re•. iaturizations to put him baci: in With a convulsive cry, Lyrica working order. But not sooner." Rung her hair over her face. An­ "He knew that when he con­ derson's arm encompassed her tracted the tank?" shoulders. He wielded his blaster, "Of course, sir." but it could not protect them from The director glowered and rum­ all the aliens. bled. "Then what the nutrient did Relentlessly the insects ad­ he hope to gain, man? What's he vanced. The first party formed a doing in there in the first place?" quarter circle and the others, The subordinate blinked ner­ when they drew near, joined. vously. "Sir, I don't know." Stingers rattled; the circle tight­ The director bent and stared ened. full into Rybak's sluggish face dis­ Anderson hid Lyrica's burning tastefully. "Relatives?" head and brandished the blaster. "Yes, sir. A son. But-" Four leaders stepped into the cir­ The director straightened. ''Get cle from four directions. Their him." stingers twitched as they crouched As their footsteps faded, Rybak for the kill. tried to turn in his bath of main­ Anderson raised the blaster, tenance fluid. Bot only his beard knowing it was hopeless. stirred, and his wealth of long But then, from the green and grey hair. goldensky- His only wealth. Groping, he tried to fozm the "Is this the oae?" The director three precious sylleWes that were FANTASY AND SCIF.NCE FICTION Anderson. Always Anderson's ex­ tioningly. "Wily? What are they?" istence had been enough, his Bick­ "This is a new world. But the ering and heroic image lighting old faith has -come, as always, and too many days otherwise too grey. we will travel under its cloak." Always Rybak had only wanted to He helped her bind her hair, and provide an environment for Ander­ when they swam forward they were son, to watch as Anderson acted Roman Catholic priest and nWl in out his life in his own Oamboyant underwater habiliment and gear. style, untouched by what Rybak's. The hammerheads tilted their dark son called reality. But now he tried bodies in reverence. to call, and it was like running They were over the side of the underwater. Impossible. ship and into the treasure hold. Impossible for anyone but An­ "Oh, Anderson, surely this will derson, whose long legs took him in be enough to save him." She made leaps across the sea Boor. Clouds golden cascades with her fingers­ of sea dust rose behind him. Fishes "How will we get it all out?" of all colors Oed wild-eyed. But Anderson was Oickering in He paused atop a pinnacle and the murk, fading. Voices mur­ saw that Lyrica struggled behind, mured outside Rybak's tank. long hair Rowing. He leapt from "He used to tell me about An­ the peak and split water to her. He derson when I was a kid, about his took her hands and again began adventures and the things he did," the leaping journey. mused the not-so--young man who When the treasure ship lay stood before the tank. "At first I ahead, they found it patrolled by a thought they were just stories he squad of hammerhead sharks who made. But later I could see he be­ cruised in endless circuits. A scar lieved them himself. Oh, he did­ on each ugly head told the story n't think he was Anderson, it was­ of human intervention. Intelli­ n't that. But he thought Anderson gence boosters had been surgically was real and really there. He implanted. Each shark was at least would do anything to keep from as inte1ligent as a human moron. seeing he wasn't. Part of him was And, if approached properly, as adjusting gauges and tempering docile. the How of nutrients to the hvdro­ Anderson had ducked behind a ponic tanks-we had a small farm, promontory. Now he tore open his his father and his before him were special pack and shook out the dirt farmers-but the rest of him long black garments it contained. was off following Anderson on He Boated one set to Lyrica. "Put Antares Three or someplace. An­ them on," he said with his hands. derson was more real than I was, She held them before her ques- or my mother, the farm, or any- ONE MAN'S .DREAM 57 thing else. Anderson was all that The director frowned, nodding really mattered." His voice was thoughtfully. "I fully understand. touched with bitterness. However, there is one thing, just The director grunted impatient­ to satisfy my own curiosity. Why ly. "May we assume then that you did your father choose entankment haven't the means of continuing in the first place? He was warned your father's entankment? You re­ that because his problem was se­ alize, of course, that disentank­ vere aging and overall degenera­ ment means immediate death un­ tion, his funds would not be suffi­ less preventive measures are taken. cient to preserve him until whole­ As of course they won't be in this sale replacements would be prac­ case, his funds having expired." ticable." Rybak's son shoved blunted Rybak stared glumly. "It was hands into the pockets of his tired Anderson." suit. "I always helped work the "Anderson? The dream man?" tank sheds, even after Netta and I "My father never really accepted started our own family. I was paid responsibility for anyone or any­ a small salary and when he could­ thing but Anderson. When the n't work anymore, I took over com­ time came, it was Anderson he had pletely. It didn't matter that I was­ to protect from death. Not himself. n't paid in proportion to the work He had never lived, really, just I did. We lived in-my mother moved through life without seeing had died, Netta kept the house and or touching, a matrix for Ander­ cooked-and I already thought of son. If the matrix died-Anderson the farm, the benches and vats, as died." my own and my son's." "But that's nonsense. This An­ He shrugged. "But when he derson is just a figment-" learned he couldn't live, without Rybak's voice was bitter. ".Ah, telling me he sold the house and you haven't heard about his long, the grounds and the equipment so melancholy face, about his pene­ he could be tanked. When I trating dark eyes, about Lyrica, his learned, I told him he had sold us love. You haven't heard about his out for a dream, a worthless one having the strength of ten, the at that. I didn't mince, no. But he cunning of twenty. Over the years, went into coma and had to be tak­ Anderson has become almost as en. And, well, it isn't easy to start real to me as to my father. The one over at forty, not with a wife, three way I could touch my father was by children and nothing else but your hating Anderson-and I did and hands." His low, dispassionate do. I wouldn't mind so much if voice grated. "No, I wouldn't pay to Anderson had done one useful keep him in there even if I could." thing in his lifetime. But my fa- 58 PANTUY AND SCIENCE PlCl'ION ther can't even dream construc­ Two somber priests approached, tively." He gave the tank one last shuffiing over the sea Boor. bitter glance, turning. "No, if it Anderson spared them a single, were permitted, I would pull the penetrating glance. Then he plug myself, just for the pleasure sprang long-limbed to his pouches of watching his face when he sees and funneled golden riches into I've been right all along." them. "But Mr. Rybak-" the director Anderson would save them. rumbled, scurrying after. How could he have doubted? Anderson had never done one But outside, someone who had useful thing? approached unnoticed in coveralls The thought seeped into Ry­ said, "This the one?" bak's single chamber of awareness, "Yeah." And the tank began to milky but crystallizing. tilt and wallow. Why, hadn't Anderson saved "Seaquake!" Anderson leapt and Lyrica from the castled monster of strapped his pouches to his waist. Sirius Seven? Hadn't he subdued Seizing Lyrica's arm, he shot the dog people, slain the golden through the mouth of the hold. katydids of Fomalhaut Five? Had­ The sea sloshed and slapped. n't he conquered the legions of Somewhere outside there was Caesar himself, when he had gone the squealing protest of unoiled back in the time tank? wheels as they carried the heavy Wasn't he even now gathering tank before them. treasure that would save Rybak Anderson and Lyrica shot into from disentankment? If Rybak's the heaving sea. Fishes Bed in cir­ eyes had been capable of tears, his cles before them. Behind, the lids would have stung. The first treasure ship cracked, boomed, and time he had asked anything of An­ broke slowly i11to an opening crev­ derson, had Anderson stopped to ice. qnestion? Had Anderson vacillat­ Together they cleaved the wa­ ed and hesitated and doubted? ters. Then why did he? Why did he But the priests had seen, and not leave the whole problem in when Anderson glanced he saw Anderson's capable hands? Why dark shapes hammering in pursuit. did he not dispel this murky doubt? He shot ahead with all his strength, Anderson could save them both, which was the strength of ten. But would save them. Lyrica bubbled at his ear and he The chamber cleared and be­ knew the sharks were closing the came the treasure hold, and Lyrica gap. . was tugging Anderson's arm. She Swiftly he surveyed the sea­ pointed to the single porthole. scape. With liis free hand t. 59 sought under the priestly garb for from her headdress as she strug­ his knife. With a Sick of flippers gled. Anderson scowled, and By­ he soared, with Lyrica, toward a back could read the angry thought small sheltering protuberance of from his face: why, when for once rock. he wanted to do something con­ "Seems a shame, letting the old structive-yes, Rybak was sure guy run down the drain that way," even Anderson admitted that now someone said as Rybak felt him­ -must it tum into another adven­ self settling toward his slowly ture? bleeding drain. "Like letting him Of course there was no question bleed to death, and still the courts of failure. Didn't Anderson always say it ain't murder. Well, if I did­ succeed? The hammerheads would n't have a wife and kids-" marshall for the final attack, they "Yeah." would circle, and then- Ah, but they couldn't know that But already Rybak's mind cham­ there was no question of death. ber was clouding. And the ham­ The couldn't know that Anderson merheads-ah, they knew they had had brought his cunning to bear, only to wait, that in minutes An­ that already he carried treasure in derson would no longer threaten. his pouches. They coudn't know Rybak's inner view was Bicker­ that he would evade the hammer­ ing and dim now. Lyrica had taken heads, defeat them utterly, and her first gulp of sea water and was come bearing triumph and life. thrashing. And the hammerheads But then, they didn't know An­ were waiting. derson anyway. "Won't be much longer," some­ Anderson had made shelter, one said outside, glancing at his thrusting Lyrica behind him. watch as the last of the mainte­ The hammerheads dispersed cir­ nance 8uid drained from the tank. cularly. They shimmied and hov­ "This's the part gets me, where they ered. One lunged. try to breathe and thrash all Anderson slashed. The hammer­ around." head retreated bleeding. Rybak's lungs were straining, his Another lunged. body arching. Struggling, he real­ Anderson slashed again, but ized there was one way to save still another had come from the himself. He had to take back his rear, and Anderson's air bubbled body, regain it long enough to tell from his tom hose. He seized the them: Get my son. Tell him. I'll end of the hose to save what little give up Anderson. I'll let him die. was imprisoned there. But do whatever it is that will Lyrica's hose had been severed make me breathe again. Help me too. Her long, burning hair boiled bring in air. 60 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FIC'tiON He would deny Anderson com­ never misused the power he must pletely. He would spend his days have known he had. telling his grandchildren of how Rybak had tried to communi­ their father had helped as a boy. cate the wonder of Anderson, to b6! He would regain the farm and sure. He had tried to tell his wife. leave it for them. He would even But she had been too busy or too take flowers, as he never had, to tired, finally too dead. He had tried his wife where she lay unmarked. to tell his son how Anderson had No longer would he betray his fam­ come one day when Rybak, a boy, ily by extending the hospitality of had walked the winter lane from his mind to Anderson. No longer the schoolbus with Arkansas cotton would he give the precious favor plain stretching bleak on either of his attention, of his inward fo­ side, the house puffing woodsmoke cus. It would be as if Anderson ahead. He had tried to tell how had never been. Anderson had kept coming even But even as his consciousness though Rybak had nothing to offer flickered, his inner chamber light­ but his adolescent mind. He had ed for the last time and he saw An­ tried to tell the miracles Anderson derson leaning weakly against the had brought: the uncondescend­ protruding rock with Lyrica strug­ ing companionship; the fire, light gling at his feet. He saw Ander­ and shimmering beauty; the uni­ son's stern dark eyes, his melan­ verses; the excitement into a life as choly features which regarded Ry­ grim as an Arkansas winter of dead bak with disappointment but with­ cotton stalks. out condemnation. But his son had said that Ander­ Oh, how could he have betrayed son was a product of imagination Anderson with thoughts of hospi­ and loneliness and adolescent tality and favor? Always he had glandular flux, a habit to be brok­ pretended that he had extended en, an indulgence. (He himself favor. But he had known, without had sometimes wondered, briefly. admitting, that it was Anderson But it was too much to ask him to who had extended instead. It was give up the only thing he had ever Anderson who had brought bright­ had for the principle of strict real­ ness into Rybak's dim life. It was ism.) And his son had been jeal­ Anderson who had illuminated ous. Perhaps rightfully. and focused, Anderson who had Nevertheless he had to save An­ given meaning, purpose, almost derson. He had to gather what life life itself. It was Anderson who still remained, and he had to put had tolerated Rybak's constant it into those three syllables, Ander­ peering attention. It was Anderson son. He had to make them see, with who had never rebuffed, who had only those syllables, that they ONE MAN's DREAM 61 couldn't let Anderson die just be­ "Take off the beard and hair, and cause there were no funds, just be­ he's one of them kids that didn't cause a son hated. quite make it. You know, like that Dimly he saw Anderson folding kid said this afternoon, the ones to his knees, head still erect. Ur­ bio people set around in bottles." gently he struggled with his fluid­ Anderson/ Fading and gone. softened lips, with his stiff throat "Just get born and they're dead. and sluggish tongue. That's life for you." He wagged his Silence. head. "Boy, he went out like he was He tried to struggle again. But trying to save the world. Put up a he was fading too quickly. The good one." only sound that came was a groan, "Yeah," the other agreed, but he and a final shuddering gasp. wasn't much interested. He had his Anderson I He could only make own world and while it didn't need an agonized echo in his own dim­ saving just yet, it would someday. ming mind. Didn't every world?

c:At•lng next •onth- •••·•• RR.t\DEB ~ON'l"EST ••• • • . about which we will only say this: It will require so~e thought (about which we have no worries for our intelligent and articulate reader­ ship).lt will be fun to enter. Look for the Decem­ ber issue (on sale October 29).

TIII.IIAtAallfl .. Slephen Becket'anetD nooel, COVENANT WITH DEATH will be pub­ lished by Atheneum this apring, will appear as a Book of the Month selection, and has been purchased by W amer Br08. for a price in excess of $150,0001 Here he offers a third colorful and comprehensive entry in the Volume of the future. We refer you to our May and September 1964 issues for the othera.

THE NEW ENCYCLOPAEDIST-111 Entries for The Great Boolc of History. First Edition, 2100 A.D. by Stephen Becker

Newhouse, John Jacob (1914- duced the figure to 81, and still 1977). United States Senator from later to 52, but by then it was Alaska, 1963-77. The years 1970 generally agreed that he had alerted and 1971 are called the "era of patriotic citizens to a serious peril. Newhousery." The production and Hearings were begun at once, commercial success of several with full television coverage. Russo-American films had tempor­ Particular attention was focused on arily reduced international ten­ aliens and college graduates. A sions; certain House and Senate small group of· writers protested; Investigating Committees faced the they were immediately suppoenaed loss of appropriations in a long­ by the Newhouse Committee. Most awaited orgy of economy. N saved took refuge in the First or Fifth the day by an oration in North Amendments to the Constitution, Judson, Indiana, warning that and became the core of an organ­ America was in grave danger of ized resistance; their slogan was subversion, rot of moral fibre, and "A gentleman may poach but not financial ruin through the machina­ peach." Thousands everywhere tions of adulterers, who, he were identified as known offenders claimed, had infiltrated all levels of by cooperative witnesses, many of national life. He then charged that whom were remunerated for their there were 2 53 adulterers in the time and trouble; federal employ­ Department of Health, Education, Jbent increased by 14.5% during and Welfare, and his speech was the first three months of hearings. given great publicity. He later re- These witnesses testified that they 62 BOOKS 63 had been present at gatherings in Many citizens demonstrated good various parts of the country osten­ faith by compi~g dossiers on their sibly arranged for the purposes of neighbors. Bausch and Lomb an­ drinking, playing cards, folk-danc­ nounced an extra dividend. The ing, etc., but which were actually Newhouse Act prohibited the corroborees of the licentious. The teaching and advocacy, or conspir­ evidence was often not direct but acy to teach and advocate, "any doc­ circumstantial: winking, off-color trine or practise that might tend to stories, removal of shoes, unex­ suggest the possibility of immoral­ plained absences in the kitchen. ity," and was passed over only two The guilty were said to be in con­ dissenting votes, both by elderly stant and nation-wide communica­ Senators. Librarians winnowed tion, exchangin·g names and ad­ their shelves, removing e.g. the dresses and transmitting messages works of +-Dante, +-Shakespeare, in code-a bouquet of orchids and +-Elinor Glyn; a new edition of might mean one thing, a bottle of +-Louisa May Alcott was instantly champagne another, etc. For their successful. The two elections of expertise in these arcana reformed +-Grover Cleveland were retro~­ professional women were highly tively invalidated; after a Democra­ valued; some remained closeted tic protest, +-Warren G. Harding's with investigators for hours on end, victory was also voided. Europeans and produced exhaustive lists of were horrified by these events; putative offenders. Presumed con­ France withdrew from NATO, and spirators often lost their jobs and +-General de Ga_ulle stated public~ the esteem of their neighbors; they that so exciteable a people could not were denied federal or state em­ be trusted with the destinies of free ployment, and were exposed when men ("lls smtt cingUs ltl-bas"). found in sensitive positions. The first effective resistance was The moral climate became gen­ offered by Dr. Leo Douglas, a psy­ erally severe. Metropolitan areas re­ chiatrist in Cleveland, Ohio, who ported numerous vacancies in affirmed unblushingly that he knew small, expensive apartments. The several people who had trans­ Furriers' Association marched on gressed from the noblest of motives, Washington. All printed matter and who were a credit to humanity; from Sweden was banned. Private but he declined to name them. Re, groups sprang up to support the buked and threatened by N, Doug­ government's policies, e.g. the Cos las then declared that any investi­ Cob Chastity Crusade and the Boo­ gation of the practise, or legislation Boo Caraway Society, named for limiting it, was an infringement of the first American woman since his rights under the First Amend­ 194 5 to be betrayed by Kummel. ment-not of his freedom of 64 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTJeJI speech. but of "the right of the pe~ But the hearings had by then lost pie peaceably to assemble." N much of their point, thanks to pointed out that the legal definition Douglas, and the Navy, jealous of of "assembly" specified "three or its traditions, refused to be intimi­ more people," and the doctor's re­ dated. The investigation lost m~ ply ("Douglas's Riposte") was, mentum, and finally came to a halt "You run your private life and I'll with the appearance of Bubbles run mine." He was convicted of Freeburg of Elgin, Illinois, who, contempt, but his appeal was sus­ paradoxically, never even testified. tained by the Supreme Court. N As she entered the chamber N was then turned his attention to the observed to blench, and the pro­ United States Navy; he persisted in ceedings were halted until a doctor asking who had promoted Lieu­ could be found. The committee tenant-Commander \Vycherly, a never sat again. N died in the Great notoriously suave fire-control officer Holocaust, during a Senate debate reputed to have cut a suspicious on the appropriation for anti-mis­ series of notches in his slide-rule. sile missiles.

CORRECI'ION, PLEASE Or, ANYBODY I'OR CROfF?

In our September issue we took issue with our own words introducing Philip K. Dick's CANTATA 140 (July 1964)­ ..... all presidents so far have been ... of British descent ..." -and. asked to be allowed "to be the first to point out our own error and to acknowledge the Dutch origins of the Van Buren and Roosevelt families." Dr. John Boardman of Brook­ lyn College has since called our attention to the German orl.­ gins of the Hoover and Eisenhower families. Sorry. Souy. Sorry. Line foi'ID& at the right for any further ccmections. -A.D: The storg below and the foUowing remarb ( tDritttm by Avram Davidson in defense of the title) originaUy appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Both, we're sure you wiU agree, are especially worthy of reprint. E.L.F. "Where does Queen Esther live? In the United States? In t~ West Indies? In the Twentieth Century of electric toasters, wash-­ jng machines, and television sets? In the Eighteenth C~tury o1 cruel Creole slaveholders, obeah, duppy? She lives in a world composed of aU these elements, plus elements that make up a world peculiar to herself and a few thousand other Negroes and mixed-bloods inhabiting remote and tiny islands, a world of Bib­ lical Hebrew first-names and antique African-Amerindian sorcery and archaic English ... Where, indeed, do you live, Queen Es­ ther?-and though we can never live there ourselves, may we not catch at least a fleeting glimpse of it?-where old kings still reign and old gods have never diedr

WHERE DO YOU LIVE, QUEEN ESTHER?

by Avram Davidson

COLD COLD, IT WAS, IN TUB (none were near). Oh, my, but , room where she lodged, so far woman your age shouldn't b~ from her work. The young people working, the ladies said. No, no, complained of the winter, and I couldn't, really. Kindly indeed. those hom to the country-icy Thank you, mistress. cold, it was, to .them. So how There was said to be hot water could a foreign woman bear it, sometimes in the communal bath­ and not a young one? She had tried room down the hall-the water in to find another job not so far the tap in her room was so crold it @ 1961 by Davis Publications, Inc. 65 66 FANTASY AND SCIENCB FICTION burned like fire : so strange: hot/ upstairs, said that he wasn't to cold-but it was always too late bother "her" with his silly ques­ when she arrived back from work. tion. A pout came over the boy's Whither she was bound now. face, but yielded to her quick re­ Bound indeed. ply. A long wait on the bare street "Me live in the Carver Rooms corner for the bus. Icy winds and on Fig Street, near Burr." no doorway even, to shelter from His smile broadened. "Fig! the winds. In the buses-for there That's a fun-ny name for a street were two, and another wait for the . . . But where do you live at second-if not warm, then not so home, Queen Esther? I know: cold. And at the end, a walk for Spahnish Mahn. And what you many blocks. But in the house it call a fig we call a bah-nah-nah. was warm. The mistress not up yet. See, Freddy? I know." Mistress . . . Queen Esther The .older one got up. "Be a thought about Mrs. Raidy, the goodboynow," he said, and van­ woman of the house. At first her ished for the day. was startled by the word-to she it The boy winked at her. "Queen mean, a woman live with a man Esther from Spanish Man, Santa and no marriage lines. But then Marianne, Bee-Double-You-Eye. her grew to like it, Mrs. Raidy did. But I really think it should be Like to hear, too, mention of the Spanish Main, Queen Esther." He Master and the young Master, his put his head seriously to one side. brother. "That's what they used to call the Both of they at table. "That sec­ Caribbean Sea, you know." ond bus," Queen Esther said, un­ And he fixed with his brooding wrapping her head. "He late ugly little face her retreating back again. Me think, just to fret I." as she went down to the cellar to "Oh, a few minutes don't mat­ hang her coat and change her ter. Don't worry about it," the mas­ shoes. ter, Mr. Raidy, said. He never "The sea surround we on three called the maid by name, nor did sides at Spanish Man," she said, the mistress, but the boy- returning. As now, looking up with a "You should say, 'surrounds us,' white line of milk along his upper Queen Esther . . . You have a lip, he smiled and asked, 'Where very funny accent, and you aren't do you live, Queen Esther?" It was very pretty." a game they played often. His Looking up from her preparar brother-quick glance at the tions for the second breakfast, she clock, checking his watch, head smiled. "True for you, me lad." half turned to pick up sounds from "But then, neither am I. I look WHERE DO YOU Ln'£, QUBEif Unai? '7 like my father. I'm his brother, not lstlaer ,..iecl the ieebox. ''Rod­ hers, you know. Do you go swim­ Dey. Rodney? Why do I have to ming much when you live at sboutand-" home, Queen Esther?" ''Yes, El. What?" She put up a fresh pot of coffee '1n that tone of voice? If it were to drip and plugged in the toaster fm my pleasure, I'd say, Nothing. and set some butter to brown as But I see your brother doesn't care she beat the eggs; and she told him if you eat or not. Half a bowl of-" of how they swim at Spanish Man "I'm finished." on Santa Marianna, surrounded "You are not finished. Finish on three sides by the sea. It was now." the least of the Lesser Antilles ... 'Til be late, El. They're waiting She lived only part of her life in forme." the land she worked in, the rest 'Then they'll wait. Rush out of of the time-in fact, often at the here with an empty stomach and same time-she heard, in the si­ then fill up on some rubbish? No. lence and cold of the mainland Finish the cereal." days and nights, the white surf "But it's cold." beating on the white sands and the 'Who let it get cold? I'm not too scuttling of the crabs beneath the sure at all I. ought to let you go. breadfruit trees. This Harvey is older than you and "I thought I would come down he pals around with girls older before you carried that heavy tray than he is. Or maybe they just fix all the way upstairs," said the mis­ themselves up to look-Eat. Did tress, rubbing her troubled puffy you hear what I say? Eat. Most dis­ eyes. Her name was Mrs. Eleanor gusting sight I ever saw, lipstick, Raidy-she was the master's wife and the clothes? Don't let me -and her hair was teased up in catch you near them. They'll prob­ curlers. She sat down with a ably be rotten with disease in a few grunt, sipped coffee, sighed. years." Silently, Queen Esther 'What would I ever do without grated pineapple. "I don't like the you?" idea of your going down to the She surveyed the breakfast-in­ Museum without adult supervi­ progress. "I hope I'll be able to eat. sion. Who knows what can hap­ And to retain. Some mornings," pen? Last week a boy your age was she said, darkly. Her eyes made the crushed to death by a truck. Did rounds once more. ''There's no you have a-look at me, young pineapple, I suppose?" she asked man, when I'm talking to you­ faintly. "Grated, with just a little did you have a movement?" powdered sugar?-Don't go to any ''Yes." extra trouble," she added, as Queen "Ugh. If looks could kill. I don't 68 FANTAST AND SCD!NCI. FICTION believe you. Go upstairs and­ denly appeared at the door, as RodNEYI" Queen Esther finished the tale, But Rodney had burst into tears startling Master Rodney. and threw down his spoon and "Why do you tell the child such rushed from the room. Even as stories?" she had demanded, very Mrs. Raidy, her mouth open with angry. "See, he's scared to death." shock, tried to catch the maid's "You scared me, El-sneaking eye, he slammed the door behind up like that." him and ran down the front steps. Queen Esther hastened to try to The morning was proceeding as distract them. usual. "'Tis only a fancy of the old "And his brother leaves it all to people. Me never fear no duppy-" me," Mrs. Raidy said, pursuing a But she was not allowed to fin­ piece of pineapple with her ish. The angry words scalded her. tongue. She breathed heavily. "I And she knew it was the end of have you to thank, in part, I may any likelihood (never great) that as well say since we are on the she might be allowed to move her subject, for the fact that he wakes things into the little attic room, up screaming in the middle of the and save the hours of journeying night. I warned you. Didn't I through the cutting, searing cold. warn you?" Said the mistress, now, "Even Queen Esther demurred, said the sound of it is stupid . . . He she had never spoken of it to the didn't eat much breakfast." She young master since that one time glanced casually out the window of the warning. at the frost-white ground. "You no­ "One time was enough. What ticed that, I suppose." was that word? That name? From Over the sound of the running the superstitious story you were water Queen Esther said, Yes. She telling him when I interrupted. added detergent to the water. He Guppy?" never did eat much breakfast­ "Duppy, mistress." It was sim­ but she didn't say this out. ply a tale from the old slave days, "No idea why, I suppose? No? Queen Esther reflected. A cruel Nobody's been feeding him any­ Creole lady who went to the fields thing-that you know .of? No one night to meet she lover, and soicv West Indian messes, no met a duppy instead. The slaves all chicken and rice with bay leaves? beard, but were affrighted to go Yes, yes, I know : not since that out; and to this day the pile of one time. All right. A word to the stones near Petty Morne is called wise is sufficient." Mrs. Raidy The Grave of Mistress-Serve-She­ arose. A grimace passed over her Well.-Mistress Raidy had sud- face, "Another day. And every- WHERE DO YOU UVE, QUEEN ESTHP.Il? 69 thing is left to me. Every single being a nasty old goat? No . thing . . . Don't take all morn­ Look. See what your fine young ing with those few dishes." gentleman had hidden under the Chicken and rice, with bay cushion of his bedroom chair." leaves and peppercorns. Queen Es­ And she riffied the pages of a ther, thinking about it now, rel­ magazine. Queen Esther sup­ ished the thought. Savory, yes. Old pressed a smile. It was only natu­ woman in the next yard at home ral, she wanted to say. Young in Spanish Man, her cook it in an gentlemen liked young ladies. iron caldron. Gran'dame Hephsi­ Even up in this cold and frozen bah, who had been hom a slave land-true, the boy was young. and still said "wittles" and "vhis­ That's why it was natural he only key" . . . Very sage woman. But, looked-and only at pictures. now, what was wrong with chick­ "Oh, there's very little gets past en and rice? The boy made a good me, I can assure you. Wait. When meal of it, too, before he sister-in­ he gets back. Museum trips. Dirty law had come back, unexpected pictures. Friends from who knows and early. Then shouts and tears where. No morefH and then a dash to the bathroom. Queen Esther finished the hall "You've made him sick with your rugs, ,dusted, started to go in to nasty rubbish!" But, for true, it vacuum the guest room. Mrs. wasn't so. Raidy, she half observed in the Queen Esther was preparing to mirror, was going downstairs. Just vacuum the rug on the second floor as the mistress passed out of sight, when the mistress appeared at the she threw a glance upward. Queen door of the room. She dabbed at Esther only barely caught it. She her eyes. "You lmow, I'm not are­ frowned. A moment later a faint ligious person," she osbserved, "But jar shook the boards beneath her I was just thinking: It's a blessing feet. The cellar door. Bad on its the Good Lord didn't see fit to give hinges. Queen Esther started the me a child. You know why? Be­ vacuum cleaner; a sudden thought cause I would've thrown away my made her straighten up, reach for life on it just as I'm throwing it the switch. For a moment she stood away on my father-in·:law's child. without moving. Then she Can you imagine such a thing? A propped the cleaner, still buzzing, man fifty-two years old, a widower, in a comer, and Bitted down the suddenly gets it into his head to steps. take a wife half his age-" She rat­ There was, off the kitchen, a tled away, winding up, •And so large broom closet, with a crack in now they're both dead, and who the wall. Queen Esther peered has to put up with the results of his through the crack. Diagonally be- 70 FANTASY AND SCIJ!NCB PIC'llON low in the eellar was an otd vic­ -a tiny dried frog-a frog?­ trola and on it the maid had a-surely noti- draped her coat and overcoat and "Ohl" she said, in a thin, jerky, scarf; next to it were street shoes, disgusted voice. "Uh. Uhf" She not much less broken than the threw the tin away from her, but ones she wore around the house. the thing was bound with a scar­ Mistress Raidy stood next to the let thread and this caught in her gramophone, her head lifted, lis­ chipped fingernail. tening. The hum of the vacuum "-out of this house!" she raged, cleaner filtered through the house. flapping her wrist, "and never set With a quick nod of her head, foot in it again, with her filthy-ah!" tight-lipped in concentration, the The thread snapped, the thing mistress began going through the flew off and landed in a far cor­ pockets of the worn garments. ner. She turned to go and had one With little grunts of pleasurable unsteady foot on the first step vexation she pulled out a half-pint when she heard the noise behind bottle of fortified wine, some her. pieces of cassava cake-"That's all Later on, when Queen Esther we need. A drunken maid. Mice. counted them, she reckoned it as Roacbec;. Oh, yes." -a smud~ed twenty-five steps from the broom kektographed postal card announc­ closet to the bottom of the cellar ing the Grand Annual Festivity of stairs. At that moment, though, the St. Kitts and Nevis Wesleyan they seemed to last forever as the Benevolent Union, a tattered copy screams mounted in intensity, of Lucky Tiger Dream Book, a each one seeming to overtake the wDl'n envelope . . . one before it without time or space He-re she paused to dislodge a for breath between. But they comerless photograph of Queen ceased as the maid clattered down Esther's brother Samuel in his cof­ the steps, almost tripping over the fin and to comment, ''As handsome woman crouched at the bottom. as his sister." There were receipts Queen Esther spared she no for international postal orders to glance, then, but faced the thing Samuel's daughter Ada-"Send my advancing. Her thrust she hand money to fcilreign countries." A into she bosom. "Pool" her spat. change purse with Jittle enough in "You ugly old dupp.y! Me nevec it, a Bat cigarette tin. This she fear no duppy, no, not me!" picked at with nervous fingers, And her pulled out the power­ chipping a nail. Clicking her ful obeah prepared for she long ago tongue, she got it open, found, by Gran'dame Hephsibah, that with loathing large upon her sagest of old women, half Ashanti, face- half Coromanti. l'he duppy ~RB 110 YOU LIVII, QUEEN ESTHEil? 71 growled and driveled and bared its death of his wife with stoical worndown stumps of filthy teeth, calm. His younger brother very but retreated step by step as her seldom has nightmares now, and came forward, chanting the words eats heartily of the savory West of power; till at last it was shriv­ Indian messes that Queen Esther eled and bound once more in the prepares for all three of them. Hers scarlet thread and stowed safely is the little room in the attic; the away in the cigarette tin. Ugly old chimney passes through one corner duppy ••• I of it, and Queen Esther is warm, Mr. Raidy took the sudden warm, warm.

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THE BLACK OF NIGHT

I SUPPOSE MANY OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR with the comic strip "Pea­ nuts. N My daughter, Robyn (now in the fourtb grade) is very fond of it, as I am myself. She came to me oae day, delighted with a particular sequence in which one of the little characters in "Peanuts" asks his bad-tempered older sister, -why is the sky blue?" and she snaps back, "Because it isn't greenr When Robyn was aD through laughing, I thought I would seize the occasion to maneuver the conversation in the direction of a deep and subtle scientific discussion (entirely for Robyn's own good, you understand). So I said, 'Well, tell me, Robyn, why is the night sky black?" And she answered at once (I suppose I ought to have foreseen it), "Because it isn't purple!" Fortunately, nothing like this can ever st>riously frustrate me. If Robyn won't cooperate, I can always tum, with a snarl, on the Helpless Reader. I \viJJ discuss the blackness of the night sky with your

The story of the black of night begins with a German physician, Heinrich Wilhehn Matthias Olbers, born in 1758. He practiced as­ tronomy as a hobby and in mid-life, he suffered a peculiar disappoint­ ment. It came about in this fashion- Toward the end of the 18th century, astronomers began to suspect, quite strongly, that some sort of planet must exist between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter (for reasons I went into, in some detail, in BE­ YOND PLUTO, F & SF, July, 1960). A team of German astronomers, of whom Olbers was one of the most important, set themselves up with the intention of dividing the ecliptic among themselves and each searching his own portion, meticulously, for the planet. 72 THE BLACK. OP NIGHT 73 Oll>ers and his friends were so systematic and thorough that by rights they should have discovered the planet and received the credit of it. But life is funny (to coin a phrase). While they were still arranging the details, an Italian astronomer, Giuseppe Piazzi, who wasn't looking for planets at all, discovered, on the night of January 1, 1801, a point of light which had shifted its position against the back­ ground of stars. He followed ,it for a period of time and found it was continuing to move steadily. It moved less rapidly than Mars and more rapidly than Jupiter, so it was very likely a planet in an intermediate orbit. He reported it as such so that it was the casual Piazzi and not the thorough Olbers who got the nod in the history books. Olbers didn't lose out altogether, however. It seems that after a period of time, Piazzi fell sick and was unable to continue his ob­ servations. By the time he got back to the telescope, the planet was too close to the Sun to be observable. Piazzi didn't have enough observations to calculate an orbit and this was bad. It would take months for the slow-moving planet to get to the other side of the Sun and into observable position, and without a calculated orbit, it might easily take years to rediscover it. Fortunately, a young German mathematician, Karl Friedrich Gauss was just blazing his way upward into the mathematical firmament. He had worked out something called the "method of least squares" which made it possible to calculate a reasonably good orbit from no more than three observations of a planetary position. Gauss calculated the orbit of Piazzi's new planet and when it was in observable range once more, there was Olbers and his telescope watching the place where Gauss's calculations said it would be. Gauss was right and, on January 1, 1802, Olbers found it. To be sure, the new planet (named "Ceres") was a peculiar one, for it turned out to be less than 500 miles in diameter. It was far smaller than any other known planet and smaller than at least six of the satellites known at that time. Could Ceres be all that existed between Mars and Jupiter? The German astronomers continued looking (it would be a shame to waste all that preparation) and sure 'enough, three more planets between Mars and Jupiter were soon discovered. Two of them, Pallas and Vesta, were discovered by Olbers. (In later years, many more were discovered.) But, of course, the big pay-off isn't for second place. All Olbers got out of it was the name of a planetoid. The thousandth planetoid between Mars and Jupiter was named "Piazzia", the thousand and first "Gaussia", and the thousand and second "Olberia." 74 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PICTION Nor was Olbers much lnclder in his other observations. He special­ ized in comets and discovered five of them, but practically anyone can do that. There is a comet called "Olbers' Comet" in consequence but that is a minor distinction. ShaH ·we now dismiss Olbers? By no means- It is hard to tell just what will win you a place in the annals of science. Sometimes it is a piece of interesting reverie that does it. In 1826, Olhers indulged himself in an idle speculation concerning the black of night and dredged out of it an apparently ridiculous conclu­ sion. Yet that speculation became "Olbers' paradox" which has come to have profound significance a century afterward. In fact, we can begin with Olbers' paradox and end with the conclusion that the only reason life exists anywhere in the universe is that the distant galaxies are re­ ceding from us. What possible effect can the distant galaxies have on us? Be patient now and we'll work it out.

In ancient times, if any astronomer had been asked why the night­ sky was black, he would have answered-quite reasonably-that it was because the light of the Sun was absent. If one had then gone on to question him why the stars did not take the place of the Sun, he would have answered-again reasonably-that the stars were limited in number and individually dim. In fact, all the stars we can see would, if lumped together, be only a half-billionth as. bright as the Sun. Their influence on the blackness of the night sky is therefore insignificant. By the 19th Century, however, this last argument had lost its force. The number of stars was tremendous. Large telescopes revealed them by the countless millions. Of course, one might argue that those countless millions of stars were of no importance for they were not visible to the naked eye and therefore did not contribute to the light in the night-sky. This, too, is a useless argument. The stars of the Milky Way are, individually, too faint to be made out, but e11 masse, they make a dimly luminous belt about the sky. The Andromeda galaxy is much farther away than the stars of the Milky Way and the individual stars that make it up are not individually visible except (just barely) in a very large telescope. Yet, en masse. the Andromeda galaxy is faintly visible to the naked eye. (It is, in fact, the farthest object visible to the unaided eye; so if anyone ever asks you how far you can see; te11 him 2,000,000 light-years.) THE BLACK OF NIGHT 75 In short, distant stars-llo matter how dtstant and no matter bow dim, individually-must contribute to the light of the night sky and this contribution can even become detectable without the aid of instru­ ments if these dim distant stars exist in sufficient numbers. Olbers, who didn't know about the Andromeda galaxy, bot did know abo11t the Milky Way, therefore set about asking himseH how much light ought to be expected from the distant stars altogether. He began by making several assumptions: · I. That the universe is infinite in extent. 2. That the stars are infinite in number and evenly spread through­ out the universe. 3. That the stars are ·of uniform average brightness through all of space. Now let's imagine space divided up into shells (like those of an onion) centering about ourselves, comparatively thin sheJls compared with the vastness of space, but large enough to contain stars within themselves. Remember that the amount of light that reaches us from individual stars of equal luminosity varies .inversely as the square of the distance from us. In other words, if Star A and Star B are equally bright but Star A is three times as far as Star B, Star A delivers only Ys the light. If Star A were five times as far as Star B, Star A would deliver 1/25 the light and so on. This holds for our shells. The average star in a Shell 2000 light­ years from ourselves would be only 14 as bright in appearance as the average star in a Shell only I 000 light-years from ourselves. (Assump­ tion Three tells us, of course, that the. intrinsic brightness of the aver­ age star in both shells is the same, so that distance is the only factor \ve need consider.) Again, the average star in a Shell 3000 light­ years from ourselves would be only % as bright in appearance as the average star in the I 000 light-year Shell, and so on. · But as one works one's way outward, each succeeding shell is more voluminous than the one before. Since each sheiJ is thin enough to be considered, without appreciable error, to be the surface of the sphere made up of all the shells within, we can see that the volume of the shells increases as the surface of the spheres would-that is, as the square of the radius. The 2000 light-year SheiJ would have four times the volume of the I 000 light-year Shell. The 3000 light-year Shell would luuJe nine times the volume of the IOOO light-year Shell and so on. I£ we consider the stars to be evenly distributed through space 76 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION (Assumption 2) then the number of stars in any given shell is propor­ tional to the volume of the shell. I£ the 2000 light-year Shell is four times as voluminous as the I 000 light-year Shell, it contains four times as many stars. If the 3000 light-year Shell is nine times as voluminous as the I 000 light-year Shell, it contains nine times as many stars, and so on. Well, then, if the 2000 light-year SheU contains four times as many stars as the I 000 light-year Shell and if each star in the former is % as bright (on the average) as each star of the latter, then the total light delivered by the 2000 light-year Shell is 4 times % that of the I 000 light-year shell. In other words the 2000 light-year Shell delivers just as much total light as the 1000 light-year Shell does. The total brightness of the 3000 light-year Shell is 9 times Ys that of the 1000 light-year Shell and the brightness of the two shells is equal again. In summary, if we divide the universe into successive shells, each shell delivers as much light, in toto, as do any of the others. And if the universe is infinite in extent (Assumption I) and therefore consists of an infinite number of shells, the stars of the universe, however dim they may be individually, ought to deliver an infinite amount of light to the earth. The one catch, of course, is that the nearer stars may block the light of the more distant stars. To take this into account, let's look at the problem in another way. In no matter which direction one looks, the eye will eventually en­ counter a star, if it is true they are infinite in number and evenly dis­ tributed in space (Assumption 2). The star may be individually in­ visible, but it will contribute its bit of light and it will be immediately adjoined in all directions by other bits of light. The night sky would then not be black at all but would be an absolutely solid smear of star-light. So should the day sky be an abso­ lutely solid smear of star-light, with the Sun itself invisible against the luminous background. Such a sky would be roughly as bright as I 50,000 suns like ours and do you question that under those conditions life on Earth would be impossible? However, the sky is not as bright as I 50,000 suns. The night-sky is black. Somewhere in the Olbers' paradox there is some mitigating circumstance or some logical error.

Olbers himself thought he found it. He suggested that-space was not truly transparent; that it contained clouds of dust and gas which ab- n sorbed most of the starlight, allowing only an insigni&cant fraction to reach the Earth. That sounds good, but is no good at all. There are indeed dust clouds in space but if they absorbed aD the starlight that fell upon them (by the reasoning of Olbers' paradox) then their temperature would go up until they grew hot enough to be luminoys. They would, eventually, emit as much light as they absorb and the Earth sky would still be star-bright over aD its extent. But if the logic of an argument is faultless and the conclusion is still wrong, we must investigate the assumptions. What about Assump­ tion 2, for instance? Are the stars indeed infinite in number and evenly spread throughout the universe. Even in Olbers' time, there seemed reason to believe this assumption to be false. The German-English astronomer, William Herschel, made counts of stars of different brightness. He assumed that, on the aver­ age, the dimmer stars were more distant than the bright ones (which follows from Assumption 3) and found that the density of the stars in space fell off with distance. From the tate of decrease in density in different directions, Herschel decided that the stars made up a lens-shaped figure. The long diameter, be decided, was ISO times the distance from the Sun to Arcturus (or 6000 light-years, we would now say) and the whole conglomeration would consist of I 00,000,000 stars. This seemed to dispose of Olbers' paradox. If the lens-shaped con­ glomerate (now called the Galaxy) truly contained all the stars in existence then Assumption 2 breaks down. Even if we imagined Space to be inDnite in extent outside the Galaxy (Assumption I), it would contain no stars to speak of and would contribute no illumina­ tion. ConsequentlJ, there would be only a finite number of star-co­ taining Shells and only a finite (and not very large) amount of illumi­ nation would be received on Earth. That would be why the night sky is black. The estimated size of' the Galaxy has been increased since Herschel's day. It is now believed to be 100,000 light-years in diameter, not 6000; and to contain 150,000,000,000 stars, not I 00,000,000. This change, however, is not crucial; it still leaves the night-sky black.

In the 20th Century Olbers' paradox came back to life, for it came to be appreciated that there were indeed stars outside the Galaxy. The foggy patch in Andromeda had been felt throughout the 19th Century to be a luminous mist that formed part of our own Galaxy. 78 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PICTION However, other such patches of mist (the Orion Nebula, for instance) contained stars that lit up the mist. The Andromeda patch, on the other hand seemed to contain no stars but to glow of itself. Some astronomers began to suspect the truth, but it wasn't definitely established until 1924, when the American astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble, turned the 100-inch telescope on the glowing mist and was able to make out separate stars in its outskirts. These stars were indi­ vidually so dim that it became clear at once that the patch must be hundreds of thousands of light years away from us and far outside the Galaxy. Furthermore, to be seen, at it was, at that distance, it must rival in size our entire Galaxy and be another galaxy in its own right. And so it is. It is now believed to be over 2,000,000 light years from us and to contain at least 200,000,000,000 stars. Still other galaxies were discovered at vastly greater distances. Indeed, we now suspect that within the observable universe there are at least 100,000,- 000,000 galaxies and the distance of some of them have been esti­ mated as high as 6,000,000,000 light-years. Let us take Olbers' three assumptions then and substitute the word "galaxies" for "stars" and see how they sound. Assumption 1, that the universe is infinite, sounds good. At least, there is no sign of an end even out to distances of billiogs of light­ years. Assumption 2, that galaxies (not stars) are infinite in number and evenly spread throughout the universe, sounds good, too. At least they are evenly distributed as far out as we can see, and we can see pretty far. Assumption 3, that galaxies (not stars) are of uniform average brightness throughout space, is harder to handle. However, we have no reason to suspect that distant galaxies are consistently larger or smaller than nearby ones and if the galaxies come to some uniform average size and star-content, then it certainly seems reasonable to suppose they are uniformly bright as well. Well, then, why is the night-sky black? We're back to that. Let's try another track. Astronomers can determine whether a dis­ tant luminous object is approaching us or receding from us by studying its spectrum (that is; its light as spread out in a rainbow of wave­ lengths from short-wavelength violet to long-wavelength red). The spectrum is crossed by dark lines which are in a fixed position if the object is motionless with respect to us. If the object is approach­ ing us, the lines ·shift toward the violet. If the object is receding from us, the lines shift toward the red. From the size of the shift, astronomers can determine the velocity of approach or recession. 'FHE BLACK OP NIGHT 79 In the 1910's and 1920's, the spectra of some galaxies (or bodies later understood to be galaxies) were studied and except for one or two of the very nearest, all are receding from us. In fact, it soon became apparent that the farther galaxies are receding more rapidly than the nearer ones. Hubble was able to fomulate what is now called "Hub­ ble's Law" in 1929. This states that the velocity of recession of a galaxy is proportional to its distance from us. If Galaxy A is twice as far as Galaxy B, it is receding at twice the velocity. The farthest observed galaxy, 6,000,000,000 light-years from us, is receding at a velocity half that of light. The reason for Hubble's Law is taken to lie in the expansion of the universe itself; an expansion which can be made to follow from the equations set up by Einstein's general theory of relativity (which, I hereby state firmly, I will not go into). Given the expansion of the universe, now, how are Olbers' assump­ tions affected? If, at a distance of 6,000,000,000 light-years, a galaxy recedes at half the speed of light; then, at a distance of 12,000,000,- 000 light-years, a galaxy ought to be receding at the speed of light (if Hubble's Law holds). Surely, further distances are meaningless for we cannot have velocities greater than that of light. Even if that were possible, no light, or any other "message" could reach· us from such a more-distant galaxy and it would not, in effect, be in our universe. Consequently, we can imagine the universe to be finite after all, with a "Hubble radius" of some 12,000,000,000 light years. But that doesn't wipe out Olbds paradox. Under the requirements of Einstein's theories, as galaxies move faster and faster, rela~ ·v., to an observer, they become shorter and shorter in the line of travel and take up less and Jess space, so that there is room for larger and larger numbers of galaxies. In fact, even in a finite universe, with a radius of 12,000,000,000 light-years, there might still be an infinite num­ ber of galaxies; almost all of them (paper-thin) existing in the outer­ m()St few miles of the Universe-sphere. So Assumption 2 stands even if Assumption 1 does not: and As­ sumption 2, by itself, can be enough to inswe a star-bright sky. But what about the red-shift? Astronomers measure the red-shift by the change in position of the spectral lines, but those lines move only because the ·entire spectrum moves. A shift to the red is a shift in the direction of lesser energy. A receding galaxy delivers less radiant energy to the earth than the same galaxy would deliver if it were standing still relative to ourselves 80 FANTASY AND ICIENCE PICTIO:N -just because of the red shift. The faster a galaxy recedes, the less radiant energy it delivers. A galaxy receding at the speed of light de­ livers no radiant energy at ali Do matter how bright it might be. Thus, Assumption 3 fails! It would hold true if the universe were static, but not if it is expanding. Each succeeding shell in an expand­ ing universe delivers less light than the one within because their con­ tent of galaxies are successively further from us; are subjected to a successively greater red shift; and fall short, more and more, of the expected radiant energy they might deliver.

And becaus_e Assumption 3 fails, we receive only a finite amount of energy from the universe and the night-sky is black. According to the most popular models of the universe, this expansion will always continue. It may continue without the production of new galaxies so that, eyentually, billions of years hence, our Galaxy (plus a few of its neighbors, which together make up the "Local Cluster" of galaxies) will be alone in the universe. All the other galaxies will have receded too far to detect. Or new galaxies may continuously form so that the universe will always seem full of galaxies, despite its expan­ sion. Either way, however, expansion will continue and the night­ sky will remain black. There is another suggestion, however, that the universe oscillates; that the expansion will gradually slow down until the universe comes to a moment of static pause, then begins to contract again, faster and faster, till it tightens at last into a small sphere that explodes and begins a new expansion. If so, then as the expansion slows, the ·dimming effect of the red shift will diminish and the night-sky will slowly brighten. By the time the universe is static, the sky will be uniformly star-bright as Olbers' paradox required. Then, once the universe starts contracting. there will be a "violet-shift" and the energy delivered will increase so that the sky will become far brighter and still brighter. This will be true not only for the Earth (if it still existed in the far future of a contracting universe) but for any body on any sort in the universe. In a static or, worse still, a contracting universe, there could, by Olbers' paradox, be no cold bodies, no solid bodies. There would be ·uniform high temperatures everywhere-in the millions of degrees, I suspect-and life simply could not exist. So I get back to my earlier statement. The reason there is life on Earth, or anywhere in the universe, is simply that the distant galaxies are moving away from us. THE JLAeK. OF NIGHT 81 In fact, now that we know the ins and outs of Olber's paradox, might we, do you suppose, be able to work out the recession of the distant galaxies as a necessary consequence of the blackness of the night-sky? Maybe we could amend the famous statement of the French philosopher, Rene Descartes. · He said, "I think, therefore I am!" And we could add: "I am, therefore the universe expands!"

COMING NEXT MONTH

BV"FFOON bg Ed,.,ard Wellen a moving and beautifully written story about an alien uintrusion" into the Aztec empire. Somebody had to write the followillg .tory, tmd t.De're glad II was Mr. Bob FitzPatrick, who says that "it grinds no axes; it wil not offend conservatives, and it will tickle hell out of liberals.• We think it delivers a solid punch. It may knock you down, but you'll come up smiling. You see, it concerns race, politics and ... hey, how come everyone's leaving the roQm.

ON THE HOUSE

by R. C. FitzPatrick

HER SON WAS KILLED IN MICHI­ er thaa her actual age; urbane, gan, and when they brought her lovely, and athletic. And her edu­ the news she asked them, how? cation had progressed far beyond She knew he was away from home her graduation from college. She on business of his own and she knew precisely which way to tum, wondered, why? Nothing out of or better yet, she knew how to find the ordinary, she was told. They the information to tell her which sympathized at first, and then they way to turn. told her that black had met white Her first husband had been a in a pointless melee. It had been an professional football player. And inexcusable stupidity. Bones were aside from his color, he had had an broken, blood flowed, and nothing inordinate fear of being consid­ was accomplished. It was all a ered a dumb brute because of his shame, really. Really a shame. calling. Their life together had She cried a bit at first. An ordi­ been a ceaseless round of discus­ nary reaction for a mother, and she sion groups, home study, and art was an ordinary mother. Or had museums. She had met, married, been. Now she no longer felt her­ and divorced him because of the self ordinary, or a mother. She was latter. She had never before been not old and fat and ugly and care­ out to prove anything to anyone. worn. Nor was she unintelligent Her second husband was a law­ and uneducated, knowing not yer. And while they no longer lived which way to tum. On the con­ together, she still had unrestricted trary. She looked ten years young- use of their communal home. Her 82 OK 'rH& HOUSE 83 second husband's father ltad abo Port:!illouda, BoMolt and Plymoutla, been a lawyer, as had his father be­ as she arranged for her final ap­ fore him. It is surprising what a pointment. Her preparations were full, rich library three diligent col­ almost complete, but being on to­ lectors can amass during their re­ ward winter, she was obliged to fly spective lifetimes. to Arizona, where by judicious What she could not find in her tipping and careful pleas, she was husband's library, she bought. Or able to enlist a troop of small boys stole. It took her forty-five minutes who collected for her what little of careful, sidelong glances, and else was needed. careful, gentle tugs to tear out a She had eye of newt, and skin of certain page from a certain manu­ toad, and ash from a fire wherein a script in the archives of the New witch had burned. She had owl's York Public Library. Of all her sub­ blood, and bats brains, and a tooth sequent actions, that one small bit from a dog that had bitten a priest. of desecration had made her most She had, altogether, a most nox­ ashamed. But she had long since ious and ridiculous collection of subordinated her ethics to her mis­ garbage, especially when spread sion, and she determinedly over­ on the floor of her most modern rode any momentary qualms that New York apartment. But she did she experienced. not laugh at herself. Not then. Her She started her search in March. laughing time had been long since By June she had exhausted the re­ spent. sources of the city. There was not Carefully she drew the penta­ one, small, hidden, bookstore gram, lit the fires, and muttered whose drab and dusty owner had the proper incantations. When the not helped her in her search. In smoke cleared she was not at all August she flew to Paris, and from surprised to see the Devil standing there, by various routes, she trav­ before her in a seersucker suit. eled to Wurzburg, Bamberg, and "That's a little bit chilly for this Paderborn in Germany. And then time of the year, isn't it?" the wom­ back to Paris by way of Toulouse, an asked. Lyons, and the Labourt section of "I try to dress to please my cli­ Bordeaux. She spent a week in that ents," said the Devil. "This is the most mundane of cities, Geneva, way you expected me to appear, in Switzerland. And then by air isn't it Mrs. Williamson?" Except to Glasgow, Scotland, where she for his tail he looked much like a tramped the roads of County used car salesman. Caithness. At the close of October She was not the least interested she returned to New York, having in how he knew her name, but he stopped on the way in London, looked so pleased with himself that 84 FANTAST AND SCJENCB PICTION she felt obliged to say, "You know some souls come through clearer who lam?" than others, but after I've estab­ "Oh my, Yes," said the Devil. "I lished that they have a sincere de­ was fascinated by your prepara­ sire . . ." He chuckled. ". . . to tions. It isn't often that I find one go to the Devil, I never read their Q£ your kind through personal con­ minds." He had to clear his throat tact." again when the woman failed to "Not down there, too," said Mrs. respond. He reached in the inside Williamson. pocket of his jacket and brought "Oh my, No," said the Devil. He out a form. "Now if you'll tell me ehuckled. "I might even say, Hell what it is you want, we can es­ no!" He paused. "Unh . . . nunh tablish the price." ... unh." He cleared his throat "I thought there was only one and went on when she failed to price," said Mrs. Williamson. smile. "I didn't mean your color, "Well, there is really," said the you're a rather sophisticated and Devil. "But it all depends on what intelligent woman. Most of my you buy with it. That's what clients nowadays go in for mumbo counts. There are levels to badness jumbo, witch doctors, you know, just as there are to goodness. We that sort of thing." reserve the lower levels of Hades "Does that nonsense work?" to those who have had the world." asked Mrs. Williamson. He smiled wickedly, "I'm using "Anything works," said the Dev­ 'had' in the vernacular, of course. d.. "Provided the intentions are sin­ I hate to see ,people go beyond cere. What could be more non­ their means. Now you've im­ sensical than reciting the . . ." pressed me as a reasonable wom­ he cast his eyes skyward, ". . . my an. I'm sure you don't want riches competitor's prayer backwards." or glory or that sort of thing. Sim­ "Then I really didn't have to go ple revenge, for instance, will only through all this?" asked Mrs. Wil­ cost you the second level from the liamson. top." "No, not really,'' said the Devil. "Revenge is what I had in "Then you know what I want," mind,'' said Mrs. Williamson. said Mrs. Williamson. "Oh," said the Devil. He seemed "No I don't," said the Devil disappointed. quickly. "That would take all the "Of a special kind,'' said Mrs. fun away. Even Satan deserves Williamson. some pleasure, you know. I make "Good, good," said the Devil an honest effort never to read brightening. He chuckled. "Or minds. Omniscience is not one of should I say, bad, bad." He was my stronger points. Of course, forced to clear his throat again ON THE HOUSE 85 when the woman simply looked at "That's who I mean," said Mrs. him. "Well, on to business." He Williamson. took out a pen and started going "For the good of your people?" over the form. "Let's see, we have asked the Devil with a scowl. your full name, age, address . . . 'That might be incidental," said now, under this heading, 'Re­ Mrs. Williamson, "but that's not venge', how do you want to go what I had in mind. And if it in­ about it? Murder? Torture? Hor­ terferes with our agreement, you rible disease?" can write it into the contract that "No, no, nothing that simple," I can't indulge in any such activ­ said Mrs. Williamson. ity." "Well," said the Devil pleasant· The Devil relaxed. "And the ly, "some of our lower levels are man?" he asked. really quite reasonable. What ex­ "His name is Wallace," said actly did you have in mind?" Mrs. Williamson. "He lives in "I wish to trade bodies," said Alabama." Mrs. Williamson. 'Wal1ace ?" echoed the Devil. He "Original," said the Devil. "I began to grin. knew you'd be worth my time." "That Wallace!" said Mrs. Wil­ 'With a man," said Mrs. Wil­ liamson. "He's a functionary," she liamson. added. "A ftuctuating function­ "Oh hoi" said the Devil with a ary," she said, enunciating each leer. "This has all sorts of inter­ word distinctly. esting aspects. Biological trans­ The Devil leaned back and vestism. That should be fun, even raised an eyebrow. His tail began if it is with the man who killed to twitch and his grin became a your son." smile. Slowly, and with the ut­ "That would be pointless," said most care, he tore the contract in Mrs. Williamson. "No, I'm much half. Then putting the pieces to­ more interested in the man respon­ gether, he tore them in half again. sible." He looked into her suddenly dis· "Not the man who killed your traught eyes, "Don't worry, my son?" asked the devil frowning. dear," said the Devil. He pursed 'Why?" said Mrs. Williamson. his lips, put the pieces together "He was only the trigger, I want the again, and tore them in half for man who pointed the gun." the third time. "Madam . . ."said "Someone in authority?" asked the Devil,"... or Sir," he said to the Devil. He was definitely dis· the now terror stricken eyes, "this pleased. one is on the house." ..,.. Harry Harrison-who has appeared here thrice before: SURVWAL PLANET, straight Science Fiction; CAPTAIN HONARIO HARP­ PLAYER, R.N., humorous satire; and INCIDENT ON THE IND, Fantasy-wa8 at one time a magazine editor and illustrator ... or, more accurately, at different times. He knows the problems of the commercial artist. He also knows the manner and method of the jack-leg publisher. And in this utterly realistic little story he takes us into a future where the decay of the arts and the corrup­ tion of the popular ta8te leads logically to the death of talent.

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

by Harry Harrison

11 A.M.tf/ THE NOTE BLARED AT moistly again, rolled her eyes to­ him, pinned to the upper right wards the closed door of Martin's corner of his drawing board. office then scurried away. MARTIN'S OFFICE/I He had let­ A Mark IX. He knew that it tered it himself with a number 7 would have to come some day, brush, funereal india ink on harsh knew without wanting to admit yellow paper, big letters, big it, and ~ad only been kidding •ords. himself when he said they could­ Big end to everything. Pachs n't do without him. His hands tried to make himself believe that spread out on the board before this was just another one of Mar­ him, old hands, networked wrin­ tin's royal commands: a lecture, a kles and dark liver spots, always chewing-out, a complaint. That's stained a bit with ink and marked what he had thought when he had with a permanent callous on the knocked out the reminder for him­ inside of his index finger. How self, before Miss Fink's large wa­ many years had he held a pencil tery eyes had blinked at him and or a brush there? He didn't want she !}ad whispered hoarsely, "It's to remember. Too many, perhaps on order, Mr. Packs, coming to­ . . . He clasped his hands tightly day, I saw the receipt on his desk. together, making believe he didn't A Mark IX." She had blinked see them shaking. 86 POilTRAIT OF THE AltTIST 87 There was almost an hour left INE was just a note to the machine before he had to see Martin, plen­ not to touch the hair. For a VIL­ ty of time to finish up the story he LAINESS it would be inked in was working on. He pulled the black, all villainesses have black sheet of illustration board from hair, just as all villains have the top of the pile and found the mustaches as well as the black script. Page three of a thing called hair, to distinguish them from the Prairie L011e for the July issue of hero. The machine buzzed and Real Rangeland Romances. Love clattered to itself while it sorted books with their heavy copy were through the stock cuts, then clicked always a snap. By the time Miss and banged down a rubber stamp Fink had typed in the endless cap­ of the correct head over the blue tions and dialogue on her big flat­ circle he had drawn. MAN bed varityper at least half of every HEAD, FULL FRONT, SIZE panel was full. The script, panel SIX, SAD, HERO brought a small­ one: er stamp banging down on the In house, Judy C/U cries and other circle that topped the stick Robert in BG very angry. figure. Of course the script said A size three head for Judy in angry, but that was what the the foreground, he quickly drew raised fist was for, since there are the right size oval in blue pencil, only sad and happy faces in com­ then a stick figure for Robert in ics. the background. Arm raised, fist Life isn't that simple, he thought closed, to show anger. The Mark to himself, a very unoriginal idea VIII Robot Comic Artist would do that he usually brought out at least all the rest. Pachs slipped the once a day while sitting at the ma­ sheet into the machine's holder­ chine. MAN FIGURE, BUSI­ then quickly pulled it out again. NESS SUIT he set on the dial, He had forgotten the balloons. then hit the DRAW button. The Sloppy, sloppy. He quickly blue­ pen-tipped arm dropped instantly penciled their outlines and V's for and began to quickly ink in a tails. suited man's figure over the blue When he thumbed the switch direction lines he had put down. the machine hummed to life, elec­ He blinked and watched it indus­ tronic tubes glowing inside its trously knocking in a wrinkle pat­ dark case. He punched the control tern that hadn't varied a stroke in button for the hea!ls, first the girl fifty years, then a collar and tie -GIRL HEAD, FULL FRONT, and two swift neck lines to con­ SIZE THREE, SAD HEROINE. nect the neatly inked torso to the Girls of course all had the same rubber-stamped head. The pen face in comic books, the HERO- leaped out to the cuff end of the 88 FANTASY AND SCIENCB FICTION just-drawn sleeve and quivered about big enough for a single there. A relay bU72.ed and a dusty closeup, a small one._ Pachs didn't red panel flashed INSTRUC labor this panel, as he might have, TIONS PLEASE at him. With a but took the standard way out. He savage jab he pushed the button was feeling tired today, very tired. labeled FIST. The light went out HOUSE, SMALL, FAMILY Pro­ and the Bashing pen drew a neat duced a small cottage from whicl1 fist at the end of the arm. emerged the tails of the three bal­ Pachs looked at the neatly loons and let the damn reader- fig­ drawn panel and sighed. The girl ure out who was ta1king. wasn't unhappy enough; he The story was finished just be­ dipped his crowqoi11 into the ink fore eleven and he stacked the pot and knocked ia two tears, one pages neatly, put the script into in the comer of each eye. Better. the file and cleaned the ink out of But the backgrotmd was still pretty the pen in the Mark VIII; it al­ empty in spite of the small dic­ ways clogged if he left it to dry. tionary in each balloon. BAL­ Then it was eleven and time to LOONS he punched automatical­ see Martin. Pachs fussed a bit, ly while he thought, and the ma­ rolling down his sleeves and hang­ chine pen darted down and inked ing his green eyeshade from the the outlines of the balloons that arm of his dazor lamp; yet the held the lettering, ending each moment could not be avoided. taU the correct distance from the Pulling his shoulders back a bit he speaker's mouth. A little back­ went out past Miss Fink hammer­ ground, it needed a touch. He ing away industrously on the vari­ pressed code 4 73 which he knew typer, and walked in through the from long experience stood for open door to Martin's office. HOME WINDOW WITH LACE "Come ON, :bouis," Martin CURTAINS. It appeared on the wheedled into the phone in his paper quickly, automatically most syrupy voice. "If it's a matter scaled by the machine to be in of taking the word of some two-bit perspective with the man's figure shoestring distributor in Kansas before it. Pachs picked up the City, or of taking my word, who script and read panel two: you gonna doubt? That's right ... Judy falls on couch Robert tries okay . . . right Louis. 111 call you to console her mother rushes in back in the morning . . . right, you tmgrily wearing apron. too ... my best to Helen." He There was a four line caption banged the phone back onto the in this panel and, after the three desk and glared up at ~chs with balloons had been lettered as well, his hard beebee eyes. the total space remaining was just "What do you want?" PORTRAIT Oil THE Alt.TIST 89 "You told me you wanted to see "Very generous, particularly aft­ me, Mr. Martin." er eight years," Pachs said, forcing "Yeah, yeah," Martin mumbled his voice to be calm. half to himself. He scratched "That's alright, it's the least I Oakes of dandruff loose from the could do." Martin was congenital­ back of his head with the chewed ly immune to sarcasm. end of a pencil, and rocked from The lost feeling hit Pachs then, side to side in his chair. a dropping away of his stomach, a "Business is business, Pachs, sensation that everything was you know that, and expenses go up over. Martin was back on the all the time. Paper-you know phone again and there was really how much it costs a ton? So we nothing that Pachs could say. He gotta cut corners ..." walked out of the office, walking "If you're thinking of cutting very straight, and behind him he my salary again, Mr. Martin, I heard the banging of Miss Fink's don't think I could . . . well, may­ machine halt for a instant. He did be not much ..." not want to see her, to face those "I'm gonna have to let you go, tender and damp eyes, not now. Pachs. I've bought a Mark IX to Instead of turning to go back to cut expenses and I already hired the studio, where he would have some kid to run it." to pass her desk, he opened the hall "You don't have to do that, Mr. door and stepped out. He closed it Martin," Pachs said hurriedly, slowly behind him and stood with aware that his words were tum­ his back to it for an instant, until bling one over the other and that he realized it was frosted glass and he was pleading, but not caring. she could see his figure from the "I could run the machine I'm sure, inside: he moved hurriedly away. just give me a few days to catch There was a cheap bar around on ..." the' corner where he had a beer ev­ "Outta th!! question. In the first ery payday, and he went there place I'm paying the kid beans be­ now. "Good morning and top of cause she's just a kid and that's the . the morning to you ... Mr. Pachs," starting salary, and in the other the robot bartender greeted him place she's been to school about with recorded celtic charm, hesi­ this thing and can really grind the tating slightly between the stock stuff out. You know I'm no bas­ phrase and the search of the cus­ tard, Pachs, but business is busi­ tomer-tapes for his name. "And ness. And I'll tell you what, this is will you be having the usual?" only Tuesday and I'll pay you for "No I will not be having the the rest of the week. How's that? usual, you plastic and gaspipe And you can take off right now." imitation of a cheap stage Irish- 90 PANTASY AND SCII!NCll> FICTION man, 111 be hattn& a double whis­ '1'm sorry, that firm is not in this key." building, have you consulted the "Sure and you are the card, sir," registry?" the electronically affable barten­ "Twenty-three," he said ad his der nodded, horsehair spitcurl voice quavered, and he was glad bobbing, as it produced a glass he was alone in the elevator. The and boule and poured a carefully doors closed. measured drink. There was a hall entrance to the Pachs drank it in a gulp and studio and this door was standing the unaccustomed warmth burned open, he was halfway through it through the core of coJd indiffer­ before he realized why-then it ence that he had been holding on was too late to turn back. The to. Christ, it was alJ over, alJ over. Mark VIII that he had nursed They would get him now with along and used for so many years their Senior Citizens' Home and lay on its side in the corner, up­ all the rest, he was good as dead. rooted and very dusty on the side There are some things that don't that had stood against the wall. bear thinking about. This was one. Good he thought to himself, and Another double whiskev followed at the same time knew it was stu­ the first, the money for this was no pid to hate a machine, but still longer important because he would relishing the thought that it was be earning· no more after this being discarded too. In its place week, and the unusual dose of al­ stood a columnar apparatus in a cohol blurred some of the pain. grey crackle cabinet. It reached Now, before he started thinking almost to the ceiling and ap­ about it too much; he had to get peared as ponderous as a safe. back to the office. Clean his per­ "It's all hooked up now. Mr. sonal junk out of the taboret and Martin, ready to go with a hun­ pick up his pay check from Miss dred percent lifetime guaranty as Fink. It would be ready, he knew you know. But I'll just sort of pre­ that; when Martin was through flight it for you and give you an with you he liked to get you out idea just how versatile this versa­ of the way, quickly. tile machine is." "Floor please?" the voice ques­ The speaker was dressed in tioned &om the top of the eleva­ grey coveralls of the exact same tor. color as the machine's finish, and "Go straight to belli" he blurted was pointing at it with a gleam­ out. He had never before realized ing screwdriver. Martin watched, how DHIIly robots there were frowning, and Miss Fink Buttered around: Oh how he hated them in the background. There was todav. someone else there, a thin young PORTUIT OJ TID AA'I'JIT 91 girl in a pink sweater who bovine­ ''Your new operator knows the ly chewed at a cud of gum. machine code and breaks down "Let's give Marl IX here a real any art concept into standard sym­ assignment, Mr. Martin. A cover bols, cut on tape. The tape can be for one of your magazines, some­ examined or corrected, stored or thing I bet you never thought a modified and used over again if machine could tackle before, and need be. There-I've recorded the normal machines can't ..." essence of your sketch and now I ''Fink!" Martin barked and she have one more question to ask you scrambled over with a sheet of il­ -in what style would you like it lustratioo board and a small color to be done?'' sketch. Martin made a porcine interrog­ "We got just one cover in the ative sound. house to do, Mr. Martin," she said "Startled aren•t you, sir-well I weakly. "You okayed it for Mr. thought you would be. The Mark Pachs to do . . ." IX contains style tapes of all the "The bell with all that," Martin great masters of the Golden Age. growled, puJiing it from her hand You can have Kubert or Canif£, and looking at it cJosely. "This is Giunta or Barry. For figure work­ for our best book, do you under­ you can use Raymond, for your ro­ stand that, and we can't have no mances capture the spirit of hack horsing around with rubber Drake." stamps. Not on the cover of FJght­ "How's about Pachs?'' ing Reol War Battle Aces." "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't ''You need not have the slightest knowof •. !' worry, I assure you," the man in the "A joke. Let's get going. CanHl". coveralls said, gently lifting the that's what I want to see." sketch from Martin's fingers. "I'm Pachs felt himself go warm all going to show you the versatility of over, then suddenly cold. Miss the Mark IX, something that you Fink looked over and caught his might find it impossible to believe eye, and looked down, away. He until you see it in action. A trained clenched his fists and shifted hi!' operator can cut a Mark IX tape feet to leave, but listened instead. from a sketch or a description, and He could not leave, not yet. the results are always d~amatic to ". . . and the tape is fed into say the least." He seated himself at the machine, the illustration board a console with typewriter keys that centered on the impression table projected from the side of the ma­ and the cycle button depressed. So chine, and while he typed a rib­ simple, once a tape bas been cut, bon of punched tape collected in that a child of three could operate the basket at one !ride. it. A press on the button and just 92 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PlcTION stand back. Within this genius of Martin grunted. a machine the orders are being Pachs looked at it and couldn't analyzed anti a picture built up. take his eyes away: he was afraid Inside the memory circuits are bits he was going to be sick. The cover and pieces of every object that man was not only good, it was good has ever imagined or seen and Caniff, just as the master might drawn for his own edification. have drawn it himself. Yet the These are assembled in the correct most horrible part was that it was manner in the correct proportions Pachs' cover, his own layout. Im­ and assembled on the collator's proved. He had never been what screen. When the final picture is might be called a tremendous art­ complete the all-dear light flashes ist, but he wasn't a bad artist. He -there it goes-and we can ex­ did alright in comics, and during amine the completed picture on the good years he was on top of the screen here." Martin bent over the pack. But the field kept shrink­ and looked in through the hooded ing and when the machines came opening. in it went bust and there was al­ "Just perfect isn't it? But if for most no spot for an artist, just a any reason the operator is dissatis­ job here and there as sort of layout fied the image can be changed now boy and machine minder. He had in any manner desired by manipu­ taken that-how many years now? lation of the editorial controls. -because old and dated as his And when satisfied the print but­ work was he was still better than ton is depressed, the image is any machine that drew heads with printed on a film of re-usable plas­ a rubber stamp. tic sheet, charged electrostatically Not any more. He could not in order to pick up the powdered even pretend to himself any more ink and then the picture is printed that he was needed, or even useful. in a single stroke onto the paper The machine was better. below." He realized then that he had A pneumatic groan echoed the­ been clenching his fists so tightly atrically from the bowels of the that his nails had sunk into the machine as a rectangular box flesh of his palms. He opened and crept down on a shining plunger rubbed them together and knew and pressed against the paper. It that they were shaking badly. The hissed and a trickle of vapor oozed Mark IX was turned off and they out. The machine rose back to po­ were all gone: he could hear Miss sition and the man in the cover­ Fink's machine takking away in alls held up the paper, smiling. the outer office. The little girl was "Now isn't that a fine piece of telling Martin about the special art?" supplies she would need to buy to PORTRAIT OP THE ARTIST 93 operate the machine, and when louder when she came into the Pachs closed the connecting door room. Martin, complaining about he cut olf the grumbling reply the noise, followed her, but shut about extra expenses not being up when he saw what bad hap­ mentioned. pened. A bit of glass crunched un­ Pachs warmed his fingers in his der his shoes when he looked out armpits until the worst of the of the window. The doll-like fig­ tremors stopped. Then he carefully ure of Pachs was visible in the pinned a sheet of paper onto his center of the gathering crowd, old drawing board and adjusted sprawled from sidewalk to street the light so it would not be in his and bent at an awful angle as it eyes. With measured strokes he followed the step of the curb. ruled out a standard comic page "Oh God, Mr. Martin; Ob God and separated it into six panels, look at this ..." Miss Fink making the sixth panel a big one, wailed. stretching the width of the page. Martin went and stood next to He worked steadily at the pencil­ her in front of the drawing board ing, stopping only once to stretch and looked at the page still pinned his back and walk over to the win­ there. It was neatly done, well dow and look out. Then he went drawn and carefully inked. back to the board and as the after­ In the first panel was a self por­ noon light faded he finished the trait of Pachs working on a page, inking. Very carefully he washed bent over this same drawing board. off his battered-but still favorite In the second panel he was sitting -Windsor & Newton brush and back and washing out his brush, in slipped it back into the spring the third standing. In the fourth holder. panel the artist stood before the There was a bustle in the outer window, nicely rendered in chia­ office and it sounded like Miss roscuro with backlighting. Five Fink getting ready to leave, or was a forced perspective shot from maybe it was the new girl coming above, down the vertical face of back with the supplies. In any case the building with the figure hur­ it was late, and he had to go now. tling through the air towards the Quickly, before he could change pavement below. his mind, he ran full tilt at the In the last panel, in clear and window, his weight bursting horrible detail, the old man was through the glass, and hurtled the bent broken and bloody over the twenty-three stories to the street wrecked fender of the car that was below. parked there: the spectators looked Miss Fink heard the breaking on, horrified. glass and screamed, then screamed "Look at that will you," Martin 94 PANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION said disgustedly, tapping the car by a good two yards. Didn't I drawing with his thumb. "When he always tell you he was no good on went out the window he missed the getting the details right~"

......

HAG

Walking home that night I saw the witch, crooked as a broken branch, her face a dance floor for crows, a monoxide breeze ruffling her indefinite rags. Seeing me, she turned from her pentagram traced in concrete and hurled a hex, an impotent pox unmutated for a millenium, a fossil disease vulnerable to my vaccination. The crone, likewise exposed to the times unprotected, contracted autoskepticism and stretched out full length on a hopscotch diagram, dead.

-RUSSELL E. l.BTSON, }R. RichDrd Olin, 1l'lll1dng his first appearance here, hal made his firrt appearance as a Science Fiction author in Analog, and, as a poet (many times) in Galley Sail Review. He says: "I am thirty, and muzU for my age. Have worked for several newspapers. My wife, child, and I live in San Francisco. Among many less interesting pursuits, I have been at different times an amateur bullfighter and an Air Force epedemiological technician.• Perhaps it was whilst engaged in this last occupation that Mr. Olin perceived the germ of this story; perhaps not. It is logical, interesting, and per­ Ttaps not just a little bit disturbing-and if you 1cnow anybody who knows any flatworms ... watch out/

OVERSIGHT

by Richard Olin

THE SHORT, PLUMP CARCASS OF project without my knowledge or Doctor Barstow, biologist, seemed permission, I am well within my an unlikely vehicle indeed for right should I choose to regard Earth's newest superman. He ab­ these -" he waved a sheaf of sently drummed his finger tips on stamped invoices and bills from the desk top-but stopped instant­ various drug houses - "as your ly when a spray · of glass slivers own privately incurred debt. It is shot up from the desk topping. also well within my power to ask "I'm sorry," he mumbled to his for your immediate dismissal. superior, Dr. Petticrewe. "I keep "Now. I wish to know instantly forgetting." He brushed glass dust what you have done with that from his unhurt fingertips. money!" Dr. Petticrewe, head of the uni­ Doctor Barstow's face was open versity's biology department, was and cherubic. He blinked at his waspishly unimpressed. "Your un­ superior with eyes that were blue authorized research with flatworms, innocence. "What I did with the Dr. Barstow, has cost my depart­ money? Why, that should be ob­ ment twenty-eight thousand dol­ vious from the bills in your hand. lars. Since you proceeded on your I spent it." 95 96 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION "But how did you spend it? For Dr. Petticrewe's face was a map what?" of conflicting emotions. Obviously, Doctor Barstow blinked again. he was interested despite himself. "To discover how planarians re­ "And this has been your line of re­ generate, of course. Don't you ever search?" read any of the reports I send you?" "It was. Up until I found the He got up from the desk and ob­ answer." Barstow strode over to the tained a small dish from one of the lab bench and picked up a diamond lab tables. He placed it on the desk wheel. 'There was an unexpected between them. It was nothing more side effect. But watch." spectacular than a saucer filled Using all his might, he pressed with water. At the bottom of it, the wheel down on the palm of one small arrow headed flatworms crept hand. After a tremendous effort, he over the dish's sides. managed to open a small gash in "They're absolutely fascinating," the flesh. He wiped the few drops Barstow said enthusiastically. ''And of blood away. since they have a notochord, they "Look quickly." He held the in­ are much closer to us, physiological­ jured hand out to Petticrewe. ly, than one would at first think. He watcher, speechless, as the "Cut one of these worms into edges of the cut sealed themselves thirty pieces, Doctor. And do you together. In less than a minute have a hash of dead worm? No! there was no trace that the injury Each tissue block regenerates and, had ever existed. in a few days, you have thirty It was much more than a minute miniature planarians! Give them before he could speak. "But-but nutrients and each grows to a full why . . . ? he nodded helplessly at sized adult!" the diamond wheel. He rushed on before his superior "Why diamond?" The plump could so much as open his mouth. little doctor smiled and threw the "But you wish to know what is the tool back on the lab table. "As I point. It is this: these are chordates, said: an unexpected side effect. only one evolutionary step below My body tissues-" he flexed the us, the vertebrates. But do we pos­ fingers on a hand-"are perfectly sess even a fraction of this power flexible. But their tensile strength to regenerate? We do not. is somewhat tougher than struc­ "But how do you know? tural steel." His smile broadened. Mightn't the power exist in our "It makes life somewhat awk­ bodies-but be latent, undevelop­ ward." He picked up a setof shears, ed? Perhaps it needs only a slight razor-sharp, made of high-carbon chemical stimulus to release it. blue steel. "Even with these, cut­ What then, Doctor, what then?" ting my nails is an arduous task" oaaJCHT 97 He proceeded to demonstrate, placed it neatly on the rack and put slipping the shears over each nail on his street coat. and bearing down. The separated "Barstow! Where are you go­ clippings he placed methodically in ing?" a deep lab dish on the desk. The plump little doctor smiled. Dr. Petticrewe was on his feet, ''Why, I thought it was obvious. mouth open. Out to enjoy myself, of course. Af­ "But Barstow, this is fantastic! ter all, what on earth is there to Revolutionary? No, sheer genius!" stop me?" Carried away, he seized the front Speechless and terrified, Petti­ of Barstow's lab coat. ''You must crewe watched as the plump cheru­ publish immediately, Doctor. The bic master of earth walked out the impact on medicine, the fame of door. the university-Man, listen to mel Where are your research papers?" Nor was he particularly happy, Dr. Barstow's eyes were open, a few days later, when he did find blue innocence. "Why, I burned the force that would eventually them, of course." His glance fell stop Dr. Barstow's supreme reign on Petticrewe's hand, still clutch­ on earth. ing the front of his laboratory It was in the lab which had been smock. "Would you mind?" He left unused and unvisited since Dr. gently disengaged the hand. Barstow left. At the bottom of the Petticrewe yelped, then, in­ deep bell jar that had held the doc­ credulous, stared at his rapidly tor's fingernail parings, Petticrewe swelling hand. watched with mounting horror as "Sorry," Barstow mumbled. "I ten miniature Dr. Barstows jumped must remember not to be so rough." and clambered and shrilled in their He shrugged out of his lab smock, attempt to get out. 1'he First Days Of Space Travel, which once seemed as remote Of' improbable-impossible as The Grecian Kalends or The Conoer sion of the Jews, are now right here. There is little, it might seem, which Fiction can say about them when Fact speaks continually. This story, nevertheless, has something new to say, and says it plausibly and in a warm and human fashion. Here is Bob Carter, primed and readied for this different kind of space travel and, at the verge of the rien ne va plus age of forty, in danger of being plucked ... unless, for his own reasons, he plucks himself, first. Here is Clara Weston, of the different talent, at the age of eighty facing great dangers distant and close. Man-on-Earth has already by these different (yet not absolutely different) means obtained two coordinates. The third one obtained-when?-or if?-it will see Man-Set-Free-of-Earth. And, meanwhile ...

THE THIRD COORDINATE

by Adam Smith

THE BRIEFING FOR TRANSIT her knitting. Carter decided it XIII was held in the N arco Cen­ was a moment for tact. "Say, Jus­ ter. Inevitably Justin Prosser had tin," he offered, "what do you say taken over the meeting after the Orion and I and the rest of the first five minutes of the military's boys go over the flight plans later? attempt to keep it formal. 'We've I know there's some things you been through all this before!" he have to say, so why don't we burst out. "Bob and Clara aren't hear you out first?" going to learn anything they The fat man glowered. "Hear don't know and I don't know me out? Don't any of you read the what you're talking about any­ newspapers? You all talk about way." this as though it were some sort of Clara Weston and Bob Carter technical exercise!" He picked up exchanged scarcely perceptible a newspaper from the table before smiles. Clara dropped her eyes to him and rattled the headlines at 98 THE THIRD COORDINATE 99 them. "Don't you understand peo­ blanks in a row md then Buzz ple are starving to death? Maybe lost last time." nobody you know, but it's going to Clara Weston, matriarch of get to us in time. And I don't the Hypnoid Project, stopped her want any jokes about me being knitting and looked up quietly. "I fat, either!" he said, his neck red­ don't really believe that was my dening. "It's serious. It's why we­ fault, Justin," she murmured. 're here! Not to talk about trajec­ "Lieutenant Barlow threw off con­ tories and velocities and orbits." tact. I should have foreseen that Orion Eliot, Carter's alternate it might happen but I cannot for Transit XIII, grinned broadly truly blame myself." at Prosser's antique terminol­ Prosser sighed once more. "No ogy, and suppressed it quickly. one's blaming you, Clara, but let Carter was soothing: "True me speak frankly, if you don't enough, Justin. We tend to get ab­ mind. After all, we all know ;;orbed in the technicalities and your age and I'm sure you're not forget our goal, but this is our im­ sensitive. But you've gone through mediate problem. Unless Transit twelve gruelling experiences in XIII is a success we're not going these fifteen years." to have a third coordinate, and Clara ·dropped her eyes to her until we have that we're trapped knitting once more. "With Bob here on earth and people are go­ I'm sure I can do it," she said. ing to go on starving." Prosser shifted hts eyes to Car­ Justin Prosser tilted back in ter. "What about you?" his big chair with a sigh. ''Yeah, ''I'm in as good shape as some I know, I know. We all know. I of these younger guys," Carter get impatient. It's been fifteen growled. years since Transit I. Some of Orion Eliot grinned. ''You tell you are hardly old enough to re­ 'em, general," he murmured. member that." He glanced at Ori­ Prosser fiddled with a pencil. on. "When Bob Carter carne back "Bob's right about one thing. We that first time we thought we had do have someLlting to· show for all it sewed up. And we're still just my sweat and your blood and where we were." tears. We have those two coordi­ "Well, not quite,'' Carter sug­ nates. Just one morel One more! gested. We know that there are green Prosser waved an impatient worlds out there in the stars wait­ hand. "I know. We've got two co­ ing for us. Worlds where men can ordinates but until we get a third live. But now we're jumping in a heluva lot of good it does us. the dark into a bottomless pit. Excuse my language, Clara. Four We have to know where we're go- 100 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ing to land. You know how we've I'm still intact. As for my tests," set up the transit this time. Right he went on, feeling an ominous into the heart of our own galaxy. stir of anger in himself, "they're I won't dwell on the dangers. I'm not all that bad. They're damn sure Bob knows what they are bet­ good for a guy thirty-nine years ter than I do. What I really want old. And it's the last time. Forty's to say-Bob, Clara, everyone­ the deadline." good luck and God be with you. "The deadline! That's a good With all of us." word for it." The flare of anger in Prosser pushed his bulk up her eyes was the same that had from his big chair. "Okay, I'm delighted and half-intimidated going now. I'll let you guys talk her husband years before. At this math gobbledegook to your moment, fortunately their two hearts' content. Come on, Clara, oldest children, the boys, came you don't understand this stuff ei­ wandering into the room. Mar­ ther. Have the sergeant bring my garet glanced at them. "Roger! chair back to my office." Pull up your pants! They're going After a long afternoon's tech­ to fall off you! How many times nical briefing Carter drove alone do I have to tell you?" Then, to his home in the mountains without warning, she jumped up above Boulder and the Narco Cen­ and ran from the room, her hand ter. As they were finishing dinner to her face. his wife, Margaret, who had been Hitching up his shorts with a ominously silent, spoke up. "You guilty air, Roger looked at his fa­ can't," she said, throwing down ther. "How come Mom's sore? her napkin. "Not again. It's not Because you're going up again?" fair. They've got younger men. "No, because your pants are What's the matter with Eliot? falling off." Carter stirred his cof­ He's always joking about it. Let him fee thoughtfully, thankful at least go!" that he had not told Margaret he "He's expecting a baby almost had volunteered for Transit XIII any day. Or ·Betty is." and been dubiously accepted by Margaret's face promised tears. Justin Prosser. "He's expecting a baby indeed! Roger grinned uncertainly and You've got three of them. Your re­ threw himself into his mother's sults were way down on the last chair, setting to work at once on physicals. They shouldn't ask you her untouched cherry cobbler. to go up and try to kill yourself." He glanced at his father from be­ "Oh, well now, I'm not plan­ neath the thatch of blond hair ning on killing myself after all. that hung over his forehead. "The I've transited twice already and guys all said you wouldn't get it THE THIRD COORDINATE 101 because you were too old," he of· President said you were a fine fered between bites. "I said, 'Hell, young man and asked you if you my old man's transited twice al· played football." ready. He could go up a dozen "Aw." Roger was suddenly times.'" overcome with embarrassment. "Watch your language," Carter Philip, still leaning against his said. "And I'm not your old man, father's shoulder, turned from his I'm your father. But thanks any· survey of the mountains. "What way for the plug. Flipper, will does manned hyper-what does you please not Jean on me quite so that mean, you know. You go up heavily?" He looked around at the in a rocket. How come you're not younger boy, who was propped a spaceman? Tell me again." He against his father's shoulder. stared at the i:eiling, prepared to Philip shifted his weight a trifle. understand and remember. "Dad," he asked speculatively, Roger had recovered his self­ staring out the open doors at the assurance. "I'll tell it, Dad. I had blue-grey vista of mountain rang· to give a talk in class. I didn't es, "is it true that you were the first know what to talk about so old real spaceman?" Barton said why didn't I talk Roger was disgusted. "Jeez! about you and the Hypnoid Pro}-· Spaceman! Dad wasn't ever a ect and all the transits. I read all spaceman.'' about it. First they sent these ma­ Philip was a little indignant. chines through the time gap and "Well, how come you're such hot none of them ever came back so stuff then, Dad? How come the they figured you wouldn't come President came to see you last back either. Only Dr. Schachter summer when I was at camp?" said the reason the machines did­ Rogerr having finished his sec· n't come back is because there was ond· dessert, grabbed his head no controlling intelligence ac­ and rocked back and forth in dis­ companying them, that they really may. "Don't they teach you guys didn't have any brains, the com­ nothing? Last summer was the puters lost contact with reality on fifteenth anniversary of the-" the other side. He said someone He took a deep breath. "-the first would have to go with them and manned hyperspatial hypnotem· there would have to be a hypnoid poral transit." control on this side, and then His father whistled softly be­ they found Mrs. Weston and you tween his teeth. were the first to transit and she "Didn't I get it right?" Roger was the control. But nobody was asked aggressively. sure what would happen.'' He fin­ "Absolutely right. And the ished breathless. 102 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Philip was staring wide-eyed veins and when the rocket is ready at his older brother. He decided and the transit is about to begin now he did want to sit on his fa­ they wrap her in a rubber sheet ther's lap and climbed up and lay and stick her in a big tub of oil." back against the crook of Carter's Philip made a disgusted face. arm. "Hey, Rog, what did you say ''Her head and all?" about Dad?" he wanted to know. "Her head and all," said Roger Roger was embarrassed again. with gusto. "Oh, I said you were a good joe "Can you read each other's only like when you were mad minds, Daddy?" Philip wanted to about something, or me and Flip know. started yelling in the back of the Carter smiled. "Sort of." car when you're driving." "\Vhat's she thinking now?" Philip giggled- in appreciation, "She's worried. Well, never glancing up at his father's face. mind about that. How about the "This must have been a very in­ rest of the story, Roger? Why do teresting talk," Carter smiled. we reaiJy make the transits?" "What did you say about Mrs. "I know," Philip said. Carter Weston?" looked down at him quizzically. "I'm going to tell about that. "You do? Why?" They figured there had to be a "To 'stablish coordinates." control on this side that would Carter laughed. "I'll be darned. keep contact with the transit. I sure got a couple of smart kids." That was Mrs. Weston. They test­ "That's right," Roger said. "You ed millions and millions of people established the first coordinate on before they found anyone that was you second transit. The comput­ as good at it as she was. Now ers and viewers were able to recog­ she's eighty years old and she's nize the Coalsack Nebula even going to be your control on Trans­ though it was millions and mil­ it XIII." lions of light years away. And "I saw her! I saw her!" Philip then Major Bronstein's transit rec­ shouted. "On television. I knew ognized the Milky Way. Now if who it was. She stood and waved we get one more we may have to the cameramen and then she controlled transits. That's why went inside. That's where they they're aiming you right into the put her to sleep." heart of the Milky Way, so the "Yeah," said Roger, obviously computers will be able to tell prepared to add the clinical. de­ where they are. That's why it's so tails. "They keep pumping dope dangerous this time," he finished. in her and then she stops eating "Could you bum up, Daddy?" and they feed her through her Philip asked. THE THiltD COOltDINATB 103 "Oh, there's not much danger Prosser he wished to withdraw of that." Carter glanced down at for "medical reasons," and there his hand. The scar was still faint­ would be no embarrassment. Mar­ ly visible. Stellar sunburn, right garet, in tum, declined to accept through the walls of his ship, still any promises. "No," she conclud­ a dark stain after all these years. ed, "I don't want any promises. I He coughed and looked up. "Hey, know that an awful lot depends hello there!" His daughter, young on this transit, maybe even the Margaret, was standing at the future of mankind. I'm not a fool. door, pink and starched, all six It's just that I don't think all the years of her. "Well, Miss Prim; responsibility is yours. Or mine. what can we do for you?" We live and die in peace. We'll "Mummy's crying," Miss Prim never starve and the children will announced. "She said you were never starve." mean to her." The atmosphere at breakfast "She did, huh? Well, I guess I the next morning was tense, better go upstairs and make up. though Margaret moved through Hey, Flipper, wake up, buddy." her morning chores with apparent Philip's eyes were clenched in placid good nature. Roger had mock sleep. "Well, I guess I'll been promised that he could ac­ have to carry this sleepyhead up­ company his father on a visit to stairs and put him to bed." Philip the Narco Center to visit Mrs. refused to be frightened awake by Weston. Carter wondered if per­ this threat. Carter arose with the haps he had better not tell Roger child in his arms and carried him that the trip was off for him. The from the room and upstairs. boy was bubbling with the trip, and Margaret made no comment The conciliatory interview upon it. with Margaret did not go well. "All set?" she asked, wiping She proved surprisingly resistent her hands on her apron as they to Carter's attempts to placate her prepared to leave. "You won't for­ and the temper that they were get to give Mrs. Weston my love? both capable of had risen in them Though goodness knows if she can till their heads were thrust at one read my mind she'll take it with a another in classic fury. Then grain of salt. She won't know they both backed down, ashamed you, Roger. It's been two years at of themselves but not quite re­ least. Pull your pants up! You lenting. Carter, to his surprise, might buy him a pair of pallts heard himself offering to with­ that fit while you're in town," she draw from the transit. It would, added. he said, be simple enough to tell The Narco Center was on a 104 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION pretty stretch of road near Boul­ to Mrs. Weston's suite. She flirted der, where the mountains start to blushingly with him on the way. compromise with the plain. An He did enjoy the whole thing unidentified, rambling, one-story very much, he thought, smiling at building amid irrigated green the girl and her playful banter. lawns and willows, it looked like They stopped outside the door of a not very large industrial re­ Mrs. Weston's suite. search center. This effect was "Thank you very much," he somewhat belied by the high, said. "You won't have to announce matter-repellent fence and the me. Mrs. Weston knows that I'm military guards at the entrance. here." An MP corporal sauntered up "She-she what? But we didn't to the car when Carter cushioned -oh, yes. Yes, I see. She would to a halt before the gate. "This is know, wouldn't she?" She left, a government installation, sir," he looking somehat confused. began in a bored voice, stooping Carter tapped on the door and to peer into the ground-effects entered. car. "No one but authorized per­ Clara had indeed realized he sonnel are-" His voice slowed was approaching and had risen to a halt. "Oh. Excuse me, sir. I to greet him when he entered. mean general!" He flustered him­ They embraced affectionately. self into a salute and hurriedly "My big boy!" she laughed, look­ signaled the sentry box to release ing up at him. the gate. "Glad to hear you say boy," he "How come you're not wearing grinned back. "Everybody's been your uniform, general?" Roger telling me how old I am." whispered as they glided through Clara Weston was sixty-four the gates and toward the main years old, a widow with five grand­ entrance of the Narco complex. children, when she took the "Oh, too conspicuous I guess." Schachter Psychic Perception "I bet you like it when they Tests at the insistence of her fam­ snap-to though, don't you?" ily doctor, who had known her all Carter darted a look at the boy. her life and been impressed by "Like father, like son," he mur­ her youthful "parlor games" facil­ mured. Their unannounced arri­ ity for identifying unseen people. val created a flurry at the recep­ Her odd talent had proved so un­ tion desk and Carter put Roger in settling eventually to her that she the hand of a young narco-tech­ abandoned her "tricks" and pre­ nician for a guided tour of the 'tended they had been merely that. installation. Carter allowed a Many years later when o;he was pretty receptionist to escort him persuaded to take the SPP Tests THE THIRD COORDINATE 105 the first results were completely death, or "disappearance", of negative. It was only with great Buzz Barlow on Transit XII to difficulty that a Schachter Team mar her perfect career. This was persuaded to examine her on would be her final meeting with a more intimate basis at home. To Carter before their attempt at Clara's great dismay less than two Transit XIII. weeks later she was in a military "Don't go," Carter said to hospital under guard, and being Clara's daughter, herself a grey· put through a battery of tests that haired spinster of nearly sixty, but bewildered her.. "A built-in direc­ she s;niled deprecatingly and tional finder!" Schachter himself slipped silently from the room. cried, smiting his forehead. Carter and Mrs. Weston seated A final discovery threw the themselves with the comfortable­ testers into an uproar. Distance or ness of the intimate in Clara's intervening matter was quite ir­ chintzy, sun-bright sitting-room. relevant to Clara's facility. A "You're worried, aren't you?" young Lieutenant Petersen, with Clara asked after they had ex­ whom she had been deliberately changed a few remarks. acquainted, was put into orbit Carter nodded. "You too." around the earth. Clara, under She admitted as much with her the heavy sedation which sharp­ hands, which were nervously ened her abilities, sat in a dark­ smoothing the chintz over the ened room with only Schachter arms of her easy chair. "I should and a nurse for company. For ask this, first of all," she said. "Is some time she was apparently it about me?" confused. "He comes near and "You. Of course I'm worried then he goes away," she mur­ about you. Is that what you mured with a little frown. "Far mean?" and then near." Then there was a "No, that's not quite what I gradual clearing of her face and mean," she said softly. her sweet smile. "Why, I do be­ Carter stared. He realized with lieve Lieutenant Petersen is cir­ a little shock that her eyes had a cling the earth," she said. "Im­ slightly glazed look. They had al­ agine that!" ready begun the drugging proc­ The Little Old Lady Who Can ess that would sink her into an Read Minds was now a world fig­ almost vegetable torpor in a mat­ ure who had accepted her fame ter of days. "Do you mean am I with calm after her initial pan­ worried about relying on you, icked reaction. She had acted as Clara? Of course not. We began control on the twelve previous this together, you and I, and I Transit flights, with only the want to make my last run with 106 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION you. We're the ones who got our working through us? I was em­ feet in the door out there and I barrassed at the idea then, even think we're going to be the ones shocked, but of late I have been that throw that door open wide." reflecting more and more on it. Clara pursed her lips. "That's How else could we have been in­ very kind of you, my dear. But strumental in this work which my you know this will be my-my poor brain scarcely begins to com­ last run, too. There's no blinking prehend? Perhaps it is destiny, a it. Time is inexorable even in the destiny that I share with you. brave new world we have Shall we accept it?" glimpsed. I am very old. And you Carter's eyes were distant. He know what happened last time." brought them back to her. "Yes, "Buzz should never have gone Clara, we must. Maybe we're not as up in the first place, you know far apart in our philosophies as that, Clara. He lacked confi­ you think. I don't think we, of all dence." people, could presume to judge "Confidence is very important, the architecture of. the universe. to be sure. Frankly, Robert, I am We've seen too much not to know not afraid of death, not at my age. how ~eak our vision is." But it isn't only my life that is at Clara's eyes took on some of stake. To me you are still a boy, their old strength and clarity. with your whole life ahead of "You are a brave man. I like to you." think I share some of that cour­ Carter leaned forward with his age." She smiled her old smile. elbows on his knees. "Clara, I'll "There is only one other thing I admit I'm worried. I'm worried wanted to say before I call Ella about both of us. I almost prom­ back with the tea things. If by any ised Margaret last night I'd pull chance we should never see each out. Should I? Should we both?" other again I want you to know She sat quietly now, all traces that you have been very dear to of her earlier nervousness gone. me." Carter reached forward and "No," she said finally. "No, I put his hand over hers. She patted don't think we should give up. We it affectionately. "Now!" she should make this last try to­ said briskly, "we must get back to gether." She was silent for some­ mundane things like lunch. I've time. "You know, Robert, I am a especially ordered ice cream and religious person in a way that cake for Roger, if he's not too probably seems old-fashioned to manly for such things." you. You remember years ago when we were first famous and Project Transit was nominally there was talk of Providence under the jurisdiction of the Air THE THIRD COORDINA'n 107 Force but it had in actual fact Carter pushed his way into been run for fifteen years by Jus· Prosser's office. The door was par­ tin Frederick Prosser who had tially blocked by the offending never been in a uniform in his filing cabinet, which was appre· life. He had come into the pro­ ciably lighter in color than the gram as a protege of Schachter's others in the room. "What do you and gradually taken control of the mean, darken with age?" Prosser entire massive organization right was shouting apoplectically into down to the polish on the MP's the phone. "They ain't Rem­ shoes. His success was a mystery brandts. No, of course they've and an annoyance to many, and the never been washed! Don't I have subject of profound speculation enough to do?" He put a hand even on the part of his friends. over the receiver. "Be right with As a widower for some years you, Bob," he said in a voice of Prosser was truly married to his the utmost calm. job. His office in the Narco Center Carter seated himself on a was his home and he ran things plain wooden chair that looked as there and at the missile base with though it had been borrowed from electronic tentacles and endless someone's kitchen many. years be­ telephone calls and personal for· fore. After a final agitated scream ays from the Commandant's office into the phone, Justin hung up down to the mess halls. The mili­ and swiveled to Carter. "Gee, it's tary accepted him wryly but with good to see you, Bob," he said, caution because more than one calm once more. "You've talked to top-ranking officer had found Clara? I played a couple of hands himself mysteriously floated away of gin with her last night. What to a new assignment after Justin did you think?" Prosser phoned the White House. "Fine, Justin, she seemed fine Carter's visit to Prosser's tiny to me. Very alert and confident." office began in typical fashion. "Confident?" Prosser made an The attractive WAC sergeant who elaborately dubious face, drag­ served as Prosser's secretary greet­ ging in his double chins. "I ed Carter with a smile and a hope· wouldn't say that. Alert? Well, less shrug. "He knows you're here, perhaps." General," she said, "but there's no Carter frowned. "I did think she use buzzing him. He's been on was rather quiet, as a matter of the phone to New York for the fact, but I didn't know vou'd al­ last hour about some filing cabi­ ready begun to narcothize her." nets. They're the wrong color and Prosser shook his head slowly. he's furious. Why don't you just "We haven't. We haven't even giv­ goon in?" en her the first shots." He was si· 108 PANTASY AND SCIENCE PICTION lent for a moment, which was un­ as Carter attempted to interrupt. usual in itself. "Bob," he said, "It's not that. If it were, I'd say go "would you push that door shut. ahead, don't quarrel with suo­ I can't get around there with that cess." He tilted forward suddenly damn filing cabinet in the way." in his chair and leaned his elbows Carter wa!: startled. He could on the desk. He rubbed his face never remember Prosser wanting vigorously before he looked up. even minimal privacy in the fif­ "No, there's something else I'm teen years of their association. worried about. Several things. When Carter had reseated himself Money, for example. Sometimes I Prosser leaned back in his huge act like I don't know what it is swivel chair and clasped his but I think about it a lot. I'm re­ hands behind his neck, his chins sponsible-well, I won't go into multiplying as he did. ''I'm pull­ that but you're smart enough to ing you, Bob," he said. "You and know I get plenty of pressures on Clara too." me, even though I like to pretend Carter sat stunned. He realized I don't answer to anvone. I picked that his jaw was hanging open you for Transit XIII over Eliot and closed it, still speechless. because I thought you had the "Pulling?" he managed at last. best chance, not because you're "You can't!" my buddy. But we've got to get "Of course I can." new people into this. Hell! we "My God, why? Why? You're might be trying for a third coor­ not serious!" dinate fifty years from now. I've "Why? Do I have to spell it got to look ahead." out? You're too old, both of you. Prosser threw up his hands. Yes, you too. Oh, you're in fine "I'm rambling like I always do shape for a guy who stays on the when I've got something hard to ground but not for tootling say. Here's 'Yhat I want to say. I'm around in the stars." pulling you because I don't think "Justin, you're crazy! I can you've got it any more. You're still run rings around these kids, scared." but that's not important. It's ex­ Carter's face was tight and perience that counts. I've been on drawn. this merry-go-round twice! No Prosser looked at him intently. one can say more than that." "There's a little truth in it, isn't Prosser nodded. "Experience there, Bob?" he asked quiet11. you've got. I won't deny it. And "You're just very damned sensibly I'll have to admit you're in a hel­ scared." A breeze from the win­ uva lot better shape than I am." dow fluttered the comer of a pa­ He waved his hand impatiently per on his desk. THE THIRD COORDINATE 109 "It's not for myself I'm scared," plus luck is all anybody can take Carter said. out there and I've got it all on my "What else? For Margaret? The side-more than anyone else!" kids? They're part of you, aren't Prosser jiggled. He lifted his they? That's just another way of shoulders a half inch and let them putting it. You stayed younger a drop. He opened his eyes. "Okay lot longer than I did, Bob. In already," he said. "I just wanted to more ways than one," he smiled give you an out. I'm glad you ruefully, pulling at the wattle of didn't take it." flesh beneath his chin. "And how Carter exploded in angry laugh­ do I know what you're feeling? ter. "Justin, you bastard!" He Once you'd have been in here ev­ jumped up, overturning his cl1ai~, ery day fussing like a wet hen, righted it, and sat down agr~i!l. this time I've hardly seen you. "Pross, 111 be perfectly honest with You were home, savoring life. you. I came here today almost de­ And security." termined to pull out on my own "Justin, I don't want to make accord, but there never was anv any sentimental appeal-" real doubt in my mind, even with Prosser raised a hand. "I've told Clara and you both asking if I you that wouldn't do any good. It wanted out." really wouldn't. Don't embarrass "Clara asked you?" both of us." "She was concerned about me, The muscles in Carter's jaw not about herself." worked angrily. "All right! It's not "Oh." He fumbled with some sentimental. Let's put it this way papers on his desk. "Well, now as -I damn well know I might get to the transit itself. The eggheads killed and I don't like it! I know have got you lined up on Persei II. I'm not as good as I used to be. That's pretty crowded territory as Life is precious to me. To me. Not I see it and I'm damned if I see just because of Margaret and the why we have to take a long chance kids. But they are something worth on incinerating you. Hey, open coming back to. Something that that door, will you. I get claustro­ makes me determined to go even if phobia." I don.'t come back." Carter stretched to pull open Prosser sat back with his eves the door. "Well, Justin, it's simple closed, an imperturbable Buddha. enough. Persei novaed a little more He jiggled almost imperceptibly in than a hundred years ago so we his chair. "You think determina­ have a built-in time check, within tion is enough?" he asked without a certain range." opening his eyes. Prosser raised a chubby hand. "Determination plus experience "Hold it. Ten years ago those pro- 110 FANTAST AND SCIBNCII PICTION grammers stopped trying to ex­ Carter said. He cleared his throat. plain things to me when they dis­ "Let's watch and see if we can covered I thought a tangent was a spot those deer, what do you say." bird. If you want to take a chance The glance that Carter and on broiling yourself it's all right Margaret exchanged when they with me. If not I'll tell them to arrived home said everything. Car­ map out something a little safer. ter waited for some word of reas­ So they'll scream and holler. Let surance that did not come. That them." · night in the dark he lay awake Carter shook his head. "No. No, watching the curtain stir listlessly this is the logical thing. We could in the moon-chilled air. Toward bumble around for centuries being dawn as he lay half asleep, vague­ safe." ly aware of the morning cries of Prosser laughed. "I may not have the birds, a red flower seemed to quite as much hair on my head as explode in his brain and he sat up you but I've got a lot more brains in panic. "What is it?" Margaret in it-some ways, anyhow. How's muttered. about lunch? You have? Dammit, "Nothing. Go back to sleep." In so have I. Yogurt. I was hoping the bathroom Carter stared at his you'd provide me with an excuse reflection in the hard light. He for another trip." was the grey of death.

Roger waited in the reception The previous afternoon when hall, hat in hand on a bench near Carter left the Narco Center Jus­ the door, looking very small for all tin Prosser left his office and went his thirteen years. On their way churning his way down a long cor­ home Roger talked excitedly for a ridor, shouting greetings and/or while of his tour of the Narco Cen­ imprecations at everyone he met. ter and then fell into an unusual Outside Clara's apartment he took silence. "Hey, Dad," he resumed a deep breath before he rapped after an interval, ''I'm glad you're and went in. Clara looked up going up. That's what I'd do. That mildly from the book which lay guy kept going on about how dan­ unread on her lap. Her daughter gerous it was, like if this star Per­ slipped quietly from the room. sia or whatever they call it was "You've seen him," Clara said. novaing when you got there. Well, Prosser stood behind the couch, anyway, you know, in case any­ his knuckles on the library table. thing should happen I'll be four­ "Clara, I hope you know what teen pretty soon. I could take care you're doing. I've never taken a of quite a bit." woman's advice in my life that I "I know I can depend on you," didn't regret it." THE THIRD COORDINA'n 111 "I'm quite sure that I know missile base three dflYS before the what I'm doing," she said firmly. scheduled blast-off. He attempted Her eyes softened. "Don't worry, to make the occasion a casual one, Justin. You will have nothing to driving Margaret and the children regret in the long run, I am sure." to Boulder where be was to meet "I don't want to have anything his alternate, Orion Eliot. When to regret at all. Period. I've conned he pulled to a halt beside the old that guy into insisting that he be court house there was the inevita­ allowed to go. I'll tell you what, if ble crowd of newsmen that de­ he doesn't make it I'll let you break scended on them like a flock of the news to Margaret, how's that?" hungry birds. "I might not be here to do it," Appleby of AP was leaning on she said softly. the door of the car laughing and They played cards as usual that coughing before the rest reached evening, talking very little. When them. "Hi, general," he gasped. Clara complained of fatigue Pros­ "Hope you're in better shape than ser left early. Toward dawn Clara's I am. How about that, Bob? Is it personal physician at the Center true that the docs thought you were was summoned by her daughter. a little too old this time? Hell, Prosser was pacing back and forth you're a kid!" in an ancient flannel bathrobe Prell of Worldwide thrust his when the doctor emerged from serious face in. "Is it true that Clara's bedroom. "Well?" Mrs. Weston has had another "Another slight cerebral embol­ stroke? Why is Orion Eliot prep­ ism. I can't detect any imapirment ping?" of function but you know this "You know what odds the book­ means she's out." makers are giving on your not com­ "Out of what?" Prosser barked. ing through with a third coordi­ "Did she say she wanted out? No? nate?" Perko of Scientific Serv­ Then she starts tomorrow." ices. "I can't be responsible." . "Hey, that doesn't sound very "I'm the only one who's respon­ scientific!" sible for anything around here! "Bookies make more money Start her tomorrow!" Prosser drew than scientists. Even money, gen­ a hand across his brow. "Sorrv, doc, eral. They're giving you a 50-50 but that's the way it is. Maybe chance." you'd better give me a little pill "I'll take some of that. Let's talk too. How'd I ever get this job in about something more cheerful." the first place?" He pushed his way out of the car. Hopkinson of the Times: "Gen­ Bob Carter left home for the eral Carter, how do you feel about 112 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION the possibilities of establishing a car. He jumped away, throwing third coordinate on this transit?" his arms protectively around his Betsy Parnie of the Denver head. "Look out! I didn't mean itl" Post, who had been interviewing He moved out of earshot. Margaret for years and peddling Orion drove out with Bob and the results throughout the world, Margaret to the heliport. The at­ slipped uninvited into the rear mosphere was rather chilly since seat of the car as the children Margaret had never been able to clambered out. "Hi, Marge," she tolerate Orion's sense of humor. gushed. "Gee, you're looking great, He said good-bye to her hurriedly honey. Had a little touch-up, at the heliport and ran off toward haven't you? Are you all excited? I his gaudy copter to await Carter. wish I had a great big good-looking "Don't be too long, heah?" he husband to get excited about, even called back. if he was about to get knocked off. Carter stood beside the car Oh, honey, don't mind mel you while Margaret slid over to the kn01v I'm kidding." driver's seat. "He means well," The arrival of Orion Eliot took Carter said. "He's just young. some of the pressure off Carter. You'll be at the launch so J won't After a cheery greeting to Bob and say good-bye now." Margaret and a few moments of Margaret turned her face away. mock sparring with Roger, he took "No, Bob, I can't. I just can't. I the newsmen on with his usual know I'd break down. I'm sorrv, I aplomb. "Well, sir," he began, ig­ really am." · noring all questions, "all I gotta "I'm sorry too," Carter said say is I hope ole Bob don't conk shortly. He stood with his hand on out on me. I don't know how I got the door of the car, peering into in this rat race in the first place, the breezy sunlight at the Hurry of oney, I wouldn't say that if my activity on the field as the news­ Daddy wasn't about six hundred men prepared to take off for the miles away. Don't put that in the missile base. "Good-bye, then, newspapers, or he be right up here Marge." He stooped and kissed her whumping me." He draped a thigh briefly and walked off to Orion's over the fender of the car. "Bob copter. looks in fine shape to me." He Orion stopped by his room at punched Carter in the belly tenta­ the missile base that night before tively. "Oops! kind of soft there. bedtime. He was in his underwear, Well, anyhow he ought to be good barefoot and tousle-haired. In his for another five years. Hell, man, hand he carried a rumpled news­ ten!" Orion caught a glimpse of paper. "You had your first shot Margaret looking angrily from the yet? Well, you ain't going to lose THE THIRD cooaDlNAT!. 113 any sleep over this then." about my Daddy a lot, too, but I Seated on the edge of his cot, hope don't nobody think I really Carter took the newspaper. "Space­ mean it. Even if I knew I wasn't man's Wife Doubts He is Fit," the coming back I'd go anyway just to headline of Betsy Parnie's feature please my father. I'm probably the story said. And the subhead: "Chil­ only guy in the world who likes to dren Show Effects of Strain." be called a name like Orion. I'm Carter read angrily. "Damn that right proud of it." He stood up. woman. She must figure we're not "Hot damn, this floor is cold. I'll going to be copy much longer. I'd tell you the truth, Bob, I ain't go­ better call Marge and warn her." ing to do a lot of crying if you He reached for the phone and wash out, or if you back out, but I withdrew his hand. "I'll call her wish you luck. Good-night. Gen­ tomorrow, it's getting kind of late." eral," he grinned as he pulled the Orion had thrown himself into door closed. a chair and pulled his feet up from Despite the first narco-shot that the cold floor, hugging them in his he had received during the day hands. He stared at Carter blank­ Carter did not sleep well. During ly. "Oh! You want me to go?" he the night he had another disturb­ asked putting one foot on the floor. ing dream. A black figure was Carter shook his head. Orion standing in his closet behind the grabbed his foot again. "Bob," he closed door. Carter struggled up said suddenly, "somethin' I want from sleep, uttering harsh, deaf­ to ask you. Did you kind of diddle mute cries, leaped from the bed, me out of this here ride?" Orion, turned on the lights, and had his chin on his knees, cast him a flung open the closet door before sidelong glance, grinning slyly. he was fully awake. He returned "Bob, you lookin' kind of pink," he to bed to lie awake for some time, muttered. He raised his head and his heart pounding. "Clara? spoke clearly. "That's what I fig­ Clara?" he asked soundlessly. ured.:' "What is it? What is wrong?" ''I'm sorry, Orion. I tried to per­ suade myself that I was doing it at The next day Carter, and Orion least partly for your sake, but I've as his alternate, began the process had my eyes opened a little." of narcothization in earnest. For Orion tilted his head to one side them this was not so drastic an un­ reflectively. "You figure I really dertaking as for Clara. It was es­ didn't want to go?" sential, for one thing, that they be "No, of course not. Everyone fully conscious during the "in­ knows you're kidding." stant" of transit and during the "I surely do hope so. I joke elapsed time on the "other side." 114 fANTASY AND ICIBNCE FICTION This elapsed time had now been side her. "No ... He leaned forward reduced to something like two to listen. "I am doing the right hours-all that was necessary for thing. Good-bye, my dear friend." the mechanical eves to scan about them and record the millions of The base now at night was a bits of information Transit Xlll sweating glare of light, visible as a would store in its tapes. glow in the sky as far away as At this time, two days before Denver. Transit XIII had been the scheduled transit, Claca Wes­ moved into place more. than a ton, bundled against the enclosing month earlier but was stiJJ under chill, her lips paled to a cyanotic its huge translucent white shed blue, had been removed to the hos­ while the instrumentation engi­ pital ward at the Narco Center. neers completed the instaiJation of She was still sufficiently alert for the sensitive viewer-computer two final visitors. The first was mechanisms. The ungainly vehi­ Margaret Carter. The two of them cle, looking a nightmare of disor­ spent fifteen minutes alone. Mar­ ganization and unreadiness, was garet left white-lipped and silent. not especially large, the above­ Later the same day Justin Prosser ground portion a mere eighty feet stopped in the dim room and sat in height. Below ground the con­ silently in the chair beside her ventional first-stage rocketry was bed. set to go and the reactor for space­ Clara's eyes opened. Her head propulsion was sealed in readiness moved a trifle. "Justin? Is it you?" for operation with the automatic "Yes. Don't talk if vou don't draining of the control fluids. want to. I just thought I'd sit here Outside the huge, pearly bub­ for a few minutes where it's quiet ble of the shed the frenetic activity and peaceful." of the base was almost as marked. "It is, isn't it?" Uttle more than At this stage even those personnel a whisper. on the base not directly connected They were silent for some time. with the launching became in­ "You talked to Margaret," he said fected by the excitement. Supplies finally. and equipment in conveyors "Yes. I thought I must. It was moved endlessly, night and day, only fair. She accepted it." over the vast expanse of concrete "And you? It's not too late. AD surrounding the bubble. The ad­ you have to do is nod." ministration ·buildings were ablaze He thought for a while she was with light from a thousand offices. too far gone to reply, then he d~ The foreign . observers' building tected a faint negative movement was a Babel of tongues, a parade of her head. He rose and stood be- of strange costumes. THE T-HIRD COOitDINATa 115 The control and computer cen­ connected to the world by the slen­ ters hummed and throbbed with a derest of links, wire sensors as fine thousand calculations and recalcu­ and soft as hair but steely strong. lations. The mathematics for the Clara Weston was reduced to the flight trajectory had been estab­ faintest fluttering of cardiac, re­ lished in detail months before. spiratory, metabolic, encephalo­ The massive devices now were en­ graphic dials. gaged in preparing amended fig­ In an adjacent room whose win­ ures for each possible five-minute dows looked on a flowery quad­ delay in the planned blast-off. Hol­ rangle a group of doctors sat be­ low-eyed scientists and gaunt fore an instrumentation panel that mathtechs and programmers was nearly as complex as that for downed gallons of coffee and sur­ the transit rocket itself. Behind reptitious stronger drafts to keep them, in his big chair which had themselves going somewhere this been moved in for the vigil, sat side of madness. Justin Prosser. At his side was a The Narco Center not many medical instrument table serving miles away was busy on a less as an improvised desk. On it were frenzied scale. A few additional two telephones, one a direct line to guards and lights burning through the missile base, beside it the lat­ the night were the chief signs. est bulletins on the progress of the In a room that looked much like count-down, and a neat stack of an operating theater, at the center candy bars. Justin Prosser paid lit­ of the complex, a group of doctors tle attention to the dials on the in­ worked in silent haste over a green­ strumentation panel aside from an draped form. At last they stepped occasional glance. For the most aside, a nurse folded back the lin­ part he stared out at the roses in en, and two orderlies gently lifted the quadrangle, his own private a surprisingly small burden. It was cloister. At intervals he dozed and carefully lowered into a transpar­ awoke with a start, reaching for ent vessel filled with a murky, the telephone or for a candy bar or viscous fluid. There were last-min­ fumbling in his pockets for a ciga­ ate adjustments, the muffied, dron­ rette. ing voices of the technicians read­ ing aloud from their check-sheets, Carter and Eliot, already grog­ and the last of the attendants gy with their soporific medica­ withdrew. The heavy door sealed tions, watched the transit prepara­ shut, there wa~ the suck of air be­ tions unnoticed from inside the ing withdrawn, the lights dimmed shed. Their skin in the harsh and to midnight nothingness. The fig­ glaring lights had taken on the ure floated in a limbo of darkness, bluish cast of the Hypnoid travel- 116 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION er, and they were wearing scarves they won't be mine." He slapped and gloves even in the warmth of his hands together bruskly. "Gee, the summer night and the fetid it's cold out here! Let's get on it. heat of the enclosure. Eliot shook Maybe Betty or Marge has his head slowly. "Sure is a mess, phoned." They trotted off toward isn't it?" he asked with a shadow the lights. of his toothy grin. In the foyer of the Prepping Cater nodded. "More compli­ Building Orion's wife Betty, enor­ cated each time. Ever see Transit mously pregnant, was waiting. Be­ I?" side her stood Margaret. Carter's "My Daddy took me to see it heart leaped. "Honey baby!" Orion when I was a little bittv kid in shouted. "What you want to come Florida. I don't remembe~ much." down here for? I don't want no ''When you were a kid! Has it son of mine born on Army proper­ been that long? Funny, it seems ty. We got the virus bad enough in like yesterday." this family already!" She tilted for­ "It sure flies. And speaking of ward, arms around his neck, to si­ flying, we better be getting back. lence his protests. Orion steered They gonna want to pack you in her away tactfully over her pro­ early tomorrow. Don't look like I'm tests. going anywhere." Carter and Margaret walked "I'm sorry. I think I'd do it dif­ outside to sit in the darkness on ferently now." the steps. "I'm glad you came after Out of the din and clatter of all," Carter said. the shed and under the beating "I guess I knew all along I pressure of the outside lights they would." She took his hand, re­ walked to the edge of tbe bright­ moved the glove and held his hand ness and on into the cool darkness between hers. "I was trying to bul­ beyond. The stars were visible ly you into pulling out. After all above the serrated horizon of the these years I should have known mountains dimly outlined in the that doesn't work very well with West. Orion Eliot looked up at the you." They walked slowly, hand in sky. "There are my stars," he said hand, back to the visitors' quarters raising a hand. "The ones my talking the commonplaces of home Daddy named me after." and children that is the vernacular Carter sighed. 'They may really of love, and Carter hurried back to be yours some day. I know now the Prep Building whistling. that they never will be mine. Our A final medical check-up was dreams always outreach us, don't held that night. Carter was afraid they? They may be yours some his lightened heart was beating day, those stars-or Roger's-but with an enthusiasm which might THE THIRJ) COORDINATE 117 disqualify him. "Is it still there, and Roger." Carter kissed Mar­ doc?" he grinned at the medic garet quickly. She clung to him for who stethoscoped him. The doctor a moment. "Come back safe," she did a reverse grin, the comers of whispered. 'We love you." his mouth turned down. "Oh, vou In the capsule Carter felt the ought to hold together for a few effects of the drugs sinking him days." into a lassitude that washed away He had had his breakfast, at­ his tensions. Scarcely perceptible tended a final briefing with Orion, pinpricks in the sole of his foot still theoretically in the running, would keep him at the same level and donned his cotton-light metal­ until the point of transit was lic coveralls before Margaret and reached. the boys arrived. The experience The capsule now was hoisted was a familiar one to Roger but upright and dollied to the opening new to Philip, who stared about doors. The lift operator turned him • wide-eyed at the array of briefly so that Carter could wave strange devices and bustling men. through his transparent shield. It was some moments before he Philip was too awed to wave back realized that the tall man in the until Roger took his hand, where­ shiny long underwear was his fa­ upon he waved most enthusiasti­ ther. It did not, in fact, dawn on cally of all. They were already him until Carter stooped and very small and very far away. picked him up. The protective bubble covering Philip stared at the presumptu­ Transit XIII had been deflated ous stranger for a moment in con­ and the exterior covering halves of sternation. "Daddy!" he shouted. the rocket rolled into position to "You are a spaceman!" Roger red­ clamp together and weld them­ dened in embarrassment and an selves into a seamless whole. attendant had to be slapped on the Workmen were still dismantling back repeatedly before he recov­ the scaffolding, clearing away de­ ered. bris, making last-minute adjust­ "How about that, Flipper?" Car­ ments. The din of the work car­ ter laughed. "You want to come ried faintly as far as the television along?" - cameras on top of the Prepping Philip was dubious. "I bet I Building. The cameras followed can't." slowly as the capsule moved across Carter turned to Margaret. the apron. Margaret and the "We're a little behind schedule. I .youngsters would be at the win­ have to get in that big chair now, dows of the Commandant's office Flip. Do you want to watch? You by now, out of sight to Carter as he can sit over there with Mummy hung suspended in space. 118 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION And now the capsule was being sition, the sudden flickering into jockeyed into position by sweating life of the external viewer with all workmen who rapped familiarly at the bright colors and movement of the window and shouted barely the crowd in the clear afternoon audible cries of encouragement. sunlight. Margaret's voice, hardly There was a slight jar, a metallic recognizable. Philip shouting. Car­ clangor that rang in Carter's ears, ter could not tell if they heard his and a cherry-picker crane had farewell, was not quite sure he had hooked onto the capsule and was spoken aloud. The final silence lifting it high in the air. A gaping and tingling vibration that was al­ maw, then he was sliding into the most sound as the monster came innards of the rocket like a coin alive. dropped in a slot. Utter darkness. Margaret stood tensely in the Stifling heat. Carter had his in­ Commandant's office, Roger be­ variable claustrophobic shudder side her, unconsciously protective, before the capsule clicked firmly Philip pressed against the window. into place. There was only the sound of Mechanical hands, remotely breathing on the communications controlled, began attaching him to system. The ungainly barrel of the the facilities of the rocket. There rocket, forlorn out in the vast emp­ was the God-sent stream of fresh tiness, did not at first condescend air, the soft glow of li?hts, the to notice that someone had tied a crackle of his radio connection. firecracker to its tail, then stirred The dial at the glucose feed lit up, itself sluggishly like an old dog the eerie fingers of the medical struggling to its haunches. It bare­ perceptors felt at the nape of his ly lifted, poised itself motionless neck like something alive until on an opalescent cloud that whit­ they found the socket in his suit, ened to pearl. The huge, dizzily clicked into place and twisted balanced craft pushed back against themselves snug, already begin­ the feathery cloud, which now ning to record his moment-to-mo­ glowed red with effort-and a ment medical history. The wel­ moment later the ugly duckling come necessity of technical ex­ was a swan, soaring on mighty changes with the flight director pinions into the sky. · made the wait something less than Transit XIII had taken on the the eternity it seemed. vitalitv and life of the thousand At last there was the clicking dedic~ted minds and hands that silence of the last minutes, the made it. It was air, pure spirit, falling away of the last earth con­ streaking into the heavens. nections, the faint reverberation At the Narco Center Justin as the shell halves clanged into po- Prosser lowered the green phone. 'I'HB nnRD COORDINATI 119 "How's it look, Mart?" he asked, than hung in space. Again they looking at no one in particular. seemed to be shining through pur­ One of the medical men at the ple velvet, pinpricks of light in a panel rose from his chair and stage drop. walked backwards, eyes on the in­ His mind was vacant, relaxed. strumentation. "Oh, all right, I He became conscious now, as al­ guess. She's responded to the take­ ways at this stage, of another pres­ off pretty much as usual. Slight ence with him. It was indefinable increase of activity all across the but real, sharing his consciousness, board. But there's that persistent a brooding, maternal presence, pattern of irregularity in the disturbing and reassuring at once. ECG." He lowered his voice. The intimacy of this experience "We're going to have trouble be­ and all its strangeness had origj­ fore this is over. Real trouble." nally irritated, even embarrassed Prosser rubbed an irregular him. It did imply a dependence ~tubble of beard. He lay back in which he resented in some degree his big chair. "I'm going to try to even as he accepted it. It was not sleep a little," he said. "Wake me the confrontation of id to id or ego if there's any change." to ego, even personality to person­ "We're going to have trouble ality. It was, rather, superego fac­ with you if you don't get some ing superego, one highly censori­ rest." ous and critical entity in commu­ "I said wake me if there's any nication with another, with no change!" Prosser lay back with his blatant intermingling of the pri­ eyes closed. After a while he vate aspects of the mind. The in­ turned his head toward the win­ timacy was mutually respectful dow, opened his eyes, and stared and mutually self-respecting. expressionlessly at the fathomless Here now in the unechoing blue of the sky. vaults of space Carter could al­ most isolate Clara's location in his In the cramped capsule of mind. She was poised somewhere Transit XIII Carter had sunk into above and behind his eyes, view­ the near torpor of hypnoid sleep, ing the stars through his eyes and accentuated by the lethargic drag tincturing his judgments faintly of constant acceleration. The sen­ with her own. As he attended to sation was an old one to him and the duties of his journey, listening not unpleasant. After a time he and responding to the crackling turned his viewer away from the and fading voice communication vanishing grey earth and toward with the earth, he smiled to think the stars where they hung in icy that the hypnoid travelers had splendor, embedded in jet rather managed to retain their sanity in 120 FANTASY AND SCIENCE. FICTION space thanks to a little old lady tried to maintain the illusion of who was apprehensive even of normality with bustling breakfasts, stepping aboard a plane. the ride to school with the boys, After two days outward on his the busy-ness of manufactured journey the two-way voice com­ chores. Occasionally ·she found munication with earth became im­ herself staring blankly at some­ practical and crackled away into thing her hands had picked up. . unintelligibility. The spacecraft, In its bustling way, too, the however, kept in delayed coded world was waiting. Newspaper cir­ contact with the base on an auto­ culation, as always during a trans­ matic circuit. Only Clara was with it, soared. The television bulletins him now. They were alone in the were not enough. Everyone had to universe of dark. Transit XIII hur­ read the latest reports, and read tled with redoubling speed through them again, to make sure there the island galaxy we call our own. was nothing that escaped them. As Two hundred and fifty miles a though by a miracle of hopeful ex­ second. Carter stared at the un­ pectation no news of food riots moving stars. A thousand miles a marred the pages for days on end. second it was when he looked at And everywhere men looked at the the dial again. The stars were un­ stars and dreamed. impressed-motionless. Their bril­ liance hypnotized him till he was Carter started up with a flash of forced to shut them out. He dozed. panic surprise. Less than two hours Woke. Slept soundly and was to transit! An automatic injection awakened at intervals in a simula­ slowed his heartbeat, quieting the., crum of the earthly day. fluttering that beat in his throat. On earth the vigil of attendance He looked out once more at the had taken on a tense-jawed rou­ stars, still hung in their immemo­ tine. The shifts at the missile base rial pattern though he rushed at came and went with a silent, pre­ them at near the speed of light. occupied air. The newsmen sat at And still the mighty vessel was ac­ their unending game of poker. At celerating, groaning now with the the Narco Center Justin Prosser effort like a living creature. He was persuaded to shower and was weighted against the cushions shave and change his clothes be­ by the constant force. The speed fore he hurried back, hollow-eved, . was ringing in his ears and boiling to his post. In three days he. ate in his blood as matter strove to fifty candy bars and lost eight cope, impossibly, with the speed. pounds. In her room Clara's Carter grimaced with a pain that daughter knelt in prayer. Near-by had no location, no confines, no in the mountains Margaret Carter limitations. He felt no contact THE THIRD COORDINATE 121 with Clara, did not have the him, transformed in that blinding strength to consider it. His head second from distant ice to living was crushed back, hands and arms fire. These were not stars, they turned icy, drained of blood, of were living, flaming suns. life, sightless eyes staring. He Suns! And even as he thought opened his mouth in a voiceless of it, a touch of ice was at his cry of agony and despair, the ten­ heart! The laughter of success died dons of his throat straining to tear within him. He flicked the viewer through. He was rended unmerci­ directly ahead. Retinas clamped fully, his mind a red blur, his painfully against the flaming chest constricted in a suffocating truth, he clenched his eyelids gasp, choking hopelessly for closed, threw his hand to his face breath. to shut it out. And still the truth And then, with the ease of a burned whitely in his brain! Un­ diver bursting upward through the seeing, he groped with one hand water in a dazzle of burning crys­ to flick a heavy shielding across his tal-he was through! viewer. He opened his eyes. Was He was through. He was he blind? he wondered in panic. through and gulping at air as No, shapes returned to him, he though it were life itself. The old could make out the forms of the knowledge was on him again. He console, peering cautiously. Shield­ laughed aloud with relief, raised a ing his eyes with his hand he trembling hand to his sweating looked once more at the viewer. face. His whole body shook, shud­ Yes, it was just tolerable now, dering loose the tensions of its or­ that white-hot glow dimmed to deal. He lay panting, knowing death blue. that he must bring himself under The laughter of success bubbled control, for the moment not car­ again in his throat, this time as an ing. ironic groan that threatened hys­ Why was it he could never clear­ teria. He steadied himself with an ly remember the vivid truth of this effort of will. If this giant before experience? The pain, yes, he him were actually the burnt-out could see that that was erased by nova that the flight engineers had the kindly mechanism of forgetful­ set their sights on they had suc­ ness, but all this--this was ceeded beyond their wildest worth the pain! Here there was no dreams! Carter swallowed another hypnoid oblivion. Rather, a super­ bubble of hysteria. It was gro­ human awareness, a hypersensi­ tesque to think this monstrous tive consciousness. He was alive! blazing sun which filled a quarter Alive! Alive and aware now of of the sky could be the white the resplendence of the stars about dwarf of exploded Persei. 122 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Carter felt the calm of his years nearly invisible speed, were re­ of training sweep over him in a cording something, if only a testa­ restorative wave. The transit, after ment of despair. Carter strained to all, had not brought him sudden reach the spectrographic analysis death in fiery oblivion, though it reservoir, punch at its coded fund might indeed have spared him for of information. The tape clicked something infinitely worse. He re­ out with obedient perfection and membered with a shrug of indif­ cold facts. The hulking monster ference that he had refused, as al­ ahead of them was unmistakably ways, to carry a suicide kit. He re­ of the Persei type; the perfection membered an instructor many of the machine forbade it to specu­ years before: "But then a jagged late further. piece of glass will always do. Un­ But Carter's breath was quick­ der the ribs and up is best." He ened by an absurd rush of elation. thrust that memory from him too. It was unthinkable that they could He would go down fighting if he by accident have ventured upon so went. This was too soon for similar a phenomenon. A perfect despair! success! An almost pinpoint place­ There was something at least ment. that he could do. He could work A perfect success. Almost! Car­ from certain knowledge as a start. ter's lip curled at the irony. Buzz Struggling sideways in his chair he Barlow might be circulating now could reach the computer-viewer in the icyness of eternity with a dials which were ordinarily kept similar success. He at least would sealed throughout the transit. go down in flame! With a touch he exploded off the The rocket's viewers had picked panelling that covered the dials. up some additional information The metallic plate went careening which it offered him with the same downward wildly into the mech­ indifference. Transit XIII had anism of the ship. Carter cursed traveled sufficiently far to estab­ his carelessness. Yes, the viewers lish a fix on the distance. Persei were already turning and clicking, was now a mere two million miles the fragile metallic arms outside away. At the inexorable rate he moving unthinkingly, feeding what was now traveling he would be information they could gather into vaporized in the outer reaches of the guts of the computer. the sun in less than forty minutes. What information they could At the speed he was traveling he gather! Could they gather any­ could scarcely begin to turn the thing with this hulking giant to craft in that distance. Anything blind them? Yet the filaments be­ more and it would shatter to a neath the dials, whirling with million fragments. THE THIRD COORDINATE 123 The machine did not scream as Prosser asked hoarsely. "Less than it made the announcement. It had two minutes," a voice answered. not been instructed to panic or to "If we can keep her going even a pray or to struggle against the in­ matter of seconds beyond that evitable. she'll pull him through." Carter stared blankly at the "How much worse is she?" tape, which continued to tap out 'We may get her through the incidental information about the transit but she won't go much circumstances of his death. He did further." not have to read it. The machine, "Adrenilin ?" a sturdier creature than he, would "Any more would kill her fast­ continue to record and sort and er." compute for some time after he "Electric shock? We can't worry had torn his nails and his throat to about her now." bloody shreds fighting for air. "She's been on shock for an Even after he had sunk limp into hour. We're burning her up. In the merciful relaxation of death, minutes there won't be ·a heart left staring eyeballs seared, his juices to beat." boiling from his slack lips-still There was a pulsating silence. the tentacled eyes of Transit XIII In the dark adjoining vault a tiny would turn and turn-till they too figure stirred unseen in murky were blistered and cracked and depths. Stirred again. It was strug­ their intricate joints hardened into gling now, struggling with the vio­ infirmity. Then perhaps the ma­ lence of the last encounter. chine itself might scream as it Rung itself into the flames. The voice that sounded in Car­ ter's mind was a calm one, and it In the Narco Center an eternity brought him calm. In his dismay away, as the moment of transit he had forgotten Clara but she had approached, Justin Prosser rose, not forgotten him. The astonish­ haggard, from his chair, and ment that sought to destroy him walked, almost as though he was ebbed. The reality of imminent drugged himself, toward the in­ death was less terrifying than the strumentation panel and the quiv­ dark figure of his dream. He lifted ering needle that was Clara's his hands, steady now, and stared heartbeat. It throbbed slowly, at the moisture on his palms. It weakly, irregularly-but it moved.· was not the heat of that fatal sun, The medics, too, had turned their not yet, but the reaction of some eyes to it. A chair overturned nois­ secret inner creature that wanted ily and lay ·unnoticed. very much to live-far more than "How much longer to transit?" it wanted to die. 124 FANTASY AND SCIBNCB FICTION Go back, go back, go home, "You can save yourself, Clara.H something was saying to him, His lips moved silently. "It will be and a thrill that was almost ela­ better if you're not with me at the tion welled up in him. There was end. Break contact and you'll pull that one possibility I It had never through." been done before, but he could go Her voice was hurried but still down trying! He could terminate calm. "No, it is too late for me. I the transit before its scheduled knew it would be. I could not have end! The absurdity of the concept foreseen what you have encoun­ made him smile. There was no ad­ tered there. God forgive me for my justment he could make in the foolish pride!" There was an agon­ program of the rocket. He could ized pause as though she were not will that red hand, which had summoning strength to go on. crossed the hour, on ahead. But it "Why, Clara? Why? Did you was, after all, the force of his will know, . . . know that you. that pitched the mighty vessel through the stars at the scheduled "That I was dying? Yes. I hoped end of the transit. Perhaps he there would be a chance to tell could will it before its time. With you what I most deeply believe. I Clara's help he could do it! hoped you would have time to act He leaned back, letting the con­ upon it. We were both bitterly de­ sciousness of Clara flood the fore­ ceived and the tragedy is my fault. front of his mind. Her presence Now the world may never know. I rushed in as a wind. She knew all, told Justin and I told Margaret but understood all, at once. There was I hoped it would be you who no need for explaining. Yet even brought back the truth." as they touched a greater sadness "What is the truth, Clara? Do than before fell across him like a you mean that Schachter was shroud of stardust. "Clara, what is wrong? I don't believe it! We it?" he murmured, half aloud. could never have gotten back The answer came back to him, without your help. I know!" not in words, but unmistakably: Her words were coming now "I am dying. I am dying too." with obvious effort. "Before, yes. The voice that sounded in his You needed me because you were mind was a calm one, calm even not sure enough. Mine was a hand in the sight of eternity. Words you needed to touch in all that came through for him to hear now, strangeness. But there was only came through clearly in her last one tie that brought you back. It great effort: "I hoped that I could was the tie to those you love, to all save you but I do not have the that you love-me among them­ strength." that brought you back. Even as it THE THIRD COORDINATE 125 was the same ties of love that sent "Let me." He grabbed the re­ you out there. That was all, all." ceiver, raised it, lowered it, took a Carter was serene. "Thank vou, deep breath and raised it once Clara. I pray that you are ri-ght. more. "Yes, this is Justin. It's per­ And if you must leave you go with fectly all right, of course, so far as my love." we know. Yes, we have passed the There was a silence like the transit point. Of course, but touch of a hand. Vivid pictures there'll be a little delay before we swam into Carter's mind. A life he know definitely. We're getting in had never known-scenes, faces, touch with the base now. Radio, events in a fluttering kaleidoscope. that's right." He put his hand over Clara and the placid pattern of the receiver and took another deep her life. The big frame house, her breath. ''Yes, Margaret. Yes, that's friends, her love. And then her what happened, she was right. The girlhood and its wonders. Green moment we know." trees and sunlight and a singing voice. Margaret Carter smoothed back There was another silence. her hair in an unconscious gesture He was alone. He sat up very and lowered the phone. She went straight. into the living room where the boys were watching television, lit­ Prosser thrust the medics aside. tle Margaret sleeping peacefully With the flat of his palm he smote on the couch. "Did you talk to Mr. the dial. Something like a sob Prosser, Mom?" Roger asked. broke in his throat. "Did she last ''Yes. Let's turn the television till transit? Did she last? Isn't off for a while. Mr. Prosser will there anything that will . . . call us as soon as he knows." will. . . ." He sank into his chair, Philip demurred. "Gee, Mom, eyes covered with his hands. this is the exciting part." "We tried everything." Roger, struck by something in Prosser jumped, banging over his mother's manner, stood and his phones. "Get base control on stretched. "Come on, Flip," he video. What's the time lapse till said. "Let's go outside for a while." we can hear directly from the "It's raining." ship? Twenty-five minutes? Dam­ "Come on, I'll play catch with mit. doesn't anyone know?" He you." was moving erratically, toward the "Jackets," Margaret said as they viewmg screen, toward the door, ran for the door. She threw a cov­ back again. "If Margaret calls no erlet over the girl's sleeping form, one is to talk to her except me." a sweater over her own shoulders, "She's on the wire now." and went out to sit in the porch 126 FANTASY AND SCIBNCB FICTION swing. The mountains were dim the phone almost unnoticed in the in the mist. din. The voice on the television was inaudible above the shouts, They found Justin Prosser alone but the Commandant was holding in the green dimness of Clara's up the first newspaper head­ death chamber when they came lines: "THIRD COORDINATE! screaming in with the news. He THIRD COORDINATE!" moved out into the light amid flail­ "He brought it back," he was ing arms and hands that slapped saying softly into the phone. "All wildly at his back. He reached for by himself he brought it back."

COMING SOON

It may be that Poul Anderson's fiction is too good to experiment with, but we don't think that the nature of our experiment will be found objectionable. That popular scientific swashbuckler has writ­ ten-especially for F&SF-three short novels which, while inde­ pendent, add up to a unity. Each story is complete in itself, requir­ ing no further development; you can enjoy any without having read or to wait to read any other. Novel the first is entitled MARQUE AND REPRISAL, and will be followed in immediate succession by ARSENAL PORT and ADMIRALTY. The time is the future. the locations are Earth, Space and Distant Worlds; the characters are both human and alien, the action is fast-moving and the ideas are novel. You can miss any of these stories, but we guarantee you won't want to. LETTERS

I don't like the trend toward count-from-memory is exactly cor­ sadism and the preoccupation with rect in every particular.-ANTHONY horror. In characterizing yourself as BoucHER, Berkeley, Calif. the "Cruelly Editor" you have per­ haps been more perceptive than you In 1834, a set of papers-letters, intended. I wish you would restudy certificates, etc.-by and about the the works published during the ten­ Wizard were published in the then ure of Anthony Boucher.-W.F. new journal, The Nautical Maga­ PoYNTER, San Francisco, Calif. zine. Gould feels it unlikely that these papers constituted a hoax, Congratulations on your July issue. partly because of the known person­ Gahan Wilson is an excellent replace­ ality of the editor, and mainly be­ ment for Feghoot-1 only hope his cause of the prior currency of stories imagination doesn't Hag. You seem to about the Wizard.-M.M. TAYLOR, have substituted an amusing, tongue­ Toronto, Ont. in-cheek presentation of sex for the morbid and sadistic stories in some From 1778 till 1782 the Wizard recent issues. The change speaks well was credited with announcing the for your editorial taste and your re­ arrival of 57 5 vessels, many of them spect for the intelligence of your four days before they became visible readers. Your aiding the debut of new [ •..) A BOOK OF MARVELS, by SF writers does you credit. Just bear Lt.-Comm. R.T. Gould, R.N., Ret., in mind that people read your maga­ published by Methuen & Co., Ltd., zine for diversion and entertainment, London, in 19 3 7, contains seven not messages ... Oh yes, as a profes­ essays selected from two of his ear­ sional physicist, I nevertheless enjoy lier books, ODDITIES and ENIG­ Dr. Asimov immensly.-R. ANIG­ MAS.-CHANDLER L. MASON STEIN, New York City ("Doc Channem"), South River, N.J. No, you did not dream up the Wizard of Mauritius, (editorial, Our thanks to Arthur C. Clarke June, 1964) even though he is wor­ and others who wrote in response to thy of you. His name was Bottineau our editorial. No one has yet indi­ (other names lost to history), & you cated whether there is any known may find a detailed account of all scientific basis to the art of "naus­ that is known about him in one of copy." A.D. the most wonderful of all books (to men of our odd tastes), Lt.-Comm. As an ancient historian and ama­ Rupert T. Gould's ODDITIES: A teur archaeologist, I find myself in BOOK OF UNEXPLAINED FACTS, some of the queerer places of the London: Philip Allan (1928). What world. But to my delight and on­ awes me a little is that your ac- ceasing amazement, I find F&SF 127 128 FANTASY AND SCIENCE PlCTION there before me. My most recent known outside his native Guatemala. example is a 1960 copy found at A.D. the Oasis of Sebha, which is deep in the heart of the Ubyan Sahara. C. S. Lewis's THE END OF THE -DIANA M. BLABON, Palm Beach, WINE is truly the best poem I ever Fla. hope to read. It dug up the compost pile of my brain, and now I am sim­ One of our subscribers is a camel. ply reeking with thought.-VIKI Eo­ A.D. SON, Livermore, Cal. I've been living in France for the E\·er since the invention of opera, past I 8 years. For kicks I compared the addicts of this form of enter­ your US edition with the French tainment, including me, have been one. English is not really a new waiting for somebody to do a decent language to me, but I write and opera about Faust. The Gounod is speak it only secondarily. Still, or saccharine and utterly unworthy of maybe the word is, because of this, the subject, and the Berlioz is un­ I am sensitive to what might be even and virtually impossible to called a "change of pace" ... A story, stage. Now you, sir, [in the introduc­ even a translation, written in Amer­ tion to Roger Zelazny's THE SAL­ ican tends to carry a lot of tension, VATION OF FAUST, F&SF, July as in THE ILLUMINATED MAN 1964] have made a discovery he­ (May 1964). In American it takes yond price-that such an opera has a lot of good, smooth writing to es­ been written by the one man in tablish a calm mood, whereas by musical history who could have bt>en comparison a French writer must counted upon to do a transcendent work hard to put pathos into his job of it-Wagner. Since the rest of story. -JoHN EGAN, Houston, Tex. us know only of the existence of the . . . Faust Overture, it is evident An ittteresting thought . . . that you must be in possession of however, TIM, despite its Americatl the manuscript score itself. Unless, setting, was written in British by its of course, the mao you have in mind British author, J. G. Ballard. A.D. is Mr. Murray Wagner, jwlr, of 64 West 48th Street?-JAMES BusH, Euthenics, the virgin science, can New York City. stimulate environmental changes which could assure peace. Therefore, Er, no, the man 1 have in mind is Euthenics is the inspiring word of 1uanantonio Philemon Wagner Lo­ today and_ tomorrow.-}ACK GuR­ pez, 1820-1880. It is a source of LEY, Memphis, Tenn. great sorrow to his admirers that this gifted man's works seem so little So inspire me. A.D. ************************t : * : MARKET PLACE t • * ....• ********************* * BOOKS-MAGAZINES PATENTS AND INVENTIONS

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