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Kansas City, Mo. s Minneapolis, Minn. • Trenton, N. J. San Francisco, Calif. • South Bond, Indiana WORLD'S LARGEST MANUFACTURERS OF UNION-MADE WORK CLOTHES . VOL. 6 MARCH, 1950 NO. 3 A TRAIL-BREAKING NOVEL ROGUE SHIP A. E. van Vogt 10 What cosmic irony had brought the Hope of Man back to Earth, scant hours before the planet’s utter destruction? What forces had twisted its crew into nightmare caricatures of men? Far the answers, Hewitt risked not only hie life—but the future of the race, millenia distant and beyond the farthest star! TWO POWERFUL NOVELETTES A STEP FARTHER OUT Raymond Z. Gallun 48 Knowing himself eternally lost, Harvey Vallis set out alone on man’s most dangerous journey—not to Venus or Mars, but—a step farther out! WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS Nell R. Jones 100 The terrible Klejlllgs of the twilight world told Professor Jameson, “There Is no escape in death—for as long as the stars shall last, your life Is ours!" SHORT STORIES OUTCAST OF THE STARS Roy Bradbury 41 "You can deny a man everything but his heritage—the start!” THE ULTIMATE ONE Jobn D. MacDonald 72 It was the strangest bedtime story ever told—told when ai! Earth’s children were asleep—in a night that held no dawn! THE WHEEL OF TIME Robert Arthur 75 Master of time, Jeremiah Jupiter found a moment he could live over again—to his timeless regret! EXILE OF THE EONS Arthur C. Clarke 86 Banished to an utterly remote future, Trevindor thought he suffered the ultimate punishment—until he met the second exile—and learned that the Universe holds things more fearful even than loneliness! DEPARTMENTS AND FEATURES FANDOM'S CORNER Conducted by James V. Taurasl 6 A MARTIAN ODDITY E. E. Stuck 37 THE SCIENCE FICTIONEER Conducted by Frederlk Po hi 97 MISSIVES AND MISSILES The Readers 119 Cover by Sounder* Illustrations by Bok, Calls, Lawrence, Leydenfrost and Van Dongen

Any resemblance between any character appearing in fictional matter, end any person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

Published Id-monthly by Fletioaeers, Inc., a subsidiary of Popular Publications, lac., at 1125 B. Valle Are., Kokomo, (liana; Editorial and Executive Offices, 206 East 42ad Street, New York 1?, N. Y. Henry Steeger, President and Secretary, vrold S, Goldsmith, Vice- President and Treasurer. Entered as second-class matter at the Poet Office at Kokomo, Sdiana. Copyright, 1950, by Pictioneew, Inc. This issue is published simultaneously In the Dominion of Canada. Copyright under International Copyright Convention and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction, in whole or in part, in any form. Single copy, 25o. Annual subscription for U. S. A., its possessions and Canada, $1.50: other countries, 88c additional AH correspondence relating to this publication should be addressed to 3125 E. Valle Ave., Kokomo, Indiana, or 205 East 42nd Street, New York 17, N. Y, When submitting manuscripts, enclose stamped, self- addressed envelope for their return if found unavailable. The publishers will exercise Care in the handling of manuscripts, but assume no responsibility for their return. Printed in U. 8. A. :

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(Continued from page 6) Shephard Ave., Newark 8, New Jersey for Membership dues are a meeting. First 25$ full information on this live-wire organ- meeting for members is free. new ization. “The meetings are essentially informal, The next World Science Fiction Con- friendly, interesting and members give vention will be held in Portland, Oregon, talks on their favorite science, current sto- over the Labor Day holidays. Write to: ries and authors. “Norwespon Committee”, P.O. Box 8517, “If the membership grows, the club ^ Portland 7, Oregon, for full information. hopes to send delegates to the next science Better inclose a 3$ stamp. fiction World Convention in Portland.” English readers will be glad to learn “Age, race, sex, and religion are no bar- that Super Science Stories is now obtain- riers in the G.G.F.S.” able in the British Isles. A special edition Thank you for the information, Mrs. is published there and sells for one shill- Davenport. Keep us informed on your fine ing. It contains 94 pages, same page size organization, and don’t forget to let us as the American edition, and the first know how that election came out. Fans British issue contains most of the stories who are interested in this organization and illustrations from the January 1949 should write to: Mrs. Rose Davenport, American issue, but no departments or Sec-Treas. GGFS, 137 Cherry Ave., South readers’ column. San Francisco, Calif. Rosco E. Wright, President of the Eu- FAN MAG REVIEWS: gene Science Fantasy Society, has this to say about his club: Bloomington News Letter, No. 13, pub- “The Eugene Science Fajitasy Society lished bimonthly by Bob Tucker, Box 260, meets twice a month, the second Wednes- Bloomington, 111. It’s free for the asking. day of each month at 7 :30 P.M., and the This six-page photo-offset' newspaper is last Sunday at 2 P.M. Elaine Gething is one of the leaders of the field. The cur- our attractive new secretary. We now rent issue contains a report on the recent have about twenty-two members on the “Cinvention”, with three pictures of the roster though only about a dozen are very shindig, including one of the luscious Miss active.” Lois Miles of New York who was chosen Maybe this notice will get you a few “Miss Science Fiction of 1949”. Nice! more active members, Rosco. Those who We agree with Redd Boggs on his com- want to join should get in touch with ments on the “Cinvention” and conven- Rosco E. Wright at 146 E. 12th Ave., Eu- tions in general. gene, Oregon, or phone him at 5-5774. Spearhead, No. 4, Fall, 1949, published Keep us informed on what goes on up by Thomas H. Carter and the Spearhead there, Rosco. Press, 817 Starling Ave., Martinsville,- Fans in New York and New Jersey will Va. 25$. A super 52-page mimeographed be interested in the Eastern Science Fic- magazine that contains about everything a tion Association. They meet in Newark, fan could ask for. We like the fiction by New Jersey, the first Sunday of each Kennedy and Col. Keller and the many month and usually have a well-known departments. The cover by Miller is really author or top fan as speaker. Sam Mos- tops in mimeo art. You can’t go wrong on kowitz is head man there; the readers of this one ; better get a copy while you can. Super Science know him as the book re- Science-Fantasy Review, No. 16, pub- viewer in Super’s companion magazine, lished quarterly by Walter Gillings, 115 Fantastic Novels. Write to him at 127 (Continued on page 127) YOU can 0l,1 W «ac^ *« Y***®

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What cosmic irony had brought CHAPTER ONE the Hope of Man back to Earth, Strange Return scant hours before the planet’s utter destruction? What forces VERILL HEWITT hung up the had twisted its crew into night- phone, and repeated aloud the mare caricatures? For the an- A message he had just been given:; swers, Hewitt risked the future “Your spaceship, Hope of Man, is en- of the race, millenia distant— tering the atmosphere of Earth.” beyond the farthest star! The words echoed and re-echoed in his Hi .

12 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

mind, a discordant repetition. He stag- journey, but the money had not even yet gered to a couch and lay down. been appropriated. Other words began to join the whirl- Nobody actually put on much pressure. pool of meaning and implication that was The prodigious task of exploiting the solar the original message: After six years... planets was barely begun.

the Hope of Man. . . after six years, just

about the time it should be approaching THE first man who volunteered to go on the Hope Man was Armand Tellier, one of the Centauri sun. . .re-entering the of a thin-faced young man with too-trans- atmosphere of Earth. . Lying there, Hewitt thought: And for parent skin and pale blue eyes. ten years I’ve lived with the knowledge He had majored in physics at the Sor-

that our sun is due to show some of the bonne. He had said, “My wife and I feel characteristics of a Cepheid Variable— that if we give ten years to this trip, I’ll within months now! be an authority on Einsteinian physics Momentarily, the memory distracted when I get back.” him. His mind went back over the ridi- He emphasized the “get back” ever so cule that had been heaped on him. Scien- slightly.

tists had rejected his evidence without Hewitt had pretended not to hear the giving him a hearing. When he had sent qualification. It was enough for him if his new instruments to an observatory they were out of the solar system when in a sealed crate, they had been sent back the sun underwent the changes he had with the seal unbroken. A famous astron- predicted. omer commented that the sun was not a Tellier was speaking again. “You un- Cepheid Variable; and with that icily derstand,” he said, “I’m making this withdrew from the controversy. journey because you have had the finan- In reply, Hewitt had pointed out that cial strength to install an atomic pile. he hadn’t said the sun was a Cepheid That means— acceleration can be continu- Variable. He had merely stated it would ous. But ” he paused to emphasize his point his eyelids flickered— must have show some of its characteristics. Actually, ; “I the ultimate effect would be that of a baby authority to maintain acceleration to the nova. halfway point. I must have an opportunity The phrase captured the headlines, but to make a study of what happens when only as a one-week wonder. Gradually, our ship approaches the speed of light.” he’d realized that the human race could Hewitt frowned at the floor of his

not imagine its own destruction. He de- study. He knew what he intended to say cided to use his private fortune to send in substance. At thirty-eight he still wor- a ship with colonists to remote Alpha ried about just how he should word it. Centauri. In the end he was blunt. “You can have the authority, on one condition.” Thinking back to those days, Hewitt The pale blue eyes grew intent. “What recalled his efforts to find people who is that?” would go. The problem had been brand-new. The “Your wife must be with child at the .of take-off.” newly-invented atomic space drive, al- time ready widely used for journeys among There was a long pause; then: “I’m •the planets, had yet to be tried on an sure,” said Tellier in a formal voice, “that interstellar trip. we are prepared to make even that sacri- further career.” Years ago, the Space Patrol had re- fice to my quested funds to make an exploratory He departed. In describing him to his —

ROGUE SHIP 13

wife that night, Hewitt called him a cold A youthful soldier of fortune turned fish. up with a young blonde who purported "Like you are now, Averill ?” she said. to be his wife. Hewitt did not require a She was a dark-haired beauty- with eyes wedding certificate. A doctor, a member that had starry glints in them. The stars of a narrow sect, said that he and his wife were hard and bright, as she looked at had decided that a medical man ought to him across the dinner table. go along. "The moment,” he said, “that

Hewitt almost laughed. Then he stared we realized the need, I knew it was my at her more intently. Finally he sighed, duty to go.” and put down his knife and fork. “I’ve When no experienced space crewmen seen this coming,” he said. volunteered for the journey, Hewitt ran She said bitterly, "You’ve made a fool want ads offering fabulous wages. Five

of all of us with this prediction of destruc- young couples responded. They didn't

tion of the solar system. I can’t take it seem to realize the money would have no any longer.” value where they were going. Hewitt said wretchedly, “I’ll make a There was only one reply to Hewitt’s settlement, but I must have the children. ad for a licensed spaceship commander.

I want to send them along.” A grizzled fifty-year-old came, bringing

She said in an uneven tone, "The chil- a young girl with him. He introduced

dren go with me. I’ll take a lower settle- himself as Mark Grayson, and the girl as ment.” his ward, Juanita Lord. His enthusiasm "No!” was tremendous. "I’ve dreamed all my life She was trembling. The stars in her of commanding the first ship to another eyes were dulled. “If you don’t let me star. If you accept me I plan to marry

have the children without a fight, I’ll take Juanita. She’s very anxious to go, and

you to court. I’ll tie up your money by of course she loves me very much. Isn’t legal procedures. You won’t be able to that right, dear?” finish building the ship.” The girl nodded vigorously. Hewitt Silence; then: “You win, Joan.” blinked at her, shocked in spite of himself. He started to protest, “But she’s only She started to cry. He saw that she — a ” He stopped, gulping. He said doubt- hadn’t expected him to choose the ship fully, “There’s the matter of legal age. instead of her. I question whether any court would give One newspaper reported the next day; you two permission under such circum- “baby nova” man to be divorced. But stances.” the papers also described Tellier’s reasons "I’m eighteen,” said Juanita earnestly. for wanting to go on the journey. As a She added plaintively, “I know I look result seven young scientists and their young, but don’t think I’m not grown wives were stimulated to make the “sacri- up.” fice.” And then in one week three vision- aries came from different parts of the She was a startlingly pretty girl. She country. Each separately described how looked twelve or fourteen, at most. Hewitt he had had a vision of Sol flaring up and stiffened himself. He said slowly, “It engulfing Earth. That was not the way would be inadvisable for publicity reasons, it would be, but Hewitt refrained from for—” enlightening them. In his presence the He stopped himself. He thought, What wives separately expressed themselves as cm I saying? The future of the race is willing to carry out their share of the at stake. Besides, I’m actually saving her bargain. life. 14 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Aloud, he said, “You’re hired.” TWO hours later, he said, “You mean, The spaceship, Hope of Man, bound the airlock won’t open?”

for Alpha Centauri, had lifted up from the He said it incredulously, while standing soil of Earth on April 30th, 2072 A.D., inside the rescue ship, Molly D., watching with thirty-eight people aboard. a huge magnet try to unscrew the outer Hewitt had stayed behind. He had con- hatch of the Hope of Man. Reluctantly, sidered that his fight was just begin- Hewitt drew his restless mind from his ning.... own private purpose. He thought, There must be something seriously zwong. Instantly, he felt impatient, unwilling to IS BITTER reverie ended, as the accept the need to adjust to the possibility phone began to ring again. He that there had been trouble aboard. He climbed off the couch; and as he said urgently, “Keep trying! It’s obvious-

went to answer, he thought, I’ll have to ly stuck. That lock was built to open in go aboard and try to persuade them. As less than two minutes.”

soon as they land, I'll— He was scarcely aware of how com- This time his caller was an official of pletely the others had let him take control

the Space Patrol. Hewitt listened shakily, of rescue operations. In a way, it was trying to grasp the picture the other was natural enough. The Molly D. was a com- presenting. It had proved impossible to mercial salvage vessel, which had been communicate with those aboard, and the commandeered by the Space Patrol. Now ship was now approaching the Earth ap- that Hewitt was aboard, the representa- parently in a great descending spiral, be- tive of the Patrol, Lieutenant Commander cause of the Earth’s revolution, but actu- Mardonell, had assumed the role of ob- ally in a straight-line course. server. And the permanent captain of the “We’ve had men in spacesuits at both vessel took instructions, as a matter of observation ports, Mr. Hewitt. Naturally, course, from the man paying the bills. they couldn’t see in, since it’s one-way- More than an hour later, the giant vision material. But they pounded on the magnet had turned the round lock-door metal for well over an hour, and received just a little over one foot. Pale, tense no response.” and astounded, Hewitt held counsel with Hewitt hesitated. He had no real com- the two officers. ment to make. The altimeter of the Molly D. showed He said finally, “How fast is the ship ninety-one miles. Lieutenant Commander going?” Mardonell made the decisive comment “About a thousand miles an hour.” about that. “We’ve come down about nine Hewitt scarcely heard the reply. His miles in sixty-eight minutes. At that rate mind was working faster now. He said, we’ll strike some high landmark in ten ” “I authorize all expense necessary to get hours.

inside. I’ll be there myself in an hour.” It was evident that it would take much As he headed for his private ship, he longer than that to unscrew the thirty-five was thinking, If I can get inside, I’ll talk yards of thread on the lock-door at one

to them. I’ll convince them. I’ll force foot per hour. them to go back. Hewitt considered the situation angrily.

He felt remorseless. It seemed to him He still thought of this whole boarding that, for the first time in the history of problem as a minor affair, an irritation. the human race, any means of compulsion “We’ll have to get a big drill,” he said. was justified. "Cut through the wall." ROGUE SHIP 15

He radioed for one to be sent ahead. penetrated—he measured it—to a depth But, even with the full authority of the of three-quarters of a millimter. Space Patrol behind him, two and a half “But that’s ridiculous,” Hewitt pro- hours went by before it was in position. tested. “This metal was cast right here on Hewitt gave the order to start the power- Earth eight years ago.” ful drill motor. He left instructions : “Call Mardonell said, “We’ve had two extra me when we’re about to penetrate.” drills brought up. Diamonds don’t mean He had been progressively aware of a thing to that metal.” exhaustion, as much mental as physical. He added, “It’s been calculated that He retreated to one of the ship’s bunks she’ll crash somewhere in the higher foot- and lay down. hills of the Rockies. We’ve been able to

He slept tensely, expecting to be called pin it down pretty accurately, and people any moment. Heturned and twisted, and, have been warned.” during his wakeful periods, his mind was Hewitt said, “What about those aboard? wholly on the problem of what he would What about—” He stopped. He had been do when he got inside the ship. intending to ask, “What about the human

He awoke suddenly and saw by his race?” He didn’t say it. That was a spe- watch that more than five hours had gone cial madness of his own, which would only by. He dressed with a sense of disaster. irritate other people. He was met by Mardonell. Trembling, he walked over to a port- The Space Patrol officer said, “I didn’t hole of the rescue ship. He guessed they call you, Mr. Hewitt. Because when it were about fifteen miles above the surface became apparent that we weren’t going to of the earth. Less than two hours before get in, I contacted my headquarters. As crashing. a result we’ve been getting advice from When that time limit had dwindled to some of the world’s greatest scientists.” twenty minutes, Hewitt gave the order

The man was quite pale, as he finished, to cast off. The rescue ship withdrew

“I’m afraid it’s no use. All the advice in slowly from the bigger host, climbing as the world hasn’t helped that drill.” she went. A little later, Hewitt stood “What do you mean?” watching with a sick look on his face, as

“Better go take a look.” the round ship made its first contact with

The drill was still turning as Hewitt the earth below, the. side of a hill.

approached. He ordered it shut off, and At just under a thousand miles an hour,

with his mind almost blank examined the horizontal velocity, it ploughed through metal wall of the Hope of Man. It was the soil, creating a cloud of dust. From

ASKED TO BE SHOW*! fui ffiOM MISSOURI j MO.— Carl W.' Rau, 1 .ST. LOUIS, — “Ais no I «. chemical engineer, M ml Missouri the big a skeptic about Carl W. Rau Has longer j 1 Now Switched to ‘a'" Because Calvert you dnnk it. smoother any way Better. it Tastes

RESERVE BLENDED WHISKEY-86.8 PROOF- 16 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

~ where Hewitt and his men watched, no a radio report arrived. A mountain had sound was audible, but the impact must collapsed fifty miles away. There was a teve been terrific. new valley, and somebody had been killed. “That did it,” said Hewitt, swallowing, Three small earthquakes had shaken the “If anybody was alive aboard, they died neighborhood. at that moment.” For twenty minutes, the reports piled It needed no imagination to picture the up. The land was uneasy. Fourteen more colossal concussion. All human beings in- earthquakes were recorded. Two of them side would now be bloody splotches were the most violent ever known in the against a floor, ceiling or wall. affected areas. Great fissures had ap- Somebody shouted, “She’s through the peared. The ground jumped and trembled. hill!” The last one had taken place four hundred

Hewitt said, “My God!” miles from the first and they all lined ; up An improbable thing had happened. The with the course of the Hope of Man. hill, made of rock and packed soil, thicker Abruptly, there came an electrifying than a hundred ships like the Hope of message. The round ship had emerged in Man, was sheared in two. Through a the desert, and was beginning to climb cloud of dust, Hewitt made out the round upward on a long, swift, shallow slant. ship skimming the high valley beyond. Less than three hours later, the salvage She struck the valley floor, and once ship was again clinging to the side of the again there was dust. The machine did larger machine. Its huge magnets twisted not slow; showed no reaction to the im- stubbornly at the great lock-door. To the pact. half-dozen government scientists who had It continued at undiminished speed on come aboard, IJewitt said: “It took an

into the earth. hour to turn it one foot. It shouldn’t take more than a hundred and five hours to

HE DUST cleared slowly. There turn it thirty-five yards. Then, of course, was a hole three hundred feet in we have the inner door, but that’s a dif- diameter, slanting into the far hill- ferent problem.” He broke off. “Gentle- side. It began to collapse. Tons of rock men, shall we discuss the fantastic thing crashed down from the upper lip of that that has happened?” cave. The discussion that followed arrived The rescue ship had sunk to a point at no conclusion. nearer the ground, and Hewitt heard plainly the thunder of the falling debris. HEWITT said, “That does it!” Gradually, the surface turmoil subsided. Through the thick asbesglas, they The Molly D. landed. Hewitt began watched the huge magnet make its final numbly to issue orders that would begin turn on the inner door. As they watched the job of fencing in the danger areas. from behind the transparent barrier, a He thought of the problem as one that thick metal arm was poked into the air- would be resolved by excavation. The lock, and shoved at the door. After strain-

Hope of Man had buried itself. It would ing with it dor several seconds, its opera- have to be dug up. tor turned and glanced at Hewitt. The He had the vague thought that the hard latter turned on his walkie-talkie. metal of the walls could have -withstood “Come on back inside the ship. We’ll the shock, and that the vessel might be put some air pressure in there. That’ll reparable. open the door.”

Rock and soil were still falling when He had to fight to keep his irritation ROGUE SHIP 17 out of his voice. The outer door had back of his mind now for several days. opened without trouble, once all the turns It had to do with Armand Tetlier. Tel- had been made. There serried no reason lier had been intending to do some ex- why the inner door should not respond perimenting, he recalled, uneasily. Care- in the same way. The Hope of Man was fully, one by one, he enumerated the fan- persisting in being recalcitrant. tastic things that had happened. He felt The captain of the salvage vessel looked himself turn pale with excitement. On doubtful when Hewitt transmitted the the basis of that first glimmering picture, order to him. "If she’s stuck,” he ob- he estimated that it would take nine hun- jected, “you never can tell just how much dred atmospheres of pressure to force pressure it’ll take to open her. Don’t open the inner lock door of the Hope of forget we’re holding the two ships to- Man. gether with magnets. It wouldn’t take much to push them apart.” IT REQUIRED just under nine hun- Hewitt frowned over that. He said dred and seventy-eight. finally, “Maybe it won’t take a great deal. The door swung open grudgingly.

And if we do get pushed apart, well, we’ll Hewitt watched the air gauge, and waited just have to add more magnets.” He for the needle to race downward. The air added swiftly, “Or maybe we can build should be rushing through the open door,

a bulkhead into the lock itself, join the on into the Centauri ship, dissipating its two ships with a steel framework.” terrific pressure in the enormous cubic It was decided to try a gradual increase area of the bigger machine. It could in air pressure. Presently Hewitt was sweep through like a tornado, destroying

watching the pressure gauge as it slowly everything in its path. crept up. It registered in pounds and The pressure went down to nine hun-

atmospheres. At a fraction over ninety- dred and seventy-three. There it stopped. one atmospheres, the pressure started There it stayed. Beside Hewitt, a govern- rapidly down. It went down to eighty-six ment scientist said in a strangled tone, in a few seconds, then steadied, and began “But what’s happened? It seems to be to creep up again. The captain barked an equalized at an impossible level. How can order to the engine room, and the gauge that be? That’s over thirteen thousand stopped rising. The man turned to Hewitt. pounds to the square inch.”

“Well, that’s it. At ninety-one atmos- Hewitt drew away from the asbesglas pheres, the rubber lining began to lose barrier. "I’ll have to get a specially de- air, and didn’t seal up again till the pres- signed suit,” he said. "Nothing we have sure went down.” would hold that pressure for an instant.”

Hewitt shook his head in bewilderment. It meant going down to Earth. Not that “I don’t understand it,” he said. “That’s it would take a great deal of time. There over twelve hundred pounds to the square were firms capable of building such a suit inch.” in two days. But he would have to be Reluctantly, he radioed for the equip- present in person to supervise its con- ment that would be needed to brace the struction. two ships together. While they waited, As he headed for a landing craft, Hew- they tried several methods of using ma- itt Brought, AU I’ve got to do is get chinery to push open the door. None of aboard, and start the ship back toward the methods worked. Hewitt was startled, Centaurus. I’ll probably have to go along. and for the first time let into his fore- But that’s immaterial now. It was too consciousness an idea that had been at the late to build more colonizing ships. : —

18 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

He was suddenly confident that the en- and the fact that the solid earth offered no

tire unusual affair would be resolved obstacle whatever to its movement, sug- swiftly. He had no premonition. gested that the round ship had enormous

It was morning at the steel city when mass. Hewitt hesitated at that point. He he landed. The news of his coming had was beginning to think he might give the account to the press after all. He added: preceded him ; and when he emerged from the spacesuit factory shortly after noon, “The density is clearly out of all propor- a group of reporters were waiting for tion to any known substance.” He gave him. Hewitt gave them some crumbs of the air pressure as evidence. He hinted information, but left them dissatisfied. at matter density almost, though not quite, comparable to that found in the in- As he headed for his own craft, he teriors of certain stars. He meant white noticed that several men in uniform were dwarfs, like Sirius B. He meant neu- waiting for him. They wore the uniform tronium. But now that he was consciously of the federal police. As Hewitt ap- writing for publication, he did not say so. proached they sauntered casually toward He had a purpose in mind. It seemed him. Something in their attitude warned to him that if he this explanation . made him. He turned, and started back toward properly, he would be freed to help in the factory. A paralyzer beam flashed. boarding the Hope of Man. He fell, twisting in anguish. But now he had an unpleasant point to The papers reported that he had “re- make. For a man who had predicted that sisted arrest.” the sun would destroy Earth, his next CHAPTER TWO statement was loaded with dynamite for himself. Nevertheless, he finally wrote

The Twisted Men firmly “If the robot control is responsible for OR TWENTY-FOUR hours, the ship’s return, then it will still be in Hewitt lay in a jail bunk, and operation. It will accordingly start edging F thought about incredible things. the Hope of Man over, so that the two The confinement seemed to have released bodies wiil presently meet again. We his imagination, for his thoughts were on cannot reasonably expect that its passage the wild side and partly, at least, unten- will once more be limited to a shadow sur- able. But he calmed down, and presently face penetration. The ship may go down he was able to write his ideas in logical to the magma. I need hardly point out sequence. He told himself that he did so that an irresistible hundred-yards-in-dia- to clarify his own thinking. He made the meter body may cause major planetary following points: convulsions.”

The Hope of Man was not affected On reading that over, he realized it by the gravitational forces of Earth. It would shock the world. Other people was moving through the solar system as would not take his attitude that, since an independent body. such a disaster would happen later than

Coming in from outer space the ship the greater catastrophe of the baby Nova, had intersected the path of the earth it was a matter for concern because the around the sun. In pursuing its straight ship might be destroyed. To them, the

to it, course, it had passed through the outer danger from the ship, not would be

rim of Earth, but it was Earth that moved important. Mobs might well try to lynch of vessel. away from it, not it away from Earth. the owner the The tremendous hardness of the metal Shuddering, Hewitt tore up his account !

ROGUE SHIP 19

and burned it He was still shivering at night, he was struck by a sense of small- what he considered his narrow escape ness. when his lawyer came. It seemed there He was in a corridor which he knew would be due process of law. Meanwhile, pointed into the heart of the ship. It was

habeas corpus, bail, freedom. The govern- narrower than he remembered it. Not just

ment, it seemed, wasn’t even certain it had a little narrower; a lot. It had been a a case against him. Somebody had acted broad arterial channel, especially con- hastily. structed for large equipment. It was not

Several civil suits had been filed. Peo- broad any more.

ple were suing him for damage to their Just how long it was he couldn’t see.

property. Somebody had owned the moun- Originally, it had been just under three tain that had become a valley. Nearly hundred feet in length. He couldn’t see a dozen people claimed to have been hurt. that far. Ahead, the corridor faded into

Hewitt ordered that all claims should be impenetrable shadow.

fought by every device of the law. Then It seemed not to have shrunk at all in he collected the specially-built spacesuit, height. It had been twenty feet high,

and headed once more for the Molly D. and it still looked twenty.

More than an hour was spent in test- But it was five feet wide instead of

ing. But at last a magnet drew shut the fifteen. It didn’t look as if it had been torn inner door of the Hope of Man. Then the down and rebuilt. It seemed solid, and, air pressure in the connecting bulkhead besides, rebuilding was out of the ques- was reduced to one atmosphere. Hewitt, tion. The steel framework behind the arrayed in his new, motor-driven space- facade of the wall was an integral part suit, was then lifted out of the salvage of the skeleton of the ship. ship into the bulkhead by a crane. He had to make up his mind, then, The door locked tight behind him. Air whether he would continue into the ship. was again pumped into space. Hewitt And there was no doubt of that. With watched the suit’s air-pressure gauges his purposes, he had to. carefully as the outside pressure was grad- He paused to close the airlock door. ually increased to nine hundred and seven- And there he received his second shock. ty-three atmospheres. When, after many The door distorted as it moved. That minutes, the suit showed no signs of was something else that had not been visi-

buckling, he edged it forward in low gear ble from outside. As he swung it shut, its and gently pushed open the door of the normal width of twelve feet narrowed to big ship. four. A few seconds later he was inside the The change was so monstrous that Hope of Man. perspiration broke out on his face. DARKNESS And the first, sharp, tremendous realiz- The change had come at the instant ation was in his mind. But that’s the he rolled into the ship. The difference Lorents-Fitzgerald contraction theory ef- was startling. From outside, the corridor fect! had looked bright and normal. His mind leaped on to an even more He was in a ghastly gray-dark world. staggering thought: Why, that would Several seconds went by as he peered mean this ship is traveling at near the into the gloom. Slowly, his eyes became speed of light. accustomed to the dim lighting effect. He rejected the notion utterly. It Six years had gone by since he had last seemed a meaningless concept. been aboard the ship. Even in that half- There must be some other explanation. :

20 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

AUTIOUSLY, he started his ma- Acutely conscious again that this was

chine forward on its rubber wheels. supposed to be a quick exploratory jour- C The captain’s cabin was on this ney, he shifted the softly spinning motor floor, and that was his first destination. into gear, and moved forward through the As he moved ahead, the shadows opened doorway.

up reluctantly before him. Presently he As he rolled all the way into it, he saw made out the door of the cabin. When that Captain Mark Grayson sat at a long,

he was ten feet from it, he was able to extremely narrow desk. Fie seemed to see the ramp in the distance beyond. be writing something. The reappearance of things he remem- The grizzled space veteran sat with un- bered relieved him. What was more im- natural steadiness. He did not look up portant, they seemed to be at just about as the machine rolled nearer, though he the right distance. First the airlock, then faced the door, and was in a position to the captain’s cabin, then the ramp. catch the slightest movement from the The corridor opened out at the ramp, tops of his eyes. It in then narrowed again ; and in the distance was hard that shadowy light to beyond was the second airlock. see what he was doing. His eyes seemed Everything looked eerily cramped be- to be looking fixedly down at a sheet of

cause of the abnormal narrowing effect. paper. But his hand, holding the pen, did But the length seemed to be right. not move. He expected the door of the captain’s Slowly, watchfully, Hewitt rolled a- cabin to be too narrow for his spacesuit round the desk. He was shocked, but no to get into. However, as he came up to longer so desperately surprised when he

it, he saw that its width was as he re- saw that the man was only a few inches

membered it. thick. Seen in front view, he looked un- Hewitt nodded to himself. Of course, changed. even by the Lorentz-Fitzgerald theory, From the side, he was a tall man with that would be true. Contraction would a head and body that looked like a cari- be in the direction of flight. cature of a human being, such as might Since the door was at right angles to be seen in a badly distorted circus mir- the flight-line, the size of the doorway ror. was not affected. The door jamb, how'- Right then and there, Hewitt suspended ever, could probably be narrower. his judgment. Some of the phenomena

The jamb was narrower. Hewitt had suggested the Lorentz-Fitzgerald effect. stopped his suit to start at it. Now, be Even the weird light could be the result felt himself pale with tension. of normally invisible radiation projected

It doesn’t fit, he told himself. Like the to visible frequency levels. hall, ifs narrower only by a factor of But that was as far as it went. Most three, whereas the air pressure varies nine of what he had seen could only be ex- hundred seventy-three to one. plained if the ship were traveling simul- Once more, he assured himself that the taneously at several different speeds. explanation could not possibly include He was beside, and slightly behind the famous contraction theory. Speed Grayson now. He had to strain his eyes was not a factor here. The Hope of Man to see what was on the paper. He read was practically at rest, whatever its ve- locity might have been in the past. Tellier is exhilarated. He informed me He stopped that thought. I’m wasting that yesterday, according to the instruments, we had attained a velocity of 177,000 miles time. I’ve got to get going. per second. Today, though the pile is even ROGUE SHIP 21

hotter, there has been no change in our at one of the entrances to the lower store- registered speed. He admits he can only room. guess at what has happ His posture was as unchanging as Cap- Whatever had happened at that moment •tain Grayson’s. His eyes were wide and must have struck like a secret knife. Gray- staring: they seemed to glare straight at son had no advance warning; his writing the motor-driven spacesuit. But neither had been cut off in mid-word. He sat the eyes nor the rest of the man’s body here now, a mute witness to the reality showed any reaction to Hewitt’s presence. that disaster could catch a man between His body, seen from the side, looked only heartbeats. inches in thickness. Because he was stand- Hewitt began his retreat from the con- ing, he seemed even more inhuman than trol room. His mind now was almost Grayson had been. blank. Hewitt recognized him as Draper, bne Nothing he could think could compare of the scientists. Draper’s field was plant with the fantastic reality. biology. He found three more scientists stand- S HE raced his thick, tank-like ing in various postures at the entrance suit along the corridor, Hewitt of the engine room. Since they did not A consciously braced himself, con- all face in the direction of flight, they sciously accepted the abnormality of his presented an amazing assortment. environment. He grew more observant, One, seen from the front, was as thin more thoughtful—and more tense. as a post, a gaunt, incredible looking crea- He came to the place where the corridor ture. Another was foreshortened from divided. He slowed. One side, he kpew, a side view. He simply seemed crippled. curved up a spiral ramp to the living quar- The third one resembled Captain Grayson

ters of the crew. The other went down to and Draper ; his narrowness was through the engine room, one of the storerooms the thickness of his body. and the apartments of the scientists. Inside the engine room, Armand Tel- There were no stairways or elevators lier—a mere sliver of a man as seen from in the Hope of Man. It .had been intended the side—was bending over a section of that people should use their muscles for the instrument board. He stared down at

every necessary movement. it with unwinking eyes, and neither Hewitt headed down. As he reached the turned nor moved while Hewitt watched. third floor down, and glanced along that Dissatisfied, feeling he was missing corridor, he saw that a man was standing something in this silent drama, Hewitt HURT TO SHAVE YOUR CHIN? Try a Star Blade on those tough stubble patches — those spots where whiskers are wiry and skin tender. Feel the smoother, better shave you get. Sturdier Star Blades are precision-made to take and hold a sharper edge. Try better shaving at a real saving. SIAR SINGLE OR DOUSLI EDGE SLADES 10« and U4fkfr ” !

22 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

gave his attention to the engines. His evidently been cleaning. The shells were first glance at the line of meters shocked spilled out on his lap. him. Despite the hideous distorting effect The pile was as hot as a hundred hells. from the light and the one-third contrac- The transformer needle was abnormally tion, the postures of those present were

steady, for the colossal load it was bearing. conventional. That puzzled Hewitt anew.

The drive was carrying an energy flow He had been trying to hold away from of ninety out of a possible hundred. his consciousness the extent of the disas- The resistance to acceleration be must ter that was here. Just for a moment it tremendous, for the accelerometer needle penetrated, in spite of himself. Just for registered zero. he glanced at the As an instant it hurt like fury. He had a speedometer, Hewitt’s mind flashed back brief but unnerving sense of guilt. From to what Captain Grayson had been writ- the corner of one eye, he saw a group of in “. ing his logbook: . . 177,000 miles children. All were sitting or standing in per second. . the various positions that must have been That was what the speedometer the results of their final movements. showed. Hastily, not looking directly at the For the second time, Hewitt thought, — youngsters, Hewitt guided his machine “But surely that doesn’t mean it still out into the corridor. He was heading His mind refused to hold the thought. along it when he thought, One of those Nevertheless, by the time he retreated babies was in an extremely odd position. from the engine room, his brain was be- He slowed down, disturbed. He ginning to relax. And part of the greater oughtn’t to have been so squeamish. He picture was forming there. should have taken a good look at the' It would have to be discussed, thought ‘scene. about, clarified. Tremendously stimulated The only thing is, he told himself, I’ve by the possibilities, but depressed by the got to get out of here. I can’t stop for a death that was all around him, he started second look. , on what he intended to be a swift and At the head of the ramp, he hesitated. routine round of the rest of the ship. He couldn’t go back without checking. Mrs. Tellier sat in a chair with a child Very pointed questions might be asked on her knee, a fixed smile on her face. him. He’d better have the answers. Two scientists’ wives had been caught by immobility as they were taking dishes CHAPTER THREE from the automatic dish-washing machine.

They made an oddly life-like domestic Zone of Danger tableau. The other children were in a

large play-pen, with several women sit- ACK he went to the crew’s quar- ting in chairs nearby, apparently watching ters. The scene was unchanged. them. All were distorted. B There were six children in one all between and Upstairs, in the crew’s quarters, Hew- corner. They were two three years old, he judged. itt found not only the crewmen and their wives, but Warwick, the soldier of for- That was important because it gave tune, Marie, his blonde wife, and Juanita some idea of how much time had actually Lord, the child bride of Captain Grayson. gone by aboard the ship. At most, three The girl looked older, and she had a sullen and a half years. And yet the Hope of expression on her immobile face. War- Man had been gone for six wick had a gun in his hand, which he had Unquestionably this ship had under- —

ROGUE SHIP 23

gone some of the contraction effects pre- discussion that followed. His presence dicted by the Lorentz-Fitzgerald theory. had a subduing effect on the younger Even time had been telescoped. government scientists aboard. No one had It was a point Hewitt noted only in very much to say. The attitude seemed ” passing. Something else, something far to be, “You stick your neck out first ! more important—or so it seemed—ab- As a result, the conversation remained sorbed him. Four of the children were “close to the ground.” Phrases like “a sitting on the floor amid a wilderness of natural explanation” abounded. When he toys. One child stood flat-footed, in an had listened to all he could stand, Hewitt

awkward position. The sixth had been said impatiently, “After all, these things caught in the act of getting to his feet. have happened. What do we mean by Hewitt stared at the boy in utter fasci- natural ?” nation. The sense of urgency in him was He was about to say more, when the tremendous. It was time he was out of great man cleared his throat and spoke for here. the first time since he had been intro-

But the youngster, in getting up, had duced. “Gentlemen, I should like to try got himself into an unusual position. He to clear away the debris that has accu- was balanced on the tip of one toe and mulated at the beginning of this obstacle the outspread fingers of one chubby course.” hand. There he had frozen. He turned to Hewitt. “I want to con-

Almost blankly, Hewitt realized the gratulate you, Mr. Hewitt. For the first

truth. He had not, he saw, let his mind time in history, the mythical observer carry him far enough. The difference in that mathematical oddity—has come to

air pressure, the immense tensile strength life. You have seen phenomena that, till of the metal—these things had been but now, have never been more than a set of part of a greater whole. equations.” There was a time difference also. These Without any further preliminary, he people lived one second while he lived launched into an explanation for what had nine hundred and seventy-three seconds. happened that was similar to what Hewitt From their point of view, he was making had written—and destroyed—in jail. It his entire inspection of their ship in less differed in that he also offered a theory than one second of their time. to account for the fact that the drive of He thought, They’re alive! But they’re the Hope of Man was nearly full on, and living so slozoly compared to me that, that apparently the ship was traveling at

even if I had a chance to listen to their very near the speed of light in its own

heartbeats, 1 wouldn’t hear anything. zone of existence, as he put it, “in a sort of The question was, how could contact be parallel time to now, this minute, this second !” established ? And, when it was, what good Further would it do? knowledge might, among other things, account for one fact. How had The uncertainty was still in his mind as this zone succeeded in bringing the Hope he raced back to the airlock, and the Man to MoUy D. of back Earth when the ship had accelerated in the opposite direction?

DURING Hewitt’s absence from the He broke off. “However, the time has salvage vessel, a great man had come come for a practical solution. I offer the aboard. He listened with the others to following.”

Hewitt’s account, and then remained si- Duplicates of a carefully-written letter lent and thoughtful through most of the must be placed in the hands of Armand :

24 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Tellier and Captain Grayson. The cir- notice that Grayson had finished writing cumstances would be described, and the the word “happened” during his absence. men would be urged to cut off both the He could see no change, however, in the drive and the robot pilot. If this were not position of Tellier. done within a certain time—taking into He returned to the Molly D., but did account the difference in time rate— it not wait for them to cast off. He headed would be assumed that the letter had been for Earth, and his doctor. After a com- misunderstood. At that point Hewitt plete examination, he was pronounced, as

would go aboard, shut off the robot and the doctor phrased it, "One hundred per

reverse the drive. cent physically fit.”

As soon as the Hope of Man had slowed Relieved that his brief nausea had had to a point below the critical speed, per- no pathological basis, Hewitt set about sonal contact could be established. Long clearing up his affairs. It had been de- before that, of course, the truth of the cided to give those aboard the Hope of account in the letters would have been Man fifteen minutes (their time) to react established to the satisfaction of everyone to the letters. That would be about ten aboard. days, normal time. Hewitt frowned over the suggestions. Among other things, Hewitt, after some He could think of no reason why they hesitation, called up Joan, and asked her shouldn’t work. And yet, having been if he could call on her. She refused. aboard that foreshortened, eerie ship, with “It wouldn’t be fair to the children,” its pile operating to the very limit of she said. “They were just beginning to safety, its lopsided passengers moveless live down the first publicity, and now as in death, he had a feeling that some there it is again.” factor was being neglected. Hewitt knew what she meant. Other He said slowly, "I’ll have to take along young people were cruel. They taunted.

food and water, if I have to do the shut- They asked such questions as, “When is ?” ting off. This time difference could be- your old man going to fall into the sun ” come very involved. It was all very silly, but it was devastat-

It was also decided that the Molly D ing too. would cast off as soon as the letters were Yet he stayed on the phone. There was a purpose on his mind. Life without her delivered. If it was later necessary to had been bitter and empty. It was a lone- put him aboard again, it would connect ly for his up just long enough to do so, then once world a man with obsession. Hesitantly, dreading her reaction, he more it would pull clear, and stand by. explained what was in his heart. He have three more spacesuits con- EWITT helped prepare the letter. would Then once more he was put into structed. H the mobile spacesuit. And again “We can all go aboard together,” he he crossed the threshold of the Hope of said urgently. “The whole thing is really Man. As he moved through the outer very simple. As soon as we’re on, I’ll re- doorway, something caught at his heart. verse the engines. It won’t take long be- He swayed in momentary nausea. fore we’re at a one-to-one relationship with those aboard. It’s a matter of reduc- The feeling passed as quickly as it had speed.” come. He noted the reactions, and then ing without further incident he delivered one The silence at the other end told him copy of the letter to Grayson and another at least a part of what she was thinking. to Tellier. He was greatly stimulated to He forced himself to go on ROGUE SHIP 25

“Joan, you can’t just- say no. You’ve I’m not, Hewitt told himself, taking the got to give the children their chance to slightest chance. These people are going

escape the holocaust. Beside that, a little to Centaurus whether they like it or not.

ridicule is nothing. And, anyway, once As he crossed into the airlock of the we’re on the way to Centaurus, we don’t Hope of Man, a knife-like spasm of pain have to worry about what people think. stabbed through his heart. It was so sharp,

Try to look on it as a colonizing ven- so agonizing, he almost fainted with nau- ture—” sea.

There was a click in his ear. The shock staggered him, but—as it “Joan!” He spoke sharply. had the first time—the feeling passed. There was no answer. With trembling Shaken, Hewitt crossed the inner fingers, he dialed her number again. The threshold, and closed and locked the door phone at the other end rang and rang. that looked so normal from the outside, Convinced, finally, that she wouldn’t even and so lopsided from the inside. speak to him, he hung up. What hurt He found himself in the dim, gray-black particularly was that she didn’t seem to world of the ship’s interior. have realized that this was their good-by. As he turned to head along that un- They would never see each, other again. naturally narrow corridor, something He could have justified her action, but grabbed his body from behind and

he made no attempt to do so. squeezed it mercilessly. The sensation of He put his affairs in order, as a man being caught by a giant hand was so might who expected to die. Promptly on realistic that he tried to turn back toward the tenth day, he reported back to the the door. Molly D., which was again attached to The great hand began to slip. He had the larger vessel. the feeling then of being squirted from a He had few doubts. With his armored space that was too small for him into suit, and his time-ratio advantage, he something—vast. could dominate the situation aboard un- That was the last thing he remembered

til he had reduced the ship’s speed to the before blackness closed over him.

• point where he and it were at unity.

First of all, he would lock up the ship’s E MUST have been unconscious arsenal. He intended to search every per- only a few moments. When he son aboard. Individuals like Warwick, H opened his eyes, he saw that the who played with weapons in their spare suit was still in the process of turning time, would receive special attention. toward the door.

Doubting Thomas Now Convinced

Thomas W. Mutch, Boston, has now switched to Calvert

because it tastes better.

CALVERT RESERVE BLENDED WHISKEY-86.8 PROOF-65% GRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS. CALVERT DISTILLERS CORP., NEW YORK CITY ” —

26 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

In a moment it would smash against uted during the change. His front chang- the hard metal of the lock. ing faster than his back. He had an impression that something He shuddered with the memory of else was—different—but there was no p'ain. time to notice what it was. With an effort, Hewitt Caught his scat- He grabbed hastily at the controls and tered thoughts: I’ve got to get back on applied the brakes. The suit stopped as the Molly D. If I could get in here, I if it had struck a brick wall. He reeled could also get out. I— in his saddle, breathing hard, then re- Out of the corner of one eye, he caught covered his balance. sight of the air-pressure gauges of his He thought tensely, It’s the effect of suit. The one that registered the inside coming from normal space into the zone. pressure didn’t matter. It was at its norm

The first time it didn’t bother me on the of one atmosphere. sense level. The second time I must still The gauge for outside pressure was also have been overbalanced from the first at- at one atmosphere. tempt, and so there was a moment of pain. The change was part and parcel of what This time— had already happened. But actually see-

His mind poised. He felt his eyes grow ing it was a shock almost greater than large and round. With a kind of dreadful anything that had yet occurred. fascination, he stared at the closed airlock There was a sound farther along the door. corridor. Nine men debouched from the It was no longer lopsided, but normal, Captain’s cabin. Hewitt recognized War- just the way it would be if wick among the group, and two members He whipped his machine around, and of the crew. He caught only a glimpse of gazed wildly at the corridor. It was their faces. They carried automatic pis- brightly lighted. The dim, eerie, shadowy tols and paralyzers. They were intent on effect was gone as if it had never been. what they were doing, for none so much as He noticed something else. The corri- glanced toward Hewitt. dor was not narrow any more. He They headed in a body towards the couldn’t tell exactly, but he guessed that ramp. They were gone down it almost it was fifteen feet wide, its original width. as they had come. The tremendous truth burst upon Hew- Behind them they left silence. itt. He was no longer an observer of this Hewitt was startled, and alarmed. So scene. many weapons—for what ?

He was part of it. He had to get back to the Molly D. He also would now appear lopsided to This situation was out of hand. another coming aboard for the first time. He turned anxiously, unlocked the in- To himself, and to those caught as he ner door, and, using the hand-arm at- was, he would be quite normal. tachments of his suit, tried to pull it open.

People affected by the Lorentz-Fitz- It wouldn’t move. He strained at it, and gerald phenomena were not aware of any pulled and twisted. But it wouldn’t budge.- difference in themselves. The contraction Abruptly, he realized the truth. The influenced their bodies and the light that time factor ! What had been a minute for came to their eyes—everything was equal- 'him had been hours for the Molly D. Long ly distorted. ago, it had cast off. It would now be Tensely, Hewitt remembered the sen- standing by, waiting to see what would sation as of being squeezed. Readjust- happen. ments within his body, unevenly distrib- He thought of launching himself in one ROGUE SHIP 27

of the lifeboats. He even turned to ma- tain’s cabin when it struck him that War- nipulate the wall mechanism, started the wick and the others must have been inside ponderous outer door swinging and for a reason. They must have attacked screwing shut. He was reaching with Grayson before going down to the engine his mechanical hand for the valve that room. would let air into the airlock, and so There might be a guard inside, keep- equalize the pressure on the inner door. ing an eye on the prisoner—and on the The moment the pressure was equal, the open doorway. He would have to run that door would open. gauntlet, or attack the guard.

At that point he stopped. He had a Attack, he decided. He thought of it

hideous thought : Now that I’m adjusted as an icy-cold logical decision. To be to this zone, I won’t necessarily go back seen at this moment could be disastrous. to normal space. Where will I go? He manipulated the controls of one of He couldn’t decide. the hand-arm attachments of the suit,

And besides, he thought, it’ll take time. raised it into striking position and paused ; Five minutes to close the outer door, to fix in his mind the arrangement of the and eight minutes to reverse the process, cabin. and launch the lifeboat. The pause also gave him time to re- That would be nearly nine days out- member that a paralyzer could be used side. effectively against him even though he was

He began to stiffen. For there was no in the suit. He pictured what it might turning back. He was committed to the do to the muscles of his eyes, cringed in

big ship’s unnatural matter and energy anticipation; and then put it out of his state, irrevocably. mind. Attack, regardless. CHAPTER FOUR Like a charging tank, the spacesuit raced forward. The tires squealed in pro- Revolt! test, as he whipped it around and through the door. He was all the way inside be- EWITT grew calm and cool and fore he slowed. He was halfway across the grim. He was here to persuade room before he was able to stop. H a shipload of people to start again He saw that Grayson was alone in the on the long journey to the Centauri suns. room. The captain lay on the floor, his Or, if persuasion failed, to force them. hands and feet bound. His face was Or trick them. streaked with blood, and his clothes torn The method was unimportant. Only and twisted. His eyes were open. They the result counted. stared at the spacesuit, widening.

I'll have to hide, he told himself. I can’t Hastily, Hewitt backed out of the cabin reveal myself now, when I don't know and headed down the ramp. He reached what's going on. Besides, surprise might the top balcony of the lower storeroom be an advantage in a crisis. without incident. Quickly, he manipu-

He knew just where to conceal himself. lated the release mechanism of the space- Having decided where he must go, he be- suit. came conscious of the distance he had to The rubber separated with a wheezing cover. That made him anxious. Swiftly, sound. The two sections of the apparatus he rolled along the corridor toward the were driven apart to the limit of the bolts ramp. that connected them. Hewitt crawled out He was within a few yards of the cap- between two of the bolts, and a moment ”; — ! ”

28 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

later stood on the floor on his own two the door and peered out into the corri- feet. dor. He pushed the machine behind some A guard stood in front of the engine- packing cases, where it would not be vis- room door.

ible from the door. And then, without Hewitt drew back hastily • in dismay. taking any other precautions, he swung The man’s head had been turned away, so out onto a section of the thick fence- he was still safe. But—a guard! How type wire net that held different parts of could he ever hope to get near the en- the cargo in place. gine room? The lower storeroom—like the upper Anger swelled inside him. What was the one—was seven levels high. He had come matter with Warwick? His side had won, in on the seventh balcony. Using the hadn’t it? And as far as Warwick knew, strong, woven fence, he climbed down to the ship was light-years out in space. the floor ninety feet below. From whom did he expect trouble? The

Now what? man must be insane. . . .

He couldn’t wait. He realized that. Al- His fury died as swiftly as it had come, ready at least fifteen minutes had gone by as the guard shouted something. Hewitt since the change. Outside, that would be caught only part of what he said ; he was ten days. evidently speaking to someone inside the !” All too swiftly, it would be twenty days, engine room : . I don’t get it thirty, forty—many months. The time Hewitt didn’t hear the answer. There ration of 973-1 no longer in his favor again, was was a pause ; then the guard spoke it was against him. The proportion was belligerently : “But I thought we were go- so monstrously great that even a few sec- ing to shut off the drive— onds might make the difference between A pause, then: "... letter?” success and catastrophe. Presently he added, "So we’re going to He lay near the door in the shelter of wait a few hours and see what’s going . „ ff a big box. It was hot and stuffy. Very on

little air circulated among these piles of Silence, then grumpily, . . it doesn’t !” packing cases. Tense, anxious, bathed in make sense to me perspiration, Hewitt examined his situ- It made sense to Hewitt. Warwick had ation. found the letter he had delivered to Tel-

It was not good. He had brought two lier. The original purpose of the rebellion paralyzers with him, but against a group must have been to stop the ship and turn of they ef- instantly determined men, wouldn’t be back to Earth ; but he had fective. They couldn’t kill. They couldn’t guessed the possibilities of a much swifter even threaten death. return to the solar system. As his thought reached that point, a Hewitt groaned inwardly. So he’s going group of men walked noisily past the to wait a few hours open doorway. Somebody was saying sav- He felt stunned—because that was out agely, “Take these prisoners up to— of the question. There wasn’t that much

Hewitt wasn’t sure, but it sounded like time to play around with. One hour, pos- Warwick’s voice. If that was so, then sibly. But not a second longer.

the prisoners were Tellier and the scien- I’ve got to capture somebody, if possible tists who had remained loyal to him. win him to my side, and use him as a decoy that Hewitt came to his feet. He thought, to get near guard. I’ll give them half a minute to get started He had to get into the engine room, and up the ramp. Then— He moved over to shut off that drive. — !

ROGUE SHIP 29

Galvanized, he edged out over the box- the ramp. She staggered after three steps, es, and began to climb up to the seventh and stopped. She looked back at his balcony. It was harder going up than weapon with an expression of utter misery it had been coming down. on her face. Slowly, she held up her hands. He reached the seventh balcony, and Standing there, she began to sway. Hewitt peered quickly out into the corridor, first leaped forward and caught her as she one way, then the other. He didn’t really fainted. expect to see a sentry. But as he turned She was a dead weight in his arms, as his head, he did see he carried her rapidly back into the store- And was seen. room. The guard was Juanita Grayson. He lowered her to the floor, and blew on her eyes and into her nostrils. Hurry! he thought. His enormous anger was EWITT’s first and greatest ad- back. She would pass out on him at a vantage was that he was tensed, time like this H ready for action. He had told She stirred, and sighed like a tired himself that, if he were seen, he would child. For a few moments, then, she have no alternative but to attack. looked as she had when he had first seen He darted instantly out of his shelter. her, not more than fourteen years old. With paralyzer ready, eyes narrowed, lips She grew visibly older as she came awake. girl. lips her her compressed, he raced towards the Her tightened ; face hardened ; He realized then that he had still an- expression grew sullen. She opened her other advantage. She was scared, and she eyes and stared up at him. had no training. Her eyes grew large with There was no fear in her now. She fright. Her hand, with the gun in it, came recognized him, and she didn’t expect to up shakily. be hurt. She said, “That letter—it was !” Hewitt stopped a dozen feet from her, true and covered her. “Drop it!” he said. His What startled him was the fact that she voice was low but savage. had fainted. In spite of knowing about the Her gun clattered to the floor. letter, she had reacted to the sight of him

She stood staring at him, and there was as if his presence were a complete sur- the incredulous beginning of recognition prise. in her eyes. The fear changed. Stark un- He forgot that. He had his story ready, belief replaced it. and that was all that mattered. Briefly, he She started to turn, started to run up described what had happened to the Hope ”

30 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

of Man, how it had returned to Earth, couldn’t recall what the sentry guarding

and how in a few hours it would crash the engine-room door had looked like. His again into the planet, this time to be de- one glance had been too quick for any stroyed. identification. There had been a plump, That last was true, but only in an genial individual named Mackarett, a oblique sense. Actually the sun was the younger, ascetic-looking man whose name danger. But she, like the others, didn’t was Rand, and a dark, intense person who believe in that. So she had to be frightened called himself Andrew Sincere.

by something that she could believe in. It turned out to be Mackarett, a little He saw that she was looking at him, her thinner, a little more sober-looking—and eyes ever so slightly narrowed. They were quite gullible. When Juanita shouted at brown, he saw, and hostile. “You’re the him from the ramp, “Mr. Mackarett, person,” she said in a low tone, “who quick—come!” he raced towards her. made me marry an old man.” When she turned and disappeared up

She flashed, “Don’t deny it. If it hadn’t the ramp, he followed her. been for you and your stupid ship, Mark Hewitt was waiting around the first would never have thought of marrying turn. ” me. There was some justice to her final OR a bare moment, the man acted

accusation. But He\yitt had no time to as if he were going to fight, despite discuss her problem. He cut her off. He F the gun that pointed straight at his said grimly, “Listen, the deadly thing face. His lips parted in a snarl. He start- about what I’ve told you is that we’ll only ed to bring up his weapon. be able to rescue three people. You help Abruptly, his arm seemed to grow me, and you’re one of them.” weak. His eyes glazed, and appeared to That caught her. Her eyes grew big. turn inward. He looked like a visionary “What do you want me to do?” seeing a very unpleasant vision. He mum- “We’ve got to shut off the drive,” said bled, “Mr. Hewitt, that letter—

Hewitt. “That’s first. If we don’t, the ship That was as far as he got. At that point, will crash. You’ve got to help me capture Hewitt stepped forward and deftly re- the guard at the entrance to the engine moved the automatic pistol from his nerve- room.” less fingers. That seemed to shock Mack-

Her eyes flashed with scorn. “I know arett even more. It was as if a momentary

who that is. One of those crackpots, al- hallucination had come alive and touched

ways spouting morality at you. But I’ll him. The effect was out of all proportion decoy him. He joined us, didn’t he? That to the reality. He collapsed to the floor, shows he’s no better than the rest of us.” and lay there twisting and turning. Fi- It only showed that one of the religious nally, his mind must have started work- visionaries had found the voyage drab. ing again. He looked up. And so he had reinterpreted his dream Before he could speak, Hewitt said, about the sun destroying the earth, and “Mackarett, there’s no time to waste.

fitted it in more closely with his current Listen!” desires. He told the same story he had told Hewitt helped the girl to her feet. “Let’s Juanita. Only three or four people could go!” he said. “You first.” be taken off the ship immediately. The As he followed her down the ramp, he rest would have to stay aboard, wait for wondered which of the three “crackpots” the ship to slow down, and then come was on guard. For the life of him, he back the long way. ”

ROGUE SHIP 31

He finished, “You've got to help me “Juanita!” get Into that engine room, and shut off the “Yes?” !” drive. Right away “I want you to go upstairs, and see Mackarett mumbled, “But Mr. Hewitt, when they come back. Stay on the ramp,

Warwick is at one of the airlocks. He’s and just peek out, so you won’t be seen. launching a lifeboat. He— The moment the lifeboat noses back into “Now?” said Hewitt. the airlock, rush down here and tell me!”

“Yes, sir.” He added, “And if he isn’t back in fif- The first shock passed. Hewitt stiffened teen minutes after you get up there, come to an examination of the possibilities. back and tell me anyway.” At that time With Warwick out of the way, his main he would have to make up his mind. He opposition would be gone. ended, “Will you do that?” One thing seemed certain. Warwick “Yes.” But she did not move. Her face would not find himself in normal space, was white. adjusted to Earth. That process appeared “What’s the matter?” to depend on a series of unbalancing ef- “What are you going to do?” she de- fects within the electronic and atomic manded. structures of the affected object. A series, “Mackarett and I are going to seize the not just one; it had taken three entrances engine room.”

to do the job for Hewitt. Still she hesitated. There was misery He pictured Warwick forever caught in her eyes. Hewitt said, “Honey, please

into slow-time, and unaffected by the hurry.. . . What’s the matter?”

gravity of the Earth. He would have to "Are you sure you’re going to take me ? use intricate machines to adjust his body I’m going to be one of those who gets to the complex velocity of Earth through taken off with you?” space. “You’re first,” said Hewitt. “I swear

He couldn’t do it. He would die. it!” !” Hewitt was pale as he turned to Juanita. Tears came to her eyes. “I’m ashamed In a sense one man's life didn’t matter. In she whispered. “I don’t want to be a de- a few months of outside time—hours serter. But I’ve got to get off this ship.”

here—the entire population of the planet Hewitt said, “Hurry, please ! If we don’t of man’s origin would die in a holocaust make speed, nobody will get away!” of heat. Even the outer planets would Her shame did not prevent her from be engulfed by waves of super-hot gases. starting off at a run. Believing that, he still hesitated. It was To Mackarett, Hewitt said, “How not easy to say, “This man must die, so many men are there in the engine room ?” that we can live!” Twice he parted his “Two.” lips to say, “Damn Warwick!” Hewitt broke open one of the auto-

He didn’t say it. Instead, he asked, “Is matics and, while Mackarett watched, ?” anyone going with him removed all but one shell from the maga-

Mackarett said, “Oh, he’s not going zine. Silently, he handed the weapon himself. He’s sending Tellier and one of over. the other scientists.” Mackarett accepted the gun warily. Hewitt swore. “Am I also going to be rescued?” he

That settled it. If he had hesitated asked. about his enemy, he could not possibly be Hewitt sighed. Ever since he had come

responsible for ensuring the death of a aboard, he had felt as if he were moving man who would be his ally. in auicksand. It was the old storv of 32 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

human beings intent on themselves, resist- He said, "Absolutely. I promise, on my ing the larger purposes of others. word of honor.” Men were hard indeed to save from He was sweating with anxiety. “For disaster. their sake, man! We’re wasting time. "Absolutely.” He spoke the falsehood You don’t realize how many hours are firmly. going by outside. Hurry, for heaven’s !” “What about my wife and child? Can sake I take them along ?” Mackarett said, "I’ll take your word.” Hewitt had been turning his mind away. The question caught him unprepared. Un- CHAPTER FIVE accustomed to lying, he was momentarily flustered. He had forgotten that a man Centaurus or Death!

would think of his family first. HE PLAN was for Mackarett to For a fateful moment he hesitated, try- signal Hewitt when the crewmen ing to think what this would do to his T were off guard. Before they could hastily fabricated story. He said at last, get over their surprise—or even be sure lamely, “Yes, they can come too.” they were really threatened—Hewitt Mackarett -flashed, “You’re not sure. would rush in. Swiftly, the two men You didn’t answer fast enough.” would be disarmed and tied up. And thus, Hewitt was beginning to recover. He in a few moments, the engine room would said frankly, “You can see how I’ve been be conquered. operating. I came aboard this ship, and It far indeed being a perfect found a revolution in full swing. I had to was from strategy. It involved risks which he dis- act fast, but I’m handicapped by the fact — missed as thought of them. Its that I can offer rescue to three, possibly even he great merit was surprise. four people—I think four can be managed. It’s got to work! he told himself. I don’t really care who they are, but in It did. each case it’s got to be someone who helps the Pratt me. Now you come along and say, my wife When two crewmen— and Leichter been tied Mackarett and child, also. Let me be blunt. To me, —had up, only one thing matters. The drive has took up his position as guard outside the door, and Hewitt set up the device that to be shut off.” * He was feeling much more confident would automatically shut off the pile. now. He went on, “Why not leave your Presently, uneasily, he went to the door

wife and kid here? They’ll be all right. where he could see Mackarett. "No sign But I need those two vacancies to offer of her?” he asked. as bribes to the men in the engine room.” Mackarett shook his head. Mackarett said, “If we can capture Dissatisfied, Hewitt returned to his those two men, so that no promises are position at the pile. A dozen times, then, necessary, then can I take my family ?” he fingered the lever that would begin time he Under his breath, Hewitt cursed the to shut off the power. But each man and his conditions. He had limited withdrew his hand.

his lie as to how many could be rescued, He knew what it was. In spite of his because that was the only way he could conviction that all means were justified, put on the pressure. Now, he was being actually he could not knowingly be re- forced to use up his reserves faster than sponsible for the death of another human he had intended. But this was the critical being. The very extent of what he had moment. done, and tried to do, during the past ten ? — —

ROGUE SHIP 33

years, showed how strong was his motiva- There was a sound at the door. For a tion in that direction. fateful moment, Hewitt glared over the

He had an obsession to preserve life, girl’s shoulder at the men who were plung-

not destroy it. He could lie, steal and ing into the room. Then, in a spasm of cheat for that purpose, but he could not energy, he tried to do three things at

kill. The pressure of that was so powerful once.

that even to think of fighting it was to He started to turn back to the control realize how hopeless such a fight would board. He grabbed awkwardly with one be. hand for the lever that would shut off Restlessly, he went again to the door. the drive. With the other hand, he clawed Mackarett saw him and said, “What's at his own weapon. keeping that girl? She’s driving me A paralyzer beam caught him in the !” crazy shoulder, with all his actions still unfin- But he did not suggest that the pile be ished. He went down, cursing, his muscles shut down, anyway. It struck Hewitt that twitching. He heard the clatter of his own this odd" individual, who had come on the paralyzer on the floor. Somebody kicked voyage because of some kind of hallucina- it out of his reach. tory experience—this man also did not Through a blur, he saw Juanita Gray- think of dealing death to others to gain son. “I’m so sorry !” she sobbed. his own ends. She was cut off by Warwick, harshly. Even Juanita, embittered though she “What are you sorry about? You didn’t was, still little more than a teen-ager, had do anything.” He turned to Hewitt with suffered a qualm of conscience. a sneer. “I saw her peeking around the Thought of the girl reminded him that corner of the ramp, and there was some- she had left Grayson. He shook his head, thing about her that made me suspicious.

uneasily. It was unfortunate. She would I got it out of her, by heaven!” have to make a choice between two men Hewitt groaned inwardly. It was an old, Grayson and himself. Every woman on old story. Too many people were not just this tremendous journey would have to weak or strong of character. They wa- bear children. vered between the two. And it always Mackarett said, “Here she comes!” showed. Hewitt jumped, and went back to the in- As a result, his cause was lost, unless strument board. He stood, waiting. In a moment he would have to make up A FEW minutes later, Warwick said his mind. Tensely, he hoped that her violently, “What do you mean only four news would be that Tellier was back. can be rescued? Do you take me for a He heard Mackarett speak to the girl. simpleton? If four, why not forty? What Then there was silence. Juanita said are you trying to pull off ?”

something Hewitt didn’t catch, her tone He was a blond young giant with sea- was so low. Then more silence. blue eyes. His face was twisted with sus- Hewitt was astounded at the delay. picion as he went on: “Listen, Hewitt, Didn’t these two realize He turned I don’t get what’s going on. Tellier was toward the door, and shouted angrily, out just now in the lifeboat. He practically “Hurry up! For heaven’s sake!” had to use a telescope to see our sun. At that, she came through the door. Her We’re just about half a light-year from face was the color of lead. Hewitt, on the Proxima Centauri. This ship must be in verge of yelling at her again, swallowed both places at once for you to have got his anger. “What’s the matter ?” he asked. aboard. Is that the explanation?” — ”

34 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES — “It’s the zone ” Hewitt began. He “But if that’s how it is,” he said— aloud, broke off. “Proxima is that close ?” half to himself, “it would mean Not for the first time since the Hope of He caught himself, and pleaded, “War-

Man had come hack to the Earth’s at- wick, shut off the drive ! Even as we talk mosphere, he felt staggered. His picture here, hours are going by outside.” of the “zone,” never very clear, suffered Warwick was cold. “You can’t fool me. another change. He had found it difficult, It’ll be at least a year before the Earth’s

if not impossible, to imagine a “zone” ac- orbit could again intersect the orbit of tually traveling far in excess of the velocity the ship. In the letter—which you swear of light. And yet, the indications were that to—you say the ship is only traveling at the speed had been light-years in a day ten miles an hour. At that speed, it can’t which only made it more difficult to think catch up with the Earth, which moves

of it as “speed” or “movement.” through space at around eighteen miles Most of the evidence seemed to be in a second.” now. According to Grayson’s logbook, the He ended angrily. “What have you got ship had ceased registering acceleration at to "say to that, Hewitt?” 177,000 miles a second. That fitted with Hewitt said, “While you were talking, the one-to-three telescoping effect he had fifteen hours went by. Man, man, use your observed when he first came aboard. head.”

It didn’t fit in with a 973-1 atmospheric pressure difference. It didn’t fit with the E FELT hopeless. At this final matter density that had enabled the ship hour, he was up against the wall to penetrate the Earth’s crust. Those H of another man’s ignorance. War- more spectacular phenomena could only wick’s training was so limited, it did not have occurred normally at a velocity so strike him that the ten-mile apparent close to that of light-speed that the differ- speed was in addition to Earth’s orbital ence would be hard to measure by any velocity. Explaining the details to War- known methods. wick could only lead to more questions.

Was it possible the Hope oj Man had Nevertheless, Hewitt made the attempt. continued accelerating in the zone? That When he had finished, Warwick said might account for the fact that it was act- stubbornly, “I know what you’ve got on

ing as if it were traveling at two different your mind. That stupid sun business, speeds at the same time. Well, don’t think we’re giving up our !” On that basis, assuming the existence chance to get off this ship

of the “zone,” it was possible to conceive It was the reaction Hewitt had ex-

of the Hope oj Man “simultaneously” oc- pected : unthinking, concerned only with cupying a position in normal space near the man’s own desires. Mentally, he gave the Centauri suns, and, four light years Warwick up. No more scientific explana- away, another position in the zone. tion. This fight was on a different level. the only It would not, of course, be in two places He said grimly, “Warwick, I’m get off. I’ll at the same time with respect to the same man who knows how to you a observer. According to Einsteinian phys- do it when you cut off the drive, not before.” ics, there was no such thing as identical second admit instant of time for more than one observer. Warwick persisted, “But you plunging To Hewitt, the ship was—or had been— there’s no immediate danger of in the solar system. To the people aboard, into the earth?”

it was out in space. It would happen in two hours, ship Hewitt shook his head wonderingly. time. But long before that—in little more ” !

ROGUE SHIP 35 than an hour-—the sun horror would take speak. He rushed on : “Don’t give up now place. In less than eight weeks you’ll be landing The impact of that made him raise his on a planet that will belong to you. And voice. Loudly, he called out to the others all the stuff aboard this ship, millions of —both men and women—gathered in the dollars worth of material—yours, if you !” corridor : “Stop this madman ! If you lis- land ten to him, you’ll be dead in forty min- Warwick yelled, “Folks, it’s the old utes !” sun-explosion nonsense that’s driving

That was a lie, but he had to have a few him! If we slow down now, it’ll take us !” minutes leeway. four years to get back to Earth

There was a stir. Several women looked Hewitt said earnestly. “It isn’t as if* uneasy, and tugged at the arms of their this were an ordinary old-style colonizing men. Hewitt saw Tellier under guard expedition. We have tools and equipment, standing in the background. He called to advanced machinery. Most of you will live !” the physicist in a piercing voice : “Tellier, better than you ever did on Earth when you were outside, you saw the Cen- He went on before Warwick could tauri suns pearby. Is that right?” speak : “What you don’t seem to realize is “Yes.” The physicist spoke in a low that you rebelled in order to stop the tone. drive. You risked your lives to do that.

“In your estimate how long will it take Now, one man among you has decided to us to get there ?” prevent you. Are you going to let him? “It’ll take us about three months to slow You have a right to make up your own !” down. Then a few weeks while we ma- minds. Don’t let one man dictate to you neuver for a landing.” He stopped. Warwick was drawing an “That’s normal time. With the time- automatic. The man had a twisted smile contraction effect, part of that slowing on his face. He faced the group squarely, down will seem only a half or a third as a big, arrogant, determined man. He said long?” That was only a guess. flatly : “I tell you, the only danger that

Tellier hesitated. “That’s about right.” Hewitt has in mind is from the sun. He’s Hewitt whirled on the group. “Think,” insane about that. You folks stick with he said, “you’re only about two months me, and you’ll be on good old terra firma from your destination. Surely after all this in less than a day.” time, you won’t give up when there’s so He waved his gun menacingly. “And little more time to go.” now, if anybody wants —to make trouble He saw that Warwick was about to just let him step forward ! — ”

36 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

No one moved. Hewitt shouted, “Don’t The answer was prompt. “On the basis let one man cow you. I tell you this is life of what you said in the letter, and what —’” and death I’ve heard you say, my opinion is that the A fist that seemed to be made of iron ship will immediately revert to its posi-

caught him in the mouth. He half-fell, tion in normal space. That is, near Cen- then recovered. Dizzily, he looked up into taurus.” Warwick’s face. The big man spoke from Hewitt drew a deep breath. “Tellier,”

between clenched teeth : “Any more he said, “why didn’t you shut off the drive, troublemakers ?” as we asked you to do in the letter ?” There were none. The tight smile was The scientist stared at him. “You didn’t ..back on Warwick’s face. He said in a give us time,” he said. —“Why, I’d barely silken tone, “You’ll- be living up in the finished reading it when crew’s quarters from now on. If we have He stopped. He had lost his audience. to go back the long way, believe me, you They were at the ramp. won’t enjoy the trip. If you’re so much as The guard who had been ahead of them, seen down at this level, you’ll get a bullet stepped aside and partly blocked the ramp

where it’ll do you the least good.” that led down. He motioned with his He turned to Mackarett. “You, too !” he automatic. “Up !” he said curtly. said. Hewitt started forward obediently, then The plump man started to protest, but turned and kicked the man in the stomach. Warwick cut him off. “Get!” he said. It was the crudest blow he had struck in his life. The guard doubled up with a AS THEY headed for the ramp, Hew- cry. itt was already bracing himself. The Hewitt plunged down the ramp. A bul-

choice, it seemed to him, was perfectly let screamed past his ear, struck the wall.

simple : Die now, or an hour from now Then he was around the curve of the He turned to Tellier, who was just be- spiral, temporarily safe. Behind him, he hind him. fie asked tensely, “When you heard Warwick shout: “Phone the engine were out in the lifeboat, did you have a room! Shoot him in the legs!”

1 hard time keeping up with the Hope of He wasn’t going to the engine room. ' ?” “ Man . . . damn you, Tellier! Get out of The physicist shrugged. —“It took all the the way!” power we had. Mr. Hewitt ” earnestly That was the last he heard, but it gave “you cannot imagine against what resist- him a picture of Tellier blocking pursuit

ance the Hope of Man is maintaining its for just those vital- few seconds. velocity. And the lifeboat had to contend with the same resistance.” E REACHED the corridor on Hewitt, who had seen the relevant in- which was the entrance to the struments, could imagine only too well. H seventh balcony of the lower He saw that the ramp was only a score storeroom. At a dead run, he headed for

of feet away. He said hastily, “Which air- it. If I can make it, he was thinking, with- lock did you go out of? One or two?” out their seeing me, they’ll keep on going “Two.” down—

Less than a dozen feet to go. He had He made it. And still he forced himself the information he needed. But there to new exertions. With every ounce of were more questions in his mind. strength left in his body he ran towards “Tellier, what in your opinion will hap- the spacesuit, where he had left it a seem-

pen when the drive is shut off ?” ing age before. Panting, he crawled be- "

ROGUE SHIP rr

tween the up-ended bolts and scrambled But for perhaps two minutes there would , onto tbe saddle. His fingers trembled as be no interference. he pressed the button that started the At top speed, Hewitt raced towards air- upper section of the suit sliding down to lock number two, the one Tellier had used. join the lower. The two rubber linings He paused for seconds only. He took time squeezed together, and became air-tight. for one action. He pressed the button that He had a monster in his control now. started the great outer door unscrewing. Out into the corridor he raced, and to- He didn’t wait for tbe door to open, wards the ramp. A crewman on the way but wheeled around, and headed for air- down stopped, teetered on one leg, and lock number one. then raised his automatic. And now he was where he wanted to be. He fired one bullet. It jangled against

the armored suit. The next second, with FIRST, he opened the door of the life- a yell of alarm, tjie man was flattening him- boat. Then he activated the mechanism self against a wall. Hewitt maneuvered that started the inner airlock unscrewing. ; past him, and raced on up the ramp to the At that point, three men appeared at the; airlock corridor. head of the ramp. One of them was War- Amazingly, it was deserted. Women wick, who shouted: "Hewitt, you can’t and other noncombatants must have been get away. We’H blast you with para- rushed up the ramp when the shooting lyzers.” started. And Warwick and his men had But if was an automatic he held m Ms,

followed him down. They’d be back—long own hand. And it was an automatic that: before all he could (to that he had to do. (Continued on following page)

A MARTIAN ODD1TV

A Martian saw people and said,

" Those things would be better off dead. They are stupid and mean And have hair on their bean Where they should have antennae, in- stead!

—E. E. Stuck 38 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

(Continued from previous page) flight, and adjusted the pile to nine-tenths each of the other men carried. Seeing of its potential. The small boat seemed to them. Hewitt felt an almost insane sar- freeze in space; it held its position be- donic glee. side the yawning opening of the lock.

He guessed that these men had deliber- Carefully, he turned it around, and ately armed themselves with guns, be- eased it back into the airlock. cause bullets could kill. Paralyzers could Once! only incapacitate. For five seconds, by his watch, he

And now, for possibly another minute, let it rest there. Then he let the rollers they could do nothing against him. launch it backwards.

The inner door was still unscrewing. That was easier. He could use the pow- It swung ponderously as he watched. erful backward thrust of the drive to edge

Hewitt swung his suit into the lifeboat, it out. Almost the instant it yvas outside, and set in motion the launching mecha- he set the power. nism. Just in time. He felt a dizziness, an un- Automatically, the lifeboat rotated down mistakable sensation. For a bare mo- on its launching arms, and rolled forward ment he was not in control of the lifeboat. on a long line of rubber rollers that lifted Then the feeling passed, and he pushed the up from the floor. It was propelled for- boat’s nose back into the airlock. ward and into the lock. “Twice!” He spoke the word aloud.

When it was all the way inside, the Again, he waited five seconds, and then inner door swung shut behind it. once more launched the lifeboat. As it Everything was automatic now. The moved clear of the opening, the great process could no longer be stopped. outer door began to swing shut.

The air sighed as it was sucked out of Involuntarily, Hewitt called out, “War- the lock. Even before that noise faded, wick, don’t!” there was another sound. The great outer There was a senseless series of sounds door—which had, by normal time, taken from the loudspeakers. With a sinking sen- them more than four days to open—began sation, Hewitt realized the truth. Radio already distorted. to unscrew. Within minutes, as it had waves were He had time see the far been built to do (it would still, of course, to that door was too shut for to control," be hours, relative to Earth), it swung him and then— aut and to one side. Two things happened at once. He ap- lifeboat The lifeboat radio clattered into life. plied power, so that the would “Hewitt," roared Warwick’s voice, “you start to circle the -big ship. As he was draw- can’t escape that way—you’ll have to ing clear of the controls, nausea struck come back as Tellier did. If you leave the him like a blow. The pain left him gasp- ing, but it passed again almost ship, we won’t let you back in. You’ll be as swiftly stranded !’’ as it had come-. Hewitt set the controls so that the outer When he could see again, he thought, I've got about seconds the door would remain open, if it was not fifteen before interfered with. Then he launched the second wave of fain. If I can get into air- lifeboat. lock number two before the final change takes place— And still he was only at the beginning of what he had to do. Through the forward porthole, he saw And all he had was a theory. that he was high up above the Hope of As the lifeboat emerged from the lock, Man. He saw something else. It distracted he turned its nose in the direction of him—just for a moment it held him. ROGUE SHIP 39

He saw three points of white light, and and set in motion the whole process of one red. Two of the points were like jewels entering. held close to his eyes, pinpoints in size, Whatever he did now would save him but so bright they dazzled him. hours-—when the change came. He thought: The Centauri suns! No His good fortune, then, was that the longer did they look like one bright spot outer door was actually beginning to as seen from the southern hemisphere of screw shut, the air beginning to come into Earth. They were separated now into four the lock, the inner door beginning to un-

distinct bodies : Alpha, Beta and Gamma, screw—when the blackout of the change and red Proxima. struck him with all its terrible impact. Here they were, his hope for the future As a result, he only had to sit there of man, the famous, nearest star system, thirty hours, before, with his 973-1 time- only four and one-third light years from ratio advantage, he took full control of Earth. the Hope of Man.

So close, so wonderfully close . . And then he shook his head in astonishment. AVERILL HEWITT stepped gingerly For in some kind of a negaspatial zone, down to the soil of Earth from the pa- this ship was visible at*‘this” moment only trol boat that had ferried him down from a few thousand miles above the surface the Hope of Man. He had come back of Earth. alone. Nearly ten years had gone by on He forgot that. For there ahead and Earth. to one side was the opening of airlock He started to push through the crowd number two. of reporters assembled at the landing field.

And it was open. Then he realized he was not going to be allowed to escape. He stopped, and smiled. He said, “I had IS FORESIGHT was justified. the patrol boat commander radio ahead for They had seen him only at airlock old newspapers that would describe what H one. And so they hadn’t suspected happened to the sun. Did anybody bring that he had also set in motion the opening one ?” mechanism of airlock two. “Here! Here!”

He guessed that he had seconds left. Several papers were held up, and passed With utter concentration, he nosed his forward. lifeboat into the lock, jabbed hard at the Hewitt accepted them, and sat down keys that started the outer door closing, on one of the landing-field benches. He

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40 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

said, “I’ll answer no questions till I’ve He might have saved the human race. read this.” Actually, the truth of what had happened More than nine years before, about one was far more startling than they realized. week before his predicted Nova, the sun He began, “The universe is more-com- had suddenly increased in size about twen- plex than anything we previously dreamed.

ty per cent. Simultaneously, its tempera- The solar system, in its movement through ture had gone down more than three thou- space, periodically enters spatial “zones” sand degrees. that differ one from the other. At the

For fifteen hours its paler light shone time I made my prediction, our system upon an Earth that was scarcely affected. had apparently just entered such a zone.

It was as if a mist had come up in the The imbalance that started then took years atmosphere, blocking off the heat, or as to reach a critical point. I predicted that

if a partial night had fallen. The planet point on the basis of mathematics that

remained warm inside its envelope of air. examined the functional behavior without The great waters and the thick crust re- being aware of the cause. I thought the

tained their heat, and so absorbed the ti- changes applied only to the sun. tanic shock of the sudden reduction in the “They didn’t. The earth and all the sun’s temperature. other solar planets were affected also. And

In time, of course, all that accumulated when the critical moment came, the earth warmth would have drained. The oceans —because it had entered the zone before would have frozen, the land chilled; and the sun—was changed first. an ice-laden planet, virtually lifeless, “During that time, the sun did not cool. would have resulted. “All the physical changes took, place in At the end of the fifteen hours, the sun your bodies and in the earth. And when began to shrink. The temperature went up. the sun finally seemed to return to nor- it actually flaring as I origi- In six hours it was normal. There had mal, was up been no change since. nally predicted it would. Hewitt said, “It probably won’t happen “It was being affected by the zone, fif- again for millions of years.” teen hours after the earth itself had en- He put the papers aside, stood up and tered the zone.” went on, “I have learned a- lot about the For a moment, when he had finished^ behavior of matter and energy. I think he looked grimly around his audience. I can explain why the sun reacted other- Then slowly, he began to relax. wise than I predicted.” He regretted nothing. No one was hap- He paused, and took a deep breath. He pier than he over what had happened. had been, intent on the newspapers. For During those years on Centaurus, he had the first time, he saw how vast was the struggled with the others to build the crowd that had come out to meet him. foundations of a great new civilization. Radio microphones were closely He and Juanita, with their four children, grouped around him. Television cameras had helped insure that man would survive pointed at his face. It startled him a little any disaster that might now, or ever, to realize that he was famous now, not strike the solar system. notorious. Something had happened to Now that all was well, he was back for the sun—not what he had predicted—but more colonists. Three planets, two pass- something tremendous. It justified all that ably hospitable, one a veritable paradise, he had done, the expedition to Centaurus, waited for the pioneers. the methods he had used aboard the ship Standing there, with the world listen- everything. ing, he launched into his sales talk. By RAY BRADBURY

It held the whiteness of the moon and the blueness of the stales. . . . OUTCAST OF THE STARS To the mighty lords of infinity he ANY nights, Fiorello Bodoni sent a burning message—“You would awaken to hear the rockets can deny a man everything— sighing in the dark sky. He would tiptoe everything but his heritage . . . from bed, certain that his kind wife the stars!” was dreaming, to let himself out into the 41 42 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

night air. For a few moments he would you choose? Who will go? If you go, be free of the smells of old food in the your wife will hate you, for you will be small house by the river. For a silent just a bit nearer God, in space. When moment he would let his heart soar alone you tell your amazing trip to her, over into space, following the rockets. the years, won’t bitterness gnaw at her?” Now, this very night, he stood half- “No, no!” naked in the darkness, watching the fire “Yes! And your children? Will their fountains murmuring in the air. The lives be filled with the memory of Papa

rockets on their long wild way to Mars who flew to Mars while they stayed here ? and Saturn and Venus! What a senseless task you will set your “Well, well, Bodoni.” boys. They will think of the rocket all

Bodoni started. their lives. They will lie awake. They

On a milk crate, by the silent river, sat will be sick with wanting it. Just as you

an old man who also watched the rockets are sick now. They will want to die if they through the midnight hush. cannot go. Don’t set them that goal, I

“Oh, it’s you, Bramante!” warn you. Let them be content with be- “Do you come out every* night, Bo- ing poor. Turn their eyes down to their doni ?” hands and to your junk yard, not up to “Only for the air.” the stars.” “So? I prefer the rockets myself,” said “But—” old Bramante. “I was a boy when they “Suppose your wife went? How would started. Eighty years ago, and I’ve never you feel, knowing she had seen and you been on one yet.” had not? She would become holy. You “I will ride up in one some day,” said would think of throwing her in the river. Bodoni. No, Bodoni, buy a new wrecking machine, “Fool !” cried Bramante. “You’ll never which you need, and pull your dreams go. This is a rich man’s world.” He shook apart with it, and smash them to pieces.” his gray head, remembering. “When I The old man subsided, gazing at the was young they wrote it in fiery letters: river in which, drowned, images of rockets THE WORLD OF THE FUTURE! burned down the sky. Science, Comfort, and New Things For “Good night,” said Bodoni. All! Ha! Eighty years. The Future be- “Sleep well,” said the other. comes Now ! Do we fly rockets ? No ! We live in shacks like our ancestors before HEN the toast jumped from its sil- us.” ver box, Bodoni almost screamed. “Perhaps my sons—” said Bodoni. WThe night had been sleepless. “No, nor their sons!” the old man Among his nervous children, beside his shouted. “It’s the rich who have dreams mountainous wife, Bodoni had twisted and and rockets!” stared at nothing. Bramante was right. Bodoni hesitated. “Old man, I’ve saved Better to invest the money. Why save it three thousand dollars. It took me six when only one of the family could ride

years to save it. For my business, to in- the rocket, while the others remained to vest in machinery. But every night for a melt in frustration? month now, I’ve been awake. I hear the “Fiorello, eat your toast,” said his wife, rockets. I think. And tonight, I’ve made Maria. !” up my mind. One of us will fly to Mars “My throat is shriveled,” said Bodoni. His eyes were shining and dark. The children rushed in, the three boys “Idiot,” snapped Bramante. “How will fighting over a toy rocket, the two girls f ”

OUTCAST OF THE STARS 43

carrying dolls which duplicated the in- Solemnly, each took his turn. habitants of Mars, Venus and Neptune; “Long straw.” green mannikins with three yellow eyes “Long straw.” and twelve fingers. Another. “I saw the Venus Rocket !” cried Paolo. “Long straw.” “It took off, whoosh!” hissed Anto- The children finished. The room was nello. quiet.

“Children!” shouted Bodoni, hands to Two straws remained. Bodoni felt his his ears. heart ache in him. "Now,” he whispered. They stared at him. He seldom shouted. “Maria.” Bodoni arose. “Listen, all of you,” he She drew. said. “I have enough money to take one “The short straw,” she said. of us on the Mars rocket.” “Ah,” sighed Lorenzo, half happy, half Everyone yelled. sad. “Mama goes to Mars.” “You understand?” he asked. “Only Bodoni tried to smile. “Congratula- one of us. Who?” tions. I will buy your ticket today.” “Me, me, me!” cried the children. “Wait, Fiorello—

“You,” said Maria. - "You can leave next week,” he mur- “You,” said Bodoni to her. mured.

They all fell silent. She saw the sad eyes of her children The children reconsidered. “Let Lo- upon her, with the smiles beneath their renzo go, he’s oldest.” straight, large noses. She returned the “Let Miriamne go, she’s a girl!” straw slowly to her husband. “I cannot “Think what you would see,” said Bo- go to Mars.” doni’s wife to him. But her eyes were “But why not?” strange. Her voice shook. “The meteors, "I will be busy with another child.” like fish. The universe. The moon. Some- “What!”

one should go who could tell it well on She would not look at him. "It wouldn’t returning. You have a way with words.” do for me to travel in my condition.” “Nonsense, so have you,” he objected. He took, her elbow. Is this the truth?” Everyone trembled. * “Draw again, start over.”

“Here,” said Bodoni, unhappily. From “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he a broom he broke straws of various said, incredulously. lengths. “The short straw wins.” He held “I didn’t remember.”

out his tight fist. “Choose.” “Maria, Maria,” he whispered, patting

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44 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

her face. He turned to the children. profit boiling her down. Let you have her “Draw again.” for two thousand— Paolo immediately drew the short straw. Bodoni dropped his hand. “I haven’t “I go to Mars!” he danced wildly. the money.” “Thank you, father!” “Sorry, thought I’d help you. Last time The other children edged away. “That’s we talked you said how everyone outbid swell, Paolo.” you on junk. Thought— I’d slip this to Paolo stopped smiling to examine his you on the q. t. Well parents and his brothers and sisters. “I “I need new equipment. I saved money can go, can’t I?” he asked, uncertainly. for that.” “Yes.” “I understand.” “And you’ll like me when I come “If I bought your rocket, I wouldn’t

back?” even be able to melt it down. My alumi- “Of course.” num furnace broke down last week—” Paolo studied the precious broomstraw “Sure.”

on his trembling hand and shook his head. “I couldn’t possibly use the rocket if I

He threw it away. “I forgot. School bought it from you.” starts. I can’t go. Draw again.” “I know.” But none. would draw. A full sadness Bodoni blinked and shut his eyes. He lay on them. opened them and looked at Mr. Mathews. “None of us will go,” said Lorenzo. “But I am a great fool. I will take my

“That’s best,” said Maria. money from the bank and give it to you.”

“Bramante was right,” said Bodoni. “But if you can’t melt the rocket down— ITH his breakfast curdled in him, “Deliver it,” said Bodoni.

Fiorello Bodoni worked in his “All right, if you say so. Tonight?” Wjunk yard, ripping metal, melting “ Tonight, ’\ said Bodoni, “would be it, pouring out usable ingots. His equip- fine. Yes, I would like to have a rocket ment flaked apart; competition had kept ship tonight.!’ him on the insane edge of poverty for twenty years. It was a very bad morning. THERE was a moon. The rocket was In the afternoon a man entered the junk white and big in the junk yard. It held yard and called up to Bodoni on his wreck- the whiteness of the moon and the bluer ing machine. “Hey, Bodoni, I got some ness of the stars. Bodoni looked at it and metal for you 1” loved all of it. He wanted to pet it and

“What is it, Mr. Mathews-?” asked Bo- lie against it, pressing it with his cheek,

doni, listlessly. telling it all the secret wants of his “A rocket ship.” heart.

“What?” Bodoni leaped down. “Are He stared up at it. “You are all mine,”

you crazy?” he said. “Even if you never move or “A rocket ship. What’s wrong, don’t spit fire, and just sit there and rust you want it?” for fifty years, you are mine.” “Yes, yes !” He seized the man’s arm, The rocket smelled of time and dis- and stopped, bewildered. tance. It was like walking into a clock. “Of course,” said Mathews, “it’s only It was finished with Swiss delicacy. One a mockup. You know. When they plan a might wear it on one’s watch fob. “I rocket they build a full-scale model first, might even sleep here tonight,” Bodoni of aluminum. You might make a small whispered, excitedly. OUTCAST OF THE STARS 45

He sat in the pilot’s seat. But his hand stayed. He touched a lever. The silver rocket lay in the light of He hummed in his shut mouth, his eyes the moon. And beyond the rocket stood dosed. the yellow lights of his home, a block The humming grew louder, louder, away, burning warmly. He heard the higher, higher, wilder, stranger, more family radio playing some distant music. exhilarating, trembling in him and lean- He sat for half an hour considering the ing him forward and pulling him and rocket and the house Eghts, and his- eyes the ship in a roaring silence and in a narrowed and grew wide. He stepped kind of metal screaming, while his fists down from the wrecking machine and flew over the controls, and his shut eyes began to walk and as he walked he began quivered and the sound grew and grew to laugh, and when he reached the back

until it was a fire, a strength, a lifting door of his house he took a deep breath and a pushing of power that threatened and called, “Maria, Maria, start packing, to tear him in half. He gasped. He hum- we’re going to Mars !” med again and again, and did not stop,

for it could not be stopped, it could only “OH.” go on, his eyes tighter, his heart furious. “Ah.” “Taking off!” he screamed. The jolting “I can’t believe it.” concussion! The thunder! “The Moon!” “You will, you will.” !” he cried, eyes blind, tight. “The meteors The children balanced in the windy The silent rush in volcanic Ught. “Mars, yard, under the glowing rocket, not touch- !” oh God, Mars ! Mars ing it yet. They started to cry.

He fell back, exhausted and panting. Maria' looked at her husband. “What His shaking hands came loose of the have you done?” she said. “Taken our controls and his head tilted back wildly. money for this. It will never fly.” He sat for a long time, breathing out and “It will fly,” he said, looking at ft. in, his heart slowing. “Rocket ships cost millions. Have you ?” Slowly, slowly, he opened his eyes. millions

The junk yard was still there. “It will fly,” he repeated, steadily. He sat motionless. He looked at the “How, go to the house, all of you. I have heaped piles of metal for a minute, his phone calls to make, work to do. To- eyes never stopping. Then, leaping up, morrow we leave! Tell no one, under- he kicked the levers. “Take off, damn stand? It is a secret.” you !” The children edged off from the rocket, The ship was silent. stumbling. He saw their small, feverish “PH show you!” he cried. faces in the house windows, far away. Out in the night air, stumbling, he Maria had not moved. “You have started the fierce motor of his terrible ruined us,” she said. “Our money used wrecking machine and advanced upon the for this—this thing. When it should have rocket. He maneuvered the massive been spent on equipment.” weights into the moonlit sky. He readied "You will see,” he said. his trembling hands to plunge the weights, Without a word, she turned away. to smash, to rip apart this insolently false “God help me,” he whispered, and dream, this silly thing for which he had started to work. paid his money, which would not move, which would not do his bidding. “I’ll THROUGH the midnight hours, teach you!” he shouted. trucks arrived, packages were delivered 6

4 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

and Bodoni, smiling, exhausted his bank my business. ” He took each of their hands account. With blowtorch and metal-strip- in turn. “Listen. This rocket is very old ping he assaulted the rocket, added, took and will fly only one more journey. It away, worked fiery magics and secret in- will not fly again. This will be the one

sults upon it. He bolted nine ancient auto- trip of your life. Keep your eyes wide.” mobile motors into the rocket’s empty “Yes, papa.” engine room. Then he welded the engine “Listen, keep your ears clean. Smell the room shut, so none could see his hidden smells of a rocket. Feel. Remember. So

labor. when you return you will talk of it all At dawn he entered the kitchen. “Ma- the rest of your lives.” ria,” he said. ‘Tm ready for breakfast.” “Yes, papa.” She would not speak to him. The ship was quiet as a stopped clock. The airlock hissed shut behind them. He

AT SUNSET he called to the children. strapped them all, like tiny mummies, into “We’re ready, come on!” The house was rubber hammocks. “Ready?” he called.

silent. “Ready!” all replied. “I’ve locked them in the closet,” said “Take-off!” He jerked ten switches. Maria. The rocket thundered and leaped. The “What do you mean ?” he demanded. children danced in their hammocks, “You’ll be killed’ in that rocket,” she screaming. said. “What kind of rocket can you buy “Here comes the Moon!” for two thousand dollars? A bad one!” “Listen to me, Maria.” THE MOON dreamed by. Meteors “It will blow up. Anyway, you are broke into fireworks. Time flowed away no pilot.” in a serpentine of gas. The children

“Nevertheless, I can fly this ship. I shouted. Released from their hammocks, have fixed it.” hours later, they peered from the ports. “You have gone mad,” she said. “There’s Earth!” “There’s Mars!” “Where is the key to the closet?” The rocket dropped pink petals of fire

“I have it here.” while the hour dials spun, the child eyes

He put out his hand. “Give it to me.” dropped shut at last they hung like drunk- ; She handed it to him. “You will kill en moths in their cocoon hammocks. ” them. “Good," whispered Bodoni, alone. “No, no." He tiptoed from the control room to “Yes, you will I feel it.” stand for a long moment, fearful, at the He stood before her. “You won’t come airlock door. along?” He pressed a button. The airlock door “I'll stay here,” she said. swung wide. He stepped out. Into space? “You will understand, you will see, Into inky tides of meteor and gaseous then, ” he said, and smiled. He unlocked torch? Into swift mileages and infinite

the closet. “Come, children, follow your dimensions ? father.” No. Bodoni smiled. “Good-by, good-by, mama!” All about the quivering rocket lay the She stayed in the kitchen window, look- junk yard. ing out at them, very straight and silent. Rusting, unchanged, there stood the At the door of the rocket, the father padlocked junk yard gate, the little silent said, “Children, we will be gone a week. house by the river, the kitchen window You must come back to school, and I to lighted, and the river going down to the ”

OUTCAST OF THE STARS 47

same sea. And in the center of the junk the open door of the rocket, their blood yard, manufacturing a magic dream, lay singing, their faces glowing. the quivering, purring rocket. Shaking “I have ham and eggs for all of you,” and roaring, bouncing the netted children said Maria, at the kitchen door.

like flies in a web. “Mama, mama, you should have come,

Maria stood in the kitchen window. to see it, to see Mars, mama, and meteors, He waved to her and smiled. and everything!”

He could not see if she waved or not. “Yes,” she said. A small wave, perhaps. A small smile. At bedtime, the children gathered be- The sun was rising. fore Bodoni. “We want to thank you, Bodoni withdrew hastily into the rocket. papa.”

Silence. All still slept. He breathed easily. “It was nothing.” Tying himself into a hammock, he closed “We will remember it for always, papa. his eyes. To himself he prayed, oh, let We will never forget.” nothing happen to the illusion in the next

six days, let all of space come and go, VERY late in the night, Bodoni opened and red Mars come up under our ship, his eyes. He sensed that his wife was

and the moons of Mars, and let there be lying beside him, watching him. She did no flaws in the color film, let there be not move for a very long time, and then three dimensions, let nothing go wrong suddenly she kissed his cheeks and his with the hidden mirrors and screens that forehead. “What’s this?” he cried. mold the fine illusion. Let time pass “You’re the best father in the world,” without crisis. she whispered. He awoke. “Why?” Red Mars floated near the rocket. “Now, I see,” she said. “I understand. “Papa!” The children thrashed to be She lay back and closed her eyes, hold-

free. ing his hand. "Is it a, very lovely jour- Bodoni looked and saw red Mars and ney?” she asked.

it was good and there was no flaw in it “Yes,” he said. and he was very happy. “Perhaps,” she said. “Perhaps, some night, you might take me on just a little AT SUNSET on the seventh day, the trip, do you think?” rocket stopped shuddering. “Just a little one, perhaps,” he said. “We are home,” said Bodoni. “Thank you,” she said. “CJood night.” They walked across the junk yard from “Good night,” said Fiorello Bodoni.

Message fro

S-tXiatTri,

SSjga&T:

CALVERT RESERVE BLENDED WHISKEY—86.8 PROOF—65% GRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS. CALVERT DISTILLERS CORP., N.Y.C. 48 Some were crushed, cata- pulted against heavy pieces

of the ship. . * «

Knowing himself eternally lost, Har- vey VaLlis set out alone on a journey no brave man would have dared—not to the rotting jungles of Venus, or the chill deserts of Mars, but— A STEF FARTHER OUT

By RAYMOND Z. CALLUN

IFTY miles from the great spaceport at White Sands, New Mexico, the approaching roads end in guardposts F and barbed wire. But before that lethal circumference is reached, signboards warn: radioactive dust, proceed 49 50 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

WITH CAUTION. ARE YOU WEARING YOUR a joy that is at the edge of fear. One's RESPIRATOR? WHAT DOES YOUR GEIGER mind associates with them the names of COUNTER SAY? places such as Vananis, Mars, or Finch- Beyond the guardposts and wire, no port, Venus. Ah, yes—how sweet and rot- sane man ventures on the surface without ten smells the jungle, in one’s fancy; and wearing radiation armor. The spaceport how strange and thrilling is that desert itself is reached by tube-trains. The tun- world called Mars, where man cannot live nels in which they move are bored far without his oxygen helmet and his dome- beneath the poisoned desert, where the cities, where once there was a great na-

dust of countless rocket takeoffs and land- tive civilization that destroyed itself, but ings has made even the cacti still more where youth labors and dreams now, to grotesque and monstrous by disturbing build a smaller, and perhaps better their genes. earth. . . . Lead, superheated and vaporized by a But all that is but a foretaste—a begin- slow chain-reaction of the fissionable met- ning. Beyond Mars, both newer and old- als with which it is alloyed, is the chief er, lies the asteroid belt—wreckage of a constituent of the incandescent gases world that exploded, but that was peopled

ejected by the atomic jet-motors of space- once, too. It is a wonderful, terrible re-

craft. It congeals to a heavy, tainted pow- gion. Far beyond it lie Jupiter and his der, which, fortunately, soon settles to the moons. As yet, very few rockets have ever ground, limiting the radius of its poison- gone that far. Then comes ringed Saturn. ous effect. Then Uranus, Neptune, Pluto . . . Then Within the restricted area, there are, of the eternal and inconceivably distant

course, no towns left, and almost no build- stars ings except the heavily-shielded structures Is it remarkable, then, that there are of the spaceport itself, depots, hotels, and scarcely any young men left in the little

covered gangways by which passengers towns around the White Sands spaceport ? can enter the space liners without contact The opportunity is close at hand. Always, with the atmosphere. men are needed. Whether they achieve

Such, then, is the hell-guarded gate to satisfaction, or even the glory of progress

High Romance. . . . But something of its made, or merely hurl themselves into the

essence reaches out much farther than the maw of a new kind of Moloch, is a matter dust of mankind’s greatest adventuring. of viewpoint and chance. For out there

Some might call it another, more insidious are both danger and opportunity. Out poison. Others, a stimulant, a tonic. To there are swift death in many forms, in- White Sands, life-hungry youth comes calculable riches, and gut-twisting strange-

from far and wide, seeking a future on a ness. . . . frontier that can never be used up. But Few can stay behind. So there are emp- more certainly than from anywhere else, ty chairs and saddles, and unslept-in beds they come from nearby—from the ranches, in boyhood rooms. And the stories come the farms, and the little crossroad towns back—of success and disaster. All this near the fringes of the circle of death. stamps itself into the local attitude of life.

It is attitude, For in such places, the call, the fasci- a hard that worships cour- age, smiles nation, is forever present, and can never and a knowing and contemptu- be forgotten. There, hour after hour, day ous challenge to those youths who seem to and night, the incandescent trails of rock- lack it.

ets, are visible. They are both awful and Of all the stories, perhaps there is none beautiful. They tingle one’s spine with quite as whimsical and strange, in its own A STEP FARTHER OUT 51 way, as that of Harvey Vellis. He was gutless and pink-livered as one’s own self. born, it seemed, to be the butt of bullies.

That was only part of his ill luck. For T WAS doubly hard for Harvey Vel- what can anybody really do about being I lis, for all of his wishes and dreams a skinny little twerp? Besides, he had a belonged to space. How many books certain kind of mother. “Yes, Ma. All about Venus, Mars, and the outer planets right, Ma,” was about all he ever said to had he read? How often did he fondle her. Some people thought that she was the quarra weed, dry and dead now, the kindest woman on Earth. But maybe which he used as a book-marker ? she was a cruel, possessive tyrant. On the A spaceman, who had picked it casually other hand, maybe she was just a fright-' near the point of Syrtis Major, that ened widow who remembered too well strange, triangular depression thousands that her husband had joined the crew of of miles in extent, near the equator of the Artemis, and had died in a crash on Mars, had dropped it as casually on Main the moon. Street in Dos Piedras, and Harvey, recog-

Harvey Vellis became a clerk in Mr. nizing it for what it was from his book-

Finkel’s General Store, in the little town lore, had pounced upon it as a treasure. of Dos Piedras, where he had been born. How often had he sniffed its faint, dry

For a vegetative type of youth, this might aroma, as if to it clung the frosty pungence have been all right, for Mr. Finkel was a of dusty, dehydrated winds that no longer kind, understanding man. The trouble contained enough oxygen to sustain was that Harvey was far from vegetative. Earthly human life? Of such stuff is the

The trouble, further, was that people who fabric of romance woven. And it was to had always been around him, had drawn such pathetic trifles that Harvey Vellis their own picture of what his soul was like. clung. Echoes they were, from a great Their belief in that picture was so strong distance; and they touched Harvey as that they had made him believe in it too. echoes of music touch the ears of a music They had never let him be himself. lover, starved for what he needs. Day after day, year after year, he heard Time went on. Harvey worked and the same challenge and the same joke, dreamed. In his spare time he studied the flung at him in one form or another, by blueprints of spacecraft and space armor, one person or another. First it was by his until he knew their structure by heart. swashbuckling contemporaries—big Dink And he tinkered with odds and ends ot

Darrell was the best example—then, as equipment, learning all that he could about they vanished into the space wilderness, things related to the distance that it by younger boys, even by tots. . . . seemed he could never reach. He even “Hey, Harv—when you blasting out? achieved a certain adjustment to his un- Next year, maybe? Think your Mamma’ll pleasant lot. His cheeks forgot how to let you?” flush under the hazing; his response, in-

It is an old tale. The repetitious cruelty stead, became a small, wry smile, and a of it sits on the shoulders of its victims, a shrug that hid some of the hurt inside him. vulture, destroying not courage so much, Death comes just as surely to those who but confidence. The laughs have a jagged live sheltered lives as it does to those who edge. In the focus of attention from all live dangerously, and it came at last to sides, one becomes self-centered—not in a Harvey Vellis’ mother. “I suppose you’ll proud way, but in another way that makes blast out, now, Harvey,” she said to him one feel that, in all the world and in all near the end, not realizing the heavy historv. there has never been another as handicaos she had laid uoon him. “You 52 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

won’t have to look after me any mGre.” fright. It was better to slip away quietly, Those were the words that she poured seek the shelter of anonymity on a strange into the gulf of grief and disorientation planet. that her passing meant to him. It was a Maybe, in all that he forced himself to mockery. And more of a mockery was the do, there was courage of a sort. No hu- honest if contemptuous pity which he read man can live for years with a handicap

in other eyes. People, it seemed, were no or with fear without achieving a kind of good to him, even when they meant well. courage. For a week he kept to himself, fogged He put his affairs in order as quietly and lost. as he could. Mr. Finkel pretended not There was one good thing about what to know what was happening, for that was his life had been like—perlxaps. Frustra- the kindest way. In his heart he was both tion had been like the restraining of a steel glad and worried about what Harvey Vel- spring, or the wiring-down of the safety lis was doing. valve of a boiler. It had built up the pow- Harvey boarded the train for the short er of the drives in him, impelled them to journey to the spaceport at midnight—the push past fear and ruined confidence, best time to slip away. There were many toward what he had always wanted. faces around him—mercifully those of What he wanted was not entirely clear people that he did not know. Hard, or simple. He was too naive and too full bronzed faces—eyes that had seen much of dreams to aim quite practically. His that he had not seen—that took coolly goal was a vagueness. Out, somewhere what to him was so new and different. toward the vastness, was as far as his They were blase and unruffled. Their lug-

thinking about it wait—and that, certain- gage bore stickers from New York, Lon- ly, was dangerous. Just what he would do don, Paris—Kaie-Yeel, Venus; Vananis,

to live, he did not know. . . . Mars. Among such company, Harvey

He had saved up twelve hundred dol- Velfis felt like the awkward yokel that be lars. Passages to Mars cost a thousand. was.

How was it that he did not simply go to The girl beside him in the train the employment offices of the space lines smiled at him. Her blonde hair was cut in

so near at hand ? How was it that, instead, a long bob, and she sat casually. Her blue he drove his old car to Albuquerque, and dress was elegantly simple. She was pret- bought a ticket to Mars there? That, ty, but not too pretty. She even looked a when he might easily have gotten a job, bit rough-hewn. Her eyes were gray. For and saved his money? a second they probed him, and he felt like an insect on a pin. suspected, with The answer is easy and old. His emo- He the ready suspicion of the self-conscious, that tions were ill, so he could not do things so directly. People that he knew would all of his frustrated personal history was see him; they’d wonder, they’d laugh, stamped in his face and figure for her to see, and laugh about silently, just as if they’d pity. They’d stare at him as if they had caught him trying to commit suicide. she were one of those others who had al- ways known him and that he could never Maybe, in fact, what he contemplated ; amounted to the same thing. For him, escape from himself with her, even for a minute. All of this was at least half so the inept, helpless coward—when it was

true. . . . so terrible and wonderful out there. . . . No, he could never face those eyes that But the sophisticate must often play

knew him. Before he felt that he would parts that mask a true understanding for curl up and die in an agony of stage- a reason. The reason can be kindness. Or A STEP FARTHER OUT 53

it can be curiosity—especially in the case venturer before this girl, seized Harvey of a woman. Vellis. He resisted it, not from reasons of honor, but from fear of being found out, ILLETH THOMAS was both later, maybe, when they were blasting off kind and curious about the people from Earth, and the black sky of the void L who traveled with her. It was an was beginning to be^ visible to eyes that old need in her—the need of the rolling dimmed under the pressure of an awful stone for quick acquaintance—especially acceleration. ... Or was it too because a when the rolling is not started by one’s big hulk of a man passed him on the own desire to move, but by a parent’s love train—a spaceman that he knew ? Harvey of the strange and different. Lilleth Thom- Vellis hunched his shoulders, and turned as had been dragged around by her ex- his face away, so that he would not be plorer father, everywhere. Not that she recognized, while the hulk with the glitter- minded much—she loved newness herself. ing insignia passed by. Then he breathed But deep in her was that primal need of again. all women—permanence and stability. A “But dad does a good deal of travel- vine-covered cottage, maybe in Maine, or ing,” the girl went on. “He’s sent me a •

perhaps California. . . . That she saw noth- few thousand photographs from just about ing of the sort—and in fact nothing of any everywhere. It’s a kind of propaganda permanent meaning to her—in the wor- that gets under your skin after a while. ried, thin face beside her, did not stop her You want to travel, too.” from being kind. “Hi, friend,” she said. “Any of the pictures handy?” Harvey “Hello, miss,” Harvey Vellis answered, asked eagerly. feeling the first flash of companionship, a Lilleth fumbled with her purse. A mo- little of the release from self, a little of the ment later they were looking at color velvet padding of enjoyment and romance. photographs—gigantic Venusian moun- It was a golden net—a stepping into a tains, their peaks lost in the eternal cloud dream that had never been real to him blankets; monsters that wallowed, slug- before. like, in vast marshes that corresponded to “First time Out?” ventured. the Coal Period earth he swamps on ; men in She shrugged, and did not lie directly. vacuum armor, tramping over a Martian “There always has to be a first time,” she desert, where fantastically carven mono- chuckled. liths, fifty million years old, loomed

An awful impulse to brag and lie and against a purple sky. . . , Harvey Vellis' fourflush—to build himself up as an ad- blood quickened.

BEFORE HOW SLOAH’S liniment AIDS MUSCULAR PAINS Here’s vital news for sufferers from muscular aches and rheu- matic pains. Using infra-red rays, scientists have Drawings by now succeeded in photographing blood-vessels below the skin-surface. These physician, photos (see pictures at left) prove that, after ah application

based on of Sloan’s Liniment, the veins expand . . . evidence that the infra-red treated area gets extra supplies of blood, to revitalize tissues and wash away waste matter and poisons faster. photos / When you use Sloan’s Liniment, you know that it is increas- ing the all-important flow of blood to the treated area, and that this effect extends below the skin-surface. No wonder Sloan’s helps to bring blessed relief from rheumatic aches, arthritis pains, lumbago, sore muscles. Sloan’s has been called “the greatest name in pain-relieving liniments.” Get a bottle today. ” — .

54 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“That’s the kind of stuff that folks like There was a little of the brassy taste of ” us are made for ! he said fervently. The fear on Harvey Vellis’ tongue, but not spell of strangers was upon him. He felt nearly as much as he had expected. For history, everywhere. What was happen- romance and companionship were like a ing, now. What had happened long ago. velvet shell around him. The civilizations that had risen and fallen. “The red lights are on, Lilleth,” he

The far future. The universe . . . Maybe said almost gleefully—her name and his his own day was at hand. Good fortune had both come out in their conversation. and fulfillment at last. It was at least a “Fasten your safety belt. Just another wonderful illusion. It was* good that he thirty seconds more. Wait until we get out

did not know. . . . there, and see the stars of space. Wait

The train moved swiftly. Incident fol- till we reach Mars! It’s a frosty place. lowed incident, in the pattern of anyone’s The air pressure there is the same as at a fifty-thousand foot altitude on Earth. Ev- first approach to a great spaceport. Pres- — ently, in the great waiting room, he was erything’s different ” He talked on, not helping Lilleth Thomas with her luggage. lying directly, but hoping that she’d be- His mind was full of wonder at each small lieve that he’d been there, -seen the things detail of his surroundings. The white tile he spoke about. . .

walls. The numbered exits to the various The takeoff thrust began gently, but it

blasting-off platforms. The drone of the grew and grew till even consciousness speaker:—“Vananis— Gate nineteen dimmed to the threadiness of a dream. Vananis But Harvey took it well enough. For him They moved with the other passengers, this trifle, this thing that millions of people already across the floor in a long line. Up the had experienced, .became a pa- thetic triumph that gave him more confi- shielded gangway . . . Harvey’s senses continued to grab hungrily at every im- dence than he should have had. Mars lay pression. This was the liner Aries. Even ahead—yes-*-and he was ill-equipped for its airlock portals looked wolfish, sugges- life there. But this was not the worst. tive of distance and power. Within, every- How was he to know that he was to be thing was a- combination of compactness, hurled much farther than Mars, missing luxury, and careful preparation for dan- the red planet entirely? ger. It was already decided by a chain of White was the predominant color here. cause and effect. In the stout shell of one Meaning cleanliness, and the precision of of the Aries’ atomic motors, there was a intricate machinery, functioning perfect- tiny flaw, almost beyond the power of the

ly. .. . You could feel a kind of wordless radar instruments that constantly checked poetry here. The contrast, the struggle every brace and plate and part of the between two sides of something. On one space ship, to detect. In one of the bars side. Nature, harsh, empty space, the plan- of alloyed lead and heavy radioactive ele- ets, which, for ages had been symbols of ments that served as fuel, there was a por-

the absolutely unattainable . . . And on tion of metal where the mixture was too the other side something that was harsh rich. Normally, there would have been no and wolfish, too—power, plan, design, danger. But use that bar with the over- shape, and strength—all to match and rich flaw at full throttle, and in mid-space, dominate fearsome distances and dangers. and things would be terribly differ-

Here was the mind of man, thinking, ent. . . . studying—beginning to rule at last even But as yet this incident was fifteen days the once-unattainable. off. —:

A STEP FARTHER OUT 55

CHAPTER TWO accepted his position as one of the lesser members of the crowd. Adrift In die Infinite But something sheltering was gone from him, and he felt weak and clumsy before S IT went up into space, accelerat- harsh reality. He began to see his motives ing toward the velocity that would more starkly—his running away toward A enable it to glide on indefinitely, what he hoped was a new beginning of the Aries began to rotate on its central life—the thing that many people try to axis, like a projectile. And the rotation do, in spite of the old platitude that no- provided, by centrifugal force, a substitute body can run away from himself. for gravity in the rooms and compart- The days passed. The stars rolled ments arranged around the central light- around the ship, as the metal shell rotated well of the ship. The slightly curved steadily. In that rotating procession, Mars floors of those rooms were all against the swelled to a beautiful, mottled globe. And outer, cylindrical shell of the craft. then came the moment when small correc- For fifteen days life went on, more or tions of direction of flight had to be made, less pleasantly, as it does on any great while at the same time the speed of the liner, of sea or air or interplanetary space. ship had to be checked somewhat, for the There were games, music, dining, dancing, time of landing on Mars was not far off. making love. . . . Harvey walked with So the forejets roared and flamed, hurl- Lilleth, and, conforming to pattern, fell ing their dazzling incandescence, with a for her hopelessly. steady soughing, at full. . . . And then it The best was at the beginning, when he happened. There was a hissing, roar- did not know that she was not a green- ing, rending sound, and a sense of impos- horn like himself. The worst was when sible motion, as the ship began to spin, the truth about her came out—when end over end, now, impelled to do so by people aboard the ship said things to her the flood of fire that burst from her side. Alarm sirens “Hiyuh, Lilleth? Is Venus too small hooted ; airtight doors for you? What do you do, live on these clanged; the pressure of the air around rockets?” A young ship’s officer said Harvey Vellis kept dropping, hurting his that. A sleek, middle-aged woman added eardrums, deadening sounds, making his her bit: “How was it there in Kobolah, lungs feel tight. in the jungles, Lilleth? I got your letters, Into Harvey Vellis stabbed the jagged but you never finished the story about knife of pure terror, as he was hurled that tus plague. My dear, it must have across the lounge. But he was not the been terrible. ...” only one to be frightened, for the strong-

Such knowledge, to Harvey Vellis, was est of men could feel open fear now. hopeless separation from her. It brought Lilleth had been among the crowd in on a hollow ache, and an exposure, again, the lounge, too. He saw her form hur- to the rough edges of truth. But in such tling among the others. Then he hit the things Harvey had become toughened by wall with a solid thump. After that, most long experience. He’d had too many dis- impressions were vague.— Once he yelled, appointments in his time. Lilleth looked “Lilleth—I’ll—I’ll ” But she answered at him and smiled kindly. She might have back, her voice trembling, “I’ll take care explained things to him as to a child of myself, fella!” that there were other friends who needed Against the wall stood a spacesuit, her time, too. But he only shrugged, and lashed into place. For a dragging second grinned back. So it wasn't necessary. He all that he saw was the legend in big white .

56 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

print : lower body into leg units, pull He tried to scream, but his horror was RED TAB UPWARD TO CLOSE ZIPPER SEALER. too great. Only a ragged squawk came PUT ON HELMET. TURN SEAL SCREWS AT out of his constricted throat. He clutched THROAT. OPEN OXYGEN VALVE AT LEFT at anything he could reach, trying to sup- SHOULDER. press that awful sense of separation from His shaking fingers seemed slower than everything. Thus he got hold of another they were. Lilleth and some other people drifting, space-suited figure. And anoth-

were at his side to help him, before he was er .. . One was a little Mexican steward. finished. She fastened the last screw at The other was Lilleth Thomas. Both fig- his throat. “There, sob,” she grated, a ures were limp. They had been hit by little contemptuous anger showing through flying fragments. her own fear. “Now jump!” Her voice One thing more Harvey did. Maybe the

came to Harvey through his helmet radio. impulse deep behind it was the desire to

There was no time to jump. For then prove himself a man. Mostly, though, it the final Mast came. Harvey was hurled was just clutching reflex action, and an out of the broken lounge. Out, out, and instinctive urge to seek shelter. He

out, toward the rotating, sardonic stars . . grabbed at a great bale that hurtled past, Some people were crushed, catapulted blown from the hold of the Aries. It was against more passive pieces of the disinte- fabric-covered, and tied with cord. Some- grating ship. Some spacesuits were tom, how he managed to tear into the fabric, so that the air in them spewed out, and the and get under it, and draw the other two blood in the flesh within began to boil forms in after him. To him it seemed safer there under away as the pressure dropped to zero. the fabric ; and the great bale was something to cling to. Futile, Man’s body is not made for outer space of

course . . . knew it right —for the beat of cosmic rays, and of hard He away. This was the end. The of his wild ultra-violet light that can kill when there end lunge toward better life. is no adequate shielding; for the absence a of weight, that feels exactly like falling. He did not realize that hiding himself

It is only the human mind that has any and the others in the bale was the worst connection with, or dominance over, such thing he could have done. He could not things. And sometimes the mind itself is think reasonably. When he fainted, he broken in that awful abnormalcy. thought it was death. . . ,

For Harvey Vellis’ fear, then, there was ample excuse. There was an excuse, E DID not awaken for hours. By then the life too, for the screams that came to his ears rockets that had not H been destroyed in the blast of the through his helmet phones from other Aries already landed people. But for him the fear was special, had on Mars. They picked all for he had been rated a coward. His had up visible survivors. The spacesuit protected him from cosmic and rescue ship from Vananis had likewise other radiations, and he was breathing come and gone. good air. But his feet, in heavy space Harvey regained his senses gradually, boots, kicked against the awful void, be- with the prayers of the little Mexican

neath him, all around him. It was like a steward to his matron saint droning in his dizzying height, infinitely extended, in- earphones. The two other spacesuits were finitely terrible. All of his reflexes were still in contact with his own. He felt one

wrong. He could not swim, fly, or walk. of them squirm a little. He turned toward He was in a far worse position than any it, and some dumb and hopeless curiosity fish out of water. caused him to peer through its face plate. ” — ”

A STEP FARTHER OUT 57

There he saw the features of Lilleth pinpoints in the black distance. And the Thomas. They were ghastly pale. Her small, rusty crescent that was Mars was eyes were very big. Her lips trembled. shrinking away to sunward. Harvey and There were beads of sweat on her cheeks. his companions had passed Mars, and

“Are you all right?” he stammered were hurtling on, outward, toward that thickly. region of the wreckage of an exploded Her lips moved stiffly. “I guess so,” planet—the asteroid belt. Around them, she answered hollowly through the phones. moving with them in a gently spinning “I was knocked out—I think. Something swarm, were the fragments of the Aries, hit me across the shoulders. No harm its cargo and appointments. done to my spine—or anything. At least There was no hope of being found or I can still move my toes. I’m all in one rescued now. For Harvey there was only piece—if that makes things all right. the thought that, ten thousand or a million Only—only I’m scared to death. years hence, someone might discover their Her words ended with a choking sob. spacesuits, with their mummified bodies

It was then that the little Mexican still inside. For to all intents and purposes grabbed hold of her spacesuit and clung they had been buried alive—in an un- to it. “Ayudame!” he pleaded. “Help breathable vacuum many millions of miles me, lady! I know are strong and deep. When the air-purifiers in their suits you , smart. I’ve heard the stories. You are gave out Lilleth Thomas, daughter of the great Could Lilleth Thomas be blamed so explorer. Ojala—perhaps you might much, when now in her own terror, the know what to do. But no—not even God fairness in her gave way, and she began can help us now. I am Jose Eugenio to hurl wild, half-hysterical accusations? Palmas Alvarez, and I’ve got to die out She was strong and just, but human. here—slow. ...” “It’s your fault!” she shrilled at Har- Joe Palmas was not visibly hurt, either. vey Vellis. “We’d all have been seen and Like Lilleth, he had been hurled in the rescued, if you hadn’t hidden us in —this same direction as whatever it was that bale! You greenhorn fool—you—you had hit and stunned him—hence the force’ She stopped, as if realizing suddenly that of the blow had been lessened. But the it was she who had spoken like this. scare in his face was an awful thing to see. “Oh—I’m sorry! I didn’t mean— How- His voice was a squeaky rustle in that could you know? How could anybody terrible stillness. know?”

The stars all around were bleak, hard They were all clinging to the bale—half

ORDER CUT-TO*' ' HOMES CUT BUltOWO COSTS—-k NOW SAVE UP TO 58 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES inside its fabric wrapper and half out. atmosphere, was sucking the oxygen and Harvey might have remained unaware of hydrogen in the proportions of water, out the result of what he had done, if the girl of all organic substances, leaving behind hadn’t spoken. But now he knew. Her the black carbon.

words went stinging through his mind like Hurry, he thought. Hurry, hurry . . . bullets. Should he mind being accused Maybe it’s a matter of time. Oxygen to and called names by her, now? Should breathe, first, or the apparatus to provide such trifles matter? But they did matter, it. Then water, if it can be obtained. Then as truth always does. food, before it becomes inedible. With He might then have gone hysterical, as luck, maybe we can last a week. Or even he thought he must. But there was far a month. more strength in him than he realized. It was not courage that he lacked, but con- ARVEY was like a man doomed fidence. He was used to blundering, feel- by an incurable disease, hoarding ing the fool. That kind of experience had H his last few days. In fact, to col- hardened a part of his nature, and that lect and hoard was part of the driving hardness was courage. impulse in him.

All that they still had to lose was life. There was no great planning necessary That loss seemed inevitable—if they suc- for what he had to do. It was only the ceeded in prolonging life, it seemed only a naive audacity of it that was strange. For prolongation of mental torture toward a moment more he searched among the madness. Still, Harvey Vellis could not swirling wreckage for a beginning point. quite accept such logic. He was like a cat Then, with quivering, clumsy fingers, he responding to the instinct of self-preserva- began to tear cord from the great bale. tion. But he was also a man trying to He tied the pieces of cord together, and

think of a way to make some amends for left one end attached to the bale ; the other guilt. Without the latter, he might have end he tied about his middle. Then, des- been wholly animal, not trying to plan. perate to get things done, he leaped.

He grew angry. He growled too—in He did not leap wildly, without purpose. self-defense, for once, hurling his words His theoretical book knowledge about how against her far greater experience. “All material objects behave in space was com- right!” he ’snapped, his frayed nerves plete enough. Only his physical actions making his voice quiver. “You needn’t were clumsy. try to take anything back! I heard what He shot toward a great fragment of the you said!” ship, drawing the cord after him. He For a minute he looked around them clutched at the fragment, found an airtight

its at the drifting wreckage. It was a fantas- door broken from hinges ; but he could tic display of things that were utterly out see that it was not beyond repair. There of place in the depths of space. There was were two richly appointed staterooms in- a milling cloud of beautifully upholstered side, and part of a corridor. The frag- chairs and other furniture, fragments of ment of the ship was rotating slowly, but metal plating, crates, boxes, bits of wood what did that matter, here, where there

and paper . . . The wood, paper and was no appreciable gravity—no up or

fabrics were already turning black, as if down? The artificial gravity once pro- they were being charred. Not in the ordi- duced in the Aries by the centrifugal force

nary manner, by oxygen and fire, but by of its rotation was lost here, for the ar- the awful dryness of space, which, aided rangement was wrong. The fragment was by the sun’s fierce rays, unscreened by any only pivoting lazily upon its own center. A STEP FARTHER OUT 59

In an emergency-supply compartment, savage. Industry he had always had. And

Harvey found that ever-present testing now, in it, he found a certain balm. It is device, the Geiger counter, used wherever always that way. Work diverts attention there was any danger that atomic energy from disaster, releases tension. And bit might go wild. After the explosion of the by bit, as he became more adept at what he jet-motors of the Aries,— much of its ruins was doing, a little confidence—the thing might be tainted “hot” with deadly he had always lacked—came to him. It radioactivity. Here, now, he watched the was tragic that it should come so late,

tube of the counter for the little flash, that, when he seemed inevitably doomed, no

in the airlessness, where no sound could matter what he did. Still, it was some- exist, replaced the familiar clicking. Only thing.

once it came in a minute, and that was At first he had just an audience. Joe not enough to be dangerous. Palmas, the little Mexican steward, Now he went back to the unhinged gawped at him as at some mad fool. Lil- door, and pulled the cord. Easily, in fric- leth Thomas stared at him, too. At first tionless space, the great bale that harbored her gray eyes had a derisive bitterness, his two friends came toward him, bump- then a speculative puzzlement. The sweat ing against the chunk of the wreck. With dried on her cheeks, and she looked almost

flying awkward hands, he lashed it down. pretty again. Almost, she smiled. Al- Then he prepared himself another, even most, a little of that old dry humor came longer cord from the lashings of the bale, back. Did she say, “What are you do- tied it to his middle and to a torn piece of ing—trying to grow up, son?” No, but plating on his island of safety, and leaped she thought it gently, and with a chip of again, this time toward a great cylinder awe. And somehow, in spite of every- of oxygen. The Geiger counter he car- thing, the awe was a comfort to her.

ried showed it to be untainted, so he “A new game?” she said into her hel-

grasped it with his legs, locked his feet met phone. “May I play?”

around it, and drew himself back to his The sullen Harvey Vellis did not an- chosen perch, by gathering in the cord swer, but just the same she found cord for toward him hand over hand. As with the herself, and imitated him. Joe Palmas, his bale, he tied the cylinder down. dark face very grave, followed suit, in his The process was repeated again and plodding, precise way. again, furiously. Often he had to discard For hours, maybe days—for how could things that were too “hot”, but his hoard you tell out here where the sun seemed began to grow. There were great flasks hardly to move?—the toil went on. In- of water, cases of canned goods, furniture, side space gloves, hands developed vast crated machines meant to be used on blisters which went as unnoticed as the Mars—the first bale actually contained, ache in muscles pushed to the limit of their folded up, a huge, flexible, plastic dome. capacity. Of course three humans could

In the thin air of Mars it could be inflated, never have done so much work on Earth, supported by the pressure of the air of but here there was no gravity. normal Earth-density inside it—used as Lilleth Thomas even tried at last to a habitation or a warehouse. lighten the situation with some scraps of Harvey Vellis labored like a demon. humor. “We make a big bundle and take

He labored awkwardly, like a person sel- it to market,” she chanted almost gaily, dom required to do violent physical work, sweat again coursing down her cheeks, but straining himself far more than necessary. this time it was the sweat of toil. “What But his conscientiousness was dogged and do we do with all this stuff?” —

60 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

!” "Try to live for a while Harvey Vel- air-purifying machine, still in its box, and lis snapped back. intended for some remote human encamp-

“Sure—I know. That’s at least partly ment on Mars, the door was ready to be a good answer,” she said almost contritely. airtight again. "Only—” But there she stopped. They Harvey Vellis’ face, beyond the window were going away from the sun—they were of his helmet, was so haggard and sweat- powerless to turn back. They might even streaked now, that it hardly looked hu- jury-rig a jet-motor. But they could nev- man. "Come on, you two,” he growled. er make it drive this great, crude, spherical “Don’t gawp. Help me with the other bundle that they were building around the stuff.” two-room fragment of the Aries. It lacked So they did. They brought in cylinders utterly the perfect balance of a ship of the of water and oxygen; they brought in void. It would never go the way they more food. And at last, panting, Harvey wanted it to go. So they’d hurtle on, per- closed and bolted the door. He bolted it haps through the mysterious asteroid belt, with furious haste, as if there were some terrible enemy just outside, in hot pur- to be smashed by flying fragments ; or per- suit. thing that he had shut out. haps they would pass it, to freeze out A to But there in the awful darkness, maybe re- it was only the terrible, harsh stillness of turning sunward years later, when the space, and the sardonic stars. Harvey gravity of the sun pulled them back, lock- was reacting against the things he had ing them in an elongated cometary orbit. feared, though he had thought he would love them. But Lilleth Thomas did not wish to Again Lilleth tried to inject a bit of talk of such things. It was bad enough to into the moment.' nice two- remember. humor "A room apartment,” she chuckled. “I used to dream of a vine-covered cottage, in CHAPTER THREE Maine or California. Oh, well, this is all right too. We’ve even got lights and a Terror Belt

stove. Boy ! Are we riding space in lux-

T LAST the task of collecting flot- ury! The lights still burn because each sam was almost finished. It was lamp has its own atomic battery. It’s al- A then that Lilleth Thomas took up most like home here!” action of her own. “Come on, Joe,” she But somehow her words, and her mild, said to the Mexican steward. "Our great kidding sarcasm, grated against Harvey master of ceremonies doesn’t like us. But Vellis’ raw nerves. “Oh,” he growled. we could maybe fix the door of the place “You want a real apartment, do you? where we’re supposed to live.” Even a house, with all the comforts of

She was not unhandy with tools, and home, eh? What do you expect? Don’t the latter were among the items they had you realize our position—yet?” collected. Through the tunnel left in the He’d never been rated a grouch. And, packed load of stuff, that completely en- yes, he knew what was the matter with veloped the piece of the spaceship, they him. It was what space, and the dark fu- crept to the door, and proceeded to fix its ture, did to people. It was his guilt for hinges, and the packing around it. So their being in their present position, and when Harvey came through the tunnel, his helplessness to really right matters trying to drag at one time a crate of especially for Lilleth. It was his feeling charred grapefruit, a small atomic stove, of inadequacy and inequality before her. a cylinder of compressed air, and a small It was his desperate wish for other dr- — —

A STEP FARTHER OUT 61

cumstances, in which he might try to give yourself to a bunk so you won’t go drift-

her all that she wanted. . . . ing off, and get some sleep. Take Joe with

She understood some of how it was you.” with him. It made her feel tender toward For once, he grinned. “Not until I get him. But his awful seriousness exasper- out of this spacesuit and chew on a grape- ated her. fruit,” he answered. “You know darn well that I was just “Not any more than a grapefruit,” she joking!” she stormed. “That ought to told him. “You know that the space-sick-

help us some—if you could only see it! ness is coming, don’t you? Lots worse

You’ve done fine, Mr. Harvey Vellis. than sea-sickness. Lack of weight does it, !” Now just simmer down after a while. The nervous system gets He looked startled and ashamed, for disoriented. The lymph-glands bog down there was even a little sob in her voice. before they adjust—and in some people “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Only—well they never do. The mind is disturbed—as skip it.” if being adrift in space isn’t enough. Me “Skip what?” I feel a bit queasy already. ...” “Nothing. Except, I suppose, you Harvey oUly nodded, grimly. Joe ought to have things like that.— A home. Palmas, having removed his space armor, A place for kids. Any girl ” He was was clinging to the wall. He had begun to down on his knees on the floor, releasing pray to Santa Guadalupe again.

compressed air from a cylinder with a Harvey and Lilleth punched holes in wrench, so that the sealed-up rooms would two grapefruit, and sucked the juice out. have ati atmosphere. It was the only practical way, for they Lilleth looked at him. Oh, gosh—why did people yearn for things most, when they were most impossible ? Cockeyed hu- > man nature! And about Harvey, here— FIRSTAID he looked such a twerp, and yet he strug- COLD discomforts gled so hard. Lilleth Thomas was con- fused. Now he had the air-purifier mechanism out of its box. He set its little atomic motor going. There was a cartridge in the mechanism, containing a special set of

electrodes. Till it burned out, it could split up the carbon-dioxide that lungs ex- haled, setting the oxygen free to be breathed again. To letfen their discomfort^, Lilleth forced a small, hard laugh. “Me The great men of today Take Alka-Seltzer for RELIEF with a home?—nonsense!” she said. “I’m Until COLDS go away. a drifter.” Use it aljo for FAiT RELIEF of But for a second his glance at her was Headaches - Acid Indigestion Muscular Aches both stern and very soft, as if he knew that and Pains she was lying. It was a wrong thing for him to do to her—make her yearn more Alka- and more for the impossible. Seltzer “Listen, Pal Harvey,” she said. “You’re All drugstores

U. S. and Canada all fizzled out. Go into that stateroom, tie ” —;

62 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

never could have put the juice in a glass nconsciously, Hervey vei- it would have globed out and floated ns was trying to build up romance

gently away. U to push away the shadows a little, As they sucked on the grapefruit, Har- to gild the dark facts. But what he had vey and Lilleth somehow fell into a whim- said of treasure was no exaggeration. sical conversation. Lilleth carried the picture along. “Yes, “I wonder what the asteroid belt is I know,” she said. “Even pop hasn’t been like,” she mused. “Really.” out there, yet. And that’s saying some- “A world blew up,” he answered. “One thing. The asteroid belt was visited for as big as Mars—and inhabited by beings the first time only about two years ago. that weren’t men. It happened maybe fifty There are a few men there now—begin- million years ago. You know the theory ning to look things over for the exploita- of the structure of planets. On the outside tion of resources. But I saw some pic- are the lighter materials—air, water, light- tures, somewhere. Some parts of the belt er rocks. But during the molten stages of suggest the wreck of a spaceship. Things

a planet, when it’s new, most of the heavi- float in it besides rock and metal. Cor-

er materials sink naturally toward its cen- nices of buildings. Machines. There’s ter—forming spheres, or layers in order more archaeology there than even on of density. Rock on top, then a lot of iron Mars. It’s supposed to be the strangest and nickel. Then the heavier things, thou- region in the solar system.” sands of miles deep, near the center. Gold, She paused. Trying to create a sense of lead, osmium, uranium. glamor about the asteroids wasn’t easy. For all of that region was deadly, and it “On that planet, according to some- was so huge that the few thousand men body’s theory, a pocket of Uranium 235, who had gone there hardly mattered, as somehow almost pure, and unalloyed with far as population went. How could you the more stable Uranium 238, which is find any of them ? Or how could they find generally far more common, began to you? To find a special grain of dust in a form, growing progressively more pure, cornfield must inevitably seem easier. more dangerous. If you get together a sufficient mass of U-235, the stray neu- Lilleth and Harvey broke up. the con- last. trons speeding through it become concen- versation at The men took one state- trated enough so that a spontaneous chain- room, and Lilleth the other. Harvey Vel- reaction is set off. That such a relatively lis slept a deep, uneasy sleep, shot through pure mass was formed was probably a and through with feverish nightmares. Sometimes it seemed that childhood ac- freak—because it hasn’t happened on any of the other planets. It must have hap- quaintances of his were hazing him again pened quite suddenly, perhaps under the —laughing at him. Especially Dink Dar- influence of a quake or volcanic action—no rell, with the huge body and the booming one can really know just how. But it blew guffaw. that inhabited planet beyond Mars apart At other times it seemed to Harvey exposed its insides—all the rich and the that he groped through endless cobwebby dangerous metals that are seen only in rel- distances, while the whole universe tum- atively small quantities on the surface of bled around him, and the awful space large worlds. Treasure—gold, of course, vertigo hammered at his stomach and

in huge amounts. And platinum, silver, head. . . . And it could hardly have been

radium. If it means anything. Stuff still any better for his companions. . . .

. . like that for days, certainly. almost untouched. . — It was “Treasure—too much to count Harvey Vellis’ wristwatch was not now —”

A STEP FARTHER OUT 63 covered by the sleeve of his spacesuit, but ding toward a circular window: “I see he hardly bothered to look at it. some specks up ahead. Lots of ’em in a

They all came out of the sickness grad- little row. Maybe we live some more ually. On the small atomic stove, Harvey maybe not, eh? But so far I eat good. warmed some canned soup in a small Like they say in Guadalajara—Belly full, sealed pot. The liquid was transferred by heart happy. Barriga Hem, corasdn con- steam pressure through a tube to flexible tento . . . Verdad? . . plastic flasks, which are part of the regu- Maybe that was all there was left, but lation equipment of all space-rescue kits. Harvey Vellis wasn’t ready for it. You You squeeze the flasks, and the liquid, that could call it fear, or whatever you liked. you cannot pour where there is no weight, He just wasn’t ready, and he didn’t want is forced into your mouth. Lilleth to be ready, either. He'd been

Lilleth went around straightening things thinking about it for a long time. in the two rooms. She did not walk, she Nor was Lilleth a fatalist. “So we’re floated, shoving herself from wall to wall. catching up with the asteroids,” she said. Harvey said, “You look domestic.” “We could get into spacesuits, and try to Joe Palmas actually laughed. rig a jet from the spare supplies. We can’t And Harvey felt that old pang of guilt, make it work very good, but maybe we and the strange wish that he could give could reduce speed some—lessen the dan-— Lilleth what she wanted for the little time ger of a crash. Come on, Joe—you too that remained to them. A bit of hominess She was cool, alert, and ready, then. could soften the harshness of the cold, un- She was the girl who had nursed victims friendly stars. . . . of the plague on Venus. Harvey felt That was why, when she said absently, proud of her. Maybe he even guessed that “I wish we had a chessboard,” he closed she was proud of him. It was a great thing the airtight doors of the two staterooms, to feel. They had a job and a viewpoint so that the passage and the door outside to share, at last. could be used as an airlock, and went So, again, the three of them were furi- out to search among the hoard of stuff ously busy, on the outside of the great they had collected. He found chess equip- bundle of things from the wreck of the easily enough, in drawer of table ment a a Aries. They broke out a spare jet from from the game-room of the Aries. also He its crate. After six hours of toil, they brought a phonograph and records of use — had mounted it crudely but firmly, by spacecraft because radio television on and clamping it between two great crates that programs do not easily reach as far as the contained machines, and wiring it into ships go. Besides, he found some steaks, place. Further, they had bound the huge still palatable since they were in a sealed bundle more firmly together, so that it chest. would not be scattered by the kick of the “Harv, you’re nuts—you're absolutely jet, by running wire around it in every nuts!” Lilleth said. But they cooked a direction. Close to the jet mounting, they steak, and anchored it to their plates with placed thick sheets of lead, to shield their

special clamps, and learned to eat it with hoard from radioactive contamination. pincers and surgical scissors. They played Then they were ready to fire. chess, gumming the bottoms of the pieces, and played the records, and some of the VERY time the thin line of lumi- illusion that they wanted came to them. nescent specks, that marked the More days passed. They read, they E position of the nearing asteroid slept. Until Joe Palmas announced, nod- belt, came into view as the bundle rotated, ”

64 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Harvey fired the jet, by remote control sun at its center ? Talk about one’s chances through an electric wire, from beneath of being rescued from a desert island on lead shielding several yards away, while Earth, say in the 19th century. Here the his companions crouched beside him. Each chances must seem infinitely slimmer. burst was a great plume of blue-white in- But somehow the faces of all three cast- candescence, whose temperature ap- aways were beaming. That’s human na- proached fifty thousand degrees. ture, again. Put people in a really hope- There was of course no sound in the less spot for a while, and then give them vacuum—only a quiver in tire great bun- just a faint ray of hope, and see how their dle, and a wavering of its rotation. Time spirits come back, even though their situ-

and again, as the hours passed, the rota- ation is still more or less hopeless. tion changed both direction and axis un- A few tense, eager minutes passed, der the thrust No one could have told while no one spoke, and the belt loomed how erratic the movement of that great nearer. mass of material became, across space. But finally Lilleth had to talk. “We’re But it was jerked away from the vicinity gonna miss the big one, you guys—it must of the radiation-tainted wreckage that be anyway twenty thousand miles away. Harvey and his companions had left adrift. But we’re going almost exactly toward And one thing was fairly certain—the that smaller one, there. You can see near- velocity of their approach to the asteroids, ly every detail of the rocks on it. It must a matter, originally, of many miles per be close. It’s maybe two miles long, and second, was dropping off fast. a half-mile thick—just a big, white chip, “They’re getting bigger, though,” Lil- tom out of the middle of a planet, airless, leth said. “We must be coming into the now, and not good for much. I’ll bet it thickest part of the belt. There’s one of hasn’t even got a number in the astrono- the its books, less a big ones—you can see shape ! Not mer’s much name—but, boy, round, like a real planet, but jagged, like does it look good to me!” a broken hunk of rock! Harv—maybe The enthusiasm of her voice had an we’ll have a little luck. Some kind of edge to it, which Harvey began to recog- break—” nize. Another side of possible space hys-

Funny how easy it is to start up opti- teria— distorted values and viewpoint. mism in people. He grasped Lilleth’s plastic-gloved—hand. “Maybe so!” Joe Palmas said. “We’re “Easy,” he warned. “Take it easy coming in with a steep slant—going the Her expression became surprised, then same direction as the asteroids on their awed, as at a narrow escape. “Yeah,” she mused. “Funny I as excited trip around the sun, and it looks like may- — was be almost the same speed. Nothing going about a dead chunk of rock as I once was the same speed and direction as us can about finding my first four-leafed clover, I a kid. Back in Minne- smash us up, huh ? Keep the fingers when was .” sota . . crossed. But it looks like buena suerte, no?” She caught herself without being prompted. Thoughts of an old home could Good luck. Yeah. . . . Maybe Harvey lead to nostalgia here that might make one Vellis had some of it coming to him for raving crazy. once in his life. But maybe it was just

another sorry joke. For what good is it Joe Palmas spoke up, now. “Three to be stranded on an asteroid, one of a long cords, we need,” he said. “Tie ’em great scattered ring of broken fragments to the bundle of stuff, and to us. Then five hundred million miles across, with the jump, same like we did before. Land. ” ”

66 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES — She knew what he meant. A livable quite that way. “Maybe ” he muttered. home for their last days. Some slight Then a wild optimism seized him. He compensation for the house in Maine or considered. "We’ve got a good deal of

California that would never be. . . . He water and air,” he said. “Besides, a hy-

didn’t have to say it. He could even have droponic garden, with some people to yelled it in fury. The devotion of it still breathe its air and supply carbon-dioxide

would have spelled love . . . to the plants, doesn’t use up its original She felt tender toward him. “Thanks, quota of air and water. At least, not very Harv,” she said gratefully, seeing no fast. It can be almost self-contained, like twerp at all, now. “It’s the same with a well-balanced aquarium. Then too,

me—for you. I wonder if we could make there are certain pieces of apparatus a cleric out of Joe?” among our equipment—also intended for In another moment, they were as furi- Mars. Some rock crystals contain water, ously busy as they had ever been. They which can be extracted. And even space began sorting supplies, separating them isn’t completely empty. Quite a few oxy- into categorical stacks. gen, hydrogen, nitrogen, water, and other It was strange seeing Lilleth’s small molecules that have escaped from the at-

form carrying huge loads. “I’m better mospheres of planets, are floating in it. than twenty stevedores,” she laughed. There are ways of attracting them—slow- Now they unbaled three huge plastic ly. And collecting them. If we can ever domes, fitted each with an airlock, drew set up the apparatus—

one over each of three separate stacks of Later, as if it were only a bubble, and supplies, and inflated them with air from not tons of metal, they carried the great many cylinders. They joined the domes fragment which had been part of the by means of prefabricated passageways of Aries, and which contained the two rooms,

similar plastic. and set it up against one of the domes. Joe was about ready to stop working, By means of a tunnel-section of plastic,

then; but ’Harvey, now inside one of the they attached it. great bubble-like shelters, and out of his It was the very lightness of things that space armor, had found a brush and exhausted them—it encouraged them to opened a can of paint. work to the limits of their strength, as if

“Good night, Harv—what are you go- the real need, in itself, were not enough. ing to do—label everything?” Lilleth And they were still clumsy—always exert- asked. ing too much force for a given task, al- “Just in a general way, so we can find ways having to exert more energy to check w’hat we want,” he answered. “Too bad the first overstrong impulses of their we haven’t got shelves for some of this efforts, they never seemed to notice the stuff.” tiring—at first. It was when they relaxed a bit that the weariness hit them. “Hmm—still methodical, I see,” she said. “It’s a wonder you haven’t thought The asteroid was rotating slowly, the of a hydroponic garden under a dome, like axis along its greatest length. Now, when

they have on Mars. The plastic is more they had their encampment tentatively in transparent than glass to visible light, but order, the sun disappeared behind the western like it cuts off all dangerous radiations. And edge of the plain ; and a knife- I’ve noticed that tins of seeds were in- blade turning over, the side of the asteroid cluded in the cargo —of the Aries. Meant that had been in daylight was plunged in- for Mars, of course to Stygian darkness—except for the glow She was kidding. But he didn’t take it of the atomic lamps that had been set up —

A STEP FARTHER OUT 65

Pull the stuff down to that asteroid . . that planet might have broken up in great Several minutes later, they had accom- chunks, which had simply been hurled out plished all of this. Light as feathers, they into space, with their terrain intact. Near landed on porous rock, after a long, slow the body were some blackened fragments leap. They were on a kind of plain, near that might have been vegetation. And the the mid-section of the asteroid, which was body wore both clothes and beautiful gold- large enough to have a barely perceptible en ornaments. gravity. In response to their tugs on the Harvey bent down and touched the pale cords, the huge bulk of equipment and blue fabric, that looked like silk. “It must supplies that they had gathered drifted be of mineral,” he said. “Anything like toward them, and came to rest like a ordinary cloth would char out here in an slightly underinflated balloon. hour.” They took a moment to look around No one commented. Joe Palmas just them. The plain was littered with other picked up the body, looked for a moment lumps of rock that once had been drifting at a golden thing attached to its garment free in space, but which had come to rest, it might have been a timepiece of some here, drawn by the tiny gravity. In fun kind, and he was partial to timepieces. Joe picked up a rock, that on Earth would But now he muttered a brief prayer under have weighed twenty tons, and hurled it. his breath, glanced questioningly, at his It did not even fall back. Joe flexed his companions, received their nods, and muscles and grinned. hurled the corpse far into space. One rock looked like the capital of a

pillar. It was obviously carven. Near it CHAPTER FOUR was a blackened, dried thing, fifty million One Foot On a Star years old, but quite well preserved, con- sidering. Human? No—there was no T WAS a full minute later before Lil- resemblance, except that it must have leth managed to smile. “Well, Harv,” been a two-armed and two-legged crea- I she said. “Here we are, marooned on ture, and intelligent. You couldn’t be sure an airless hunk of stone. Want me to tell

whether it had had a face or not, it was you what’s in your mind ? And how long that different. do you think we can last—six months?” Somehow it had managed to escape dis- He grinned back. “Depends,” he an- integration in the awful blast that had swered. “If we can civilize space in the ended its world. Maybe many of the raw, here, just —a little, to keep ourselves bodies of its kind had, for the surface of from going bats ” His gaze was gentle.

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A STEP FARTHER OUT 67 in the dome where the castaways were, "Before the laws of man and nature, I, and except for the cold blaze of the stars Harvey Vellis, of Dos Piedras, New Mex- And, perhaps unwarily, Harvey Vellis ico, U.S.A., Earth, do enter into marriage gave himself up to an illusion—that Out, with Lilleth Thomas, of New York, by space, other worlds, were the glamorous pledge of my honor and life, for all the things that he had wanted them to be. It time that is left to us, this contract being was fulfillment of a sort. He was a full- written and pledged with solemn respect fledged man of space, in his own belief, to the codes of our native planet and na- now, needing to feel no inadequacy in any- tion, now out of reach, but to be con- one’s presence. He was aware that his formed with in full and directly, if chance girl knew it, and was proud of it. There and earnest effort permit.” was just one big defect—eventual doom Joe used his own ring and pocket Bible. when time and space had their way with With Harvey and Lilleth, he went through them—when their irreplacable supplies familiar lines and pledges in English. gave out or wore out. But Harvey Vellis Then he muttered a prayer in his own did not think of this so much, now. language. Lilleth and he had removed their It was a reckless thing for these young helmets. He grew bold. “Honey,” he people to do. But they could not have asked, "is it so bad—being like this?” been more solemn or earnest. Life had She looked at her little, homely, thin- become infinitely precious. faced man, and if she lied at all to reas- Above them the stars were brilliant sure him, she did so without hesitation. and hard. There was a tap on the roof “I feel at home already,” she answered. of the dome. A little rock had drifted in He kissed her. Joe Palmas stepped dis- from space—part of the asteroid belt. Its creetly behind some boxes. speed, relative to the sun, was probably Harvey went on: “Considering uncer- around fourteen miles per second. But all tainty and shortage of time, honey, do you the belt was moving at approximately that suppose it would be all right to do what speed, and in the same direction. So there ?” you once said, about Joe was no harm in it. “Maybe we should,” she answered. “How do you feel, honey?” Harvey “Things like that often become necessary asked. on a frontier. You have to improvise, "Fine—perfect!” she answered, and make the beginnings— on which later law meant it. is founded It was more illusion, for even what they they called So Joe, and Harvey Vellis seemed to have of life and home was not said to him, “Joe—do you suppose you yet theirs. could ever be a pastor, priest or a justice of the peace?” HE FLAW lay in the human ele- Joe’s grin was a mile wide. He had ment, as affected by space, and, a big and sentimental heart. “I catch,” T more specifically, by the conditions !” he said. all three “Sure— —maybe more peculiar to the asteroid belt itself. Scat-

They ordained Joe in writing, on space- tered thinly around its tremendous ring- darkened paper: “We, being a commu- like expanse were perhaps three thousand nity of three, on an unknown asteroid, do men—newcomers to this latest colonial declare Jose Eugenio Palmas Alvarez, one frontier—a place of tremendous resources, of our number, to be, and to assume the unorganized as yet, even for proper ex- duties of, our civil magistrate. ...” ploitation, much less by law, order, or Then, on another paper, Harvey wrote civilization. —

68 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

These men were ordinary men, for the They’d wandered far. Gold they had most part, even though high romance and scorned in their hunt for treasure. It was the eagerness for wealth had touched worth less than dirt, here. them. But can a man keep himself civ- Here in the belt, formed by the explo- ilized or sane, while living as they lived? sion of a world from natural, atomic

The belt is a strange region, with no causes, all buried wealth was exposed. counterpart elsewhere in the solar system. Not just soft, useless gold, but uranium, Those tiny minor planets, those fragments radium, and half a dozen other costly met-

of a real world, have so little gravity that als, needed to feed the space fleets, and

a real spaceship is not needed to travel the wheels of industry and comfort at

among them. A specially designed and home . . .

balanced spacesuit, with a small atomic They had gathered it in a great wire

jet-motor fitted into its back-plate, is suffi- net, which they towed by means of cables, cient. So men can skip from asteroid to as they hurtled along in free flight. And asteroid, wandering like nomads. they had more than just these metals. But consider how they live, sleeping in They had treasures from that destroyed their armor, drawing their arms out of the civilization of fifty million years ago. heavy sleeves of their spacesuits to feed Beautifully wrought jewelry, small, ornate themselves pellets of concentrated rations vases, fabrics and tapestries of gorgeous inside their helmets, smelling the rank design that never aged. The lot was worth perspiration of their own unwashed bod- twenty fortunes.

ies, and the accumulation of the fumes of Still, they were in desperate straits. the few cigarettes they can allow them- They knew that a supply-ship was due selves, to avoid overtaxing their perish- maybe already overdue. You were never able air-purifiers. quite sure of supply-ships. They moved

This is only a sketchy picture of the erratically, landing here and there. You truth. Consider the constant worry of never knew quite when or where. having their air-purifiers give out, of con- In space you can see a long way. That

suming all of their food and water, of be- helps to make the vastness of distance less

ing hopelessly lost. Add a stiff dose of significant. One of the nine men peered wealth-hunger. Add homesickness. Add ahead, through a small telescope that the inevitable effect of icy stars. Add the swung into place over the face-plate of his instinct of self-preservation, when death helmet. “Dammit,” he growled to his by suffocation is perhaps only scant hours companions, “I was —sure I saw a little away. star wink on and off ” He was a big Then, have you the same fellow, who, man with a growling voice—one of a on Earth, used to grin genially to his type. A rough leader. friends, and say “Hiyuh, pal !” Or do you They passed into the shadow of a small have an individual dominated by the in- asteroid, and there, in the intense black- stincts of the wolf-pack on the hunt, who ness, the seeing was better. “There she would gladly murder for a breath of fresh is again!” the big man snapped. air, that his hoarded wealth of metal can- “The ship ?” another man asked. “Nev- not buy? er heard of ’em botherin’ to signal their with lights. be afraid About three months after the landing of position They’d like would ’em.” Harvey Vellis, Lillith Thomas Vellis, and guys us mob Joe Palmas on the asteroid, there was such “Could be what’s left of a liner,” the a group of nine men a scant million miles big man answered. “Heard of one crack- away. Their supplies were very low. in’ up. Hmm—what if it was so, boys? ” a

A STEP FARTHER OUT 69

Them signalin’ for help. Imagine . . And when he was a kid. It wasn’t Dink, but it us needing to help ourselves! Worth was a guy like him. It hit the raw edge looking into, anyhow. Can’t be a natural of an old complex in Harvey Vellis— light. So let’s get clear of the belt, where complex which no longer had a basis in we can’t hit anything, and pour on what’s fact, since he’d worked out of it. But its left of the juice. Thirty miles a second’ll shadow was still there, for a critical mo- bring us to that light in short order.” ment—that old fear of big men laughing, Of the gang, one had been a jeweler kidding, that old unfaceable dread of being

with many friends, one had been a police- discovered in a place where it used to man, another had been a hospital steward. seem that he could never belong.

Two had been carpenters, who had taken It made Harvey quiver; it made his their wives and kids out riding on Sunday cheeks turn pale—for just long enough But life in the belt had changed them. All to prevent him from getting his weapon

carried blasters, useful in asteroid mining, from its holster, when it could have been

equally useful to kill. of some use. They came toward the big rotating searchlight that Harvey and Joe had rigged as a distress beacon, as unheralded HE LEERS went around the

as ghosts, for by luck it was still night on dome—mocking travesties of friend- the side of the asteroid where there were T ly smiles. “Hello, friend,” said the now five domes. Five minutes after they big guy. “Gosh, you’ve got a nice place !” landed, the small sun appeared over the here eastern edge of the plain, and revealed a He removed his helmet, and pushed

strange spectacle to the intruders. himself into a chair. But it wasn’t hard to ” "Well, whatdyuhlmow ! the big man see how the hands of the others lingered chirped in falsely naive and harmless won- near their weapons. der. “They even got a garden, with sweet “Nice and homelike,” the big guy went

corn and stuff growing in it, in one of on. “Bet we can even get breakfast here, those domes. Loosen up your belts, guys. hunh? Glory, how I’d go for a good

First thing you know, a little gal with an home-cooked meal! Notice you got a lot apron’ll come marchin’ out!” of equipment, too, stacked up in the other It was all terribly easy. Space was part- domes out there. We need an awful lot ly responsible, again. On the part of Joe of stuff— and Harvey, there was that first awful Nowhere in the big man’s words them- gladness at seeing other human beings aft- selves was there anything yet that was er having been hopelessly stranded. For definitely out of line. It was only the a critical few seconds, it made them as coarsely gentle tone, and the grins of the trusting as children. other members of the pack, and the gleam

Joe opened the airlock to the pack, and in their slitted eyes, that made it perfectly they came tramping into the main dome, plain that these men were bent on pillage with its chairs, rugs, and its zinnias, grow- at the very least—pillage, that, out here, ing in jars filled with bits of rock and where supplies were vital, amounted to hydroponic solution. murder.

Harvey was armed with a blaster, for Harvey and Joe stood passively sullen. he was not wholly green. But another They hadn’t disarmed Harvey, for, still thing threw him—it was the sight of the white-cheeked, he had the look of the

big man. For a second he thought it was harmless twerp, again. Maybe that was

Dink Darrell, who had hazed him most their mistake; but it didn’t amount to . ”

70 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

much, because they had a lot of blasters. prise looked almost hurt, as if his mind They didn’t even bother to draw. But that were bogged down somewhere between didn’t help Harvey much, either. He had law, order, and the comforts of regular

to think of something. . . living, and the brutality of a space fron- The big guy’s gaze went dreamy. He tier. even seemed to relax. “Yeah,” he mused Lilleth stood, grim and ready, behind “Nice. Real nice. Six months I been out the heavy blaster. !” here—six lousy, stinkin’ months without “Hey—this is downright unfriendly a bath. So this is civilization!” the big guy protested, too fuddled, now,

You could sense it, at a certain moment. to be sarcastic. A subtle shift from sincerity. Not only in “Oh, so?” Lilleth challenged. Joe was the big man, but in the others. More of collecting the blasters and belt knives from the treachery of space—aimed, this time, the others. at them. Fearfully hard living—then the Harvey took over. It wasn’t primarily relief, the relaxation, the unwariness, en- generosity that moved him now, but a plan

couraged by the presence of a little des- must have been growing in his subcon- perately needed comfort. . . . scious for a long time. A beginning for something big. “Not unfriendly—just HARVEY Vellis sensed that moment; careful,” he said. “It seems that people matched it, he hoped, with the probable go belt-daffy.— So that’s over. I just had meaning of a faint, shadowy movement an idea beyond a door, which led to the two rooms He let go of the big leader, and backed that had been part of the Aries. Then he away from him, and lowered the muzzle acted. of his own weapon. He drew and fired his blaster at the leg “We do have a lot of supplies here, of the chair in which the big leader had which are ours by right of salvage, and a sprawled with such insolent confidence. lot of work and danger,” he continued. As the chair and man toppled lazily, and “If you have anything to trade you can while the place was full of dazzling light buy what you need that we have, at a and dazing sound, he leaped to close quar- price that is fair for these regions—con- ters, and jerked the blaster from the hol- sidering what it took to salvage the stuff, ster at chief’s hip, at the same time jerk- and considering the enormous value of the ing him erect against the feeble gravity, things within easy reach of asteroid to use him as a momentary shield against miners. Yes, you must have stuff to trade. the others’ guns. Or if you have nothing, we’ll give you

The latter maneuver wasn’t necessary, enough on credit, to tide you over. And for just then the muzzle of a heavy-gauge you could wash up and sleep, here, and blaster appeared from the shadowy door- get a meal. way, with a space-armored figure behind “Fair enough?”

it. One blurp from that weapon would The big guy had a strange, puzzled

have mowed most of the intruders down, light in his eyes, as if he had just discov- and blown their vaporized atoms straight ered that this was the way that he wanted through the wall of the collapsing dome. things to be out here—orderly, and on the Harvey and Joe would have had to gasp level, like at home. The weariness after for a moment in the vacuum, before they long months of harsh living in the belt

were rescued . . . was too great for the result, now, to have But that didn’t happen. been otherwise. The big leader’s jaw dropped. His sur- He looked at his men questioningly, ” — .

A STEP FARTHER OUT 71

and they nodded. They felt the same way. enough!” be replied. "Only I’d better go j “My name’s Dave Barrow,” he said to into conference with my associates, before Harvey. “What’s yours?” I promise too much.” He looked at Lil- Harvey told him. leth. “Honey—do we stay here to do

“Your offer looks okay to me,” Bar- business or do we shove back to Earth, or j row said. “And we have plenty to trade Mars?” more than all the stuff yon got could ever She glanced around her for half a min- be worth!” ute before she answered. At the chairs.

“You could trade some of it, and store At the flowers. At the com and carrots the rest—for a fee,” Harvey Vellis said. and lettuce and radishes in the adjacent “Right now there doesn’t seem to be any garden-dome. At the rugs. Her gaze;

way for us to cheat you, even if we wanted grew fond, and possessive. It seems that to. Besides, we can list everything by a woman can make a home anywhere. measure, and give you a receipt. How Especially an adventurous woman like Lil- does that sound?” leth Thomas Vellis. It doesn’t have to be)

Barrow grinned, as if he too visualized, in Maine, or even in California. It can in what was here, another outward step be on a barren hunk of rock, a million

toward the stars, and was pleased. “You miles from nowhere. . . . go fast, Friend Vellis,” he laughed. “But “We stay here, Harv,” she said. Joe okay. We could use your hospitality, also Palmas nodded. some new electrodes for our air-purifiers,

also concentrated rations and canned THAT’S about all there is to the really goods and water and tools and fuel-bars. important part of the whimsical story of Also a couple of new spacesuits, maybe Harvey Vellis, that drifted back to Dos of the belt-hopping— variety, balanced, and Piedras from the belt, from Out, where- with built-in jets it seemed that the scared little clerk from “If we had such suits, we would have Mr. Finkel’s store could never go. But

gotten away from here,” Harvey an- the tale goes on and on—part of mankind’s < swered. “But we can give you the other outward surge across the face of the uni-

things you want, plus repair service verse. . . maybe. Or—unless I’m getting too far They were married again by the cap- ahead of myself—maybe we might find a tain of the supply-ship. But an hour after] way to order those suits for you. Yeah, it had left, they were painting a sign to-j we just might do that. ...” gether. A symbol of a beginning of sorne-i

Harvey was getting a little dizzy over thing in the belt. Something that most* his own words, which seemed to come out everybody wanted. A touch of home and* without any assistance from himself. Hab- safety. A beginning, around which a

it and training were coming into play in domed city is rising, to push the frontiers him. outward and outward. And the start of a

“We’ll probably see the supply ship aft- fortune for themselves. er we leave here,” Dave Barrow offered. Harvey Vellis painted the letters of the

| “Most likely they’ll be sold out; but we words at his wife’s dictation: TRADiNG-j could tell to land here, take POST GENERAL STORE ’em and your HOSTELRY—BANK j orders. Though I’ll probably come back —SPACEMAN’S REFUGE. VELLIS AND PAL-

with it myself, to make sure you don’t MAS OWNERS. try to rook me when they take my stuff Lilleth laughed, and kissed Harvey, i aboard.” “Now put in ‘Mail posted and received,’ Harvey chuckled. “Now YU say fair she told him. THE ULTIMATE

©m By JOHN D. MacDONALD

LAIRE and Andy had a very spe- It teas the strangest bedtime story cial date, an early date, and their ever told—told when all Earth's C sitter wasn’t able to show, so Claire children were asleep—in a night came across the hall to my apartment and that held no dawn! asked me if I wouldn’t watch the kids, “just this once ?” As I saw no point in reminding her that self a bottle of beer. Bugs sat in my lap

it was probably the fortieth time, and as and Marilyn sat on the floor and leaned

there is usually beer in their icebox, and her head against my knee.

as their video set is better than mine, and “Once upon a time, a long, long time as I like their two brats anyway, I agreed. ago, there was a very rich man who had Fifteen minutes later Claire and Andy a sickly son. This was back in the days

left. I was sprawled out in the best chair long ago when airplanes had propellers in the room. Andy Junior, commonly and the automobiles were made of metal.”

known as Bugs, is five and a half and “How silly,” Marilyn said with a

Marilyn is close to eight. superior sniff. I heard them hurrying through the last “They didn’t know any better, honey. of their meal and then they came in and Anyway, this son had a good mind, but piled on me, yapping about how glad they his body was weak and soft and sick. were to have “Uncle” Ed instead of that The father had about half the money in blank-blank sitter. the world and he sent messages all over Marilyn hollered for a story and Bugs the world, and he said in those' messages, chimed in. I said, “Look, kids. All you got ‘Send me the best doctors.’ to do is turn that dial and you’ll get kid “When the doctors came, the rich man stories -put together by experts.” said, ‘They tell me my son will soon die. Marilyn said, “But they’re for every- I do not wish that to happen. You will body. Your stories are just for us.” please save him.’ So the wise doctors “Roboman, roboman,” Bugs screamed. looked at the son and they found he had

“Tell us about the first roboman.” a disease of the bone which was very “I’ve told you that one twenty times,” I serious. At that time diseased bone was complained. being replaced in small areas by stainless,

“And we want to hear it twenty times rustless metal. This disease could not be more,” Marilyn said firmly. stopped. So they began to operate on the I promised and they let me go get my- boy, very cleverly. They started at his £2 One doctor claimed that he could make a better »k»n for the boy. t » • 73 74 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

feet and, in two years, they had removed graft which would enable the boy to feel every last bone and replaced each one with heat and cold and pressure, but not pain. steel. Permanent lubricant was sealed into And, by planting thermostatic devices in every joint, and the muscles were cleverly the skin, moisture would be released in attached so that the boy had a better proper quantity to serve as a cooling agent. body than before.” Best of all, the new skin was a beautiful “But his heart,” Marilyn said. tan color, and only the sharpest knife

“Please don’t get ahead of me, honey. could make the tiniest cut in it. Seventeen You’re right. The hundreds of operations operations over a whole year were needed had so weakened the boy’s heart that before the boy had his new and perfect once again he was in danger of dying. skin. It was applied in such a way that,

The last operation, removing the skull, if the boy had cut himself badly, a new resetting his eyes in the steel skull case, section could be installed.” had been the worst of all. One of the doe- I saw Marilyn open her mouth to inter-

tea’s said that, after all, the heart was rupt again, so I hurried along. “And all only a pump, and not a very good one the doctors watched this boy for two more at that. Within six months they had years, and he was a man instead of a boy, devised a tiny plastic pump, half the size though, of course, he grew no taller. Then of the heart, which would perform all they went to the boy’s father and they the functions of the heart and do them said, ‘Your son will have a long life.’ better. They made nerve grafts in such a The father was satisfied and he rewarded way that exertion would speed up the them greatly, but ever after that the fa- heart, just the way the old one had ther was uncomfortable in the presence of worked. Better yet, the pump was so small his son, because the father was made of that they made a dual hookup and in- the crude materials of life itself, whereas stalled, in the boy’s chest cavity, a standby his son had the strong, proud body of pump, just in case. the first roboman.”

“The boy still lived, but he couldn’t Both Marilyn and Bugs sighed deeply. move outside the electrical field which “It’s such a good story,” Marilyn said transmitted power to the heart pump. His dreamily. father blanketed their vast estate with “Yah,” said Bugs. the power field, so that the boy could I had a revolt on my hands when I roam the fields like a normal boy.” tried to get them to bed. But when I “And his skin,” Bugs said. was about worn out, they consented and I “Bugs, you’re getting as bad as Mari- took them bad? to the bedroom. They lyn. The boy’s body was further weakened washed, with many complaints. by all these changes that had taken place, When they were at last tucked m, I and the doctors found that whenever the turned out the lights and stood theije in boy cut himself or scratched himself, he the warm half-darkness, looking down at was very slow to heal. In fact, he had them.

two cuts that didn’t seem to heal at all. At times like that you wish you had Again they conferred, and they decided kids of your own. that the boy’s skin was pretty inefficient. Good strong healthy kids like Marilyn One doctor claimed that he could make a and Bugs, with the very newest kind of better skin for the boy. It took him nearly Gro-Form metallic bone, Extenso-Plas- two years because he had to solve the ticon skin, Duble-Force hearts, Lense- problems of senses as well as cooling for Rite eyes and the best bottled blood that the body. At last he worked out a nerve money can buy. —

Pausing not, they turned and came right back. . . .

The WHEEL of TIME By ROBERT ARTHUR

T WAS a lovely Sunday morning in on me, if he can. His mind and lightning July when Jeremiah Jupiter called me work the same way — fast, in zig-zag I to suggest a picnic. I must have been streaks. He’s either the greatest scientist feeling slightly suicidal that day, because who ever lived, or the worst screwball

I accepted. who ever trod this mundane sphere. Jeremiah Jupiter has a mint of money But I had an excuse this time for not and a yen for scientific experimenting realizing he was up to something. I

Master of the eons, Jeremiah Jupiter found a moment he could live over again—to his timeless regret! 75 76 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

thought he meant a real picnic the “Guests?” I whirled around, and kind with lots of cold chicken and lobster peered into the body of the truck through salad. If there’s anything Jupiter loves a panel opening. The inside was quite

besides science, it’s eating, especially on light. I could see perfectly. I realized picnics. The lunch basket his Javanese that after I had rubbed my eyes twice,

boy packs up would lure Oscar of the and what I saw still stayed the same. Waldorf away from his skillet. And what I saw were three large

I stipulated, however, that I absolutely chimpanzees, wearing clothes and horn- must be back in New York by evening, for rimmed spectacles, hanging from support I had an important dinner engagement rods in the top of the truck while they with an out-of-town editor. He was re- read volumes of the Encyclopedia Britan- turning to Chicago Monday morning, so nica! at dinner we were going to settle on terms “Jupiter!” I said. Jeremiah Jupiter for a serial of mine he wanted to buy, pro- flinched.

vided he could take it with him and rush “Don’t scream, Lucius,” he reproved.

it to the press the minute he got back to “If you make a habit of it, you’ll get Chicago. Since I figured on getting at cancer of the vocal cords. Anyway, they least two thousand for the story, I was aren’t really reading the encyclopedia. anticipating that dinner with consider- It’s part of the act. There are thin candy able interest. wafers between the pages, and they turn Jupiter promised we would be back in the pages looking for them. When they time, said he’d call for me in an hour and pop the wafers into their mouths, they rang off. I dressed, in some lightweight seem to be licking their thumbs. That flannels, one of the new Pandanus grass gives them the appearance of studying. hats decorated with a bright-colored band, Really, they never actually read anything

and an appetite. Promptly in an hour I but the comic sheets.” heard Jupiter’s honk, and went out. “Jupiter !” This time the word came out When I got outside, though, I stopped in a strangled voice, as I kept control of in amazement. Jupiter wasn’t driving his myself by an effort. “I won’t ask you why usual V-16 touring car. Instead, he was you’re bringing three trained chimpan- at the wheel of a Jeremiah Jupiter lab zees along on a picnic. I won’t ask you truck, with an enclosed body. My sus- what that very sinister-looking apparatus

picions were instantly aroused. under the tarpaulin is. I won’t ask you “Lucius!” Jupiter caroled. His bright what madness your sly, serpentine. blue eyes in his chubby pink face sparkled Machiavellian mind is bent upon. But one behind their powerful horn-rimmed spec- thing I do want to know.

tacles. “I’m so glad you can make it. "What are those three motorcycles in f" What a day for a picnic, eh? We’ll have the back of the truck for !” the time of our lives “Lucius,” Jeremiah compliined, dash- He put a queer emphasis on the word ing at a space between a bridge abutment

time, and chuckled. I looked at him dark- and a ten-ton truck that would not have ly as I clambered in beside him. accommodated a stout bicyclist, “you will “Jupiter,” I demanded, “since when really get cancer of the vocal cords. I have you been a truck driver?” detected a distinct crack in your voice — — then.” “Er ” Jupiter coughed “I have some guests. I thought it best to bring them in “Hah!” I breathed. “Hah! What a a truck. Avoid the stares of the Sunday chance for a mot juste on my part. But crowd*." I’ll restrain yourself—if you’ll explain i —

THE WHEEL OF TIME 77

why we are going on a picnic with three "Not at all, Lucius,” he piped. “They chimpanzees who read the Britannica will play an important part in the epochal while hanging by their heels, and three scientific achievement vou are going to undersized motorcycles painted Vermil- witness. Although I have food with me,

lion, gold, and silver!” this is really going to be a picnic of sci- “They’re part of the act, too,” Jere- ence, Lucius, a feast of knowledge rather miah chirped, finding the bridge clear than a mere gorging of the corporeal body.

and roaring the truck down it at break- Aren’t you excited at the thought?”

neck speed “The chimpanzees ride the I gurgled slowly and collapsed.

motorcycles around and around while they “No,” I murmured hollowly. “No, I ” study the encyclopedia.”— won’t help you. "Jupiter ” now I was just whispering “Help me do what, Lucius?”

—“I do not say that makes sense, but I’ll “Whatever it is you’re planning. I

accept it. On looking closer, however, I won’t help you.” see that beside the motorcycles are three “I was afraid of that,” my small friend bass drums What the devil are the sighed sadly “That’s why I brought the drums for?" chimpanzees. They’re highly trained, very “You will have to let me X-ray your intelligent, and they shall be my rally as- throat when we return, Lucius,” Jupiter sistants in the precedent-shattering feat

said, with a worried expression. “You I am about to perform. You need do

sounded so strange then . , . Why, the nothing but look on. And applaud, of ” drums are-—” course.

“Part of the actl” "What ” I hardly dared ask it “Yes, indeed,” he agreed brightly. "what is the experiment, Jeremiah?” “The drums fasten to the handlebars of Jeremiah Jupiter’s face took on the rapt,

the motorcycles Then the chimps ride dreamy look I knew too well. the motorcycles around on the stage— “I am going,” he said, “I am going, bought them from a vaudeville animal act Lucius, to upset the time rhythm of the —beating the drums, reading the encyclo- universe!” pedia, and throwing out oranges to the audience,” THERE is nothing small about Jupiter. When he takes a notion to investigate WAS reduced to speechlessness for space and distance, he short-circuits in-

a good half hour as we drove up the finity. Now that it had occurred to him I Jersey shore of the Hudson. At last that time would make a fascinating sci-

1 made an effort and blinked the glassv entific plaything, he was preparing to up- feeling from my eyes. set the universe’s time rhythm, whatever that was “You,” 1 said, “brought along three

chimpanzees who ride motorcycles, beat “Jupiter," 1 said in the merest whis- bass drums, study the encyclopedia, and per, “Jupiter, let me out right here. I’m throw oranges at people, all at one and the going to walk back.” same time—you brought along these in- “I really am worried about you, Lu- telligent, educated, amiable, sociable, ver- cius,” Jupiter told me, swinging the truck satile creatures to keep us entertained off the road into a muddy lane leading while we picnic? You did all this just to through a wood. “I’m positive there’s while away the time and amuse us as we something wrong with . . , But anyway, eat? Is that it, Jeremiah?” here we are. Here’s where we’re going My chubby companion shook his head. to have our picnic.” — ”

78 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

He pulled the truck to a stop in the onto the grass. Each had a small sidecar middle of a grassy meadow, dominated by attached, and in these I saw some glitter- a large oak tree. A hundred yards away ing objects like gargantuan liver pills, but was a section of the Palisades, dropping I had no chance to investigate them. sheer to the Mae of the Hudson River. Jupiter handed me down the three In the other direction, the field sloped small bass drums, each with a portrait of gently. its owner painted on the head, and I There were, however, several large placed these beside the motorcycles. King, grassy mounds in the middle of the Queenie, and Joker recognized their prop- meadow, and one of these showed signs erty and made sounds of anticipation, but of having been dug into recently. The Jupiter shooed them away. spot where Jupiter chose to stop was be- "Go on, play,” he told them. "First tween the tree and the mounds, and he im- we’re going to eat. The drums come mediately jumped down and ran around to later.” open up the back of the truck. Either recognizing the voice of a master “Come, Lucius!” he called. “I need before whom Nature herself quailed, or your help. That’s a boy, King. Good because he was now unloading the large girl, Queenie. Come on now, Joker. Give vacuum lunch hamper, the chimps scam- me the books. Get down and romp in the pered around in circles, playing tag and grass. This is going to be a picnic.” chattering. Jupiter handed me the hamper

The three chimpanzees hopped lightly and jumped down. I tottered with it to down and began doing somersaults in the the shade of the oak, and he trotted at my grass at the word picnic, which they side, rubbing his hands and exuding en- seemed to recognize. Little did they thusiasm. know! “Hmm,” he said, peering into the The largest of the chimps had a broad, hamper. “No reason why we shouldn’t apish face, fringed by graying hair. He eat now. Put you in a better mood per- was tastefully costumed in an Indian suit, haps, Lucius. Now let’s see, what have with plenty of bright beadwork around we here? Breast of Hungarian pheasant? the cuffs and pockets. From time to time Ah!”

he paused to pick a bead off and eat it, Munching, he flung himself down on the chewing reflectively. Then he went back grass. He tossed a bag of peanuts to each to turning somersaults. of the chimps, and they swung happily The chimp Jupiter had called Queenie up into the lower branches of the oak, had on a skirt and blouse, also Indian, but where they squatted, eating peanuts and the smallest and youngest of the three tossing the shells at me. Moodily I my companion informed me that King chewed on squab in jelly, and blasphemed and Queenie were his parents, which was the base appetites that had lured me into why he was called Joker, or in full, Jack this expedition. Joker—was gaily decked out in an acro- "Now, Lucius,” Jeremiah said brightly, bat’s silk shorts and jersey, with an Amer- licking his fingers, “I dare say I'll have to

ican eagle across his chest. outline for you what it is I’m going to He did flipflops around his parents, do. In the first —place, time is nothing but while Jupiter and I sweated to unload the rhythmic forces truck. “How do you know?” I asked rudely.

We ran the motorcycles, one crimson, "I deduced it logically,” he informed one gold, one silver, and smaller than me, sinking his teeth into a turkey leg. standard models, down an extensible ramp “It came to me in a flash one night when ”

THE WHEEL OF TIME 79

I was setting my alarm clock. Every- My companion sighed. thing else in Nature, I realized, is rhyth- “Very' well, Lucius,” he remarked. “ mic. The seasons, the progressions of the I’ve made it as plain as I can, and if you stars, birth, life, light waves, radio waves, don’t understand I’m sorry. Your atti- electrical impulses, the motions of mole- tude is no surprise to me In fact it ac- cules—everything. All move according curately reflects what my professional col- to fixed and definite rhythms. Obviously, leagues would say, and that is the rea-

I deduced, since the Universe is construct- son we are here today To provide ir- ed upon a pattern of rhythm, time must refutable proof which, upon being pre- be rhythmic too. It’s just that nobody sented to certain contemporaries calling ever thought of it before.” themselves scientists, will force them to "And now that you’ve thought of it,” respect the monograph on the subject I’m I asked, opening a bottle of Moselle from now writing.” the cooling compartment, “what has it His eyes glittered. Jeremiah Jupitet gotten you ?” has had notable encounters with his fellow “Just this, Lucius!” Jupiter bubbled scientists in the past, but he has never with excitement. “Any rhythm can be in- yet emerged the loser. terrupted by a properly applied counter- “A demonstration, Lucius,” he ex- rhythm!’’ plained, “they would claim was faked

Consequently I am going to prove I can OPENED my mouth and forgot to interrupt the time rhythm of the present

put anything in it. “Now surely,” and produce the past so that even the I Jeremiah said patiently, “even though most skeptical dolt cannot doubt.” you do spend all your time swinging goli He poured himself a tall glass of Mo- clubs, waving tennis racquets, or whirling selle and drank it with great appreciation. polo mallets, when you’re not writing the Perceiving that the chimps in the tree puny little pieces of fiction you compose overhead had finished their peanuts, he as an excuse for not working, you must tossed each of them a bottle of soda pop, know some elementary physics. which they drank with avid gurglings.

“I am positive you must have read of “That is where King, Queenie and experiments in which two light waves of joker come in,” he informed me. “I knew the proper lengths, being made to inter- that you, Lucius, would balk. They, how- fere with each other, produce darkness? ever, are equally competent to do what is And the fact that two sounds, properly necessary, and much less skeptical. You chosen for pitch, can get in each other’s see, I have— prepared a number of time way, with complete silence as the result?” capsules !” I nodded. “Time capsules “Yes,” I admitted. “1 know about that. “To use a layman’s terminology. I What’s that got to do with time?” have one here.” “The time rhythm,” he corrected me. He produced from one of his bulging “Or, the Jeremiah Jupiter Time-Rhythm pockets an article shaped like a gelatine Effect, as succeeding generations will call capsule, about as big as his fist, and made apparently of platinum, for it was very it. Why, it’s quite obvious. If you can in- heavy. terfere with light and produce darkness, if you can interfere with sound and produce It seemed solid; at least there was no silence, then obviously you can interfere way of opening it. On the polished sur- with present time and produce past time.” face was deeply engraved, in bold script,

It was not obvious to me, and I said so. Jeremiah Jupiter Time Capsule. A.D. ”

80 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

1965. Melt at left-hand tip to open. posited here a million years ago, will have

“In it,” Jupiter told me, “there is a been resting beneath this meadow all that microfilm of the New York Times, an- time. The archeologists, digging down in- other microfilm containing my auto- to strata they know were laid down before biography and listing some of my more the dawn of history, will find at least one noteworthy discoveries, a third micro- time capsule. film announcing that I shall presently “There will be only one possible ex-

publish my findings concerning the Jupi- planation—that it was actually placed ter Time-Rhythm Effect, and a small com- there in the past. By measuring the dis- partment containing the merest pinch of integration of the radium inside, they

radium.” will know the exact number of years it “But—” has been lying there, waiting to be found “Those mounds—” he gestured—"are by— recently discovered barrows containing “Here, Lucius, drink this wine, ruins of an ancient barbaric civilization please!” on this spot. In digging, the archeologists I drank it. I felt stronger then, but not have also discovered that beneath this strong enough to argue with him.

meadow is a clay stratum, once part of “I do not understand, Jupiter,” I told a swampy coastline, containing tremen- him. “But let that pass. I will take your

dous numbers of fossils. The digging has word for it. You are going to set up an

only begun. In a short time it will be interference in the time rhythm, making undertaken more extensively, and this today yesterday, a million years removed. whole area sifted for fossils and other But why yesterday? Why not tomorrow finds. too? Why not have a peep into the fu- “And among the objects found, Lu- ture as well?” cius, will be one or more Jeremiah Jupi- He placed his plump fingers together ter Time Capsules! Clever, eh?” and pursed his lips.

He gazed at me brightly, but I could “I can excuse you for asking that ques-

only scowl. tion,” he chirped, “because I asked it my- “You mean,” I demanded, “you’re go- self when first the idea came to me. But

ing to dig down in this meadow and plant it is impossible. I logically established its

your time capsules for this archeologists impossibility and dismissed the thought to find next—week, or next month? But from my mind. I don’t see “I think I can make it plain why, The pink, cherubic face clouded over. though I can reduce the present to the

“Lucius, sometimes I despair of you,” past, I cannot resolve it into the future.

he sighed. “Of course not. I am going Let us assume that you have a grandchild to set up an interference in the time someday.”

rhythm at this particular spot. Then the “But I’m not even married,” I told

chimpanzees will enter it with my time him. capsules—since I know you won’t—and “Please don’t be irrelevant. In the they will deposit the capsules here a mil- course of events your grandchild grows up lion years ago!" and develops an inflamed appendix that He gazed at me anxiously. must be operated upon.”

“Are you sure you’re well, Lucius? “More likely peptic ulcers from travel- Your throat isn’t bothering you again? ing around too much via the Jupiter Spa- You seem to be choking. Now you under- tial By-pass,” I suggested wickedly. stand, of course. My time capsules, de- He remained unruffled. “Let us say I THE WHEEL OF TIME 81 am a doctor. In the course of time, your “They can’t get drunk!” Jupiter cried. grandchild comes to me and I cut into him, “That might spoil the experiment! Lu- remove his appendix. I do it then. But cius, we must take the wine away from obviously I could never do it now, be- them!” cause neither grandchild nor appendix We rushed across the grass. As soon as has yet occurred. So it is with the future. they saw us coming, King, Queenie and

As it hasn’t occurred, I can’t penetrate Joker took to their heels, scampering into it. Now to the business at hand.” away with knuckles touching the ground He rose and strode briskly over to the to give them extra speed. They dashed truck. I followed. Together we slid the for their motorcycles, leaped into the heavy apparatus under the tarpaulin down seats, and got under way. the ramp and set it up on the grass. The motorcycles were electric, and could be started, stopped, or steered with

HILE we were doing this I no- one hand—or foot. King took off first. ticed that the three chimps had He grabbed the handlebar control with Wdropped out of the tree and were' his foot, the machine hummed, and then chattering excitedly about something, but shot toward us. With a tipsy whoop I was too busy to see what. Queenie followed. Joker paused long The object that my companion was now enough to grab up his drum. Then, steer- handling with such loving care wT as large ing with one foot, holding on with the and square, something like one of the old other, grasping the drum with one paw cabinet television sets of my boyhood. It and banging it with the other fist, he had similar dials on the front, and when charged after his parents. he lifted the top, I saw bank after bank “Jump, Lucius!” Jupiter shrilled. He' of tubes inside, as well as a large drum leaped one way and I the other. King that apparently revolved. and Queenie whizzed between us, and! The middle of the front was given over Joker, banging lustily on the drum and to a speaker-like opening, and a long in- emitting a kind of simian war-whoop,, sulated wire depended from the rear. This zipped past behind them. wire was attached to a steel prong, which Jeremiah Jupiter fell on his face. Ii Jupiter drove into the earth several feet banged against the tree trunk. The three behind the unwholesome apparatus. chimpanzee Barney Oldfields went whoop- “That forms a ground connection,” he ing around the tree, turned and started! remarked. “Now we’re ready to make a back. preliminary test of my Time Rhythm “Look out!” I yelled. Jupiter got daz- Resonator. Where are the chimps?” edly to his feet just as the chimps came< I looked up. around the second lap. Then I leaped, and

"They’re drinking the Moselle!” I King and Queenie and Joker, all abreast, !” yelled. “They’re getting tight rocking and swaying, roared by under-

Jupiter, in the midst of adjusting some- neath me and were gone again. thing, jerked upright. The chimps cer- I was in the lower branches of the oak i tainly were getting intoxicated, and in a by then. Turning, I discovered Jupiter hurry. Having finished off their soda pop, on the next limb. they’d dropped down out of the oak as “You and your discoveries!” I grated. soon as we’d left and picked up the Mo- But he wasn’t listening. He was star- ing at his apparatus, and selle. Now they were guzzling it as fast he looked wor- ried. as they could get it down, giving guttural calls and cries of enjoyment. “Er—Lucius,” he remarked. "I think ”! — —

82 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

my Time Rhythm Resonator is working.” fact, just done it all a moment before I looked. I could see the tubes glowing, Then, leaping, I was in the tree again, right enough. the chimps were zooming by underneath, “Well?" I asked. “Nothing's happen- and Jupiter was clinging to tire next ing.” branch.

“Urn I think I’d better it off And I knew Jupiter’s machine was — go turn ! anyway. The revolving drum was not stuck, like a phonograph with a cracked working properly and I was about to ad- record! It wasn’t changing the present just it—” to the past, but repeating the present over He dropped to the ground and started and over again toward the thing. I dropped behind him Bitter horror overwhelmed me. We and started that way too, just as the three were doomed to keep leaping up into that tipsy chimps on their gaudy motorcycles oak while three drunken chimpanzees came past a third time, still rocking and tried to run us down until—until—My swaying, whooping, Joker beating the brain reeled. drum. “You and your discoveries!” I “Look out f” I yelled, and leaped. They screamed. went past underneath, dust spurting, and Jupiter did not answer. He was star- back in the tree again I turned, to dis- ing at his machine cover Jupiter on the next branch. It was after the little act had been re-

“You and your discoveries!” I grated peated for the tenth time—I think it was between my teeth. the tenth, though it seemed as if we spent But Ire wasn’t listening. He was star- days hopping up and down out of that ing at his apparatus, and he looked wor- tree—that King and Queenie and Joker, ried. instead of trying to run us down, swerved “Er—Lucius,” he said. “I think my and brought their motorcycles to a stop. Time Rhythm Resonator is working.” They leaped off and began turning somer-

I could see the tubes glowing, right saults, as if waiting for the applause. enough. Jupiter rushed across to his machine and “Well?” I asked. “Nothing’s happen- clicked a switch. Then he mopped his ing.” brow.

“Urn—I think I’d better go turn it off “Goodness,” he said mildly. “I’m cer- anyway. The revolving drum was not tainly glad I put in that automatic cut- working properly and I was about to ad- off switch. The drum was caught in one just it—” position, and— “ He dropped to the ground, and I after —and time kept repeating itself him. Just as we did so, I saw the three around here!” I yelled hoarsely. “We

chimpanzees on their vaudeville-act cy- were stuck in time ! Talk about being in cles roaring around the oak at us again, a rut! If that machine hadn’t stopped

and it flashed through my mind that all we’d have spent eternity dodging intoxi- this was very familiar. That we had, in cated chimpanzees on motorcycles!”

Statement of the ownership, management and circulation reouired by the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912, as amended, by the acts of March 3, 1933, and July 2, 1948 (Title 39, United States Code, Section 233) of Super Science Stories, pub- lished bi-monthly at Kokomo, Indiana, October 1, 1949. 1. The names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor and business managers are: Publisher, Harold S. Goldsmith. 205 Bast 42nd Street, New York 17, N.Y. ; Editor, Henry Steeger, 205 East Street, 2. The is; 42nd New York 17, N.Y. ; Managing Editor, none; Business Manager, none. owner Fietioneers, Inc.,

205 East 42nd Street, New York 17, N.Y. ; Henry Steeger, 205 East 42nd Street. New York 17, N.Y. ; Harold S. Goldsmith. 205 East 42nd Street, New York N.Y. Shirley Steeger, Street, New York 17, N.Y. 3. The known 17, ; M. 205 East 42nd bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: none. 4. Paragraphs 2 and 3 include, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting; also the statements in the two paragraphs show the affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner. Harold S. Goldsmith. Publisher. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 22nd day of November, 1949. Era M. Walker. Notary Public, New York County Clerk’s No. 116, Register’s No. 363-W-G. (My commission expires March 30, 1950.) [Seal]—Form 3526—Key. 2-49. ”

THE WHEEL OF TIME 83

“Any apparatus may hare a bug or two temporal rhythm interference which will

in it at first,” Jeremiah Jupiter said, but reduce the present over these mounds to I could see he was slightly shaken. It the past of a million years ago. had been hot work, jumping up and down “The chimps will ride into that area of out of that oak, and Jeremiah does not like the past on their cycles—if only you were exercise. His pink face was bedewed with more cooperative, Lucius, none of this perspiration. rather elaborate scheme would be neces- “However,” he went on briskly, “I sary—and as they ride around they wffl have that fixed now. Now to turn the throw the time capsules broadcast over resonator around, so its field of operation the whole area. One or more is bound to will be directed toward the mounds, and sink into the ground, be covered over, we’re all ready.” and remain there until the present, to be dug up by the archeologists. E MOVED the square box about, “When I whistle, the chimps will ride

did a few things to it, and turned back to us, in the present. I will turn off H toward the chimps. Sobered and the resonator. In due time one of my abashed now, they crouched beside thdr capsules will be found. Then I will ex-

cycles as if expecting to be punished. plain how it came to be there, and no Jupiter patted them on the shoulders re- one will be able to doubt my time-rhythm assuringly, and got them back onto their effect thereafter. It is a little complicated, motorcycles. Then he fastened King and but remember, that is your fault.” Queenie’s drums to the handlebars, re- “You could run in there and plant a trieved Joker’s drum and fastened that in capsule for yourself, Jupiter,” I sug- place too, and lined them up facing toward gested, but he only shook las head. the mounds. “It wouldn’t be feasible,” he retorted. From the truck he brought out three “Now— volumes of the encyclopedia, and gave one He clicked a switch on his apparatus. to each. The chimps immediately bright- This time nothing went wrong. In an ened up. instant a large area of haze formed over “Now they feel at home,” Jupiter in- the old mounds. This haze thickened at formed me. “They have all the trappings first, but Jupiter fiddled with a dial, and of their act. is Nothing missing, so they’re gradually it thinned down until it was just reassured. Like children. Everything’s a shimmery area. all right now. They won’t lose control of Within that space, a great change in the themselves this time. You’ll see.” meadow had taken place. He pointed into the small sidecars at- Now great broad fronds grew up from tached to the machines. I saw now that the ground, long tentacles of unhealthy- the glittery objects in the sidecars were looking moss drooping from them. In the

platinum time capsules. background were tall spiky trees dis- “Oranges,” Jeremiah Jupiter said, tantly resembling palms. In the fore- drawing the chimps’ attention to them. ground, a hard, sandy beach, covered with “Oranges,” and he made a throwing mo- curious shells. It was rather like a stage tion. setting seen through a gauze curtain. “As they ride around throwing out Jeremiah Jupiter took a deep breath. orange's in their act,” he told me, “they “Lucius,” he said, “this is a solemn will throw out my time capsules. Per- moment. We are standing here today, and haps you understand at last, Lucius. there is yesterday ... All right. King, !” “In a moment I am going to create a Queenie, Joker. Start ” —

84 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Unhesitatingly the three chimps started and crouching low, yelling in horror, they their motorcycles bouncing across the swept straight back at us. meadow toward the shimmery area of the The head of the brontosaurus that had past that Jupiter’s resonator was produc- reared up disappeared, and the pterodactyl ing. Steering with one foot, banging their that had swooped down on them flapped drums with one hand, holding out their its bat-like wings and zoomed back up into encyclopedias as if reading in the other, the sky, out of our sight. Jupiter yelled, they charged bravely back into the re- but the chimps had only one thought now. mote past of their distant forefathers. They wanted to get back to nice, peaceful Jupiter watched them go, entranced. today. But I tapped his shoulder and pointed to They came bounding at us, eyes rolling, a spot behind us. teeth chattering, and I made one wild “And there,” I said, “is tomorrow!” leap.

Jeremiah Jupiter turned, and his eyes “Duck, Jupiter!” I shouted. “They’re bugged in disbelief. going to run us down ! They’re scared Behind us was a second hazy area, as silly!” large as the first and the same distance Jupiter tumbled after me, just in time. away. But within this one there was a The chimps bounded over the spot where glitter of glass and crystal. We saw a we had been standing and kept on going wide street, along which low-roofed build- . . . straight for that future which had ap- ings stretched into the distance. Jewel- peared where it shouldn’t! like facades shone in the sunshine, and “Oh, goodness!” Jupiter squeaked in over roofs of buildings the the airships dismay. “No, they mustn’t!” were swooping so rapidly we could not He scrambled up and dashed for his ap- make out what they looked like. paratus. By now King and Queenie and “G-good heavens!” Jupiter stuttered. Joker, still howling, were at the very !” “My resonator is giving out a harmonic edge of the second hazy space, and still ac- Calling what we were looking at a har- celerating. Directly before them, broad monic seemed to me an understatement. and smooth, lay the street we could see “Now,” I asked, with malicious amuse- running into the heart of that crystal and ment, “how do you explain that?” — silver city of the future. “I ” Jupiter muttered, struggling to As they reached it. Joker, in an auto- collect himself. “I— matic response to his training, I dare say, But before he could get his thoughts in reached down into the sidecar, seized one order, a shriek of terror sounded behind of the time capsules, and tossed it high us. We wheeled. into the air. Then The three chimps had plunged into the Then Jupiter, rushing for his resonator, past area, banging bravely on their drums, tripped over the ground wire, plunged into and for an instant their motorcycles the apparatus, and sent it crashing to the spumed the primordial sands. Then, be- earth beneath him. yond the trees, a great, toothed head silver city, into arose, and red eyes stared at them. Above The whose street King them a shadow swooped down, and King, and Queenie and Joker had just ridden in their headlong flight, vanished. Queenie, and Joker, pausing not, turned and came right back. So did the chrmps. They threw away their books. They We were surrounded by nothing but threw away their drums. They threw peaceful Jersey meadow. away everything but the time capsules. ( Continued on page 129) —

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across the universe in his immortal Odys- CMy Zone State. sey at space. Don’t mist them! 85 . 86 By ARTHUR C CLARKE EXILE OF THE EONS

Exiled to an utterly remote future, Trevindor thought he

suffered the ultimate punishment . . . until he met the second exile—ahd learned that the Universe holds things more fearful even than loneliness!

LREADY the mountains were ground wave racing through the rocks

trembling with the thunder that below. Later still, the air brought the echo A only man can make. But here the of a mammoth concussion. Surely they

war seemed very far away, for the full could not be so close already ! The Master

moon hung over the Himalayas and the hoped it was no more than a stray torpedo

blinding furies of the battle were still that had swept through the contracting

hidden below the edge of the world. Not battle line. If it were not, time was even for long would they remain. The Master shorter than he feared. knew that the last remnants of his fleet The Chief of Staff walked out from the

were being hurled from the sky as the shadows and joined him by the rail. The circle of death closed swiftly on his strong- Marshal’s hard face—the second most

hold. hated . in all the world—was lined and In a few hours at the most, the Master beaded with sweat. He had not slept for and his dreams of empire would have many days and his once gaudy uniform vanished into the past. Nations would hung limply upon him. Yet his eyes,

still curse his name, but they would no though unutterably weary, were still reso-

longer fear it. Later, even the hatred lute even in defeat. He stood in silence, would be gone and he would mean no awaiting his last orders. Nothing else was more to the world than Hitler or Napo- left for him to do. leon or Genghis Khan. Like them he Thirty miles away, the eternal snow- would be a blurred figure far down the plume of Everest flamed a lurid red, re- infinite corridor of time, dwindling to- flecting the glare of some colossal fire wards oblivion. below the horizon. Still the Master neither Far to the south, a mountain was sud- moved nor gave any sign. Not until a denly edged with violet flame. Ages later, salvo of torpedoes passed high overhead the balcony on which the Master stood with a demon wail did -he turn and, with shuddered beneath the impact of the one backward glance at the world he would see no more, descend into the depths. No, he would not, he dared The lift dropped a thousand feet and not dream. He would only 0 sleep . . . sleep . . . sleep. . . . the sound of battle died away. As he 8 88 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

stepped out of the shaft, the Master “My secret is safe enough with you,” paused for a moment to press a hidden he continued, “for the enemy will never

switch. The Marshal smiled when he find this place. The entrance is already heard the crash of falling rock far above, blocked by many hundreds of feet of ” and knew that pursuit and escape were rock. equally impossible Still there was no movement. Only the As of old, the handful of generals Director of Propaganda turned suddenly sprang to their feet when the Master en- white, and swiftly recovered—but not tered the room. He walked to his place in swiftly enough to escape the Master’s silence, steeling himself for the last and eye. The Master smiled inwardly at this the hardest speech he would ever have to belated confirmation of an old doubt. It

make. Burning into his soul he could mattered little now; true and false, they

feel the eyes of the men he had led to would all die together ruin. Behind and beyond them he could All but one see the squadrons, the divisions, the "Two years ago,” he went on, “when armies whose blood was on his hands we lost the battle of Antarctica, I knew

And more terrible still were the silent that we could no longer be certain of

specters of the nations that now could victory So I made my preparations for never be born this day. The enemy has already sworn At last he began to speak. The hypnosis to kill me. I could not remain in hiding of his voice was as powerful as ever, and anywhere on the Earth, still less hope to after a few words he became once more rebuild our fortunes.

the perfect, implacable machine whose “But there is another way, though a destiny was destruction. desperate one,

“This, gentlemen, is the last of all our "Five years ago, one of our scientists meetings. There are no more plans to perfected the technique of suspended ani- make, no more maps to study. Some- mation. He found that by relatively sim-

where above our heads the fleet .we built ple means all life processes could be ar-

with such pride and care is fighting to the rested for an indefinite period. I am

end. In a few minutes, not one of all going to use this discovery to escape

those thousands of machines will be left from the present into a future which will

in the sky. have forgotten me. There I can begin

“I know that for all of us here surren- the struggle again, with the help of certain

der is unthinkable, even if it were pos- devices that might yet have won this war sible, so in this room you will shortly had we been granted more time. have to die. You have served our cause “Good-by, gentlemen. And once again,

and deserved better, but it was not to be. my thanks for your help and my regrets

Yet I do not wish you to think that we at your ill fortune.” have wholly failed. In the past, as you He saluted, turned on his heel, and was saw many times, my plans were always gone. The metal door thudded decisively ready for everything that might arise, no behind him. There was a frozen silence; matter how improbable. You should not, then the Director of Propaganda mshed therefore, be surprised to learn that 1 was to the exit, only to recoil with a startled prepared even for defeat.” cry. The steel door was already too hot to

Still the same superb orator, he paused touch. It had been welded immovably for effect, noting with satisfaction the into the wall ripple of interest, the sudden alertness The Minister for War was the first on the tired faces of his listeners. to draw his automatic. EXILE OF THE EONS 89

HE MASTER was in no great would be dead and the Master could sleep, hurry, now. On leaving the council unchanged, forever. T room he had thrown the secret He had planned to wait a hundred switch of the welding circuit. The same years. More than that he dared not delay, action had opened a panel in the wall of for when he awoke he would have to

the corridor, revealing a small circular master all the changes in science and passage sloping steadily upwards. He society that the passing years had wrought.

began to walk slowly along it. Even a century might have altered the face Every few hundred feet the tunnel of civilization beyond his understanding,

angled sharply, though still continuing the but that was a risk he would have to take. upward climb. At each turning the Mas- Less than a century would not be safe, for ter stopped to throw a switch, and there the world would still be full of bitter was the thunder of falling rock as a sec- memories. tion of corridor collapsed. Sealed in a vacuum beneath the couch

Five times the passageway changed its were the electronic counters operated by

course before it ended in a spherical, thermocouples hundreds of feet above, on metal-walled room. Multiple doors closed the eastern face of the mountain where no softly on rubber seatings, and the last snow could ever cling. Every day the ris- section of tunnel crashed behind. The ing sun would operate them and the Master would not be disturbed by his counters would add one unit to their enemies, nor by his friends. store. So the coming of dawn would be He looked swiftly around the room to noted in the darkness where the Master

satisfy himself that all was ready. Then slept. he walked to a simple control board and When any one of the counters reached threw, one after another, a set of tiny the total of thirty-six thousand, a switch

switches. They had to carry little current would close and oxygen would flow back —but they had been built to last. So had into the chamber. The temperature would everything in that strange room. Even rise, and the automatic hypodermic the walls were made of metals far less strapped to the Master’s arm would inject ephemeral than steel. the calculated amount of fluid. He would Pumps started to whine, drawing the awaken. Then he would press the button

air from the chamber and replacing it which would blast away the mountainside with sterile nitrogen. Moving more swift- and give him free passage to the outer ly now, the Master went to the padded world. couch and lay down. He thought he could Everything had been considered. There feel himself bathed by the bacteria-destroy- could be no failure. All the machinery had ing rays from the lamps above his head, been triplicated and was as perfect as but that of course was fancy. From a re- science could contrive. cess beneath the couch he drew a hypo- The Master’s last thought as con-

dermic and injected a milky fluid into his sciousness ebbed was not of his past life, arm. nor of the mother whose hopes he had Then he relaxed and waited. betrayed. Unbidden and unwelcome, there It was already very cold. Soon the came into his mind the words of an ancient refrigerators would bring the temperature poet: down far below freezing, and would hold

it there for many hours. Then it would To sleep, perchance to dream . . . rise to normal, but by that time the proc- ess would be completed, all bacteria No, he would not, he dared not dream. :

90 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

He would only sleep . . . sleep . . . and glasses had been carelessly set down.

sleep. . . . Idly he thumbed through the leaves, noting once again the handwriting of his WENTY miles away, the battle many predecessors. And as he had done was coming to its end. Not a dozen so often before, he turned to a familiar T of the Master’s ships were left, page where a man who had once been his fighting hopelessly against overwhelming friend had begun to sign his name but had

fire. The action would have ended long never lived to complete it. ago had the attackers not been or- With a sigh, he closed the book and dered to risk no ships in unnecessary ad- locked it away. The war was over.

ventures. The decision was to be left to the long-range artillery. So the great de- FAR AWAY among the mountains, the stroyers, the airborne battleships of this torpedo that had failed to explode was

age, lay with their fighter screens in the still gaining speed under the drive of its

shelter of the mountains, pouring salvo rockets. Now it was a scarcely visible after salvo into the doomed formations. line of light, racing between the walls of Aboard the flagship, a young Hindu a lonely valley. Already the snows that gunnery officer set vernier dials with in- had been disturbed by the scream of its finite care and gently pressed a pedal with passage were beginning to rumble down his foot. There was the faintest of shocks the mountain slopes. as the dirigible torpedoes left their cradles There was no escape from the valley: and hurled themselves at the enemy. The it was blocked by a sheer wall a thousand young Indian sat waiting tensely as the feet high. Here the torpedo that had chronometer ticked off the seconds. This, missed its mark found a greater one. The he thought, was probably the last salvo Master’s tomb was too deep in the moun- he would ever fire. Somehow he felt none tain even to be shaken by the explosion, of the elation he had expected ; indeed, he but the hundreds of tons of falling rock was surprised to discover a kind of im- swept away three tiny instruments and personal sympathy for his doomed oppon- their connections, and a future that might ents, whose lives were now ebbing with have been went with them into oblivion. every passing second. The first rays of the rising sun would

Far away a sphere of violet fire blos- still fall on the shattered face of the moun- somed above the mountains, among the tain, but the counters that were waiting darting specks that were enemy ships. for the thirty-six-thousandth dawn would

The gunner leaned forward tensely and still be waiting when dawns and sunsets counted. One-two-three-four-five times were no more. came that peculiar explosion. Then the In the silence of the tomb that was not sky cleared. The struggling specks were quite a tomb, the Master knew nothing of gone. this. And he slumbered on, until the cen- In his log, the gunner noted briefly tury was far behind—very far indeed. “0124 hrs. Salvo No. 12 fired. Five torps After what by some standards would

exploded among enemy ships, which were have been a little while, the earth’s crust

destroyed. One torp failed to detonate.” decided it had borne the weight of the He signed the entry with a flourish and Himalayas for long enough. Slowly the laid down his pen. For a while he sat mountains dropped, tilting the southern staring at the log’s familiar brown cover, plains of India towards the sky. And with the cigarette burns at the edges and presently the plateau of Ceylon was the the inevitable stained rings where cups highest point on the surface of the globe, ;

EXILE OF THE EONS 91

and the ocean above Everest was five and ancient home of their race, so distant from a half miles deep. Yet the Master’s slum- the throbbing heart of the Universe.

ber was still dreamless and undisturbed. They brought Trevindor to Earth when Slowly, patiently, the silt drifted down his brief clash with the Empire had come

through the towering ocean heights onto to its inevitable end. Here he was tried

the wreck erf the Himalayas. The blanket by the men whose ideals he had chal-

that would one day be chalk began to lenged, and here it was that they pon- thicken at the rate of an inch or two dered long over the manner of his neces- every century. If one had returned some sary fate. time later, one might have found that the The case was unique. The gentle, phil- sea bed was no longer five miles down, or osophic culture that now ruled the Galaxy even four, or three. Then the land tilted had never before met with opposition, again, and a mighty range of limestone even on the level of pure intellect, and mountains towered where once had been the polite but implacable conflict of wills

the oceans of Tibet. But the Master knew had left it severely shaken. It was typical nothing of this, nor was his sleep troubled of the Council’s members that, when a

when it happened again and again and yet decision had proved impossible, they had again. appealed to Trevindor himself for help. Now the rain and the rivers were wash- In the whitely gleaming Hall of Justice,

ing away the chalk and carrying it out to that had not been entered for nigh on a the strange new oceans, and the surface million years, Trevindor stood proudly was moving down towards the hidden facing the men who had proved stronger tomb. Slowly the miles of rock were win- than he. In silence he listened to their re- nowed away until at last the sphere which quest; then he paused in reflection. His housed the Master’s body returned to the judges waited patiently until at last he light of day—though to a day much spoke.

longer, and much dimmer, than it had “You suggest that I should promise not been when the Master closed his eyes. to defy you again,” he began, “but I

shall make no promise that I may be un- ITTLE did the Master dream of the able to keep. Our views are too divergent races that had flowered and died and sooner or later we should clash again, L since that early morning of the “There was a time when your choice world when he went to his long sleep. would have been easy. You could have Very far away was that morning now, and exiled me, or put me to death. But today the shadows were lengthening to the east —where among all the worlds of the the sun was dying and the world was very Universe is there one planet where you

old. But still the children of Adam ruled could hide me if I did not choose to stay ? its s«is and skies, and filled with their Remember, I have many disciples scat- tears and laughter the plains and the val- tered the length and breadth of the Gal- leys and the woods that were older than axy. the shifting hills. “There remains the other alternative.

The Master’s dreamless sleep was more I shall bear you no malice if you revive than half ended when Trevindor the Phil- the ancient custom of execution to meet osopher was born, between the fall of the my case.” Ninety-seventh Dynasty and the rise of There was a murmur of annoyance from the Fifth Galactic Empire. He was born the Council, and the President replied mi a world very far from Earth. Few sharply, his color heightening.

were the men who now set foot on the “That remark is in questionable taste. 92 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

We asked for serious suggestions, not OR THE first and the last time, reminders—even if intended humorously Trevindor stood on the shore of —of the barbaric customs of our remote F what had once been the Pacific, ancestors.” listening to the wind sighing through the Trevindor accepted the rebuke with a leaves of what had once been palms. The bow. “I was merely mentioning all the few stars of the nearly empty region of possibilities. There are two others that space through which the sun was now have occurred to me. It would be a simple passing shone with a steady light through matter to change my mind pattern to your the dry air of the aging world. Trevindor

way of thinking so that no future dis- wondered bleakly if they would still be agreement can arise.” shining when he looked again upon the “We have already considered that. We sky, in a future so distant that the sun

were forced to reject it, attractive though itself would be sinking to its death. it is, for the destruction of your person- There was a tinkle from the tiny com- ality would be equivalent to murder. municator band upon his wrist. So, the There are only fifteen more powerful time had come. He turned his back upon intellects than yours in the Universe, and the ocean and walked resolutely to meet

we have no right to tamper with it. And his fate. Before he had gone a dozen your final suggestion?” steps, the time-field had seized him and “Though you cannot exile me in space, his thoughts froze in an instant that would there is still one alternative. The river of remain unchanged while the oceans shrank Time stretches ahead of us as far as our and vanished, the Galactic Empire passed thoughts can go. Send me down that away, and the great star clusters crumbled stream to an age when you are certain into nothingness.

this civilization will have passed. That I But, to Trevindor, no time elapsed at know you can do with the aid of the Ros- all. He only knew that at one step there ton time-field.” had been moist sand beneath his feet, and There was a long pause. In silence the at the next hard, baked rock. The palms members of the Council were passing their had vanished, the murmur of the sea was decisions to the complex analysis machine stilled. It needed only a glance to show which would weigh them one against the that even the memory of the sea had other and arrive at the verdict. At length long since faded from this parched and the President spoke. dying world. To the far horizon, a great

“It is agreed. We will send you to an desert of red sandstone stretched un-

age when the sun is still warm enough broken and unrelieved by any growing

for life to exist on the Earth, but so re- thing. Overhead, the orange disk of a

mote that any trace of our civilization is strangely altered sun glowered from a sky unlikely to survive. We will also provide so black that many stars were clearly you with everything necessary for your visible.

safety and reasonable comfort. You may Yet, it seemed, there was still life on leave us now. We will call for you again this ancient world. To the north—if that as soon as all arrangements have been were still the north—the somber light made.” glinted upon some metallic structure It

Trevindor bowed, and left the marble was a few hundred yards away, and as hall. No guards followed him. There was Trevindor started to walk towards it he

nowhere he could flee, even if he wished, was conscious of a curious lightness, as if in this universe which the great galactic gravity itself had weakened. liners could span in a single day. He had not gone far before he saw that EXILE OF THE EONS 93

he was approaching a low metal building beyond the resources of his age. A sudden which seemed to have been set down on thought struck him and he glanced again the plain rather than constructed there, at the engraved lettering, noticing for the

for it tilted slightly with the slope of the first time the date it bore. It was five land. Trevindor wondered at his incred- thousand years later than the time when ible good fortune at finding civilization so he had faced his peers in the Hall of easily. Another dozen steps, and he real- Justice. ized that not chance but design had so Fifty centuries had passed before his conveniently placed this building here, judges could redeem their promise to a

and that it was as much a stranger to this man as good as dead. Whatever the faults

world as he himself. of the Council, its integrity was of an or-

There was no hope at all that anyone der beyond the comprehension of an would come to meet him as he walked earlier age.

towards it. Many days passed before Trevindor left The metal plaque above the door added the building again. Nothing had been

little to what he had already surmised. overlooked : even his beloved thought

Still new and untarnished as if it had just records were there. He could continue to

been engraved—as indeed, in a sense, it study the nature of reality and to construct had—the lettering brought a message at philosophies until the end of the Universe, once of hope and of bitterness. barren though that occupation would be

if his were the only mind left on Earth. To Trevindor, the greetings of the Coun- There was little danger, he thought cil. This building, which we have sent after wryly, that his speculations concerning the you through the time-field, will supply all purpose of human existence would once your needs for an indefinite period. We do not know if civilization will still again bring him into conflict with society. exist in the age in which you find your- Not until he had investigated the build- self. Man may now be extinct, since the chromosome K Star K will have become ing thoroughly did Trevindor turn his dominant and the race may have mutated attention once more to the outer world. into something no longer human. That is for you to discover. The supreme problem was that of contact- You are in the twilight the Earth now of ing civilization, should such still exist. He and it is our hope that you are not alone. But if it is your destiny to be the last liv- had been provided with a powerful re- ing creature on this once lovely world, ceiver, and for hours he wandered up and remember that the choice was yours. Fare- well. down the spectrum in the hope of discov- ering a station. The far-off crackle of Twice Trevindor read the message, been speech in a tongue that was certainly recognizing with an ache the closing not human. But nothing else rewarded words which could only have been written his search. The ether, which had been by his friend, the poet Cintillarne. An man’s faithful servant for so many ages, overwhelming sense of loneliness and was silent at last. isolation came flooding into his soul. He The little automatic flyer was Trevin- sat down upon a shelf of rock and buried dor’s sole remaining hope. He had what his face in his hands. was left of eternity before him, and Earth A long time later, he arose to enter the was a small planet. In a few years at the building. He felt more than grateful to most, he could have explored it all. the long-dead Council which had treated So the months passed while the exile him so chivalrously. The technical achieve- began his methodical exploration of the ment of sending an entire building there was a burst of what might have through time was one he had believed static came from the instrument and once ;

94 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES world, returning ever and again to his his eye. Upon a knoll which the drifting home in the desert of red sandstone. sand had not yet buried was a thin, wiry

Everywhere he found the same picture covering of grass. That was all, but the of desolation and ruin. How long ago sight brought tears to his eyes. the seas had vanished he could not even He grounded the machine and stepped guess, but in their dying they had left out, treading warily lest he destroy even endless wastes of salt, encrusting both one of the struggling blades. Tenderly he plains and mountains with a blanket of ran his hands over the threadbare carpet dirty gray. which was all the life that Earth now

Trevindor felt glad that he had not been knew. Before he left, he sprinkled the born on Earth and so had never known it spot with as much water as he .could in the glory of its youth. Stranger though spare. It was a futile gesture, but one he was, the loneliness and desolation of which made him feel happier. the chilled his heart lived world ; had he The search was now nearly completed. here before, its sadness would have been Trevindor had long ago given up all hope, unbearable. but his indomitable spirit still drove him Thousands of square miles of desert on across the face of the world. He could passed beneath Trevindor’s fleeting ship not rest until he had proved what as yet as he searched the world from pole to pole. he only feared. And thus it was that he

Only once did he find any sign that came at last to the Master’s tomb as it Earth had ever known civilization. In a lay gleaming dully in the sunlight from deep valley near the equator he discovered which it had been banished so unthinkably the ruins of a small city of strange white long. stone and stranger architecture. The buildings were perfectly preserved, though HE MASTER’S mind awoke be- half buried by the drifting sand, and for fore his body. As he lay powerless, a moment Trevindor felt a surge of somber unable even to lift his eyelids, mem- joy at the knowledge that man had, after ory came flooding back. The hundred all, left some traces of his handiwork on years were safely behind him. His gamble, the world that had been his first home. the most desperate that any man had ever

The emotion was short-lived. The build- made, had succeeded ! An immense weari- ings were stranger than Trevindor had ness came over him and for a while con- realized, for no man could ever have en- sciousness faded once more. tered them. Their only openings were Presently the mists cleared again and wide, horizontal slots close to the ground he felt stronger, though still too weak to there were no windows of any kind. Tre- move. He lay in the darkness gathering vindor’s mind reeled as he tried to his strength together. What sort of a imagine the creatures that must have world, he wondered, would he find when occupied them. In spite of his growing he stepped forth from the mountainside

loneliness, he felt glad that the dwellers in into the light of day? Would he be able this inhuman city had passed away so to put his rli.ns into—? What was that? long before his time. He did not linger A spasm oi sheer terror shook the very here, for the bitter night was almost upon foundations of his mind. Something was

him and the valley filled him with an op- moving beside him, here in the tomb pression that was not entirely rational. where nothing should be stirring but him-

And once, he actually discovered life. self. He was cruising over the bed of one of the Then, calm and clear, a thought rang lost oceans when a flash of color caught through his mind and quelled in an in- .

EXILE OF THE EONS 95 stant the fears that had threatened to must be primitive indeed if the reading

overturn it. of thoughts is foreign to you.” “Do not be alarmed. I have come to A terrible suspicion began to dawn in help you. You are safe, and everything the Master’s brain. The answer came will be well.” even before he consciously framed the The Master was too stunned to make question. any reply, but his subconscious must have “You have slept infinitely longer than formulated some sort of answer, for the a hundred years. The world you knew has thought came again. ceased to be for longer than you can “That is good. I am Trevindor, like imagine.” yourself an exile in this world. Do not The Master heard no more. Once again move, but tell me how you came here and the darkness swept over him and he sank

what is your race, for I have seen none down into unconsciousness. like it.” And now fear and caution were creep- IN SILENCE Trevindor stood by the ing back into the Master’s mind. What couch on which the Master lay. He was manner of creature was this that could filled with an elation which for the moment

read his thoughts, and what was it doing outweighed any disappointment he might in his secret sphere? Again that clear, feel. At least, he would no longer have cold thought echoed through his brain like to face the future alone. All the terror

the tolling of a bell. of the Earth’s loneliness, that was weigh-

“Once more I tell you that you have ing so heavily upon his soul, had vanished nothing to fear. Why are you alarmed in a moment. No longer done. ... no because I can see into your mind ? Surely longer alone! there is nothing strange in that.” The Master was beginning to stir once “Nothing strange!” cried the Master. more, and into Trevindor’s mind crept “Who are you—what are you, for God’s broken fragments of thought. Pictures of sake?” the world the Master had known began “A man like yourself. But your race to form. At first Trevindor could make

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Feverishly, he toiled to complete his strange quest ... to cross the track- less plains of Time before his life span ended—and find again, along the awful reaches of that dark Unknown, the Paradise that to him alone had been revealed in one amazing burst

of light. . .

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96 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

of nothing them ; then, suddenly, the steps, walking heavily, for he was about jumbled shards fell into place. A wave to perform a deed that no man of his kind of horror swept over him at the appall- had ever done before. ing vista of nation battling against na- tion, of cities flaming to destruction. What THE Master was erect when Trevin- kind of world was this? Could man have dor re-entered the sphere. Perhaps some sunk so low from the peaceful age Treviu- hint of the other’s purpose dawned upon dor had known? There had been legends his mind, for he was very pale. Stead- of such things, from times incredibly re- fastly, Trevindor forced himself to look mote, but man had left them with his once more into the Master’s brain. His childhood. Surely they could never have mind recoiled at the chaos of conflicting returned emotions, now shot through with sicken- The broken thoughts were more vivid ing flashes of fear. Out of the maelstrom now, and even more horrible. It was one coherent thought came timidly qua- truly a nightmare age from which this vering. other exile had come—no wonder that he "What are you going to do? Why do had fled from it! you look at me like that ?” Suddenly the truth began to dawn in Trevindor made no reply, holding his the mind of Trevindor as, sick at heart, mind aloof from contamination while he

he watched the ghastly patterns passing marshaled his resolution and all his through the Master’s brain. This was no strength. exile seeking refuge from an age of horror. The tumult in the Master’s mind was This was the very creator of that horror, rising to crescendo. For a moment his who had embarked on the river of time mounting terror brought something akin with one purpose alone—to spread con- to pity to the gentle spirit of Trevindor, tagion down to later years. and his will faltered. But then there came Passions that Trevindor had never again the picture of those ruined and imagined began to parade themselves be- burning cities. fore his eyes : ambition, the lust for power, With all the power of his intellea, cruelty, intolerance, hatred. He tried to backed by thousands of centuries of mental close his mind, but found he had lost the evolution, he struck at the man before power to do so. With a cry of anguish, him. Into the Master’s mind, obliterating Trevindor rushed out into the silent all else, flooded the single thought of desert. death.

It was night, and very still, for the For a moment the Master stood mo- Earth was now too weary ever for winds tionless, his eyes staring wildly. His to blow. The darkness hid everything, breath froze as his lungs ceased their

but Trevindor knew that it could not hide work ; in his veins the pulsing blood, the thoughts of that other mind with which had been stilled for so long, now which he now must share the world. Once congealed forever. he had been alone, and he had imagined Without a sound, the Master toppled

nothing more dreadful. But now he knew and lay still. that there were things more fearful even Very slowly Trevindor turned and than solitude. walked out into the night. Like a shroud The stillness of the night, and the glory the silence and loneliness of the world of the stars that had once been his friends, descended upon him. The sand, thwarted brought calm to the soul of Trevindor so long, began to drift through the open Slowly he turned and retraced his foot- portals of the Master’s tomb. •

THE

These reviews are offered as a service to science-fiction readers, to help guide them in the selection of worthwhile Conducted by Frederik Pohl science-fiction and fantasy books. For further informa- tion on these or any other fantasy books, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Editor in care of WHAT MAD UNIVERSE by Fred • Book Review ric Brown. E. P. Dutton & Co. this magazine. Here is a genuinely funny science-fic- tion story that manages to be good sci- Cliff and Stellor Downing, the ence-fiction, too! When Keith Winton Lane enemies of the Solar System, are gets in the way of an exploding Moon bitterest to Earth to take on a strange task rocket, he finds himself cast through a called

•* follow strange little from an- dimensional warp into another universe— —to a man other star to fight unearthly battle and a strange and unfamiliar world that looks an to share in each other’s minds. But this like his own Earth but has significant dif- is only the beginning, for they find that ferences: A druggist joyfully pays him have undertaken a lifetime struggle two hundred dollars for a silver quarter, they against the enemies of Earth that leads but tries to kill him when Keith offers them to far-off solar systems and even to half a dollar New York City makes him ; other dimensions before Earth’s “secret homesick by day, but after dark it becomes into action. a weird death-trap infested with the dead- weapon” can come ly “Nighters”; General Eisenhower is a George Smith, a radio engineer by pro- headline name, all right—but because he fession, has produced scores of entertain- commands Venus Sector in Earth’s des- ing science-fiction stories in the past dec- perate defense against spacial invaders. ade, but none better than Pattern For Conquest. This novel has everything— There are surprises, shocks and laughs dramatic adventure in interstellar space, by the googol in Fred Brown’s What Mad glittering intrigue with alien races, and Universe, and the only complaint this touches of genuine humor. Best of all, it reviewer has to make is that all the other has “surprise” ending that really sur- Fredric Brown books in print are mys- a

prises . . . and which is not an insult to teries. If you don’t buy another science- the reader’s intelligence. A big, hand- fiction book all year, make sure you get some book, with an outstandingly attrac- this one! tive jacket by Edd Cartier, Pattern For PATTERN FOR CONQUEST by Conquest deserves a place in every fan’s George O. Smith. Gnome Press. library. 97 ; —

98 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

JOHN CARSTAIRS: SPACE DE- ly happens in a “Kelleryarn” is of no im- TECTIVE by Frank Belknap Long. portance. It is the moral that makes the Frederick Fell Inc. , story. You will find neither “gadget” This is a collection of five novelettes science-fiction nor guffaws in The Hom- and a short novel detailing the adventures unculus, but you will find amusement and of one John Carstairs, a latter-day Nero a number of interesting, and utterly fan- Wolfe who collects rare plants and rarer tastic, ideas. criminals with equal gusto. His adven- tures include a brush with a wild Diamond SHOT EM THE DARK, an anthol- Plant, a specimen from his collec- own ogy, edited by Judith Merril. Bantam tion which threatens to destroy New Books, Inc. York an invisible man-killer a sort of Twenty-two stories ; ; and a poem are in

space-warp called a “crater whorl”; and this carefully chosen little collection of a mutant human with an I.Q. of 310. science-fiction and fantasy, and almost

Frank Belknap Long is a writer of every one is a shocker that you will want sensitivity and talent, but neither of these to read—and to keep. A dozen favorite qualities is evident in John Carstairs: science- fiction authors are represented Space Detective, for the characters are Sturgeon, Bradbury, Asimov and Tenn stereotypes and the stories themselves are, among them—but for science-fictionists in five cases out of six, nothing more than the stories of greatest interest will prob- routine detective adventure yarns with ably be those by writers who have made some science-fiction grafted on. The sixth their marks in other fields. Gerald Kersh, story—the short novel called The Hollow Jack London and Philip Wylie are here; World—is by no means Long’s best work, so are Stephen Vincent Benet with one of

but it is competent and entertaining, and his brilliant “Nightmare” poems, James

you are likely to enjoy it. Thurber with a bit of satire, and Edgar Allan Poe with one of his most shock- THE HOMUNCULUS by David H. producing horror stories. You’ll want a Keller, M.D. Prime Press. copy of this one, but you might as well Colonel Horatio Bumble, U. S. Army buy several while you’re at it: At its is pleasant will-power Retired, a man of price, and in view of the distinguished when he decides he wants to do some- names represented, it makes a wonderful thing, tries to offend anyone, but he not bait to tempt your non-science-fiction- neither does he let anything keep him reading friends into the fold ! from his goal. Not even when his goal is as strange as the one with which the pres- THE STAR KINGS by Edmond ent book deals: the desire to produce a Hamilton. Frederick Fell, Inc. baby solo. With the ancient formula of John Gordon, accountant in a humdrum Paracelsus and the willing cooperation of insurance office in New York of the pres- his wife and two immortals who happen ent day, finds himself swept into the fu- to pass by, Colonel Bumble starts work ture to inhabit the body of the heir-appar- on his project. ent to an Emperor of the Stars. In his Dr. Keller, who bears a distinct resem- new form he is plunged into a dramatic blance to his chief character in terms of conflict between warring star-kingdoms, background and disposition, has been but his troubles don’t really begin until writing science-fiction stories for a quar- he finds himself involved in a strange ro- ter of a century. It is inexact to call his mantic triangle involving the girl he loves, work either satire or farce, but it is wrong and the other woman, to whom the body

to call it plain fiction too, for what actual- he inhabits is married. THE SCIENCE FICTIONEER 99

The Star Kings is a straightforward the book, which is further handicapped science-adventure story, written by a man by an obtrusive and difficult type face, whose 250 published stories are a reliable does not compare with his other work. indication of his proficiency as a story- Forthcoming Fantasy teller. There is little subtlety in The Star Kings, but there are no dull moments, The coming spring and early summer either. will have a heavier dose of fantasy books blossoming into print than any previous EXILES OF TIME by Nelson Bond. six months in history. Doubleday & Co., Prime Press. possibly the world’s hugest publishing

Lance Vidor, trapped in an ancient company, is following up its highly suc-

Arabian tomb by revenge-maddened na- cessful first science-fiction book, The Big tives, reconciles himself to dying but is Eye, with a lineup of four first-class snatched out of the closing jaws of danger novels : Isaac Asimov’s Pebble in the Sky, by a time machine, operated by a man Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, from ancient Lemuria. The Lemurian Hal Clement’s Needle, and an untitled has an axe to grind: he wants Vidor’s book by Robert A. Heinlein. Pellegrini “super-scientific” civilization to avert the & Cudahy is doing Fritz Leiber’s Gather, threatened destruction of Lemuria by an Darkness!, a dramatic novel of a world approaching comet. His hopes are shat- under the heel of a pseudo-religious ty- tered when Vidor reveals that the twen- ranny. Simon & Schuster have announced tieth century, far from being the techno- Will Stewart’s Seetee Shock and a novel logic paradise the Lemurian had hoped, by A\ E. van Vogt called Cruise of the is so dismally backward that they haven’t Space Ship Beagle. Gnome Press starts even got time machines of their own. All off with an anthology edited by Martin the same, Vidor does his best, along with Greenberg, Men Against the Stars, which a score of other persons kidnaped in time traces the future history of space explora- lor the same purpose. But it is in vain; tion in stories by Asimov, Hubbard, Cle- the comet strikes, Lemuria is destroyed, ment, Walton and others, and follows up and Vidor flees back to his own age. with Clifford Simak’s Cosmic Engineers, The author of Exiles of Time evidently The Castle of Iron by L. Sprague de

felt that, if one idea is a good thing to Camp and Fletcher Pratt, and more. have in a science-fiction story, then twenty Fantasy Press announces a new novel by ideas must be twenty times as good. Al- E. E. Smith, Ph.D., called First Lensman, most nothing is left out of this curious as well as Genus Homo by P. Schuyler hodge-podge of a book, the items included Miller and L. Sprague de Camp.

being as diverse as time-travel, the an- More than that, the readers of four cient legend of Ragnarok, some muddled major book clubs will soon be treated to metaphysics- and a quantity of plain action- science-fiction novels as regular selections, adventure, comprising almost a third of Pebble in the Sky and The Big Eye being the book, which serves no purpose except two of the books so honored. No fewer to get the hero into the dangerous spot than three weekly science-fiction televi- from which the time machine extricates sion shows are in prospect or in produc- him. tion, and five Hollywood studios have

It is a tribute to Bond’s unquestioned science-fiction movies in progress, with

skill with words that all these things are Robert A. Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard tied together tolerably well and entertain- each working on a scenario right now. It

ingly, in spite of everything. But even so, looks as if science fiction’s here to stay! WORLD

A Novelette

Feeding on- vanished Man’s most precious heritage » the terrible Klejiligs of the twilight planet told Prof essor Jameson, “There is no escape in death—for as long as the stars shall last, your life is ours!”

INTRODUCTION

ROFESSOR JAMESON’S first earthquakes, no fire or water, and no dan- love had been the age-old science of ger from the ever-questing spade of the preservation of the dead. He had archaeologist. The Egyptians had striven looked upon the best the Egyptians could for achievement measured in thousands of do, including the remarkably preserved years, and their results, though impres- General Ossipumphnoferu. There must be sive, had been found wanting. The pro- a better way, he argued. It was not until fessor’s ambitions encompassed millions he cultivated his later interests in rockets of years. He determined to be his own that the perfect answer blazed into his guinea pig. He would build a funeral imagination. rocket for himself and have his bodyjhot Interment in space. No bacteria, no into the cosmic void to become a second 100 WITHOUT • • DARKNESS by NEIL R. JONES

101 102 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

satellite of the Earth. On the privacy of thoughts flew thick and fast among the his estate near the little village of Gren- excited machine men as they found it ville, he built the rocket. It lay at the foot necessary to use gravitational force and of its long ejector tube in a leaning tower. proximity nullifiers to close with the elu-

Instructions were left with a nephew. sive coffin. Professor Jameson died early one De- Opening the professor’s rocket satellite, cember morning. It was not until then they found him as perfectly preserved as that Douglas Jameson became aware of on the night of his pilgrimage out into the sealed plans which were left for him. the depths of interplanetary space. They Mystified, he did what he was told. He effected a brain transposition to one of

robbed the grave vault at night, placed the machines and recalled to life his long-

the body in the rocket, set off its mechan- dormant brain. In this manner Professor ism, retreated to a safe distance and Jameson became a Zorome, one of the watched the glistening projectile take off cosmic crew always in search of the un-

in a blase of glory. He then set fire to usual as they traveled from star to star. the laboratory and buildings as directed. He took a new name—21MM392.

Forty million years after, in the shadow In the years that followed, Professor of a dying world from which humanity Jameson became a seasoned mariner of and subsequent cycles of life forms had the interstellar spaceways, and his adven- long ago departed, cosmic wanderers from tures were innumerable. Once, he and his the planet of another star chanced upon companions returned to the planet Zor, the Jameson satellite in their eternal ex- and a new expedition was outfitted under

plorations throughout the universe. the leadership of the professor and 744U- appeared to These strange adventurers 21. Strange worlds and strange forms of

be machines, with their metal cubed life occasionally punctuated the scientific bodies, metal legs, six metal tentacles four routine of their travels. It is one of these and a metal coned head, but they were occasions which the reader will find not entirely so. Beneath the mechanical chronicled. eye which stared straight up from the apex of the coned head, and within the CHAPTER ONE circle of similar eyes surrounding the head, an organic brain transferred from Doom Planet what had been an intelligent organism di- BLAZING star which the ma- rected the functions of the mechanism. HE chine were approaching grew They were from the planet Zor. Profes- men larger. They watched the blue- sor Jameson had found immortality of the white giant expand as the spaceship raced body in death. The Zoromes had done into its planetary system. “Planetary sys- better than that. They had found con- almost overstate- scious immortality in brain transposition tem”, however, was an ment. There was only one planet, moving to deathless machines. When a part wore away from them toward opposition. out, it was replaced. The ship of the Zoromes sped onward. Approach of their spaceship to the soon came near enough for the rocket satellite was difficult, the machine They take form. men found. The professor had planned planet to well, and the installation of proximity de- “It seems quite bright and full for the tectors automatically operated the radium position it holds,” Professor Jameson ob- repulsion rays which were a safety device served. “Its position is little more than against wandering meteors. Telepathic past quadrature, and by rights all that WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 103

should be" visible would be scarcely more of low, dome-shaped buildings which were

than a sunlit first quarter.” not very high and appeared to be inter- This oddity became more noticeable as locked and cross-connected with one an- the planet loomed larger. Not only did the other by corridors. From a distance, these sunlit side of the world gleam brightly, habitations were a dull red in color. The but what they were’ able to see of the machine men found later that they were hemisphere away from the sun was also made from small pieces of rock cemented illuminated, though with a more subdued together. The cement was red. High, glow. It was like moonlight, yet the planet narrow doors and triangular windows had no moon. Also, as 6W-438 pointed characterized the dwellings. out, the light was stronger than moon- 6W-438 was first out of the ship. light. “There is no one about.”

“What we see * from "this particular “I feel thought waves now and then,”

angle is probably a refraction of light from Professor Jameson said.

the sunlit half,” ventured 744U-2L “The “I get it, too, 21MM392,” 744U-21 atmosphere of the planet is probably of a assured him, “yet the quality of the

peculiar quality which enhances the re- thoughts is not that of a frightened or

fraction.” hostile populace. In fact, they are thoughts This seemed a reasonable theory until from creatures who seem not yet aware the spaceship came closer. There was the of our presence.”

usual refraction, but it was not abnormal, “They must be in those buildings,” said and the strange illumination continued. 12W-62. “If they do not come out, let Moving over the darkened half, the ma- us go and look for them.” chine men found this night light of a Several machine men entered the domes steady, uniform quality. The soft glow through doorways much higher than their was not strong enough, however, to en- heads. To those outside, they radiated courage telescopic observation of the dark- the impressions of what they saw. There

ened hemisphere, so the Zoromes focussed were evidences of interrupted daily life,

their attention on the sunlit side of the yet they found no life of any kind. slowly rotating world. The period of rota- “The thought impressions are a little tion slightly exceeded that of Professor stronger,” 41C-98 radiated. “We seem Jameson’s own Earth at the time of his closer to them now. I think that they have death, he found. subterranean retreats here. The thought

“Is there life on the planet?” 744U-21 impressions are of a character which sug- wanted to know. gests a sleep period.” “Yes—and evidently intelligent life, From all the habitations entered, the too,” 29G-75 concluded from his telescopic same report emanated. No one at home. observation. “There are cities, or at least “Do not seek them out further,” the some kind of communities.” professor advised. “We shall wait for Skirting the vicinity of what appeared them to come to us. Let us see what their to be a city of major size and importance, period of night brings forth. We shall

the machine men selected a smaller group see then, too, how it stays light on this

of dwellings. It would be well to become world after the sun is gone.”

acquainted with a few of the planet’s in- But the Zoromes did not have to wait habitants and find out how they would be for the illuminated night to come. As received. afternoon grew old, and while a cooling,

On the daylight side of the planet, 20R- subdued sun still hung above the horizon 654 piloted the ship to a stop near a group short of sunset, the machine men saw 104 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

something emerge from a doorway and talking is made unnecessary and we can walk wonderingly towards them. Others, put our ideas into your heads as well as

of a like appearance, followed on the heels read what is in your minds.” of the first. This both relieved and reassured the As the machine men had previously creature. Others of the species were com-

surmised from the height of the doorways, ing out of the buildings to join the little these upright creatures were a good eight gathering, and a crowd slowly collected feet in height. A pair of jointed, stalk- and grew larger during the subsequent like legs supported the small body of pale exchange of thoughts. green over which was worn a scanty tunic “I am Zryp.” The chief spokesman and various bright-colored straps. A pair spoke his name emphatically several of long, thin arms ending in three-£in- times. “Why do you come to a village of cered claws hung almost to the knee- the Bronimids?” joints. Large, bulging eyes stared curi- “To learn about you and your ways of ously at the Zoromes from a round head. life.”

The mouth was but a thin slit, and in- “They are none too happy ways,” Zryp stead of hair a horny growth projected said dolefully. “It is time for those who from the head. What the space wanderers must die to be taken by the Klejiligs.” supposed to be organs of hearing were “What sort of sacrifice is this?” asked several short and angular antennae on Professor Jameson. “Why must they go each side of the head, slightly above and and die?’’ behind the large eyes. “They would die anyhow, even if they hid and did not go with the Klejiligs,” ROUGH, grating jangle of sound said the Bronimid, staring down at his vibrated from the lips of the fore- metal audience. .“I have seen this happen A most giant. once the marks of death appeared, and we “Are you come from the Klejiligs for know such a one to be doomed.” those who die?” the machine men gath- “But why do they go with these Kle- ered in the thought. jiligs, which I gather from your thought “No, we are not from your world at impressions are a scientific race of beings all,” Professor Jameson impressed on smaller than yourselves?” their brains. “We are strangers, peaceful “They do a great many good things for

visitors from space.” us if we let the condemned go with them,”

He waved a tentacle which took in the Zryp replied simply, “and they can do us ship and the sky illustratively along with much harm if we do not go when we are his silent thought impression, but the marked by death.” creatures did not entirely comprehend. “But why do they want your dead and They only gathered that the machine men dying?” were not from the source they had men- “They do not tell us that.” tioned and that they came in peace and There was something resigned and fa- meant no harm. They were confused to talistic in the Bronimid’s attitude towards find they understood something they had the mysterious transaction. It had always not heard. The professor sought to allay been so. It was. It would always be. this confusion in order to learn from them “We thought you came from the Kle- what the machine men wanted to know. jiligs to get those of us who will soon “We are speechless and without the die. We know that they create many ma- ability to make sounds like you,” he told chines and thought that you were a new- them, “but our thinking is so strong that kind.” WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 105

"Where were you when we came?” which was taking them out of the prime 744U-21 inquired. “We saw no one of their lives. The Bronimids, with their about and even looked into your houses unusually large eyes developed from hav- and could not find you.” ing lived in the lesser light all their lives, “Most of us were asleep down below. did not notice the change in visibility. The We all go below during the time of much machine men gathered that coming out at light.” all during the later hours of the day had “Why then?” been a luxury undulged in by the Broni- “It is always so.” mids because of the curiosity they had Now another of the creatures stepped aroused. Philosophically, they expected forward. to pay for this extra time by losing that “I am Ajik,” he announced. “I have much time from the ends of their lives.

been to Greoow. There are those in' “Look!” 12W-62 suddenly announced. Greoow who say we have always kept in “These poor devils they say are soon to

out of the brighter light because we live die show another symptom I Look at the

longer if we do. Is it not so, Blopk?” soft glow of light coming from him!” Ajik’s nearby companion, who had also “Yes,” 119M-5 said, “and the other been to Greoow, not only admitted the three are commencing to glow a bit, too.” truth of the other’s statement but added “But how about this one?” 6W-438 de-

to it. "We do live longer by staying in manded, designating still another Broni-

out of the period of greater light, but it is mid. "He is not among those who are because we live slower this way. Those supposed to die. His eyes and skin are who live too much in the greater light die natural, yet he is glowing, too.” more quickly. Their life span is cut short “If you will look around you,” said sooner by the signs of the coming death.” Professor Jameson, waving a sweeping

"What is this coming death like?” Pro- tentacle, you will notice that all these fessor Jameson asked. creatures are starting to glow.” Ajik called into the crowd, and four of The machine men, who had been en- the Bronimids slowly elbowed their way grossed in those near to them, looked out of the crowd and stood before the around them. It was so. machine men. 6N-24 made a further discovery. “Look at their eyes,” directed Ajik. “Their houses are glowing, too!” The machine men saw that their eyes “The very ground we are standing were of varying shades of red pigmenta- upon glows !” exclaimed 240Z-42. “Every- tion. By contrast the normal color of the thing in sight but ouselves and the space- eyes was a dull blue. ship sheds this glow!” “Look at their skins,” continued Ajik. "Then that explains the night-side

The machine men now clustered around illumination,” 41C-98 summed it up. the four who were to die and noticed that “The planet itself and everything which their skins had taken on a bluish cast. grows here has a phosphorescent char- The natural color was light brown, almost acter.” yellow.

It was becoming a little more difficult HE MACHINE men decided to for the machine men to see. The sun had wait for the coming of the Klejiligs, gone down. They wandered back and T inasmuch as they were expected. forth among the Bronimids, noticing the Meanwhile, they learned something more differences between those in health and of their strange hosts. They reached ma- those marked by the premature death turity, but very rarely died of old age. 106 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Those who were lucky enough to escape the creatures they held in subjugation. It an early death were hustled away by the seemed clear to the Zoromes that the two Klejiligs once the latter discovered them. races had descended from a common an- In this entire village of almost a thousand cestor, for there were marked resem- individuals, the machine men saw no more blances. As the Klejiligs walked into the than two old Bronimids. The Zoromes village where the machine men and the estimated that the strange death was rob- villagers awaited them, the differences be- bing these creatures of better than half tween the two species stood out more of their lifetimes, or most of the adult strongly. The Klejiligs were a physically stage. Besides the four Bronimids they weaker but mentally stronger race than had already seen marked for death, the the Bronimids. Their features, although machine men found that there were eleven resembling those of the Bronimids, were more awaiting the coming of the Klejiligs. more refined. All fifteen, on examination, showed a The greatest difference the machine complex syndrome which the machine men found between the two races was in men found puzzling. Without having had their mental structure. In the minds of their subjects under observation over a the Klejiligs, the open simplicity and di- long period, they found it difficult to rect honesty of the Bronimids had no separate cause from effect. place. Suspicion, distrust and fear of the The machine men were also unable to great spaceship and of the machine men find out much about the Klejiligs. The lay in the minds of the newcomers. And Bronimids seemed disinclined to discuss once they became aware of a probing in- them. A small minority of the populace telligence comparable or superior to their betrayed a resentment and a disciplined own, they betrayed another of their ac- antagonism towards the Klejiligs, but complishments which the machine men fear, too, was always present, partly be- did not often find among intelligent life- cause of the grisly errand the Klejiligs forms in their travels. The Klejiligs in- came upon and partly because of their stantly threw an impenetrable veil across superior knowledge. their thoughts. “No wonder they know more than “What are these things?” they asked of these people,” the professor said. “They the Bronimids. have a chance to live out their lifetimes “Strangers who come in peace among and progress these people do not. What Zryp told them. ; us,” is more, the Bronimids have no ambition “And in search of knowledge,” Pro- for the same reason—they are fatalists, fessor Jameson radiated strongly. because they know their lives will be too “You are machines,” one of the Kle- short to accomplish anything of value.” jiligs spoke mechanically as he felt his

The following night, if night it could unguarded thought instantly picked up be called on this planet which the Broni- and understood. “Who made you? Where mids called Ilinikit, the Klejiligs came in are you from?” a large airship which was dwarfed in size, “From out among the stars,” the pro- however, by the spaceship of the Zoromes. fessor told him. “We made ourselves, for The airship circled above the spaceship once we were flesh and blood, even as several times before landing almost in- you. Now, only our brains remain; the side the village. rest of each of us is a machine guided by

Out of the airship walked seven figures the brain.” which the machine men took for Klejiligs. The Klejiligs were visibly impressed

They were little more than half the size of but they also divined that the coming of ,

WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 107

another intelligent race to Ilinikit boded CHAPTER two no good to them. “We are glad that you Winged Death come in peace, and we hope that you will depart so. We come to befriend these T WAS a taciturn and gloomy Broni- larger but less fortunate creatures than mid among the condemned group by ourselves.” I the airship who finally threw light on “By burying their dead for them?” the whereabouts of the missing pair. 744U-21 asked. “I saw Gilik and Mig near the big fly- An embarrassed and irritated frame of

er of the metal ones.” > mind among the Klejiligs resulted from “They are hiding from their destiny this remark. Conversation buzzed among and duty in that thing, then,” one of the them momentarily. The machine men Klejiligs said. “Let them be removed found that the leader and spokesman for arid brought here. Such a thing cannot be them was named Gnoob. allowed.” “We also use them in scientific experi- The machine men alerted their com- ment,” Gnoob informed them. “It is for panions inside the spaceship, and a search their good as well as ours.” was made. The luckless stowaways were “It does not seem to have extended found by 199Z-073 and brought forth. their jives beyond reach of the strange “Come—this is against law and tradi- sickness,” Professor Jameson pointed out tion,” Gnoob sternly counseled them. at once.. “Whose law—theirs or yours?” Pro- “They die when it is time for them to fessor Jameson asked. “It is their privi- die,” came the censored thought impres- lege to stay here and die if they wish.” sion from Gnoob. “They do not live as “And pollute the air with the stench long as we do, it is true our natural span ; from their rotting bodies?” Gnoob de- of life is longer than theirs. Their death manded. is marked by these preliminary symptoms “They will be buried in the ground which you metal things have mistaken for after they die.” sickness. On this world, we all must die This seemed an entirely new idea to the eventually. There is no antidote for Klejiligs. Gnoob parried the suggestion. death.” Gnoob turned to the business at hand “What difference? They will die any- which consisted of taking aboard the air- way. It seems to me that you metal things

ship all those marked with the symptoms take too much upon yourselves. You of approaching death. would be better off .not to interfere with “How many are there?” our customs. All but two of these people “Fifteen.” come willingly.” “Gather them here and let us be gone “I .wonder,” said 744U-21, then di- back to Greoow.” rected a mental radiation to the doomed Word was quickly passed around, and group. “You need not go with the Kle- soon the silent little group marked for jiligs in their airship unless you wish to. death stood ready beside the airship. You have the privilege of staying here Heads were counted. and dying in your own village. Those “There are only thirteen,” Gnoob said. among you who would stay, go and join

“Two are missing. See if they are not Gilik and Mig.” already dead. Bring their bodies.” Confusedly, the thirteen Bronimids con- A thorough search was made, but no sidered the thought. Two of them broke sign of them was found. the uncertainty by joining Gilik and Mig. 198 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

Another straggled over soon afterwards, ing healthy Bronimids in various stages finally I and another. The remaining nine of their interrupted lifetimes, as well as [appeared bound by tradition, or else did those marked for death. They also had i iMfcsee any difference either way. one of the rarities of the village, old Hilig, *This sacrilege has gone too far!” under observation. raged one of Klejiligs. j the “I have to hide when the Klejiligs For the first time, the machine men come,” he confided, "else they would take

1 noticed that the superior race carried me away. It is against the law; and cus- weapons. A metal rod was whipped from toms for any of us to be old.” the Klejilig’s harness and aimed quickly “What happened to you?” 168P-75 at 744U-21, who was knocked down in a asked. "Why are you different from the clattering heap. The Klejilig had no others?” opportunity for further damage as Pro- “I don’t know. There are some of us fessor Jameson raised a fore tentacle who do not die like the others; but no which carried a built-in heat ray. The one knows why.”

• belligerent Klejilig was quickly burned The intelligence of Hilig and the other into a smouldering mass of ashes as his oldster was higher than that of the other companions and the startled Bronimids Bronimids, they discovered. The wily old looked on. Meanwhile, 744U-21 arose to dodger had learned to efface this advan- his feet arid announced himself un- tage. He wanted to remain inconspicuous harmed. and live. “Some kind of force gun,” he said. “There is something strange about - "It has considerable power and would their bloodstream,” 65G-849 reported. probably kill one of the Bronimids.” "It seems to have a kind of corpuscle "Take those among the dying who which remains dormant until they attain

would go with you and begone,” Pro- maturity. Then it becomes activated, and fessor Jameson told the Klejiligs. "Other- we see the various symptoms preceding wise, we shall destroy all of you as well their death.” as your ship.” “What about old Hilig?” the professor The angry Klejiligs hurriedly gathered asked. the nine Bronimids into the airship, fear- “He does not have the corpuscle at all.

ing that more of them might change their Probably he never had it. As the Broni- minds and stay in the village. Also, they mids approach closer to death, there were impressed by Professor Jameson's seems to be a congestion of these cor- threat. As they left, however, the machine puscles around the heart. Several other men caught veiled thoughts of reprisal. organs also undergo change during the They expected to have more trouble with symptomatic period.” the Klejiligs. The two dead Bronimids were buried The machine men took the six doomed outside the village in the shadow of a Bronimids into the spaceship and put ruined building. The living Bronimids them under the observation of 65G-849 watched this unheard-of ritual at the new and 168P-75, who had already been graveyard. There was an uneasy mutter- examining the condemned creatures prior ing that the Klejiligs would not permit it. to the arrival of the Klejiligs. Old Hilig offered a strange prophecy. .” that . . In the days that followed, first one of “They will not stay dead way. the Bronimids died, then immediately Then three more of the condemned afterwards another one. This left four. group died almost at the same time. The Both 168P-75 and 65G-849 were examin- machine men buried them also. WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 109

Finally, the last of the six Bronimids. area near the middle of the grave and died. It was during the last burial that something emerged and shook the dirt the machine men noticed that the first from itself. The five Zoromes were not grave had been tampered with. The entirely in agreement over what happened ground at one point was loose and dis- next. There was not much to see in the turbed. first place; and it happened too quickly. “The grave could not have been “It was small,” 119M-5 remembered. robbed,” was 6W-438’s opinion. “The “And after shaking off the dirt, it was point of entrance is too small. It locks as difficult to see.” if a small creature had scented the body “It was colorless, almost invisible,” and dug down to it.” 12W-62 added.

Questioning of the Bronimids shed no “Whatever it was,” said 284D-167, light on the matter. They knew of no “the thing ran off so swiftly I could animal capable of digging down into the scarcely see it go.” ground, even though it was easy digging “No—it flew,” 27E-24 said. “At first where the soil had recently been turned. it went close to the ground, but I saw it The machine men thought little more of rise and veer upwards.” the matter until a Bronimid reported to On one thing they ah agreed. The them a day later that he had found two thing had come from the ground. It had more of the graves in the same condition not entered the ground at any point with- as the first. The bodies of all three dis- in their vision and burrowed down to the turbed graves were exhumed. It was grave. A close search of the vicinity, in- found that something had eaten into the cluding the ruins, showed no other entry bodies. or betrayed any burrows, either old or “The hearts of all three are gone and new. nearby organs and tissue have been partly “One point is clear,” Professor Jame- consumed,” 168P-75 reported. “It is ex- son summarized. “Something in the actly the same in all three cases.” ground is desecrating these graves and “ We shall set a guard over the remain- feeding on the dead—possibly a worm or ing three graves,” the professor decided, grub which undergoes a physical change “and be on the watch for these things, once it has eaten. It could possibly de- whatever they are.” velop wings. We know of such things in our travels. On my own world, a com-

mon fly developed in much the same ROM that time on, five Zoromes manner.” kept constant vigil by tire graves “We must catch one of the things,” F through both periods of varying “It seems certain that 744U-21 decided. light. Nothing happened until two days it will happen with the two remaining afterwards. It was during the lesser pe- graves. The sentinels will wear the metal riod of light, when the sun lay on the wings this time. And also, a pair of X-ray opposite side of the world. machines will be mounted over the graves, “Look!” 119M-5 called to the other and we shall see what goes on down there, four sentinels. and where these things come from.” The machine man waved a tentacle Everything was done as 744U-21 had towards one of the graves. There was a suggested. Professor Jameson selected strange agitation of the ground, like a 6W-438, 47X-09, 5ZQ35, 6N-24 and tiny earthquake. As the five watched, the himself to handle the assignment. All five ground belched upward slightly in a small wore the metal wings. Two of the ma- 110 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

chine men were always at the X-ray ma- which was making little quakes in the soil, chines, watching the shadowy outlines of when a terrific blast of power sent the five the two buried Bronimids and on the alert Zoromes, their trap and X-ray machines

for any alien forms burrowing into their flying in all directions. field of vision. Although they watched Professor Jameson picked himself up carefully, they saw nothing. some distance from the graves. The blast “Although we have seen nothing enter of power had slammed him up against the the bodies from the outside, there never- crumbling old building near the grave- theless seems to be activity inside them,” yard. He saw the shadowy ship of the 6N-24 reported. Klejiligs land softly. He saw his four “It is the usual gathering of the strange metal companions lying about helter- corpuscles in the bloodstream,” 47X-09 skelter, dazed and disorganized. He saw offered in explanation. the wreckage of the X-ray machines, and “But they are dead,” Professor Jame- he saw something else. It was the strange son pointed out. thing from out of the ground, emerging “To my knowledge, neither 65G-849 from its ghoulish feast on the inner or- nor 168P-75 kept the Bonimids under ob- gans of the dead Bronimid they had servation after death,” 6W-438 hinted. buried many days ago. dirt “It might have been well had they done The thing shook the from its body v so instead of burying them so soon.” and then he saw that it was almost trans- While they digested these thoughts, parent. While he stared fixedly at this 6N-24 made a further discovery. “Some- strange demon from the ground, he

thing is forcing its way out.” scarcely noticed the aperture in the air- The others looked. It was so. Some- ship which had opened noiselessly to let thing small had left the body and was out several of the Klejiligs. His mechan- burrowing upward. ical eyes never left the thing from the

“Get the trap!” exclaimed the profes- grave, and he saw it rise and fly on almost sor. “Be ready to catch it when it breaks invisible wings straight into the opening through the surface!” of the airship where the Klejiligs had

The machine men held a metal box emerged. The Klejiligs saw it, too, but

ready to clap down and release a sliding gave it only passing attention. These panel once they had their quarry. ghoulish flying animals, then, were min- “Watch the other corpse,” the profes- ions or emissaries of the master race of sor warned. Ilinikit. Slowly but steadily, the thing burrowed 6W-438, near the airship, staggered to upward, holding the attention of the five his feet but instantly went down from a Zoromes. 5ZQ35 kept a wary eye upon power blast wielded by a Klejilig. Four the other grave, and the first thing had Bronimid lackeys leaped out of the ship almost .reached the surface when he ex- to secure the machine man with chains citedly announced the emergence of the and dragged him back inside a prisoner. second one from the grave of the last The act was quickly repeated with 5ZQ3S Bronimid. and 47X-09. Professor Jameson tried to So engrossed were the five machine rise to his feet and forestall the capture men at what went on below them, they of the machine men but the force of the did not notice a large, shadowy oblong blast which had thrown him against the shape glide above them in the night sky building had bent three of his mechanical like a phosphorescent ghost. They were legs, and he could only drag himself in a almost ready to lay the trap over the thing small, futile circle. WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 111

N SWIFT, workmanlike manner, a and wraithlike, a mere foggy halo against I Klejilig now led the four servile the sky. He flew behind and underneath Bronimids to secure the professor. ,to keep from losing it against the lumi- Professor Jameson recognized the Kle- nosity of the landscape. jilig as Gnoob, but Gnoob did not recog- It was his first intention to capture and nize him. Gnoob raised his power tube a- return the thing to the spaceship, but on split second too late as Professor Jameson second thought he recognized the wisdom flicked his tentacle ray blazing a charred of letting it guide him to the airship’s circle through the Klejilig’s head. Gnoob destination, which he suspected was some- fell dead, and the terrified Bronimids fled where in Greoow. He was confident that to the airship. The ship took off in the the flying ghoul would instinctively go night, the door slamming shut. wherever the other one had gone in the Only the professor and 6N-24 re- airship. So he slowed his flight, keeping mained. After carefully noting the direc- the white, ghostly blur within a safe dis- tion the airship had taken, Professor tance. Jameson found that although his metal It was not a long journey by air flight,

legs were crippled he could still fly with he found. Greoow soon expanded upon the metal wings, and he glided over to the horizon. where 6N-24 lay. He found the machine Not until they were over the center of man recovering from a mental confusion the city did the thing swoop downward.

occasioned by a severe blow to his head. The machine man almost lost it, but re-

Bronimids from the village came run- covered in time to see it glide down to- ning on their long legs, and the machine wards a broad, high building in the cen- men were not far behind them. They had ter of the city which the professor guessed heard the screams of the burned Broni- to be the headquarters of the Klejiligs. mids. The professor found 6N-24’s wings The building sprawled like a great, flat- crumpled and his legs bent, his tentacles tened giant over the center of Greoow and

tangled with the wreckage of an X-ray made the other buildings around it appear machine through which he had been dwarfed by contrast. The thing from the watching the upward progress of the thing ground flitted down into a courtyard

out of the ground. Watching the ghoulish where the professor lost sight of it. creature dig upward had been the last Professor Jameson flew low above the thought 6n his mind when the power blast gloomy pile. He had a double purpose.

came; it was his first thought when he He wanted to reconnoiter against a later recovered his senses. return, and he desired to find where his

"See, 21MM392 !” he cried. “The three metal comrades had been taken and ground over the last grave!” if they were safe. He kept up a continual mental radiation as he coursed back and The professor looked and saw the last forth, ignoring the fact that members of thing from the ground shaking the dirt both races had sighted him and were run- from its body. Then it flew into the sky. ning excitedly over the roofs. Quickly, Professor Jameson turned and reply. It flew after it in fast pursuit above the He finally received a was heads of the running machine men and 6W-438, deep in a subterranean retreat taller Bronimids beneath him. The thing of the forbidding stronghold. “We are in flew rapidly, but not too quickly for the a dungeon deep down in 'this building,

professor to follow. He was glad that it 21MM392. All three of us are safe but flew a straight, direct route. Otherwise, heavily chained and locked up.”

he might have lost sight of it, so vague “I am alone, but I shall return with the ,

112 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

spaceship and free you,” the professor deemed himself fortunate that only the radiated. Bronimids saw him and that word did He veered in his flight as he neared a not get back to the Klejiligs who might group of Klejiligs and their slaves have pursued him. They would have grouped around a long tube which they found him an easy prey. One leg was swung in his direction. He was too late gone entirely, the others smashed and to escape the terrific blast of power as the bent. He had lost a tentacle, and although end of the giant tube glowed warningly. he still had the one with the heat ray, it | He was hurled off into the sky. did not function. The bottom of his cubed Where the air had screamed past him body had received a great dent. It was a

in his forced flight, it now sobbed on a badly battered and wrecked machine man rising scale as his fall accelerated. The who staggered back to the village and the machine man realized that had he hit any- spaceship after more than a day of slow,

thing during his flight upward, it would off-the-course flying.

have meant his end. It would still mean death unless he gained control of his fly- CHAPTER THREE ing apparatus. Buildings on the outer The Secret of the Klejiligs edge of the city rushed up at him sicken- ingly then his desperate efforts at control ; IS STORY was soon told and re- of the wings commenced to brake his pairs made to his metal body. descent. But it was too late he realized ; 6W-438, 5ZQ35 and 47X-09 that it was no use toying to recover his were captives of the Klejiligs dnd had to flight in the air. Frantically, he put every be released. That their captors would not effort into braking his downward give them up easily, the machine men plunge. The city rushed up at him, and a were convinced. Preparations were rapid- sloping rood smashed into and around his ly made for departure. Several of the metal body as he cut through it and ended Bronimids were taken along, including up inside the building. With a shock, Ajik, Blopk and old Hilig, Professor Jameson jarred into something The spaceship rose and left the village soft. behind. Greoow was quickly reached, and A babbling sound greeted him. He rec- the spaceship veered low over the broad ognized the voices of Bronimids as he sanctuary of the Klejiligs, thought ampli- caught thbir excited thought impressions. fiers groping for mental activity among With his tentacles, he threshed his way the captured Zoromes. The spaceship was out of a vegetable mass of leaves and expected, however, by the enemy as well stalks. He had fallen into a food ware- as by the three prisoners, and the force house. He found that his wings still cannons opened their barrage. Close shots worked after a fashion, and he lurched buffeted the ship. here and there as frightened Bronimids “We are safe but heavily chained,” fled from his path and ran out of the 6W-438 radiated. “They haven’t had building. Following them, he found him- time to decide what to do with us.” self in the open after some difficulty in At the end of the long building stood a which he had flown uncontrollably into broad battery of the force cannon, the big many objects. tubes focused ahead of the spaceship.

With difficulty, he lifted himself into Through it they raced, and Zoromes went the air and pursued an erratic course reeling off their feet and clattering into above and out of the city, several times each other. The three Bronimids, already almost falling to the ground again. He frightened by their first trip of this kind, WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 113

made their peace with the forces of life gathered up. Meanwhile, 20R-654 had

and death, convinced that it was the end. swerved the ship in a curving arc which

A few bad bruises were their only in- brought it almost level with the roof-top. juries. The ship was more badly shaken With their burdens, die machine men flew up than its occupants. back into the ship which rose high into “That doesn’t do the ship any good,” the sky, yet never out of reach of the said 744U-21. “A good thing those can- mental radiations of their three comrades. non don’t shoot solid projectiles.” “You are Klejiligs,” the professor ad- “They have never had any opposition dressed the three prisoners. “We told to use weapons on,” Professor Jameson you, even as your people hold three of us. pointed out. “Force charges were suffi- We can take more of you and also rescue cient to quell any possible revolt by the our companions. You saw what we did to Bronimids.” your weapons. What were those things “We should take a few of the Klejiligs who dug themselves out of the graves of prisoner. They may come in handy. We the Bronimids and flew back here to can find out more about this place.” Greoow? Why are the Klejiligs inter- “And ask them a few questions about ested in Bronimids who are about to die those things out of the ground,” the pro- before their lives are half over?” fessor added. “We three might better die than to tell “Let us return and knock out one of you our secrets,” replied one who identi- the isolated force cannon and capture the fied himself as Hruung. gun crew.” “We have ways of probing this out of “Using flying machine men?” Profes- your minds,” 744U-21 told them. sor Jameson suggested. Klyyv, another of the three Klejiligs, 744U-21 agreed. “Six should be expressed disdain. “Klejiligs have enough.” guarded secrets for ages and no one can

20R-654 was acquainted with the learn anything we are not willing to tell.” strategy, and the veteran pilot and bom- "They have concentrated on this for bardier turned back towards the end of limitless generations,” said the professor the sanctuary which they had first ap- in an aside to 744U-21. “That is why we proached. Six machine men stood ready learned nothing from them befdre. They at an opened port to leap out at the right are able to close up their minds. They moment. The gun crew, comprising sev- must indeed have something to guard.” eral Klejiligs and as many more Broni- “We may be able to operate on their mid cannoneers, recognized the maneuver brains and dig out the information later, as a return across their position and if it is necessary. Lock each one up in a waited, confident as they saw the space- separate compartment until we have 6W-

ship gradually slowing its speed. But be- 438, 47X-09 and 5ZQ35 safely back in fore the ship came within range of the the ship.” lone force cannon, a stab of destruction The professor and two more of his leaped out and fused the Klejiligs’ gun metal companions led the three Klejiligs and mechanism, killing two or three of the to little cells. crew. “Are we dying then, because we will Then out of the spaceship leaped six not betray our race and civilization?” Zoromes, their metal wings settling them sneered Klyyv, half in defiance and half down among the stunned survivors. in fear. Bronimids were disregarded, and the “It will be the easiest way,” the pro- three surviving members of the over-race fessor replied. 114 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“We shall go bravely then, and join “Who is come to guide me? Who will those who have gone before us,” Klyyv take me with them?” pleaded Klyyv. “I resolved, fully believing he was to be have just arrived.” executed. “I will guide you,” the professor sud- On the chance that one of them might denly radiated as inspiration struck him. relax his mental vigilance, Professor “Are you Bronimid or one of us?” Jameson waited hopefully outside the “I am not a Bronimid!” was Klyyv’s three cells, his brain alert to the thoughts somewhat disgusted reply. which rambled through the minds of the “Both come this way in the hereafter captives. But the three were far too in- ere their paths divide,” was the profes- telligent to fall into this error The pro- sor’s solemn rejoinder. “If you are a

fessor gathered that the Klejiligs pos- Bronimid, then I must leave you to wan- sessed a quasi-scientific religion, and der through the darkness alone. We only

Klyyv was already looking forward to a guide our own species. I take it that you life after death. But though he waited can prove yourself to be a Klejilig?” patiently, the professor found no thoughts “Yes—yes!” of the Bronimids in the mmds of the cap- “Why are Bronimids important to tives. you?” “Our race would die out without ROFESSOR Jameson was about to them.” turn away and rejoin 744U-2I in “Why do Bronimids die so quickly once P the the observation chamber when they are full grown?” spaceship careened wildly and sent him “That we may be born—that the end crashing against the wall. There followed of their lives may be the beginning of the elevating feeling he had felt twice be- ours.” fore, once when he was all alone with “In what form were you before you only a pair of battered metal wings be- were bom, before the death of the Broni- tween himself and a terrifying drop to the mid from which you came?” ground. Why, he wondered, had 20R-654 “A part of the bloodstream.” driven through that barrage of force can- “How did you become a part of the nons again ? The lights flickered and went bloodstream ?” out, leaving him in the dark. Weird “Why—elements of my beginning were thought emanations emerged from Klyyv always there, ever since the Bronimid was beyond the metal door of his cell. The bred animal-like. The blood content of a three Klejiligs must have taken some Bronimid always becomes one of us when

nasty knocks. He could get no spark of it reaches maturity. We are the subli- thought from Hruung. Blouv seemed the mated perfection of their lower begin- ” only one still rational, and he was mysti- ning fied at the darkness around him. It sud- “How did this evolutionary process get denly occurred to the professor that dark- started?” the professor queried. something entirety new alien ness was and “Only a few of the highest among the creature of this phosphorescent to a Klejiligs know that, as you must realize,” miracle world. Nowhere was there such a pleaded Klyyv. “Why don’t you come as darkness on this planet. and guide me ? Why are these metal walls

“They did kill me. I realty am dead.” still hemming me in?”

It was Klyyv, recovering his senses “You are condemned to eternal con- and finding himself in the dark. The pro- finement in the dark,” Professor Jameson fessor listened, fascinated. replied. The professor was the only one WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 115

of the machine men with a sense of humor. “Killed when the hole was made.” “You are so condemned for confiding so “There’s another,” said 29G-75. readily all the secrets you once vowed “They have been dead a long time,” never to reveal.” said Professor Jameson, drawing their Professor Jameson hurried to the ob- attention to the telltale complexion and servation room with the answers to most red eyes of the strange death. of the enigmas which had puzzled the ma- “Look!” cried 27E-24. “This broad

chine men since their landing on the room is full of them ! They are lying !” phosphorescent world. He found that all everywhere the force cannon mounted on the sanc- The machine men walked down among tuary had been destroyed. Quickly he told orderly rows of dead Bronimids. most of what he had learned from Klyyv. them waiting for a fledgling Klejilig to “It is a strange state of affairs,” 744U- escape from them. Several had already 21 remarked. “How could it have hap- fulfilled their destiny, as was evidenced pened?” by their emaciated and deflated bodies. “I do not believe by natural means,” It was 19K-S9 who first saw the flying said the professor. “Why are the Kle- things. Several of them flitted about the jiligs without means of propagation?” ceiling or perched somewhere on the “They could not have been an alien grisly cadavers they had recently quitted. race from another world,” 744U-21 said, The machine man raised his ray projec- “They bear a resemblance to the Broni- tor, and a pencil stab of light knocked one mids. It seems that the Klejiligs repre- of the things to the floor. Eagerly, the sent the latter half of the Bronimids’ life machine men examined it. The thing was cycle.” small, colorless and translucent. Its in- “Old Hilig lived the rest of his own side organs were visible through trans- lifetime,” the professor reminded him. parent skin and tissue. A pair of trans- “And we know that there are others like parent wings fitted the ugly-looking little Hilig whom the Klejiligs immediately parasite for flight. At a later stage of de- destroy when they find them.” velopment, evidently, these wings dropped The details remained unanswered as off. The fledgling itself was a weird, un- plans went forward to rescue the captured developed caricature of a Klejilig w'hich

machine men. Professor Jameson decided it more closely resembled than the Broni-

to take ten machine men with him, all mid from which it came. armed with ray projectors. The spaceship blasted a hole in the roof of the gloomy Professor Jameson sanctuary, not far from where the three 1 urged. “Our three compan- captive machine men lay in a subterranean ions lie in chains below us. chamber. The professor and his task We shall have opportunity later to ex- force of ten climbed out of the ship as it amine these things in detail.” settled down on the roof, and entered Through two more such chambers as through the hole in the roof. those above the machine men hurried be- They found themselves in a broad, dim- fore they discovered a ramp leading down-

ly lit chamber amid fallen debris. At first, ward. In the chambers below, they found they could not see well, their mechanical the young Klejiligs in a later state of de- eyes being accustomed to the daylight out- velpment. Here, the wings were com- side. 41C-98 pointed to the head of a dead mencing to deteriorate and gradually Bronimid projecting from under the shrivel up and disappear. Only a few of blasted rubble. the occupants were able to use their wings 116 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

any more for flying, and then imperfectly retrieved it as they recovered themselves like the short flight of chickens on the and advanced slowly. professor’s world of long ago. Most of The eleven machine men took a heavy them walked about on their legs and toll of their enemies and the latter’s allies.

showed a childish intelligence. Those still concealed in the chamber The eleven Zoromes wasted no time among the many pallets finally ceased fir-

here but hurried down to the next level. ing and let the machine men past into the Something whirred out of the darkness next chamber. If the Zoromes, however, and 948D-21 was tumbled back against expected decreased resistance, they were his fellows. disappointed. They knew that they were “Force guns!” close to their metal companions, and get- Another stab of power from a con- ting closer. Thought communications cealed tube whirled 41C-98 around diz- flew back and forth. The captive Zoromes zily. were unharmed and waiting. A few Kle-

The room in which they now found jiligs in passing by to join the resistance themselves had once been used for dead had sent spiteful flashes of power at them Bronimids. The empty stone pallets were from their tubes, but aside from knocking rattling their laid out in orderly rows. It was from them down violently and behind these that the Klejiligs and their chains no harm had been done. Bronimid slaves fought a delaying action. The Klejiligs and their servants in the In the simpler minds of the Bronimids, next chamber had erected a long pile of the machine men detected a fear of them stone blocks clear across the middle of the which the Klejiligs had placed there. room, and they opened fire on the first The Bronimids believed they were fight- machine man to step over it. The con- violent- ing for their own lives as well as those of centrated volley hurled 27E-24 so that lay their masters. The machine men tried to ly back among his companions he convince them that they were there to stunned where he had fallen, one of his legs bent beneath him. help all Bronimids get their freedom from metal the Klejiligs, but the Bronimids had been “We must get in there and hide behind too long under their masters to accept the stone mounts which were not used to professor. such a radical thought at this crucial mo- make the barricade,” said the ment. “It will be hard getting through the doorway,” 41C-98 pointed out. The machine men made one mistake “If only a few of us could get in there they did not repeat—rushing across the first. They have to show some part of chamber in a body. They became a focal themselves in order to aim their tubes.” point for every power tube and were stag- “Let its use hostages,” offered 29G-75. gered, knocked down and rendered an in- “The Klejiligs who are still in here hid- effectual tangle of cubed bodies and ap- ing. We can line them up and send them pendages. During this temporary de- in ahead of us.” bacle, one Klejilig was emboldened to leap them out.” out from his concealment and seize a “Good. Hunt disengaged ray projector which went clat- An intensive search was made for skulk- tering across the floor, He was almost ing Klejiligs. The thought that they back to his vantage point with the prize would not be fired upon by the machine when a quick shot from 41C-98 cut him men but must give themselves up and act down. No other Klejilig or Bronimid as message-bearers to their companions made for the strange weapon the dead behind the barrier produced half-hearted

Kleiilin still held, and the machine men results. Although the Klejiligs did not !

WORLD WITHOUT DARKNESS 117

of their will, dis- the beginning of the come out own when T WAS end when i covered they offered no resistance. more machine men, in pairs, filtered “March into the next room,” Professor I into the chamber of last defense. The Jameson ordered them. Klejiligs, showing themselves to form a

“We shall be killed with the force barrage with their power tubes, were ; tubes,” they protested. vulnerable to the four machine men al- “Call in and tell them you are coming ready inside and awaiting such a target as

and to hold their fire.” an exposed head or arm. It was not long i

Ray projectors were lifted and pointed before all eleven of tire machine men were 1 significantly at the laggards. The Kle- in the room. jiligs called in shrill accents to their The Klejiligs reached a quick decision brethren behind the barrier. and retreated. They left softly behind The seven Klejiligs walked through the their barricade, but the Zoromes sensed narrow doorway and towards the barrier. the sudden absence of their mental radia- Behind them, four Zoromes gained the tions and were in quick pursuit The inner chamber and dove quickly in as over-race did not stop to try another de- many directions for refuge, dividing up fense, and the machine men let them go. the barrage from behind the barrier. Ahead lay the ramp to the lower level As the professor had pointed out, to and the three imprisoned machine men.

use the power tubes, the Klejiligs had to Down it they raced. Huge, massive show some part of their bodies. For the chains, heavier than the machine men they fearless, coolly sniping machine men with held to the wall and to each other, fes- their ray projectors, this was all they tooned the metal bodies of 6W-438, 47X- needed. Partly concealed, they had little 09 and 5ZQ3S. to fear. Only a direct hit by one or more “Quick, 21MM392!” 6W-438 urged of the power tubes could knock them over. him. “Get to the next dungeons beyond

A stabbing thrust by one of the ray pro- this and guard the prisoners there ! They jectors showed the Klejiligs the futility are Bronimids—wise, old Bronimids who !” of defense by flesh against metal. know much of what puzzled us

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Professor Jameson waved his metal newly-created Klejiligs we prized as minions on as he personally burned scientific achievements were actually her- through the chains of his three fellow alds of the doom of our race. As the

sentinels of the graveyard vigil. change spread, all Bronimids died soon “We know much already, 6W-438, but after maturity, and from their dead bodies not all,” the professor told him. “Here is sprang the Klejiligs. The Bronimids nat-

my ray projector. Protect yourselves if urally degenerated to what you see today, you must while I join the others.” and we have become the slaves of the Into the further dungeons Professor Klejiligs. You can well understand that Jameson raced, but he found his ten ma- in a measure the Klejiligs are concerned chine men well in command of the situa- over the health and welfare of the Broni- tion. Here were many Bronimids in mids. The Klejiligs are sexless and can smaller chains than those which had held never propagate.” the three Zoromes. The faces of these “You—why didn’t you die at maturity Bronimids showed something other than and transfer your life to a fledgling Kle- the effects of imprisonment. They showed jilig?” advanced age, wisdom and intelligence. “A tiny fractional percentage, prob- As the professor and his machine men ably less than one out of two thousand, is went around and released nearly a hun- immune to the change. I am one of these. dred of these unfortunates, they learned So is Koloft. So are all of us here. All of the story which the Bronimids had al- us who are like that are either imprisoned ready told 6W-438, 47X-09 and 5ZQ35. or killed when caught. A few of us escape, Once more, the machine men heard what and others remain in hiding. Among the the professor had learned from Klyyv, minority who escape and remain fugitives with additional enlightening detail. One are those who carry on and hand down and of the prisoners, Jipit, told it to them. the old sciences and secrets. Koloft Jipit and Koloft were Bronimid scientists I are among those.” of a secret society. “There must be a way to halt this dis- "Ages ago, we Bronimids were the ease and let the race of Klejiligs die out,” only intelligent species here on Ilinikit. the professor remarked. We built cities, had machines to work for “There is!” Koloft exclaimed, his eyes us and rose high in science. Too high! blazing with a determination and intel- My ambitious ancestors were not satisfied ligence which seemed unnatural to the with the long lifetimes they already en- machine men after knowing the dull, joyed. In trying to achieve immortality, beaten Bronimids so long. “I know where they blundered upon a biochemical to get the formula! It is in the safe and change in the bloodstream. This change competent hands of those among us who created a sublimated but coldly selfish have eluded the Klejiligs and who have

fission of life.” had it handed down to them from genera- “We know much of that already,” the tion to generation!” professor told Jipit. “But how did all “Then you have in us powerful friends Bronimids get this way, and how did the and allies who will help you put this cure Klejiligs gain their power?” into effect before we leave this world of “A microorganism was used to create yours,” Professor Jameson told them. the change. It proved to be contagious, “Your race has suffered enough. We

slowly' at first and then more rapidly. The shall help you free yourselves from these malady spread before the danger was monsters you unwittingly created from realized, finally all over Ilinikit. The your own blood!” —

HERE are a couple of questions before the house this time around. Several people, notably our senior editor, want to know what the figures in the story T ratings represent. Well, that’s easy.We add up the point scores—1 for first place, 2 for second, and so on—and divide by the number of votes for each story. This gives us an average rating of the story which is accurate to one decimal, stat- istically interesting but scientifically meaningless.

The second question is one that occurs at least twice in ever}' batch of letters, and we personally are getting good and tired of it. Once and for all, a BEM is a bug-eyed monster. Anybody who asks us this question hereafter is an UWP (unwashed pea-

sant) .

Dear Editor: Crag batters a guard to death and then I enjoyed the November SS a great deal feels peeved and wronged when the dead better than the previous issue, in which I man’s fellow-guards rough him up a bit. He found so few stories that caught my interest even takes their names and addresses with that having so little to praise I thought I’d a view to avenging this “wrong.” It’s pos- better keep quiet. Which doesn’t mean to sible that the guard might have had a loving

say that the previous issue was bad : too few wife and children ; they don’t count in Crag’s people remember that criticism is merely an philosophy—only Crag does, and he imag- expression of preferences and prejudices. ines, it seems, that he’s a lord of life and The Nov. issue is so full of ray prefer- death. Rather too many people are getting ences that it’s hard to say which I prefer that idea these days, and rather too many most. Possibly The Timeless Man for catch- other people—especially authors—are taking ing the spirit of the true artist and for so it for granted. neatly carrying it full circle. One of the things wrong with the last On its heels, though philosophically at the issue w'as—no Bradbury. One reads his sto- opposite pole, Gateway to Darkness, because ries to the end, even when the idea is hack- the story moved with vigor and so did the neyed, as in Impossible. (He’d used this be- rough-diamond hero with the characteristic fore in Referent, and Margaret St. Clair has name, Crag. It drops a point because Crag used it recently in TWS—anyway, it goes has, apparently with the author’s approval, way back, to Weinbaum’s Valley of Dreams the blind end-justifies-the-means philosophy at least.) It’s the unoriginality this time that which we keep getting thrust at us via drops him from his usual first place. And American films as something admirable. may I breathe it?—-the style is, like the (There’s a typical crop just arrived in Martian setting, beginning to show signs of London glorifying Gable as a gambler, wear. Or is it that he doesn’t stop to polish Bogart as a night-club owner, various others these days? Ray at his best is unbeatable, as “smart” reporters with no regard either but he’s trying to do too much too quickly, for truth or people’s feelings, and intermin- (Brad takes a couple of months to a year to able gangsters and racketeers slapping each finish a short story, working on a number of other down monotonously. In these things them alternately. Reaction to Bradbury violence seems to be accepted as the only seems to be unpredictable.—Ed.) worthy solution to any problem, and the Child of Void certainly had atmosphere, crazy values are just—crazy. Pitiable—and and was well written, and is a good fourth. dangerous.) It wasn’t sciencefiction—but does that mat- 119 120 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

ter nowadays ? I’ll always give pages of the have any extra copies that I could buy lying old ray-gtm blasting, space-ship Marathon around ? Or is there any fan that has them, runs, and jaw-breaking technical terms (not and would be willing to part with same? to mention just plain jaw-breaking) for just Please! (Some copies left at this writing. one human & /or believable character. Try our circulation department.—Ed.)

Leinster’s story (with a bow toward Be- Next, a gripe about the ads : They’re sup-

fore Adam ) was entertaining, and the twist posed to indicate the type of people that a good—but expected. Fifth. magazine is aimed at. Briefly, it would give I see nothing to choose between the merits me the impression that fans are ( 1 ) Drunk- of the remaining three stories. I read them ards (2) Deef (3) Suckers (4) Uneducated all, but had to force myself now and again. (5) Unkempt and (6) Unshaven. Maybe it As for the cover: more funny than vul- is so, but no need telling us about it. It’s gar this time. I still think these covers are the ads, as much as anything else, that keep more liabilities than assets. a mag in the ‘pulp’ group. I get more On the whole, I’m quite sure the quality ashamed of those things than I do of the of the story content of SS is improving covers. with its printing, and you’re really getting Which, thru devious and unknown ways, somewhere now. brings us to the November tripled S. Altho With best wishes for continued progress I was rather disappointed with it, I still place and congratulations on the amount achieved Brown’s Gateway first. In some places it so far, was hack, and the ending displeased me, in Yours sincerely, a vague, uncertain sort of way, but—well, William F. Temple the story was kind of like the way I prefer

7 Elm Road bacon—crisp, and decidedly Brown. . . . Wembley Lawrence’s depiction of Evadne was defi- Middlesex nitely off—made her look like a weak, in- England sipid character—which she surely wasn’t. Parasite Planet, by Jones—second. The formula for the series shows a little too We think violent and amoral fiction is clearly, being almost a duplicate of the one unpleasant as a symptom of our Zeitgeist, in #5, if you strip it down to a handful of the most important events. The metal men or Bill, but not necessarily unpleasant, help the underdog, win their battle, move dangerous, or reprehensible in itself. What them to another place. But it hasn’t been used enough to wear it out—yet. The first value has popular fiction if it doesn’t re- two I liked. But I hope he changes the next flect the temper of the times? a little more. Murray Leinster’s story of the cave men, Incidentally, you evidently haven’t no- This Star Shall Be Free, and their eventual ticed the goriness of some of your own evolution, was pleasing. One thing about Leinster’s work—his fictions often have a work, but we have. In “The Brain Beast”, neat way of explaining mysteries ; explana- you killed off an inoffensive, even a comic tions that sometimes make you sit and won-

der. . . . doctor in an extremely messy fashion, for what seemed to us no good reason. We couldn’t eliminate the doctor’s death, so we edited out the comedy instead. The con- OPINION TALLY trast was too much for us. November, 1949 Dear Willy, I’m conducting a one-man campaign 1. Gateway To Darkness 3.2 against editors who are shrouded with an-

2. This Star Shall Free. . . 4.3 onymity. Thus, from now until the shroud Be is burnt, I think I shall tag you “Willy.” 3. The Sleepers 4.4 Better than “Editor.” 4. The Timeless Man 4.9 Before I go into a perusal of the Novem- ( Parasite Planet 5.1 ber issue, I’ve got a few other things to 5 ' j Impossible 5.1 bring up. To begin with : Out comes a new 6. Appointment mag—well, new to me, anyway. They didn’t For Tomorrow 5.7 get it around here, before. I look it over, am highly pleased. The second ish comes 7. Child of Void 6.7 out, and once again things look pretty—but 8. Missives and Missiles 7.7

then comes the blow : No third no fourth. ; 9. The Science Fictioneer .... 9.7 I rant and rave at the newsstands, but what 10. good does it do? In my travels, I get #5. Fandom’s Corner 9.7 Number six, they get here. But #3 & #4 are lost, as far as I’m concerned. Do you MISSIVES AND MISSILES 121

There was a tie, here. Bradbury’s Impos- van Vogt and Kuttner. Perish forbid. But sible stepped right out of the short story they get plenty of attention already. Every- ranks. Some may gripe about his repetition one ignores John D. and Fredric. Brown is of Mars, as a background, or the similarity usually superb though “Gateway To Dark- of one story to another, but—altho I ness” was something less than a milestone. wouldn’t mind a change—I still like his dis- As long as you keep those two as regular tinctive, unique touch. That’s what makes contributors yoil’ll keep getting my quarter me read—and like—his stories. every (other month? Third month?). Appointment For Tomorrow—MacDonald I have a suggestion. Why not put Brad- usually does turn out good ones. So it was bury into an amnesia machine and erase all with this one. And stricly s-f. his memories of Mars. Then maybe we could S. Clair’s Child Of Void tied it. Unique get some stories about people being stranded idea, vividly written. on Venus. Or do you think that would de- Farrell’s story, The Sleepers, was another prive him of his ability to write? of the old style s-f. I like these, occasion- Incidentally, I’ll spell it out for all fans ally. But Brush’s illustration stank. who haven’t caught on yet Larry Shaw was Frank Belknap Long turned out a well K-I-D-D-I-N-G! This paragraph will prob- written piece of nothing. ably prevent the letter being printed but I M&M was, of course, the best of the fea- have it all figured out. SSS, to start a tures. I guess Shaw scrammed. After such stimulating letter column in its first issue a complete reversal, I don’t blame him. Oh, produced a fantastic letter under a house well, he served his purpose. He stirred up, name (or just a captive fan?) ((Yes, Vir- ginia, there is a Larry Shaw.—Ed.)) De- plenty of interest. . . . And a word, no\^, to Richard Smith, who wants to argy. Sorry, nouncing every conception and plot type ever I'm afraid I agree with you on everything, conceived by stf writers. This, naturally, except Shaver. You said he was a good brought but a spate of anguished cries from our more humorless fans which hasn’t died writer. . . . down yet. All other letters were evidently Fandom’s Corner was second, and the censored. (Nope.—Ed.) Then after the col- Science Fictioneer third mainly because I umn was nicely rolling in the wake of Mr. work in a library. Get enough book reviews. Shaw’s atomic blast, he made a communist- Has everybody with a wire recorder heard type recantation and has doubtless been li- about the futuristic correspondence club, the quidated by now. Right? FFSP (Fan Federation for Sound Produc- Are you about to run out of those pre-war tions) ? All you need is a recorder or access Professor Jameson stories? I hope so. to one. We send letters by wire, and have an Official Organ, WIREZ, the Wirezine, In this issue the orchid goes to Leinster’s the Fanzine of Tomorrow. If you’re inter- “This Star Shall Be Free,” the cleverest ested, write cave man story I’ve ever read. The rest Shelby Vick were about average which, I suppose, is Box 493 about all we can expect though I keep hop- Lynn Haven, Fla. ing for another of those superlative issues like the one you produced last spring which Dear Editor, led off with “The Brain Beast.” Which is as good a way as any of start- V. L. McCain ing off a letter. I’m a semi-newcomer to c/o Western Union fandom but not to stf. I’ve been reading the Bend, Ore. stuff steadily for five years which entitles me to at least one hash mark. While I can’t Dear Editor: « say this is my first letter to an editor it prac- Without embellishments, let me say this tically is the same as. And my correspond- is my first missile or missive to any mag ence with fans is slight enough and recent since before the fracas. Therefore, I have enough to be practically nil. In fact, I have just cause to enter my complaint. yet to see my first fanzine (though One is Just read “Gateway To Darkness” in your promised for the future) which shows how \ November ish. One of the most terrific ad- uninfected I am with the deadly virus of ventures of the year. Combines good scien- fandom. However, I always did like danger- tific interest with fast moving, effective ad- ous experiments so if there are still one or venture. Hero is excellent, a welcome de- two souls among this column’s readers un- parture from the hackneyed pretty-boy- scarred enough to feel pity, let them shed a goodie-goodie of which we’ve seen so much. tear or two for such naivete. Never slows down—gets my vote of the I just can’t think of anything better to do year. today. Five years from now I’ll probably But the complaint—here 'tis. Why bump wish I’d taken up gin rummy. the hero, and him with more force and To start off with I guess I need a gripe. realism than any this year? If Fred Brown Everybody seems to have at least one or can do it again, I’ll be his unshakable fan their licenses to write stf letters are revoked. forever. Tell him to cast his palsied hands Mine is “why does everybody ignore two upon his typewriter and frustrate starva- of the best writers in stf, John MacDonald tion by bringing back the hero. and Fredric Brown?" Not that I don’t like In conclusion—here’s a horrible threat. If : :

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

I don’t see a promise for a sequel in your next issue, I’ll quit buying your mag and turn to “Ickey Love” stories. I’ll tell all my friends too—both of ’em. Orchids to Fred Brown if he does—cactus if he don’t. John S. Townsend, Manager. Selma-Smithfield B’casting Co. P. O. Box 900 Wilson, N. C.

You need new "Fishing—What Tackle and Dear Editor When"— nearly 100 pages oi helpful fish- Perhaps the letter of Rosco Wright ing tips, casting instructions, fish pictures, printed in the Nov. issue was intended to tackle, etc. Write lor it today. FREE! stir up a controversy about reprints. If so, SOUTH BENO GLASS CASTING ROD it was in extremely bad taste. There is no New! Hundreds of thousands of glass fibers scien* point in trying to bring to life an old argu- tifically bonded for perfect action — strength — ment which serves no useful purpose. durability. Won't "set,” rot or corrode, tseie The fans demanded the return of FN and No. 2800. 3 lengths — 5, 5-1/2 or 6 ft. ID • the old Munsey classics and Popular is ren- South Bend Balt Co., 903 High St., South Bend 23, Ind. dering a great service to fantasy lovers by A NAME bringing these stories back, as most of them FAMOUS IN are unobtainable. Practically every fantasy South Bend FISHING reader and S-F club over the country has written in and asked for these old reprints, and it is very strange to read a letter like R. Wright’s, who claims to be associated OWN LIFETIME INCOME with an active fan society in Oregon. Clean land Mothproof rugs and up- As for authors and market for new sto- YourOwn holstery “in the home” or public ries, there are plenty of S-F magazines in buildings. Start full or part time. print today, of which SUPER. SCIENCE Gross profits up to $15 and $20 a is one, which make it their business to pro- pusiness day on EACH service man. Easy to

learn . . an outlet .for the writings. But . quickly established. vide new OURACLEAN cleans by absorptionl No scrub- there is also a definite place for a fantasy bing, soaking or shrinkage. Dirt and grease and S-F reprint magazine to^ bring back

vanish . . . matted pile rises . . . colors re- those old classic tales of the early days of vive. Furnishings used again same day. this field, particularly since we have a gen- DURAPR00F resists moths and carpet beetles. eration of new fans with us now. Your service backed by a National Money Back 4 Year Warranty. To advocate no reprints is like saying we We furnish enough material to return your should not have such things as the READ- total investment. EASY TERMS. Send for ER’S DIGEST and others of the reprint FREE booklet . . . full details. No obligation. RATE NTIO group. And I suppose a book publisher PORTA BLE EQUIPMENT should not bring out more editions of his Duraclean Co • Deerfield, HI. popular books after the initial edition is exhausted, regardless of how badly he guessed the demand the first time. Where would our literature be today if none of our INVENTORS of authors bygone years were reprinted? If you believe that you have an invention, you should find out how I hope there will be no more thoughtless to protect it. We are registered Patent Attorneys. Send for copy of our Patent Booklet “How to Protect Your Invention,” and an “In- readers who write in and advocate ideas vention Record” form. No obligation. They are yours for the asking. such as contained in Rosco Wright’s letter.

McMORROW, BERMAN & DAVIDSON •C. Registered Patent Attorneys W. Wolfe 150-D Victor Building Washington 1, D. C. Box 1109 Las Vegas, N. M.

Look How We Get Around Dept.

Dear Editor: I have just read the July issue of S.S.S. • Prepare for the big earning power of Diesel Trained Although I’ve not a subscription on your Men. Start learning at home, in spare time. UEI’s easy, magazine, my sister is married with a Cana- practical training covers all phases of DIESEL engine operation, fuel systems, auxiliary equipment, repairs dian and sometimes (now and then) she and maintenance. Also new Scientific Anto Motor sends me science fiction magazines. So you Tune-Up. After home course, you come to Chicago for see, your magazine travels sometimes great actual practice in UEI’g modern shop under experi- enced instructors, get all the pacts fhe«. write today! distances to be read. I like those magazines very much, espe- DMSION UTILITIES ENGINEERING INSTITUTE 2521 Sheffield Avenue • Dept. DL-3, Chicago 14, Illinois (Continued on page 124) 122 — A :?Thef Never Knew# It Wes SO 1SS? To Hoy Thousands Now Play Popular Songs

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(Continued from page 122) WH«n reuse!#* or# stiff end daily S.S.S. and I am always very glad sort from unusual txtrcHt or when I get one. strain, use HI FT®, tht UnV- The July issue was very good. I rate the mtnl that's strong ytt dot« stories so: not bum tht skin. Wonderful 1. “The Brain Beast” relief fiom muscular sortntss 2. “The Hunted” comes os comforting MEET 3. “The Hand From The Stars” quickly starts to ptntfrofti 4. “Gravity Trap”

Just brush it on with the oppfi- 5. "Changeling”

cator. HEIf starts at once to 6. “Dreadful Dreamer” tost muscular pain and keeps 7. "Spaceman, Beware!” 8. on working for hours, warms “The Survivors” 9. “The Wall Of Darkness” ond soothes the painful area. The covers are always good but I don’t like always those half nude ladies who are always very beautiful. Not that I don’t like beautiful ladies but not so much in science How to Make Money with fiction I My name is T. Van Ingen and I’m Simple Cartoons twenty-five years and just married. I’m sorry I cannot subscribe to your magazine because A book everyone who likts to draw - - should have. It le . -- I cannot pay in dollars. I’ve a great collec- tree! no FREE obligation. I tion of science fiction mags because my Simply address BOOK 7 brother has been in South America where ART00NI8TS' EXCHANGE he always sends me mags. He is also fond of Dept. 483 Pleasant Hill, Ohio science fiction as well as a friend of mine who has been in England where he found s.f. mags too. This friend had also a great collection and I’ve exchanged many mags INVENTORS with him. I’ve collected now 120 mags. So Leans bow to protect your Invention. Specially prepared you see, in Holland there are fans too, but “Patent Guide” containing detailed Information concerning not many. Most people don’t like s.f. fiction, patent protection and procedure with "Heard of Invention" form will be forwarded to you upon request—without obligation. the reason I don’t know. There is only one CLARENCE A. O’BKIiN A HARVEY JACOBSON s.f. fiction mag in Holland: Science and Fantasy but it is not much read. 1. Registered Potent Attorney 028- A' District National Bldg. Washington J, D. C, I must end now with my best wishes to your beautiful magazine with kindly regards. T. Van Ingen MASTER MIND! 2 E Willemstraat 20 a Groningen Learn Short-Cut Mathematics Juggle figures, do baffling number tricks. The Netherlands Make people gaap at your marvelous light- P.S. Forgive me my bad English. I can better read it!

T~-p ' tional bargain, only 11.49, postpaid — or COD plus 'w / postage. Satisfaction guaranteed or refund. Order Dear Editor: j£ tkiB amasing "Short-Cut Mathematics” today 1 tie. It is NELSON-HALL CO. , 1 1S9S.W2b3sh $1.49 with very much delight I sit and CcmpUta Dept. C-5 Chicago 5, III. write you about your wonderful story book. Books coming to Berlin have been forbidden from America until just soon. Now can I TO MAKE write from behind the iron curtain and tell ALL THE you I like Super Science. This comes with EXTRA MONEY! movie books to me from United States. Let YOU WANT! ’ me tell I like all these stories. Best was the one of the brains in the metal, as I like or aelliits ICO boxes greeting cords ot Stationery or napkins with name on. Send for astronomy, my name is after it, Astrid. It is belling plan ond sample! on approval. Coiti noth* prima if all would stop this crazy fight all the time and use intellects to make space wIlCOME, 368 PLANE ST., DEPT. R, NEWARK, N. ii ships to find these worlds. Maybe somebody will send me more Super Science. Too I would like to write with other readers. Please put my address in. We do not have such things in Berlin. I know besides English, German, French and Rus- Complete line lightning sellers for whole sian. I have written on coupon as you say family. No experience or Investment needed. Cash bonus. Special shoe offers. Samples to to write about stories. Best was “The Metal producers. Write for FREE new Selling Out- Moon” by Neil R. Jones. Also “Bride Of fit, Catalog and Premium Offer. Eternity” was prima by Margaret GEO. MERRITT SHOE CO. NEW NYLON St. Clair. Dept. D-Sft Brockton, MESH SHOB Is she a woman writer? Or is it pseudo- J 24 : !

MISSIVES AND MISSILES

nym? “World Of No Return” by Bryce Walton did not end good. “Minions Of Chaos” by John D. MacDonald is like world might become. ’ I understand what he means by dead city. I am a medical student. Soon I will be a doctor. I hope life will be better then. To SEND NO MONEY. Just mail the coupon for a complete set of 4 Big, Thick Auto Super Science I give my best regards. Books, 20th Edition. Over 2700 Pages! Whether you are a mechanic or helper, Sincerely, expert or apprentice, auto owner or driver, Astrid Klopsch ake immediate advantage of this FREE EXAMINATION OFFER. Bozener Strasse 19 MAKE GOOD MONEY NOW Berlin Schoneberg HOLD A PERMANENT JOB American Zone wants its automobiles kept In ;ood repair. Men with “know how" are in Germany demand, at big pay. These books will help CAN YOU FIX IT? you get and hold an important job, or These wonder books tell give you a chance to go into business for step by step HO\y to yourself now or later. Any man who half Arboreal repairs Go Climb a Lemon-Colored make difficult tries to improve himself can learn auto adjustments, how to and servicing and repairing by this quick ref- keep a car at maximum Dept. efficiency, including lat- erence method. Use the JIFFY INDEX est improvements in car to find easily understood answer to any design and operation. auto problem. These wonder books pre- Engine troubles and how pared by eleven of America’s great auto- well Dear Editor: to correct them mobile engineers. Many hundreds of valu- covered. able illustrations. Send the coupon TODAY. 4 BIG, THICK VOLUMES “The Big Book,” etc., etc., arrived at my consulting privileges with*! Over 2700 pages, 2000 A year’s newsstand today, five days after the an- illustrations, wiring dia-e our engineers now given with I grams, etc. Beautiful these books without extra charge. nounced publication date. But who cares? washable [ J modernistic, Publishers Since 1898 I detest these letters which complain of the cloth binding. inferior artists, covers, stories, letter col- AMERICAN TECHNICAL SOCIETY, Dept. A331 n.pvpi Ave. at 58th St., Chicago 37, 111. of Auto Books. will umns, so on ad infinitum et ad nauseam. I would like to examine your 4-Volume Set I pay the delivery charges only, but if I choose I may return them SSS does not have the best artists in the express collect. If after 10 days’ use I prefer to keep them, I will send you $2 and pay the balance at the rate of only $3 a month trade; the covers are not equal to some of until $24.80 Ifas been paid. Please include consulting service as offered above. the other mags’ production. The letters are Name Address . neither intelligent nor constructive, for the City State Please attach letter stating age, occupation, employer’s name and most part. It is not even near the top of address, and the name and address of at least one business man as reference. Men in service, also please give home address. the promag list. Yet, I like it I notice Taurasi has come in for quite a AUDELS Carpenters bit of panning in his fan column. I can’t understand this. Fans such as he work quite and Builders Guides hard at their hobby ; as “fans” I do not in- clude those whose sole fanactivity is to write 4vols.$6 to promags. I know, as a member, that the inside Trade Information (or Carpenters, Builders, Join- world of actifandom Is fascinating all ers, Building Mechanics and to but ell Woodworkers. These Guides five you the ahort-cut those last-mentioned, misbegotten swamp- nstructions that you want— i ncludins new methods, ideas, dogs. solutions, plans, systems and money saving suggestions. An May I add a feeble plea for the resuscita- easy progressive couree for the apprentice and student. A tion of practical daily helper and ASTONISHING? Why don’t you Quick Reference for tho master try it worker. Carpenters every- as a quarterly first, and if circulation where are using these Guides as a Helping Hand to Easier merits it, advance it to bi-monthly status? Work. Better Work and Bet- ter Pay. To get this assist- I’m also a stamp collector sorts, ance for yourself, simply hit of and FR£E am willing to trade' a buck’s worth of Inside Trade Information Ons to use the steel square How to file and set stamps, Scott catalogue value, for flow — any issue «aws—How to build furniture—How to use a of a promag from 1948 back (Super Science mitre box—How to use the chalk line—How to use rules and scales—How to make joints—Carpenters especially wanted). Also I'd like to mention arithmetic—Solving mensuration problems^-Ea* ,timating strength of timbers—How to set girders little fanzine, my SPACESHIP, which costs end sills—How to frame houses and roofs—How to a nickel per copy. estimate costs—How to build houses, barns, gar* ages, bungalows, etc.—How to read and draw Robert Silverberg plans—Drawing up specifications—How to ex- cavate—How to use settings 12, 13 and 17 on tho 760 Montgomery St. eteel square—How to build hoists and scaffolds— Brooklyn Y. ekylights—How to build stairs—How to put on 13, N. interior trim—How to hang doors—How to lath- lay floors—How to paint

To : Garbage Disposal Squad. 1. Missives & Missiles. 2. Child of Void. AUDEL, Publishers, 49 W. 23rd St., New York 10, N. Y. Mail Audels Carpenters and Builders Guides, 4 vols., on 7 days free 3. Parasite Planet. 4. Impossible. trial. If. OK I will remit $1 in 7 days and $1 monthly until $6 is paid. Otherwise I will return them. No obligation unless I am satisfied. To: Education . Department Name. 1. Appointment for Tomorrow (J. D. MacDonald is the one needs • who re-educa- Address. tion in some institution if he can’t do better). 2. Farrell should do a short stretch there Occupation. too, but not to the extent demanded for MacDonald. That is for the Sleepers. Employed by. 12S — J

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

“Saved my Life In the case of Missives and Missiles, per- A God-send for GAS-HEARTBURN” haps a further word should be inserted. I’ve When excess stomach acid causes painful, suffocating gas, tried, honestly I’ve tried, to get some enjoy- sour stomach and heartburn, doctors usually prescribe the fast- est-acting medicines known for symptomatic relief—medicines ment out of those departments, in your mag like those in Bell-ans Tablets. No laxative. Bell-ans brings and in your competitors and I can’t continue comfort in a jiffy or return bottle to us for double money back. © without having my say. Don’t print this, be- BELL-ANS for Acid Indigestion 25c cause I won’t see it, I don’t read that portion of the mag. That’s what makes me slightly prevoked. I like to finish a book or mag- azine, to completely cover said article from cover, and when I see the large number of pages left after I’ve had the enjoyment of the stories, I can’t see the reason for it. It would not be correct for me to leave without placing in your mind, a plug for the CAI CVIC Honey & Tar science fiction type story L rave about. Have I V L t I O Cough Compound you heard of the Amazon Group of stories ? I read it when it is published at irregular intervals in the novel section of the Toronto STUDY AT HOME for Business Success Star Weekly. Don’t ask me the name of the and LARGER PERSONAL EARN- author. I never pay much attention to au- INGS. 40 years expert instruction—over thors. They are only the ones who are re- 114,000 students enrolled. LL.B. Degree sponsible for the stories. (Publishers don’t awarded. All text, material furnished. count either.) No, that is one thing I don’t Easy payment plan. Send for FREE BOOK—“Law and Executive Guid- worry about. If I like a story, it’s not be- ance”—NOW! cause Leinster or Bradbury or all others AMERICAN EXTENSION SCHOOL OF LAW wrote it, I’ll like for its sake, not for the author’s sake. Dept. 24-B, 646 N1 Michigan Ave., Chicago 11, Illinois What I said about Missives and Missiles applies equally well for Fandom’s .Corner, caused by sudden Science Fictioneer and why you list the changes when (lying, Lawrence Portfolio under Departments and relieved with Features I can’t understand. The only illustration I have any conjplaint against is the what you call it on page 62 for .Helps to control “Child of Void” and I don’t know the so- organs of balance. called artist and the less he advertises him- Quiets the nerves. self the better, after a pict like that. It’s part of the story, yes, but those faces, couldn’t he do better.

' A. Hayes SEND Box 135 FOR THIS Matachewan Make money. Know how to break and Ontario train horses. Write today for this book FREE, together with special offer of Canada a course in Animal Breeding. If you are Interested in Galting and Riding—the saddle today now . horse, check here < ) Do U Dear Editor: BEERY SCHOOL OF HORSEMANSHIP In the first place, just exactly what was Dipt. 843, Pleasant Hill, Ohio the cover this time supposed to represent? I kind of liked it, but I just can’t figure it out. Most of these covers that have nothing to do with a story tell a story of their own. Maybe I’m just dumb but I don’t quite get the drift of this one. (We’ll be glad to ex- plain. The period is 3904, late in July. The C.T.I. TRAINS MEN world is ruled by Og-Glulc and his horrible monsters ( (see them down there by the left- FOR SUCCESS IN: hand Bunsen burner?)) Now, Og-Gluk • If you want to earn more—if you AUTO MECHANICS ; crave security learn a good trade ( (who holds the human race in slavery, • BODY-FENDER REPAIR thru famous C.T.I You train natch)) finds that all these half-dressed • DIESEL MECHANICS either at home in spare time, or babes running around the planet distract the • * ELECTRICITY— , ... 'in our Chicago shops. G.I. " ap- males and monsters from their duties. Not ELECTRONICS proved. Free Job Placement being human, he can’t see any use for them. • RADIO”TELEVISION Service. Write today for valuable So he’s shooting them all off into space in • REFRIGERATION- FREE booklet. (State course). supertough soap AIR CONDITIONING bubbles. Is he going to be COMMERCIAL TRADES surprised ! —Ed.) • DRAFTING INSTITUTE Dept. E67-3 • HOME BUILDING Frank E. McNamar 1400 Greenleaf - Chicago 26 Granger, Mo. 126 FANDOM’S CORNER No One Need Know You're (Continued from page 8) Wanstead Park Road, Ilford, Essex, Eng- land. 25c. This is the leading fan mag of OF the current crop. A 32-page, well printed IMP fan mag, filled to the brim with informa-

tion that every stf. fan or reader will want. Book reviews, pro mag reviews, latest fan hearing news and articles of interest. You’re not

a fan if you don’t get this one.

Operation Fantast, No. 2, published quarterly by Capt. K. F. Slater, 13 G. P. R. P. C., B. A. O. R„ 23, c/o G.P.O. Eng- land. 15c. Sixteen well-printed pages of interesting articles, with the exception of the “Shaver Mystery” trash. PSFS News-Bulletin, September 1949, published by the Portland Science-Fantasy Society, 1219 N.E. Roselawn, Portland 11, Ore. No price listed. Four pages, bad- ly mimeoed. Come, come, PSFSers, you can do better.

The Burroughs Bulletin, No. 9, pub- lished by Vernell Coriell, 1314 Janssen, Pekin, 111. Free. A must for all Bur- roughs fans. This is the first photo-offset issue, 6 pages. We liked the interview with Tarzan. with the Phcmtomold Torcon Report, published by Edward N. You’ll feel poised and relaxed with McKeown, 1398 Mount Pleasant Rd., the new Beltone Phantomold because no button shows in your ear. Mail cou- Toronto 12, Ontario, Canada. 50c. This pon today for valuable FREE booklets is a beautifully mimeographed report of the 1948 World Science Fiction Conven- Betton* Mono-Pac tion (the Torcon) held in Toronto. It con- One-UnitOnA-llnl Hearing Aid Beltone Hearing Aid Co., Dept. tains full information on all the speeches 50PO-3 1450 West 19th St. Chicago 8 Illinois and goings-on of the Torcon. Sixty-two r f pages, some in two colors, the best mimeo- Beltone Hearing Aid Co., Dept. 50PO-3 graphing we've ever seen. Limited to 200 1450 W. 19th Street, Chicago 8, Illinois Send me FREE booklet that tells how I can copies, few of which are left. We suggest hear with NO BUTTON in my ear. you get a copy as soon as possible. Name Address Orb, “With an eye on Fandom”, No. 1, published bimonthly by Bob Johnson and Town State Charles Hames, 811 9th St., Greeley, Colo. 15c. Nine pages, legal size, photo-offset. Excellent cover, in green, by John Gross- man. Should improve with future issues. SELL THE ONLY SHOES MEN! INSULATED AGAINST SUMMER HEAT Give it a try. Enjoy Real Cash Income! Exclusive cushion shoes sell like wildfire. Advance commissions. Bonuses. Free “show how” plan and Selling: Outfit. Fantasy-Times, No. 93, the oldest news CONCORD IAN SHOE CO., Dept. E-l, West Concord, Mass. 127 SUPER SCIENCE STORIES Wear Sample Suit mag in fandom, published semimonthly by HOT It TO PAY! James V. Taurasi, Fandom House, 137-03 Here’s An amazing plan! Write'/ me today And i'll ebow you bow to get 32nd Ave., Flushing, N. Y. 10c. Contains a fine, all-wool made-to-measure suit for yourself—to wear and show to friends. Just tafce a few orders, that’s the latest news of the pro mags, books, all I Here’s an easy way to get your own suit without paying 1c, and also movies, television and radio. Eight to 10 make fine cash profit on every order * ' you take. You send no money, now 1 «rtn*ielF pages, mimeographed. Cover, this time, by Sc*«tW * w.I or ever. Just rush name and address Unit for Sample Woolens and Valuable 1 „•» ioO •«'**’ I Sample Suit Coupon. Act now. Bob Sheridan.

baassp •Awatw* Postwarp, No. 1, published monthly for the National Fantasy Fan Federation by ApromiiAyT Arthur H. Rapp, 2120 Bay St., Saginaw, Mich. 10c, only to NFFF members in AbTOOTlIMN I Executive Accountants end C.O. P.P, AbA’b comearn 18,000<8,000 to 110,000 e year. good standing. Ten pages of letters, most Thousands of firms need them. We train you thoroly at home in spare time for C. P. A’s examinations or executive accounting: positions. Previous experience unnecessary . Personal training under supervision of which are very interesting. As a letter- of staff of C. P. A s. Placement counsel And help. Write for freo hook, "Accountancy, the Profession That Pays." zine this fan mag should go far. think LASALLE Extension University. 417 So. Dearborn St We A Correspondence Institution 0ept.3334-H, Chicago Ill, 5. it would go farther if that NFFF-only rule were relaxed.

I’ll help you get extra cash to fill your pocketbook—to live on. Supply my food Shangri-La, No. 15, published eight -ind household products to regular cus- or cap- it#l needed. I’ll Mnd FREE (f.o.b. times a year by the Los Angeles Science factory) flashy assortment of prod- itv ucte to test and show, start Fantasy Society, 1305 Ingraham, Los An- Senear home, full or spare time. Gift premiums, big monthly bargains. Rush geles 14, Calif. 15c. This issue features name today for free ^ outfit. HURRY! LYNCHBURG, VA, a report of Westercon II (local conven- tion) by Sneary and Woolston. Jean Cox’s reports of the club’s meetings are always entertaining. Good printed cover, neat!

But, yipe ! what happened to the mimeo- IS . __ *$50 YOURS graphing? Till now, the west coast fans lor soiling 100 boxes grilling cords ot Si. Sto* fionory or napkins with nomo on. Sond lor soiling have been famous for their fine mimeo. glon & samples on opprovol. Costs nothing to trv MERIT, 370 PUNE ST., DEPT. 21, NEWARK 2, H. JL The Outlander, No. 3, official organ of 0£T INTO the Outlander Society, co-edited by Fred- ADVERTISING die and Alan Hershey, 6335 King Ave., MAKE A QUICKKILLING! Bell, Calif. No price listed. An excellent Everything you need to CLEAN up this yearr Amazing new catalog and Pree sales kit brings you THOU- humorous fan mag, well mimeographed BANINS of Advertising specialties.specialties, pricing tickets, electric signs, display devices. Send postcard for It today, with a printed cover. Best in the issue was “-member it’s FREE! Write: PREE PRICING PRESS, Dept. PF Land of OS by Alan U. Hershey. 103 Lafayette St. Earn bis profits telling famous Bostonian Tiempo-De-Fantasia, No. 2, (the Span? shirts, rainwear, hosiery, underwear and other everyday needs for men, women and ish edition of Fantasy-Times) edited by day. You children. Spend few hours per get Carmela Marceau and published by big profits, immediate cash and big selling James kit. Thousands now making V. Taurasi, 137-03 32nd Ave., Flushing,- a good income. No experience & for A needed. Big Spring season® m N. Y. 5c. First fan mag published com- ahead. Write Bostonian Mfg. ff m Co.. Dept. 68 89 Bickford **» pletely in Spanish. Contains the most in- 3 , L W Street. Boston 30. Mass.^ teresting items from the American edition. NERVOUS STOMACH Cover by John Giunta. Fan mags for review should be sent to ALLIMIN relieves distressing symptoms of "nervous stomach’* —heaviness after meals, belching, bloating and colic due to Fandom’s Corner, Super Science Stories, as. ALLIMIN has been scientifically tested by doctors and found highly effective. World famous—more than a Yu bil- 205 E. 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y. lion sold to date. Don’t forget to keep this column informed ALLIMIN Garlic Tablets of any changes in your organization. 128 THE WHEEL OF TIME IN New War SURPLUS TWO HEAT SOLDERING IRON (Continued from page 84) GADGET MIX—Pre- then the res- pared for' the home PICKED up Jupiter and mechanic ... 5 Two soldering Irons in one with button lbs. . . . Nuts, Bolts, heat control. Push the button, select 150 Screws, onator. The resonator was just a Rivets, Gears, or 300 Watt heat for light or heavy wbrlt- Spacers, etc. Complete with tip, bench holder, - 5‘ A Gold Mine of Votue.ONLYSl.l I tangle of broken tubes and loose asbestos cord. 1 10 V. AC Send for List of Other Mixes. A $15.00 Value For . . « wires but I opened the bottle of Moselle j Write Today for SPECIAL CATALOG that remained and restored Jupiter to Over 90 pages jam-packed full of War Surplus Bargains and New Merchandise, Savings up to 85% in Clothing, Plastics, Hordware, Tools, Bearings, Nuts, Bolts, Electric Motors, Hydraulic Cylinder*, normalcy. Gas Engines, Pumps, Valves, Fittings, Hose, Cable, Rope, Comping Equipment, Household Items and Thousands of other*. Altogether# He drank the wine, but his look re- over 10,000 Money Saving Items with Charts, Tobies, Schematic Drawings, Hook-ups and other valuable fact* and data; mained thoughtful. After he had wiped his Send 25* to cover cost of handling and postage. lips, he said, “Naturally, my resonator PALLEY SUPPLY CO. 6321 SAN FERNANDO RD DEPT. 3 GLENDALE 1. CALIF. gave off a harmonic. Almost any resonat- ing apparatus, from a flute to a radio, will. WE GUARANTEE What happened, Lucius, is that the har- ®/ monic, instead of interfering with the time Vs* *50 IN YOUR SPARE TIME rhythm, amplified it.” iTTng 100 boxes greeting cards at $1. Station- He got up, straightened his clothes, and ery or napkins with name on. No experience needed, 1 Send for selling plan and samples art approval.' Costs nothing to tryl carried the hamper to the truck. i w JEWEL, 401 W. SOMERSET ST., DEPT. P, PHILA., PAJ “You understand, Lucius,” he said then, his voice reflective, “that two vibra- High School Course tions don’t have to interfere with each at Home Many Finish In 2 Years Go as rapidly as your time and abilities permit. Course other. Two light waves may combine to equivalent to resident school work — prepares for college entrance exams. Standard H. S. texts supplied. Diploma. Credit subjects II one stronger light. for H. S. subjects already completed. Single make Two sound desired.P High school education is very important for advancement in business and industry and socially. Don’t be handicapped all ~>ur life. Be a High School graduate. Start your training now. waves may combine to produce one louder ' ree Bulletin on request. No obligation. sound. Obviously what the overtone from I AmericanSchool, Dept, H -349, Draxel at 58th, Chicago 37 my resonator, did was to strengthen the I’LL SEND YOU A FINE SUIT time rhythm, thereby driving the present 1AND start you in business] into the future. Get your made'to'measure suit without: “Thus the main vibratory wave was cost taking orders from friends at direct* from'factory prices. Pocket big commis* working in one direction, and the har- Bion on all orders. Get splendid demon* stration outfit and tested plans FREE, monic directly opposite, producing equal Work from home or office, full or spare but opposite reactions. So the future we time. Top men make up to $12,000 in a year. Famous 37'year'old firm. Writ* saw was just as far ahead of us as the past BUSINESS MANAGER, Dept. P, Box 23, Cincinnati 6, Ohio, I created was behind us. A million years, I’d say, offhand, though as unfortunately Learn here the TRUTH about none of the time capsules were deposited, we’ll never know.” He started to climb into the driver’s PSORIASIS seat of his truck. At that moment some- IS IT A SKIN DISEASE thing glittered down out of nowhere and or INTERNAL? fell on his toe. Yelling, he hopped around For holding his foot, while I picked the ob- the past several years a number of Physicians have reported amazing success in treating Psoriasis with lipAN ject up. —a new medical wonder taken internally, lipan (regis- tered U. S. Patent Office) is a combination of glandular It was a Jeremiah Jupiter time capsule. substances^ that treat certain internal disorders which many medical men now agree to be the cause of Psoriasis. It was, in fact, the one Jack Joker had Clinical results show lipan successful in over 90% of the cases treated. Even stubborn lesions are alleviated to a tossed out at the instant he started into degree almost beyond belief. Absolutely harmless! Ask your druggist for lipan, or write direct for free booklet. the future. Or send for month's supply (180 tablets), enclosing check or money order for $8.50. We had just caught up to the moment SPIRT & COMPANY, Dept. PF-30, Waterbury, Conn, / .

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES

in which the chimp had thrown it away. Preserving a stony silence after that, Jupiter drove us back to New York Shipped through the pleasant summer twilight. Direct The time capsule he tossed into the Hud- from Our Mill son as we crossed the bridge. From time to time he glanced at me in irritation.

“I can’t for the life of me imagine what you’re chuckling about,” he muttered, as

Don't pay several hundred dollars more than necessary he drew up before my apartment build- when you build a home! Buy direct from our mill at our low factory price. We ship you the lumber cut- to-fit. ing. ready to erect. Paint, glass, hardware, nails, etc., all included in the price—no extra charges. Plans furnished —also complete building instructions. No wonder our “I was just thinking of King and customers write us that we saved them 30 % to 40%. Easy terms — monthly payments. Queenie and Joker charging down the Handsome Big CATALOGUE streets of New York a million years from Pictures wonderful homes in colors at money-saving prices. Designs to suit now on motorcycles, throwing time cap- everyone. Write for your catalogue today. sules at the LEWIS MANUFACTURING CO. startled inhabitants,” I told 2303 Lafayette Ave., Bay City, Mich. him. “It will give them a very queer im- pression of what their ancestors in the Merest) Profitable twentieth century were like. And you BUSINESS FREE: know something, Jupiter?” “What?” he grumbled. MONEYMAKING OPPORTUNITYFOR YOU [ WITHOUT INVESTMENT “They all wore silver discs around their No experience needed to eel at our Locel Deeler for MASTER Work Uniform garments. Every business concern e neck with their initials on them,” I said. prospect. Advertising embroidered on garments Is e big selet feature. Easy, pleasant work. You receive cash commission* “Of course Joker’s initials are the daily. You can easily earn up to many thousands of dollar* per JJ., year. We tupply all Sale* Equipment FREE. Write same as yours. They’re bound to think GEO. MASTER GARMENT CO , Dept 483 Ligonier, Indiana they stand for Jeremiah Jupiter, and that he’s you, and King and Queenie are your parents. They’ll put your name under SAHARA SUE SAYS his picture in their history books, I ex-

Stop using Harsh Abrasive Soaps, Sahara will pect . . . Are you going to build another Remove Without Water — Paint, Tar, Grease, resonator?” Grime, Printers’ Ink, etc. QUICKLY — EASILY — SAFELY. Contains Lanolin. Jupiter shifted gears with a clash.

Pro vents Chapping and Rough Rad Hands. “No,” he snapped. “I have too At Your Dealer or Send $1.00 for two 60c Tubes — many Postpaid — Money-Bock Guarantee — Agents Wanted other things to do. I haven’t time SAHARA WATERLESS SOAP C0. ( Gnat R«»ids 2 .Michijai enough.”

And he hurried off. It was the first non- time I’d ever had the laugh on him, and slip I made the most of it. I went inside laughing, and was still laughing after I’d bathed and dressed for my dinner en- gagement with the editor who was so anxious to have my serial to take back with him to Chicago on the Monday CATS PAW morning plane. I didn’t really stop laughing, in fact, Rubber U C C I Q & Soles A until I got downtown and discovered that

it was Tuesday night . . 130 I !

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THESE TO EXCEPTIONAL PROFITS “I have had many experiences “For four years, my average selling as many as 5, 6. and 7 weekly earnings have been pairs in one sitting. I received around $80.00 per week— a phone call from one party, couldn’t have done it except for who wanted 2 pairs of shoes. I the liberal commissions paid by went to his store and made 7 the Company on this wonderful sales. My advance commissions line of shoes and garments my best day were $21.50.” above and beyond competition.” Harry R. Williamson Charles Tuttle

POWERFUL ADVERTISING MAKE EXTRA CASH You get the benefit of big, powerful ads in Saturday Evening Post, Good House- keeping. scores of other national maga- SELLING SHOES zines! Millions KNOW MASON—we pay Everybody buys shoes! Nation’s Leading line offers the bills to help you become known as over 150 styles, finest comfort-shoes for work, dress, the Factory-trained Mason Shoe Fitter In your town! sport. Fit Men and Women!

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING GET FREE SELLING OUTFIT! SEAL OPENS DOORS, CLINCHES SALES! Get into the BIG MONEY right away! Send for your outfit today, be in busi- ness next week! as the direct factory When you mention “Good Housekeeping” , women every- where KNOW YOU OFFER FINE SHOES—hesitation Salesman of the Leader in the industry! DON’T DELAY— ends—sales come easier than ever! WRITE TODAY! EXCLUSIVE! VcfocTccj. RUSH COUPON NOW!

MASON SHOE MFG. CO. AIR CUSHION SELLS Dept. M-356, Chippewa Falls, Wis. I’m willing to be shown how I can Build a SHOES FAST Fine Business selling Jackets, Raincoats, and EXCLUSIVE Feature Shoes. RUSH me your Thousands of tiny air bubbles FREE Selling Outfit, including Tackle-Twill give buoyant arch support, Jacket, Velvet-eez, Air Cushion shoes, unique provide all-day-long comfort Zipper shoes, other fast-selling items. Send everything FREE and POSTPAID. My own shoe . . . and EVERYBODY wants foot comfort! size is ( ) £ >

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Nalional Distillers Products Corporation, New York, N. Y. Blended Whiskey. 86 Proof. 67 ‘-4% Grain Neutral Spirits. K> Ul