PITYROSPORUM OVALE, the strange "Bottle Bacillus” regarded by many authorities as a causative agent of infec- tious dandruff.

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It may be Infectious Dandruff!

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ELL-TALE flakes, itching scalp and Antiseptic and massage. that this grand, simple treatment has relief from dan- Tinflammation — these "ugly custom- Listerine Antiseptic kills millions' of brought them welcome ers” may be a warning that you have the Pityrosporum ovale and other germs druff’s distressing symptoms. infectious type of dandruff, the type in associated with infectious dandruff. Start tonight with the easy, delightful which germs are active on your scalp! Those ugly, embarrassing flakes and home treatment—Listerine Antiseptic and They may be a danger signal that mil- scales begin to disappear. Itching and in- massage. It has helped so many others, it lions of germs are at work on your scalp flammation are relieved. Your scalp feels may help you. Buy the large, economy- size today save . . . including Pityrosporum ovale, the fresher, healthier, your hair looks cleaner. bottle and money. strange "bottle bacillus” recognized by Lambert Pharmacal Co., St. Louis, Mo. many foremost authorities as a causative 76% Improved in Clinical Tests agent of infectious dandruff. And here’s impressive scientific evi- Don’t delay. Every day you wait, your dence of Listerine’s effectiveness in com- *THE TREATMENT condition may get worse, and before long bating dandruff symptoms: Under the you may have a stubborn infection. exacting, severe conditions of a series of MEN: Douse full strength Listerine on the scalp morning and night. clinical tests, 76% of the dandruff sufferers various Use Medical Treatment* who used Listerine Antiseptic and massage WOMEN: Part the hair at places, and apply Listerine Antiseptic. Your common sense tells that for twice daily showed complete disappear- you Always follow with vigorous and ance of or marked improvement in the a case of infection, in which germs are persistent massage. Listerine is the active, it’s wise to use an antiseptic which symptoms, within a month. same antiseptic that has been famous for more than years as a gargle. quickly attacks large numbers of germs. In addition to that, countless men and 50 So, tor infectious dandruff, use Listerine women all over America report joyously — ! — —

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

Contents for July, 1942, Vol. XXIX, No. 5

John W. Campbell, Jr., Editor, Catherine Tarrant, Asst. Editor

Novelettes SECRET UNATTAINABLE A. E. van Vogt ... 9 Hitler’s secret weapon? Yes—there was one—but the secret was such that it was—for Hitler’s type—forever unattainable. PENANCE CRUISE David V. Reed ... 46 The trouble was that the Exotican general, in his bright-orange uniform, looked so much like a space-mine—round three ways, and explosive—to a pair of overcelebrating spacemen COLLISION ORBIT Will Stewart ... 80 A new author introduces a new theme in science-fiction—the dan- ger and the possibilities in “seetee” drift matter made up the

inverse of terra's stuff—contraterrene hell in chunks 1

TOOLS Clifford D. Simak . . 118 The life form of Venus was definitely not “life as we know it,” and it needed tools to work with. Man didn’t mean to be so generous

Short Stories

BRIMSTONE BILL Malcolm Jameson . 27 Bill was a hell-fire-and-damnation orator—with gadgets—and purely for personal profit, not prophet. But a bad actor can be turned to good use, Commander Bullard figured.

THE CONTRABAND COW L. Sprague de Camp . 38 Author de Camp suggests a sidelight on the Union Now theme— a question of customs, and population and voting powers

SPACE CAN L. Ron Hubbard . . 71 If your ship is riddled, on fire, unable to maneuver, an obvious hopeless wreck in the midst of a space battle, there’s only one way out—take over the heavy enemy shin!

Article

STARS ALSO HAVE RINGS ...... R. S. Richardson . . 78 No telescope can possibly see the "geographical” make-up of an- other stellar system—they’re too immeasurably remote. No am- plifier can help that—except the amplifier system known as brain-power

Readers’ Departments THE EDITOR'S PAGE 6 IN TIMES TO COME 108 Department of Prophecy and Future Issues. THE ANALYTICAL LABORATORY 108 An Analysis of Readers’ Opinions. PROBABILITY ZERO 109 Calling All Liars!

BRASS TACKS . . . 115 Concerning Purely Personal Preferences. Cover by Rogers Illustrations by Kolliker, Orban and Kramer OCT THIRD FRIDAY Monthly publication Issued by Street & Smith Publications, Incorporated, 79 Seventh Avenue, BACH MONTH New York City. Allen L. Crammer, President; Henry W. Ralston, Vice President; erald H. Smith, Secretary and Treasurer. Copyright, 1942, in U. S. A. and Great Britain by NEXT ISSUE ON Street & Smith Publication*. Ine. Reentered as Second-class Matter, February 7, 1938, at the SALE JULY 17 Post Office at New York, under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. Subscriptions to Countries In *an American Union, $2.75 per year; elsewhere, $3.25 per year. We cannot accept responsibility $2.50 per YEAR Jor unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Any material submitted must Include return postage. The editorial contents of this magazine have not been published before, are protected by copy- 25c per COPY right and cannot be reprinted without the publisher’s permission. All stories In this magazine are fiction. No actual persons are designated either by name or eharacter. Any similarity Is coincidental. Printed In the U.8.A. STREET & SMITH PUBLICATIONS, INC. • 79 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS ' : > V-:V- - ,• -

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0

DIODE TO PENTAGRID

The klystron tube, I’ve been informed, is now important addition, the radio oscillator, amplifier obsolete—displaced from its pre-eminence as a and transmiting tube became possible. It made generator of ultrashort radio waves by a new radio telephones possible, where only radio- device. That’s a rather interesting thought for telegraphy had been before. several reasons; in the first place, it means some- The essentials of the three-element triode re- thing decidedly better must have been perfected. mained from the beginning of radiotelephony to The klystron, while capable of generating waves the early days of battery eliminators for home of a shortness not before attainable with any effec- radios. There were many improvements in the tive power, had two or three serious drawbacks. three electrodes, but no fundamental change. actual klystron appeared the An to layman to be Then the changes really started. Alternating a junior plumber’s practice layout, with pipe of current sets had to be developed; it was an ob- all sizes from five-inch to drains down one-half- vious necessity for commercial development. Rec- inch copper tube. It required a constantly func- tifier tubes could convert high-voltage A. C. to tioning usually, the vacuum pump which added to high-voltage, pulsating D. C. Banked paper con- mechanical complexity. did not sharp And it have densers and iron-core choke coils could smooth tuning capacity. It in the ultrashort worked out the pulses to a humless D. C. in quantities waves, the of its great but spread tuning was enough to handle the plate current requirements enough to include about as broad a band of fre- to eliminate the B battery. But the several ampere quencies as the entire commercial broadcast band. demands of the filaments required enormous con- The owner of a broadcast receiver of comparable denser and choke coils if the A battery were to be selectivity thing he’d sure would never miss a — be eliminated. The heater-type A. C. tube was de- to get all four networks and the police calls at veloped; if the filament heated and cooled sixty the time. same times a second, you naturally got hum in the set. That breadth of band was not useless in the But if it took forty-five seconds for the electron- ultrashort radio spectrum simply because of the emiter to heat up, the heat-and-cool cycle was enormously increased range of frequencies in- smoothed out completely. Out went the A bat- volved. But it still wasn’t desirable. tery. The new device was invented by Americans The real need then was to develop an amplifier during the period of national-defense work; it that could really amplify. The old 201-A of fond was not published in international scientific jour- memory had an amplification factor of half a nals. America’s national offense work has it now; dozen times or so; if you tried for more ampli- the Axis has the klystron to play with. The dif- fication, the capacitance effect between the grid ference is somewhat comparable to the difference and the plate of the tube itself would start to between an original de Forest audion and a mod- play merry hob; it would oscillate with all the ern super-control beam-power amplifier. vigor and howl of a telephone of the day when The rapid obsolescence of radio tubes—klystron the earphone was put against the mouthpiece. or of the more usual variety—is rather startling The tetrode—four-element—tube put a screen- if you have had no occasion to follow the improve- ing grid between the plate and the original grid. ment of tube design since the days when most The first grid could still control the flow of elec- radio sets were homemade, worked on “A,” “B” trons, but the screen-grid cut off the condenser and “C” batteries, or the early “battery elimina- effect between it and the plate. The amplification tors.” usable went sky-high. Some of the tetrode tubes The earliest forerunner of the electron tube was will amplify more than seven hundred times. the hot-filament-and-plate, the diode tube. Thomas But in ranges like that, working on radio fre- Edison reported the discovery that a heated fila- quencies, that amplification ran into a new trouble; ment in an evacuated bulb near a cold metal plate electrons passing the screen-grid would tend to would retain a positive charge, but not a negative accumulate in the space between the plate and charge. The “Edison Effect” is the basis of the screen-grid, forming a little cloud of electron-gas rectifier tube. Lee de Forest added the third —a highly repellent sort of cloud that interfered element, the all-important grid that made the with the operation of the tube. So a third grid rectifer into an amplifier. With that immensely —the suppressor grid—turned the tube into a five- —

DIODE TO PENTAGRID 7

element pentode. Available amplification, with For scientific work aside from radio broadcast the third grid draining away the electron-gas pickups, other special tube-types have been de- cloud, went up over the one-thousand-times mark. veloped. The greenish “magic eye” tube, used as With amplification factors of that order, it a tuning indicator on some receiving sets can serve didn’t take many tubes to turn a radio signal into as a hypersensitive sort of galvanometer in a scien- something you could hear. Even the tiny signal tific laboratory; the narrowing or widening of the of a loop antenna a foot across could be amplified shadow area cutting across the green-glowing to a terrific extent and skimmed for its music con- fluorescent screen of the tube is exceedingly sen- tent. And the manufacturers were—hey, presto! sitive to slight changes in current values. —back to batteries again. Portable sets with heave In many of the glass tubes now made, the control- enough to push a loud speaker were possible. But grid lead is brought out of the top of the tube, that meant a return to filaments instead of heated not out through the base. For radio and similar cathodes—little filaments that took a minimum of high-frequency work, this has the advantage of current from a dry-cell “A” battery, preferably a reducing the condenser-effect between the lead-in single-cell dry battery. And compactness. And wires to plate and grid. In much scientific work, tubes that delivered full power on ninety volts it has the immense advantage that, when working of plate current instead of two hundred fifty volts with minute currents and very high resistance of stepped-up, rectified and filtered A. C. Also circuits, the leakage of current between the grid since superhetrodyne circuits were most common and cathode leads of the tube itself is enormously —a multifunction tube doing two or more things reduced. For instance, one of the standard photo- at once was useful. By putting in two successive, electric cell circuits used for accurate measure- separate control grids, a screen-grid and a sup- ment of light intensity, calls for a resistance of pressor grid between filament-cathode and plate, 100,000,000 ohms in series with the grid of the first- the triumph of the pentagrid converter was at- stage amplifier tube. A little moisture condensed tained. It takes the place of two modern, or six on the base of the tube could, if the grid lead ran old-style tubes, and uses only one filament—one in that way, change that 100,000,000 ohm resistance and a half volts and five hundredths of an ampere. as much as fifty percent, with disastrous results Then there is the neat system of wrapping up on the accuracy of the measurements. three tubes in one bottle—saving a lot of space, Then there are voltage-regulator tubes, one of considerable filament drain, and producing an the great blessings of the electronics worker’s life. octopus-armed, super-goldbergian achievement of The slight dimming of the lights when your re- beautiful ingenuity. The 1D8-GT type also draws frigerator or oil-burner turns itself on isn’t bother-

one and a half volts or so, and one tenth of an some ; when a research worker is trying to measure ampere for the filament. That filament really has a current of ten-millionth of an ampere by means of a job. It’s the filament end of a diode-type tube an amplifier it drives him frantic. Every electric that can be used as a detector tube; the filament toaster, oil-burner, and particularly that unbeloved of a triode—improved type with an amplification guy down the hall who’s doing magnetic research factor of twenty-five—that can serve as the first and draws ten kilowatts from the lines every time stage of audio amplification, and the filament for he turns his gadget on. The voltage on the lines is a pentode-type high-power amplifier as a final not 117.32 as it should be—it’s 117 plus or minus power output stage. One more tube for the half enough to make measurements hopeless. But a vol- dozen left-over functions of a modern portable, tage-regulator tube circuit can tie it down on the and you’ve got a radio set. Three tuber, sure nose and keep it under control. Accurate, repro- but any one of those contraptions will take on ducible measurements of a billionth of an ampere a whole six-tube deluxe neutrodyne of the “bat- can be made. tery eliminator” days. The development of these special tubes, plus For the cabinet-type sets they have a nice assort- the fact that smaller, more compact radio receivers ment of combined and cross-integrated affairs, can be made if a new type tube is designed for too. And methods of twisting an electron stream the circuit, instead of a circuit designed for avail- into highly functional knots. The super-control able tubes, has led to difficulties, though. type has a non-uniform control grid that succeeds So many tubes were designed for sets of special in amplifying weak signals more than strong sig- make that there are too many tube-types of only nals—and hence minimizing distortion due to slightly varying characteristics. The present need overloading. On the other hand, for some pur- for conservation of material, manufacturing power,

poses, it is desirable to amplify strong signals and skilled labor has brought about the discon- more than yreak signals—volume expansion to tinuance of several hundred different types of make a phonograph reproduce the range of sound tubes. intensities the symphony orchestra actually pro- Among them, the old 201-A has died at last. duced, and which the record’s grooves cannot handle. There’s a tube for that job. The Editor. /

Ellery Queen is one of the famous

names in radio.

Steve Fisher's movie, "I WAKE UP

SCREAMING" broke box-office rec-

ords.

Frank Gruber's books are acknowledged best-sellers.

All three of these masters of mystery appear in the

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Illustrated by Kramer

• The Secret Weapon! We heard about

it, were threatened with it—but never here, the saw it. i Van Vogt has an answer

secret of Hitler's secret weapon—a secret

that Hitler himself never knew, and, even knowing, could never hope to use

SECRET UNATTAINABLE

How the file, known as Secret Six, was smuggled of our own authorities; and investigations are out of the German Reich and brought to the proceeding apace. Further revelations of a grand United States is one of those dramatic true tales order may be expected as soon as one of the ma- of World War II that will some day be told. It chines is built. involves people inside Germany who would be The documents date from 1937, and will be given executed if their part and the process ‘were dis- chronologically, without reference to their in- covered. dividual importance. But first, it is of surpassing

All the extraordinary documents of this file, it interest to draw attention to the following news should be emphasized, are definitely in the hands item, which appeared in the New York Sun, 6 6

10 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

March 25, 1941, on page 17. At that time it ap- April 17, 1937 peared to have no significance whatsoever. The MEMO item: From Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo

If Kenrube can find the money, let him go GERMAN CREEK BECOMES RIVER ahead. H. concurs, provided supervision be strict. K. Reissel. London, March 24 (delayed): A Royal Air Force reconnaissance pilot today reported that a creek in north- ern Prussia, marked on the map as the Gribe Creek, has COPY ONLY June 2, 1937 become a deep, swift river overnight. It is believed that an underground waterway burst its bounds. Several vil- From Co-ordinator Dept., Deutsche Bank lages in the path of the new river showed under water. To Gestapo No report of the incident has yet been received from Berlin. The marginally noted personages have recently transferred sums totaling Reichsmarks four mil- There never was any report from Berlin. It lion five hundred thousand to the account of Herr should again be pointed out that the foregoing Professor Johann Kenrube. For your information please. Pleup news item was published in 1941 ; the documents J. which follow date from 1937, a period of four years. Four years of world-shaking history: June 11, 1937 From Gestapo To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science April 10, 1937 Subject Your 10731—127—S— From Secretary, Bureau of Physics Per your request for further details on the pri- To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science vate life of Kenrube since the death of his Subject 10731—127—S— J. brother in June, 1934, in the purge: 1. Inclosed is the report of the distinguished We quote from a witness, Peter Braun: “I was scientific board of inquiry which sat on the case in a position to observe Herr Professor Kenrube of Herr Professor Johann Kenrube. very closely when the news was brought to him

2. As you will see, the majority of the board at Frankfort-on-Main that August, his brother, oppose emphatically the granting of State funds had been executed in the sacred blood purge. for what they describe as a “fantastic scheme*!’ “Professor Kenrube is a thin, good-looking man They deny that an all-vacuum environment for with normally a very wan face. This face turned energy would produce the results claimed, and dark with color, then drained completely of blood. refute utterly the number philosophy involved. He clenched his hands and said: ‘They’ve mur- Number, they say, is a function, not a reality, or dered him!’ Then he rushed off to his room. else modern physics has no existence. “Hours later, I saw him walking, hatless, hair disarrayed, along the bank of the river. People 3. The minority report of Herr Professor Gou- stopped to look at him, but he did not see them. reit, while thought-provoking, can readily be dis- He was very much upset that first day. When I missed when it is remembered that Goureit, like saw him again the next morning, he seemed to Kenrube and Kenrube’s infamous brother, was have recovered. He said to me: once a member of the SPD. “‘Peter, we must all suffer for our past mis- 4. The board of inquiry, having in mind Hitler’s takes. The tragic irony of my brother’s death is desire that no field of scientific inquiry should be that he told me only a week ago in Berlin that he left unexplored, and as a generous gesture to had been mistaken in opposing the Nationalsozia- Goureit, who has a very great reputation and a listiche Arbeitspartei. He was convinced they were caustic pen, suggested that, if Kenrube could ob- doing great things. I am too much of a scientist tain private funds for his research, he should be ” ever to have concerned myself with politics.’ permitted to do so. You will note, Excellency, that this is very much 5. Provided Geheime Staats Polizei do not ob- the set speech of one who is anxious to cover up . G. L. ject, I concur. the indiscreet, emotional outburst of the previous day. However, the fact that he was able to pull Author’s Note: The signature G. L. has been himself together at all seems to indicate that difficult to place. There appears to have been sev- affection of any kind is but shallowly rooted in eral secretaries of the Bureau of Physics Research, his character. Professor Kenrube returned to his following one another in swift order. The best laboratories in July, 1934, and has apparently been accounts identify him as Gottfried Lesser, an ob- hard at work ever since. scure B. Sc. who early joined the Nazi party, and There has been some discussion here concerning for a period was its one and only science expert. Kenrube, by the psychologists attached to this of- Geheime Staats Polizei is of course Gestapo. fice; and the opinion is expressed, without dissent. 6 6

SECRET UNATTAINABLE 11

that in three years the professor will almost have PRECIS OF MONTHLY REPORTS OF forgotten that he had a brother. AGENT SEVENTEEN

K. Reissel Our agent reports that Professor Kenrube’s first act was to place him, Seventeen, in charge of the MEMO AT BOTTOM OF LETTER: construction of the machine, thus insuring that I am more convinced than ever that psycholo- he will have the most intimate knowledge of the gists should be seen and not heard. It is our duty actual physical details. to watch every relative of every person whose life When completed, the machine is expected to

is, for any reason, claimed by the State. If there occupy the entire common room of the old fortress, are scientific developments of worth-while nature largely because every section is being inclosed in in this Kenrube affair, let me know at once. His a vacuum. In this connection, Seventeen describes attainments are second to none. A master plan of how four electric motors were removed from Ken- precaution is in order. Himmler rube’s old laboratories, their force fields skillfully and peculiarly surrounded by a vacuum, with the October 24, 1937 result that a ninety-four-percent improvement in their efficiency resulted. From Secretary, Bureau of Physics Seventeen goes on to state that orders for parts To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science have been placed with various metal firms but, be- Subject Professor Johann Kenrube cause of the defense program, deliveries are ex- The following report has been received from tremely slow. Professor Kenrube has resigned our Special Agent Seventeen: himself to the possibility that his invention will “Kenrube has hired the old steel and concrete not be completed until 1944 or 45. fortress. Gribe Schloss, overlooking the Gribe Seventeen, being a scientist/ in his own right, Creek, which flows into the Eastern Sea. This has become interested in the machine. In view of ancient fortress was formerly located on a small the fact that, if successful, it will insure measure- hill in a valley. The hill has subsided, however, less supplies of raw materials for our Reich, he and is now virtually level with the valley floor. urges that some effort be made to obtain priorities. We have been busy for more than a month mak- He adds that he has become quite friendly with ing the old place livable, and installing ma- Kenrube. He does not think that the Herr Pro- chinery.” fessor suspects how closely he is connected with For your information, Agent Seventeen is a the Bureau of Science. graduate in physics of Bonn University. He was June 4, 1938. for a time professor of physics at Muenchen. In From Gestapo view of the shortage of technicians, Kenrube has To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science appointed Seventeen his chief assistant. Subject 10731—127—S— G. L. Raw materials! Why was I not informed before May 21, 1938 that Kenrube was expecting to produce raw ma- terials? Why did you think I was taking an in- From Science Branch, Gestapo terest in this case, if not because Kenrube is a To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science genius of the first rank; and therefore anything Subject 10731—127—S— he does must be examined with the most minute H. wants to know the latest developments in the care? But—raw materials! Are you all mad over Kenrube affair. Why the long silence? Exactly there, or living in a world of pleasant dreams? what is Professor Kenrube trying to do, and what You will at once obtain from Herr Professor progress has he made? Surely, your secret agent Kenrube the full plans, the full mathematics, of has made reports. K. Reissel his work, with photographs of the machine as far as it has progressed. Have your scientists pre-

June 3, 1938 pare a report for me as to the exact nature of the raw materials that Kenrube expects to obtain. Is From Secretary, Bureau of Physics this some transmutation affair, or what is the To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo method? Subject Professor Johann Kenrube Inform Kenrube that he must supply this in- Your letter of the 21st ultimo has been passed formation, or he will obtain no further materials. on to me. The inclosed precis of the reports of If he satisfies our requirements, on the other hand, our Agent Seventeen will bring you up to date. there will be a quickening of supplies. Kenrube Be assured that we are keeping a careful watch is no fool. He will understand the situation. on the developments in this case. So far, nothing As for your agent, Seventeen, I am at once send- meriting special attention has arisen. ing an agent to act as his bodyguard. Friendly G. L. with Kenrube indeed! Himmler —

12 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

June 28, 1938 ter in the Universe conjoins according to a rigid From Gestapo mathematical pattern, and that this conjunction To Secretary, Bureau of Physics presupposes the existence of hyper-space. Subject Secret Six Object of Invention: To bridge the gap through hyper-space between Earth and any planet, or any Have you received the report from Kenrube? part of any planet. In effect, this means that it H. is most anxious to see this the moment it ar- would not be necessary to drill for oil in a remote rives. K. Reissel planet. The machine would merely locate the oil

stratum, and tap it at any depth; the oil would July 4, 1938 flow from the orifice of the machine which, in the From Gestapo case of the machine now under construction, is To Secretary, Bureau of Physics ten feet in diameter. Subject Secret Six A ten-foot flow of oil at a pressure of four thousand feet a minute would produce approx- What about the Kenrube report? Is it possible imately six hundred thousand tons of oil every that your office does not clearly grasp how im- hour. portant we regard this matter? We have recently Similarly, discovered that Professor Kenrube’s grandfather mining could be carried on simply by locating the ore-bearing veins, and skimming from once visited a very curious and involved revenge them the purest ores. on a man whom he hated years after the event that It should be pointed out that, of the distin- motivated the hatred. Every conceivable precau- guished scientists who have examined the report, tion must be taken to see to it that the Kenrube only Herr Professor Goureit claims to be able to machine can be duplicated, and the machine itself follow the mathematics proving the existence of protected utterly. hyper-space. Please send the scientific report the moment it is available. K. Reissel July 14, 1938 COPY ONLY July 4, 1938 TRANSCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW BY HERR HIMMLER H. From Secretary, Bureau of Physics OF PROFESSOR KLEINBERG, To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo CHAIRMAN OF THE SCIENTIFIC Subject Professor Johann Kenrube COMMITTEE OF SCIENCE BRANCH, GESTAPO, INVESTIGATING The report, for which you have been asking, has REPORT OF HERR PROFESSOR JOHANN come to hand, and a complete transcription is being KENRUBE sent to your office under separate cover. As you Q. You have studied the drawings and examined will see, it is very elaborately and I prepared; the mathematics? have taken the trouble to have a precis made of A. Yes. our scientific board’s analysis of the report for Q. What is your conclusion? your readier comprehension. G. L. A. We are unanimously agreed that some fraud is being perpetrated. PRECIS OF SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF Q. Does your verdict relate to the drawings of KENRUBE’S REPORT ON HIS INVEN- the invention, or to the mathematics ex- TION plaining the theory? General Statement of Kenrube’s Theory: That A. To both. The drawings are incomplete. A there are two kinds of space in the Universe, machine made from those blueprints would normal and hyper-space. hum with apparent power and purpose, but Only in normal space is the distance between it would be a fraudulent uproar; the power star systems and galaxies great. It is essential simply goes oftener through a vacuum en- to the nature of things, to the unity of material vironment before returning to its source, bodies, that intimate cohesion exist between every Q. I have sent your report to Kenrube. His com- particle of matter, between, for instance, the Earth ment is that almost the whole of modern and the Universe as a whole. electrical physics is founded on some varia- Kenrube maintains that gravity does not explain tion of electricity being forced through a the perfect and wonderful balance, the singleness vacuum. What about that? of organism that is a galactic system. And that A. It is a half truth. the theory of relativity merely evades the issue Q. What about the mathematics? in stating that planets go around the Sun because A. There is the real evidence. Since Descartes it is easier for them to do that than to fly off into Q. Please abstain from using these foreign names. space. A. Pardon me. Since Leibniz, number has been Kenrube’s thesis, therefore, is that all the mat- a function, a variable idea. Kenrube treats

- - - - - c -V .... .V :

SECRET UNATTAINABLE 13

3. of number as an existing thing. Mathe- the model will of itself go far to reducing the oil matics, he says, has living and being. You shortage in the Reich. have to be a scientist to realize how incredi- The machine will be in operation sometime ble, impossible, ridiculous such an idea is. in the summer of 1939. We are all eager and excited.

WRITTEN COMMENT ON THE ABOVE February 7, 1939 ideas on the I am not a scientist. I have no set From Secretary, Bureau of Physics how- subject of mathematics or invention. I am, To Gestapo ever, prepared to accept the theory that Kenrube Subject Secret Six is withholding information, and for this reason The following precautions have been taken with order that: the full knowledge and consent of Herr Professor 1. All further materials for the main machine Kenrube be withheld. 1. A diary in triplicate is kept of each day’s 2. Unlimited assistance be given Kenrube to progress. Two copies are sent daily to our office build a model of his machine in the great govern- here. As you know, the other copy is submitted ment laboratories at Dresden. When, and not by us to your office. until, this model is in operation, will permission be 2. Photographs are made of each part of the given for the larger machine to be completed. machine before it is installed, and detailed plans 3. Meanwhile, Gestapo scientists will examine of each part are kept, all in triplicate, the copies the machine at Gribe Schloss, and Gestapo con- distributed as described above. struction experts will, if necessary, reinforce the 3. From time to time independent scientists are building, which must have been damaged by the called in. They are invariably impressed by Ken- settling of the hill on which it stands. rube’s name, and suspicious of his mathematics and 4. Gestapo agents will hereafter guard Gribe drawings. Schloss. Himmler For your information, please. August Buehnen December 2, 1938

From Secretary, Bureau of Physics March 1, 1939 To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo From Reich and Prussian Minister of Science Subject Herr Professor Kenrube To Herr Heinrich Himmler, Gestapo Subject The great genius, Herr Professor Ken- Inclosed is the quarterly precis of the reports rube of our Agent Seventeen. For your information, please. It is my privilege to inform your Excellency that August Buehnen the world-shaking invention of Herr Professor Johann Kenrube yesterday went into operation,

Author’s Note : Buehnen, a party man who was and has already shown fantastic results. educated in one of the Nazi two-year Science The machine is not a pretty one, and some effort Schools, replaced G. L. as secretary of the Bureau must be made to streamline future reproductions of Physics about September, 1938. of this model, with an aim toward greater mobility. It is not known exactly what became of Lesser, In its present condition, it is strung out over who was a strong party man. There was a Briga- the floor in a most ungainly fashion. Rough metal dier General G. Lesser, a technical expert attached can be very ugly. to the Fuehrer’s headquarters at Smolensk. This Its most attractive feature is the control board, man, and there is some evidence that he is the which consists of a number of knobs and dials, the same, was killed in the first battle of Moscow. operator of which, by an arrangement of mirrors, can peer into the orifice, which is located on the QUARTERLY PRECIS OF REPORTS OF right side of the control board, and faces away

AGENT SEVENTEEN from it. (I do not like these awkward names,

1. Herr Professor Kenrube is working hard on orifice and hyper-space. We must find a great the model. He has at no time expressed bitterness name for this wonderful machine and its vital over the enforced cessation of work on the main parts.) machine, and apparently accepts readily the ex- When Buehnen and I arrived, Professor Ken- planation that the government cannot afford to rube was busy opening and shutting little case- allot him material until the model proves the value ments in various parts of that sea of dull metal. of his work. He took out and examined various items. 2. The model will have an orifice of six inches. At eleven forty-five, Kenrube stationed himself This compares with the ten-foot orifice of the at the control board, and made a brief speech com- main machine. Kenrube’s intention is to employ paring the locator dials of the board to the dial on it for the procuration of liquids, and believes that a radio which tunes in stations. His dials, how- 14 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

ever, tuned in planets; and, quite simply, that is The first planet was a desolate, frozen affair, what he proceeded to do. dimly lighted by a remote red sun. It must have It appears that the same planets are always on been airless because there was a whistling sound, exactly the same gradation of the main dial; and as the air rushed out of our room into that frigid the principle extends down through the controls space. Some of that deadly cold came trickling which operate to locate sections of planets. Thus through, and we quickly switched below the sur-

it is always possible to return to any point of any face of the planet. planet. You will see how important this is. Fantastic planet! It must be an incredible The machine had already undergone its first heavy world; for it is a treasure house of the tests, so Kenrube now proceeded to turn to various heavier metals. Everywhere we turned, the soil

planets previously selected ; and a fascinating formation showed a shifting pattern of gold, silver, show it was. zinc, steel, tin—thousands of millions of tons. Gazing through the six-inch orifice is like look- At Professor Kenrube’s suggestion, I put on a ing through a glassless window. What a great pair of heavy gloves, and removed a four-inch rock moment it will be when the main machine is in of almost pure gold. It simply lay there in a operation, and we can go through the ten-foot gray shale, but it was so cold that the moisture orifice. of the room condensed on it, forming a thick hoar- SECRET UNATTAINABLE 15 frost. How many ages that planet must have March 2, 1939 the frozen, for the cold to penetrate so far below From Secretary, Bureau of Physics surface! To R. Heydrich The second planet was a vast expanse of steam- Subject Secret Six ing swamps and tropical forests, much as Earth The list of names for which you asked is here- must have been forty million years ago. However, with attached. August Buehnen we found not a single trace of animal, insect, reptile or other nonfloral life. COMMENT AT BOTTOM OF LETTER The third, fourth and fifth planets were devoid In view of the importance of this matter, some The o,f any kind of life, either plant or animal. changes should be made in the precautionary plan except that sixth planet might have been Earth, drawn up a few months ego with respect to these sign its green forests, its rolling plains showed no personages. Two, not one of our agents, must be this of animal or intelligent life. But it is on assigned to keep secret watch on each of these and planet that oil had been located by Kenrube individuals. The rest of the plan can be con- left, a Seventeen in their private tests. When I tinued as arranged with one other exception: In pipe line, previously rigged up, had been attached the event that any of these men suspect that they at the to the orifice, and was vibrating with oil are being watched, I must be informed at once. thousand miles colossal flow speed of nearly one I am prepared to explain to such person, within per hour. limits, the truth of the matter, so that he may This immense flow has now been continuous for not be personally worried. The important thing more than twenty-four hours; and I understand it is, we do not want these people suddenly to make has already been necessary to convert the great a run for the border. Himmler south suburbs to storage water reservoir in the SPECIAL DELIVERY space for oil. PERSONAL It may be noveau riche to be storing oil at great March 2, 1939 inconvenience, when the source can be tapped at Reich and Prussian Minister of Science will. But I personally will not be satisfied until From Herr Heinrich Himmler we have a number of these machines in action. It To Subject Professor Johann Kenrube is better to be childish and have the oil than logical and have regrets. I this morning informed the Fuehrer of the I cannot conceive what could go wrong now. Kenrube machine. He became very excited. The Because of our precautions, we have numerous and news ended his indecision about the Czechs. The complete plans of the machine. It is necessary, of army will move to occupy. course, to ensure that our enemies do not learn our For your advance information, please. secret, and on this point, I would certainly appre- March 13, 1939 ciate your most earnest attention. From Gestapo of this marvelous The enormous potentialities To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science with every minute spent in instrument expand Subject The Dresden Explosion thinking about it. I scarcely slept a wink last The incredibly violent explosion of the Ken- night. rube model must be completely explained. A board of discovery should be set up at Dresden March 1, 1939 with full authority. I must be informed day by Branch, From Chief, Criminal Investigation day of the findings of this court. Gestapo This is a very grim business. Your agent, Seven- Minister of Science To Reich and Prussian teen, is among those missing. Kenrube is alive, Subject Secret Six which is very suspicious. There is no question of him; the only thing that matters is to Will you please inform this office without delay arresting frustrate future catastrophes of this kind. His of the name of every scientist or other person who machine has proved itself so remarkable that he has any knowledge, however meager, of the Ken- be conciliated at all costs until we can be rube machine? must Reinhart Heydrich absolutely sure that everything is going right. Let me know everything. Himmler

Note: This is the Heydrich, hand- Author’s REPORT OF AUGUST some, ruthless Heydrich, who in 1941 bloodily re- PRELIMINARY pressed the incipient Czech revolt, and who, now BUEHNEN that the notorious Himmler is Minister of Interior, When I arrived at the scene of the explosion, I has succeeded his former master as head of the noticed immediately that a solid circle, a remarka- Gestapo. bly precise circle of the wall of the fifth floor of : ,

16 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

the laboratories—where the Kenrube machine is it hurt my eyes, even though I could only located—had been sliced out as by some incon- see it in the mirror over the orifice. I have ceivable force. not the faintest impression of heat. But Examining the edges of this circle, I verified the wall was gone, and all the metal around that it could not have been heat which performed the orifice. so violent an operation. Neither the brick nor Q. And the men? the exposed steel were in any way singed or A. Yes, and the men, all five of them. damaged by fire. The following facts have been given to me of March 18, 1939 what transpired From Secretary, Bureau of Physics It had been necessary to cut the flow of oil be- To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo cause of the complete absence of further storage Subject Dresden Explosion space. Seventeen, who was in charge—Professor I am inclosing a precis of the report of the Kenrube during this whole time was at Gribe Court of Inquiry, which has just come to hand. Schloss working on the main machine—was The report will be sent on to you as soon as a laboriously exploring other planets in search of transcription has been typed. rare metals. For your information, please. The following is an extract from my interview August Buehnen with Jacob Schmidt, a trusted laboratory assistant in the government service: PRECIS OF REPORT OF COURT OF IN- Q. You say, Herr— (Seventeen) took a piece of QUIRY ore to the window to examine it in the light 1. It has been established: » of the Sun? (a) That the destruction was preceded by a A. He took it to the window, and stood there clicking sound. looking at it. (b) That this click came from the machine. Q. This placed him directly in front of the orifice (c) That the machine is fitted with automatic of the machine? finders. A. Yes. 2. The blue flame was the sole final cause of Q. Who else was in front of the orifice? the destruction. A. Dobelmanns, Minster, Freyburg, Tousand- 3. No theory exists, or was offered, to explain freind. the blue light. It should be pointed out that Ken- Q These were all fellow assistants of yours? rube was not called to testify. A. Yes. 4. The death of Herr (Seventeen) and of his Q. What happened then? — assistants was entirely due to the momentary im- A. There was a very loud click from the machine, pulse that had placed them in the path of the blue followed by a roaring noise. fire. Q. Was anyone near the control board? 5. The court finds that the machine could have A. No, sir. been tampered with, that the click which preceded Q. It was an automatic action of the machine? the explosion could have been the result of some A. Yes. The moment it happened we all turned automatic device previously set to tamper with to face the machine. the machine. No other evidence of sabotage exists, Q. All of you? Herr (Seventeen), too?” — and no one in the room at the time was to blame A. Yes, he looked around with a start, just as for the accident. Minster cried out that a blue light was coming from the orifice. COPY ONLY Q. A blue light. What did this blue light re- FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE place? March 19, 1939 A. A soil formation of a planet, which we had numbered 447-711-Gradation A-131-8, which From Major H. L. Guberheit Minister for Air is simply its location on the dials. It was To Subject Destruction of plane, type from this soil that Herr— (Seventeen) had JU-88 taken the ore sample. I have been asked to describe the destruction of Q. And then, just like that, there was the blue a plane, under unusual circumstances, as witnessed light? by several hundred officers and men under my A. Yes. And for a few instants, that was all command. there was, the blue light, the strange roar- The JU-88 piloted by Cadet Pilot Herman ing sound, and us standing there half para- Kiesler, was approaching the runway for a landing, lyzed. and was at the height of about five hundred feet Q. Then it flared forth? when there was a flash of intense blue—and the A. It was terrible. It was such an intense blue plane vanished. SECRET UNATTAINABLE 17 model; I cannot express too strongly the violence, the Minister of Science, to Dresden to view the intensity, the blue vastness of the explosion. It and I think I should point out here that Herr appearance is very was titanic. The sky was alive with light reflec- Professor Kenrube’s physical expect from tions. And though a bright sun was shining, the different from what I had been led to Six. I entire landscape grew brilliant with that blue tint. the description recorded in File Secret There was no sound of explosion. No trace was had pictured him a lean, fanatic-eyed type. He IS subsequently found of this machine, no wreckage. tall, but he must have gained weight in recent The time of the accident was approximately ten years, for his body is well filled out, and his face serene, with graying hair to crown the thirty a. m., March 13th. and eyes are There has been great uneasiness among the effect of a fine, scholarly middle-aged man. students during the past week. It is unthinkable to me that this is some mad- For your information, please. man plotting against the Reich. H. L. Guberheit The first part of his explanation of the blue light Major, C. Air Station 473 was a most curious reference to the reality of mathematics, and, for a moment, I almost thought COMMENT AT BOTTOM OF LETTER he was attempting to credit the accident to this system. Excellency—I wish most urgently to point out actuality of his incomprehensible number statement that the time of this unnatural accident coincides Then he went on to the more concrete with the explosion of “blue” light from the orifice that a great star must have intruded into the plane of the Kenrube machine. of the planet under examination. The roaring fact I have verified that the orifice was tilted ever so sound that was heard, he attributed to the slightly upward, and that the angle would place that the component elements of the air in the the beam at a height of five hundred feet near the laboratory were being sucked into the Sun, and airport in question. destroyed. of The staggering feature is that the airport re- The Sun, of course, would be in a state come ferred to is seventy-five miles from Dresden. The balance all its own, and therefore would not greatest guns ever developed can scarcely fire that into the room until the balance had been inter- distance, and yet the incredible power of the blue fered with by the air of the room. energy showed no diminishment. Literally, it (I must say my own explanation would be the

disintegrated metal and flesh—everything. reverse of this : that is, the destruction of the air I do not dare to think what would have hap- would possibly create a momentary balance, a bar- pened if that devastating flame had been pointed rier, during which time nothing of the Sun came not away from but at the ground. into the room except light reflections. However, Let me have your instructions at once, because the foregoing is what Kenrube said, and I presume here is beyond doubt the weapon of the ages. it is based on his own mathematics. I can only lAugust Buehnen offer it for what it is worth.) Abruptly, the balance broke down. For a frac- March 19, 1939 tion of an instant, then, before the model hyper- machine was destroyed, the intolerable From Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo space To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science energies of a blue-white sun poured forth. Subject Secret Six It would have made no difference if the airplane that was caught in the beam of blue light had In perusing the report of the inquiry board, we been farther away from Dresden than seventy-five were amazed to note that Professor Kenrube was miles—that measureless force would have reached not questioned in this matter. seven thousand five hundred miles just as easily, Be assured that there is no intention here of or seventy-five thousand. playing up to this man. We absolutely require an The complete absence of visible heat is no evi- explanation from him. Send Herr Buehnen to see dence that it was not a sun. At forty million Kenrube and instruct him to employ the utmost degrees Fahrenheit, heat, as we know it, does not firmness if necessary. K. Reissel exist.

March 21, 1939 The great man went on to say that he had pre- viously given some thought to the danger from From Secretary, Bureau of Physics suns, and that in fact he was in the late mathe- Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo To matical stage of developing an attachment that Subject Dresden Explosion would automatically reject bodies larger than ten As per your request, I talked with Kenrube at thousand miles in diameter. Gribe Scbloss. In his opinion, efforts to control the titanic Tt was the second time I had seen him, the first energies of suns should be left to a later period, time being when I accompanied his Excellency, the and should be carried out on uninhabited planets :

18 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

by scientists who have gone through the orifice, was a model one ; three thousand words of glowing and who have been then cut off from contact with generalities, giving not a hint as to his true opin- Earth. August Buehnen ions on anything. However, he received the ova- tion of his life; and I think he was pleased in COMMENT ATTACHED spite of himself. Kenrube’s explanation sounds logical, and it Afterward, I saw to it—without, of course, ap- does seem incredible that he would meddle with pearing directly—that he was introduced to Ilse such forces, though it is significant that the orifice Fraulein Weber. was tilted “slightly upward.” We can dispense As you know, the Fraulein is university edu- with his advice as to when and how we should cated, a thoroughly mature, modern young woman; experiment with sun energies. The extent of the and I am sure that she is merely taking on one of danger seems to be a momentary discharge of in- the many facets of her character in posing to Ken- conceivable forces, and then destruction of the rube as a young woman who has decided quite machine. If at the moment of discharge, the calmly to have a child, and desires the father to orifice was slightly tilted toward London or New be biologically of the highest type. York, and if a sufficient crisis existed, the loss of I cannot see how any human male, normal or one more machine would be an infinitesimal cost. abnormal, could resist the appeal of Fraulein As for Kenrube’s fine, scholarly appearance, I Weber. August Buehnen think Buehnen has allowed himself to be carried away by the greatness of the invention. The July 11, 1939 democrats of Germany are not necessarily mad- From Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo men, but here as abroad they are our remorseless To Secretary, Bureau of Physics enemies. Subject Secret Six We must endeavor to soften Kenrube by psycho- give idea the logical means. Can you me some when Kenrube machine will be ready to operate? What about I cannot forget that there is not now a working the duplicate machines which we agreed verbally model of the Kenrube machine in existence. Until would be built without Kenrube’s knowledge? there is, all the fine, scholarly-looking men in the Great decisions are being taken; conversations are world will not convince me that what happened being conducted that will shock the world, and, in was entirely an accident. •a general way, the leaders are relying on the Ken- is have The deadly thing about all this that we rube machine. taken an irrevocable step with respect to the In this connection please submit as your own Czechs; and war in the west is now inevitable. some variations of the following memorandum. It Himmler is from the Fuehrer himself, and therefore I need not stress its urgency. K. Reissel May 1, 1939 MEMORANDUM OF ADOLF HITLER From Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo Is it possible to tune Kenrube To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science the machine to our earth? Subject Secret Six own

The Fuehrer has agreed to exonerate completely July 28, 1939 August Kenrube, the brother of Herr Professor From Secretary, Bureau of Physics Kenrube. As you will recall, August Kenrube was To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo killed in the sacred purge of June, 1934. It will Subject Secret Six now be made clear that his death was an untimely accident, and that he was a true German patriot. I inclose the following note from Kenrube, This is in line with our psychological attack on which is self-explanatory. We have retained a Professor Kenrube’s suspected anti-Nazism. copy. August Buehnen K. Reissel NOTE FROM KENRUBE June 17, 1939 Dear Herr Buehnen: The answer to your memorandum is yes. From Secretary, Bureau of Physics In view of the international anxieties of the To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo times, I offer the following suggestions as to Subject Professor Johann Kenrube weapons that can be devised from the hyper-space In line with our policy to make Kenrube realize machine his oneness with the community of German peo- 1. Any warship can be rendered noncombatant ples, I had him address the convention of mathe- at critical moments by draining of its oil tanks. maticians. The speech, of which I inclose a copy, 2. Similarly, enemy oil storage supplies can be SECRET UNATTAINABLE 19 drained at vital points. Other supplies can be August 2, 1939 or, if combustible, set afire. blown up From Secretary, Bureau of Physics all war 3. Troops, tanks, trucks and movable To Herr Heinrich Himmler to any point on the materials can be transported Subject Professor Johann Kenrube globe, behind enemy lines, into cities, by the sim- I have just now received a telegram from ple act of focusing the orifice at the desired des- Fraulein Ilse Weber that she and the Herr Profes- tination—and driving it and them through. I need sor were married this morning, and that Kenrube scarcely point out that my machine renders rail- will be a family man the middle of next way and steamship transport obsolete. The world by summer. August Buehnen shall be transformed. 4. It might even be possible to develop a highly COMMENT WRITTEN malleable, delicately adjusted machine, which can BELOW drain the tanks of airplanes in full flight. This is great news indeed. One of the most dangerous 5. Other possibilities, too numerous to mention, aspects of the Kenrube affair was that suggest themselves with the foregoing as a basis. he was a bachelor without ties. Now, we have Kenrube him. He has committed himself to the future. Himmler COMMENT ATTACHED FURTHER COMMENT This machine is like a dream. With it, the I have advised the Fuehrer, and our great armies world is ours, for what conceivable combination of will move into Poland at the end of this month. enemies could fight an army that appeared from H. nowhere on their flank, in the centers of their cities, in London, New York, in the Middlewest August 1939 plains of America, in the Ural Mountains, in the 8, From Gestapo Caucasus? Who can resist us? To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science K. Reissel Subject Secret Six ADDITIONAL COMMENT I have had second thought on the matter of Fraulein Ilse Weber, now Frau Kenrube. In view My dear Reissel: of the fact that a woman, no matter how intelli- Your enthusiasm overlooks the fact that the gent or objective, becomes emotionally involved machine is still only in the building stage. What with the man who is the father of her children, I worries me is that our hopes are being raised to a would advise that Frau Kenrube be appointed feverish height—what greater revenge could there to some great executive post in a war industry. This be than to lift us to the ultimate peak of confi- will keep her own patriotism at a high level, and dence, and then smash it in a single blow. thus she will continue to be an exemplary Every day that passes we are involving ourselves influence on her husband. Such influence cannot be over- more deeply, decisions are being taken from which estimated. Himmler there is already no turning back. When, oh, when will this machine be finished? H. January 3, 1940 From Secretary, Bureau of Physics To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo July 29, 1939 Subject Secret Six From Secretary, Bureau of Physics In glancing through the correspondence, I no- To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo tice that I have neglected to inform you that our Subject Secret Six Agent Twelve had replaced Seventeen as Ken- The hyper-space machine at Gribe Schloss will rube’s chief assistant. be completed in February, 1941. No less than five Twelve is a graduate of Munich, and was for a duplicate machines are under construction, un- time attached to the General Staff in Berlin as a known to Kenrube. What is done is that, when technical expert. he orders an installation for the Gribe Schloss In my opinion, he is a better man for our pur- machine, the factory turns out five additional pose than was Seventeen, in that Seventeen, it units from the same plans. seemed to me, had toward the end a tendency to In addition, a dozen model machines are being associate himself with Kenrube in what might be secretly constructed from the old plans, but, as called a scientific comradeship, an intellectual fel- they must be built entirely from drawings and lowship. He was in a mental condition where he photographs, they will take, not less, but more quite unconsciously defended Kenrube against our time to build than the larger machines. suspicion. August Buehnen Such a situation will not arise with Twelve. He 20 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

is a practical man to the marrow. He and Kenrube the designs, and our engineers do not know how have utterly nothing in common. to fit the sections together until they have studied Kenrube accepted Twelve with an attitude of Kenrube’s method of connection. what-does-it-matter-who-they-send. It was so no- I have personally asked Kenrube the reason for ticeable that it is now clear that he is aware that the changes. His answer was that he was remedy- these men are agents of ours. ing weaknesses that he had noticed in the model. Unless Kenrube has some plan of revenge which I am afraid that we shall have to be satisfied with is beyond all precautions, the knowledge that he this explanation, and complete the duplicate ma- is being watched should exercise a restraint on chines after the official opening, which is not now any impulses to evil that he may have. scheduled until March 20th. The delay is due to August Buehnen Kenrube’s experimentation with design. If you have any suggestions, please let me hear Author’s Note: Most of the letters written in them. I frankly do not like this delay, but what

the year, 1940, were of a routine nature, consisting to do about it is another matter. largely of detailed reports as to the progress of August Buehnen the machine. The following document, however, was an exception: February 3, 1941 From Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo December 1940 17, To Secretary, Bureau of Physics From Reich and Prussian Minister of Science Subject Secret Six To Herr Heinrich Himmler H. says to do nothing. He notes that you are Subject Secret Six still taking the precaution of daily photographs, The following work has now been completed on and that your agent. Twelve, who replaced Seven- the fortress Gribe Schloss, where the Kenrube ma- teen, is keeping a diary in triplicate. chine is nearing completion: There has been a meeting of leaders, and this 1. Steel doors have been fitted throughout. whole matter discussed very thoroughly, with 2. A special, all-steel chamber has been con- special emphasis of critical analysis of the pre- structed, from which, by an arrangement of mir- cautions taken, and of the situation that would rors, the orifice of the machine can be watched exist if Kenrube should prove to be planning without danger to the watchers. some queer revenge. 3. This watching post is only twenty steps from You will be happy to know that not a single a paved road which runs straight up out of the additional precaution was thought of, and that valley. our handling of the affair was commended. 4. A cement pipe line for the transportation of K. Reissel oil is nearing completion. August Buehnen February t- r „. „ 18, 1941 MEMO AT BOTTOM OF LETTER From Gestapo To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science To Reinhart Heydrich: Subject Secret Six Please make arrangements for me to inspect per- In view of our anxieties, the following informa- sonally the reconstructed Gribe Schloss. It is tion, which I have just received, will be welcome: Hitler’s intention to attend the official opening. Frau Kenrube, formerly our Ilse Weber, has re- The plan now is to invade England via the Ken- served a private room in the maternity ward of rube machine possibly in March, not later than the Prussian State Hospital for May 7th. This April. In view of the utter confusion that will will be her second child, another hostage to for- follow the appearance of vast armies in every tune by Kenrube. K. Reissel part of the country, this phase of the battle of Europe should be completed by the end of April. COPY ONLY In May Russia will be invaded. This should MEMO not require more than two months. The invasion March 11, 1941 of the United States is set for July or August. I have today examined Gribe Schloss and en- Himmler virons, and found everything according to plan. Himmler January 31, 1941 March 1941 From Secretary, Bureau of Physics 14, To Chief, Science Branch, Gestapo From Secretary, Bureau of Physics Subject Secret Six To Herr Himmler, Gestapo Subject Secret Six It will be impossible to complete the five extra Kenrube machines at the same time as the machine You will be relieved* to know the reason for the at Gribe Schloss. Kenrube has changed some of changes in design made by Kenrube. SECRET UNATTAINABLE 21

The first reason is rather unimportant ; Kenrube Herr Professor Kenrube seems to anticipate our refers to the mathematical structure involved, and needs before we realize them ourselves. states that, for his own elucidation, he designed August Buehnen a functional instrument whose sole purpose was to defeat the mathematical reality of the machine. March 16, 1941 This is very obscure, but he has referred to it From Gestapo before; so I call it to your attention. To Secretary, Bureau of Physics The second reason is that there are now two Subject Secret Six orifices, not one. The additional orifice is for The last sentence of your letter of March 14th focusing. The following illustration will clarify to the effect that Kenrube seems to anticipate our what I mean: needs made me very uncomfortable, because the Suppose we had a hundred thousand trucks in thought that follows naturally is : Is he also Berlin, which we wished to transfer to London. anticipating our plans? Under the old method, these trucks would have I have accordingly decided at this eleventh hour to be driven all the way to the Gribe Schloss be- that we are dealing with a man who may be our fore they could be transmitted. intellectual superior in every way. Have your With the new two-orifice machine, one orifice agent advise us the moment the machine has un- would be focused in Berlin, the other in London. dergone its initial tests. Decisive steps will be trucks would drive through from Berlin to The taken immediately. London. —

22 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

March 19, 1941 nesses, but it should not be long before some kind DECODED TELEGRAM of coherent answer is ready. KENRUBE MACHINE WAS TESTED TO- Work is being rushed to complete the duplicate DAY AND WORKED PERFECTLY. machines on the basis of photographs and plans AGENT TWELVE that were made from day to day. I cannot see how anything can be wrong in the long run. March 19, 1941 As for Number One, shall we send planes over COPY ONLY with bombs? August Buehnen MEMO v March 23, 1941 To Herr Himmler: COPY ONLY This is to advise that Professor Johann Kenrube was placed under close arrest, and has been re- MEMO moved to Gestapo Headquarters, Berlin. Received telephone call from Herr Himmler to R. Heydrich the effect that no bombs should be dropped. This is a command transmitted from the Fuehrer. March 19, 1941 A. B. DECODED TELEGRAM REPLYING TO YOUR TELEPHONE IN- March 24, 1941 STRUCTIONS, WISH TO STATE ALL AUTO- COPY ONLY MATIC DEVICES HAVE BEEN REMOVED MEMO FROM KENRUBE MACHINE. NONE From Detention Branch, Gestapo BEEN INTERFERED SEEMED TO HAVE The four agents, Gestner, Luslich, Heinreide PERSONAL TEST OF MA- WITH. MADE and Muemmer, who were guarding Herr Professor CHINE. IT WORKED PERFECTLY. TWELVE Johann Kenrube report that he was under close arrest at our Berlin headquarters until six p. m., COMMENT WRITTEN BELOW March 21st. At six p. m., he abruptly vanished. S. Duerner I shall recommend that Kenrube be retired under guard to his private laboratories, and not allowed COMMENT WRITTEN BELOW near a hyper-space machine until after the con- Kenrube was at Gribe Schloss before two p. m. quest of the United States. March 21st. This completely nullifies the six p. m. And with this, I find myself at a loss for further story. Place these scoundrels under arrest, and precautions. In my opinion, all thinkable pos- bring them before me at eight o’clock tonight. sibilities have been covered. The only dangerous Himmler man has been removed from the zone where he can be actively dangerous; a careful examination COPY ONLY has been made to ascertain that he has left no EXAMINATION BY HERR HIMMLER OF automatic devices that will cause havoc. And, F. GESTNER even if he has, five other large machines and a dozen small ones are nearing completion, and it Q. Your name? service. is impossible that he can have interfered with A. Gestner. Fritz Gestner. Long them. Q. Silence. If we want to know your service, If anything goes wrong now, thoroughness is a we’ll check it in the records. meaningless word. Himmler A. Yes, sir. Q. That’s a final warning. You answer my ques-

March 21, 1941 tions, or I’ll have your tongue. Front Gestapo A. Yes, sir. ' Secretary, Bureau of Physics To Q. You’re one of the stupid fools set to guard Subject Secret Six Kenrube ? Recriminations are useless. What I would like A. I was one of the four guards, sir. to know is: What in God’s name happened? Q. Answer yes or no. Himmler A. Yes, sir. Q. What was your method of guarding Kenrube? March 22, 1941 A. By twos. Two of us at a time were in the great white cell with him. From Secretary, Bureau of Physics Q. Why weren’t the four of you there? To Herr Heinrich Himmler A. We thought Subject Secret Six Q. You thought! Four men were ordered to The reply to your question is being prepared. guard Kenrube and— By God, there’ll be The great trouble is the confusion among the wit- dead men around here before this night is ——

SECRET UNATTAINABLE 23

arrest. over. I want to get this clear : There was time being. You will remain under never a moment when two of you were not Don’t think we’re through with you. That in the cell with Kenrube? goes also for the others. A. Always two of us. Q. Which two were with Kenrube at the moment Author’s Note: The baffled fury expressed by he disappeared? the normally calm Himmler in this interview is one A. I was. I and Johann Luslich. indication of the dazed bewilderment that raged Q. Oh, you know Luslich by his first name. An through high Nazi circles. One can imagine the old friend of yours, I suppose? accusation and counter accusation and then the A. No, sir. slow, deadly realization of the situation. Q. You knew Luslich previously, though? A. I met him for the first time when we were March 24, 1941 assigned to guard Herr Kenrube. From Gestapo

Q. Silence ! Answer yes or no. I’ve warned you To Reich and Prussian Minister of Science about that. Subject Secret Six A. Yes, sir. Inclosed is the transcription of a dictaphone Ah, you admit knowing him? Q. record, which was made by Professor Kenrube. A. No, sir, I meant A careful study of these deliberate words, com- Q. Look here, Gestner, you’re in a very bad spot. bined with what he said at Gribe Schloss may re- Your story is a falsehood on the face of it. veal his true purpose, and may also explain the Tell me the truth. Who are your accom- incredible thing that happened. plices? I am anxiously awaiting your full report. A. None, sir. Himmler Q. You mean you were working this alone? A. No, sir. TRANSCRIPTION OF DICTAPHONE REC- Q. You damned liar ! Gestner, we’ll get the truth ORD P-679-423-1, CONVERSATION OF PRO- out of you if we have to tear you apart. FESSOR JOHANN KENRUBE IN WHITE A. I am telling the truth. Excellency. CELL 26, ON 3/21/41 Q. Silence, you scum. What time did you say (Note: K. refers to Kenrube, G. to any of the Kenrube disappeared? guards.) A. About six o’clock. Q. Oh, he did, eh? Well, never mind. What was K. A glass of water, young man. Kenrube doing just before he vanished? G. I believe there is no objection to that. Here. A. He was talking to Luslich and me. K. It must be after five. Q. What right had you to talk to the prisoner? G. There is no necessity for you to know the A. Sir, he mentioned an accident he expected to time. happen at some official opening somewhere. K. No, but the fact that it is late is very interest- Q. He what? ing. You see, I have invented a machine. A. Yes, sir; and I was desperately trying to find A very queer machine it is going to seem out where, so that I could send a warning. when it starts to react according to the laws Q. Now, the truth is coming. So you do know of real as distinct from functional mathe- about this business, you lying rat! Well, matics. You have the dictaphone on, I hope. let’s have the story you’ve rigged up. G. What kind of a smart remark is that? A. The dictaphone will bear out every word. K. Young man, that dictaphone had better be on. Q. Oh, the dictaphone was on. I intend talking about my invention, and A. Every word is recorded. your masters will skin you alive if it’s not Q. Oh, why wasn’t I told about this in the first recorded. IS the dictaphone on? place? G. Oh, I suppose so. A. You wouldn’t lis K. Good. I may be able to finish what I have to Q. Silence, you fool! By God, the co-operation say. I may not. I get around this place. Never mind. Just G. Don’t worry. You’ll be here to finish it. Take what was Kenrube doing at the moment he your time. disappeared? K. I had the idea before my brother was killed in A. He was sitting—talking. the purge, but I thought of the problem Q. Sitting? You’ll swear to that? then as one of education. Afterward, I saw A. To the Fuehrer himself. is as revenge. I hated the Nazis and all they Q. He didn’t move from his chair? He didn’t stood for. walk over to an orifice? G. Oh, you did, eh? Go on. A. I don’t know what you mean, Excellency. K. My plan after my brother’s murder was to

Q. So you pretend, anyway. But that’s all for the . build for the Nazis the greatest weapon the — —— —

24 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

world will ever know, and then have them structure of man changes. Your masters

discover that only I, who understood, and will have some further facts soon to bear who accordingly fitted in with the immuta- me out.

ble laws involved—only I could ever operate G. Look ! You said something before about some- the machine. And I would have to be pres- thing happening. What? ent physically. That way I would prove K. But I’ve just been telling you: I don’t know. my indispensability and so transform the The law of averages says it won’t be another entire world to my way of thinking. sun, but there are a thousand deadly things G. We’ve got ways of making indispensables that can happen. When Nature’s gears snag, work. no imaginable horror can match the result. G. But something is going to happen? K. Oh, that part is past. I’ve discovered what K. I really expected it before this. The official thing is going to happen—to me as well as to opening was set for half past one. Of course, my invention. it doesn’t really matter. If it doesn’t hap- G. Plenty is going to happen to you. You’ve al- pen today, it will take place tomorrow. ready talked yourself into a concentration G. Official opening ! You mean an accident is go- camp. ing to happen at some official opening? K. After I discovered that, my main purpose sim- K. Yes, and my body will be attracted. I plified. I wanted to do the preliminary G. What— Good God! he’s gone. work on the machine and, naturally, I had (Confusion. Voices no longer audible.) to do that under the prevailing system of

government—by cunning and misrepresen- March 25, 1941 tation. I had no fear that any of the pre- From Reich and Prussian Minister of Science cautions they were so laboriously taking To Herr Himmler would give them the use of the machine, not Subject Destruction of Gribe Schloss this year, not this generation, not ever.

The machine simply cannot be used by peo- The report is still not ready. As you were not ple who think as they do. For instance, the present, I have asked the journalist, Polermann, model that who was with Hitler, to write a description of the G. Model! What are you talking about? scene. His account is inclosed, with the first page omitted. K. Silence, please. I am anxious to clarify for the dictaphone that will seem obscure You will note that in a number of paragraphs, enough under any circumstances. The rea- he reveals incomplete knowledge of the basic situa- son the model worked perfectly was because tion, but except for this, his story is, I believe, the most accurate we have. I fitted in mentally and physically. Even The first page of his article was inadvertently after I left, it continued to carry out the destroyed; it was simply a preliminary. task I had set it, but as soon as Herr For your information. (Seventeen) made a change, it began to yield to other pressures. The accident G. Accident! DESCRIPTION OF DESTRUCTION OF GRIBE SCHLOSS BY HERR POLERMANN K. Will you shut up? Can’t you see that I am trying to give information for the benefit of —The first planet came in an unexpected fash- future generations? I have no desire that ion. I realized that as I saw Herr— (Twelve) my secret be lost. The whole thing is in make some hasty adjustments on one of his dials. understanding. The mechanical part is only Still dissatisfied, he connected a telephone plug half the means. The mental approach is in- into a socket somewhere in his weird-looking dispensable. Even Herr— (Seventeen) who asbestos suit, thus establishing telephone com- was beginning to be sympathique could not munication with the minister of science, who was keep the machine sane for more than an in the steel inclosure with us. I heard his Excel- hour. His death, of course, was inevitable, lency’s reply:

whether it looked like an accident or not. “Night! Well, I suppose it has to be night some G. Whose death? time on other planets. You’re not sure it’s the

K. What it boils down to is this. My invention same planet? I imagine the darkness is con-

does not fit into our civilization. It’s the fusing.” next, the coming age of man. Just as mod- It was. In the mirror, the night visible through ern science could not develop in ancient the orifice showed a bleak, gray, luminous land- Egypt, because the whole mental, emotional scape, incredibly eerie and remote, an unnatural and physical attitude was wrong, so my world of curious shadows, and not a sign of move- machine cannot be used until the thought ment anywhere. — —

SECRET UNATTAINABLE 25

And that, after an instant, struck us all with His Excellency turned to the Fuehrer, and said: an appalling effect, the dark consciousness of that “He states that he appears to have no control over great planet, swinging somewhere around a distant the order of appearance. Not once has he been sun, an uninhabited waste, a lonely reminder that able to tune in a planet, which he had previously life is rarer than death in the vast Universe. selected to show you.” Herr— (Twelve) made an adjustment on a dial; There was another consultation. It was de- and, instantly, the great orifice showed that we cided that this second planet, though it had were seeing the interior of the planet. A spotlight reacted in an abnormal manner, had not actually switched on, and picked out a solid line of red proved dangerous. Therefore, one more attempt earth that, slowly, as the dial was turned, became would be made. clay, then a rock stratum came into view; and was No sooner was this decision arrived at, than held in focus. there was a very distinctly audible click from the An asbestos-clothed assistant of Herr machine. And, though we did not realize it im- (Twelve) dislodged a piece of rock with a pick. mediately, the catastrophe was upon us.

He lifted it, and started to bring it toward the I cannot describe the queer loudness of that steel inclosure, apparently for the Fuehrer’s in- clicking from the machine. It was not a metallic spection. noise. I have since been informed that only an And abruptly vanished. enormous snapping of energy in motion could We blinked our eyes. But he was gone, and have made that unusual, unsettling sound. the rock with him. Herr— (Twelve) switched on My own sense of uneasiness was quickened by his telephone hurriedly. There was a consultation, the sight of Herr— (Twelve) frantically twisting in which the Fuehrer participated. dials.

The decision finally was that it had been a mis- But nothing happened for a few seconds. The take to examine a doubtful planet, and that the planet, on which we had seen the city, continued accident had happened because the rock had been to hold steady in the orifice. The darkened beach removed. Accordingly, no further effort would spread there in the half light shed by a moon we be made to remove anything. couldn’t see. And then Regret was expressed by the Fuehrer that the A figure appeared in the orifice. I cannot recall brave assistant should have suffered such a mys- all my emotions at the sight of that manlike being. terious fate. There was a wild thought that here was some We resumed our observant positions, more alert supercreature, who, dissatisfied with the accidents now, conscious of what a monstrous instrument he had so far caused us, was now come to complete was here before our eyes. A man whisked com- our destruction. pletely out of our space simply because he had That thought ended, as the figure came out onto touched rock from a planet in hyper-space. the floor; and one of the assistants swung a spot- light on him. The light revealed him as a tall, The second planet was also dark. At first it, well-built, handsome man, dressed in ordinary too, looked a barren world, enveloped in night; clothes. and then wonder. — Beside me, I heard someone explain: “Why, Against the dark, towering background of a it’s Professor Kenrube.” great hill, a city grew. It spread along the shore For most of those present, everything must have, of a moonlit sea, ablaze with ten million lights. in that instant, been clear. I, however, did not It clung there for a moment, a crystalline city, learn until later that Kenrube was one of the alive with brilliant streets. Then it faded. scientists assigned to assist Herr (Twelve) in Swiftly it happened. The lights seemed literally — building the machine, and that he turned out to to slide off into the luminous sea. For a moment, be a traitor. the black outline of city remained, then that, too, He was suspected in the destruction vanished into the shadows. Astoundingly, the of an earlier model, but as there was no evidence and the suspi- hill that had formed an imposing background for cion not very strong, was permitted splendor, distorted like a picture out of focus, and to continue his work. was gone with the city. A flat, night-wrapped beach spread where, a mo- Suspicion had arisen again a few days pre- ment before, there had been a world of lights, a viously, and he had been confined to his quarters, city of another planet, the answer to ten million from whence, apparently, he had now come forth questions about life on other worlds—gone like a to make sure that his skillful tampering with the secret wind into the darkness. machine had worked out. It was plain to see that the test, the opening, This, then, was the man who stood before us; was not according to schedule. Once more, Herr my impression was that he should not have been (Twelve) spoke through the telephone to his Ex- allowed to utter his blasphemies, but I understand cellency, the minister of science. the leaders were anxious to learn the extent of his : :

26 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION infamy, and thought he might reveal it in his decent human being could desire it. I ask any speech. Although I do not profess to understand reasonable being how else these murderers could the gibberish, I have a very clear memory of what be wiped from the face of the earth, except by was said, and set it down here for what it is worth other nations, who would never act until they had acted first?

Kenrube began : “I have no idea how much time “I have only the vaguest idea what the machine I have, and as I was unable to explain clearly to will do with me—it matters not—but I should like the dictaphone all that I had to say, I must try to to ask you, my great Fuehrer, one question finish here. Where now will you obtain your raw materials?” “I am not thinking now in terms of revenge, He must have timed it exactly. For, as he fin- though God knows my brother was very dear to ished, his figure dimmed. me. But I want the world to know the way of Dimmed! How else describe the blur that his this invention.” body became? The poor fool seemed to be laboring under the And he was gone, merged with the matter with impression that the machine was his. I did not, which, he claimed, his life force was attuned. and do not understand, his reference to a dicta- The madman had one more devastating surprise phone. Kenrube went on: for us. The dark planet, from which the city had “My first inkling came through psychology, the disappeared, was abruptly gone from the orifice. result of meditating on the manner in which the In its place appeared another dark world. As our soil of different parts of the earth influence the vision grew accustomed to this new night, we saw race that lives there. This race-product was al- that this was a world of restless water; to the ways more than simply the end-shape of a sea remote, dim horizon was a blue-black, heaving sea. coast, or a plains, or a mountain environment. Abruptly, the machine switched below the surface, “Somehow, beneath adaptations, peculiar and at least ten hellish miles below it must have been, unsuspected relationships existed between the judging from the pressure, I have since been in- properties of matter and the phenomena of life. formed. And so my search was born. The idea of revenge There was a roar that seemed to shake the earth. came later. “I might say that in all history there has never Only those who were with the Fuehrer in the been a revenge as complete as mine. Here is your steel room succeeded in escaping. Twenty feet to machine; it is all there, yours to use for any pur- a great army truck that stood with engines churn- pose—provided you first change your mode of ing—it was not the first time that I was thankful thinking to conform to the reality of the relation- that some car engines are always left running ship between matter and life. wherever the Fuehrer is present. “I have no doubt you can build a thousand dupli- The water swelled and surged around our wheels cates, but beware—every machine will be a as we raced up the new-paved road, straight up Frankenstein monster. Some of them will distort out of the valley. It was touch and go. time, as seems to have happened in the time of my We looked back in sheer horror. Never in the arrival here; others will feed you raw material, world has there been such a titanic torrent, such a that will vanish even as you reach forth to seize whirlpool. it; still others will pour obscene things into our The water rose four hundred feet in minutes, green earth; and others will blaze with terrible threatened to overflow the valley sides, and then energies, but never will you know what is coming, struck a balance. The great new river is still never will you satisfy a single desire. there, raging toward the Eastern Sea. “You may wonder why everything will go wrong. Herr— (Twelve) has, I am sure, been able Author’s Note: This is not quite the end of the to make brief, successful tests. That will be the file. A few more letters exist, but it is unwise to result of my earlier presence, and will not recur print more, as it might be possible for Geheime now that so many alien presences have affected its Staats Polizei to trace the individual who actually

—sanity 1 removed the file Secret Six from its cabinet by “It is not that the machine has will. It reacts ascertaining which was the last letter filed. to laws, which you must learn, and in the learning It is scarcely necessary to point out that we have

it will reshape your minds, your outlook on life; it seen the answer that Hitler made to Professor

will change the world. Kenrube’s question: “ Where now will you obtain “Long before that, of course, the Nazis will be your raw materials?” destroyed. They have taken irrevocable steps, that On June 22nd, three months almost to the day will insure their destruction. after the destruction of Gribe Schloss, the Nazis “Revenge! Yes, I have it in the only way that a began their desperate invasion of Russia.

THE END. 27

BRIMSTONE BILL

By Malcolm Jameson

# Bill was a crook, a hell-fire-damnation specialist in the art of collecting cash. A marvelous orator—with gadgets.

But Commander Bullard had a good use for a bad actor!

Illustrated by Orban

The prisoners were herded into the room and marks with the coded descriptions in the ether- ranged against one of the bulkheads. Captain Bul- gram on his desk. lard sat stiffly behind his desk regarding the group These were the survivors of the notorious Ziffler of ruffians with a gaze of steely appraisal. Lieu- gang, captured on Oberon the month before, after tenant Benton and a pair of pistoled bluejackets the encounter on the lip of a little crater that the were handling the prisoners, while Commander Polliwogs had already come to call the “Battle of Moore stood at the back of Bullard’s desk, looking the Mirrors.” The first, of course, was Egon Zif- on. Then Bullard gave a jerk of his head and the fler himself, all his arrogance and bluster melted procession started. One by one they shuffled to away long since. Then came Skul Drosno, his the spot before his desk, clanking their heavy chief aid, and there followed ten other plug-uglies chains at each dragging step. And one by one the who had survived the holocaust of reflected fire. captain of the Pollux surveyed them, critically and All were big hulking brutes of Callistans, ray- coldly, comparing their appearance and their blackened, scarred and hairy. The last and thir- . ” —

28 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION teenth man was of a different type altogether. “No, sir, it didn’t pay,” said the little man. “In Bullard waited in silence until he had ranged him- money, yes. But not in other ways.” self before his desk. “The police, eh?” “Paul Grogan,” called Benton, checking the final “Oh, not at all, sir,” protested Brimstone Bill. name of the list. “Everything I ever did was strictly legal. It was

“Hm-m-m,” said Bullard, looking at the misera- the suckers . . . uh, the congregation, that is. They ble specimen standing at a grotesque version of got wise to me. A smart-Aleck scientist from the “attention” before him, and then glancing at the gormel mills showed me up one night— Bureau of Justice’s ethergram summary of his He lifted his manacled hands and turned them pedigree. After that he studied the prisoner in so the palms showed outward. Deep in each palm detail. He was a queer fish indeed to have been was a bright-red, star-shaped scar. caught in siich a haul. “They crucified me. When the police cut me The self-styled Grogan was a wizened, under- down the next day, I swore I’d never preach again. fed little fellow and bore himself with an astonish- And I won’t, so help me.” ing blend of cringing and swagger. The strangest “You are right about that,” said Bullard grimly, thing him was his head, which was oversize about satisfied that his memory was as good as he for his body. He had a fine forehead topped with thought it was. “This last time you have stretched a leonine mane of iron-gray hair, which after a your idea of what’s legal beyond its elastic limit. cursory glance might have been called a noble The gang you were caught with is on its way to head. But there was an occasional shifty flicker execution.” of the eyes and a twitching at the mouth that Brimstone Bill emitted a howl and fell to his belied that judgment. Bullard referred to 1»he knees, whining and pleading. Bureau’s memo again. “Save that for your trial,” said Bullard harshly. “Grogan,” it said, “probably Zander, alias Ard- “Take ’em away, Benton.” well, alias Nordham, and many other names. Small- time crook and chiseler, card sharp, confidence After they had all gone, Bullard sat back and man. Arrested often throughout Federation for relaxed. He promptly dismissed Ziffler and his petty embezzlement, but no convictions. Not mob from his mind. The Oberon incident was known to have connection with Ziffler gang.” now a closed book. It was one more entry in the “Hm-m-m,” said Bullard again. He had placed glorious log of the Pollux. It was the future Grogan, et cetera, now in his memory. It had what was to happen next that mattered. been a long time since the paths of the two had — crossed, but Bullard never forgot things that hap- The Pollux had stood guard over the ruined fortress relief arrived. pened to him. Nor did he see fit to recall it too of Caliban until the ships distinctly to his prisoner, for he was not altogether Now she was homeward bound. At Lunar Base a proud of the recollection. But to check his own richly deserved and long-postponed rest awaited powers of retention, he asked: her and her men. And there was not a man on “You operated on Venus at one time—as an board but would have a wife or sweetheart waiting itinerant preacher, if the record is correct—under for him at the receiving dock. Leave and liberty the name of Brimstone Bill?” were ahead, and since it was impossible to spend in canteen, every the “Why, yes, sir, now that you mention it,” ad- money the ship’s member of mitted Brimstone Bill, with a sheepish grin. “But, crew had a year’s or more accrued pay on the there bonuses oh, sir, I quit that long ago. It didn’t pay.” books. Moreover would be and “Really?” remarked Bullard. That was not his prize money for the destruction of the Ziffler gang. in the history of the service had ship recollection of it. He had visited Venus in those Never a days as a Passed Midshipman. One night, in the looked forward to such a satisfactory homecoming, outskirts of Erosburg, they had curiously fol- for everyone at her arrival would be gayly waving lowed a group of skymen into a lighted hall em- bright handkerchiefs, laughing and smiling. Her blazoned with the sign, “Come, See and Hear chill mortuary chamber down below was empty, BRIMSTONE BILL—Free Admittance.” And as were the neat rows of bunks in the sick bay. they went, saw and heard. That bit of investiga- The Pollux had achieved her triumph without tion had cost the youthful Bullard just a month’s casualties. pay—all he had with him. For he had fallen under It was on that happy day of making port that the spell of the fiery oratory of the little man with Bullard was idly dreaming when the sharp double the big bushy head and flashing eyes, and after rap on the door informed him that Moore was groveling before the rostrum and confessing him- back. And the executive officer would hardly have self a wicked boy, he had turned his pockets come back so soon unless something important had wrongside out to find some worthy contribution to turned up. So when Bullard jerked himself upright further “the cause.” Bullard winced whenever he again and saw the pair of yellow flimsies in Moore’s thought of it. hand, his heart sank at once. Orders. Orders and ! ”

BRIMSTONE BILL 29

always more orders! Would they never let the tion. No decent man could stand it there for three ship rest? days. He either left or took to drink. And, what “Now what?” asked Bullard, warily. with what was sold to drink on Juno, that led to “The Bureau of Justice,” said Moore, laying all the rest—ending usually in drugs or worse. It down the first signal, “has just ordered the im- was in that hell hole that he had been ordered to mediate payment to all hands of the Ziffler bonus. set down his fine ship for thirty days. When he It runs into handsome figures.” thought of his fine boys and the eager women im- Bullard grunted, ignoring the message. Of patiently awaiting their homecoming, he boiled. course. The men would get a bonus and a hand- “Shall I protest the order, sir?” asked Moore, some one. But why at this particular moment? hopefully. He knew that Moore was holding back the bad “Certainly not,” snapped Bullard, halting ab- news. ruptly and facing him. “I never protest orders. I

“Go on,” growled Bullard, “let’s have it!” carry ’em out. Even if the skies fall. I’ll carry Moore shuffled his feet unhappily, expecting an this one out, too, damn ’em. But I’ll make the outburst of rage. Then, without a word he handed fellow who dictated it— Bullard the second message. It read: He suddenly checked himself. He had been about to add, “regret he ever had,” when he re- Pollux will stop at Juno Skydocks en route Luna to in flash that in have hull scraped. Pay crew and grant fullest liberty membered a Moore’s family was while there. Implicit compliance with this order ex- some way connected with the Fennings. Only pected. Senator Fenning could have inspired the change Grand Admiral. of plans. The grand admiral had issued the order and signed it? of course, but he had inserted the Bullard glared at the thing, then crushed it to a clue as to why in its own last redundant sentence. tight ball in his fist and hurled it from him. He “Implicit compliance is expected,” indeed! No ad- sat for a moment cursing softly under his breath miral would be guilty of such a tacit admission during which the red haze of rage almost blinded that perhaps not all orders need be strictly com- him. preferred anything to that He would have plied with. That sentence meant, as plainly as order to turn about and out the orbit of — go of if the crude words themselves had been employed, Neptune for another battle, if there had been need this: for it, would have been preferable. But this! “Bullard, old boy, we know this looks goofy and He kicked his chair backward and began pacing all wrong to you, but we’re stuck. You’ve been the room like a caged tiger. It was such a lousy, chosen as the sacrificial goat this year, so be a stinking trick to do—and to him and his Pollux good sport and take it. None of your tricks, old of all people! To begin with, the ship had no sky- fellow. We know you can dope out a way to barnacles on her hull, as the pestiferous little annul any fool order, but don’t let us down on ferrous-consuming interplanetary spores were this one.” called on account of the blisters they raised on the The line of Bullard’s mouth tightened. He sat hull. And if she had, Juno was no place to get down quietly in his chair and said to the expectant rid of them. Its skydock was a tenth-rate service Moore as matter-of-factly as if he had been ar- station fit only for tugs and mine layers. The ranging a routine matter: twenty men employed there could not possibly be expected to go over the hull under a month, and “Have the course changed for Juno, and inform the regulations forbade the ship’s crew working the admiral that he can count on his orders being on the hull while in a planetary dockyard. The carried out to the letter.” dockyard workers’ guilds had seen to that. More- Commander Moore may have been surprised at over, Juno was not even on the way to Luna, but Bullard’s tame surrender, but, after all, one was far beyond, since from where the Pollux was at more helpless sometimes in dealing with one’s own the moment, the Earth lay between her and the admiral than with the most ruthless and resource- Sun, while Juno was in opposition. It was ful enemy. He merely said, “Aye, aye, sir,” and damnable left the room. Bullard growled in midstride and kicked viciously at an electrician’s testing case that stood Two weeks rolled by, and then another. They in his path. That wasn’t all—not by a damsite! were well within the orbit of Jupiter now, and Juno was one of the vilest dumps inside the indeed the hither asteroids. Hungry eyes now Federation. It was an ore-gathering and provi- and then looked at the pale-blue tiny disk with sioning point for the asteroid prospectors and its silvery dot companion as it showed on the low- consequently was populated by as vicious a mob power visifield and thought of home. Home was of beachcombers and their ilk as could be found so near and yet so far. For the ship was veering in the System. Juno literally festered with gin off to the left, to pass close inside Mars and then mills, gambling hells and dives of every descrip- to cut through beyond the Sun and far away again — —

30 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION to where the miserable little rock of Juno rolled him back to the Pollux’s orders and started the along with its nondescript population. vicious circle all over again. During those days the usual feverish activity For Bullard was cynical and wise enough in the of the ship died down until it became the dullest ways of the world to have recognized at the outset sort of routine. Men of all ratings were thinking, that the ship’s proposed stay at Juno yard was “What’s the use?”' Moore and Benton were every- neither more nor less than a concealed bribe to where, trying to explain away the unexplainable, the honorable senator. Perhaps it had been a bad but the men did not react very well. Many were season in the asteroid mines and his debtors had beginning to wonder whether the service was what gotten behind. If so, they would need a needling it was cracked up to be, and not a few were plan- of good, honest cash to square accounts. Perhaps ning a big bust the very first night they hit the it was merely Fenning’s insatiable lust for ever beach on Juno. It was not what they had planned, more money, or maybe he only insisted on the but it seemed to be what was available. Only Bul- maneuver to demonstrate his authority. Or per- lard and Lieutenant MacKay kept apart and ap- haps, even, having bulldozed the Patrol Force into peared to take little interest in what was to hap- erecting a small and inadequate skydock where pen next. either an effective one or none at all was needed, Alan MacKay was a newcomer to the service, he felt he must have some use made of it to justify and his specialty was languages. So he had filled his prior action. Whatever Fenning’s motives in what time he had to spare from the routine really were, they were ignoble. No exigency of duties by frequenting the prison spaces and chat- the service required the Pollux to visit Juno now ting with the Callistans in the brig. He had man- or ever. And to Bullard’s mind, no exigency of aged to compile an extraordinary amount of in- politics or personal ambition could condone what formation relating to the recent war as seen from was about to be done to the Pollux’s crew. behind the scenes on the other side, and he was It was the ethical content of the problem that sure it was going to be of value to the Department. bothered Bullard. Practically it was merely an- Moreover, he had gleaned additional data on the noying. With himself on board, his veteran offi- foray to Oberon. All of which would make the cers and a not inconsiderable nucleus of tried and prosecutor’s job more thorough when the day of true men who had been in the ship for years, she the trial came. As for Bullard, he kept to his could not go altogether to hell no matter how long cabin, pacing the deck for hours at a stretch and they had to stay on Juno. He knew he could count wrestling with his newest problem. on many—perhaps half—going ashore only occa- His thoughts were leaping endlessly in a circuit sionally; the other half could be dealt with sternly from one item to the next and on and on until he should they exceed all reasonable bounds for shore came back to the point of departure and began all behavior after a hard and grueling cruise. But in over again. There was the ship, the crew, and the both halves he would have to deal with discontent. devoted women waiting for the return of the crew, The decent, far-sighted, understanding men al- and the fat entries in the paymaster’s books that ready resented the interference with their plans, meant so much to them both. And there was the since there was no sufficiently plausible reason squalid town of Herapolis with its waiting, hungry given for it. They would accept it, as men have harpies with a thousand proven schemes for get- from the beginning of time, but not gracefully or ting at that money for themselves; and there was without grumbling. Then the riotous element the cunning and avaricious overlord of the aster- would feel, if unduly harsh disciplinary measures oids, their landlord and creditor, who would in the were applied, that, somehow, they had been let end transfer the funds to his own account. That down. Wasn’t the very fact they had been sent to man also sat in the upper chamber of the Federa- Juno for liberty and paid off with it an invitation tion Grand Council and was a power in Inter- to shoot the works? planetary politics. His name was Fenning There were other courses of action open to him, Senator Fenning—and he dominated the commit- Captain Bullard knew. The easiest was inaction. tee that dealt out appropriations to the Patrol Let the men have their fling. Given a few months Force. And from that point Bullard’s mind would in space again, he could undo all the damage. All? jump to the Tellurian calendar and he would re- That was it. Nothing could undo the disappoint- call that it was now March on Earth, and therefore ment of the women waiting at Earth and Luna just about the time that the annual budget was nor the demoralization of the men at not getting In preparation. Which in turn would lead him there, for that matter. Nor could the money back to the General Service Board, which dealt coaxed or stolen from them by the Junoesque on the one hand with the Force as a master, but creatu-’es of Fenning ever be recovered. More- with the Grand Council as perennial supplicant over, the one thing Bullard did not was in- for funds on the other. Which naturally took him action. If he was already half mutinous himself, to the necessities of the grand admiral and the what of the men? No. He would do something needs of the Service as a whole. Which brought about it. —

BRIMSTONE BILL 31

Well, he could simply proceed to Luna, take the find that the man had been a fake all along. Bul- blame, and perhaps be dismissed. He could give lard had been tempted to think him a good man the story to the magnavox in the hope that by who had eventually gone wrong. Now he knew discrediting Senator Fenning and the System, his better. But as he continued his train of reminis- sacrifice might be worth the making. But would cence, something suddenly clicked inside his head. it? Would the magnavox dare put such a story He sat bolt upright, and a gleam of hope began on the ether? And wouldn’t that be letting the to dawn in his eyes. Brimstone Bill had a peculiar admirals down? For they knew his dilemma quite talent which might come in very handy in the as well as he did. They had chosen, chosen for trying weeks ahead. Could he use it with safety the good of the Service. The System could not to himself? That had to be considered, for deal- be broken, or it would have been long ago. It ing with a professional crook had risks. Yet, ac- was the Pollux’s turn to contribute the oil that cording to Brimstone’s own admission, it had been greased the machine. a gormel engineer that had shown him up, and Bullard sighed. Juno was less than a week Bullard figured that if a biophysics engineer could away now, and he saw no way out. Time after match wits with the grizzled trickster and win, he time in his gloom he was almost ready to admit could. Perhaps he was beaten. But the instincts and training of But there was no perhaps about it. Bullard’s a lifetime kept him from the actual confession. fingers were already reaching for his call button, There must be some way of beating Fenning! It and a moment later Benton stood before him. must be a way, of course, which would cast no re- “Go down to the brig,” directed the captain, "and flection on the grand admiral. Or the ship. Or bring that man Zander up here. Take his irons the crew. And, to be really successful, no in- off first as I do not like to talk to men bound like eradicable discredit upon himself. Bullard got up, animals. The fellow is a cheap crook, but he is rumpled his hair, and resumed his tigerish pacing. harmless physically.” While he waited for Benton’s return, Bullard ex- It was Lieutenant MacKay who interrupted his plored the plan he had already roughly outlined in stormy thoughts. MacKay had something to say his mind. By pitting Brimstone Bill against Fen- about the prisoners. He had just about finished ning he hoped to foil the greater scoundrel. But pumping them dry and was prepared to draw up would he fall between two stools in the doing of the report. There were several recommendations it? He must also pit himself against the swin- he had to make, but he wanted his captain’s opinion dler, or else he would simply have enabled one and approval first. crook to outsmart another without profit other “It’s about that fellow Zander—the Earthman, than the gratification of spite. He had also to you know—” he began. think of the other possible costs. The grand “Oh, Brimstone Bill?” grinned Bullard. He was admiral must have no cause for complaint that rather glad MacKay had broken in on him. The there had been any evasion of his orders. Like- sense of futility he had been suffering lately had wise Fenning must have no grievance that he dared begun to ingrow and make him bitter. utter out loud. There remained the item of the “Yes, sir. He’s a highly undesirable citizen, of reputation of the Pollux and its men. course, but I’m beginning to feel a little sorry for He puckered his brow for a time over that one. him. The old scalawag hadn’t anything to do with Then he relaxed. There were reputations and the Caliban massacre. He just happened to be reputations, and extremes both ways. Some re- there when Ziffler came, and escaped being killed garded one extreme with great favor, others pre- only by luck. He was dealer in a rango game ferred the other. Bullard liked neither, but for when they landed, and his boss had a couple of practical reasons preferred to embrace one for a Callistan bouncers. Ziffler gave ’em the chance of time rather than its alternate. He would chance joining up with him, which they did and took a little ridicule. After all, people might smile Brimstone along with ’em, saying he was O. K. behind their hands at what a Polliwog might do, Brimstone went along because it was that or else. but no one ever curled a lip in the face of one He had no part in anything.” and afterward had his face look the same. Pollux “I see,” said Bullard, and thought a moment. men had quite a margin of reputation, when it “But I haven’t anything to do with it. What came to. that, so he dismissed the matter from his happens hereafter is up to the court. You should mind. From then on he sat and grinned or frowned submit your report to them.” as this or that detail of his proposed course of After MacKay left, Bullard’s thoughts turned action began to pop out in anticipation. upon his first encounter with the little charlatan many years before on Venus. Somehow, the fel- When Brimstone Bill was brought in, there was low had had a profound effect on him at the time. no hint in Bullard’s bearing that he had softened So much so, in fact, that it came as something of his attitude toward the prisoner one whit. He a shock the day of his preliminary examination to stared at him with cold, unsmiling sternness. ” ” ” ” — ”

32 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Zander,” he said, drilling him with his eyes, brighter and brighter. It was beginning to look “you are in a bad jam. Do you want to die along as if the world was his oyster. But at the last with those other gorillas?” sentence he wilted. — “Oh, no, sir,” whined Brimstone, “I’ll— do any- “I can’t do that,” he wailed. “I’m afraid. And thing. . . . I’ll spill all I know. . . . I’d “There are no gormel mills on Juno,” Bullard Bullard shut him off with an abrupt wave of reminded him, “only roughneck asteroid miners, the hand. gamblers and chiselers.” “As the arresting officer I am in a position to “That ain’t it, sir,” moaned— Brimstone. “They do you a great deal of good or harm. If you will smashed my gadgets, ’n’ play ball with me, I can guarantee you a commuta- “Gadgets?” tion. Maybe more—much more.” He uttered the “Yeah. I ain’t no good without ’em. And the last words slowly as if in some doubt as to how fellow that made ’em is dead.” much more. “Will you do it?” He talked on a few minutes more, but Bullard “Oh, sir,” cried Brimstone in an ecstasy of relief, interrupted him. He called in Benton and told for it was plain to see he had suffered during his him to take notes. languishment— in the brig, “I’ll do anything you “Go on,” he told Brimstone Bill. “We’ll make say you a set.” “On my terms?” Bullard was hard as a rock.— It took about an hour before Benton had all the “On any terms— Oh, yes, sir . . . just tell me information he needed. Brimstone was hazy as “Benton! Kindly leave us now while I talk to some of the features of his racket, but Bullard with this man. Stay close to the call signal." and the young officer were way ahead of him all Bullard never took his eyes off the receding back the time. of his lieutenant until the door clicked to behind “Can do?” asked Bullard, finally. it. Then he dropped his hard-boiled manner like “Can do,” declared Benton with a grin, slamming a mask. his notebook shut. “I’ll put the boys in the repair

“Sit down, Brimstone Bill, and relax. I’m more shop' right at it. They won’t have the faintest no- friendly to you than you think.” He waved to a tion what we want to use ’em for.” chair and Brimstone sat down, looking a little Benton rose. As far as that went, Benton him- frightened and uncertain. Then, proceeding on self was- still somewhat in the fog, but he had the assumption that a crook would understand an served with his skipper long enough to know that ulterior motive where he would distrust an honest when he was wearing a certain, inward kind of one, Bullard dropped his voice to a low conversa- quizzical expression that something out of the tional—or rather conspiratorial—tone, and said: ordinary was cooking. His talent for a peculiar “Everybody needs money. You do. And—well, oblique approach to any insoluble problem was a captain of a cruiser like this has obligations that well known to those about him. Wise ones did as the admiralty doesn’t think about. I could use they were told and asked questions, if ever, after- money, too. You are a clever moneymaker and ward. can make it in ways I can’t. I’m going to let you “On your way out, Benton,” added Bullard, out of the jug and put you in the way of making “take our friend down to the chaplain’s room—we some.” left Luna in such a hurry, you know, the chaplain Brimstone Bill was keenly listening now and the missed the ship—and let him bunk there. I’ll see glint of greed brightened his foxy eyes. This man that suitable entry is made in the log. And you in uniform was talking his language; he was a might tell Commander Moore that I’d like to see fellow like himself—no foolishness about him. him.” Brimstone furtively licked his lips. He had had When Benton and Brimstone had left, Bullard partners before, too, and that usually worked out leaned back in his chair and with hands clasped pretty well, also. He might make a pretty good behind his neck gazed contemplatively at the over- bargain yet. head. So far, so good. Now to break the news to “We are on our way to Juno where we will stop Moore. awhile. I am going to let you go ashore there and “I’ve been thinking, Moore,” he saidr when his do your stuff. You’ll be given my protection, you executive came in, “that we have been a little lax can keep the money here in my safe, and you can in one matter. I was thinking of . . . uh, spiritual sleep here nights. You had a pretty smooth racket values. I’m sorry now that the chaplain missed there on Venus, as I remember it. If you work it the ship. Do you realize that we have made no here, we’ll clean up. After we leave, we’ll split the pretense at holding any sort of service since we net take fifty-fifty. That’ll give you money enough blasted off on this cruise?” to beat the charges against you and leave you a Moore’s eyes bugged a little. The skipper, he stake. All I want you to do is preach the way was thinking, must have overdone his recent you did on Venus.” worryir^c. Or something. Bullard had always While Bullard was talking, Brimstone grew been punctiliously polite to the chaplain, but —

BRIMSTONE BILL 33

“So,” went on Bullard calmly, still gazing up for him by the ship’s tailor. The setting and placidly at the maze of wires and conduits hang- the clothes had made a new man of him. No ing from the deck plates over him, “I have made longer was he the shifty-looking, cringing pris- appropriate arrangements to rectify that lack. I oner, but a man of austerity and power whose find that the Earthman we took along with the flashing eyes more than made amends for his poor Ziffler outfit was not one of them but a hostage physique. He proceeded to the center of the they had captured. He is an itinerant preacher stage, glared at his audience a moment, then flung a free-lance missionary, so to speak. I have re- an accusing finger at them. leased him from the brig and installed him in the “Hell is waiting for you!” he exploded, then chaplain’s room, and after he has had a chance to stepped back and shook his imposing mane and clean up and recover, he will talk to the men continued to glare at them. There was not a titter daily.” or sneer in the crowd. The men were sitting up- It was well that Moore’s eyes were firmly tied right, fascinated, looking back at him with staring to their sockets, for if they had bugged before, eyes and mouths agape. He had hit them where they bulged dangerously now. Bullard had brooded they lived. Moore looked about him in a startled too much. Bullard was mad! way and nudged Bullard. "Oh,” assured Bullard, “there is nothing to “Can you tie that?” he whispered, awe-struck. worry about. The man is still a prisoner at large He had been in the ship many years and had never awaiting action by the Bureau of Justice. But seen anything like it. All the skymen he knew otherwise he will have the run of the ship. And, had been more concerned with the present and the I should add, the run of the town while we are immediate future than the hereafter, and the Polli- on Juno. He calls himself, oddly enough, Brim- wogs were an especially godless lot. The follow- stone Bill, but he explains that he works clo^e to ers of their own chaplain could be numbered on the people and they prefer less dignity.” the fingers of the two hands. Moore gasped, but there seemed to be nothing to Brimstone Bill went on. Little by little he say. Bullard had not consulted him, he had been warmed to his subject until he soon arrived at a merely telling him. Unless he had the boldness to stage where he ranted and raved, jumped up and pronounce his captain unwell and forcibly assume down, tore his hair and beat his breast. He thun- command, there was nothing to do but accept it. dered denunciations, pleaded and threatened, And with a husky, “Aye, aye,” he did. storming all over the place purple-faced. His auditors quailed in their seats as he told off their It was the night before they made Juno that the shortcomings and predicted the dire doom that long unheard twitter of bos’n’s pipes began peep- they were sure to achieve. His theology was sim- ing and cheeping throughout the ship. At the call, ple and primitive. His pantheon consisted of but the bos’n’s mates took up the cry and the word, two personages—the scheming devil and himself, “Rig church in the fo’c’s’le ri-ight a-awa-a-ay!” the savior. His list of punishable iniquities was went resounding through the compartments. Bul- equally simple. The cardinal sins were the ordi- lard clung tenaciously to the immemorial old ship nary personal petty vices—drinking, smoking, customs. The sound of bunks being cleared away gambling, dancing and playing about with loose and the clatter of benches being put up followed women. There was but one redeeming virtue, as the crew’s living quarters were transformed into SUPPORT THE CAUSE! a temporary assembly hall. They had been told That was all there was to it. An hour of ex- that the missionary brought aboard at Oberon had hortation and a collection. When he paused at the a message for them. They had not been told what end of his culminating outpouring of fiery oratory, its subject was, but their boredom with black space he asked for volunteers to gather in the offerings. was immense and they would have gone, anyway, Three petty officers stood up, received commodious if only from curiosity. The text for the evening leather bags, and went among the audience stuffing was “The Gates of Hell Are Yawning Wide.” them with whatever the men present had in their Two hours earlier Benton had reported that all pockets. For no one withheld anything, however was in readiness for the test of Brimstone’s per- trifling. The sermon, if it could be called that, suasive powers and that the three petty officer was an impressive success. Then the lights came assistants picked by him had been instructed in on bright, Brimstone Bill left the stage clutching their job. A special box had been rigged at one the three bags, and the men filed out. corner of the hall for the use of the captain and “Amazing,” said Moore, as he sat with Bullard executive. Consequently, when “Assembly” went, and Watched the show. “Why, the fellow is an Bullard waited only long enough for the men to arrant mountebank!” be seated when he marched in with Moore and “Quite so,” agreed Bullard, “but the men seem took his place at one corner of the stage that had to like it. Come, let’s go.” been set up. The next day saw a very different atmosphere Brimstone Bill appeared in a solemn outfit made in the ship. About two thirds of the crew had :

34 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

heard the preaching, the remainder being on duty. making the place ready as a tabernacle. The last Those went about their tasks silently and thought- touch was a neon sign bearing the same wording fully, as if pondering their manifold sins. They Bullard had seen on that other tabernacle in had to take an enormous amount of kidding from steamy Venus. Brimstone Bill was about to do their shipmates and a good many black eyes were his stuff in a wholesale way. in evidence by the time the ship slid down into That afternoon when work was done, the entire her landing skids at Juno Skydock. Bullard did liberty party marched in formation to the hall and not let that disturb him; to him it was a healthful there listened to another of Brimstone’s fiery sign. bursts of denunciation. The denizens of the town As soon as the ship was docked, he went out looked on at the swinging legs and arms of the and met the dockmaster, who, as he had suspected, marching battalion and wondered what it was all was an incompetent drone. No, he had only four- about. They supposed it was some newfangled teen men available—he had not been expecting the custom of the Patrol Force and that whatever it ship—they would get at the job tomorrow or next was, it would soon be over and then they would day—or at least part of them. No, there was a have plenty of customers. The barkeeps got out overtime no, the ship's their rags and polished the bars gamblers made a local rule against working — ; force could not help—six Earth weeks, he thought, last-minute check-up of the magnetic devices that barring accidents, ought to do the trick. Oh, yes, controlled their machines; and the ladies of the they would be very thorough. At Juno they were town dabbed on the last coat of their already abun- always thorough about everything. dant make-up. Moore started threatening the man, stating he But no customers came that night. For hours would report him to the grand admiral for ineffi- they could hear the booming, ranting voice of ciency, but all Bullard said was Brimstone roaring about Hell and Damnation,

“Skip it, you’re wasting breath. These people punctuated by periods of lusty singing, but except have just two speeds—slow ahead and stop. Put for an occasional bleary-eyed miner, no patron ap- pressure on them and they backfire. Go back peared to burden their tills and lighten their aboard and post the liberty notice. Unlimited hearts. At length the strange meeting broke up liberty except for the men actually needed to and the men marched back to their ship in the stand watch. And see that this goat gets a copy.” same orderly formation they had come. Moore shook his head. Something had hap- This went on for a week. A few at a time, the pened to Bullard. Of course, the man was up members of the first liberty party recovered from against a stone wall, but he could at least make a their earlier debauch and ventured ashore again, show of a fight. It was a terrible thing to see a but even those were soon snatched from circula- fighting man give up so easily. In the meantime tion as their shipmates persuaded them to hear Bullard had walked away and was talking with Brimstone “just once.” Once was enough. After Brimstone Bill and Benton, who had just emerged that they joined the nocturnal demonstration. It from the lock and were looking around. was uncanny. It was unskymanlike. Moreover, it was lousy business. Spies from the townspeople There were lively doings ashore that night. camp who peered through windows came back and

Most of the contingent that had not heard the reported there was something funnier about it Rev. Zander’s moving sermon went as early as than that. Every night a collection was taken up, possible, ostensibly to look around and do a little and it amounted to big money, often requiring shopping. In the end they wound up by getting several men to carry the swag back. gloriously drunk. It was a bedraggled and Strong-arm squads searched the town’s flop- miserable-looking lot that turned up at the ship houses to find out where the pseudo-evangelist was the next morning and there were many stragglers. staying, but in vain. They finally discovered he A patrol had to be sent out to comb the dives and was living on the Pollux. A committee of local find the missing ones. Many had been robbed or “merchants” called on Captain Bullard' and pro- cheated of all they had, and some had been in- tested that the ship was discriminating against discreet enough to draw all their money before them by curtailing the men’s liberty. They also they went. Captain Bullard lined up the most demanded that Brimstone Bill be ejected from serious of the offenders at “mast” and handed out the ship. the usual routine punishments—a few days’ re- “Practically the entire crew goes ashore every striction to the ship. day,” said Bullard, shortly, “and may spend the After that things were different. The next day night if they choose. What they do ashore is Benton and Brimstone had suceeded in renting an their own affair, not mine. If they prefer to listen empty dancs hall. As Bullard had guessed, things to sermons instead of roistering, that’s up to them. were dull that year in Herapolis. A gang of en- As far as the preacher is concerned, he is a thusiastic volunteers—Polliwog converts to Brim- refugee civilian, whose safety I am responsible stone’s strange doctrines—busied themselves in for. He is in no sense under orders of the Patrol BRIMSTONE BILL 35

Force. If you consider you have a competitive with the night’s collection. problem, solve it in your own way.” An empty bottle was flung, more jeers, and a The dive owners’ impatience and perplexity volley of small meteoric stones. The column turned into despair. Something had to be done. marched on, scorning to indulge in street brawl- They did all that they knew to do. They next ing. Then a square ahead they came to the miners, complained to the local administrator—a creature drawn up in solid formation from wall to wall. of Fenning’s—of the unfair competition. That The prospectors were armed with pick handles and worthy descended upon the tabernacle shortly other improvised clubs. They did not jeer, but thereafter, backed by a small army of suddenly stood silent and threatening. acquired deputies, to close the place as being an “Wedge formation,” called Benton, who was up unlicensed entertainment. He was met by a deter- ahead. “Charge!” mined Patrol lieutenant and a group of hard-faced The battle of the Saints and Sinners will be re- Polliwog guards who not only refused to permit membered long in Juno. That no one was killed the administrator to serve his warrant, but in- was due to the restraint exercised by Benton and formed him that the meeting was immune from MacKay, who were along with the church party. political interference. It was not amusement, but Only they and the administrator had blasters, and religious instruction, and as such protected by the the administrator was not there. Having mar- Constitution of the Federation. shaled his army, he thought it the better part of The astounded administrator looked at the steely valor to withdraw to his office where he could get eyes of the officer and down to the browned, firm in quick touch with the senator if need be. hand lying carelessly on the butt of a Mark XII Dawn found a deserted street, but a littered one. blaster, and back again into the granite face. He Splintered clubs, tattered clothes, and patches of mumbled something about being sorry and backed drying blood abounded, but there were no corpses. away. He could see little to be gained by frontal The Polliwogs had fought their way through, attack. He went back to his office and sent off a carrying their wounded with them. The miners hasty ethergram to his esteemed patron, then sat and the hoodlums had fled, leaving their wounded haggardly awaiting orders. Already the senator sprawling on the ground behind, as is the custom had made several inquiries as to receipts since the in the rough rocklets. But the wounded suffered cruiser’s arrival, but he had delayed reporting. only from minor broken bones or stuns, and sooner The answer was short and to the point. “Take or later crawled away to some dive where they direct action,” it said. The administrator scratched found sanctuary. There had been no referees, so his head. Sure, he was the law on Juno, but the there was no official way to counteract the bom- Pollux represented the law, too, and it had both bastic claims at once set up by both sides. But the letter of it and the better force on its side. it is noteworthy that the Polliwogs went to church So he did the other thing—the obvious thing for a again the next night and were unmolested by so Junovian to do. He sent out a batch of ethergrams much as a catcall on the way back. to nearby asteroids and then called a mass meeting “I don’t like this, captain,” Moore had said that of all his local henchmen. morning as they looked in on the crowded sick bay where the doctors were applying splints and ban- It took three days for the armada of rusty little dages. “I never have felt that charlatan could be prospectors’ ships to finish fluttering down onto anything but bad for the ship. He gouges the men the rocky wastes on the far side of Herapolis. just as thoroughly as the experts here would have. They disgorged an army of tough miners and Now this!” bruisers from every little rock in the vicinity. The “They would have thrown their money around, mob that formed that night was both numerous anyway,” grinned Bullard, “and fought, too. It’s and well-primed. Plenty of free drinks and the better to do both sober than the other way.” mutual display of flexed biceps had put them in the mood. At half an hour before the tabernacle That afternoon the administrator rallied his meeting was due to break up, the dive keepers all bruised and battered forces and held a csuncil of shut up shop, and taking their minions with them war. None would admit it, but a formation has began to line the dark streets between Brimstone’s advantages over a heterogeneous mob even in a hall and the skydock. free-for-all. What do next? There was a good “Yah! Sissies!” jeered the mob, as the phalanx deal of heated discussion, but the ultimate answer of bluejackets came sweeping down, arm in arm was—infiltration. The tabernacle sign read, “Come and singing one of Brimstone’s militant hymns in one, come all,” and there was no admission. So unison. By the dim street lights one could see that night the hall was surrounded by waiting that their faces were lit up with the self- miners and a mob of the local bouncers long before satisfaction of the recently purified. In the midst the Rev. Zander arrived. Tonight they would of the phalanx the little preacher trotted along, rough-house inside. surrounded by the inevitable trio of petty officers He beamed upon them. AST—3G — ”

36 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Come in, all of you. There are seats for all. to grudgingly pronounce that the ship was clean. If not, my regular boys can stand in the back.” The job was done. She was free to go. The roughs would have preferred to the stand- Bullard lost no time in blasting out. Brimstone ing position, but the thing was to get in and mix. Bill was tearful over leaving the last crop un- So they filed in. By the time Brimstone Bill gleaned. He insisted that they had been caught mounted the rostrum the house was crowded, but unawares the first night, and the second they were it could have held more at a pinch. sure to bring more. But Bullard said no, they had He was in good form that night. At his best. enough money for both their needs. The ship “Why Risk Damnation?” was his theme, and as he could stay no longer. Bullard further said that put it, the question was unanswerable. It was he would be busy with the details of the voyage suicidal folly. The gaping miners let the words for the next several days. After that they would soak in with astonished awe; never had they have an accounting. In the meantime there would thought of things that way. Here and there a be no more preaching. Brimstone Bill was to keep bouncer shivered when he thought of the per- close to his room. petual fires that were kept blazing for him on some At once all the fox in Brimstone rose to the top. far-away planet called Hell. They supposed it This man in gold braid had used him to exploit must be a planet—far-off places usually were. not only his own crew but the people of an entire They were not a flush lot, but their contribution planetoid and adjacent ones. Now he was trying to the “cause” that night was not negligible. to cheat him out of his share of the take.

There was little cash money in it, but a number “I won’t do it,” said Brimstone, defiantly. “I’ve of fine nuggets, and more than one set of brass the run of the ship, you said. If you try to double- knuckles and a pair of nicely balanced blackjacks. cross me, I’ll spill everything.” Altogether Brimstone Bill was satisfied with his “Spill,” said Bullard, calmly, “but don’t forget haul, especially when he saw the rapt expressions what happened at Venus. The effect of the gadgets on their faces as they made their way out of the wears off, you know. I think you will be safe in tabernacle. the chaplain’s room if I keep a guard on the—door. The administrator raved and swore, but it did But if you’d rather, there’s always the brig no good. The chastened miners were down early “I get you,” said Brimstone Bill, sullenly, and at the smelter office to draw what credits they turned to go. He knew now he had been out- had due; the bouncers went back to their dives smarted, which was a thing that hurt a man who and quit their jobs, insisting on being paid off in lived by his wits. cash, not promises. All that was for the cause. “You will still get,” Bullard hurled after him, There were many fights that day between groups “one half the net, as I promised you, and an easy of the converted and groups of the ones who still sentence or no sentence at all. Now get out of dwelt in darkness, but the general results were my sight and stay out.” inconclusive. The upshot of it was that the re- mainder of the town went to the tabernacle that It was a queer assembly that night—or sleep night to find out what monkey business had been period—for a space cruiser of the line. They met pulled on the crowd they had sent first. in the room known to them as the “treasure house.” The collection that night was truly stupendous, Present were the captain, the paymaster. Lieuten- for the sermon’s effect on the greater crowd was ant Benton, and two of the petty officers who had just what it had been on all the others. Not only acted as deacons of Brimstone’s strange church. was there a great deal of cash, but more weapons The third was missing for the reason he was and much jewelry—though a good deal of the standing sentry duty before the ex-preacher’s door. jewelry upon examination turned out to be paste. Their first job was to count the loot. The money The administrator had come—baffled and angry had already been sorted and piled, the paper ten to see for himself. He saw, and everyone was sur- to one hundred sol notes being bundled neatly, prised to note how much cash he carried about and the small coins counted into bags. The mer- his person. What no one saw was the ethergram chandise had been appraised at auction value and he sent off to the senator that night bearing his was stacked according to kind. resignation and extolling the works of one Brim- “Now let’s see, Pay,” said Bullard, consulting stone Bill, preacher extraordinary. He was thank- his notes, “what is the total amount the men had ful that he had been shown the light before it was on the books before we hit Juno?” too late. Pay told him. Bullard kicked at the biggest An extraordinary by-product of the evening stack of money of all.

was that early the next morning a veritable army “Right. This is it. Put it in your safe and of miners descended upon the skydock and volun- restore the credits. Now, how much did the hall teered to help scrape the cruiser’s hull. Brim- cost, sign, lights and all?” stone’s dwelling, they said, should shine and with- Bullard handed that over. out delay. That night even the dockmaster had “The rest is net—what we took from the asteroid BRIMSTONE BILL 37

people. Half is mine, half is Brimstone’s. The days. That is why I say they are too dangerous total?” to keep. Brimstone could just as well have in- Benton was looking uneasy. He had wondered cited to riot and murder as preach his brand of all the time about what the fifty-fifty split meant. salvation for the money it brought.” He was still wondering what the skipper meant to “I see. And the ones carried in our pockets by do with his. But the skipper was a queer one and me and the boys were counter-vibrators, so we unpredictable. didn’t feel the effects?” “Fifty-four thousand, three hundred and eight “Yes. Like the ones you rigged in my box that sols,” said the paymaster, “including the merchan- night we had the try-out up forward. Neither I dise items.” nor Commander Moore heard anything but ranting “Fair enough. Take that over, too, into the and drivel.” special account. Then draw a check for half of it “Pretty slick,” said Benton. to Brimstone. Put the other half in the ship’s Yes, pretty slick, thought Bullard. He had amusement fund. They’ve earned it. They can stayed the prescribed time on Juno and had paid throw a dance with it when we get to Luna. I off the crew and granted full liberty. Outside the guess that’s all.” five men in his confidence, not a member of the Bullard beckoned Benton to follow and left the crew had had a hint that it was not desired that he storeroom, leaving the two p. o.’s to help the pay- go ashore and waste his money and ruin his health. master cart the valuables away to his own baili- “I’m thinking that the Pollux is not likely to be wick. There were still other matters to dispose ordered back to Juno soon,” said Bullard absently. of. Up in the cabin Benton laid the “gadgets” on But Benton wasn’t listening. He was scratching the desk. his head. “What will I do with these, sir?” he wanted to “That little guy Brimstone,” he said. “He isn’t know. “They’re honeys! I hate to throw them such a bad egg, come to think of it. Now that he’s into the disintegrator.” pulled us out of our hole, do you think you can “That is what you will do, though,” said Bullard. get him out of his, sir?” “They are too dangerous to have around. They “He never was in the hole,” said Bullard, reach- might fall into improper hands.” ing for the logbook. “I needn’t have kept him at “Now that it’s over, would you mind telling me all once I let him out of the brig. Read it—it was how these worked?” on your watch and you signed it.” “Not at all. We’ve known for a century that Benton took the book and read. high-frequency sound waves do queer things, like reducing glass to powder. They also have pe- “At 2204 captain held examination of prisoners; re- manded all to brig to await action of the Bureau of culiar effects on organisms. One frequency kills Justice except one Ignatz Zander, Earthman. Zander bacteria instantly, another causes red corpuscles was released from custody, but will be retained under to disintegrate. You can give a man fatal anemia Patrol jurisdiction until arrival at base in the event the by playing a tune to him he cannot hear. These Bureau should wish to utilize him as witness." gadgets are nothing more than supersonic vi- brators of different pitch such that sounded to- Benton looked puzzled. gether they give an inaudible minor chord that “I don’t remember writing anything like that,” affects a portion of the human brain. When they he said. are vibrated along with audible speech, the lis- “The official final log is prepared in this office,” tener is compelled to believe implicitly in every reminded Bullard, softly. “You evidently don’t word he hears. The effect persists for two or three read all you sign.”

THE END.

NO FINER DRINK . . . at sixteen— or sixty ” —

38

THE CONTRABAND COW

By L. Sprague de Camp

• Author de Camp suggests that there might be peculiar political side-

lights and unexpected sorts of bootlegging under a Union Now scheme

Illustrated by Kolliker

A bat zigzagged across the sluggish reach of and lifting his feet carefully over the fishing the lower Nueces, and Homer Osborn piled out tackle. of the rowboat with the painter in one hand. “Hey,” said Osborn, “don’t forget the critter!” Since most of the boat’s load was now concen- “Not so loud!” Kenny halted, backed one step, trated on its rear seat by Charles Kenny, its reached under the middle seat, and brought up a bow rose high into the air, and Osborn had little package the shape of a brick and a little larger. trouble in hauling the boat well up onto the sand Attached to this package by a stout cord was one of the beach. real brick. As Kenny raised the package, the Then he took hold of the bow and braced his brick dangled revolving on the lower end of the legs to hold the craft level. Kenny grunted his cord. elephantine way slowly toward the bow, crouch- Osborn suggested: “If you untie it, we can ing and holding the gunwales with both hands, throw away the sinker— ” ”” ”

THE CONTRABAND COW 39

“Naw,” said Kenny. “You don’t know how a real “Pedro got padlocked the other day,” inter-

fisherman does it, Homer. You want to keep your rupted Kenny. sinker attached until you’re ready to cook your “Yeah? You don’t say!” critter. Then if a Fodals shows up, you heave “Yep! Damn fool insisted on servin’ roast beef. the evidence ka-plunk into the river. You cain’t It takes a long time to cook, and you’re apt to swallow half a pound of critter in one second, have a lot left over, so the Fodals got him with the you know.” evidence. What did he say to you?” “O. K., boss,” said Osborn, and tied the painter Osborn explained: “The word got out among to the nearest pecan tree. the leggers that this synthetic protein of mine Kenny stretched his cramped muscles. “Now, was going to put ’em out of business. I explained if we can just find a dry spot— that I could make a steak, all right, but it wouldn’t “Don’t think there is such a thing in this part taste like a steak and would cost twenty times as of Texas,” said Osborn with slight asperity. much as a hunk of prime Mexican critter delivered “—we’ll have plenty of time to get to Dinero in San Antonio by a reliable steaklegger. He didn’t before she’s too dark.” seem convinced.” “With no fish for the girls.” “So now you think the leggers are out to get “Aw, Homer,” wheezed Kenny, “you don’t get you,” said Kenny. “Well, mebbe the repeal act the i-dea. A real fisherman don’t care whether will pass when it comes up Monday in Delhi. The he catches anything or not. Reckon this spot’ll Bloodies have tried hard enough; I’ve been up do.” all night this we§k gettin’ folks to write letters “If that's dry,” said Osborn,— feeling the sandy and send telegrams.” soil with his hand, “I’m a Osborn sighed. “Not likely, boss. The Hindus “Hush your mouth, Yankee, and help get some disagree on everything else, but not on eating crit- wood. Careful; don’t go steppin’ on a snake. Used ter.” “Here they lynched Fodals in last to be ’gators in this part of the river, too ; I reckon a Dallas the hide hunters killed ’em all.” week,” said Kenny, poking at the fire. “Good i-dea on general principles, but I’m afraid it won’t Osborn returned after ten minutes of collecting do the Bloody vote no good come Monday.” soggy scraps of firewood, to find Kenny, by some “You’re a fanatic,” said Osborn quietly. “Now private thaumaturgy, conjuring a fire out of a me, I vote Bloody, but I can take my critter or heap of equally unpromising fuel. leave it alone. What really gripes me is getting When the fire was going, the massive depart- my research mixed up in a prohibition question.” ment head opened a can of beans and hung it in “You wouldn’t care if your synthetic steak the flames. Then he sat back,, uncorked the whis- stopped all this corruption and lawbreakin’? You’d key bottle, took a swig, passed the bottle to Os- be famous!” born, and sat back looking at the deepening blue “Nope. Don’t want to be famous, outside the sky. technical periodicals. What I want is to get back “And to think,” he said, “that a young squirt to Brooklyn.” like you would give this up to go back to Brook- Kenny laughed and heaved himself to his feet. lyn!” “Looks like those coals are about ready for the critter. You start it; I’m going to get some “No snakes in Brooklyn, anyway.” me more wood. And any time you can figure how to Kenny sighed. “When you learned to say repeal the anti-vaccacide law, you can have your ‘bird’ instead of ‘boid’ I thought I’d make a real contract back, and I’ll get you a new one in Brook- Texan out of you. Mebbe I will yet.” lyn, Belfast, or any place you pick.” “Not likely. Seriously, boss, you can find plenty of biochemists, and it would mean so much to Kenny crunched off into the brush, muttering Gladys and me— about the iniquity of a Union Now scheme which “Not another biochemist who can make the gave the cow-worshiping sons of India, on a discovery of the age. You go on turnin’ out dis- straight population basis, a clear majority in the coveries of the age, and the San Antone labs will Assembly of the Federation of Democratic and go on gettin’ appropriations, and when your con- Libertarian States. tract’s up I’ll offer you another you cain’t afford Homer Osborn nervously unwrapped the pack- to turn— What’s that?” Kenny was silent for age. The crackle of the heavy yellow paper seemed a frozen quarter minute, then resumed : “Imagina- inordinately loud. His mouth watered at the sight tion, I guess. Unless, maybe, you are bein’ fol- of the steaks, for which he had paid his pet steak- lowed." legger four dollars and fifty cents of his and “I’m not imagining that,” said Osborn. “You Charles Kenny’s money. know Pedro, who runs the—steakeasy on Apache He then pulled a lot of pieces of heavy steel Street? Well, he asked me wire out of his boot. These, when joined to- — ” ” ” ”

40 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION gether, made a rickety but serviceable grid. He let the Sikh tow him gently up the in- The sound of Kenny’s movements died away. finitesimal rise that passed for the bank of the No, thought Osborn, he would never learn to like Nueces River. Better, he thought, make enough Texas, really. The Gulf Coast region was fairly noise to warn Kenny, so that the department head comfortable this early in spring. But in a couple should not blunder into them. of months San Antonio would be a baking in- He declaimed: “Who do you think you are, to ferno, outside the laboratories come all the way from India to mix in our Ameri- He slapped a mosquito, and extended the grid can affairs?” over the coals. A flame licked the fat on one of “I am Guja Singh, sir, Patrolman Number 3,214. the steaks, and a pearly drop fell into the coals, As for the mixing, surely you know that the sending up a brief spurt of yellow. Federation government was forced to send us of As the hiss of that drop of fat died out, some- India to enforce the anti-vaccacide law, because thing came out of the darkness and wrapped itself none of your American officials could be trusted like an affectionate anaconda around Homer Os- to do so.” born’s right wrist, and something else calmly took "Yeah, but what business —is it of yours in the the grid, steaks and all, away from him. first place? I’m not hurting "You,” said a voice, “are under ar-r-rest for vio- “Ah, but you are,” continued the soft, slightly lation of the anti-vaccacide law, Title 9, Section accented voice. “The sacrilege of vaccacide hurts 486 of the Criminal Code of the Federation!” us of India to our very souls.” “Huh?” said Osborn stupidly. It had all been “Well, but aren’t you a Sikh? I thought they done so swiftly and competently that he had not didn’t take this cow-worship business seriously.” recovered his wits. “We of the Udasi sect take it seriously, sir. Ob- “Which reads,” continued the voice, “Paragraph serve this branch and duck, please. Please, sir, do no think too harshly of me because I do my duty. 1 : The eating of cattle, which term shall include all animals of the subfamily Bovins of the family Do you think we enjoy patrolling this hostile Bovidas, the same comprising kine, buffaloes, bison, land, where we dare not go out in your cities ex- zebus, gayals, bantengs, yaks, and species closely cept in pairs?” related thereto, or of any parts or members thereof, “Well, why do it, sap?” or of any hashes, gravies, soups, or other edible “You mean me personally, sir? I have a wife products thereof, is hereby prohibited!” and nine children to support. My father, though “B-but, I wasn’t eating—” In the twilight Os- he could have secured me a position at Delhi, was born could now make out the turban and beard of reluctant to do so lest the charge of nepotism a towering Sikh of the Border Patrol. be br-r-rought against him.” “Par-r-ragraph 2: The killing, for any purpose “Who’s your father?” whatever, and the assault, molestation, capture, im- “Sahib Arjan Singh, sir. You have heard of prisonment, sale, purchase, possession, transporta- him?” tion, importation into or exportation out of the “Sure. A politician.” Osborn put scorn into it. Federation of Democratic and Libertarian States, Guja Singh sighed unhappily. “I fear we shall or any territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof, never understand the mysterious— West. Nothing for purpose of eating, of cattle,— as hereinbefore appears to please you defined in Paragraph 1 hereof “O. K., O. K.!” shouted Osborn, as the Patrol- They walked on in silence. Osborn cooled off man carefully set down the evidence and with his somewhat, and was thankful that his captor was free hand snapped a handcuff on the culprit’s not a really tough guy, despite his formidable ap- pearance. Still, Homer Osborn knew better than wrist. “I know your damned law, and I—think it’s a lousy invasion of my personal liberty to try to get away; he had met Fodals cops of this “I am sorry, sir,” purred the East Indian. “I superficially humble type before. merely carry out my orders. Now let us go; it is They reached the road, and a few rods away about a mile to my car.” Osborn made out the bullet shape of a patrol car Osborn groaned, mentally consigning Mr. Clar- parked by the side. They were halfway to it ence Streit to the most elaborately sadistic hell when Guja Singh halted and stood with his head he could imagine. He thought of yelling for up silently, as if sniffing the air. Osborn strained Kenny, but decided that it would be better not to his ears, and thought he made out a whisper, unin- involve his boss; Charley could do more for him telligible but urgent, from the trees. those voice. from outside the bars. , “Put up!” came a The thought that most pained Homer Osborn The Fodals released Osborn, jerked out his was the recollection of how cocksurely he had pistol, and fired. Osborn had already started to brushed aside his wife’s cautions before leaving. run when the flash and report from behind him Gladys would kid him about this in front of their were mixed with a tingle of glass. Something grandchildren, if they lived that long. struck his body a light blow and shattered, and THE CONTRABAND COW 41 the syn- as he took his next step he smelled geraniums. selves with anything so recondite as He knew what that meant, and tried to stop breath- thetic-protein experiments of the San Antonio ing— branch of the Federal Research Laboratories. But not quickly enough. His muscles all at That left the great Mexican critter kings; once began to jerk uncontrollably, as if he had St. shadowy but sinister figures: the modern equiva- Vitus’ dance, and the sand came up and hit him lent of the old political generals who 'had run Mexican with a thud. Mexico back before the great period of The convulsion—more exasperating than painful prosperity and peace in the middle of the century. —died, and hands tried to heave him to his feet. Some of Osborn’s scientific Mexican acquaintances His legs buckled, and a couple of them picked him were bitter about the vaccacide law for having up and carried him, not too gently. conjured this robber-baron class out of its feudal He tried to talk, but he could not control his graves. tongue: “Th upp sh mwa-a-a th uh uwz ze idea?” The truck body bounced and shuddered silently No answer. Somewhere in the darkness an- over invisible miles. Homer Osborn thought a other contingent was breathing heavily as it toted great volume of private thoughts, and at last out six-feet-three of Sikh patrolman. The sound of of sheer boredom went to sleep on Guja Singh’s a door latch compounded this, and Osborn made shoulder. out the shape of a vehicle, not Guja’s patrol car. Somebody had a flashlight. Osborn saw dimly The motion was easier, though as far as one that the conveyance looked like a rather large de- could tell from the dark interior of the truck it livery truck. might have been up, down, or sideways. Then “Don’t bother with him; he’s already got one it stopped altogether. handcuff on.” “Stand up,” commanded one of the guards. The response to this advice was to pull Osborn’s They did, and the door swung open. The unmanacled hand behind him and snap the empty searchlight winked off automatically, and was re- half of the pair of handcuffs over the wrist. Next placed by the vaster but more diffused light of he was boosted into the body of the truck, and the early morning on the desert. door boomed shut behind him. Osborn had narrowed the list of kidnaper sus- As it did so a light flashed on, penetratingly, pects down to the Big Three: Ximinez, Dualler, right into his eyes. Stewart. “Sit down, you two.” Endless, arid, gently rolling plain; patches of There were wisps of straw under Osborn’s feet, white rock on brown dirt; occasional sage, mes- and a definite smell of cow. Osborn knew that quite, cactus—the last with bright-red or yellow he was in a cattle-runner’s truck. He sat, and flowers; a hint of low, rugged mountains sur- was aware of Guja Singh beside him. They were rounding the huge basin, already shimmering in seated on a bench built into the inner side of the the heat: that meant Harmodio Dualler, even door at the rear of the body. At the front end though Homer Osborn had never before been in were that damned searchlight and—when his eyes the Bolsom de Mapimi. got accustomed to the glare—a pair of powerful- “Jump down.” looking dark men with submachine guns under Osborn gave the guard a venomous look and their arms. jumped. He avoided falling, and, with Guja

The body jerked and swayed into motion ; there Singh, was herded toward one of a small city of was no sound from outside. Sound-insulation adobe houses and barns. He saw that there were that would keep the moo of a smuggled steer in a great many trucks parked about, most of them would likewise keep the noise of the external with appropriately deceptive signs painted on world out. their weather-beaten sides: “Fort Worth Express “Who do you think you are and what do you Co.,” “Lone Star Cleaners & Dyers,” “Pogbadian, think you’re doing—” began Osborn, but soon gave the House of Rugs.” An Indian vaquero with a up when no response was coming from the men pink ribbon around his black hair trotted by on with the guns. He pushed himself into the angle a horse.

of the corner to keep from being thrown about The others were no cowboys ; dark suits, Panama by the motion of the truck. hats, and not a serape in the lot. They shoved So his imagination had not played him tricks! Osborn and the Sikh through a gate in a wall, Next question, whose was the gang? Not one of revealing more hundreds of yards of adobe struc-

the indigenous steakleggers ; they were mostly in- tures, until a big man in shirt sleeves came out dividuals or small concerns, on amicable terms and spoke to them in Spanish. Osborn guessed with the local Texan police forces and hence con- this to be Harmodio Dualler; powerful, sallow, strained to the more seemly forms of illegality. not fat but with a big roll of fat around his neck.

Highjackers? The method suggested it, but such Dualler looked sharply at Guja Singh, and asked downright criminals would hardly concern them- the boss of the kidnapers what the obscenity he ” — ” ” ”” ”

42 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

meant by bringing this one. The boss kidnaper “Meaning?” stopped flicking the dust off his shoes with his Dualler looked embarrassed. “Don’t make me handkerchief, shrank visibly, and squeaked that talk of these unpleasant things right out, Mr. Os- Osborn had not been alone for a minute, and that born. I hate to have my guests get accidentally-

therefore it was necessary either to bring this one like killed, especially a so young and promising too or to let the prey go, and he had been merely one.” trying to do his duty Osborn protested: “You’re all wet, Senor Dual- “I obscenity on God!” roared Harmodio Dualler, ler. My synthetic protein can’t possibly compete “hast thou no more brains than a burro? But with the real thing—

I will attend to thee later; bring these ones in.” Dualler heard him out, then said : “Ah, yes, that Seated behind his desk with his hat still on, is the thing I would say if I was in your place. Dualler dug out a package of gum which he of- Even if you are telling the truth, which I don’t fered to his prisoners. They did not consider it believe, I know that in this so wonderful Age of politic to refuse. When all three were chewing, Science you will quickly improve your—product.” Dualler said in good English: “I am sorry there “But listen, damn it, I’ll prove to you has been a little mix-up here— “No use, Mr. Osborn. Take this one away, too, "How long,” interrupted Osborn, “do you think Jesus-Maria.” you can get away with this? I’m a citizen of the Federation— Osborn was taken to a cell-like room: sparse but Dualler laughed softly. “Pipe yourself down, comfortable furniture; a small, high, barred win- my friend. The nearest town is Cuatro Cienegas, dow; a lack of furnishings and ornaments that and that is fifty miles across the desert, and what could be put to practical use by a prisoner on es- Harmodio Dualler says in the state of Coahuila, cape bent. The heat was severe, even after Osborn that goes.” had stripped to his shorts. He wondered why a “Well, what do you want of us?” man as rich as Harmodio Dualler had not air-con- “Of you, it is simple. I want all your samples ditioned his ranch, until he remembered the of this phony critter that you have mad’e, and all scarcity of water in the Bols6m de Mapimi. your notes and writings. All your everything The only concession that Dualler had made to

that has to do with it. Understand?” his boredom was a carton of cigarettes. When he “Uh-huh,” said Osborn. “I thought so.” got hungry, he pounded on the heavy oak door “As to this one,” said Dualler, eying the Sikh, and yelled. Nothing happened. “it was a stupidity that he was ever captured. I In fact, Osborn was convinced by sunset that can’t shoot you, my friend, because your patrol he had never spent a day of such exquisitely hor- will come looking for you; and I can’t hold you rible boredom in his life. If being in jail was prisoner until you die of old age, and I can’t let like this, he resolved never to do anything that you go. So what am I to do with you?” would land him in such a predicament. Guja Singh said loftily: “You can give me back Before dark he was let out and taken to eat my lost honor.” with the gang, who treated him with carefully “Now how do I do that thing?” controlled politeness. Guja Singh was there, too, “You can fight me like a man. Guns, knives, looking famished. anything you say.” When the Sikh sat down, he took one look at Dualler sighed. “Mr. Osborn, what can I do his plate and half rose. “I can’t eat critter, Dual- with such a foolish one? He thinks I’m an old- ler! It’s against my beliefs, and I’m still an of- time caballero fighting duels like in the movies. ficer— I’m a businessman. Your country has all gone to “That’s all right,” beamed Dualler. “Some of hell since you let those Asiatics in, though I don’t Mr. Osborn’s synthetic beef, specially removed complain because it makes much business for me. from his laboratory.” Hernan, take this one away. Osborn looked at Guja’s plate, and knew at once “Now, Mr. Osborn,” continued the critter king, that he had never turned out such a realistic imi- “I’ll tell you what I will do. Tomorrow I will tation of a steak. Guja, after going through a arrange a television hookup in a confidential chan- mental struggle, tried the steak. nel—you have got a secretary?” He chewed a few times, then said judicially: “I’ve got an assistant.” “That is not bad. If this is the imitation, no “Good. You will tell this assistant to pack up wonder the Americans— go to such illegal lengths all your phony-critter stuff and take it to an ad- to get the real thing dress in Laredo, where a man of mine will pick Osborn had taken a bite of his own to make

it up. You must make it plain if your assistant sure, and spoke up: “That is the real thing, Guja; misses something that would make it so another they fooled you.”— one could do the same thing, you . . . uh . . . it’ll “What? Why ” The Sikh burst out with be just too bad.” an inarticulate roar and bounded to his feet, his ” ” —

THE CONTRABAND COW 43 rawhide-bottomed chair going over with a crash. out his being enlightened. He knocked one of the Mexicans clear across the But the next morning Guja Singh appeared table before the rest piled on him. without his turban, and looking more gaunt and

The fight did not last long ; the patrolman hopeless than ever. seemed suddenly to go limp with weariness, and “He tried to hang himself by that head-scarf of let his antagonists fasten themselves to his arms. his,” explained Harmodio Dualler. “We had to His dark face was pale and glum, as if the last dope him to put him to sleep.” The critter king spiritual prop had been knocked out from under shook his head. “I thought I knew how to handle him. men, but with a so unreasonable one as this one “I am ruined,” he said. Ts, ts. I’m glad you are a reasonable one, Mr. “Oh, come on, Mr. Singh,” said Dualler. “It’s Osborn. Now we will go in the communication not as bad a thing as that. I just had to make room; everything is set up.” sure you would not make trouble for us when I The room in question had a television booth at let you go.” At this point a grinning henchman one side. Swank, or love of gadgets, thought Os- appeared with his hands full of motion-picture born; in the United States few private telephone camera and sound-track recorder. “You see, Jesus- subscribers cared to have their expense quad- Maria has made a nice record of this scene, in rupled for the doubtful privilege of being able to three-dimension color. That goes in my safe. see the faces of persons with whom they were ar- When you get back to your headquarters, you tell ranging a bridge date or arguing about a grocery them you got drunk— bill. “I don’t drink,” moaned Guja Singh. But there was the contraption, and Osborn “Well, then, that you got full of the marijuana. knew that there was one in Charley Kenny’s office Anyway, you will know nothing about Mr. Osborn, as well. They did come in handy in conversations and nobody will know you ate the critter.” where the identity of one of the speakers was “I am ruined,” was all the Sikh would say, until open to question. This perhaps explained Dual- they took him back to his room. ler’s use of a set, since he was engaged in a busi- ness that was illegal according to the laws of the “Sst! Osborn!” Federation if not the laws of the United States Homer, getting ready for bed, looked around for of Mexico. the source of this whisper, which sounded as if it came from miles away. After looking in the closet Dualler explained in detail what Osborn was to and under the bed, he located its source in the tell his assistant, and they sat chummily on the little window. He stood oh his chair and opened bench in front of the ike. The ubiquitous Jesus- the fly screen. Maria lounged against the far wall of the room “Guja?” with a gun in plain sight. “Yes. Put your hand out and catch this.” The call was put through; Kenny’s round face Osborn, wondering, did so. Something swung snapped into focus on the screen. up and past his window; after several tries he “Homer!” cried Kenny. “Where in God’s name caught it. It was the end of a long strip of cloth, are you?” — to which was tied a small automatic pistol. Guja Dualler murmured: “Tell him Singh had been swinging the strip of cloth by its The critter king broke off as he observed that other end from the next window. the hard object which had suddenly been dug into “Where’d you get this?” asked Osborn. his ribs was the small pistol which Osborn had “They did not think to search my turban.” Os- received from the Sikh. born realized that the strip of cloth was the patrol- “Just a minute, boss,” said Osborn. He gave man’s unwound headgear. “Take the pistol; you his head an infinitesimal jerk toward the unsus- will need it. I heard a couple of Dualler’s men pecting Jesus-Maria, and told Dualler: “Send him talking of how they were going to kill you as soon out—and tell him to send Guja Singh in— here.” as they get your scientific things; they did not Dualler smiled. “Do I have to search ” Os- know I understand Spanish.” born jabbed him with the muzzle, and the Mexican “But what about you?” stopped his sentence and gave the required order. “Never mind me. Good-by.” And the turban- Homer Osborn’s muscles quivered tautly, and cloth was hauled back with a faint hiss through he could feel that Dualler’s were, too ; the slightest the bars of Guja’s window. relaxation on his part, and either Dualler would Osborn reasoned that he had better keep his be shot or would attack him, roaring an alarm. pants on in order to have a pocket in which to “Boss,” he told the visiscreen, “this is impor- carry the gun. He was donning them when there tant. First, can you arrange to switch this call were excited shouts from outside, and the sound to the house of a Hindu politician named Arjan of men running. Osborn could not make out the Singh in Delhi?” words, and presently the hubbub died away with- Kenny’s jowls quivered and his voice rose to a ” ” ” ;

44 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION squeak. “Are you nuts, Homer? Think of the nothing to me if this one eats a whole steer at expense, and it’s the middle of the night in In- one sitting.” dia—” “But what is—your object? This is a strange “I know. Can you?” piece of black “I ... I reckon so, if it’s a life-or-death matter.” Osborn reached over and pushed the switch. “It is.” Osborn raised his right hand to bring the gun momentarily into the view of the ike. Harmodio Dualler turned a puzzled face up to “Any minute now, Senor Dualler and I will be Osborn. He said softly: “I don’t understand, my trying to kill each other.” friend. The other, yes, but not this, unless it is to

Kenny’s eyes popped, but he buzzed his switch- cause that funny vaccacide law to be repealed . . . board operator and told her what to do. While that is it!” — they waited for the connection, Osborn told Kenny “Yep,” said Osborn. “Now what had happened. He finished: “Now that you “So,” interrupted Dualler, “we rancheros will no know where I am and everything, boss, I think longer enjoy our position, eh? Those obscenities Senor Dualler understands that he can’t bump me in Mexico City will not be afraid of us, and they off the way he was planning to.” will steal our ranches to divide among the peons, “He was goin’ to murder one of my research- as they did under Cardenas? The critter business ers?” exploded Kenny. “Why, you fat, yellow of Mexico will again be destroyed? Very well, slob, you— you have ruined me, Mr. Osborn, but you won’t The department head had not yet run out of live to—” And Dualler hurled himself on Homer. expletives when Guja Singh entered, and almost For a big man, he moved with rattlesnake speed immediately afterward Kenny’s operator an- one hand caught Osborn’s right wrist and twisted nounced that the call to Delhi was through. it violently before Osborn had the presence of Dualler was still silently smiling, though in a mind to shoot. The other caught Osborn’s neck dark and dangerous manner. The screen winked, in a vise. and in place of Kenny appeared a bald, brown, “Guja! Catch!” cried Osborn, wriggling in this hook-nosed man in a dimly lit booth. grizzly-bear hug. He flipped the pistol toward “Whozh calling me from Texas thish time of the Sikh, who caught it, stuck the muzzle into night?” yawned the newcomer. Dualler’s ribs, and fired three times, the sharp Osborn, still keeping an eye on Dualler, asked: crack muffled by the critter king’s clothing. “That your old man, Guja?” Then there was a knock on the door, and Jesus- “Guja!” cried the image, suddenly wide awake; Maria’s anxious voice: “Is all well with thee, it rattled a string of questions in Hindustani. boss?” “Easy, mister,” said Osborn. “Guja, how many “Lock it,” said Osborn, and he began searching votes does you father control in the Assembly?” furiously about the room for inflammables. “Three.” Guja Singh shot the bolt home, whereat there “Let’s see—three from thirty-seven is thirty- were heavier knocks and loud demands for ad- four ; that’ll do it. Fine. You, Dualler, move over mittance. this way. Guja, you take Dualler’s place.” Os- “Mr. Osborn,” said Guja Singh, “how will you born slid off the end of the bench to remove him- get those films out of the safe?” self and his gun from the field of the ike. He “Think this place will burn?” lowered his voice to a murmur to Dualler. “You “Why, with all those oak beams, yes. I see!” tell Mr. Arjan Singh that you’ll bump off his son The patrolman fell to work building the bonfire. if he doesn’t switch those votes in favor of repeal Osborn lit the pile of crumpled papers at the base, tomorrow. Get it?” and a tremendous bang on the door announced Dualler did so. Arjan Singh’s eyes popped; he that the gang were trying to batter their way in. cried an agonized question at Guja. After some The fire crackled and roared upward; the heat Hindustani dialogue, Arjan Singh announced in a and smoke became nauseating. voice of brave despair: “If it is God’s will that my Osborn told Guja Singh: “You pick up Dualler son shall die, he shall die. He will not betray the and make as if you were carrying him out from an family honor.” accident. Lucky those bullet holes didn’t bleed “Then tell him,” Osborn ordered Dualler sotto much.” voce, “that when he arrived here you got him Guja Singh heaved the massive body over his drunk so he ate a steak, and you’ve got a movie shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Then Osborn threw

record of it, and will publish it if the votes aren’t the bolt, to confront a lot of amazed Mexicans changed. That for the family honor!” with guns in their hands. This threat finally broke down father and son. “The machine exploded,” he announced. “Your “I’ll do it,” said Arjan Singh, “but how do I know boss is hurt, and the place is on fire.” The last you will go through with your part?” statement was not strictly necessary, as the com- “Why shouldn’t I?” smiled Dualler. “It is munications room was a roaring oven. ” ” ” ” ” ” : ” ”

THE CONTRABAND COW 45

The gang scattered with cries of alarm, yelling other lynching? I think I’d better go.” contradictory directions at each other to fetch He started to walk dignifiedly off ; the crowd water, fetch blankets, run for their lives. closed in on him and followed. He began to run, Osborn and Guja strolled to the front door and but the mob, with one Texan roar, pounced on him. out, through the courtyard, out the gate, and to- “Hey!” cried Osborn. ward the truck park before somebody yelled “It’s all right,” said Kenny. “Hey, you, where do you theenk you are going “The hell it’s all right! Gimme a gun or some- with our boss?” thing— Guja dropped the corpse, and the two dashed to He broke off as he observed the actions of the the nearest truck. The key was in the ignition crowd, which, instead of tearing the Sikh to lock and the fuel tank was full. With gunfire pieces, had hoisted him on their shoulders and crashing behind them, they whirled the vehicle were parading him down the street with deafening around on two wheels and streaked down the road cheers. Guja Singh looked bewildered. toward Cuatro Cienegas. Kenny explained: “Our switchboard operator listened in on your conversation with that guy

At 5:00 p. m. they arrived at the San Antonio in India, and she got it sort of mixed up, but laboratories. Somebody spotted them, and before reckoned as how your patrolman friend was makin’ they reached the Administration Building Charley his old man swing the repeal vote. Anyway, that’s Kenny rushed out to greet them on the front steps. her story, and all San Antone thinks he’s respon- “Where’s Gladys?” gasped Osborn. sible. Was he, or did you have a hand in it? “She —went home; when we didn’t hear from you Cain’t imagine Harmodio Dualler doin’ it of his all day — own accord.” “We’ve been driving like bats—from hell Osborn explained what had happened. “Yes; how did you escape “Then it was your doin’! We’ll have to see “Did the repeal act pass?” that the credit goes to you, instead of that— “Sure, by one vote. Hey, George ! Run— in and “I don’t want the credit!” said Osborn. “All I phone Mrs. Osborn that Homer’s back want is to call my wife and tell her the good — !” “I'll phone her myself news “But wait, you haven’t told me— “What good news?” But Osborn had broken While this was going on, people began stream- away and run into the building. Kenny followed ing gradually up as if drawn by a magnet. They as fast as his bulk allowed. He reached the phone “ paid little attention to anybody save Guja Singh. booth in time to hear Osborn shout: —Gladys?

The tall patrolman became visibly uneasy under I got the greatest news in the world ! We’re going their regard. He muttered: “What is this, an- back to Brooklyn!” THE END.

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46

PENANCE

By David V. Reed

• A slight error during

Jones and Bascomb into

Well, we’ve been swapping yarns long enough General Cheroot's orange for you to kind of admit I know a few. Maybe can gendarmery. So they some of them are just all right, and some are better than others, but one of the best I know is that one ance cruise. And about Fletcher Jones and his strange voyage to Forelle, the land of the fire monsters. It’s a romantic story, I suppose, but what story about another opinion, which he expressed in his own Jones could be otherwise? enigmatic way. It began in Exotica, on one of those incredibly “Mr. Bascomb,” he said to me, “in the short lovely evenings they have in that far-away world. time that you have been aboard this ship I have You know, warm south wind sweeping up from come to regard you as more than a brother officer, the sultry Para Bay, tropical trees transplanted carelessly assigned by fate to share my quarters. from every planet in the System weaving like I feel a deep affection for you, Mr. Bascomb, an native dancers in that warm south wind, and three affection and an abiding— moons—count ’em: just as advertised by the “Not a chance,” I said. “Nothing doing, Mr. Exotican Chamber of Commerce—three moons, Jones. Orders is orders. Affectionately yours, friends, shining in the night sky like pools of Mr. Bascomb.” silver. I might have brought back some beautiful “—an abiding trust in your natural gentility of memories from a place like that, but I didn’t. nature. So it is without hesitation that I ask you Our ship, the USICS destroyer Star Swallow, to weigh your orders against the innate nobility bound for war games and maneuvers, had space- of your instincts.” anchored off Exotica long enough to refuel and “A fond farewell. Instinctively yours, Brother take aboard Lieutenant Commander Ransom, our Officer B.” squadron commander. But since we had come all “Have you a cigarette?” said Jones, changing the way from the Tonda base on Mars in one jump, pace abruptly. “My nerves are shot. Captain Lieutenant Haddock, executive officer of the ship, Castle and Haddock ashore somewhere in a winery, decided to let a large liberty party ashore. A you going down with the liberty party—and me, commendable idea, especially since I was to take a pox on my young head, left to nurse this vessel the party in myself. Ensign Jones, however, held through a lonely night. Below, loveliness in :

CRUISE

Illustrated by Orban

overcelebration got u trouble— that, and fat f uniform of the Exoti- than two; avoid heated discussions with strangers; from \ failing that, refrain from hitting back ; recoil were sent on a pen- conversation with any escorted ladies, no matter how beautiful. The rigid enforcement of these what a cruise! rules left to Mike Connally, Bos’n First Class,

faithful vassal of Jones, and pledged to sobriety , abundance, merriment, soothing liquids, cascades for the duration. good inten- of melody—and here a stony vigil, a rendezvous I mention this weary catalogue of our with silence.” tions only because it figured prominently in He took a light from me, arranging for his hands court-martial the next morning. to tremble, while he simultaneously choked back long a sob and gave me a brave, fleeting Suicide Patrol By then the Star Swallow had overstayed destroyers, a smile. I was through. In the end I countersigned enough to be joined by three more event, his liberty pass, a necessary business, though we cruiser and a ship of the line. This sad were of equal rank, because Lieutenant Haddock together with rampant exaggerated versions of had grimly informed me that the Exotican gen- our activities the night before, honored our court- darmery had been instructed to honor only my martial with the presence of Admiral Stone and signature. Haddock had anticipated Jones’ crav- the commanding officers of our division, flotilla and every- ing for loveliness in abundance, Jones had antici- squadron. It was an instructive affair for because we pated Haddock, and I had anticipated Jones. I one, including Jones and myself, had really hap- ask you, did it help? couldn’t remember much of what from the We left the ship in the launch, with Peters, pened. Let me quote several passages oiler extraordinary, currently afflicted with a bad record. headache, in charge. Castle and Haddock would You, Mr. return to the Star Swallow by morning, in time Admiral Stone Let me get this straight. Bak-bak, were the bartender for the party all evening. for blast-off. We would be back at least an hour They arrived, in your judgment, quite sober. Ensign and Haddock were at the before them. Castle Jones had no more than two drinks. Ensign Bascomb Genii Room, their favorite retreat, but we would had one, and Bos’n Connally had none—yet all three shun the place. Also, we would drink no more men, according to other witnesses, were in a state of —

48 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION complete intoxication within fifteen minutes. How do and seeing triple, especially because everything else was you account for it? blurred. So it seemed quite logical at the time that Bak-bak: (translated from Exotican) The incanta- Mr. Jones shouted. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t tions, perhaps. move. My limbs seemed to be melting. Admiral Stone: What incantations? Admiral Stone: Your larynx, however, remained in Bak-bak: Mr. Jones insisted on them. good shape, according to these other witnesses who Captain Castle: Mr. Bak-bak, most of the members have testified that you sat at the bar and clamored for of this court are unacquainted with the procedure in- Mr. Jones to hack the general with an ax. volved in mixing the drink which Ensign Jones called Ensign Bascomb: I have been misquoted, sir. I for. Will you explain it, please? merely cheered Mr. Jones on with the old Academy yell Bak-bak: Delighted. You must know, gentlemen, —“Brackety-ax-co-ax-co-ax, brackety-ax-co-ax: kill that we do not serve this drink to anyone. In order to ’em!” procure it, a password is absolutely required. You must say, “Gabo esri mattana.” (Approximate translation: Commander Ransom: The rest of the particulars,' “Gabriel sent me.”) After this I try to talk the cus- please. tomer out of it. If I do not succeed, I adorn myself Sergeant Potho: (translated from Exotican) Ensign with a special pair of smoked glasses, put on my rubber Jones then escaped with the three ladies, committing gloves and begin. This drink, which has many names, several assaults on my fellow members of the gen- among them Chetatta—Witches Epitaph—and Fuoresa darmery on the way. He stole a motorcycle and sidecar, del Karbai Onos—Carnivorous Flower of Interstellar ran into a passenger vehicle, assaulted the driver and Civilization—is made from twenty-one ingredients. It two of the passengers. He then appeared at the space- is usually brewed by our natives deep in the jungle. port, where he claimed the launch of the Star Swallow, The ingredients combine to form a flame of many colors which was waiting for the crew to return, and led the which is allowed to die. Then add two parts of soda. three ladies into it. He was observed flying away in a Immediately a cloud of green steam forms, which is southeasterly direction, and was finally found hovering captured in a special bottle, allowed to settle, and served over the local reservoir, demonstrating fancy diving. with a sprig of graveyard moss. This drink then per- At this time Ensign Bascomb was summoned, and he forms mirages, minor miracles and cures ulcers. Some- persuaded Ensign Jones to land. times a customer insists on the accompanying incanta- Commander Ransom: That ended the affair? tions, in which case he is required to sign a release, Sergeant Potho: No, sir. He landed the launch on since the incantations undoubtedly top of five of my men. Admiral Stone: I see. Do the natives drink this brew? Admiral Stone: You are entitled to plead your own Bak-bak: Never. defense. Ensign Jones: I have no defense, sir. My only ex- Commander Ransom: Mr. Connally, you believe you cuse, if I may call it such, is an overwhelming love of beauty. one regret is I never were sober during the altercation at the Sirocco Club, My that learned to har- ness do you not? my disastrous yearning for romance. I need affec- tion, sir, and I need love, precisely the way the Star Connally: I didn’t say that, sir. I said that if there Swallow needs fuel. In parlance, sir, I a was any justice in this world, I would have remained common am sucker for romance. I throw myself at the of sober. Because I didn’t so much as take a sip of the mercy the court. drinks, sir. All I did was inhale that green steam. It Admiral Stone: Ah-h-h-h-h-h. was enough, sir. Commander Ransom: Then what happened? Connally: I died, sir. Well, the court-martial recessed and arrived at a Commander Ransom: You did what? verdict within ten minutes. Only it didn’t recon- Connally: I died, sir. Instantaneous. vene to pass sentence. After the officers left the Admiral Stone: How do you account for your pres- gendarmery building, where all this had taken ence here now? Connally: It must be one of them miracles Bak-bak place, Captain Castle and Lieutenant Haddock mentioned. came out and sat down beside us. The large room was empty now except for us, and it was as silent Admiral Stone: And what did you do when Mr. Jones as a tomb. Captain Castle stared thoughtfully out insisted that General Cheroot was a floating mine, sir? of a window, looking like a great, calm lion, and Ensign Bascomb: I expressed my doubts, sir. now, as he licked his lips before speaking, the Admiral Stone: Nothing more, Mr. Bascomb? picture assumed a macabre perfection. Ensign Bascomb: Well, sir, truthfully speaking, I wasn’t certain about anything I saw. I had no idea it “Well, Jones,” he sighed, “I did what I could.” was General Cheroot or any other Exotican gendarmery “Thank you, sir.” officer. At first I saw what appeared to be a man about “I tried my best, Jones, believe me.” five feet tall and about four feet wide, dressed in a “I know you did, sir.” bright-orange uniform, and it seemed to me that he was “I tried not to think of your past regrettable escorting three very pretty girls. Then Mr. Jones shouted that he saw a beautiful girl marooned in space interludes. The time you kidnaped that Tyuionian alongside an explosive floating space mine. princess, for instance, or that episode where you Ad/niral Stone: That convinced you? sold the admiral’s dory to pay a band for serenad- Ensign Bascomb: Yes, sir. see, I decided there You ing a girls’ school, or your amusing adventure couldn’t be anybody five feet tall and four feet wide. with that troupe of native dancers in Kayam. Or And he was wearing orange, which unfortunately coin- cided with the standard color for mines. When Jones was it Azberib? Yes, it was Kayam; I was con- shouted there was only one girl, I decided I was drunk fusing it with that religious dance festival where ”

PENANCE CRUISE 49 the marines found you getting married. Anyway, had carefully regarded Jones, waiting for his re- I tried not to think of the past, Jones.” action. He seemed nettled by the fact that he had “I am deeply grateful, sir.” elaborately staged this for Jones—and, make no “I’m glad to hear you say that, Jones. Frankly, mistake about it, he had—and I had done the yell- there have been times when I imagined you felt ing. your superior officers were not quite . . . ah . . . “Come now, Jones,” he said, half bitterly, “you’re fond of you. Like last night, for instance, when soon to be off on a secret mission with a remarkable you were assigned late watch while the crew went man, under conditions which must be regarded as ashore. I wondered if you understood the motives unusual. Surely you have some questions?” behind that. Be honest now, Jones. Have you I’ll say this for Jones: he didn’t bat an eye. I ever thought that either Lieutenant Haddock or knew what it meant to him to miss the war games. I didn’t like you?” He had kept me awake night after night talking “Yes, sir.” about them, eager and anticipating, and he had “You see, lieutenant? I told you he thought spent most of his free time brushing up on his so.” The captain mused a moment, then added,' navigation, because Captain Castle had promised reflectively, “Well, Jones, I can’t imagine where to let him act as navigator during the games. But you got that idea, except for the fact that we he calmly folded his arms and regarded Castle, loathe you, cannot abide the sight of you, and fre- like a veteran, clever fish that was being offered quently feel ill at the mention of your name.” irresistible bait. “I used to lie awake nights,” said Haddock, “Yes, sir,” Jones nibbled. “May I ask whether “conjuring up visions of you being devoured by this duty is to constitute the full penalty imposed some unspeakably weird animal.” upon us by the court-martial?” “At this very moment,” said Castle, “some thirty “Yes and no, Jones,” the captain played the or forty sorcerers in my employ are sticking pins line. “No further penalties, and restoration to into images of you.” Surfeited with pleasantries, active duty and all privileges upon satisfactory he smiled a gentle, leonine smile. “So let me tell completion of this assignment. However, you will you what the court-martial decided. It appears be required to keep a log which will be added to that the Exotican authorities asked Admiral Stone your service record and submitted to Admiral to detail a ship for a special, local mission. Be- Stone, thereafter subject to all rewards and penal- cause of the war games, no ship is available. How- ties—precisely as if you were on duty with the ever, you will be glad to hear that the gendarmery fleet.” recently purchased a military vessel, and is per- “Thank you, sir. And how long are we to be fectly willing to undertake this mission except gone?” for a dearth of trained officers. The captain smiled. “Only General Cheroot “Do you follow me, gentlemen?” the captain can answer that.” sighed with a glance at Jones. “You see, General “Thank you, sir,” said Jones, swimming away. Cheroot himself proposed that we make a deal. The captain seemed startled. “Well,” he said Seeing that he will personally command this ex- abruptly, “aren’t you surprised at any of these pedition, and in view of your recent close contact conditions? Don’t you wonder at the singular with him ... I see you understand. Both of you generosity of the court-martial?” have been assigned to courtesy duty as navigation “No, sir. You told me you had tried your best. and gunnery officers in the Exotican Navy, or I think you succeeded admirably. Thank you whatever they call it.” again, sir.” “Both of us!” I cried out. “Sir, you can’t mean Did you ever have a fish come up, eat your bait, that—” chew up your hook, swallow the sinker, line and “But I do, Mr. Bascomb, believe me. You’re pole, and then belch in your eye? The captain the one who let Mr. Jones loose, a crime of con- grew the least bit crimson around his collar. He siderable magnitude.” — stood up, and we all stood with him, and he smiled “But, sir!” I said. “Cheroot at Jones. So I knew that somewhere in the little “General Cheroot, sir. Your superior officer.” tidy vessel that Captain Castle had come fishing “Yes, sir. General Cheroot, after last night with, there was a harpoon.

in with him on this . . . it’s . . . “My success,” he said, “will undoubtedly im- . . . putting us isn’t it ... he must be furious!” press you more, in good time. Because there’s

“Far from it. As a matter of fact he seemed no romance on this trip, Jones, no romance at all. quite amiable when he proposed dropping charges. Believe me.” Of course, he is rather a peculiar man, as you may With that, and a round of smart saluting by all discover, and he may have been pretending. These hands. Captain Castle and Lieutenant Haddock Exoticans are sometimes difficult to fathom.” left. I wanted to say something, but I was in a Captain Castle’s smile had slowly dissolved as daze. Jones’ visored cap was lying overturned on he answered me. During his pronouncement he a chair near me, and I could make out the little 50 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

letters inside : Ensign F. Jones. Idly, I thought, “Did you say mourning?” said Jones. F for Flamboyant, Foolhardy—a man with a mon- “La Pochata Eggrimmaggratta,” said General strous weakness for all things Feminine. I asked Cheroot, wagging his head vigorously, “is the myself what I was doing there, and the answer Navy of Exotica and I am the admiral.” seemed quite clear: Fathead. “I thought you were a general,” I said. "I am,” Cheroot agreed, “but in this boat I am also the admiral. Also, in the mountains behind II. Para, I am the sheriff. Hey!” A minute later, a gendarme came in and told us Jones was about to answer with a similar shout that General Cheroot was waiting outside. We when he perceived it had been meant to call out went out into a sunny morning just as the surface a squad of gendarmes. They came pouring out of wagons that carried the fleet officers back to the a hangar, little men as brown as Cheroot, grinning port were disappearing into their own dust. And merrily. At this moment, someone inside the ship there, sitting in a taxiflier that had evidently been* opened the crew lock, and with a sweeping bow, built for him, was the general. invited us all to enter. I looked at him and I didn’t believe it. You The inner door of the lock was about a yard really had to be drunk the first time you saw him. wide, a normal enough door, but when I juxtaposed He was a round, enormous mass of smiling man, it against the general’s girth, I found myself with swathed in billowing yards of green and crimson an absorbing problem. Something would have to uniform, blazing with medals, sashes and small give way if Cheroot really intended boarding the daggers. He waved to us and the daggers jingled, vessel, and sizing the opponents up again, I figured and his reddish-tan face creased beautifically as it thirteen to five on Cheroot or even money for he let his smile out. When we were fifteen feet an Exotican stand-off. away, we caught the first waft of the amalgam of When the gendarmes reached us, there was a perfumes that rose from his body, withering the mutual exchange of bows—and suddenly the gen- atmosphere with a faint haziness like heat waves. eral made a dash for the open door. He charged “How do, gents!” he cried, cordially. down on it, his head lowered, his breath like the I gulped, as I recall it. “You mean you ain’t trumpeting of an anguished bull, and he plunged mad?” I said. into the lock. The outer door was wide ; unpausing “Why I should be mad?” the general demanded. he charged through. I remember the way the ship “For last night? What has happen last night is shuddered from the impact of that mortal blow, water in the britches ! Let gdnebys be good-by ! I and when the dust cleared, there was General am so joyous to have two nize officers, young Admiral Cheroot, firmly, inexorably, unhappily mans, in such fine uniforms blue as the sky. Such wedged in the inner door, half in and half out, a wonderful day! But come—you will please to coughing and puffing and squirming. amble along with me on an errand of inspection, “Hey!” he shouted. hey?” The squad of gendarmes swarmed around the “Hey!” said Jones. exposed portion of the general’s body, pushing and We climbed into the taxiflier and it took off. tugging while they chanted a native work song, All the way to the Para blastport General Cheroot cheerfully sweating away and admitting no defeat, spattered us with his unorthodox idioms. “I have until, inch by inch, they had stowed their chief learned the English from correspondence school,” inside. He immediately turned around, smiling he confided once, “and the rest I raise from the and out of breath, and beckoned us to follow. magazines I read.” “Somehow,” said Jones, as we stepped easily When we got to the port, there were dozens of across the sill and into the boat, “I begin to get a gendarmes milling about. High overhead we could strange feeling, Mr. Bascomb.” see the misting forms of fleet launches returning to their ships, and distant, flat smashes of thunder If the vessel’s exterior had given the impression told us that rockets were testing far away. Jones that she was dying, the interior furnished a more turned his head away sharply and we followed the explicit diagnosis. The insides were worn and general as he waddled out on the field. rotten, as if some metallic fever had laid waste to In one corner of a huge blasting pit a battered it. Fragments of clothing, some six-month-old old hulk of a spaceship reclined. It was so in- Venus funny papers, a can of paint, a telephone credibly rusty and ancient and begrimed that it directory from Jupiter, and somebody’s tennis looked as if it had staggered into port to wheeze a shoes littered the deck. The overhead was cov- little and die, if only someone would let it. ered with a fine gray coat of dust th*t hung there “Behold!” the general gurgled, proudly. “This in unconscious defiance of gravity, and everything to is La Pochata Eggrimmaggratta! In English this else about the vessel seemed disprove most of is mean, ‘The Bird with the Magnificent Wings the other natural laws. Like the Morning Sun’!” The ship was a mere hundred and fifty feet long, PENANCE CRUISE 51 a veritable cigar butt, as Jones had observed, but the little golden ball that was Exotica. I made her crew numbered no less than a score of men. this out only after I had found a clean spot in the Their uniforms, in contrast to the general’s splen- amberglass, which was so filthy and oil-stained that did circusy affair, looked like they had come in vision remained something vaguely desirable, if with a recent tide. One of the crew, who was impossible. asleep in the navigation cranny— it was no more “This is insane!” I chattered at the general. than that—was enveloped in a long, sleezy night- “We’ve got to go down immediately, before this shirt, and several others, grinning and chattering, damned tub falls apart from exhaustion.” clung together in a companionway like a cluster of “So?” said the general, arching a brow. “I think bats, attired, to suit the unbearable heat of the it is too late, but I will call the captain.” blistered interior, in nothing more than under- He leaned back into the companionway and wear. shouted something, and in a few moments, a nut- General Cheroot, crying out hearty greetings, brown little man attired in a long oilskin coat and led us forward, moving in the tubular confines of thick-shelled goggles appeared. Barefoot, he pat- the companionway like a fat piston in a cylinder. tered up to the bridge and listened attentively to Just before he reached the bow, he managed to the general. Then, suddenly, the little captain open a door and disappeared inside. We followed loosed a torrent of unintelligible Exotican phrases. him in and found ourselves in a spotless, luxurious “What does he say?” Jones said, impatiently. room, faced by mirrors that lined every square inch General Cheroot cleared his throat. “You want of the bulkheads. Cheroot struck a heroic pose to know what he say? He say the windows are before the battery of mirrors and said, “This is too dirty on the bridge, so he like to stay in the my bunk, gents! Take a burden away from your tail and watch the scenery. He likes scenery.” feet and sit down.” Jones’ shout drowned out my groan. “What We sank down. There was a huge, circular does he say about landing the ship?” couch in the center of the room, and wherever “I must find this out,” replied the general, one sat, he was constantly faced by a reflection energetically. Again he spoke to the captain. in our case, by bewildered Again the captain replied with a tirade, fin- that stared back at him ; reflections. ishing with a flourish and showing his tongue. “Nize, cozy joint, hey?” said the general, The general turned back to us. “You want to know happily. what he say? He say I have been going with his “Yezz,” said Jones. sister too long, and his mother say I should marry All I said was: “What’s that?” Meaning the her.” sounds I heard of ports being closed, and a sudden “But what about the ship?” Jones bellowed. rush of air that indicated locks shut. “He don’t talk about the ship.” Cheroot “We are off!” cried Cheroot. shrugged, helplessly. “He don’t like her, so he He plumped down on the couch before the ship don’t talk about her.” He gestured with his hands could roll him off his feet. The deck lurched, and again and sighed, “Sometimes I decide he is nuts.” somewhere, something made of metal buckled and snapped. A horrible, ear-splitting roar, then an- Maybe this sounds funny now, but as Captain other, and I knew by then what Cheroot meant. Castle would say, believe me, it wasn’t then. It I knew it from the heavy pressure against my was like beating one’s head against a pliable chest and the ache in my ears. We had blasted wall, and the wall kept contracting, closing in. I into space. felt that I had to remember to keep breathing or As soon as the ship righted itself, Jones gasped, I would stop. And Jones must have felt the same “General, we can’t undertake a trial run until we’re way. He had quieted down, as if to take firm hold sure she’s spaceworthy!” of the remnants of his sanity, and he looked from “But that is a surely,” the general gayly re- the ball of perfumed meat that was the general to sponded. “I have many times employed her on the apparition that was the captain. Then, with- excursions. Come, I exhibit the controls.” out a word, he turned to the controls himself and There was nothing to do but follow him. We began to manipulate them, trying each of the con- swung up to the bow where the bridge was, and trol buttons in turn. there we were greeted by a sight that made our The ship made no response. Jones faced Cheroot blood congeal. Two of three braking stays, and said, very quietly, “How does this ship land?” twisted and shattered at some past date, had been “Land?” the general repeated. “Oh, to land! I repaired with a few unraveling strands of cheap begin to spot a mistake I have made.” He laughed twine. The gravity disk stood at .0003, a logical good-naturedly at himself. “All the time I think reading for a deep-sea expedition, and the naviga- you just want to go down, not to land. To answer tion wheels were performing a rumba. this question I do not require the captain. The I took one look and leaped to the amberglass answer is: we do not land until we depart at our ports. Far below, and still dropping away, was destination.” —

52 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

I said, “you mean ‘arrive’—not ‘depart,’ don’t “It is surely! Dimension peacock!” you, sir?’’ An interminable moment of silence dragged by. “The same difference,” Cheroot nodded. “If we Presently, Jones said, with fearsome sincerity, do not depart, we do not arrive. So let be your “General, at the peril of being an accomplice to way. We do not land now until we arrive at our the most masterly understatement of the last destination.” decade, I agree with Captain Castle. You’re the “You mean we’re already on our way?” Jones finest dementia I ever saw.” asked. “You mean this isn’t just a trial run? Not “How nize,” the general murmured. “What that even a trial run?” means, hey?” “It is a surely it is a trial run,” said the general, “It means that you’re a repellent mass of fetu- vigorously. “You are here because you have been lant putrescence. That means: The Man with the on trial at the court-martial, no? So, you are as- Soul Like an Angel. And now, the orders.” signed to this voyage! Yes, we are on our way!” “You are too nize,” the general laughed, and his “Where?” said Jones, breathing hard. several bellies rolled like some cadaverous sea “I do not know. The orders are seals.” anenome shaking itself. “Your Captain Castle, he “Sealed orders? Whose orders?” say when the time is come to unseal orders, for me “My orders.” to give you this letter. He say this letter is make “And you don’t know what they are?” I said, clear everything.” incredulously. Feverishly, “It is a surely I know!” the general cried, Jones grabbed the envelope which Cheroot crimson sash. happily. “But once I read some place that a navy produced from under his There folded sheets inside, one is always going to dangerous places under seals were two of them the official maroon of the Service. I read them orders, so I make seals ! And soon, when you have with Jones, trying to keep the words from spin- decide I am a peacock’s dimension, I unseal the ning head. orders for you, just like Captain Castle say.” with my “What was that last remark?” said Jones, swal- FROM: Admiral Stone, aboard Aurelia, Exotica Base lowing. “I thought I heard something about a HQ. peacock. Would you mind repeating that last FROM: Lieutenant-commander Castle; Captain Star statement in reference to unsealing orders?” Swallow, EBHQ. “You want to unseal the orders, Ensign Jones? TO : Ensign Richard Bascomb ; Ensign Fletcher Jones. Yes?” Proceed aboard flagship of Exotican Navy, gunboat “General Cheroot, I am dying to unseal the or- La Pochata Eggrimmaggratta, to planetoid Forelle, lo- ders. Yes!” cated in Ghort planetoid group. Upon arrival, you will “So you have decided I am the dimension of a take into custody Captain Littlejohn Place, who is under indictment fine peacock?” for murder and is wanted by the government of Exotica. You will deliver Captain Place to the Gen- “Mr. Bascomb,” said Jones to me, “did you hear darmery of Exotica upon your return. it, too?”

“Keep out of this,” I me said, hoarsely. The other piece of paper had two scrawled mes- Jones decided the only way he could stop his sages on it. One, in the handwriting of Captain hands from trembling was to put them into his Castle, said: pockets. “General,” he said, trying to control his voice, “you have the dimension of a fine herd of Remember the motto of the Academy: IT CAN BE buffalo. Now will you unseal the orders?” DONE. “Is too bad. Impossible to unseal orders. Im- Yours in romance, possible.” C. C. “Are you kidding?” Jones cried out. “You want P. S. Brackety-ax-co-ax! Haddock! to be a peacock? All right, you’re a peacock!” “Your Captain Castle also gave to The general nodded compassionately. “I am me a book and some mops,” the general was saying. afraid you do not understand,” he said. “I am “He say you will need them.” overhear what your Captain Castle is say to Lieu- tenant Haddock. He say by the time I am ready But I wasn’t listening to the general. I was to unseal orders—are you listening?—by the watching Jones. His face was the darkest white time I am ready for this, you must have decide I I had ever seen, and I knew why, because I knew am a fine dimension of a peacock. But since you what our orders meant, or thought I did. Possibly, have not decide yet, it is not time to unseal orders.” if I had really understood what was involved, I Jones looked at me, but I broke first. I sobbed would have and blubbered a little, and then I saw the wild What’s the use of talking? There was nothing I gleam of inspiration in Jones’ eyes. could have done, and I did nothing. I just fol- “General” he burst out. “Do you mean dementia lowed Jones back to the general’s couch and lay praecox?" down for a while. ”

PENANCE CRUISE 53

III. Well, there was more to it than that, but what was important to us was the alleged fact that But I learned, little by little. I compared what Captain Place had committed murder. The story I knew with what Jones told me, and I read the of that murder was as unreasonable as everything book that Castle had thoughtfully left—“A Short about the voyage had become. General Cheroot, History of the Ghort Planetoids.” And from the dining with us in the tiny wardroom next to his “mops,” which turned out to mean maps, and from private quarters, elaborated on this story. the frenzied intelligence which the general im- “I decide he is nuts,” said the general, devouring parted, I began to understand what our mission a pastry. “Captain Place is a total nuts. He live meant. with himself for three years. Maybe he make too I had only one doubt. “Captain Littlejohn much money. Maybe the quiet life is too much. Place,” I mused aloud, while read the book. Jones Anyway, I hear pretty soon he don’t like nobody suppose there could be two of them?” “Do you and he kill anyone he don’t like. You know “They would have met in a bloody duel and Captain Place.” killed each other,” Jones observed somberly. “No, “I don’t get it,” said Jones. “Not that I doubt there was only one Place. Haddock knew him. his talent for homicide, but he was supposed to be He said he was so tough he shaved with a heat a nice guy most of the time, and— gun.” “The case is close,” the general stated. “If a As I knew well enough. I discovered I knew hunter want to take the fire mounsters, Captain more than I thought, whenever I could summon Place have no right to stop them, even if he is boss up the courage to think about it. Place’s voyages of Forelle.” had provided more than one thrilling chapter in the textbooks I had used as a cadet. He had al- Which brought us again to the enormously in- most achieved the status of a legend, blasting a teresting dossier of facts concerning the fire mon- hundred trails through the System, and then he sters, culled from Dr. R. L. Andrews’ book, “Short had retired to a peaceful life, to a little planetoid History,” a lousy nine hundred fifty-four pages. named Forelle, in the distant, forsaken Ghort The Ghort group, as I said, had first achieved fame group. as the home of the^e monsters. Learned scholars Did I say peaceful? What I meant was profita- inclined to the theory that the group had once ble, though it was quiet enough, I imagine. In been a single body, which, as it broke up several the years while Tyuio was becoming a great trad- billion years ago, scattered the entire species ing center, Place had foreseen what would happen. among the group. The monsters were fifteen-ton The increasing traffic of liners and freighters that animals, supposedly capable of breathing fire on made the long Jupiter-Tyuio hop had naturally suitable occasions, and described as a cross between used a large part of their stowage for food and prehistoric dinosaurs and legendary dragons. water. Just about that time, Place, cashing in on In the years following discovery, many expedi- his merited reputation as a daring navigator and tions tried to make off with some of these mon- pioneer, was making bales of money escorting sters. The results were peculiar. Invariably, after scientific expeditions to the Ghort group, which the monsters had been lured into specially con- had become famous for its indigenous beasts, the structed vessels, large enough to transport them to fire monsters. Nosing around, Place chanced on the London Zoo, they died within a few days. More- Forelle, which alone among the entire group of over, immediately upon their death, decomposition planetoids possessed a sizable body of fresh water. set in at such a furious pace that scarcely a carcass He claimed Forelle, probably passing it off as remained by the time it had been brought back. frontier whimsy, and none of the governments near Nothing had ever succeeded in arresting this queer, the group—the nearest was Exotica, nine days perverse decomposition. away, and busy staging refined orgies for its tourist Dr. Andrews, in his factual dragnet, commented festivals—contested his acquisition. Wild, treach- on this in the following plaint: “It was as if a erous land, they assumed, inhabited only by fabu- bewildered Nature, having suffered the living ani- lous, fiery mammoths they had seen only in films mal to exist longer than any of its brothers in the

or museums—a suitable abode for Littlejohn Place. Universe, decided, upon its death, to hurry it to its No one apparently noticed that where Forelle lay original dust as quickly as it could, thus hoping to was almost halfway between Jupiter and Tyuio. hide the cosmic error.” With the result that soon afterward, the entire Well, the reconstructed specimens were worth Jupiter-Tyuio traffic was stopping at Forelle for enough to send a swarm of hunters after them. water, and buying provisions from Place at in- Again the results were startling. No one was able teresting prices. Now the liners and freighters to kill a fire monster. Possibly a gun of military could save half the stowage they had formerly de- caliber could have done the trick, but it would also voted to these necessities, and use the space for have destroyed the specimen. Nothing else worked. paying freight. Place adjusted prices accordingly. The monster had to be enticed aboard a ship large -

54 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

enough to house it, and shortly after the ship left come in a small ship and I see it have no place Forelle the monster died in its own way, presuma- for the mounsters.” bly of its own volition. “But how could he possibly have come after the After a decade or so of this practice, the fire monsters if he had no room for them?” said Jones. monsters became alarmingly scarce. An inter- After some prodding, it turned out that the planetary convention, while reaffirming the law general had personally spoken to the survivors of that the animals belonged to the public domain, the hunting party. They claimed that Ponteret enacted a clause forbidding the hunting of any had secured a revolutionary new preservative save adult specimens, offering a lengthy chart of which would enable him to bring back intact speci- weights and measurements. The last of the known mens, worth plenty. But to use the preservative, it adults had been killed about the time Captain Place was necessary to kill the monsters quickly, instead had taken Forelle, and the poor monsters, on the of waiting for them to die of whatever they died verge of extinction, had presumably drawn fiery from. that breaths of relief. “I suppose,” I asked, “that Ponteret had worked out, too? He knew how to kill these This was the curious background of the mission monsters?” which now stared us balefully in the puss, and The general nodded as he prepared to mangle a which understandably baffled Jones a bit. fresh pastry. “He have special bullets made. “Let me just try to get this straight,” said Jones. After he kill the mounsters, he stick in the new “This party of hunters discovered that there were presergative. Then he wait a few days and another two adult fire monsters on Forelle. They were ship, a big one, come for the dead mounsters.” within their legal rights in attempting to take “Hah!” Jones scoffed. “A likely story! Did them, but Captain Place shot their leader dead. you get to see any of these special bullets?” Right?” “Yes, I see one. Captain Place, he grab one of is surely.” “It a the hunters’ guns and kill Ponteret with it. The “Who was it?” I asked. “Anybody well known hunters bring back Ponteret’s body to Exotica and

among scientists?” the doctor is make an . . . an . . . how you say? . . . General Cheroot smiled broadly. “Oh, he was autopsy. Well, he take out this bullet which kill well known. It was this man Claude Ponteret.” him and I see it.” “ ?” What Jones directed his puzzled stare at me. I “But it is a surely I” shrugged. This was a strange development. Ponteret, who “Also,” said the general, “I have take along one had accumulated a tidy fortune through a variety hundred of this special bullets with me in this of shady enterprises, was hardly the man to have ship.” gone after such game. There was money in it, but “Really?” cried Jones, delighted. “May we see not enough. It was too dangerous a project, espe- them?” cially with Place around. “As soon as I am finish with this cake." “Well,” said Jones, “if it was Ponteret, there’s probably a question as to whether or not the mon- The general authoritatively dispatched his cake sters were adults. Not that it makes much differ- and produced a heavy wooden case, carefully ence," he added, thoughtfully. “Place had no right bound. The bullets were five-inch-long projectiles, to stop him, no matter what he did. But I still deadly, dull-gleaming blue-steel alloy. Apparently can’t see Ponteret investing in a special ship and they had been designed to pierce the armor of the equipment for the job.” monsters, but despite this specialized task they “He don’t have no ship,” said Cheroot. “He fitted into the breach of ordinary projectile rifles, PENANCE CRUISE 55 the kind used to shatter amberglass windows, and solute control of the mounsters !” of which the general had several. At this point, the captain of the ship, whose Jones balanced one of these heavy rifles in his name we had learned was Effluvio, appeared at the hands, as if he were weighing it, and his puzzled doorway to the general’s quarters, still attired in grimace returned. his natty oilskin coat. He stared at the general, “Odd,” he muttered, “that Place should use one suddenly began to babble at a prodigious rate, of Ponteret’s rifles to kill him. Why didn’t he use sighed, and wandered forlornly away. his heat gun, with which he is supposed to be a “You want to know what he say?” said the gen- fiendish marksman? Again, Place supposedly eral, taking it as a matter of course that we did. grabbed the rifle from one of the party, but how “He say he have been chewing a whole plug did he get that close to them? Assuming that tobacco and he swallow it. He don’t feel so good.”

Place did grab it, and swung it into firing position He laughed. before anyone could stop him, how did he escape And then, all at once, Jones and I were laughing the others? It seems to me that his activities with him. We had been completely overwhelmed should have produced more casualties.” by his story of Captain Place’s control over the fire

“Bloodthirsty reasoning,” I said, “but sound.” monsters, not only because if it had been true then “What’s more,” Jones added, “in view of the Place could easily have wiped out Claude Ponteret haphazard way this vessel is managed, doesn’t it and his whole company, but because the very strike you as queer that this blob of flaccid bull- stature of the idea had been too much to view all beef who commands it should have had the fore- at once. sight to bring along these bullets and rifles?” But Captain Effluvio’s appearance had changed Jones had taken to speaking in obscure or poly- things again, had returned us to the world of in- syllabic words when he wanted to keep General sane perspective, where nothing was what it Cheroot out of our conversations, with excellent seemed to be, where we had come to feel most results. comfortable. Here we had been talking to Cheroot “Let’s ask,” I said. “General, why did you bring as if he were a normal person. Effluvio and his these along?” plug-tobacco tragedy had saved us, reminded us “Because you will need them if Captain Place that we were in a madhouse, that everything we is get mad.” heard and saw had to be considered on its own “But we’ve got our heat guns,” I said, “and terms—the terms of General Cheroot, who, by they’re certainly more effective, if it comes to virtue of Captain Castle’s orders, was our superior that.” officer.

“But what you will do with the mounsters?” the Who was it first made that crack about method general demanded. “The heat gun she is no good in madness? for the mounsters.” IV. “What have the confounded mounsters got to do with this?” said Jones. “We’re going to keep That was our first day in free space, and the only away from the mounsters.” time we ever had a long conversation with General !” “But maybe they will not keep away from you Cheroot, though now and then I would hear Jones “The fire monsters never bothered anyone first,” addressing the general at considerable length. I said. Meeting him in a companionway, and forced to “Not these mounsters 1” cried the general, burst- retreat to where the general could pass, Jones ing into a wild fit of laughter. “Captain Place, he would smile gloomily and say, “Ah, there, you have the control of these mounsters! They do malodorous fungus, a mephitic plague upon you.” what he say!” He wagged a forefinger at us. He could continue indefinitely, fascinating the gen- “The mounsters is watch the water for him, and eral. if Place he say to kill, they chase and kill! Why But for the first time since I had known him, you think the gendarmery is bother to go after I could see that Fletcher Jones wasn’t the same Place?” the general inquired. “Because he is man. Something was burning in him, something murder Ponteret? No, no. That is a sad business, that gave him no peace. but it is the business of the fleet, not for us. It wasn’t just his job, either, though it nearly “But we go because since Place is kill Ponteret, drove him wild with grief. He was navigation he let no one land on Forelle any more. If they officer, and he plotted our course from a hopeless land, he send the mounsters after the ship, so tangle of outdated charts—two of the larger now, for three weeks, all ships is come to Exotica, charts had to be torn away from the chief en- and the beautiful towns is fill with drunken sailors. gineer, who had been using them to resole his shoes We want the ships to go back to Forelle, so we do —only to find, at his next reading, that Captain not wait for the fleet; we take Captain Place away Effluvio had let the ship drift completely off quick.” The general smiled a smile of pathos. course. Jones would sit down quietly, enter our “But, my nize officers, remember—he have the ab- new position in the log, and get us back through ” ” — ” — —

56 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION instinct and magic. Or the blasters clogged, and English, and the same message was coming over we had to repair them ourselves. You couldn’t get now. the crew. If they weren’t fighting or gambling, ATTENTION: FLAGSHIP, LA POCHATA EG- smoked some vile weed, after they got together and GRIMMAGGRATTA, EXOTICAN NAVY: WHY and be im- which they would sleep, six in a bed, DONT YOU ANSWER? STANDING BY. EBHQ. possible to rouse. Or the fuel compartment But there’s no sense continuing. Jones took it And we couldn’t answer. Someone had taken all and was ready for more. Then, on the seventh the AV transmitter apart, wrecked it completely. day, something happened that I thought had finally We woke up Captain Effluvio and began a search broken him down. of the ship, to no avail. The AV man was gone. Late in the afternoon, far off beyond our vision’s “Wake up the general,” Jones mumbled, stunned horizon, our instruments picked up a ship. For an by the disaster. hour she kept coming closer, and then, briefly, she flashed before us and was gone. She was a ship We didn’t have to wake the general. He was from the fleet, a slender, fiercely beautiful gray sitting in his quarters, enveloped in electric-green destroyer, undoubtedly executing a scouting as- pajamas, spraying himself with perfume, and with signment during the war games. We never got her him was our AV man—and our AV man was work- name; she was too far off and too soon gone for ing over the motor he had taken from our trans- that, but she had seen us, and she shot out a single mitter. He had attached it to four crude blades white rocket in salute. and fastened the whole contraption to the overhead Jones stood on the bridge and stared at that in the room. salute a long time. He seemed very tired, and “Why you make a fuss?” the general smiled at when he looked at me, somehow it seemed to me us. What with the color scheme and the over- that I knew what he was going to say. powering odor, he was like some hideous flower. “Forget it,” I said. “There’ll be other times. “This nize fellow is take out the motor and make And I don’t mind being here with you,— really I me a fan. Is too hot in this place.” don’t. The games meant nothing to “A fan! A fan!" Jones shouted, beside himself. “No, I can’t forget it,” said Jones, wearily. “It “This fermented squash disembowels our trans- isn’t only you, Dick. It’s this whole abominable mitter to make himself a fan!” mess. When I think of what’s waiting for us on The general seemed undismayed. He reached

Forelle, if we ever get there—when I look around for a book from one of the shelves and opened it. this foul tub—when I think of what we’re in, and “But why you need it?” he murmured, absently. the other fixes I’ve been in, a kind of despair gets “We know where we have to go, what we have to — I me ” He hammered his hands together and do. If something important is happen, they tell turned away. I couldn’t listen to him talking that us. We say nothing. You know the remark: way.— “Lord, what a mess,” Jones sighed. “If Keep Quiet Is Gold?” And he pored through the only volume. “If only what?” I said, quietly. “Tell me about “Spare me the epigrams, buffoon!” Jones roared. it.” “We want that—•” “If only we had a couple of dames aboard,” “Oh, mamma,” I said, and one of my hands came Jones sighed again. “What’s the matter?” up—spontaneous levitation, as I recall it—and “Swallowed wrong,” I choked. pointed to the book the general held. So Jones sat down and gazed pensively through “It is a surely,” Cheroot nodded. “I have here the stained amberglass. He was too worn out to a dictionary.” sleep, and he frequently shared my watch, but now, momentarily, he seemed relaxed at last. Watching The pages turned gently as he spoke. “For a the utterly fatigued smile that occasionally came long time I wait to have you in the same place to his lips, I wondered in what Elysian fields his with this dictionary. Most times I am forget the

mind was gamboling. As if I didn’t know. Pres- words too quick . . . ah squash! And here, buff— ently he wandered out, down the companionway. How many foofs in buffoon? Well, look what I find here! You remember buffalo? Very inter- Suddenly I heard him yelling. I ran aft to the — signal room, and I was frozen by the sight before esting me. There, lying on the deck, was the remains of He closed the book and chuckled. “Is so nize half the AV communications system, and our AV when people is understand each other, hey?” He operator, who hadn’t reported for an hour, nowhere regarded us warmly, his eyes sparkling with un- in sight! abashed fondness for us. In the gloomy silence “Look at this!” Jones yelled. The AV receiver that followed, Jones leaned back against the door had started chattering and he pulled out the over- and ran his fingers through his hair with a cer- long scroll. He had received messages in every tain desperate calmness. “Well,” said Cheroot, code, in six languages including Exotican and presently, “why you don’t say something?” ” —

PENANCE CRUISE 57

“Got nothing to say,” said Jones. “Not while V. you have that dictionary.” We raised Forelle three days later. “But I see you do not understand me,” said the Early in the morning we had come upon the general, smiling. “You think I am mad at you?” outlying bodies of the Ghort group. There were He tossed the dictionary across the room to Jones. more than a hundred of the little planetoids, lying “Here, for you. For me this is most educational. in the sky like bright islands. We skimmed over forget the whole thing! What has happen We them slowly, checking their topography, and by is water in the britches!” afternoon we found Forelle. Frankly, the events of the past few moments Forelle was an imperfect globe, with a diameter had affected me to the point where I had personal of no more than forty miles. Its hilly, uneven reasons for admiring this image, as well as the ground was covered with brilliant green forests general’s strange forbearance. But not Jones. Not and lush vegetation, and facing the sun was its Ensign Fletcher Jones, the melancholy scourge lake, a clear white diamond set in emeralds. There of the spaceways. He stood there in a funk, star- had been no sign of life anywhere in the group ing a little wild-eyed at Cheroot. Finally he and there was none here, but not far from the spoke. lake was a sandy stretch of earth marked by the “You going to give us that motor?” said the deep characteristic gashes of blasting ships, pre- scourge. sumably the spot where ships had landed to take “No,” said the general, casually. “I am the boss on water. of La Pochata. I will keep the fan. Is too hot in was standing between me and Effluvio, this place. Good night.” Jones our approach. hadn’t had more than Later, sitting in this signal room with Jones, gauging He hours’ sleep on each of the last three days, listening to the receiver chatter away, I said, “Why two bringing the ship through dangerous short routes didn’t you mention the handy information con- and uncharted areas, handling her fatigued hulk tained in Article 12 of the Navigation Code?” “What about Article 12?” with the consummate skill and finesse of a swords- man, parrying the rush of a liner, now ripost- “Nothing, except that it says this: ‘Vessels in now ing a clear area. But with Forelle below, shook transit, unable either to receive or transmit via he Audi Visor, shall immediately return to their port off weariness. of origin, unless they have already traversed more “Coming in,” said Jones. “All hands to than half the distance to such ports where repairs Sorry, I forgot where I was. See if you can get may be made, or unless adequate repairs are possi- the crew to hang on to safety belts.” ’ ” ble within twelve hours en route— “They’re asleep,” I said. “I tied them to their “So what?” said Jones. “We could make ade- beds.” quate repairs in an hour if the general returned The landing was going to be quite a business, the motor, couldn’t we?” not only because the available space was fairly “But you know damn well he won’t return it!” small, and our ship its usual sluggish self, but “That hardly alters matters much. If our su- Effluvio alone seemed to know how to manipulate perior officer wants to keep repairs from being the control board. Wrapped in his oilskins, he made, that’s his business. This is one time I’ve peered through his goggles at Jones and com- got the orders right by the— Anyway, we’re go- mented on each signal with a moan. He touched ing to stick to the exact letter of the orders. the control buttons gingerly, as if he were afraid We’ll go on to Forelle.” they might explode. It was a thought worth con- “Are you kidding? Do you want to keep going?” juring with. He looked at me with mocking eyes. “It is a The general chose this moment to arrive. surely,” he said. “Hey!” he cried, enthusiastically. “Why no one “But why?” is tell me? I, the general of the boat, is land the Jones lit a cigarette and threw me the pack. boat myself!” “I’ll tell you why,” he said, taking a deep drag. “Back in your cage,”— said Jones, tersely. “Ef- “Because they sent us to bring back Captain Little- fluvio, will take her john Place. Because no one thought it important “But I am the general!” enough to check the cockeyed story behind it. Jones turned his attention to the amberglass in Because they stuck us into this suicidal tub, with time to wave Effluvio into a frantic climb. The no crew and no instruments and no sane officers. blasters spluttered and a row of treetops came up Because when I try to sleep I remember Captain and smashed against our bow. A mile ahead our Castle’s remarks about the court-martial’s gener- landing space loomed. osity, and I hear everyone of those Gold Stripes The general barked an order to Effluvio, and laughing— That’s why, come hell or high water, the captain immediately removed his goggles and we’re going on to Forelle to get Captain Place and abandoned the board. bring him back!” “Hold those controls!” Jones shouted. ” — ” !

58 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“I am the general!” Cheroot shouted back, and and continued rolling until he came to the begin- before we could attempt to stop him, he was at ning of a hillock. Even before he had stopped the board. Then, like a steamroller smoothing out rolling, members of the crew jumped out of the a gravel road, he rolled his splendid circumference ship to follow their general. Each of them was across the control board, pressing every button! armed with a whiskbroom. When they reached The ship roared in anguish, gave up the struggle Cheroot, he was standing impatiently, wheezing and slid neatly to earth. It landed not fifty feet and waiting to be brushed clean. The entire opera- from where Jones had been aiming. tion took about a minute. “Is nothing,” the general chortled. “I am the “He got out,” I said. general. I am all the time land La Pochata this “A shrewd observation,” said Jones, crawling way.” away. It was a considerably older Jones who mur- “Where we going?” mured, “Sure,” in a voice of demented misery. “Look around a bit—observation tour, sort of.” We went aft, armed ourselves with heat guns, “What about the fire monsters, in case— opened the air lock and stepped out on Forelle. “I prefer ’em to this.” So I sneaked after him into the tall grass while It was lovely, lovely to be alive and to be there. the whiskbroom brigade was still busy with the Luxuriant grass, three feet high, myriads of general. We climbed the hill and looked around. strange, delicately perfumed flowers, birds that had The lake lay to our left, while on our right rose evidently been imported from many places, a soft, a towering line of trees. The rolling country cool breeze; I took a grateful breath and I could stretched ahead, mounting gradually to a high almost feel the cobwebs in my head blowing away. stone peak. Halfway up the sides of this miniature The earth was as soft as a bed, I thought, and so mountain stood a long, low rambling structure of thinking, I looked carefully at Jones. At an ap- spurious Mexican architecture, formidably pro- preciably younger Jones, I might add. His eyes tected on three sides by huge stone outcroppings. were like embers. He caught me observing him The fourth side lay open, with a steep, winding and he sighed. path leading up from the far shore of the lake. “So?” he said. —“Let me dream my beautiful, When I had finished surveying the scene impossible dreams through binoculars, Jones summed it up thus; “Indeed,” I grunted, turning to the commotion “We can’t get to Place’s house except by circling from the ship. “See what you can do with this the lake and taking that path up. If we start impossible dream—the general wants to get out of walking toward the house, we’ll be exposed all the the ship.” way. On the other hand, we’re in uniform, and I The general was standing before the lock, the don’t think Place would try anything unless we lock that was some two feet too small for him did—so I’m for a try at talking to him. You with to pass through, and he was hurling orders at the me?” drowsy crew. “I’m behind you,” I said. “Lead on.” “How will he do it?” I mused aloud. “He needed a long run to get wedged in, and a platoon of sol- We had gone about half a mile, refusing to be diers to push the rest of him through. Still, he disarmed by the apparent serenity of the country, What’s that sound?” when the silence was torn apart by a high-pitched, There was a hissing noise coming from the ship. whistling noise. The general had pressed himself against the lock, Jones and I hit the ground together. We knew filling it completely, making the entrance per- what that noise was—the sound of a heat gun! fectly air-tight. He kept pressing closer as the We lay rigid a moment, then Jones took his hissing increased, his face red with exertion, look- binoculars and swept the near horizon. He stopped ing like a wad of gummy substance that someone when he faced the house, another half mile away, had pushed into a leak. and passed me the glasses. “I know what they’re doing!” Jones cried, his Standing on the veranda of the house, one leg fascinated gaze on the general. “They’ve closed swung up on an ornamented rail, was a tall figure the lock behind him—and they’re pumping air clothed in green. The green was a suit of fighting into it!” armor, heat-proof, bulky, clumsy-looking, anjJ “I don’t get it.” damned effective. On his head, the green-clad

But I did within ten seconds, because suddenly figure wore a dull, tubular helmet. But it was there was a loud, popping explosion and General what the figure held across his knees that inter- Cheroot flew out of the ship! They had fired him ested me most. It was a slender, murderous heat- out of the lock with compressed air! He flew for ray rifle, probably the Webley Express rifle, some twenty feet, arms flailing the air, head tucked though I couldn’t be sure. I focused the glasses away in such fashion that he seemed to be a mar- a little better—in time to see the rifle coming up velous winged tortoise, landed on his shoulders, I gasped a warning to Jones and ducked my ” ”

PENANCE CRUISE 59 head, and the next instant the high whine of the put the maroon sheet, together with Place’s note, gun came over and the ground around us began back under the stone. “We’ve got to plan a course to leap up in tiny spurts. I knew then that we of action,” he said, thoughtfully. were positively dead pigeons, but coincident with “Sure thing,” I said. “What are we hanging that first frozen instant of alarm, I saw that Place around here for?” hadn’t tried to hit us. He had fired his rifle all We looked back at the house again for a moment, around us, inclosing us with a circle of scorched but Place was gone. earth—as gaudy a display of shooting as I had ever seen. Twilight caught us halfway back, and by the “Very gaudy,” I said, exhaling. time we had reached the ship, it was quite dark. “Very funny,” Jones muttered. In this strange hush of sudden evening, we heard We waited a few minutes, then stood up. Im- only those certain sounds to which eleven days mediately the rifle sang out again, kicking up a with the crew had accustomed us—their sonorous spray of gray dust some ten yards to our right. snoring. They were all huddled together, fast We didn’t know it then, of course, because we had asleep around an open, blazing fire in the clearing. dived back to the ground, but after a while, with We had been gone less than two hours, but, the rifle regularly hitting the same spot, we looked somehow, in that time, they had managed to stage

up and saw it. a barbecue. Close by the fire lay a pile of roast “You think it’s a signal of some kind?” I said. bones, sizable monument to their bacchanal. In Jones nodded and started edging toward the the center, his hands clutching a jug of wine, lay

spot, and the shooting stopped ; it had been a signal our guide and mentor, the estimable General after all. There on a flat rock, weighted by a Qheroot, snoring and belching like a captive vol- smaller stone, lay a white sheet of paper. The cano. edges of the flat rock had been peppered away “Where do you suppose they got this kind of into that fine dust we had seen. food?” said Jones, almost plaintively. “These On the paper was a single, flowing line: bones are enormous.” “Maybe they ate one of the crew,” I ventured. Forelle is private property. Get off. “And don’t look at me that way. You said your- L. P. self you thought they drank the fuel.” “You know,” said Jones, “as cockeyed as we “Short and sweet,” said Jones, scowling. “Got think this whole business is, it’s even more cock- a— Never mind, I’ve got one.” He pulled a small, eyed than that— stubby pencil out of a pocket, and from his large He was still pondering when he came out of breast pocket he took out a folded maroon sheet. the ship again, with some food and stale water. It was our orders from the admiral and Captain He munched the suetty meat he pried out of a Castle, instructing us to take Place into custody can and stared into the fire, deeply troubled. and bring him to Exotica. “I dunno,” he muttered. “I can’t figure this Jones wetted the pencil, and in a bold script, voyage out. Basically, this is a reasonable world. wrote across the face of the maroon sheet: Things just don’t happen the way— Anyway, not Leaving within twenty-four hours. You’re invited. the kind of things we’ve seen—cockeyed, all right, Fletcher Jones, USICS. but before it’s finished, I’m going to find some an- swers if I have to—” His head was nodding now, “ He held the pencil out to me, and I signed my his —eyes closing. —even more cockeyed than name under his, misspelling it, for some reason. that ” he said, and then he was asleep. “That’ll show him,” I said, hoping what I had on I finished eating and covered him with a blanket my face was a reckless grin. “Meanwhile, let’s go that I yanked out from under the crew. The Forel- back. My stomach feels kind of empty and I want lean night would last a brief six hours. Jones was to find out if I’m hungry.” worn out, more than he knew, and I would stand “There’s nothing— to be frightened about,” said watch until morning. I didn’t know how safe it Jones. “I hope was, sleeping in the open this way, but I felt that “You take care of your knees and I’ll take care if there had been any danger, Jones wouldn’t have of mine,” I said. fallen asleep. That was the way I’d gotten to feel “He can’t stand watch forever, you know,” said about Jones. Jones. Anyway, I got another blanket away from the “What about the fire monsters?” crew, wrapped myself in it, and sat close to the “What about them? You don’t see them, do fire. After a while, I heard Jones snoring along you?” with the others, a talented performer in the sym- “I can hardly see you,” I said. “I got a mist over phonic orchestra that surrounded me. both eyes.” It seemed as if long tongues of fire had de- Jones favored me with a reproachful glance and tached themselves and floated away to the edge of ”

60 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION the clearing. The curling streamers of light ap- that Cheroot had given us about Place and his peared in midair, to hang an instant and wither control of the monsters was true. The huge ani- away, and suddenly lashing out again in fierce new mals kept a docile pace with him, shielding him life, feeding on the air alone. from any chance of surprise attack. Then Captain Place came walking stealthily into They stopped when they came to the nearest the clearing. The whips of fire thirty feet over shore of the lake. The faint haze of a moon below his head came from the nostrils of two tremendous the horizon, which had covered the landscape with animals whose bulk loomed vaguely in the uneven a blush diffused light, grew brighter now; the shadows, whose eyes were sparkling red-hot globes first of Forelle’s ten moons was coming up. We that seemed fixed on the tall, armor-clad figure who lay on the ground and saw Place continue on had stood between them, and who now drew closer around the lake, accompanied by one of the mon- to me. Fire flashed fitfully in the air, and fire sters. The other stayed behind, and presently it gleamed dully on the green armor as Place care- began to patrol the lake shore, moving ponderously fully came forward. In one hand he carried his along for a few hundred yards, then swinging rifle, swinging it easily. about and walking the other shore. He stopped not ten feet from me, surveying the The second moon came up, the third, very sleepers. He must have thought I was asleep, too, swiftly, and still we lay there. After a long while, from the relaxed way I was lying. Once, as his the house on the mountainside came to life. Lights searching eyes swept over those before him, I felt flared in three of its windows, then two of them our glances had met. I could almost see through went off, and not longer afterward the house was his clouded helmet, and, somehow, I knew that his dark again. eyes were cold and hard, though, of course, it was As if it had been a signal, the beast near us left too dark and his helmet was frosted too deeply for off its crescent-shaped patrol and continued along me to see much. the lake to the far shore, where the pathway lead- His free hand dipped into the gauntlet of the ing to Place’s house began. The second monster, rifle hand and came out with a crumpled ball of waiting there, relinquished its post to start cir- paper. He walked past me, and though I closed cling the lake in turn. my eyes, I knew he was looking at me. When I Jones turned to me with haggard eyes. “I looked again, he was standing over Jones. His wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t —seen it. He’s rifle was at ready, set in the crook of his elbow. tamed them sufficiently to have them For an interminably long minute he just stood He broke off as the beast slowly approached. there, looking down at Jones. Then he bent over There was light enough to see it fairly clearly and dropped the ball of paper on Jones’ chest, now. Serpentine head swayed slowly from side inside the blanket. to side as it searched its environs. The light threw Before he left, he walked to where our ship lay. the spines along its back into jagged relief, and After a brief examination, he turned, crossed the its great, horny scales shone like polished steel. clearing again, and disappeared into the darkness As it lumbered past us, its tail threw up a furrow between the two fire monsters. in the sand. For several moments longer, I continued to lie When we had started back, Jones asked, “Were quietly. The earth under me trembled ever so you awake all the time he was in the clearing? slightly; the thin orange flames receded from the What do you suppose he came for?” clearance. Then, as I started crawling toward “I don’t know,” I said. “I looked up and there him, suddenly Jones sprang to his feet. Motioning he was, and those damned things with him. Wait me to silence with a finger on his lips, he ran into a minute—he dropped this paper into your blanket the ship. I picked up the crumpled ball of paper while he was looking at you 1” that had fallen from his blanket and waited. Jones “Looking at me? When was this?” came out with two heat-ray rifles and thrust one “He took a look at me, too, but he went by and at me. He jerked his head in the direction Place took a really long look at you. I had my hand on had taken and we started to follow. my pistol all the while, but he could have finished you for all the good I was. You didn’t see him?” We went on for a quarter of an hour in silence, “I must have wakened after that. First I knew and then we were no more than a hundred and fifty he was standing beside the ship. Why didn’t he yards behind Place. Or, I should say, behind one kill all of us then and there?” He smoothed out of the fire monsters, for, unbelievable as it seemed the crumpled ball and held it up. It was a sheet to us, Place and the fire monsters were walking in like the first one we had found, and the hand- single file—first, one of the monsters, then Place, writing was the same. Jones read: then the other monster. And even if Jones had wanted to take a close-range shot at Place—and I Whatever your game is—you have until tomorrow would have staked anything that he had no such night to get off or get buried. idea—it was impossible. Somehow, the nonsense L. P. ” ” —

PENANCE CRUISE 61

“Getting to be quite a correspondence,” said glasses!” he shouted in anger. Jones, thoughtfully. “Knock off, general,” said Jones, picking up his “What does he mean by that word ‘game’?” helmet. “Did you take a look at those fire mon-

“I don’t think he believes we’re . . . ah . . . officers sters of yours standing at the lake? How do you of the law,” said Jones, slowly. “Certainly he’s expect us to get Place with them around?” acting as if he didn’t know what it was all about. “What have the looking glasses to do—” He Maybe that’s why he gave La Pochata the once- broke off abruptly and swallowed. “Mounsters?” over. One look at those rusty plates and he knew he gasped. “You have seen the mounsters?” His she wasn’t from the USICS— head nodded automatically with Jones, and he “Then why is he acting the way he is acting?” wheeled around and pushed his way out of the “Huh?” said Jones, lost in thought. “Yeah, ship, crying, “Mounsters by the lake!” that’s it—but it still doesn’t add up. Those mon- We adjusted out gauntlets, strapped the heat- sters of his were adults, all the same. We’ll have ray rifles on, and followed him. The entire crew to get at him in spite of those monsters—huh? was standing on the hill with him, all of them You say something?” gazing apprehensively into the distance. Hearing “You’re the one who said something—and I mean the clatter of the mirrors as we began to pick something ! How are we going to get around those them up, the general turned around and waddled monsters?” down the hill to us, the crew streaming after him. “Hm-m-m,” said Jones, staggering a little from “Where you are taking my looking glasses?” he fatigue. “Huh?” shouted. “Put down! We leave this place after We got back to the ship without further talk- breakfast!” ing. The general and his crew hadn’t stirred. “But what about Place?” I said, bewildered. Jones sat down near the embers of the fire, reading “Don’t you want to bring him back?”

Place’s note again, as if he were fascinated by it. “Never mind Place! Is a job for the Fleet with He sat there, hm-m-ming to himself and frown- the mounsters?” ing, and fighting to stay awake. And when at last “But you knew the monsters were here!” I ex- he fell asleep, he mumbled and tossed, the frown claimed. “Is still etched on his forehead, the note still in his . one thing to know! Is another thing to hand. see!” I watched the moons come up. “Yeah,” said Jones, dryly. “You weren’t by any chance figuring that the monsters would scare us, too, were you? Well, they haven’t. We’ve got a VI. plan to get them out of the way.” J Early next morning, Jones and I stood on a hill “A plan?” said the general, subdued a little. and saw the fire monsters, still standing guard at “What plan?” the lake. We could see their immobile reflections We explained the plan to him. We were going in the water, gray against gray, and the dawn to take the mirrors into the forest, advancing behind them. And because I had no alternative parallel to the lake. We would then set up the suggestions, I said nothing after Jones had finished mirrors in a semicircle on the wood’s edge, so that outlining what I considered an implausible plan, it reflected the lake. Then, through some ruse and went into the ship with him. which we would presently figure out, we would

“Let’s get it done before the general gets up,” maneuver the monsters close enough to the mirrors said Jones. “I hate to think what he’ll say.” So to confuse them. If everything went according we began taking apart the mirrors that formed the to plan, the monsters would remain on guard over bulkheads of the general’s quarters. There were the mirrored lake fifteen of them, measuring about three by six feet. “Not with my looking glasses!” cried the gen- We stacked them up in the air lock and went back eral. “ to dress. —and that’ll give us enough leeway to try “You know,” I said, climbing into the metallic sneaking up the mountain path to Place’s house,” tunic, “I’ve been thinking it’s funny that all the Jones finished. fighting equipment aboard seems to come in pairs, “Oh,” said the general, and was silent. He puck- no more and no less. Two heat-ray rifles, two ered his face up and added, “You are going to pistols and two suits of armor. Suppose we fight Place with the guns?” wanted someone— “He’s good,” said Jones, “but we have two guns

“My looking glasses ! Who has take out my nize to his one.” looking glasses?” cried the general, storming into “Hm-m-m,” said the general softly. “Is a nize the ship. We ducked down lower in the signal plan.” ^ room and continued putting on our armor, and “I don’t agree with you, general,” I began. “For soon enough, Cheroot found us there. “Ah-hah! one thing, if it fails, you won’t have any navigation So you revenge for my fan with the looking officer to get you home.” — ”

62 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“The dangers of the military life," Cheroot “Maybe these monsters know they’re mirrors,” I shrugged. “I am prepare to make the sacrifice. ventured, mopping my brow. You will have breakfast with me?” “They know something,” said Jones sourly, “and We sat around the fire and had breakfast with my guess is that Place is going to wait until our him. The bones of the previous night’s feast had time is up and then wham!" disappeared, and we made no comment. During “Our time is up?” the general caught up Jones’ the meal I had an inspiration. I remembered the words. hundred-odd special steel bullets that the general “He left us a note last night while you were had brought with him, and it occurred to me that asleep,” said Jones grinning at Cheroot. “Said he’d they might have special nuisance value, if nothing kill the lot of us if we didn’t—clear out by tonight. else, in maneuvering the monsters about. The But we’re not going to wait general, politely agreeing with us, brought the “No!” the general shouted, getting to his feet. bullets to us. “We are not going to wait! The plan is stink! He even got the crew to help us transport the We leave right now! Take back my looking mirrors, and after breakfast our caravan started glasses !” He shouted orders at the crew in Exoti- through the forest. Peering now and then through can, and they started hopping around, getting the outermost fringe of trees, we caught glimpses ready to rush out for the mirrors. of the monsters. Occasionally one of them made Jones got up slowly, one hand on his rifle, and a tour of the lake, but for the most part they if they didn’t understand his words, the gesture grazed. The general marveled at the jets of flame was enough. “I’ll fry the first one who touches that issued from their mouths now and again, those mirrors,” he said, “and I’m the guy to do it.” flame that traveled twenty feet. “You read that some place,” I muttered, under “What do they eat?” he asked. “Somebody my breath. knows?” Jones covered up his grin with his helmet. “Garlic,” said Jones. “According to Dr. Lao’s “Come on,” he said to me. “We can’t just sit here researches on the chimera, these fire monsters have all day. Let’s try the bullets.” no provision for disposing of waste matter, so they We started for the monsters and stopped when burn it up instead.” we were five hundred yards away, well within range of a heat-ray rifle. We had covered our Finally we reached a position which I judged mouthpieces, and communicating by signal, we got was just beyond the range of a heat-ray rifle. The down on one knee and replaced our heat capsules crew backed away while Jones and I adjusted our with the steel bullets. helmets, leaving only the mouthpiece open. Then, I fired first. The sound of that bullet was some- completely clad in armor, we came out of the thing close to an admiral’s salute. The gun kicked woods and stood up the first mirror, backing it back and sent me sprawling, and just as I was with forked boughs. We set the angle and went getting up, Jones let his gun go and the sound in for the next mirror, and when we came out, waves, ricocheting off the mountain, knocked me Captain Place was standing on the veranda of his flat again. There was enough explosive in each house. shell to parcel out and make a revolution. I looked at him through binoculars, and before I peered through my helmet into Jones’ and saw, I got them focused, Jones snatched them away. from what I could make out of his expression, that “He’s in armor, dammit,” said Jones. he had come to respect the bullets. But only in “What’d you expect?” I said. “Pajamas?” this limited capacity, because they hadn’t even

“He’s looking at us through binoculars, too,” been noticed by the monsters ! One of them shook said Jones. its head, looked around until it saw us, let out a I waited a few minutes, then I said, “What is sheet of flame, and continued eating vegetables. this—a mutual-admiration society? Let’s get busy And there was Place again, sitting on the rail- before he sends his friends over to break this up.” ing of his house, rifle across his knees, as unper- “If he does,” said Jones, “duck behind the turbed as his beasts. mirrors.” We got all the mirrors up within the next hour, Jones waved me forward, and we got up and then we went back into the woods and waited. went in another hundred yards. Maybe the close Place hadn’t made many moves. Once or twice range would do it. We braced ourselves and let he went into his house, only to return and continue the guns go again. This time, before I fell, I saw a watching us. And the monsters continued grazing cloud of dust rise from one of the monster’s backs, like lambs. and my guess was that we had disturbed a colony Another hour went by, and I began sweating in of ants that had made a home there. Both the the armor. The monsters had come fairly close more monsters looked up this time and went back to than once, but not close enough. We monkeyed their eating with a single-mindedness that was with the angles of the mirrors and it didn’t help. reminiscent of the general. \ !

PENANCE CRUISE 63

Again Jones waved an arm for me to advance. These bullets are strong enough to tear through I shook my head, not to disagree, but because those monsters’ hides if we get close enough! If sound waves had sneaked into my helmet and my they can do that to one of these helmets, they’ll !” head damned well needed shaking, so Jones went go through the monsters on alone and I had to run to catch up. But he “Without me!” I yelled. “If you think— didn’t know I was so close behind him; he dropped “Shut up and listen! We’ll gather up some of quickly and fired from two hundred yards before these plants and grass the monsters eat, and we’ll I could get set. Anticipating the blast, I must stuff the salad full of these bullets. The monsters have gripped the trigger too tightly. My gun eat the bullets—and what happens?” went off ten yards behind Jones—and the next “I won’t know. I’ll be miles from here.” thing I knew, Jones had torn off his helmet and “The flames!” cried Jones triumphantly. “The he was running full tilt to the rear. flames will explode the bullets right inside them I took one look and I followed. The monsters Is that close enough?” were after us! We had finally aroused their in- I tried to keep protesting, but he had me. It terest, but too suddenly and too well. was a brilliant idea, one of a long line of Jones’ Ahead of us the crew and General Cheroot came brilliants, with a tragic trail behind most of them. tearing wildly out of the woods, the safest place “No,” I said feebly. for miles around, plunging into the tall grass in “You mean you’ll let these monsters win out their panic. I was still a little deaf from the over us?” thunder of the guns, but I heard enough to spur “Who says they won? We’re all alive yet. It’s me on. Jones was shouting for them to return a draw.” and they were screaming Exotican prayers, and The general groaned and opened his eyes, and I think I was asking Jones to wait for me. And Effluvio stopped his wailing. Jones looked down then, all at once, over this horrendous noise, over at the general, then he said to me, “He’ll be here the roaring of the monsters, a shrill whistle tore the for a while yet. Let’s go finish this off.” air, and, abruptly, the ground stopped shaking. So back we went to finish the monsters. It took Place had called off the monsters! us fifteen minutes to cover the ground we had There was no other explanation; there could forsaken in three and a half. Captain Place had have been none other. We realized that later, how- come down part of the way along the mountain, ever. At the moment, initial velocity alone threat- and he was sitting on a boulder, scrutinizing us ened to keep us running for days. I overtook through his glasses. There was no sign of his Jones, and together we caught up to the general, rifle, and I commented on it to Jones. who was being pushed along by the crew. And “I don’t know,” Jones said, not bothering to when we turned to see where the monsters were, close the mouthpiece. “He could have blown my we saw that they had resumed eating. head off when I took off my helmet. One thing is At this point the general collapsed, and I nearly certain—either he’s got other plans, or the stories did the same thing when I took a look at the about him never killing in cold blood are true. helmet Jones held up for me. My bullet had left Or—” a deep dent near the top of his helmet. Jones “Or what?” kept looking from me to the helmet, then finally “I don’t know,” said Jones, with an oddly be- he sat down in the midst of that group of panting, mused quality in his voice. “Let’s start making fear-stricken Exoticans and blew out his breath. salads. Bunch them up, like this.” “What a bullet!” he breathed. “If you’d been in any closer—” He jumped up and grabbed me We bunched up a dozen salads and started creep- !” by the arm. “I got it he said. “I got it ! Listen. ing closer to the monsters again. I closed my —

64 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

mouthpiece to keep my chattering teeth from much longer if Place hadn’t come. startling the animals, but I doubt if it made any Because when the destruction ended, there was difference. The monsters must have seen us after Captain Place, standing on the edge of the clear- a while—we were within a hundred yards of them ing, whistling to his monsters. And now, their —but they seemed placid enough. Then we threw rage ebbing, the monsters turned and walked out our bunches of food and started running back. meekly to him, and presently the trio was gone. They had seen the food. We came out of the ship then and looked at her. First one monster, then the other, approached We had only to look at the air lock to know that the bulky tangles of grass. Their little heads she could never blast off again. The rest of her swooped down and we could see the visible effort was battered, but, having had severe trials in her they made to swallow. They went on to the next day, she would have been all right—but not with bunch. that air lock. The monsters had broken the hinges Then it happened. One monster jerked his and pounded the lock out of shape. With our air head up suddenly and yawned, and, kicking up constantly escaping into space, we would face slow his forelegs, choked on his own flames. In a split death soon afterward. instant several muffled roars rolled out together, There was nothing to do now. We had failed. and bullets started shooting out in all directions! We would have to take down the general’s fan They plowed up the earth, they whistled around no objections would stop us now—and repairing our heads, and two bullets cracked against my the transmitter, send out a call for help. And chest armor with enough force to throw me back what Place would do, with us remaining past his several steps. It was a pitiful head start, but I deadline, was something to be faced later on. needed it. Meanwhile, the transmitter. The monsters weren’t dying at all. They erupted But when we went back in we couldn’t find the for another minute, but when they could keep general! We knew he was in the ship, but we their heads in position, the position pointed couldn’t find him! We searched his quarters directly at us. One of them took a tentative step and there we saw that our transmitter—and his fan toward us, stopped while a few more bullets shot —were gone. out, and started forward again. Jones’ face went hard. He began a systematic Well, it’s no secret, I guess. We ran. We’d search of the ship again, opening every door, run before, but this time we ran. We heard that peering into every closet. When he opened one shrill whistle behind us again, and it might have of the closets in the crew’s quarters, we found the been Captain Place, and it might have been the air general. And we found something else. billowing in our wake, but if it was Captain Place, the monsters weren’t paying any attention to him. It wasn’t an easy thing, seeing what we saw. They were rather single-minded, as I said before. Not after those first moments of confusion, after

The lucky part of it, or so I assumed at the time, we had figured it out. was that Cheroot and the crew hadn’t waited. Half of the crew’s quarters, more than half, was They had gone back to the ship, and even then we sheltering a concealed space craft. She was no would have reached the clearing before them, but more than twenty feet long, slim as a projectile, they heard us coming. Good Peter himself must glistening in the dark hold from the lights Cheroot have heard us coming! and Effluvio held. She might have been a raft, The general uttered one piercing wail and a launch, any one of the numerous emergency plunged for the air lock. He went in more than vessels a spaceship would hold, but she wasn’t; halfway, but no dam ever stopped a flood more she was a spaceship herself, fitted out to hold effectively. Ineffective waves of Exoticans beat three people. against him, screaming and pounding. And then We didn’t know this at first. When we entered Jones and I, never pausing, arrived like elemental the blind closet, the general spun around, and furies, sweeping through the crew, hitting the facing us with him was Captain Effluvio, and a general in one mighty surge that sent him tumbling man we hadn’t seen before among the crew. The in, the rest of the crew sucked in after us like man was small and dark, like all Exoticans, but he spray that settles on the sheen of a breaker. was neatly dressed in a pilot’s uniform, and his And after us the monsters arrived—before we face was furtive but intelligent. had had time to close the locks fully. They The general didn’t say anything when Jones stamped and pounded their mighty legs on the pushed past him into the small craft. He didn’t hinges, beating against the doors, smashing their try to stop Jones or me from going over every flanks on the ancient sides of La Pochata. They inch of her. hit the bow and the stern, they rocked the ship Jones spoke only once before he went back to again and again, roaring and flaming, and they Cheroot, and that was when he found the wires cracked the amberglass so many times it seemed that connected this smaller ship’s controls to the a miracle that it held—and it might not have held control board of La Pochata. He said: “You ” • ” ”

PENANCE CRUISE 65

remember the way the general landed the ship? old ship that had housed her and carried her to We had nothing to be afraid of. This pilot here this wilderness that would be the last resting was the one who really landed her.” place of La Pochata. The old ship had never Then he went out and said to Cheroot, “I see given up. Exhausted, battered, still strong—she why you didn’t care about the space-worthiness of would have taken us back if we had been able to the ship. You had this ace tucked all the time, seal her air lock effectively. and no matter what happened to us, three of you No, in the end it was we who had failed the ship. could always get away—you, Effluvio, and your I looked out across the plains of Forelle, wonder- pilot.” ing how long it would be before— That was when The general shrugged. He might have looked I saw Captain Place almost at the edge of the disinterested except for the fact that in his hands woods, where we had placed the mirrors. He was a heat pistol had materialized. He backed away alone, and I might not have seen him if the sun- while the pilot came over and gently removed our light had not reflected his brilliant, swift-moving holsters. We had left our rifles somewhere in the figure, outlined against the horizon far away. I ship. By now they were gone, too. raised my binoculars and watched him, and then “All right,” said Jones, quietly. “You’ll be I turned to Jones. It seemed odd, somehow. going soon enough. Just give us back that trans- “Place is out there again,” I said. “He’s taking mitter so’s we can call for— away one of the mirrors—

The general’s disappointed pout cut him short. Slowly, at first, Jones looked at me, as if he “Unfortunately, I destroy it,” he said. “I have no didn’t understand what I was saying. Suddenly use for the fan even when I take it, but I say to he snatched the glasses from my hands and swept myself, maybe will come a time when it will be in the horizon. I could see that tiny figure returning, the way. Some stories is better if no one hear. carrying the mirror he had taken. So I destroy it.” “Lord,” Jones muttered feverishly. He couldn’t

“But why?” said Jones, fighting to keep the pain stop his hands from trembling. “I was right . . . out of his voice. “Why did you do all this? What I was right—” he breathed, and he jumped to his made you bring us all the way out here on a mis- feet, his eyes blazing. “Listen to me,” he said sion you had no interest in? Why?” quickly. “Don’t ask any questions—there’s no “I see you still do not understand me,” said the time now. I’ve got to get there before it’s dark. general. “You think I have forget everything— There’s one thing you must do. Everything de- the things you do—that night in Exotica, the things pends on it. You’ve got to keep Cheroot from you say about me ” His little eyes glittered with leaving until I get back! Do you understand? a strange light, fearsome and vengeful. Hatred You’ve got to work it out! Keep him here until had made him eloquent, almost. “But I do not I’m back!” forget! I take you here not because I am interest “But how?” I said, half afraid of him, the way in Captain Place for the murder—that is the rea- he looked, and in sudden alarm I cried out, “Where son I give to your Captain Castle. My reason is are you going? You can’t— mine, '.take you here to do to you what you do “Keep him here!” said Jones. He held his hel- to me—to give you the pain you give to me. I met in his hand as he started running toward think later we come back together, but if not, I Place. know I come back alone.” Later, when the image of his flushed, eager face “But you can only take three people,” said returned to me, I didn’t know why I hadn’t run

Jones. “Even if I deserve this . . . leave me, but after him, dragged him back, somehow. He had what about the others—your crew?” gone out across the plains, unarmed, and I had “Not important,” the general smiled sullenly. looked after him until, in the gathering darkness, “I am the general. I leave you these people, these he was lost to the naked eye. ignorant, sleepy people. They do not understand I felt alone then, more alone than I had ever

these things. And now, get out. We are going.” felt before. As long as he had been with me, it had all seemed bearable. But now there were thoughts I didn’t dare think. He’ll come back, I VII. told my- self. It’ll wear off in time. This madness that We sat in the clearing and watched the small had seized him before I could do anything to craft emerge from the stern of La Pochata. It counteract it would pass; he would remember the had been carefully planned, from start to bitter people who were being left with him, remember finish. There were special sliding doors built into his responsibilities to them. He would come back the sides of the old ship, doors that had been to stay to the end, whatever it would be. camouflaged by the grime and rust of her age. I had to keep myself busy until then. That was And when, finally, the new vessel lay on the earth the answer. Activity, any kind of activity. Then beside La Pochata, shining in the sunlight that was I remembered what he had told me to do. There fading slowly, she seemed less beautiful than the was no meaning in it because there was no chance. 66 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Keep the general from leaving, he had said. Soon Finally the pilot attacked the valve section, and the general would be gone. He was supervising cried out in Exotican to Cheroot. the execution of one of his trumps even now. The general advanced toward me. “Where is the The pilot and Captain Effluvio had started tak- valve?” he said. ing out food from La Pochata, not the food on “What valve?” which Jones and I had lived, but the kind of “You understand— what I speak. The valve. The things of which we had found evidence the night one from ” A crafty smile lit up his face. He before; sides of beef, birds, venison, all well pre- pulled his pistol out and said, “Hold up your served, all taken now from the secret cache the hands! No, not this. Hold out your hands.” general’s foresight had provided. But he had no I held my hands out for him and tried to look more than started the transfer than the crew gath- puzzled. If he thought he was going to find the ered around and began talking among themselves, slightest trace of oil or grease on my hands, he their voices rising in conjecture and dismay. was sadly in error. “Well?” I said. His smile The general had destroyed the possibility of had long since faded. He turned away and shouted mutiny at once. He sent for long coils of hempen to the crew, and they scurried into the ship, evi- rope, and now he was tying one end of the rope dently to search for the missing valve. the other end had al- to the bow of La Pochata; “Where is Jones?” said the general. smaller ready been secured to the stern of his “I don’t know. You saw him run away an hour ship. Evidently he was explaining to the pleased ago.” crew that the smaller craft would tow the larger, “Where he went?” he disabled ship after it. The crew, ignorant as “I don’t know.” other, with- knew, smiled and congratulated each The general turned away. He had come to some out the remotest realization that the rope would decision. snap in two the instant after the small vessel blasted off. Hours later, after the crew had given up the the general safe because the crew spoke And was futile search, I found out what it was. A new fire their simple joy they nothing but Exotican, and in had been built, and the general had again brought After that were helping him secure the ropes. out his excellent food. He not only offered me out of but there was the fuel would be pumped — all I wanted, but he passed it out among the crew, while he and his a chance! There was a chance and from their surprised whoops I understood before they crew were at the bow of the old ship, that this was a new experience for them. 'Ihe would turn their attention to the fuel. pile of bones of the previous night had belonged side of the ship, I flattened myself against the entirely to the general. It wasn’t hard to believe shadows, and crept back obscure in the growing after I watched him eat again. to the stern. The metal hoses, linking the small “You know,” said the general, speaking very ship’s empty compartments to La Pochata's fuel, quietly, so that he couldn’t be overheard, “I make were already in place. A turn of the pumps would a mistake. Jones is a smart fellow, very smart. start the transfer. Quickly, I stuck my hand into He have take the valve away. Oh, don’t say me the pump and unscrewed a valve. I was ready no! I know this! Well, you think I am mad?” to take another, but I stopped. One valve might His little eyes glittered anxiously as he regarded have been lost, loosely attached it might have me. I didn’t answer. “I tell the truth,” he de- thing and fallen off ; two valves meant another — cided reluctantly. “I am mad. But not so mad I the general had all the weapons. He would know do not understand that I must do something for how to deal with sabotage. him. You understand? I make . . . how you say I buried the valve in the sandy earth close to ... a deal?” the ship, and as unobtrusively as I could, went “What kind of deal?” back and joined the milling crew in time to hear their cheering as the last rope was knotted in “I take you both with me,” he whispered, looking place. out of the corner of his eyes at Effluvio and the The general was doing a good job. He now pilot, busy eating. “These people are too ignorant. valves anything, made a little speech, and only after several more I do not know about but was cheers did he and his two aids start for the fuel their job to make sure. So now I punish them. I pumps. I straggled along and watched him turn leave them and take you.” the pump. The motor coughed and sparks flew, Wretched as the proposal was, it offered a glim- but the pump didn’t work. mer of hope. If we could get away with the It was ten minutes before the general began general, we could bring back help to those the to realize that some serious mishap had occurred. general was prepared to desert. But Jones was I watched his annoyance blossom to anger while gone. There wasn’t any sense talking to the gen- his pilot fussed and toyed with the motor, and eral. I had to keep telling myself that he was more than once he turned his baleful eyes on me. coming back. I didn’t believe it any more. I ” ” —

PENANCE CRUISE 67 couldn’t speak to the general, and he took my come up, and I could see how intense he was, how silence for acceptance. set his bloodstained face was. He gripped my Suddenly the general yanked out his heat pistol hand and started off, only to return and give me and fired across the clearing. Instantly there was a small heat pistol that he took out of one of his pandemonium. The general fired several more boots, “Stay as clever as you are and you won’t blasts before the capsule gave out, and then, while need it,” he said, “but maybe it’ll make you feel he was shouting at the crew, he broke off and said better. See you soon!” to me. “I am so excite I forget what I do. I don’t He was gone, running quickly through the tall mean to shoot him.” He had changed his plans. grass. Minutes later I glimpsed him as he crossed “Who were you shooting at?” I cried. the beach and was lost against the gray of the “Jones. You don’t see him when he come out lake. I hid the heat pistol inside my tunic. just now?” When I got back to the fire, General Cheroot “Get this!” I cried. “Jones hasn’t got that valve was waiting anxiously. The crew stared at me, on him. If you try shooting him you’ll kiss your filled with instinctive misgivings. last chance good-by!” “You find him?” the general asked. I ran across the clearing in the direction the “Yes,” I said, stalling for time. general had fired, shouting Jones’ name. Climbing “What he say?” over the hillock, I had gone no more than a few “He doesn’t trust you.” feet when a hand reached up, grabbed my ankle “Is too bad—for him! What he will do when and sent me tumbling down. Place cqme? What he will do with the moun- It was Jones. He was still in armor, and he sters? What he will eat meantime?” was wearing his helmet. And in one hand he I didn’t know the answers. “You shouldn’t have clutched a Webley Express heat-ray rifle, a dupli- shot at him,” I said. “He won’t come out until cate of the one I had seen in Captain Place’s hands. morning now.” Quickly, I added, “He won’t come He opened the mouthpiece and I could barely until it’s light enough for him to see you. He make out his face. It was smeared with blood, agrees to the deal. He wants you to get the whole but there was a grin on his lips, a savage grin. crew into La Pochata when he gives me a signal. “Why, that bloated beetle!” he exclaimed an- You and I are to stay outside to wait for him. grily. “I should have fried his wormy heart for We all go into the small ship together.” him! What is he shooting at me for?” “Is fine, is fine!” the general agreed nervously. I couldn’t believe it was him. I just kept hold- “But what we will do about Place? The time he ing on to him for a minute until I became embar- say for us to leave is now!” rassed. "He thinks you’ve got the valve I stole,” “I don’t think we have to worry about Place,” I said, and quickly I told him everything that I said. had happened. “Why not?" “Dirtier and dirtier,” said Jones when I gave “I don’t know.” him the general’s proposal. “That grotesque lump And that, at least, was true of suet! I’ll fix that maggoty blob of beef ! —When I get through with that walking hamburger The night passed slowly. Several times I got up I knew Jones was all right then. “Where’ve and walked around. Place’s house was lit, and you been?” I said, interrupting. “What have you even in the flooding moonlight the windows were been— like tiny vertical beacons. Once I saw a little “Don’t interrupt me,” said Jones. “I haven’t streak of flame come into being and disappear. It much time—got to get back right away. Never was far away from the pathway that led up the mind where! Just get this straight: we’re leaving mountain. The general sat by the fire, wrapped in the morning in La Pochata. I said no questions. in blankets, dozing off now and then, and waking Just listen to what you’ve got to do. I’ll give to eat a little more. Without him the crew’s snor- you a signal early in the morning. You leave a ing was bereft of feeling. sheet of paper lying at the edge of the clearing. I must have fallen asleep for a while myself. When I'm set I’ll bum a hole through it with this When I opened my eyes it was morning. The gun. Then you get the whole crew into La Pochata general was still sitting not far away, and he had —everybody, Effluvio and the pilot included. But two heat pistols in his lap. He was loading them not the general! Not him, understand? You stay with fresh capsules. Jones was going to get a outside with him until you see me coming. Then rousing welcome if anything went wrong, I knew, you’ll know what to do. Got it? So long.” and maybe he would get it anyway, and I with him. “Don’t give me that ‘so long’ routine!” I said. The general saw my eyes open and smiled self- “Where you going? What are you up to? You’ve consciously, and he put the offending weapons got to explain this to me.” away without haste, as if he hadn’t been up to “There’s no time to explain!” said Jones. “I’ve much. got to get back in a hurry.” A second moon had I got up quickly and fumbled around in my AST—5G —

68 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

tunic for a sheet of paper, then I started climbing Cheroot to an all-over tenderness, they contented the hill. After a dozen yards or so I started to themselves rather easily. When, over the wild put the paper down—and while I was doing it, sounds of Jones’ uncontrollable laughter, Captain while the paper was still inches from the ground Place whistled at them, the monsters raised their —a rifle sang out and a small hole instantly ap- massive legs and kicked the bent plates of the peared in the paper! air lock back into position. I dropped it with a curse. No matter how much It was several moments before I could think in a hurry he was, Jones had no right taking a coherently about things, and by then Captain shot like that. Maybe, I thought, it wasn’t Jones. Effluvio, faced with Jones’ heat gun, had blasted It was superb shooting, on a par with shooting La Pochata into space, homeward bound. I had seen once before on Forelle. The general’s magnificent bulk, caught between Before I hurried back I scanned the rolling the doors of the air lock, filled most of the avail- plains. There was no sign of life anywhere. The able space in the tiny lock. He couldn’t get enough monsters were gone. The woods to my right were of a start to jam himself through the smaller still. Still, somewhere within rifle range, was inner-lock doors. And the ancient vessel, its outer Jones. Or so I hoped. door shut and sealed as it were, by fire, was space- The crew was already awake and on its bewil- worthy once more! dered way into the broken lock of La Pochata I staggered forward to the bridge, and there I when I got back. Effluvio, unquestioning was found Jones lying weakly in a corner, his face going with them, but the pilot lingered behind. contorted with pain, bloodier than ever, and Place He conversed quietly with Cheroot, and, seemingly nowhere in sight. satisfied, went into the ship. It was even money I rolled him over. He caught his breath, and as to whom the general was going to double-cross. sobbing gusts of laughter blew out of him, until They were all in now. Only the general and I the pain became too much again and he had to remained outside, some fifty feet from the ship. hold his belly. I thought he was literally going I wondered which of us was more nervous. to die laughing, which is probably going to be true Without a word of warning, an armored, hel- some day, and I couldn’t stop him. And then, meted figure appeared over the brow of the hillock, wiping his face—wiping those bloodstains—every- running swiftly for La Pochata. Within a split thing began to reel before me, because when I second, another armored figure came after it—and began to clean off those red smears— I saw that the second figure was Jones! One hand “LIPSTICKr I screamed. waved me toward the ship. Before the general Like a man in a dream, no longer able to feel could turn around, I was running with them. emotion, I looked up and saw Captain Place in The first armored figure—it could only have been the companionway. He was taking off his helmet.

Place—reached the ship first. I followed and Jones And when he took it off, and in that suit of armor jumped in after me. Then Place snapped open I saw a lovely girl, a young, lovely girl who stood his mouthpiece, leaned out of the lock, and, put- there and shook her long chestnut hair, smiling at ting his fingers to his mouth, let out a shrill me, it didn’t seem the least bit odd. You just have whistle. to take my word for it. It didn’t seem odd at all. A series of mighty roars thundered in the air. “You must be Bascomb,” she said. “Hello.” Out of the woods, a hundred yards away, the two “Hello,” I said. “What’s your name?” fire monsters came lumbering at rapid gait, swing- “Lila,” she smiled. “Lila Place. You know ing their heads, shooting out flame! the L. P. who wrote you those pretty letters yes- And now the general, eyes popping out of his terday.” head, came galloping with all his might and main

for the lock ! He had no energy to waste in wail- Later, when I had had several cups of broth, and ing. Silently, terribly, the monsters gaining on was some semblance of the carefree lad who had him, Cheroot came plunging forward, his head shipped with Jones, the three of us sat in the already bent for the impact. Fifteen feet away the general’s quarters and I asked questions, and Jones horrible realization must have hit him, but it was and Lila together answered them. too late. On and on he came, inexorably, the “Naturally,” said Jones, “I began discounting flames almost upon hm. the murder story immediately after Lila abstained With one last surge, the general plunged into the from shooting us that first time she spotted us. lock—and stuck there! A rush of air, a sound like But it wasn’t until the monsters chased us to the SQUISH! Sudden darkness and nothing more. ship that I had the answer to the supposed murder. Nothing but the general’s terror-stricken coun- Lila herself didn’t completely understand it even tenance and his tremendous roars of anguish as then. the fire monsters outside gave him warm assurance “You see, when the bullets exploded inside the of friendship. And they were friendly—no mis- monsters and came shooting out, I realized that take about that—for while they could have broiled the identical accident was what must have hap- ” ” ” — —!

PENANCE CRUISE 69 pened to Claude Ponteret and his gang! Ponteret luckily you were wearing armor. So, adding two hadn’t hoped to shoot the monsters at all. He and two, the gang figured they could pin a murder knew very well that they couldn’t possibly pene- charge on whoever was at Forelle, and the firm of trate those armored hides—and he had the fatal Penteret and company would stay in business with- salads all planned when he came ! It was more or out its late president. Ergo—the story they gave less in the natural course of events for us to hit the Exotican gendarmery, which the general used. on the same idea eventually. See?” Clear now?” “I don’t see,” I said. “Oh, that poor little fat man!” said Lila com- “Of course he doesn’t see,” said Lila. “Let me passionately. “I really ought to bring ljim some tell him. First, you really ought to know that broth again. He must be terribly cold, cooped up dad, the terrible Captain Place, hasn’t been at in that air lock.” Forelle for months. It’s too dull for him there. “Only a third of him is cold,” said Jones. “An- He’s off somewhere now, and I don’t expect him other third is furious. And the last third is warm back for weeks. I went to Forelle for a rest, and as toast. Dark toast.” I took care of the ships when they came in for Smiling tolerantly, the loveliest chunk of femi- supplies and water. I used to go around in armor ninity I’d seen m years went out and left us. Her whenever there was anyone around, just to play eyes, her hair, her figure, her voice it safe. Not that I was afraid of anything really happening, not after the way dad taught me to “Well,” said Jones, “now that it's all been ex- handle a rifle, and with Babs and Jake with me— plained to your— “Babs and Jake?” I asked. “It hasn’t been explained at all!” I shouted. “Those precious fire monsters. They’re really I’d been saving my new strength for that shout quite tame: they’re in love, you see. But this and it was a beauty. “You think this minor folderol man, this Ponteret, did you say? ... he seemed about Ponteret is what I’m waiting to hear? You’re to have found out that dad wasn’t at Forelle. not dealing with the general, my dear Scourge! Maybe he ran across him somewhere. Anyway, This is Bascomb, the man who went through that he came to Forelle once, found the monsters there, hell and high water you mentioned, and you’re and then came back with his explosive bullets. the one who got Place ! Who went places, I might I took a few warning shots at his bunch just to add!” make them jump, but I didn’t pay much attention “What d’you want to know?” said Jones weakly. to them. I knew they couldn’t hurt Babs and “You knew it wasn’t Captain Place up on that Jake, and they didn’t have a—ship large enough to mountain ! You knew plenty that you kept to your- take them away, so I didn’t self, and not because I had access to a dictionary “Pardon me once again,” I said. “What did I demand to know when you knew what you knew

Ponteret want?” and when you knew you knew it ! Is that perfectly “What Ponteret probably wanted,” said Jones, clear?” “was Forelle itself. The planetoid is worth a “Ahhhh,” said Jones with a luxurious smile, hundred Babs and Jakes. He wanted Forelle, and “that comes under the heading of secrets of the with Place off somewhere and an unknown quan- trade, but you deserve it, my boy, and you shall tity left there, he saw his chance. So he cooked have it.” And he wallowed a moment longer in up this scheme that we hit on accidentally. the secret delight of his thoughts. “And it backfired, so to speak. Lila never went “The first clue,” he expounded, “was the hand- near them, but she saw them making up bunches writing on that first letter. Long, flowing lines of grass, just as we did. And then she saw one they looked rather feminine to me immediately, of the men fall dead. That was Ponteret, when but after that exhibition of shooting we’d seen, one of the bullets hit him. They hit you, too, but it didn’t seem possible. Then the captain came to ” ” —

70 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION our camp, sparing our lives a second time. The man. Ten big, gorgeous moons and Lila and second note he left was the second clue: the same Fletcher. Picture it, man!” beautiful handwriting. The sentiments were “I am picturing it,” I groaned. harsh, but the writing— “You don’t begrudge me last night, do you?”

“You didn’t do it on handwriting!” I said. “Don’t I shook my head. “No,” I said, honestly. “All sit there and tell me you did it on handwriting!” I’m picturing is what you’re going to have to put into that log. But I don’t begrudge you a thing,” “I didn’t say so, did I? They were merely I said as Lila returned and sat down very close to clues, like the captain’s not shooting us. But then Jones. “It couldn’t have happened to a better we stopped playing around and went after the guy.” monsters in earnest. Now the captain had reason to be both alarmed and angry. But did he shoot I ate those last words several times on our way my head off when he had an excellent chance? NO!” back to Exotica. He and Lila would lock them- selves up for hours in the general’s quarters, play- “I’ll do the yelling!” I yelled. “You mean to ing cribbage. I don’t play cribbage, as Jones well say that fact of your life being spared convinced knew, and the game seems to require intense con- you?” centration, as everyone knows. So what I did not?” demanded. not, “Why Jones “Why may most of the time was play with the general and I ask? Who but a woman endowed with excellent the crew. We made paper airplanes from the dic- eyes and cultivated judgment, would spare life my tionary pages and threw them at the air lock from in such a situation?” puckered his lips and He fifteen paces, the object being to miss the general, looked at me and sighed. “All right, I confess. who filled the space quite well. The crew gambled It didn’t convince me. It was just another clue, on every throw, but I was lonely emphatic this time. But then came the devastat- Well, we got back three days ago. The fleet ing blow, just when twilight was beginning to was in a day before us, and two days ago we had merge with gloomy— a big review and Jones and I were decorated. The “What was it?” publishable parts of the log are being reprinted “The mirrors!” said Jones, delightedly. “There in the next issue of the Service Manual. I sup- was Captain Place sneaking out to take back a pose we’re heroes. Everyone says we’re heroes, full-length mrror ! What would a man want with and a cinch for Lieutenant, Second Class, on the a mirror? Don’t you see? That clinched it! next list. Captain Castle has been sick for two When I saw that armored person taking back a days and today he went off to see a psychiatrist. mirror I knew it was a woman ! So off I ran.” Lieutenant Haddock is running the Star Swallow, “Fearlessly,” I added bitterly. “Off you ran but his mind isn’t on his work, and our crew is to be welcomed by eager arms. And it couldn’t going wild all over Exotica. We’re going to be have taken you long to reach a reasonable under- here a few days more. standing with the beauteous Lila—” I mused The general? They demoted him from sheriff quietly. “So tell me this: isn’t it true that when of the Para hills to deputy sheriff, that’s all. The you came back you had already worked out the doctors who are treating him for scorch and mil- plan to get La Pochata back in space? Sure, you dew say that his is a deep-seated ailment, and had me prepare everything for it. Therefore, isn’t that for the next few years, whenever he sits down, it likewise true that you could have worked the a slight tinkling noise will be manifest. It is plan then and there? Isn’t it? So what was that hoped that polite people will ignore it, since he is, business you gave me about the urgent need for after all, a general, and entitled to more than the you to get back? Huh?” usual frailties. Jones looked genuinely hurt. And Jones? Hah! Jones hasn’t been seen since “What a thing to say,” he said. “You know ten minutes after the decoration ceremonies, at damn well the Forellean nights are short. I had which Lila Place was an enthusiastic spectator. to Bget back to make the most of it. Ten moons, Oddly enough, she’s missing, too. f THE END. SPACE CAN

By L Ron Hubbard

• Boarding cutlasses went out with sail ships— but if men refuse

to be licked, even when their ship's a hopeless ruin, it can be done—

Illustrated by Kolliker

Lancing through space, slammed along by a ahead, knowing well that she was a pebble from half million horses, the United States destroyer the mighty slingshot of the embattled fleet, a Menace anxiously sought the convoy which had pebble where there should have been a shower of been wailing to all the Universe for aid but now stones. Gracefully vicious, a bundle of frail feroc- was still, still with an ominous quiet which could ity, a wasp of space designed for and consecrated mean only its defeat. to the kill, the Menace flamed pugnaciously on- She was only one, the Menace and “they” would ward; she had her orders, she would carry them be more than one, but the little space can charged out to the last ounce of her fuel, the last charge in 72 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION her guns and the last man within her complex and Another spot which had evidently been traveling multiple compartments. She carried the Stars and parallel to their course and so had showed white, Stripes upon her side, gold lace upon her bridge now glowed dull-red and Barnham said in a flat and infinite courage in her heart, for upon her voice, “Another Saturn vessel, sir.” belligerent little nose rested the full tradition of They were coming up now into action. They four-hundred-odd years of navy, a tradition which had perhaps thirty minutes of strain in store be- took no dares, struck no colors and counted no fore the first searching blasts of flame came to odds. them and their own guns began to seek the vitals She should have been a flotilla in this lonely of the enemy. The captain pushed a thumb down cube of space, but with the fleet embattled off upon the battle-stations’ button and the clanging Saturn no flotilla could be spared. She had done roar broke the tight lines which had invisibly other jobs, hard ones in this long war. There was stretched through the little destroyer. faith in her, too much perhaps, and so she was here It was a matter of seconds until Lieutenant Car- alone, raking the black with her detectors, bris- ter had his battle plan. Plainly, he wanted noth- tling with impatience to engage the enemy, be he ing to do with this first destroyer, for he could cruiser or battleship or just another destroyer; feel from across black space the eagerness of hope she was a terrier who had no eyes for the size of in it that he would attack it and disregard the her rats. second ship, while that vessel, with all the brutal On her bridge a buzzer sawed into the roar of efficiency of a thing which knows nothing but de- her motion and her executive officer stood aside struction, blasted the life from the remainder of to permit her summoned captain a view of the the supply vessels. detector. Her captain, Lieutenant Carter, steadied Abruptly, Lieutenant Carter understood a thing, himself with a hand on Ensign Wayton’s shoulder, which in his inevitable resentment at being de- and his face, usually young and efficient, became tached from the great battle had escaped him, and weary as he looked at the message which regis- he understood, too, that insufficient weight had tered there. been given to this mission. He should have been In the detector, the supply ships were colorless started early. He should have the rest of his spots, unmoving, without order. Among them flotilla in a comfortable V behind him. For now were fainter dots which gruesomely indicated the detector gave out information in shape instead ships which were growing cool, having been of light and disclosed that this supply train con- emptied of air. Because spacesuits might mean sisted of the majority of fuel vessels possessed by desertion of crews near the first port, there were the navy. Someone had blundered. Intelligence few in naval vessels unless they were crack ships had failed to discover that an enemy raiding fleet like the Menace. This battle was almost over and had slipped away from Saturn; guard ships had there would be many, many dead. blundered in letting it through; flag had erred by One spot began to turn violet, which meant that not suspecting the possibility. For in those big a vessel, friend or foe, was heading toward the hulks was the blood of the fleet and without it Menace. victory or destruction were the only alternatives: Second-class Petty Officer Barnham was already The battle fleet, already far beyond its radius, had training an analoscope on the red spot. He shuf- no reserve. And from the state of his own bunkers, fled the spectrum plates of all navies until he had Lieutenant Carter knew that no one had sufficient one which would compare with the lines on his fuel to return to Earth! screen. Everywhere through the ship men were strap- “Saturn destroyer, sir,” said Barnham matter-of- ping themselves at their posts or donning the factly. heavy padding which would protect them against the violent course changes which would throw the Lieutenant Carter shook himself into the fight- complement about like dice in a cup. ing machine he was trained to be. The situation “Aloft ten, right rudder nineteen,” said the was a plain one, a simple one. The convoy had captain. been set upon by a raiding fleet, the existence of which had not been suspected. Bravely the train’s The Menace leaped as the steering jets slammed escorts had flashed into battle and had fought their her into her new course as though she was unwill- ships to the last pound of air; that they had not ing to even countenance a thing which sought to done badly was indicated by the fact that only two avoid battle. Saturn vessels remained in action; that the entire The screens of the enemy showed the action escort was dead was plain in the silence of the without much lag, and an instant later, the Saturn battle communicator; that the supply ships were vessel was killing her speed on her old course and paralyzed and already half destroyed was to be blasting into a new one which would again inter- found in the garble which spewed and gibbered cept the Menace. from the all-channel speaker. The Saturnian, grudged Ensign Wayton, was SPACE CAN 73

well handled. Getting by her to engage the sec- nometer. Compartment 16 turned into a blazing ond, was not going to be simple. furnace and was sealed alike. Lieutenant Carter leaned back in his deep com- In the exact center of the ship, which was the mand seat and apparently lost interest in the whole after OTidge, Ensign Gates placidly kept track of thing, for there was a vague look in his eyes and the enemy in the event that his firing panel had to a relaxed expression about his mouth. Seeing this, take over. His active duty here was the oversee- the quartermaster let out a small explosive sigh, ing of the engineering force, aft and below, but for he knew that they would engage the first two tough chiefs were cursing themselves into a enemy. comfortable berth in Hades around the molten Actually, the captain was examining the vast breaches of the tubes and needed no help. panel of meters which gave the small bridge the “Hulled her!” barked the annunciator. Forward, appearance of being set in diamonds and gold. Ensign Wayton spunded like a man cheering a When he saw that all guns were ready, that all baseball game rather than the director of that tubes were firing, that the air pressure was even deadly blast. And then an instant later, “Hulled throughout the ship and the new tanks broached to her!” give the men more energy and courage, he turned There was a crash topside and a man, bellowing slightly to the blue-and-gold figure in the other agony and rage, hurled himself down a ladder. wing and said quietly, “We will engage, Mr. He was a mass of flames. The emergency squad Wayton.” member there smothered him swiftly in a blanket. Ensign Wayton’s hands tensed over the panel Compartment 6 was sealed and everyone in her. above his knees and then fluttered for an instant as A small amount of Ensign Gates’ placidity left though he needed to test the buttons which would his face. They were being severely knocked about fire the batteries. by a vessel which had a longer range and a faster “Aye, aye, sir,” said Ensign Wayton. He was steering system, which was landing four hits to breathing quickly, as though to supercharge his their two. body with oxygen and hurl himself rather than “Hulled her!” cried Ensign Wayton, an invisible flame projectiles at the enemy. source of death forward and above. Evidently On the after bridge, before a similar but less something had happened to the Saturnian, for an complete board, Ensign Gates stood a lonely instant later, in a steady stream, Wayton began to watch. He could look down the hatch just behind chant the Menace’s hits. him and see the tense crew around the base of the Examining the panel before him, Ensign Gates Burmingham jet of the starboard engine. Ensign believed that a lucky shot had penetrated the Gates swept his eyes back to the control panel, steering jets of the enemy, for he was now travel- checked the telltales there and then glanced at his ing in a straight line through the remaining three own quartermaster. The man, a heavy-set sailor vessels of the convoy as if to help out the other from Iowa, who still bore, after twenty years in Saturnian in the convoy’s destruction before this space, the stamp of his State upon him, looked raging little wasp of space put an end to everyone. impersonally into the sphere compass which mir- Just as the Menace flashed by a halted supply ves- rored the stars and planets. He felt the officer’s sel, it bloomed into a sphere of scarlet death, the eyes on him and edged his appearance with a sharp ammunition and highly explosive fuel igniting all professionalism, as though this might communi- at once. cate a greeting to the placid little ensign, of whom Lieutenant Carter gazed calmly at the fleeing the quartermaster was fond in a shy, defiant way. enemy, but the calmness was an official sort of Ensign Gates grinned to himself, for he knew thing, for there was sorrow for the supply ships the meaning of the change in his quartermaster. and anger for the Saturnian snarled into a lump He said something to the man, but the remark was behind his gray eyes. Each time the Menace got engulfed in the crashing shudder of the port a salvo home the captain twitched forward and a twenty-nines. They were engaged. contraction of muscles above his mouth made him grin a split second at a time. His role was that of Time stood still and two vicious dots of ferocity spectator so long as the ship was on her target, for slashed at each other in an immense black cube of then her steering was wholly between the gunnery vacuum. Shells burst like tiny flowers when they officer and the helmsman. missed, or flashed like yellow charges of electricity With a blast close aboard, the Saturnian folded when they struck. The Menace became filled with itself like a smashed tin can, and what had been an acridity. Somewhere in her a man was screaming efficient fighting ship an instant before, was now a an insane battle cry, and elsewhere blue blots of scrap of volitizing metal. profanity hung thickly around guns and tubes “Well done, Mr. Wayton,” said Lieutenant Car- and stoke ports. ter. Compartment 21 was holed and sealed from Ensign Wayton turned glowing eyes and battle- the rest of the ship between the beats of a chro- reddened cheeks upon his captain and didn’t see 74 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION him at all. He was already seeking the other The space torpedoes were sped, but only one had Saturnian on his screen, was the gunnery officer, struck. This in the after section of the Saturnian as though this first ship had merely served to where it had caused a vast fan of bright fireworks. calibrate his guns. It had wiped out the stern balancing jets, but that “Engage the second enemy, Mr. Wayton,” said vessel’s main propulsions were apparently without Lieutenant Carter. harm. A new crash shook the Menace and the big light The Menace, bristling and sure of herself, shot which marked the after bridge went black. a streak of power from her starboard bow and There was the smallest hint of concern in stabbed into a new course, three quick jets on the Lieutenant Carter’s voice. “Mr. Gates!” port bow and one below, settling her into this. Silence answered. Telepathically, Lieutenant Carter was aware of With steel bands on his nerves, his voice care- his enemy’s abrupt distaste for combat with him, fully steady, Lieutenant Carter said, “Mr. Gates. now that the first Saturnian had been blasted from Please report.” the action, but there was nothing in the action of There was silence which hung for a heartbeat the second vessel to indicate its dislike, for It throughout the entire vessel. turned now away from the supply vessel it had Dead-white, Ensign Wayton glanced at his cap- intended to spear, and streaked in a wide bank to tain. It was an appeal of dependence, shot with- bring her into a broadside parallel with the out thought, an agonized hope that something Menace. could be done, a last belief in the impossibility Ensign Wayton adjusted his screen with the that anything could ever happen to placid, easy, motor button and gave a swift check to the com- Ensign Gates. putator and then, because he was already ranged, Lieutenant Carter did not look at his executive sent all six guns of the port battery into a furious officer. In a flat, official voice he said, “Grapple crescendo. the enemy.” The Menace, dancing sideways from the recoils and being jabbed back by the adjusters, shivered The heat was so intense in the dying Menace with some vague premonition. that men felt it through their spacesuits. They The Saturnian destroyer passed through the were unwilling to begin upon their private stores cone of concentration, sliding sideways to the of oxygen until smoke was too thick in the hull to Menace at a swift pace to throw off range and for be breathed. Now they were in communication some other purpose which was not to be fathomed with helmet phones. for several seconds. The Saturnian’s guns were Space-garbed, a relief came to the quartermaster winking bright spots and her flame wake, as it to allow him to climb into his suit. He had been turned to white powdery smoke, curved and feath- standing there, strangling and sweating at the ered. She was a well-built little vessel, a few feet helm and he would have stood there until he had longer than the Menace and thicker through. melted if his relief had not come. The captain Lieutenant Carter scanned space with his detec- took the firing panel while Ensign Wayton slid tor but found no sign of reinforcement for the into his suit. And then Lieutenant Carter dropped remaining destroyer. into his own ready covering. The captain gasped The Menace shivered as she was knocked off with relief as he sucked in air. course. The check board blinked and Compart- There was a clatter in the phones as arms were

ment 26 vanished from it. Then, in terrifyingly being issued out. Though the batteries were firing swift order, the lights, indicating Compartments still, the helmet cut down their roaring to a trem- 27, 28, 29 and 30, went black. ble, which one felt with his body. There was An annunciator above the captain’s post said in something ominous and horrible in this silence a calm voice, “Starboard magazine gone. Fire for every man on the ship, for each was affected spreading.” alike in the connection of the silence to a sudden The quartermaster’s eyes flicked to the captain. surge of loneliness. For perhaps three minutes Ensign Wayton hesitated for an instant over his there was irregularity in the smoothness of the firing buttons and then his gold stripe flashed as execution of duties, and then the first shock of he located and aimed all three space torpedoes on quiet wore away and men began to talk to each the starboard. He launched them and said in a other on the individual battery frequencies, began tightly casual voice to the quartermaster, “Roll a to swear anew, began to revile and damn this hundred and eighty.” Ensign Wayton, having no enemy who was destroying the sleek little Menace. starboard batteries, was in action with the port. Still firing. Ensign Wayton was adjusting his Compartments 31, 25 and 36 went out in order. ranges so as to sweep them in closer and closer to The air in the ship was unbreathable. the attacking ship. The Saturnian was suffused “Spacesuits,” said Lieutenant Carter into the with superiority and satisfaction, for the burning annunciator. “All hands.” wake of the Menace was plainly visible as were SPACE CAN 75 the gaping holes in her skin, and this feeling, threw himself through the group, jet pistol in knowing it existed, Lieutenant Carter utilized by hand, and torpedoed himself into the mob just ordering unsteady leaps and veering as though the within the Saturnian. With a howl of approval, vessel were not quite under complete control. the sailors followed their captain. Confident and disdainful, the Saturnian wel- The mass in which he found himself cut at him, comed the closing. She even swept to starboard, shot at him, grabbed at him and Carter, spinning little by little, to aid the action. It was her belief around and around and firing a space clear, yelled that, gunnery was the only concern of the Menace defiantly but incoherently at them. and this, from a blasted vessel with only two guns For several seconds the captain did not realize still going, she could amply risk. that the Saturnian had been too contemptuous to Further punishment awaited the navy ship, for don spacesuits—if they had them—for, at best, it she could not come so close without being struck was difficult to use them at the guns. It had never repeatedly. Her bow vanished to within twenty occurred to the enemy destroyer that a thing as feet of the bridge and she was steering now with mad as a boarding would be attempted by such a her guns alone, having two amidships port and one mauled ship, particularly since the odds in men forward starboard as well as her one-inch batteries against such a ship would be three to one. on the bridge itself. She was rolling, tortured, The curiously pointed heads of the repelling nearly out of control, darting up and back and even sailors ducked back from the fury of the pistol tumbling when she came within a quarter of a mile and then the mass swept deeper into the ship, evi- of the Saturnian. And then what happened was dently in receipt of an order which was calculated swiftly done. The grapnels were still in action as to draw the invaders into passageways where fast- they had been designed to be, and the one last ace firing small arms could be brought into play upon of the gallant little vessel was played. them. With a shuddering stab which tightened and Swirling about their captain, the seamen of the held, the invisible claws of the Menace fastened Menace cut down the stragglers and slipped in upon the Saturnian and sucked them together with their blood. Few guns were here, for the sailors a swiftness which could only end in a numbing uniformly preferred steel when close quarters were crash. to be had. The shock of collision further crumpled the Suddenly the front rank of the invaders was nose and drove a deep bulge into the side of the swept back, driving their followers to cover. Two Saturnian. The latter had been panicked upon of the bodies were dead and projectiled toward the instant of realization that something was amiss the Menace by the fury of the fire they had met. into space and had sought to charge away and Ensign Wayton, a furiously moving monster in get free, momentarily forgetful that she still pos- his spacesuit, shot to their fore, insane for an in- men. that the sessed a superior force of But now stant in the belief that his captain had been killed. adhesion was achieved, she ceased blasting and When he saw Lieutenant Carter, he stopped for fur prepared the y which would come—which screaming into his helmet. He halted. was already on its way. “Spread into cover,” said Carter quickly. “Try Disintegrators in the hands of a burly C. P. O. to filter up into the ship through those hatches. and his gang ate a hole into the Saturnian at the But don’t press them closely and don’t risk your point of contact as though that hull consisted of men.” cheese. “Aye, aye, sir,” said Ensign Wayton. He spent no time in wondering why his captain went back There was no more on the bridge for Lieutenant through the crowd, for he had received his orders Carter. Here his responsibility was done. Ensign and he would carry them out to the last word and Wayton was already gone from the panel and the with his last breath. He looked around him at the quartermaster, a huge machete he favored in close shining walls of the gun room in which they had quarters, gripped competently in his hand, was "arrived and crisply told off a chief petty officer to just vanishing through the hatch. burn out a section of its wall. If the passages were “Boarders away!” the captain barked at the covered, there would be other ways of getting in his helmet. annunciator He was through the through the ship. He had an instant’s wonder before the yell had ceased to hatch beat against about their fate, for he knew very well that this his own ears. handful, less than twenty—less than fifteen he saw Ahead he saw a knot of men launching itself with a shock—were pitted against at least fifty against another knot which barred the ragged well-armed in their own ship. circle of emptiness which led into the Saturnian. “Lively, now,” said Ensign Wayton. Flame was spitting back into the boarders from viciously wielded jets and here and there a space- As captain. Lieutenant Carter had no questions suit was giving way to the heat. And then Carter to answer or reasons to give. He was glad of that. 76 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

He had a competent officer in Ensign Wayton, teries which made a boarding possible after a ship who knew what to do if anything happened to his was in ruins. He hauled a plate from the first commander. And this was a job Lieutenant Carter layer of armor and then groped through the sec- could not relegate to anyone. ond and third. That he tried to pull the pin of He faltered for an instant on the threshold of the grenade with his teeth, recalled him into a the burning Menace. It was not the heat which calm and orderly chain of thought. He plucked repelled him so much as the unwillingness to see at the pin with his glove-thick fingers and got it again this dying little vessel which had been, until out. He dropped it upon the batteries and in the such a short time before, a well-ordered, ship- same motion, spun about and staggered toward shape example of what a United States navy de- the ladder. The heat inside his suit was so in- stroyer should be. Here, for two years, he had tense now that he had to will himself to breathe, gone through the routines, the problems and the and each time he did he flinched as he felt his alternating bursts of good and bad news which lungs shrink away. had marked this campaign. He had been one with He clawed through a hatch and scrambled down an alive, sensitive creature of steel and chromium a passageway. Blind and groping, he found the and flame, and to enter her now was like walking door in the yellow smoke and stumbled through. upon the corpse of one’s friend. He had a feeling The jagged hole in the side of the Saturnian was

that she should be left alone, as she was, to die, just ahead of him, he knew. He could not see it. still facing the enemy. He sought along the plates with anxious fingers. Lieutenant Carter stepped over the jagged sill Abruptly, he was tumbling forward, breath of the hole which had been carved in the Saturnian. knocked out of him by another exploding charge. The need of haste was upon him now, both because Dazedly, he lifted his helmeted head. the possibility of his getting through the flames There was a great, sighing rush of smoke and fire before him required speed and because this was a and a mighty hand snatched him from the deck hideous job, the better to be done quickly. and slammed him against plates. Groggily, he The first blast struck him when a gun charge fought again to rise and then fought even harder, fired the deck nearby. was somewhere on He for it would have been very comforting to slump catapulted against the steel bulkhead and stood and go out, with the hands of his sailors support- there for an instant in the swirling yellow gloom, ing him. shaking his head and trying to recall what he was The smoke of the Menace had filled this com- about. Anxiously, he gripped at the illusive facts, partment of the Saturnian. But there was no for he was badly stunned. Then, with clearing smoke here now. And there was no air. The sight, he sped aft and up through the curling empty vacuum was greedy and swelled out the tongues which had already stripped the paint from spacesuits to their normal proportions. Where the walls. the Menace had been there was now only a gaping resemblance the trim little There was no to black hole. Once her generators, which kept the in this twisted, blackened mess through Menace grapnels alive, had been shorted out the furious himself. tried to think there which he drove He efforts of upper gunners in the Saturnian had at not. knew there was. was He last succeeded in blowing her away from the side. He fumbled in his bag for a grenade as he lurched through the painful fog and when he had Ensign Wayton was grinning through his trans- it in his thick glove, it required much of his nerve parent helmet when he had at last ascertained that to keep it with him, for tongues of fire were reach- his captain was safe and not seriously hurt. ing at it, heating it. Through the phones, Ensign Wayton said, “Sir, He found the ladder to the engine room. The we have carved our way through the bulkheads grease had burned away, and because it was hot, into their after bridge. We have lost but three his shoes stuck tenaciously to the rungs as though men. Your orders?” the Menace, lonely, was trying for the company “Yes,” said Lieutenant Carter. “Yes, of course.”

of her master in a last shiver of her death throes. He shook his head vigorously to clear it. “Well Lieutenant Carter could feel a throb which did done, Mr. Wayton.” Then thought took over from

not come from flames. He worked toward it. He mechanical form and with a glad surge he gripped seemed to be taking forever for this task. The his officer by the shoulder. “Quick! Open their air in his tank was already scalding his lungs. compartments! Open their compartments!”

The ship’s oxygen tanks must be feeding these The idea flooded in upon Ensign Wayton. It flames, and if that were so, then they might ex- was less than twenty feet up to the hole their jets plode at any instant. They were close above him had carved into the bridge deck. The one dead now. sailor from the Menace and the officer and two He found the generators, still running furiously quartermasters of the Saturnian were bloated, even in all this heat, fed by the treble-protected bat- exploded, into no semblance of humanity or .

SPACE CAN 77 saturnity. The C. P. O., who held the fort there wardrooms for many years, how the little space belligerently, cut away at the bulkhead with his can took on two larger than she, how she had saved jet and suddenly a great gust of air and equipment the supply vessels of the battle fleet and how she shot him back. had died in the saving. Lieutenant Carter could Ensign Wayton steadied himself at the com- not see the panel clearly and was annoyed with partment board and began to open the switches. himself. He flung away from it and the reports Some of them were frozen and he realized that the which were coming to him now concerning the master panel was on the forward bridge. The state of the Saturnian, reports which were good, compartments went shut and their lights began to had only a routine meaning. They reached his go out. An officer up there was thinking fast. ears, his official mind, but they went no deeper. Ensign Wayton thought faster. He snatched at the auxiliary voice tube caps and yanked them. There was a slight jar through the ship, a thing Into the holes he poured a dozen flame shots. A which required no explanation but which seemed scream of air, loud enough to penetrate the thick to herald something electric. Lieutenant Carter space helmets, greeted his action. The hurricane glanced about him. He swung down the ladder to which came through the voice tubes from the for- the lower gun room and glanced questioningly at ward bridge, knocked him backward. The master the sentry stationed by the jagged hole in the panel had been cut in. Suddenly all panel lights Saturnian’s hull. glowed on the auxiliary board as lack of air pres- And then Carter froze. sure on tiie forward bridge threw control aft. For the hole was no longer empty! Had he With swift hands. Ensign Wayton switched the dreamed that he got the Menace away from there? compartments open throughout the ship and a Had it been possible that she would not have her- shuddering wail went through the vessel, every self abandoned? plate trembling as the life poured from her. Those There she was, the Menace! With her shattered suits, denied the Saturnians to insure their fight- bow pushed up into position and the fire-scarred ing to the last compartment, had cost her, finally depths of her clear of flame, she bumped gently and forever, her crew. against her conquered enemy. Lieutenant Carter, beside his officer, spoke on And as Lieutenant Carter stared, he saw a man the general-order frequency of his helmet. “At- in spacesuit moving toward him out of the shat- tention. Proceed carefully through the vessel and tered ship, followed by yet another. clean out anyone left in her.” He turned to En- Lieutenant Carter started and then quickly com- sign Wayton. “Take over, Mr. Wayton.” posed himself by pushing away the surge of ela- Seating himself at the communicator, Lieutenant tion which coursed through him. Carter’s eyes were vague with thoughtfulness. The man in the spacesuit saluted. “Ensign one- Absently, he commented that Washington’s Gates, sir. Fire shorted our conduits and cut us time predilection for trading patents was not with- off. As soon as we dressed and opened the after out benefit, for this communicator panel might bridge, we had things under control there. When have borne the stamp of Bell Radiophone for its the air went out of her hull, the fires stopped. similarity. She isn’t in such bad shape, sir. Your orders?” He knew he should feel jubilant, knew that he Lieutenant Carter saw through a strange misti- should savor this report to the battle fleet, knew ness and carefully pitched his voice for calmness. that victory and triumph were personally his. “Very good, Mr. Gates. You will take charge of But, somehow, he had ashes on his tongue and the repair parties as soon as we get air back into the words he tried to arrange in his mind were these ships.” He returned his engineering officer’s dull, gray things. salute with unusual smartness. He was thinking now of the Menace. In the Gently, the little Menace nudged her battered let-down which had followed this battle, he knew nose against the hull of her conquered enemy as he would think of her more and more. Proud, though to remind the Saturnian that a ship, even arrogant little space can, smashed by the insensate when shot half to hell, should never be considered hates of a space war, drifting a derelict, a battered in any light save that of a dangerous adversary. sacrifice to her pride, a dead cold thing lost in the For an instant Carter was startled into a belief that immensity to be shunned by all vessels who sighted the Menace was laughing and then he saw that the her as a navigational risk. sound issued from his phones and was sourced There was victory but there was no victory. He aloft where Gates and Wayton were gladly greet- could not think of a proper report, one which ing each other. It amused him to think that his would measure up to the little scrap of history ship could laugh, for the fact was most ridiculous. they had made. This story would be told in Or was it?—he asked himself suddenly. Or was it?

THE END. • 78

STARS ALSO HAVE RINGS

• It is a physical impossibility, due to the properties of light, to make a tele-

scope capable of revealing the geography of another stellar system. We'll

never be able to see planets, or any such small, dark structures about other

suns. No electronic amplifier can magnify detail that the light itself doesn't

J contain. But there is one type of amplifier that works— brain-power!

By R. S. Richardson

How many times have you seen this statement only. (Weak emission lines of ionized Mg, Ca,

in the textbooks : “Saturn is unique among all the and Fe can also be detected.) What is more, these

heavenly bodies in that it is surrounded by an bright hydrogen lines are much displaced to the extensive ring system.” red side of their normal positions in the spectrum,

Dozens of times, no doubt. But those books are indicating a Doppler shift corresponding to a

all out of date now. For it isn’t true any more. velocity of two hundred ten miles per second away Announcement has just been made of the discov- from the observer. ery of a star surrounded by a thin luminous ring The brght hydrogen lines soon fade away, leav- of hydrogen gas in rapid rotation. Seen by the ing only the faint dark-line absorption spectrum of the star. But thirty minutes later the naked eye from a distance of a billion miles, it KO would closely resemble the planet Saturn when bright lines flash out again, only this time dis- viewed through a small telescope. placed toward the violet by an amount indicating a velocity of two hundred ten miles per second The object in question is the eclipsing binary toward the observer. As the KO star passes on, RW Tauri. The more massive component of the the dazzling light .from the B9 star predominates system is a brilliant, intensely hot star of spectral at once and the spectrum becomes that of an ordi- class B9; the secondary is a much fainter and nary hot star. cooler star of type KO. The KO star is roughly To produce an effect of this kind, there must be twice the diameter of the B9 and eclipses it once some sort of an extension from opposite sides of every two days, eighteen hours. the B9 star. A huge prominence seems out of the Only during totality can the presence of the KO question since it could hardly be so obliging as to star be detected. At all other times its faint light remain there for weeks at precisely the right is completely drowned out by its blazing com- position. About the only feature that fills the panion. bill is a thin, luminous ring surrounding the star Many eclipsing pairs are similar to this one and in the region of its equator. behave in much the same way—except for one Although many details remain to be investi-

very curious circumstance. If spectrograms are gated, there can be little doubt as to the main facts

taken in rapid succession as the eclipse comes on, in the case. The ring is believed to have a diame- they show only the usual characteristics of a B9 ter about four times that of the sun and make a star up until the moment of second contact when rotation once every fourteen hours. the KO star has totally blocked out the B9. Then A. H. Joy, who discovered the existence of the a most extraordinary phenomenon occurs. The rings from spectrograms taken with the one-hun- spectrum suddenly does a complete change-over dred-inch reflector on Mount Wilson, plans to from that of a hot star with dark hydrogen absorp- explore the dynamics of this peculiar double-star tion lines to one showing bright hydrogen lines system. STARS ALSO HAVE RINGS 79

I. Large, faint KO type star about to eclipse IV. The B9 star and its ring are both totally smaller, more brilliant B9 star with lumi- eclipsed for thirty minutes. During this nous ring of hydrogen gas surrounding it. phase, spectroscope shows only very faint Spectroscopic analysis of light shows only solarlike spectrum of the KO star. presence of B9 star.

II. The B9 star, although partially eclipsed, V. At third contact, ring on other side is still so far outshines KO star that spec- revealed and spectroscope now shows troscope reveals only usual B9 spectral bright hydrogen lines again, but this time characteristics. shifted to the violet by an amount indi- cating velocity of 210 miles per second toward the observer.

III. At moment when B9 star is completely VI. Spectrum is now same as that in I., a (blocked out, brilliant bright lines of hy- typical hot B9 star only. Entire process drogen gas flash out. These bright lines repeated in two days, eighteen hours. show Doppler shift to red side of normal position, indicating velocity away from observer of 210 miles per second. 80

COLLISION ORBIT

By Will Stewart

• Introducing a new author and a fascinating idea.* the control and

use of "seetee"— contraterrene matter. Science-fiction's discussed the

danger of meteors; astronomers are pretty certain there are very

many contraterrene meteors. How about the danger from those! •

Illustrated by Orban

A young man spoke the scornful words—he old street, he was loud with a young man’s arro- was Kurt von Sudenhort, the blond, ray-burned gance. Martian-German subaltern, in command of the “Excitement, you say?” Hard heels clacked small base of the High Space Guard on the tiny impatiently on the worn sidewalk, as he kept step asteroid’s polar plateau. Strutting down the quiet with another trim young officer in black. “Ex- ;

COLLISION ORBIT 81

citement—in a one-street ghost town, on a pint- out. Once he had hoped that Rick would come size planet?” He used careful English idioms, in back to help—for Rick was big enough for any a harsh metal voice. “You can walk around task. But Rick had taken a job with Interplanet. Obania in an hour—and all you will find are a The task was left for old Jim Drake, and he had no few fossil asterites, petrified alive since the time to waste. Treaty of Space.” After four decades of effort, he was used to Contemptuously, he jerked his close-clipped scornful voices. His dream was mighty enough military head at a sign they passed. an Above to make any man a giant, and he was too big to open first-floor window, in the tall false front of mind a little laughter. He had even patiently a rusted old sheet-metal building, faded letters accepted a nickname first used in mockery. He glowed with pale luminescence: let men call him Seetee Drake. For “seetee,” to the engineer’s mind of old Jim Drake & McGee Drake, meant power. Terror to others, to him Spatial Engineers it was atomic energy, priceless and illimitable. The whole meteor belt was rich in contraterrene “Spatial engineers, so?” echoed the young com- drift; matter inside out, with electrons and posi- mander, scornfully. “You will meet those two trons in reverse positions. It was the dangerous old birds, sipping their bitter tea and gabbing debris of that terrific cataclysm, before the time about the days before the war and dreaming their of man, when a strange stellar wanderer of con- crazy dreams—extinct as the archaeopteryx.” traterrene matter shattered the trans-Martian The heels rapped on dewn the single sleepy planet. When it touched common matter, the street, squeezed between the black barren cliffs. result was a spectacular blaze of gamma radiation The young subaltern’s voice receded, in the direc- and mutual annihilation unlike forms of matter tion of a place that helped bored men endure the — canceled out, to leave free neutrons and pure stagnation of Obania—the ancient Meteor Palace energy. In the words of the ordinary Bar. spaceman, it was simply hell in chunks. But old Drake “Excitement, nein!” He seldom used a Ger- Jim dreamed of something else he man word. “Nothing ever happens on Obania.” — was designing machines to turn that frightful energy to serve The hard young voices faded, but one old man the needs of men. had overheard. Beyond the open window, old Jim Drake was sprawled at his battered desk. He was an engineer, not a politician—he mis- Once he had been as mighty as his bronze-haired trusted politicians. Yet he had seen that atomic son, and he was still a blue-eyed giant who power meant political power. The past had tested seemed too big for the shabby little office. But that historic equation. For a hundred years and sixty years had bent his powerful shoulders, and longer, the monopoly of uranium power hqd made his once-red hair was thin and roan. His big Interplanet Corp. the master of all the planets. stiff fingers were cramped on a pencil, drawing Even the war, when all the colonies except the plans for the magnetic tongs and bed plates and Moon broke free, had merely shaken that old relays.—that other men called a crazy dream. power. The loud passing voices stopped old Drake’s Not a politician, Drake still could see that his work. A tired, awkward giant, in a shabby gray success would balance the scales again. It would coat and rough miner’s boots, he looked out the end the selfish and arbitrary oppression of the window with hollow blue eyes. It was true. Mandate commissioners—the High Space Man- The Treaty of Space had ended the world—the date was a device set up by the treaty of peace, to frontier world that he and his kind had wrested parcel the riches of the asteroids among the major from the cold eternal night. He didn’t fit into planets. the new bureaucratic order, enforced by the High But success was far away. One politician—his Space Mandate. Neither did his pioneer friends. pioneer friend, old Bruce O’Banion, now twenty It was true that nothing important had happened years out of politics—had often reminded him of on Obania for twenty years—not since the war the great obstacle. He had no laboratory—nor any ended, in 2171. site for one. For a contraterrene laboratory, there But a slow brown smile softened old Jim Drake’s was a singular requirement: it had to be situated rugged, space-burned face, and the old, eager light beyond the last trace of atmosphere. Molecules came slowly back to his eyes. He took up the of any gas reacted with seetee, in deadly flame. pencil again, with stiff brown fingers that seemed Of course there were millions of airless asteroids, too big for a pencil. His mind returned to the but the Mandate held title to them all, since the machines he planned to build. war. The commissioners knew that their proper function was to discourage every sort of enter- A sense of urgency drove Drake on. The task prise, among the native asterites. was vast for any man, and his time was running The dream was all on paper. —

82 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Today, despite the young commander’s scornful “He has.” Ann’s intense brown face made a plaint, a stir of excitement came to Obania. A pleasant little grimace. “But I don’t like Mar- few minutes after von Sudenhorst had passed, tians.” She caught her breath. “No, Seetee—this Ann O’Banion burst into old Jim Drake’s small is lots more exciting. I was just up at the base, ruffty office. to take a pie to Cap’n Rob. And he says there’s “Seetee!” She was breathless, her gray eyes a seetee blinker, near. It’s a swarm beacon shining. “Guess what?” there’s danger we’ll strike a fire storm!” Drake pushed away his papers, with awkward space-burned hands. Obania was a forgotten little If there was danger, Ann O’Banion didn’t seem world, since the war; a world of old and futile appalled by it. Her bright animation might easily men. Ann O’Banion was almost the only young have been mistaken for joy. She was a native person left, except the strutting guardsmen at the asterite, accustomed to the annihilating threat base. His tired face smiled to see her slim and of contraterrene matter. Like the young men at vital youth. the base, she was thirsty for something new. Ann was the dark-haired daughter of stout, Yet the danger, Drake realized instantly, might ruddy old Bruce O’Banion. He had been the be serious. While all the Sun’s vast family of original claimant of Obania, forty years ago; and asteroids, seetee and terrene alike, circled in the Drake was the young spatial engineer he em- same direction, the orbits of the contraterrene ployed to terraform the little rock, only two drift were often highly eccentric. Glancing colli- kilometers through—by sinking a shaft to its heart sions were not uncommon. for the paragravity installation, generating oxygen The seetee blinker was Drake’s own invention, and water from mineral oxides, releasing absorp- made many years ago. It was a necessary task tive gases to trap the feeble heat of the far-off of the Guard to mark the contraterrene bodies, Sun. whenever they were identified, so that ships and The times had changed, Drake thought wist- miners might avoid them—yet no man, or work fully. Before the war, Bruce O’Banion had been of man, could touch them unconsumed. Young a wealthy and important figure, the natural politi- Jim Drake had solved the problem. cal leader of the rugged little democracy he had The blinker was a spiderlike frame of meteoric helped to plant on this far frontier against the iron, set to circle in a narrow planetary orbit stars. But now the old assembly hall, where the about the body to be marked. The whirling arms pioneers had gathered for their simple govern- carried mirrors of sodium foil, tilted to reflect the ment, was an Interplanet warehouse. Von Suden- Sun’s rays through colored filters in a sequence horst ruled Obania, by military decree. The mines of warning flashes. The signals were listed, with were closed, because O’Banion refused to sell out data on the objects marked, in the “Ephemeris to one of the great planet monopolies. All but and Register.” The oldest beacons had been spin- ruined, the old statesman clung to the empty shell ning for nearly forty years, perfect machines, re- of his past—as he did to the empty, old-fashioned quiring neither fuel nor attention. magnificence of his mansion at the south pole of A few contraterrene bodies were many kilo- Obania, opposite the busy Guard base. meters in diameter. Smaller boulders were far Ann O’Banion had stayed to keep her father’s more numerous, however, and there were occa- house, while most young people left to take good sional clouds of contraterrene dust—formed no jobs with Interplanet and the other corporations. doubt when larger bodies were blown almost liter- But Drake knew that she hoped brightly for the ally to atoms by the insane violence of explosions future. He even suspected that she was a secret following collision with common terrene matter. supporter of the Free Space Party—that stubborn Such particles had caused the dazzling display little group, now outlawed by the commissioners, of meteor showers in Earth’s atmosphere. When who still fought to keep alive the forbidden ideal they hailed against a ship or an asteroid, the flame of independence. of atomic destruction was, not surprisingly, called “No, I couldn’t guess.” He saw the excited a fire storm. flush under the space tan on her cheeks. “Unless Fire storms, Drake knew, could be deadly. maybe the subaltern has proposed?” “Cap’n Rob’s in the pilothouse of the Good-by He knew that Ann was much admired by the Jane.” Ann’s voice was clear and eager. "He’s bored young men at the base. Once he had hoped keeping an eye on the blinker—he wouldn’t even that Rick would come back to Obania—they were stop to eat the pie I brought him. He said you the same pioneer stock, and he thought they would would want to know about it.” make a fortunate couple. But that was another Rob McGee was Drake’s partner; a short, space- old man’s dream. Rick hadn’t been on Obania beaten man, with gentle voice and shy, kindly since he was ten years old. And Drake had not smile. His invincible calm he seemed to have tried to persuade him—let the boy make his own learned from the stars he knew so well. Rob was life. short for Robot—an allusion to his almost un- COLLISION ORBIT 83 canny mathematical perception. With one glance characteristically, had set his mansion on the of his deeply squinted red-brown eyes, Rob McGee highest peak of all. could give the position and velocity of a meteor The rusting town stood across the equator. A a thousand kilometers away—exactly. kilometer north, the road dropped abruptly, so Times had changed, even for Rob McGee. Al- it seemed, toward the plateau. Before the war though keenly aware of his lack of formal educa- this had been a free port, busy with ore barges, tion, he had been a famous and successful pilot, tugs and traders. Now there was little traffic, before the war. He had bought the Good-by Jane except for supply vessels and the warships sta- out of his own savings, with only a little aid from tioned at the base. Drake, and built up a good salvage and towing But here was new paint, efficiency, youth. A business. But now, since the war, only the great great six-sided building, at the center of the field, monopolies could afford to buy salvage and tow- housed offices, shops, supply depot, and Guard ing permits from the Mandate government. There headquarters. From its center, on the polar axis were no more jobs for independent spatial en- of the planetoid, lifted the steel-ribbed dome of gineers. Rick had offered McGee a pilot’s berth the control tower, photophone transmitter-light with Interplanet. But the quiet little asterite had flickering above it. From a pole beside the build- a stubborn independence, and he believed in ing hung the limp Mandate flag—a black circle Drake’s magnificent dream. He was waiting for upon the quartered colors of the major planets, better times to come—living aboard the little the crescent-and-stripes of the Earth-Moon Union, space tug to save the cost of lodgings. the golden dragon of Venus, the red-black-and- yellow of the Martian Reich, “Yes, I’m glad to know about the blinker.” the hammer-and- sickle of Jupiter’s moons. Young men in fatigue Drake felt a consuming interest in everything uniforms were spraying black camouflage paint on about seetee. So little was known of its dangerous the tall, leanly tapered hull of a cruiser. riddles! Difficult to study a thing you could never Guard Unpainted, the square nose of the Good-by touch, not even with any tool. But some random Jane was visible across the steeply convex field, at the observation might yield the vital clue, toward a end of a row of rusting ore barges. The space method of safe control. “I’ll go right over.” tug was somewhat larger than a twentieth-century railroad box car turned on end and stripped of Jim Drake surged to his feet; an awkward, aged wheels. The angular, neglected hull, pocked with giant—but eager now, his deep-sunken eyes elec- meteor blisters stood five decks high. With only tric with new-kindled hope. He swept up his a few instruments protruding, it papers, with space-burned hands too big for paper looked very much like a rectangular ingot of rust-reddened steel. work, and locked them in the rusty safe that he Ann O’Banion swung the little roadster and Rob McGee had bought before the war. to a skillful stop against a freshly black-and-yellow- “Let me take you,” Ann offered quickly. She painted railing. The sentry beneath the flag rec- drove a battered little electric car, that she had ognized her, with an admiring grin. Drake was stripped down from an impressive machine her extricating himself from the too-small seat, with father had imported before she was born; and an awkward, anxious haste—when something hap- she kept it repaired herself. pened. A sudden seam of hot blue fire split the The seat was too small for Drake, but he frigid blue-black sky. squeezed in beside her, awkwardly. She turned the car in the middle of the deserted, straggling II. street of rust-streaked buildings imported wood — Instinctively, old Jim Drake moved his long, was precious on the asteroids; the houses were gaunt frame to shelter the girl. He waited for the metal and glass, paintless and neglected since the shocking impact, the shattering blast and the war. searing blaze of a seetee explosion. But that The car spun along the old gravel road toward didn’t follow. the Guard base on the polar plateau. Obania was The tiny world was breathless. He heard only closer to the sphere than most asteroids—with the frightened shouts of the painters slung high natural gravity far too weak to round them, they against the cruiser’s hull—high-pitched and re- could be any shape at all—but the iron-walled mote, in the thin air of Obania. Soon his blinded canyon that sheltered the town would have been eyes could see again. Dim stars came back into a thousand-kilometer chasm in the Earth. the somber sky ahead, and the low Sun behind Obania’s horizon was always absurdly near, pre- burned small and hot and blue. cipitous. Every elevation seemed a lonely peak, Ann O’Banion smiled, unfrightened, asking, jutting insecurely into the blue-black sky. The “What was that?” Earthman’s instinctive dread of falling off must All the phenomena of space were real and im- have made the pioneers locate their town under mediate, to the native asterite, as they had never the comforting cliffs—though Bruce O’Banion, been to his Earth-born forebears. Even a terra- AST—6G ;

84 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

With the frontiersman’s awkward native cour- tesy, Drake pushed toward her the only seat in the little gray room, the astrogator’s stool. But she was far too excited to sit. “Was it seetee?” she demanded. Deliberate as always, the short, space-beaten little captain was tamping an ancient pipe with Earth-grown tobacco, his one luxury. Sometimes it seemed to Drake that he had learned the time- less calm of the stars—when he was too calm, however, it usually meant danger. “I happened to be looking.” His voice was very gentle. “I was watching that blinker, when an asteroid came into the periscope field.” “Eh?” Drake made a muted sound of astonish- ment. “What asteroid?” “I got the orbit, and looked it up in the ‘Ephem- eris.’ ” McGee was still unhurried. “Number T-89-AK-44. Listed as unnamed, undeveloped, un- claimed. Diameter nine hundred meters. Density and albedo indicate nickel-iron.” Impatience overcame Ann. “But what hap- pened?” “A piece of seetee collided with the asteroid.” McGee smiled at her excitement. “Probably the one that had the blinker, because that has gone out. Quite a smash.” Still his voice was softly formed planetoid, such as Obania, had no safe unemphatic. “The safety shutter tripped, in the hundreds of kilometers of insulating atmosphere, periscope, and saved my eyes.” but only a thin gaseous envelope. Meteors fall- ing here were something more than mysterious Old Jim Drake took a quick step forward, in streaks of distant fire; here they were grim dice that tiny crowded room. He had known McGee of life and death. for nearly forty years, and he could see through “I don’t know what it was.” Drake started that calm restraint. across the field’s level convexity. “That flash had “Tell us, Rob!” the color of a seetee explosion, but nothing hit Rob McGee held a lighter to his pipe. He Obania. Out at space, I guess. Maybe Rob will could be quick when speed was needed, but he know.” had never learned the frantic hurry of men in Ann had to run to keep up with his gigantic cities. Sometimes his lack of haste was almost strides. Panting, her nostrils felt the dry sting maddening. of ozone—a gaseous armor, against too much ultra- “Quite a smash,” he repeated. “Couple thou- violet. Above the rusty ground gear of the Good- sand tons of seetee, dropping toward the Sun on by Jane, the air lock stood open. Drake sent a the usual crazy orbit. It must have burned a pit booming hail up the ladder well inside, and Ann a hundred meters deep in the asteroid, before it followed him up to the pilothouse. was used up. Vaporized a lot of iron. Made a A sturdy, utilitarian craft, the tug had no broad sort of natural rooket.” and dangerous ports. The low walls and bulging “What will happen now?” Ann burst out again. roof of the tiny pilothouse, lined with spongy gray “Is the fire storm coming to Obania?” plastic, were cut only with thin tubes for the in- “Obania will miss the dust,” the little man said struments. Beside the dial-topped case of the softly. “What’s coming is the asteroid. The im- pilot-robot, Captain Rob McGee pulled his square pact and reaction of that first collision was just leather face out of a black periscope hood, and enough to push it into a new collision orbit. Now looked at them with mild, squinted eyes. His it’s coming toward Obania.” shoulders were broad in an ancient space coat Ann uttered a startled little “oh,” and her gray of mildewed green. He had a rather large head, eyes looked anxiously from McGee to old Jim little neck Drake. With an awkward haste, stooped because with a thick mat of yellow hair ; very and inconsequential legs. Altogether, he was as he was too tall for that low gray room, Drake sturdy, ready and ugly as his ship. went to the periscope. McGee drew slowly on “Did you see, Cap’n Rob?” The girl was breath- his pipe. less. “That terrible flash—what was it?” In the dark field of the instrument, the asteroid COLLISION ORBIT 85 was only a tiny mote. Swinging back again, to With the white pinch of apprehension on her question McGee, Drake saw that Ann looked tense freckled nose, Ann looked quickly at old Jim and pale. He knew that she must be picturing Drake. Something had frozen him into a deaf the collision—grinding ruin, dust and flame; a gigantic statue of bronze. billion tons of hard nickel-iron crashing into “Smaller,” McGee explained softly. “Less than Obania. a tenth the mass. There’s plenty of time to land “You don’t have to put on your dead-pan for a terraforming crew, to install a new-type direc- me, Cap’n Rob.” Her voice was tight. “Of course, tional drive. It’s a job for the Guard.” His Obania’s home—it’s all I know. But I can take it. square face furrowed into a leather grin. “Give Don’t try to shield me.” Her anxious fingers von Sudenhorst a chance to burn some of that caught his arm. “When will it strike? Do we new paint off his ships, in the fire storm.” have time to do anything about it?” Ann O’Banion stopped biting her pale lip. With his dark leather smile, McGee nodded at “I’d better call the base?” McGee looked at Drake. the motionless giant, with some question in his “Jim’s the engineer,” McGee said softly. “I squinted eyes. “Probably they wouldn’t find out only had a glimpse. I haven’t touched the cal- about the collision orbit for some time yet. And culator. Maybe I’m wrong.” I’m afraid that seetee drift will make it a ticklish “Don’t, Rob.” Ann’s impatience was almost job, even for our dashing young subaltern. He’ll anger. “Vou know a glance is all you need. You need all the time there is.” never touch the calculator. I don’t think you’re He reached for the photophone receiver—out ever wrong.” along the spatial frontiers, where there was no “Give us the data, Rob,” the patient giant said atmosphere to carry sound or to distort and ab- humbly. Drake had seen McGee study the hands sorb a beam of modulated light, the photophone of a chronometer for a few moments, with those was almost the universal means of communication, mild, squinted eyes, and then tell how many sec- from ship to ship and rock to rock. onds it would gain or lose in a day—exactly. For But Jim Drake stopped him. himself, he needed no chronometer. Perhaps he “Wait!” The haggard giant moved suddenly, was no different from many another mathematical so that his lifted roan head almost struck the low prodigy; but sometimes Drake felt that evolution gray roof. Under bushy reddish brows, his deep- had created a new sense in him, adapted to fit the set eyes turned electric blue. A sudden driving harsh and sudden needs of life upon these hur- voice of purpose quivered in his voice. “We’ 11 tling bits of iron and stone. Drake had learned move that rock.” to trust that sense. “We?” McGee stepped back on nimble feet, “Naturally I wanted to see for myself, Rob,” astonished. “How can we?” he added, in apology. “But you know it would Drake’s voice take me hours of observation and computation to was booming now, no longer weary. check a collision orbit. That rock must be half a million kilometers away.” “We need a site for the seetee lab—and that rock is it.” “Nearly a million.” McGee ignored the tone of apology, with his usual blindness to the puz- “If we could!” whispered Ann. “But—how?” zling, nonmathematical world of human emotions. “I just remember a law,” the patient giant ex- “To be exact, nine hundred seventy-one thousand plained. “A perfectly good law, on the books of five hundred eighty kilometers. The time of im- the Mandate. In case of imminent collision, when pact is forty-one days, seven hours and twelve an unclaimed asteroid threatens an improved one, minutes—from the moment I looked.” any property holder on the improved asteroid can Drake’s haggard roan head nodded slowly. He take the necessary steps to avert collision, and didn’t question the figures. Astronomical magni- claim the asteroid in recompense.” tudes and relations were as clearly self-evident to Drake’s rugged bronze face looked almost McGee as the sum of four apples to the Earth- young. born. “A few formalities, of course. It’s necessary to “Forty-one days?” exclaimed Ann O’Banion. file notice of intention, at Pallasport, with data “That’s not long!” Her tanned face was anxious. to establish the collision orbit. You’re required “Can we move Obania out of the way?” to show proof of ability to avert the collision,

McGee shook his straw-colored thatch. unless you have already averted it, thirty days “No time for that, I’m afraid. The peegee in- before the predicted impact—otherwise the will stallation is old-type, you know—nondirectional. Guard take over.” Muffled, his deep voice Obania’s too large to move with tugs—its weight came back from the periscope hood. “But that’s in tons would surprise you.” He laid down his our lab.” pipe. “No, the other’s the one to move.” McGee shook his large ugly head. “Maybe.” 86 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

III. safe in some kind of imaginary tongs that wouldn’t explode into neutrons and gamma rays the instant Half an hour later, old Jim Drake was in the they touched it.” big, rhodium-paneled library of Bruce O’Banion’s He paused, with an orator’s effort for drama. tarnished metal mansion. Ann’s housekeeping “What would you do with it?” had the long room immaculately clean, but even Patiently, still, Drake launched into the bound- the glowing electric grate failed to banish a sense less possibilities of conquered contraterrene mat- of empty chill. Beside precious shelves of faded ter. The years of failure had dropped away; his books, a huge window gave a giddy view of the voice was quick and strong. bare black hill slope tumbling sharply down into “There’s nothing mysterious about seetee. It’s the blacker gulf of star-shot space. Drake had composed of the same three fundamental parti- come, still intense with purpose, to put his idea up cles as our common terrene matter : electrons, to Bruce O’Banion. positrons, neutrons. The only difference is the tea the drink of the Ann was brewing — common way they are arranged. Instead of orbital elec- asterites, perhaps because it had served so often trons, the seetee atom has orbital positrons. In- to cover the staleness of synthetic water in rusting stead of binding electrons, in the nucleus, it has hostess, slim in a tanks. She made a graceful binding positrons. Instead of nuclear protons, bright print dress, pouring the tea in small, fragile each formed of a neutron-positron couple, it has her mother had brought from Earth. cups nuclear negatrons—neutron-electron couples. But Drake had no time for tea. Pacing the “The only difference is that the electric signs thin-worn rug, he fought O’Banion’s stubborn of the charged particles are all reversed. Contra- skepticism. “We’ve got to have you with us, terrene atoms form the same series of elements as Bruce. Rob and I have no property here. If we terrene atoms. They obey identical laws of chem- claim this rock, we’ll have to do it in your name.” istry and physics. If you had been born on a Bruce O’Banion sat in his favorite chair—almost seetee planet—like the one that smashed into our a throne, hammered out of dull massive copper, system, maybe a million years ago, to form the it stood where he could look down through that seetee drift—you would never know the difference. vast window, down beyond that sheer precipice of The only test is contact.” iron, into the black and splendid gulf of space. O'Banion was a heavy man, red-faced, thick- O’Banion’s broad red face remained a heavy jowled, big-featured, with a white impressive mask of doubt. Drake strode up to him, across mane. He wore an old blue-and-silver uniform, the clean faded rug, his voice throbbing deep

altered to fit his paunch, and the Iron Cross the with the awakened power of his dream. Martians had given him for the part the little “What can you do with it?” he echoed the asterite fleet had played in the space blockade of question. “You can make seetee tools, to work Earth. But men no longer called him commo- seetee. When you have a complete machine shop dore. He had lost much, since the war—wealth, —on some airless asteroid like this one—you can prestige, his faithful wife. The drag of his heavy do anything.” lips showed bitterness. Gray like Ann’s, his eyes Drake’s lean space-burned finger stabbed the were a little bloodshot—sometimes he drank too air. much. “You can feed it into a power generator. Seetee But he was sober, now. He followed the strid- will yield thousands of times the power of ing awkward giant, with his heavy statesman’s uranium—because the atomic breakdown is far head. Drake could feel his skepticism, like a more complete, and because native uranium is only stubborn inertia. O’Banion had the shrewd practi- one part in two hundred U-235 to begin with. cal sense of the self-made man—and the smug self- Any kind of seetee will react with any kind of confidence, too. Like most veteran spacemen, he terrene matter. You won’t need any complicated knew that contraterrene matter was hell in chunks. separators.” “If you had uranium on that rock, I’d say yes.” Drake leaned over him, gigantic. The bitterness was dull in his voice. “The com- “You can machine it into rods, for welding missioners might let you get away with a claim. terrene matter. You can use a jet of seetee gas, Interplanet might even pay you a tenth what the even seetee nitrogen, for a cutting torch—that claim was worth.” would be a handy gadget, when you have to cut a Drake protested patiently, “But it’s just the shaft to the heart of a nickel-iron rock, to terra- site we need, for the seetee lab.” form it. A million possible uses!" “Seetee lab!” O’Banion snorted. “You’re the Massive and inert in the huge copper chair, biggest fool in the Mandate, Jim—I’ve told you O’Banion shrugged with ponderous skepticism. so a thousand times. Listen—suppose you had “I’ve heard all that before, Jim—and I still think your seetee lab, all nice and shiny. Suppose you you’re crazy. Maybe you can work seetee with had a pretty little seetee pebble—caught nice and seetee tools—but how are you going to make them, COLLISION ORBIT 87 without seetee tools to begin with?” Paragravity was the triumph of another en- He gave Drake no time to answer. gineer, but it illustrated the same process. Cer- “Suppose you had your seetee machine sfiop, all tainly it had been the tool of politicians; the set up on magical foundations and oiled with Interplanet shareholders had used it to make seetee oil and running on power from a seetee themselves the ruling aristocracy of an inter- plant—and then you had the bad luck to stumble planetary empire. But the larger benefits, he against a lever? Your own body would blow the thought, had more than balanced that. Para- whole works to hell!” gravity had burst the prison of a million years, The awkward, anxious giant kept the patience to set men free of Earth. in his voice. That iron skepticism was an old Not even an engineer could foresee all the con- familiar barrier, that he had never learned to sequences of his work—for either good or harm. overcome. But he tried to be convincing. Maxim-Gore, when he discovered paragravity, was merely seeking a selective force to extract the “I know it’s difficult—dangerous,” he admitted. power isotope from native uranium. force- “That’s why it hasn’t been done before. But you The fields of Sunspots, hurling out jets flaming can move seetee without touching it—with as of simple a thing as a magnet. Once the machine hydrogen for hundreds of thousands of kilometers against solar gravitation, gave the clue to shop is built, it can be run by remote control. him With time and effort, Bruce, every problem can paragravity—a force existing in the unexplored be solved.” region between the phenomena of magnetism and gravitation, and sharing some of the character- istics of each. For all Drake’s awkward urgency, O’Banion remained a heavy bulk of unyielding doubt. Drake Maxim-Gore felt completely triumphant, Drake stepped a little back and dropped his shrunken supposed, when he discovered that the peegee ray-burned hands. His deep voice grimly lower, effect could be tuned to separate the atoms of he tried another argument. U-235 from molten uranium. He had found some- thing better than the vapor-centrifuge. the “There’s one more use for seetee, Bruce—though But directional space drive; the negative safety field, it’s one I don’t like to think of. If you had to guard a ship’s hull from spatial drift; the another war to fight, you could make seetee into peegee reducer, that broke compounds by direct demolition bombs. I imagine that even an operat- up ing machine shop and power plant would be an selective attraction, yielding oxygen to breathe and iron for construction out of common hematite the economic weapon strong enough to set us free of ; peegee terraforming his the Mandate, without much actual fighting.” unit, that held man and precious blanket of air to any tiny rock—those O’Banion sat up in the big red metal chair, with a dim gleam of hope in his bleary eyes. He had helped to organize the vigorous war effort of the asterites—whose men and metal had contributed a good deal to the victory. As Commodore O’Banion, he had thought he was fighting for a free High Space Union. Like his fellow pioneers, he felt that the Mandate arrangement was a heart- less betrayal, by the allied planets. “I used to hope.” He shook his white, leonine head, bitterly. “You both know that I supported the Free Space Party—until the commissioners began arresting the leaders. But it’s no use. If you did manage to build your seetee machine shop, they would find a way to take it from you—or blow it up with a terrene bomb and build another for themselves.” He shrugged, in the sagging uni- form. “A handful of us can’t defeat four united planets, Jim.” That might be true, Drake knew—but, to him, it didn’t really matter. He was not a politician. His primary enemy was not the organized and ruthless human selfishness that the Mandate rep- resented— it was contraterrene matter, with its danger-guarded prize of human usefulness. Once conquered, the benefit would descend to all man- kind. —; —

88 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

were all unexpected gifts, amazing even the en- thing, and report it to the Guard?” gineer. O’Banion rose from the copper chair. “It won’t hurt you, Bruce, to let me try.” Ur- “You win, Jim.” He smiled—a politician’s bland gently, Drake sought to use the tiny advantage he and willing smile. “I’m willing to take the chance had gained. “There’s not often an opportunity that your attempt will keep the Guard from for anybody to claim an asteroid, under the laws averting the collision in time. I’ll sign the papers, of the Mandate—anybody except the corporations. to make you and McGee my agents.” This may be the last chance I’ll ever have.” “Thanks, Bruce.” Drake extended his brown, gigantic hand. “The rock is ours!” The lines in Drake’s brown face bit deep again But O’Banion stepped back, with a heavy ges- for a moment his hollow eyes were tired. The ture. The flowing white hair and dense black conquest of seetee had been a long race with brows made him a commanding figure. Standing time, and time was winning out. But he lifted by the thronelike seat, against the giddy gulf of his gaunt shoulders, in the worn gray coat, and space, he struck an orator’s pose. launched another argument. “You have my permission, Jim.” His voice was “Interplanet has a big engineering staff, with rich with an orator’s eloquence. “But now, before millions to spend.” His patient voice held no we settle any conclusions, let’s look at the difficul- bitterness. “I know, because Rick is working for ties from your point of view.” them—under a contract to sign over his patents for a dollar each. Mars and Venus and the Jovians Drake’s hollow eyes went dark with disappoint- have plenty of engineers. Some of them are ment. Defeat bit into his space-burned cheeks. bound to be working on seetee—because it’s the He remembered that O’Banion had been a politi- biggest thing in sight. Suppose one of them beats cian, and he had never learned to deal with us out?” politicians. Drake gestured, with a gaunt, arresting arm. “First, there is the question of time.” O'Banion “Suppose the Martian Reich wins out? The spoke in a ringing public voice, as if that empty Germans are good engineers and better strategists metal room had held a hundred men. “You have —and their victories in the revolution gave them just eleven days to file notice and show proof. ambitious ideas. They wanted to carry on the The Guard isn’t likely to be satisfied with any war, remember, to total victory. Venus and the mere proof of ability—you’ll have to show the Jovians let Earth into the Mandate, just to hold orbit already changed. That’s mighty little time them down. But suppose they had seetee, now?” and they won’t give you a second more.” O’Banion nodded his white impressive head. “Time enough,” Drake said. “If we get busy.” “That would be unfortunate.” He seemed half “Second, there’s the question of money.” convinced. “But it isn’t true that we can try this O’Banion still addressed an imaginary multitude. without risk, Jim. Perhaps we haven’t much left “Money will be required, for your filing fees, —but we do have our lives. How far do you labor, equipment and fuel-uranium. Unfortu-

think the commissioners will let you go, with a nately, I am . . . er . . . frankly, all but bankrupt. project that threatens the Mandate? Don’t you Have you and McGee any money?” realize that they can decree that seetee research Drake paused on the threadbare rug, his con- is treason—and order all of us shot?” fident stride interrupted. “I do.” Drake’s hollow eyes were sober. “But “No,” he admitted awkwardly. “It’s true we people have called me a fool for forty years,” he had hoped to borrow from you, Bruce—on the argued. “The commissioners aren’t going to take Good-by Jane. This job shouldn’t cost so much me seriously, all at once. We don’t have to tell including five thousand for the peegee unit, a everything we’re doing. We can call it a metal- fair estimate would be nine thousand Mandate dol- lurgy lab, and apply for patents on a few alloys lars.” His big hands clenched helplessly. “I don’t not that the commissioners ever grant a patent to know where we can get even that.” an asterite. Seetee will keep till we need it, for Ann O’Banion slipped out of her chair, beside a political surprise.” the neglected tea urn. Her tanned hand lifted “I don’t know.” O’Banion was doubtful. quickly to her throat. Something held her for a “Plenty of native asterites have said out to the breathless moment before she made a decisive Mandate. That’s why I dropped the Free Space little toss of her dark, lustrous hair. Party—there’s nobody you can trust. And you “I have money, Seetee.” Her voice was low, know that the Guard keeps a pretty close watch vibrant. “Nearly ten thousand dollars—mother on all of us.” left it to me, to spend a year on Earth.” The “We’ll have to solve those problems when they bright voice seemed to catch, but she smiled. “I come up.” Drake’s big roan head lifted confi- want you to use it.” dently. “Now let’s get back to this rock. Are “I couldn’t," Drake protested. “I know how we going to take it for a lab—or give up every- you’ve been planning on that trip.” His roan head ” —

COLLISION ORBIT 89

shook wearily. “After all, things might go his mind was full of more important things. The wrong.” problem of averting the collision seemed suddenly “Please.” The lightness was back in her voice. overwhelming, now that he was face to face with “Don’t you believe in your own proposition? it. Hastening toward the door, he stumbled awk- You’ve sold me. Can’t I buy a share in your lab?” wardly on his bad left knee. The old gamma “Thanks, Ann.” The giant grew tall again. burn seemed to cause more frequent twinges, now, “We won’t fail.” than it had for many years. The needle stab of O’Banion turned heavily. “Daughter, have you burning pain made him conscious of the burden considered— of his age. “The money’s mine, dad,” she said quietly. ilV. “That’s what I want to do with it.” She made a malicious little smile. “Unless you can persuade The frosty black of space struck Drake with a Seetee to give the whole thing up.” cold impact, when he limped out between the O’Banion gulped and tried to recover his tarnished chromium veranda columns that O’Ban- oratorical stance. ion had set up nearly forty years ago. The bleak “Jim, I was begging you to reconsider the diffi- landscape tumbled dizzily out of sight, so that culties of your project.” His tone was somewhat the world of open space loomed shockingly near chastened. “Besides the matters of time and a hostile world, never meant for men. money—and the unfriendly attitude of the govern- Drake regarded that spatial world with emo- ment—I want you to think of the danger. tions as complex as its own changing aspects of “I understand that the asteroid is crossing a dark danger and glittering promise. He knew it drift area. That first collision doubtless made a well. Perhaps he even loved its stark, illimitable lot more dust—and there’s no blinker, now, to freedom, for the safety of any conquered planet mark it. Maybe you know a lot more about seetee was apt to become a weary prison to him. Yet than anybody else. But even you are not immune long familiarity had filled its empty gulf with a to gamma burns.” thousand conditions of invincible hostility. He Ann saw the pain of memory on his face, and seldom feared it, but he had learned a deep and flashed her father a look of silent protest. But patient respect for the laws of its foreign, inexora- Drake’s time-bent shoulders shrugged, with the ble nature. After all the triumphs of the spatial same weary patience. engineers, the void’s dark and splendid face still “That’s just a chance we’ve got to take.” leered with the endless threats of sucking vacuum, Yielding to his daughter’s glance, O’Banion probing cold, burning radiation, deadly meteor- bowed his leonine head. “Then go on.” He of- drift. fered his hand. “I think you are both reckless Suddenly, Drake felt too old to meet those fools, but I’ll say no more. What are your plans?” familiar and ruthless enemies alone. He wanted “We have drilling machinery.” Drake’s voice to call his son—tall, bronzed Rick Drake, with all went deep with relief. “Old, but it will have to the youthful strength that he had lost. A job like do. We’ll round up a crew, and go straight to this should be no more than play for him, as it the rock. I’ll start drilling, while McGee goes once had been for the roan and haggard giant. on to Pallasport to buy the peegee unit. He can It wouldn’t be hard to call. Pallas was eighteen file the notice of intention, before he leaves. Pallas million kilometers away—so far that it was only is only eighteen million kilometers, now—lucky a point in the ominous sky; but the photophone’s it’s so close. He should be back with the unit quick finger of modulated light, carrying the small in six or seven days. We should have it installed vibrations of the human voice, could span that and working, with any luck at all, two or three hostile gulf in something like a minute. Rick days before the limit. But I must be moving.” himself had called from Pallas, half a dozen times, He strode toward the door, purpose once more with cheerful, incoherent greeting. It would be a lifting, driving force within his gaunt and awk- simple enough to call—yet still it was impossible. ward frame. Ann ran after him, calling eagerly: Drake’s troubled thoughts dropped for a mo- “Wait, Seetee! Have you a name for it—our ment into the past. Back to Earth, with its bound- new planet?” Drake’s brain was already full of less wealth of air, with its oceans that seemed vast engineering problems—questions of meters a day, and invincible as space itself; back to the huge, in hard nickel-iron; of liters of expensive water dazzling concrete spaceport at Panama City, just for the drill, and kilograms of precious fuel- before the war; to palms and hibiscus and in- uranium; of paragravity thrust, against some five credible sea beaches; to the towering white, air- billion tons of mass. His roan head shook vaguely, conditioned city that housed the home offices of and Ann cried: “Then I have. Its destiny is to Interplanet, then master of all the planets. liberate us all from the Mandate. Let’s call it His dream was youthful, then, nearly thirty Freedonia!” years ago. He was a lank, young, red-haired giant, Drake nodded absently. He liked the name, but mighty with its power. He had gone to Earth to — ”

90 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

interest the directors of Interplanet in contrater- although the city and a score of mining centers rene research, and he was almost successful. He had their own paragravity units a few miles be- found one influential man, alive enough to see neath the surface, there was as yet no peegee in- that the corporation’s ancient supremacy was far stallation at the center of gravity. gone in decay, great enough to sense the greatness “That’s the sort of job I want to do!” Rick of his dream. But the war broke out, with the pushed a big, eager hand through his stiff, bronze stunning treachery of the Martian raid on Deimos hair—it was the same color, Drake noted fondly, Station; Director Rogers was ordered to join the as his mother’s had been. “That would open up fleet, and he died in the Battle of Eros; Drake the whole planet—make room for millions of set- found himself a suspect alien, threatened with tlers. I’ll talk to Mr. Vickers about it.” internment. Vickers, Drake recalled with a faint unease, was The daughter of Director Rogers, however, used the new branch manager of Interplanet. But he her influence to help him get passage on the last was deeply stirred to see his son’s enthusiasm for ship for Pallas, before the asterites were openly the science of spatial engineering. Rick could involved in the war. And she came with him. help mightily to forge his old and difficult dream Evadne Rogers believed in the dream. She had into reality. lived a saga of her own, not without its splendor. With a shy and awkward gesture, the youthful She was brave enough to follow him out of the giant was talking on. “Don’t you see what we can aristocratic luxury of Interplanet’s capital, out to do? Build a new world, almost! A modern para- meet the savage hostility of the frontier against gravity cracking plant could supply chemicals for the stars. Rick was born on Obania, forty million great hydroponic plantations—make the asteroids kilometers from the nearest doctor. She saw their independent of food imports.” dream defeated, first by the war’s disasters, and “Hold on, son—I’m afraid they didn’t teach you even after victory, again by the greater disaster much practical politics, to go with your engineer- of peace under the Mandate. Her loyalty never ing,” Drake told him soberly. “The Mandate com- yielded to the letters of her wealthy relatives on missioners don’t want too many people out here, Earth, inviting her back to the luxury she had or too much independence. They do want the left—though she insisted on sending Rick back to food situation like it is, for a club.” them, when he was ten years old, to be prepared Rick’s face showed a surprised, half-indignant for the great school of spatial engineering at protest. Already a little frightened, Drake de- Panama City. Even her death had a hint of the cided it was time to speak of the future. He began epic. Wearing dirigible space-armor, she was to lead up to it, anxiously: helping Drake survey a bare little rock where “Besides, Rick, it would be too difficult and ex- they hoped to build the long-delayed contrater- pensive to open a shaft to the center of Pallas, rene laboratory, when she was killed by the same with present equipment—through two hundred seetee meteor that had burned his knee. and fifty kilometers of solid nickel-iron.” His voice began to ring. “Now, as soon as we've mas- It was five years ago that Rick, twenty-one, tered seetee, such things will be easier. With a came back from Earth with his new degree. Drake seetee nitrogen torch— and Rob McGee met him at Pallasport, with the Good-by Jane. They had planned to take him into Drake stopped himself, painfully. He saw the their partnership at once. look on Rick’s face. No words were necessary. A dull, throbbing ache came into old Jim Drake’s He could see what his tall son thought about the throat, even now, when he thought of that meeting. dream. Awkwardly he turned to order another The Interplanet liner was a splendid, tapered drink, trying to hide the heartbreak on his face. silver column, standing on the broad busy field Rob McGee hadn’t noticed—the corqjplexities of at Pallasport. The locks yawned open, in the space and time were all transparent to his odd mighty base of it. The gangways clattered into perception, but human beings refused to obey any place, and Rick came bounding down. He was such beautiful laws as ruled celestial motions, and the awkward friendly giant that Drake had longed their stubborn irrationality often baffled him. to see, with a crushing handclasp and a joyous “Rick, you remember the Good-by Jane?" grin. He was thrilled to be returned to the fron- McGee spoke gently, obliviously, into that aching tier world of his boyhood, and he showed a shy pause. “We’ve brought her, to take you back to delight in his father and Rob McGee. Nothing Obania. From now on, we’re Drake, McGee & marred the reunion—until they came to speak of Drake.” the future. Rick didn’t say very much. His untanned face McGee had taken them into a little bar, to showed trouble, and he fumbled awkwardly with celebrate with a round of drinks. Rick was im- his whiskey-soda glass. “I’m sorry, dad—but I’d pressed to discover that Pallas, capital of all the better tell you now.” Incoherently, he was trying Mandate, was not yet completely terraformed to be as gentle as he could. “I’ve signed a con- —

COLLISION ORBIT 91 tract, to go to work for Interplanet.” loyal to Interplanet, and the conquest of contra- Numbed with the hurt of it, Drake spilled his terrene matter was still a crazy dream. drink and paid no heed. Suddenly he understood many things that his son didn’t say. He could Pausing to rest his aching knee, between those see the pity, on Rick’s troubled face, for two old tarnished chromium pillars in front of old Bruce and futile men. The Good-by Jane, in Rick’s O’Banion’s mansion, Drake tried to square his modern expansive scheme of things, was only an gaunt and weary shoulders; he lifted his blue, antiquated joke. Obania was only a funny little hollow eyes to meet the dark and hostile leer of ghost planet; Drake & McGee, spatial engineers, space, alone. were quaint, unfortunate relics of another era. But he was not alone. Ann O’Banion came out Drake could even understand what had hap- to drive him back to the one-street town under the pened to his son. Eleven years had made an black metallic cliffs. She didn’t say that she had Earthman of him. Rick felt the Earthman’s pride seen him stumble; she spoke only of the urgency in the splendid ancient might of Interplanet, and of time. the cultured Earthman’s superiority to the native In Interplanet’s shining new branch office—all asterite. His mother’s aristocratic relatives had rhodium-plate and blue fluorescent glass, it was taught him their belief that Drake had squandered the only new building in the town—she wrote him his life, and hers, upon a crazy chimera—Drake a check for nine thousand Mandate dollars. Inter- knew that Evadne had been happy with him, for planet, even since the war, was still banker for all their misfortune, but the relatives had never all the Mandate; slowly the corporation was shap- accepted that. ing military defeat into economic victory. Nor could Drake blame his son. After all, his Rob McGee was waiting at the rusty little office. influential connections would assure Rick of a They signed an agreement, making Ann a silent successful career in Interplanet, and Drake knew partner in the firm of spatial engineers. McGee well enough that the road outside was hard. In found a dusty bottle of synthetic rum, and they the end, contraterrene power might turn out to drank a toast to the future of Freedonia. be the chimera the relatives believed it—for forty “Now, let’s talk as little as we can,” Drake cau- years of effort had brought the goal no nearer. tioned. “It may be several days before anybody Drake made no attempt to persuade Rick to else finds out about the collision orbit—that’s all break the contract. He knew it would be futile, that gives us a chance. Say we’re going prospect- and he didn’t want a quarrel. Rick shyly pre- ing—that’s near enough to the truth.” sented a girl he had met on the liner—a pretty red- Ann nodded, asking, “Who are you afraid of?” head, who was somebody’s niece. Drake and Mc- “Your friend, von Sudenhorst.” Drake smiled Gee took them for a hop around Pallas, in the briefly at her grimace. “He’s young, ambitious, oh-so-quaint little Good-by Jane, and then went and extremely bored with Obania. He’s itching back alone to Obania. for a chance at a conspicuous bit of duty—that Rick had called several times, in the five years might get him promoted to a bigger post.” since. He seemed less shy and incoherent. Drake “But we aren’t breaking any laws,” Ann pro- knew, proudly, that he was making good. Awk- tested. wardly he had tried to learn if Drake needed “Laws have to be interpreted,” Drake reminded money—and Drake managed to conceal the need. her. “And the Guard doesn’t often interpret them Now, the photophone’s slender ray could carry in favor of us asterites. If von Sudenhorst finds his voice to Rick in something like a minute out about the orbit, he might take over Freedonia but that call was quite impossible. For Rick was before we get the notice filed.” 92 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“He won’t find out from me,” Ann said posi- concentrate, ten percent U-235, sealed in cadmium tively. cans because uranium has a vigorous chemical ap- They parted then, on separate errands. Ann petite. Ann had just gone up the ladder, boyish returned to the gleaming Interplanet building, and capable in space breeches, when a man in which was general store as well as bank and ship- uniform asked for Drake. ping office, with Drake’s scrawled list of supplies “The subaltern’s greetings, Mr. Drake. You to be delivered aboard the Good-by Jane. and Captain McGee are requested to call at his Rob McGee had been sorting over the ancient office—right away.” mining tools stored in the back room behind the Drake tried to conceal his puzzled alarm. He little office. He went down to the secondhand called up the ladder well to Rob McGee. They store at the foot of the street, to look for spare crossed the convex field to the big six-sided build- cutter-heads for the antique oxyhydrogen drill. ing beyond the tall war cruiser. Although Com- Drake went in search of men. He wanted an mander von Sudenhorst spoke carefully unac- experienced foreman, at least three hard-rock cented English, his manner betrayed the smug, drillers and terraformers, and four swampers. deep-grained arrogance and the precise efficiency Since the mines shut down, however, most of the encouraged by Martian military training. He re- skilled and the youthful had left Obania. Comb- ceived Drake and McGee with a stiff curtsy, ing the Meteor Palace Bar, the domino parlor, which scaroely veiled his contempt for civilians and the Mandate relief office, Drake collected only and, particularly, native asterltes. five men—two elderly miners, a discharged guards- “Be seated, gentlemen.” The austere metal man, a Venusiaa-Chinese cook, and a one-legged room rang to his domineering voice. They sat hard-rock man named Mike Moran. uncomfortably on hard metal chairs, while he “A disappointing lot,” he told Ann O’Banion, searched them with slatelike eyes. “I am told back at the office. “But they’re the best I can that you are preparing for a mining expedition. find.” All ship movements must be reported. Where are “Then I’m going along, to help,” she quietly you going?” announced. McGee answered innocently: “No you aren’t.” Drake made a shocked pro- “Our papers are quite in order, sir. They have test. “We’ll be left on the rock, while Rob is already been stamped by your field officer. We gone to Pallasport. If a fire storm comes, we’ll are clearing for an unnamed rock, HSM T-89- just have to take it.” AK-44.” “Can’t I take it?” Her tanned face was deter- “Thank you, captain.” The Martian’s dull, shal- mined. “I can handle a dirigible suit as well as low eyes came back to Drake, and his hard voice anybody, and the men in dad’s mines taught me rapped, “And what is your object?” how to run a drill when I was twelve years old.” Drake tried not to hesitate. He refused to lie, She added, gayly triumphant: “I’m a partner, but he knew that it was sheer disaster to tell all now—I must take care of my investment.” the truth. “Call it prospecting,” he said. “Ac- Drake suggested that her father wouldn’t let cording to the ‘Ephemeris,’ that rock is going to her go. But she had long ago learned how to make a fairly close approach. Business is dull, deal with Bruce O’Banion’s stubborn statesman- and there’s a chance we may find it valuable.” ship, and she reminded Drake that she was now “Valuable?” the officer echoed harshly. “It’s !” of age. Drake yielded at last, uneasily—remem- nickel-iron bering how Evadne had died in dirigible armor “That’s the ‘Ephemeris’ listing,” Drake agreed. on another airless rock. “Based on instrument readings of specific mass and albedo. Possibly a surface survey will reveal Small and blue, in the long golden spindle of something more,” the misty zodiacal light, the Sun hurried down the The stubby hands of von Sudenhorst rattled a somber sky, came up and dropped again—the day paper on his immaculate metal desk. “I have here of Obania was only four hours long; all clocks a list of your crew, equipment and supplies.” His kept standard Earth-time, of the Panama City blank eyes looked suddenly accusing. “An elabo- meridian. rate list, for a prospecting trip!” They were almost ready. The shabby crew had Drake felt an unpleasant sensation in his mid- straggled aboard, grimy space bags shouldered. dle. “We’re taking men and equipment to work Rob McGee had moved the pipes and pajamas out a prospect hole,” he said desperately. “The gov- of his tiny cabin, under the pilothouse, to make ernment has not yet outlawed prospecting.” a place for Ann. The lower hold was filled with “I’m aware of that.” Von Sudenhorst rose, a the mining machinery and drums of water. Under black-uniformed automaton. “Thank you for call- the profane supervision of Mike Moran, the men ing, gentlemen. I have no right to delay you. were loading fuel-uranium from an Interplanet However I advise you to keep in mind that the delivery truck—heavy costly ingots of the stable restricted license of your craft does not include ! ” ; —;

COLLISION ORBIT 93

mining, salvage or towing operations. Good day.” plastifoam, to save the air if one comes through.” As they hurried back to the ship, McGee’s The faces still were white and ominous. leather face was furrowed with apprehension. “Only the particles with freak velocities can “We aren’t planning any mining, salvage or tow- touch us,” Drake went on. “We have up a nega- ing—not exactly. Do you think he’ll make us tive safety-field, that will stop everything under trouble?” ten kilometers a second, and deflect a good deal “He’s not exactly cordial.” The giant’s bent of the rest.” shoulders shrugged away the High Space Guard. The ugly face of Biggs showed a stubborn “The Jane is ready to go.” disbelief, and he tried to explain: “You can feel the peegee field, here in the ship, that holds you against the deck and keeps you from being space- V. sick? Well, there’s a similar field around the hull, Nine people were too many for the little space pushing away—you couldn’t hit us with a rifle, tug, but it was only twenty hours to Freedonia. from fifty meters.” Mike Moran and the ex-guardsman, named Biggs, Trying to relax the dangerous tension, he added swung their hammocks in the midships drive room. casually: “Men lifted the first ships off the The rest of the crew slept in the holds, and played Earth, two hundred years ago, with that same dominoes endlessly in the narrow wardroom. negative field—and shut it off, midway of the Fifteen hours out, they struck the first ominous voyage, to fall toward the destination. That was whiff of contraterrene dust. A dozen particles before our directional peegee drive, which reacts strafed the hull, clanging like rifle bullets. Drake, against the constant force of cosmic repulsion.” in the pilothouse, heard a scream of fear from “Cut the lecture, mister!” snarled the drunken the ladder well. Sounds of a scuffle; Mike Moran guardsman. “Suppose a big rock gets through cursing. Then Ann’s head came up the ladder, your safety-field?” unfrightened. “We’ve got another gadget, for the big ones,” “Mutiny.” Her voice was calm. “Better come Drake assured him. “The heat radiation of any- down, Seetee.” thing larger than a pea will trip the thermalarm Mike Moran was leaning on the ladder in the relays, in time for the pilot-robot to change our tiny wardroom, holding back the others with his course.” lifted crutch. Biggs stood before the two old “Satisfied, brother?” Mike Moran rapped his miners and the frightened Venusian. He was crutch on the deck. “Better be!” flushed with alcohol, threatening. “Turn ’er around!” he blustered up at Drake. Biggs retreated. Sullenly, he accepted Moran’s “We ain’t drivin’ into no bloody fire storm—not profane challenge to a game of dominoes. Drake in this rusty old can. We signed to work a pros- went back to the pilothouse. A few more explo- pect—not to be burned alive!” His red-eyed glare sive contraterrene atoms smashed against the hull shifted to Mike Moran. “Make him put down that but Biggs soon dropped into an alcoholic sleep, damn crutch, and give me back my bottle.” and the one-legged foreman kept the two old min- Drake dropped down the ladder, beside Moran. ers, Hale and Galloway, busy with the dominoes. With a deep and patient voice, he tried to stop the Five hours later, they came to Freedonia. panic that a few microscopic grains of seetee dust Drake studied it through the periscope. Slowly had roused. rolling against the mighty panorama of open “Listen, men. You’re being paid to do a danger- space—against the empty, illimitable darkness, the ous job, and you’ll get a bonus when it’s done. silver dust and ghostly green of nebulae remote But it’s not unreasonably dangerous—not unless beyond man’s imagination, the hard hot points of you lose your heads, and make it so yourselves. many-colored stars that sometimes seemed near Perhaps the ship is old, but she’s spaceworthy. enough to be scooped up in a glittering handful Let me tell you about our protection— Freedonia was a jagged black cube, like a mon- Krrrang strous rolling die of iron. At that loud reverberation, the Venusian turned Ann O’Banion came up into the pilothouse, pasty-yellow. One of the miners squalled a curse eager to see the new world she had named. Drake the other dropped on his knees, clutching a cruci- gave her his place at the periscope. For a little

fix, silently praying. time she was silent, breathless. She turned from “Turn ’er around,” shouted Biggs, “before we the black hood, with a faint shudder. do it for you.” “So that thing would strike Obania?” “That was an alarming sound,” Drake admitted “It would,” Drake assured her. “I’ve just been patiently. “But the particle that made it was checking the orbit, to have it on paper for the smaller than the head of a pin. It struck three claims office—and it is a collision orbit, actual as inches of good steel. We have a layer of lead, well as legal.” to absorb the gamma ray, and a seal of compressed “Freedonia seems a strange name for it.” She — ” —

54 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

managed a hopeful smile. “It’s so far from Obania, the end of a short taut cable, above the crown of just a nudge ought to be enough to turn it aside.” each shelter, was a small peegee unit. Set to nega- “Some five billion tons of iron isn’t easy to tive polarity, these provided a comfortable pres- move,” Drake told her. “And the legal definition sure against the floor, and some protection against of a collision orbit is a good deal broader than meteor drift. When they were turned on, it was necessary—especially if von Sudenhorst is going necessary to climb to the shelters against their to be judge. We’ll have to swing it pretty wide.” repulsion. A small uranium motor-generator, in They slowly circled the asteroid, while Drake the mess tent, supplied light, heat and paragravity studied its dark, forbidding contours. At last he power. There was a common shelter for the turned back to Rob and Ann, with a frown gather- crew, beyond the smaller silver-painted igloos for ing around his hollow eyes. Drake and Ann. “The shape is unusually compact,” he said. They moved the ship to the edge of that black,

“That makes it very suitable for the laboratory phosphorescent chasm, to unload the drilling site. But the tunnel will have to be a good deal equipment—which had to be secured with nets deeper than I estimated, to reach the center of and cables, for the natural gravity of Freedonia

gravity. I’m afraid it will be hard to get it fin- was too weak to hold it safely. Then the air lock ished in time.” closed again. The ship’s photophone, like a small He had selected a camp site—a shallow, iron- searchlight above the stubby bow, swung down to walled depression, near the south pole, which Drake and Ann, standing in their armor like would afford some slight protection from meteoric clumsy robots beside the antiquated machinery. drift. Rob McGee dropped the ship to a perfect “Luck,” said Rob McGee. “Back as soon as I landing, and made fast with the paragravity can.” anchor. “Buy the peegee unit first,” Drake warned him. All hands, except McGee, donned dirigible “Don’t talk—and don’t file the notice till you’re armor. These suits, intended for heavy work un- ready to start back. Something might go wrong.” der dangerous open space conditions, were of He added, trying to hide the catch in his voice:

steel, lined with lead and plastifoam, and equipped “You’ll see Rick. Tell him . . . tell him we’re all with small peegee drive units, which propelled doing fine.” them like miniature ships. “Right,” said Rob McGee. “Good luck.” Leaving the others to set up the camp, Drake Biggs, the guardsman, had called the two old set out with a transit and Ann O’Banion for his miners around behind the ship. Now he led them flagman, to make a quick survey of the nickel-iron back, his helmet photophone flashing red—the mass. After an hour they came to the abrupt rim suits all looked alike, but their names were sten- of a steep black chasm that Drake had seen from ciled on them with green-glowing fluorescent above. paint. “What’s this?” As he faced Ann, the photocells “Let us back aboard!” Biggs was frightened lenses of helmet above the his bucket-shaped and truculent; his glaring lenses swung to Mike flicker light picked up the red of the photophone Moran. “Are you going to stay here, marooned the hers. voice slow with on crown of Her was and maybe get trapped in a fire storm?” wonder. “It's a weird-looking pit l” “I am—and so are you,” retorted the one-legged She moved back from the brink of it, awed driller. “You signed a contract to work here two with the evidence of some flaming cataclysm. All weeks. It’s my job to see you do it.” Lifting a about the lip of it, fused iron had congealed again steel-gloved hand to shield his helmet lamp from in grotesque snaky gouts. Lower, streaks and Ann, he added a few emphatic comments. traces of other minerals burned with lurid phos- Biggs swung on Drake, lifting steel-mailed fists. phorescence. “To hell with your contract!” he blustered. “Tell “This is where that seetee fragment struck,” McGee to open that valve or we’ll smash the Drake told her. “Quite a little atomic blowup — lenses out of your damn helmet!” that glow is from temporary radioactivity, from the absorbed radiation.” His awe gave way to “Wait, Biggs.” Drake could understand the fear eager purpose. “But this is the spot we’re looking of space, of its dark and fiery monotony of danger, of its cold, for—the bottom of this pit is already burned unbounded vastness that nearly halfway to the center of gravity.” shrank the human ego. He knew that the danger here was real enough, but it was necessary for By the time they returned to the little polar the ship to leave them. Patiently, —he began to cup, the shelters were pitched—igloo shapes of explain the situation. “Listen, men woven metal, lined with lead foil and self-sealing Mike Moran, however, took the matter out of plastic, fastened down with cables welded to the his hands. Agile as a fish in the dirigible suit, living iron, and inflated with oxyhelium. Small he needed no crutch now. When Biggs advanced cylindrical air locks gave entrance. Standing at again, with threatening fists, Moran dived at him COLLISION ORBIT 95

and hauled him away by the neck strap of his armor. Ann waved a troubled farewell; and the Good-by Jane lifted, silent as a shadow, for the long voyage to Pallas- port. Rust-red in the glancing Sun, it dwindled and was swiftly lost in the dark chasm of space. They were alone.

VI.

Drake shook off a brief unease. He still could feel the sullen, fearful hos-

tility of the man Biggs ; but he was used to facing the dangers of space as they appeared, and he expected others to do the same. After all, they had safety devices. And any meteor miner had to take his share of seetee when it fell. Patiently he tried to explain that to the uneasy men, and then they began to set up the drill. The battered old ma- chine had a mass of twenty tons. Haul-

ing on cables, they pulled it over the pit, and “Now I feel like it’s Freedonia!” Ann’s small let it slowly sink between the dark, fire-streaked voice held elation. “I feel like it’s ours.” walls of iron. Ann swam to it, and opened the Drake said nothing to discourage her. On the thick lead hood over the uranium motor-generator. driller’s seat, turning with the slow spiral move- “Better keep clear.” Drake’s head lamp flashed ment of the cutter-head, he moved heavily to the warning. “The machine seems light, here, but adjust the economy screens, which collected the it has the same mass as always. It might catch you particles of ice and iron oxides blown back from against the walls.” the cutting flames—oxides were precious, on this “I’m no baby, Seetee.” Her clumsy, bright- iron world, and they had brought the very mini- painted suit stood up, on the side of the floating mum of water. He didn’t want to depress her machine, and he could imagine her making a child- spirits, but he knew that Freedonia was far indeed ish face of protest. “I was just going to heat the from safely won. separator manifold.” And her voice challenged: When the drill was running smoothly he divided “Just see if I don’t know how to run the drill?” the party into two shifts. Drake, with Ann and She pointed with a confident armored hand. old Galloway, stayed with the drill. Mike Moran “You pump water into that little seetee refiner, took Biggs and Hale back to camp, to rest for to get oxygen and hydrogen. They burn again, the second shift. in the cutter-head—till the iron gets hot, and you “Very good!” On that first twelve-hour shift turn off part of the hydrogen. Those gears turn they had hoisted out four thick four-meter cores, the cutter around a core of iron. When you have and Ann was jubilant. “At sixteen meters a shift, cut a four-meter section, you take it out with the we’ll have the foundation ready by the time Cap’n section-head and the magnetic hoist. And then Rob gets back.” you go down with the cutter again, and take an- The second shift, however, failed to keep up other bite. Isn’t that right?” that rate of progress. Biggs had inspired old Hale Drake nodded, though his massive helmet didn’t with his grumbling resentment. Drake refused to yield to nods. He heard the admiring voice of suspect them of deliberate sabotage; he thought Mike Moran, for once unprofane, “Ma’am, I take they merely lacked the knack of calling the last ydu for a real hard-rock man!” impossible Ounce of service from worn-out equip- The machine was leveled, in the rounded bottom ment. But somehow Biggs let the separator mani- of that fire-streaked pit, and welded into place. fold freeze, on the uranium engine—which hap- Ann began to prove her skill, starting the little pened at about 1850° C. That cost hours of delay. uranium motor. At last the drill began to turn. In all the shift, they cut only two “bites.” Airless space, like an ocean of cotton wool, muffled all sound of machinery, but Drake could feel the Drake took the whole crew into his confidence, vibration of the gears through his boots. Moving in an effort to speed the work. Standing before points of blinding incandescence cut a slow one- them in the mess shelter, a tired and aged giant, meter circle into the hard black iron. he spoke with a patient urgency: ”

96 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Men, this is not just an ordinary prospect hole.” Good-by Jane. He had seen only the ragged patch He waited for the fat yellow cook to pour hot of stars and nebula, sliding across in remote splen- tea. “I’d better tell you, we’re trying to terraform dor as the rock turned. this rock—to steer it off a collision orbit. We had Beneath those glowing fire-hewn walls, Drake ten days, from the time we landed, before the and Ann stood beside the little rusty derrick. A legal limit— winch spun silently, and a thin racing cable hauled “Bitter swill !” Biggs spat his tea at the cook’s up the last section they had cut. At the levers, feet, and snarled at Drake: “Are you crazy, Drake was glad that the stiff bulk of oversize mister? This bloody rock ain’t worth terraform- armor concealed his bitter fatigue. The red head ing !*’ lamp brought Ann’s cheerful voice: “You’ll get a bonus, if the job is done in time.” “Just thirteen bites left, to the center of Drake said nothing of his dream. “But we’re gravity.” She marked a tally on the iron wall, eight meters behind schedule, already. We’ve got with a blue fluorescent pencil. “That isn’t so far, to have the foundation ready, to install that unit Seetee!” at the center of gravity, when McGee gets back “Too far!” His voice was dull. “We should with it.” His voice dropped humbly. “Will you have been done. Rob should have been back with help us make up that eight meters?” the unit yesterday. I don’t know what—” He The rest all cheerfully pledged their efforts, checked the words; he didn’t want to break her with the bitter tea. But Biggs had never learned gay, determined optimism. to like that spaceman’s drink, and he sat ominously “We still have three days,” she reminded him silent. hopefully, “before the Guard can put us off.” Although Drake and Ann cut five sections on Drake didn’t answer. He knew of nothing they their next shift, it proved impossible to make up could do, in three days, to move five billion tons the missing eight meters. Shift after shift, dis- of iron. He intended to keep on trying, simply aster continued to haunt Mike Moran and his crew. because he wasn’t used to quitting. But he could Drake and the girl were unexpectedly called to see no hope. help with emergency repairs, until they both were drawn with need of sleep. The heavy core came out of the shaft, fast to First, the cutter head stuck. For want of proper the powerful little electromagnet. Ann stepped adjustment of the oxyhydrogen jets, to bum the on the iron cylinder, to ride it out of the pit. iron cleanly from the cut, molten metal congealed The swamper’s task had a pleasant spice of danger about the cutter-head, welding it fast. It required and she enjoyed it. Drake hadn’t wanted her to seven hours to cut the stem free, install a spare take it, but Ann knew how to get her way. head, and start the drill again. Mike Moran and his crew came out for the next The next day Biggs, working as swamper, some- shift. That turned out to be the last—for old how let a twenty-ton core roll back into the pit. Hale doubled up with a sudden agony of space- It fell very slowly, to the slight gravitation. The man’s colic, and had to go back to the shelter; men had time to get out of the way. But its silent and Biggs, taking his place on the drill, somehow impact smashed the section cutter. Repairs again let the cutter-head freeze fast again. consumed the rest of the shift. The foreman woke Drake with that bad news. By that time the shaft was twenty meters behind Drake went down the shaft to try to free the drill. schedule. Drake and Ann managed to gain one Hour after hour he labored, his oversize armor section, but the other crew lost it again—because too big for that cramped pit. He accomplished of a fall of contraterrene dust. nothing. The cutter-head was fused to the living The tiny particles fell invisibly, exploding iron, and there were no more spares. against the black iron with small, instantaneous “Seetee—come up!” Ann’s head lamp flashed at puffs of blinding blue flame, silent and deadly. the top of the pit; her voice was breathless. None fell into the pit, but Biggs and the other “There’s a ship—coming in to land beside the miner, frantic, fled to the rather more dangerous camp.” location of the camp. He thought the ship would be the Good-by Jane. The fall soon ceased, and Drake went back with Rob McGee ought to have repairs for the drill, Ann and old Galloway to begin the next shift. and even two or three fresh men, to help with They found Mike Moran still tending the engine. the heavy task of installing the drive unit. Per- But the abandoned cutter-head was stuck again, haps they could still get it in place before their and it took them half the shift to replace it with time expired; von Sudenhorst might be generous their last spare. enough to let them go ahead. McGee was overdue. Soaring over cragged iron horizons, they hurried Seven days were gone, and all this weary shift back to camp. Out of frosty, glittering night, they Drake had anxiously watched the mouth of the came into the cold, pallid glare of a shrunken pit, looking for the photophone light of the sun that struck out of that same dark sky, harshly —

COLLISION ORBIT 97

across the lonely little cluster of white-painted “However, I now give you notice that we shall igloos in the iron-walled cup. be forced to evacuate all civilians from this The ship had landed near them, but it was not asteroid, when that time is up—unless you have the Good-by Jane. Drake caught a painful gasp successfully altered the orbit.” of thin oxyhelium, and the hope flowed out of “Kurt!” protested Ann. “You wouldn’t!” him. The ship standing on a ledge of iron had “That is for your own safety, Miss O’Banion,” the lean, tall, torpedo shape of a war cruiser, and the Martian told her stiffly. "If your ship does its black, tapered hull glowed with the four- not return, we have space for your party aboard quartered flag of the High Space Guard. the cruiser—including a nice stateroom for you.” “Thank you, Kurt.” Ann’s voice was tense. “We won’t be needing it.” VII. “We shall be waiting for you, Miss O’Banion,” Drake and Ann O’Banion dropped to a ridge of returned von Sudenhorst, a hint of mockery be- iron, shaken and deflated. A photophone light hind his formality. “I know that you are not tipped down, above the cruiser’s ugly nose. The magicians.” flickering beam brought them the harsh metal voice of Kurt von Sudenhorst. They returned to the little cluster of white "Good day, Mr. Drake—and Miss O’Banion.” igloos. The cruiser loomed above them, ominous He could see the names painted on their armor. as a tall, ebon tombstone. Drake looked hopefully His greeting held no warmth, not even when he past it, into the dark splendor of space. He found spoke to Ann—nothing else must interfere with the dim gray point of Pallas, but there was no the duty of a guardsman. “What’s your business hint of the returning Good-by Jane. here?” Ann waited until they were in his shelter before Drake tried to keep the alarm out of his tired she whispered desperately, “That’s the last straw patient voice. “We told you before we left —I simply can’t give in to von Sudenhorst.” Obania. We’ve been drilling a prospect hole.” Strong teeth bit her pale lip. “What can we do?” !” “Perhaps Loud and strident on the trembling “Wait for Rob . . . good to know he got there.” ray, the Martian-German’s voice carried a trium- Drake sounded incoherent. “Nothing else to do.” phant accusation. “Perhaps you didn’t know that He dropped across his cot—he was a stooped this rock is on a collision orbit, with the Guard and shrunken giant, but still it looked too small. base at Obania?” Ann spoke to him anxiously, and then realized Drake clung to his patient calm. that he had gone to sleep. She hadn’t realized "As a matter of fact, we did know. Captain how tired he was. McGee left for Pallasport seven days ago, to file She turned up the electric heater, and spread legal notice of our intention to avert the collision. a blanket over him. Stopping to set the little We are expecting him now, with our drive unit.” peegee air machine, that drew fresh oxygen out “Then you lied!” It was a metal rasp. “You of exhaled carbon dioxide and water, she saw a are guilty of concealing a danger to the Guard.” photograph propped on the cabinet—a picture in “Legally the danger of collision does not exist color of Drake’s tall son, smiling a bronze, mag- until thirty days before the time of predicted nificent smile. Ann made a quick little face of impact,” Drake said patiently. “Thirty days is disapproval. presumed to be ample time for the Guard to avert “You ought to be here, Rick,” she gravely ad- a collision. And our legal notice, filed in Pallas- vised, “instead of off working for the enemy. I port, gave sufficient warning.” can just remember you, before you left Obania The flickering beam brought a harsh, uncertain a nasty little body with grubby fingernails. But sound. your dad tells me you’ve grown up to be a shining “Anyhow, your scheme has failed,” observed paragon of strength and manly virtue. Don’t you von Sudenhorst. “Your notice was duly reported know he’s getting too old for jobs like this? If to me, but my observations show that the asteroid you’re so all-fired splendid, why aren’t you here is still on a collision orbit. The thirty-day limit to lend him a hand?” is only sixty hours away. We have a work ship The photograph continued to smile—she thought, en route from Pallas to take over the job.” with disgusting conceit. Impatiently she slipped “We still have sixty hours.” Drake stood back into her armor and went to the mess shelter. straight in his massive suit. “We still have a The men were playing dominoes. Their idleness chance.” annoyed her, but she knew there was nothing they “A chance, ja/” Derision made von Sudenhorst could do. She scolded the bland Venusian for careless about his English. Drake waited uneasily the not uncommon sin of his grease-spotted apron, through a little silence. The steady ray brought and returned to her own shelter. no hint of the officer’s thoughts. She tried to read a novel and found it impos- "You have sixty hours,” he agreed abruptly. sible. She knew that the men would tell her at —

98 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

once if the Good-by Jane came back. Yet she kept toward its air lock. Drake reached it with her. getting up, against her will, to peer out through They left the armor below and climbed into the tiny lead-glass peepholes in the thick, inflated the little pilothouse. Rob McGee met them, with fabric. mute tragedy in his squinted eyes. In the green- Somehow, it was difficult to keep her eyes off mildewed space coat, his weary shoulders made a the tall black cenotaph of von Sudenhorst’s cruiser, helpless shrug of failure. standing its ominous guard above. An appalling “What happened?” Ann cried urgently. “What idea had come to keep her company. She was kept you?” afraid she would marry the Martian-German—if “They beat us, that’s all.” McGee shook his they failed to win Freedonia. tangled yellow head. “I couldn’t buy a new-type The idea surprised her, because she had always terraforming unit—not from Interplanet or any- privately laughed at his stiff and formal suit. But body else in Pallasport.” she would be penniless if they failed; and she “But why?” Ann gasped. thought he would take advantage of such a cir- “Because we are asterites.” McGee’s voice was cumstance. She was astonished to realize that gentle as ever, but his leather face showed bitter von Sudenhorst, stupid and arrogant as he might lines. “Because we’re trying to work for our- be, was yet masculine enough to have a certain selves, instead of for a monopoly with a whole unpleasant attraction. She disliked him, and knew independent planet behind it. Because the Man- she always would. The idea frightened her, but date government is trying to keep us down.” she couldn’t put it out of her mind. “But what did they do?” demanded Ann. Three hours later there was another sudden fall “Nothing.” McGee shrugged. “They didn’t of seetee dust. Watching anxiously from her refuse to sell the unit outright—none of them. shelter, Ann saw the little silent splashes of fire, They just put me off, with red tape and delay. blue painful, and scattered all across the little iron They made me fill out applications, and wait for depression—except in a little circle about the permits. They didn’t know about the collision standing cruiser, which was protected by its safety orbit, but of course von Sudenhorst had reported field. our expedition to Guard headquarters, and Inter- ShrrrapJ planet must have been tipped off that we were up At that sudden report behind her, she jumped to something. I filed the notice of intention, just and choked back a nervous scream. Burned paint before I left—though I don’t see how it will do made a sharp reek, and she turned up the air us any good.” machine to clear it out. She listened for a leak, A bitter silence filled the little gray-walled room but if the grain of dust had pierced the fabric the till Drake broke in with an eager question of his hole had already sealed itself. own: “Rick? Did you see my boy?” The red photophone light above the cruiser be- Little McGee looked quickly at Drake’s gaunt, gan blinking furiously again. But she didn’t con- tense face, and quickly away; he began to fumble nect the shelter photophone—no doubt von Suden- aimlessly with the dials of the pilot robot. “Yes, horst was offering her the safety of the cruiser, I went to Rick.” His voice was very soft. “I told but she thought she couldn’t endure his metal him all about it, Jim. He said it was a dirty voice, just now. shame. He promised to see Mr. Vickers, and have/ After a few minutes, when the fall of dust had Interplanet cut the red tape and get us a terra- slackened, she saw three men leave the mess shelter forming permit and sell us a unit—I saw a dozen and plunge furiously into the cruiser’s open lock. crated units, at the Interplanet docks.” Mike Moran followed more deliberately—she Fidgety and uncomfortable, McGee clicked a recognized his graceful handling of the flying switch on and off. armor—and presently brought back the empty “I waited all day, but Rick couldn’t do any- suits. He saw the burn on her shelter, and stopped thing.” He gulped. “Rick was awfully sorry, to see if she had been injured. Jim. He wanted you to understand that he couldn’t “That was Biggs and his two stooges,” he told do anything. He told me to explain how it was.” her. “They’ve quit the job.” He sounded worried. Drake didn’t speak. He merely sat down on the “I tried to call Mr. Drake, ma’am, but he don’t metal stool and dropped his big roan head in his answer.” folded arms on the case of the pilot robot. He “Let him sleep.” The flood of despair came into wasn’t a giant any longer, Ann thought. He was her voice. “It doesn’t matter about the men just a broken old man. there’s nothing left for them to do.” She saw little Rob McGee move nimbly to the ship’s photophone and take up the receiver. Dully, At last, after Ann had abandoned all hope, the without interest at first, she heard his gentle voice. Good-by Jane returned. The rusty little tug It sounded far away. dropped softly between the white igloos and the “Yes, von Sudenhorst. McGee speaking. . . . cruiser. Ann got into her armor and dived eagerly All right, then, Commander von Sudenhorst. . . . ” ” —

COLLISION ORBIT 99

Another beacon? What are Its bearings? . . . One of the worst in the system. It will be here

We’ve been expecting a fire storm. . . . Very well, in two hours.” commander, you can go ahead and evacuate any of Ann glanced at Drake’s bowed, unmoving head.

our men who wish to go. . . . Miss O’Banion? I’ll It was strange to be reminded that an invention _ ^ _ » see. of his had saved so many lives, that he had been Ann shook her head emphatically. a giant among the mighty race of spatial engi- “No, commander, she doesn’t seem to,” McGee neers, when now he seemed so futile and so broken. said gently. “No, I think we’ll stay with the She looked away again.

Good-by Jane. . . . Well, if it’s suicide, it’s our “Suppose another big fragment hits Freedonia?” suicide. . . . No, sir, I don’t believe Miss O’Banion Her dry voice tightened with a desperate hope. will change her mind. . . . Very well, I’ll speak to “Wouldn’t that carry us off the collision orbit?” Mr. Drake.” “Not likely,” said McGee. “There aren’t so many Drake’s grizzled head lifted out of his folded as big as the one that hit before, and space gives arms. Ann bit her lip, for his face was terrible to them lots of room to miss.” He shook his head, see. It was so shrunken and so gray, the wrinkles adding softly: “Wouldn’t help us, if that hap- so terribly bitter and deep. Tears were burning pened. We have no legal claim to Freedonia, in the dark, hollow eyes. Drake said nothing. He unless we change the orbit ourselves.” merely shook that dreadful head. Her tanned hands clenched with a futile tension. “Then I — “No, commander,” Rob McGee said very softly, guess there’s no more use It surprised her into silence when Drake stood “we won't evacuate—not till that sixty hours is up. The tears up.” He replaced the receiver, and added in that were gone. His haggard face was stiff and strange. same gentle voice, “And verdamnt to you, von He stalked awkwardly to the Sudenhorst." periscope. Turning from it, he began to question Rob McGee about the relative motions of Free- VIII. donia and the approaching cloud of contraterrene Ann’s anxious face spoke a voiceless question. drift. His voice was dull and low, as if disaster “Yes, von Sudenhorst says there’s more seetee had drained him of all emotion. on the way.” McGee’s over-quiet showed his dis- “Only ninety-three meters a second, but that’s turbed emotion. “There’s a swarm-blinker coming plenty for seetee.” Little McGee answered very softly, at first. “The blinker itself down across our orbit. The subaltern is only doing will miss Free- donia, his duty. He wants to evacuate us from the track by twenty-one kilometers. But the front covers a wide area. of the fire storm.” Von Sudenhorst is right we ought to take off pretty soon if we’re going Silence fell, thick and breathless in the narrow, to get out of the path— gray-padded pilothouse. Drake sat with his big, Something happened, then. Something made red-gray head on his folded arms. He didn’t move McGee catch his breath. For once his voice was and he made no sound. But Ann felt as if all his startled and high, protesting: being, his old gigantic strength and his old splen- “You’re crazy, Jim you can’t do that!” did dream, his love for Rick and his very wish to — live, all had crumbled and fallen to dust before Tense with wonder, Ann turned to old Jim her eyes. Teeth in her lip, she turned jerkily away Drake. Something had happened to him. Still from him. This terrible moment was too private his haggard face was set and gray, but his hollow for anyone to see. She ached to help him, but eyes were burning. Despair had turned to some there was nothing she could do. grim purpose. What it was, she couldn’t tell. But “Let’s have a look for that blinker.” Rob McGee McGee had read it from Drake’s questions—and seemed to understand. With a wan, grateful smile, she could see that he was frightened. she turned with him toward the periscope. Pres- “What is it, Seetee?” She caught at Drake’s ently he took his head out of the black hood to let gaunt arm. “What are you going to do?” her see. But he didn’t seem to hear. His hollow eyes One greenish star was splendid on the black were far away. She could almost see the strength field. The blinker was hard to find, but at last she of this new purpose growing in him, lifting his discovered its small, hurried signal, red-blue-and- head, filling out his shrunken frame, making him yellow, red-blue-and-yellow. It seemed tiny and once more gigantic. Again he had become the remote, its meaning difficult to grasp. Looking spatial engineer, boldly shaping hostile forces with back, she saw that McGee was consulting the worn brain and brawn and daring, rebuilding the foreign black volume of his “Ephemeris.” world of space to fit the needs of men.

“It’s the Theseid Swarm.” His voice was too “Don’t try it, Jim!” McGee was urging softly. quiet. “The one that destroyed the liner Theseus, “You know it’s all theory, paper work—you never back before Jim invented the blinker. It contains had a lab. You know the spacemen are right—the many large fragments of drift, as well as dust. stuff is hell in chunks. You know a man can’t A ST 70 100 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

live outside, in the fire storm that’s coming. You now, powerful. “You’re a good mechanic. I want were nearly killed by one gamma burn—isn’t that you to tear the batteries out of four of those spare enough?” suits and make them into a pack that I can carry. Drake smiled a little. Now he was a calm and Connect them in parallel—I want amperage, for patient giant, unvanquishable, sure of the power of a magnet. Wire in the best rheostat you can find his brain and his hands. McGee yielded to the —I’ve got to have control, on that magnet! You’ve conquering purpose in his slow brown smile. about an hour for the job.”

“Good luck, Jim,” he said softly. “What do you She asked no questions. “Let me at it!” • want me to do?” “Get the shaft ready for me.” Drake’s voice The beginning of the fire storm was no more was deep and confident again. “Drag the derrick spectacular or alarming than any of the previous and the cables out of the way—so I can get in falls of contraterrene dust. It was only a scat- without touching anything. We’ll need two or tered shower of incandescent splashes, tiny and three of the cores—tow them down and leave silent. In the deserted mess shelter, busy with them ready by the shaft. Then I’ll want you to pliers and parts of the dismantled suits, Ann take me out to meet the drift.” scarcely noticed the beginning. “Done, Jim,” said Rob McGee. All the other falls, however, had quickly passed. Ann wanted to know what he meant to do, and This steadily increased. It became a rain and a she was pretty well accustomed to getting what terrible hail of fire. The shelter was struck a she wanted. But the mighty purpose visible in dozen times. Escaping oxyhelium made a thin Drake had inspired a kind of awe in her, so that slow hissing, from some hole not completely sealed. she didn’t ask again. She noticed that McGee was Across the inside of the thick inflated fabric, answering the buzzing photophone again. ominous blue letters began to stand out, spelling “The subaltern.” He had covered the receiver DANGER. with his hand. “The final warning, he says. He The warning fluorescence of those stenciled demands that we come along out of the drift front signs meant that deadly gamma rays were leaking —or else let him evacuate the men and Ann.” through the fabric. Ann left her task to put on “The men must go,” Drake said instantly. “Call her dirigible armor—leaving the gloves detached, Moran, and tell him to take the cook; the others are so that her hands would be free to work the pliers. already aboard.” He looked gravely at Ann. “You She meant to marry, some day—though not von had better this go— won’t be any picnic.” Sudenhorst ; and she didn’t want to bear any ray- “Not with Kurt von Sudenhorst,” she said. shaped monstrosities. She paused a moment, by “Besides, I want to stay and help—with whatever a tiny peephole, to watch the inferno outside. you’re going to do.” Hot blue splashes were dancing all across the To her relief, Drake seemed to understand about shallow iron depression, except where the low von Sudenhorst. “We’re going to move Free- black cliffs stopped the slanting fall. She saw a donia,” he said grimly. “Tell von Sudenhorst to wide rent in the shelter the men had used, though wait for the other men—Ann isn’t coming. And the stiff fabric had not collapsed. It was fortu- tell him to watch us change the orbit!” nate that they had gone with the cruiser. McGee told him—very gently. Ann heard an Larger fragments were falling now. She saw a ungentle metal rasping in the receiver before he dark, jagged boulder strike glancingly. It made hung up. She made a pleased little face, and a steak of searing, intolerable fire, everywhere it then turned quickly to listen to Drake. touched the iron. It skittered across the crater, “You can help.” His voice was quick and vibrant bounding on the cushion of its own fury some- COLLISION ORBIT 101

what like a water droplet on a red-hot stove, and time and again, to the crash of debris, he tool: finally dissolved in a vast curtain of silent, blind- Drake out to meet the blinker. ing fire against the farther cliffs. Drake was waiting by the valves at the bottom She hurried back to her task. The shelter of the ladder well. A gigantic robot, in the silver- seemed dark to her dazzled eyes, and she was painted armor, he was busy getting the feel of numbed with an icy dread. Twisting feverishly the rheostat strapped under his steel-gloved thumb. at the wires, she vaguely wondered again what Ann O’Banion stood beside him, and she felt Drake meant to do. She didn’t see how even such a sense of awe. He was going into frightful dan- a capable giant as he could do anything at all, in ger, but he didn’t seem afraid. She was still with the midst of this storm of consuming fire. a new respect for human greatness, for the human In a few minutes more the heavy little power might it took to conquer these frontiers, that pack was done. She put on her gloves and fas- were never planned for men. tened the face plate of her helmet. Carrying the Still he hadn’t told her the thing he was going pack, she scrambled out through the air lock and to do—not in words. But she could see the terrible lifted the suit across the flame-spattered crags of outline of it, in his preparations. She felt cold iron, toward the shaft. and ill with dread. But she could see that he was A particle struck the back of her helmet with not afraid, and that queer awe stopped any protest. a sudden dazing force that set her to spinning McGee’s quiet voice came down the ladder well: wildly. But it must have been a very small one, “Ready, Jim? Here’s a bit of seetee that fits for she lived. She kept her grasp on the power all your specifications. Nearly pure nickel-iron, pack. She righted her flying armor and went on. from the color. It will fit into a one-meter shaft, When she came in view of the black-walled pit, with twenty centimeters to spare.” the stubby little Good-by Jane was dropping into “Ready,” answered Drake. it. Rob McGee was moving the iron cores, as “One minute,” called McGee. “I have to match Drake had asked. He opened the air lock for her. velocity, and then I’ll cut the safety field.” That She gasped with relief to escape that fall of deadly was a necessary precaution, Drake knew; the nega- fire—though she knew there was danger yet, even tive field would have hurled him away from the to the ship. ship, as impartially as if he had been another Now that her own effort was ended she felt meteor. But the drift was not so dangerous, now chilled and shaken. Inside the valves, she opened that the ship was moving with it. “All ready, Jim.” her face plate and clung to the foot of the ladder, McGee’s voice was very soft. “Good luck.” too exhausted even to hail Rob McGee. In a few Ann gulped. A throbbing ache in her throat minutes Drake came through the lock and pushed wouldn’t let her speak. Chilled and trembling, she up his own face plate. helped that serene and awkward giant close the “You aren’t hurt?” His voice was quick and inner valve behind him. She lifted her glove anxious. “Better keep your armor on. This drift against the thick little window in a tense, hopeful looks pretty thick, even for the Jane.” His voice gesture. went deep again, with driving purpose. “You have Drake emerged from the air lock into the still, the battery pack?” dark splendor of open space. He saw the blinker She nodded breathlessly, and then saw the —a tiny, spidery wheel, spinning eternally against gadget that he had brought. He had cut the a bright Galactic star cloud, flashing its hurried, powerful little electromagnet off the magnetic tireless warning. It was only a few kilometers hoist they had used to lift the cores from the away; this was the swarm’s very heart. shaft and welded a convenient handle to it. She In a moment he discovered the contraterrene helped him connect the power leads, and strap meter that McGee had chosen for him, not a hun- the rheostat in his glove, and secure the batteries dred meters distant. Even without his partner’s to the shoulders of his armor. mathematical eye he could see that it was well “Finished, Rob?” his deep voice pealed up the selected—its black, rugged mass was long, com- ladder well. “Then take us out to meet that pact, narrow enough to slide easily down the shaft. blinker." With teeth set on the plastic-cushioned helmet stick of IX. his armor—for the magnet and its rheostat occupied both his hands—Drake made two or three Contraterrene drift flowed about the battered preliminary practice circles. He approached the little space tub, a black and silent rain of danger. dark chunk of contraterrene iron, gingerly. The repulsion of the safety field stopped most of Collision with it might not be instancy fatal. the dust. The thermalarm relays snatched the But he knew that a fending arm could be swal- ship aside, again and again, in random mechanical lowed into flame and nothingness. He knew that efforts to escape some fragment on a stationary the tissue-burning gamma rays of that matter- collision bearing. Little Rob McGee used the best consuming reaction could leak even through his of his curious skill. ^Although the old hull rang, unharmed suit, to kill with an ugly, lingering —

102 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION death. Cramped in the armor, his bad knee gave Swimming underneath the seetee meteor, he another monitory twinge. tugged it gently downward, hastening the accelera- He swam up cautiously behind that dark and tion of Freedonia’s tiny gravity. With a gentle deadly ingot, and brought the case of the magnet pull to overtake the asteroid’s rotation, he drew carefully within a few inches of it. Slowly he it over the dimly glowing pit where they had moved the rheostat, to energize the magnet and drilled the shaft. draw the meteor toward him. Carefully, at the He tipped the meteor upright, upon its longest same time, he pushed up the control stick with axis. Tugging at projecting knobs, he imparted his teeth, to draw away from danger. a slow spin that would help to hold it there. He The meteor followed. He fled, and it pursued. let it continue to fall—and steered it carefully The flight required a nerve-draining precision of into the one-meter shaft that they had drilled. control. The inverse-square law became almost an He had to follow it. edict of death. If he drew the magnet an inch That necessity was the reason he had not tried too far away, its force snapped like a rotten string; to explain his plan in words, to Ann and Rob if he let it slip too near, its attraction was in- McGee. Very soon that shaft was going to be- stantly redoubled, jerking him toward that pur- come a volcano, erupting frightful atomic fire. He suing deadly mass. Again and again he had to thought he would have time to get out before that stop the current, with a convulsive jerk of his happened; but his understanding of the seetee thumb. And twice, for all his care, the case of reaction was based on paper work—he had never the magnet touched a point of the meteor, with had a laboratory. He had not dared to trust them, blinding silent fire. to let him take the chance. Rob McGee was helpful. He followed close He had to go down with the meteor, because still with the little tug’s safety field recklessly off, of Freedonia’s axial spin. Rotation would tend so that its unequal thrust would not impede to fling the falling meteor continually against the Drake’s exacting task. On the ship’s photophone, forward side of the shaft as it approached the he gave soft-voiced directions—he always, knew center of gravity. He had seen that it could stand exactly how far ahead Freedonia was, and exactly a few accidental knocks, without "catastrophe. But how much of that ninety-three meters a second of that steady thrust, he knew, would be enough to relative velocity remained for Drake to conquer. precipitate the full explosive reaction, long before As they slowed toward Freedonia’s pace, the it fell to the bottom of the shaft. remainder of the drift began to move about them He swam down close behind it, headforemost, again, with an increasing threat. McGee came to with his photophone head lamp snapped on for the rescue, holding the ship for a shield between illumination. He thrust the magnet far down on Drake and that deadly ra-in. In spite of that, a the sunset side of the pit, to hold the slowly turn- few small stray particles struck his armor, their ing meteor off the opposite wall. jolting, unexpected impacts increasing the peril of Several times, in spite of Drake’s cautious tugs, his task. some jagged point of it came against the smooth Yet Drake remained the spatial engineer. Even dark walls—with a silent burst of terrible flame. during those most desperate moments, a part of But he managed to keep those accidental nudges his trained mind was detached from the task that gentle enough to avoid catastrophe, and he was seemed to call for every faculty—busy trying to relieved to see that the meteor rebounded from the design a new relay, 'that would somehow circum- wall. vent the inverse-square law. That effect he was not quite prepared to explain At last he saw the black and jagged cube of —perhaps the reaction had a temperature factor. Freedonia, rolling against the field of stars ahead. But he had observed it before—he had seen seetee Still the fire storm raged against it, for he could pebbles skittering across terrene matter, like drop- see the unending dance of hot blue points against lets of water riding their cushions of steam across the crags of naked iron. The photophone brought hot metal. He had counted on it to save his life. a final gentle word from Rob McGee: The narrow walls of iron came up about him “Here we are, Jim. Now, ignoring rotation, endlessly. His gaunt body was cold with the your velocity is matched exactly with the rock. sweat of nervous strain. His knee ached. A dull I guess the rest is up to you.” discomfort in his middle became an uneasy threat of spaceman’s colic. With the helmet stick in his teeth, Drake didn’t And still the meteor fell. try to speak. He merely bobbed the suit. The He couldn’t see beyond it. He couldn’t see the little tug slipped silently away. Now McGee bottom of the shaft. But the broken drill stem could use the safety field again, and even take burned with a white and warning fury when the shelter from the drift in Freedonia’s lee. Drake meteor touched it. He managed to check his own knew the rest was up to him—and it was the descent, just short of death. trickiest part of a ticklish job. 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104 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

of the shaft. The magnet grazed it with a flash flooded the sky and drowned the Sun. Drake bent of searing light. But Drake was still alive, and his helmet, to shield his eyes against the deluge Of the magnet wasn’t ruined. He tried to steady the terrible radiation.

meteor, scarcely daring to leave it. He heard a sighing, as if a thin wind passed. It hung in the bottom of the shaft, the dark tons The living iron quivered under him. Something of it moving in a slow and ominous dance, sup- tugged at his armor. He clung desperately to the ported upon the incandescent fury of its own valve. A hail of freezing iron rattled against his dissolution. The reaction, as yet, was slow. Here, back and he felt a parching heat. near the center of gravity, there was only a tiny And then it was over. pull upon it. But the rebounds might swiftly Silence came back, an insulating ocean. He increase. Of course the temperature was swiftly dared to look again, and his dazzled eyes saw a rising, and, when it melted, things would happen. sky of fading red—a veil of dull flame that ripped and came to shreds and swiftly dissolved from In his stiff and bulky armor, Drake was too big before the black, eternal face of spatial night. to turn in the shaft. He fled heels uppermost, The storm of iron was gone, and the Sun came elbows striking harmless sparks from the iron. back. The glare beneath him dwindled to a small, in- An awed and weary giant, Drake stumbled1 into tolerable point. the air lock. He shut the outer valve behind him, At the top of the shaft—but still in the iron and heard the grateful hiss of air, and struggled funnel of that larger pit, still in the path of the hastily out of his hot armor. A numbed and heavy coming blast—he slammed the magnet recklessly giant, he mounted the ladder to the pilothouse. against one of the great iron cores that Rob Before he had time to speak, Ann made him bare McGee had placed ready for him. his gaunt forearm for a routine antigamma injec- There was no need for caution now—for any- tion. Rob McGee gave him the astrogator’s stool, thing but haste. The thick iron cylinder was and it felt good to sit down. With a hoarse and almost weightless here, but still its mass of many anxious voice, he gasped: tons made it slow and difficult to move. He hauled it laboriously over the shaft, and started “Was the orbit changed—enough?” it home with all the thrust of his flying armor’s He knew that the energy of annihilated matter drive. must have fused and boiled and expelled thou- It was wadding for his rocket gun. It would sands of tons of nickel-iron, to make that stupen- hold back the fury of the contraterrene charge, dous rocket jet. It had been timed well enough make sure that it didn’t blow itself out of the to react at right angles to the orbit. shaft before it had been fused and vaporized and Drake himself had no way of telling what he utterly consumed, to release its full atomic might. had accomplished without spending laborious And its impact would certainly be enough to crush hours with the instruments and the methods that the suspended charge into ignition. Earth-born man had invented to extend the range For good measure, however, he dropped another of feeble senses never adapted to space. But he core after the first—he thought he had time enough knew that any change would be self-evident to for that. Then he fled out of the glowing funnel Rob McGee, as obvious as one plus one. —chance had shaped it well enough, he thought, “Was it changed?” McGee turned nimbly from into the bell-flare of an efficient rocket muzzle the periscope with a gentle smile creased into his and retreated over the near horizon. leather face. “About a hundred times as much as He had time to reach the asteroid’s lee. He necessary!” found the Good-by Jane, standing at anchor in Ann clapped her hands together. “Then Free- an iron-walled hollow. The photophone greeted donia’s ours!” him, with a red and anxious flicker. But he had “I don’t know.” The victorious no time to listen or to answer. He dived headlong giant was doubtful. for the open air lock. “We’ve moved the rock, but the title to it is a thing to be settled by the officers of the But it came, before he could get aboard. Even Guard and the lawyers and as he dropped down upon the iron his feet could politicians at Pallas- port and they’re all about as tricky feel a mighty and soundless vibration. Desper- — as seetee itself.” ately gripping the edges of the open valve, he crouched against the rusty hull. However, he The first brief elation was ebbing, and the re- couldn’t resist the temptation to risk his eyes with action of effort and strain came back upon him in a glance at the sky—for this rock was his labora- crushing fatigue. All the buoyant force of that tory. mighty purpose was drained out of him. He was Still there was no sound. Beyond the ship and old again. But still the job wasn’t done. the iron cliffs, however, a white and mighty plume “Can you get von Sudenhorst?” A slow, heavy came up. It was magnificent and blinding. It giant, he turned to Rob McGee. “We must report COLLISION ORBIT 105

what we’ve done. The change in the orbit doesn’t mean a thing, unless they know we did it.”

Hours later, still too tense and tired to sleep, Drake was resting on the bunk in Rob McGee’s cabin, when the photophone picked up the cruiser. Quietly, Rob McGee reported how they had moved Freedonia. And Ann relented enough to speak to Kurt von Sudenhorst—for she no longer felt afraid. Drake heard her voice, through the open ladder well. “Oh, yes, Kurt, we’re all safe. ... Of course we

did—can’t you see how much it’s changed? . . . Didn’t Captain McGee just tell you how we did

it? . . . That’s the way it was. Mr. Drake used the shaft for a rocket motor, and about five tons of contraterrene iron for fuel. ... Of course it made a thousand-kilometer jet, and altered the orbit very suddenly! What else would you expect?

. . . Certainly! Mr. Drake always said there was power in seetee. You don’t seem to realize it, and on the Kurt, but you have just seen a historic event—the first successful use of contraterrene matter. Now seetee is going to make a lot of changes—just wait newsstands and see! . . . And this report will say we were

successful? . . . Don’t be stupid, Kurt! We changed the orbit, didn’t we? We averted the The best love fiction of the year has been collision. That’s all the notice of intention said we were going to do. ... Of course you’ll do your selected for the new LOVE STORY AN-

duty, Kurt. That’s all we want. . . Naturally NUAL! It’s a romantic must. you can’t grant us the title. That’s up to the

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Kurt. ... Yes. we’re coming back to Obania. . . . STRANGE HUSBAND, a novel by EDNA E. DAVIES.

No, I’m afraid not. . . . No. . . . Good-by!” By that time the fire storm had completely BROADWAY DAWN, a story by MAYSIE GREIG— ceased. They stayed on the asteroid long enough to salvage the undamaged supplies and equipment and many other stories by top-notch authors. It's from the battered camp. McGee found one of your the iron cores from the shaft, and towed it to a key to summer romance . . . get your copy now. If high point near the smoking, glowing pit. They welded it upright there, for a legal monument, your dealer can't supply you, fill out the coupon below. and posted upon it a copy of the notice of inten- tion. Ann herself took green fluorescent paint 25c—on sale at all newsstands in U. S. only. to splash it with tall, hopeful letters, spelling — Freedonia. The return to Obania took only sixteen hours, for it was not so distant now. Drake slept a dozen hours. He rose once more a giant, lifted LOVE STORK AIMU1L with the triumph of his purpose. He couldn’t see 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City into the future. He had no way of knowing how long the real conquest of contraterrene matter Inclosed is twenty-five cents (this offer would take, or who would be the final victor. But not good outside of U. S.). Kindly send he knew that his old dream had turned a page of me a copy of LOVE STORY ANNUAL. history. The moving of Freedonia had opened a new era. NAME '.

ADDRESS The Guard cruiser had returned to the base on Obania, long ahead of them. As the Good-by Jane CITY came in to land on the tiny, convex field, the photophone flashed above the control tower, an- STATE —

106 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

nouncing that Drake was requested to call at before he heard the eager, slightly incoherent voice Commander von Sudenhorst’s office, immediately. of Rick:

A few young guardsmen, off duty, gathered “Hello, dad! I’ve just heard about it, and I about the lock of the rusty little tug. Perhaps the think it’s wonderful—what you did, I mean. most of them were interested in nothing more than You’ve showed the System that you were right another glimpse of Ann. But all of them had about seetee, all the time. As for me, I wish I heard what Drake had done, and he could see a had seen it sooner—I mean, when I came back to difference in their glances. He was now a little the Mandate, and went to work for Interplanet.” more than the old, hopeless dreamer. His deep young voice hurried on, filling up the Kurt von Sudenhorst, however, was blind to any two precious minutes: “But what I called to tell change. Nothing short of annihilation, it seemed, you, dad—I’m through with Interplanet. I guess could ever penetrate the smug completeness of his you were right about them. They won’t let me do ordered military world. In the metal precision of anything—real, I mean, and big—like terraforming his office, he received Drake with the same stiff Pallas. And it made me plenty sore the way they and arrogant formality. kept Cap’n Rob from getting that unit.” “Commander, you wanted me to call?” Tears stung Drake’s hollow eyes, and he heard Sitting erect behind the cold polish of his the quick, eager voice through a sudden distant chromium desk, von Sudenhorst reached for one roaring in his ears. “I hear you’ve got title to of the papers that reposed in strict military rows, the asteroid, dad. I’m awfully glad. Say, dad and looked up at Drake with hard blank eyes. His Cap’n Rob told me you wanted the rock to use for flat voice lifted, as if giving a command. a seetee lab. I want to come out and help you “Mr. Drake, my report of your unexpected suc- build it—I mean, if you still want me. How about cess in safely altering the collision orbit of HSM it, dad?” T-89-AK-44 has been duly made to Pallasport. Rick’s two minutes were gone. Alone in the I have received a reply. The Guard has been stuffy little booth, Drake was suddenly weak and instructed by the Mandate claims office to inform trembling. There was a roaring in his ears. At you and Captain McGee, acting as the legal agents first he didn’t hear the operator say that he could of Mr. Bruce O’Banion, that your claim to said speak. He wasted half a precious minute. Then asteroid has been recognized, in consequence of his voice came queer and hoarse—but still he man- your service. The title will be granted to you.” aged to tell Rick how about it. Drake swayed a little, gulping, “Thank you, A tall and mighty giant, years lifted from him !” commander with the power of his proven dream, Drake strode “No thanks are necessary,” von Sudenhorst told back to the rusty little office in the town. Things him shortly. “I am merely acting in the line of were going to be different, now. They would

duty.” His stiff face frowned, and he caught his need a new sign, now, with Rick’s name on it. breath as if to add something else. But his iron Seetee was doomed to yield at last, to the spatial jaw closed, and he rose like a black automaton. engineers. “That is all, Mr. Drake. I understand that Pallas- The next evening, Ann O’Banion gave a modest port is calling you, if you will go to the photo- little banquet in the long glass-and-silver dining phone office.” room of her father’s ancient mansion. It was to Drake thanked him again, out of habit, and hur- celebrate the winning of Freedonia. She even ried to receive his call. Seated in the little booth, asked Kurt von Sudenhorst, out of sheer elation. he waited breathlessly. It took an endless minute But old Jim Drake forgot to come. He was busy for his voice to span the eighteen million kilome- at his desk, designing the induction furnace and ters to Pallasport, to say that he was ready. The magnetic hammer with which he hoped to make light-winged reply took another eternal minute the first successful forging of contraterrene iron.

THE END. —

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II TIMES TO COME

of the last Anson MacDonald the “Waldo,” one time June issue was being set up ; in the month stories we’re apt to get for some time, will lead interval, a nice supply showed up, and are printed off the August Astounding. It was, as a matter herewith. We want more—a lot more. And we of fact, a pleasant surprise to get this manuscript want votes, because the prizes for our best liars —completed during the interim between going up will be distributed solely on the basis of reader for active duty and receiving an assignment. Mac- votes. The prizes are, in case you’ve forgotten,

Donald is now, very definitely, engaged full-time $20 for the best, $10 for second place, and $5 for in pounding Japs and Nazis instead of typewriter third. The contest is open to any and all who keys. think they can string a taller story than the next The story has some nicely unusual set-ups guy; the sole conditions being that the finished as is to be expected of a MacDonald story—includ- opus be not more than seven hundred fifty words ing one that certainly sounds as though the yarn long. (There’s no lower limit; if you can out- had strayed from its proper pasture, Unknown prevaricate most people in ten words, we’ll gladly

Worlds. The main problem of the yarn is: Just give you a prize equivalent to a $2-a-word rate.) what is it that a certain Pennsylvania hex doctor It should be typed, double-spaced—and please did to a “broomstick” that made it fly, when the don’t drive me to fits of futility by leaving your best technicians had failed. It may occur to you name and address off. I can’t use ’em if they that that isn’t science-fiction, and definitely not can’t be assigned a home. And it must, of course, science; definitely, it is. The “broomstick” isn’t be original, and science-fictional in background. quite the usual kind; it’s entirely inclosed in The general idea is that the little item shall transparent plastic streamlining, and— Well, sound plausible on the surface, but contain a flat read the yarn. violation of known scientific law. Malcolm For that matter, Waldo isn’t the usual sort of Jameson’s story, “Pig Trap,” in the April 1942 hero. He’s a fat slob, so weak he can’t—literally Astounding, for instance, depended on freezing a —lift a hand. All in all, a genuinely unusual set-up. shadow; that, definitely and explicitly, lived up to This issue contains the first series of Probability the department title of “Probability Zero.” And Zero stories contributed entirely by readers. They all—professional or amateur—are invited to do began coming in in a very slow trickle about the likewise! The Editor.

— i THE AIALYTIEAL LABORATORY

NOTICE PLEASE—In your Analytical Labora- Place Story Author Point score tory notes for the current issue, please be sure to 1 . Beyond This Horizon Anson MacDonald 2.00 rate the Probability Zero stories in your order of preference. The first prize of $20, second prize of 2. Asylum A. E. van Vogt 2.10 $10 and third prize of $5 will be distributed to the 3. Push of a Finger Alfred Bester 2.53 winners selected on the basis of your votes.

The stories in the May issue seem to have had 4. Foundation Isaac Asimov 3.21 a fight for position, as the concentration of point- 5. Forever Is Not So scores indicates—they range between 2.0 and 4.5, Long F. Anton Reeds 4.50 indicating a real scattering of opinion. As of make-up day, they stand: The Editor. 109

"THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MISSING HERO” several times opposing formations of enemy draftoships alone and unaided. He was taken By Frank Holby prisoner on the Island Fortress of Castleroux, Lucien Hazard, greatest criminologist of the but escaped to lead a group of peasants to freedom twenty-fifth century, entered the door marked: and victory. “ ‘Above all things . . . above all events of this stands Sebastian Lelong century, the incredible bravery of the man out like a beacon light of courage. His feats of Editor ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA heroism in the third War of Salvation are legend. “ ‘Almost singlehanded, Elliot Gallant’s great “Come in, come in, Mr. Hazard,” boomed out leadership gave us victory in the, what is to be Mr. Lelong. “You’re just as I’ve always pictured hoped, final war. you: tall, thin, dark, and with a lean-and-hungry “‘After the great war, science progressed rap- look,” he chuckled. idly in peaceful fields. A time machine, the first Lucien smiled dourly. “I assume that you are of its kind, was built. Who would go on the in need of my analytical ability.” perilous journey to previous time? Millions of “That is precisely why you are here,” nodded followers, led by Job Buckley and Woody Jacker- Lelong. “Sit down and I will tell you all about man demanded that Elliot Gallant be chosen to my troubles. go. And so he was. “Our company is publishing the decennial set “ ‘Cheering crowds watched Elliot Gallant climb of encyclopedia. Our set is finished, but for a into the time machine. Elliot saluted the specta- portion of one book—G to GH. tors, gazed fondly at the gigantic colossus of “Naturally, we have devoted several hundred the superscience buildings, and pulled the starting pages to the immortal martyr, Elliot Gallant.” lever. “Naturally,” said Lucien. “ ‘He was supposed to return from the past to “We have a summary of the three hundred his people in two years, but mortal man saw no pages ready,” said Sebastian Lelong. “Let me read ” more of Elliot Gallant.’ it to you: “ interesting,” broke in Lucien, “but what ‘Elliot Gallant’s early childhood remains a “Very dark mystery. He showed a sign of his great in- has this got to do with me?” tellect at the age of four, when he defeated Isaac Sebastian Lelong spoke softly. “Our Board Morphy of Lower New York for the chess cham- wants you to go back into time and discover what pionship of the United States. Shortly after, he became of Elliot Gallant. If you can discover was' registered in the great Earth Orphan Asylum this, we will include the facts in our new set of in Los Angeles, California. books. Our books will be the best sellers of all “ ‘He attended the State schools, and graduated time. Millions of beings want to know what hap- from the University of Greater California with pened to Elliot Gallant, and we propose to tell high honors. them. We already have unearthed several facts “ ‘Elliot Gallant gained his commission as a previously unknown about Elliot Gallant. For gyroplane captain in the second Intermediate War. instance, only seven people in the Universe, the He fought fearlessly and well for his country. members of the Board and us, know that Elliot — —

no ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Gallant’s mother was a woman named Mary couldn’t contact Earth to tell them of his plight, Moresbe. for Mercury was too close to the magnetic dis- “You must be careful, however. The indomi- turbances of the sun for an interplanetary radio table Elliot Gallant undoubtedly died, fighting to operate. And he was the only man on the scores of bloodthirsty pirates, or slaying some planet. Soon, not even he would be alive. ferocious unearthly monster. It is certain that He opened the inner door and stepped into the he died, fighting against insurmountable odds.” tiny building in which he had lived for three “I thought that time travel was forbidden after years. The building in which he was to die. Man his disappearance?” queried Lucien. can live but forty days without food. He had “We’ve got the machine for you, never mind already lived four. The ship wouldn’t come for how,” snapped Lelong. fifty more. The inescapable mathematics of the “Very well, I’ll do it,” said Lucien. situation stared him bleakly in the face. He walked past the long rows of bottles and After six long, dreary, restless months Lucien, jars on the laboratory shelves and into his small Hazard stepped into the room, through the door living quarters. He sat down on the buna rubber marked: couch, buried his head in his hands, and tried to ( Sebastian Lelong think the thing through. The station was well equipped with vitamin and Editor ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA mineral tablets, he knew. But, hang it all, a man "Did you find out anything?” shouted Lelong. couldn’t live for fifty days on pills! And there “Elliot Gallant, strongest of the strong, died by were none of the usual foods in the laboratory. his own hand,” said Lucien. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins—nothing. And that “Impossible,” snapped Lelong. was that. “Elliot Gallant went back into time thirty years. He tried to analyze the problem from a different He liked the peaceful days of yesteryear. He standpoint. What essentially did man live on? married, had a son. He didn’t want to come back Just carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. into the present, and be the hero of the populace.” Hydrogen and oxygen—water. There were three “But why did he kill himself?” asked Lelong. huge buna-lined steel tanks full of water buried “Elliot Gallant’s son won the chess champion- in the Mercurian soil, far below the station. That ship of the United States at the age of four. was all right. But the carbon and nitrogen? Elliot Gallant married a woman named Mary Coal and air. And a man couldn’t live on either Moresbe. Does that mean anything to you?” of them. There was his problem—the carbon and whispered Lucien. nitrogen. How to get them? “You mean?” Thoughts of the fried chicken his mother had “Exactly. Elliot Gallant killed himself when he made back on Earth, before he’d ever come to this found out, with his great mind power, that he was God-forsaken planet as an observer, came to his his own father!” mind. He thrust the ideas from him resolutely. DE GUSTIBUS He had to think got up and paced nervously about the small By Randall Hale He room and into the adjoining laboratory. The fierce glare of the sun beat into his eyes and blfnded him so that he could see nothing The supply ship landed with a very slight jar against its brilliance. After a few moments he on the arid Mercurian crust, about fifty yards turned reluctantly away. There was nothing to from the observatory. Its glittering praseo- be seen, anyway, he knew. It had been only hope dymium-vanadium rocket tubes gave one last spurt —or the desperation of one who is dying—that of bright-orange flame and died. The spacesuited had brought him out. Resignedly, he trudged pilot leaped out through the ship’s air lock and back into the air lock of the highly polished tung- ran across the strip of hot, dry sand separating sten dome and swung the door shut behind him. the ship from the station. As the pressure in the lock hissed up to Earth Just as he was about to press the automatic atmosphere, he thought again of the worn-out outside lock control of the station it swung open spacesuit that, somehow, had gotten packed in and another suited figure stepped out to greet what he had believed to be the last crate of food him. The two men talked through their helmet on Mercury. It was now four days since he had phones. discovered it—and the regular supply ship from “How are you, old man?” said the pilot. Earth wasn’t due for fifty days more. “Pretty hungry,” replied a hollow voice. The pressure was up, and he stepped slowly “Haven’t had a meal in eight weeks. Ran out of out of his spacesuit, leaving it right there on the food and thought you’d never come. Come on in. floor. What good would neatness do him now We’ll talk in the station.” he’d be dead before the ship came, anyway. He As he led the other into the air lock and closed !

PROBABILITY ZERO! Ill the outer door, he heard a low whistle from the Well, sir, one day Von and I thought of a plan pilot. and we decided to put it into operation. We went “How under the sun did you manage to stay down into his laboratory one night and filled a alive?” fifty-gallon oil drum with the most powerful liquid “Simple enough. All man needs to live on explosive existent.” besides vitamins and minerals are carbon, hydro- He smiled and waved his hand. “Have another gen, nitrogen, and oxygen. I lived on water and beer. I’m sorry I can’t reveal the nature of that potassium cyanide for fifty days.” explosive, but it’s Von’s secret. The formula is in the hands of the War Department now. “Anyway, we stowed that oil drum aboard the THAT MYSTERIOUS BOMB RAID time traveler and took off. Von handled the con- By Bob Tucker trols and Jack was along to help me with the drum.

How that little machine could travel ! I remember of us were sitting around in Four or five barely catching my breath from the suddenness Hinkle’s cellar one evening drinking Hinkle’s of the take-off, when Von announced that we were littering Hinkle’s floor with cigarette stubs beer, already over the Pacific and speeding through 1938 and talking about the war. at a lightning clip were discussing ways and means of ending We “Our plan was to go back to about 1900, at which the whole mess as quickly as possible, like so time we thought the bomb would nip in the bud armchair politicians, and getting nowhere many even wishful thoughts of making war on the fast. Someone always seemed to be able to pick United States. Well, sir, that little machine trav- out the weak spots in the most plausible-sounding eled so fast that before we could stop it we found plan. ourselves in the last century. Somewhere in the One of Hinkle’s neighbors, a skinny, red-headed 1890s. We were going to drop our oil drum there chap I’d never seen before, mentioned the popular but I happened to remember that my grandfather theory now making the rounds of the town: that was spending his honeymoon in Tokyo sometime of dumping several loads of the army’s biggest during that decade”—he spread his hands and bombs into some of their Japan’s—nastiest and — shrugged—“and, gentlemen, I couldn’t very well noisiest volcanoes and tipping the whole blamed kill my own grandfather. island over into the ocean. “So von Schach started the machine going again, the at me At this, Hinkle glanced across room coming forward through time, while Jack and I and raised his eyebrows in question. I nodded stood by the open door to push the drum over- assent. He cleared his throat and out of polite- board as we sped through a likely-looking year. ness—and Hinkle’s stock of beer—everyone else Again that blamed traveler tricked us! “ stopped talking. ‘Shove it out, quick!’ von Schach yelled in my “It won’t be necessary,” he announced in the ear. ‘It’s already 1930!’ smoke-laden air. “To drop explosives in the vol- “Jack and I shoved it overboard. Would you

canoes, I mean. You see, we’ve already bombed believe it, another year had gone by while we were

Tokyo itself. Blown it clear off the map!” getting it out the door! The last we saw of it, off The skinny redhead picked up a newspaper it was falling like a . . . like a . . . like an oil the floor and scanned the front page. He didn’t drum, and drifting forward. call Hinkle a liar, just dropped the paper after a “That last escaped us as being significant at the few seconds and contemplated his beer silently. time. We didn’t think of it until we had returned “It’s the truth!” I seconded Hinkle. “Honest here to 1942 and read the newspapers. Tokyo was it is. I was with him at the time. Hinkle and von still there, waging war. Schach and myself. We bombed Tokyo sometime “Then the full facts smacked us in the face. in 1931. Only it hasn’t blown up yet. But it will Our oil drum hasn’t yet landed on Tokyo, chrono- soon.” — logically speaking. You see, gentlemen, we were “Perhaps”—Hinkle cleared his throat again “I speeding forward through time at so fast a clip

had better make that clear. You all know von that when we dumped the bomb overboard, it not Schach, don’t you? He’s in charge of the science only drifted forward with the motion of the ship department at the Unversity. according to the laws of gravitation, but drifted “Well, sir, right after this war started, the three through time as well!” of us”—he indicated me and—the absent von Schach He paused dramatically and swept a beer to his with a wave of the hand “decided something mouth. I leaned back with the satisfied feeling of drastic ought to be done. We didn’t like the way a good story well told. the army was running the thing. “Any day now,” Hinkle finished, “you’ll read in “Von has a time machine.” The glances thrown the papers of Tokyo being blown off the map by his way didn’t deter him one whit. “Yessir, he a tremendous, mysterious force. That, gentlemen, really has. It will travel through space as well. will be our bomb, picking a place and a time to 112 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION land at last. It may be next week or it may be stopped coming. That’s how I guessed what had next year. From our calculations we know only happened. Otherwise I wouldn’t have connected that it will land somewhere in this decade.” the excavation with Quarrels at all. Of course I mean Chunken Bey’s excavation. ABOUT QUARRELS. ABOUT THE PAST Well, I can’t explain exactly. But you see what By John Pierce happened. That tomb was of Nephertiti’s period, and its contents enlarged our data. Something in Quarrels? No, I don’t know where Quarrels is. it was inconsistent with the particular past Quar- But I suppose the answer is, he isn’t. Last I rels was in. No, I don’t know what. It’s hard to heard of him he was hobnobbing in Egypt. No, he say just what happened to Quarrels. I suppose that didn’t have any trouble with the quota or with you could put it this way ; he was some place tourist restrictions. This was in the past, or a wasn’t any more. So he isn’t any more. past. It used to be in a past, anyway, even if it No, I don’t think there’d be any trace left. No, isn’t any more. no body. past. Hun- Of course there is more than one THE QWERTY OF HROTHGAR dreds? More like infinity. At least that’s what By R. Creighton Buck Quarrels told me. They’re all a good deal alike a little way back—that is, where not much data We waited patiently as Captain Nadie Esta- is missing. But they’re a lot different way back Aqui contemplated the three-dimensional chess- where Quarrels was. It’s like the near and far board, his white goatee bobbing as he chewed his futures. pipe. Finally, he moved his knight from level two Well, I can explain it in a way. It fits in with to level four, and leered at his opponent. wave mechanics and the uncertainty principle. “Discovered check, and mate!” Quarrels said. You know we can’t predict “the” The man across from him nodded sadly; no one future. We can’t gather all the data. It’s not only ever beat the captain! He began to set up the humanly impossible, it’s physically impossible, pieces again. scientfically impossible, that is. Predicting “the” “As I was saying,” the captain went on, “there future has no real meaning. Operationally, there I was, stranded on the planet Hrothgar, with noth- is no unique future. There are just a lot of ing but my wits and my standard service equip- probable ones. ment—no weapons but a knife—and face-to-face Well, did you realize that this uncertainty holds with a ferocious, man-eating Qwerty! The enor- for the past, too? I hadn’t until Quarrels pointed mous six-legged beast at once started toward me. it out. All we have is a lot of incomplete data. Luckily, I have always been a fast runner, for that Is it just because we’re stupid? Not at all. We alone saved me from instant death! For hours can’t find a unique wave function. Any one we we tore across the barren moor, and the Qwerty set up fits to a certain degree of approximation, steadily gained on me until I could hear its ar- and how closely it can fit is determined by certain mored snout creaking at the hinge in eager antici- limits of observability. That’s almost quotes, by pation of a meal. I had but one chance, of reaching the way. the outpost of Rollinstane alive—to keep out of Anyway, you can see what it means. Any past the animal’s clutches until nightfall.” consistent with available data is just as real as Captain Nadie stretched out his hand and ad- any other. That leaves a lot of leeway; that’s vanced his king’s pawn to attack his opponent’s what Quarrels found when he started time travel- rook. ing. “As you know, the Qwerty is incapable of action Of course Quarrels went time-traveling. How at night. If I could last until nightfall, the beast did you think he got to Egypt? I don’t know how would fall asleep and I could escape; unfortu- it worked, and he wouldn’t even let me see his nately, there was one difficulty. During the short stuff. He took it with him, and now it’s in Egypt. night the temperature drops to—ten Absolute. I No, I don’t mean that, I mean that the same thing would freeze solid before I had gone ten feet! happened to it that happened to Quarrels. Or But I had a plan. maybe it didn’t happen—it isn’t in a past. “At last the light of the sun began to wane. You see, Quarrels was sort of romantic. He Instantly, the massive Qwerty skidded to a halt, read, “The Masque of Queen Bersabe,” and started three of its six legs poised in midair. There was out to visit Nephertiti in Egypt. He had to try no way I could pierce the four-foot hide of the lots of the pasts before he found one in which she beast, but at least I could prevent it from following lived up to expectations. And from the notes he me. In the gathering dusk, I got out my can of

shot back to me . . . forward, that is . . . she aluminum paint and applied a heavy coat to the must have been a honey, and pretty approachable, Qwerty, until every inch of its hide gleamed silver. too. This done, I turned to the job of making a shelter. The notes? Oh, they disappeared when they I touched a match to the left-over paint, and into PROBABILITY ZERO! 113

the resulting flame I poured one of my remaining EAT, DRINK AND BE WARY flasks of water. A huge cloud of steam arose, and By Ray Bradbury instantly froze in the icy air, forming a large chunk of hard, crystalline material—perfect for Believe me, Doc, believe me. I ain’t no, ordinary insulation. I soon cut enough blocks to build a ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-heeby-jeeber. Don’t marry me small hut. Just as the first flakes of frozen nitro- to that straight-jacket. Listen. I got problems. I’m gen began to float down, I crawled into the hut, in a bad way. Lemme tell you: dragging after me a large slab of the congealed It’s like this. On Venus, I’m diplomatic pan- steam. I then proceeded to warm the porous slab bottom for the Solar. Comes an invitation from until it became spongy, and quite elastic, and upon the Venusians: “A banquet takes place from this improvised mattress, I passed a comfortable August 22nd to September 3rd, inclusive.” Being night. The next morning, I set out for Rollin- such a high flounder as I am I couldn’t refuse. I stane.” , tried to shove the job off on someone else, but no “But what about the Qwerty?” interrupted takers. You see, it’s this way; a Venusian banquet someone. lasts a week or ten days, sometimes more, with “Oh, yes, the Qwerty! Well, you see, the shiny eight meals a day and twenty courses to a meal. paint prevented the sunlight from striking its hide, A Venusian’s hell-fire metabolism can furnace this and so it continued to sleep!” stuff. Putting it conservatively, as much as they Captain Nadie captured the pawn, accepting the intended tossing on my platter, would feed a herd gambit. of bull elephants. An Earthman just couldn’t

“Is that all to the story, sir?” take it. He’d croak after the second course. The captain smiled reflectively, and removed the What could I do? Refuse? Not on your tin opposing rook. busbar. Diplomacy, my dear Kinnison. If I craw-

“Not quite all. Before I’d gone more than ten fished, there’d ’a’ been an angular stink and a war miles I heard pounding hoofbeats behind me, and between Earth and Venus that would make the turned to see the same Qwerty in the distance, cows give bourbon with freckles. I had to go.

headed straight at me ! I realized that one of the Just like Morgan, Herdon and Merrill before me, sudden rainstorms had blown up and washed off in years past. These shindigs are annual riots, the paint! with food and officials going down right and left. “This time it looked like I was cornered. In Every other diplomat has been carried out stiff front of me, my path was blocked by a wide river as a piston rod for twenty years, keeping the of molten metal that poured out of a nearby vol- Venusians happy. cano; and, even as I watched, another stream of So there I am going to my own funeral.

molten metal began to flow toward me ! If I stood But, six weeks before the dinner I bounce over still the glowing mass would burn me alive; if I to Professor Klopt. You remember him? Fiddles

ran, the charging Qwerty would catch me ! What with all the sciences. Likes investigating geo- was I to do?” logical slime deposits. Maybe that’s why they With a sure sense of drama, the captain took call him the “mud” scientist. Pardon. time out to tamp his pipe, and make another move Professor Klopt fixes me an invention. He is a before continuing. specialist with Fitzgerald’s Contraction Theory. “Well, sir, I waited until that stream was almost He makes me a belt with a switch, which I carry on top of me, and then I ran as fast as I could to- around my stomach. It’s called a contraction belt. ward the river of molten metal, dragging my feet I go to the banquet. Ten thousand Venusians, behind me. This scooped out a deep ditch, down with their huge bloated bodies and little pinheads, which the stream flowed. It poured into the river greet me as I sit at the head of a table ten blocks and there was a loud explosion. I ran across the long. The first course consists of whale on toast. smoking sand where the molten metal of the river Second and third courses were: Broiled rib of had been, and then turned around just in time to mastodon, pickled dinosaur flanks, and a dozen see the Qwerty being cut to mincemeat!” eggs the size of footballs. They trucked the food “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand, sir.” in on moving vans and romped out for more. It’s “You see,” the captain explained with a quizzical the biggest hunk of table-d’hote I ever seen.

grin, “the mixture of the metals formed an alloy I ate it. I ate it all, every bit of it. Fourteen that melted at a much lower temperature than days I crammed down froithboinders, rubber either of the metals. As a result the stuff simply plants, antimacassars and liquor. The Venusians boiled away, leaving the river bed dry! The cheered. I came through with flying colors, and vaporized metal rose several hundred feet, and then Venus signed a peace treaty and called off the solidified into sharp, knifelike crystals that fell on banquets for twenty years in my honor. the Qwerty, killing it instantly! How’d I do it? Well, Klopt made me that neat “And,” he exclaimed gleefully, “I think that’s little belt around my stomach with a switch con- checkmate again!” trol. I flicked this and my stomach slipped into — —!

114 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

second, third and then the fourth dimension. Free- gentleman blew a cigarette ash off the lapel of his

wheeling all the way. Only, it wasn’t my whole expensive coat and countered:

stomach, just the inside vacuum of it. “But think of the weight of the wings! There Now, in the fourth dimension everything travels must be a lot of fuel wasted in take-offs and land- much faster than here. It’s like space, and my ings. Then there are the delicate instruments to stomach hurtled through it like our sun hurtles keep in order—many more in the X-23 than in the through our void. Same speed, maybe more. O. K. X-22. No. If it comes to real fighting, I’d rather I’m here, my stomach is there, both places are be at the controls of an X-22 any day.” parallel, only my stomach meets the full force and The major, whom the uninitiate always accepted play and actions of an object falling through as a final authority on such matters because of his space. And, according to the Fitzgerald Theory, slightly superior smile, then cleared his throat it contracts because of the speed. It contracts un- and received the floor by tacit recognition. believably. Not the lining of the stomach, no. “These modern rockets,” he commenced, “are But the inside space. It gets so small, and all hardly comparable with the ones we used in the the junk I’m eating gets so small that at the end last war. If one of those gadgets goes back on of two weeks of stuffing my stomach is just com- you, you’re lost. In the old days it was different. fortably filled, thanks to Fitzgerald. The food If there were two tubes left, one girder, and a contracted, I remained normal. Simple. gun, you could still fight. For sheer durability I’d That’s how I fooled the Venusians, Doc. But take one of the old L-93s any time. I’ve been worried. Mebbe I need bicarbonate. “Why I remember once I spotted a blockade Lotsa things to consider. Will I have to go around runner when patrolling in my L-93 and hopped the rest of my life like this? ’Cause, if I do, then onto his tail. He was armed with about every- I’ll have to eat and eat all the time, to make up thing you can think of, from dis-rays to nitro-gas for the contraction. guns. In two minutes the ship was riddled like I’m afraid to bring my stomach back to the a sieve and the air was whistling out of the cabin present, ’cause if I did KA-WOW !—all that twice as fast as the tanks could replace it. But I food, tons and tons of it, would expand again climbed into my suit and fought on. BOOM! Just like that! There wouldn’t be “Pretty soon they found that they couldn’t get nuthin’ left of me, would there? me or any of the manuals, since they were behind So what’ll I do? the thickest of the armor, in the nose, along with Hey, Doc, why you look so funny? Keep away, me. And so they started shooting at the tubes. don’t touch me, Doc, I’m telling the truth! Don’t They managed to blast them, one by one, but undress me, Doc; don’t take my contraction belt meanwhile I was doing some fearful execution myself. away ; don’t take it off me ; don’t throw that switch Leave the belt alone! You’ll blow us all to King- “I had the satisfaction of seeing them take the dom Come! Don’t you believe me, Doc? last long dive before I started nosing down Stop. STOP— myself. “I was now over the night side, and, what with THE FLOATER the blackout, I had no idea where I was. But I By Selden G. Thomas balanced her down on her tail, and eventually saw the ocean below me. So I shucked off my suit and A group of armchair strategists were discussing used my ‘umbrella.’ I landed O. K., and swam the relative merits of the new X-23 type light- awhile. rocket bomber and the old one that it was super- “Meantime the ship hit and went down with a seding. A corpulent gentleman with a neat Van- terrific hissing, the hot tubes boiling in the water. dyke and an atrocious cigar mumbled something But it wasn’t ten minutes before it bobbed up to inarticulately from the depths of his overstuffed the surface again. I swam over to it and got up red-leather, and a younger man answered. on top. “I don’t agree with you, George. The X-23 has “So I lay there, high and dry on the ship, for five a vast number of features which make it well worth days before I was finally rescued. But anyway, the higher cost of production. Take, for example, that shows you how the L-93s would stay by you the retractable light-wings. They give it an im- to the last ditch. They had one whale of a lot mense cruising range, compared with the X-22. of durability.” Of course, if it happens to be caught with those The younger man wasn’t completely satisfied, out, it has a much lesser maneuverability, and however. might find itself out of wingless range of any “If the ship was riddled through and through base and with no workable wings. But then, with holes as you say, major,” he asked, “how did the new detectors ought to take care of any danger it stay afloat?” from enemy fighting vessels.” “It was made of pure potassium, which is lighter After a moment or two of silence a florid-faced than water.” —

115 BRASS TACKS

Van Vogt has another Ezwal story coming up.

Dear Mr. Campbell:

“Beyond This Horizon” is one of the most logi- cal and complete presentations of a future civiliza- tion I’ve yet seen. As for the other stories, van Vogt’s variant of his intelligent monster theme places a well-assured second. Refreshingly different from the preced- ing two of this type, it is almost as good as “Black Destroyer”; the fact that it is only the second best —and not even a close second—shows the degree of Astounding’s improvement. Hubbard’s “Strain” takes third place, being just a shade better than “The Eagles Gather.” The added touch that gave that yarn a slight superior- ity was, perhaps, the ironic twist at the end. Kel- leam’s yarn seemed a disappointment after “Rust,” but that was an exceptionally good story, and this one is on the present high average of Astounding’s stories. Both of these two tales by Kelleam, curi- ously enough, contain a certain end-of-civilization quality; almost a mood of defeatism. “If You’re So Smart—” and “Monopoly” are also fairly good, but Shurtleff’s tale is not the sort of thing that belongs in ASF. Well-written hack, maybe, but still hack—and that’s the sort of thing your magazine has been trying to steer away from.

The article is good as usual, though I found it rather uninteresting—for purely personal reasons. Brass Tacks seems to be gradually improving, though there is still no such general controversy T'S still around—and it's twenty-one years as Author de Camp wistfully wished for in the I old, officially, July, ’41, issue. Or is that a minor revolt I see brewing against Skylark Smith? If so, pardon me while I join in. Smith’s an excellent writer For it was in 1921 that LOVE STORY there’s no argument about that.* But I think he MAGAZINE was born. And now that it overextended himself on his last piece of work. has passed its majority, it is still the only That “vistas unimaginable” stuff can be overdone, weekly in the woman's field. That's a rec- and he certainly overdid it in a big way! Yes, his latest was too super, and too much of the same ord to be proud of, and one that proves old thing. the quality of the magazine. The new department, “Probability Zero,” is well worth the space devoted to it; that’s the sort of There'll be plenty of romance to go around thing you have to look at twice to realize its utter —with no shortages—for readers of LOVE implausibility. STORY MAGAZINE. Make it a weekly Art work? Rogers is incomparable per usual. Schneeman fairly good. But the Isip boys and habit, fifty-two times a year. some new blood would come in handy. As for the recent change in format: I may be prejudiced, but Astounding looks like—and is, for me—one of the classiest and best magazines on the market.—Bill Stoy, 140-92 Burden Crescent, Ja- LOVf STOfiy maica, New York. 10c A COPY AT ALL NEWSSTANDS AST—8G !

116 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

By 278,200 A. D. a few million miles more or less 1,400,000 miles of the Earth on July 1, 1770. It won’t matter anyway! had no tail, but its head got to be swollen up to five times the diameter of the full moon. Dear Mr. Campbell: Jupiter had a near collision with a comet on Glad you liked the article about RW Tauri. It July 20, 1886, when Brooks Comet passed inside is truly an astounding discovery. the orbit of the fifth satellite and within 55,000

Forgot to mention that it is really a triple sys- miles of the planet’s surface. As a punishment for tem. During the eclipse of September 9, 1941, Mr. such unseemly conduct Jupiter shortened the com- Joy, using the 100-inch, saw a faint companion. So et’s period by twenty-two years. it consists of the two very close B9 and KO stars The fifth satellite of Jupiter revolves only 68,300 and a more distant star about which little is known miles from the surface of its primary. Mimas, yet. seventh satellite of Saturn, is 76,000 miles from If you plan to use any more astronomical cov- planet and but 27,000 miles from edge of ring sys- ers, I should think the triple system of RW Tauri tem. Record, of course, is Phobos only 3700 miles would be spectacular. The B9 star would pre- from Mars—about the distance from Panama to sumably be bluish white surrounded by the bril- Honolulu. liant scarlet ring of hydrogen. All stars are commonly supposed to be many Here is some information that might interest light-years apart, but the eclipsing binaries are your readers. I dug it up recently while prepar- almost in contact with each other. We even find ing some data for publication. cases of double, triple, and clusters of island uni- Astronomers are always talking about how far verses; there are cases where one system has pene- away everything in the Universe is from every- trated into another.—R. S. Richardson, 1244 North thing else. But these are some examples of how Holliston Avenue, Pasadena, California. close together certain celestial bodies have come to one another. Closest approach of Venus to the Earth. These occur when Venus makes one of its December Length helps in science-fiction; the author has to transits across the Sun’s disk. At that time the describe a background of a whole culture, some- Earth is near perihelion and the distance is a thing the author of here-and-now stories needn’t minimum. At the transit of December 6, 1882, do. Venus was at a distance of 24,568,000 miles, or about 1,500,000 miles closer than the figure given Dear Mr. Campbell: in most textbooks. Oh, stop it! You’re carrying things too far. Closest approach of Mars to the Earth. The Four stories and a wordy serial: a fine big May closest approaches always come in August at in- issue tervals of fifteen or seventeen years, when Mars I grant you, the long novelette does allow the is in opposition and at perihelion. Exceptionally author more “room” to develop atmosphere, finer close approaches were in 1877 and 1924 when Mars characterization and a broader canvas for his plot. was at distances of 34,990,000 and 34,637,000 miles, But this is true only to the extent of the author’s respectively. Opposition of 1877 is famous for ability as a storyteller. A good writer, if he has discovery of canals and two moons. a worthy story, can tell it just as effectively in The closest imaginable approach of Mars would fifteen hundred words as in fifteen thousand. And be for opposition to occur when Mars is at peri- before that objection passes your lips, I give you helion and Earth at aphelion. The two orbits are my clincher: Guy de Maupassant. Perhaps you so oriented at present that this is impossible, but have read his two tellings of “The Legacy”? The from the known slow shift in the perihelion of one thousands of words longer than the other, yet planets’ orbits the time of such oppositions can be each in itself is as nearly perfect as a story—of any calculated. There was one 47,600 years ago and length—can be. there will be another about 278,200 A. D. This My point is not that you discard the novelette absolute minimum distance of Mars is 33,883,000 for the short story. It is, each being equally miles. effective, that you print more short stories than Closest approach of an asteroid to the Earth: you are accustomed to. Too many long stories in The asteroid Hermes on October 30, 1937, missed one issue tend toward dullness. Contrast is the Earth by only 485,000 miles. Computations needed. You know how it is in writing: inter- based upon its rather uncertain orbit indicate it mingle complex sentences with short, simple ones. may come as close as 220,000 miles. Unless you want to lose your reader’s interest. So Closest approach of a comet. Although about how about it? Take out a novelette, add four or one thousand comets have been recorded, few have five shorts. And at least one or two short-shorts. made a really close approach to us. The record is You can get them if you ask for them. still held by Lexell’s Comet which was within This might be good in more ways than one. : ; ; ;

BRASS TACKS 117

I note a tendency in your beloved novelettes toward bringing back the complex, galacticlike plot. This should have gone overboard with the editor who preceded you. A story, no matter how well told or plotted, loses its effectiveness in direct ratio to its relation to present-day knowl- edge. I hope I make myself clear. E. E. Smith’s tales, for all their imaginative greatness, have this failing—and for that reason they become so alien that they lose their interest, and in consequence become dull, absurd and amusing. “Second Stage Lensmen” illustrates this nicely. “Asylum” in the May issue is another example. Ditto “Recruiting Station.” These are excellent examples of science- fiction and fantasy at its sophisticated worst; but they are excellent as examples of a certain type of “fantasy” that does have a clique all its own, namely “Campbell”-fantasy. Or science-fiction, if you prefer. These are just passing thoughts. I’ll go no deeper; no doubt I’m in hot water already. I could explain more completely, but that would take time and space—which is valuable to us both. Perhaps a glance at my best-ten of ’41 list will give you better insight as to my peculiarities in the judging of a good, competent story over the dull and10.the trite 1. “Common Sense”—Heinlein; 2. “By His Bootstraps”—MacDonald; 3. “The Probable Man”—Bester; 4. “Elsewhere”—Saunders 5. “Sixth Column”—MacDonald; 6. “Mechanical Mice”—Hugi; 7. “And He Built a Crooked House”—Hein- lein; 8. “Reason”—Asimov 9. “Homo Saps”—Craig ERE was someone who chased “Universe”—Heinlein. H and exploded airplanes—all the That last story is included only because there while falling up. was no other story in all twelve issues good enough to take its place: “Universe” was actually no more Doc Savage's adventuresome crew than a powerfully interesting prologue and intro- thought nothing could be as fantastic duction to the real story, “Common Sense.” And before anyone jumps down my neck for not in- as that. But they were to come cluding “Methuselah’s Children” and “The Stolen upon happenings even more mysteri-

Dormouse,” let me explain. Briefly. The latter, ous ... so weird, in fact, that for a written, said while beautifully nothing and was while they thought they had lost their stinko as a story. Heinlein’s serial started out minds. grandly, flopped in the second installment and settled dismally down to a weak and from-the-first- You’ll thrill to THE MAN WHO chapter-telegraphed conclusion. So much for it. FELL UP—exciting novel in the July No “Probability Zero” in the May issue. Good! issue of. Keep it out. Don’t advertise that your book is a

pack of lies ; let the unsuspecting reader find it out for himself. Rogers’ cover for April was superb! As was DOO SAVA (vE MacDonald’s handling of an alien race in his “Goldfish Bowl.”—Kenneth L. Harrison, 1812 10c COPY Southeast 48th, Portland, Oregon. A AT ALL NEWSSTANDS —

118

TOOLS

By Clifford D. Simak

• "Life as we know it" is a ratlier meaningless phrase, really; we know

the life forms of one planet, life forms that, almost certainly, started from

one particularly successful primal bit of jelly that succeeded in destroying its

competitors. On another planet, with terrifically different basic conditions—

Illustrated by Kramer

Venus had broken many men. Although it wasn’t entirely or “they.” No one knew. In much of any- Now it was breaking Harvey Venus. Partly it was Archie fact, 'no one knew Boone, and the worst of it was Archie, the thing in the talking thing about Archie despite the that Boone knew it was breaking jar. Perhaps it wasn’t right call- fact men had talked to him and him and couldn’t do a thing ing Archie just a “thing.” studied him for almost a hun-

about it. Archie might have been an “it” dred years. TOOLS 119

Harvey Boone was official ob- out. For Doc’s word was law. “Why should I like them?” server for the Solar Institute, It had to be law. asked Archie. “They regard me and his reports, sent back with A knock sounded on the door as a freak, a curiosity, something every rocketload of radium that and Boone called out an invita- to be observed, an assignment to streaked out to Earth, were add- tion. Doc Steele strode in. be done. Masterson thought of ing to the voluminous mass of "Good morning, Boone,” he me as life, as a fellow entity. data assembled on Archie. Data said. “Hello, Archie.” And so do you.” that told almost nothing at all. Archie’s voice, mechanical and “Why, bless my soul,” said Venus itself was bad enough. toneless, returned the greeting. Doc, “and so I do.” Men died when a suit cracked or “Have a drink,” said Boone. “The others pity me,” Archie radium shields broke down. Al- Doc shook his head, took a ci- stated. though that wasn’t the usual way gar from his pocket and with a “You don’t catch me pitying the planet killed. Venus had a knife cut it neatly in two. One you,” Doc declared. “Sometimes better—perhaps, more accurately half he stuck back in his pocket, I catch myself wishing I were —a worse way. the other half in his mouth. you. I suspect I might enjoy Any alien planet is hard to “Don’t you ever light those your kind of philosophy,” live on and stay sane. Strange- things?” demanded Boone irrita- “The human race,” protested ness is a word that doesn’t have bly. Archie, “couldn’t understand my much meaning until a man “Nope,” Doc replied cheer- philosophy. I doubt if I could stands face to face with it and fully. "Always dry-smoke explain it to them. The lan- then it smacks him straight be- them.” guage doesn’t have the words. tween the eyes. He said to Archie: “How are Just as I had a hard time under- Venus was alien—plus. One you today, Archie?” standing a lot of your Terres- always had a sense that eyes Despite its mechanical whir, trial philosophy and economics. were watching him, watching all Archie’s reply sounded almost I’ve studied your history and the time. And waiting. Al- querulous: “Why do you always your economics and your politi- though one didn’t have the least ask me that, doctor? You know cal science. I’ve kept up with idea what they were waiting for. there’s nothing wrong with me. your current events. And some-

On Venus, something always There never could be. I’m al- times, many times, it doesn’t stalked a man—something that ways all right.” make sense to me. Sometimes I trod just on the outer edge of Doc chuckled. “I seem to keep think it’s stupid, but I try to tell

shadow. A sense of not belong- forgetting about you. Wish the myself that it may be because I ing, of being out of place, of be- human race was like that. Then don’t understand. I miss some- ing an intruder. A baffling psy- there wouldn’t be any need for thing, perhaps. Some vital quirk chological something that drove chaps like me.” of mind, some underlying fac- men to their deaths or to living “I’m glad you came,” Archie tor.” deaths that were even worse. grated. “I like to talk to you. Doc sobered. “I don’t think You never make me feel you’re you miss much, Archie. A lot of Harvey Boone huddled on a trying to find out something.” the things we do are stupid, even chair in one corner of the labora- “He says that to get my goat,” by our own standards. We lack tory, nursing a whiskey bottle, snapped Boone. foresight so often.” while Archie chuckled at him. “I wouldn’t let him do it,” Doc Doc lifted his eyes to the large

"Nerves,” said Archie. “Your declared. To Archie he said : “I oil portrait that hung on the wall nerves are shot to hell.” suppose it does get tiresome above Boone’s desk, and he had Boone’s hand shook as he after a hundred years or so. But quite forgotten Boone. From tilted the whiskey bottle up. it doesn’t seem to have done the portrait, kindly gray eyes His hate-filled eyes glared at much good. No one seems to smiled out of the face. The the lead-glass jar even as he have found out much about brows were furrowed, the wavy gulped. you.” white hair looked like a silver Boone knew what Archie said He swiveled the cigar across crown. was true. Even through his his face. “Maybe they tried too “We need more men like him,” drink-fogged brain, the one fact hard.” said Doc. “More men with vi- stood out in bright relief—he “That,” said Archie, “might be sion.” was going crazy. He had seen true. You remind me of Master- Johnny Garrison, commander of son. You’re different from the The portrait was of Master- the dome, watching him. And ones who come out to watch me son, the man who had discov- Doc Steele. Doc was the psy- now.” ered intelligent life existing in chologist, and when Doc started “You don’t like them?” Doc the great clouds of radon that watching one it was time to pull winked at Boone and Boone hung over the vast beds of ra- up and try to straighten oneself glowered back. dium ore. Masterson had been ” — —

120 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION more than a man of vision. He to play dead with me. I’m not bined to solidify the formalde- had been a genius and a glutton here to question you. I’m just hyde. for work. here to pass the time of day. Is Harvey Boone shivered as a From the moment he had dis- there anything I can do for blast of hot wind swirled a blan- cerned, by accident, what he you?” ket of solidified formaldehyde thought were lifelike properties “You might bring in the latest around him, shutting off the in some radon he was studying, newspapers and read to me,” said view. For a moment he stood he had labored unceasingly with Archie. isolated in a world of swirling but one end in view. In this “That,” declared Doc, “would white and through the whiteness very laboratory he had carried be a downright privilege.” something seemed to stalk him. out his life work, and there, in Something that might have “But not the funnies,” cau- been the lead-glass jar on the table, fear, and yet more stark than tioned Archie. “Somehow I lay the end product Archie. fear, more subtle than panic, — can’t appreciate the funnies.” Masterson had confined radon more agonizing than terror. under pressure in a shielded jar Boone was on the verge of Outside the dome, the week- equipped with a delicate system cringing horror before the wind long night had fallen and it was of controls. Failing time after whipped the cloud of snow away. snowing again—great, white time, never admitting defeat, he The gale hooted and howled at sheets driven by gusty blasts of had taught radon in the jar to him. The dancing snow made wind. Not real snow, but para- recognize certain electrical im- ghostly patterns in the air. The formaldehyde, solidified formal- pulses set up within the jar. banks of lights in the pits below dehyde. For that was the stuff And the radon, recognizing weaved fantastically against the of which the mighty cloud banks these impulses as intelligent sweeping, wind-driven clouds of which forever shielded the symbols, finally had learned to white. planet from space was composed. manipulate the controls which Unaccountable panic gripped Harvey Boone, clad in space produced the voice by which it him tight. Mocking whispers gear, stood on the barren ridge spoke. danced along the wind. The ris- above the dome and looked down It had not been as easy as it ing wind shrieked malignantly at the scene spread before his sounded, however. It took many and a burst of snow swished at eyes. grueling years. For both Mas- him. terson and Archie were groping There lay the dome, with the Harvey Boone screamed and flicker of shadows playing over in the dark, working without ran, unseen terror trotting at his comparable experience, without it as the great batteries of lamps heels. set in the even a comparable understand- radium pits swung to But the closing lock did not and fro. ing or a comparable mode of shut out the horror of the out- thinking. Two alien minds In the pits labored mighty ma- doors. It wasn’t something one “Does it seem a long time, chines—specialized machines op- could get rid of as easily as that. Archie?” Doc asked. erating with “radon brains,” us- Stripped of space gear, he “That’s hard to say,” the ing, in simplified form, the same found his hands were shaking. speaker boomed. “Time doesn’t principles of control as were “I need a drink,” he told him- have a great deal of meaning to used to communicate with self. something that goes on and on.” Archie. Brains that could re- In the laboratory he took the ceive “You mean you are immortal?” and understand orders, bottle out of his desk, tilted it. “No, perhaps not immortal.” execute them through the me- A mocking laugh sounded be- “But do you know?” snapped dium of the machinery which hind him. Nerves on edge, he Doc. they controlled—but which, un- whirled about. Archie did, then, the thing like Archie, did not hold human A face was leering at him from which had driven observer after knowledge accumulated over the the glass jar on the table. observer close to madness. He course of a hundred years. And that was wrong. For there simply didn’t answer. Here and there were men. wasn’t any face. There wasn’t Silence thrummed in the room. Men incased in shining crystal anything one could see inside Doc heard the click of sliding armor to protect them against the jar. Nothing but Archie doors elsewhere in the dome, the the hell’s brew that was Venus’ radon under pressure. One low hum of powerful machinery. atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and doesn’t see radon—not unless “That’s the way he is,” yelled not a trace of oxygen. Once one looks at it through a spec- Boone. “That’s the way he al- there had been plenty of free troscope. ways is. Shuts up like— a clam. oxygen, some water vapor. But Boone passed his hand swiftly Sometimes I’d like to the oxygen had gone to form car- before his eyes and looked again. “Break it up, Archie,” com- bon dioxide and formaldehyde, The face was gone. manded Doc. “You don’t have and the water vapor had com- Archie chortled at him. “I’m ” — ”

TOOLS 121

getting you. I almost got you crashing impact. telligence. It couldn’t be. True, then. You’ll crack up pretty Searing radiations lanced we bridged the gap, we talked soon. What are you waiting for? through the room. The spectro- with him. But the talk was car- Why are you hanging on? In graphic detectors flamed faintly. ried on in human terms, upon a the end I’ll get you!” Fans whined, rose to a piercing human basis.” Boone strangled with rage. shriek, sweeping the air, throw- Doc’s cigar traveled from east “You’re wrong,” he mouthed. ing the radon outside the dome. to west. “Does that suggest “I’m the one that’s got you.” He Atmosphere hissed and roared. anything to you?” slapped a pile of notes that lay But Harvey Boone knew none The dome commander’s face on his desk. “I’m the one who’s of this, for Harvey Boone was was white. “I’d never thought going to crack you. I’ll bust you dead. Incredible pain had lashed of that. But it means—it would wide open. I’ll let them know at him in one searing second and have to mean—that Archie was what you really are.” he had dropped, his face and intelligent enough to force his “Oh, yeah!” crowed Archie. hands burned to a fiery red, his thought processes into human Boone set down the bottle. eyes mere staring holes. channels.” “Damn you,” he said thickly, “I Radon, in its pure state, Doc nodded. “Could man have have half a notion to settle you weight for weight, is one hun- done the same? Could man have once and for all. You’ve deviled dred thousand times as active as forced himself to think the way

me long enough. I’m going to radium. Archie thinks? I doubt it. let you die.” Archie’s thought processes prob- “You’ll do what?” demanded “But Archie couldn’t have had ably would be too alien for us Archie. anything to do with it,” pro- to even grasp. What is more, “I’ll let you die,” stormed tested Johnny Garrison. “Hyp- Archie recognized this. It all Boone. “All I have to do is for- notism! That’s incredible. He boils down to this: We fur- get to pump more radon in. In couldn’t hypnotize a person. nished the mechanical set-up, another— week you’ll be polonium There’s nothing to support such Archie furnished the mental and a belief. We’ve observed— Archie set-up.” “You wouldn’t dare,” taunted for a hundred years “You make it sound frighten- Archie. “You know what would “Let’s not forget one thing,” ing,” said Garrison. happen to you then. The Insti- interrupted Doc. “In Archie we “It is frightening,” Doc as- tute would have your scalp for were observing something that sured him. that.” was intelligent. Just how intel- Garrison stood up. “There’s The face was in the jar again. ligent we had no way of know- no use beating around the bush. A terrible face. One that sent ing. But we do know this: His Both of us are thinking the same fear and loathing and terrifying intelligence was not human in- thing.” anger surging through the scientist. With a shriek of rage, Boone grabbed the bottle off the desk and hurled it. It missed Archie, shattered against the wall, spraying the glass jar with liquor. Archie tittered and a hand materialized before the face, waggling its fingers in an obscene ges- ture. With a hoarse whoop, Boone leaped forward and snatched up a heavy stool. Archie’s laughter rang through the room terrible laughter. Boone screamed in in- sane rage and babbled. The stool came up and smashed downward. The jar splintered under the —” ” ” ”

122 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Doc said: “I’m afraid so. You’re afraid of the big boys “We can’t take a chance. We There’s nothing else to think.” and Mac is afraid of you and the can’t turn those machines over “All of them know,” said Gar- men are afraid of Mac. And all to Archie.”

rison, “all of them, or it, or what- qf us are afraid of Venus. Ra- Mac howled in anguish. “But ever is out there—they know as dium, Inc., owns the Solar Sys- we’re way behind schedule. much as Archie knew.” tem, body and soul. The radium Shut them down and— “I’m sure they do,” Doc monopoly, holding companies, “Shut them down!” roared agreed. “Archie never lost his interlocking directories— it all Garrison. “Sparks is trying to identity, even though we had to adds up to invisible government, get through to Earth. I’ll let pump in new radon every few not too invisible at that. R. C. you know.” days. It was always the same Webster owns us all. He owns He hung the speaker back in

Archie. Tests with the radon us by virtue of Streeter’s secret its cradle, lifted it again and brains on the machines, however, police and his spies. He owns dialed the communications room. revealed merely an intelligence us because radium is power and “How’s the call to Earth com- very poorly versed in human he owns the radium. He owns ing?” knowledge. The same radon, us because there isn’t a govern- “I’m trying,” yelped Sparks, mind you, and yet the radon that ment that won’t jump when he “but I’m afraid. We’re nearing

was used to replenish Archie be- snaps his fingers. His father the Sun, you know. Space is all

comes Archie, while all the other and grandfather owned us before chopped. . . . Hey, wait a min- radon remained an intelligence this, and his son and grandson ute. Here we are. I’ll tie you that had none of Archie’s human will own us after a while.” in—” knowledge.” He chuckled. “You needn’t Static crackled and snapped. “And now,” said Garrison, “it’s look so horrified, Johnny. A thin voice was shouting. all Archie. I told Mac he’d have You’re the only one that’s hear- “That you, Garrison? Hello, to shut down the machines when ing me, and you won’t say a Garrison!” the radon ran low in the brains. word. But you know it’s the Garrison recognized the voice, We simply can’t take a chance. truth as well as I. Radium is distorted as it was, and grimaced. There’ll be hell to pay. R. C. the basis of the power that holds He could envision R. C. Web- will blast space wide open.— the Solar System in thrall. The ster, president of Radium, Inc., We’re behind schedule now wheels of the System depend on bouncing up and down in his He stared out the port with radium from Venus. It was the chair, furious at the prospect of haggard face, watching the snow price the people of Earth had to more trouble on Venus. sweep by. pay for solar expansion, for a “Yes, R. C., this is Garrison.” “Take it easy, Johnny,” coun- solar empire. Just the cost of “Well,” piped R. C., “what’s seled Doc. “The home office has wheeling a ship from one planet the trouble now? Speak up, man, been riding you again. You’re to another is tremendous. It what’s gone wrong this time?” behind schedule and you’re get- takes capital to develop a solar Swiftly Garrison told him. ting jumpy. You’re remember- empire, and when capital is Twice static blotted out the ing some of the things you’ve called on it always has a price. tight beam and Sparks worked seen happen to men who couldn’t We paid that price, and this is like a demon to re-establish con- keep the wheels of industry mov- what we got.” tact. ing and the banners of Radium, Garrison reached out with “And what are you afraid of?” Inc., waving high. You’re think- trembling hands to pick up a shrieked the man on Earth. ing of R. C.’s secret police and bottle of brandy. The liquor “Simply this,” explained Gar- charges of sabotage and God splashed as he poured it in a rison, wishing it didn’t sound so knows what.” tumbler. silly. “Archie has escaped. That “Look, Doc,” said Garrison “What are we going to do, means all the radon knows as desperately, almost pleadingly, Doc?” much as he did. If we pump “this is my big chance—my last “I wish I knew,” said Doc. new radon into the brains, we’ll chance. I’m not too young any be pumping in intelligence radon more, and this chance has to A bell jangled and Garrison —that is, radon— that knows about click. Make good here on Venus lifted the phone. us—that is and I’m set for life. No more The voice of the chief engi- “Poppycock,” yelled R. C. third-rate wilderness posts out neer shouted at him. “That’s the biggest lot of damn

on the Jovian moons, no more “Chief, we have to fill those foolishness I’ve ever heard.” stinking tricks on the Martian brains again. Either that or shut “But, R. C.— desert. It’ll be Earth for me down. The radon is running “Look here, young man,” Earth and an easy-chair.” low.” fumed the voice, “we’re behind “I know how it is,” said Doc. “I thought I told you to shut schedule, aren’t we? You’re out “It’s the old system of fear. them down,” yelled Garrison. there to dig radium, aren’t you?” ” ”

TOOLS 123

“Yes,” admitted Garrison, hopelessly. “All right, then, dig radium. Get back on schedule. Fill up

those brains and tear into it— “But you don’t understand—

“I said to fill up those brains and get to work. And keep working!” “Those are orders?” asked Garrison. “Those are orders!” snapped R. C. Static howled at them deris- ively.

Garrison watched the ship roar away from the surface, lose it- self in the driving whiteness of solidified formaldehyde. Beside him, Mac rubbed armored hands together in exultation. “That almost puts us on sched- ule,” he announced. Garrison nodded, staring moodily out over the field. It was night again, and little wind devils of formaldehyde danced and jigged across the ground. Night and a snowstorm, and the mercury at one hundred forty degrees above Fahrenheit. Dur- ing the week-long day it got hot- ter. He heard the clicking of the mighty brain-controlled ma- chines as they dug ore in the pits, the whine of wind around the dome and in the jagged hills, With a roar of rage, he crashed the jar. The ra- the snicking of the refrigerator don intelligence fled in a units in his suit. puff of deadly radiation. “How soon will you have Archie’s jar done, Mac?” he asked. “The new Institute ob- “Well, we didn’t figure out ex- The two men looked at one an- server is getting anxious to see actly all the angles on that jar. other, faces stolid. what he can get out of him.” Some of the working parts are “I don’t like it,” Mac declared. “Just a few hours more,” said mighty complicated and delicate, “Neither do I,” said Garrison. Mac. “It took us a long time to you know. But we thought we’d He turned and walked slowly figure out some of the things get started at least and let the toward the dome, while Mac about it, but I’ve had the robots Institute stooge take over when went back to the pits. on it steady.” he got—here. But when those “Rush it over soon as you get robots In Garrison’s office, Doc had it done. We’ve tried to talk to “Yes?” said Garrison. cornered Roger Chester, the new some of the radon brains in the “When those robots got to the Institute observer. machines, but it’s no dice.” things we couldn’t understand, “The Institute has mountains “There’s just one thing both- they tossed the blueprints to one of reports,” Chester was saying. ers me,” said Mac. side and went right ahead. So “I tried to go through them be- “What is that?” Garrison help me, they didn’t even fum- fore I came out. Night and day asked sharply. ble.” almost. Ever since I knew I was ”” ” ” ” —

124 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION going to replace Boone.” for it to go sky high. And noth- Mac dragged in hours later. Doc carefully halved a new ci- ing happens. What is Archie “I didn’t find a thing,” he re- gar, tucked one piece in his doing? What is he waiting ported. “Not a single thing.” pocket, the other in his mouth. for?” Garrison studied him, red-eyed “What were you looking for?” “That’s a big order, Garrison,” from worry. “That’s all right, he asked. declared Chester. “Let us try to Mac. I didn’t think you would. “A clue. You see, I knew envision a life which had no Five miles from here and you’re

Boone. For years. He wasn’t tools because it couldn’t make on unknown ground.” the kind of fellow who would them, would be useless to it even “What are we going to do break. It would have taken more if it did have them because it now, chief?” than Venus. But I didn’t find a couldn’t use them. Man’s rise, Garrison shook his head. “I thing.” you must remember, is largely, don’t know. Sparks finally got “Boone himself might have if not entirely, attributable to a message through. Managed to furnished that clue,” Doc sug- his use of tools. An accident that pick up Mercury, just coming gested quietly. “Did you look made his thumb opposing gave around the Sun. Probably through his reports?” him a running start— they’ll shoot it out to Mars to be “I read them over and over,” relayed to Earth.” The phone on the desk blared. Chester admitted. “There was Chester came out of the labo- Garrison snatched it up, and nothing there. Some of his re- ratory and sat down. Mac’s voice shrieked at him. ports were missing. The last Doc swiveled his cigar. — “Chief, those damn robots are few days “What has Archie to say?” he running away! So are the ma- “Those last few days can be asked. chines in the pit— canceled out,” said Doc. “The Chester’s face grew red. “I Cold fingers seemed to clamp lad wasn’t himself. I wouldn’t pumped the radon into the jar. around the commander’s throat. be surprised he didn’t write any But there was no response. reports those last few days.” Mac’s voice was almost sob- Practically none, that is. Told “ Chester said: “That would bing. —hell for leather out me to go to hell.” have been unlike him.” here. But they left Archie’s jar. Doc chuckled at the man’s dis- Doc wrangled the cigar vi- Must have forgotten that.” comfiture. “Don’t let Archie get ciously. “Find anything else?” “Mac,” yelled Garrison, “jump you down. That’s what he did “Not much. Not much more into a tractor and try to follow to Boone. Got on his nerves. than Masterson knew. Even them. Find out where they’re Drove him insane. Archie had now—after all these years, it’s going.” to get out some way, you see. hard to believe—that radon “But, chief—” He couldn’t do anything while could be alive.” “Follow them!” shouted Gar- he was shut up in one place. So “If any gas could live,” said rison. he forced Boone to let him out. Doc, “it would be radon. It’s He slammed down the hand Boone didn’t know what was go- heavy. Molecular weight of 222. piece, lifted it and dialed. ing on, but Archie did— One hundred eleven times as “Sparks, get hold of Earth!” “But what is Archie doing heavy as hydrogen, five times as “No soap,” said Sparks laconi- now?” exploded Garrison. heavy as carbon dioxide. Not cally. “He’s playing a game of complicated from a molecular “Damn it, try to get them. It’s nerves,” said Doc. “He’s soften- standpoint, but atomically one of a matter of life and death!” ing us up. We’ll be ready to the most complicated known. “I can’t,” wailed Sparks. meet his terms when he’s ready Complicated enough for life. “We’re around the Sun. We to make them.” And if you’re looking for the can’t get through.” “But why terms ? What could unbalance necessary for life, it’s “Get the ship, then.” Archie want?” radioactive. Chemically inert, “It won’t do any good,” yelped Doc’s cigar swished back and perhaps, but— terrifically unstable Sparks. “They’re hugging the forth. “How should I know? physically Sun to cut down distance. It’ll We might not even recognize The door of the office opened be days before they can relay a what Archie is fighting for and Garrison walked in. message.” and, again, we might. He might “Still chewing the fat about “O. K.,” said Garrison wearily. be fighting for his existence. Archie?” he asked. “Forget it.” His life depends upon those ra- He strode to his desk and took He hung up and faced Chester. dium beds. No more radium, no out a bottle and glasses. “You don’t have to imagine more radon, no more Archie.” “It’s been two weeks since Archie without tools any “Nonsense,” Chester broke in. Archie got away,” he said. “And longer,” he said. “He has them “We could have dug those beds nothing’s happened. We’re sit- now. He just stole them from for a million years and not made ting on top of a volcano, waiting us.” a dent in them.” ”

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“A million years,” objected thunderclap. Three pairs of eyes that stood out against him. Up Doc, “might be only a minute or stared at the standing man. The to now he hasn’t dared to lay a two for Archie.” air seemed to crackle with an finger on it.” “Damn you. Doc,” snapped electric aliveness. Garrison had said nothing, but Garrison, “what are you grin- “Sit down,” Doc snapped. now he spoke: “By rights, Ches- ning for? What is so funny Chester sank slowly into his ter, we ought to kill you.” chair. Mac’s hands opened and about it?” “You wouldn’t dare,” said “It’s amusing,” explained. closed, as if he kneaded some- Doc Chester thinly. “Something I’ve often wondered one’s throat. "What difference does it about just what Earthmen Doc nodded. “One of R. C.’s — make?” asked Garrison. “If we would do if they ran up against agents. He didn’t smell quite don’t, another one of R. C.’s men something that had them licked like an Institute man to me. He will. You’ve slipped up. And forty ways from Sunday.” said it was hard to believe radon R. C. doesn’t give his men a “But he hasn’t got us licked,” could be alive. With an Insti- chance to slip a second time.” yelled Mac. “Not yet.” tute man that wouldn’t be be- “But you were talking trea- "Anything that can keep ra- lief, it would be knowledge.” son,” Chester insisted. dium from Earth can lick us,” “A dirty, snooping stooge,” Doc declared. “And Archie can said Mac. “Sent out to see what “Call it treason,” snarled Gar- do that—don’t you ever kid was wrong on Venus.” rison. “Call it anything you like. yourself.” “But not too good a one,” Doc It’s the language that’s being “But he’ll ruin the Solar Sys- observed. “He lets his enthusi- talked up and down the System. tem,” shouted Garrison. “Ma- asm for Radium, Inc., run away Wherever men work out their chines will have to shut down. with him. Of course, all of us hearts and strangle their con- Mines and factories will be idle. were taught that enthusiasm our- science in hope of scraps thrown Spaceships will stop running. selves—in school. But we soon from Radium, Inc.’s table, Planets will have to be evacu- got over it.” they’re saying the same thing ated—” Chester ran his tongue over we are saying.” “What you mean,” Doc his lips. pointed out, “is that he’ll ruin “When Radium, Inc., can mon- The phone blared and Garri- Radium, Inc. Not the Solar Sys- key with the Institute,” said son put forth his hand, lifted the tem. The System can get along Doc, “it means one of two things. set and spoke. without Radium, Inc. Probably R. C. is getting pretty sure of “It’s R. C.,” Sparks yelled at even without radium. It did for himself or he’s getting desperate. the other end. “It’s sort of weak, thousands of years, you know. The Institute was the one thing but maybe you can hear. Mars The only trouble now is that the

System is keyed OIT,,ca * .1 , Eeon to radium. If 050 '* there isn’t any K;^' radium, it means

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126 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION and Mercury are relaying.” We’ve combed them, but there’s bound to crack. It’s a death sen- “Hello, R. C.,” said Garrison. no sign of him.” tence for any man to be sent out Static screamed in deafening Chester rose from the chair in here. The last replacements whoops, and then R. C.’s voice a smooth leap, hurling himself were criminals, men shanghaied sifted through, disjointed and at Garrison, one hand snatching off the street.” reedy. at the phone. The impact of his Garrison angrily sloshed the “ —sit tight. We’re sending body staggered Garrison, but the liquor in his glass. men, ten shiploads of them.” commander sent him reeling “Don’t look at me,-” he “Men!” yelped Garrison. with a shove. snapped. “It’s out of my hands “What will we do with men?” “What was that you said, now. I’m acting only in an ad- “Machines, too,” scratched R. R. C.? I didn’t hear. The ministrative capacity. Those are C.’s voice.— “Manually operated static.” the exact words. Administrative machines ” More howls and “I said to hell with him. Don’t capacity. Streeter is the works screeches drowned out the rest. waste time looking for him. out here. He’s the one that’s “But R. C., you can’t do that,” There are more important running the show. He’s the one yelled Garrison. “The men will things.” that’s working the men to death. die like flies. It’ll be mass mur- Chester was charging in again And when they start to raise a der. It’ll be like it was before on Garrison, intent on getting little hell, those babies of his up —in the early days, before Mas- the phone. Mac moved with the in the towers open up on them.” terson developed the radon speed of lightning, one huge fist “I know all that,” admitted brains. Men can’t work in those knotted and pulled far back. It Doc. “I wasn’t trying to blame radium pits—not work and live.” traveled in a looping, powerful you, Johnny. After all, we “That’s a lot of damn tripe,” arc, caught the charging man needn’t kid ourselves. If we raved R. C. “They’ll work—” flush on the chin. Chester’s head don’t walk the line, Streeter will “They’ll revolt!” shrieked Gar- snapped back, his feet surged open up on us as well.” rison. clear of the floor, his body “You’re telling me,” said Gar- “Oh, no, they won’t. I’m send- smashed against the wall. He rison. He gulped the liquor. ing police along.” slid into a heap, like a doll some- “Streeter knows that something “Police!” stormed Garrison. one had tossed into a corner. happened to Chester. That yarn “Some of Streeter’s bloody Doc crossed the rpom and about his being lost out in the butchers?” knelt beside him, hills simply didn’t click.” “I’m sending Streeter himself. “You hit too hard,” he said. “We never meant it should,” Streeter and some of his picked “I meant to hit hard,” growled Doc declared. “But so long as men. They’ll keep order— Mac. we serve our purpose, so long “Look, R. C.,” said Garrison “He’s dead,” said Doc. “You as we throw no monkey bitterly, “you’d better send a broke his neck.” wrenches, so long as we’re good new commander, too. I’ll be little boys, we can go on living.” damned if I’ll work with Outside, the eternal snowstorm Archie’s voice grated from be- Streeter." howled, sweeping the jagged yond the open laboratory door.

“Take it easy, Garrison. hills and lamp-lighted pits. “Doctor, will you please come You’re doing all right. Just a Doc stood in front of a port here?” bunch of bad breaks. You’ll and watched the scurrying ac- “Sure, Archie, sure. What can make out all right.” tivity that boiled within the I do for you?” “I won’t work those men,” mine. Hundreds of armored men “I would like to talk to Cap- snapped Garrison. “Not the way and hundreds of laboring ma- tain Streeter.” they’ll have to work. Radium chines. Three spaceships, sta- “Captain Streeter,” warned isn’t worth it.” tioned beside the stock pile, were Doc, “isn’t a nice man. If I were “You will,” yelled R. C„ “or being loaded. Streeter’s police, you, I’d keep away from him.”

I’ll have Streeter sock you down with ready guns, patrolled the “But nevertheless,” persisted in the pits yourself. Radium sentry towers that loomed above Archie, “I would like to talk to has to move. We have to have the pits. him. I have something that I’m it.” The door opened and Garrison sure will interest him. Will you “By the way,” said Garrison, came in with dragging feet. call him, please?” suddenly calm, his eyes on Ches- “How many this shift?” asked “Certainly,” agreed Doc. ter, “you remember that Insti- Doc. He strode out into the office tute chap who came to replace “Seven,” Garrison answered and dialed the phone. Boone?” hoarsely. “A screen blew up.” “Streeter speaking,” said a “Yes, I seem to remember— Doc sucked at the dead cigar. voice. “He’s lost,” said Garrison. “This has to stop, Johnny. It “Archie wants to talk to you,” “Walked out into the hills. has to stop or something is said the Doc. —

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“Archie!” stormed Streeter. haven’t any cannon.” The Profession that PAYS “Tell that lousy little hunk of “Very well,” said Archie. “Do Accountants command big income. gas to go chase himself.” what you wish. It’s immaterial Thousands needed. About 20,000 Certi- to me. You have thirty minutes.” fied Public Accountants in U. S. Many “Streeter,” said Doc, “it earn $2,000 to $15,000. We train you doesn’t make any difference Streeter swung around and thoroughly at home in your spare time to for C. P. A. examinations or executive account- ing positions. what but, if stamped out into the office. Previous bookkeeping knowl- me you do; I were edge unnecessary—we prepare youfrom ground in your place, I would talk to “You heard?” he asked. up.purtrainingispersonallygiven bystaff of ex- perienced C. P. A/s. Low cost—easy this book Archie. Doc nodded. “If I were you, terms. Write now for valuable 48- In fact, I’d come run- page book, “Accountancy, the ning when he called me.” Streeter, I’d pull stakes. Archie Profession That Pays,*’ free. LaSalle Extension University isn’t fooling.” Doc replaced the phone, cut- A Correspondence Institution Dept. 665-H CHICAGO ting off the sounds of rage com- “Cannon !” snorted the captain. ing from the other end. “Exactly,” said Garrison. “And THE SCHOOL THAT HAS IH ITS ALUMNI OVER 2.000 C.F.A/S “Well?” asked Garrison. don’t you ever think Archie ENLARGED doesn’t have them. When the ANY PHOTO “He’ll come,” said Doc. Size 8 x 10 Inches or smaller if de- sired. Same price for full length or machines ran away they took bust form, groups, landscapes, pet animals, etc., or enlargements of anyl along our tools.” part of group picture. Safe return of , Ten minutes later Streeter did original photo guaranteed. 3 for $ 1.00 come, cold anger in his eyes. Streeter’s face hardened. SEND NO MONEYSSS and within a week you will receive your beautiful “I wish you gentlemen would “Let’s say he has them, then. to All right, he has them. So have tend small details yourselves,” : photos today. . STANDARD ART STUDIOS. II3S. Jefferson St.. Dent. 772-H. Chicago he snarled. we. We’ll fight him!” ORIGINAL Doc laughed. “You’ll play THE Doc jerked his thumb toward FREE BLUE BOOK door. hell. Fighting Archie is a joke. the open “In there,” he • Cet this Big, Complete 72 page Original said. Where are you going to find Blue Book. Contains mystifying novelties, magicians and conjurers specialties— him? How are you going to DICE • CARDS- CAMES, Inks, Layouts, etc.

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Write today sure . . things.” Streeter, grimly, “It’s time the DETAILS. . time is short! Nelson Co., 506 “Oh, so you don’t,” said army took over.” 5(j0Sherman, Dept. -F, Chicago. Streeter, words silky with rage. “Call in your army,” said Doc, High School Course “So,” continued Archie, “I’m “but remember one thing. The at Home Many Finish in 2 Years giving you and your men half only thing you can fight is Go as rapidly as your time and abilities permit. Course equivalent to resident school work—prepares for college to get entrance exams. Standard H.S. texts supplied. Diploma. an hour out of here. Out Archie’s weapons. You may de- Credit for H. 8. subjects already completed. Single subjects If de- sired. High school education is very important for advancement in of the mine and off this planet.” stroy his guns, but you can’t Itart your training now. There were strangling sounds hurt Archie. All he has to do is lAmerican School, Dpt. HA7. Dnnl at 58th, Chicago as the police captain fought to build some more. And those Fine Viam&tuF at ’frhciA speak. Finally he rasped: “And weapons won’t be easy to hit. Unredeemed loan pledges and big buying powerr enable if we don’t?” Because, you see, those guns will us to offer GENUINE DIAMONDS at our lowi prices—p: far less than original cost. “If you don’t,” said Archie, “I be intelligent. They won’t de- Men's and ladies* rings, one carat $95.00, % carat $45.00 Hundreds more beautiful diamonds, exquisite settings. Shipped fot shall force you to move. If the pend on brass hats and military FREE INSPECTION and APPRAISAL. Send for FREE LIST of Offerings of brilliantgems atverylow prices. Lloyd J . Butler, President. mine is not vacated within half orders. They’ll have brains of PRUDENTIAL LOAN ASSOCIATION (Pawnbrokers) 1333 N. Clark St, Dept.28-G Chicago, Illinois an hour, I shall start course. Status of Cadet in U. S. bombardment.” BE AN OFFICER Naval Reserve during training. And “Bombardment !” Are you between 18 and 23? opportunity for a lifetime career. “Exactly. This place High-school educated? A Send coupon today is ringed with cannon. U. S. citizen? Anxious to get U. S. MERCHANT MARINE It is a barbaric thing to in and pitch for America? Train now to be an Officer ~Fill out and mail TODAY -j it’s do, but the only way Supervisor of Merchant in the fast-growing U. S. Mer- you’d understand. I Marine Cadet Training chant Marine. Ship Officer’s U. S. Coast Guard, Box 6G could use other meth- Washington, D. C. license and Naval Reserve Please send me, FREE, and without Information Booklet of the ods, but the cannon commission after graduation. obligation, U. S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps. | are the best.” $ probably per Month-All Expenses Name I S. Marine 65 U. Merchant Street “You’re bluffing,” Good pay, good quarters, dur- Offers Wartime Jobs With City State shrieked Streeter. “You a Peacetime Future ing 16-month shore-ship ” —

128 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

their own. You'll be fighting ture. At least, not the kind of course, can never live a life like deadly intelligent machines. I an adventure the human race that.” tell you, Streeter, you haven’t would understand. It is a part “But Earthmen could,” sug- got a chance!” of a carefully studied plan.” gested Doc, the cigar dangling

Streeter turned to Garrison “But why are you doing it, in his mouth. with bleak eyes. Archie? Why are you messing “You’re right, doctor,” Archie “You think the same?” he chal- into this at all ? The human race said. “Earthmen could.” lenged and the menace in his can’t touch you. You could, if “If you could force them to.” voice was scarcely hidden. you wanted to, just go on disre- “I will force no one to do any- “Archie isn’t bluffing,” Garri- garding them.” thing,” Archie grated. “I am son insisted. “He can make guns, “You might be able to under- experimenting.” tanks, ships ... in fact, he can stand,” said Archie. “But would the experiment be duplicate anything we have “I sure would try,” Doc prom- good for Earth? Would your with improvements. He’s got ised. way of life, your hypothetical our tools and our knowledge and “You know about me,” said civilization, be the right one for he’s got something we haven’t Archie. “You probably can imag- Earth to follow?” got. That’s his knowledge, the ine the sort of life I lived before “Frankly, doctor,” said Archie, knowledge he never shared with the Earthmen came. For eons I “I don’t give a damn.” us.” was a thing without physical “Well, well,” said Doc. “You both are under technical life. My life was mental. I de- “There’s something else, doc- arrest,” snapped Streeter. “You veloped mentally. I specialized tor,” said Archie. “You and Gar- will remain inside the dome. If in mentality, you see, because I rison and Mac are in trouble.” you venture out— didn’t have a body to worry “Trouble,” admitted Doc.

“Get out of here,” yelled Gar- about. I thought and speculated “doesn’t rightly express it. rison. “Get out of here before and that was all right, because it We’re in a mess clear up to our I break your neck!” was the only kind of life I knew. ears.” Streeter got out, with Garri- It was a good life, too, free of “There is a ship waiting for son’s laughter ringing in his so many of the worries and an- you,” said Archie. “Back in the ears. noyances of physical being. hills north of the dome. It is Sometimes I wish it could have the fastest thing ever built for Doc glanced at his watch. continued. space.” “Fifteen minutes gone. I won- “I didn’t have any enemies. I "A ship!” cried Doc. “Where der what Streeter will do.” didn’t even have neighbors to did the ship come from?” “He won’t do anything,” Gar- fight with. For I could be one “I built it,” Archie said. rison predicted. “He’s pig- or I could be many; I was suffi- “You—” headed. He’ll put in a call to cient to myself. What Doc had meant to say Earth, have an expeditionary “I realized there was slich a was engulfed by a wave of sound force sent out as a precautionary thing as physical being, of that seemed to rock the dome. measure. But even now he course, because I observed the “There it goes!” yelled Garri- doesn’t believe what Archie told few tiny animals that are able son. him.” to survive on Venus. Pitifully “I do,” said Doc. “You better inadequate physical life as com- Doc ran into the office and put in a call to Mac. Tell him pared with the life on Earth, but through the port he saw debris to hustle over here. I’d hate to physical life nevertheless. still flying through the air—the have him get caught in the fire- “I wondered about that life. I tangled wreckage of machines works.” attempted to formulate a be- and blasted ore. Garrison nodded and reached havioristic pattern for such a The radium pits disrupted in for the phone. Doc got up and type of life endowed with my another flash of blue-white flame walked into the laboratory. mentality. Starting with small and again thunder blanketed and “Well, Archie, how are you imaginings, I built that idea up rocked the dome. The two re- feeling now?" into the pattern of a hypothetical maining watch towers vanished “Why do you always ask me civilization, a civilization that in the upheaval and disinte- that, doctor?” Archie demanded paralleled Earth’s in some ways, grated in the blast, losing their irritably. “I’m feeling all right. differed from it vastly in others. identity in the clouts of flung-up I always feel all right. There’s It couldn’t be the same, you earth. nothing to go wrong with me.” know, because my philosophy “He’s using high explosives,” “Thought you might feel a bit was a far cry from the kind of yelled Garrison. different—starting a war.” thought that you developed.” “Of course,” gasped Doc. “He “It isn’t a war,” insisted The grating voice— died and wouldn’t dare use radioactive Archie. “It isn’t even an adven- then began again “I, myself, of stuff or he’d blast the planet to ”

TOOLS 129

bits. No one would dare use you,” jeered Mac. anything but high explosives in “No. I’m not afraid of that,” a war on Venus.” Doc protested. “He couldn’t do The door swung open and Mac any more to me then than if he stumbled in. had me now. And, anyhow, R. C. “Thanks for the call,” he said. is through. He doesn’t know it Men were running now out in yet, but he’s through for good the pits, scurrying like fright- and all.” ened ants, heading for the one “Mac,” said Garrison, “let’s tie spaceship which had escaped the the stubborn old fool up and shells. take him along whether he wants The dust settled slowly over to go or not.” the battered field, now plunged “Look, Johnny,” declared Doc. in gloom with the shattering of “I’d never forgive you if you

the lights. And, as if by signal, did. Take my word for it. I the howling wind swept a sheet have to stay.” of snow down to blot out the “O. K.,” said Mac. “If the be- sight. nighted old goat doesn’t want to When the snow cleared, the go, let the rest of us get mov- pits were empty of life—there ing. I’ll go hunt up Sparks. We MAIL TODAY to your State or local Health I was no movement in the blasted don’t want to have that war fleet for free literature | Dept, about SYPHILIS—its | cause, spread, and cure. gouges. Fire spurted from the Streeter called for pick us up as | | Kame | launching the un- I rockets of one they are coming in.” Address | damaged spaceship, the dome vi- Garrison nodded dumbly and State .J brating to the monster’s take-off. moved toward the door. With DICE • CARDS Momentarily a trail of flame the knob in his hand, he turned met! Perfect Dice, Magic Dice, TAMOUS Magic Cards—READ THE climbed into the clouds and then back. BACKS — Inks. Daubs, Poker Chips. Gaming silence and grayness clamped “I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing BLUE BOOK Layouts, Dice Boxes, Counter Games, Punch- boards. WRITE FOR down over the deserted mine and you again, Doc.” CATALOG CATALOG TODAY dome. “I don’t imagine you will. I’m K. C. CARO CO. 1246 W Wo.hington Blvd., Chicago, III. “That settles it,” Mac com- sorry the way things turned out, mented. “We’re left alone. We’ll Johnny. It was a dirty shame. have to wait until the military And you so near to Earth and Classified comes and then— that easy-chair.” “You’re wrong,” said Doc. “Aw, hell,” said Garrison, “who “There’s a ship waiting out cares for easy-chairs?” Advertising north in the hills for you two fellows. A ship that Archie Doc watched through the port Patents built. Better take Sparks along until he saw the flare of a ship Secured INVENTORS—Protect your idea with a Patent. Secure "Patent with you. He’s probably still painting the northern hills. His Guide” —Free. Write Clarence A. O'Brien and Harvey Jacobson, Registered Patent Attorneys, 251-Q Adams Building, Washing- around.” gaze followed the streak of flame ton, D. C. “For the two of us?” asked that climbed up and out toward Photo Finishing—Developing

Mac. “Why not all of us?” the Sun. ROLL DEVELOPED—18 prints; or 8 prints 2 enlargements; or 8 enlargements, 25c. Reprints 2c. 50 or more l%c each. “I can’t go,” said Doc, “I have Up and out toward the Sun. Peerless Studio, Enterprise, Oregon. to stay. I have a job to do.” Out where one could see the Correspondence Courses “Forget it, Doc,” urged Garri- stars. Out to take their place CORRESPONDENCE COURSES and educational books, slightly used. Sold. Rented. Exchanged. All subjects. Satisfaction guar- anteed. Cash paid for used courses. Complete details and bargain son. “Archie really built that with a race that could conquer catalog Free. Write Nelson Company, Dept. G-215, 500 Sherman, Chicago. ship for you. You were the one those stars. A race that could Detectives Instructions he liked. You were the only stretch out its hand and handi- — DETECTIVES EARN BIG MONEY. Work home or travel. one he liked.” work to the farthest reaches of DETECTIVE particulars free. Experience unnecessary. Write, GEORGE WAGONER, 2640-A Broadway, New York. Doc shook his head stubbornly. the Universe. A race that could Old Gold Wanted “No, I’ve thought it out. I can’t trace new pathways between the GOLD $35 OUNCE. Mail old gold teeth, diamonds, jewelry, go along. Archie says the ship galaxies. A race that could hang watches—receive cash by return mail. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Free information. Paramount Gold Refining Co., 1500-G IlenDe- is fast. If I were you, I’d head its signposts on distant solar pin, Minneapolis, Minn. for the asteroids. Stick around systems. START $1260 TO $2100 YEAR MEN—WOMEN. Thou- there for a while. Maybe after But a race that needed leader- sands war service ap- pointments. Write im- a time you can come out. Things ship to do it—a leadership that mediately for free 32- page Civil Service book, are apt to different then.” strike off its shackles, be would with list of positions and full particulars. “You’re afraid of what R. C. shackles such as Radium, Inc., FRANKLIN INSTITUTE would do to you if he caught would weave. Shackles born of Dept. LI 94, Rochester, N. Y. ” "

130 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION hate and greed and jealousies. Doc swiveled the cigar from man who stumbled on the clue. Perhaps Man had gotten off on east to west. “Yeah, that’s right. Even he, perhaps, didn’t realize the wrong foot. Perhaps his But somehow I couldn’t seem all he had. But he might have. philosophy had been all wrong to do it. I made the decision Given time, he certainly would even from the start. Perhaps a just a little while ago.” have. But you killed him first. bit of alien philosophy, weird as “What decided you?” You had intended to all along as it might seem at first, would be “A spaceship,” said Doc. “A a means of escaping yourself. good for him. spaceship that you made.” But his stumbling on the clue With a sigh, Doc turned back “I understand,” said Archie. made you hurry up the job.” to the room. “I was defending myself,” A mournful silence hung “You aren’t as tough as you Archie declared. there. Machinery still throbbed would like to have us think,” de- “Those notes were dangerous,” and occasionally there was a clared Doc. “You might not said Doc. “They gave the hu- whine of fans, but aside from have had them before, but since man race an angle for attack.” that there was no other sound. Masterson found you, you’ve ab- “But you destroyed the notes. Doc selected a fresh cigar sorbed some conception of hu- I’m safe now.” from his vest pocket and care- man emotions. The spaceship Doc shook his head. “No, fully cutit-in two. One half he proved it.” Archie, you aren’t. For, you stuck in his mouth, the other “I like you, doctor,” Archie see, I know.” went back into the pocket. said. “You remind me of Mas- “But you wouldn’t tell.” He headed for the laboratory, terson.” “Oh, yes, I would,” said Doc. shutting the door behind him. “I’m giving you the human “I couldn’t help but tell. R. C.’s “Howdy, Archie,” he said. race to carry out your experi- police have ways to make one “You’re a fool,” said Archie. ment,” said Doc. “It can be a talk. Slick ways. Unpleasant “What’s the matter now?” great experiment. You have ways. I’m a psychologist. I “I gave you a chance,” rasped good material to work with. All should know. And they suspect Archie. “You threw it away. you need to do is handle it right. I may know more than I’ve ever Don’t blame me for anything Point it toward the stars and told. Chester was curious about that happens now.” keep it going straight. I’m back- Boone’s reports— “I had to have a little talk ing you against Radium, Inc. I “But if you had escaped with with you,” said Doc. think the human race will get a the —others, you could have hid- “You could have had it be- better break from you. Don’t den fore.” disappoint me, Archie.” “Even then, there would have “No,” persisted Doc. “This “I hadn’t thought of that,” been the chance they would have one had to be private. No chance Archie rumbled. “Maybe your found me,” Doc declared. “Just for anyone to hear.” race does deserve a break.” an outside chance—but in a “All right,” said Archie, im- “They aren’t such bad folks. thing like this you can’t take patiently, “go ahead and spill And, anyhow,” Doc chuckled, “if any chance at all.” it.” they don’t like the way you do He walked across the room, “I just wanted to tell you things they can turn their backs picked up the heavy stool. omething,” Doc explained. on you. If they don’t insist on “This is the only way to do it, “Something that might make radium, you have no hold on Archie. There’s no other thing you easy in your mind. I de- them. But if Radium, Inc., could to do. It’s the only way we can stroyed those notes Boone made beat you, there’d be no hope for fool them—you and I.” before he died.” them. They’d only fall deeper Archie’s voice was cold, me- “You did what?” and deeper into slavery.” chanical. “You don’t have to do “I destroyed them. I didn’t “Why are you telling me it that way, doctor. There are want to see you vulnerable. Be- this?” Archie grumbled. “You other ways.” cause as soon as anything be- had the knowledge that would Doc chuckled. “Psychological comes vulnerable to the human have broken me. You haven’t effect, Archie. First Boone, now race it’s a goner, sure as shoot- used it. You say you aren’t go- me. Makes you sinister. After

ing.” ing to. Why not let it go at two accidents like this no one “Why didn’t you tell me this that?” will want to study you too much before?” Archie rumbled. “If you were a man,” declared —or too closely.” “Because I couldn’t make up Doc, “I’d slap you down for that. He weighed the heavy stool in

my mind,” Doc told him. “I had I’m not trying to pose as a hero. his hand, getting the feel of it. to think it out.” There is something else.” His cigar traveled across his “You had a long time to make “Yes?” face. He lifted the stool and

it up.” “Look, Boone was the only crashed it down. THE END. INSURE YOUR ENTIRE EAMHY lor as long as any member may live

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