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We Can Remember It For You Wholesale Philip k. dick 4 The Sorcerer Pharesm JACK VANCE 79

SHORT STORIES

Appoggiatura A. M, MARPLE 25

But Soft, What Light . . . CAROL EMSHWILLER 41

The Sudden Silence J. T. MCINTOSH 45 The Face Is Familiar GILBERT THOMAS 64 The Space Twins JAMES PULLEY 75 Bordered In Black LARRY NIVEN 112

FEATURES Cartoon GAHAN WILSON 24 Books JUDITH MERRIL 31 Injected Memory THEODORE L. THOMAS 62 Verse: The Octopus DORIS PITKIN BUCK 63 Science: The Nobelmen of Science ISAAC ASIMOV 101 F&SF Marketplace 129

Cover by Jack Gaughan (illustrating "The Sorcerer Pharesm”)

Joseph W. Ferman, publishek Edward L. Ferman, editor Ted White, assistant editor Isaac Asimov, science editor Judith Merril, book editor Robert P. Mills, consulting editor Dale Beardale, aRCULATiON manager

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Volume 30, No. 4, Whole No. 179, Apr. 1966. Published monthly by Mercury Press, Inc., at 504 o copy. Annual subscription $5.00; $5.50 in Canada and the Pan American Union, $6.00 in all other countries. Publication office, 10 Ferry Street, Concord, N. H. 03302. Editorial and general mail should be sent to 347 East 53rd St., New York, N. Y. 10022. Second Class postage paid at Concord, N. H. Printed in U.S.A. © 1966 by Mercury Press, Inc. All rights including translations into other languages, reserved. Submissions must be accompanied by stamped, self-addressed envelopes: the Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts. Surely one of mans most difficult tasks is to learn to live with his memories. When, as for Douglas Quail, those include a dull job, a wilting marriage and little else, then something must be done. As, for instance, chang- ing those memories. If you are a new reader and this concept seems far-fetched to you, we suggest that you check Ted Thomas’s column on page 62.

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE

by Philip K. Dick

He awoke —AND WANTED “Okay,” Douglas Quail said, and Mars. The valleys, he thought. made his way barefoot from the What would it be like to trudge bedroom of their conapt to the among them? Great and greater kitchen. There, having dutifully yet: the dream grew as he became pressed the hot coffee button, he fully conscious, the dream and seated himself at the kitchen table, the yearning. He could almost brought out a yellow, small tin of feel the enveloping presence of the fine Dean Swift snuff. He inhaled other world, which only Govern- briskly, and the Beau Nash mix- ment agents and high officials had ture stung his nose, burned the seen. A clerk like himself? Not roof of his mouth. But stiU he in- likely. haled; it woke him up and allowed "Are you getting up or not?” his dreams, his noctural desires his wife Kirsten asked drowsily, and random wishes, to condense with her usual hint of fierce cross- into a semblance of rationality. ness. “If you are, push the hot I will go, he said to himself. Be- colfee button on the dam stove.” fore I die I’ll see Mars.

4 WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 5

It was, of course, impossible, everyone knows that. Rent an and he knew this even as he artificial gill-outfit for both of us, dreamed. But the daylight, the take a week ofiE from work, and we mundane noise of his wife now can descend and live down there brushing her hair before the bed- at one of those year-round—aquatic room mirror — everything con- resorts. And in addition ” She spired to remind him of what he broke oflF. “You’re not listening. was. A miserahle little salaried You should be. Here is something employee, he said to himself with a lot better than that compulsion, bitterness. Kirsten reminded him that obsession you have about of this at least once a day and he Mars, and you don’t even listen!” did not blame her; it was a wife’s Her voice rose piercingly. “God in job to bring her husband down to heaven, you’re doomed, Doug! Earth. Down to Earth, he thought, What’s going to become of you?” and laughed. The figure of speech “I’m going to work,” be said, in this was literally apt. rising to his feet, his breakfast for- “What are you sniggering gotten. “That’s what’s going to be- about?” his wife asked as she swept come of me.” into the kitchen, her long busy- She eyed him. “You’re getting pink robe wagging after her. "A worse. More fanatical every day. dream, I bet. You’re always full of Where’s it going to lead?” them.” “To Mars,” he said, and opened "Yes,” he said, and gazed out the the door to the closet to get down kitchen window at tbe hovercars a fresh shirt to wear to work. and traffic runnels, and all the little energetic people hurrying to Having descended from the taxi work. In a little while he would Douglas Quail slowly walked across be among them. As always. three densely-populated foot run- “I’ll bet it has to do with some nels and to the modem, attractive- woman,” Kirsten said witheringly. ly inviting doorway. There he “No,” he said. “A god. The god halted, impeding mid-moming of war. He has wonderful craters traffic, and with caution read the with every kind of plant-life grow- shifting-color neon sign. He had, ing deep down in them.” in the past, scrutinized this sign

“Listen.” Kirsten crouched before . . . but never had he down beside him and spoke ear- come so close. This was very dif- nestly, the harsh quality momen- ferent; what he did now was tarily gone from her voice. "The something else. Something which bottom of the ocean —our ocean is sooner or later had to happen. much more, an infinity of times REKAL, INCORPORATED more beautiful. You know that; Was this the answer? After all. 6 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION an illusion, no matter how con- nut desk, sat a genial-looking man, vincing, remained nothing more middle-aged, wearing the latest than an illusion. At least objec- Martian frog-pelt gray suit; his at- tively. But subjectively— quite the tire alone would have told Quail opposite entirely. that he had come to the right And anyhow he had an ap- person. pointment. Within the next hve “Sit down, Douglas,” McClane minutes. said, w’aving his plump hand to- ward a chair which faced the Taking a deep breath of mildly desk. “So you want to have gone smog-infested Chicago air, he to Mars. Very good.” walked through the dazzling poly- Quail seated himself, feeling chromatic shimmer of the door- tense. “I’m not so sure this is way and up to the receptionist’s worth the fee,” he said. “It costs counter. a lot and as far as I can see I The nicely-articulated blonde really get nothing.” Costs almost at the counter, bare-bosomed and as much as going, he thought. tidy, said pleasantly, “Good morn- “You get tangible proof of your ing, Mr. Quail.” trip,” McClane disagreed empha- “Yes,” he said. “I’m here to see tically. “All the proof you’ll need. about a Rekal course. As I guess Here; I’ll show you.” He dug you know.” within a drawer of his impressive “Not ‘rekal’ but recall,” the re- desk. “Ticket stub.” Reaching into ceptionist corrected him. She a manila folder he produced a picked up the receiver of the vid- small square of embossed card- phone by her smooth elbow and board. “It proves you went—and said into it, “Mr. Douglas Quail is returned. Postcards.” He laid out here, Mr. McClane. May he come four franked picture 3-D full- inside, now? Or is it too soon?” color postcards in a neatly-arrang- “Giz wetwa wum-wum wamp,” ed row on the desk for Quail to see. the phone mumbled. “Film. Shots you took of local “Yes, Mr. Quail,” she said. “You sights on Mars with a rented may go on in; Mr. McClane is movie camera.” To Quail he dis- expecting you.” As he started off played those, too. “Plus the names uncertainly she called after him, of people you met, two hundred “Room D, Mr. Quail. To your poscreds worth of souvenirs, which right.” will arrive — from Mars —within After a frustrating but brief the following month. And pass- moment of being lost he found the port, certificates listing the shots proper room. The door hung open you received. And more.” He and inside, at a big genuine wal- glanced up keenly at Quail. “You’ll WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 7

know you went, all right,” he “More than the real thing, sir. said. ‘‘You won’t remember us, Had you really gone to Mars as won’t remember me or ever having an Interplan agent, you would by been here. It’ll be a real trip in now have forgotten a great deal; your mind; we guarantee that. A our analysis of true-mem systems full two weeks of recall; every last — authentic recollections of major piddling detail. Remember this: events in a person’s life — shows if at any time you doubt that you that a variety of details are very really took an extensive trip to quickly lost to the person. Forever. Mars you can return here and get Part of the package we offer you is a full refund. You see?” such deep implantation of recall “But I didn’t go,” Quail said. “I that nothing is forgotten. The won’t have gone, no matter what packet which is fed to you while proofs you provide me with.” He you’re comatose is the creation of took a deep, unsteady breath. “And trained experts, men who have I never was a secret agent with spent years on Mars; in every Interplan.” It seemed impossible case we verify details down to the to him that Rekal, Incorporated’s last iota. And you’ve picked a extra-factual memory implant rather easy extra-factual system; would do its job — despite what he had you picked Pluto or wanted had heard people say. to be Emperor of the Inner Planet “Mr. Quail,” McClane said pa- Alliance we’d have much more tiently. “As you explained in your difficulty . . . and the charges letter to us, you have no chance, would be considerably greater.” no possibility in the slightest, of Reaching into his coat for his ever actually getting to Mars; you wallet. Quail said, “Okay. It’s been can’t afford it, and what is much my life-long ambition and I can more important, you could never see I’ll never really do it. So I qualify as an undercover agent for guess I'll have to settle for this.” Interplan or anybody else. This is “Don’t think of it that way,” the only way you can achieve your, McClane said severely. “You’re ahem, Hfe-long dream; am I not not accepting second-best. The correct, sir? You can’t be this; you actual memory, with all its vague- can’t actually do this.” He chuck- ness, omissions and ellipses, not led. “But you can have been and to say distortions — that’s second- have done. We see to that. And our best.” He accepted the money and fee is reasonable; no hidden pressed a button on his desk. “AU charges.” He smiled encouraging- right, Mr. Quail,” he said, as the ly- door of his office opened and two “Is an extra-factual memory burly men swiftly entered. “You’re that convincing?” Quail asked. on your way to Mars as a secret —

8 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

agent.” He rose, came over to larity. In one month, he calcu- shake Quail’s nervous, moist hand. lated wryly, we must do twenty of

“Or rather, you have been on your these . . . ersatz interplanetary way. This afternoon at four-thirty travel has become our bread and you will, um, arrive hack here on butter. Terra; a cab will leave you off at “Whatever you say, Mr. Mc- your conapt and as I say you will Clane,” Lowe’s voice came, and never remember seeing me or com- thereupon the intercom shut off. ing here; you won’t, in fact, even Going to the vault section in remember having heard of our the chamber behind his office, existence.” McClane searched about for a His mouth dry with nervous- Three packet— trip to Mars — and ness, Quail followed the two tech- a Sixty-two packet: secret Inter- nicians from the office; what hap- plan spy. Finding the two packets, pened next depended on them. he returned with them to his desk, Will I actually believe I’ve seated himself comfortably, pour- been on Mars? he wondered. That ed out the contents —merchandise I managed to fulfill my lifetime which would be planted in Quail’s ambition? He had a strange, lin- conapt while the lab technicians gering intuition that something busied themselves installing the would go wrong. But just what false memory. he did not know. A one-poscred sneaky-pete side He would have to wait to find arm, McClane reflected; that’s the out. largest item. Sets us back finan- cially the most. Then a pellet- The intercom on McClane’s sized transmitter, which could be desk, which connected him with swallowed if the agent were the work-area of the firm, buzzed caught. Code book that astonish- and a voice said, “Mr. Quail is ingly resembled the real thing under sedation now, sir. Do you . . . the firm’s models were high- want to supervise this one, or shall ly accurate: based, whenever pos- we go ahead?” sible, on actual U.S. military “It’s routine,” McClane ob- issue. Odd bits which made no served. “You may go ahead, Lowe; intrinsic sense hut which would be I don’t think you’ll run into any woven into the warp and woof of trouble.” Programming an artifi- Quail’s imaginary trip, would coin- cial memory of a trip to another cide with his memory: half an planet—with or without the add- ancient silver fifty cent piece, ed fillip of being a secret agent several quotations from John showed up on the firm’s work- Donne’s sermons written incor- schedule with monotonous regu- rectly, each on a separate piece of ” — —

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 9 transparent tissue-thin paper, sev- The gray-green eyes of the man eral match folders from bars on lying supine in the bed focussed Mars, a stainless steel spoon en- on McClane’s face. The eyes, he graved PROPERTY OF DOME- observed uneasily, had become MARS NATIONAL KIBBUZIM, hard; they had a polished, inor- a wire tapping coil which ganic quality, like semi-precious The intercom buzzed. “Mr. Mc- tumbled stones. He was not sure Clane, I’m sorry to bother you but that he liked what he saw; the something rather ominous has brilliance was too cold. “What do come up. Maybe it would be better you want now?” Quail said harshly. if you were in here after all. Quail “You’ve broken my cover. Get out is already under sedation; he re- of here before I take you all apart.” acted well to the narkidrine; he’s He studied McClane. “Especially completely unconscious and re- you,” he continued. “You’re in ceptive. But— charge of this counter-operation.”

“I’ll be in.” Sensing trouble, Lowe said, “How long were you McClane left his office; a moment on Mars?” later he emerged in the work area. “One month,” Quail said grat- On a hygienic bed lay Douglas ingly. Quail, breathing slowly and regu- “And your purpose there?” larly, his eyes virtually shut; he Lowe demanded. seemed dimly—but only dimly The meager lips twisted; Quail aware of the two technicians and eyed him and did not speak. At now McClane himself. last, drawling the words out so “There’s no space to insert that they dripped with hostility, false memory-patterns?” McClane he said, “Agent for Interplan. As felt irritation. “Merely drop out I already told you. Don’t you re- two work weeks; he’s employed as cord everything that’s said? Play a clerk at the West Coast Emigra- your vid-aud tape back for your tion Bureau, which is a govern- boss and leave me alone.” He shut ment agency, so he undoubtedly his eyes, then; the hard brilliance has or had two weeks vacation ceased. McClane felt, instantly, within the last year. That ought a rushing splurge of relief. to do it.” Petty details annoyed Lowe said quietly, “This is a him. And always would. tough man, Mr. McClane.”

“Our problem,” Lowe said “He won’t be,” McClane sr.'d, sharply, “is something quite differ- “After we arrange for him to lose ent.” He bent over the bed, said his memory-chain again. He’ll be to Quail, “Tell Mr. McClane what as meek as before.” To Quail he you told us.” To McClane he said, said, “So this is why you wanted "Listen closely.” to go to Mars so terribly badly.” ” I

10 l AXTASY .AND SCIENCE FICTION

Without opening his eyes Quail real reason. He's telling the truth; said, “I never wanted to go to he’s a long way down in the nar- Mars. I was assigned it —they kidrine. The trip is very vivid in handed it to me and there I was: his mind — at least under sedation. stuck. Oh yeah, I admit I was But apparently he doesn’t recall it curious about it; who wouldn’t otherwise. Someone, probably at a be?” Again he opened his eyes and government militar} -sciences lab, surveyed the three of them, Mc- erased his conscious memories; all Clane in particular. “Quite a truth he knew was that going to Mars drug you’ve got here; it brought up meant something special to him, things I had absolutely no memory and so did being a secret agent. of.” He pondered. “I wonder about They couldn’t erase that; it’s not Kirsten,” he said, half to himself. a memory but a desire, undoubted- “Could she be in on it? An Inter- ly the same one that motivated plan contact keeping an eye on him to volunteer for the assign- me ... to be certain I didn’t ment in the first place.” regain my memory? No wonder The other technician, Keeler, she’s been so derisive about my said to McClane, “What do we do? wanting to go there.” Faintly, he Graft a false memory-pattern over smiled; the smile — one of under- the real memory? There’s no tell- standing— disappeared almost at ing what the results would be; he once. might remember some of the genu- McClane said, “Please believe ine trip, and the confusion might me, Mr. Quail; we stumbled onto bring on a psychotic interlude. this entirely— by accident. In the He’d have to hold two opposite work we do premises in his mind simultane- “I believe you,” Quail said. He ously: that he went to Mars and seemed tired, now; the drug was that he didn’t. That he’s a genuine continuing to pull him under, agent for Interplan and he’s not, deeper and deeper. “Where did I that it’s spuriou'S. I think we ought say I’d been?” he murmured. to revive him without any false "Mars? Hard to remember — memory implantation and send know I’d like to see it; so—would him out of here; this is hot.” everybody else. But me ” His “Agreed,” McClane said. A voice trailed olf. “Just a clerk, a thought came to him. “Can you pre- nothing elerk.” dict what he’ll remember when he Straightening up, Lowe said to comes out of sedation?” his superior, “He wants a false “Impossible to tell,” Lowe said. memory implanted that corre- “He probably will have some dim, sponds to a trip he actually took. diffuse memory of his actual trip, And a false reason which is the now. And he’d probably be in —

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 11

grave doubt as to its validity; he’d one’s portable oxygen source. And probably decide our programming then the life forms, the unassum- slipped a gear-tooth. And he’d re- ing and modest gray-brown cacti member coming here; that would- and maw-worms. n’t be erased — unless you want it As a matter of fact he had erased.” brought back several moribund ex- “The less we mess with this amples of Martian fauna; he had man,” McClane said, “the better 1 smuggled them through customs. like it. This is nothing for us to After all, they posed no menace; fool around with; we’ve been fool- they couldn’t survive in Earth’s ish enough to — or unlucky enough heavy atmosphere. to—uncover a genuine Interplan Reaching into his coat pocket spy who has a cover so perfect that he rummaged for the container of up to now even he didn’t know Martian maw-worms what he was— or rather is.” The And found an envelope in- sooner they washed their hands of stead. the man calling himself Douglas Lifting it out he discovered, to Quail the better. his perplexity, that it contained “Are you going to plant packets five hundred and seventy poscreds, Three and Sixty-two in his in cred bills of low denomination. conapt?” Lowe said. Where’d I get this? he asked “No,” McClane said. “And we’re himself. Didn’t I spend every ’cred going to return half his fee.” I had on my trip? “‘Half’! Why half?” With the money came a slip of McClane said lamely, “It seems paper marked: one-half fee ret’d. to be a good compromise.” By McClane. And then the date. Today’s date. As the cab carried him back to “Recall,” he said aloud. his conapt at the residential end “Recall what, sir or madam?” of Chicago, Douglas Quail said to the robot driver of the cab in- himself. It’s sure good to be back quired respectfully. on Terra. ‘Do you have a phone book?” Already the month-long period Quail demanded. on Mars had begun to waver in his “Certainly, sir or madam.” A memory; he had only an image of slot opened; from it slid a micro- profound gaping craters, an ever- tape phone book for Cook County. present ancient erosion of hills, of “It’s spelled oddly,” Quail said vitality, of motion itself. A world as he leafed through the pages of of dust where little happened, the yellow section. He felt fear, where a good part of the day was then; abiding fear. “Here it is,” he spent checking and rechecking said. “Take me there, to Rekal, In- 12 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION corporated. I’ve changed my mind; The receptionist, chic and bare I don’t want to go home.” from the waist up, started in sur- “Yes sir, or madam, as the case prise, then gained masterful con- may be,” the driver said. A mo- trol of herself. “Oh hello Mr. ment later the cab was zipping Quail,” she said nervously. “H-how back in the opposite direction. are you? Did you forget some- “May I make use of your phone?” thing?” he asked. “The rest of my fee back,” he “Be my guest,” the robot driver said. said. And presented a shiny new More composed now the recep- emperor 3-D color phone to him. tionist said, “Fee? I think you are He dialed his own conapt. And mistaken, Mr. Quail. You were after a pause found himself con- here discussing the feasibility of fronted by a miniature but chill- an extrafactual trip for you, but ingly realistic image of Kirsten on — ” She shrugged her smooth pale the small screen. “I’ve been to shoulders. “As I understand it, no Mars,” he said to her. trip was taken.” “You’re drunk.” Her lips writhed Quail said, “I remember every- scornfully. “Or worse.” thing, miss. My letter to Rekal, In- “’S god’s truth.” corporated, which started this “When?” she demanded. whole business off. I remember “I don’t know.” He felt con- my arrival here, my visit with Mr. fused. “A simulated trip, I think. McClane. Then the tw'o lab tech- By means of one of those artificial nicians taking me in tow and ad- or extra-factual or whatever it is ministering a drug to put me out.” memory places. It didn’t take.” No w'onder the firm had returned Kirsten said witheringly, “You half his fee. The false memory of arc drunk.” And broke the con- his “trip to Mars” hadn’t taken — at nection at her end. He hung up, least not entirely, not as he had then, feeling his face flush. Al- been assured. ways the same tone, he said hotly “Mr. Quail,” the girl said, “al- to himself. Always the retort, as if though you are a minor clerk you she knows everything and I know are a good-looking man and it nothing. What a marriage. Keerist, spoils your features to become an- he thought dismally. gry. If it would make you feel any A moment later the cab stopped better, I might, ahem, let you take at the curb before a modern, very me out . . attractive little pink building, He felt furious, then. “I re- over which a shifting, poly-chro- member you,” he said savagely. matic neon sign read; REKAL, “For instance the fact that your INCORPORATED. breasts are sprayed blue; that — ”

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 13

Stuck in my mind. And I remem- went into — it hasn’t materialized ber Mr. McClane’s promise that if into a damn thing. Not even a

I remembered my visit to Rekal, ticket stub. Nor postcards. Nor Incorporated I’d receive my mon- passport. Nor proof— of immuniza- ey back in full. Where is Mr. Mc- tion shots. Nor Clane?” “Listen, Quail,” McClane— said. After a delay — probably as long “Suppose I told you ” He broke as they could manage—he found off. “Let it go.” He pressed a but- himself once more seated facing ton on his intercom. “Shirley, will the imposing walnut desk, exactly you disburse five hundred and as he had been an hour or so ear- seventy more ’creds in the form of lier in the day. a cashier’s check made out to “Some technique you have,” Douglas Quail? Thank you.” He Quail said sardonically. His disap- released the button, then glared at pointment— and resentment Quail. were enormous, by now. “My so- Presently the check appeared; called ‘memory’ of a trip to Mars the receptionist placed it before as an undercover agent for Inter- McClane and once more vanished plan is hazy and vague and shot out of sight, leaving the two men full of contradictions. And I alone, still facing each other across clearly remember my dealings here the surface of the massive walnut with you people. I ought to take desk. this to the Better Business Bu- “Let me give you a word of ad- reau.” He was burning angry, at vice,” McClane said as he signed this point; his sense of being the check and passed it over. cheated had overwhelmed him, “Don’t discuss your, ahem, recent had destroyed his customary aver- trip to Mars with anyone.” sion to participating in a public “What trip?” squabble. “Well, that’s the thing.” Dog- Looking morose, as well as cau- gedly, McClane said, “'The trip tious, McClane said, “We capitu- you partially remember. Act as if late, Quail. We’ll refund the bal- you don’t remember; pretend it ance of your fee. I fully concede never took place. Don’t ask me the fact that we did absolutely why; just take my advice: it’ll be nothing for you.” His tone was re- better for all of us.” He had begun signed. to perspire. Freely. “Now, Mr. Quail said accusingly, “You did- Quail, I have other business, other n’t even provide me with the vari- clients to see.” He rose, showed ous artifacts that you claimed Quail to the door. would ‘prove’ to me I had been on Quail said, as he opened the Mars. All that song-and-dance you door, “A firm that turns out such — —

14 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

bad work shouldn’t have any cli- "Did I go to Mars?" he asked ents at all.” He shut the door be- her. “You would know.” hind him. “No, of course you didn’t go to On the way home in the cab Mars; you would know that, I Quail pondered the wording of his would think. Aren’t you always letter of complaint to the Better bleating about going?” Business Bureau, Terra Division. He said, “By God, I think I As soon as he could get to his type- went.” After a pause he added, writer he’d get started; it was “And simultaneously I think I clearly his duty to warn other didn’t go.” people away from Rekal, Incorpo- “Make up your mind.” rated. “How can I?” He gestured. “I When he got back to his conapt have both memory-tracks grafted he seated himself before his inside my head; one is real and Hermes Rocket portable, opened one isn’t hut I can’t tell which is the drawers and rummaged for which. Why can’t I rely on you? carbon paper—and noticed a They haven’t tinkered with you.” small, familiar box. A box which She could do this much for him at he had carefully filled on Mars with least — even if she never did any- Martian fauna and later smuggled thing else. through customs. Kirsten said in a level, con- Opening the box he saw, to his trolled voice, “Doug, if you don’t disbelief, six dead maw-worms pull yourself together, we’re and several varieties of the unicel- through. I’m going to leave you.” lular life on which the Martian “I’m in trouble.” His voice came worms fed. The protozoa were out husky and coarse. And shaking. dried-up, dusty, but he recog- “Probably I’m heading into a psy- nized them; it had taken him an chotic episode; I hope not, but entire day picking among the vast maybe that’s it. It would explain dark alien boulders to find them. everything, anyhow.” A wonderful, illuminated journey Setting down the hag of grocer- of discovery. ies, Kirsten stalked to the closet. But I didn’t go to Mars, he real- “I was not kidding,” she said to him ized. quietly. She brought out a coat, Yet on the other hand got it on, walked back to the door Kirsten appeared at the door- of the conapt. “I’ll phone you one way to the room, an armload of of these days soon,” she said tone- pale brown groceries gripped. lessly. “This is goodbye, Doug. I “Why are you home in the middle hope you pull out of this eventual- of the day?” Her voice, in an eter- ly; I really pray you do. For your nity of sameness, was accusing. sake.” WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 15

“Wait,” he said desperately. homeopapes. So this was probably "Just tell me and make it absolute; true, dismal as it was. I did go or I didn’t — tell me which “Why me?” Quail said huskily. one.” But they may have altered What had he done— or thought? your memory-track also, he real- And what did this have to do with ized. Rekal, Incorporated? The door closed. His wife had “Fundamentally” the Interplan left. Finally! cop said, “this has nothing to do

A voice behind him said, “Well, with Rekal; it’s between you and that’s that. Now put up your us.” He tapped his right ear. “I’m hands, Quail. And also please still picking up your mentational turn around and face this way.” processes by way of your cephahc He turned, instinctively, with- transmitter.” In the man’s ear out raising his hands. Quail saw a small white-plastic The man who faced him wore plug. “So I have to warn you: the plum uniform of the Interplan anything you think may be held Police Agency, and his gun ap- against you.” He smiled. “Not that peared to be UN issue. And, for it matters now; you’ve already some odd reason, he seemed famil- thought and spoken yourself into iar to Quail; familiar in a blurred, oblivion. What’s annoying is the distorted fashion which he could fact that under narkidrine at Re- not pin down. So, jerkily, he kal, Incorporated you told them, raised his hands. their technicians and the owner, “You remember,” the policeman Mr. McClane, about your trip; said, “your trip to Mars. We know where you went, for whom, some all your actions today and all your of what you did. They’re very thoughts— in particular your very frightened. They wish they had important thoughts on the trip never laid eyes on you.” He added home from Rekal, Incorporated.” reflectively, “They’re right.” He explained, “We have a telep- Quail said, “I never made any transmitter wired within your trip. It’s a false memory-chain im- skull; it keeps us constantly in- properly planted in me by Mc- formed.” Clane’s technicians.” But then he A telepathic transmitter; use of thought of the box, in his desk a living plasma that had been dis- drawer, containing the Martian covered on Luna. He shuddered life forms. And the trouble and with self-aversion. 'The thing lived hardship he had had gathering inside him, within his own brain, them. The memory seemed real. feeding, listening, feeding. But And the box of life forms; that the Interplan pohce used them; certainly was real. Unless Mc- that had come out even in the Clane had planted it. Perhaps this — —

16 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION was one of the “proofs” which my alleged trip — and wffiat I did McClane had talked glibly about. there?” The memory of my trip to Mars, “Because,” the Interplan harness he thought, doesn’t convince me bull said, “what you did is not in but unfortunately it has convinced accord with our great white all- the Interplan Police Agency, They protecting father public image. think I really went to Mars and You did, for us, what we never do. they think I at least partially real- As you’ll presently remember ize it. thanks to narkidrine. That box of “We not only know you w'ent to dead worms and algae has been Mars,” the Interplan cop agreed, sitting in your desk drawer for six in answer to his thoughts, “but we months, ever since you got back. know tliat you now remember And at no time have you shown enough to be difficult for us. And the slightest euriosity about it. We there’s no use expunging your con- didn’t even know you had it until scious memory of all this, because you remembered it on your way if we do you'll simply show up at home from Rekal; then we came Rekal, Ineorporated again and here on the double to look for it.” start over. And rve can’t do any- He added, unnecessarily, “With- thing about McClane and his op- out any luck; there wasn’t enough eration because we have no juris- time.” diction over anyone except our A second Interplan cop joined own people. Anyhow, McClane the first one; the two briefly con- hasn’t committed any crime.” He ferred. Meanwhile, Quail thought eyed Quail. “Nor, technically, have rapidly. He did remember more, you. You didn’t go to Rekal, In- now; the cop had been right about corporated with the idea of regain- narkidrine. They — Interplan ing your memory; you went, as we probably used it themselves. Prob- realize, for the usual reason people ably? He knew darn well they did; go there — a love by plain, dull he had seen them putting a prison- people for adventure.” He added, er on it. Where would that be? “Unfortunately you’re not plain, Somewhere on Terra? More likely not dull, and you’ve already had Luna, he decided, viewing the too much excitement; the last image rising from his highly de- thing in the universe you needed fective — but rapidly less so was a course from Rekal, Incor- memory. porated. Nothing could have been And he remembered something more lethal for you or for us. And, else. Their reason for sending him for that matter, for McClane.” to Mars; the job he had done. Quail said, “Why is it ‘difficult’ No wonder they had expunged for you if I remember my trip his memory. ” — —

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 17

"Oh god,” the first of the two “Picked my thoughts up,” Quail Interplan cops said, breaking off said, panting for breath. “He knew his conversation with his compan- what I was going to do, but I did ion. Obviously, he had picked up it anyhow.” Quail’s thoughts. “Well, this is a Half sitting up, the injured of- far worse problem, now; as bad as ficer grated, “He won’t use that

it can get.” He walked toward gun on you, Sam; I pick that up, Quail, again covering him with his too. He knows he’s finished, and he gun. “We’ve got to kill you,” he knows we know it, too. Come on. said. “And right away.” Quail.” Laboriously, grunting with Nervously, his fellow officer pain, he got shakily to his feet. He said, “Why right away? Can’t we held out his hand. “The gun,” he simply cart him off to —Interplan said to Quail. “You can’t use it, and New York and let them if you turn it over to me I’ll guar- "He knows why it has to be antee not to kill you; you’ll be right away,” the first cop said; he given a hearing, and someone too looked nervous, now, but Quail higher up in Interplan will de- realized that it was for an entirely cide, not me. Maybe they can

different reason. His memory had erase your memory once more; I been brought back almost entirely, don’t know. But you know the now. And he fully understood the thing I was going to kill you for; I officer’s tension. couldn’t keep you from remember-

“On Mars,” Quail said hoarsely, ing it. So my reason for wanting "I killed a man. After getting past to kill you is in a sense past.” fifteen bodyguards. Some armed Quail, clutching the gun, bolted with sneaky-pete guns, the way from the conapt, sprinted for the you are.” He had been trained, by elevator. If you follow me, he Interplan, over a five year period thought. I’ll kill you. So don’t. He to be an assassin. A professional jabbed at the elevator button and, killer. He knew ways to take out a moment later, the doors slid

armed adversaries . . . such as back. these two officers; and the one with The police hadn’t followed him. the ear-receiver knew it, too. Obviously they had picked up his If he moved swiftly enough terse, tense thoughts and had de- The gun fired. But he had al- cided not to take the chance. ready moved to one side, and at With him inside the elevator de- die same time he chopped down scended. He had gotten away the gun-carrying officer. In an in- for a time. But what next? Where stant he had possession of the gun could he go? and was covering the other, con- The elevator reached the ground fused, officer. floor; a moment later Quail had —

18 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION joined tlie mob of peds hurrying he shivered, rose to his feet, walked along the runnels. His head ached aimlessly, his hands deep in his and he felt sick. But at least he pockets. No matter where I go, he had evaded death; they had come realized. You’ll always be with me. very close to shooting him on the As long as I have this device inside spot, back in his own conapt. my head. And they probably will again, I’ll make a deal with you, he he decided. When they find me. thought to himself— and to them. And with this transmitter inside Can’t you imprint a false-memory me, that won’t take too long. template on me again, as you did Ironically, he had gotten exact- before, that I lived an average, ly what he had asked Rekal, In- routine life, never went to Mars? corporated for. Adventure, peril. Never saw an Interplan uniform Interplan police at work, a secret up close and never handled a and dangerous trip to Mars in gun? which his life was at stake — ev- A voice inside his brain an- erything he had wanted as a false swered, "As has been carefully ex- memory. plained to you : that would not be

The advantages of it being a enough.’’ memory—and nothing more Astonished, he halted. could now be appreciated. "We formerly communicated with you in this manner,’’ the voice On a park bench, alone, he sat continued. “When you were oper- dully watching a flock of perts: ating in the field, on Mars. It’s a semi-bird imported from Mars’ been months since we’ve done it; two moons, capable of soaring we assumed, in fact, that we’d nev- flight, even against Earth’s huge er have to do so again. Where are gravity. you?” Maybe I can find my way back “Walking,” Quail said, “to my to Mars, he pondered. But then death.” By your officers’ guns, he what? It would be worse on Mars; added as an afterthought. “How the political organization whose can you be sure it wouldn’t be leader he had assassinated would enough?” he demanded. “Don’t the spot him the moment he stepped Rekal techniques work?” from the ship; he would have In- “As we said. If you’re given a terplan and them after him, there. set of standard, average memories Can you hear me thinking? he you get — restless. You’d inevita- wondered. Easy avenue to para- bly seek out Rekal or one of its noia; sitting here alone he felt competitors again. We can’t go them tuning in on him, monitor- through this a second time.”

ing, recording, discussing . . , “Suppose,” Quail said, “once my a —

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 19 authentic memories have been thentic memories begin to crop up cancelled, something more vital again—as they've done at this time, than standard memories are im- then ” There was silence and planted. Something which would then the voice finished, “We’ll act to satisfy my craving.” he said. have to destroy you. As you must “That’s been proved; that’s prob- understand. Well, Quail, you still ably why you initially hired me. want to try?” But you ought to be able to come “Yes,” he said. Because the al- up with something else — some- ternative was death now—and for thing equal. I was the richest man certain. At least this way he had on Terra but I finally gave all my a chance, slim as it was. money to educational founda- “You present yourself at our tions. Or I was a famous deep- main barracks in New York,” the - space explorer. Anything of that voice of the Interplan cop re- sort; wouldn’t one of those do?” sumed. “At 580 Fifth Avenue, Silence. floor twelve. Once you’ve surren- “Try it,” he said desperately. dered yourself we’ll have our psy- “Get some of your top-notch mih- chiatrists begin on you; we’ll have tary psychiatrists; explore my personality-profile tests made. mind. Find out what my most ex- We’ll attempt to determine your pansive daydream is.” He tried to absolute, ultimate fantasy wish think. “Women,” he said. “Thou- and then we’ll bring you back to sands of them, like Don Juan had. Rekal, Incorporated, here; get An interplanetary playboy— them in on it, fulfilling that wish mistress in every city on Earth, in vicarious surrogate retrospec- Luna and Mars. Only I gave that tion. And— good luck. We do owe up, out of exhaustion. Please,” you something; you acted as a cap- he begged. “Try it.” able instrument for us.” The voice “You’d voluntarily surrender, lacked malice; if anything, they then?” the voice inside his head — the organization — felt sympa- asked. “If we agreed to arrange thy toward him. such a solution? If it’s possible?” “Thanks,” Quail said. And be- interval of hesitation for After an , gan searching a robot cab. he said, “Yes.” I’ll take the risk, he said to himself. That you don’t “Mr. Quail,” the stern-faced, simply kill me. elderly Interplan psychiatrist said, “You make the first move,” the “you possess a most interesting voice said presently. “Turn your- wish-fulfillment dream fantasy. self over to us. And we’ll investi- Probably nothing such as you con- gate that line of possibility. If we sciously entertain or suppose. This can’t do it, however, if your au- is commonly the way; I hope it 20 tANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION won’t upset you too much to hear thy — their mode of communica- about it.” tion — you know Avhy they have The senior ranking Interplan come. They have never seen such officer present said briskly, “He humane traits exhibited by any better not be too much upset to sentient organism, and to show hear about it, not if he expects not their appreciation they make a to get shot.” covenant with you.” “Unlike the fantasy of wanting Quail said, “They won’t invade to be an Interplan undercover Earth as long as I’m alive.” agent,” the psychiatrist continued, “Exactly.” To the Interplan of- "which, being relatively speaking ficer the psychiatrist said, “You a product of maturity, had a cer- can see it does fit his personality, tain plausibility to it, this produc- despite his feigned scorn.” tion is a grotesque dream of your “So by merely existing,” Quail childhood; it is no wonder you fail said, feeling a growing pleasure, to recall it. Your fantasy is this: “by simply being alive, I keep you are nine years old, walking Earth safe from alien rule. I’m in alone down a rustic lane. An un- effect, then, the most important familiar variety of space vessel person on Terra. Without lifting a from another star system lands di- finger.” rectly in front of you. No one on “Yes indeed, sir,” the psychia-

Earth but you, Mr. Quail, sees it. trist said. “And this is bedrock in The creatures within are very vour psyche; this is a life-long small and helpless, somewhat on childhood fantasy. Which, with- the order of field mice, although out depth and drug therapy, you they are attempting to invade never would have recalled. But it Earth; tens of thousands of other has always existed in you; it went such ships will soon be on their underneath, but never ceased.” way, when this advance party To McClane, who sat intently gives the go-ahead signal.” listening, the senior police official “And I suppose I stop them,” said, “Can you implant an extra- Quail said, experiencing a mixture factual memory pattern that ex- of amusement and disgust. “Sin- treme in him?” gle-handed I wipe them out. Prob- “We get handed every possible ably by stepping on them with my type of wish-fantasy there is,” foot.” McClane said. ‘Trankly, I’ve

“No,” the psychiatrist said pa- heard a lot worse than tliis. Cer- tiently. “You halt the invasion, tainly we can handle it. Twenty- but not by destroying them. In- four hours from now he won’t just stead, you show them kindness wish he’d saved Earth; he’ll de- and mercy, even though by telepa- voutly believe it really happened.” WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 21

The senior police official said, When they reached Rekal, In- “You can start the job, then. In corporated the receptionist, Shir- preparation we’ve already once ley, met them breathlessly in the again erased the memory in him outer office. “Welcome back, Mr. of his trip to Mars.” Quail,” she fluttered, her melon- Quail said, “What trip to Mars?” shaped breasts — today painted an No one answered him, so, re- incandescent orange —bobbing luctantly, he shelved the question. with agitation. “I’m sorry every- And anyhow a police vehicle had thing worked out so badly before; now put in its appearance; he, I’m sure this time it’ll go better.” McClane and the senior poliee of- Still repeatedly dabbing at his ficer crowded into it, and present- shiny forehead with his neatly- ly they were on their way to Chi- folded Irish linen handkerehief, cago and Rekal, Incorporated. McClane said, “It better.” Moving “You had better make no errors with rapidity he rounded up Lowe this time,” the police officer said and Keeler, escorted them and to heavy-set, nervous-looking Mc- Douglas Quail to the work area, Clane. and then, with Shirley and the sen- “I can’t see what could go ior police officer, returned to his wrong,” McClane mumbled, per- familiar office. To wait. spiring. “This has nothing to do “Do we have a packet made up with Mars or Interplan. Single- for this, Mr. McClane?” Shirley handedly stopping an invasion of asked, bumping against him in her Earth from another star-system.” agitation, then coloring modestly. He shook his head at that. “Wow, “I think we do.” He tried to re- what a kid dreams up. And by pi- call; then gave up and eonsulted ous virtue, too; not by force. It’s the formal chart. “A combina- sort of quaint.” He dabbed at his tion,” he decided aloud, “of pack- forehead with a large linen pocket ets Eighty-one, Twenty, and Six.” handkerchief. From the vault section of the Nobody said anything. chamber behind his desk he fished “In fact,” McClane said, "it’s out the appropriate paekets, car- touehing.” ried them to his desk for inspec- “But arrogant,” the police offi- tion. “From Eighty-one,” he ex- cial said starkly. “Inasmuch as plained, “a magic healing rod when he dies the invasion will re- given him—the client in ques- sume. No wonder he doesn’t reeall tion, this time Mr. Quail—by the it; it’s the most grandiose fantasy race of beings from another sys- I ever ran across.” He eyed Quail tem. A token of their gratitude.” with disapproval. “And to think we “Does it work?” the police offi- put this man on our payroll.” cer asked curiously. — ” ”

22 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

“It did once," McCIane ex- McCIane, I’m sorry to bother you.” plained. “But he, ahem, you see, It was Lowe’s voice; he froze as used it up years ago, healing right he recognized it, froze and be- and left. Now it’s only a momento. came mute. “But something’s come

But he remembers it working spec- up. Maybe it would be better if tacularly.” He chuckled, then you came in here and supervised. opened packet Twenty. “Docu- Like before. Quail reacted W'ell to ment from the UN Secretary Gen- the narkidrine; he’s unconscious,— eral thanking him for saving relaxed and receptive. But Earth; this isn’t precisely appro- McCIane sprinted for the work priate, because part of Quail’s fan- area. tasy is that no one knows of the in- On a hygienic bed Douglas vasion except himself, but for the Quail lay breathing slowly and sake of verisimilitude we’ll throw regularly, eyes half-shut, dimly con- it in.” He inspected packet Six, scious of those around him. then. What came from this? He “We started interrogating him,” couldn’t recall; frowning, he dug Low'e said, white-faced. “To find into the plastic bag as Shirley and out exactly when to place the fan- the Interplan police officer tasy-memory of him single-hand- watched intently. edly having saved— Earth. And “Writing,” Shirley said. “In a strangely enough funny languauge.” “They told me not to tell,” “This tells who they were,” Mc- Douglas Quail mumbled in a dull CIane said, “and where they came drug-saturated voice. “That was from. Including a detailed star the agreement. I wasn’t even sup- map logging their flight here and posed to remember. But how could the system of origin. Of course it's I forget an event like that?” in their script, so he can’t read it. I guess it would be hard, Mc- But he remembers them reading it CIane reflected. But you did — un- to him in his own tongue.” He til now. placed the three artifacts in the “They even gave me a scroll,” center of the desk. “These should Quail mumbled, “of gratitude. I be taken to Quail’s conapt,” he said have it hidden in my conapt; I’ll to the police officer. “So that when show it to you.” he gets home he’ll find them. And To the Interplan officer who it’ll confirm his fantasy. SOP had follow'ed after him, McCIane standard operating procedure.” said, “Well, I offer the suggestion He chuckled apprehensively, won- that you better not kill him. If you dering how matters were going do they’ll return.” with Lowe and Keeler. “They also gave me a magic in- The intercom buzzed. “Mr. visible destroying rod,” Quail —

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE 23 mumbled, eyes totally shut, now. I might as weU put those pack- ‘That’s how I killed that man on ets of proof-artifacts away, Mc- Mars you sent me to take out. It’s Clane said to himself resignedly. in my drawer along with the box He walked, step by step, back to of Martian maw-worms and dried- his office. Including the citation up plant life.” from the UN Secretary General. Wordlessly, the Interplan offi- After all cer turned and stalked from the The real one probably would work area. not be long in coming.

COMING NEXT MONTH

When Miss Mildred Boltz returned from twenty-five years of teaching on colonial Mars, she could only laugh when she was told she was unfit and unsuited for continued teaching. But when she insisted upon taking over her new post, as her contract called for, she began to wonder if indeed she could. Teaching had changed since she had left Earth. 'The great meg- opolises covered whole states, and in order to meet the growing demand and expense of teaching, a revolution had occurred. Teachers were performers now, standing before television cam- eras, competing in Trendex ratings for their students. When Miss Boltz tuned in her opposition, she was confronted by the sight of a Marjorie McMillan, eleventh grade English, Tren- dex 6. Miss McMillan was taking her clothes off. Her halter came unfastened. Its ends flapped loosely, and Miss McMillan snatched

at it just at is started to fall. ‘‘Nearly lost it that time,” she said.

"Maybe I will lose it, one of these days. And you wouldn’t want to miss that, would you? Better pay attention. Now let’s take another look at that nasty old predicate.” In AND MADLY TEACH, lloyd higgle, jr. has caught the threads of today’s teaching problems and woven them into a night- mare. 24 A. M. (Anne) Marple writes that “my work has appeared in magazines as different as Jack and Jill and Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Teen and The New

Republic. Fascinated with the anachronism of royalty, I have 10 file drawers of clippings and over a hundred books on the descendents of Queen Victoria. Currently writing a gourmet cookbook and a murder

mystery.” Her first story for FirSF is about a good natured flea who lives on the back of a philosophical cat and who, for one brief and shining moment, attains more success and insight than any flea has a right to hope for.

APPOCGIATURA

by A. M. Marple

Rollo was a good natured friend’s fervor, it in no way af- flea who lived on the back of a fected the purity of his tone.

philosophical cat named Arnold. “Opera is the only creation of Both bachelors, the association man that justifies his existence,” had been formed in their youth Arnold would sigh. It was a fa- when it was discovered they miliar opening for one of his pes- shared a love of Italian opera. simistic soliloquies on the nature While Arnold dearly loved the of man, and Rollo cooperatively lyric theatre and had an unusu- asked, ally sensitive ear, he was so com- "But do they understand it?” pletely lacking in vocal ability “Of course they don’t,” rumbled that even his purr was peculiarly Arnold. “Opera isn’t highbrow. It unresonant with a strangely stac- has guts and excitement— like a cato vibrato. warm spring night when some “Papiloma on the vocal cord,” green-eyed feline spits a little less he was wont to explain with an at me than she does the others, offhand air that gave no hint that and I know it’s just a question of a he would have sacrificed eight of few more alleys.” his lives for one blessed with a “But of course the Italians . . voice of beauty. Rollo on the other Rollo would add at this point, hand was endowed with a fine flea humming La Donna e Mobile to tenor, and if he did not com- distract his friend who was prone pletely share the excesses of his to high blood pressure, “Viva 26 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION’

I'ltalia!” agreed Arnold, lapsing Italian Line. And thus on the into a private reverie. next sailing, he and Rollo Thus the tw'o might have lived watched the New York skyline tranquilly the remainder of their fade from sight. Arnold was im- days, had not Arnold’s philosoph- mediately at home at sea, but ical mind pondered overlong Rollo was slightly seasick. More upon the waywardness of man- than half the voyage passed be- Idnd. fore he found his sea legs. “I have decided,” he remarked Aside from this initial discom- abruptly one day, after listening fort, fate seemed to favor the ven- to a particularly disturbing news- ture from the beginning. Shortly cast, “that your voice is deserving after docking in Genoa, Rollo and of a greater destiny than my own Arnold were fortunate in attract- selfish enjoyment.” He brushed ing the interest of Nino Tosca, aside Rollo’s faint objection with impressario of the greatest flea a paw. “If man were able to hear circus in Europe. He was a com- you in the proper setting, a cer- passionate man, attuned to the tain lesson for his ego might help flea culture as few human beings turn the tide. We needn’t belabor ever have been. While not a music the point ... a few appear- lover himself, he could well ap- ances . . . then back to our good preciate the commercial possibili- life.” ties of a tenor flea. He agreed to Rollo lapsed into an immediate become Rollo’s agent and drew up dream not in keeping with his a contract. Arnold was touched friend’s idealism. He was in the when Rollo insisted the docu- midst of the sixteenth encore after ment include them both, explain- his debut as Pagliacci before Ar- ing to Signor Tosca that they were nold’s voice recalled him to real- inseparable. The impressario

ity. agreed and wired La Scala for an “A prophet being without honor appointment with the director. in his own alley, a European This secured, the three departed background seems indicated,” Ar- by train to Milano in a private nold continued. “But we will not compartment. go as stowaways. That sort of “Private!” sniffed Rollo sarcas-

thing is for rats.” tically after a w’alk through the “And the sort of fleas one finds red plush upholstery. on rats.” Rollo shuddered deli- The director of La Scala, cately. though somewhat skeptical, was In the days that followed, Ar- cordial in his reception of the nold proceeded to become ac- trio, and throughout Rollo’s audi- quainted with a ship’s cook on the tion, uncontrolled tears of joy ran APPOGGIATURA 27 down the man’s cheeks. They utmost secrecy must be main- dried soon enough, however, tained until after the debut. when he realized his hands were The summer passed quickly for tied by the contracts already the two friends, and at Rollo’s re- signed for the coming season. He quest, the trip home was made swore on the blood of picturesque by air. Thereafter, the secret be- ancestors that he led an accursed came harder to keep. The entire life. rehearsal cast and stage crew He threatened to kill himself were sworn to secrecy, a senseless in seventeen original ways, but endeavor. One week before open- being a realist at heart, he secured ing night, an irate tenor, whose Rollo’s promise for the next sea- best roles had been assigned to son. He then wired the General Rollo, sold out to a Broadway Manager of the Met, conveniently columnist, who in turn rasped to in Europe conducting his annual the world that an unnamed man- quest for talent. This was not en- ager of a world renowned opera tirely generosity on his part, for house in New York City had re- once his initial disappointment turned home from his annual was past, he rationalized that it search for talent with a home- was a touch of genius on his part grown flea who would make his to side step the technical difficul- debut as Rhadames. Public reac- ties, the touchy public relations tion lacked neither passion nor attending such a debut. He would fire. be well content to reap the re- The General Manager could not ward at a later date. be legally ousted. An emergency The General Manager of the meeting of the board of directors Met, on the other hand, seized the issued a dignified statement that opportunity with no concern for they left the matter to the discrim- such details. Sufficient unto him inating public, and let it be gen- was the first note that issued from erally known that they had sub- Rollo’s golden throat. He put scribed privately to barrels of tar Rollo and Arnold under immedi- and feathers which would be stra- ate contract and invited them tegically located on opening both to join him at Rapallo for night. the summer. There, he pointed An eminent psychiatrist said out tactfully, Rollo could lose the an illusion of this sort was the last vestiges of American inflec- logical result of irritation caused tion that faintly marred his Ital- by over association with tenors. ian. But the Manager’s real ob- An entomologist, author of the ject was the concealment of his current best seller "Twenty-five new star. He well realized that years of Ants in my Slacks,” stated 28 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION publicly, firmly, that fleas have The audience chattered hys- no vocal cords, but added cau- terically through the entire over- tiously, “as yet.” Cartoonists ture, but as the curtains parted a showed prominent members of the hush swept the house. Center diamond horseshoe scratching. stage was dominated by an enor- The whole idea of a flea with a mous sheet of especially ground voice suitable for a Metropolitan glass magnifying Rollo to a full debut was so preposterous that no six feet. So compelling was his one would openly admit belief in mien that not a sound was made such a possibility; it was predicted as the first notes of the high priest that on opening night the golden began. Then, while the audience curtain would open upon row upon was still held in awe, Rollo sang row of empty seats. The pessimists his first note. From that moment had not reckoned with the human on, the audience was at his desire to believe in fairy tales. mercy. As Rollo sang of his love Tickets sold out within an hour for Aida, nothing in the world of the opening of the box office. seemed as desirable as the celes- Riots in the ticket line followed. tial Aida herself. His love be- Scalpers had a holiday. Tickets came theirs. When he finished the went underground to be sold at aria, every rule was broken, union sums never heard of in Broad- and otherwise. What had been an way’s history. Pickpockets ex- opera became a concert of en- tracted tickets but left wallets cores. Other singers were toler- otherwise intact. A man slew his ated on stage only because they wife in a most bizarre manner were instrumental in progressing merely because she forgot where the plot to the point where Rollo she had hidden their tickets. The would sing again. Curtain calls tension increased to an unbear- were innumerable, and it is warm- able point right up to opening ing to note that Rollo shared them night. That night could have all — either with the other mem- made history for one fact alone; bers of the cast or with his friend everyone was on time and seated Arnold, who had not been for- an hour before curtain time. gotten in this hour of glory. There was a carnival feeling in It was several hours later before the air. The top music critic ar- Roflo and Arnold could be rived carrying a 14 carat Flit gun. whisked away under armed police The audience was ready to riot or escort, but within the opera house be thrilled; it didn’t matter which. itself, the audience continued to Arnold, peeping through a slit in scream until hoarse, pounded the curtain, was content. This their hands until they were raw. was as it should be. Fanatic music lovers in the gal- APPOGGIATURA 29 lery had to be routed next morn- apartment, to the delight of Gen- ing with tear gas. Success was eral Motors’ publicity men. complete when the former leader Somewhere along the way, of the opposition within the board Rollo lost sight of the original of directors sweetly inquired if purpose of the venture. To Arnold RoUo and his delightful friend it was obvious within the first few Arnold would care to drop in on a days that they had failed. Man- champagne supper given in his kind had felt no humility. It had honor. But the greatest triumph of seized upon Rollo’s talent as a all, for a tenor, was that no one novelty to distract itself from the compared Rollo to Caruso. Ca- results of its folly. Arnold sug- ruso had been forgotten. gested tentatively that they return In the days that followed Rollo to their former mode of life, but signed a new contract at an un- Rollo preferred to assume he was believable salary. Looking up at joking, so Arnold let the matter the newsreel camera, he remarked drop. If Rollo had not been so for posterity, absorbed with his new role, he "Now perhaps the bassos will would have noticed his old friend find something else to sing about grew more and more silent as the other than ‘the flea, ha ha ha ha, days went by, his coat becoming the flea’.” dull and lusterless. Rollo graciously granted inter- It was at the height of Rollo’s views. No he would not sing success —when Hollywood con- Wagner. tracts lay in unread stacks about "There are things even a flea them — that Rollo, waking one will not attempt. “Rossini, now, morning with a champagne hang- Rossini understood the flea.” over, found Arnold missing. Nor Rollo and Arnold were given a could he be found anywhere, and penthouse apartment, and a tailor since Rollo refused to sing until called to fit Arnold for tails. Ar- he was. New York was turned up- nold flatly refused. side down. No cat was above sus- "Why should I cover fur with picion. Queues of people with cats clothing when humans go to un- under their arms stood outside the believable lengths to do the re- opera house. But Arnold was not verse?” he asked dryly, and the among them. matter was not mentioned again. He walked in unannounced Rollo, quite the reverse, accepted the afternoon of the third day, anything and everything that was gaunt and shabby. As long as given him. He began wearing a there were others in the room, he microscopic monocle; he drove a refused to explain. Only when he miniature Cadillac about the was left alone with Rollo, did he 30 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

reluctantly answer the insistent started. Glancing about the apart- questions of his small friend. ment, he caught a glimpse of him- “I realized we were selling self in the mirror-paneled W'alls. out,” he said quietly. “I felt if I He adjusted the sash of his gold slipped quietly away you would lame dressing gown. But then as forget me in time. Perhaps you he raised his eyes he noticed an would have; but I couldn’t. Even expression about his mouth ... he if you want to live in that intel- hopped closer to the mirror . . . lectual desert and sign auto- . his face . . yes, his face looked graphs, I’ll go with you.” almost human. For one stunned “Dear friend,” said Rollo, moment he stared, and then he deeidy moved, “we stay in New flung the dressing gown to the York; give it no further thought.” floor. He tore the monocle from The expression of resignation his eye . . . hesitated . . . gently did not leave Arnold’s face. placed it back. “As you like,” he said, as he “A souvenir,” he murmured, as walked to the windows and looked he leaped across the room and out. “Our friendship means more into his friend’s tliick fur. “Andi- to me than my birthright.” amo,” he said quietly, and they At the u'ord birthright, Rollo were never seen again.

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BOOKS

Under two hats —or would they have to be better, to get pub- bi-focals be the better image? hshed at all in the “off-season”? Or I have, I suspect, the dubious dis- the editors figure there’s nothing to tinction of being the Compleat S- lose, and take a chance on the F Reader. And every now and then books that are just a bit different?

I get fed up : I mean, to here. Or they were supposed to be fall If this tends to happen fairly books, but the authors insisted on regularly in November (see last taking that extra bit of time for month’s angry column, written revisions?) Thanksgiving week), it may have Possibly this annual renewal of something to do with the surfeit faith has some connection with my of reading connected with the pre- tendency to read a lot more out- paration of each annual volume of side the field in December. (Part- THE year’s best sf. (See page ly reaction; partly anthology 38.) And now, with the profusion story-hunting through mainstream of fall book publishing. . . . and afar fields; partly Christmas- Well, this year, as has hap- coming, which brings on one of pened before, I was just about set my semi-annual bouts of purely to take the pledge, convinced I masochistic newspaper reading would never do another anthology, studying splendrous ads for things already mentally writing letters of I can’t afford, and clipping reports application for a decent, honest, on plays, concerts, and art shows job in say, advertising, or some in- I’ll never get to.) One way and an- tellectually stimulating spot in other, my horizons expand; and English teaching, when they somheow or other, the hills of pulled the switch on me. Just why home look better. it is that December and January Last year, the December Fling magazines carry more good stories went to extreme lengths: I joined than other issues, I have never fig- book clubs. (But that is another ured out; but I have now discov- story, for a month with more space ered that the winter books are bet- and less to say in it.) Among other ter too. results, I eventually came into pos- (Of course I have theories: session of a book called lsd'.

’lsd! the consciousness-expandinc drug, Ed., David Solomon; Putnam, 1964; $5.95; 273 pp. incl. index and Introduction by Timothy Leary; 15 articles by Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith, William S. Burroughs, Leary, Roy R. Grinker, Jonathan O. Cole, and others.

31 32 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION'

which I will pause here to recom- of jargon, which I wasn’t before, mend heartily, if belatedly, to any- try ipisexual or paraphraxes or one interested in a thoughtful, lit- even eidetic imagery on your home erate, unbejargoned discussion of dictionary; perhaps they should contemporary approaches to psy- have been meaningful in context,

chology. Far from limiting itself to but I wasn’t even always sure a discussion of the psychedelic what meanings words like choice drugs, the book is a symposium and equilibrium and intimacy had considering the relationship of the in Berne’s dictionary.) contribute drugs to a variety of viewpoints on another serendipitous value: the personality structure and human outlines of perhaps hventy or more behavior. of the most basic plot situations,

I was especially intrigued by with suggested variants, in Timothy Leary’s article setting stripped-down “transactional anal- forth the “games analysis” ap- ysis” form — a boon to the new (or proach to behavior with uncom- tired) writer, and much cheaper mon clarity, compassion, and than the classic plotto. common sense. So when I noticed Actually, with all its inadequa- GAMES PEOPLE PLAY* listed as a cies, the book does convey enough bestseller, I asked for a copy to re- information about this surprising-

view, thinking it would probably ly sensible approach, so that one interest readers of this magazine. might expect its popularity to have

And well it may, if for other rea- given the general reading public sons than I anticipated. Dr. some awareness of new advances Berne has set up his book with in psychotherapy. But one might “transactional analyses” (descrip- also assume that the readers of best tions) of such familiar “life sellers, or of Life and the Saturday games” as Kick Me, Let’s You and Evening Post, (or habitual movie- Him Fight, Rapo, Ain’t It Awful, goers or tv-viewers) would also and lots more, in such a way that have a nodding acquaintance by it is easy to play that other popu- now with such widely publicized lar do-it-yourself home-analysis investigations in psychology as the game. Let’s Find Me; you don’t sensory deprivation experiments; even have to answer the usual ten e.g. dream recordings; electrode to twenty quiz questions. stimulation of brain centers; the The same oversimplification of role of RNA in memory; sublimi- structure and content (Please nal perception techniques; the sci- note: not of language. Speaking entific use of visual and seman-

“games people plat, Eric Berne, M.D.; Grove Press, 1964; $5.00; 184 pp. plus appendix and indeces. —

BOOKS 33 tic symbols in advertising and John Brunner, Alan Nourse, Rick packaging; the uses of tranquilliz- Raphael and Mack Reynolds to ers and psychedelics in connec- fall back on. Some human brains, tion with personality disturbance, even today, are capable of putting creativity, and intelligence. jig saw puzzle pieces together and And yet just this week an edi- seeing the picture they make. torial writer in the Washington There are two new Brunner Star discovered the “vistas of Or- novels, and the lesser of the two wellian horror” ahead, in the urg- is up with the best of his earlier ings of a psychologist at the annual work. THE DAY OF THE STAR CIT- meeting of the A.A.A.S. for “ad- IES® is a carefully thought-out, vance consideration of the ethical, colorfully written sci-fic puzzle political, and social problems” that story, dealing with the contrast- will arise from the fact that “bio- ing reactions of conformists and chemists, chemists, pharmacolo- rebels to an alien invasion. But it gists, geneticists, anatomists and is also more than that. For one psychologists have been banding thing, the conflicting reactions oc- together in an attempt to under- cur within individuals as well as stand the operations of the brain. groups. Nor has the ‘conquest’ of And this has happened with un- Earth occurred in any usual precedented speed.” manner: the aliens came and “Such mind controls,” says the established a few isolated and Star (aghast!) “will have pro- invulnerable Cities, completely dis- found effects on the administra- organizing and disarming Earth’s tion of justice, on psychological armies in the process — somewhat welfare, on education, on medi- offhandedly turning back offen- cine.” sive weapons with no effort at re- Well, maybe they see the piec- taliation. They have no interest in es, but they just don’t put them to- the exploitation — or welfare — of gether. (Not to mention the psy- Earth outside their own cities. chologist who left— at least The responses of humanity, in mathematicians and cyberneticists humiliation rather than actual de- and zoologists and ethologists off feat, are varied and credible. his list.) Some scenes and incidents (the religious sects, the “weirdos”, the Happily, in my own moment of mobster’s castle) are especially (aghast) horror at the prevalent well done. lack of thought control, I had More than anything else, it is

*THE DAT OF THE STAR CITIES, John Brunuer; Ace #F-361, 1965; 400; 158 pp. —

34 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION the painstaking application of in- ner’s — and Edward Lasker’s terior logic that makes this book word for it that the Steinitz-Tchi- imrk; and it is applied to the gorin game cited would play out background situation, the interac- if tried.) tion between characters, and the Then, it is set in "an imaginary thematic material with eqnal rig- South American country some- or and comprehension. In the where around the place Venezuela SQUARES OF THE CITY,'* this Same holds on the map,” w'here chess is discipline is even more necessary, the national pastime; as widely and more notable. played and w'atched as baseball STAR CITIES deals with prob- here, with its champions reaping lems of mnltidimensional percep- the kind of homage only a heavy- tion, and the capacity for adapta- weight champ, or top pop singer tion to an alien environment. or Liz Taylor could get here.

SQUARES turns (squarely) to One level deeper ; — what is essentially Brunner’s ma- The hero is a “traflic analyst" jor topic government and poli- whose w’ork involves not just move- : tics. But more than anything else, ments of hardw’are but of popula- it is a Games book — a novel about tions as w’ell — specifically, a de- the many kinds of games that peo- signer of the boards and fields on ple play, and the many levels on which the basic industrial and so- which they play them, written by ciological games of society must a shrewd gamesman and games an- be played. The villain is a former alyst, for gameplayers and game- professor of theory of government watchers both. who has found a live laboratory to (Do not be misled; I am not work in, and boasts of having cre- talking about games/amusements; ated “the most governed country” this is no trick-gimmick book. It in history. (Among other things, is a serious novel which makes use Brunner presents an exposition of of game analogies, games analyses, the potential of currently known and game amusement to make its techniques of thought control that points.) would make Orwell look positively To begin with, the book is built cuddly to that man on the Star.) on a chess game — a real game, Most of the other major characters which the reader is invited to fol- are prominently active in political, low’ as he reads, if he likes. (Being military, religious, or economic a dilettante at chess, I kept both roles in the life-and-death game eyes on the page, and took Brun- dynamics of modern society.

‘the squares of the city, John Brunner; Ballantine #U6035, 1965; VSe; 319 pp. inch author’s notes and Introduction by Edward Lasker. —

BOOKS 35

And then, bet^veen individuals, was the very fact that it was sci- there is the constant interplay of ence fiction that must have kept the familiar personality games Brunner from attempting the big- Berne discusses in his book. ger job; it is already half again All these relationships are fur- as long as the average s-f novel, ther exposed and clarified by the and Ballantine Books is entitled fact that these characters also func- to one of the rare kind words per- tion (unknown to them) as living mitted publishers in this column, pieces in a monumental chess stra- for having sense enough not only tegy being worked out between to take the book, but to promote it Vados, the dictator, and his chief rather more vigorously than most. domestic opponent. THE SQUARES OF THE CITY The book is complex, but the is an impressive piece of work. complexities add richness rather B:esting as it does on the pre- than spread confusion. It is prob- vious achievements of star cities ably true, however, that the de- and THE WHOLE MAN, it leaves mands of the elaborate structure me very eager to see Brunner’s are responsible for one weakness next.’ of the novel: time and again, the I wish I could say the same author had to sacrifice opportuni- about Mack Reynolds, whose his- ties for developing individual tory as a writer parallels Brunner’s characters in full dimension, in in several respects. Reynolds has favor of depicitng interpersonal demonstrated repeatedly that he is exchanges. If the book were half serious about what he has to say again as long as it is, there would when he bothers to say it. Far less have been room for more fleshing- frequently, but still memorably, he out of the excellent skeletal struc- has demonstrated how well he can ture; and if the individuals rang say it —when he takes the trouble. as true internally as they do in mo- PLANETARY AGENT X* is Reyn- tion, what is now a first-rate sci- olds in top form thematically and ence fiction novel and a good book middlin’-good stylistically, which by any standards, might have been makes for a science fiction novel a first-rate novel, with no qualifi- both unexceptionable and unex- cations. Perversley, of course, it ceptional. Or novella, rather, for

‘John Brunner has written to ask me to correct an error in my January column. His first sale he says, was “a pb to a now defunct publisher” in 1951, and his first American sale, which preceded his publication in the Nova magazines, was “Thou Good and Faithful,” published in Astounding in March, 1953, under the pseu- donym of John Loxmith. —J.M. 'planetary agent X, Mack Reynolds; Ace Double #M-131 (with behold the STARS, Kenneth Buhner); 450; 133 pp. —

36 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

it is Part One of the book, the first there are some comic spots to keep 86 pages (originally “Ultima the reading easy. (At the very least, Thule” in Analog') which im- it should be required reading for pressed me. (Part Two first ap- the writers I was railing at last peared as “Pistolero," and rather month, who think serfdom and sur- reverses the qualities indicated feit will walk hand in hand at the above —except that the gain in writer’s bidding.) treatment is not sufficient to make up for the loss in content. Both Raphael’s code three^ is sus- are unconnected episodes in the ceptible to many of the same career of Ronny Bronston.) criticisms and praises as the Reyn- The novella, then, deals with olds book — with the difference two vital strands of the politico- that this is a first novel, and as economic complex treated in such, a most promising one. The Brunner’s more ambitious effort. subject here is the specific prob- Reynolds offers the same kind of lem of large-scale continental traf- speculative integrity, informed fic control in a near-future of vast- logic, and inner consistency ly accelerated speeds and contin- with much more room for, but less ually increasing mobility. Just as work at, characterization and emo- Reynolds has virtually trade- tional development. The fact is, he marked political science fiction, handles political extrapolations so Raphael (in a handful of—stories well that he hardly needs more besides the two novelets "Code than the right problem to turn out Three” and “Once A Cop,” both a readable yarn. This time, he ex- from Analog—on which this book amines the intricacies of relation- is based) seems to have taken over ship between technology and po- the Public Works Dept. — police litical economy in social evolu- and traffic and water control, mail, tion, tossing in as he goes a simple sanitation, and recreation services. effective home recipe for success- I know of no other writer active ful revolution and social uphea- in the field today (unless Arthur val, as learned by a rookie agent in Clarke is to be considered active) the mysterious, improbable, but who can work the means, meth- mostly entertaining “Section G” of ods, and materials available to- the Interplanetary Bureau of In- day into a day-after-tomorrow vestigation. probability with so much clarity If the characters are cardboard, and conviction. the concepts are concrete — and Once again, it is a matter oi

’code tbhee, Ridr Raphael; Simon & Schuster, 1966; $3.95; (rev. from galley*} —

BOOKS 37

“homework:” the application of not-so-new book by Alan Nourse,® rigorous internal logic to the re- sent to me last August by the pub- sults of conscientious research lishers with a letter which unfor-

and once again, unhappily, con- tunately identified it as a juvenile. ceptual kicks are about all you’ll I don’t like juveniles, and there get here. An easy narrative style are always too many books on hand makes the lack of story — almost to review. It kept slipping to the unnoticeable; a good ear for di- bottom of the pile, partly because alogue — almost replaces any real I do like Alan Nourse (and I don’t characterization; light comedy like juveniles) and I wasn’t even almost— covers for the absence of sure I didn’t have a Policy against true emotional interchange be- reviewing them. tween characters. And because the It was too bad about that let- underlying structure is both solid ter, because nothing else would and satisfying, the almosts are just have tipped me off. As it was, I enough to make the book not only finally reminded myself firmly readable, but well worth reading. that I had enjoyed everything of Besides which —one finds the Nourse’s I ever read, and opened scene here, the page there, which it up, and I am here to report that point to the possibility that Ra- I have still enjoyed everything of phael can do more. Aside from one Nourse’s I’ve read, and this one in short story in 1959, he has been some ways, more than most. writing fiction for only four years First of all, it is a remarkably now, and almost entirely for Ana- adult book, in which the adult log, whose standards are evident characters look, talk, and act like in both the virtues and failings of grownups, and the teenagers, real- this first novel—the virtues to a istically, do their best to act grown degree rarely reached in or out of up. Second, it is a valuable juve- that magazine. If Raphael goes on nile, because it provides as good to achieve the emotional depths an indoctrination in the essentials his work so far has only hinted at, of the scientific attitude and a

there is a chance we may see a ma- modern philosophy of science as jor talent emerge. anything I’ve read short of such demanding works as Wiener’s The last item on this month’s THE HUMAN USE OF HUMAN BE- quintet of homework-winners is a INGS ®. Third, I learned something

“the univebse between, Alan E. Nourse; McKay, 1965; $3.95; 208 pp.

“If you don’t know it, or know it, but don’t own one, the revised second edition of THE HUMAN USE OF HUMAN BEINGS, by Norbcrt Wiener, is in an Anchor edition (1954) at 950. —

38 FANT.VSY AND SCIENCE FICTION

reading it. (Remember? Remem- 10th annual edition, the year’s ber n hen you used to read science BEST SF, Judith Merril, ed.,,Dela- fiction and learn things about sci- corte, 1965, 400 pp., Sd.o's. ence?) This last item has been

true of most of Nourse’s work, but Judith Merril’s tentli \ early

I alw ays thought it w'as because he anthology of science fiction and was a doctor wdio always wrote fantasy contains 33 stories from about doctors. This time the topic the following sources: four from was the same one tentatively ex- Fantastw; tw'o from Analog, Nciv plored in Brunner's star cities Worlds, Worlds of Tomorrow, — the extent of the human capa- Short Story International; one city to perceive, and to adapt to, from Harpers, Playboy, Cosmo- truly alien environments. Both au- politan, Nugget, Amazing, Carle- thors handled the concept thought- ton Miscellany, N. Y. Times, Saga, fully and provocatively; but Galaxy, Motive, If; six from FSrSF Nourse left me better informed. and four from books. Among the

I am not sure whether these authors included are : Arthur comparatively objective values are C. Clarke, Mack Reynolds, John more important or this subjective D. MacDonald, Romain Gary, one: I believed these characters. Fritz Leiber, James T. Farrell,

The “Universe Betw'een” and its Jack Sharkey, Roger Zelazny, J. G. inhibitants and psycho-physical Ballard, John Brunner and Isaac properties were less convincing to Bashevis Singer. Miss Merril’s edi- me than the backgrounds of most torial comments bridge the stories of the other books — but that did- and she has also included a six n’t matter; there w'as nothing in page “Summation” and a list of the invention that I had to disbe- Honorable Mentions. ed. lieve while I was reading. And I was willing to work at not-disbe- 13 FRENCH SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES, lieving the background if neces- ed. Damon Knight, Bantam, 50^, sary, because the people were not 167 pp. Tales from Fiction, the characters, but people: convinc- Gallic-augmented Paris edition of ing representations not of the folks F&SF, selected and translated with next-door, but of the highly intel- nicety by Knight over the past six ligent research scientists they are years — at expense of how much supposed to be. time and effort only he knows. Juveniles, anyone? I have de- Three grand samples of one great cided I do not have any Policy talent: Charles Henneberg, hus- about them at all. band-ivife team — lively, complex plots; a clairvoyant sweep of space — Judith Merril and history; a detailedly opales- BOOKS 39

cent pomp and grandeur in the big Rogue Male. Then, inflated by scenes reminiscent of Clark Ashton Rope and prodded by TV, Hitch Smith. Charles (dead) and Natha- fell back on sadistic tales in which lie (alive, Russian, and still writing often-innocent little people are as Nathalie Charles-Henneberg), I squushed by a Higher Power, which salute you! Lesser, but very compe- may be Fate, or simply a Familiar tent: Claude F. Cheinisse, Henri Fat Face peering peevishly down, Damonti, Alain Doremieux, Su- like an over-inflated balloon, on zanne Malaval, Pierre Mille, Ge- Hollywood. Most of the rifts in this rard Klein, Claude Veillot, Cathe- volume are loaded with this tin rine Cliff, Boris Vian. Most fre- rather than the gold Keats suggest- quent theme: love encounters of ed (that poets use to fill the blanks Terrans with ETs, handled with in their sonnets). Still, a fair set French naturalness, humor, good of non-supernatural chills for the taste, and savoir-faire. newcomer to Fear Fiction. Two de- lightful exceptions: Jaek Ritchie’s BEYOND TOMORROW, cd. Damon “For All the Rude People” and Idris Knight, Harper & Row, $4.50, Seabright’s “White Goddess,” in 336 pp. Ten of the best sf adven- which the little guy and the old tures ever written —who can for- lady strike back. Three well-worn get “Coventry,” “Nightfall,” and sf tales: Julian May’s “The Dune “Twilight”? Three cosmos-knot- Roller,” Bradbury’s “To the Fu- ters: van Vogt’s “The Seesaw” ture,” and Margaret St. Clair’s ‘“rhe (tricky introduction to the Wea- Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes.” pon-Shop tales), Kuttner’s “Happy The pop horror novel (film, etc.) Ending,” and Kate Willielm’s “The Sorry, Wrong Number. Also Kersh, Mile-Long Spaceship.” Also Brennan, Christine Govan, Mike Nourse, Clarke, Bradbury, Simak. Marmer, Sayers, Raymond E. Ideal for bright new readers. Banks, Carter Dickson, Frederic Brown, Margot Bennet, Michael STORIES NOT FOR THE NERVOUS, cd. Gilbert, Slesar, Ellis Peters, Miriam Alfred Hitchcock (“The editor Allen deFord, Bruno Fischer, Hal gratefully acknowledges the inval- Dresner, Mathieson, William Sam- uable assistance of Robert Arthur brot, and Robert Arthur. in the preparation of this volume”). Random House, $5.95, 363 pp. BEST FANTASY STORIES, ed. Brian W. Hitch the Great parlayed into a Aldiss, Faber, 16s, 202 pp. Ten filmic fortune the delightful in- stories that aren’t science fiction, congruities of John Buchan’s The terror, black magic, horror, ghost, 39 Steps, a book which also in- or devil tales (because Faber has spired Household’s memorable other hardcover anthologies of — —

40 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

owls’ watch, selected by George The only anthology of its kind Brandon Saul, Crest, 600, 230 pp. — with many stories that Re the current fake Gothic-romance cannot be found elsewhere revival in paperbacks, one sees with horror on the cover of this book the decaying mansion, the leafless tree, FiturePeriiict the night and the moon. But American Science Fiction blessedly! — the foreground is not of the Nineteenth Century occupied by a slim, scared girl, but By H. BRUCE FRANKLIN five owl-masks. Here are good su- “Mr. Franklin has strung the pernatural and outre tales for the stories on a continuing thread newcomer, since any other reader of historical and critical com- would likely know “Morelia,” “Rap- ment that is highly illuminat- ing. The book is an authentic paccini’s Daughter,” “The Yellow find, a worthwhile addition to Wall-Paper,” "The Monkey’s Paw,” the libraries of all science fic- “The Open Window,” and “The tion aficionados.” — Groff Conklin Two Bottles of Relish.” Some others

At all bookstores • $6.50 of the 19 tales are more obscure, ^7 Oxford University Press especially the selector’s “The Ver- milion-LIeaded Man,” first pub- those), but . . . well . . just lished in The General Magazine . fantasy. Robert Lindner’s non-fic- and Historical Chronicle of the tion “The Jet-Propelled Couch,” ac- University of Pennsylvania, One count of a psychiatrist who falls for notes with approval Isak Dinesen, his scientist-patient’s galactic Elizabeth Bowen (though why not dreams, is the best and sets the Marjorie too and Vernon Lee), and tone. Puristic and cerebral; psycho- Conrad Aiken (Not “Silent Snow, logical, not supernatural; they grow Secret Snow,” but the less-anthol- coldly, as a crystal grows. Slick, ogized “Mr. Arcularis” — along with tricky yarns by Michael Joyce, James Stephens’ “Desire”, another Bradbury, Collier, Angus Wilson, Owl Creek Bridge Story). Thur- Finney, Beaumont, “Saki,” and Al- ber’s “The Catbird Seat” is fun, diss. Alexander Lernet-Holenia’s but hardly “horror-suspense.” Also “Baron Bagge,” is a lengthy, so- Bierce, Onions, Lennox Robinson, phisticated variant of Bierce’s Owl St. John Ervine, Coppard, Collier, Creek Bridge story. I would have and Dermot O’Byrne. started gutsier, with “The Red — Fritz Leiber Laugh” by Andreyev instead, but that would be another anthology one with more feeling for human- ity in it. Some people are beginning to talk l^e machines.

We wonder if they really know what it’s like to be “turned on” or “plugged in.” But Uniq-o-fax knew. You see, he was aU poet.

BUT SOFT, WHAT LIGHT. . .

by Card Emshwilier

Uniq-o-fax, the only ma- that, like an infinite number of chine of its kind in existence any- monkeys at an infinite number of where in the world today. typewriters, he not only COULD U-NI-KO-FA-EX! UN-I-KOFF- write, by a random selection, all AX! of Shakespeare’s plays, but almost He isn’t modest or immodest. DID at 10^^ bits per second (also He’s neither proud nor humble nor most of Mallarme and Gide). Most shy, neither (what’s more) truth- certainly he is experienced, as ful nor a bar and yet both true and anyone can see. false. One could say a finder of the I was his (sort of) vestal vir- lie in truth and of the truth in lies. gin. I was there, in other words, He, the infallible within the falli- to see that he was surrounded by ble (or the other way around) that an atmosphere conducive to his must always be the essence of the art. I kept the fires of inspirations poetic gesture. He is, in other going by supplying him with words, all poet. words fraught with meanings, rich And so I had refused to call in sounds, such as: athwart, som- him less than MAN or to allow nambulist, besprinkle, incommen- anyone else to do so. (And, by the surate, smirch, discreate, duodeci- way, I was a virgin then. But I mality, ingurgitation, furbished, have since been transmogrified.) crepuscular. Uniq-o-fax, a sensitive ma- He was thirty-nine typewriters diine for combining words so fast and a word banL I was seventeen.

41 42 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

One cannot hope to gain more From whorl of fingertip through by giving less. These days we all pubic hair line know so well the laws of payment I love you and of goods received. (His very first words on the very first type- I remember that first time,

M'riter Isn’t . were, I LOVE YOU. . . you, in the rain in August that just like a poet!) I was there wearing your stainless steel fedora, simply to give (yet with full ex- bright as a sink, with your other pectations of receiving and in units jauntily behind you. What like proportion to that given). I a gay conglomeration! What a was resolved to be the following: happy-go-lucky air, hat back and goodnatured, trusting, patient, en- something or other akimbo, sparks during, admiring, understanding, flying at each step. You hadn’t (all my female virtues) and help- bothered to put up your umbrella ful, apt, illogical but not too much and neither had 1. so, malleable, and (especially) The forsythia were not in bloom serving (woman’s privilege). I then, but if they had been, what a LOVE YOU TOO I wrote back to riot of yellow all down the street! him on that very same typewriter. Where, oh where, (I often won- "I WAS a phantom of delight dered to myself on snowy winter When first 1 gleamed upon your .’’ evenings) among all these wires sight, . . and tubes, is the actual seat of his inner being? When I went into the A&P, I saw you turn and follow. Yon I love you, {he wrote.') bought four tangelos at 49jzf a "Let me count the ways:" pound and a box of bandaids and One two I knew they couldn’t be for you. Three four I, on the other hand, bought Bril- Eye neck leg Adam’s apple lo. Glass Wax, Sani-Flush and a (Five) three-way 50-75-100 watt bulb and you knew I didn’t buy them Wrinkle under arm for myself. Big toe. That’s seven And later, after I had eaten all But that’s not all. your tangelos (and after you had Let one who can count, count. used up my three-way light bulb) And in a microsecond (Oh, those were innocent days!) To thousands. we went uptown in a moving van Charms have never been better and parked on 72nd Street. You, catalogued wired for redundancy (three-in- Than this put, two-out-put) repeated poem* BUT SOFT, WHAT UGHT . . . 43

you had already recited, for, as property yourself (as aren’t ALL William Blake says: “You never poets?) and that night, believing know what is enough unless you me to be someone of importance know what is more than enough,” from the Poetry Department, they

and also : "The road of excess leads let you out in my custody. How we to the palace of wisdom.” (And that laughed when we finally shut the was so TRUE as far as you were door (to my apartment) on the concerned.) And sometimes that outside world! night when you had a distant look Why are you laughing so, Uniq- in your eyes, you said (upon my 0 ? Are you convulsed by some tick- questioning you) that you were ling wire? some jerky AC-DC? Is counting to the ultimate number there moisture in some sensitive and at THAT many bits per sec- spot? Are the logic gates not quite ond I dared not even guess how far closed? However, redundancy, as you had already gotten. And later usual, will keep you functioning in still, I saw the sunrise reflected in spite of it all and I have plenty of your forehead (if that was your wall outlets if needed. Is that o- forehead) and I saw the shine of zone? a crackle of static? Avoid the moon go down on what might the furniture, please. Oops, there have been your nose. The very goes the Oxford Anthology, in fact next day I applied for that vestal- a whole shelf-load of poets; Gins- virgin job that happened to be berg, Ashbery, Verlaine, Keats (in open at the Office of Contem- descending order of modernity, or plative and Exploratory Poetry. does Ashbery come first?). In fact the bookcase. Lamp, too. The stuf- Days flew by. I was happy. fing is coming out of the couch Winter, Spring, etc. and then cushions. Snap, the little finger of came the day the police arrested my left hand, laughing, laughing. you for destroying public proper- Now he has crushed my middle

ty. That night you had not only toes but I don’t mention it and clicked chinks in the sidewalk all somehow I manage not even to down Seventh Avenue, but one of wince. Why should I hurt him? the units dangling after you (220- Spoil this magic moment when volt, three-wire cables) had inad- we’re alone together at last, tenta- vertently leaned against a wall on tive, embarrassed, yet SURE. the corner of 28th Street while Why should I spoil it? How could contemplating possible trajector- I! I hobble backwards, laughing, ies to the Mare Imbrium. How- to the bedroom and put on a fur- ever, I pointed out to the police lined glove and a pair of old sneak- that you were, indeed, Uniq-o-fax, ers (also loosen my bra and take and, as such, certainly public off my garter belt). Laughing, I 44 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

return. “Oh, dear Uniq-o, ho, ho. of such largess in the midst of an Oh, ho, ho. Ow, ho, ho. Oh, ow, all pervasive miniaturization. ho, ho, ho.”

Oh infinite series of variables . . . He makes the first sly insinuation “Oh wild West Wind,” (at 1 Or-

(as always, all poet) bits per second) . . . And now an impertinent interpo- “What if mv leaves ARE fall- .” lation, then a quiet interjec- ing . . tion

Here and there, here and But isn’t it strange that after all there an addendum that this I was still, to all af’pear- (three input, two output) ances, a virgin? (I will never likely infiltrations, fierce inter- agree with the personnel manager spersions, at the Office of Contemplative and intrusions, infusions, inroads, Exploratory Poetry, who said that intermittent instillations. I was technically unfit for my po- sition as keeper of the fires of in-

I, audibly receptive, gently recip- spiration.) You see I hobbled back ient, to the poetry office as soon as I absorb, assimilate, stomach, was able, only to find in my place become concierge of so many en- a male psychiatrist of a fatherly tryways, corridors, type, but Uniq-o-fax, when I last thresholds, vestibules and sills, heard, was suffering from closed I, merged until implosion! circuits, from which I conclude (happily) that at least he never Then he interjaculates! fell in love with anyone else. They say every 23rd, 24th and 25th I had no idea there were so word he says is I and love and you, many pubic possibilities. respectively and, due to his con- And who would have dreamed dition, I know he still means me. .

For more than 15 hours, there had been no movement, no communication from a frontier planet’s only city. New Bergen had gone dead, without so much as a single gasp. There were five people in the emergency team. Their mission? To find out how it had hap- pened, and why and, most of all .. what had paralyzed a half a million people.

THE SUDDEN SILENCE

by J. T. McIntosh

When Emergency Chief Da- ly into the night, aching with kers pressed the red button, seven loneliness, for she was a big girl drop-everything calls went out si- and not meant to sleep alone any multaneously and automatically. more. Only five of them were taken. Twenty minutes later, these five The team’s doctor was at pohce were in the operations room of the headquarters, refusing to certify air/spaceport, waiting with as- one of his patients fit to drive. The sorted degrees of patience for Da- fire-fighting specialist had forgot- kers to join them and tell them ten to notify Dakers that he was what the emergency was, and sleeping out that night. what they were supposed to do

Rick was in bed with his wife about it. They had obeyed the Sally when his call came. Bob was taped summons literally, even the in bed with somebody else’s wife. two girls, and had not allowed Nadine was in bed all by herself, themselves more than two minutes like a good girl. Tom was sitting to get dressed, and no time at all up alone, watching the late late for anything else. late show. Carol was staring bleak- “Now we’re here, where’s the

45 ”

46 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION fire?” Bob demanded. He had some a helicopter or a plane. I haven’t— excuse for being annoyed—his re- handled a space cruiser since cent companion had been exqui- “What matters is, can you? Can site and, like most married women you make a fast run and land in who slept out, more warmly coop- one piece at New Bergen?” erative than any single girl. He “Well, sure. But how about tell- wished he'd had the sense not to ing us how Severna comes to be answer the phone. our affair? Have they asked for “There are only five of us,” Tom help, or what?” said pacifically, “so I guess Dakers “Nobody’s asked for help,” said is waiting for the other two to ar- Dakers flatly, “beeause apparently rive.” there’s nobody left to ask.” Dakers came in as Tom spoke. The announcement did not “I can’t contact them,” he said, have the effect he might have ex- “so you’ll have to go without them. pected. You’re going to Severna. Ship’s be- “You’re joking, of course,” Bob ing serviced now.” retorted. “There are nearly half a “Severna?” Bob exclaimed in- million people in New Bergen.” credulously. “What’s Severna to Dakers said nothing for a few us? We’re this month’s emergency seconds. He was making a thought- team for the South-east Region of ful survey of the group. The two Rhodenda. How in heaven’s name girls, without makeup, their hair does the second planet of this sys- all over the place, looked absurdly tem come to be in the South-east young and irresponsible to be sent Region of the third planet?” to the rescue of a world, and Da- “Please shut up and listen,” kers would have preferred an all- Dakers said crisply. “Let’s see, the male team. But all emergency two I couldn’t raise are the doctor rosters included a nurse and usu- and the fire-fighting specialist ally at least one of the other mem-

. . . okay, you can go without bers was a girl. Carol, the tall red- them. Could be something for a head, was the nurse, and Nadine, doctor, but if it’s a job for one doe- the tiny blonde, the radio operator. tor, it’s a job for hundreds. You Bob, too handsome for his own five can go on in and report. Rick, good, was the army representative, you’re this team’s pilot. Can you supposed to be capable of handling fly a Beta class space cruiser?” rogue elephants, rogue mobs or “Sure, but I wasn’t expecting rogue machines. He looked as if he anything like this,” Rick said could do all this but not anything slowly. calling for tact, logic or patience. “Who was?” Rick was an experienced and ver-

“I mean, I thought I’d be flying satile pilot and that was all Dakers — ”

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 47

knew aBout him. Only Toni, quiet everything in New Bergen re- and watchful, and ten years older sponds except the people.” than any of the other four, in- “Marsh gas?” Tom suggested spired Dakers with any real con- quietly. fidence. “Well, that’s a natural thing to Still, they were supposed to be consider. As you probably all men and women capable of sizing know, Severna’s atmosphere is up a situation that had gone okay except for occasional breezes wrong and taking the first stop-gap bearing a toxic gas. It is not measures to start putting it right strictly marsh gas, but it’s com- a sort of generalized first-aid team. monly called that because of the The services of such teams were high percentage of methane. The not infrequently required on re- marsh gas is the main reason why cently-settled, rather raw worlds the population fives mainly in one like Rhodenda and Severna. big city rather than in scattered “Four hours ago,” Dakers said at communities like we do. In a city, last, "Severna went dead. No calls air-conditioning is easy and even have been answered since twenty- the streets and parks can be blown three hours our time — approxi- fairly clean. You get an occasion- mately 8:30 p.m. Severnan time.” al whiff, that’s all. And that’s not He paused to allow someone to dangerous. Only if you’re over- ask the obvious question. It was come by gas and fie in it for an Nadine, the little blonde radio op- hour or more is there any real

erator, who asked it. danger.” “Couldn’t the interplanetary He glanced at his watch and radio be out of order?” went on hurriedly: “Look, why

“No, because calls are still ac- don’t you get spaceborne and I’ll knowledged automatically. All au- tell you all there is to tell by radio. tomatic finks between here and You’ll take ten hours at least to New Bergen are working normally reach New Bergen — — W’eather, time, testing circuits. “So another five minutes won’t So there’s nothing wrong with make much difference,” Tom said Severna’s radio and there’s nothing gently. “You don’t think it can be WTong with Severna’s power. As- marsh gas?” tronomical observations show “I don’t,” Rick said, “and I nothing abnormal— like an explo- spent six months in New Bergen sion, for instance. New Bergen once. You never smell the gas in spaceport beams are operating. any building in New Bergen, and The artificial satellites are under even if by some fantastic chance perfect control from Severna — au- the air inlets sucked in gas and tomatic, of course. In a nutshell. blew it through all the vents un- — ” ”

48 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

modified, the whole city wouldn’t emergency team. How about get- black out. There are safety meas- ting on your way instead of talk- ures galore, and emergency masks ing all night? Somebody’s got to over the place.” go in and — Dakers nodded. “The trouble is, “What about the other ships?”

if it isn’t marsh gas, what is it? So Tom said. “There must be quite a we want you to go take a look. few in space between here and Right now.” Severna.” “Wait,” Bob protested. “There “Ships bound for Severna have must be more you can tell us. been told to orbit, not land. Ships What about ships between Severna from Severna know no more about and here? What do they report what might have happened than or have they all gone dead too?” we do.” "A freight ship landed at New “So we’re supposed to stick out Bergen at 7:30, Severnan time. our necks,” Bob said, “for— a planet The routine call that she was that isn’t part of our down was received here— and Dakers stood up. “There are since then, nothing. A passenger nearly half a million people in ship left New Bergen at 8:45 — New Bergen,” he said grimly. we’ve been in touch with her, and “They may already be dead, all of the captain, crew and passengers them. But the chances are, what- are as baffled as we are. Nobody ever’s happened, that thousands on the ship can suggest anything can be saved, maybe hundreds of » thousands. You can’t get there “You say she left at 8:45,” Tom sooner than ten hours from now. remarked. ‘Tet Severna rvent dead, If it’s eleven hours instead of ten,

as you put it, about fifteen min- I guess thousands more won't be utes earlier.” saved. Thousands you might have “That’s right. Of course, the saved but didn’t.” 20.” ship was sealed from about 8 : “Just one more thing,” Tom “All the same, she must have said, still unhurried. “There are been in touch with the spaceport ships from here already orbiting control right up to blast-off time.” round Severna. They could be “Correct.” down in half an hour, we’ll take “So Severnan radio packed up ten. Why waste nine and a half at 8:30, yet the spaceport was still hours, if time is so vital?” operating normally fifteen min- “The two ships are luxury lin- utes later?” ers. Spacebound cocktail bars. "So it seems.” Dakers was look- They’re not equipped for emergen- ing more and more harassed. "Lis- cies. They’re not equipped for ten, you’re supposed to be an any damn thing except ferrying ”

THE SUM)EN SILENCE 49 men in white ties and women with It was Nadine, who had been bare backs between worlds so com- in the radio cabin for two hours fortably that they never know trying to contact any station any- they’re in space at all. We've de- where on Severna. cided that letting them land would Although New Bergen account- only add to what looks like the ed for over ninety-five percent of biggest disaster in human history. the population of Severna, there But you’re supposed to be an were a dozen manned stations emergency team. You’re supposed elsewhere on the planet. It was to drop everything, go anywhere, normally perfectly easy to contact fix anything. Well, are you going any of these stations from space or or aren’t you?” he ended angrily. from Rhodenda itself. However, "Am I to report that this team re- such contact was invariably made fused to fulfil an emergency mis- through New Bergen. sion?” “Nothing?” Rick said. “Even “I’m going,” said Rick, standing now?” up. “I’m going if I have to go The cruiser was already within alone.” Severna’s atmosphere. And in the Carol, the tall redhaired nurse, nine hours plus since take-off Ba- jumped up so quickly her skirt kers had reported nothing new. flew like a dancer’s. With female “Nothing.” legs on view, even if only for an “Then whatever happened in instant. Bob naturally missed New Bergen happened everywhere nothing. The fact that he had sel- on the planet at the same time.” dom seen a better pair of legs in- “Not necessarily. None of the stantly changed his whole attitude stations have radio capable of toward the mission. reaching us direct.” “Well, sure,” he said, his prac- “But when it’s night in New tised gaze informing him that Bergen, as it was up to three or there was nothing to show that the four hours ago, aren’t their calls rest of Carol’s body was less ele- through New Bergen handled au- gantly shaped than her legs, and tomatically?” quite a lot to suggest that it was. “Yes, but the change-over isn’t Tom rose, still not in any hur- automatic. If there was nobody in ry. And Nadine, flushing furious- New Bergen able to switch to au- ly as she found herself the last to tomatic at twelve midnight last move, jumped up and knocked her night— chair over. “Of course. Should have figured that for myself.” "Sorry, Rick, can’t raise a Tom joined them in the con- squawk.” trol-room. He wore a plastic cov- 50 fantasy and science fiction erall with a light mask hanging on century. That the gas was deliber- his chest ready for use. ately introduced into New Ber- “Landing in twenty minutes?” gen’s air plant.” he said. Nadine started, but Tom was “Less. And from here, New unimpressed. Bergen looks the same as ever. No "Can’t see that,” he said. “There fire, no explosion, no flood. So are more than a dozen stations and what’s the plan?” scores of independent air-filtering “Rick, you stay on the ship. systems in operation. How could Without you, none of us can get any gang of crooks poison them all off again. Assuming by the time simultaneously? They’d need mil- we land we still can’t see what’s lions of cubic feet of gas.” happened. I’ll go scouting myself, "Still, when you’re looking for masked. If I’m not back in half an an explanation for the inexplica- hour. Bob and Carol go into the ble, it’s a good start to think of city, carrying radio and reporting some way somebody could make constantly to you.” something out of it.” He shrugged. “From there on, Tom nodded. "You’ve got quite you two and Dakers will have to a point there, Rick. Anyway, if work out what steps to take. That’s you’re right, my mask will keep assuming that whatever’s hap- me safe and the looters, if any, j>ened gets me and then Bob and must have blasted off hours ago. Carol. Not exactly to be expected It’s fourteen and a half hours ft since the shut-down, and no gang “What is to be expected, Tom?” capable of pulling a stunt hke this Rick said. W'ould hang around for fourteen “Gas, of course. Sure, it doesn’t hours afterwards.” seem likely. But the complete “I’ll buy that,” Rick said. shut-down of a whole planet was- In one of the two passenger n’t likely either. The only guess I cabins. Bob and Carol, already can make is that a new kind of briefed by Tom, were checking gas, deadly and odorless, got into the suits they would wear if nec- the air-conditioning system. The essary. They were, in fact, multi- filters are set for marsh gas—may- purpose spacesuits, affording pro- be they let something else tection not only against the con- through.” ditions encountered in the void “That opens up a very interest- but also against fire, gas, water, ing possibility,” Rick said thought- bullets and minor avalanches. fully. They w ere talking, however, about “What?” something entirely unconnected “That this is the crime of the with the job in hand. ” ”

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 51

“Like to tell me about it?” Bob and not just because I'm the only said in the gentle voice he used girl available.” for making time with women. “You’re not the only girl availa- "Huh?” ble. There’s Nadine.” "Anyone could tell you’ve got “She’s not available, the way something on your mind.” you mean.” “I’ve got nothing and nobody on “You being different?” Bob in- my mind.” sinuated. “Then maybe that’s the trou- “I being different. Because I’m ble.” made differently, I guess I’m not "Could be.” patient enough to be always hard “And nature abhors a vacuum.” to get. But I still don’t like messy Carol gave the classic answer: affairs or easy lies. So if you want “Then why did nature make so to make your pitch, be honest.” much of it?” He said something brutally

“So that we humans could fill blunt, and she took it without

it. Let’s do something about filling Winking. She was a nurse, after your vacuum, before we go over all. the top and bite the dust.” “Well,” she said, “at least that’s “Such as?” a basis for negotiation.” “There are several interesting answers to that question — The moment the ship was Carol frowned. “Before you try down, Tom started to put on his to start anything, let me tell you I mask. don’t mind affairs but I hate “Not so fast,” Rick said. “We’ve messy affairs. I don’t like easy lies nothing to lose by being cautious. — the kind I can see trembling on Hadn’t we better try the radio your lips.” again, now that we’re down, and Bob’s face expressed pained sur- have a look at —the city through the prise. "Hell, is it fair, is it just, to periscope, and tell a man he’s going to lie when “No.” Tom was quite definite. he’s scarcely opened his mouth? “New Bergen may need help ur- What easy lies am I supposed to gently. The explanation of what’s have lined up?” happened may be simple and ob- She shrugged. “The familiar vious. That’s why I’m going in stock-in-trade of any practised right now. If I’m not back in thirty wolf. First you tell me that we minutes — then you’ll know there’s may be dead in less than an hour, still danger and the rest of you can so let’s hve while we may. Then take .maximum precautions. Rick, you try to convince me that you you’re in charge because you stay want me because you want me. on the ship.” —

52 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

With that he pulled tlie mask All Rick said was: “Okay.” over his face, operated the airlock, He and Nadine climbed to the and ten seconds later jumped nose of the ship and screwed up down on the scarred tarmac of the the periscope. On the screen they spaceport. saw a hundred yards of tarmac, Nadine, accepting Rick as next then a fence, a road, and behind a in command, looked at him hope- strip of grassland the outermost fully. Bob looked at Carol and buildings of the city. wished she was wearing anything Nothing moved. but the sexless coverall she wore. Rick turned the wheels until “There’s a periscope in the they saw Tom, w'alking unhurried- nose,” Rick said. “Let’s get up ly across the road, over the grass there and see what we can see.” and between two buildings. When “We’d better get into our suits, he disappeared from sight, there hadn’t we?” Bob said. “It’ll take us was once more no mov'ement to be most of the next half-hour.” seen. Rick glanced at him thought- Neither Rick nor Nadine said fully. At a pinch, the suits which anything as he turned the wheels, Bob and Carol were to wear could scanning the silent city. It was be donned in three minutes. It was obvious that there had been no ma- true that putting them on care- terial damage to the buildings fully, checking each section and too obvious to be worth remarking function, might take as much as on. twenty minutes. When Rick found a view of a Ideally, the members of any distant avenue, he switched to the emergency team should be fully' long-focus lens and brought the experienced in working together. street up to fill the small screen. But this ideal was only attained The street was empty, deserted. when a particular team happened Ground cars were parked neatly. to be called out frequently. “Well, that settles one thing,” Rick didn’t know much about he said, breaking the silence at last. Bob except that he was rumored to ‘There was no sudden disaster. devote most of his time, money, Whatever happened, everybody attention and energy to the pursuit had time to park their cars and of women. Carol was undoubtedly get off the streets.” a pretty girl, if you liked big, ath- “That’s funny,” said Nadine, letic redheads. Evidently the fate frowning. of four hundred thousand Sever- “Why funny?” nans was of less immediate inter- “The picture we’ve got is that est to Bob than the progress he New Bergen suddenly blacked out might make with Carol. around 8:30 last ni^t. As if the —

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 53 whole population was struck down the door. Rick jumped after her simultaneously. But if people were and caught her arm. able to park cars and go inside “Where do you think you're go- }> ing?” he demanded. “Well?” Rick prompted, when "To find that man. He can tell she showed no sign of continuing. us everything.” “Then it didn’t all happen at “I doubt it,” said Rick drily. once. Not to the minute.” She frowned. “You think he’s a Rick nodded. crook? A looter?” It had not been dark at 8:30. “Nothing like that. Suppose For hours to come the streets, in you were one of the few people the ordinary way, would have re- left in a city this size fifteen mained fairly busy. There was hours after a disaster — perhaps only one possible explanation of the only one still able to move. the neat, tidy, empty streets Suppose a space cruiser landed, that something had happened in quite visibly and very audibly. every building in the city to pre- What would you do?” vent the people inside coming “You think he didn’t see or hear out and to trap the people outside us land?” the moment they entered. “It’s a possibility.” “Look!” Nadine shouted, star- “Then he survived what’s hap- ing at the screen. pened to everyone else because he’s Rick looked. Along the deserted deaf and blind.” street someone was walking slow- “'That’s a possibility too.” ly. It could not be Tom: this “But even if you’re right, he street was at least half a mile must know ... He must have away, and it was only a few sec- been wandering around for fifteen .” onds since Tom had entered the hours in . . city on a completely different She shuddered. bearing. “In a city of the dead? Perhaps. Rick tried to bring up the tiny But if he’s deaf and blind, what moving figure but the scope was could he tell us? Even if he can already at maximum magnifica- talk? Doesn’t the fact that he's still tion. They could make out that the walking around mean that he does- figure was that of a human being n’t know what happened, any more and not an animal; they could not than we do?” make out whether it was man, woman or child. It was moving “Thirty-five minutes,” Bob said, away from them; a few seconds “and no sign of Tom. That leaves later it was cut off from their view. it up to us, honey.” Nadine turned and darted for Carol grinned and blew him a 54 l-A.XTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION kiss. Apparently Bob had made nication with the other settle- progress with Carol. ments is by radio or by cable, but

Neither of them looked worried. I do know it's automatic.” And this, Rick thought, was not a “Of course!” Nadine exclaimed. good sign. They had obviously “You can call Mangusville or been devoting all their attention Stirling or Stapleton from that to matters quite unconnected with box.” the fate of New Bergen, and they “Why bother?” Bob said. "New didn’t seem to realize the deadly Bergen’s dead, they’re dead. Any- significance of the faet that Tom way, why ask people half round a —warned, cautious and experi- world what’s going on a hundred enced —had met the same fate as yards away? Isn’t it easier and a everybody else. heck of a lot quicker to go and “Not yet,” Rick said. look?” “What’s the use of waiting?” “It may be easier and quicker, Bob demanded. “Tom said thirty and still the wrong thing to do,” minutes, and he meant it. Some- Rick said. “I’m going out to call thing’s happened to him. It won’t Stapleton.” happen to us, not in these suits.” Bob sighed. “If you insist, we’ll “And you’re in a hurry,” Rick try calling Stapleton. But not you. said drily, “to go out and solve the You’re the pilot. Without you, problem of New Bergen so that none of us get away.” you’ll be able to devote your whole “I’ll be in full view of you all attention to things that matter, the time. And we’ve analyzed the like Carol.” air outside and found nothing “Why not?” said Bob, admitting wrong with it.” it. “What makes the world go “Bob’s right,” Nadine said. “You round?” stay here, Rick. I’m the communi- “Before you make your bid for cating officer. It's my job.” death or glory,” Rick said, “there’s So it was Nadine who went. She something quite simple and proba- wore no mask and no special cloth- bly not in the least dangerous I ing, only what she had worn in want to try. We’ve failed to get in space, a gray tunic and gray slacks. touch with any of the other settle- Her shoes were smart high heels. ments on Sevcrna by radio, but Conscious of her lack of inches, that’s not surprising, since all their she always wore high heels, even radio links are through New in space, where nobody else did, Bergen. Now, only a hundred claiming that she couldn’t walk yards away, just on the other side in flat shoes. of the fence, is a callbox. I don’t The air had a tangy, slightly know whether telephone commu- astringent smell. When the airlock ” —

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 55

closed behind her, she had to take said: “Hell, you’re there, aren’t several deep breaths to quell her you? Don’t you know what’s hap- sudden terror. She was not a girl pened? Can’t you see? How in used to standing alone. In the hell would we know?” company of others she could be as “I just thought I’d ask,” said brave as anyone. Alone, she was Nadine patiently. “The city looks very conscious of being small and undamaged, but nobody’s moving.

weak and insignificant. Except . . . well, never mind. She had to read the instructions One of us just went into the city in the phone-box before she was and he hasn’t come back. What able to call Stapleton. There was can you tell us from your end?” no difficulty about coinage. Nei- “Nothing except that for fifteen ther Severna nor Rhodenda had hours we haven’t been able to get developed a monetary system of in touch with New Bergen. We’d their own yet. They used galactic have thought there must have been currency. an atomic explosion, only all the There was an answer at once, automatic services are still work- and she almost dropped the phone. ing. If we call New Bergen we can Like Bob, she had assumed for no get the time, but we can’t talk to particular reason that what had anything but a tape-recorder. We happened in New Bergen must can feed problems to the Computer have happened all over the planet. and get answers, but we can’t say “Stapleton Weather Station. hello to a damn soul. We’ve been Who’s that?” considering flying to New Bergen “Nadine Macken. Calling from to find out what in hell’s going on

New Bergen.” . . . Hell, girl, you’re on the spot. “Thank God!” The phone ex- Surely you can find out in—about ploded in her ear. “We’ve gone five seconds flat what’s been half crazy wondering what the “I told you,” Nadine interrupt- hell’s been going on there. Well, ed. “One of us has gone into the go on, girl, give. Why haven’t we city already, and hasn’t come heard a thing from New Bergen back.” for fifteen hours?” “It’s gas, then. Any moron could “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” Nadine said apologetically. ‘Tve “Naturally he wore a mask. I’m just landed with an emergency not wearing one, though, and the team from Rhodenda. I was just air’s all right. So it’s not gas.” going to ask you what you know The man in Stapleton did not about New Bergen’s blackout.” manage to produce anything of There was a moment’s silence. any great value. Nevertheless, Then the man at the other end when she returned to the ship, as ” ” ”

36 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION she did a few minutes later, do. I mean, suppose control of the Nadine had an idea. ventilation system was handed “The Computer,” she said. “We over to the Computer, and some forgot about the Computer.” error was included in the direc- “Didn’t forget about it,” Rick tions? Or suppose two separate said. “Didn’t see it was relevant, directives, both inflexible, turned that’s all. What’s on your mind?” out to be mutually exclusive? Or The New Bergen Computer was suppose — a vast electronic brain far more “You needn’t labor it, Nadine,” elaborate and ambitious than any- Rick said thoughtfully. “I’ve got thing which existed on Rhodenda. the message. But I guess you see The settlement on Severna being the main snag yourself— no com- far more centralized than Rhoden- puter ever has direct control over da, one enormous calculating ma- human beings. The New Bergen chine which could handle hun- Computer, like any other, is asked dreds of problems simultaneously questions and gives answers.—I was employed instead of scores of don’t see how it could possibly smaller ones. “Neither can I,” Nadine admit- “Nothing very concrete,” Na- ted. dine admitted. “But . . . well Bob and Carol entered, already

. . . the Computer runs lots of encased in their suits apart from things here, far more than are han- the helmets, which they carried. dled at—home by our own electronic “We’re all set,” Bob said. “Any brains last words?” “And they’re all working,” Rick “I guess you know what to do,” pointed out. Rick said. “When you enter a

“Yes . . . The people here are building, any building, keep in proud of their Computer. They sight of each other but as far apart claim it’s the most efficient, versa- as possible. That W’ay, if anything tile and reliable anywhere in the happens to the one in front, the galaxy except Earth. They say its other can report back what . . potential has scarcely been tapped. He stopped as Bob sighed. Yes, They’re always trying new things Bob was right. There was no real

. . . Suppose they tried some- point, either, in telling a child for thing that went wrong?” the ten thousandth time to be care- “Brain Runs Amok?” Rick sug- ful crossing the street. Orders, gested, grinning involuntarily. directions, recommendations and She flushed. “I don’t mean that. advice w'ere a waste of breath when Electronic brains don’t run amok. the child (or Bob and Carol) They don’t make mistakes either. knew them all off by heart. In the But the people who program them end you either had to let the child ” ”

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 57

Cor Bob and Carol) go ahead, a "It only shows what we know free agent— or call the whole already,” Bob interrupted impa- thing off. tiently. “That whatever caused this "Okay,” Rick said, and bit back is in the buildings. Any building, the automatic injunction to be maybe every building. We’re going careful. to quit horsing around now and take a look.” Rick and Nadine sat on oppo- From his tone it was clear that site sides of the set which was pick- he expected an argument. But ing up the commentary from Carol Rick said nothing. Sooner or later, and Bob. They didn’t talk much. taking due care. Bob and Carol They listened. would have to go inside. The an- Bob’s voice said: “Not a soul in swer was evidently not to be found the streets. No movement. No in the streets. crashed cars. By the way, not “This will do,” Bob said. “Apart- many lights are on. It wasn’t dark ments. We’re in the hall. Empty. when whatever it was struck, and We’re picking up some keys . . . apparently they were never switch- Right, here’s the door of 68, and ed on. we’ve got the key. Carol’s standing “Carol’s trying out one of the back and I’m opening the door ff cars. The motor is okay. No bodies in the back seat . . . Here’s a Carol took over. “Bob’s looking .” car with lights on. No cars would inside . . .” have lights at 8:30 . . There was a pause. Involuntari- Rick cut in: “Have a good look ly Nadine reached for Rick’s hand. at that car. Maybe it was left hours They half expected that this was after the others, after dark. See if the end, that there would be not you can find anything suggestive.” another word from Bob or Carol. “What we’re doing, isn’t it? Then Bob’s voice: “Empty. No- Parking lights on, no headlights. body here. Wait, I’m checking the No key. Can’t see anything that — bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. “Wait a bit,” Carol’s voice inter- Lights off, radio off, TV off, cooker rupted. “Here’s a ticket for speed- off. Icebox on, heating on. The ing, timed 9 p.m. last night. It’s bed’s made. Here’s what looks like paid and receipted.” late supper for somebody, not In the cruiser, Rick and Nadine touched. Looks as if the people in exchanged glances. this apartment, probably a couple "So people were speeding at without children, went out for the 9 p.m. and traffic cops were still evening and never came back. on the— job,” Rick said. “That Well, there’s nothing to see here. shows I’ll try another apartment.” 58 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Carol said, relief in her voice: Music.” He started. “How? From "Bob’s coming out. We’re moving where? The local stations can’t be along the passage.” on the air. Or are they? Have you “Wait where you are,” Rick checked?” advised. “Let Bob go in himself.” “Not specially. On the way here “Just what do you think we did I was listening for anything out of last time?” Bob asked irritably. New Bergen, and of course there “Right, this is 67. I’m opening the was nothing. The music we heard door. That’s funny, there’s . . must be from an automatic record- Carol’s voice: “There’s a light player.” inside. Bob’s gone in. There’s “After fifteen hours?” movement inside, not just him.” Nadine shrugged. “Rick, I just Sharply: “Maybe he needs help. feel if you follow this up you’re

I’ll just . . on the wrong track. What’s hap- There was a click. Then silence. pened must be something to do “Carol, Bob!” Rick said urgent- with the Computer.” ly. “Carol, don’t go in! Carol!” “Intuition?” They heard another slight click. “I guess so. The Severnans are “They’ve switched off,” said proud of their Computer. They Rick incredulously. “Both of them. linked traffic control into it once, Without consultation, without ex- but the experiment didn’t work. planation, they both voluntarily Suppose they’ve been trying an- cut the radio link.” other experiment?” “They’ll switch on in a minute,” “Such as?” Nadine said hopefully. “I don’t know.” “Will they? Then why switch Rick was fully prepared to con- off? Nadine, this is crazy. What is sider the suggestion, but could not it in every building in New Bergen see how a vast electronic brain, one that bludgeons people the moment of the least mobile machines ever it sees them?” constructed, could stretch tendrils “Not in every room,” Nadine re- into every building in the city and minded him. “They looked in the snuff out life. first apartment and found it emp- And then suddenly he did see. ty. The second apartment wasn’t The idea was wildly implausi- empty. There was . . . some- ble. But what had happened, thing inside.” whatever it was that had happen- She shuddered. ed, was wildly implausible too. It “Not gas, obviously,” Rick said. was elementary logic that when “No, not gas. Did you hear the only one explanation could be radio?” found to fit the facts, it must be “I heard something, very low. the true one, however incredible. ” ” —

THE SUDDEN SILENCE 59

“Nadine,” he said, “I’m going Rick noticed that Nadine kept out.” very close to him. He didn’t com- “But Rick, we agreed that you ment, however. A sudden not must stay in the ship. Isn’t there wholly irrelevant thought brougjit anything we can try here?” a rueful grimace to his face. Sally, “Since this is an ordinary space his wife, was a wonderful girl in cruiser with ordinary equipment nearly every way, and she loved for use in space, no.” him. She had only one real fault “I don’t know what you’re talk- jealousy. After all this was over, it ing about. But if there’s something would be useless for Rick to ex- you want done in New— Bergen, plain that with the fate of a whole teU me and I’ll go and city on his mind, it had scarcely She gulped. occurred to him that he and Rick looked at her with sympa- Nadine had been left far more thy and understanding in his eyes. alone than most couples who spent She was a timid little thing to be a the night together. The very member of an emergency team. He thought of Rick with a pretty girl guessed she could face most things and no other living, conscious in the company of half a dozen person of either sex within miles resolute colleagues. But the pros- was going to inflame Sally. A row pect of walking alone into a city was inevitable . . . of the dead terrified her. Well, not quite. He could, of “We’ll both go,” he said. course, fail to return. “But, Rick— “What’s on your mind?” Nadine “If I’m on the right track, what asked. I want to do is perfectly safe. “Nothing.” He let her get a step We’re going into the city and into ahead of him. She had a very trim a building, sure. Any building little figure. Her gray tunic and with people hving in it. But we’re slacks, though anything but glam- not going into any apartment.” orous, were thin and close-fitting. She looked at him in bewilder- Rick felt an almost uncontrollable ment. urge to make a pass at Nadine, any “Then what are we going to do?” kind of pass. If he was going to He told her. be blamed for it anyway, why not Her bewilderment was not eas- have the fun of doing it? ed. “What good will that do?” The recollection of the situa- "Let’s try it,” Rick said. tion, however, shamed him into dismissing all such thoughts. And They didn’t bother with masks the fact that he had them at all or protective clothing. These had made him more charitable toward not saved Tom, Bob and Carol. Bob and Carol. Tension without 60 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

any immediate, visible threat was midday . . . I’ve had nothing to a new thing in their experience. eat or drink since 5:30 last night.” Evidently it had a very consider- “What happened?” Nadine de- able uninhibiting effect. manded. “What happened?” “This will do,” he said, stop- Again the question went unan- ping in front of a large apartment swered. block. “I have to go somewhere,” the “ Nadine stopped. “Rick, aren’t man realized suddenly. ‘Sense, there any precautions we could please.” He ran upstairs again, take?” she asked nervously. “Just to leaving Rick and Nadine on their make sure?” own again. “Ear-plugs might help. And But there were other sounds of dark glasses. But I guess you’d have life in the building. People talked to be deaf and blind, like that kid and shouted, doors slammed, bells we saw. I’m surer still now that he rang, and so many toilets were was deaf and blind. We’ll be okay, flushed that the noise of running Nadine. Got your torch handy?” water could be heard continuously They entered the building. down in the hall. 'There was no difficulty in finding New Bergen was coming back what they were looking for. Fuse- to life. boxes have to be accessible. Seizing the moment as an ex- Rick switched off all the lights cuse, Rick grabbed Nadine and in the building and all the power. kissed her comprehensively. 'Then they went back into the hall and waited. Rick and Nadine were again Within a few seconds a man alone in the control-room of the came down the stairs, unshaved, cruiser, halfway back to Rhoden- bleary-eyed, his hair tousled. He da. Tom, Bob and Garol had all wore carpet shppers. retired somewhat sheepishly. Seeing Rick and Nadine, he “Your hunch would have paid burst out; “For Pete’s sake, what’s off too,” Rick admitted. “If we’d been going on? The clocks say it’s simply gone to the sub-station noon, but it can’t be.” that powers the Computer and cut

“What should it be?” Rick asked off the juice, that would have curiously. done it too.” The question went unanswered. Nadine still looked baffled. "I The man felt his cheek and swal- can’t understand how a TV show, lowed a couple of times. His even a program put out by the stomach rumbled very audibly. Computer itself, could be so utter- “Gosh, I’m hungry,” he said. ly compelling. Surely somebody "No wonder, if it’s really twelve THE SUDDEN SILENCE 61

“You must remember the Com- gen would be capable of switching puter knows all there is to know off. That people in the streets about human psychology, hypno- would all be captured too, sooner sis, advertising, drama, music, and or later, somewhere, by a TV every other known technique of screen whenever they tried to find emotional impact. It was told to out what was going on.” prepare an experimental show that There was a pause. Then Na- would hit New Bergen right be- dine said: “The funniest thing tween the eyes. And the show was about it is that nobody can say hooked in without warning at the what he saw. Not even Tom, Bob 8:30 spot — the ‘What’s New’ pro- and Carol.” gram. Of course it’s a live program “Is that so surprising? Hypno- —the producer meant to take may- tised people don’t have to be told be five minutes of the Computer’s to forget what happened in their attempt to entertain, maybe more, trance. They do anyway.” and then tell the viewers what Silently they considered the they’d seen and have a live discus- implications of the incident. On sion on it.” the face of it, no harm had been

“But . . . fifteen hours!” Na- done. A few Severnans had died of dine exclaimed. heart failure as they sat chained to “A case of the sorcerer’s ap- their screens, but a few would prentice, I guess,” Rick said. “The have died anyway. The citizens of idea was, the Computer would New Bergen in general suffered come up with something wildly nothing more than indigestion, experimental, probably interest- cramp, headaches, eyestrain, fa- ing, maybe a 100% flop. No time tigue and similar mild ailments. limit was set because depending But if the Severnan Computer on what the Computer dreamed up could enslave human minds so as absorbing entertainment, the thoroughly, so could other com- item might be cut after a few sec- puters elsewhere. Advertisers onds or allowed to run for half an would be interested —very inter- hour or so. It never occurred to ested. This might be the birth of a anybody that the show w'ould be deadly war technique. so instantly hypnotic that anyone ‘AVell,” said Rick firmly, "it's who glanced at the screen would none of our business. Go anywhere, be hooked as nobody was ever fix anything, that’s us.” hooked before. That the producers He caught Nadine’s eye and and technicians would be hooked knew that he could kiss her again like everybody else. That the Com- if he liked. He did like, but he puter would keep right on enter- took no action. taining, and nobody in New Ber- The emergency was over. THE SCIENCE SPRINGBOARD

INJECTED MEMORY

by Theodore L. Thomas

A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS AT THE seventeen rats, each of which was University of California has taken assigned code letters. The injected a giant stride toward proving that rats were then tested for their re- memory is a matter of chemistry. sponse to the clicks by people who Here is what they did. did not know which group any rat They trained eight male rats. belonged to. Results? The training consisted of placing The rats which had received the the eight rats in a special box, mak- RNA from the trained rats showed ing a clicking sound, and dropping a significantly greater tendency to a food pellet in a food cup. The approach the food cup in response training period went on for five to the clicks than did the rats which days. The rats soon learned that the had received the RNA from the click signaled the presence of food, control rats. Apparently, memory and they came running when they was passed on by the injection. heard it. It is probably fruitless to specu- Nine control rats, same age, late about what might be done in same genetic history, were fed nor- the future with brain extracts from mally the same amount of food dur- human geniuses. Our society, even ing the 5 -day period, without the in the future, would probably not click. tolerate such a thing. But if we can At the end of the training period learn to synthesize RNA— and we the eight trained rats and the nine are learning—perhaps we can con- control rats were killed and all sev- struct an RNA molecule to order. enteen brains were quickly re- When such a molecule was iinected moved. The memory portion of into a man, what knowledge he each brain was isolated, and the might acquire. The injections could ribonucleic acid, RNA, was ex- be tailored to the wishes of the man tracted from it using standard ex- or the needs of society. Every man traction techniques. could be a genius. If he wanted to The RNA extracts were then in- he a beachcomber, he could be one jected into the abdominal walls of —loaded with happy memories. 62 — —

63

THE OCTOPUS

The tentacles of time pull me two ways;

into the sharp illumination of what is past

all patterning, where personahties reach out and press imponderable stone to scream their exploits or expound romance without the use of lips.

The tentacles of time pull me two ways: into the snail-coil of a galaxy

gala with stars. I meet the future with a hop-and-skip across fantastic parsecs where I fry in seven suns’ uncalculated heat or freeze upon the cold side of some moon icy with space.

They say saints were chained to the untandemed flanks of stallions lashed in different directions. No saint I yet time, the octopus, can persecute pulling two ways. —Doris Pitkin Buck A longer life at any price; is this a gift which you would accept for yourself or a loved one? If you are tempted to answer yes, pause

first and read the story below. Its setting is Saigon, but war is neuer

mentioned. The author writes: “life is not all war in any city at war; the Berlin Philharmonic played its final concert with Russian guns pounding the city.” Mr. Thomas has produced and written for radio and TV, published mystery fiction, and written articles on the Far East for the Saturday Review and others.

THE FACE IS FAMILIAR

by Gilbert Thomas

Damn that night. A hot style, impossible to air-condition steamy night in Saigon. I was due to the permanent airslots in seated alone in the study of my the windward wall which gave it villa on Phan Than Gian finish- the appearance of a Mondrian. To ing the last of my gimlet and cous- hell with art. Rembrandt is greater cous. The amah had gone to bed than Picasso. We’re moving too in her quarters to the rear and it fast. Somebody has to say it. To was suddenly very quiet. hell with Dah. Aren’t they the lat- It had rained lightly that after- est? Never mind. People don’t say noon and the humidity would aren’t any more. It was better in have bothered anyone but a ro- the days when a man could die mantic. of the mumps. Baker Street, The villa was in the old French- Maugham, that’s the only way I

64 THE FACE IS FAMItlAR 65 can tell you. I will tell you. You meant going to the rear of the won’t believe it. To hell with you. house. An odd place to put the I don’t mean that. I’m really quite switch. But it couldn’t be anyone gentle. That’s why I curse. I knew. They all drove cars, poor The slots were just narrow devils; it was more fun in a pousse- enough to prevent Fagin from slip- pousse. Besides, no one would be ping a starved child through to gut out walking on such a muggy the house. A tropical Fagin. But night. It felt as though it might the rain had driven the mosquitoes rain again. I took the bar and be- inside. They could have had me gan pushing the shutter-door to anywhere but my Gurkhas, hut, as get the fron cups into line so as to usual, the little bastards went for secure the house. the ankles. Sapping me. I shot “Wait.” some spray down there and pressed I heard the voice, but couldn’t my bare soles to the cool tile. It recognize it. felt good and far from home. A “Wait,” it said again. It was a gecko stuck green and motionless man’s voice, but unknown to me. to the ceiling, watching me. You Then the figure came into the always know. light, moving like an old man, The air was oppressive. I found and, it seemed, slightly sideways. myself breathing with my mouth It was Dr. Matthiessen. And he open. The lights dimmed sudden- wasn’t an old man. ly. But they always do in Saigon “I’ve got to come in.”

when it rains. "Why, sure.” I was about to close and secure “I shouldn’t be here.” the door with the seven foot iron I don’t know why, but after he bar someone thought necessary, entered, I barred the door. when I heard the outer gate open. “I’ve got to have a drink.” It crunched on the gravel and I I poured gin into a champagne

stood still wondering who it might glass, slid on the Rose’s lime juice be. and dropped in an ice cube. It “Hello?” works faster than whiskey. But there was no answer in the We sat in my study as the lights darkness among the Tamarind flickered. trees. “Tropical power companies,” I “Hello— is there anyone out said, waiting. there?” “That’s good. That’s very good,” I thought I heard footsteps on he said, drinking. And added: the gravel, but I’m given to hear- “I’ve got to go back.” ing things. Silence. I thought of He was talking to himself. turning on the yard lights but that Nerves had changed the shape 66 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION of his face and he stared at the the Little Leaguer shook a lot of Buddha-head I’d found at Angor people. He’d retired at age 45 and Vat. His hand cradled the broken now had died of an auto accident thing. in New York City. He’d become a “Do you believe in this?” recluse, which made him all the “Yes. And you’ve got to go back more interesting, and had been ” where — England ? run down in a blizzard while try- Matthiessen was a medical doc- ing to reach his home on Long Is- tor and English. I like both doc- land. His car had stalled and he tors and the English. Doctors be- was walking. Newsweek devoted cause they’re mad and the English their entire medical section to the because they’re the underdog, have obituary. always been the underdog, without I was surprised that the death knowing it. To me the combina- had affected Matthiessen. He had- tion w'as irresistable. It was why n’t mentioned it at the time. And Matthiessen and I got on so well. doctors are given to name drop- He hated Americans, wouldn’t ping within their profession espe- treat them—which was lucky for cially with medical buffs, like me. them —but liked me because I Then, too, Matthiessen believed laughed at him. that most people aren’t really He closed his eyes and I think alive, so how can they die? Lie he was crying. Nothing unusual would quote K’ung-fu-tze : “We do in that, but this wasn’t the Mat- not know life, so how know- thiessen who shot tiger with a death?” ’’ camera and didn’t drink himself to “He was a friend of vours? death like the rest of us. “No!” When he was ready, he reached “Well, take it easy.” into his wallet and gave me a “Let’s say we were — related.” newspaper clipping. It had been And here he finished his drink and torn from the Times of Vietnam. held up his glass begging silently I’d seen the box w'hen it had been for another. “In a manner of speak- printed on the front page two ing.” weeks ago. An announcement of He began to talk wildly, in that the death of the New York sur- voice I didn’t know. The smooth- geon, Dr. Raymond K. Eastvold. ness, timing and wit I knew as Dr. In a profession that outwardly Matthiessen had vanished. I tried shuns advertising and the cult of to follow him, but it was impos- personality, Dr. Eastvold had qui- sible. He kept talking about his etly become world famous through wife. the sheer virtuosity of his work. “I never knew you w'cre mar- News photos of his repair job on ried.” THE FACE IS FAMILIAR 67

“What do you know? Eh? What candles. Actually one, a stub on a do you know?” saucer. “All right, you’re upset, but you “Do you sleep with her?” don’t need to turn nasty.” “You know, I expect that ques- “I’ll turn anyway I please, tion from everybody but you.” when I please, how I please. This “Answer me.” damned gin.” “Of course, why?” “An English invention.” "All the time?” 'Then, as suddenly as he’d gone “When I don’t have a date, wild, he stopped, looked at me, why?” and almost shyly offered me a let- “Can I have her tonight?” ter. It had been ripped open and “No. Now sit down and tell me the envelope was pastel. I could- what the hell’s the matter with

n’t help sniffing it. you.” "Stop that,” Matthiessen said "Nothing. And you’ve just had quietly. “Read it.” the proof. I’m lonely. How long “I can’t make it out.” have you been in the Foreign “Try.” Service?”

Portions of it were in French, “Ten years.” slanted and fast, breaking into “Where have you served?” English, a fine round hand that “Accra, Kaohsiung, Isfahan, became a scribble ending in Saigon —but you know that.” jagged pen marks. I could just “You must have seen — strange make out the ending, I love you, in things.” English, and then the pen had “Nothing stranger than me. Or fi ripped down and into the paper you. as though the hand had been sud- “If you enjoy sightseeing — you denly gripped by another. should have stayed in New York.” Stupidly, I said: “It’s from “I’ve never been to New York.” your wife.” “You’re a fool.” And with that “Pamela,” and he started to he relaxed. And began to make laugh, only he wasn’t laughing. sense. “I received the letter today. “And don’t worry. All English- It’s from my wife, but she’s dead. women aren’t named Pamela. It Don’t ask me how I know, I tell just seems that way.” you she’s dead. I’ve got to go back. The rain hit, splattering She still loves me. I still love her. through the slots onto my feet. Why, I’ll never know. ‘The human The lights went slowly, fading heart in conflict with itself.’ Your slowly, until it was black. But not writer chap said that. If your writer before Matthiessen was on his feet, chaps don’t tell us the truth, then staring. The amah was bringing who will? Everybody lies. Men- —

68 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION dacity. Men lie for freedom. "That’s a gift that can’t be giv- Wives lie for love. Parents lie to en.” protect the kiddies. Did Shakes- "You’re wrong— it has been peare tell the truth? ‘Alice in given, is being given — I, myself, Wonderland’ makes more sense gave that gift.” every day. We’re landing on the "I don’t believe it.” moon with cobalt bombs. Did you "Listen.” And his professional know we’re talking to dolphins? pride was mixed with —what? — Maybe we’ll learn something. I as we talked in the candlelight of haven’t been to bed with a woman that hot city in the rain. for three years. Not since I left “What do you know of the ter- New York. I know that you think minal states of life, the sequence I have, old boy, but that’s my van- of agony, clinical death, biologi- ity. I don’t want to become in- cal death? What do you know of volved. Enough!” the cerebral cortex mobilising your “Watch the candle.” dying body to avert the end? Oxy- “I had to talk to somebody. I gen gone, its power to think gone. like you. You’re not like an Amer- Now comes the agony with the ican. I’ve watched you. Enjoy a lower division of your central ner- sunset and don’t call it timeout. vous system taking over, the me- Do you believe in life after death? dulla, your spinal cord trying to No, of course not, silly to ask. But think for you. Flesh spasms your what about a few extra years of very blood toward the heart, to- life? If you knew you were going ward the brain — life! The very to die, just a few more years nub of your being is fighting for wouldn’t you want that, wouldn’t fife!” your loved ones want that? An- “England expects no less.” swer me.” "You mustn’t be funny. The “I don’t know. I’m incapable of agony alone may last from min- love, so, of course, no one loves utes to hours, hours.” me.” “No one said dying was easy." “Hard cheese. Stop giving your- ‘Tou must love someone — you self airs. Everyone wants to be would want to spare them that.” neurotic. I’m talking seriously.” “I’m not so sure.” “You mean'—live a little longer “Then let us enter clinical — life at any price?” death. That interval when the "Exactly.” brain may still survive, but when "No.” cardiac activity has ceased and "Now you’re being intellectual. there is no respiration.” “ ” If you could give that gift to a loved ‘Everybody dies.' one — you would.” But he didn’t hear me. THE FACE IS FAMILIAR 69

“At this stage you have from Natural blond hair, quite fine, she five to seven minutes only. Seven never cut it. Below the waist and minutes optimum. After that the all that. It was like living with his- resuscitated patient will be men- tory. It made me glad the Vikings tally abnormal.” raided our island and raped the “Resuscitated — you mean, Celts. She was surprised to find a brought back to life?” doctor at a public dance hall. It “Precisely. Heart massage, there surprised me, too. But the Life are ways. It’s done every day. Mas- Force doth make fools of us all. sive transfusions intra-arterial. Being an American you’ll laugh Acidosis is a factor. Here we give when I say she made the most an intra-venous injection of so- miraculous trifle. But you Amer- dium bicarbonate. Speeds things icans will laugh at anything. I up a bit.” married her.” “ ” ‘Listen to it fizz.’ “Goon.” “You damned fool. I don’t know “After a proper honeymoon at why I waste my time on you. You Pavia, we settled on Harley Street remind me of one of your idiots. where I made up my mind to get Fancies himself an expert. He says rich. That shocks you. A doctor our tricks may lengthen a ‘statisti- setting out to get rich. But why cally average’ lifespan, but that should we be the exception? Ar- the prime intent is not to prolong chitects and undertakers set out to an already ‘socially spent exist- do the same. I gave good measure ence’. And who’s to judge? He’d for every pound. I was a compe- have let Churchill slip at 64.” tent man and kept up with the lit- “Some people like to play God. erature. We were happy. Quietly But, you left something out.” happy and then came socialized “Yes. Biological death. That medicine. I knew that this would from which no man returns. The never see me to riches, so—as rest is silence, eh? Decomposition Pamela would say —we ‘opt for sets in, proceeding quickly or New York’. Or I should say, I did. slowly according to the climate of Pamela wasn’t interested in money the country and refrigeration.” — the future. But then she was “What’s this got to do with your young, barely twenty, and I was wife?” thirty-nine and just getting start- “Pamela,” and he smiled. “I met ed, what a miserable profession. her in Soho, you know? One of But, you know that. So, New those dance halls. She was lonely York. And the dowagers. Only I suppose, and I know I was. A there aren’t any anymore, it seems. lovely girl. One I was proud to be They’re all in bikinis. Also I made seen with. There aren’t many. the mistake of settling in the 70 FANT.VSY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Bronx for the trees, because Pam- "Don’t be vulgar. I did what ela liked them. Financially it was you Americans do. I looked the a mistake. One October I had oc- other way. A tacit agreement.” casion to send a young man over “Share and share alike.” to Manhattan for surgery. I liked “All right, call it what you will. the lad and so sent him to the To even matters, I attempted a best.” pass at his wife. Here again, the “Dr. Eastvold.” European influence. Eastvold had “Precisely. Eastvold performed this one weakness. Fle’d married a an exquisite bit of surgery. I Erench girl. Yvonne. A surrealis- watched the operation myself. Ex- tic name — a dark girl, poised, traordinary. Some men are terri- perhaps a year older than Pamela bly gifted with the knife. I invited and with the most remarkable ab- him to coffee. We became domen. It plumped slightly as friends.” though she were always pregnant, “He fell in love with your wife.” most seductive. When I finally “I told you you aren’t the usual asked her to go to bed with me,

American. You should be Erench. she laughed. I’m aware that this is But, it’s true. He was rich, tal- merely a hurdle. Another man ex- ented, powerful in the profession. pects certain w'omen to laugh, and All the things I wanted to be but then he persists until, of course, wasn’t. And we were the same age, she capitulates. But I presume I worse luck. We genuinely liked really wasn’t too serious about it, each other — I think he liked me In fact, I was rather glad when for the one thing he wasn’t: I was she laughed. But at least I had British. He’d been in England made the attempt. Eastvold never during the war and had fallen in mentioned it, so I’m obliged to love with our shoes. You know, think she never told him. It wasn’t fine leather, tweed, the skin of our that important. The true fact is: women, the usual. I think he was Yvonne had a streak of the sadistic attracted to Pamela for the same in her, an instinct for the jugular. reason, her accent most of all. He Intuitively, she knew where you couldn’t get enough of her voice. lived. Always had something nas- I don’t think he wanted to, but ty to say when Pamela was about he took her. I don’t think she Something indirect and smarting, wanted to, but it happened. Per- you know? All the while keeping haps I was at fault. Looking back that slight Erench smile of superi- on it, I think I must have made it ority. Of course, she had reason, easy for them. Thrown them to- God knows, for not liking Pamela. gether, as it were.” But, being French, she made the “Did you shoot him?” best of sharing her husband with THE FACE IS FAMILIAR 71 another woman. I’m sure she The letter was a sweatball. knew.” Matthiessen had rolled it to a wad ”They hated each other.” as he talked, twisting it from one “Here you’re losing your grip hand to the other. Now he used a on the situation. Quite the con- fingernail, trying to find a place trary. They were the best of to begin opening it. I took it from friends and became more so. I him and tossed it through a slot. happened onto them unawares His eyes were calm, but there one evening. They were weeping was something moving, behind and setting each other’s hair.” them.

“And Dr. Eastvold loved them “She became ill with the usual. both? Equally? I mean, he didn’t The curse of women. Carcinoma. want to leave his wife?” It started in the breast, and with “A tremendous capacity for two doctors at her disposal — she love, Dr. Eastvold. But it’s not so kept it quiet. You’d have thought unusual, you know. In many we’d have noticed. But we’re countries of the world a man has blind to our own. Eastvold al- more than one wife, and no one most went out of his mind when presumes to say he loves one he learned she’d waited. Thought more than another. We are capa- it was his fault. The breast and ble of more love than the law al- all. But I put his mind at ease lows, old boy.” and told him I wasn’t exactly I felt that Matthiessen was Shelley myself. But he still felt talking to keep from saying any- guilty. He took the usual tests, but thing. Exactly what was on his it was too late. It had spread. Her mind, I didn’t know. But the body was studded with the cursed pattern was there. I felt chilly. stuff. All we could do was to let The lamps struggled with the her die painlessly. But Eastvold rain — flaring, dying, turning wouldn’t hear of it. He was most rose, to disappear. The little Viet- quiet about it, but firm. He was namese wouldn’t be able to cope not going to let Pamela die.” with the situation before morn- I poured myself a whiskey. I ing. I thought of turning them all didn’t need fast action now; I off, but decided if they did come needed warmth, comfort and on to stay, I didn’t want to miss body. Matthiessen waved his away. it. The candle guttered in its “What I am going to reveal to saucer. Matthiessen was on his you now, you must never repeat. feet. A light floated in the dark- Do you understand? As my friend, ness. The amah with another you must never repeat this to a saucer and candle stub—an un- living soul.” trained girl but sweet. ‘Tou can trust me.” —

72 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

“You can trust no one. ‘What Eastvold had lost weight since one person knows, no one knows. getting the news, but he was in What two persons know, every rare trim. Like a race horse. No one knows.’ And it’s true. But a nerves. But then he never had man has to confide in someone: those. Seemed to know exactly a man has to talk, a man has to what he was doing. Then he dis- talk too much. Give me that appeared. To reappear in a few whisky. Thank God, you don’t days to tell me he had purchased ” drink bourbon. a small secluded estate on Long We drank as the lights came Island. That he had talked with back on with a rush. The little Pamela and she had agreed to go Vietnamese had been victorious. there to live, with him, and Another confounding of this sin- Yvonne. However, he and Pamela gular night. I looked at his face had agreed that she wouldn’t do and dropped my glass. I’ll never this without my blessing. Eastvold forget the time. It was three-ten suggested that if all went well, I in the morning. He laughed and might join them there, later. If I threw his glass at the clock. so desired. I took a look. It was a “I came to Saigon when it was pleasant place, surrounded by a over. I didn’t want to get rich any wall and high-hedge that re- more. I wanted to disappear. But minded me of Sussex. A bit of a comfortably. My father had been pool and a lawn for parties. here in the old days between wars. Though, of course, there would Said it was the most beautiful be none. I knew Pamela would be city in the Orient. The perfect pleased with the surroundings, if place for a man to go to hell in nothing else.’’ comfort. Albeit a little hot. He I wanted to interrupt, to keep didn’t have enough character for him from telling me the rest of the job, so it was left to his son to the story. But I didn’t. His eyes complete the thought. When I were raving as he lit a cigarette. learned about Pamela, I decided He didn’t smoke it. He held it as a to come here and let time take man would a scalpel. care of the rest. For the first time "Eastvold had to get the per- since we’d met at the dance hall mission of Yvonne, naturally. I’m did I tell you it was snowing that not certain that he did, but at any night? yes, it was snowing— she rate, he proceeded. Pamela packed ” didn’t need me. Not any more. her things, and you’d be surprised "The agony, clinical death, bi- how little she actually had that ological death." she could call her own. Three "Most perceptive, old boy. suitcases were ample. It made me You’ll make an Englishman yet. feel as though I had failed her in THE FACE IS FAMILIA^l 73 this, too. But it was too late for stood at the door and said that it that. Eastvold wouldn’t let me as- had been agreed among Yvonne, sist him in the operating room. Pamela and himself that I was He’d had one constructed in the perfectly welcome to come live solarium. Small, superb, every- with them, but that Pamela would thing within reach of one man.” never return to me. He indicated “Then he— saved your wife?” a leather-bound portfolio on the "Indeed. But we weren’t sure coffee table, looked at me again, till some days later. Anoxia must and disappeared. pass, alalia. Endless tests. He re- “I opened the portfolio. In it ported she was doing as well as was a copy of ‘Resuscitation and could be expected under the cir- Artificial Hypothermia’. This con- cumstances. Naturally, I asked to cerned me. 'ITien, I noticed below see her, and finally the day came this, a set of clinical sketches, of when he called and said she was animals, in some detail. I think well enough to recognize me and it was at this moment that I that I could come, if I promised knew, subliminally, what to ex- to stay only a short time. Of pect. That I’d never see Pamela course, I complied. So extensive again, That I just wasn’t big an operation would be a shock to enough. But, now, with the tragic her nervous system. When I ar- death of Eastvold, all that is rived at the estate, I was early. I changed.” couldn’t enter. I went to the rear. “You’re going back?” It, too, was locked, but there was “Yes. I’ve made up my mind. A a wall-box for the delivery boy. I man can get used to anything. tried to push it open, but the re- The unknown is what we fear. ceiving panel was locked on the Once that is faced, once we face far side of the wall. I thought change, then the unknown be- perhaps I’d mixed my days. I left comes known and we are at peace my card in the box, but returned with it. Remember Sputnik cir- to the front to try ringing again. cling the world — the first satel- Eastvold was waiting for me. He lite? —what a shock. Now we expressed regret at my having to take it for granted. One in the wait, explaining that he’d been air, two in the air, three, four, with Yvonne and Pamela and what’s the difference?” that they hadn’t wanted him to “But what did you find in the leave them. He’d finally broken papers—what kind of animal away, but only on the promise sketches. Doctor?” that he’d return immediately. I’ll It was the first time in a long never forget the look he gave me time I had called him doctor. as he left the living room. He “A standard work. Demikhov’s. 74 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Dr. V.P. Demikhov’s experiments and another with one head asleep in modifjing a flesh to the natural while the other had a ball in its immunity which causes a body to mouth. At bottom were clinical slough off tissue not its own. But Polaroids of Yvonne and Pamela. there’s nothing new here. The He had discarded her diseased South Seas have been trepanning body and given her back her life.” « skulls for generations, inserting smoothed cocoanut to cover the “Then I noticed her three suit- brain. One man can carry anoth- cases, neatly together and close by er man’s kidney. Hemicorporec- the front door. I lifted the tartan. tomy is accepted. Hearts will be It was full. I put it under my exchanged someday.” arm, took the other two and re- His mind seemed to wander. turned to the car.”

"The thing is, I never cared for Yvonne. Not really. It would be “I didn’t see Eastvold again taking advantage, don’t you for some three weeks, during know? In a manner of speaking. I which time I made preparations suppose I’m old fashioned, Vic- to come to Saigon. I saw him torian if you w’ill: I can’t help it. walking down Fifth Avenue. He I can’t help it.” was carrying packages and had “Doctor, for the love of God, been shopping. He turned into a tell me." ladies’ shop. I followed him in. As though repeating a lesson, When he saw me, he smiled. But he said: he seemed embarrassed, as any "The sketches were Demikhov’s man might under the circum- schematic showing the successful stances. He was buying hats. ‘Dif- grafting of a donor dog’s head ferent, of course,’ he explained, onto the body of the host dog. one in each hand. ‘You know how ” Beneatlr these were photographs women are.’ showing both heads lapping milk, Those damned Russians.

HELP! Glenn Lord, Box 775, Pasadena, Tex., 77501, literary agent for the estate of

Robert E. Howard, recently came across, in a batch of Howard papers, the 17th and last

page of an otherwise completely unknown Conan story. He and 1 have been trying

without success to locate the remaining 16 pages. If any reader has any Howard papers, or knows of anybody who might have them, any help he can give in tracking down this

lost manuscript would be vastly appreciated. Write to Mr. Lord at his home address or

to me care of the magazine.— L. Sprague de Camp. The bones of this short story are quite simple. A spacecraft is orbited and sent to Mars and back—without stopping. In

other words, it barely qualifies as science fiction. But, as we said, these are only the bones. In one clever and ingenious touch, Mr. Pulley gives them body and spirit.

THE SPACE TWINS

by James Pulley

Dearest: longest debriefing and IRC (In- I know it’s a surprise to have telligence Resume & Critique) this delivered to you by a new since Shepard was kicked into that neighbor you probably don’t even little sub-orbital way-back-when! know—but I think this letter will Of course you know there were explain. You know where I am, of “problems”, that were quite evident course, but not why. when we touched down, but their

You see, I know—well, I don’t real nature , was squelched good! know, but as we say in Aerospace, They were the kind of problems

“the data would indicate . . that we would like for our Kos- our mail is being censored. I monaut Komrades to experience know you wouldn’t guess, but the without prior knowledge, so that’s CIA boys have some elegant meth- the reason for all this ultra-securi- ods. If you examine some of my ty junk. recent letters to you, you’ll find I looked up in the ’phone book that the writing on some of' the a close neighbor to your new house pages isn’t mine: It’s a good fac- and gave the envelope to the jani- simile, but not mine. And this idea tor to mail. Inside was another en- of wives moving away from the velope (this letter) and instruc- P-D Complex for “Morale Purpos- tions for said neighbor to give it to es” as the probe reached home- the best-looking brunette on the stor- base . . .! It has to do with my block. Remember those Life recent mission, of course, and the ies about me? About being an Ea- 75 76 F.VNTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

gle Scout and a Rotarian and all? we had to make 6 orbits to check Sneaking this letter out makes me out systems before we rendez- feel like a bad security risk! I know voused with that big Saturn pack- you better than the CIA does, age. During the last two orbits though, and I have to get this off most of the work was up to the

my chest . . . now\ techs at the tracking stations and By the way, burn this letter. I’m all we had to do was take a few really scrubbed for good if the se- photos for the National Geographi-

curity boys find out 1 finked before cal Society and log the tracker’s sig- the “official” version was ready. nals as we swept over their stations.

Lift-off was normal. Of course I don’t think I have ever ex- W^oody complained constantly perienced such beauty on any during acceleration, as he usually previous flights. Old Earth was does. It was really uncomfortable nearly clear of cloud cover over (lOg.) but I was so busy reading Europe and NA, but we could see

out systems that I didn’t mind a lovely low over the Caribbean much. Woody’s gripes are a stand- with misty spiral arms and spotty ing joke among the astronauts. cumulus puffs over the mid-west. “Good-natured,” Phobos-Deimos They cast sharp shadows over a control tells the news media. You gold and green-speckled plain that remember that interview on CBS could only have been ripe wheat during training? When the repor- and cornfields. God! ter asked Woody if acceleration Dusk was blurring the Caucas- was “bad”? He answered, “Have us and the Nile was a forked and you ever been hit in the can by a curving scratch that melted into truck and carried six blocks?” It the chocolate and green of Ethio- broke them up and ever since then pia on the southern horizon. To we always think, “Here comes the north above the Boot the Alps .” Woody’s truck . . whenever showed sparkles of ice in the late those Nova engines ignite. He al- afternoon sun with the dark, dark so kidded a lot about survival train- Mediterranean helow and the in- ing and isometric exercises at zero- tense blue of the atmosphere arch-

g, but I thought that because of his ing above them. Mary, if you could sense of humor he would be an only have been there! Woody ideal partner. And tests have flicked the starboard roll-jet and shown that he can take the physi- we turned head-down as gentle as cal strain of prolonged weightless- air. He looked a long time and ness better than anyone. then stretched his arms wide. He Anyway, we were kicked into was looking out the port and so I that high orbital slot without a couldn’t see his face, of course, but hitch. You probably remember that he lifted his face-plate and put THE SPACE TWINS 77 one hand to his eyes. A few min- kind of waste must be dealt with. utes later, just before we crossed Not just COz, urine, and intesti-

the terminator into the twilight nal waste . . . but sweat, salt, I saw a tiny sparkle drift by me in dandruff, fallen hair, and even the capsule. It must have been a bad breath! We sit in our space- tear, Honey. suits for a week at a time with all Rendezvous was pretty well this Bad Stuff automatically be- taken care of by radar and our little ing fed into what amounts to a computer. We were tracking and “fish-bowl of pond-scum.” In re- closing with the Saturn package turn, this “pond-scum” gives us long before we had visual contact. back oxygen, food, and water! Mating of the two was perfection; Neat, huh? All the algae asks for closing speed just .3 meter per is 24 hours of sunlight through a second. Now we were united big quartz window. Of course I’ve

with our escape-booster and the oversimplified it, but essentially PLSS C Photosynthetic-Life-Sup- this is the system. There is a tube port-System). We had just a few from the PLSS tank to our suits, minutes to check out these systems. and another tube inside our helmets We were on the night side and I from which we can suck a kind of was working fast while Woody pablum. It’s pretty bland stuff, but caught the visual laser-blinks over quite nutritious. We are allowed Woomera. These blinks were ordi- to get out of our suits and go on nary Morse code; tiny red sparks Chemical Support for only a few that read “Good-o-mates.” We were hours a week. Then we can eat one over the P.D complex at the Cape meal of nearly real food. This is when we braced for the escape from called Saturday Night Bath. By earth. More whining from Woody, mutual agreement we decided to but now we were headed for the perform our weekly ritual at dif- Red Planet! ferent times. While I was stiU Honey, I don’t know exactly zipped in, reading out instru- when this “problem” started any ments or gabbing with earth. more than I know when anything Woody would zip out and just started, but when we switched float around stark naked. He had from chemical support to PLSS I this habit of floating in front of knew Woody was going to be hard me upside-down, his eyes on a lev- to live with. Eight months! el with mine. This was a good joke Our temp, resp, EKG, EEG, at first, but soon got irritating. blood ion-level, and every other Phobos-Deimos Control told him thing was constantly monitored to knock if off and spend more time and sent back to eartli. Man is a on isometrics. His temp, resp, and dirty animal, I gather, and every EKG were not showing high 78 FANTASY AND SCIEN'CE FICTION

enough muscular strain, which Is again. I cussed and worried a lot, essential if you have to spend very but I did take the telephotos and much time at zero-g. His blood spectro readings we needed. As we ion-level was showing too much swept around the far side of Mars calcium floating around. They I got the infra-red and occultation were afraid that his bones would info and relayed it to Control.

degenerate and that calcium would Darling, I don’t know much be deposited in his muscles and about the return; it must have been joints. I liked isometrics, Honey. controlled from earth. I can re- I looked forward to them, but member looking out the port at Woody just kept floating, floating those glaring stars inset in the vel- even when zipped in, always up- vet sky and at the sun. And at the

side-down. I was doing the work white-speckled earth growing like for both of us, and if it had been a melon of some sort. And I re- possible I think that Control would member floating, floating next to have scrubbed the whole thing, Woody. No more voices for me, bad press or not. It was spooky. either. By the time that Mars was pull- Turn-around, retro, burn, and ing hard, speeding us up, Woody re-entry were painful, but nothing spent all his time floating upside- like the pull of the chute, the claw- down, tethered by his life-support ing of gravity at my body. I cord. He was all doubled up, eyes screamed as I tried to get out. My closed. He heard nothing I said, joints were fused, bones brittle, or the tinny voices that pleaded muscles degenerated. They finally with him inside his helmet. He just got me out and I guess I am recov- floated, doubled up, eyes closed. ering here in a locked room at base No more Saturday Night Baths. hospital; but, as you may have Zipped in all the time. I screamed guessed. Woody was stillborn. and raved and kicked him. He would be knocked to the end of his Love, cord and float back to be kicked Bud This is the third in Jack Vance’s fascinating series about Cugel the Clever. (Each novelet is complete and may be enjoyed without

reference to the preceding stories.) In this story, an ill advised meal leads to a terrifying encounter with the sorcerer Pharesm, in which Cugel is thrown back in time one million years to be faced with a situation which almost taxes his ingenuity past Us limits. Almost. THE SOBCEHEB PHARESM

by Jack Vance

The mountains were behind: ed no response. He settled himself the dark defiles, the tarns, the ech- upon a low lichen-covered rock to oing stone heights — all now a soo- rest, but now Firx, the monitor ty bulk to the north. For a time which lucounu the Laughing Ma- Cugel wandered a region of low gician had implanted in Cugel’s rounded hills the color and tex- viscera, became impatient and in- ture of old wood, with groves of flicted a stimulating pang. Cugel blue-black trees dense along the leapt to his feet, groaning with ridges, then came upon a faint trail weariness and shaking his fist to which took him south by long the southwest, the presumable swings and slants, and at last broke direction of Almery. "lucounu, out over a vast dim plain. A half- lucounu! If I could repay a tenth mile to the right rose a line of tall of your offenses, the world would cliffs, which instantly attracted think me harsh!” his attention, bringing him a He set off down the trail, under haunting pang of deja-vu. He the cliffs which had affected him stared mystified. At some time in with such poignant but impossi- the past he had known these cliffs: ble recollections. Far below spread how? when? His memory provid- the plain, filling three-quarters of SO FANTASY AND SCIENCE ITCTION the horizon with colors much like ceeded, debated the exact quality those of the lichened rock Cugel of revenge he would take if ever he had just departed: black patches found his way back to Almery. of woodland; a gray crumble where The trail swung down upon a ruins filled an entire valley; non- wide stony flat where tlie wind had descript streaks of gray-green, lav- carved a thousand grotesque fig- ender, gray-brown; the leaden ures. Surveying the area Cugel glint of two great rivers disappear- thought to perceive regularity ing into the haze of distance. among the eroded shapes, and halt- Cugel’s brief rest had only ed to rub his long chin in ap- served to stifFen his joints; he praisal. The pattern displayed an limped, and the pouch chafed his extreme subtley — so subtle indeed, hip. Even more distressing was the that Cugel wondered if it had not hunger gripping his belly. Anoth- been projected by his own mind. er tally against lucounu who had Moving closer, he discerned further sent Cugel to the northern wastes complexities, and elaborations on a mission of wanton frivolity! upon complexities: twists, spires, lucounu, it must be allowed, had volutes; disks, saddles, wrenched furnished an amulet converting spheres; torsions and flexions; such normally inedible substanc- spindles, cardioids, lanciform pin- es as grass, wood, horn, hair, hu- nacles: the most laborious, pains- mus and the like into a nutritious taking and intricate rock-carving paste. Unfortunately— and this conceivable, manifestly no ran- was a measure of lucounu’s mor- dom effort of the elements. Cugel dant humor— the paste retained frowned in perplexity, unable to the flavor of the native substance, imagine a motive for so complex and during his passage of the an undertaking. mountain Cugel had tasted little He went on and a moment la- better than spurge, cullion, black- ter heard voices, together with the wort, oak-twigs and galls, and on clank of tools. He stopped short, one occasion, when all else failed, listened cautiously, then proceed- certain refuse discovered in the ed, to come upon a gang of about cave of a bearded thawn. Cugel fifty men ranging in stature from had eaten only minimally; his three inches to well over twelve long spare frame had become feet. Cugel approached on tenta- gaunt; his cheek-bones protruded tive feet, but after a glance the like sponsons; the black eyebrows workers paid him no heed, con- which once had crooked so jaun- tinuing to chisel, grind, scrape, tily now lay flat and dispirited. probe and polish with dedicated Truly, truly, lucounu had much to zeal. answer for! And Cugel, as he pro- Cugel watched for several min- THE SORCERER PHARESM 81 utes, then approached the over- gauge bant-iron to remove the seer, a man three feet in height swange.” who stood at a lectern consult- With the work once more go- ing the plans spread before him, ing correctly, he fell to studying comparing them to the work in his plans, shaking his head with progress by means of an ingenious a frown of dissatisfaction. “Much optical device. He appeared to too slow! The craftsmen toil as if note everything at once, calling in a drugged torpor, or else display instructions, chiding, exhorting a mulish stupidity. Only yester- against error, instructing the least day Dadio Fessadil, he of three ells deft in the use of their tools. To ex- with the green kerchief yonder, emplify his remarks he used a won- used a nineteen-gauge freezing- derfully extensible forefinger, bar to groove the bead of a small which reached forth thirty feet to inverted quatrefoil.” tap at a section of rock, to scratch Cugel shook his head in sur- a quick diagram, then as swiftly prise, as if never had he heard of retract. so egregious a blunder. And he

The foreman drew back a pace asked : “What prompts this inordi- or two, temporarily satisfied with nate rock-hewing?” the work in progress, and Cugel "I cannot say,” replied the fore- came forward. "What intricate ef- man. “The work has been in prog- fort is this and what is its ob- ress three hundred and eighteen ject?” years, but during this time Pha-

“The work is as you see,” replied resm has never clarified his mo- the foreman in a voice of pene- tives. They must be pointed and trating compass. “From natural definite, for he makes a daily in- rock we produce specified shapes, spection and is quick to indicate at the behest of the sorcerer Pha- errors.” Here he turned aside to

resm . . . Now then! Now consult with a man as tall as Cug- then!” The cry was addressed to a el’s knee, who voiced uncertainty man three feet taller than Cugel, as to the pitch of a certain volute. who had been striking tlie stone The foreman, consulting an in- with a pointed maul. “I detect over- dex, resolved the matter; then he confidence!” The forefinger shot turned back to Cugel, this time forth. “Use great care at this junc- with an air of frank appraisal. ture; note how the rock tends to "You appear both astute and deft; cleave? Strike here a blow of the would you care to take employ- sixth intensity at the vertical, us- ment? We lack several craftsmen ing a semi-clenched grip; at this of the half-ell category, or, if you point a fourth-intensity blow prefer more foreeful manifesta- groin-wise; then employ a quarter- tions, we can nicely use an ap- S2 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION'

prentice stone-breaker of sixteen or no. It is a decision of conse- ells. Your stature is adjusted in quence which I feel I should con- either direction, there is identical sider in all its aspects.” scope for advancement. As you The Chief Chade gave a nod of see I am a man of four ells. I profound agreement. “We encour- reached the position of Striker in age deliberation in our craftsmen, one year, Molder of Forms in three. when every stroke must achieve the Assistant Chade in ten, and I have desired effect. To repair an inac- now served as Chief Chade for curacy of as much as a fingernail’s nineteen years. My predecessor width the entire block must be re- was of two ells, and the Chief moved, a new block fitted into the Chade before him was a ten-ell socket of the old, whereupon aU man.” He went on to enumerate begins anew. Until the work has advantages of the work, which in- reached its previous stage nym- cluded sustenance, shelter, narcot- pharium privileges are denied to ics of choice, nympharium priv- all. Hence, we wish no opportun- ileges, a stipend starting at ten istic or impulsive newcomers to terces a day, various other bene- the group.”

fits including Pharesm’s services as Firx, suddenly apprehending diviner and exerciser. “Addition- that Cugel proposed a delay, made ally, Pharesm maintains a conser- representations of a most agoniz- vatory w’here all may enrich their ing nature. Clasping his abdomen, intellects. I myself take instruc- Cugel took himself aside and while tion in Insect Identification, the the Chief Chade watched in per- Heraldry of the Kings of Old Gom- plexity, argued heatedly with Firx. az. Unison Chanting, Practical “How may I proceed without sus- Catalepsy and Orthodox Doctrine. tenance?” Firx’s response was an in- You will never find a master more cisive motion of tlie barbs. “Impos- generous than Pharesm the Sor- sible!” exclaimed Cugel. “The am- cerer!” ulet of lucounu theoretically suf- Cugel restrained a smile for the fices, but I can stomach no more Chief Chade’s enthusiasm; still, spurge; remember, if I fall dead his stomach was roiling with hun- in the trail, you rvill never rejoin ger and he did not reject the prof- your comrade in lucounu’s vats!” fer out of hand. “I had never be- Firx saw the justice of the ar- fore considered such a career,” he gument and reluctantly became said. “You cite advantages of which quiet. Cugel returned to the lec- I was unaware.” tern, where the Chief Chade had “True; they are not generally been distracted by the discovery of known.” a large tourmaline opposing the “I cannot immediately say yes flow of a certain complicated he- THE SORCERER PHARESM 83

lix. Finally Cugel was able to en- “All appears reasonably exact,” gage his attention. “While I weigh he told the Chief Chade. “I believe the proflFer of employment and the the polish on the underside of Epi- conflicting advantages of diminu- projection 56-16 is uneven and I tion versus elongation, I will need detect a minute chip on the second- a couch on which to recline. I also ary cinctor of the nineteenth wish to test the perquisites you de- spire. Neither circumstance seems scribe, perhaps for the period of a of major import and I recommend day or more.” no disciplinary action.” “Your prudence is commend- ‘The deficiencies shall be re- able,” declared the Chief Chade. paired and the careless artisans

“The folk of today tend to com- reprimanded : this at the very mit themselves rashly to courses least!” exclaimed the Chief Chade they later regret. It was not so in in an angry passion. “Now I wish my youth, when sobriety and dis- to introduce a possible recruit to cretion prevailed. I will arrange our work-force. He claims no ex- for your admission into the com- perience at the trade, and will de- pound, where you may verify each liberate before deciding to join oux of my assertions. You will find group. If he so elects, I envision Pharesm stern but just, and only the usual period as rubble-gather- the man who hacks the rock willy- er, before he is entrusted with tool- nilly has cause to complain. But sharpening and preliminary exca-

observe! here is Pharesm the Sor- vation.” cerer on his daily inspection I” “Yes; th’.s would accord with ." Up the trail came a man of im- our usual practice. However . . posing stature wearing a volumi- Pharesm glided effortlessly for- nous white robe. His countenance ward, took Cugel’s left hand and was benign; his hair was like yel- performed a swift divination upon low down; his eyes were turned the fingernails. His bland coun- upward as if rapt in the contem- tenance became sober. “I see con- plation of an ineffable sublimity. tradictions of four varieties. Still His arms were sedately folded, and it is clear that your optimum bent he moved without motion of his lies elsewhere than in the hewing legs. The workers, doffing their and shaping of rock. I advise that caps and bowing in unison, chant- you seek another and more com- ed a respectful salute, to which patible employment.” Pharesm returned an inclination “W^ell spoken!” cried the Chief of the head. Spying Cugel, he Chade. “Pharesm the Sorcerer paused, made a swift survey of the demonstrates his infallible altru- work so far accomplished, then ism! In order that I do not fall glided without haste to the lectern. short of the mark I hereby with- ”

84 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION draw my proffer of employment! ditions requisite to such a state; Since no purpose can now be hence — served by reclining upon a couch Pharesm indulgently shook his or testing the perquisites, you need head. “Caution, like any other vir- waste no more irreplaceable time.” tue, can be carried to an extreme. Cugel made a sour face. “So cas- The divination must proceed at ual a divination might well be in- once.” accurate.” Cugel attempted to argue fur- The Chief Chade extended his ther but Pharesm was adamant, forefinger thirty feet vertically in and presently glided off down the outraged remonstrance, but Pha- trail. resm gave a placid nod. ‘This is Cugel disconsolately went to the quite correct, and I will gladly side, considering first this strata- perform a more comprehensive di- gem, then that. The sun neared the vination, though the process re- zenith, and the workmen began to quires six to eight hours.” speculate as to the nature of the “So long?” asked Cugel in aston- viands to be served for their mid- i^ment. day meal. At last the Chief Chade “This is the barest minimum. signaled; all put down their tools First you are swathed head to foot and gathered about the cart which in the intestines of fresh-killed contained the repast. owls, then immersed in a warm Cugel jocularly called out hath containing a number of se- that he might be persuaded to share cret organic substances. I must, of the meal, but the Chief Chade course, char the small toe of your would not hear of it. "As in all of left foot, and dilate your nose suf- Pharesm’s activities, an exacti- ficiently to admit an explorer bee- tude of consequence must prevail. tle, that he may study the condu- It is an unthinkable discrepancy its leading to and from your sen- that fifty-four men should consume sorium. But let us return to my the food intended for fifty-three.” divinatory, that we may com- Cugel could contrive no ap- mence the process in good time.” posite reply, and sat in silence Cugel pulled at his chin, torn while the rock-hewers munched at this way and that. Finally he said, meat pies, cheeses and salt fish. All “I am a cautious man, and must ignored him save for one, a quar- ponder even the advisability of un- ter-ell man whose generosity far dertaking such a divination; hence, exceeded his stature, and who un- I will require several days of calm dertook to reserve for Cugel a cer- and meditative somnolence. Your tain portion of his food. Cugel re- compound and the adjacent nym- plied that he was not at all hun- pharium appear to afford the con- gry, and rising to his feet wandered THE SORCERER PHARESM 85 off through the project, hoping to and to each of the tentacles. He discover some forgotten cache of heard neither chime nor buzz : the food. He prowled here and there, creature was non-poisonous. He but the rubble-gatherers had re- unsheathed his knife, sought to ex- moved every trace of substance ex- cise one of the tentacles, but found traneous to the pattern. With ap- the substance too resilient and petite unassuaged Cugel arrived at tough to be cut. There was a bra- the center of the work, where zier nearby, kept aglow for forg- sprawled on a carved disk, he spied ing and sharpening the workers’ a most peculiar creature; essen- tools. He lifted the creature by tially a gelatinous globe swim- two of its tentacles, carried it to ming with luminous particles from the brazier and arranged it over which a number of transparent the fire. He toasted it carefully tubes or tentacles dwindled away and when he deemed it sufficiently to nothing. Cugel bent to examine cooked, sought to eat it. Finally, the creature, which pulsed with a after various undignified efforts, slow internal rhythm. He prod- he crammed the creature down his ed it with his finger, and bright lit- throat, finding it without taste or tle flickers rippled away from the sensible nutritive volume. point of contact. Interesting: a The stone-carvers were return- creature of unique capabilities! ing to their work. With a signifi- Removing a pin from his garments cant glance for the foreman Cugel he prodded a tentacle, which emit- set off down the trail. ted a peevish pulse of light, while Not far distant was the dwelling the golden flecks in its substance of Pharesm the Sorcerer : a long low surged back and forth. More in- building of melted rock surmount- trigued than ever, Cugel hitched ed by eight oddly shaped domes himself close, and gave himself to of copper, mica, and bright blue experimentation, probing here and glass. Pharesm himself sat at lei- there, watching the angry flickers sure before the dwelling, survey- and sparkles with great amuse- ing the valley with a serene and ment. all-inclusive magnanimity. He A new thought occurred to Cug- held up a hand in calm salute. “I el. The creature displayed quali- wish you pleasant travels and suc- ties reminiscent of both coelen- cess in all future endeavors.” terate and echinoderm. A terrene "The sentiment is naturally val- nudibranch? A mollusc deprived ued,” said Cugel with some bitter- of its shell? More importantly, was ness. “You might however have ren- the creature edible? dered a more meaningful service by Cugel brought forth his amu- extending a share of your noon let, applied it to the central globe meal.” —

86 FANT.'VSY .\ND SCIENCE FICTION

Pharesm's placid benevolence down of his hair. He rolled his was as before. “This would have eyes upward and uttered a tragic been an act of mistaken altruism. cry. “Ah! Five hundred years I Too fulsome a generosity corrupts have toiled to entice this creature, the recipient and stultifies his re- despairing, doubting, brooding by source.” night, yet never abandoning hope Cugel gave a bitter laugh. “I that my calculations were accurate am a man of iron principle, and I and my great talisman cogent. will not complain, even though, Then, when finally it appears, you lacking any better fare, I was fall upon it for no other reason forced to devour a great transpar- then to sate your repulsive glut- ent insect which I found at the tony!” heart of your rock-carving.” Cugel, somewhat daunted by Pharesm swung about with a Pharesm’s wrath, asserted his ab- suddenly intent expression. “A sence of malicious intent. Pha- great transparent insect, you say?” resm would not be mollified. He “Insect, epiphyte; mollusc pointed out that Cugel had com- who knows? It resembled no crea- mitted trespass and hence had for- ture I have yet seen, and its flavor, feited the option of pleading inno- even after carefully grilling at the ence. “Your very existence is a mis- brazier, was not distinctive.” chief compounded by bringing the Pharesm floated seven feet into unpleasant faet to my notice. Be- the air, to turn the full power of nevolence prompted me to fore- his gaze down at Cugel. He spoke bearance, which now I perceive for in a low harsh voiee; “Describe a grave mistake." this creature in detail!” “In this case,” stated Cugel with Wondering at Pharesm’s sever- dignity, “I will depart your pres- ity, Cugel obeyed. “It was thus and ence at once. I wish you good for- thus as to dimension.” He indicat- tune for the balance of the day, ed with his hands. “In color it was and now, farewell.” a gelatinous transparency shot “Not so fast,” said Pharesm in with numberless golden specks. the coldest of voices. “Exactitude These flickered and pulsed when has been disturbed; the wrong the creature was disturbed. The which has been committed de- tentacles seemed to grow flimsy and mands a counter-act to validate tbe disappear rather than terminate. Law of Equipoise. I can define the The creature evinced a certain sul- gravity of your act in this manner: len determination, and ingestion should I explode you on this in- proved difficult.” stant into the most minute of your Pharesm clutched at his head, parts the atonement would meas- hooking his fingers into the yellow ure one ten-millionth of your of- ”

THE SORCERER PHARESM 87 fense. A more stringent retribution in your idiotic malice you de- becomes necessary.” voured it.” Cugel spoke in great distress. Cugel, with a trace of haughti- “I understand that an act of conse- ness, pointed out that the “idiotic quence was performed, but remem- malice” to which the distraught ber! my participation was basi- sorcerer referred was in actuality cally casual. I categorically de- simple hunger. “In any event, what clare first my absolute innocence, is so extraordinary about the ‘crea- second my lack of criminal intent, ture’? Others equally ugly may and third my effusive apologies. be found in the net of any fisher- And now, since I —have many man.” leagues to travel, I will Pharesm drew himself to his Pharesm made a peremptory full height, glared down at CugeP gesture. Cugel fell silent. Pha- “The ‘creature’,” he said in a grat- resm drew a deep breath. “You fail ing voice, “is TOTALITY. The to understand the calamity you central globe is all of space, viewed have visited upon me. I will ex- from the inverse. The tubes are plain, so that you may not be as- vortices into various eras, and tounded by the rigors which await what terrible acts you bave accom- you. As I have adumbrated, the ar- plished with your prodding and rival of the creature was the cul- poking, your boiling and chewing, mination of my great effort. I de- are impossible to imagine!” termined its nature through a per- “What of the effects of diges- usal of forty-two thousand librams, tion?” inquired Cugel delicately. all written in cryptic language: a “Will the various components of task requiring a hundred years. space, time and existence retain During a second hundred years I their identity after passing the evolved a pattern to draw it in length of my inner tract?” upon itself and prepared exact spe- “Bah. The concept is jejune. cification. Next I assembled stone- Enough to say that you have cutters, and across a period of three wreaked damage and created a hundred years gave solid form to serious tension in the ontological my pattern. Since like subsumes fabric. Inexorably you are required like, the variates and intercongeles to restore equilibrium.” create a suprapullulation of all Cugel held out his hands. “Is it areas, qualities and internals into not possible a mistake has been a crystorrhoid whorl, eventually made? That the ‘creature’ was no exciting the ponentiation of a pro- more than pseudo-TOTALITY? Or ubietal chute. Today occurred the is it conceivable that the ‘creature’ concatenation; the ‘creature’, as may by some means be lured forth you call it, pervolved upon itself; once more?” FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

"The first two theories are un- splayed gray walls, illuminated tenable. As to the last, I must con- by three-colored polyhedra, Cugel fess that certain frantic expedi- devoured the food Pharesm caused ents have been forming in my to appear. Meanwhile Pharesm se- mind.” Pharesm made a sign, and cluded himself in his work-room, Cugel’s feet became attached to the where he occupied himself with his soil. "I must go to my divinatory divinations. As time passed Cugel and learn the full significance of grew restless, and on three occa- the distressing events. In due sions approached the arched en- course I w'ill return.” trance. On each occasion a Pre- “At which time I will be feeble sentment came to deter him, first with hunger,” said Cugel fretfully. in the shape of a leaping ghoul, "Indeed, a crust of bread and a next as a zig-zag blaze of energy, bite of cheese would have averted and finally as a score of glittering all the events for which I am now purple w asps. reproached.” Discouraged, Cugel went to a “Silence!” thundered Pharesm. bench, and sat waiting with el- "Do not forget that your penalty bows on long legs, hands under remains to be fixed; it is the height his chin. of impudent recklessness to hector Pharesm at last reappeared, his a person already struggling to robe wrinkled, the fine yellow maintain his judicious calm!” down of his hair disordered into a "Allow me to say this much,” re- multitude of small spikes. Cugel plied Cugel. “If you return from slowly rose to his feet. your divining to find me dead “I have learned the where- and dessicated here on the path, abouts of TOTALITY,” said Pha- you will have w'asted much time fix- resm, in a voice like the strokes ing upon a penalty.” of a great gong. “In indignation,

“The restoration of vitality is a removing itself from your stom- small task,” said Pharesm. “A va- ach, it has recoiled a million years riety of deaths by contrasting proc- into the past.” esses may well enter into your Cugel gave his head a solemn judgment.” He started toward his shake. “Allow me to offer my sym- divinatory, then turned back and pathy, and my counsel, which is: made an impatient gesture. “Come; never despair! Perhaps the ‘crea- it is easier to feed you than return ture’ will choose to pass this way to the road.” again.” Cugel’s feet w'ere once more “An end to your chatter! TO- free and he followed Pharesm TALITY must be recovered. through a wide arch into the di- Come.” vinatory. In a broad room with Cugel reluctantlv followed ”

THE SORCERER PHARESM 89

Pharesm into a small room walled Pharesm ignored the expostu- with blue tile, roofed with a tall lation. “The mission, of course, is cupola of blue and orange glass. to bring the symbol into contact Pharesm pointed to a black disk at with TOTALITY.” He brought the center of the floor. “Stand forth a wad of tangled gray tissue. there.” “In order to facilitate your search, Cugel glumly obeyed.— “In a cer- I endow you with this instrument tain sense, I feel that which relates all possible vocables “Silence!” Pharesm came for- to every conceivable system of ward. “Notice this object!” He dis- meaning.” He thrust the net into played an ivory sphere the size of Cugel’s ear, where it swiftly en- two fists, carved in exceedingly gaged itself with the nerve of con- fine detail. “Here you see the pat- sonent expression. “Now,” said tern from which my great work is Pharesm, “you need listen to a derived. It expresses the symbolic strange language for but three min- significance of NULLITY to which utes when you become proficient TOTALITY must necessarily at- in its use. And now, another ar- tach itself, by Kratinjae’s Second ticle to enhance the prospect of

Law of Cryptorrhoid Affmites, success : This ring. Notice the jew- with which you are possibly famil- el: should you approach to within iar.” a league of TOTALITY, darting “Not in every aspect,” said Cu- lights within the gem will guide gel. “But may I ask your inten- you. Is all clear?” tions?” Cugel gave a reluctant nod. Pharesm’s mouth moved in a “There is another matter to be con- cool smile. “I am about to attempt sidered. Assume that your calcula- one of the most cogent spells ever tions are incorrect and that TO- evolved: a spell so fractious, harsh, TALITY has returned only nine and coactive, that Phandaal, Rank- hundred thousand years into the ing Sorcerer of Grand Motholam, past: what then? Must I dwell out barred its use. If I am able to con- all my life in this possibly bar- trol it, you will be propelled one barous era?” million years into the past. There Pharesm frowned in displeas- you will reside until you have ac- ure. “Such a situation involves an complished your mission, when error of ten percent. My system you may return.” of reckoning seldom admits of de- Cugel stepped quickly from the viation greater than one percent.” black disk. "I am not the man for Cugel began to make calcula- fliis mission, whatever it may be. tions, but now Pharesm signaled I fervently urge the use of some- to the black disk. “Back! And do one else!” not again move hence!” .

90 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Sweat oozing from his glands, He tested arms and legs and knees quivering and sagging, Cug- finding no damage, sat upright, el returned to his place. then slowly rose to his feet, blink- Pharesm retreated to the far end ing in the unfamiliar radiance. of the room, where he stepped in- The topography had changed to a coil of gold tubing, which only slightly. The mountains to sprang spiraling up to clasp his the north were taller and of harsh- body. From a desk he took four er texture, and Cugel could not black disks, which he began to identify the way he had come, or shuffle and juggle with such fan- — more properly — the way he tastic dexterity that they blurred would come. The site of Pharesm’s in Cugel’s sight. Pharesm at last project was now a low forest of flung the disks away; spinning and feathery-light green trees, on which wheeling they hung in the air, hung clusters of red berries. The gradually drifting toward Cugel. valley ivas as before, though the Pharesm next took up a white rivers flowed by diff’erent courses tube, pressed it tight against his and three great cities were visible lips and spoke an incantation. The at varying distances. The air drift- tube swelled and bulged into a ing up from the valley carried a great globe. Pharesm twisted the strange tart fragrance mingled end shut and shouting a thunder- with an antique exhalation of ous spell, hurled the globe at the moulder and must, and it seemed spinning disks, and all exploded. to Cugel that a peculiar melan- Cugel was surrounded, seized, choly hung in the air; in fact, he jerked in all directions outward, thought to hear music: a slow compressed with equal vehem- plaintive melody, so sad as to ence: The net result, a thrust in a bring tears to his eyes. He searched direction contrary to all, with an for the source of the music, but it impetus equivalent to the tide of a faded and disappeared even as he million years. Among dazzling sought it, and only when he ceased lights and distorted visions, Cugel to listen did it return was transported beyond his con- For the first time Cugel looked sciousness. toward the cliffs which rose to the west, and now the sense of deja-vu Cugel aw'oke in a glare of or- was stronger than ever. Cugel ange-gold sunlight, of a radiance pulled his chin in puzzlement. he had never known before. He lay The time was a million years pre- on his back looking up into a sky vious to that other occasion on of warm blue, of lighter tone and which he had seen the cliffs, and softer texture than the indigo sky hence, by definition, must be the of his own time. first. But it was also the second THE SORCERER PHARESM 91 time, for he well remembered his struck at last at the base of the initial experience of the cliffs. On cliff. The Winged Being, after the other hand, the logic of time dropping the body, glided to a could not be contravened, and by high ledge, where it folded its such reckoning this view preced- wings and stood like a man, star- ed the other. A paradox, thought ing over the valley. Cugel shrank Cugel: a puzzle indeed! Which back behind a rock. Had he been experience had provided the back- seen? He could not be sure. He ground to the poignant sense of fa- heaved a deep sigh. This sad gold- miliarity he had felt on both oc- en world of the past was not to

casions? . . , Cugel dismissed his liking; the sooner he could the subject as unprofitable and leave the better. He examined the started to turn away w'hen move- ring which Pharesm had fur- ment caught his eye. He looked nished, but the gem shone like dull back up the face of the cliffs, and glass, with none of the darting glit- the air was suddenly full and rich ters which would point the direc- with the music he had heard be- tion to TOTALITY. It was as fore, music of anguish and exalted Cugel feared. Pharesm had erred despair . . . Cugel stared in in his calculations and Cugel wonder. A great winged creature could never return to his own time. wearing white robes flapped on The sound of flapping wings high along the face of the cliff. caused him to look into the sky. The wings were long, ribbed with He shrank back into such conceal- black chitin, sheathed with gray ment as the rock offered. The mu- membrane. Cugel watched in awe sic of woe swelled and sighed as it swooped into a cave high up in away, as in the light of the setting the face of the cliff. sun the winged creature hovered A gong tolled, from a direction beside the cliff and dropped its Cugel could not determine. Over- victim. Then it landed on a ledge tones shuddered across the air and with a great flapping of wings and when they died, the unheard mu- entered a cave. sic became almost audible. From Cugel rose to his feet and ran far over the valley came one of the crouching dow'n the path through Winged Beings, carrying a human the amber dusk. form, of what age and sex Cugel The path presently entered a could not determine. It hovered be- grove of trees and here Cugel side tbe cliff and dropped its bur- paused to catch his breath, after den. Cugel thought to hear a faint which he proceeded more circum- cry and the music was sad, stately, spectly. He crossed a patch of cul- sonorous. The body seemed to fall tivated ground on which stood a slowly down the great height and vacant hut. Cugel considered it 92 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

as shelter for the night, but thought heads and long restless arms. Their to see a dark shape watching from skin was a rich pumpkin orange;

the interior and passed it by. their eyes and teeth were black; The trail led away from the their hair, likewise black, hung cliffs, across rolling downs, and smoothly down beside the faces of just before the twilight gave way to the men to terminate in a fringe of night Cugel came to a village blue beads, while the women standing on the banks of a pond. wound their hair around white Cugel approached warily, but rings and pegs, to arrive at a coif- was encouraged by the signs of ti- fure of no small complexity. The diness and good husbandry. In a features were heavy at jaw and park beside the pond stood a pavil- cheek-bone; the long wide-spaced ion possibly intended for music, eyes drooped in a droll manner at miming or declamation; surround- the outer corners. The noses and ing the park were small narrow ears were long and were under con- houses with high gables, the ridg- siderable muscular control, endow- es of which were raised in decora- ing the faces with great vivacity. tive scallops. Opposite the pond The men wore flounced black kirt- was a larger building, with an or- les, brown surcoats, headgear con- nate front of woven wood and en- sisting of a wide black disk, a amled plaques of red, blue and black cylinder, another lesser disk, yellow. Three tall gables served as surmounted by a gilded ball. The its roof, the central ridge support- women wore black trousers, brown ing an intricate carved panel, jackets with enameled disks at the while those to either side bore a navel, and at each buttock a sim- series of small spherical blue ulated tail of green or red plumes, lamps. At the front was a wide per- possibly an indication as to mari- gola sheltering benches, tables and tal status. an open space, all illuminated by Cugel stepped into the light of red and green fire-fans. Here the fire-fans; instantly all talk townsfolk took their ease, inhaling ceased. Noses became rigid, eyes incense and drinking wine, while stared, ears twisted about in curi- youths and maidens cavorted in osity. Cugel smiled to left and an eccentric high-kicking dance, right, waved his hand in a debon- to the music of pipes and a con- air all-inclusive greeting, and took certina. a seat at an empty table. Emboldened by the placidity of There were mutters of astonish- the scene, Cugel approached. The ment at the various tables, too qui- villagers were of a type he had et to reach Cugel’s ears. Presently never before encountered, of no one of the elders arose and ap- great stature, with generally large proaching Cugel’s table spoke a THE SORCERER PHARESM 93 sentence, which Cugel found un- few moments, lest in error I com- intelligible, for with insufficient mit a solecism.” scope, Pharesm’s mesh as yet “Ingenious but peculiar,” was failed to yield meaning. Cugel the elder’s comment. “Still, your smiled politely, held wide his conduct offers no explicit contra- hands in a gesture of well-mean- diction to orthodoxy. May I in- ing helplessness. The elder spoke quire the urgency which brings once more, in a rather sharper you to Farwan?” voice, and again Cugel indicated Cugel glanced at his ring; the his inability to understand. The crystal was dull and lifeless; TO- elder gave his ears a sharp disap- TALITY was clearly elsewhere. proving jerk and turned away. “My homeland is uncultured; I Cugel signaled to the proprietor, travel that I may learn the modes pointed to the bread and wine on and styles of more civihzed folk.” a table and signified his desire that “Indeed!” The elder mulled the the same be brought to him. matter over for a moment, and The proprietor voiced a query nodded in qualified approval. which, for all its unintelligibility, “Your garments and physiognomy Cugel was able to interpret. He are of a type unfamiliar to me; brought forth a gold coin, and, sat- where is this homeland of yours?” isfied, the proprietor turned away. “It hes in a region so remote,”

Conversation recommenced at said Cugel, “that never till this in- the various tables and before long stant had I knowledge of the land the vocables conveyed meaning to of Farwan!” Cugel. When he had eaten and The elder flattened his ears in drunk, he rose to his feet and surprise. “What? Glorious Farwan, walked to the table of the elder who unknown? The great cities Imper- had first spoken to him, where he gos, Tharuwe, Rhaverjand —all bowed respectfully. “Do I have per- unheard of? What of the illustri- mission to join you at your table?” ous Sembers, Surely the fame of "Certainly; if you are so in- tHb Sembers has reached you. They clined. Sit.” The elder indicated a expelled the star-pirates; they seat. “From your behaviour I as- brought the sea to the Land of sumed that you were not only deaf Platforms; the splendor of Padara and dumb, but also guilty of men- Palace is beyond description!” tal retardation. It is now clear, at Cugel sadly shook his head. “No least, that you hear and speak.” rumor of this extraordinary mag- “I profess rationality as well,” nificence has come to my ears.” said Cugel. “As a traveler from The elder gave his nose a satur- afar, ignorant of your customs, I nine twitch. He said shortly; “Mat- thought it best to watch quietly a ters are as I state.” —

94 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

“I doubt nothing,” said Cugel. curate in their choice of victims?” “In fact I admit to ignorance. But The elder rapped the table in tell me more, for I must be forced annoyance. “The doctrine is ir- to abide long in this region. For refutable, for those whom the instance, what of the Winged Be- Winged Beings take never survive, ings that reside in the cliff. What even when they appear in the best manner of creature are they,” of health. Admittedly the fall The elder pointed toward the upon the rocks conduces toward sky. “If you had the eyes of a noc- death, but it is the mercy of Yeli- turnal titvit you might note a dark sea which sees fit to grant a speedy moon which reels around the extinction, rather than the dura- earth, and which cannot be seen tion of a possibly agonizing can- except when it casts its shadow ker. The system is wholly benefi- upon the sun. The Winged Be- cent. The Winged Beings sum- ings are denizens of this dark mon only the moribund, which world and their ultimate nature are then thrust through the cliff is unknown. They serve the Great into the blessed land Byssom. Oc- God Yelisea in this fashion: casionally a heretic argues other- whenever comes the time for man wise and in this case —but I am or woman to die, the Winged Be- sure that you share the orthodox ings are informed by a despairing View? signal from the dying person’s “Wholeheartedly,” Cugel as- norn. They thereupon descend serted. “The tenets of your belief upon the unfortunate and convey are demonstrably accurate.” And him to their caves, which in ac- he drank deep of his wine. Even as tuality constitute a magic opening he set down the goblet a murmur into the blessed land Byssom.” of music whispered through the Cugel leaned back, black eye- air: a concord infinitely sweet, in- brows raised in a somewhat quiz- finitely melancholy. All sitting zical arch. “Indeed, indeed,” he under the pergola became silent said, in a voice which the elder though Cugel was unsure that he found insufficiently earnest. in fact had heard music. “There can be no doubt as to the The elder huddled forward a truth of the facts as I have stated trifle, and drank. Only then did he them. Orthodoxy derives from this glance up. “The Winged Beings are axiomatic foundation, and the two passing over even now.” systems are mutually reinforcing: Cugel pulled thoughtfully at hence each is doubly validated.” his chin. “How does one protect Cugel frowned. “The matter un- himself from the Winged Beings?” doubtedly goes as you aver —but The question was ill-put; the are the Winged Beings always ac- elder glared, an act which in- —

THE SORCERER PHARESM 95 eluded the curling forward of his upon the barbaric crudity of his ears. “If a person is about to die, native land, for several girls had the Winged Beings appear. If not, joined the group, and Cugel was he need have no fear.” stimulated by their exotic coloring Cugel nodded several times. and the vivacity of their attitudes. ‘Tou have clarified my perplexity. Much wine was served and Cugel Tomorrow — since you and I are was persuaded to attempt the kick- manifestly in the best of health ing, jumping local dance, which let us walk up the hill and saunter he performed without discredit, back and forth near the cliff.” The exercise brought him into “No,” said the elder, “and for close proximity with an especially this reason: the atmosphere at beguiling girl, who announced such an elevation is insalubrious; her name to be Zhiaml Vraz. At the a person is likely to inhale a nox- conclusion of the dance, she put ious fume, which entails damage her arm around his waist, con- to the health.” ducted him back to the table, and “I comprehend perfectly,” said settled herself upon his lap. This Cugel. “Shall we abandon this dis- act of familiarity excited no ap- mal topic? For the nonce we are parent disapproval among the oth- alive and concealed to some ex- ers of the group, and Cugel was tent by the vines which shroud the emboldened further. “I have not pergola. Let us eat and drink and yet arranged for a bed-chamber; watch the merry-making. The perhaps I should do so before the youths of the village dance with hour grows late.” great agility.” The girl signaled the inn-keep- The elder drained his goblet er. “Perhaps you have reserved and rose to his feet. “You may do a chamber for this chisel-faced as you please; as for me, it is time stranger?” for my Ritual Abasement, this act “Indeed, I will display it for his being an integral part of our be- approval.” lief.” He took Cugel to a pleasant “I will perform something of a chamber on the ground floor, fur- like nature by and by,” said Cugel. nished with couch, commode, rug “I wish you the enjoyment of your and lamp. On one wall hung a rite.” tapestry woven in purple and The elder departed the pergola black, on another was a represen- and Cugel was left by himself. tation of a peculiarly ugly baby Presently certain youths, attracted which seemed trapped or com- by curiosity, joined him, and pressed in a transparent globe. Cugel explained his presence once The room suited Cugel; he an- again, though with less emphasis nounced as much to the innkeeper % I'ANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

and returned to the pergola, where The elder pointed a long quiv- now the merrymakers were com- ering finger through the gloom. “I mencing to disperse. The girl Zhi- thought to detect heretical opin- aml Vraz yet remained, and she ion; now the fact is known! No- welcomed Cugel with a warmth tice: he sleeps with neither head- which undid the last vestige of his covering nor devotional salve on caution. After another gohlet of his chin. The girl Zhiaml Vraz re- wine, he leaned close to her ear. ports that at no time in their con- “Perhaps I am over-prompt; per- gress did the villain call out for the haps I over-indulge my vanity; approval of Yelisea!” perhaps I contravene the normal "Heresy heyond a doubt!” de- decorum of the village—but is clared the others of the deputa- there reason why we should not tion. repair to my chamber, and there “What else could be expected of amuse ourselves?” an outlander?” asked the elder “None whatever,” said tlie girl. contemptuously. “Look! even now “I am unwed and until this time he refuses to make the sacred sign.” may conduct myself as I wish, for “I do not know the sacred sign!” this is our custom.” Cugel expostulated. “I know noth- "Excellent,” said Cugel. "Do ing of your rites! This is not her- you care to precede me, or walk esy, it is simple ignorance!” discreetly to the rear?” “I cannot beheve this,” said the “We shall go together; there is elder. "Only last night I outlined no need for furtiveness!” the nature of orthodoxy.” Together they went to the cham- “The situation is grievous,” said ber and performed a number of another in a voice of portentous erotic exercises, after which Cugel melancholy. “Heresy exists only collapsed into a sleep of utter ex- through putrefaction of the Lobe haustion, for his day had been tax- of Correctitude.” ing. “This is an incurable and fatal During the middle hours he mortification,” stated another, no awoke to find Zhiaml Vraz de- less dolefully. parted from the chamber, a fact “True! Alas, too true!” sighed which in his drow'siness caused one who stood by the door. "Un- him no distress and he once more fortunate man!” returned to sleep. “Come!” called the elder. “We The sound of the door angrily must deal with the matter at once.” flung ajar aroused him; he sat up “Do not trouble yourself,” said to find the sun not yet arisen, and a Cugel. “Allow me to dress myself deputation led by the elder regard- and I will depart the village never ing him with horror and disgust. to return.” THE SORCERER PHARESM 97

"To spread your detestable doc- ered over the enclosure, dropped, trine elsewhere? By no means!” enfolded Cugel in its white robe, And now Cugel was seized and endeavored to bear him aloft. But hauled naked from the chamber. Cugel had seized a bar of the en- Out across the park he was closure and the Winged Being marched, and to the pavilion at flapped in vain. The bar creaked, the center. Several of the group groaned, cracked. Cugel fought erected an enclosure formed of free of the stifling cloak, tore at wooden posts on the platform of the bar with hysterical strength; the pavilion and into this enclo- it snapped and splintered. Cugel sure Cugel was thrust. “What do seized a fragment, stabbed at the you do?” he cried out. “I wish no Winged Being. The sharp stick part of your rites!” punctured the white cloak, and He was ignored, and stood peer- the Winged Being buffeted Cugel ing between the interstices of the with a wing. Cugel seized one of enclosure while certain of the vil- the chitin ribs and with a mighty lagers sent aloft a large balloon of effort twisted it around backward, green paper buoyed by hot air, car- so that the substance cracked and rying three green fire-fans below. broke and the wing hung torn. The Dawn showed sallow in the Winged Being, aghast, gave a west. The villagers, with all ar- great bound which carried both it ranged to their satisfaction, with- and Cugel out upon the pavilion, drew to the edge of the park. Cugel and now it hopped through the vil- attempted to climb from the en- lage trailing its broken wing. closure, but the wooden rods were Cugel ran behind belaboring it of such dimension and spacing as with a cudgel he had seized up. He to allow him no grip. glimpsed the villagers staring in The sky lightened; high above awe; their mouths were wide and burnt the green fire-fans. Cugel, wet, and they might have been hunched and in goose-flesh from screaming but he heard nothing. the morning chill, walked back The Winged Being hopped faster, and forth the length of the enclo- up the trail toward the cliff, with sure. He stopped short, as from Cugel wielding the cudgel with all afar came the haunting music. It his strength. The golden sun rose grew louder, seeming to reach the over the far mountains; the very thresh-hold of audibility. Winged Being suddenly turned to High in the sky appeared a face Cugel, and Cugel felt the Winged Being, white robes trail- glare of its eyes, though the visage, ing and flapping. Down it settled if such there were, was concealed and Cugel’s joints became limp beneath the hood of the cloak. and loose. The Winged Being hov- Abashed and panting, Cugel stood 98 FAKTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

back, and now it occurred to him ture, which collapsed into sudden that he stood almost defenseless dust, leaving only a tumble of should others drop on him from on white cloth to signal the fact of its high. So now he shouted an impre- existence. cation at the creature and turned Cugel continued up the road, back to the village. keeping to such cover as offered All had fled. The village was de- itself, but to no avail. Overhead serted. Cugel laughed aloud. He hovered Winged Beings, flapping went to the inn, dressed himself and swooping. Cugel made play in his garments, buckled on his with the axe, striking at the wings, sword. He went out into the tap- and the creatures flew high, cir- room, and looking into the till, cling above. found a number of coins which he Cugel consulted the ring and transferred to his pouch, alongside was led on up the trail, with the ivory representation of NUL- the Winged Beings hovering just LITY. He returned outdoors: best above. The ring coruscated with to depart while none were on hand the intensity of its message: there to detain him. A flicker of light at- was TOTALITY, resting blandly tracted his attention; the ring on on a rock! his finger glinted with dozens of Cugel restrained the cry of exul- streaming sparks, and all pointed tation which rose in his throat. He up the trail, toward the cliffs. brought forth the ivory symbol of Cugel shook his head wearily, NULLITY, ran forward and ap- checked the darting lights once plied it to the gelatinous central again. Without ambiguity they globe. directed him back the way he As Pharesm had asserted, ad- had come. Pharesm’s calculations, herence was instant. With the after all had been accurate. He contact Cugel could feel the spell had best act with decision, lest which bound him to the olden TOTALITY once more drift be- time dissolving. yond his reach. A swoop, a buffet of great He delayed only long enough wings! Cugel was knocked to the to find an axe, and hastened up ground. White cloth enveloped the trail, following the glittering him, and with one hand holding sparks of the ring. NULLITY he was unable to swing Not far from where he had left his axe. This was now wrenched

it, he came upon the maimed from his grasp. He released NUL- Winged Being, now sitting on a LITY, gripped a rock, kicked, rock beside the road, the hood somehow freed himself, and drawn over its head. Cugel picked sprang for his axe. The Winged up a stone, heaved it at the crea- Being seized NULLITY and with THE SORCERER PHARESM 99

TOTALITY attached, bore it aloft Pharesm sought. As he talked, toward a cave high in the cliffs. Pharesm’s face became damp with Great forces were pulling at grief and his shoulders sagged. At Cugel, whirling in all directions last he marched Cugel outside, at once. There was a roaring in his into the dim red light of late after- ears, a flutter of violet lights, and noon. Together they scrutinized Cugel fell a million years into the the cliffs which now towered de- future. solate and lifeless above them. “To He recovered consciousness in which cave did the creature fly?” the blue-tiled room with the sting asked Pharesm. “Point it out, if of an aromatic liquor at his lips. you are able!”

Pharesm, bending over him, pat- Cugel pointed. “There, or so it ted his face, poured more of the would seem. All was confusion, .” liquor into his mouth. “Awake! all a tumble of wings . . Where is TOTALITY! How are “Remain here.” Pharesm went you returned?” inside the workroom and presently Cugel pushed him aside, and returned. “I give you light,” and sat up on the couch. he handed Cugel a cold white “TOTALITY!" roared Pharesm. flame tied into a silver chain. "Pre- “Where is it? Where is my talis- pare yourself.” man?” At Cugel’s feet he cast a pellet “I will explain," said Cugal in a which broke into a vortex, and thick voice. “I had it in my grasp, Cugel was carried dizzily aloft to and it was wrenched away by that crumbling ledge which he had winged creatures in the service of indicated to Pharesm. Nearby was Great God Yehsea.” the dark opening into a cave. “Tell me, tell me!” Cugel turned the flame within. He Cugel recounted the circum- saw a dusty passage, three strides stances which had led first to gain- wide and higher than he could ing and then losing that which reach. It led back into the cliff,

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3. An essentially unmarred copy of this issue—the coupon is backed up with this box, and its removal does not affect the text of the surrounding material. 100 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION twisting slightly to the side. It Pharesm took it, held it between seemed barren of all life. thumb and forefinger. “This was Holding the lamp before him all?” Cugel slowly moved along the pas- “There was nothing more.” sage, heart thumping for dread of Pharesm let the object fall. It something he could not define. He struck and instantly became dust. stopped short: music? The mem- Pharesm looked at Cugel, took a ory of music? He hstened and deep breath, then turned with a could hear nothing but when he gesture of unspeakable frustration tried to step forward fear clamped and marched back to his divina- his legs. He held high the lantern tory. and peered down the dusty passage. Cugel gratefully moved off Where did it lead? What lay be- down the trail, past the workmen yond? Dusty cave? Demonland? standing in an anxious group The blessed land Byssom? Cugel waiting for orders. They eyed slowly proceeded, every sense Cugel sullenly and a two-ell man alert. On a ledge he spied a shriv- hurled a rock. Cugel shrugged and eled brown spheroid: the talisman continued south along the trail. he had carried into the past. TO- Presently he passed the site of the TALITY had long since disen- village, now a waste overgrown gaged itself and departed. with gnarled old trees. The pond Cugel carefully lifted the ob- had disappeared and the ground ject, which was brittle with the was hard and dry. In the valley be- age of a million years and returned low were ruins, but none marked to the ledge. The vortex, at a com- the sites of the ancient cities Im- mand from Pharesra, conveyed pergos, Tharuwe and Rhaverjand, Cugel back to the ground. now gone beyond memory. Dreading the wrath of Pharesm, Cugel walked south. Behind Cugel tendered the withered tahs- him the cliffs merged with haze man. and presently were lost to view.

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THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE

by Isaac Asimov

Something happened to me the other day which still leaves me stunned. I got a call early in the morning from a reporter. He said, “Three Frenchmen have just won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work on genetics, and I thought you might explain to me, in simple terms, the significance of their discoveries.”

“Who are the three Frenchmen?” I asked. He told me, and the names drew a blank. I pleaded ignorance of their work and apologized. He hung up. I sat there for a while and brooded, since I hate revealing flaws in my ominiscience. As is usual in such cases, I thought long, shivery thoughts about the oncoming of senility, and then cudgeled my brain unmercifully. What discoveries in genetics in recent years, I wondered, would rate a Nobel Prize this year?

One thought came to mind. Some years back it had been discov- ered that Mongolism (a kind of congenital mental retardation marked by a variety of characteristic symptoms) was accompanied by an ad- ditional chromosome in the cells. The 21st pair had three members rather than two, giving a total number of 4 7 rather than 46. I ripped into my library to find the record of the discovery and came upon it in a matter of minutes. Eureka! It had first been reported by three Frenchmen! My chest expanded; my cheeks glowed; my brain palpitated, There was fife, it seemed, in the old boy yet. I called the reporter back, savoring my. triumph in advance. “What were the names of those Frenchmen, again?” I asked cheerfully. He rattled them off. They were three different names! There w’as a long dismal pause, and then I said, “Sorry. I still don’t know.”

101 102 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

He must be wondering, ever since, why I bothered calling him back. As for me, I faced the situation staunchly; I got back into bed and pulled the covers over my head. (If you’re curious, the three Frenchmen who won the 1965 Prize —who will be named later in the article — received it for the dis- covery that some genes have regulatory functions and control the ac- tivity of other genes.)

It got me to thinking about Nobel Prize winners, however, and the way such victories have become a matter of national pride. After all, the reporter didn’t identify the winners as “three geneticists” but as “three Frenchmen.” But in what way ought nations to take credit? Einstein, for instance, was born in Germany, but was educated in Italy and Switzerland as well as in Germany, was in Germany at the time he won the award, though he was in Switzerland at the time he wrote his first world- shattering p^ers, and he spent his later life as an American citizen. How do we list him? I would like to suggest that the key point is a man’s scientific birth and that this takes place in college. Schooling before college is too vague and diffuse, schooling after college involves a man who is al- ready set in his directions. It is college itself that sets those directions and determines whether a man will throw himself into science or net. Naturally, I am aware that influences prior to college and out- side college may be very important but here we edge uncomfortaMy close to the task of making a psychiatric study of each Nobel Prize winner, which I can’t and won’t do. I am going to accept college as a “first approximation” and list the winners by the nationality of that college. This isn’t easy, either. In the first place, the information I can dig up isn’t always clear in this matter and I may make some mistakes. Secondly, some Nobel- ists went to two different undergraduate colleges in two different na- tions and I have to choose among them. Thirdly, deciding on a nationali- ty brings me face to face with the fact that political divisions change their nature with time. Some colleges that were once located in Aus- tria-Hungary are now located in Czechoslovakia, without having ever budged. One Nobel Prize winner studied at the University of Dorpat, and this is perhaps the most troublesome case. The University was in Rus- sia then and it is in the Soviet Union now. In between, however, it THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE 103 was in Estonia, which the American government still recognizes as an independent nation. And to top it off, I’m sure that both the winner himself and the university, in his time, were completely German in a cultural sense. Oh, well, I will take full responsibility for my decisions on cate- gories and I am certain that those Gentle Readers who take issue with those decisions will write me and tell me so. And I may be argued into making changes. So now let’s make the lists which, if they make dull reading, have the advantage of not being like any other list in existence (as far as I know) and which therefore come under the heading, I hope, of “valuable reference.’’ We’ll start with the Nobel Prize in physics:

Year Winner(s)— physics Undergraduate Training 1901 Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen Switzerland 1902 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz Netherlands Pieter Zeeman Netherlands 1903 Antoine Henri Becquerel France Pierre Curie France Marie Sklodowska Curie France 1904 John William Strutt, Baron Rayleigh Great Britain 1905 Philipp Lenard Austria 1906 Joseph John Thomson Great Britain 1907 Albert Abraham Michelson United States 1908 Gabriel Lipmann France 1909 Guglielmo Marconi Italy (private tutoring) Carl Ferdinand Braun Germany 1910 Johannes Diderik Van der Waals Netherlands 1911 Wilhelm Wien Germany 1912 Nils Gustaf Dalen Sweden 1913 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Netherlands 1914 Max Theodor Felix von Laue Germany 1915 William Henry Bragg Great Britain William Lawrence Bragg Australia 1916 (no award) 1917 Charles Glover Barkla Great Britain 1918 Max Karl Ernst Rudwig Planck Germany 1919 Johannes Stark Germany 1920 Charles Edouard Guillaume Switzerland 1921 Albert Einstein Switzerland 1922 Niels Henrik David Bohr Denmark 1923 Robert Andrews Millikan United States 1924 Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn Sweden 104 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Year Winner(s) —physics Undergraduate Trainin 1925 James Franck Germany Gustav Hertz Germany 1926 Jean Perrin France 1927 Arthur Holly Compton United States Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Great Britain 1928 Owen Willans Richardson Great Britain 1929 Prince Louis-Victor de Bioglie France 1930 Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman India 1931 (no award) 1932 Werner Karl Heisenberg Germany 1933 Erwin Schrodinger Austria Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac Great Britain 1934 (no award) 1935 James Chadwick Great Britain 1936 Victor Francis Hess Austria Carl David Anderson United States 1937 Clinton Joseph Davisson United States George Paget Thomson Great Britain 1938 Enrico Fermi Italy 1939 Ernest Orlando Lawrence United States 1940-42 (no awards) 1943 Otto Stern Germany 1944 Isidor Isaac Rabi United States 1945 Wolfgang Pauli Austria 1946 Percy Williams Bridgman United States 1947 Edward Victor Appleton Great Britain 1948 Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Great Britain 1949 Hideki Yukawa Japan 1950 Cecil Frank Powell Great Britain 1951 John Douglas Cockcroft Great Britain Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton Ireland 1952 Felix Bloch Switzerland Edward Mills Purcell United States 1953 Fritz Zernicke Netherlands 1954 Max Born Germany Walter Bothe Germany 1955 Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr. United States Polyk^ Kusch United States 1956 William Bradford Shockley United States John Bardeen United States Walter Houser Brattain United States 1957 Tsung-Dao Lee China Chen-Ning Yang China 1958 Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov Soviet Union THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE 105

Year 'Wmner{s)—physics Undergraduate Training Ilya Mihailovich Frank Soviet Union Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm Soviet Union 1959 Emilio Segre Italy Owen Chamberiain United States 1960 Donald Arthur Glaser United States 1961 Bobert Mofstadter United States Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer Germany 1962 Lev Davidovich Landau Soviet Union 1963 Eugene Wigner Germany

J. Hans Daniel Jensen Germany Marie Goeppert-Mayer Germany 1964 Charles Hard Townes United States Nikolai Bafsov Soviet Union Alexander Prokhorov Soviet Union 1965 Julian Seymour Schwinger United States Richard Phillips Feynman United States SinTtiro Tomonago Japan

Next we’ll take up the Nobel Prizes in chemistry:

Year Winner(s) — chemistry Undergraduate Training 1901 Jacobus Hendcus Van’t Hoff Nell^rlands 1902 Emil Fischer Germaity 1903 Svante August Arrhenius Sweden 1904 William Ramsay Great Britain 1905 Adolf von Baeyer Germany 1906 Henri Moissan France 1907 Eduard Buchner Germany 1908 Ernest Rutherford New Zealand 1909 Wilhelm Osiwald Russia 1910 Otto Wallhch Germany 19U Marie SWodowska Curie Prance 1912 Victor Grignard France Paul Sabatier France 1913 Alfred Wemer Switzerland 1914 Theodore WiBiam Richards United States 1315 Richard Wfllstatter Germany 1916-17 (no awards) 1918 Fritz Haber Germany 1319 (no award) 1920 Walther Nernst Germany 19?1 Frederick Soddy Great Britain 1922 Francis William Aston Great Britain 106 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Year Winner(s) —chemistry Undergraduate Training 1923 Fritz Pregl Austria 1924 (no award) 1925 Richard Zsigmondy Austria 1926 Theodor Svedberg Sweden 1927 Heinrich Wieland Germany 1928 Adolf Windaus Germany 1929 Arthur Harden Groat Britain Hans von Euler-Chelpin Germany 1930 Hans Fischer Germany 1931 Carl Bosch Germany Friedrich Bergius Germany 1932 Irving Langmuir United States 1933 (no award) 1934 Harold Clayton Urey United States 1935 Irene Joliot-Curie France Frederic Joliot-Curie France 1936 Peter Joseph Wilhelm Debye Germany 1937 Walter Norman Haworth Great Britain Paul Karrer Switzerland 1938 Richard Kuhn Germany 1939 Adolf Butenandt Germany Leopold Ruzicha Switzerland 1940-42 (no awards) 1943 George de Hevesey Hungary 1944 Otto Hahn Germany 1945 Arturi Ilmari Virtanen Finland 1946 James Batcheller Sumner United States John Howard Northrop United States Wendall Meredith Stanley United States 1947 Robert Robinson Great Britain 1948 Arne Tiselius Sweden 1949 William Francis Giauque United States 1950 Otto Diels Germany Kurt Alder Germany 1951 Glenn Theodore Seaborg United States Edwin Mattison McMillan United States 1952 Archer John Porter Martin Great Britain Rickard Laurence Millington Synge Great Britain 1953 Hermann Staudinger Germany 1954 Linus Pauling United States 1955 Vincent Du Vigneaud United States 1956 Cyril Norman Hinshelweod Great Britain Nikolai Nildoaievich Semenov Soviet Union 1957 Alexander Robertus Todd Great Britain THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE 107

Year Winner(s)—chemistry Undergraduate Training 1958 Frederick Sanger Great Britain 1959 Jaroslav Heyrovsky Czechoslovakia 1960 WiUard Frank Libby United States 1961 Melvin Calvin United States 1962 Max Ferdinand Perutz Austria John Cawdery Kendrevt' Great Britain 1963 Karl Ziegler Germany Giulio Natta Italy 1964 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Great Britain 1965 Robert Burns Woodward United States

Finally, the Nobel Prizes for medicine and physiology:

Year Winner(s) —wed. and physiol. Undergraduate 1901 Emil von Behring Germany 1902 Ronald Ross Great Britain 1903 Niels Ryberg Finsen Denmark 1904 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov Russia 1905 Robert Koch Germany 1906 Camillo Golgi Italy Santiago Ramon y Cajal Spain 1907 Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran France 1908 Ilya MechnStov Russia Paul Ehrlich Germany 1909 Theodor Kocher Switzerland 1910 Albrecht Kossel Germany 1911 AUvar GuRstrand Sweden 1912 Alexis Carrel France 1913 Charles Richet France 1914 Robert Barany Austria 1915-18 (no awards) 1919 Jules Bordet Belgium 1920 August Kro^ Denmark 1921 (no award) 1922 Archibald Vivian Hill Great Britain Otto Meyerhof Germany 1923 Frederick Grant Banting Canada John James Kchard Macleod Great Britain 1924 WrUem Einthoven Netherlands 1925 (no award) 1926 Johannes Fibiger Denmark 1927 Julius Wagner-Jauregg Austria 1928 Charles Nicolle France 1929 Christiaan Eijkman Netherlands 108 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION year Winner(s)—med. and physiol. Undergraduate Training Frederick Gowland Hopkins Great Britain 1930 Karl Landsteiner Austria 1931 Otto Warburg Germany 1932 Charles Sherrington Great Britain Edgar Douglas Adrian Great Britain 1933 Thomas Hunt Morgan United States 1934 George Hoyt Whipple United States George Richards Minot United States William Parry Murphy United States 1935 Hans Spemann Germany 1936 Henry Dale Great Britain Otto Loewi Germany 1937 Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi Hungary 1938 Gorneille Heymans Belgium 1939 Gerhard Domagk Germany 1940-42 (no awards) 1943 Henrik Dam Denmark Edward A. Doisy United States 1944 Joseph Erlanger United States Herbert Spencer Gasser United States 1945 Alexander Fleming Great Britain Ernst Boris Chain Germany Howard Walter Florey Australia 1946 Hermann Joseph Muller United States 1947 Bernardo Alberto Houssay Argentina Carl Ferdinand Cori Czecfaodovakia Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori Czeehoslovakia 194,8 Paul Muller Switzerland 1949 Walter Rudolf Hess Switzerland Egas Moniz Portugal 1950 Edward Galvin Kendall United States Philip Show^ter Hench United States Tadeus Reichstein Switzerland 19^51 Max Theiler South Africa 1952 Selman Abraham Waksman United States 1953 Fritz Albert Lipmann Germany Hans AdoH Krebs Germany 1954 John Franklin Enders United States Thomas Hucfele Weller United States Frederick Chapman Robbins United States 1955 Axel Hugo Teodor Theorell Swedmi 1956 Dickinson Woodruff Richards United States Andre Frederic Coumand France Werner Theodor Otto Forssman Germany :

THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE 109

Year Winner(s)—med. and physiol. Undergraduate Training

1957 Daniel Bovet Switzerland 1958 George Wells Beadle United States Edward Lawrie Tatum United States Joshua Lederberg United States 1959 Severo Ochoa Spain Arthur Kornberg United States 1960 Macfarlane Burnet Australia Peter Brian Medawar Great Britain 1961 Georg von Bekesy Switzerland 1962 Francis Harry Compton Crick Great Britain Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Great Britain Janies Dewey Watson United States 1963 John Carew Ecdes Australia Alan Lloyd Hodgkin Great Britain Andrew Fielding Huxley Great Britain 1964 Konrad Bloch Germany Feodor Lynen Germany 1965 Andre LwofF France Jacques Monod France Francois Jacob France

Now for some overall statistics —.59 physics prizes have been shared among 86 people (including 2 women); 57 chemistry prizes have been shared among 71 people (including 3 women); 56 medi- cine and physiology prizes have b^n shared among 90 people (includ- ing 1 woman). All told, 245 people (including 5 women) have won among them a total of 172 prizes in the sciences through 1965. (If this sum seems wrong to you, I must remind you that Marie Sklodowska Curie won two science prizes, one in physics and one in chemistry.) Suppose we next list the prizes accoriflng to the college nationality of the winners. In making this final table, I will give half-credit to each man who shares the Prize with one other and third-credit to each man who shares the Prize with two others. Sometimes the cash award of the Prize is divided ¥t, Vt and but I’ll ignore that refinement. The result follows 110 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Medicine & Nation Physics Chemistry Physiology Total

Germany 10 17 1/2 10 1/6 37 2/3 United States 12 11 9 1/6 32 1/6 Great Britain 10 1/2 10 6 1/6 26 2/3 France 4 4 5 1/2 13 1/2 Switzerland 3 1/2 2 4 5/6 10 1/3 Austria 3 2 1/2 3 8 1/2 Sweden 2 3 2 7

Netherlands 4 1 1 1/2 • 6 1/2 Soviet Union (Russia) 2 2/3 1 1/2 1 1/2 5 2/3 Denmark 1 3 1/2 4 1/2 Italy 2 1/2 1/2 3 Hungary 1 1 2 Belgium 2 2 Australia 1/2 1 1/6 1 2/3 Czechoslovakia 1 2/3 1 2/3 Japan 11/3 1 1/3 India 1 1 China 1 1 New Zealand 1 1 Finland 1 1

Spain 1 1

South Africa 1 1 Ireland 1/2 1/2 Portugal 1/2 1/2 Canada 1/2 1/2 Argentina 1/3 1/3 Totals 59 57 56 172

Too much must not be read into this table. It can’t and should not be used to indicate anything about the relative intelligences of the nations. There is a wide difference in quality between one Nobelist and another and these differences are impossible to weigh objectively. For instance, Italy has a score of only 3 altogether, but one of those three was scored by Enrico Fermi. Denmark only has 1 physics Prize to its credit, but that one was Niels Bohr, a giant even among giants. What the table does show is that the scientific tradition has been entrenched longest and most strongly in the educational systems of those nations culturally related to Great Britain and Germany. As near- THE NOBELMEN OF SCIENCE 111

ly as I can estimate colleges that teach in either English, German, Swedish, Dutch or Danish account for 135 %, or 80 percent, of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences. I suspect that this English-German domination of science will grow progressively less marked in succeeding decades.

And I would like to make one final pitch, too. It is about time that the arbitrary decision of Nobel that only three classifications of sci- ence deserve the Prize be reconsidered. I’m thinking of three more classifications: a) Astronomy (to include geology and oceanography), b) Mathematics, and c) Science of man (to include anthropology, archaeology, and, possibly, sociology.)

Many great scientists go unhonored by the present system and it bothers me. And it probably bothers them, too.

CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS?

The Magazine of FANTASY and SCIENGE FICTION will follow you anywhere providing you let us know six weeks in advance. Please be sure to give us your old address as well as the new one, and be sure to add the ZIP number. (If convenient, send the address label from the wrapper of the next copy of F&SF you receive.) MERCURY PUBLICATIONS Subscription Service 347 East 53 Street New York, N. Y. 10022 Here is a solid, suspenseful chunk of classical science fiction, in which two experienced spacers escape the solar system in the

world’s first faster-than-light spacecraft. A year later, one man returns. To find out what happened, you had better start reading right notv.

BORDERED IN BLACK

by Larry Niven

Only one figure stood in the paport came down with slow, me- airlock, though it was a cargo lock, thodical speed. Seen close, his easily big enough to hold both beard was ragged, unkempt. He men. Lean and sandy haired, the reached bottom, and Turnbull saw tiny figure was obviously Carver that the square features were set Rappaport. A bushy beard now like cement. covered half his face. He waited Rappaport brushed past him patiently while the ramp was run and kept walking. up, and then he started down. Turnbull ran after him and fell Turnbull, waiting at the bot- into step, looking and feehng fool- tom, suppressed growing uneasi- ish. Rappaport was a good head ness. Something was wrong. He’d taller, and where he was walking, known it the moment he heard that Turnbull was almost running. He the Overcee was landing. The ship shouted above the background must have been in the solar system noise of the spaceport, “Rappaport, for hours. Why hadn’t she called where’s Kameon?’’ in? Like Turnbull, Rappaport had And where was Wall Kameon? to raise his voice. “Dead.” Returning spacers usually "Dead? Was it the ship? Rappa- sprinted down the ramp, eager to port, did the ship kill him?” touch honest concrete again. Rap- “No.”

112 —

BORDERED IN BLACK 113

“Then what? Is his body politician, weighed chances and aboard?” gambled. “Turnbull, I don’t want to talk “If you haven’t decided to talk about— it. No, his body isn’t aboard. in twenty-four hours we’ll let you His ” Rappaport ground the go. I promise that. We’ll keep you

heels of his hands into his eyes, here ’til then, by force if necessary. like a man with a blinding head- Just to give you an opportunity to ache. "His grave," he said, empha- change your mind.” sizing the word, “has a nice black Rappaport thought it over. The

border around it. Let’s leave it at security men still held his arms, that.” but cautiously now, standing as far But they couldn’t, of course. back as they could, in case his per- Two security officers caught up sonal bomb went off. with them near the edge of the “Seems fair,” he said at last, “if

field. “Stop him,” said TurnbuU, you’re honest. Sure, I’ll wait twen- and they each took an arm. Rappa- ty-four hours.” port stopped walking and turned. “Good.” Turnbull turned to lead “Have you forgotten that I’m the way back to his office. Instead, carrying a destruct capsule?” he merely stared. “What about it?” For the mo- The Overcee w’as red hot at ment Turnbull really didn’t under- the nose, glaring white at the stand what he meant. tail. Mechs and techs were run-

“Any more interference and I’ll ning in all directions. As Turn-

use it. Understand this, Turnbull. bull watched, the solar system’s I don’t care any more. Project first faster-than-light spacecraft Overcee is over. I don’t know slumped and ran in a spreading, where I go from here. The best glow’ing pool. thing we can do is blow up that ship and stay in our own solar sys- ... It had started a century tem.” ago, when the first ramrobot left “Man, have you gone crazy? the solar system. The interstellar What happened out there? You ramscoop robots could make most meet aliens?” of their journey at near lightspeed, “No comment. —No, I’ll an- using a conical electromagnetic swer that one. We didn’t meet field two hundred miles across to aliens. Now tell your comedian scoop hydrogen fuel from inter- friends to let go.” stellar space. But no man had ever Turnbull let himself realize that ridden a ramrobot. None ever the man wasn’t bluffing. Rappa- would. The ramsceop magnetic port was prepared to cemmit sui- field did horrible things to chor- cide. Turnbull, the instinctive date organisms. ”

114 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Each ramrobot had been pro- years melt and run hke quicksilver.

grammed to report back only if it He was mad clean through; but his found a habitable world near the mind worked furiously. Part of star to which it had been assigned. him, the smaller part, was wonder- Twenty-six had been sent out. ing how he would explain the loss Three had reported back—so far. of ten billion dollars worth of ship. ... It had started twelve years The rest was reviewing everything ago, when a well known mathema- it could remember about Carver titeian worked out a theoretical Geoffrey Rappaport and William hyperspace over Einsteinian four- (Wall) Kameon. space. He did it in his spare time. Turnbull entered his office and He considered the hyperspace a went straight to the bookshelf, sure toy, an example of pure mathemat- that Rappaport was following. He ics. And when has pure mathemat- pulled out a leather bound volume, ics been anything but good clean did something to the binding and fun? poured two paper cups full of am- ... It had started ten years ber fluid. The fluid was bourbon, ago, when Ergstrom’s brother Carl and it was more than ice cold. demonstrated the experimental Rappaport had seen this book- reality of Ergstrom’s toy universe. case before, yet he wore a faintly Within a month the UN had puzzled frown as he too>k a cup. He financed Project Overcee, put said, “I didn’t think I'd ever antici- Winston Turnbull in charge, and pate anything ag^." set up a school for faster-than-light “The bourbon?” astronauts. The vast number of Rappaport didn’t answer. His applicants was winnowed to ten first swallow was a gulp. “hypernauts”. Two w^e Belters; “Did you destroy your ship?” all were experienced spacers. The “Yes. I set the controls so it training began in earnest. It lasted would only melt. I didn’t want eight years, while Project Overcee anyone hurt.” built the ship. “Commendable. And the Over- ... It had started a year and a cee motor? You left it in orbit?” month ago, when two men climbed “I hard-landed it on the Moon. into the almost luxurious lifesys- It’s gone.” tem of the Overcee, ran the ship “That’s great. Just great. Carver, out to Neptune’s orbit under es- that ship cost ten billion dollars to cort, and vanished. build. We can duplicate it for four, One was back. I think, because we won’t —be mak- Now his face was no stonier ing any false starts, but you than Turnbull’s. Turnbull had just “Hell you wouldn’t.” Rappaport watched his work of the last ten swirled the bourbon in his cup, BORDERED IN BLACK 115 looking down into the miniature “Rappaport, you seem to think whirlpool. He was twenty to thirty that the UN will just take your pounds lighter than he had been a word and dismantle Project Over- year ago. “You build another Over- cee. There^s not a prayer of that. cee and you’ll be making one enor- Probability zero. In the last cen- mous false start We were wrong, tury w'e’ve spent tens of billions of Turnbull. It’s not our universe. dollars on the ramrobots and the There’s nothing out there for us.’’ Overcee, and now we can rebuild "It is our imiverse.’’ Turnbull let her for four. The only way to stop the quiet certainty show in his pol- that is to tell the UN exactly why itician’s voice. He needed to start they shouldn’t.” an argument—he needed to get Rappaport didn’t answer, and this man to talking. But the cer- Turnbull didn’t speak again. tainty was real, and always had He watched Rappaport’s cigarette been. It was humanity’s imiverse, burning unheeded in the ash tray, ready for the taking. leaving a strip of charred wet pa- Over the rim of his cup Rappa- per. It was uncharacteristic of the port looked at him in exasperated former Carver Rappaport to forget pity. “Turnbull, can’t you take my burning cigarettes, or to wear an word for it? It’s not our univMse, imtrimmed beard and sloppily cut and it’s not worth —having anyway. hair. That man had been always What’s out there is ’’ He clamped clean shaven; that man had hned his moudi shut and turned away in up his shoes at night, every night, the visitor’s chair. even when staggering drunk. Turnbull waited ten seconds to Could he have killed Kameon point up the silence. Then he for being sloppy? And then turned asked, “Did you kill Kameon?” messy himself as he lost his self re- “Kili Wall? You’re out of your spect? Stranger things had hap- mindJ” pened in the days when it took “Could you have saved him?” eight months to reach Mars. No, Rappaport froze in the act of Rappaport had not done murder; turning around. “No,” he said. And Turnbull would have bet high on again, “No. I tried to get him mov- that. And Kameon would have won ing, but he wouldn’t— Stop it! any fair fight. Newspapermen had Stop needhng me. I can walk out nicknamed him The Wall when he any time, and you couldn’t stop was playing guard for the Berlin me.” Raiders. "It’s too late. You’ve aroused my “You’re right. Where do I start?” curiosity. What about Kameon’s Turnbull was jerked out of his black bordered grave?” abstraction. "At the beginning. No answer. When you went into hyperspace.” 116 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

“We had no trouble there. grammed to test for excessive ul- Except with the windows. You traviolet. Sirius B was worth a look. shouldn’t have put windows on the The ship came out where Sirius

Overcee.” was two bright stars. It turned Its “Why not? W'hat did you see?” sharp nose toward the dimmer star “Nothing.” and remained motionless for “Well, then?” twenty minutes, a silver torpedo “You ever try to find your blind shape in a great, ungainly cradle spot? You put two dots on a piece studded with heavy electromag- of paper, maybe an inch apart, and netic motors. Then it was gone you close one eye, foous on one dot again. and slowly bring the paper up to Now Sirius B was a searing ball your face. At some point the other of light. The ship began to swing dot disappears. Looking at the win- about, like a hound snifiing the dow in Overcee is like your blind breeze^ but slowly, ponderously. spot expanding to a two foot square “We found four planets,” said with rounded corners.” Rappaport. “Maybe there were “I assume you covered diem up.” more, but we didn’t look. Number

“Sure. Would you believe it, Four was the one we wanted. It we had trouble finding those win- was a cloudy bafi about twice the dows? When you wanted them they size of Mars, with no moon. We were invisible. We got them cov- waited until we’d found it before ered with blankets. Then every so we started celdirating.” often we’d catch each other look- “Champagne?” ing under the blankets. It bothered “Hah! Cigars and drunk pills. Wall worse than me. We could And Wall shaved off his grubby have made the trip in five months beard. My God, we were glad to be instead of six, but we had to keep out in space again! Near the end it coming out for a look around.” seemed like those blind spots were “Just to be sure the universe was growing around the edges of the still there.” blankets. We smoked our cigars “Right.” and sucked our drunk pills and “But you did reach Sirius." yakked about the br-oads we’d

"Yes. We reached Sirius . . known. Not that we hadn’t done

that before. Then we slept it off

Ramrobot #6 had reported from and went back to work . , Sirius B, half a century ago. The Shius stars are an unlikely jfiace The cloud cover was nearly un- to look for habitable worlds, since broken. Rappaport moved the tele- both stars are blue-white giants. scope a bit at a time, trying to find Still, the ramrobots had been pro- a break. He found several, but BORDERED IN BLACK 117

none big enough to show him any- the night side as on the day.” thing. “I’H try infrared,’ ’he said. “I’ll get us a closer look.” "Just get us down,’’ Wall said irritably. He was always irritable The Overcee was in orbit, three lately. “I want to get to work.” hundred miles up. By now the con- “And I want to be sure we’ve got tinent with the “hot” border was al- a place to land.” most entirely in shadow. Of the Gary’s job was the ship. He was three supercontinents, only one pilot, astrogater, repairman, and showed a white shoreline under in- everything but the cook. Wall was frared. the cook. Wall was also the geolo- Wall hung at the window, look- gist, astrophysicist, biologist, and ing down. To Rappaport he looked chemist— the expert on hahitahle like a great ape. “Can we do a re- planets, in theory. Each man had entry glide?” been trained nine years for his job, “In this ship? The Overcee and each had some training as would come apart like a cheap me- backup man for the other; and in teor. We’ll have to brake to a full each case the training had been stop above the atmosphere. Want based largely on guesswork. to strap down?” The picture on the scope screen Kameon did, and Carv watched changed from a featureless disc to him do it before he went ahead and a patterned ball as Carv switched dropped the Overcee motor. I’ll be to infrared. “Now which is water?” glad to be out of here, he thought. he wondered. It’s getting so Wall and 1 hate the “The water’s brighter on the sight of each other. 'The casual, night side and darker on the day uncaring way Kameon fastened side. See?” Wall was looking over his straps jarred his teeth. He knew his shoulder. “Looks like about that Kameon thought he was fin- forty percent land. Carv, those icky to the point of psychosthenia. clouds might cut out enough of the The fusion drive started and ultraviolet to let people live in built up to one gee. Carv swung the what gets through.” ship around. Only the night side “Who’d want to? You couldn’t showed below, with the faint blue see the stars.” Carv turned a knob light of Sirius A shining softly off to raise the magnification. the cloud cover. Then the edge of “Hold it right there, Carv. Look dawn came up in tom blue-white at that. There’s a white line around cloud. Carv saw an enormous rift the edge of that continent.” in the cloud bank and turned ship

“Dried salt?” to shift their path over it. “No. It’s warmer than what's Mountains and valleys, and a around it. And it’s just as bright on wide river . . . Patches of whispy 118 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

cloud shot by, obscuring the view, gentle pressure gradient, so that but they could see down. Suddenly the atmosphere reached three times there was a black line, a twisting as high as on Earth. There were ribbon of India ink, and beyond cloud layers from ground to one that the ocean. hundred and thirty kilometers up. Only for a moment the ocean The Overcee touched down on a showed, and then the rift jogged wide beach on the western shore of east and was gone. But the ocean the smallest continent. Wall came was an emerald green. out first, then Carv lowered a metal Wall’s voice was soft with awe. oblong as large as himself and fol- “Carv, there’s life in that water.” lowed it down. They wore lightly “You sure?” pressurised vac suits. Carv did “No. It could be copper salts or nothing for twenty minutes while something. Carv, we’ve got to get Wall opened the box out flat and down there!” set the carefully packed instru- “Oh, wait ysur turn. Did you no- ments into their grooves and tice that your hot border is black in notches. Finally Wall signalled, visible light?” in an emphatic manner. By taking

“Yah. But I can’t explain it. off his helmet.

Would it be worth our while to Carv waited a few seconds, then turn back after you get the ship followed suit. slowed?” Wall asked, “Were you waiting

Carv fingered his neatly to see if I dropped dead?” trimmed Van Dyke. “It’d be night “Better you than me.” Carv over the whole continent before we sniffed the breeze. The air was coo! got back there. Let’s spend a few and humid, but thin. “Smells good hours looking at that green ocean.” doesn’t. It smells like something rotting.” The Overcee went down on her "Then I’m right. There’s life tail, slowly, like a cautious crab. here. Let’s get down to the beach.” Layer after layer of cloud swal- The sky looked like a raging lowed her without trace, and dark- thunderstorm, with occasional vi- ness fell as she dropped. The key vid blue flashes that might have to this world was the word “moon- been lightning. They were flashes less”. Sirius B-IV had had no over- of sunlight penetrating tier upon sized moon to strip away most of tier of cloud. In that varying light her atmosphere. Her air pressure Carv and Wall stripped off their would be comfortable at sea level, suits and went down to look at die but only because the planet was ocean, walking with shuffling steps too small to hold more air. That in the light gravity. same low gravity produced a more The ocean was thick with algae. BORDERED IN' BLACK 119

Algae was a bubbly green blanket "It’s algae. I can’t name the on the water, a blanket that rose breed, but there’s not much differ- and fell like breathing as the insig- ence between this and any terres- nificant waves ran beneath. The trial algae, except that this sample smell of rotting vegetation was no is all one species.”

stronger here than it had been a “That’s unusual?” Carv was quarter of a mile back. Perhaps the looking around him in wonder. He smell pervaded the whole planet. was seeing a new side to Wall. The shore was a mixture of sand Abroad ship Wall was sloppy al- and green scum so rich that you most to the point of being danger-

could have planted crops in it. ous, at least in the eyes of a Belter “Time I got to work,” said Wall. like Carv. But now he was at work. “You want to fetch and carry for His small tools were set in neat me?” rows on portable tables. Bulkier “Later maybe. Right now I’ve instruments with legs were on flat got a better idea. Let’s get to hell rock, the legs carefully adjusted to out of each others’ sight for an leave their platforms exactly hori- hour.” zontal. Wall handled the binocu-

“That is brilliant. But take a lar microscope as if it might dis- weapon.” solve at a touch. “To fight off maddened algae?” “It is,” said Wall. “No little "Take a weapon.” animalcules moving among the strands. No variations in struc- Carv was back at the end of an ture. I took samples from depths up hour. The scenery had been deadly to six feet. All I could find was the monotonous. There was water be- one alga. But otherwise — I even low a green blanket of scum six tested for proteins and sugars. You inches deep; there was loamy sand, could eat it. We came all this way and beyond that dry sand; and be- to find pond scum.” hind the beach were white cliffs, smoothed as if by countless rain- They came down on an island falls. He had found no target for five hundred miles south. This time his laser cutter. Carv helped with the collecting. Wall looked up from a binocu- They got through faster that way, lar microscope, and grinned when but they kept, getting in each oth- he saw his pilot. He tossed a de- ers’ way. Six months spent in two pleted pack of cigarettes. “And small rooms had roused tempers don’t worry about the air plant!” he too often. It would take more than called cheerfully. a few hours on ground before they Carv came up beside him. could bump elbows without a fight. “What news?” Again Carv watched W^all go ”

120 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

through his routines. He stood just Overcee’s gleaming metal hull, two within voice range, about fifty yards below the sill of the airlock. yards away, because it felt so good “A lot of planets must be like to have so much room. The care this,” said Carv. “Habitable, but Wall exercised with his equipment who needs it?” still amazed him. How could he “And I wanted to be the first reconcile it with Wall’s ragged man to found an interstellar col- fingernails and his thirty hours ony.” growth of beard? “And get your name —in the news- Well, Wall was a flatlander. All tapes, the history books “ his life he’d had a whole planet to —And my unforgettable face mess up, and not a crowded pres- on every trivis in the solar system. sure dome or the cabin of a ship. Tell me, shipmate, if you hate pub- No flat ever learned real neatness. licity so much, why have you been “Same breed,’’ Wall called. trimming that Van Dyke so pret- “Did you test for radiation?” tily?” “No. Why?” “Guilty. I like being famous. “This thick air must screen out Just not as much as you do.” a lot of gamma rays. That means “Cheer up then. We may yet get your algae can’t mutate without lo- all the hero worship we can stand. cal radiation from the ground.” This may be something bigger than “Carv, it had to mutate to get to a new colony.” its present form. How could all its “What could be bigger than cousins just have died out?” that?” “That’s your field.” “Set us down on land and I’ll A little later Wall said, “I can’t tell you.” get a respectable background read- ing anywhere. You were right, but On a chunk of rock just big

it doesn’t explain anything.” enough to be called an island. “Shall w'e go somewhere else?” Wall set up his equipment for the “Yah.” last time. He was testing for food content again, using samples from They set down in deep ocean, Carv’s bucket of deep ocean algae. and when the ship stopped bob- Carv stood by, a comfortable bing Carv went out the airlock distance away, watching the weird with a glass bucket. “It’s a foot variations in the clouds. The very thick out there,” he reported. “No highest were moving across the sky place for a disneyland. I don’t at enormous speeds, swirling and think I’d want to settle here.” changing shape by the minutes Wall sighed his agreement. The and seconds. The noonday light green scum lapped thickly at the was subdued and pearly. No doubt BORDERED IN BLACK 121 about it, Sirius B-IV had a magnif- “All right, pass that. Say some- icent sky. body finds this planet, Sirius B-IV, "Okay, I’m ready.” Wall stood and decides it would make a nice up and stretched. “This stuff isn’t farm planet. It isn’t good for much just edible. I’d guess it would taste else, mainly because of the vari- as good as the food supplements ance in lighting, but if you they were using on Earth before dropped a specially bred food alga the fertility laws cut the popula- in the ocean, you’d have a dandy tion down to something reasona- little farm. In ten years there’d be ble. I’m going to taste it now.” oceans of algae, free for the cart- The last sentence hit Carv like ing. Later, if they did decide to an electric shock. He was running colonise, they could haul the stuff before it was quite finished, but inland and use it for fertilizer. long before he could get there his Best of all, it wouldn’t mutate. Not crazy partner had put a dollup of here.” green scum in bis mouth, chewed Carv shook his head to clear it. and swallowed. “Good,” he said. “You’ve been in space too long.” “You — utter —damned— fool. “Carv, the plant looks bred— “Not so. I knew it was safe. The like a pink grapefruit. And where stuff has an almost cheesy flavor. did all its cousins go? Now I can You eould get tired of it fast, I tell you. They got poured out of the think, but that’s true of anything." breeding vat because they weren’t “Just what are you trying to good enough.” prove?" Low waves rolled in from the “That this alga was tailored as a sea, low and broad beneath their food plant by biobgical engineers. blanket of cheesy green seum. "All Carv, I think we’ve landed on right,” said Carv. “How can we dis- somebody’s private farm.” prove it?” Carv sat heavily down on a rain- Wall looked startled. “Disprove washed white rock. “Better spell it? Why would we want to do that that out,” he said, and heard that “Forget the glory for a minute. his voice was hoarse. If you’re right, we’re trespassing “I was going to. Suppose there on somebody’s property without was a civilization that had cheap, knowing anything about the owner fast interstellar travel. Most of —except that he’s got dirt cheap the habitaUe planets they found interstellar travel, which would would be sterile, wouldn't they? I make him a tough enemy. We’re mean, life is an unlikely sort of ac- also introducing our body bacteria cident.” into his pure edible algae culture. "We don’t have the vaguest idea And how would we explain, if he how likely it is.” suddenly showed up?” 122 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

"I hadn’t thought of it that way.” US afraid to leave and both afraid

“We ought to cut and run right to stay . . now. It’s net as if the planet was worth anything.” Abruptly Wall got up and “No. No, we can’t do that.” started putting his tools away. “We “Why not?” can’t disprove it, but we can prove

The ansucr gleamed in Wall’s it easily enough. The owners must eyes. have left artifacts around. If we find one, we run. I promise.” Turnbull, listening behind his “There’s a big area to search. If desk with his chin resting in one we had any sense we’d run new.” hand, interrupted for the first time “Will you drop that? All we’ve in minutes. “A good question. I’d got to do is find the ramrobot probe. have gotten out right then.” If there’s anyone watching this “Not if you’d just spent six place they must have seen it come months in a two room cell with the doAvn. We’ll find footprints all over end of everything creeping around it.” the blankets.” “And if there aren’t any foot- “I see.” Turnbull’s hand moved prints? Does that make the whole almost imperceptibly, writing, NO planet clean?” WIDOWS IN OVERCEE 111 Wall closed his case with a Oversized viewscreen? snap. Then he stood, motionless,

“It hadn’t hit me that hard. I looking very surprised. “I just think I’d have taken off if I’d been thought of something,” he said. sure Wall was right, and if I could “Oh, not again.” have talked him into it. But I “No, this is for real, Carv. The couldn’t, of course. Just the owners must have left a long time thought of going home then was ago. enough to set Wall shaking. I “Why?” thought I might have to knock him “It must be thousands of years on the head when it came time to since there was enough algae here leave. We had some hibernation to use as a food supply. We should drugs aboard, just in case.” have seen ships taking off and He stopped. As usual, Turnbull landing as we came in. Theyid waited him out. have started their colony too, if “But then I’d have been all they were going to. Now it’s gone alone.” Rappaport finished his beyond that. The planet isn’t fit for drink, his second, and got up to anything to live on, witli the soupy pour a third. The bourbon didn't oceans and the smell of things rot- seem to affect him. “So we stood ting.” there on that rocky beach, both of “No.” BORDERED IN BLACK 123

“Dammit, it makes sense!” “Going to use the scope?” “It’s thin. It sounds thin even to Carv shook his head. “We’ll see me, and I want to believe it. Also, it close in a few minutes.” it’s too pat. It’s just too close to the “You’re in quite a hurry, Carv.” best possible solution we could “You bet. According to you, if dream up. You want to bet our lives that black stuff is some form of on it?” life, then this farm’s been deserted

Wall hoisted his case and moved for thousands of years at least. If it toward the ship. He looked like a isn’t, then what is it? It’s too regu- human tank, moving in a stormy lar to be a natural formation. darkness lit by shifting, glaring Maybe it’s a conveyor belt.” beams of blue light. Abruptly he “That’s right. Calm me down. said, “There’s one more point. That Reassure me.” black border. It has to be contami- “If it is, we go up fast and run nated algae. Maybe a land-living all the way home.” Carv pulled a mutant; that’s why it hasn’t spread lever and the ship dropped from across the oceans. It would have under them. They fell fast. Speak- been cleaned aw'ay if the owners ing with only half his attention, were still interested.” Carv went on. “We’ve met just one “All right. Hoist that thing up other sentient race, and they had and let’s get inside.” nothing like hands and no me- “Hmph?” chanical culture. I’m not com- “You’ve finally said something plaining, mind you. A world we can cdieck. The eastern shore wouldn’t be fit to live in without must be in daylight by now. Let’s dolphins for company. But why get aboard.” should we get lucky twice? I don’t want to meet the farmer. Wall.” At the border of space they hov- The clouds closed over the ship. ered, and the sun burned small and She dropped more slowly with ev- blinding white at the horizon. To ery kilometer. Ten kilometers up the side Sirius A was a tiny dot of she was almost hovering. Now the intense brilliance. Below, where coast was spread below them. The gaps in the cloud cover penetrated black border was graded: black as all the way to the surface, a hair- night on Pluto along the sea, shad- thin black line ran along the twist- ing off to the color of the white ing beach of Sirius B-IV’s largest sand and rocks along the landward continent. The silver thread of a side. major river exploded into a forking Wall said, “Maybe the tides delta, and the delta was a black carry the dead algae inland. triangle shot with lines of silvery They’d decay there. No, that won’t green. worL No moon. Only solar tides.” 124 F.^NTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

They were a kilometer up. And They were no terrestrial race. lower. And lower. Nine feet tall, men and women The black was moving, flowing both, w’ith wavy black hair growing like tar, away from the drive’s fu- from the eyebrow's back to halfway sion flame. down the spine, hanging almost to the knees. Their skins w'ere dark, as Rappaport had been talking dark as the darkest negro, but they down into his cup, his words com- had chisel noses and long heads ing harsh and forced, his eyes re- and small, thin lipped mouths. fusing to meet Turnbull’s. Now he They paid no attention to the raised them. There was something ship. They stood or sat or lay where challenging in that gaze. they W'ere, men and w'omen and Turnbull understood. “You want children jammed literally shoul- me to guess? I won’t. What was the der to shoulder. Most of the seaside black stuff?’ population was grouped in large “I don’t know if I want to pre- rings with men on the outside and pare you or not. Wall and I, we women and children protected in- weren’t ready. Wfliy should you side. be?” “All around the continent,” said “All right. Carver, go ahead and Wall. shock me.” Carv eould no more have an- “It was people.” swered than he could have taken Turnbull merely stared. his eyes off the scope screen. “We were almost down when Every few minutes there was a they started to scatter from the seething in the mass as some group downblast. Until then it was just a that was too far back bulled for- dark field, but when they started to W'ard to reach the shore, the food scatter we could see moving specks, supply. The mass pushed back. On like ants. We sheered off and the fringes of the circles there were landed on the water offshore. We bloody fights, slow fights in which could see them from there.” there w'ere apparently no rules at “Carver, when you say people, all. do you mean —people? Human?” “How?” said Carv. “How?” “Yes. Human. Of course they Wall said, “Maybe a ship ’ didn’t act much like it . . . crashed. Maybe there was a care- taker’s family here, and nobody A hundred yards offshore ever came to pick them up. They the Overcee floated nose up. Even must be the farmer’s children, seen from the airlock the natives Carv.” were obviously human. The tele- “How long have they been scope screen brought more detail. here?” BORDERED IN BLACK 125

“Thousands of years at least. each circle. More people for Sirius Maybe tens or hundreds of thou- B-IV. sands.” Wall turned his empty eyes The shore was a seething black- away from the screen. He swiveled ness. In infrared light it would his couch so he was looking at the have shown brightly, at a tempera- back wall of the cabin. His dreary ture of 98.6° Fahrenheit. words flowed out into the cabin. “Let’s go home,” said Wall.

“Picture it, Carv. Nothing in the “Okay.” world but an ocean of algae and a few people. Then a few hundred “But you didn’t.” people, then hundreds of thou- “No.’ sands. They’d never have been al- "Why not?" lowed near here unless they’d had “We couldn’t. We had to see it the bacteria cleaned out of them to all, Turnbull. I don’t understand keep the algae from being contam- it, but we did, both of us. So I took inated. Nothing to make tools out the ship up and dropped it a kilo- of, nothing but rock and bone. No meter inshore, and we got out and way of smelting ores, because they started walking toward the sea . . . wouldn’t even have fire. There’s nothing to burn. They had no dis- There were skeletons all along eases, no contraceptives, and no their path. Some were clean and recreation but breeding. The popu- white. Others looked like Egyptian lation would have exploded like a mummies, bodies with dried skin bomb. Because nobody would stretched tight over the bones. Al- starve to death, Carv. For ways there was a continuous low thousands of years nobody would rustle of sound from the beach. It starve on Sirius B-IV.” might have been algae moving “They’re starving now.” above the waves. It might have “Some of them. The ones that been conversation. can’t reach the shore.” Wall turned As they walked, the skeletons got back to the scope screen. “One con- thicker. Some had daggers of splin- tinual war,” he said after awhile. tered bone. One gripped a chipped

“I’ll bet their height comes from stone fist-ax. Wall picked it up and natural selection.” tossed it in his hand. “They’re in- Carv hadn’t moved for a long telligent,” he said. time. He had noticed that there "Yah." — were always a few men inside each “I was hoping ” Wall shrugged protective circle, and that there and threw away the rock. were always men outside going in- Carv couldn’t guess how long side and men inside going outside. they walked. He seemed to be in Breeding more people to guard shock. At one point he noticed that —

126 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION some of the skeletons were ali\ e, dy- enough of everything else, but too ing and drying under an overcast little fats.” blue sky. He had thought that sky The sound of the beach was was awesome. Now it was horrible. louder now. And some of the mum- Time and again a shifting blue mies were beginning to stir. There beam would spear through a crack was a pair behind a dune who in the clouds and sweep across it seemed to be trying to kiU each like a spotlight until it picked out other, but they moved so little and a dark mummy. Sometimes the so slowly- mummy would turn over and cover Carv’s head snapped up as he re- its eyes. alised what Wall had said. He

The fourth time it happened it gripped Wall’s arm and tried to seemed to rouse Carv from his turn him around. “Come on. Wall,” stupor. He saw that Wall’s face was he half-whispered, “we’ve got to go livid as death. The dead and living back. Come on.” skeletons were all around them. Wall tried to shake his arm off. The live ones stared apathetically, He wouldn’t turn. but they stared, as if the two men Some of the long skeletons were were the only things in the world getting up. It was like being men- worth looking at. Perhaps they aced by dead giants. Carv knew wondered what it was that could what they were thinking. There move and still not be human. may be meat in those limp cover-

“We can’t look human to them,” ings. Wet meat, xvith water in it. he said, half-knowing that Wall There ptst may. wouldn’t hear him. “We’re too He pulled at Wall and tried to small. We’ve got clothes on.” run. The nightmare beach was Wall said, “I’ve been w'ondering coming alive. about the clean skeletons. There shouldn’t be any decay bacteria “He wouldn’t run. He tried to here.” pull loose. I had to leave him. Like two children, Carv thought. They couldn’t catch me, they were

Talking without listening. The too starved, and I was jumping beach looked like a combination of like a grasshopper. But they got HeU and Belsen. Only the surreal- Wall, all right.” istic blue lighting could have made “Did he use his destruct cap- it as tolerable as it was. The world sule?’ looked like a bad dream. They “I don’t know. I hope so.” couldn’t really believe what they “So you came home.” W’ere seeing. “Uh huh.” Rappaport looked up “There weren’t enough fats in like a man waking from a bad the algae,” said Wall. “There was dream. He’d been talking at break- ”

BORDERED IN BLACK 127 neck speed. Now his speech slowed did it all, starting with not much to normal. “It took seven months. more than what was on Sirius All alone.” B-IV.” “Any idea why Wall might have “They had a helluva lot more.” wanted to die?” A faint slurring showed that the “You crazy? He didn’t want to bourbon was finally getting to Rap- get eaten." paport. “Why didn’t he run?” “Maybe they did. But now “It wasn’t that he wanted to die, there’s a better reason. Those peo-

Turnbull. He just decided it was- ple you left on the beach. They n’t worth it to save himself. An- need our help. And with a new other six months in the Gvereee, Overcee we can give it to them. with the blind spots pulling at his What do they need most. Carver? eyes and that nightmare of a world Trees or meat animals?” constantly on his mind— It just “Animals.” Rappaport shud- wasn’t worth it.” dered and drank. “I’ll bet the Overcee was a pig “Well, that eould be argued. pen before you blew it up.” But pass it. First we’ll have to make Rappaport flushed. “What’s that soil.” Turnbull leaned back and to you?” went on, talking mainly to himself. “You didn’t think it was worth- “Algae mixed with crushed rock. while either. When a Belter stops Bacteria to break the rock down. being neat it's like suicide. A dirty Earthworms. Then grass . . ship is deadly. The air plant gets "Got it all planned out, don’t fouled. Things float around loose, you? And you’d talk the U. N. kito ready to knock your brains out it, too. Turnbull, you’re good. But when the drive goes on. You forget you’ve missed something.” where— you put the blowout patch- “Have I? What?” es Rappaport got carefully to his “All right. I made it, didn’t I?” feet. He walked to the desk, just a “And now you think we should little unsteadily, and leaned on it give up spaee.” so that he looked down into Turn- Rappaport’s voiee went squeaky bulFs eyes from a foot away. with emotion. “Aren’t you con- “You’ve been assuming that those vinced yet? Wev’e got all kinds of people on the beaeh really were the paradise in the solar system, and farmer’s ehildren. That Sirius B-IV you want to leave it for —that. has been left alone for a long, long Why? What for?” time. But what if some kind of “To build other paradises, may- carnivore seeded that planet? Then be. You don’t think ours happened what? The algae wouldn’t be for by accident, do you? Our ancestors them. They’d let it grow, drop some 128 FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

food animals, then go away ’til the And they’d breed them for size , , animals were jammed shoulder to The room was deadly quiet. shoulder along the coast. Food ani- ‘‘Well?’’ mals! You understand, Turnbull?” “Well, we’ll simply have to take

“Yes. You’re right, I missed tliat. that chance, won’t we?”

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