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ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION TITLE REGISTERED U. 8. PATENT OFFICE

CONTENTS FEBRUARY, 1941 VOL. XXVI NO. 4 The editorial contents of this magazine have not been published before, are protected by copyright and cannot be rep Tinted with out the publisher's permission.

NOVELETTES

MAGIC CITY Nelson S. Bond . . . 9 A new civilization starting upward lias troubles with misunderstand- ings. There’s a little confusion as to the meanings ol the old one.

TROUBLE ON TANTALUS Schuyler Miller . . 43 Moran didn’t want it, but he was being carried straight into

the heart of the mystery of the almost unknown planet 1 SHORT STORIES CASTAWAY Robert Moore Williams 37 The lighthouse keeper understood correctly that he was a castaway —but didn’t understand at all just what sort of ship he’d ridden. —AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE Robert Heinlein ... 43 The ultramodern house—a three-dimensional projection of a fourth-di- mensional place. It had everything! After the earthquake, it had more!

COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC ... Theodore Sturgeon . . 84 The perfect automatic machinery of a perfected spaceship and the perfect incompetence of her crew, trapped by the automatic devices of their ship.

THE BEST-LAID SCHEME . . . . L. Sprague de Camp . 1(07 Concerning the possibilities for world conquest inherent in a time-traveler—and the toe-stubbing possibilities also present! ARTICLES

THE KLYSTRON Stanley R. Short . . . 93 Discussion ol the first major advance in radio tubes since De Forest.

GYPPED! Arthur McCann . . .114 Two generations ago, astronomers wondered whether the canali on Mars were real or illusions. And they’re still wondering! SERIAL

SIXTH COLUMN Anson MacDonald . .117 Second of Three Parts The U. S. army, reduced to a handful, hasn’t a chance against the all- conquering Pan-Asians—until they acquire genuine, luminous halos! READERS' DEPARTMENTS THE EDITORS PAGE A IN TIMES TO COME 47 Department of Prophecy and Future Issues.

ANALYTICAL LABORATORY . 67 An Analysis of Readers’ Opinions. BRASS TACKS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSIONS 1S6 The Open House of Controversy. Illustrations by Binder, Cartier, M. Isip, R. tsip and Schneeman. COVER BY ROGERS

All stories in this magazine are Action. No actual persons are designated either by name or character. Any similarity is coincidental.

Monthly publication issued by Street V Smith Publications. Incorporated. 79 Sever Mi A verve, .Slew York City. Aden L. Grammer, President; Henry W. Ralston, Vico President: Gerald H. Smith. Treasurer and Secretary. Copyright. t94l, in U. S. A. and Great Britain by Street JL Smith Publications, Ine. Reentered as Secor.d-ciass Matter. February 7, 1938. at tho Post alter at New York, under Act of Congress ef March 3, 1879- Subscriptions to Canada and Countries in Pan American Union, $2.25 per year; elsewhere. $2.75 per year. Wa eannot accept responsibility tor unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Any material submitted must include return postage.

Printed in 16 the XJ, S, A.

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Most of Astounding’s authors are, in the professional sense, amateur authors, spare-time writers who earn their bread and butter in one field of work, and use their writing ability as a source of the jam supply. Astounding is at present—in fact, as usual—looking for new authors; the present invita- tion is a suggestion that you consider the following facts as applied to your personal case:

Though it was pointed out that the navy has contributed a number of Astounding’s top authors, Astounding’s readership has contributed all the top-rankers. That readership is, naturally, where we expect to find the next dozen or so top contributors.

Every individual story, no matter whose name it bears, stands exactly equal chance of acceptance or rejection purely on its individual merit. Write a better story than those now being accepted, and you get the jam with our blessing.

From our past experience, authors don’t, generally speaking, “work their way up.” Heinlein’s first story, “Lifeline,” was the first he submitted here. De Camp’s first published story was his first submission; it was also a good yarn. Van Vogt, similarly, sold the first story he submitted, as have many of the other authors. Apparently, if you can write good, strong fiction, you can, and will, write good, strong fiction the first time. That statement is heretical—and pragmatic. It’s happened.

“Jam” in the above sense is useful. Briefly, it amounts to the equiva- lent of a couple of new suits, or a suit and overcoat, for a, short story, a new radio with, say, FM tuning for a novelette, and a new car or so for a novel.

I know perfectly well that there are probably twenty or thirty first-line authors undiscovered among the readers of this little squib. I wish I could convey somehow the feeling of frustration that conviction engenders in me. Somewhere is the man who is going to write the sort of science-fiction I want, the best science-fiction yarn of the bunch. And I can’t lay hands on his address, can’t get him started. ^

So I’ve got to wait around, with a couple thousand dollars for him, until he gets around to sending in that first manuscript. Will the gentleman kindly shake loose and send in that script? It won’t do either of us any good just mulling around in your head. The Editor. —

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Out of the sweet, dark emptiness Meg woke with a start. The little of sleep there was a pressure on her sleep-imp in her brain stirred fret- arm and a voice whispering an ur- fully, resentful of being thus rudely gent plea. banished. He made one last effort “Rise, O Mother! O Mother, rise to hold Meg captive, tossing a mist and come quickly!” of slumber-dust into her eyes, but ” ” —

10 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Meg shook her head resolutely. The dered, hid her face in her hands lest sleep-imp, sulky, forced her lips open the sight of these holy mysteries in a great gape, climbed from her blind her. mouth, and sped away. Dry fern rustled. Daiv, eyes Sullen shadows lingered in the cor- heavy-lidded, propped himself up on ners of the hoam, but the windows one elbow. were gray-limned with approaching “What is it, Golden One?” dawn. Meg glanced at the cot be- “Elnor,” replied Meg quietly. side her own, where Daiv, her mate, “He has come to take her. I must la.y in undisturbed rest. His tawny do what I can.” mane was tousled, and on his lips Impatience etched tiny lines on hovered the memory of a smile. His Daiv’s forehead. face was curiously, endearingly boy- “With those things, Golden One? ish, but the bronzed arms and shoul- I’ve told you time and again, they ders that lay exposed were the arms won’t bother Him— and shoulders of a fighting— man. “Hush!” Meg made, a swift,, ap- “Quickly, O Mother peasing gesture lest He, hearing Meg said, “Peace, Jain; I come.” Daiv’s impious words, take offense. She spoke calmly, gravely, as be- Daiv’s boldness often frightened fitted the matriarch of the Jinnia Meg. He held the gods in so little Clan, but a thin, cold fear-thought awe it was a marvel they let him live. touched her heart. So many were Of course he came from a sacred the duties of a Mother; so many and place himself, from the Land of the so painful. Meg the Priestess had Escape. That might have some- not guessed the troubles that lay thing to do with it. beyond the days of her novitiate. She said again, “I must do what Now the aged, kindly tribal Mother I can, Daiv. Come, Jain.” was dead; into Meg's firm, white They left the Mother’s hoam, hands had been placed the guidance walked swiftly down the deserted of her clan’s destiny. It was so great walk-avenue. The morning sym- a task, and this—this was the hard- phony of the birds was in its tune-up est task of all. stage. The sky was dim, gray, over- She drew a deep breath. “Elnor?” cast. One hoam was lighted, that of she asked. the stricken worker, Elnor. “Yes, Mother. Even now the Evil Ones circle about, seeking to Meg opened the door, motioned steal the breath from her nostrils. Jain quickly inside, closed the door He bides His time, but He is im- again behind her that no breath of patient. There is no time to waste.” foul outside air taint the hot, “I come,” said Meg. From a shelf healthy closeness of the sickroom. she took a rattle made of a dry gourd She noted with approval that the wound with the tresses of a virgin; windows had been closed and tightly from another a fire-rock, a flaked sealed, that strong-scented ox-grease piece of god-metal and a strip of candles filled the room with their parchment upon which a sacred potent, demon-chasing odor. stick, dipped into midnight water, Yet despite these precautions, the had left its spoor of letters. Evil Ones did—as Jain had told These things she touched with rev- vie for possession of Elnor’s breath. erence, and Jain’s eyes were great On a narrow cot in the middle of the with awe. The worker captain shud- room lay the dying worker. Her « ——

MAGIC CITY breath choked, ragged and uneven as blankets, Elnor tossed. In the cor- the song of the jay. Her cheeks, ner, Bil muttered fearfully. “ beneath their coat of tan, were ‘—will not cut persons labor- bleached; her eyes were hot coals in ing under the Stone, but will leave murky pockets. Her flesh was dry this to be done by men who are prac- ” and harsh; she tossed restlessly, eyes titioners of this work—’ roving as if watching some unseen The candle guttered, and a drop presence. of wax spilled on the floor as the Jain said fearfully, “See, O door behind her opened, closed Mother? She sees Him. He is here.” gently. Meg dared not glance at Meg nodded. Her jaw tightened. the newcomer, dared not risk halt- Two women and Bil, Elnor’s mate, ing the incantation. Some of the huddled about the sickbed. She mo- hectic color appeared to have left tioned them away. “I will do battle Elnor’s cheeks. Perhaps, then. He with Him,” she said grimly. was leaving? Without His prey? “ She poised a moment, tense for ‘ —while I continue to keep the conflict. Elnor moaned. Then this Oath unviolated, may it be ’ ” Meg, with a great, reverberant cry, granted to me— struck the sacred stones together, Meg’s voice swelled with hope. the bit of fire-rock and the rasp of Oh, mighty was the magic of the god-metal. A shower of golden Ancient Ones! The spell was suc- sparks leaped from her hands. Her ceeding! In a vast, triumphant watchers cried aloud their awe, fell clamor of the gourd, tone shrill and back trembling. joyful, she broke into the perora- Meg raised the gourd. Holding it tion. “ ‘ high, shaking it, the scrap of parch- —to enjoy life and the practice — ’ ” ment clenched in her right hand, she of the Art, respected by all began chanting the magic syllables A sudden, blood-chilling sound in- written thereon. She cried out rev- terrupted her. It was Elnor. A gasp erently, for these were mighty words of pain, a stifled cry, one lunging of healing power, no one knew how twist of a pain-racked body. And old, but they had been handed down then through long ages. They were a rite “It is too late. Golden One,” said of the Ancient Ones. “ “ Daiv. “Elnor is dead.” ‘I swear,’ ” she intoned, ‘by The women in the comer began Apollo the physician and Aescula- keening a dirge. The man, Bil, pius, and Health, and All-heal, and ceased his muttering. He moved to all the gods and goddesses, that, ac- the side of his dead mate, knelt there cording to my ability and judgment, wordlessly, staring at Meg with I will keep this Oath and stipula- ’ ” mute, reproachful eyes. tion— Choking, Meg stammered the The gourd challenged the demons “ words required of her. ‘Aame, the who haunted Elnor. Meg crossed ” her eyes and crept widdershins three gods, have mercy on her soul.’ times about Elnor’s cot, Then she fled from the hoam of sor- “ ‘ row. It not permitted that any- —I will give no deadly med-sun was ’ ” to anyone— one should see the Mother in tears. The sonorous periods rolled and Daiv followed her. Even in his throbbed; sweat ran down Meg’s arms, there was but little com- cheeks and throat. Beneath her fort ” ”

18 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Later, in their own hoam, Daiv reading, tossed the scroll on a jum- sat watching in respectful silence as bled heap with countless others, Meg performed the daily magic that some shining new, some yellow with was an obligation of the Mother. age, written in the painstaking script Having offered a brief prayer to of Mothers long dead and long for- the gods, Meg took into her right gotten. hand a stick. This she let drink Daiv said consolingly, “Do not from a pool of midnight in a dish be- grieve, Golden One. You tried to fore her, then -scratched it across a save her. But eventually He comes scroll of smooth, bleached calfskin. for each —of us. The aged, the weak, Where it moved it left its spoor, a the hurt spidery trail of black. Meg cried, “Why, Daiv, why? She finished, and Daiv gazed at Why should He come for Elnor? her admiringly. He was proud of We know He takes the aged because this mate of his who held the knowl- in their weakness is His strength; edge of many lost mysteries. He He takes the wounded because He said, “It is done, Golden One? Read scents flowing blood from afar. it. Let me hear the speech-without- “But Elnor was young and strong words.” and healthy. There were no wounds Meg read, somberly. or sores upon her body. She did “Report of the fourteenth day of not taste of His berries in the fields, the month of June, 3485 A.D. nor had she touched, at any time, a “Our work is going forward very person already claimed by Him. well. Today Evalin returned from “Yet—she died! Why? Why, her visit to the Zurrie territory. Daiv?” There, she says, her message was re- “I do not know, Golden One. But ceived with astonishment and won- I am curious. For I am Daiv, known der, but for the most part with ap- as He-who-would -learn. There is a proval. There is some dissent, es- mystery here far greater than all pecially amongst the older women, your magic spells. Perhaps it is but the Mother has heard the Reve- even greater than the wisdom of the lation with understanding, and has Ancient Ones.” given her promise that the Slooie “I am afraid, Daiv. He is so ever- Clan will immediately attempt to near; we are so weak. You know communicate peace and a knowl- I have tried to be a good Mother. edge of the new order to the Wild It was I who made a pilgrimage to Ones. the Place of the Gods, learned the “Our crops ripen, and soon Lima secret that the gods were men, and will have completed the new dam established a new order, that men across the Ronoak River. We have and women should live together now fourscore cattle, fifty horses, again, as it was in the old days. and our clan numbers three hundred “I have worked to spread this and twenty-nine. All of our women knowledge throughout the world, are supplied with mates. through all of Tizathy. One day “We lost a most valuable worker we will reclaim all the Wild Ones today, when He came for Elnor, of the forests, bring them into our Lootent of the Field Coar. We could camps and together we and they ill afford to lose her, but He would will rebuild the world. not be denied— “Only one stands in our way. Meg’s voice broke. She stopped Him! He who strikes down our war- —"”

MAGIC CITY 13 riors with an invisible sword, reaps woman. “No, Daiv! It is an ac- an endless harvest amongst our cursed city. I cannot let you go!” workers. He is our arch-foe. A “You cannot stop me, Golden grim, mocking, unseen enemy, One.” against whom we are powerless.” “But you’ know no spells, no —in- cantations. He will destroy you Datv grunted. There were small, “I will destroy Him, first.” The hard lines on his forehead, between happy look clung to the corners of his eyes. His lips were not up- Daiv’s lips. He drew Meg into his curved in their usual happy look. bronze arms, woke fire in her veins He said, “You are right, Meg. He, with the touching-of-mouths he had alone, destroys more of us each year taught her. “My arm is strong, than the forest beasts or our occa- Meg; my sword keen. He must feel sional invaders. Could we but find its bite if we are to live and prosper. and kill Him our people would in- \Y>u cannot change my mind.” crease in knowledge and power Then Meg decided. swiftly.” “Very well, Daiv. You shall go. He shook his head. “But we do But I will make you no marker-of- not know where to seek Him, places.” Golden One.” “Come now, Golden One! With-— Meg drew a swift, deep breath. out it I shall not be able to find Her eyes glinted, suddenly excited. Meg’s voice was firm, unequivocal. “/ know, Daiv!” “Because I shall go with you! To- “You know where He lives, Golden gether we shall seek and destroy One?” Him!” “Yes. The old Mother told me, II. many years ago when I was a stu- dent priestess. She spoke and So started Meg and Daiv for the warned me against a forbidden city City of Death. It was not a happy to the north and eastward—the city parting, theirs with the men and known as the City of Death! That women of the Jinnia Clan. There is, must be, His lair!” were tears and lamentations and sad There was a moment of strident mutterings, for all knew the law’ that silence. the eastern cities of the Ancient Then Daiv said, tightly, “Can Ones were forbidden. you tell me how to reach this spot, There was bravery, too, and loy- Meg? Can you draw me a marker- alty. Stern-jawed Lora, Captain of of-places that will enable me to find the Warriors, confronted Meg at the it?” gate. She was clad for battle; her “I can! It lies where the great leathern plates and buckler were creet highways of the Ancient Ones newdy refurbished, her sword hung meet with a river and an island at a at her side. Behind her stood a

vast, salt sea. But . . . but why, squad of picked warriors, packed for Daiv?” trek. Daiv said, “Draw me the marker- “We are ready, O Mother!” said of-places, Meg. He must be de- Lora succinctly. stroyed. I will go to His city to Meg smiled, a sweet, proud smile. find Him.” She knew only too well the mental “No!” It was not Meg the priest- terror, the physical qualms of fear ess who cried out; it was Meg the these women had overcome to thus ” ”

14 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION offer themselves. Her heart lifted workers, who with her bare hands within her, but she leaned forward had crushed the life from a moun- and with her own fingers unbuckled tain cat. But there was no strength Lora’s scabbard. in her hands now; they trembled as “You are needed here, my daugh- they touched Meg’s doeskin boots. ter,” she said. “You must guard the Also came Bil, eyes smoldering with clan till I return. And”—she fal- hot demand. tered an instant, continued swiftly “I would go with you to destroy —“and if it is the will of the gods Him, O Mother! It is my right. I return not, then you must con- You cannot refuse me!” tinue to see that the law is obeyed “But I can and do, Bil.” until the young priestess, Haizl, is Bil said rebelliously, “I am a man, finished her novitiate and can as- strong, brave. I fought beside Daiv sume leadership. when the Japcans attacked. Ask “Peace be with you all!” She him if I am not a great fighter.” pressed her lips to Lora’s forehead “That I know without asking. lightly. It seemed strange to none But now we fight an invisible foe. of them that she should call the Of all the clan, only Daiv and I can harsh-visaged chieftain, many years stand before Him. I am a Mother, her senior, “My daughter.” For inviolate; Daiv is sprung of an an- she was the Mother, and the Mother cient, sacred tribe. The Kirki tribe, was ageless and of all time. dwelling in the Land of—the Escape. Others came forward then, each “And now—farewell in their turn to ask a farewell bless- But after they had left the town, ing, to offer silent prayers to the gods Daiv repeated his objections, voiced for Meg’s safe return. Young Haizl, many times in the hours preceding the clear-eyed, inquisitive twelve- this. year-old maiden whom Meg had se- “Go back. Golden One! This is lected to succeed her as matriarch a man’s task. He is a potent enemy. of the Jinnia Clan, whispered: “Be Go back— to the clan, wait for my re- strong, O Mother, but not too dar- turn ing. Return safely, for never can Meg said, as if not hearing him, I take your place.” “See, the road lies before us. The “But you can, my daughter. broken creet road of the Ancient Study diligently, learn the speech- Ones.” without-words and the magic of the numbers. Keep the law and learn It was not a long journey. Only the rituals.” eight days’ march, according to “I try, O Mother. But the little Meg’s calculations. Scarce one pain-demons dwell in my head, be- fifth of the distance she had covered hind my eyes. They dance and in her pilgrimage to the Place of the make the letters move strangely.” Gods in ’Kota territory a year be- “Pursue your course and they will fore. And Daiv was an experienced go away.” traveler; alone, he had wandered Came ’Ana, who had been a through most of Tizathy from sun- breeding-mother before the Revela- parched ’Vadah to bleak Wyomin, tion, and who was now a happily from the lush jungles of Flarduh to wedded mate. Her eyes were red the snow-crested mountains of Qr- with weeping and she could not gen. Only this one path he had speak. Came Izbel, strongest of the never trod, for all tribes in wide —

MAGIC CITY 15 .

Tizathy knew the law, that the east ers. We must not tarry here.” was forbidden. And they fled, retracing their So their journey was one filled steps to the point at which they had with many wonders. It was difficult made the wrong turning. But as walking on the crumbled creet high- they ran, Meg, to be on the safe ways of the Ancient Ones, so Meg side, made a brief, apologetic and Daiv walked in the fields but prayer to the dark god, 1 ray Caver. kept the white rock roadbed in sight. They passed through an abandoned Oh, many were the wonders of village named Lextun or Veemi—the that journey. Perhaps most won- old name for it was confused in the drous of all—at least most unex- records—and another known as pected of all—was their discovery Stantn. Only by the intersections of a clan living far to the north and of the roads could they tell these east, near the end of their sixth day’s towns had once been. No hoams travel. stood; grass ran riot where once had It was Daiv who first noted signs been fertile fields and pasture land. of human habitation. They had On the morning of the fourth day crossed a narrow strip of land which, they took a wrong turning, departed from a rusted place of god-meta! from the high plateau and climbed Meg identified as part of the Maer- eastward into a blue and smoky lun territory, when Daiv suddenly ridge of mountain. Here they found halted his priestess with a/ silencing a great marvel. High in the hills gesture. they came upon the broken walls “Golden One—a fire! A camp- of an ancient shrine, stone heaped fire!” upon stone, creet holding the blocks Meg looked, and a slow, shudder- together. Spiked with god-metal on ing apprehension ran through her one wall was a green-molded square. veins. He was right in all save one Daiv, scraping this out of curiosity, thing. It could not be a campfire. uncovered oddly shaped letters in Flame there was, and smoke. But the language. The letters read: in this forbidden territory smoke and flame could mean only—a charnel 11 KAY CAVER fire! For they were nearing His —drubs One dol abode. Meg’s nostrils sought the air delicately, half-afraid of the Beyond the shrine was a huge scent that might reach them. hole, leading deep into the bowels Then, surprisingly, a happy sound of the earth. Daiv would have gone was breaking from Daiv’s throat, into it, seeking a fuller explanation he was propelling her forward. of this wonder, but cold dampness “They are men. Golden One! seeped from the vent, and the stir Men and women living in peace and of his footsteps at the entrance harmony! The message of the Reve- roused a myriad of loathsome bats lation must somehow have pene- from below. trated even these forbidden regions. Meg understood, then, and Come!” dragged Daiv from the accursed spot But a great disappointment hastily. awaited them. For when they met “Th is is the abode of one of their the strange clanspeople, they found Evil Gods,” she explained. “The themselves completely unable to bats are the souls of his worship- converse with them. Only one thing 16 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION — could Meg and Daiv learn. That live so near. But perhaps ” She they called their village Lankstr. looked doubtful. “Do you think Their tribal name they never re- maybe they worship—Him?” vealed, though Daiv believed they Daiv shook his head. called themselves Nikvars. “No, Golden One. These Nik- Meg was bitterly chagrined. vars speak a coarse, animal tongue, “If they could only speak the but I think they are a kindly folk. language, Daiv, they could tell us They have never received the Reve- something about His city. They lation, yet they live together in the

Meg intoned the ritual, but knew as she did so that the girl was dying, the chant failing. —

MAGIC CITY 17

fashion of the Ancient Ones. They voice repeating the ancient descrip- plow the fields and raise livestock. tion. They have sheltered and fed us, “ Tt lies where the great creet offered us fresh clothing. They can- highways of the Ancient Ones meet not be His disciples. This is an- with a river and an island at a vast, other of the many, many mysteries salt sea.’ This is it, Meg! We have of Tizathy. One that we must some found it, my Golden One!” day solve.” The sun lifted higher, spilling its And the next morning they left blood upon the forbidden village. the camp of their odd hosts. They There was ominous portent in that bore with them friendly gifts of salt color, and for the first time fear and bacca, and a damp-pouch filled crept from its secret lurking place with a strange food, lcrowt. And in Meg’s heart, ran on panicky feet

with the quaint Nikvar farewell to her brain. She faltered, “It . . . ringing in their ears, “Veedzain! O it is His city, Daiv. See, even the Veedzain!”, they continued their hoams are bleached skeletons from way east into a territory avoided and which He has stripped the flesh. feared for thrice five centuries. Think you, we should go on?” Through Lebnun and Alntun, Daiv made a happy sound deep skirting a huge pile of masonry that in his throat. Still it was not al- Meg's marker-of-places indicated as together a happy sound; there was “Lizbeth,” up the salt-swept marshes anger in it, and courage, and de- of the Joysy flatlands. The salt air fiance. stung their inland nostrils strangely, He said, “We go on. Golden One! and the flatland air oppressed Meg’s My sword thirsts for His defeat!” mountain-bred lungs, but she forgot And swiftly, eagerly, he pressed her physical discomforts in the mar- onward. Thus came Meg and Daiv vels to be seen. to the City of Death. And then, on the morning of the tenth day, the red lance of the III. dawning sun shattered itself on a weird, light-reflecting dreadfulness It was not so easy to effect entry a scant ten miles away. Something into the city as Meg had expected. so strange, so unnatural, so abso- According to the old marker-of- lutely incredible that it took Meg’s places she had brought, the city was breath away, and she could only connected with the road by a tunl. clutch her mate’s arm, gasping and Meg did not know what a tunl was, pointing. but clearly it had to be some sort Hoams! But such hoams! Great, of bridge or roadway. towering buildings that groped There was nothing such here. The sharded fingers into the very bosom road ended abruptly at a great hole of the sky; hoams of god-metal and in the ground, similar to that which creet—red with water-hurt, true they had seen at the shrine of Uray but still intact. Some of them— Caver, except that this one was be- Meg closed her eyes, then opened gemmed with glistening creet plat- them again and found it was still so ters, and everywhere about it were —must have been every bit of two queer oblongs of god-metal scored hundred, three hundred feet in with cryptic runes. Prayers. “O height! Left Tur,” said one; “O Parki,” an- And as from afar, she heard Daiv’s other. —

18 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Daiv glanced at Meg querulously, Nor was there any doubt that but she shook her head. These were this was Death's city. So far as the —or appeared to be—in the lan- eye could see or the ear hear, there guage, but their meanings were lost was no token of life. Harsh, jum- in the mists of time. Lost, too, was bled blocks of creet scraped tender the significance of that gigantic their soles, and there was no blade magic spell carven in solid stone at of grass to soften that moon-frozen the mouth of the hole severity. About and around and before them were countless aged N. Y.—MCMXXVII—N. J. hoams; their doors were gasping mouths, their shutterless windows Discouraged but undaunted, Meg like vast, blank eyes. They moved and Daiv turned away from the hole. blindly forward, but no hare sprang, Fortunately this was uncivilized ter- startled, from an unseen warren be- ritory; the forest ran right down to fore them; no night bird broke the the water's edge. It eased the task tomblike silence with a melancholy of hewing small trees, building a raft cry. with which they might cross the Only the faint breath of the wind, river. stirring through the great avenues This they did in the daytime, of emptiness, whispered them cau- working with muffled axes lest He tion in a strange, sad sigh. hear, investigate, and thwart their A great unease weighted Meg's plans to invade His domain. mind, and in the gloom her hand At night they crept back into the caught that of Daiv as they pressed forest to build a camp. While Daiv ever forward into the heart of went out and caught game, a fat Death’s citadel. High corridors young wild pig, Meg baked fresh abutted them on either side; by in- biscuit, boiled maters she found stinct, rather than sense, they pur- growing wild in a nearby glade, and sued a northward path. brewed cawfee from their rapidly A thousand questions filled Meg’s dwindling store of that fragrant heart, but in this hallowed place she bean. could not stir her lips to motion. The next day they worked again But as she walked, she wondered, on their craft, and the day after that. marveled, at the Ancient Ones who, And at last the job was completed, it was told, had built and lived in Daiv looked upon it and pro- this great stone village. nounced it good. So at dusk they Perhaps the creet roadbed on pushed it into the water. And when which they walked had once been the icy moon invaded the sky, forc- smooth, as the legends told, though ing the tender sun to flee before its Meg doubted it. Surely not even barrage of silver hoar-shakings, they the ages could have so torn creet set out. for the opposite shore. into jagged boulders, deep-pitted Without incident, they attained and sore. And why should the An- their goal. Behind a thicket, Daiv cient Ones have deliberately pock- moored their rough craft; each com- marked their roads with holes, and mitted the location to memory. at the bottom of these holes placed Then they climbed the stone- broken tubes of red god-metal? rubbled bank, and stood at last in Why, too, should the Ancient the City of Death, on the very por- Ones have built hoams that, prob- tals of His lair. ing the sky, still were roofless, and 2 — ”

MAGIC CITY 19 had in many places had their Through the long night they trod facades stripped away so that be- the city streets, but when the first neath the exterior showed little faint edge of gray lifted night’s square cubicles, like rooms? Or why shadow in the east, Daiv strangled should the Ancient Ones have placed in his throat and made a tired mouth. Jong laths of metal in the middle Then Meg, suddenly aware of her of their walk-avenues? Was it, Meg own fatigue, remembered they must wondered, because they feared the not meet their powerful foe in this demons? And had placed these bars state. to fend them off? All demons, Meg “We must rest, Daiv. We must knew, feared god-metal, and would be strong and alert when we come not cross it face to face with Him.” How long they trod those deserted Daiv demanded, “But where, thoroughfares Meg could not tell. Golden One? You will not enter Their path was generally northward, one of the hoams— but it was a devious one because “The hoams are taboo,” said Meg Daiv, great-eyed with wonder, was piously, “but there are many tem- ever moved to explore some mys- ples. Behold, there lies a great one terious alley. Once, even, he braved before us now. I am a Priestess and destruction by creeping furtively a Mother; all temples are refuge to into the entrance of a hoam conse- me. We shall go there.” crated to a god with a harsh-sound- So they went into the mighty, ing foreign name, Mcmxl, but from colonnaded building. And it was, there Meg begged him to withdraw, indeed, a temple. Through a long lest He somehow divine their pres- corridor they passed, down many ence. steps, and at last into the towering Yet it was Daiv’s insatiable curi- vault of the sacristan. osity that found a good omen for Here, once, on the high niches them. Well within the depths of about the walls, there had stood the city, he stumbled across the first statues of the gods. Now most of patch of life they had found. It was these had been dislodged, their a tiny square of green, surmounted shards lay upon the cracked tiles be- on all sides by bleak desolation. Yet neath. Yet a few stood, and beneath from its breast of high, rank jungle centuries of dust and dirt the ad- grass soared a dozen mighty trees, venturers could still see the faded defiantly quick in the city of the hues of ancient paint. dead. Meg dropped to her knees at The floor of the sacristan was one, this spot, kissed the earth and made vast crater; a wall had crashed to a prayer to the familiar gods of her earth and covered the confessionals clan. of the priests. But above their And she told Daiv, “Remember heads was suspended an awesome ob- well this spot. It is a refuge, a sanc- ject—a huge, round face around the tuary. Perhaps, then, even He is rim of which appeared symbols fa- not invulnerable, if life persists in miliar to Meg. His fortress. Should we ever be Daiv’s eyes asked Meg for an parted, let us meet here.” answer. She marked the spot on her “It is a holy sign,” Meg told him. marker-of-places. From a plaque “Those are the numbers that make of the Ancient Ones, she learned its and take away. I had to learn them name. It was called Madinsqua. when I was a priestess. There is AST— ” —

«0 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

great magic in them.” And while was the tiny prayer room of a for- Daiv stood silent and respectful, she gotten god, Xted-Ciga. There was, chanted them as —it was ordained, in this room, a miraculously un- “One—two—three damaged dais on which they could The size of this temple wakened sleep. greater awe in Meg than anything *They had eaten, but had not she had heretofore seen. She knew, slaked their thirst in many hours. now, that it must have been a great Daiv was overjoyed to find a black and holy race that lived here before drink-fountain set into one of the the Great Disaster, for thousands walls, complete with a mouthpiece could stand in the sacristan alone and a curiously shaped cup, but try without crowding; in addition, there as he might, he could not force the were a dozen smaller halls and spring to flow. prayer rooms, many of which had It, too, was magic; at its base was once been provided with seats. The a dial of god-metal marked with the western wall of the cathedral was numbers and letters of the lan- lined with barred gates; on these de- guage. Meg made an incantation pended metal placards designating over it, and when the water refused the various sects who were permit- to come, Daiv, impatient, beat upon ted to worship here. One such, more the mouth part. Rotten wood split legible than the rest, bore the names from the wall, the entire fountain of communities vaguely familiar broke from its foundation and tum- to Meg. bled to the door, disclosing a nest of inexplicable wires and metal frag- THE SPORTSMAN—12:01 ments. Newark As it fell, from somewhere within it tumbled many circles of stained Philadelphia metal, large and small. Meg, seeing Washington one of these, prayed the gods to for- Cincinnati give Daiv’s impatience. “The fountain would not flow,” This was, of course, the ancient she explained, “because you did not language, but Meg thought she make the fitting sacrifice. Sec? could detect some similarity to These are the tributes of the Ancient names of present-day clans. She Ones. White pieces, carven with the and Daiv had, themselves, come faces of the gods: the Red god, the through a town called Noork on buffalo god”—her voice deepened their way here, and the elder legends with awe—“even great Taamuz, him- told of a Fideffia, the City of End- self! I remember his face from the less Sleep, and a Sinnaty, where once Place of the Gods. had ruled a great people known as “Aie, Daiv, but they were a hum- the Reds. ble and god-fearing race, the Ancient But it would have been sacri- Ones!” lege to sleep in these hallowed halls. And there, in the massive pan- At Meg’s advice they sought refuge theon of Ylvania Stat, they slept in one of the smaller rooms flanking the corrider through which they had Meg started from slumber sud- entered the temple. There were denly, some inner awareness rous- many of these, and one was admir- ing her to a sense of indefinable ably adapted to their purpose; it malease. The sun was high in the —

MAGIC CITY 21

heavens, the night-damp had passed. fighting, clawing figure of a woman. But as she sat up, her keen ears Meg gasped, her thoughts churned caught again the sound that had into confusion by a dozen conflict- awakened her, and fear clutched her ing emotions. Amazement that in kidneys. this City of Death should be found Daiv, too, had been awakened by living humans. The ghouls. His fol- the sound. Beside her he sat up- lowers, she could understand. But right, motioning her to silence. His not the fact that this woman seemed lips made voiceless whisper. as normal as her own Jinnians. “Footsteps!” Second, a frightful anger that Meg answered, fearfully, “His anyone, anything, should thus dare footsteps?” lay forceful hands upon a woman. Daiv slipped to the doorway, dis- Meg was of the emancipated younger appeared. Minutes passed, and con- generation; she had accepted the new tinued to pass until Meg, no longer principle that men were women’s able to await his return, followed equals. But, still him. He was crouched behind the Her desire to do something la- doorway of the temple, staring down bored with her fright. But before the avenue up which they had either could gain control of her marched the preceding night. He muscles, action quickened the tab- felt her breath on his shoulder, leau. There came loud cries from pointed silently. below the ground, the sound of It was not Him. But it was some- clanking harness, the surge of racing one almost as dangerous. A little feet. And from the cavern’s gorge band of His worshipers—all men. It charged the warriors of this stranger was obvious that they were His fol- clan, full-panoplied, enraged, to the lowers, for in addition to the usual rescue of their comrade. breechclout and sandals worn by The invaders were ready for them. all clansmen, these wore a gruesome One had taken a position at each decoration—necklaces of human side of the entrance, another had bone! Each of them—and there leaped to its metallic roof. As the must have been six or seven—carried first warrior burst from the cave as a weapon His traditional arm, a mouth, three scythe swords swung razor-edged sword, curved in the as one. Blood spurted. A head- shape of a scythe! less torso lurched forward a sham- They had halted beside the en- bling pace, pitched to earth, lay trance to a hooded cavern, similar still. Again the scythes lifted. to dozens such which Meg and Daiv Daiv could stand no more. A had passed the night before, but rage-choked roar broke from his lips, had not dared investigate. Now his swift motion upset Meg. And two of them ducked suddenly- into on feet that flew, sword drawn, the cavernous depths. After a brief clenched in his right fist, bellowing period of time, two sounds split the his wrath, he charged forward into air simultaneously. The trium- the unequal fray! phant cry of masculine voices, and the high, shrill scream of a woman! IV. And from the cave mouth, their lips drawn back from their teeth in Nor was Meg far behind him. evil happy looks, emerged the raid- She was a Priestess and a Mother, ers. Behind them they dragged the but in her veins, as in the veins of ”

ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

all Jinnians, flowed ever the quick- in her eyes was a vast respect. She silver battle lust. Her cry was as stared first at Daiv, uncertain, un- loud as his, her charge as swift. Like believing. Then she turned to Meg twin lances of vengeance they bore and made low obeisance. down upon the invaders from the “Greeting and thanks, 0 Woman rear. from Nowhere! Emma, Gard of the The minions of Death spun, Be-Empty, pledges now her life and startled. For an instant stark in- hand, which are truly yours.” credulity stunned them to quies- She knelt to kiss Meg’s hand. cence; that immobility cost their Then deepened her surprise, for she leader his life. For even as his scat- gasped: tered wits reassembled, his lips “But . . . but you are a Mother! framed commands to hi* followers, You wear the Mother’s ring!” Daiv was upon him. Meg said quietly, “Yes, my daugh- T It w as no hooked and awkward ter. I am Meg, the Mother of the scythe Daiv wielded; it. was a long Jiiinia Clan, newly come to the City sword, keen and true. Its gleaming of Death.” blade flashed in the sunlight, struck “Jinnia Clan!” It was the fore- at the leader’s breast like the fang most of the rescuers who spoke now; of a water viper—and when it met by her trappings Meg knew her to sunlight again, its gleam was crim- be a lootent of her tribe. “What son. is this Jinnia Clan, O Mother? Now Daiv’s sword parried an en- Whence come you, and how— emy hook; his' foeman, weapon- Meg said, “Peace, woman! It is less and mad with fright, screamed not fitting that a clanswoman aloud and tried to stave off the drip- should make queries of a Mother. ping edge of doom. His bare hands But lead me to your Mother. With gripped Daiv’s blade in blind, in- her I would speak.” choate defense. The edge bit deep, The lootent flushed. Apologeti- grotesque-angled fingers fell to the cally, “Forgive me, Mother. Swiftly ground like bloodworms crawling, shall I lead you to our Mother, Alls, bright ribbons of blood spurted from But what—” She glanced curiously severed palms. at Daiv who, the battle over, was All this in the single beat of a now methodically wiping his stained pulse. Then Meg,' too, was upon blade on the hem of his clout. “But the invaders; her sword thirsted and what shall I do with this man-thing? drank beside that of her mate. And It is surely not a breeding-male; it the battle was over almost before it fights and acts like a Wild One.” began. Even as the vanguard of Meg’ smiled. clanswomen, taking heart at this un- “He is not a man-thing, my child. expected relief, came surging from He is a man—a, true man. Take the cave mouth, a half dozen bodies me to your Mother, and to her I lay motionless on the creet, then- will explain this mystery.” blood enscarleting its drab. But one remained, and he, eyes wide, Thus it was that, shortly after, mouth slack in awestruck fear, Meg and Daiv- spoke with Alis in turned and fled down the long av- her private chamber deep in the enue on feet lent wings by terror. bowels of the earth beneath the Then rose the woman whom the City of Death. There was great invaders had attempted to under; wonder in the Mother’s, eyes and ” ” —

MAGIC CITY voice, but there was respect, too, and of god-metal. Their hoams probed understanding in the ear she lent the clouds, they never labored ex- Meg’s words. cept on the play-field; their life was Meg told her the tale of the Reve- one of gay amusement, spent in lation. Of how she, when yet Meg chanting into boxes that carried the Priestess, had made pilgrimage, their voices everywhere and looking as was the custom of her clan, to at pictures-that-ran. the far-off Place of the Gods. “But in another world across the “Through blue-swarded Tucky salt water from Tizathy were still and Zurrie I traveled, 0 Alis; many other men and women. Amongst days I walked through the flat fields them were evil ones, restless, impa- of Braska territory. In this jour- tient, fretful, greedy. These, in an ney was I accompanied by Daiv, attempt to rule the world, created then a stranger, now my mate, who a great war. We cannot conceive had rescued me from a Wild One. the war of the Ancient Ones. They And at last I reached the desolate brought all their magics into play. grottoes of distant ’Kota, and there, “The men met on gigantic battle- with my own eyes, looked upon the fields, killed each other with smoke carven stone faces of the gods of the and flame and acid and smell-winds. Ancient Ones. Grim Jarg, the sad- And at hoam, the women—in secret eyed Ibrim, ringleted Taamuz, and— magic-chambers called labteries far-seeing Tedhi, He who laughs made for them sticks-that-spit-fire Alis .made a holy sign. and great eggs that hatched death.” “You speak a mighty wonder, O “It is hard to believe, O Meg,” Meg. These are gods of our clan, breathed Alis, “but I do believe. I too, though none made your pil- have read certain cryptic records of grimage. But we worship still an- the Ancient Ones—but go on.” other god, whose temple lies not far “Came at last the day,” continued away. The mighty god, Granstoom. Meg, “when Tizathy itself entered But—this secret you learned?” this war. But when their mates and “Hearken well, Alis, and believe,” children had gone to Him by the said Meg, “for I tell you truth. The scores of scores of scores, the women gods of the Ancient Ones—were rebelled. They banded together, men!” exiled all men forevermore, set up “Men!” Alis half rose from her the matriarchal form of government, seat. Her hands trembled. —“But keeping only a few weak and infant surely, Meg, you are mistaken males as breeders. “No. The mistake occurred cen- “When they could no longer get turies ago, Mother of another clan. the fire-eggs or the spit-sticks, the Daiv, who comes from the sacred men came back to Tizathy. Then Land of the Escape, has taught me ensued years of another great war the story. between the sexes—but in the end, “Long, long ago, all Tizathy was the women were triumphant. ruled by the great Ancient Ones. “The rest you know. The men, Migh ty were they, and skilled in for- disorganized, became Wild Ones, gotten magics. They could run on roving the jungles in search of food, the ground with the speed of the managing to recreate themselves woodland doe; great, wheeled horses with what few clanswomen they lin- they built for this purpose. They berred from time to time. Our civi- could fly in the air on birds made lization persisted, but many of the —

24 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION old legends and most of the old are right, Mother Alis. It would learning was gone. We finally came be impossible to mate with the chil- to believe that never had the men dren who worship Death as a pi as- ruled; that it was right and proper ter.” for women to rule; that the very “Death?” Alis’ head lifted gods were women. sharply. “Death, Meg? I do not “But this,” said Meg stanchly, understand. They do not worship “is not so. For I have brought back Death, but Death’s mistress. They from the Place of the Gods the Reve- worship the grim and savage war- lation. Now I spread the word. It rior goddess, the fearful goddess, is the duty of all clans to bring the Salibbidy.” Wild Ones out of the forests, make “Her,” said Meg dubiously, “I them their mates, so our people may never heard of. But you speak one day reclaim our deserved heri- words unhappy to my ear, O Alis. tage.” A long way have Daiv and I come to do battle with Him who nips the There was a long silence. fairest buds of our clan. Now you Then asked Alis, “I must think tell me this is not His city deeply on this, O Meg. But you “Aie, but you must be mistaken! spoke of the Land of the Escape. Of a certainty it is His city. His What is that?” tumbled desolation reigns every- “It is the hot lands to the south. where.” Daiv comes from there. It is a sa- Alis made a thought-mouth. cred place, for from there—from the “You force me to wonder, Meg. heart of Zoni—long ago a Wise One Perhaps He is here. Of a truth, He named Renn foresaw the end of the takes many of us to whom He has civilization of the Ancient Ones. no right. A moon ago He claimed “In the bowels of a monstrous the Priestess Kait who was young, bird, he and a chosen few escaped happy, in wondrous good health. Earth itself, flying to the evening “A sweet and holy girl, inspired star. They have never been heard by the gods. Only the day before of since. But some day they will had she been in commune with them; come back. We must prepare for her tender young body atremble their coming; such is the law.” with ecstasy, her eyes rapt, her lips Alis nodded somberly. wet with the froth of their knowl- “I hear and understand, O Mother edge. Oft did she experience these to whom the truth has been revealed. sacred spells, and I had planned— a But . . . but I fear that never can great future for her. But ” Alis we make peace with the Wild Ones sighed and shook her head. “He of Loalnyawk. You have seen them, came and took her even as she com- fought them. You know they are muned with the gods. It was a foul vicious and untamed.” deed and brutal.” Meg had been so engrossed in Daiv said grimly, “And by that spreading the news of the Revela- we know that this is His city, in- tion, she had almost forgotten her deed. For where else would He be true mission. Now it flooded back so powerful and so daring?” upon her like an ominous pall. And “Yes,” said Alis, “the more I she nodded. think on if, the more 1 believe you “Loalnyawk? Is that what you are right. Above ground must be call the City of Him? Perhaps you His domains. We have not guessed ”

MAGIC CITY &B the truth, because for countless ages the fallen tower of Arciay. There we have dwelt in the tiled corridors is also the Citadel of Clumby to the

of Be-Empty.” north, and not far from where . we “Tell us more,” demanded Daiv, now sit could I show you the Temple He-who-would-Iearn, “about the of Shoobut, where each year the An- halls of Be-Empty. Why are they cient Ones sacrificed a thousand vir- called that?” gins to their gods. There— is the “I know not, Daiv. It is the an- forbidden altar of Slukes cient name, yet the corridors are not The Mother’s mouth stayed in empty. They are a vast network of midsentence. Her eyes widened. underground passages, built by the “Slukes!” she repeated awfully. Ancient Ones for mystic rites we no “Well?” Meg and Daiv leaned longer know. Great wonders are forward, intent. here, as I will later show you. “That must be it! In the ancient “These corridors are tiled with legends it tells that there was where shining creet, and upon their road- He visited most often. That must beds lie parallels of god-metal, red be His present lair and hiding place!” and worn. Aie, and there is a “Then there,” proclaimed Daiv, greater wonder still! From place “we must go!” to place I can show you ancient V. hoams, with doors and many win- dows and seats. These hoams were Meg stumbled on a sharp stone, tied together with rods of god-metal, lurched against Daiv and steadied, and whensoever the Ancient Ones herself on his reassuring presence. would move, they had but to push Her eyes had become somewhat ac- their hoams along the parallels to customed to the endless gloom, now, a new location! though they ached and burned with “Once we were not all one clan, the concentration of peering into but many. There were the Women murky blackness, then having the of the In-Deeps, and there were the blackness lighted from time to time, Aiyartees. But we were the strong- unexpectedly, by a shaft of golden est, and we welded all the livers- sunlight flooding into the corridors underground into one strong clan. of Be-Empty from the city above. “We have many villages, wide Her feet, though, thought Meg creet plateaus built on the sunken disconsolately, would never ac- roadways of the Ancient Ones. Each custom themselves to this jagged, village has its entrance to the city uneven roadbed. She had been told above, forbidden Loalnyawk, but to walk between the parallels of god- we use these only when urgency metal, for that was the best, driest, presses. For there are openings safest walking. Maybe it was. But aplenty to the 'sun, there are streams it was treacherous. For there were of fresh, water. Safe from the Wild creet erossties on which her doeskin- Ones above, we raise our vegetables clad feet bruised themselves, arid and a few meat-animals. ever and again there were rocks and “Yet,” continued AJis proudly, boulders lying unsuspeetedly in the “there is no spot in all Loalnyawk road. to which we have not ready access How far they had come, Meg had should it be necessary to get there. no way of guessing. It must have Above ground there are many shrines been many miles. They had passed, like that of great Granstoom and easily, twosoore tiny, raised vil- ”

26 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION lages of the Be-Emptv Clan. At fashion of a woman; he kept insist- each of these they had tarried a mo- ing that his “masculine intuition” ment while the warrior lootent, un- told him otherwise. der whose guidance Alis had dis- Much time had passed. They had patched a small foray party at Meg’s broken fast at the hoam of the disposal, made known herself and Mother, and had eaten a midday her mission. meal here in the depths of Be- Meg panted, hating the heavy, Empty. The last opening under stuffy air her lungs labored to suck which they had passed revealed that in, fuming at the slowness of their the sun was being swallowed by the march, eager only to reach their westward clouds; for twelve hours destination. It did not improve her it would pass through the belly of temper to slip on a round rock, the sky, then miraculously, tomor- submerge one foot to the ankle in row, a new sun would be reborn in a stream of sluggish water. Of the the east. lootent she demanded, “How much So it was almost night when the farther, my daughter?’’ lootent halted at a tiny, deserted “We are nearly there, O Mother.” creet platform, turned and touched Daiv grunted. It was a think- her forehead to Meg. grunt. Meg tried to see him, but “This is it, O Mother.” in the darkness his face was a white “This?” Meg glanced about. blur. There was nothing unusual about “Yes, Daiv?” this location. “There’s more to this than meets “Above this spot lies the forbid-— the eye, Golden One. These pas- den altar of S hikes. I ... I fear sageways are not the purposeless cor- The lootent’s eyes were troubled. “I ridors Alis thought. I was wonder- fear I dare take you no farther, O ing—” Mother. You and your man are in- “Yes?” violate; I and my warriors are but “Well—it sounds ridiculous. But humble women. That which lies do you remember those hoams on above would be destruction for us to wheels? The ones with the win- gaze upon.” dows? Suppose the Ancient Ones Meg nodded complacently. had the magic power to make them “So be it, my daughter. We shall run like horses along these paral- leave you now, go to dare Him iu lels?” His den.” Meg shrugged. The lootent said, “We shall wait, “But why should they, Daiv? Mother—” When it woidd have been so much simpler to make them run on top “Wait not, my child. Return to of the earth? These grottoes were your village.” built for some sacred purpose, my “Very well. Mother. Your bless- mate.” ing ere we leave?” “I suppose you're right,” acknowl- Meg gave it, touching her fingers edged Daiv. But he didn’t sound to the lips and the forehead of the convinced. Sometimes Meg grew a kneeling lootent, chanting the hal- little impatient with Daiv. He was, lowed phrases of the Ancient Ones’ “ like all men, such a hard creature blessing. ‘My country, Tizathy; to convince. He couldn’t reason sweet land of liberty— ’ ” Then things out in the cold, clear logical there were stifled footsteps in the MAGIC CITY 27 gloom and Meg and Daiv were —of women. It had taken her alone. many, many summers to learn the Only briefly did Meg consider the art of reading the speech-without- possibility of entering His temple at words; he had assimilated the knowl- this time—and then she abandoned edge from her in a tenth the time. the project. It would be suicidal. “It is the right place, Daiv,” she Everyone knew He was strongest at whispered. “The Ancient Ones were night. His powers waned with the often careless in putting down the waxing sun. So she and Daiv built language. But can you not feel a tiny fire in the quarters of a long- that this is His abode?” vanished warrior named Private For she could. Those grim, gray Keepout, and there huddled together walls breathed an atmosphere of through the long, dank, fearsome death and decay. The bleached night. walls were like the picked bones of a skeleton lying in some forgotten They awakened with the sun, field. And the great, gaping vents broke their fast with unleavened bis- of windows, the sagging lintels, the cuit given them by Alis. Daiv, who way one portion of roof had fallen was expert at such matters, then in—there were marks of His domi- examined with painstaking care their nance. Meg did not even need the swords and hurling-Ieathers. He ap- omen of the red-throated carrion proved these. And as if feeling buzzard wheeling lazily ever and within his own breast an echo of ever about the horrid altar of the dread that fluttered in Meg’s, he Slukes. pressed his lips hard against hers “Come,” she said, “let us enter.” in a touching-of-mouths. Then, Daiv held back. There were anx- hand in hand, they climbed a long ious lines about his eyes. “He does flight of steps, into the sunlight, for- not speak, Meg?” ward to the threshold of His strong- “No one has ever heard His voice, hold. Daiv. Why?” It was a majestic building. “I thought I heard voices. But IIow many footsteps long and I must have made— a mistake. wide it was, Meg could not even Well”—he shrugged “it does not conceive. It reached half as far as matter.” the eye would reach in one direc- Thus they entered the secret hid- tion; in the other, it branched into ing place of Death. many smaller buildings. And it was pine-high. An awe-inspiring sight. - All the great courts lay silent. Daiv, standing beside her, stared What Meg had expected to see, dubiously at the main portal. He she did not rightly know. Perhaps said, “This may not be the place, a charnel house of human bodies, Meg. Alis said the name of the dismembered and gory, raw with temple was— Slukes, didn’t she? This frightful cicatrices, oozing filth from is called ” He glanced again at the sick and rotting sores. Or perhaps weather-worn carving atop the door- that even more dreadful thing, cham- way. “This is called Stlukes.” bers in which were imprisoned the Again, as oft before, Meg felt mournful souls of the dead. Against swift pride at her mate’s intelligence. flesh and blood, no matter how Daiv was a living proof that men frightful, Meg knew her courage were the equals—or almost, anyway would hold. But she did not know 28 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION whether her nerves would stand be- which they moved was lined with fore the dim restlessness of the gray doorways. Into one of these they unalive. looked, believing He might have hid She found neither of these in the there, but the rooms were vacant ex- temple of Slukes. She found only cept for strange, four-legged god- floors and walls and ceilings which metal objects humped in the middle, had once been shining white, but on which reposed parasitic coils and were now gray with ages of floating twists of metal twined inextricably dust. She found her footsteps muf- together. Dust lay over all, and in fled beneath her upon a mat of sub- one room more carefully shuttered, stance, now crumbling, but still barred and sealed than the others, resilient to the soles. She found si- they saw tatters of something like lence, silence, silence that beat upon homespun covering the coils. But her eardrums until it was a tangible, when Meg attempted to touch this, terrifying sound. the wind from her motion swept the And finding that, she took com- gossamer cloth into nothingness. fort in Daiv’s keen, questing, ever- Aie, but it was a mighty and mys- forward search for Him. terious place, this altar of Slukes, Down a. long hallway they strode where dw'elt Him who steals away on catlike feet; a chamber they the breath! There w7 ere rooms in passed in which heaped dust out- which reposed great urns and pans lined the seats and stools of An- of god-metal; these rooms held, also, cient Ones. Past a god-metal coun- huge metal boxes w'ith handles on ter they walked, and saw7 within its the front, and their platters wr ere confines not one by a half-dozen crusted with flaked and ancient w7 ater fountains like that Daiv had grease. Meg shuddered. “Here,” wTenched from the w7 all of Ited- she whispered to Daiv, “He burnt Ciga’s shrine. the flesh of them He took.” In the Above their heads, from time to same room wr as a massive white box time, they glimpsed strange, magic with a door. Daiv opened this, and pendants of green and red god- they saw within neat metal racks. metal; beneath one of these w7 as a “And here,” whispered Meg, “must greater marvel still—a pear-shaped He have stored the dwindled souls ball with wr ire seeds coiled within. until again He hungered. But now Transparent w7 as the skin of this He does not use this closet. I won- fruit, and slippery to the touch. der why?” Daiv tried to split it, hungering for a taste of its newness, but it ex- And they went on. ploded in his hands with a fearful Until at last, having climbed pop!—and there was nothing but its many flights of steps, Meg and Daiv stem and seeds! came at last to the chamber they The fruit itself had vanished, but had been seeking. It lay on the the skin, as if angered, had bit Daiv’s story nearest the roof. Oh, but He palm until the blood flowed. was a methodical destroyer. The Meg blessed the wound, and compartments in which he impris- begged forgiveness in a swift prayer oned His victims were all carefully to the gods of the harvest at having labeled in the language. Contagious destroyed the magic pear. Ward, Infants’ Ward, Maternity And they went on. Ward—all these Meg saw and read, Either side of the corridor through and shuddered to recognize. And ”

MAGIC CITY m

— "We can reach the place through the corridors of Be-Empty this. His holy of holies, was symbo- a woman. Her face was a mask of lized as His workroom by the sign, frozen agony; His touch had drawn Operating Room. taut her throat muscles and arched Once it had been a high, lofted her back in the final paroxysm. Her chamber; now it wore the roof of lifeless fingers gripped the sides of infinity, for some antique cataclysm the bed in unrelaxing fervor. had opened it to the skies. Crum- And the room bore, amidst its bled plaster and shards of brick clutter and confusion, unmistak- heaped the floor. able signs of recent habitation! The But in its center, beneath a gi- trappings of the newly slaughtered gantic weapon defying description or woman had been tossed carelessly understanding, was His bed. It into a corner, along with countless could be nothing else, for even now, others. Feet, many feet, had beaten upon it, lay the lately-slain body of firm the rubble on the floor; in one ”

80 ASTOUN DING SCIENCE-FICTION • corner, not too long since, had been door, crashed it shut in the face of a fire. And the blood that had the charging ghouls. Daiv braced gushed from the dead woman when himself against it stanchly, his her heart had been roughly hewn eyes sweeping the small chamber in from her bosom still clotted the which they found themselves. floor! “That!” he commanded. “And Meg cried, a little cry of terror that other. Golden One. And that!” and dismay. His nods designated objects of “He is here, Daiv!” furniture within the room; heavy, Then all things happened at once. solid braces of god-metal. Meg bent Her cry wakened ominous echoes to the task, and before Daiv’s in chambers adjacent to this. Daiv’s strength could fail under the now arm was about her, pulling her away. clamorous pounding on the doorway, There came the patter of footsteps, the portal was braced and secured voices lifted, and the door at the with the massive frames that once farther end of the room jerked open. had been chairs, a desk, a cabinet. And Daiv cried, “Not only He, Now there was time for breathing but His ghouls! Behind me. Golden and inspection of their refuge. And One!” Meg’s soul sickened, seeing the trap Then the deluge. A horde of Wild into which they had let themselves. Ones of the same tribe as those “But, Daiv—there is no way out! whom they had fought two days be- There is but one door to the room. fore, charged into the room. The one through which we entered!”— Daiv said, “There is a window and strode to it. She saw the swift, VI. dazed shock that creased his brows, There was no taint of cowardice moved to his side and peered from in the heart of Meg the Mother. the window. Had she any fault, it was that of ex- It was an eagle’s aerie in which cess bravery. Oft before had she they stood! Down, down, down, far proven this, to her own peril. This feet below, was the sun-lit court- time, Daiv’s speed left her no oppor- yard of this building. But the wall tunity to become a courageous sacri- was sheer and smooth as the jowls fice to His minions. of lean youth; no crawling insect His quick eye measured the num- could have dared that descent. ber of their adversaries, his battle- Daiv looked at her somberly, and trained judgment worked instinc- his arm crept about her. tively. For an instant he hesitated, “Since we cannot fle^ we must just long enough to strike down outwait them. Golden One. If we with flailing long sword the fore- cannot get out, they, at least, can- most of their attackers. Then he not get in.” swept Meg backward with his He did not mention the thought mighty right arm, thrust her irre- uppermost in his mind and in hers. sistibly toward a doorway at the That their food pounches lay far be- other end of the room. low. them, in the murky grotto of “Flee, Golden One!” Be-Empty; that they had no water. Meg had no choice. For Daiv And that the shortest of sieges would was on her heels; his body a bulwark render them impotent before their of defense against hers and a batter- adversaries. ing-ram of force. They reached the For he was Daiv, known as He- — — ” .

MAGIC CITY SI who-would-learn. And even in this motes! Meg, it is a sad and bitter moment when things looked darkest, thing.” he was roused to curiosity by the He saw, now, that she spoke truth chamber in which they were im- For he pawed through the piles of mured. rotted debris; in one spot he found a It was a small and cluttered room. frayed leather oblong from which, More dusty than most, and that was as he lifted it, granules of charred odd, because it was not open to the black sifted. Once, again, he found dust-laden air. a single bit of parchment marked But Daiv, questing, discovered the with the language, but it fell into reason for this. The floor was gray ten million bits at the touch of his not with rock dust, but with the fingers. fragments of things which—which “There have been fire and flame “This is a great mystery, Meg. in this room,” Meg said. “Water- What are, or were, these things?” hurt, and the winds of the ages. That is why no books remain. It Meg, too, had been staring about must have happened in the wars, her. A faint suspicion was growing when the fire-eggs fell upon the in her mind. She remembered a building. Daiv! What are you do- word she had heard but once in her ing?” life, and that when she was but a, For Daiv, still pawing the ruins, young girl, neophyte priestess under had uncovered a large, metal cabi- the former Mother. net deep-set in the wall. This “Shelves,” she whispered. “Many alone seemed to have escaped, un- long shelves, all of water-hurt god- hurt, whatever holocaust had de- metal. Desks. And crumbled frag- stroyed all else. With a swift grunt ments of parchment. of satisfaction, he was tearing at the “Daiv, long ago the Ancient Ones handle of this cabinet. had houses, rooms, in which they “Don't open it, Daiv! It is a for- kept, pressed flat between cloth and bidden thing! It may be a—trick of boards, parchment marked with the the Ancient Ones. Of Him speech-without-words.— These they But Meg’s warning was futile. called ” She cudgeled her brain For Daiv’s fumbling fingers had for the elusive word. “These they solved the secret of the antique lock; called ‘lyberries.’ The flat scrolls creaking in protest, the door swung were known as ‘books.’ This room open to reveal, in an unlighted must have been the lyberry of chamber from which a faint, musty Slukes.” breath of wind stirred books! _ “And in these books,” said Daiv Books! Books as Meg had de- in hallowed tones, “they kept their cribed them. Books as Meg had records?” learned of them from the lips of the “Aie, more than that. In them elder Mother. Books, still encased they kept all their secret knowledge. in jackets of cloth and leather, un- The story of their spells and magic, hurt through thrice five centuries and of their foretelling-of-dreams.” of time, preserved, by a whim of the Daiv groaned in pain as an un- gods, in a locked and airless cabi- happy-imp prodded his heart. net! “We stand at the heart of their And again it became Meg’s lot mysteries, but He who withers all to save Daiv’s life and soul, for he, has ripped their parchment into manlike, impatient, paused not to ” ” n ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION placate the gods, but groped in- awakened to a memory of that dan- stantly for the nearest of the forbid- ger. For the sounds outside the den volumes. door of the lyberry, which had never Fervent were the prayers Meg quite ceased, now sharpened in tone. made then, and swiftly, that the gods There came the sound of a voice destroy him not for his eagerness. raised in command, cries of labor And she was rewarded graciously, redoubled, and with an echoing for Daiv did not fall, mortally crash, something struck the door of stricken, as he knelt there mutter- their refuge! ing over his find. The door trembled; the braces “Behold, Meg—the secrets of the gave a fraction of an inch. And Ancient Ones! Ah, Golden One, again the crash, the creak, the hurry—read to me! This speecli- strain. without-words is too mighty for my “A ram! Daiv, they are forcing powers; only the knowledge of a the door!” Mother can tell its meaning. But, Daiv the dreamer became, swiftly, lo! here are drawings! Look, Golden Daiv the man of action. With a One! Here is a man like me! But, single bound he was on his feet, his behold, this is a mystery! The flesh sword in hand. His brows were anx- has been stripped from his body, dis- ious. closing hordes of tiny red worms “Take you the right side of the covering his carcass—but he still door, Golden One; I will guard the stands erect! other. When these ghouls burst in “And, see, Meg—here is a woman upon us, we shall split them like with white sheets of bandage about pea pods— her head. What means this? And But a great idea had been born behold this man’s head! It lays open to Meg. from front to back, but Meg, there Her face glowing with a sudden is no village of tiny pain-imps, and happy look, she spun to face her like-imps and hate-imps dwelling mate. within! Only red worms and blue,— “No, Daiv. Open the door!” and inside his nostrils a sponge “What? Golden One, has fear Meg took the book with trem- softened your brain?” bling hands. It was as Daiv said. “Not my brain nor my heart, be- Here were drawings without number loved! But do as I say! Look you! of men and women who, their bodies I am a Mother and a Priestess, is dismembered horribly, still smiled it not so?” and stood erect. Little arrows “Yes, but—” pierced them, and at the end of the “And I have just discovered a arrows were feathers of the lan- mighty secret. The secret of the guage, saying magic words. Ser- knowledge of the Ancient Ones.” ratus mag mis—Poupart’s ligament “Still—” said Daiv. —transplyoric plane. “Would not even the underlings And the name of the book was of Him,” cried Meg, “pay greatly “Fundamental Anatomy.” for this knowledge? Open the door for them, my mate! We will parley In their moment of wild excite- with them or with Death, Himself, ment, both Meg and Daiv had quite for an exchange. Our lives in pay- forgotten the danger of their situa- ment for the sharing of this secret!” tion. Now they were rudely re- Daiv might have withstood her —— — ”

MAGIC CITY logic, but he could not refuse the For her plan she had entertained eager demand of her eyes. Like a great hopes, true, but she had man bedazed, he moved to the door, wagered her life and Daiv’s on the started, scraping the bulwark away balance of an exchange. But here, even as the horde outside continued suddenly, inexplicably, was utter their assault. capitulation. Surrender so complete When he had almost completed, that the leader of His warriors dared the door shook before imminent col- not even lift his eyes to meet hers lapse as he slobbered his worship at her “Stand you out of sight, Daiv. I feet. would meet them face to face.” She glanced swiftly at Daiv, but And she took her post squarely for once Daiv had no knowledge in before the door. In the hollow of her his eyes; they were as blank and Book of questioning as her own. left . arm she cradled the Secrets. On her face was the smile Still, Meg was a Priestess and a She w'as a woman too, of triumph, and a look of exalted Mother. , glory. The door trembled; this time and an opportunist. And instinct actions. it split away from its hinges. Once governed her more, now! Came the final crash, She stepped to the leader’s side, and touched his brow with cool fingers. "Hold!” cried Meg, the Priestess. “Rise, O Man! Your Goddess Through the oblong of the door, gives you grace.” faces frightful vrith fury and blood The ghoul rose, shaken and fear- lust, tumbled the ghouls of Death. ful. His voice was the winnowed Their hook-shaped scythes swung chaff of hope. ready in their hands; a scream of “Be merciful unto us, O Goddess. triumph hovered on their lips. We did not know—we did not dream Hovered there—then trembled —w-e dared not hope for a Visita- then died! tion.” And of a sudden, a miracle oc- Meg chose her words carefully, curred. For the flame died from delivered them as a Mother intones their eyes, their sword-arms fell, and a sacred chant, in a tone calcu- as one man the attackers tumbled lated to inspire dreadful awe in the to their knees, groveling before Meg. hearts of her listeners. A low muttering arose, was carried “You have sinned mightily, O from man to man as the breath of Man! You have laid siege to the the night wind is passed through holy refuge of the Goddess. You the forest by the sad and whispering- have linberred and slain women of pines. the Be-Empty Clan, a grievous deed. It was a murmur, then a cry, of You have forgotten the Faith, and fear and adoration. have bowed down in worship—before “Mercy, O Goddess! Slay not Him, the arch-enemy. Death your children, O Everlasting. O “No, O Goddess!” The contradic- Goddess—great Goddess Salibbidy!” tion was humble but sincere. “These other sins we confess, but not this last! Never have we worshiped VII. Him! Never!” Not in her most hopeful moment “You dwell in His citadel.” had Meg expected so sudden and “His citadel!” There was horror complete a victory as this. in the Wild One’s voice. “We did — ” ”

34 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION not know it was His, O sweet Salib- to the last outpost. To the ac- bidy! We live many places as we cursed and forbidden city of the An- journey through Loalnyawk. To- cient Ones. To the stronghold of day we rested here because we had Him.” a sacrifice to make unto thee; a “But they said they did not wor- woman unfit for mating whom we ship Him, Daiv! And they dared linberred last night.” His eyes not. lie, believing me their Goddess. pleaded with Meg’s. ‘'Was the sac- If Lie does not rule them, if He rifice unpleasing to thee, gracious reigns not here, then where is He, Salibbidy?” Daiv? And why did they accept “It was foul in my nostrils,” said me as their Goddess? Why?” Meg sternly, “Her blood is a wound Daiv shook his head. This was upon my heart. This is the law unimportant now, he thought. It from this time henceforward! was sufficient that the enemy had There shall be no more linberring been overcome. There were great or slaying of women. Instead, there things to do. He returned to his shall be a new order. You shall go cabinet, and drew from it its precious to the women and make peace. They store of books will receive you with singing and soft hands, for unto them I have Afterward, in the hoam of Alis, given the law. Meg learned part of the answer to “Together, von shall form a new her questions. When she had told city. They shall come out of the Alis what had happened, and re- caverns of Be-Empty. You and they ceived the Mother’s pledge to accept shall reclaim the hoams of the An- the Wild Ones’ envoys in peace and cient Ones. When again I visit the good will, she told again of their village of Loalnyawk, I shall expect sudden surrender. to see men and women living to- “I sought but to parley with them. gether in peace and harmony as it Mother Alis. At the. door I stood,— was in the days of old. and thus I stood, waiting calmly “Do you understand the law?” She struck the pose. Book cra- “Yes, mighty Goddess!” The cry dled in her arm, the other arm lifted rose from each man. high above her head, chin lifted “You will obey it?” proudly. “We will obey it, sweet Salib- And then Alis nodded. But in bidy.” her eyes, too, came unexpectedly a “Then go in peace, and sin no worship-look, and she whispered more.” brokenly, “Now I understand, O The vanquished worshipers, in- Goddess who chooses to call herself toning prayers of thanksgiving, Meg, the Mother. From the be- crawled backward from the cham- ginning I felt your sanctity.— I ber. When the last had disappeared, should have known then and they were again alone, Meg She rose, led Meg to the surface turned to her mate. His strong arms above Be-Empty, now no longer soothed the belated trembling of her forbidden territory to the women. body. Once there had been many and great “Fear not, Golden One,” he whis- buildings here, but ancient strife had pered. “Today have you per- stricken them as the whirlwind formed a miracle. In bloodless vic- hews a path through solid wood- tory you have borne the Revelation land. 3 — - ” ” ”

MAGIC CITY 85

Far to the southward, where the spoken, the final blessing given. green ocean waters met the creet And once more Meg and Daiv were shores of Loalnyawk there was a striding the long highway to Jinnia. figure, dimly visible. But not so Daiv was strangely silent. And dimly visible that Meg and Daiv strangely inattentive, too, for he was could not recognize it. attempting a difficult task. Trying “There is thy image, sweet Salib- to march without watching the road bidy,” whispered the Mother, Alis. before him. His eyes were in one “Still it stands, as it did in the days of the many books he had brought of the Ancient Ones. Forever will with him; the others he wore like it stand, and you remain the Goddess a huge hump on his back. He stum- of broad Tizathy.” bled for the hundredth time, and Meg cried petulantly, “Alis, do while Meg helped him reset the pack not call me by this name, Salibbidy! on his shoulders she said, ruefully: I am Meg, Mother of the Jinnia— “There is but one thing T regret, Gian. Like yourself, a woman Daiv! Much we accomplished, but A smile of mysterious understand- not that one thing we came to do. ing touched Alis’ lips. We found not Him, nor destroyed “As you will—Mother Meg,” she Him, as we willed. And our prob- said. lem is still great, for ever and again But. it was strange that her head will He pluck the ripest from our should still be bowed— harvest of living.” But Daiv shook his head. Thus it was, that with the break- “Not so. Golden One.” ing of the new dawn over the creet “No?” walls of Loalnyawk, Meg and Daiv “No, my Priestess. It has come said farewell to these friends and to me that we have more than ful- their faces — converts, and turned filled our mission. For you see south and west to the remembered Daiv looked at the sky and the green hills of Jinnia. trees and the clouds that floated Nor was this a sad parting. An above. He took a deep breath, and envoy of the men had come this the air was sweet. Life flowed morning; long had he and the strongly and true in his veins, and Mother parleyed, and an under- the knowledge he was eking, labori- standing had been reached. As ever, ously, from the magical books was there were women who demurred, potent liquid in his brain. and women who disapproved—but “You see, Golden One, we were Meg had seen a young maiden look- w-rong. He does not, nor ever did, ing with gentle, speculative eyes live in Loalnyawk. He has no hoam, upon the envoy. And a grim war- for He is everywhere, waiting to rior had spoken with unusually gen- claim those who violate His bar- tle warmth to one of the envoy’s riers.” guards—a bristle-jowled man of fighting mold. Meg cried bitterly, “Then, Daiv, forever at His mercy! If He These things would take care of we are — themselves, thought Meg. The new cannot be found and destroyed order would come about, inevitably, “He cannot be slain, Meg—and because the men and women, both, that is well. Else the crippled, the would wish it so sick, the mad, would live forever, Then the last farewell had been in endless torment. But He can be AST— ” —

8« ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION fought—and in these books it tells seeing, read with wonder. Of a day the ways in which to do battle with to come when men and women, hand Him. in hand, should some day climb “They are not the ways of magic, again to assail the very heights lost Golden One. Or of any magic you by the madness of the Ancient Ones. know. These are new ways we must His shoulder touched hers, and study. These magics are called by the day was warm and the road long. strange names—serum, and vaccina- Meg was afire with impatience to tion, and physic. But the way of get back to Jinnia, to bring this new each is told in these books. One knowledge to her clan. But there day we shall understand all the mys- was other fire within her, too, and teries, and Death’s hand will be the message could wait a little while stayed. if she and Daiv tarried in the cool “Boiled water He fears, and fresh of a leafy tree. air, and cleanliness. We shall not Her hands met his and clung, and fight Him with swords and stones, she turned her lips to his in the but with sunshine and fresh water touching-of-mouths. She was Meg, and the soap of boiled—fats. For so and he was Daiv, and they wr ere it was in the old days man and woman. And the grass was And a great vision was in Daiv’s soft and cool. eyes; a vision Meg saw there, and, So, too, it was in the old days

THE END.

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"GRAY LENSMAN"

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1939, and the January, 1940, issues of Astounding Science-Fiction may be purchased at 3©e a copy from:

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GflSTflumy

By Robert (Hoore Williams

Concerning a slight misunderstanding as to the point of origin of a certain castaway on a Caribbean island—

Illustrated by Jack Binder

“But look here,” Parker pro- came out of that God-forsaken cor- tested into the phone. “You must ner of hell—excuse the profanity, be mixed up about your dates. I but the description is accurate—only ”

$6 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

six days ago. I’m not due to relieve and break him in. In that time, Johnson for eight more days, so Johnson should have recovered from don’t be calling and telling me to his broken arm and be able to take report for duty. Huh? What’s his own turn again. I’m willing to that?” take over his turn, since it’s an It was Hanson’s secretary who emergency, but what do you want to had called him. Hanson was chief send a new man for?” of the Gulf division of the light- “Parker, I don’t have time to sit house service. The girl had made here and argue with you about this,” a mistake, he thought. Hanson snapped. “I know you’re The phone clicked and the girl’s entitled to two full weeks off duty voice was gone. Hanson himself and I also know you’ve earned every came on the wire, slightly apologetic, second of it, but I’ve got to send but with the “duty-is-duty” tone in somebody out to that lighthouse and his voice. the only person I can send is you. “Parker? Report to the dock im- So cut out this arguing and get mediately. The plane will be ready down here.” to take you back to your station by “All right, I’ll be down right . the time you arrive.” away,” Parker answered. “The devil. I mean, sir— The old man could be tough at “I quite appreciate that you are times. This seemed to be one of off duty,” Hanson said, “but this is those times. But it seemed to Parker an emergency.” that Hanson was being tougher than Hanson’s voice clicked into si- circumstances warranted. lence. Parker waited for an ex- thought. planation. It didn’t come. Damn Johnson, he Why drink of have to “What kind of an emergency?” he did the long water questioned. “Has something hap- fall down the stairs and break his Parker, ever pened to Johnson?” arm? And why had he, big enough fool to enter the “Yes. You are to report at once.” been lighthouse service? Once it had “All right, sir. But what happened to Johnson?” seemed a rather romantic occupa- tion, taking care of the big lamp, “He fell down the lighthouse steps seeing that the lens was clean and and broke an arm. We . . . ah . . , reflectors bright, flashing warn- had a radio report from him last the night. The plane went out for him ings to ships out in the Gulf. But this morning. I’m sorry to have to now Parker had been in the service ask you to take your turn before six years and a lot of the romance he that your time is up, but we don’t have a had vanished. Now knew replacement, and the navy prefers nothing ever happened in a light- that we have an observer constantly house. on duty at your post, as you know. That was what was wrong with You'll have to finish Johnson’s turn the damned job. Nothing ever hap- and then do your own. By that pened! You took care of the light, time, I’ll have a new man to take and fished, and made radio reports, Johnson’s place.” and hunted for something to kill the “That means I’ll spend three time so the loneliness didn’t get you. weeks out there,” Parker grumbled. Two weeks on duty and two weeks Then he pointed out: “And if you off. For two weeks you didn’t see send a new man. I’ll have to stay another human being. CASTAWAY 39

Hanson was waiting at the land- hesitate to get in touch w ith me im- ing when Parker arrived. At the mediately.” end of the wharf a big seaplane was A little startled, Parker took the floating, her motors turning over proffered hand. Hanson didn’t usu- slowly. ally shake hands with men leaving “Sorry, Parker,” Hanson said, for a turn of duty. Nor did he usu- apologizing again, “but the navy in- ally come down to the landing to see sists that we have trustworthy men them off. at your station, especially with the “Thank you,” he said. “If any- war in Europe going blue blazes. A thing turns up. I’ll get in touch with sub or two might slip into the Gulf you. But nothing will,” he added and raise hell with shipping before wryly. “Nothing ever does.” He she could be tracked down, espe- walked down the dock toward the that cially if there should be a secret base plane. Looking back, he saw somewhere around. The patrol Hanson was still watching him. boats can't cover everything, you He got into the plane. know, and the navy wants all the It was a navy plane, with a crew spe- eyes it can get on the lookout.” of two, which was something of service. Usually “That’s all right,” Parker an- cial in the way service used their swered rather stiffly. “How’s John- the lighthouse son?” own planes, especially in taking men to Parker’s station, which was over “Johnson!” Hanson seemed star- two hundred miles away on a tiny tled. “Oh, I guess he’ll be all right. island near the southern side of the Don’t know yet. He’s at the hos- Gulf. But this was an emergency, pital now, for observation.” and perhaps the navy had been will- Parker looked at Hanson. The ing to supply transportation, since chief had grown gray in the light- they were so anxious to have some- house service. He looked worried one on duty all the time. now. “Let her roll,” Parker said. “What is there about a broken There was a lieutenant at the arm that calls for observation?” controls. He taxied away from the Parker asked. landing, set her up on the step, and Hanson had a pair of gimlet eyes lifted her into the air. Parker was that could be used to drill twin holes aware that the radio operator was in a questioner. But he didn’t turn looking at him. the gimlets on the slightly disgrun- “Too bad about the other chap,” tled young man who was facing him. the radio operator said. He studied the seaplane as if he “Yeah,” Parker answered. He was found something of intense interest still grumpy at this sudden call to in it. duty. “But he probably fell down “The arm was pretty badly the steps and broke his arm on pur- swollen,” he answered, still not look- pose, just so he could go on sick ing at Parker. “Take a day or two leave.” to get the swelling out so the doc- He knew it wasn’t true. Johnson tors can set the bone. Well, good wasn’t that kind of a guy. Johnson luck, lad,” he finished, suddenly took his duty seriously. But he was thrusting out his hand. “Make your grumpy. reports regularly, and if anything “What’s that?” the radio operator suspicious should turn up, don’t asked. “He broke his arm?” 40 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Sure. That’s what the old man returned to the boards under his said. But you ought to know. You feet. brought him in, didn’t you?” There were wet splotches on those The radio operator looked at the boards, splotches that were almost lieutenant. dry now. They looked like foot- “Yes,” the lieutenant said hastily. prints. Parker stared at them. “We brought him in. It sure was “Nuts,” he said. “Who do I think tough, about his arm. You men in I am, Robinson Crusoe, finding a that service ought to be very care- footprint in the sand?” ful. If you suffered a serious acci- He went up the walk and into the dent and couldn’t get to the radio, house, dropped his bags. Auto- you might die before help was sent.” matically he began a routine tour Parker twisted in his seat. He of inspection. The door of the light- looked from the lieutenant to the house was open. Wet footprints led radio operator. inside. “What do you mean?” he said. Parker looked at them. Standing “Are you holding back something? outside, he ran his eyes up the white, Didn’t Johnson have a broken arm?" wooden walls of the lighthouse “Yes,” the lieutenant answered. towr er. He looked at the tracks “That was it. A broken arm. Sure.” again. He turned, walked back into A frown settled on Parker’s face. the house, took the pistol out of his But he said nothing more. The plane bag. It was a .45 caliber automatic, climbed into the sky, leveled out for an army gun. He clicked a clip of flight. He was so busy thinking that cartridges into place, gently worked almost before he knew it, the plane the slide to feed a cartridge into the was nosing down again. Far off firing chamber. Slipping the gun across the blue water, he could see into his jacket pocket, he went back the white tower of the lighthouse ris- to the lighthouse. Overhead was a ing out of the sea. He was at his wooden floor. The radio equipment station. was up there. Much farther up, at The radio operator helped him un- the top of the tower, was the light. load his bags. The steps led up to the radio room “Good luck,” the lieutenant said. through a trapdoor. The wet foot- Parker watched the plane taxi prints went up the steps. across the water, watched it rise The trapdoor wr as open. abruptly into the air. The song of He went up very quietly. the motors died in the distance. Soon “Hello,” he said, when his head it was as small as a gull. Then it was above the level of the floor. was gone. With it went the only “What are you doing here?” human beings he w'ould see for The fellow jumped at the sound of three weeks. Parker’s voice. He was in the radio room, staring at the transmitter. He There was a small frame house didn’t know Parker was near him un- beside the lighthouse, the keeper til the latter spoke. lived there. A boardwalk led from He was short and squat, and built the landing up to the lighthouse. like a battering-ram. Except for a Parker started along the walk. Sud- strip of metallic-appearing cloth at denly he stopped. His eyes ran over his waist, he was naked. He looked the tiny island, over the lighthouse, at Parker and grinned. over the small house beside it, then “Hello, Johnson,” he said. CASTAWAY 41

The lighthouse keeper’s eyes nar- scare up some lunch?” rowed. He looked the man over. Parker turned and started down “You’re a native, aren’t you?” he the steps. He looked back. Bobo said. “How does it happen that was staring at him, so he rubbed his you speak English?” stomach and pointed to his mouth. The man eyed him. “Speak Eng- Bobo seemed to get the idea. He lish?” he parroted. “You not John- came gladly. But he didn’t appre- son,” he said accusingly. ciate the food of civilization. He “No,” Parker answered. “I came would hardly eat the food Parker set to take Johnson’s place. But how before him. did you get here?” “Don’t you like it, Bobo?"’ the South America was not too far lighthouse keeper asked. away, and there were natives there “Sure,” Bobo answered. “Good. who looked a lot like this fellow. Damn good.” Sometimes storms caught their “It’s rather difficult to manage canoes and drove them far out to canned tomatoes with a knife,’ sea. Not often, but it had hap- Parker said, watching the native. pened. “But you’ll learn.” “Came in boat,” the man an- “You bet. Learn damned good,” swered. “Boat got lost. Sink. See Bobo answered, trying to scoop up light. Swim here. That last dark. the tomatoes with the blade of the Come in. Johnson take care of light. knife, as Parker was doing. Parker Take care of me, too. Went for watched him in silence. There were swim, come back, Johnson gone. lines of thought at the corners of the Look for him, not find. Where John- lighthouse man’s eyes. son go?” That night they slept in adjoining “He went away in a”—Parker rooms. The lighthouse keepers hesitated. How could he explain the never more than cat-napped during operation— of an airplane to this fel- the night. The light might go out. low? “in a boat that flies through “Good night, Bobo,” Parker the air, a canoe with wings. I’m tak- called, closing the door between the ing his place.” two rooms. The native nodded. The winged “Good night, Parker,” Bobo an- canoe did not seem to surprise him. swered. Perhaps he hadn’t understood at all. “You let stay here?” he ques- Parker didn’t go to sleep. He tioned. He spread his hands in an could sleep tomorrow, or next week, apologetic gesture. “None other or when he was dead. He lay in the place to go. Big water all around.” darkness, watching the circling light “Sure,” Parker answered. “Sure. flash through the window. The You’re welcome, old man. You can eternal Gulf wind was blowing. It stay here until my relief comes, then had found a loose board somewhere I'll take you back with me. Maybe on the roof of the house. The board I can fix you up on a freighter that was flapping. There were other will take you back to South America. sounds too, sounds that only lonely What’s your name, by the way?” lighthouse keepers hear, and the “Name? Name? Oh, name. lookouts of tall ships, and fishermen. Bobo.” Parker waited. He really wasn’t “Bobo, eh? Well, mine’s Parker. sleepy. The gun under his pillow What do you say, Bobo, we try to made a hard lump. 42 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

A tiny sound came from the ad- installed this equipment. joining room. The cot creaked, the The set was designed for either way a cot does when a sleeper turns. voice or code. Like all continuous By and by the outer door creaked. wave transmitters, it was silent in Parker got up. He didn’t put on operation, except for the tapping of his shoes. He went to the door, the the key when code was used. Bobo gun in his hand. began to use the key. There was a full moon overhead. Parker knew Morse. He tried to The moon and the light illumined follow the key. Now and then he the tiny island. seemed to catch a letter. It was A shadow was moving along the hard to follow that racing key, so walk toward the landing. Bobo. damned hard that Parker eventually While Parker watched, the native knew that Bobo wasn’t using Morse. went to the end of the landing and Pie didn’t know the code the native dived into the sea. was using, but it certainly wasn’t Keeping out of sight, the light- Morse. house keeper slipped down to the Bobo stopped transmitting. edge of the water. Bobo was splash- Clamping the earphones over his ing in the sea, apparently having the head, he began to twirl the dials of very devil of a good time. He dived the receiver. Parker watched. The and swam and turned somersaults in native went back to the transmitter. the water with all the grace and agil- He examined it carefully and seemed ity of a seal. to be making minute changes. Again Parker took the gun out of his the key rattled. Again Parker pocket. He looked thoughtfully at couldn’t follow it. it, to make certain the safety was This alternation between trans- off. mitter and receiver kept up for per- Bobo came out of the water. He haps half an hour. Parker, his head shook himself like a dog, and then just level with the floor, watched. strode along the walk. He went into Pie had the impression that each suc- the lighthouse tower. cessive failure sunk the native in Parker followed. Bobo was in the deeper gloom. radio room again. The trapdoor was Then Bobo got a reply. He almost open. There was no light in the danced for joy. He rapped off a radio room except the dim glow hasty answer on the key, listened coming from the tubes of the trans- once, then rapidly began changing mitter. Bobo had turned on the the wave coils back to their former filament heaters. He was working frequency values. in the dark. He was doing some- Parker went down the steps. He thing to the transmitter; what it was went into his room and waited. Bobo Parker couldn’t see. The native came in, went directly to his room. seemed to be making changes in the The cot creaked and he laid down. wave coils. The set operated on a He didn’t move again all night. wave length of six hundred meters. Parker stayed awake to make cer- Bobo was making changes. He tain. Once Parker got up and went didn’t seem to be hesitating about up to the top of the tower to in- the changes. He seemed to know spect the light. Bobo didn’t follow what to do and to be able to do it him. with a deftness that would have Parker was up with the sun. amazed the navy experts who had “Hey, Bobo,” he called. “Light- CASTAWAY house keepers have to be up early any dope on it yet this morning, but in the morning. Out of it.” it’s probably doing all right. Any- Rubbing his eyes, the native came thing else?” out of his room. Parker hesitated. He glanced “Sleep good?” Parker asked. sideways at Bobo. The native hadn't “Sure. Sleep damned good, you moved. But he wasn’t watching bet.” Parker. He was looking out the “O. K. Pm going Up to turn off window toward the sea. the light.” “No, nothing more,” Parker said. Bobo didn't follow him up the He snapped the switches that fed tower. He turned off the light, made juice into the transmitter, rose to notes on the temperature, wind di- his feet. rection, and barometer readings, “Breakfast, Bobo,” he said. then, mindful of the navy’s wishes, The native jerked around to face picked up the binoculars and swept him. “Breakfast? You mean eat? the surface of the sea. There was no Oh, sure, you bet. Eat damned sign of a sub. There was no ripple good.” of a periscope breaking the surface. “O. Iv., you go on down. I’ll be 'Fhe Gulf was calm. down in a minute.” He looked down toward the wharf. “Go on down? Sure. You bet.” Bobo was in swimming again. The Still dripping water from his re- native seemed to have almost a cent swim, the native went bounding mania for the water. down the stairs. Parker followed Parker went down to the radio slowly. There was a thoughtful look room. By the time he got the trans- on his face. The thoughtful frown mitter warmed up, Bobo had come was replaced by a look of in- up the steps. He shook himself like credulous amazement the instant he a dog, and a spray of water flew from set foot outside the tower. his glistening,, powerful body. Bobo was not waiting for him in “What do?” he asked curiously, as the house. He was not waiting at Parker picked up the microphone. all. He was racing along the board “It’s time for the regular morning walk, toward the landing, running report,” the lighthouse keeper an- rapidly that his legs seemed to swered. “You know, report by so blur. radio.” Bobo merely stared at him. But it was not Bobo’s action that stamped the look of incredulous Parker got through to the base amazement on Parker’s face. It, station. He reported the tempera- was something else, something that ture, w ind direction, barometer read- was moving across the surface of the ing. This latter dope was collected sea toward the island, and emerging for the weather bureau. as it moved. It was a round, bulg- “How’s Johnson?” he asked, when ing dome. I t threw a long wake be- his report was finished. hind it. “Johnson?” the speaker rattled, “A sub!” Parker gasped. “She was after a silence. lying out there under the surface all “Yes, Johnson. How’s his arm the time. Hey, Bobo!” he yelled. coming along? He fell down the “Don’t try to swim out to that stairs and broke it, you know.” thing. Stay away from it. No good. “Oh, his arm. Yes. 1 don’t have Bad. You hear, bad?” —

44 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

The native didn’t answer. He “All right, damn you,” Parker kept running along the walk. gritted. “You’ll have to come up “By Heaven!” Parker rasped in for air sometime, and when you understanding. “So that’s the way do—” it is! So that’s why you were sneak- The sub was coming closer now. ing in and using the radio transmit- A great bow wave was curling out ter! You’re an educated native, eh? from it as it drove toward the shore. Or maybe you’re not a native at It was lifting farther and farther out all.” of the water. Men were tumbling “Halt!” he shouted. out of an opening in the side of the Bobo kept running. conning tower. The gun seemed to leap into “They’ll have a gun in operation Parker’s fist. Its explosion smashed in a minute!” Parker thought. the morning silence into a million “Damn that native. Will he never pieces. A tiny splash showed where come up?” the bullet had struck. Bobo didn’t come up. Parker be- “Halt!” Parker shouted. “The gan to itch, waiting for him. Sec- next time 1*11 shoot to kill.” onds ticked away. A minute passed. The native had reached the land- Then two. Three. Parker felt cold. ing. Never hesitating in his stride, Nobody could stay under water that he dived into the water. long. His eyes followed the shadow that Bobo. like a Cursing, Parker raced down the was Swimming fish, he moving out toward the walk. In the water, Bobo would be was sub. Although he was completely entirely at his mercy. The sub would under the surface, he was using a have to stay well out because of the kicking stroke that would have made shoals, and while he didn’t know the a south sea islander turn green with sub’s intentions, as long as he held envy. Bobo, he would have a strong bar- gaining point. It might easily be a And he wasn’t coming up. He bargaining point on which his life was out a hundred yards, then would hinge. That sub would not farther. Parker was expecting his be likely to leave him here to report head to break the surface any sec- its presence. And it would be armed. ond. It didn’t. The native kept It could stand off from shore and swimming under water. He was too send a hail of machine-gun bullets far out for anything but a lucky shot smashing over the island. True, to get him. America wasn’t at war, but no na- All over his body, Parker’s skin tion seemed to bother much about a seemed to be crawling. Fie cast a declaration of war these days. If he glance at the submarine, at the had Bobo, the sub wouldn’t dare shadow that was Bobo, then turned shell him. Or would it. and ran toward the lighthouse. A dark shadow was moving He was expecting a blast of ma- through the water. It was Bobo, chine-gun fire to let go any instant. swimming under the surface. Parker Or perhaps a cannon. That sub sent a bullet downward. It smacked simply couldn’t let its presence here into the water, but Bobo never be known. Lfnele Sam would raise halted. Probably the bullet didn’t merry hell about a submarine in the touch him. He was too far under Gulf, merry hell indeed. Hence the surface. machine-gun slugs. ”

CASTAWAY 45

But none came. Yet. jumped. Juice was flowing. Parker Parker was aware that he was grabbed the microphone. holding his breath as he ran. His “Calling base station lighthouse back itched from the bullets he was service. Station 719 calling base sta- expecting. tion lighthouse service, Station 719 There wasn’t a spot of cover where calling base —station lighthouse he could hide. All he hoped to do service, calling was to reach the radio transmitter He switched to the receiver. in time. No answer. He pounded into the lighthouse “Calling—” and up the steps. With a single Suddenly he stopped. Through bound he was through the trapdoor the window he could see the sub- and into the room, snapping switches marine. Bobo had been taken that fed current to the tubes. It aboard. But no machine gun had took time for the tubes to warm up. been unlimbered. No ugly-snouted It would probably take more time cannon had appeared on the fore- to contact the base station. This deck. The men on the sub were not wasn’t the regular time for calls. Of working with a gun. They were en- course, there would be an operator tering the conning tower. on duty, but it might take fifteen Parker stared. minutes to raise him. lot could A “Calling base station lighthouse happen in fifteen minutes. service,” he said automatically. He didn’t notice what he was saying. Through the window, Parker had He was watching that sub. a perfect view of everything that was It was turning, heading away happening. The sub was still com- from the island, heading out. to sea. ing in, emerging more and more all It was going away. It wasn’t send- the time. Bobo was still swimming ing a landing party ashore. toward it. He reached it, was drawn quickly aboard. Oddly, Parker A white wake was spreading be- noted that the native had swam un- hind it. It was moving faster. And still. It going faster than derwater all the way to the sub. It faster was be- was a quarter of a mile at least, any submarine had ever gone probably nearer a half. But Bobo fore. A nd it was still emerging from hadn’t broken the surface once in all the water. that distance. A low drumming sound, like dis- thunder, was beginning to throb “Now it’s coming,” Parker tant thought. “Bobo is safely on board. in the air.” Now it will be my turn.” “Station 719 calling base station He leaped to the meter panel. light—” The needles were beginning to wig- That was as far as he got. gle. The transmitter was warming. The thunder had grown in vol- Juice was beginning to flow through ume. It had become a roaring tor- it. rent of distant sound. More than “Hurry, damn you, hurry,” ever it sounded like the growling of Parker prayed. “They’ll have a thunder in a tropic storm.

machine gun and a landing party on The sub was still rising out of the the way in no time.” water. Jets of fire were appearing The meter needles suddenly along the edges of its hull. It seemed ”

16 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

to lift itself on those fire jets. Fire cinated by our radio equipment, which is another was spurting from its tail. reason I suspect he is not the wild Carib he seems. No native could grasp the It was big, far bigger than any operation of radio apparatus so quickly. submarine he had ever seen. It had no wings. But in spite of that it The message had been hastily was rising in the air. Into the air! scribbled. Apparently it was a From fascinated eyes, Parker series of notes made while the events stared at the thing. It was com- it described were fresh in the ob- pletely clear of the surface of the server’s mind. sea. Gaining speed, it was rising It was in Johnson’s handwriting. on a long slant. It was moving very Abstractedly Parker flipped on fast now. The spurts of light from the receiver. the fire jets were fading into tiny “Lighthouse service calling Sta- flashes. The drum thunder was fad- tion 719,” the speaker squawked, as ing into the distance. if the operator had been calling for It went up, up, up. It went out several minutes and was annoyed be- of sight, still going up. cause he hadn’t gotten an answer. “Go ahead. Station 719.” Suddenly Parker sat down. He “Put Hanson on,” said Parker was weak. Beside the transmitter a tersely. “Do it fast.” pad of yellow paper caught his at- The loud-speaker squawked. tention. He stared at it for a long There was a series of clicks. Parker time before he realized what he was was suddenly sweating. Drops of seeing. Then slowly his brain be- sweat were running down his face. gan to register the message his eyes He wiped them away with his hand, were bringing. stared at his sticky palm. The pad of paper had been lying Hanson came on. “What do you there all the time. But another sheet want, Parker?” he demanded. of paper had been lying on top of it. “I want to report—” Suddenly Somehow, in his haste to get the Parker choked. Sweat was in his transmitter into action, he had eyes. Sweat was all over his body. knocked off the top sheet, revealing “I want to know what happened what was written on the pad. to Johnson!” he said. — Object much resembling submarine ap- “Johnson? He broke peared in the sky. Flashes of fire leaped “Skip that part of it,” Parker from it and it made a noise like thunder. snarled in a tone so It glided down to a landing near the island. savage it startled I saw it first from the light room. After him. “You can tell that to the moving across the surface, it stopped for marines. I want to know what a few minutes, then suddenly submerged. really happened to him. Went out in boat and tried to locate it, but was unable to do so. On returning to The speaker rattled noisily as island, found I had a visitor who looks like Hanson cleared his throat. a Carib and calls himself Bobo. He seemed “Well, if you must know, he went very stupid at first. Couldn’t speak Eng- off the deep end, and I had to recall lish. He began to pick it up from me. From the speed with which he picked it him. He’s in a psychopathic hos- up, I am beginning to doubt that he is a pital for observation. The doctors native. I suspect he came here in that say there is nothing seriously wrong strange flying submarine and that he was with him, that when he has a good caught on its deck when it suddenly sub- merged. Unable to return to his ship, he rest he’ll be all right again. I’m ar- swam ashore here. He seems very fas- ranging a shore job for him.” CASTAWAY 47

Parker swallowed. “Then why “I’m not scared,” Parker an- did you tell me he had a broken swered stiffly. arm?” “You sound like it.” “For a very good reason,” Hanson “Maybe the radio is distorting my said exasperatedly. “If I told you voice.” the truth, the suggestion might start There was a moment of silence. you seeing things, too.” “Maybe that is it,” Hanson said. “The devil!” Parker said. “What “Oh, well— Are you sure you’re all did he report he saw—a flying sub- right, lad?” marine?” “Sure. You bet. Sure.” “What?” the speaker rattled. “All right then. For a minute “How did you know what he thought you had me worried. Is that all you he saw'. Have you gone off your want?” head, too?” There was suspicion in “Yes,” said Parker, “Yes.” Hanson’s voice. “0. K., then.” Parker thought swiftly. Light- The speaker snapped into silence. house keeper’s sickness, they called Parker wiped the sweat off his face, it. The loneliness caused it. Under then turned off the transmitter. He a different name, sheep herders and got to his feet, looked out the win- forest rangers and lonely trappers, dow. A haze w'as beginning to ap- suffered from the same illness. pear over the Gulf. Far up in the His hands were sticky with sweat. sky white clouds were appearing. He swallowed. That w'as all there was in the sky “Nope,” he said. —w'hite clouds and a beginning haze. “Then how did you know what There was no sound of distant thun- Johnson thought he saw?” Hanson der. demanded. Parker looked at the floor. There “Oh, that,” Parker answered. “I w7 ere wet. blotches on the boards ran into some notes he had made, so where a castaway, who seemed to I thought I would call you and get like water, had stood while he shook the truth of the matter.” himself. The spots were drying rap- “Huh? Notes? Then what are idly. In a few minutes they would you so scared about?” be completely gone.

THE END. — —a !

TROUBLE On MflLUS

Bi P. Schuyler filer

There was a mystery somewhere on that little-known planet, and like it or not, Moran was being carried into the heart of if

Illustrated by R. Isip

The mutter of the bull drums hammering Pete Davis’ stretched throbbed through the dripping pelt with Pete Davis’ bleached white blackness. Moran pushed his face shinbone, and by the same token, deeper into the muck of the forest old Wallagash knew him. The with- floor and listened. ered ear that was nailed to the wall VUB, vub, vub, vub, VUB, vub of his shack back in Talus was mate vub, vub. to the one that was out there in the They were on three sides of him blackness, listening to the tap, tap, now. To east, and south, and north tapping of Pete’s shin on Pete’s of him the Blueskin shamans were tanned belly. The evil, slanted eye thumping their mocking challenge, that was peering through the murk dancing their frenzied dances, prom- was mate to the one his knuckles ising their young men his skull for had found the night Pete Davis died. the village pyramid and his skin for North and south, east and west. a drum that would outroar, out- They had him, and they knew it. bluster and out brag any drum in all Well, by Heaven they’d see fighting the reefing jungles of Tantalus. before he went! To east and south and north Six feet six of him reared out of the road ahead was clear. There lay the stinking muck. Black mud mat- the great sky-reaching crags of the ted his red beard and his red mane. Mountains of the Night, blanketed Black ooze trickled down the white in everlasting clouds, cleft by bot- barrel of his chest. One huge fist tomless chasms, drenched by the closed on the thorn branch that endless rains that were slishing into arched over him and ripped it down. the mire in which he lay, rattling He broke it across his knee and on the forest roof above him. There, hefted it approvingly. With a shil- somewhere, was the mysterious lelagh like that in his hand Paddy Black Hole that had sucked a score Moran could bash heads till they of ether ships into oblivion since cut the guts out of him, and maybe men first found this God-forsaken a bit longer if his legs held. planet. There VUB, vub, vub, vub. VUB, vub Somewhere ahead of him another vub, vub. drum began to beat. Tap, tap, tap. They’d make no drum of his skin, A little drum-—a shrill drum— by the saints! They’d carve no ob- drum headed with human skin. scene runes on his boiled shins to Tap, tap, tap. A drum that jeered make magic against white 1 men of and mocked and dared him to come Earth. They’d finish him, like and fight. He knew that drum. He enough, but what they got wouldn’t knew the blue-skinned devil who was be cat. meat. He shivered. There TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 40

like enough she’d lost her way was a, tale told that the Morans had but a banshee to wail them into the after the first few million miles of place of Death when the time came, empty space. Sirius was not a far

The haze of that vision was over his eyes, but somehow Moran found his mark— — —

50 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION star, as stars went, but it was far from the quaking bog to his prick- enough, and Tantalus was by a long ling brain, thudded the slow rhythm way the least pleasant of its many of the approaching footsteps. One planets. —and two—and three—and four He made no attempt to be quiet Off to the right a tree ripped now. The sooner it was done the down through the tangle of vines better. He plowed his way steadily and branches to crash with echoing through the dripping undergrowth thunder in the mud. He wheeled, toward that mocking tapping in the stared vainly into the blackness. west. It grew louder as he ap- Was it there? proached, and he could hear the echo There was a trickle of light from of it rattling against the naked rock above. Silver highlights shone on of the escarpment beyond. Then the sprawling roots of a forest giant. suddenly it stopped. Slowly, settling each foot in the mire He stood stock-still, head up like with infinite care, he moved into a listening stag. Far to the north their shadow. Squeezed into a crev- a single drum still mumbled; it ice in the trunk he stared at the broke off in midbeat, and the only ghostly column of light that filtered sound was the hiss of rain through down from above. It must cross the branches and the drip of water that to reach him. He would see it, in liquid mud. His grip on the silhouetted against the gleam from thorn club tightened until he felt that glistening pool. Magnified by the skin stretch on his knuckles. The the resonant wood on which he short hairs prickled along his spine. stood, the footsteps shook his whole What deviltry was afoot now? tensed body. Thud! And thud! And then he heard it. And thud! Rather, he felt it. Under his They stopped. A foul, animal spread feet the ground trembled reek stifled him. Then claws thick with a slow, rhythmic shock. One as a man’s body closed on him and —and two—and three—and four. lifted him struggling into the tree- Like a marching army. Like the tops. slow pacing of a giant cat. Like Saints above! The Stalkers! Moran regained consciousness. Sweat came out on him in trick- The reek of musk was still in his ling beads. Blueskins he could fight. nostrils. The air was saturated with Blueskins were men. But the Stalk- it. It made his head swim. He ers were legend—horrible legend! lay still in the dark, trying to gauge He listened, not breathing. They his whereabouts. There was a car- moved like cats, with a cat’s stealth, pet of thick velvet under his spread with a cat’s cruel sureness. They fingers. It was dry, and hot, and were black as the pit of hell, in- it swayed under him with a slow visible in the night. They were rhythm that matched the swing of ogres, demons, vampires. They the thudding footsteps. were Death! He got unsteadily to his feet, Somewhere behind him a Blue- stood with spread legs. He put out skin screamed in terror—the high, his hand, and touched naked, wrin- mad yammer of a frightened beast. kled flesh that shrank away with a It was too far-—there must be more shriek. Something went scuttling than one. They hunted in pairs, past him in the darkness. Some- legend said. Up through his legs. thing whispered behind him. There 4 —

TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 51 was a slow, methodical sucking that cackling screech he leaped, just as brought the goose pimples on him. Moran’s club came down with a He took one cautious step ahead.. splintering crash. His foot struck something, spun The shaman’s arm fell limp, fist it aside. He stooped and groped broken at the elbow. Moran’s for it, found it. It was his club. caught him under his receding chin. Then he remembered the pouch at The second blow smashed into his his waist. There was a white light naked belly; the third crunched full in it. His fingers fumbled with the into his grinning, black-lipped flap, opened it, found the little metal mouth. Then Moran had him by cylinder with its crystal bulb. As the scrawny throat, worrying him the tiny flame blazed up his jaw like a dog with a bone. sagged in amazement. Wallagash went limp. Moran got He was in a narrow, windowless to his feet and retrieved his light. room lined with black velvet. A Ugly old devil! All Blueskins were great scarlet egg twice his height ugly, with 'their pointed ears and filled all the far end. And cowering slant eyes, their grinning, toothy against its base was such an assem- mouths, their bodies made in gro- blage as only the mad, black jungles tesque imitation of humanity. There of Tantalus could have spawned. was a story that they were the crea- Two little things like naked pink tion of the demented scientist who Teddy bears huddled together had first landed on this insane planet against the scarlet shell. Their that the space hogs called Tantalus. huge, opalescent eyes sparkled with Certainly they resembled nothing in blind terror in the bright light. A this mud hole so much as man. A creature like a wingless, boat-billed filthy tuft of hair hung at the dead stork, with a bristling bright-blue sachem’s waist. Blond hair. A mustache fringing its horny beak, woman’s hair! Moran knew those stood morosely on one leg, regard- bleached locks—knew them inti- ing him with one oval eye. There mately. So that was why Pete was a flat pancake disk of mottled Davis had launched his mad crusade flesh, pegged around the edge with against the Blueskins. Moran short red legs, that seemed to be shrugged. Much good it had done trying to burrow under the egg. him. You could get other women, And almost at his feet a thing like but a man had only one skin. a giant black weasel, with six stubby He turned his back on what was legs and a tubular snout, was suck- left of Wallagash. There was other ing avidly at the throat of a Blue- danger here. That weasel-thing skin woman. he’d heard of them before. Rumor Some sixth sense warned him. He had it that they followed you until ducked as an eight-inch glass blade you slept, then sucked the life out snicked past his ear and shattered of you while you dreamed pretty against the egg. He spun on bent dreams. He’d learned to respect ru- legs, his club raised. Old Walla- mor in such matters. He picked up gash crouched there against the wall, the dead Blueskin’s needle-sword. a snarl on his wrinkled face, red “O, Man.” hatred in his single slanted eye. In The voice came from above. It his withered claw was a thing like was like the croak of a Martian a barbed steel skewer, three feet raven. He looked up. Perched on long and needle-sharp. With a top of the great scarlet egg was the AST— 58 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

damnedest creature he had ever it asked. “Very well. This is the seen. egg of a Stalker. This is its incuba- It was the size of a bulldog, with tion pouch. Perhaps the egg will a face like a vampire bat and a head hatch and the young of the Stalker of spiky black hair growing between will eat us. Perhaps it will do some- two spreading ears. It was as black thing else. I do not know'. Nobody as sin, with shoi't, kinky woo! knows. I know that I can escape if growing all over its potbellied body you w'ill help. You will come here down to the ankles of its double- please.” jointed legs. Its feet were two-toed Moran shrugged. Half his life claws, bare black skin over knuckly had been spent in space and the plan- bone. And wrapping it like a leather ets that rattled around in space. cape were two huge bat’s wings He’d given up balking at screwy whose hooked wrists stuck up above situations long ago. He crammed his its head like furled flags. shoulders into the space behind the It had eyes like blood-red soup big red egg, w'edged his knee against plates with pin-prick pupils. One of its pebbly surface, and began to them swiveled to stare up into the climb. shadow's above them; the other re- Against his back the black plush garded him unwinkingly. wall of the room pulsed .with a “I am Shag, a Murath,” the rhythm quite different from the thing croaked. lurch and sway he had felt before. It was like a great artery, throb- Moran had heard of the Muraths. bing with the incessant pulse of life.

T “GoIlyw ogs,” space hogs called What if it was an artery? What if them. They were the true native this was the brooding pouch of a race of Tantalus, held in slavery by Stalker, as Shag had said? Then the few semicivilized Blueskins w'ho what in the name of Heaven must had their black stone cities on the a Stalker be like? strip of fen land beyond the Moun- The Murath thrust out a long- tains of the Night. Few humans toed foot and hauled him up on the had ever visited them, and fewer had rounded top of the egg. It had no returned, for while the citified Blue- hands, only the two great wings. skins lacked some of the unpleasant They must have had a spread of habits of their savage brethren, they twenty feet. No wonder the crea- were inclined to be touchy and had ture’s chest stuck out like the keel some unpleasant tendencies toward of a yacht. atavism. He had to stoop because of the “Do not touch the sheetag,” the ceiling. ’The black fur lining stopped clipped voice went on. “It will opposite his knees. Leathery black scream and arouse the Stalker. I skin covered two bands of muscle can escape. I can bring help.” that closed the pouch. He put his Sheetag—that w'as the weasel hand up. They w'ere warm, like thing. But what did this padded cell flesh. They w'ere flesh. It w'as true. have to do with the Stalkers? What The gollywog’s hideous face swiv- had happened, anyway? eled toward him. “You can make “Where are we?” Moran de- an opening,” it observed passion- manded. “What’s this all about?” lessly. “You are strong. I will The little creature rustled its crawl out. I am small. I will bring wings impatiently. “Must we talk?” help. I can fly.” TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 53

One scrawny claw kicked at the —how could he measure it in that bands of muscle above his head. phantom light? Only the weak “The pouch is weak here. You are gravity of Tantalus could spawn so strong. You will make it open. You monstrous a thing. The mists will hold it until I escape. I can boiled about its shoulders, about its

fly. [ will bring help.” waist, about its plodding legs. Legs Moran stiffened his legs, and like the massive columns of cen- braced both hands where the golly- turies-old trees. A body broad as an wog had pointed. Sure—he’d open ether ship, squat, bent, blotting out up, if it could be done. As for let- the sky. A head peaked and mis- ting the little rat make his getaway shapen, with glowing yellow eyes like alone, that was something else. He gibbous moons. And arms like the gritted his teeth and heaved. With flails of Death himself, striking like surprising ease the walls of muscle mighty serpents at the tiny wing- parted. He thrust his shoulders ing shape! into the gap, hitched his knees Some updraft from the steepled against the opposite side, and crags caught the Murath and spun shoved. him upward like a leaf. The smit- He was in starlight. Fifty feet ing talons swept harmlessly beneath below drifted a sea of swirling, heav- him; he rocked dizzily in the boiling ing clouds. Above, a vast black air currents, then tilted his giant naked body blotted out the stars. wings and slid like a drifting shadow This was a Stalker! This thing that into the abyss. walked on mountains! Again that vast claw struck—and The Murath’s bristling head missed. The winged dot swerved pushed up beside his legs. It deftly from its path. The black climbed out and perched precari- wings folded and Shag fell like a ously on the lip of the pouch, star- plummet into the seething mists. ing owlishly out over the panorama Only the furrows left by raking tal- of mountain crags that rose about ons showed where he had been. them. The Stalker was deep in the A spasm shook the wall of muscle heart of the unknown ranges, and against which Moran was braced. every swing stride was bearing them Spurted like a melon seed from be- farther. Then below sounded a tween the closing lips of the pouch, shrill, piercing scream of rage. The he sprawled over emptiness while sheetag! The Stalker stopped. the clouds rushed up to meet him. Then out of nowhere came a giant, Two vast bat wings spread before glistening hand that caught him, him and Shag dived spinning into crushed him, thrust him kicking into space. His tiny body swung like oblivion. a grape between his great black It seemed that he came swimming wings. They flapped slowly, pon- up out of unfathomable depths. A derously, lifting him higher and glassy wall stretched over him, bar- higher above the encircling peaks, ring him from the light. He beat carrying him with each beat farther at it with his fists—burst through from the colossal body of the Stalker. and yelled with all the pent-up Then out of the rolling cloud-sea agony of bursting lungs. His feet burst a shape from nightmare—the were under him, firm on solid stone, second Stalker! and he shouted blind defiance at Two hundred feet—three hundred God and man. —

64 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

He saw the sprawling city of the and from its scarlet lips came a hum- Stalkers. ming like the pur of a giant cat. Walls of splintered rock soared up- Behind him sounded an answer- ward into the clouds. He stood a ing trill, shrill, sweet—and terrible! thousand feet above the valley floor, on a terrace of cut stone, with the Moran spun in his tracks. Py- grotesque hovels spread before him lons of cut stone rose on either hand, like children’s blocks rolled on a framing a mighty gateway in the table top. Slabs of gray granite, cliffs. Beyond them, cut out of the toppled together and chinked with gorge’s floor, was a pit, blocking it blocks of softer stone. Barrows of from wall to wall. A pit—and in heaped boulders, covered with baked the pit a toad! mud. Walled in crannies of the liv- Great webbed paws were bowed ing rock, black with damp and dirt under its bleached white belly. Its and decay. And beyond an endless flat, warty head hung level with the labyrinth of smooth-cut. blocks, terrace where he stood. Its golden ruined and desolate, stretching out eyes blinked sleepily, hypnotically, mile after mile across the valley at the little group that cowered at floor, the pit’s edge—the creatures of the A city—and the memory of a pouch. city. Fear froze them in their tracks Giants had built it when Tanta- fear and the fascination of those lus was young. Giants dwelt now in burning eyes. They swayed on their the hovels that huddled in the feet to the murmuring rhythm of the shadow of its colossal walls. Giants Stalkers, to the shrill piping of the vaster and more terrible than any- monster toad. But now that croon- thing in men’s dreams, dwarfed by ing trill stopped short. Instantly a glory that was dead and forever one of the little pink things turned lost. and ran. Faster than sight the Steps climbed from the valley, toad’s pale tongue licked out—and each tread thrice a tall man’s height. it was gone. Again from the valley At their foot the Stalkers stood. he heard the exultant mutter of the There was a score of them—all that Stalkers. remained of the race that had raised Pictures were racing through Mo- the city of the plain. Their bodies ran’s brain. Pictures of Earth, and were a mockery of man’s, their arms he a boy, sprawled flat in the cool dangling, simian things with three- green grass beside a little stream, clawed hands, their feet splayed, watching a toad eat ants. Time cloven hoofs. Their heads were like after time that lightning-swift the twisted wedge of an earthly tongue had struck, and each time an Brazil nut, the flat, curved bases ant vanished. But always an ant turned ahead, the sloping sides meet- that moved! ing in a bony ridge that ran in a frill An ant that moved! Moran’s of jagged bone down their massive muscles tensed. Billion on billions backs. An eye was set in each slant- of miles separated this colossal mon- face, great faceted yellow jewels ster from the little, harmless toads peering out of pockets in the rub- of Earth, but perhaps the force of bery black flesh. A beaklike mouth evolution that had given them life split the forward apex of the wedge, had acted in the same way on this —

TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 55

mad, black world. Perhaps this toad As he climbed he began to feel too saw only things that moved. the wind. The valley of the Stalk- Slowly, slowly his fingers crept ers was sheltered, but now he was across his thigh, behind his back, rising above the level of the bound- where his knife should be. It came ing cliffs, close under the cloud loose in his fingers and that hand blanket, and as he advanced the crept slowly back. Eyes on the force of the wind increased until he toad’s great, jeweled ones, he waited was leaning against a howling gale. for that moment when its deadly It was raining again, a slow drizzle, trill would cease. Soon now and the fine droplets stung his face Before it came he flipped the and bare body. Washing away the knife. It spun in a shining arc, mud that had caked on them. stood quivering in the furry By the time he reached the sum- shoulder of the weasel- thing. With mit of the pass he was crawling on a scream of rage it spun, leaping all fours, digging his fingers into like a black arrow toward him, but crannies of the rock, hugging the the toad was quicker. Its tongue walls of the ravine for what little licked out—was gone—and with it shelter they afforded. He was in the sheetag. In that instant Moran the midst of the clouds now, so that sprang. he groped his way through an im- Five great strides took him to the penetrable fog, lit from above by pit’s edge. Legs that had not fal- the weird blue light of distant Sirius. tered under accelerations of five On and on he crawled, driven now gravities flung him into space. Feet by a blind determination that first he struck between the toad’s seemed to have been born of the great, staring eyes. He slipped, fell wind and the fog. Whatever hap- to his knees, then before the mon- pened, he would not turn back. ster’s sluggish brain could know Something there ahead called him as what had happened was on his feet it had called countless other beings and running, leaping, rolling on the of many worlds through untold cen- gorge’s rocky floor. Behind him turies. the purring of the Stalkers rose to At last the path led down. An an angry buzz. He heard their great icy rivulet ran anlde-deep in the hoofs pounding on the stairs, the groove that was worn in the soft slap of the toad’s webbed paws on slate by the plodding of many feet the pit’s walls as it turned. Scram- through many years. Soon he was bling to his feet he began to run. below the clouds again, and the The ravine twisted upward be- gorge was widening and deepening tween sheer walls of solid rock. The into a canyon whose fluted walls floor was worn smooth by the tread were a great harp on which the winds of countless naked feet during end- played dolefully. How far he had less years. Two hundred feet above come from the valley of the Stalkers him he could see the black smears and their monstrous toad-god, he where generations of Stalkers had did not know. Nor did he care. rubbed their sooty shoulders against There ahead, near now, was—some- the rock. Below, at a man’s height, thing. were other smears where other, smaller things had gone. What was Ahead a natural archway spanned it that drew them, fiere in the deso- the gorge. It had been shaped into late heart of the ranges? a gateway through which the wind —

56 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION screamed, a window above empti- thyst met its edge there rose a shaft ness through which poured a flood of of clear crystal, six-sided, blunt- violet light. Battling his way foot tipped, thirty feet and more from by foot against the tempest, Moran base to tip, through which the light came to the gateway and looked from the planet’s heart beat in a through. shower of fiery radiance. A giant Another valley lay below him, crystal of pure, clear quartz, and at carved out of many-colored sand- its heart a cavity, a bubble, in which stone by the fury of the winds. floated a thin black speck that was Weird columns of red and orange —something. rose from its barren floor, and the The path led down through the black slits of dry arroyos channeled maze of steepled rocks. At the first its painted walls. Dykes of vol- turn the abyss was lost to sight. It canic rock angled across it in an was then he saw the dwellers in the insane labyrinth, the softer shales caves. and sandstones eaten away from There were perhaps thirty of them, around them, leaving them like the of a dozen races and worlds. There cyclopean tumbled ramparts of a were Blueskins from Tantalus’ own city of the winds. reeking jungles, and leather-bellied He did not see the weird beauty dwarfs from the red deserts of Mars. of that painted garden. He did not There were three-eyed, six-armed see the black dots that were caves drogas from the twin worlds of Al- in the gray limestone that underlay pha Centauri, and octopus-armed the painted rocks. He looked be- lizards who inhabited the last of the yond, at the Black Hole of Tantalus six planets that circled Sirius. There —and the thing that gave it birth. was the tiny form of a Murath, one Opposite him the wind-carved great wing burned away by a ray- minarets drew back from a road of blast. And old and young, short and purple quartz that formed a slowly tall, there were men of Earth! rising ramp across the valley floor. They stood on the slope in front Closing the valley’s eastern end rose of the caves, gaunt and silent, eye- a cliff of black obsidian, splintered ing him dourly. Moran tugged at into a myriad of knife-edged facets his belt where a gun should be and by the terrific forces that bad raised squared his naked shoulders. They it from the depths of the planet. didn’t seem overjoyed at the sight At its foot gaped the abySs. of him. Food was probably scarce

Ten miles it must have been, be- here, and he w'as another mouth to tween the obsidian wall and the rock cut down their rations. Well of its nearer lip. Out of it poured they’d take him, and they’d like it! a torrent of violet light, striking As he came down from the rocks back with countless scintillant their line split to let him through. spear-shafts from the broken cliff. He felt a prickling at his spine as Above it the clouds .spun back in he passed between them, but no one the mighty whirlpool of the Black moved to harm him. At the mouth Hole, through which streamed the of the largest cave he turned, his cosmic forces of the abyss that could arms folded, his back to a great suck a ship out of space against all block of fallen stone. the power of a hundred drumming “Now then,” he demanded, “let’s jets. And where the road of ame- have it.” ”

TROUBLE ON TANTALUS $7

One man stepped forward from when we say it, or we’ll pare you the rest, a Negro with the fine fea- down a size in the collar and a tures and silky hair that meant couple more in the head.” Venusian blood. Moran’s grin was insulting. “Oh “You’re new here,” he said tune- my, oh my,” he deplored. “Is there lessly. “You’re big and maybe you no sportsmanship left in the race feel big. Maybe you’ll have ideas of man? Four of you against one, about doing things, and about who’ll and you with your sour-looking spat do them. I wouldn’t if I was you. friends to boot. “Yah!” He A grin came on Moran’s bronzed contemptuously. “Come on, the four face. He knew this kind of talk. of you! I’ll take any one of you “I might at that,” he admitted. with my hands tied and bend you “And what would you gentlemen be into knots! I’ll take all four of you thinking you might do about it?” —yes, and your friends besides—and Three others aligned themselves show you who’ll make the laws in with the black man. One was a this place from now on! Show me Martian, with the shoulders and this skulking —boss of yours, and by dangling arms of a bull ape. The the saints I’ll other two were men his own size, or “You will what?” bigger. A man stood in the cave mouth, “We’ve laws here,” the Martian an old man, with white hair and hissed. “We have ways of keeping beard, taller than Moran. He wore them. There are four of us who see shorts and a jerkin of leather, and of to that. You will eat when we tell his arms were folded on the hilt you and what we tell you. You will a mighty broadsword. sleep where we sav and do what Moran turned to face him. Here work we say. That is the lawr here, was a man of another sort, a man and you will obey it.” he could treat as an equal. I think,” he “Is it now?” Moran’s thumbs “You’ll be the boss, past your were in his belt', and he teetered ap- sneered. “And you a man praisingly on his toes. “So that’s the best years. Faith, it must be no handle this gang of way of it —little to eat and a devil trick at all, to of a lot too many to eat it. There’ll bezabors you have here.” be rations. I’m thinking, and the “Do you think so?” There was four of you to share them out when a queer light in the old man’s eyes. the time comes.” He let his gaze They were eagle eyes, peering under wander insolently over the sullen snow-white brows into Moran’s face. faces of the crowd and back to the The steely ring had gone out of his four who confronted him. “Now voice when he answered. “You have then, have you ever held the thought a name, I think. What, among to make it five?” friends, might it be?” The taller of the two white men “Friends is it?” Moran snorted. answered. He had a knife scar on “You talk softer than the boys here. his cheek, and one ear had been mu- It's maybe different if you’ve a man tilated by a ray-blast. “You're new to buck, in the place of a lot, of in here, fella,” lie sneered. “There’s starved bilge rats with no starch meat on your bones and blood in their knees. There’s no secret to it, your guts. You'll take new men’s though—friend or foe it’s Moran.” great rations till we and the boss say dif- “Danny! My boy!” The ferent. You'll do what we say, sword fell clanging on the rock. 88 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

The crystal sheath about her shattered, and for an instant he held her before a revulsion swept him— TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 59

Tears were in the old man’s eyes and man’s shoulder as he turned to his his hands were outstretched. watching men. “Danny Moran—have you forgot “Ye’ve a Moran to deal with here, your father?” ye blaggards!” he roared. “Blood Moran gripped the oldster’s two of my blood, and by the feel of him shoulders. The grin was back on bone of my bone. He’ll whip any his face and twice as broad. five of you with his two hands tied “Paddy Moran is the way of it,” and a quart of liquor in him, but by he said, “not Danny. Patrick Ter- the Lord Harry if he touches a drop ence Aloysius Moran is the whole in my presence I’ll have the hide of it, and a name that’s known from off his back for it! Zagar—Moses here to Capella and maybe farther. —come here, the pack of you. Danny Moran was my father, God Wolves that ye are, you’ve a better rest his soul, before the drink got wolf than any of you to fawn on him and he went off by his lone self and ye’ll feel his fangs too if need after chib-bugs on Pluto. Is there be, as ye’ve felt mine! He’s new, a chance at all that you would be but he’s a Moran, and we’ll stew the that teetotalin’, horse-stealin’, space- fatted calf in his honor, and be blisterin’ old reprobate of the world, damned to tomorrow!” my esteemed old spalpeen of a The Martian’s fade was dark. “The grandfather?” ration’s too short now,” he hissed. He knew it before he asked. The “There’s ten days before we’ll get Moran face was there, under the more. By what right do you break white beard, and the Moran eyes, the law for a new man?” and the muscles of the Morans rip- Moran felt the old man stiffen be- pled under his fingers in shoulders side him. One foot came down on that were eighty years old and more the great sword, so that it clanged besides. It was thirty years ago faintly on the rock. that Michael Moran had steered his “I made the law,” the calm voice ship into the black gulf that is be- said. “I’ll make new ones if need tween the stars, and vanished like be. Would you, perhaps, care to dust into space. Thirty years ago make a trial of it?” Patrick Moran was but a likely glint Zagar’s glance fell. “You have in his father’s eye as he surveyed the sword,” he mumbled. the pretty girls of Dublin. There “I have indeed.” The old man had been tales told of the teetotal- picked it up and stood again with in g giant with ready fists and a his hands clasped on its massive hilt. readier tongue who seemed always to It was beaten out of a strange gray have scrip in his wallet and a chip steel, tempered blue at the edges, on each of his broad shoulders, but and as broad as a man’s thigh. they ended where they began, in “With my own two hands I made emptiness. Old Michael Moran was it out of the star that fell, and as a legend among space hogs, and an- ye’ve cause to know I’ve used it. other Moran was fast becoming one Are there, maybe, some of you that in his own right. think it has grown too heavy for me to swing?” A gktn stood on the old man’s face. “The law’s for you, not us.” It His gnarled fist smote Moran’s chest was Moses, the Negro. “You made with a blow that would fell an ox. it to suit yourself and you break it His arm went around the younger to make a feast for a man who has 60 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION no need of food. You’ve kept us eyes. A pulse of spent air throbbed to a ration that a dog would starve and hacked at his throat. Then on. You’ve kept us weak and sick, with the clang of steel on iron-hard so you could lord it over us with scales the tentacles loosened and he your loud mouth and your big sword. fell to his knees. He heard a great We’re thirty men, hungry, and you’ll voice roaring somewhere near him. swill away our food!” The mist cleared and he saw the old “And what will you do?” Moran man, his sword red to the hilt, felt the old man’s elbow against him, standing spread-legged over the pushing him back. cloven body of the lizard-man and “We’re bare-handed and you have shouting his defiance at the mob. the sword. All right. You asked “Come on!” he cried. “Show me if we thought you could still swing the stuff in you! There’s but the it. Well—can you?” two of us here, and me a grandfather Quick as was the Negro’s spring, to boot. Can I swing the sword yet, the boss was quicker. The great did you ask? Can I prove the law, blade fell in an arc of blue light. who made it? Rats is what you are Split to the breastbone, Moses —crawling, squeaking rats! Is it dropped at his feet. Then before food you’re wanting? There’s car- he could free the sword the Martian rion for you! Fill your bellies so was upon him. you can crawl into your holes like The glint of battle shone in the the rats ye are and dream of the old man’s eyes. He caught the squat day when you’ll pull down Michael form, in his two hands and swung Moran. Or will you go to her and it above his head, then hurled it, get your fill of what she’ll give you?” twisting and sprawling, into the mob. They quailed before him. Six of At his side Moran was slugging knee them, were dead and Zagar lay to knee with the bigger of Zagax’s writhing with a broken back. They two companions. He felt the man’s retreated as the old man strode to ribs come under his fist, saw bright where the crippled Martian lay. red blood spurt from his lips, and “You know the law,” he said qui- stepped over him to meet the charge etly. “There’s only death for you, of the half-mad pack. the way you are, and you’ve got Months of starvation had told on the choice. Which is it, the sword them. In bloody glee Moran —or her?” smashed at their bony faces, kicked Moran saw black venom in Za- at their crowding bodies, before the gar’s eyes. The fiat brown face tide closed over him. He dug his twisted in a leer of hate. “I claim thumbs into the throat of a snarl- the law!” the Martian hissed. “Take ing Blueskin uglier than old Walla- me to her!” gash. He ducked past the six flail- Dead silence followed his reply. ing arms of a Centaurian and pushed Leaning on his sword, the old man back his scaly, three-eyed skull until stared into the hate-filled eyes. He his bull neck cracked. Then a ten- shook himself like a great, shaggy tacle as thick as his arm twined dog. round his throat and began to “Pick him up, Paddy Moran,” he tighten. As he raised his hands to commanded. “You'll be with us a well tear it away, a second twisting ten- long time, and you may as know later. Fol- dril fastened on his wrists. A the whole of it now as bloody haze thickened before his low behind me now, and remember TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 61

from the abyss —kin of mine or not, I’m boss!” the dazzling radiance Shouldering his bloody sword like beat ever brighter upon them, until shield their eyes, a rifle, the old man strode down the they were forced to broken slope in front of the caves. A sudden gust spun Moran around Picking up Zagar, Moran followed. and flung him to his knees, and as An impulse came over him to crush he rose he saw that the others were the life out of that hate-filled close behind them. dwarfish body and fling it away The old man walked cradling the among the rocks, but the Martian’s sword in his arms like a child, his whisper stopped him: white head bowed. Moran could feel “I claim the law!” the fierce light on his skin, burning deep into it. Then it was welling Following paths which old Mi- up through the rock under his feet, chael seemed to know well, they beating in on all sides, so that it wound their way through the laby- seemed that he walked on a ribbon rinth of wind-worn, gaudy stone, of purple ice, flung out in a great forcing their way against the howl- projecting frost-tongue over the ing gusts of wind that buffeted them abyss. to a from every side. They came The old man stopped. The dyke little stream, a mere trickle of icy was narrow here, barely eight feet groove in the water running in a across, and the mutter of the wind to wash the soft rock, and stopped had died until Moran could hear his faces and bodies blood from their voice. and to clean the great sword. At “Lay him there at her feet.” through an avenue in the rock, last, Moran strode forward, one pace, Moran saw the amethyst dyke rising- two and three, and laid the body before them, its top a good fifty feet of the Martian at the base of the above the rock of the valley floor. crystal shaft. He stepped back and Blocks of broken crystal made a looked up. steep way to its top, and up that saw her floating there. broken away they climbed until they He taller than stood side by side on its bare sum- She was a woman, hair streamed mit, that ran like a great smoky most, and slim, tier bare white purple road to the east. in a red glory over her her body with Here in the open they were ex- shoulders, covering Her hands posed to the full force of the wind. a veil of silken flame. The dyke was glassy-smooth, and were pressed flat against her body, fingernail showing as Moran had all he could do to keep each pink within. head his footing as he followed the old though lit from Her little to look down, her man along its top toward the abyss. was bent a Her He tried to speak, but the wind red lips parted breathlessly. dark snatched the words from his mouth. eyes were closed and the long cheeks that He bowed his shoulders over the now lashes lay gently on her unconscious Martian and struggled were soft as white velvet. in the on. She floated in a hollow Straight as a drawn line the pur- quartz, an oval casket filled with ple causeway ran, splitting the val- violet radiance that surrounded her ley in two halves. As they struggled like a halo. The light from the abyss on, the giant clear crystal at its end seemed somehow collected, curdled, loomed ever higher before them and compressed into the intangible me- ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION dium in which she swam, her little him through the pulsing darkness feet pressed close together, her ten and danced among the silver moon- pink toes treading on emptiness. beams, mockingly, whose ringing She was woman as men have voices called him, lured him, over dreamed of her since time began, hill and dale until in the cool gray and in him Moran felt the hot desire light of dawn he came upon them flooding up through his veins and bowered among orchids and saw bringing all the savage fury of love them melt and merge into a shining, out of him in a mighty shout. yielding One. His grandfather’s hand was on his Flesh of her flesh he hung in shoulder and he shook it off. He the void above the Universe and saw stepped forward, stiff-legged, like a it spread in a shining cloud beneath robot walking. He heard the Mar- his spurning feet, saw it receding tian’s cackle of mad glee. to a pin point of misty light as he He saw her green eyes open and rushed on and up and out into the look down at him. utter blackness of space, held in her Out of the world went everything slim, warm arms, bathed in her fiery but the love and the glory of her. hair, drinking the sweetness of her lips until in all Eternity Out of the world , went everything crimson — but the red, red welcome of her were only they two, and the hungry, parted lips, and the warm pleasure feasting love that made them one, of her burning hair. Into his soul man and woman, until the end of swam the glory of her sea-green eyes, time. calling him, drawing his life out to Soul of her soul he swam in a place mingle with her life in a Nirvana of fires that burned without warmth, never known to man. of tiny glowing motes that drifted In a world where the grass was up out of nowhere and swirled about springing emerald flame, where the his head like perfumed smoke. He trees drooped with clustered pearls caught one between finger and for fruit and the streams were thumb and held it up for his mind molten sapphire he wandered at her to probe it and know it for a uni- side under seething purple skies, and verse of universes, infinitely small, drank from the silver cup she held infinitely remote, where the lifetime for him, feeling a flame of radiant of a world was but the ticking of a, fire surging through his veins as he pulse. Yet in that microcosm he sank with her into the clinging lived as he lived in the place of purple mists from which she drew flame, and she with him, holding her her immortality—and his. to him with the green promise of her half-closed eyes, weaving a web In a world where soft, perfumed with the copper glory of her hair, breezes blew over spindrift of drawing him down, down, down into apple-jade and slow waves curled unfathomable blackness where there along coral sands, he lay dreaming was only the green, cold light of her under a moon of argent and shad- two eyes, staring, staring out of owy purple, under a sky studded nothingness. with diamond stars. In shadowed And then her soft hand was in his, darkness, arched over with the filmy drawing him away into a place where fronds of giant ferns, bedded on there was only herself and the beauty tufted mosses, he lay and played at of her, like a thing alive and breath- love with maidens who ran from ing, where he was but a hungering, —

TROUBLE ON TANTALUS 63

longing atom of her being, merging death. Those lusts were gone from in her, looking out through her eyes him, and he stood, now, cold and upon a world of mad, warped shapes empty, staring at the old man, his that filled him with fear and loath- grandfather, where he lay senseless ing, and with a hate that came into at the abyss’ edge. He saw the him out of her and filled him with Martian, twisted with pain at the blinding rage—rage that eclipsed all crystal’s base. And he saw again save the smile on her soft, warm lips the woman floating in her mist, with and the half-closed eyes that re- the dark evil standing naked in her garded him under drooping lashes green eyes. hate that split him in two parts, a The red sword swung in an arc of part that fought and slew and a steel and smote at the crystal’s face. part that watched. Again—again—and the whole world He saw one who wore his shape rang with the clamor of steel on wrest the great sword from the old quartz. But the walls of the bubble man’s hand and buffet him to the that held her were thin, and with ground. He saw that one charge the third mighty blow they shivered berserker upon the huddled crowd and rained about him like needles of men, hewing at them like a woods- of clear ice. Again he raised his man at a tree, beating at them as dripping sword—and met her clear with a flail of steel, driving them be- green eyes. fore him like milling sheep. A sil- Slowly his arms fell limp at his ver thread ran from him to that sides and the sword fell at his feet one whom he saw, and over it came unheeded. Her small bare feet surging a great, cold glee, and the stepped daintily down among the slippery stickiness of fresh blood broken shards. Her red hair flowed warm on his hands, and the salt back over her round white shoul- taste of blood on his lips, that were ders, revealing all the loveliness of her lips, licked by her pointed her witch’s body, and her two slim tongue. He felt the evil joy well- hands were held out to him in in- ing up in her at the odor of death vitation. that was in the air, and the sight It seemed that an icy draft blew of death in her eyes, and it seemed on his chest as he took her hands in that it drove out the self that was his. Uncomprehending he saw the in her, and made it one with he long white welts that rose where her who stood and slew. fingers touched him. Her hands He was that one, there on the were on his arms now, sapping away purple path, with the great sword their strength, and her red lips were in his bloody hands and the blood raised to his, her pointed tongue of slaughtered men wet on his face. licking out between her sharp white And behind him, where the witch- teeth. There was a perfume on her woman swam in her crystal sepul- hair and her body, pungent and in- cher, he heard the rasping, vengeful toxicating, that filled his brain and cackle of Zagar, the Martian. drugged his reeling senses. He felt her body against his, and all its All the lusts of his man’s body promise poured through him in a had been sucked up by the witch’s numbing, chilling wave that left in gaze—the lust of man for woman, him a single core of searing fire. Her and the lust of man for gold, and eyes were closed, but now they the bloody lust of man for war and opened slowly and he plunged reck- —

64 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION lessly, hopelessly into their fathom- “Tell me about it,” he said husk- less green depths. ily. “What’s it all about?” In him a bubble burst. An atom “She was the answer,” the old man told him. “Once there was a reason of white fire exploded in his brain, those old scourging him, cleansing him. He for it. They had brains, built the city and put looked into his grandfather’s steely Stalkers that what they were eyes, over the sundered, bloodless her here. They knew doing, but now he spat contemptu- body of the woman-thing, cleft by a — ously—“these things that’ve come single blow of the great gray sword. from them do what, they do He raised her body up in his two down because it’s habit, because their par- hands, and it was light as a husk of ents did, and theirs before them, shadow and cold as the touch of because their pint-size brains Death. He hurled it out into the haven’t room for anything but the sea of violet flame, and saw it drift things they’ve always done. Maybe and spin and sink like a feather into she was a goddess, if things like that the abyss. Then the fury of the can have goddesses. Anyway, every winds burst over them and he was time things were fixed so that Sirius’ flat on his face at the abyss’ edge, rompanion star shone through the clinging with bleeding fingers to the Black Hole they’d bring food and jagged quartz. leave it by the crystal. We lived Inch by inch he dragged himself on that, and men like us have lived back from the verge, along the rib- on it for Heaven knows how long. bon of amethyst to a place where he She never touched it —not her. We could scramble down into the shelter were the food she craved! of the rocks. His grandfather was “I don't know if they found her there, with the others who were still here, those old Stalkers, or if she alive. The old man’s hand seized was from another star, maybe an- his arm in a grip of iron. other universe, and they put her “You did it, boy! You did what there in the crystal to keep her from every man of us has tried to do since getting at them. She’d have taken spilled into this hell’s para- we were them, all right. She drew no lines, dise! You went to her freely, and but she liked her own kind best. you broke her spell and her power She took them when she could. it. We’ve only the Stalkers with You’ve been through it —you know, to face now, and with her gone I’m maybe, what it was—but she left thinking it will be a different tale.” them dead and drawn, with some- Moran shuddered. If the old thing gone out of them—and smil- man’s arm had not been strong and ing. It was the choice we gave to his eye sure, those full red lips would them that broke the law—quick have touched his. What lay be- death by the sword, or her. Some yond he dared not guess. What had of ’em took her she been—she with her woman’s “That’s where the toad came in. shape, a woman’s allure, yet dry and She needed strong men, big men, bloodless like a husk of east skin? men with brains that could fight What manner of unnatural force her, that she could play like a fish kept the life in her, there in her before she took the life out of them. crystal tomb and after? What The Stalkers would bring what they would have been the price of that could get, and them that got past last kiss—or its reward? the toad were fit for her. There’s TROUBLE ON TANTALUS ss been a lot of us, since I came here. broken stones, knives of chipped It took a quick brain and a strong flint, or their bare hands. Ahead of body to make it, and she got the them went Moran, his eyes and ears best there was.” alert for any sign of danger, and at “Why did you stay here?” Moran his side marched the old man, fon- demanded. “There must be some dling his beloved sword. way out.” Shortly after dawn Moran gave “Hell, we’ve all tried that!” It was the word. They lashed the ropes a scarred half-caste from one of securely about his body and snubbed Earth’s stray colonies. “There’s them about projections of the cliff. no way, only the way we came, and He walked slowly toward the edge there you’ve got the toad to pass of the pit. The toad was waiting. and the Stalkers if you make it. Slowly its flat head rose, its golden With her dead we’ll starve here. eyes blinked, and that hypnotic There was worse things than goin’ trill began to throb from its swollen to her!” throat. A chill of horror brought Moran’s eyes narrowed. “Are the cold sweat out on Moran’s skin. you man enough to risk the Stalk- What if the ropes should break? ers if I handle the toad?” They He was at the limit of his tether stared at him blankly. “They’re big now. Fascinated, he stared at the but they’re stupid; some of us’ll get hideous face that hovered at the through. Do you have the guts to pit’s edge. Gritting his teeth, Mo- try?” ran waved his arms. The trilling They shuffled forward, one by one, stopped; the great toad’s muscles until they were crowding around tensed. With a shout Moran leaped him. “All right,” he told them, back. “you’ve got leather—make me two At once the pallid tongue licked ropes, strong ones, and get together out. He felt its sticky mass en- whatever you’ve got to fight with. velop him, felt the leather thongs Grandpa and me’ll do the rest.” cutting into his flesh as they re- sisted its pull. He was suffocating, It was night when they crossed strangling, the breath crushed out the summit of the pass and crept of his burstling lungs. Then came down the gorge through the eternal the scramble of feet on the stone rains—a dozen men, armed with and old Michael Moran was at his

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ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

side. He heard the dang of steel watched them coming up the steps. on stone, and the severed tongue Their heads towered far above him; dropped at his feet. A second blow they were almost within reach. He and the ropes were cut, and the two flung a curt order over his shoulder: men sprang forward into the pit. "Wait—then run for their legs. Side by side they stood on the toad’s They’ll be a bit busy at the first, broad skull. Seizing the sword, and you’ll maybe get through.” Moran raised it high above his head Grounding the sword’s point, he •and smote with all his strength. tensed for the first futile blow. Blood and brain pulp spurted from Black hail screamed down across the cleft in the monster’s skull, and his vision. Great sweeping wings the last dying kick of the great crea- long, shining lances—ray guns spit- ture hung them from its back. Then ting out their needles of white fire. it was still, and they were clamber- In hundreds and thousands, stream- ing up over its colossal bulk, out of ing from the clouds like rain in a the pit, with their crew close at their headlong dive, the Muraths came. heels. Bewildered, the Stalkers stood in The Stalkers were aroused. In a huddle, midway of the stairs, their the half light of dawn Moran could misshapen heads cocked upward, see their ungainly forms scrambling their vast arms hanging limp. Then out of their barrows, hear them call- they were in retreat, stumbling ing out to each other in their purring across the plain to the shelter of the voices. He saw their eyes glowing ruined city, striking vainly at the in the darkness like golden moons buzzing, darting mites that zoomed as they stalked across the valley to- and banked about their heads strik- ward the stairs. ing death with rays and stabbing Moran looked at his grandfather. spears. Five of them lay dead and The old man’s legs were braced, his others were staggering, falling, to lie white locks whipping in the wind. still on the bare stone. : The others were close behind—ten Out of the winged horde one tiny grim-faced men, armed with chipped figure dropped toward the watching stones and bits of wood, waiting to men. It braked deftly and landed die fighting against inhuman giants at Moran’s feet. “Greetings, O thirty times their size. With room Man,” it croaked. “Shag holds his to run, to dodge, to hide among the wTord. Life for life—that is law.” ruined buildings of the deserted city, they might have escaped. It was Shag, the Murath, \who Here, penned on this narrow ledge, showed them the road through the they had no chance. Even the great Mountains of the Night before he sword could do nothing against returned to complete the slaughter those giant bodies. which his winged legions had begun. He took the old man gently by From time immemorial Stalkers and the arm. “Give me the blade,” he Muraths had warred, and many of said. “You’ve had your fun, now. Shag’s kinsfolk had gone to feed the Let it be Paddy Moran that shows great toad in the Stalkers’ pit. the creatures the welcome we have Never before had one of them es- for them.” caped, to lead his race back to the Cradling the sword in his arms as hidden stronghold of the giants and his grandfather had done, he to their vengeance. THE END. 5

S'!

Robert A. Heinlein’s back again next month with the cover story, “Logic of Empire.” This story is, as usual with Heinlein’s material, a soundly worked out, fast-moving yarn, more than able to stand on its own feet. But in connection with if, I’d like to mention something that may or may not have been noticed by the regular readers of Astounding: all Heinlein’s science-fiction is laid against a common background of a proposed future history of the world and of the United States. Heinlein’s worked the thing out in detail that grows with each story; he has an outlined and graphed history of the future with characters, dates of major discoveries, et cetera, plotted in. I’m trying to get him to let me have a photostat of that history chart; if I lay hands on it I’m going to publish it. At any event, “Logic of Empire” is laid against the same matrix that extends from the near-present as presented in “Lifeline" and the current “Crooked House,” to the remoter future of “Misfit." You’ll find that “Roads Must Roll,” “Blowups Happen,” “If This Goes On” and “Coventry” all fit in. And in “Logic of Empire” you’ll find one of the uses of knowing the future beyond the time the characters of that story know. “Logic of Em- pire” is laid in a time just before the beginning of the Prophet’s dictatorship and its consequences as described in “If This Goes On.” But the characters of the story don’t know that— The Editor. HUM LflBODflTp As of noon, December 2nd, at which time this issue went to press, “Sian” had set a definite and unchallenged record. The whole December issue of Astounding had drawn an unusually heavy number of reader votes, with “Sian” itself apparently the reason for the unusual number. The record lies in this: every voter had placed “Sian” in number-one position. So the scores stand: Story Author Score 1. “Sian” A. E. van Vogt 1 .000 2. “Fog” Robert Willey 2.25 3. “Old Man Mulligan” P. Schuyler Miller 3.00 4. “Legacy” Nelson S. Bond 3.28 5. “Spheres” D. M. Edwards 5.22 ig,” incidentally, was the only other story to get any first-place votes; two readers tied it with “Sian." I expect to wait a considerable time before another story comes along on which there is such surprising unanimity of opinion; apparently “Sian” merited the praise I gave it. The Editor. AST— ”

68

-10 H£ BUILT e CROOKED

By Robert ft. Heinlein

The architect had a weird and wonderful idea for a super- modern house. The sort of thing that California permits using. But the slight gar of an earthquake rather changed it—

Illustrated by Schneeman

Americans are considered crazy Even the architecture of south- anywhere in the world. ern California is different. Hot dogs They will usually concede a basis are sold from a structure built like for the accusation but point to Cali- and designated “The Pup.” Ice cream fornia as the focus of the infection. cones come from a giant stucco Californians stoutly maintain that ice cream cone, and neon proclaims their bad reputation is derived solely “Get the Chili Bowl Habit!” from from the acts of the inhabitants of the roofs of buildings which are in- Los Angeles County. Angelenos disputably chili bowls. Gasoline, oil, will, when pressed, admit the charge and free road maps are dispensed be- but explain hastily, “It’s Hollywood. neath the wings of tri-motored It’s not our fault—we didn’t ask transport planes, while the certified for it; Hollywood just grew.” rest rooms, inspected hourly for your The people in Hollywood don’t comfort, are located in the cabin of care; they glory in it. If you are the plane itself. These things may interested, they will drive you up surprise, or amuse, the tourist, but Laurel Canyon “—where we keep the local residents, who walk bare- the violent cases.” The Canyon- headed in the famous California ites—the brown-legged women, the noonday sun, take them as a matter, trunks-clad men constantly busy of course. building and rebuilding their slap- Quintus Teal, regarded the efforts happy unfinished houses—regard of his colleagues in architecture as with, faint contempt the dull crea- faint-hearted, fumbling, and timid. tures who' live down-in the flats, and treasure in their hearts the secret “What is a house?” Teal, de- knowledge that they, and. only they, manded—of his friend*, Homer Bailey. know how-to live. “Well ” Bailey admitted cau- Lookout Mountain Avenue is the tiously, “speaking in broad terms, name of a side canyon which twists I’ve always regarded a house as a up from Laurel Canyon. The other gadget to keep off the rain.” Canyonites don’t like to have it “Nuts! You’re as bad as the rest mentioned; after all, one must draw of them.” the line- somewhere! “I didn’t— say the definition was High up on. Lookout Mountain at complete number 8775, across the street from “Complete! It isn’t even in the the Hermit—the original Hermit of right direction. From that point of Hollywood—lived Quintus Teal, view we might just as well be squat- graduate architect. ting in caves. But I don’t blame ”

“—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” 69 you,” Teal went on magnanimously, “you’re no worse than the lugs you find practicing architecture. Even the Moderns—all they’ve done is to abandon the Wedding Cake School in favor of the Service Station School, chucked away the ginger- bread and slapped on some chro- mium, but at heart they are as con- servative and traditional as a county courthouse. Neutral Schindler! What have those bums got? What’s Frank Lloyd Wright got. that I haven’t got?” “Commissions,” his friend an- swered succinctly. “Huh? Wha’ d’ju say?” Teal stumbled slightly in his flow of words, did a slight double take, and recovered himself. “Commissions. Correct. And why? Because I don’t think of a house as an upholstered cave; I think of it as a machine for living, a vital process, a live dynamic thing, changing with the mood of the dweller—not a dead, static, over- sized coffin. Why should we be held down by the frozen concepts of our ancestors? Any fool with a little of articulation and relationship in smattering of descriptive geometry four dimensions. What a house, can design a house in the ordinary what a house—” He stood quite way. Is the static geometry of Eu- still, his pale bulging eyes blinking clid the only mathematics? Are we thoughtfully. to completely disregard the Picard- Bailey reached up and shook his Vessiot theory? How about modu- arm. “Snap out of it. What the lar systems?—to say nothing of the hell are you talking about, four di- rich suggestions of stereochemistry. mensions? Time is the fourth dimen- Isn’t there a place in architecture sion; you can’t drive nails into that.” for transformation, for homomor- Teal shrugged him off. “Sure. phology, for actional structures?” Sure. Time is a fourth dimension, “Blessed if I know,” answered but I’m thinking about a fourth Bailey. “You might just as well be spatial dimension, like length, talking about the fourth dimension breadth and thickness. For economy for all it means to me.” of materials and convenience of ar- “And why not? Why should we rangement you couldn’t beat it. To limit ourselves to the— Say!” He say nothing of the saving of ground interrupted himself and stared into space—you could put an eight-room distances. “Homer, I think you’ve house on the land now occupied by really got something. After all, why a one-room house. Like a tes- not? Think of the infinite richness seract— 70 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“What’s a tesseraet?” toothpicks and join the bottom of “Didn’t you go to school? A tes- the first cube to the bottom of the seract is a hypercube, a square figure second, on a slant, and the top of with four dimensions to it, like a the first to the top of the second, cube has three, and a square has two. the same way.” This he did rap- Here, I’ll show you.” Teal dashed idly, while he talked. out into the kitchen of his apart- “What’s that supposed to be?” ment and returned with a box of Bailey demanded suspiciously. toothpicks which he spilled on the “That’s a tesseraet, eight cubes table between them, brushing glasses forming the sides of a bypercube in and a nearly empty Holland gin bot- four dimensions.” tle carelessly aside. “I’ll need some “It looks more like a cat’s cradle plasticine. I had some around here to me. You’ve only got two cubes last week.” He burrowed into a there anyhow. Where are the other

drawer of the littered desk which six?” «, crowded one comer of his dining “Use your imagination, man. room and emerged with a lump of Consider the top of the first cube oily sculptor’s clay.. “Here’s some.” in relation to the top of the second; “What are you going to do?” that’s cube number three. Then “I’ll show you.” Teal rapidly the two bottom squares, then the pinched off small masses of the clay front faces of each cube, the back and rolled them into pea-sized balls. faces, the right hand, the left hand He stuck toothpicks into four of —eight cubes.” He pointed them these and hooked them together into out. a square. “There! That’s a square.” “Yeah, I see ’em. But they still “Obviously.” aren’t cubes; they’re whatchamu- “Another one like it, four more callems—prisms. They are not toothpicks, and we make a cube.” square, they slant.” The toothpicks were now arranged “That’s just the way you look in the framework of a square box, at it, in perspective. If you drew a cube, with the pellets of clay hold- a picture of a cube on a piece of ing the corners together.. “Now we paper, the side squares would be make another cube just like the first slaunchwise, wouldn’t they? That’s one, and the two of them will be two perspective. When you look at a sides of the tesseraet.” four-dimensional figure in three di- Bailey started to help him roll the mensions, naturally it looks crooked. little balls of clay for the second But those are all cubes just the cube, but became diverted by the same.” semlous feel of the docile clay and “Maybe they are to you, brother, started working and shaping it with but they still look crooked to me.” his fingers. “Look,” he said, holding up his Teal ignored the objections and effort, a tiny figurine, “Gypsy Rose went on. “Now consider this as Lee.” the framework of an eight-room “Looks more like Gargantua; she house; there’s one room on the ought to sue you. Now pay atten- ground floor—that’s for service, tion. You open up one corner of utilities, and garage. There are six the first cube, interlock the second rooms opening off it on the next cube at one corner, and then close floor, living room, dining room, bath, the corner.. Then take eight more bedrooms, and so forth. And up at •‘—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” T!

the top, completely inclosed and with you that keep architecture in its in- windows on four sides, is your study. fancy. How many square sides has There! How do you like it?” a cube?” “Seems to me you have the bath- “Six.” tub hanging out of the living room “How many of them are inside?” ceiling. Those rooms are interlaced “Why, none of ’em. They’re all like an octopus.” on the outside.” “Only in perspective, only in per- “All right. Now listen—a tes- spective. Here, I’ll do it another seract has eight cubical sides, all on way so you can see it.” This time the outside. Now watch me. I’m Teal made a cube of toothpicks, then going to open up this tesseract like made a second of halves of tooth- you can open up a cubical paste- picks. and set it exactly in the cen- board box, until it’s flat. That way ter of the first by attaching the cor- you’ll be able to see all eight of the ners of the small cube to the large cubes.” Working very rapidly he cube by short lengths of toothpick. constructed four cubes, piling one “Now—the big cube is your ground on top of the other in an unsteady floor, the little cube inside is your tower. He then built out four more study on the top floor. The six cubes from the four exposed faces of cubes joining them are the living the second cube in the pile. The rooms. See?” structure swayed a little under the Bailey studied the figure, then loose coupling of the clay pellets, shook his head. “I still don’t see but it stood, eight cubes in an in- but two cubes, a big one and a little verted cross, a double cross, as the one. Those other six things, they four additional cubes stuck out in

look like pyramids this time instead four directions. “Do you see it now? of prisms, but they still aren’t It rests on the ground floor room, cubes.” the next six cubes are the living “Certainly, certainly, you are see- rooms, and there is your study, up ing them in different perspective. at the top.” Can’t you see that?” Bailey regarded it with more ap- “Well, maybe. But that room on proval than he had the other fig- the inside, there. It's completely ures. “At least l can understand it. surrounded by the thingamujigs. I You say that is a tesseract, too?” thought you said it had windows on “That is a tesseract unfolded in four sides.” three dimensions. To put it back “It has—it just looks like it was together you tuck the top cube onto surrounded. That’s the grand fea- the bottom cube, fold those side ture about a tesseract house, com- cubes in till they meet the top*cube plete outside exposure for every and there you are. You do all this room, yet every wall serves two folding through a fourth dimension rooms and an eight-room house re- of course; you don’t distort any of quires only a one-room foundation. the cubes, or fold them into each It’s revolutionary.” other.”

“That’s putting it mildly. You’re Bailey studied the wobbly frame- crazy, bud; you can’t build a house work further. “Look here,” he said like that. That inside room is on at last, “why don’t you forget about the inside, and there she stays.” folding this thing up through a Teal looked at his friend in con- fourth dimension—you can’t any- trolled exasperation. “It’s guvs like way—and build a house like this?” ” ” ” ”

7* ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Just some idea an out-of-date architect has put in her head. She drives a 1941 car, doesn’t she? She wears the very latest styles—why should she live in an eighteenth cen- tury house? This house will be even later than a 1941 model; it’s years in the future. She’ll be the talk of the town.” “Well—111 have to talk to her.” “Nothing of the sort. We’ll sur- prise her with it. Have another drink.” “Anyhow, we can’t do anything about it now. Mrs. Bailey and I “What do you mean, I can’t? It’s are driving up to Bakersfield tomor- a simple mathematical problem— row. The company’s bringing in a “Take it easy, son. It may be couple of wells tomorrow.” _ simple in mathematics, but you “Nonsense. That’s just the op- could never get your plans approved portunity we want. It will be a sur- for construction. There isn’t any prise for her when you get back. fourth dimension; forget it. But You can just write me a check right this kind of a house—it might have now, and your worries are over.” some advantages.” “I oughtn’t to do anything like Checked, Teal studied the model. this without consulting her. She “Hm-m-m— Maybe you got some- won’t like it.” thing. We could have the same num- “Say, who wears the pants in your ber of rooms, and we’d save the same family anyhow?” amount of ground space. Yes, and The check was signed about half- we would set that middle cross- way down the second bottle. shaped floor northeast, southwest, and so forth, so that every room Things are done fast in southern would get sunlight all day long.' California. Ordinary houses there That central axis lends itself nicely are usually built in a month’s time. to central heating. We’ll put the Under Teal’s impassioned heckling dining room on the northeast and the tesseract house climbed dizzily the kitchen on the southeast, with skyward in days rather than weeks, big view windows in every room. and its cross-shaped second story O. K* Homer, I’ll do it! Where do came jutting out at the four corners you want it built?” of the world. He had some trouble “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! at first with the inspectors over I didn’t say— you were going to build these four projecting rooms but by it for me using strong girders and folding “Of course I am. Who else? Your money he had been able to convince wife wants a new house; this is it.” them of the soundness of Ms en- “But Mrs. Bailey wants a gineering. Georgian house— By arrangement, Teal drove up “Just an idea she has. Women in front of the Bailey residence the don’t know what they want— morning after their return to town. “Mrs. Bailey does.” He improvised on his two-tone horn. ” —

a AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” n

Bailey stuck his head out the front “This house sets a new style. It’s door. “Why don’t you use the bell?” later than television, newer than “Too slow,” answered Teal cheer- next week. It must be seen to be fully. “I'm a man of action. Is Mrs. appreciated. By the way,” he went Bailey ready? Ah, there you are, on rapidly, heading off any retort, Airs. Bailey! Welcome home, wel- “did you folks feel the earthquake come home. Jump in, we’ve got a last night?” surprise for you!” “Earthquake? What earthquake? “You know Teal, my dear,” Homer, was there an earthquake?” Bailey put in uncomfortably. “Just a little one,” Teal contin- Airs. Bailey sniffed. “I know him. ued, “about two a. m. If I hadn’t We’ll go in our owji car, Homer.” been awake, I wouldn’t have no- “Certainly, my dear.” ticed it.” “ “Good idea,” Teal agreed; ’sgot Airs. Bailey shuddered. “Oh, thjs more power than mine; we’ll get awful country! Do you hear that, there faster. I’ll drive, I know the Homer? We might have been killed way.” He took the keys from in our beds and never have known it. Bailey, slid into the driver’s seat, Why did I ever let you persuade me and had the engine started before to leave Iowa?” Airs. Bailey could rally her forces. “But my dear,” he protested hope- “Never have to worry about my lessly, “you wanted to come out to driving,” he assured Airs. Bailey, California; you didn’t like Des turning his head as he did so, while Aloincs.” he shot the powerful car down the “We needn’t go into that,” she avenue and swung onto Sunset said firmly. “You are a man; you Boulevard, “it's a matter of power should anticipate such things. and control, a dynamic process, just Earthquakes!” my meat—I’ve never had a serious “That’s one thing you needn’t accident.” fear in your new home, Mrs. Bai- “You won’t have but one,” she ley,” Teal told her. “It’s abso- said bitingly. “Will you please keep lutely earthquake-proof; every part your eyes on the traffic?” is in perfect dynamic balance with He attempted to explain to her every other part.” that a traffic situation was a matter, “Well, I hope so. Where is this not of eyesight, but intuitive inte- house?” gration of courses, speeds, and proba- “Just around this bend. There’s bilities, but Bailey cut him short. the sign now.” A large arrow sign, “Where is the house, Quintus?” of the sort favored by real estate “House?” asked Airs. Bailey sus- promoters, proclaimed in letters that piciously. “What’s this about a were large and bright even for south- house, Homer? Have you been up ern California: to something without telling me?” Teal cut in with his best diplo- THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE!!! matic manner. “It certainly is a house, Airs. Bailey. And what a COLOSSAL—AMAZING house! It’s a surprise for you from REVOLUTIONARY a devoted husband. Just wait till — SEE HOW YOUR GRANDCHILDREN you see it WILL LIVE! “I shall," she agreed grimly. “What style is it?” Q. Teal, Architect — ”

74 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Of course that will be taken Bailey glanced around at the fault- down,” he added hastily, noting her lessly manicured landscaping. “I expression, “as soon as you take pos- don’t see how seven rooms could session.” He slued around the cor- have been dismantled and carted ner and brought the car to a squeal- away from here in a single night ing halt in front of the House of the without wrecking this garden.” Future. “Voila!” He watched their Teal looked around, too. “It faces for response. doesn’t look it. I don’t understand it.” Bailey stared unbelievingly, Mrs. Mrs. Bailey joined them. “Well? Bailey in open dislike. They saw a Well? Am I to be left to amuse my- simple cubical mass, possessing self? We might as well look it over doors and windows, but no other as long as we are here, though I’m architectural features, save that it warning you, Homer, I’m not going was decorated in intricate mathe- to like it.” matical designs. “Teal,” Bailey “We might as well,” agreed Teal, asked slowly, “what have you been and drew a key from his pocket up to?” with which he let them in the front Teal turned from their faces to door. “We may pick up some the house. Gone was the crazy clues.” tower with its jutting second-story The entrance hall was in perfect rooms. No trace remained of the order, the sliding screens that sepa- seven rooms above ground floor level. rated it from the garage space were Nothing remained' but the single back, permitting them to see the en- room that rested on the founda- tire compartment. “This looks all tions. “Great jumping cats!” he right,” observed Bailey. “Let’s go yelled, “I’ve been robbed!” up on the roof and try to figure out He broke into a run. what happened. Where’s the stair- But it did him no good. Front case? Have they stolen that, too?” or back, the story was the same: “Oh, no,” Teal denied, “look—” the other seven rooms had disap- He pressed a button below the light peared, vanished completely. Bai- switch; a panel in the ceiling fell ley caught up with him, and took away and a light, graceful flight of his arm. “Explain yourself. What stairs swung noiselessly down. Its is this about being robbed? How strength members were the frosty come you built anything like this silver of duralumin, its treads and it’s not according to agreement.” risers transparent plastic. Teal “But I didn’t. I built just what wriggled like a boy who has Success- we had planned to build, an eight- fully performed a card trick, while room house in the form of a devel- Mrs. Bailey thawed perceptibly. oped tesseract. I’ve been sabotaged; It was beautiful. that’s what it is! Jealousy! The “Pretty slick,” Bailey admitted. other architects in town didn’t dare “Howsomever— it doesn’t seem to go let me finish this job; they knew any place — they’d be washed up if I did.” “Oh, that ” Teal followed his “When were you last here?” gaze. “The cover lifts up as you “Yesterday afternoon.” approach the top. Open stair wells “Everything all right then?” are anachronisms. Come on.” As “Yes. The gardeners were just predicted, the lid of the staircase finishing up.” got out of their way as they climbed ”

“—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—'

76 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

place is haunted. We’re getting out of here.” Grabbing his wife he threw open the front door and plunged out.

Teal was too much preoccupied to bother with their departure. There was an answer to all this, an answer that he did not believe. But he was forced to break off consid- ering it because of hoarse shouts from somewhere above him. He lowered the staircase and rushed upstairs. Bailey was in the central room leaning over Mrs. Bailey, who had fainted. Teal took in the situation, went to the bar built into the lounge, and poured three fingers of brandy, which he returned with “But we did—we walked out the and handed to Bailey. “Here front door and found 'ourselves up this'll fix her up.” here, in the lounge.” Bailey drank it. “The hell you say! Hm-m-m “That was for Mrs. Bailey,” said wait a minute.” Teal went into the Teal. lounge. There he found that the “Don’t quibble,” snapped Bailey. big- view window at the end of the “Get her another.” Teal took the room was open. He peered cau- precaution of taking one himself be- tiously through it. He stared, not fore returning with a dose ear- out at the California countryside, marked for his client’s wife. He but into the ground floor room—or found her just opening her eyes. a reasonable facsimile thereof. He “Here, Mrs. Bailey,” he soothed, said nothing, but went back to the “this will make you feel better.” stair well which he had left open “I never touch spirits,” she pro- and looked down it. The ground tested, and gulped it. floor room was still in place. Some- “Now tell me what happened,” how, it managed to be in two dif- suggested Teal. “I thought you two ferent places at once, on different had left.” levels. “—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE- 77

He came back into the central push and it fell over, collapsed along room and seated himself opposite its natural joints into a stable four- Bailey in a deep, low chair, and dimensional figure.” sighted him past his upthrust bony “I thought you boasted about how knees. “Homer,” he said impress- safe this house was.” ively, “do you know what has hap- “It is safe—three-dimensionally.” pened?” “I don’t call a house safe,” com- “No, I don’t—but if I don’t find mented Bailey edgily, “that collapses out pretty soon, something is going at the first little temblor.” to happen and pretty drastic, too!” “Homer, this is a vindication of “But look around you, man!” Teal my theories. This house is a real protested. “Nothing has been dis- tesseract.” turbed, not a piece of glassware “What’s he talking about, cracked. Rotation through a fourth Homer?” dimension can’t affect a three-dimen- “Wait, Matilda—now Teal, that’s sional figure any more than you can ridiculous. You’ve pulled some shake letters off a printed page. If hanky-panky here and I won’t you had been sleeping in here last have it—scaring Mrs. Bailey half night, you would never have awak- to death, and making me nervous. ened.” All I want is to get out of here, with “That’s just what I'm afraid of. no more of your trapdoors and silly Incidentally, has your great genius practical jokes.” figured out any way for us to get “Speak for yourself, Homer,” Mrs. out of this booby trap?” Bailey interrupted, “I was not “Huh? Oh, yes, you and Mrs. frightened; I was just took all over Bailey started to leave and landed queer for a moment. It’s my heart; back up here, didn’t you? But I’m all of my people are delicate and sure there is no real difficulty—we highstrung. Now about this tessy came in, we can go out. I’ll try it.” thing—explain yourself, Mr. Teal. He was up and hurrying downstairs Speak up.” before he had finished talking. He He told her as well as he could flung open the front door, stepped in the face of numerous interrup- through, and found himself staring tions the theory back of the house. at his companions, down the length “Now as I see it, Mrs. Bailey,” he of the second floor lounge. “Well, concluded, “this house, while per- there does seem to be some slight fectly stable in three dimensions, was problem,” he admitted blandly. “A not stable in four dimensions. I mere technicality, though—we can had built a house in the shape of an always go out a window.” He jerked unfolded tesseract; something hap- aside the long drapes that covered pened to it, some jar or side thrust, the deep French windows set in one and it collapsed into its normal side wall of the lounge. He stopped shape—it folded up.” He snapped suddenly. his fingers suddenly. “I’ve got it! “Hm-m-m,” he said, “this is in- The earthquake!” teresting—very.” “Earthquake?” “What is?” asked Bailey, joining “Yes, yes, the little shake we had him. last night. From a four-dimensional “This.” The window stared di- standpoint this house was like a rectly into the dining room, instead plane balanced on edge. One little of looking outdoors. Bailey stepped ” ”

78 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION back to the corner where the lounge a four-dimensional figure a three- and the dining room joined the cen- dimensional man has two choices tral room at ninety degrees. every time he crosses a line of junc- “But that can’t be,” he protested, ture, like a wall or a threshold. Or- “that window is maybe fifteen, dinarily he will make a ninety-degree twenty feet from the dining room.” turn through the fourth dimension, “Not in a tesseract,” corrected only he doesn’t feel it with his three Teal. “Watch.” He opened the dimensions. Look.” He stepped window and stepped through, talk- through the very window that he ing back over his shoulder as he did had fallen out of a moment before. so. Stepped through and arrived in the From the point of view of the Bai- dining room, where he stood, still leys he simply disappeared. talking. But not from his own viewpoint. “I watched where I was going and It took him some seconds to catch arrived where I intended to.” He his breath. Then he cautiously dis- stepped back into the lounge. “The entangled himself from the rosebush time before I didn’t watch and I to which he had become almost ir- moved on through normal space and revocably wedded, making a mental fell out of the house. It must be a note the while never again to order matter of subconscious orientation.” landscaping which involved plants “I’d hate to depend on subcon- with thorns, and looked around him. scious orientation when I step out He was outside the house. The for the morning paper.” massive bulk of the ground floor “You won’t have to; it’ll become room thrust up beside him. Ap- automatic. Now to get out of the parently he had fallen off the roof. house this time— Mrs. Bailey, if He dashed around the corner of you will stand here with your back the house, flung open the front door to the window, and jump back- and hurried up the stairs. “Homer!” ward, I’m pretty sure you will land he called out, “Mrs. Bailey! I’ve in the garden.” found a Way out!” Mrs. Bailey’s face expressed her Bailey looked annoyed rather than opinion of Teal and his ideas. pleased to see him. “What hap- “Homer Bailey,” she said shrilly, pened to you?” “are you going to stand— there and “I fell out. I’ve been outside the let him suggest such house. You can do it just as easily “But Mrs. Bailey,” Teal at- —just step through those French tempted to explain, “we can tie a windows. Mind the rosebush, though rope— on you and lower you down —we may have to build another eas stairway.” “Forget it, Teal,” Bailey cut him “How did you get back in?” off brusquely. “We’ll have to find “Through the front door.” a better way than that. Neither ‘Then we shall leave the same way. Mrs. Bailey nor I are fitted for Come, my dear.” Bailey set his hat jumping.” firmly on his head and marched down the stairs, his wife on his arm. Teal was temporarily nonplused; Teal met them in the lounge. “I there ensued a short silence. Bai- could have told you that wouldn’t ley broke it with, “Die. you hear work,” he announced. “Now here’s that. Teal?” what we have to do: As I see it, in “Hear what?” “—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” 79

“Someone talking off in the dis- and dived through it, shouting, tance. D’you s’pose there could be “There he goes now! Stop thief!” someone else in the house, playing The figure evidently heard him; tricks on us, maybe?” it fled precipitately. Teal pursued, “Oh, not a chance. I've got the his gangling limbs stirred to unani- only key.” mous activity, through drawing “But I'm sure of it,” Mrs. Bailey room, kitchen, dining room, lounge confirmed. “I’ve heard them ever —room after room, yet in spite of since we came in. Voices. Homer, Teal’s best efforts he could not seem I can’t stand much more of this. Do to cut down the four-room lead that something.” the interloper had started with. “Now, now, Mrs. Bailey,” Teal He saw the pursued jump awk- soothed, “don’t get upset. There wardly but actively over the low sill can’t be anyone else in the house, of a French window and in so doing but I’ll explore and make sure. knock off his hat. When he came up Homer, you stay here with Mrs. Bai- to the point where his quarry had ley and keep an eye on the rooms on lost his headgear, he stopped and this floor.” He passed from the picked it up, glad of an excuse to lounge into the ground floor room stop and catch his breath. He was and from there to the kitchen and on back in the lounge. into the bedroom. This led him “I guess he got away from me,” back to the lounge by a straight-line he admitted. “Anyhow, here’s his route, that is to say, by going straight hat. Maybe we can identify him.” ahead on the entire trip he returned Bailey took the hat, looked at it, to the place from which he started. then snorted, and slapped it on Teal’s “Nobody around,” he reported. head. It fitted perfectly. Teal “I opened all of the doors and win- looked puzzled, took the hat off, and dows as I went—all except this one.” examined it. On the sweat band He stepped to the window opposite were the initials “Q. T.” It was his the one through which he had re- own. cently fallen and thrust back the Slowly comprehension filtered drapes. through Teal’s features. He went He saw a man with his back to- back to the French window and ward him, four rooms away. Teal gazed down the series of rooms snatched open the French window through which he had pursued the ! ” —

80 mysterious stranger. They saw him wave his arms semaphore fashion. * “What are you doing?” asked Bai- Omnibus of ley. “Come see.” The two joined him and followed his stare with their own. Four rooms away they saw the TlllLl*! backs of three figures, two male and one female. The taller, thinner of the men was waving his arms in a Four book-length novels—four novelettes silly fashion. —by such famous detective-story authors as Cornell Woolrich, Steve Mrs. Bailey screamed and fainted Fisher, Cleve Adams and other top again. writers.

Some minutes later, when Mrs. Selected by—Frank Gruber—winner in the Mary Roberts Rinehart prize contest Bailey had been resuscitated and and author of the best sellers THE somewhat composed, Bailey and and FRENCH LAUGHING FOX THE Teal took stock. “Teal,” said KEY. Bailey, “I won’t waste any time blaming you; recriminations are use- Plenty of swell illustrations—a fine, heavy- paper cover that will stay fresh on less and I’m sure you didn’t plan and no advertis- your library shelf— for this to happen, but I suppose ing at all in this BV2 x II, 160-page' thrill-omnibus. you realize we are in a pretty serious predicament. How are we going to four-star annual is as The price of this get out of here? It looks now as if amazing as its action-packed con- we would stay until we starve; every tents—only twenty-five cents. Im-

agine . . . one hundred and fifty room leads into another room.” thousand thrilling, chilling words In “Oh, it’s not that bad. I got out one volume. Go to your dealer to- once, day and get your copy—it's the you know.” best value in ace detective fiction “Yes, but you can’t repeat it market. If your dealer can't on the you tried.” supply you, fill out coupon below. “Anyhow we haven’t tried all the PETECTIVE rooms. There’s still the study.” “Oh, yes, the study. We went through there when we first came in, JR it ft and didn’t stop. Is it your idea that Kfififi might get out through its win- A N N 1J A L j we dows?” 25 cents

* “Don’t get your hopes , up. ! & | Mathematically, it ought to look 1 p into the four side rooms on this

: 1* , floor. Still we never opened the STREET & SMITH blinds; maybe we ought to look.” 79 Seventh Avenue “ ’Twon’t do any harm anyhow. New York City Dear, I think you had best just stay here and rest— Inclosed is 25c. Please send me the DETECTIVE STORY ANNUAL. “Be left alone in this horrible place? I should say not!” Mrs. Name Bailey was up off the couch where Address she had been recuperating even as she spoke. City State They went upstairs. “This is the —

“—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” 81 inside room, isn’t it. Teal?” Bailey “What is it? A mirage?” inquired as they passed through the “I don’t think so—it’s too perfect. master bedroom and climbed on up I think space is folded over through toward the study. “I mean it was the fourth dimension here and we the little cube in your diagram that are looking past the fold.” was in the middle of the big cube, “You mean we aren’t really see- and completely surrounded.” ing it?” “That’s right,” agreed Teal. “No, we’re seeing it all right. I “Well, let’s have a look. I figure don’t know what would happen if this window ought to give into the we climbed out this window, but I kitchen.” He grasped the cords of for one don’t want to try. But Venetian blinds and pulled them. what a view! Oh, boy, what a view! It did not. Waves of vertigo Let’s try the other windows.” shook them. Involuntarily they fell They approached the next win- to the floor and grasped helplessly dow more cautiously, and it was at the pattern on the rug to keep well that they did, for it was even from falling. “Close it! Close it!” more disconcerting, more reason- moaned Bailey. shaking, than the one looking down Mastering in part a primitive ata- the gasping height of the skyscraper. vistic fear, Teal worked his way back It was a simple seascape, open ocean to the window and managed to re- and blue sky—but the ocean was lease the screen. The window had where the sky should have been, and looked down instead of out, down contrariwise. This time they were from a terrifying height. somewhat braced for it, but they Mrs. Bailey had fainted again. both felt seasickness about to over- Teal went back after more brandy come them at the sight of waves while Bailey chafed her wrists. rolling overhead; they lowered the When she had recovered. Teal w'ent blind quickly without giving Mrs. cautiously to the window' and raised Bailey a chance to be disturbed by the screen a crack. Bracing his it. knees, he studied the scene. He Teal looked at the third window. turned to Bailey. “Come look at “Game to try it, Homer?” this, Homer. See if you recognize “Hrrumph—well, we won’t be it.” satisfied if we don’t. Take it easy.” “You stay away from there, Teal lifted the blind a few' inches. Homer Bailey!” He saw nothing, and raised it a little “Now, Matilda, I’ll be careful.” more—still nothing. Slowly he Bailey joined him and peered out. raised it until the window was fully “See up there? That’s the Chrys- exposed. They gazed out at ler Building, sure as shooting. And nothing. there’s the East River, and Brook- Nothing, nothing at all. What lyn.” They gazed straight down the color is nothing? Don’t be siliv! sheer face of an enormously tall What shape is it? Shape is an at- building. More than a thousand tribute of something. It had neither feet away a toy city, very much depth nor form. It had not even alive, was spread out before them. blackness. It was nothing. “As near as I can figure it out, we Bailey chewed at his cigar. are looking down the side of the “Teal, what do you make of that?” Empire State Building from a point Teal’s insouciance was shaken for just above its tower.” the first time. “I don’t know. ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Homer, I don’t rightly know—but idly joined them and now gazed out I think that window ought to be at the outre scene. “Homer,” she walled up.” He stared at the low- said in a subdued voice, “those hide- ered blind for a moment. “I think ous trees— they frighten me.” maybe we looked at a place where He patted her hand. space isn’t. We looked around a Teal fumbled with the window fourth-dimensional corner and there catch. wasn’t anything there.” He rubbed “What are you doing?” Bailey de- his eyes. “I’ve got a headache.” manded. “I thought if I stuck my head out They waited for a while before the window I might be able to look tackling the fourth window. Like around and tell a bit more.” an unopened letter, it might not con- “Well—all right,” Bailey grudged, tain bad news. The doubt left hope. “but be careful.” Finally the suspense stretched too “I will.” He opened the window thin and Bailey pulled the cord a crack and sniffed. “The air is all himself, in the face of his wife’s pro- right, at least.” He threw it open tests. wide. It was not so bad. A landscape His attention was diverted before stretched away from them, right he could carry out his plan. An un- side up, and on such a level that the easy tremor, like the first intimation study appeared to be a ground floor of nausea, shivered the entire build- room. But it was distinctly un- ing for a long second, and was gone. friendly. “Earthquake!” They all said it A hot, hot sun beat down from at once. Mrs. Bailey flung her arms lemon-colored sky. The flat ground around her husband’s neck. seemed burned a sterile, bleached Teal gulped and recovered him- brown and incapable of supporting self, saying: life. Life there was, strange stunted “It’s all right, Mrs. Bailey. This trees that lifted knotted, twisted house is perfectly safe. You know arms to the sky. Little clumps of you can expect settling tremors after spiky leaves grew on the outer ex- a shock like last night.” He had tremities of these misshapen growths. just settled his features into an ex- “Heavenly day,” breathed Bailey, pression of reassurance when the “where is that?” second shock came. This one was Teal shook his head, his eyes no mild shimmy but the real seasick troubled. “It beats me.” roll. “It doesn’t look like anything on In every Californian, native born Earth. It looks more like another or grafted, there is a deep-rooted planet—Mars, maybe.” primitive reflex. An earthquake fills “I wouldn’t know. But, do you him with soul-shaking claustro- know, Homer, it might be worse phobia which impels him blindly to than that, worse than another planet, get outdoors! Model boy scouts will I mean.” push aged grandmothers aside to “Huh? What’s that you say?” obey it. It is a matter of record “It might be clear out of our that Teal and Bailey landed on top space entirely. I’m not sure that of Mrs. Bailey. Therefore, she must that is our Sun at all. It seems too have jumped through the window bright.” first. The order of precedence can- Mrs. Bailey had somewhat tim- not be attributed to chivalry; it 6 ”

"—AND HE BUILT A CROOKED HOUSE—” 8$

must be assumed that she was in to be an elderly, puffing light truck, readier position to spring. driven by a rancher. He crunched to a stop at their hail. “We’re They pulled themselves together, stranded. Can you help us out?” collected their wits a little, and “Sure. Pile in.” rubbed sand from their eyes. Their “Where are you headed?” first sensations were relief at feeling “Los Angeles.” the solid sand of the desert land “Los Angeles? Say, where is this under them. Then Bailey noticed place?” something that brought them to “Well, you’re right in the middle their feet and checked Mrs. Bailey of the Joshua-Tree National Forest.” from bursting into the speech that she had ready. The return was as dispiriting as “Where’s the house?” the Retreat from Moscow. Mr. and It was gone. There was no sign Mrs. Bailey sat up in front with the of it at all. They stood in the cen- driver while Teal bumped along in ter of flat desolation, the landscape the body of the truck, and tried to they had seen from the window. But, protect his head from the Sun. Bai- aside from the tortured, twisted ley subsidized the friendly rancher trees there was nothing to be seen to detour to the tesseract house, not but the yellow sky and the luminary because they wanted to see it again, overhead, whose furnacelike glare but in order to pick up their car. was already almost insufferable. At last the rancher turned the cor- Bailey looked slowly around, then ner that brought them back to where turned to the architect. “Well, they had started. But the house was Teal?” His voice was ominous. no longer there. Teal shrugged helplessly. “I wish There was not even the ground I knew. I wish I could even be sure floor room. It had vanished. The that we were on Earth.” Baileys, interested in spite of them- “Well, we can’t stand here. It’s selves, poked around the foundations sure death if we do. Which direc- with Teal. tion?” “Got any answers for this one, “Any, I guess. Let’s keep a bear- Teal?” asked Bailey. ing on the Sun.” “It must be that on that last shock it simply fell through into an- They had trudged on for an un- other section of space. I can see determined distance when Mrs. now that I should have anchored Bailey demanded a rest. They it at the foundations.” stopped. Teal said in an aside to “That’s not all you should have Bailey, “Any ideas?” done.”

“No . . .no, none. Say, do you “Well, I don’t see that there is hear anything?” anything to get downhearted about. Teal listened. “Maybe—unless The house was insured, and we’ve it’s my imagination.” learned an amazing lot. There are “Sounds like an automobile. Say, possibilities, man, possibilities! it is an automobile!” Why, right novf I’ve got a great new They came to the highway in less revolutionary idea for a house— than another hundred yards. The Teal ducked in time. He was automobile, when it arrived, proved always a man of action. THE END. AST— —

81 coiMEmy fiuioimc

By Theodore Sturgeon

A yarn about a perfectly automatic ship, and her perfectly incompetent crew, her hopeless, practically mindless crew trapped by her perfect mechanisms when things went wrong?

Illustrated by Jack Binder

“What the devil does he do for a things are different. There are only living?” I asked as the petty officer two or three hundred men in the left the mess room. System that know the theory of as- “Nothing,” said the second officer. trogation nowadays, and they are “Nothing at all.” either research scientists or dodder- “What do you carry him for, ing scholars. It’s only tradition that then?” keeps a crew aboard any more The second was a man in his mid- that and the fact that the more jobs dle forties with a very nice grin. the Supreme Council can create, the He used it now. “We carry him better for everybody. I don’t kid just in case,” he said. “He’s the myself—I know damn well that I chemical supervisor. He stands no could be replaced in a minute by watches, makes no reports. He re- two switches and a rheostat on the ports aboard before we take off and control panel back on Earth. That disappears when we make port. For goes for everyone else riding these that he knocks down six hundred ships, too. Only the passenger and forty credits a month.” ships carry captains, and they are “Six— Holy Kit, that’s a lot of there to impress the passengers. change for doing nothing. I was al- Sort of glorified masters of ceremo- ways under the impression that the nies. No, space travel isn’t what it crew of a spaceship was stream- used to be.” lined down to practically nothing. “That may be true,” I said, “but

Does every ship carry these . . . at least you do something for a liv- these paid passengers?” ing. You stand a regular watch The second nodded as he -filled my and supervise the stowage and the glass again. “There was a time, passenger lists and keep the log and four or five hundred years ago, when give the passengers the idea that a ship couldn’t have done without the ship is in competent hands them. They had no automatic ma- but what about that chem super? chinery to speak of then. The ships False front is false front, but it’s were self-powered, and half their ca- usually attached to something solid. pacity was given over to fuel. Half That guy hasn’t even an excuse for the rest was driving machinery. being aboard.” They had no power beams then; “You don’t think so? Granted, they had to plot their courses and his work is taken care of entirely steer them every trip. Now, of by automatic machinery that hasn’t course, with the power beams that broken down once in the last three both guide and drive the vessels. hundred years, but that isn’t the ,

85

We started pulling and pushing things frantically but results simply made the heat more awful. 88 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION point. Remember—I told you that and that way they could have a good r lie is here just in case.” look around the ship to see how they “In case of what?” liked it and what kind of work “Certain eventualities. Got an would suit them best. It was a hour, or so? I’ll tell you a story set-up—harmless enough, to be sure, about a chemical supervisor that except for the fact that the supers might interest you.” got paid a high wage, and that made “Go ahead,” I said. “I’ve got the rest of the crew a little sore be- three weeks with nothing to do, let cause they had to work for a living. alone an hour. Start spinning.” This was before the days of the The second officer unzipped his Functionalist government, when collar, flipped a lever on his chair to many of the space lines were pri- tilt it back a little, and began. vately owned and the big boys at the top were anxious to cut costs The reason I thini you in par- and increase profits without regard ticular would be interested in this to the number of men they threw yarn is that it has to do w ith what out of wmrk. I don’t have to tell happened when they did exactly you that space transportation is as what you say they should do—get big an industry as they come; to rid of some hundred-odd thousand get rid of a chem super and his ap- pieces of deadwood in the way of prentice on every single ship in the chem supers and their apprentices. System that ever left any atmos- Yeah, they did, about twenty-eight phere w'as a big jolt. A few' hun- years ago. There w as a great deal of dred thousand men thrown out of noise about it at the time, because work all at once played hell with most of the old conservatives didn’t the economic balance, close as it was. like the idea of breaking an old space Besides, most of those supers were tradition that way. They said that absolutely worthless—bums, para- spaceships should no more take off sites, drifters, trouble-makers. without chem supers' than they It was a foolish move, and the should without lifeboats. The fact Council knew' it; but the pressure that no one within the memory of put on by the profit-drunk “effi- living man had ever used a lifeboat ciency” experts of the space com- for anything but joy-riding didn’t panies w'as too strong. They faze them. bounced them out—every last one of The machinery was foolproof, them. It’s interesting to know that rigidly inspected every trip, and all it w'as that group of worthless ex- of it either one hundred percent au- supers who, by the noise they made, tomatic or remote control. Supers were ultimately responsible for the simply were not needed. The boys new set-up, where men are hired and that held dowm the jobs were, with paid for jobs that could be done a few exceptions, friends of some- away with—my job, for instance. body who had a friend in the office. It’s better that way. No one loses Their qualifications were courtesy anything; the companies don’t gain ones; a couple of oral questions were so much, that’s all. They can afford examination enough for them. Many it. And it has completely done skippers carried their relatives with away with unemployment. them as supers. A lot of fellow's But to get back to the supers. grabbed the jobs because they wrere I know all about what happened be- sincerely interested in space travel cause it happened aboard the Mag - COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC 81

gie Northern, my first ship—my circled me slowly. “I seen that, hay first job on these cans. It was a spread on the gangplank an’ I fig- first for the ship too—her first trip gered they was goin’ to coax some- without a super. thin’ like this aboard,” he said as if to himself. “What they doin’, I came aboard her—I was a ’teen- Hume—shippin’ hog-callers now age kid at the time—with a suitcase that they got rid of the supers?” with a busted handle under my arm I got sore right away, not know- and more ignorance than sense un- ing kidding when I ran against it. der my hat. I got in a lot of peo- “I don’t think I like this guy, ple’s way and was finally shunted Hume,” I said, and squared off to into the rocket man’s fo’c’s’le. I this Fuzzy. stood in the middle of the floor feel- Fuzzy said, “Heh! It talks!” ing shy. I hadn’t known a space- But he went over to the lockers and ship would be like this. Like every began being busy. kid my age, I had filled myself full “Don’t mind him,” Hume told me. of stories about the trade, and “He ain’t happy. I was super on thought it woidd be cramped and this scow, see, and he was tired of stuffy with tiered bunks and lacking working for a living and was after every facility a he-man would sneer my job. Darn near got it, too— at. But this, one of the poorest- didn’t you, Fuzzy?” equipped freighters in the Great Fuzzy grunted. Northern ore fleet, had three men “Would have, too, only the Coun- tc a room, each with a bed with in- cil wiped the job off the books. nerspring mattress, hot and cold That’s the only thing about losing running water—the works. Some my job I like—it didn’t go to a heel bright soul had painted a garden like that.” scene on the windowless bulkhead Since Hume seemed to be getting and had rigged it up with a window away with talking behind Fuzzy’s frame, glass and curtains. There was back to his face that way, I thought a kid a couple of years older than me I might as well chime in. “What’d sitting on a bench looking sad. He he do?” looked up at me. “Started studying chemistry, of all “Hi. You the new wiper?” things! He was all set to prove to “Yeah.” the Board that he knew more about He got up and stuck out a hand. my job than I did. As if anyone He was a good-looking kid, very tall. cared about how much a chem super Well set up. “My name’s Hume. knew! Anyhow, he’s all set to pull Welcome to our dirty little home.” his little blitz on me when the job “I’m Babson. It don’t look so disappears. This scow, being an ore bad.” boat and notably ill-equipped, has _ “Neither does Fuzzy here,” said no apprentice super. I get demoted Hume as a burly individual, the to wiper; Fuzzy is still a wiper; third ' wiper, came into the room. you’re another.” “But, boy—wait till you get to know I laughed. Fuzzy swung around. him.” “All right, you mugs. I’ll get my Fuzzy stopped in his tracks as he chance to show you wise eggs up saw me and waited while his ape- yet. Some day, that job’s going like face lit up. Then he ambled back on the books. When it does, over to me, looked " into my face, I get it.” —

88 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“Not a chance,” said Hume. “It watches, two at a time, four hours took the Council three hundred on and eight off, and then there was years to get rid of the job. You’ll a pin-headed individual who used to be on a government pension before wander around the alleyways at you ever hear of it again.” odd hours doing nothing that I Fuzzy opened his mouth to say could see. He answered to the title something else but the loud-speaker of captain and he carried papers cleared its throat and announced certifying his ability as a stowage the take-off. The two wipers expert for this particular ship. jumped to their bunks, threw up a That ship was quite something. lever and lay down. I followed suit; There may be a few of them left in a few seconds there was a grind- bulky old KH-type ore carriers. ing roar and our beds slid on quad- The series has been discontinued rantal rollers up against the bulk- now, but it seems to me I saw one head. There was a moment of or two of them on the inter-asteroid crushing weight, and just when I runs a few years ago. Her capacity thought I’d never get the strength was something like two hundred to draw in another breath, the beds thousand tons net and she was slid back off the bulkhead and were loaded to the ceil-plates with granu- parallel with the floor again. In lar magnesium and sodium for the those days the momentum screens Sun mirrors of Titan. I don’t have were inoperable inside the Heavi- to tell you about the seven two- side Layer, and during the few sec- mile-diameter orbital mirrors that onds it took to get outside, the circulate around the satellite, making acceleration was really rough. They it habitable. You may not know, could lay it on thick because it though, that the girders are all solid lasted such a short time, but I can mag, because great rigidity isn’t tell you, the headache you carried needed out there, and mag is cheap. around with you for a couple of The mirrors are silvered with so- hours after starting was one to stand dium, which is bright and easy to up and sneer at all the other head- handle. They have a patrol for each aches on Earth, laid end to end. of the mirrors, which patches up me- teorite punctures when they occur, I learned all I had to know about squirting liquid sodium around the being a wiper within two days after holes until they fill, then shaving starting. I had a station to keep them down with N rays. Well, we clean, a few alleyways to sweep, and were bringing them their stock in the twelve-to-four space man to trade, and it was an interesting cargo keep entertained. His job was to to handle. The mag was flaked to clean another station, sweep the facilitate melting and casting, and alleyways I didn’t sweep, and enter- the sodium was melted on Earth tain me. In the old days, you know, and run right into the holds where they had an engine room aboard, it “froze.” When we discharged it, and a crew to run it; and they had we would simply heat up the holds a control room and another crew and pump it out. As long as it was to run that. The Plotnick-Martin loaded in an atmosphere of nitrogen power beams took care of that now. and pumped out in space, there was The three space men held lifeboat little danger from it. We had tanks tickets and the wipers didn’t, and of nitrogen under pressure aboard, that was the crew. They stood because after the sodium solidified ” ”

COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC in the holds it was contracted. The shipped aboard this mud hen. If space it left had to be filled with you have no gumption, you’ll stay something, and it better not be air here with the rest of us bums and or water! Hence the nitrogen. pray that the world in genera] and the Space Commerce Board in par-

After a. couple of weeks of this ticular doesn’t get hep to what soft, kind of life I began to wonder about soft cushions a space —tradition has the stories I had read, and what hap- shoved under our fat pened to all the glamour and adven- Crash! ture the space service was steeped It wasn’t a, loud noise, and it in. I even went so far as to ask wasn’t much of a lurch, but both Hume about it. He thought it was were so utterly unexpected that both very funny. of us found ourselves thrown very “That whiffed out with the power hard and very flat. beams,” he told me. “There Hume looked at me blankly. The wouldn’t be anyone aboard these lights went out, flashed on again as ships if it weren’t for the fact that an automatic emergency circuit someone has to keep the chrome snapped in. He said in a weak voice, clean and the books up to date. “Well, there’s your emergency!” and Then, of course, there are emergen- fainted away. cies,” A voice I had never heard before “What?” T asked hopefully. said sharply, through the speakers, “Oh—I dunno. I never heard of “Emergency! Stand by!” I rightly any. But just in ease some of the assumed that this, too, was an auto- machinery turned out not to be fool- matic alarm. I shook Hume until he proof, which has never happened so sat up. far, or in case— something happened “What do we do now?” I snapped to the ship at him. I rather think I was a little “But what could happen?” panicky. “Well—aw, why worry about it? “I only work here,” he said with Nothing ever has. If it did, it would a sickly attempt at levity. There happen so quickly we’d never know were voices in the alleyway outside. about it, or the ship would take care We drifted out there. It was the of itself so fast that by the time we captain and two of the space men. realized there was an emergency, “How should I know? Who do it would be past history.” He sat you think I am—Plotnick?” down on the mess room table and “Who’s Plotnick?” asked one of put his feet on the bench. “Look, the stooges. The fact that Plot- kid, I might as well wise you up. nick had invented the power beam This is no kind of a life for a human that Martin had adapted to inter- being. If any of us were worth a stellar commerce was just another damn in any trade at all, we of those things that those guys never wouldn’t be here. If the Board got around to learning. members weren’t as worthless as we “Plotnick’s dead,” said the other are, they’d build -ships without crew’s stooge brightly. quarters. If you have any gump- “The captain ain’t dead,” said the tion, you’ll get off as soon as we first stooge even more brightly. get back to Terra, and go back to “Ob, go on back to bed,” said raising castor beans or whatever else the captain pettishly. “Something it was you were doing before you happened. I don’t know what it 90 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

was. It’ll be fixed when we get to shut up. Here at last was the blessed Titan. Pass the word.” voice of authority. “Air pressure

There was no necessity for that falling,” it . said. “All hands into since the whole crew was there by space suits. Look for leaks.” that time. Those not on watch went We looked at each other stupidly. back to bed. Yeah—back to bed, No one had the slightest idea where in the most desperate emergency a space suit might be found. any of them were ever destined to There was a whir and click from live through. the alleyway. Someone looked out and reported, “An impenetron I went on watch two hours later. shield’s blocked us off from the rest I hadn’t slept very well. Breathing of the crew’s quarters, cap.” was hard and my heart was racing “My word,” said the captain. violently. I dozed fitfully, not real- “My cigarettes,” said Fuzzy. izing what the trouble was until the The captain started forward. We sting of sweat got into my eyes and followed because there was nothing I came awake. Just then Fuzzy else for us to do. When we got to came in to call me. the control room another shield “One bell, lug,” he said. His usual dropped quietly behind us. shirt and dungarees had given way “No more mess room,” said to a pair of underwear shorts, and Fuzzy sadly. he, too, was sweating profusely. “Yeah. No more eats,” said one What jolted me more than anything of the stooges. else was his voice. It had been a “I don’t see what’s so funny about deep gas-on-the-stomach bass. Now this,” I said. I was scared. I was it was a quavering tenor-baritone. more scared than I ever even heard “Cornin’ up,” I said, and rolled of anyone being. I was wishing I out. We stared at each other curi- was working in the mines instead of ously. My voice had positively pip- this. I was wishing I was home in squeaked. He opened his mouth, bed. closed it again and went out. I no- “There isn’t anything funny about ticed he was panting. this,” said the captain worriedly. There was a red light blinking He began fumbling a door open. We over the door. I’d never noticed it trailed in. before. Somewhere an alarm siren Thank heavens the captain knew began wailing. I didn’t know what something about the ship. The that meant either. I rolled out and room was lined with case upon case headed for the mess room. They were of supplies—food, weapons, coils of all there. Everyone looked worried wire, masses of spare apparatus that except the captain. He just looked none of us knew anything about. unhappy. They were all asking him But we knew cases of food when we what had happened, what was hap- saw them. There was even a roomy pening. I gathered that everyone refrigerator there for storage. Also was having trouble breathing, and —eight space suits. Spares. I know everyone’s voice sounded like a recording speeded up three The captain checked our rush for hundred percent. them. “The air’s all right here,” It was hot as hell. he said. “Those automatic gates Came that throat-clearing sound must have cut off the sections where from the annunciators. Everyone the leaks were. We’ll just have to COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC 811 make ourselves comfortable here.” ded sagely every time I paused for “Yeah,” said one of the stooges. breath. I was a little more than an- “No beds. Where am I gonna noyed when I realized that he was sleep?” nodding because he didn’t under- There was a babel over that child- stand a word of what I was saying. ish question. I drew Hume aside. In some kind of desperation I He was no gem, but he seemed a asked him if there was, by any little more intelligent than the rest chance, a manual aboard, describing of them. “What’s this all about?” the ship and its equipment. When He scratched his ear. “I dunno.” I had finished he went right on nod- That seemed to be a reflex with these ding his head, realized I had asked boys—-‘I dunno.’ “I guess we hit him a direct question, and stopped, something—or something hit us.” not knowing what to do with his “That would account for the loss little head. Not use it to think with, of pressure,” I said, “but what about certainly. He was another. The the heat?” He began to speak; I things that happen in the name of stopped him. “Don’t say, ‘I dunno.’ civilization! Some people would call Think, for a change!” this kind of ship progress. I was It was a new idea for Hume. He calling it poison. turned it over for a minute and then “Yes,” he said uncertainly, “there came out with, “Why should I worry ought to be some such thing about it? The ship can take care around.” He began fumbling of us till we get to Titan, and then through the stores. I had to keep the repair crews can worry about on his tail or he’d have forgotten it.” what it was he was looking for. “O. K, O. K.,” I said, sore. “Go “Don’t know what you want it for. on, worm, spin yourself a cocoon. Can’t imagine. Terribly dull read- Me, I’ll do my worrying now. That ing,” he kept muttering. Suddenly heat isn’t coming from just nothing. he came across a box of books. He Seems to me if we were just punc- pulled one out, looked at it—the tured it’d be getting cold here, not son-of-a-gun could read, apparently hot. But—you ain’t worried. So —and exclaimed, “Now here is some- go ahead. Be happy.” I walked thing!” He handed it to me. It away. was a trilogy of romantic novels. He stared after me for a second “What the hell’s this for?” and then shrugged and started look- “One of the finest books I ever ing for a place to bunk. Twice, read,” he said, in a let-me-be-a- out of the corner of my eye, I saw sister-to-you tone. him stop and stare at me. He I threw it at his head, tipped the seemed to be going through pangs books out. The manual was there of some sort. I had a hunch what all right. It was a thick volume, it was. The birth of thought. The very efficient-looking. It was. It stirring of an awakening intellect. was streamlined. It consisted of It isn’t surprising. Brains atrophy column after column, page after when they’re not used, same as arms page, of figures and letters and or legs. Boy, he was a case. dozens of symbols I’d never heard It got hotter. of. I couldn’t understand a letter I went to the captain about it. of it. In the foreword it said some- He actually seemed to be listening thing about a key. Apparently there to everything I had to say. He nod- was a twenty- or thirty-volume key — — a

n ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

somewhere which gave the defini- eleven hundred-odd degrees. Four- tions of all that spaghetti. There teen of them, all on the starboard was, the captain informed me—in bilge. That was all I wanted to the after magazine. know. I called the captain over. The after magazine was closed He peered owlishly at the dials. off by those precious automatic “There’s your trouble,” I said gates. with the air of a man completing a I groaned and took myself and very complicated card trick. He off into my manual a corner. Some- nodded and looked at me as if he where in that book must be what expected me to say something else. I was looking for instructions on — “Well, what’s the matter with how to proceed when your ship you?” I roared. “The mag’s afire! seems to be burning up. I raised We hit something—sideswiped it! my head. Burning up? If some- The frictional heat raised the mag to thing was burning its kindling temperature; there was But what could be burning? The a residue of air in the holds; the ship was all steel and impenetron. mag started to burn, softened the The cargo magnesium. Sodium! bulkheads, and the air pressure from alleyways and living quarters I almost let out a shout, but I and other holds caved them in and hadn’t the heart to disturb all those fed more air to the burning mag!” happy, stupid, unworried drifters. The captain shook his head in What good would it do them to wonderment. “You certainly seem know what the trouble was? They to have doped it out,” he said ad- wouldn’t know what to do about it miringly. if I did tell them. I stared at him, No one got in my way as I cir- unable to believe culated around the control chambers, my own eyes and ears. “What’s the matter with I screamed. staring at the maze of dials and in- you?” By dicators banked around the walls. this time the rest of them were gath- The ship’s designers had had a shot ered around, us, looking like a flock of the interior decorator’s virus of sheep just over the hill from blasting operations. “Radio in to mixed in with their blood, it seemed to me. There were more damn con- Titan! Find out what to do about cealed closets and sliding panels it!” than a dope addict could dream up. The captain looked about him It was mostly by accident that I blankly. “What’s the use? The found what I was looking for— ship’s duplicate indicator board has panel studded with tiny centigrade already told the Titans all about it. dials, with a monel plate at the top I can’t imagine why they haven’t al- bearing the inscription “Cargo Tem- ready let us hear from them.” peratures.” “fry it,” I gritted. Now the Maggie Northern had “Why?” he said. seventy-six holds of various sizes. I plowed into him. I only got a Our cargo was about one-sixth couple of good ones in before Hume sodium, the rest mag. According and Fuzzy piled on me and held me to the dials—and there was no rea- down. The captain ran into the son why they should lie about it storeroom and shut the door. —fourteen of the mag holds were at “You shouldn’t have done that,’* temperatures ranging from nine to said Hume amazedly. COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC 98

I said something like “Ugh!” and soon, you and you and you are go- shrugged loose. ing to be roasted alive in this pig. Fuzzy’s ape face was disgustingly See? I don’t suppose you’ve no- slack. Those guys didn’t have the ticed it, but it’s getting warm in guts God gave a goose. here too, already. Look— Four I went over to what looked to me more holds have gone. O. I\ Sit more like a visi screen than anything around and tell each other some bed- else in the place. There was a time stories. Go on. Die. See if switch beside it. 1 threw it. Nothing anyone cares. Wait until the air happened. “Where’s the receiver gets so hot in here you can’t breathe and transmitter?” I growled. it. Watch your lazy ignorant flesh One of the space men piped up. slough off when it starts to cook. “That’s my station,” he said. “Star- It won’t be quick, you know. board side, down below.” You’ll stay alive a long time. You I had another look at the hold- have plenty to eat, plenty to drink. temperature indicators. “Fused solid It’ll hurt some, but, what do you by this time,” I grunted. “You know care? You’re too damn comfort- anything about radio?” able to do anything about it.” He shook his chowder head. So The boys looked definitely sober. did everyone else. I felt like cry- After a while Fuzzy spoke up. ing. “Come On, Hume—can’t you think Somebody had to do something. of something?” I couldn’t—I didn’t know anything. Hume had suddenly become very If only I had—aw, what’s the use! important to all of them. And I And then it was I had my bright think the guy was really trying to idea. I turned to Hume. come through. "We could put water “Listen—didn’t you say you were on it,” he said finally. chem controller aboard this ship?” “This ain’t a house fire, you He nodded. know,” I said. “Well-—come on then—give. We “So what?” got a fire aboard. Put it out!” “So—nothing,” I said in my ig- “Me?” norance. “Try it, anyway; try “You.” something.” “Oh.” He counted on his fingers in slow motion, which, I gathered, We coaxed the captain out and was his substitute for thought. Fi- explained what went on. It was all nally he came out with, “I don’t right with him. Anything was all know how.” right with him. He showed us the “You don’t know how.” I was tank valves and the controls to the going to get started on a long dia- hold pipe lines. Luckily they were tribe about how he ever got to be very plainly labeled. Hume went a chemical controller when he didn’t to work on No. 14 hold. It wasn’t even know how to put a little fire as hot as the others, according to out—a fire that would have us all the temperature readings. The hot- well-done and tender a week before test any of them got was around what was left of the ship reached eleven hundred, for some reason. Titan. I decided to try to be pa- Fourteen' was about eight hundred. tient. That was the mean temperature for “Look,” I said gently. “Unless the hold; I gathered from that that something is done by somebody, and it was part afire. After a lot of —

94 A TRIO OF HITS fumbling Hume got the vents into the tank open and the water turned on. We could spare the water ****** all those ships stored themselves with a safety factor of five. Council a*. law. The hold had gotten fifty de- *£?*+** grees hotter before Hume got the water in there. As soon as he turned his valve the needle bounced up to about two thousand and quivered there.

OOC SAVAGE “Turn it off!” I squawked. “That COMICS mag likes water. It likes it very much. Look at that!” T pointed Fro-ren terror in the icy at. the board. The next hold was wastes of the polar regions

. . . a mystery ship that dis- getting hot.

- that's what appeared • . “Now what?” said Hume wor- Ooc Savage and his five loyal pals found waiting for riedly. them in the northlands. And Me, I didn't know what to say. what helps make this that's Fuzzy saved me the trouble. new Doc Savage yarn a win- ner! Besides many other “Get out of the way,” he spat, grand comic features. suddenly very much alive. “You call yourself a chem super! I wasn’t SHADOW COMICS far off when I got the idea I could push you out of that job! Let a Tfo® mayor of a small fown dies — mysteriously, suspi- man in there.” He slammed Hume ciously—and the only clue aside, began to be very busy with to the puzzle is in a sealed the valves. “The set-up’s perfect,” box. And that's where The Shadow steps in, against des- he said. “What’s in a fire extin- perate odds—in this thirty- guisher? Water? No, dope—car- three page spine-tingling yarn. More pages than any bon dioxide. We have a fire in an other comic story in the inclosed space—all we have to do world , . . and other features to blank it is fill the hold with as well. CO-! Cap—give me a hand.” I just watched. It sounded all SPORT COMICS right to me. Hume looked ashamed From the streets of Green- of himself. The rest of the boys Tunney wich Village, Gene clustered around the temperature fought his way to fame. After he went to France as a gauges. marine for Uncle Sam, he “Try Hold No. 20,” I said. climbed to the top—and re- tired, after the famous Demp- Fuzzy threw over a lever and sey fight, as undefeated turned a valve quickly. There was heavyweight champ of all a new confidence in the way he time. Now his main interest

is helping boys . . » and there worked that was like a breath of isn't a boy who can afford cool air in the control room. to miss this stirring true-life story. Told in brilliantly col- Only there wasn’t any cool air ored pages. in the control room. It was getting -hotter. Seven pairs- of eyes watched the needle, narrowed as it EACH CENTS A COPY j[0 flickered, widened as it slid over the AT Ail NEWSSTANDS dial to two thousand plus. —

COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC

“Cut!” I cried. degrees, stayed there. In a few min- There was a dead silence. Some- utes it went up. one said unnecessarily, “It likes car- “It used up all the nitrogen!” bon dioxide, too.” wailed the captain. “I don’t understand it,” said the Hume said, “Must have combined captain. “I’ve been loading mag with it. Damn. That mag sure is on this run for eight years now.” hungry.” He looked at me as if I He mopped his head. “I know all were a policeman and he were a about it—specific gravity 1.75, little lost boy. boiling point 1100, melting point “Don’t look at me that way,” I 632.7. But I guess no one ever said. I glanced at the dials. More thought I’d have to know how to than half the mag cargo was either put it out if it started to burn.” burning or ready to. I had a bright “And you never thought to look idea. “Dump the cargo!” it up,” I said. The captain spread his hands. He shook his head. “Can’t. If the hatches are opened, automatic relays will break the I’d noticed that Hume had been the power beam. The ship can’t take sulking a little too silently in a cor- off, operate, else with ner after Fuzzy had shoved him or anything the hatches open.” there. He suddenly let out a, yip started walking and and dove for the valves. “Oh.” I up down. I took off my shirt. Every- “Now what?” I asked. one else already had. Some had over there,” “That would-be gone further than that. These auto- said, nodding Hume toward Fuzzy, matic controls might have some good “barked the wrong stump. I’ve up points, but—boy, oh, boy! when it! safe! when got We’re Look— they started working against you! burns when anything burns mag — I whirled on the captain. “What it hooks with oxygen right? up — about the lifeboats?” It oxygen in the air. It burned the He looked up hopefully and then burned the oxygen in water. It shook his head. “There’s one for- burned the oxygen in the COa, But ward and one aft. But they’re both there ain’t no oxygen in nitrogen!” aft of here; we’re right up in the nose I turned it over gleefully, and now. The impenetron shields have slapped him on the back. He and locked us in. There’s an escape the captain got busy hooking up the hatch here, but—no, the lifeboat nitrogen tanks to the hold pipe lines. locks can only be opened from the I called for No. 22. It took a little inside. We couldn’t get to the boats longer this time, due to Hume’s ac- if we went out in space suits.” cidentally turning the water valve Hume got excited then. “How on instead of off when he had fin- about those space suits?” he rapped ished turning a whole set of wrong out. “When it gets too hot in here, valves, so that the nitrogen, under couldn’t we cling to the hull in suits pressure, backed up into the water until the ship docks?” tanks. But we got that straight- We streamed into the storeroom. ened out and proceeded. On each of the space helmets was a Nothing happened. One of the tag describing the air, water and stooges got hysterical and had to be food rations for each suit. Enough locked in the storeroom. The needle for eight days. We wouldn’t be in wavered a little, went down twenty for another two weeks.. We went ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION back to the control room and sat “She’s still working,” he whis- down. The stooge who had been pered hoarsely. “And that finishes locked in came out with us, much us. The ship was getting off bal- chastened. It got hotter. ance. The automatic equalizing chutes just opened. All the mag on Four days later we were a sorry- the port side’s open to the fire now.” looking lot. No one had spoken for He waved weakly at the temperature twelve hours. We’d thrown away board. Every needle on it had be- all our clothing with metal fasten- gun to climb. ers, all rings, wrist chronometers Hume said something that made and radios, because the metal was my flesh creep. “I wish I had the too hot to bear. The refrigerator in guts to kill myself.” the storeroom had afforded some re- lief until it broke down. We were Another two days. The crew in a bad way. And one by one the sprawled around, asleep or uncon- crew started to crack. Hume began scious or dead. I came to for a to giggle quietly to himself, on and little while, I remember, because I on and on. Fuzzy lay still like some started coughing weakly. Hume, in great hairy animal, panting silently. a last effort to accomplish something, The captain sat unmoving with an had opened a water valve he’d dis- insanely complacent smirk on his ex- covered in the storeroom, thinking cuse for a face. No one dared move it would cool us off. It puffed into or speak because of the agonizing steam where it touched metal, and impact of the hot ore on their bare the air was full of it. Somehow flesh when they did so. There was someone else—Fuzzy, I think—man- no relief, no help for it. By nowr aged to turn it off. the sodium cargo was molten, the Then there was a time when some- mag burning wherever it could find one began shaking me and shaking air—and it found air every time it me. I didn’t see how I could be got a bulkhead hot enough to work alive, but I must have been because on it. The bulkheads weren’t built I felt the heat again. It was Hume. for that sort of thing. They could He had lost about thirty pounds. take any kind of hammering when He had a red beard. Red eyes. they were fairly cool, but that damn “Whassamarrer?” alloy couldn’t take it when it got “The gauges! They’re . . . much over a thousand degrees. The they’re going down!” hull resisted nicely enough, more’s I lay there for a long time, not the pity. We’d have been happy to able to react. He crouched over me, see the mag burn its way through a- thin line of moisture creeping out into space. of the corner of his mouth. No one noticed the faint rumbling sound any more, once we had doped “The holds are cooling down!” he began shaking me. it out as merely the opening up of said again and new bulkheads, feeding more air I sat up, blinked at the board. and more mag to the voracious fire. It took quite a while for me to focus But all of us started weakly at the my eyes, but when I saw be was tremendous shuddering crash that right I somehow found the energy echoed suddenly through the ship. to get my feet under me, climb up- The captain began to laugh crazily. right. We looked at him numbly. It was unbelievable, it was past —

COMPLETELY AUTOMATIC 97

all hope, but it was true! Hume about a job I might flunk out of started giggling again, and this time anyway.” it didn’t annoy be because I giggled, “Just a second,” I said. “A too. couple of things I’d like to know. “The mag,” he said. “You see? What happened to Hume and Why’n hell didn’t we think of that Fuzzy?” before? Mag’s a good conductor. “Both got the jobs they wanted. When the ship equalized herself, the You’d be surprised how hard they rest of the mag smashed down on studied their chemistry!” what was burning, soaked up heat, “Not under those circumstances I

distributed it so much that it low- wouldn’t,” I said. “Er . . . one thing ered the temperature below kind- I don’t understand. You said that ling point!” the ship was thrown off balance “Throw another log on the fire,” when one half of the mag cargo was 1 crooned, “an’ the fire goes out!” ignited. How come? Where’d the And then the rest of it occurred to weight come from?” me. The second officer fastened his collar. “Very shrewd of you, “TIT sodium!” I said. “See what my lad. you keep something to happened? It dumped onto the hot Can yourself?” mag, vaporized. The vapor con- “I can try.” ducted the heat to the ship’s hull. He sat down again and put his She’s radiating it off! If it wasn’t head close. “The. aggie Northern for that, the temperature would M didn’t put her own fire out. I did.” just get to a certain point and stty “You did?” there, and we’d have gotten roasted “Yeah. Now wait a minute anyway, fire or no fire!” don’t go giving me credit for it. I We hugged each other gleefully turned plumb yellow. I got hys- and then started working on the rest terical. I couldn’t stand to see those of the crew. boys gasping out their lives for days on end. Most of all, I guess, I “Well, that’s all there is to it. couldn’t stand the idea of dying We rode in to Titan on the super- that way myself. That ‘log on the efficient wreck. We were all of us fire’ business was my idea. If half more dead than alive, but what the the cargo would bum and kill us hell as long as there was life enough — slowly, I assumed that if the whole left to bring back.” The second cargo burned we’d die fast. I officer of the new passenger liner dumped the rest of the cargo on the stood up and stretched himself. fire. Maybe some of them saw me, “So they restored the office of but no one noticed. Well, it turned chem super?” the trick, and it wasn’t the kind of “Yep. But now those boys really thing I’d bring out at the inquest if know their stuff. Man—you ought nobody else did.” to see the examinations they have “Completely automatic,” I mur- to pass to get that kind of money mured. “I’ve sure changed my for doing nothing! I’d sooner work opinion about these useless jobs. for pay all along the line than work You guys can get along swell with- for nothing trying to learn that much out brains!”

THE END. THE KLySTROn

By Stanley R. Short

Electronics Engineer

4 fact article describing the theory and operation of the first major advance in radio tube design since Lee DeForest invented the triode tube. The klystron opens up a hitherto unreachable spectrum of radio more than one hundred times wider than the entire field available previously!

Although the effects of velocity control for electrons was needed if control and resultant “bunching” is efficient amplifiers- and oscillators clearly visible to any motorist at were to be made for wave lengths any stop light on any home-from- less than one meter. Since the in- the-holiday evening, the physical vention of the audion, or three- possibilities were recognized after, element vacuum tube by Dr. Lee not before, the application. It rep- De Forest in 1908 no new principle resents a clear, and beautiful hint for the control of electrons had been to the electronics engineer—and was used. Every kind of commercial steadfastly ignored. radio tube now in use employs a Given a steady stream of traffic negative grid near the cathode to —say the cars leaving a vehicular control the electron stream; the im- tunnel—and a traffic light, the re- provements have been the addition sults are inevitable. When the light of grids, etc., which act on the elec- is green, motorists hurry toward it; trons after they have been controlled when it turns red, they slow down. by this negative grid. This grid Presto! The steady, fairly uniform action works perfectly over the stream of cars has been trans- whole spectrum of frequencies in formed into knots of cars made up general use today—but for those of reel-slowed cars overtaken by suc- frequencies that are measured in ceeding green-speeded cars. billions of cycles per second, and That’s a familiar sight, whether which will become commonplace in in open country or in a city—and the future, this grid action loses its the fundamental principle in the op- high efficiency. There are two rea- eration of the only new electrical sons for this. oscillator principle since De Forest’s The first is partly mechanical. If triode tube. But the klystron was, grids of ordinary size are used, they as usual with fundamental scientific act as if there were a leak between principles, worked out the “hard” them and the cathode or electron way. It evolved slowly from mathe- emitting surface. This is because, matical work and painstaking ex- as the frequency increases, the en- periment, an evolution forced—also ergy can more easily flow across as usual—by necessity. space without the aid of metallic Several years ago, it became evi- conductors. Let us describe it this dent that some new principle of way. If an alternating voltage of 7

2 3

EVOLUTION OF THE RHUMBATRON

high frequency is applied between in development in the direction of the grid and cathode of a conven- smaller size. tional tube, there occurs in the space The second reason is due to the between them an electric field, transit time of the electrons across changing at a high rate of speed. the tube. In an ordinary tube, the Clerk Maxwell was the first to rec- electrons cross in something like one ognize that for such a condition billionth of a second so that the grid there would be an actual flow of cur- action is, to all intents and pur- rent across that space and he named poses, instantaneous. But if the it a “displacement current” to dis- grid alternates in voltage several tinguish it from a “conduction times during the interval that it current.” At really high frequen- takes the electrons to go through cies—billions per second—more cur- the region of its influence, it acts rent will flow across the space both ways on the same electrons and between two condenser plates than the controlling action is rendered in- through a heavy copper wire with a effective. This transit time can be loop in it. Unfortunately Maxwell reduced by speeding up the elec- died at an early age and was thus trons with higher voltages, but not prevented from knowing of the im- much help lies in this direction either, portance that his theory would have for a tenfold increase in voltage on the whole realm of radio waves, gives only a threefold increase in for his theory was based on waves speed. of light and was worked out before man knew that radio waves could be There are two types of very produced. high frequency oscillators which This “displacement current” con- make constructive use of the transit stitutes a leak between the grid and time of the electrons. These oper- cathode and at the very high fre- ate in a very different manner from quencies the leakage is so great that the three electrode or grid controlled the grid becomes ineffective for con- tubes. In them the electrons are trolling the electrons. The smaller made to oscillate or to describe or- the grid, the less the leakage—but bits at frequencies in the ultra high very quickly we reach the limit in frequency region and the oscillating this direction, for if the grid becomes electrons induce corresponding elec- tiny, so must the cathode, and mi- trical oscillations in the circuits croscopic cathodes mean microscopic connected to the tube elements. power outputs. The little acorn The first of these is the Bark- tubes which can be dropped in a hausen electron oscillator. In its thimble represent about the ultimate simplest form it consists of a cathode, AST— 100 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

a grid of fine wires maintained at a quency of these oscillations is de- high positive potential, and a nega- pendent on the velocities of the tive plate. Now an electron that electrons and on the spacings in the starts out toward the grid is ac- tube, so that in order to tune the celerated by the positive potential oscillator to a given frequency, one and attracted by the nearest grid varies the accelerating potential or wire in much the same fashion that voltage on the grid. a comet or asteroid is attracted by There is no way of controlling the the Sun. Unless headed directly to- individual electrons so that all may ward the grid wire it will miss it be made to oscillate in synchronism. and be swung around in an orbit A certain amount of such control describing many revolutions about is introduced by the oscillating cir- the wire. Other electrons moving cuit, but this is only partially effec- halfway between two grid wires may tive, and the oscillator is, in conse- swing back and forth in a line and quence, not a very efficient one. still others may describe sinusoidal Efficiencies of two or three percent paths between the wires. The fre- are about as high as can be realized.

Buncher Rhumbatron R&di "9 © W&fe

ITT TTT Zero —> —p Time

Zero field 0 -» —> X-Cgcle TTT TTT —) -> ZI> —> -» Later

Accelerating 1 field O'

'4 TTT TTT Cucle Later

Zero field © i&Cucte 2 ziX later 7 ^ Sign of Electrons Length of ' arrows field in entering gives relative buncher is l** rhumbatron. velocities, shown in circles.

The principle of the operation of the klystron. — .

THE KLYSTRON 101

This is exceedingly poor, and were vacuum tube would have to work on it not for the fact that they can entirely new principles. be made to oscillate at frequencies in the billion cycle range, they would At about this time the properties hardly be of more than passing in- of the cavity resonator began to at- terest to the radio engineer. tract attention, and it was the de- The other type of electron oscil- velopment of this device that started in- lator works in much the same way the experiments which led to the except that instead of the electrons vention of the klystron. being swung into orbits by positive It started with the old coil-eon- grid wires, they are curled around denser combination which forms oscillating circuit ordinary by a magnetic field. This is the the at magnetron high frequency oscillator. radio frequencies, for the cavity resonator is simply an advanced If a moving electron enters a mag- form of this circuit. In this coil- netic field, it will follow a curved condenser combination, the current path. If the magnetic field is uni- oscillates back and forth, first form, the orbit will be a circle. The charging the condenser in one direc- time it takes an electron to complete tion and then in the other. To keep a revolution or cycle in its orbit de- it oscillating, energy must be fed pends primarily on the strength of into it to make up for that which the magnetic field so that to tune' is lost. This loss is of two kinds: a magnetron type of oscillator one first, that due to heating by the flow varies the magnetic field strength. of the currents through the resist- In this case also there is no good way ance of the coil, and second that due of maintaining all of the oscillating to the radiation of energy as radio electrons in synchronism, so that the waves. magnetron is not greatly different As the resonant frequency of this from the Barkhausen oscillator as combination is increased, the coil regards efficiency. But they have must have fewer turns and the con- been made to oscillate at a frequency denser fewer plates. Finally the of thirty billion cycles per second limit is reached in which the coil which corresponds to a radio wave has one turn and the condenser only length of only one centimeter two plates. This can be made to thirty thousand times the frequency resonate at very high frequencies, of ordinary broadcast radio. but then the losses become very The importance of producing great and a great deal of energy power in the billion cycle range is must be continuously supplied to it so great that in spite of their poor to keep it oscillating. We can de- efficiencies these two types of os- crease the first kind of energy loss cillators have been the subject of a —due to heating—by increasing the great deal of research, and there is surface of the wire, since at high voluminous literature on them scat- frequencies the energy flows only on tered throughout the scientific jour- the surface of the conductor—the nals of the world. In spite of all “skin effect”—but the loss by radia- this work, however, no great im- tion also becomes very great at high provement in them had been made frequencies. The cavity resonator in the last few years. It began to reduces both of these losses to a re- be evident several years ago that the markable degree. greatly desired billion cycle range Suppose that to the single-turn —

108 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION coil and condenser there are added a like speaking tubes and the hollow large number of single turns, each vessels for resonators mentioned connected to the same two condenser above. plates in parallel. The surface over This coincidence is not so strange which the oscillating currents flow in view of the fact that the wave would be increased, and the loss of lengths are of the same magnitude the first kind reduced. Now if we in the two cases. For instance, a had a great number of such turns, thousand-cycle note—about two oc- they would form a torus, or dough- taves above middle C on the piano nut-shaped single turn which would —has a wave length about one foot have a very large surface area. But long—and a billion-cycle radio wave equally important, the torus would is also about a foot long. The main form its own shield and prevent difference between the two is that radiation from getting away. Such the transmission medium for the a resonant cavity is an extremely sound waves is air and the medium efficient resonator. This particular for the radio or electromagnetic torus shape is the one developed waves is the hypothetical ether. by Professor W. W. Hansen, Stan- But to get back to the develop- ford University physicist. He calls ment of the klystron. Professor it a rhumbatron because one of his Hansen had developed the rhumba- assistants likened the swinging back tron for use in a proposed new type and forth of the electrical energy of atom smasher, but when Flight in the cavity to a cotiple dancing Captain Sigurd Varian of the Pan the rhumba. There is more justifi- American Airways heard of it he cation than that for the name, how- decided that it might be more useful ever, since the Greek word for rhyth- in connection with the generation of mic oscillation is rhumba. This ultra high frequency radio waves. isn’t the only shape of resonant that His brother Russell, who had been can be used, although it appears at engaged in television research, also present to be the best one. A hol- became interested. The two broth- low sphere will work, as will also a ers joined forces and became re- number of other shapes. The Ger- search associates at Stanford Uni- mans, like the Greeks have a word versity. for them hohlraum, which means Sigurd was interested in the prac- a hollow space. tical side of the problem. He was A physicist might recall that such after a device which could be used resonators were used for sound waves for a successful blind landing system many years before radio waves were for aircraft, for he had fifteen years known. Helmholz built a synthe- of service as an airline pilot and sizer for musical tones using hollow knew at firsthand how important spheres. Indeed, the apparatus in such a system was. Russell was a laboratory where these very high more the dreamer, the supplier of frequencies are studied resembles in ideas, and it was he who finally many details that of a physics lab- thought of a way to use the rhumba- oratory engaged in the study of tron efficiently in connection with a sound waves. One finds mega- stream of electrons. When this phones and horns of various kinds, principle had been demonstrated in hollow resonant tubes like organ an experimental set-up, Professor pipes and of the same dimensions, D. L. Webster, head of the Physics long tubes for transmission exactly Department at Stanford, joined in .

108 the work and developed the mathe- matical theory so that* the experi- mental work could be guided on a more solid engineering basis. The result of these endeavors was finally a tube which incorporated an electron beam passing through two rhumbatrons located a short dis- tance apart, and which, for the first time, produced real power at three billion cycles per second. This de- vice was called the klystron.

To understand how it works let us go back to our example of the cars issuing from a tunnel. In the klystron, the electrons from the hot cathode are shot into the first rhumbatron in a steady stream at about one tenth the speed of light. In passing through the hole in the doughnut-shaped resonator, they suffer velocity modulation by the al- CHARLEY HOGAN ternating electric field. When the field is with them, they are speeded KNEW TOO MUCH . . up just as the cars are when the light is green, and when the field is And when a reporter knows too much, when against them, they are slowed down he gets tangled up in a nest of mystery that as are the cars by the red light. After leaving the first rhumbatron they he himself has uncovered—look out! MUR- drift undisturbed for are allowed to DER IN THE FOG by Alan Hathway, is one a few inches before entering the sec- of the best mystery yarns of the year. ond rhumbatron. Thus, as with the automobiles, the faster ones catch And you’ll welcome another grand Carrie up with the slower ones of the pre- ceding cycle and they become Cashin story by Theodore Tinsley, a Death grouped in bunches. These bunches Angel story by Norvell Page—and many of electrons passing through the sec- more, all complete. ond rhumbatron give up their en- ergy to it and cause it to oscillate No two ways about it. MYSTERY MAGAZINE violently. features the most mysterious, most unusual, The first rhumbatron, called the “buncher,” requires very little power most thrilling detective stories you can get to keep it oscillating and this is fur- anywhere! nished by feeding a little energy back to it from the second rhumba- iron which is called the “catcher.” MYSTERY This is the arrangement for the os- cillator. For amplifying weak sig- MAGAZINE nals the buncher and catcher are in- MARCH dependent electrically and the input is fed directly to the buncher. 10c A COPY AT ALL NEWSSTANDS 104 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

The name “klystron,” which has Metcalf, chief of the technical de- been copyrighted by the Sperry partment of the Civil Aeronautics Gyroscope Co., is derived from the Authority in collaboration with Pro- Greek verb ldyzo, which means the fessor E. L. Bowles of the Electri- breaking of waves on a beach. Any- cal Engineering Department of the one who lias watched the waves Massachusetts Institute of Tech- bunch up as they roll in on a shallow nology, had recently developed a beach will recognize the aptness of system for blind landing using ultra the term. high frequency radio waves. Using It now becomes clear how this de- commercially available vacuum vice gets around the two difficulties tubes, they were up against the mentioned above that become insur- problem of producing power at these mountable in the electrode tube at frequencies. Hearing of the kly- very high frequencies. Instead of stron, they called on the Stanford using a grid whose potential must be scientists for help and as a result varied by the high frequency oscil- a klystron was flown to Boston for lations, the electrons are controlled tests at the East Boston Airport. by sending them through the field The klystron was still pretty much of the oscillator itself, and instead of a laboratory tool, and had been used attempting to reduce the transit with continuous pumping to main- time of the electrons from input to tain a good vacuum within it. Ac- output, it is actually increased and cordingly, a truck was procured and utilized to bring about the desired in this the klystron, its power sup- bunching. The efficiency is good, ply equipment, and a vacuum pump- and as much as three hundred watts ing system were installed. This was have been produced by a klystron driven out on the field for the tests. at a billion cycles per second. The power from the klystron was It was not long after the develop- fed into a special megaphone de- ment of successful models that a signed by Professor W. L. Barrow trial was made of the device as a from which the radio waves issued source of waves for a blind landing in a highly directional beam. system for airplanes. Irving R. This beam was directed so that it

SECTIONAL VIEW OF A KLYSTRON OSCILLATOR. " - ' - .

THE KLYSTRON 10ft made an angle with the ground of only practical at the very high fre- about 7° —a little steep for gliding quencies, because their size increases to a landing, but by following the with the wave length so that here under side of the beam, a pilot could is another factor in favor of these come down over a curved natural ultra high frequencies in so far as gliding path making contact with static is concerned. 3° the ground at an angle of only For aircraft, there is another or 4°. With Captain Milton M. source of static, closely linked to the Murphy as pilot, and Inspector first but distinct from it in its na- Jack Haynes of the Civil Aeronautics ture. This is the so-called precipi- Authority as passenger, an airplane tation static. It becomes trouble- was landed repeatedly with the aid some when flying through electri- of the beam, demonstrating the cally charged clouds, through sleet, feasibility of the blind landing sys- rain, snow, and dust. Tests have tem as well as the effectiveness of shown that this kind of static is the klystron in this application of also materially reduced by using light-beam radio. these very high frequencies.

This was the first practical appli- There are still other advantages cation of the new device, and it is of these wT aves for aircraft. Since to be expected that others will soon the beams are not reflected by the follow. Plans to apply the klystron Heaviside layer, many stations scat- to such problems have been made tered over the country may operate by the Stanford group, the Civil on the same wave length without in- Aeronautics Authority and the terference. The smaller antenna Sperry Gyroscope Co. equipment (four inches long for the blind landing tests described above) While the field of usefulness for means less drag on the plane be- waves in the billion-cycle range takes cause of air resistance. The trans- in a variety of applications, those mitting stations are cheaper to build relating to aircraft appear to be the since expensive antenna towers are most important at the moment, for not necessary. there is a real demand for these It is only fair to point out that waves in aeronautics. One of the there are disadvantages as well, but major reasons for this demand is these are not serious. For instance their relative freedom from static. ignition noise, in contrast to ordi- All radio waves of whatever wave nary static, increases in intensity length are subject to static inter- with increase in frequency of the ference whenever atmospheric elec- radio waves. trical disturbances become severe. Many other applications are pos- Lightning produces static on all wave sible, but to properly evaluate them lengths of the radio spectrum. How- we must know more about the char- ever, it is well known that in gen- acteristics of the waves themselves. eral the higher the frequency, the Before the klystron, research in this less the interference of this kind. field was difficult because of the lack One of the best ways to reduce of a powerful source of power, but static is to make the antennae now this situation has been reme- highly directional, and by the use died and a new impetus has been of horns an extremely high direc- given to such investigations. Al- tivity is achieved. But horns are though the surface has only been —a

106 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION scratched, it is already apparent that be packed with exactly nothing; we must be ready to discard many they will consist of hollow pipes and fundamental notions; the behavior of they will be capable of carrying mil- electrical energy at these high fre- lions of messages simultaneously quencies is in many ways strange whereas today’s cables have difficulty to our experience. in carrying hundreds. Future television needs can also For instance, better transmission be met by the hollow pipe cables, is obtained by sending it through for it will be possible to send a num- an electrical nonconductor with ber of television programs simulta- metal around it for “insulation” neously through one pipe. In fact, than through a metal with the more this would appear to be the answer familiar rubber or porcelain insulat- to the problem of television networks ing material as the confining agent. which undoubtedly will some day At a recent meeting of the Institute cover the continents. of Radio Engineers, Professor W. One is tempted to envisage other L. Barrow of M. I. T. demonstrated possibilities. For instance, there are that waves of 1.5 centimeters— at present hollow pipe lines span- frequency of twenty billion cycles ning many miles of this and other —were transmitted very well countries which are used to convey through standard BX cable—the oil, kerosene, gasoline and gas from house wiring kind—from which the the oil fields and refineries to points metallic conductors had been re- of distribution and use. Now these 2" moved. A x 4" piece of wood products all make good dielectrics also the kind used in building houses so that wr ith the aid of klystrons, —was used to transmit or guide the it may be possible to put these pipe electrical energy and served very lines to double use and send tele- well in this capacity. Pistons mov- vision, telephone, and telegraph ing cylinders have been used as messages through them while they tuners, and iris diaphragms like are transporting oil or gas to their those used in cameras have been destinations. Thus the great oil found to be efficient as transform- companies may enter the television ers. relay business in much the same way Actually, a good insulator or di- that some of the large electric power electric material makes the best con- distributing networks are now used ductor and is, in fact, highly effi- for telephoning and signaling. cient if it is “insulated” by a me- In any event, it is reasonably cer- tallic coating to prevent loss by tain that the birth of the klystron radiation. The researches of Pro- and of the rhumbatron, and the new fessor Barrow and of Dr. G. C. principles of electronic action which Southworth have shown that the these have brought to light will ex- cable of the future will be the in- ert a profound influence on the whole verse of that of today. Whereas field of electronics and of high fre- long-distance cables are now packed quency radio. They have lifted the with as many conductors as it is vacuum tube out of the rut of grid possible to squeeze inside the control and another milestone in it 3 sheath, the cables of the future null history has been passed.

THE END. 107

By L. Sprague de Camp

Marvelous what ructions a man with a time- traveler could cause! The schemes he could work up! _ The way ife could trip over himself!

Illustrated by Edd Cartier 108

THE BEST-LAID SMC

By L Sprague de Camp

Russell F. R. Hedges did not are dissatisfied with the present look like a world destroyer. He was world and hope to find a better one in fact an almost annoyingly harm- in the future.” less-looking soul, a plump person of “I know all that,” said Bloss ir- forty-five in ne.at black serge, with ritably. dark hair, streaked with gray and in “You may as well calm yourself, need of cutting, hanging down over my dear Bloss. Being in a position his steel-rimmed glasses. to be as verbose in my explanations The folly of trying to judge people as I please, I intend to indulge my by their looks has been pointed out whims in that direction. As I was by generations of psychologists and about to say, the problem of back- such people. But this form of judg- ward-jumping has not hitherto been ment seems to be ingrained in solved. It involves an obvious para- human folkways. Perhaps that is dox. If I go back and slay my own why Co-ordinator Ronald Q. M. grandfather, what becomes of me? Bloss underestimated Hedges. When It’s all very well to say he wasn’t the chief executive officer of the killed, and that something will hap- great North American continent is pen to proven t my carrying out my told by a mere head of the Bureau design. Who shall see to it that my of Standards to do thus-and-so, scheme is in fact frustrated, once I thus-and-so being a program de- have actually gotten back to his signed to put the affairs of the con- time and located him? Yet, if I kill tinent in the said head’s hand, the him, I obviously disarrange subse- co-ordinator’s natural reaction is to quent history. ring the buzzer and have the erring “Subsequent history is a tough subordinate carted off to the hatch. fabric, and will no doubt try to ad- Bloss was curious. Finger poised here to its original pattern. That over the button, he asked: “How, it will altogether succeed in doing my dear Fledges, do you propose to so I presume to doubt. In fact, any destroy the world?” action on my part in bygone times Hedges smiled amiably. He spoke that seriously affects other persons in barely more than a whisper, sus- will set in train a series of events pecting the presence of dictaphones: that will ultimately wrench all sub- “Simple, my dear Bloss.” Fie was sequent history out of its normal being offensively familiar; people channels. Someone will marry or normally addressed the co-ordinator fail to marry the spouse he would as “your efficiency.” “You recall otherwise have chosen, and a great my investigations into the nature of statesman will be born or will fail Time. The process of temporal to be born, as the case may be. And forward-jumping, vulgarly known as so forth. So, all I have to do is go vanwinkling, has been an established pback far enough, commit a few suf- fact for several decades, being a fa- ficiently significant acts, and presto! vorite occupation among those who you and all the other inhabitants of —

THE BEST-LAID SCHEME 109 the continent cease to be; or rather, White House ran a silent, motion- you cease to be the persons you now less earthquake, if you can imagine are. You see, my dear Bloss?” such a thing. Moss thought he saw very well. Bloss stared at the wall behind He pressed the button. Collingwood. “That picture,” he Hedges saw him do so. The chief said. “That picture behind you.” of the Bureau of Standards looked at Collingwood scowled at the blank his wrist watch. It was a large wall. “I don’t see any picture.” wrist watch, with a lot of buttons “That’s just it. It was there a and things around its circumference. second ago. And you are wearing His fingers moved to one of these. a different shirt.” “Ah, well,” he said, “it seems a “Hah! So I am. This is sinister. demonstration is needed.” And he lie ’s gone back and done something vanished. —it doesn’t matter much what and changed subsequent history.” When the guards bounced in “Stop saying ‘hah’ all the time,” three seconds later, they found a complained Bloss. “I want you to worried-looking co-ordinator. He do something.” was not especially disturbed over “You don’t have to worry about Hedges’ vanishment—he’d seen peo- my doing something, your efficiency. ple do that before when they van- Doing something is just my job.” winkled—but he was wondering if “Well, what did you have in by some remote chance the man mind?” might not have actually gone back “Why ... uh ... I don’t just instead of forward. know. But don’t worry.” He sent for Vincent M. S. Colling- “But I am worrying. Can’t you wood, head of the Continental Bu- at least put some of your men to fol- reau of Investigation. lowing Hedges?” Collingwood pulled a sheaf of “Of course, your efficiency,” cried papers out of his brief case. “Hah!” Collingwood. “Just what I had in he said. “Here are the files mind, hah! I’ll put de Witt after on Russell F. R. Hedges. Our staff him. He’s the toughest man we psychologist has him down as have. Besides, he has an artificial ‘shrewd, ambitious, resourceful, and eye.” persevering beneath a deceptively “What’s that got to do with it?” ” mild exterior.’ Collingwood fixed “Hah! Wouldn’t you like to his chief with a glittering eye. “That, know?” your efficiency, is sinister!” "I don’t know,” said Bloss. Hedges popped back into sight, “Maybe I’m foolish to get excited; in the chair just recently vacated by maybe he was bluffing and did a Collingwood. Bloss jumped. vanwinkle on us.” “Ah, my dear Bloss,” said Hedges. “Hah!” grated Collingwood. “But “The demonstration was convincing, did he? if it was an ordinary van- I trust?” winkle, he’d be stranded in the fu- “Uh-huh,” said Bloss warily. ture and unable to get back. No, “What do you want me to do now?” I’m sure there’s a dastardly plot “I’ve told you already. Force a behind this.” — bill through giving the head of the Bloss began: “If ” He stopped Bureau of Standards the powers I with his mouth open. Through the enumerated.” 110 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“All right. But it will take time but he was made to feel that he*d to prepare it and to get it passed.” have to go some to get back in “I know that. I’m in no rush. the Bureau’s good graces. He was a I shall continue with my usual du- thick-bodied man with short black ties. You will, of course, not try hair standing on end. Nobody anything so rash as to have me ar- would have suspected his artificial rested—or assaulted. If you do, I eye, which he had made some curious shall go back quite a way, and I uses of in his work. He had a care- shall devote my efforts particularly fully cultivated slovenliness of dress to your own ancestors, all of whom and manner. I have looked up to be sure I can “This Hedges,” said Collingwood locate them. Good day, your effi- impressively, “is a dastardly scoun- ciency.” drel. He threatens not merely the Bloss watched him leave in a more foundations of our government and conventional manner. The co- the fabric of our society, but our ordinator had in fact thought of tell- very existence.” ing Colling'wood to dispose of “Yeah,” said Mendez de Witt. Hedges in any way he chose, so long “He must be stopped! Our glori- as Hedges was gotten rid of, but he ous land cannot tolerate such a viper had hesitated. He was a sticker for in her bosom.” legality, and the murder of incon- “Yeah.” venient citizens without due process “You have been selected for of law was highly felonious in the this—” Collingwood’s phone rang, North America of 2365. Besides, and he listened to Bloss. Bloss told there was a close election coming him that under no circumstances up, and his opponents would be sure must Russell F. R. Hedges be as- to find his sins out and use them. saulted, assassinated, kidnaped, or Now there was an even better otherwise molested. reason for preserving Hedges’ immu- Collingwood continued: “You have nity: if the C. B. I. attacked Hedges been selected for the perilous task with gun or blackjack, but were not of thwarting this sinister force. But successfid at the very first try, in the accomplishment of your aim, Hedges would disappear into the Hedges must on no account be as- past, and would, in revenge, do some- saulted, assassinated, kidnaped, or thing really drastic to the fabric of otherwise molested. You under- history. Maybe Bloss would find stand?” himself no longer co-ordinator—or “Yeah,” said de Witt. “Whatcha no longer Bloss. As Bloss had con- wa’ me to do, stick out my tongue siderable affection for himself, the at him?” thought of such separation was pain- “Hah! You’re as funny as a wheel ful. chair, de Witt. No, you will first go to work in the Bureau of Stand- Meanwhile Vincent M. S. Col- ards, where you can keep an eye on ingwood had called in his toughest him. You will learn whence he de- operative, Mendez S. D. de Witt. rives his time-traveling power, and This de Witt was in disgrace for whether he can be deprived of it having killed a man; he said it was without much risk.” necessary to keep the man from “That all?” escaping; others said it was not. “That’s all. Good luck, my boy.” Nothing had been done to de Witt, “Some day,” said de Witt, “a guy ” ”

THE BEST-LAID SCHEME 111 is gonna call another guy my boy’ They showed X rays of Hedges’ once too often. Be seein’ ya.” wrist, and of the remarkable wrist watch worn thereupon. The photo- Mendez S. D. de Witt had sev- graphs were mere black-and-gray sil- eral artificial eyes, none of which houettes, made by the emanations was quite what it seemed. He oc- from the radioactive sulphur that cupied a section of a laboratory desk de Witt had scattered around. Each in the Bureau of Standards Build- showed the inside of the watch as ing, and, with a soldering iron and a jumble of coils and cogwheels, and tweezers, deftly assembled the mech- would have been useless by itself. anism for yet another spurious optic. But de Witt, by comparing a num- This one was to be a paralyzing- ber of pictures takeif at different ray machine. The mechanism angles, formed a good idea of the would be installed in the Incite shell workings of the gadget. It was at another time; de Witt didn’t want Hedges’ time-travel machine all the other Bureau of Standards tech- right. On its face were number- nicians to learn about his eyes. disks like those on the odometer of One of these technicians sneezed. an automobile, reading years and

He ran a. finger around the base of days of the year. All Hedges had his faucet and held it up with a faint to do was set the thing forward or smudge of yellow powder on it. He back. crumbled this trace of powder over De Witt promptly set about du- his burner, and sniffed. plicating the machine. It took him “Now who,” he said, “has been three weeks. Collingwood got pretty scattering powdered sulphur around impatient by the end of that time. the lab?” De Witt explained: “You see, De Witt could have told him. He chief, all I wanna do is chase this could also have told him that the guy outa his own time. Then I'll sulphur was radioactive. fix him so he won’t do nothing Russell F. R. Hedges marched “But de Witt, don’t you remem- through the laboratory on the way ber what his— efficiency said about not to his office. He nodded and smiled molesting at the technicians, saying: “Ah, my “Yeah, I know. But that only has dear Hiftehinson. Ah, my dear to do with what I do to him now. Jones.” His efficiency couldn’t kick about When he passed de Witt, giving what I did to Hedges five hundred the laboratory’s most recent recruit years ago, now could he?” a look of suspicion, de Witt stared at “Hah. Yes. 1 see your point. Hedges’ wrist. He shut his good Of course. I believe in following his eye—the right one—tight, then efficiency’s orders, but in —combatting blinked it several times. Then he a sinister force like this went back to his paralyzing mech- anism. De Witt finished his "duplicate When de Witt got home, he at time watch. He strapped it on his once took out his fake eye. The wrist and spun the setter. shell unscrewed into two parts, and Nothing happened, though the inside it was a neat little X-ray dial showed 2360—five years before. camera, full of exposed one-milli- The C. B. I. man cursed softly and meter film. He developed this and spun the disks some more, and still printed a series of enlargements. some more. Nothing happened until 112 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

he reached 2298. Then, whoosh, the stretch of time more than once. It room blurred into frantic motion. wouldn’t do to have two Mendez De Witt found himself sitting in S. D. de Witts running around simul- empty air twelve feet above the taneously. ground of a vacant lot, to whose sur- To check, he walked out to the face he dropped, thump. sidewalk—to be safe—and advanced He picked himself up. The ex- the setter slowly. Nothing hap- planation dawned upon him. He’d pened until it registered 2365 again; gone back to a date before the board- then tvhoosh, his boardinghouse inghouse where he lived was built. scrambled into existence, like a Thank Heaven he hadn’t tried the movie of a blowing-up in reverse. stunt in a skyscraper—or on the Then he finished his paralyzer. It former site of another building. He proved something of a disappoint- wondered what it would feel like to ment. It worked, but only at a find yourself occupying the same bit range of a meter or less. And you of space as a steel I-beam. Prob- had to aim carefully at the victim’s ably there’d be a hell of an explosion. neck vertebrae. Then he wondered why the gadget But he inclosed the paralyzer in had not worked until he had gone its eye-shaped case, and put the case back thirty-seven years. He was in his left eye socket. Next morn- thirty-six years old—that must be ing he walked in on Hedges un- it: you couldn’t occupy any one announced. “Ah, my dear de Witt—” said Hedges, smiling. “0. K., skip it. I guess you know year-round who I am, buddy.”

A C. B. I. man? I suspected it. What do you want?” Reading pleasure “You’re coming with me, get me?” “Yes?” Hedges raised his eye- You enjoyed the stories In this maga- % brows, and touched his wrist watch. zine. And isn't it a good idea to keep on enjoying them—throughout the year? He vanished. And a subscription would make an Ideal But so did Mendez de Witt.

gift to friends for birthdays . . for , go- It was damn funny, sitting there ing-away presents ... or for convales- cents. and spinning the setter, and looking at the shadowy form of Hedges But whether it's for yourself or some- on one else, fill out this coupon—now! It's the other side of the desk. As de good insurance for fiction topnotch that Witt was only a second or two be- will come to you all year in regular divi- dends of reading pleasure. hind Hedges in his pursuit, he could keep him in sight. When Hedges ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION speeded up his time-travel, de Witt’s 79 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y. strong and agile fingers spun the Dept. F A setter faster; when Hedges vanished Inclosed please find $2.00 for a year's for a second, de Witt quickly re- subscription to Astounding Science- Fiction. versed the motion of the setter and picked up Hedges going the other NAME way. When Hedges stopped, de ADDRESS Witt stopped too. CITY STATE The C. B. I. man grinned at Hedges. “Gotcha, huh?” THE BEST-LAID SCHEME 113

7 “Not quite,” said Hedges. He Standards Building. De W itt knew fished a bomb out of his pocket, that if he once thoroughly lost his and started to pull the pin. De Witt man he’d never find him. just sat there, holding the setter. They stopped running. Hedges Hedges put the bomb back in his slowed down his setter to where de pocket. Witt could glimpse motor vehicles De Witt laughed. “Thought you’d flashing backward past them. Sev- turn that thing loose and skip, huh? eral went right through them. 1 can skip just as fast as you can.” “Look out!” yelled de Witt, as Hedges went back to his time Hedges almost stopped his time- watch. Forward and backward he travel at a point that intersected spun the disks. De Witt followed the space-time track of a big truck. him. The next time Hedges No sound came; you could move stopped, there was a third man in while traveling in time, but you the room; a startled-looking old man. couldn’t hear. Fledges saw his dan- Hedges looked at him and jerked ger and speeded up again. a thumb. “One of my predecessors; Hedges gave up time-flight; since a man named Rasviadnik. I rec- it had only one dimension, you could ognize his picture.” always find a man by moving back “You damn fool,” said de Witt. and forth along it far enough. He “If he’d been sitting in the chair too began running physically again, de when you stopped it’d have been Witt after him. They raced down blooey for both of you.” Pennsylvania Avenue. De Witt had “I suppose so, de Witt. It’s a bit lost track of their location in time. crowded here, don’t you think?” He stole a glance at his watch. It And he began spinning the setter read 1959. again. Hedges, he thought, must have had that bomb ready so that he This time de Witt lost him. He could carry out his threat by going went back to the time he’d been at into the past and blowing up some when he last saw Hedges, and went innocent bystanders. De Witt, over it carefully. At last he picked tough as he was, was shocked. He up a glimpse of Hedges bouncing out reached for his pistol, which he had of his chair and running for the door. hoped not to have to use. De Witt adjusted the setter care- Hedges was getting winded. He fully, and managed to stop just at bumped into a pedestrian. De Witt the time of Hedges’ reaching the felt a psychic jar run through him. door. Hedges bumped another pedes- De Witt ran after him. He had to trian. The pistol vanished from de keep him in sight, not only in the Witt’s grasp; he was holding an um- three spatial dimensions, but in brella instead. He knew what had time also. He was a much faster happened: the bumping of the pedes- runner than Hedges. But as he trian, a trivial matter in itself, was caught up with his victim. Hedges one of those first links in a chain fiddled with his wrist and began to of events that change history. fade. They were approaching a traffic De Witt did the almost impossible circle. In the middle of this was a feat of running after Hedges and circular bit of park with an orna- spinning his setter at the same time. mental fountain. A lot of people They were outside the Bureau of were sitting around the fountain. 114 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

De Witt grasped Hedges’ intention of his own watch with his right fin- when Hedges pulled out his bomb. gers. He gave both setters a twist. If he couldn’t get away, he was go- ing to change history right there. They were still in the traffic De Witt dodged a couple of auto- circle, but it was early morning, and mobiles, and with straining lungs almost nobody was in sight. The caught up with Hedges. He hooked fountain supported another Triton, the umbrella handle around Hedges’ very new-looking. De Witt had ankle. Brakes squealed as Hedges tried to send them ahead one year, fell in front of a car. De Witt and had succeeded. leaped on him. Again came that The effect of the paralysis wore jarring sensation. De Witt knew off Hedges; he crawled over to the that they were both changing as curb around the fountain and sat they struggled. People were looking on it with his head in his hands. at them, and the sight was entering De Witt looked at him sharply. into their individual histories. “Say, you aren’t the same guy.” Hedges got the pin out of his “You aren’t either.” bomb just as de Witt remembered There was little doubt of that; his paralyzing eye. He blinked his de Witt was six inches taller than real eye, and sighted the phony ort he had been, and he still had the the back of Hedges’ neck. The horrible beard. His hair was dis- bomb fell to the asphalt. De Witt gustingly long. Mixed up with his snatched it up and tossed it into the memory of his career as a C. B. I. fountain. He screamed: “Duck!” man came another memory, of an people looked at him blankly. Then easygoing life on a microscopic in- the bomb went off, pflongk! sending come, devoted to disreputable a fountain of water and fragments of friends and the writing of quantities a statue of a Triton high in the air. of stickily sentimental poetry. The jarring sensation became al- “I don’t know why I did it,” said most unbearable. De Witt was hor- Hedges. “I’m not ambitious. All rified to feel that he had grown a I want is a quiet place in the coun- beard. try.” A couple of people were cut a “That’s because you aren’t the little by flying fragments of con- same man,” said de Witt. I’m not crete. But the heavy concrete rim either. I’m a damned poet.” He of the fountain had stopped all the looked at the flowerbed around the low-trajectory pieces. fountain, and began to compose: A police car appeared. De Witt became aware, in that second, of “The buttercup looks at the yellow rose, And loves as l love thee, who knows? many things he hadn’t had time to But the bee won’t to both at once, notice ancient fly —the appearance of And the buttercup’s love— the motor cars; the colorful costume of the people—colorful, that is, in “What rhymes with ‘once’?” comparison with the grim black-and- “Dunce,” said Hedges. “Are you white of his own time. going to do that all the time?” Hedges lay on the asphalt looking “Probably.” blankly up at him. De Witt stooped “It’s awful. But aren’t you going down, took the setter of Hedges’ to arrest me or something?” time watch between the fingers of “N-no. I’m not a policeman any his left hand, and grasped the setter more.” He ran his hand through his 8 ”

THE BEST-LAID SCHEME 115 long hair. “I think I’ll just stay If you want to see how I made out, look here and be a poet.” up a late twentieth century poet of my name. Regards, “I really ought to be arrested.” Mendez S. D. de Witt. “You’ll have to go back—-or for- ward—to your own time and give Bloss pulled out volume Dam to yourself up, then. I don’t want Edu of the encyclopedia. “Here he you.” is,” he announced. “Yes, he was “ Hedges sighed. ‘The—best-laid quite a well-known poet. Married schemes of mice and men ’ When in 1964, no children. Died in 1980. we changed the history leading up It even mentions his friend Hedges. to our time, we of course changed I bet that story wasn’t in the ency- our own ancestry and background. clopedia last week. What did you I think I’d like this time, too. I do with those watches?” brought quite a wad of money along; Collingwood was staring popeyed it’s in old bills, so it ought to be at the blank desk. “Nothing—they good. I’ll buy a little place in the up and disappeared. That’s the country and raise flowers, and you most sinister thing I ever saw.” can come out and write poetry about “Not at all,” said the co-ordinator. them.” “Hedges and de Witt disturbed the “Russell!” history between their time and ours “Mendez!” Friends for life, they to the point where Hedges never did shook hands. discover time travel backwards in our time. So those time watches The soundless, motionless earth- never existed.” quake brought Co-ordinator Bloss “Let’s see—the watches never ex- and Vincent M. S. Collingwood to isted—but they were on the desk a their feet. They stared at each other minute ago; they took Hedges back in terror until the disturbance sub- so he could make it impossible for sided. him to have done the thing he did “You’ve changed,” said Bloss. to enable him to go back to make it “Hah! So have you, your effi- impossible for him to go back— ciency.” a bottle and “Not very much though.” Bloss got out a couple of glasses. “My dear Collingwood,” “No, thank Heaven. I imagine he said, “don’t drive yourself crazy Hedges has done all the damage he trying to resolve the paradoxes of can. What’s this?” time-travel. The watches are gone, On the chief executive’s desk ap- and I for one say it’s a good thing. peared two time watches, wrapped in Have a drink.” a penciled note. The note read: Collingwood snatched up his glass. To His Efficiency the Co-ordinator of North “Now, your efficiency, you’re talk- America, Ronald Q. M. Bloss, or to ing sense!” Vincent M. S. Collingwood, Director of On the pages of the open ency- the C. B. I.: We’ve decided to stay here, in 1960. We clopedia volume, the biography of wall try not to disturb the space-time struc- Mendez de Witt faded out, and its tures any more than is necessary for the place was taken by a description of rest of lives. The time watches we are our the town of Dewsbury, England. sending back to you, as a means of trans- fabric of history had settled porting this note. We advise you to de- The stroy them utterly. back into stable form again. THE END. AST— —

116 GyPPtD!

By Arthur AlcCann

Sixty-four years ago, G. V, Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer, an- nounced that he had seen “canali” on Mars. Immediately translated into English as “canals,” despite the fact that it properly meant “channels,” it aroused intex-est, then a controversy, and for half a century almost, a battle. Some astronomers saw canals; equally able and honest astronomers did not. Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who did more, and more patient work on the study of Mars than any other man, thoroughly believed the canals were real. His map of them was the result of years of patient and careful labor. Sixty-four years since Schiaparelli’s announcement—and we still don’t know whether there are canals or not! Telescopes have doubled and doubled again in size and power. Photography has come in, making ultraviolet and infrared observation possible. Observation technique has improved, new tricks used. And still we don’t know what the details of Mars’ surface are. Most astronomers feel the two-hundred-inch telescope, vastly useful as it will be in stellar and nebular work, won’t help much in planetary observa- tion. You can thank a neatly nasty trick of Nature for that one. A telescope, like it or not—and the scientists don’t—consists of three optical elements; the light-gathering mirror or lens, the eyepiece which does the actual mag- nification work and the Earth’s atmosphere. The mirror can be polished and shaped to accuracy measured in ten-millionths of an inch, the eyepiece lenses are ground and shaped with fanatical care—and the Earth’s atmos- phere bulges and slumps with every change in barometric pressure and wriggles like a ticklish baby every time the high-level winds blow. The magnification a telescope can develop depends almost wholly on two things; the brightness of the image as determined by the light-collecting power of the big mirror, and the actual magnification of the eyepiece lenses. Since the eyepiece is essentially nothing but a microscope, we could build that powerful enough to give a magnification of five thousand times with no difficulty. But what the telescope can develop and what it can use are two different things. When you magnify Mars’ image, you also, unavoidably, magnify every ripple in the air between here and Mars—about six hundred miles of it. Magnify that five thousand times and the resultant image will be very similar to an image of the Moon in a, windswept lake. Schiaparelli’s telescope could produce the maximum amount of mag- nification any instrument can use before the jittery motion of the air cur- rents ruins things. Our telescopes are infinitely better today—but the atmos- phere hasn’t changed for the better. Hence, for planetary observations, we’ve reached the idtimate power available here on Earth. But. once let them establish a telescope, even a pretty small one, on the airless mountains of the Moon—hitched up, perhaps, to an electron micro- scope

a

118 Sinn coLumn

By flnson MacDonald

Second of three parts. Major Ardmore and a handful of men constitute all the U. S. army there is. But when the army acquires a few halos—

Illustrated by Schneeman

On the day that the United States gov- Ardmore sees the necessity of forming ernment collapsed bejore the blitzkrieg of an underground organization, like the the PanAsian Empire, Whitey Ardmore, “Fifth Columns’’ that wrecked European major in the United States Army Secret democracies, but made up of patriots— Service, is sent to the Citadel, a military “Sixth Column.’’ research laboratory hidden underground in They plan to kidnap the PanAsian top

the Rocky Mountains. He finds; that all of men, using their new weapons, and hold the personnel but six died that day inci- them as hostages. Frank Mitsui, an Ameri- dent to the accidental discovery of a pow- can-born Oriental refugee, rescued by erful lethal radiation. The survivors are Thomas, warns against it. He is proved Colonel Calhoun, mathematician, Major correct when a spontaneous uprising with Brooks biochemist, Captain Wilkie, atomic the capture of a PanAsian provincial gov- physicist, Sergeant? Scheer, master mechanic, ernor is answered by the massacre of a Graham, cook and former artist, Jeff hundred and fifty thousand innocent men, Thomas, cook’s helper and ex-lwbo. As women and children. senior line officer present, Ardmore takes The dilemma is acute; they dare not at- command. tack with the whole American nation held These seven are all that remain of the as hostage. Calhoun proposes evacuating United States army— in fact they are the to South America and seeking allies there. United States army. They have at their Ardmore opposes it on the ground that disposal potent a weapon but no organiza- the American people woidd still be left tion to fight with it. open to brutal retaliation. He ' then sug- Thomas is brevet-commissioned in the gests that they consider the possibilities of- intelligence service and sent out to scout. fered in founding a new religion. He reports back that Americans have been Calhoun answers: “The man has gone reduced to the status of serfs, registered crazy!” and regimented. American culture is being systematically stamped out. The English language may not be printed nor sent “Take it easy, colonel,” Ardmore through the mails. All assembly is pro- said mildly. “I don’t blame you hibited with the single exception of re- for thinking that I’ve gone crazy. ligious services—slave religions are encour- It does sound crazy to talk about aged by the empire as a matter of policy. Thomas organizes an information service founding a new religion when what amongst hoboes who have as yet managed we want is military action against to dodge arrest. the PanAsians, But consider— The remaining research staff develop the What we need is an organization original discovery. It proves to be the key that can be trained and armed to to the ultimate problems of physics, and yields many remarkable results—transmu- fight. That and a communication tation of elements, selective death ray, system which will enable us to co- gravity control, convenient atomic power. ordinate the whole activity. And But they still lack a means to use their we have to do the whole thing under power— if they attack the PanAsian war lords, the helpless American civilian popu- the eyes of the PanAsians without lation could be slaughtered in revenge. arousing their suspicions. If we were , SIXTH COLUMN 119 a religious sect instead of a military you say you require.” He got up and organization, all that would be pos- went out, a procession of one. sible.” “Major?” Wilkie asked for atten- “It’s preposterous! I’ll have noth- tion. ing to do with it.” “What? Oh, yes, Wilkie.” “Please, colonel. We need you, “I can design such a communica- badly. On that matter of a com- tion system for you.” munication system now— Imagine “I don’t doubt it a damn bit, but temples in every city in the coun- we are going to need all the talent try hooked together with a commu- we can stir up for this job. There nication system and the whole thing will be plenty for you to do, too. hooked in here at the Citadel.” Now as to the rest of the scheme, Calhoun snorted. “Yes, and the here’s what I have in mind—just a Asiatics listening in to everything rough idea, and I want you all to you say!” kick it around as much as possible “That’s why we need you, colonel. until we get it as nearly foolproof Couldn’t you devise a system that as possible. they couldn’t tap? Something like “We’ll go through all the motions radio, maybe, but operating in one of setting up an evangelical religion, of the additional spectra so that their and try to get people to come to instruments could not detect it? Or our services. Once we get ’em in couldn’t you?” where we can talk to ’em, we can Calhoun snorted again, but with pick out the ones that can be trusted We’ll a different intonation. “Why, cer- and enlist them in the army. make them deacons, or something, tainly I could. The problem is ele- mentary.” in the church. Our big angle will be charity you come in on that, Wil- “That’s exactly why we have to — kie, with the transmutation process. have you, colonel—to solve prob- You will turn out a lot of precious lems that are elementary to a man metal, gold mostly, so that we will of your genius”—Ardmore felt have ready cash to work with. We slightly nauseated inside: this was feed the poor and the hungry the worse than writing advertising copy — PanAsians have provided us with —“but which are miracles for the plenty of those!—and pretty soon rest of us. That’s what a religion we’ll have ’em coming to us in needs—miracles! You’ll be called on droves. to produce effects that will strain “But that isn’t the half of it. We even your genius, things that the really will go in for miracles in a Pan Asia ns can not possibly under- big way. Not only to impress the stand, and will think supernatural.” white population—that’s secondary Seeing Calhoun still hesitate, he —but to confuse our lords and mas- added, “You can do it, can’t you?” ters. We’ll do things they can’t un- “Certainly can, dear major.” I my derstand, make them uneasy, uncer- “Fine. How soon can you let me tain of themselves. Never anything have a communication method which against them, you understand. We’ll can’t be compromised nor detected?” be loyal subjects of the Empire in “Impossible to say, but it won’t every possible way, but we’ll be able take long. I still don’t see the sense to do things that they can’t. That to your scheme, major, but I will will upset them and make them nerv- turn my attention to the research ous.” It was taking shape in his ISO A STOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

mind like a well thought-out adver- thing. Then just wait to be no- tising campaign. “By the time we ticed.” are ready to strike in force, we should “H-m-in-m. You’ve got some- have them demoralized, afraid of us, thing there, Graham. But we’ll open half hysterical.” up on the biggest scale we can man- They were beginning to be in- age. We’ll all be priests and altar fected with some of his enthusiasm, attendants and so forth, and I’ll send but the scheme was conceived from Thomas out to stir up a congrega- a viewpoint more or less foreign to tion for us among his pals. No, wait. their habits of thought. “Maybe Let ’em come in as pilgrims. We’ll this will work, Chief,” objected start this off with a whispering cam- Thomas, “I don’t say that it won’t, paign among the hoboes, send it over but how do you propose to get it the grapevine. We’ll have ’em say, ” underway? Won’t the Asiatic ad- ‘The Disciple is coming!’ ministrators smell a rat in the sud- “What does that mean?” Seheer den appearance of a new religion?” inquired.

“Maybe so, but I don’t think it “Nothing yet. But it will, when likely. All Western religions look the time comes. Now look—Gra- equally screwy to them. They ham, you’re an artist. You’re going know we have dozens of religions to have to get dinner with your left and they don’t know anything about hand for a few days. Your right most of them. That’s one respect will be busy sketching out ideas for in which the Era of Non-Intercourse robes and altars and props in gen- will be useful to us. They don’t eral—sacerdotal stuff. I guess the know much about our institutions interior and exterior of the temple since 1945. This will just look like will be mostly up to you, too.” any one of half a dozen cockeyed “Where will the temple be lo- cults of the sort that spring up over- cated?” night in Southern California.” “Well, now, that’s a question. It “But about that springing-up shouldn’t be too far from here un- business, Chief— How do we start less we abandon the Citadel entirely. out? We can’t just walk out of the That doesn’t seem expedient; we Citadel, buttonhole one of the yel- need it for a base and a laboratory. low boys, and say, ‘I’m John the But the temple can’t be too close, ” Baptist.’ for we can’t afford to attract special “No, we can’t. That’s a point that attention to this mountainside.” has to be worked out. Has anybody Ardmore drummed on the table. any ideas?” “It’s a difficult matter.” “Why not,” offered Dr. Brooks, The silence that followed was “make this the temple?” thick with intense concentration. “Huh?” Finally Graham proposed, “Why not “I don’t mean this room, of course, just set up in business, and wait to but why not put the first temple be noticed?” right on top of the Citadel? It “How do you mean?” would be very convenient.” “Well, we’ve got enough people “So it would, doctor, but it would right here to operate on a small scale. certainly draw a lot of unhealthy at- If we had a temple somewhere, one tention to— Wait a minute! I of us could be the priest and the think I see what you mean.” He others could be disciples or some- turned to Wilkie. “Bob, how could ” —

SIXTH COLUMN 121 you use the Ledbetter effect to con- of plenty of hard work, “that’s the ceal the existence of the Citadel, if way I like to hear you talk. The the Mother Temple sat right on top powwow is adjourned for now. Get of it? Could it be done?” going! Thomas, come with me.” Wilkie looked more puzzled and “Just a second, Chief,” Brooks Collie-doggish than ever. “The Led- added as he—got up to follow him, better effect wouldn’t do it. Do you “couldn’t we ” They went out the especially want to use the Ledbetter door, still talking. effect? Because if you don’t it wouldn't be hard to rig a type-seven A patrol helicopter cruised slowly screen in the magneto gravitic spec- south from Denver. The PanAsian trum so that electromagnetic type lieutenant commanding it consulted instruments would be— completely a recently constructed aerial mosaic blanked out. You see map and indicated to the pilot that “Of course I don’t care what you he was to hover. Yes, there it was, use! I don’t even know the names a great cubical building rising from of the stuff you laboratory boys use the shoulder of a mountain. It had —all I want is the results. O. K. been picked up by the cartographical you take care of that. We’ll com- survey of the Heavenly Emperor’s pletely design the temple here, get new Western Realm and he had been all the materials laid and ready to as- sent to investigate. semble down below, then break The lieutenant regarded the job through to the surface and run the as a simple routine matter. Although thing up as fast as possible. Any- the building did not appear in the one have any idea how long that records of the administrative dis- will take? I’m afraid my own ex- trict in which it was located there perience doesn’t run to building con- was nothing surprising in that. The struction.” newly conquered territory was enor- Wilkie and Scheer engaged in a mous in extent, the aborigines, with whispered consultation. Presently their loose undisciplined ways—so. Wilkie broke off and said, “Don’t characteristic of all the inferior races worry too much about that, Chief. —kept no proper records of any- It will be a power job.” thing. It might be years before “What sort?” everything in this wild new country “You’ve got a memorandum on was properly indexed and cross-filed, your desk about the stuff. The particularly as this pale anaemic traction and pressure control we de- people was almost childishly resis- veloped from the earlier Ledbetter tant to the benefits of civilization. experiments.” Yes, it would be a long job, per- “Yes, major,” Scheer added, “you haps longer than the Amalgamation can forget it; I’ll take care of the of India. He sighed to himself. He job. With tractors and pressors in had received a letter that morning an agravitic field, it won’t take any from his principal wife informing longer than assembling a cardboard him that his second wife had pre- model. Matter of fact, I’ll practice sented him with a inanchild. Shoidd on a cardboard model before we run he request that he be reclassified as up the main job.” a permanent colonist in order that “O. K., troops,” Ardmore smil- his family might join him here, or ingly agreed, with the lighthearted- should he pray for leave, long over- ness that comes from the prospect due? m ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

Those were no thoughts for a man from the ground, a great square fea- on the Heavenly Emperor’s cluty! tureless mass, fully two hundred He recited over to himself the Seven yards across in every dimension. Principles of the Warrior Race, and The face toward him shone with a indicated to the pilot an alp in which clear monochromatic emerald green, to land. although it faced away from the af- The building was more impressive ternoon sun. He could see a little

The officer halted, oppressed and torn by a terrible weight of nameless dread. SIXTH COLUMN 123 of the wall to the right; it was golden. brushed the floor. White hair and His task group of one squad filed flowing beard framed a face of be- out of the helicopter after him and nign dignity. He moved majesti- were followed by the mountain guide cally forward from the doorway, who had been impressed for this reaching the top of the flight of steps service. He spoke to the white man just as the lieutenant attained it. in English. “Have you seen this The lieutenant noted with amaze- building before?” ment that a halo flickered unsub- “No, Master.” stantially around the old man’s “Why not?” head. But he had little time to con- “This part of the mountains is sider it; the old man raised his right new to me.” hand in benediction and spoke: The man was probably lying, but “Peace be unto you!” of it was useless to punish him. He And it was so! The feeling dropped the matter. “Lead on.” dread, of irrational fright, dropped They trudged steadily up the away from the PanAsian as if some- slope toward the immense cube to one had turned a switch. In his re- where a broad flight of steps, wider lief he found himself regarding this still than the cube itself, led to its member of an inferior race—so evi- nearer face. The lieutenant hesi- dently a priest—with a warmth re- tated momentarily before starting to served for equals. He recalled the mount them. He was aware of a Admonitions for dealing with inferior general feeling of unease, a sense of religions. mild disquietude, as if a voice were “What is this place. Holy One?” warning him of unnamed danger. “You stand at the threshold of the He set foot on the first step. A Temple of Mota, Lord of Lords and single deep clear note rolled across Lord of All!” the canyon; the feeling of uneasi- “Mota—h-m-m-m.” He could not ness swelled to an irrational dread. recall such a god, but it did not mat- He could see that his men were in- ter. These sallow creatures had a fected with it. Resolutely he thousand strange gods. Three things mounted the second step. Another only do slaves require, food, work, and different tone echoed through and their gods, and of the three their the hills. gods must never be touched, else He marched steadily up the long they grow troublesome. So said the flight, his men following reluctantly. Precepts for Ruling. “Who are A slow, ponderous and infinitely you?” tragic largo kept time to his labored “I am an humble priest, First steps—labored, because the treads Server of Shaam, Lord of Peace.” were just too broad and the lifts just “Shaam? I thought you said too high for comfort. The feeling Mota was your god?” of impending disaster, of inescapable “We serve the Lord Mota in six doom, grew steadily greater as he of his thousand attributes. You approached the building. serve him in your way. Even the Heavenly Emperor serves him in Two doors of heroic size swung his. My duty is to the Lord of slowly open as the lieutenant as- Peace.” cended. In the archway thus cre- This was perilously close to trea- ated stood a human figure, a man, son, the lieutenant thought, if not dressed in emerald robes that to blasphemy. Still, it may be that ”

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the gods have many names, and the mentary dizziness, a flash of terri- native did not seem disposed to fying insecurity, and he collapsed. make trouble. “Very well, old Holy His squad, close at his heels, had One, the Heavenly Emperor permits no more warning. you to serve your god as you see him, but I must inspect for the Empire. Ardmore came trotting out of Stand aside.” concealment. “Nice work, Jeff,” he The old man did not move, but called out, “you should be on the answered regretfully, “I am sorry. stage!” Master. It cannot be.” The old priest relaxed. “Thanks, “It must be. Stand aside!” Chief. What happens next?” “Please, Master, I beg of you! It “We’ll have tirfie to figure that is not possible for you to enter here. out.” He turned toward the altar In these attributes Mota is Lord and shouted, “Scheer!” of the white men. You must go to “Yes, sir!” your own temple; you cannot enter ‘Turn off the fourteen-cycle note!” this one. It is death to any but his He added to Thomas, “Those followers.” damned subsonics give me the creep- “You threaten me?” ing horrors even when I know what’s “No, Master, no—we serve the going on. I wonder what effect it Emperor, as our faith requires. But had on our pal here?” this thing the Lord Mota Himself “He was cracking up, I believe. I forbids. I cannot save you if you never thought he’d make it to the offend.” doorway.” “On the Heavenly Emperor’s “I don’t blame him. It made me service—stand aside!” He strode want to howl like a dog, and 1 or- steadily across the broad terrace to- dered it turned on. There’s nothing ward the door, his squad clomping like the fear of something you can’t stolidly after him. The panic dread understand to break a man down. clutched at him as he marched and Well, we got a bear by the tail. Now increased in intensity as he ap- to figure out a way to turn loose— proached the great door. His heart “How about him?” Thomas seemed constricted, and a mad long- jerked his head toward the moun- ing to flee clamored through him taineer, who still stood near the head senselessly. Only the fatalistic cour- of the great flight of steps. age of his training made him go on. “Oh yes.” Ardmore whistled at Through the door he saw a vast him and shouted, “Hey you—come empty hall and on the far side an here!” altar, large in itself, but dwarfed by The man hesitated, and Ardmore the mammoth proportions of the added, “Damn it—we’re white men! room. The inner walls shone, each Can’t you see that?” with its own light, red, blue, green, The man answered, “I see it, but golden. The ceiling was a perfect, I don’t like it.” Nevertheless he flawless white, the floor an equally slowly approached. perfect black. Ardmore said, “This is a piece of There was nothing to be afraid of razzle-dazzle for the benefit of our here, he told himself, this illogical yellow brethren. Now that you’re but horribly real dread was a sick- in it, you’re in it! Are you game?” ness, unworthy of a warrior. He The other members of the person- stepped across the threshold. - A mo- nel of the Citadel had gathered SIXTH COLUMN 125 around by this time. The mountain a quick gesture, which was protected guide glanced around at their faces. from the gaze of the others by his “It doesn’t look as if I had much body. choice.” “Why didn’t you say so?” asked “Maybe not, but we would rather the PanAsian soldier. have a volunteer than a prisoner.” “I must say it’s a good make-up The mountaineer shifted tobacco job,” commented Ardmore admir- from left cheek to right, glanced ingly. “What’s your name and around the immaculate pavement for rank?” a place to spit, decided not to, and “Tattoo and plastic,” the other re- answered, “What’s the game?”- turned. “Name’s Downer, captain. “It's a frame-up on our Asiatic United States Army.” bosses. We plan to give them the “Mine’s Ardmore, Major Ard- run-around—with the help of God more.” and the great Lord Mota.” “Glad to know you, major.” They The guide looked them over again, shook hands. “Very glad, I should then suddenly stuck out his hand say. I’ve been hanging on for weeks, and said, “I’m in.” wondering who to report to and “Fine,” agreed Ardmore, taking how.” his hand. “What’s your name?” “Well, we can certainly use you. “Howe, Alexander Hamilton It’s a scratch organization. I’ve got Howe. Friends call me Alec.” to get busy now—we’ll talk later.” “0. K., Alec. Now what can you He turned away. “Places, gentle- do? Can you cook?” he added. men. Second act. Check each “Some.” other’s make-up. Wilkie, see to it “Good.” He turned away. “Gra- that Howe and Downer are out of ham, he’s your man for now. I’ll sight. We are going to bring our talk with him later. Now— Jeff, drowsy guests back to conscious- did it seem to you that one of those ness.” monkeys went down a little slowly?” They started to comply. Downer “Maybe. Why?” Touched Ardmore’s sleeve. “Just a “This one, wasn’t it?” He touched moment, major. I don’t know your one of the quiet, sprawled figures layout, but before we go any further, with his shoe. are you sure you don’t want me to “I think so.” stay on my present assignment?” “All right, I want to check up on “Eh? H-m-m-m—you’ve got him before we bring them to. If he’s something there. Are you willing a Mongolian he should have keeled to do it?” over quicker. Dr. Brooks, will you “I’m willing to do it, if it’s useful,” give this laddie’s reflexes a work-out? Downer replied soberly. And don’t be too gentle about it.” “It would be useful. Thomas, Brooks managed to produce some come here.” The three of them went, jerks in short order. Seeing this, into a short conference and arranged Ardmore reached down and set his a way for Downer to report through thumb firmly on the exposed nerve the grapevine, and Ardmore told under the ear. The soldier came to him as much about the set-up as he his knees, writhing. “All right, bud needed to know. “Well, good luck, —explain yourself.” The soldier old man,” he concluded. “Get back stared impasisvely. Ardmore stud- down there and play dead, and we’ll ied his face for a moment, then made reanimate your messmates.” —

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Thomas, Ardmore, and Calhoun horse about the whole matter attended the Asiatic lieutenant as righteous indignation, you know his eyes flickered open. “Praise be!” but, oh, very respectful to temporal intoned Thomas. “The Master authority.” * lives!” “I appreciate the confidence you The lieutenant stared around him, place in me,” Thomas said with sar- shook his head, then reached for his donic grimness. Ardmore grinned at sidearm. Ardmore, impressive in him. the red robes of Dis, Lord of De- “I know it’s a tough assignment,

struction, held up a hand. “Care- fella, but a lot depends on it. If ful, Master, please! I have beseeched we Tan make use of their own cus- my Lord Dis to return you to us. toms and rules to establish a prece- Do not offend him again.” dent right now which sets us up as The Asiatic hesitated, then asked, a legitimate religion, entitled to all “What happened?” the usual immunities, we’ve got half “The Lord Mota, acting through the battle won.” Dis the Destroyer, took you for his “Suppose they ask for my identi- own. We prayed and wept and be- fication card?” seeched Tamar, Lady of Mercy, to “If you carry yourself with suffi- intercede for us.” He swept an arm cient arrogance they will never get toward the open door. Wilkie, Gra- around to asking for it. Just think ham, and Brooks, appropriately about the typical clubwoman and clad, were still busily genuflecting try to show that much bulge. I before the altar. “Graciously, our want ’em to get used to the idea that prayer was answered. Go in peace!” anyone with the staff and the robes Scheer, at the control board, and the halo carries his identification picked this moment to increase the just in his appearance. It will save volume on the fourteen-cycle note. us trouble later.” With nameless fear pressing his “I’ll try—but I’m not promising heart, confused, baffled, the lieuten- anything.” ant took the easy way out. He gatin' “I think you can do it. Anyhow, ered his men about him and marched you are going out equipped with back down the broad flight of stairs, enough stuff to keep you safe. Keep colossal organ music still following your shield turned on whenever you him in awful, inescapable accompani- are around any of ’em. Don’t try ment. to account for it in any way; just “Well, that’s that,” Ardmore com- let ’em bounce off it, if they close mented as the little group disap- in on you. It’s a miracle—no need peared in the distance. “First round to explain.” to God’s chilluns. Thomas, I want “0. K.” you to start into town at once.” “So?” The lieutenant’s report was not “In your robes and full parapher- satisfactory to his superiors. As for nalia. Seek out the district boss and that, it was not satisfactory to him- register formal complaint that Lieu- self. He felt an acute sense of loss tenant Zilch did wrongfully profane of personal honor, of face, which the our sacred places to the great in- words of his immediate superior did dignation of our gods, and pray for nothing to lessen. “You, an officer assurance that it will not happen in the army of the Heavenly Em- again. You want to be on your high peror, have permitted yourself to —

SIXTH COLUMN 127 look small in the eyes of a subject Asians could bring to bear on it, race. What have you to say?” he had been in a state of nerves ever ‘"Your forgiveness, sire!” since Thomas had set out to register “Not for me—it is a matter for a complaint with the Asiatic authori- you to settle with your ancestors.” ties. After all, the attitude of the “I hear, sire!” He caressed the PanAsians toward local religions short sword which hung at his side. might be one of bare toleration “Lei there be no haste; I intend rather than special encouragement. for you to tell your tale in person “Welcome home, old boy!” he to the Imperial Hand.” shouted, pounding him on the back. The local Hand of the Emperor, “I’m glad to see your ugly face military governor of that region tell me what happened?” which included Denver and the Cita- “Give me time to get out of this del, was no more pleased than his bloody bathrobe, and I’ll tell you. junior. “What possessed you to en- Got a cigarette? That’s a bad point ter their holy place? These people about being a holy man; they don’t are childlike, excitable. Your action smoke.” could be the regrettable cause of as- “Sure. Here. Had anything to sassinations of many more valuable eat?” than yourself. We cannot be for- “Not recently.” ever wasting slaves to teach them Ardmore flipped the intercom- lessons.” municator to Kitchen. “Alec, rustle “I am unworthy, sire.” up some groceries for Lieutenant “I do not dispute that. You may Thomas. And tell the troops they go.” Lieutenant Zilch departed, to can hear his story if they come join, not his family, but his ances- around to my office.” tors. “Ask him if he has any avaca- The Imperial Hand turned to his does.” adjutant. “We will probably be pe- Ardmore did so. “He says they’re titioned by this cult. See that the still in quick-freeze, but he’ll thaw petitioneers are pacified and assured one out. Now let’s have your story. that their gods will not be disturbed. What did Little Red Riding Hood Note the characteristics of the sect say to the wolf?” and send out a general warning to “Well—you’ll hardly believe it, deal gently with it.” He sighed. Chief, but I didn’t have any trouble “These savages and their false gods! at all. When I got into town, I I grow weary of them. Yet they are marched right straight up to the first necessary; the priests and the gods of PanAsian policeman I found, slaves always fight on the side of the stepped off the curb, and struck the Masters. It is a rule of nature.” old benediction pose—staff in my “You have spoken, sire.” left hand, right hand pawing the air; none of this hands folded and dead Ardmore was glad to see Thomas down stuff that white men are sup- return to the Citadel. In spite of his posed to use. Then I said, ‘Peace confidence in Jeff’s ability to handle be unto you! Will the Master direct himself in a tight place, in spite of his servant to the seat of the Heav- the assurance that Calhoun had enly Emperor’s government?’ given him that the protective shield, “I don’t think he understood much properly handled, would protect the English. He seemed startled at my wearer from anything that the Pan- maimer, and got hold of another 138 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION fiatface to help him. This one knew I gave him a long theological spiel. more English and I repeated my re- I told him that all men worshiped quest. They palavered in that God, but that God had a thousand damned singsong tongue of theirs, attributes, each one a mystery. God then conducted me to the palace of in his wisdom had seen fit to appear the Emperor’s Hand. We made to different races in different attri- quite a procession—one on each side butes because it was not seemly for and me walking fast so that I kept servant and master to worship in the about even or a little in front of same fashion. Because of that, the them.” six attributes of Mota, of Shaam, of “Good advertising,” Ardmore ap- Mens, of Tamar, of Barmac, and of proved. Dis had been set aside for the white the Heavenly Emperor “That’s what I thought. Anyway, men, just as attribute reserved for the they got me there and I told my was an story to some underofficial. The re- race of Masters.” sults astounded me. I was whisked “How did he take it?” right straight up to the Hand him- “I gathered that he thought it self.” was very sound doctrine—for slaves. He asked me what my church did “The hell you say!” besides holding services, and I told “Wait a minute here’s the pay- — him that our principal desire was to off. I’ll admit I was scared, but I minister to the poor and the sick. said to myself, ‘Jeff, old boy, if you He seemed pleased at that. I have start to crawl now, you’ll never get an impression that our gracious over- out of here alive.’ I knew a white lords are finding relief a very serious man is expected to drop to his knees problem.” before an official of that rank. I “Relief? Do they give any re- didn’t; I gave him the same standing lief?” benediction I had given his flunkies. exactly. if you load And he let me get away with it! He “Not But concentration camps looked me over and said, ‘I thank prisoners into you for your blessing, Holy One. you have to feed them something You may approach.’ He speaks ex- The internal economy lias largely cellent English, by the way. broken down and they haven’t got it straightened out yet. I think they “Well, I gave him a reasonably would welcome a movement which accurate version of what happened would relieve them from worrying here—the official version, you un- too much over how to feed the derstand—and he asked me a few slaves.” questions.” “H-m-m-m. Anything else?” “What sort of questions?” “Nothing much. I assured him spiritual leaders, “In the first place he wanted to again that we, as forbidden our doctrines to know if my religion recognized were by the authority of the Emperor. I have anything to do with politics, not assured him that it did, that our and he told me that we would followers were absolutely bound be molested in the future. Then he to obey temporal authority in dismissed me. 1 repeated my bene- on him, and all temporal matters, but that our diction, turned my back creed commanded us to worship the stomped out.” true gods in our own fashion. Then “It seems to me,” said Ardmore, SIXTH COLUMN 129

The prince looked silently at the man. Somehow his words had been twisted again; again he found himself on the defensive.

“that you pretty thoroughly sold I’ve got to admit he impressed me. him a bill of goods.” Look—these PanAsians can’t be “I wouldn’t be too sure. Chief. stupid; they’ve conquered and held That old scoundrel is shrewd and half a world, hundreds of millions of Machiavellian. I shouldn’t call him people. If they tolerate local reli- a scoundrel, because he’s not—by gions, it’s because they have found it his standards. He’s a statesman. to be smart politics. We’ve got to — ”

ISO ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

keep them thinking so in our ease, in with it. I didn’t try to tell them the face of smart and experienced much. I took as my text, ‘The Dis- ” ni.st admi rators . ciple is coming!’ and embroidered "No doubt you’re right. We cer- it with a lot of glittering generali- tainly must bt careful not to under- ties. I told them to be good boys estimate them.” and girls and not to be afraid, for “I hadn’t quite finished. Another the Disciple was coming to feed the escort picked me up on the way out hungry and heal the sick and con- of the palace and stayed with me. sole the bereaved.” I walked along, paying no attention “Hm-m-m. Now that you’ve to them. My route out of town took started making promises, we had bet- me through the central market. ter get set to deliver.” There were hundreds of whites there, “I was coming to that. Chief, T lined up in queues, waiting for a think that we had better set up a chance to buy food on their ration branch church in Denver right cards. I got an idea and decided to away.” find out just how far my immunity “We’ve hardly got the personnel extended. 1 stopped and climbed up yet to start branching out.” on a box and -started to preach to “Are you sure? I don’t like to set them.” my opinion up against yours, but I Ardmore whistled. “Gripes, Jeff, don’t see how we can gain many rc- you shouldn’t have taken a chance cruits unless we go where the re- like that!” cruits are. They’re all set for it “But major, we needed to know, now; you can be sure that every and I was fairly certain that the white man in Denver is talking about worst that could happen would be the old beezer in the halo—in a halo, that they would make me stop.” mind you!—who preached in the

“Well . . . yes, I suppose so. Any- market place and the Asiatics didn’t how the job requires that we take dare stop him. We’ll pack ’em in!”— chances and you have to use your “Well . . . maybe you’re right own judgment. Boldness may be “I think I am. Admitting that the safest policy. Sorry I spoke you can’t spare the regular person- what happened?” nel from the Citadel, here’s how we

“My escort seemed dumfounded can work it: I’ll go down to the city at first, and not certain what to do. with Alec, locate a building that we I went right ahead, watching them can turn into a temple and start out of the corner of my eye. Pretty holding services. We can get along soon they were joined by a chappie with the power units in the staffs who seemed to be senior to them. at first, and Scheer can follow along They held a confab, and the senior and rebuild the interior of the temple cop went away. He came back in and set up a proper unit in the altar. about five minutes, and just stood Once things are rolling I can turn there, watching me. I gathered that the routine over to Alec. He’ll be he had phoned in and had received the local priest for Denver.” instructions to let me alone.” “How did the crowd take it?” The others had drifted in one “1 think they were most impressed by one while Ardmore and Thomas by the apparent fact that a white were talking. Ardmore turned now man was breaking one of the rules to Wlec Howe. of the overlords and getting away “How about it, Alec? Do you ”

SIXTH COLUMN 13! think you can make a noise iike a but isn’t the worship of God a mat- priest, preach ’em sermons, organize ter of how you feel in your heart charities, and that sort of thing?” rather than the verbal forms and The mountain guide was slow to the ceremonials used?” answer. “I think, major, that I “That’s true, major, every word would rather stay on the job I have you’ve said is gospel—but I just now.” don’t feel right about it.” “It won’t be so hard,” Ardmore Ardmore could see that Calhoun reassured him. “Thomas or I can had been listening to this discussion write your sermons for you. The with poorly concealed impatience. rest of it would consist largely in He decided to terminate it. “Alec, keeping your mouth shut and your I want you to go now and think this eyes open, and in shooing likely pros- over by yourself. Come see me to- pects up here to be enlisted.” morrow. If you can’t reconcile this “It's not the sermons, major. I work to your conscience, I'll give you can preach a sermon—I used to be an unprejudiced discharge as a con- a lay preacher in my youth. It’s scientious objector. It won’t even just that I can’t reconcile this false be necessary for you to serve in the religion with my conscience. I know kitchen.” you are working toward a worthy “I wouldn’t want to—go that far, purpose and I’ve agreed to serve, but major. It seems to me I’d rather stay in the kitchen.” “No, really. If one is wrong, so Ardmore considered his words be- is the other. I don't want to be re- fore replying. “Alec,” he said at sponsible for requiring a man to do length, in a grave voice, “I think I anything that might be a sin against can appreciate your viewpoint. I his faith. Now you get along and wouldn't want, to ask any man to do think about it.” anything against his own conscience. Ardmore hustled him out with- As a matter of fact, we would not out giving him a chance to talk fur- have adopted the cloak of a religion ther. had we seen any other practical way to fight for the United States. Does Calhoun could contain himself no your faith forbid you to fight for longer. “Well, really, major, I must your country?” say! Is it your policy to compro-

“No, it does not.” mise with superstition in the face “Most of your work as a priest of of military necessity?” this church would be to help the “No, colonel, it is not—but that helpless. Doesn’t that fit into your superstition, as you call it, is in this creed?” case a military fact. Howe’s case “Naturally it does. That is ex- is the first example of something we actly why I cannot do it in the name are going to have to deal with—the of a false god.” attitude of the orthodox religions to “But is it a false god? Do you the one we have trumped up.” believe that God cares very much “Maybe,” suggested Wilkie, “we what name you call Him as long as should have imitated the more usual the work you perform is acceptable religions.” to Him? Now mind you,” lie added “Perhaps. Perhaps. T thought of hastily, “I don’t say that this so- that, but somehow I couldn’t see called temple we have erected here it. £ can’t picture one of us stand- is necessarily a House of the Lord, ing up and pretending to be a mini-

AST—-9 ”

13* ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

financial assistance with no strings attached.” “Both of those things will help,”

Ardmore decided, “but it will be tick- lish business. Whenever possible, we’ll enlist the regular ministers and priests themselves. You can bet that every white man will be for us, if he understands what we are aiming toward. The problem will be to decide which ones can be trusted with the whole secret. Now about Denver— Jeff, do you want to start back right away, tomorrow maybe?” “How about Howe?” “He’ll come around, I think.” “Just a moment, major.” It was Dr. Brooks, who had been sitting quietly as usual while the others talked. “I think it would be a good idea if we waited a day or two, until Scheer can make certain changes in the power units of the staffs.” “What sort of changes?” “You will remember that we es- tablished experimentally that the Ledbetter effect could be used as a sterilizing agent?” “Yes, of course.” ster, say, of one of the regular “That is why we felt safe in pre- protestant churches. I’m not much dicting that we could help the sick. of a churchgoer, but I didn’t think As a matter of fact we underesti- I could stomach it. Maybe when it mated the potentialities of the right comes down to it, I’m bothered method. I infected myself with an- the — by same thing that bothers thrax earlier this week Howe. But we’ve got to deal with “Anthrax! For God's sake, doc- it. We’ve got to consider the atti- tor, what in the world do you mean tude of the other churches. We by taking a chance like that?” mustn’t tread on their toes in any Brooks turned his mild eyes on we can help.” way Ardmore. “But it was obviously “Maybe this would help,” Thomas necessary,” he explained patiently. suggested. “It could be one of the “The guinea pig tests were positive, tenets of our church that we in- it is true, but human experimenta- cluded and tolerated, even encour- tion was necessary to establish the aged, any other form of worship method. As I was saying, I infected that a man might favor. Besides myself with anthrax and permitted that, every church, especially these the disease to establish itself, then days, has more social work than it exposed myself to the Ledbetter ef- can afford. We’ll give the others fect in all wave lengths except that SIXTH COLUMN 138 band of frequencies fatal to warm- Scheer demonstrated the staff he blooded vertebrates. The disease had worked over. Superficially it disappeared. In less than an hour looked no different from the others. the natural balance of anabolism A six-foot rod was surmounted by a over catabolism had cleared up the capital in the form of an ornate cube residue of pathological symptoms. about four inches through. The I was well.” faces of the cube were colored to correspond with the sides of the “I’ll be a cross-eyed intern! Do great temple. The base of the cube you think it will work on other dis- itself covered with eases just as quickly?” and the staff were intricate designs in golden scroll- “I feel sure of it. Not only has work, formal arabesques, and deli- such been the results with other dis- cate bas-relief— all of which effec- eases in the animal experimentation tively concealed the controls of the that 1 have conducted, but because power unit and projector located in of another unanticipated, though ex- the cubical capital. perimentally predictable, result. I’ve Scheer had not changed the super- suffered from a rather severe cold ficial appearance of the staff; he had in the head lately, as some of you simply added an additional circuit may have noticed. The exposure internally to the power unit in the not only cured the anthrax, it com- cube which constrained it to oscil- pletely cleared up my cold. The late only outside the band of fre- cold virus involves a dozen or more quencies fatal to vertebrate life. known pathogenic organisms, and This circuit controlled the action of probably as many ’more unknown the power unit and projector when- ones. The exposure killed them all, ever a certain leaf in the decorative indiscriminately.” design of the staff was pressed. “I’m delighted to get this report, Scheer and Graham had labored doctor,” answered. “In Ardmore together to create the staff’s design- this one development the long run ing and redesigning to achieve an in- importance to the may be of more tegrated whole in which mechanical military use human race than any action would be concealed in artistic we may make of it now. But how camouflage. They made a good it affect the of estab- does matter team. As a matter of fact their tal- lishing the branch church in Den- ents were not too far apart; the artist ver?” is two thirds artisan and the artisan “Well, sir, perhaps it doesn’t. But has essentially the same creative I took the liberty of having Scheer urge as the artist. modify one of the portable power “I would suggest,” added Brooks, units in order that healing might be when the new control had been ex- conveniently carried on by any one plained and demonstrated, “that this of our agents even though equipped new effect be attributed to Tamar, only with the staff. I thought you Lady of Mercy, and that her light might prefer to wait until Scheer be turned on when it is used.” could add the same modification to “That’s right. That’s the idea,” the staffs designed to be used by Ardmore approved. “Never use the Thomas and Howe.” staff for any purpose without turn- “I think you are right, if it does ing on the color light associated with not take too long. May I see the the particular god whose help you modification?” are supposed to be invokiug. That’s ” —

134 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

an invariable rule. Let ’em break “Huh? Oh yes, doctor—-what their hearts trying to figure out how were were you going to say?” a simple monochromatic light can “Psychology is not a science be- perform miracles.” cause it is too difficult. The scien- “Why bother with the rigmarole?” tific mind is usually orderly, with a inquired Calhoun. “The PanAsians natural love for order. It resents can’t possibly detect the effects we and tends to ignore fields in which use in any case.” order is not readily apparent. It “There is a double reason, colonel. gravitates to fields in which order By giving them a false lead to fol- is easily found such as the physical low we hope to insure that they will sciences, and leaves the more com- bend their scientific efforts in the plex fields to those who play by ear, wrong direction. We can’t afford to as it were. Thus we have a rigorous underestimate their ability. But science of thermodynamics but are even more important is the psycho- not likely to have a science of psy- logical effect on nonscientific minds, chodynamics for many years yet to both white and yellow. People think come.” things are wonderful that look won- Wilkie swung around so that he derful. The average American is faced Brooks. “Do you really be- completely unimpressed by scientific lieve that, Brooksie?” wonders; he expects them, takes “Certainly, my dear Bob.” them as a matter of course with an Ardmore rapped on his desk. “It’s attitude of ‘So what? That’s what an interesting subject, and I wish you guys are paid for.’ we could continue the discussion “But add a certain amount of but it looks like rain, and the crops flubdub and hokum and don’t label still to get in. Now about this mat- it ‘scientific’ and he will be impressed. ter of founding a church in Den- It’s wonderful advertising.” ver— “Well,” said Calhoun, dismissing the matter, “no doubt you know Denver, Cheyenne, Salt Lake best—you have evidently had a great City. Portland, Seattle, San Fran- deal of experience in fooling the pub- cisco. Kansas City, Chicago, Little lic. I’ve never turned my attention Rock. New Orleans, Detroit, Jer- to such matters; my concern is with sey City. Riverside, Five Points, pure science. If you no longer need Butler, Hackettstown, Natick, Long me here, major, I have work to do.” Beach, Yuma, Fresno, Amarillo, “Certainly, colonel, certainly! Go Grants, Parktown, Bremerton, Coro- right ahead, your work is of prime nado, Worcester, Wiclcenberg, Santa importance. Ana, Vicksburg, LaSalle, Morgan- “Still,” he added meditatively, field, Blaisville, Barstow, Wallkyll, when Calhoun had gone, “I don’t see Boise, Yakima, St. Augustine, Walla why mass psychology shouldn’t be Walla, Abilene, Chattahoochee, a scientific field. If some of the sci- Leeds, Laramie, Globe, South Nor- entists had taken the trouble to walk, Corpus Christi. formulate some of the things that “Peace be unto you! Peace, it’s salesmen and politicians know al- wonderful! Come, all you sick and ready, we might never have gotten heavy laden! Come! Bring your into the mess we’re in.” troubles to the temple of the Lord “I think I can answer that,” Dr. Mota. Enter the sanctuary where Brooks said diffidently. the Masters dare not follow. Hold — /

SIXTH COLUMN 135

up your heads as white men, for their slavelike existences. Ardmore’s ‘The Disciple is Coming!’ instinctive belief in flamboyant ad- “Your baby daughter is dying vertising justified itself in results; a from typhoid? Bring her in! Bring more conventional, a more dignified her in! Let the golden rays of Ta- cult would never have received the mar make her well again. Your “house” that this one did. job is gone and you face the labor Having come to be entertained,

camps? Come in! Come in! Sleep » they came back for other reasons. on the benches and eat at the table Free food, and no questions asked that is never bare. There will be who minded singing a few innocuous work aplenty for you to do; you hymns when they could stay for sup- can be a pilgrim and carry the word per? Why, those priests could af- to others. You need only profit by ford to buy luxuries that white men instruction. rarely saw on their own tables, but- “Who pays for it all? Why, Lord ter, oranges, good lean meat, paying love you, man, gold is the gift of for them at the Imperial storehouses Mota! Hurry! ‘The^Disciple is with hard gold coin that brought Coming!’ ”. smiles to the faces of the Asiatic They poured in. At first they bursars. came through curiosity, because this Besides that, the local priest was new and startling and cockeyed re- always good for a touch if a man was ligion was a welcome diversion from really hard up for the necessary. painful and monotonous facts of Why be fussy about creeds? Here f

I

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SIXTH COLUMN 137

flat face has ever set foot in one of I mean! False gods! Robes, and their temples, even to inspect. They bizarre temple, and—mummeries!” can’t even get in by disguising them- Doyle smiled gently. “You were selves as white men; something about to say ‘papist mummeries,’ knocks them out cold, right at the were you not, David? No, I can’t door. Personally, I think those yel- say that I am greatly concerned over low apes are scared to death of Mota. odd paraphernalia. But as to the I don’t know what it is they’ve got, definition of the word ‘heathen’— but you can breathe easy in the from a strict standpoint of theology temple. Come along with me I am forced to consider any sect that you’ll see!” does not admit authority of the Vicar on Earth— The Rev. Dr. David Wood called “Don’t play with me, man! I’m on Ids friend the equally reverend in no mood for it.” Father Doyle. The older man let “I am not playing with you, him in himself. “Come in, David, David. I was about to add that come in,” he greeted him. “You’re in spite of the strict logic of theology, a pleasant sight. It’s been too many God in His mercy and infinite wis- days since I’ve seen you.” He dom will find some way to let even brought him into his little study and one like yourself into the Holy City. sat him down and offered tobacco. Now as for these priests of Mota, Wood refused it in a preoccupied I have not searched their creed for manner. flaws, but it seems to me that they Their conversation drifted in a des- are doing useful work, work that I ultory way from one unimportant have not been able to accomplish.” subject to another. Doyle could “That is exactly what worries me, see that Wood had something on Francis. There was a woman in my his mind, but the old priest was ac- congregation who was suffering from customed to being patient. When an incurable cancer. I knew of cases it became evident that the younger like hers that had apparently been man could not, or would not, open helped by ... by those charlatans! the subject, he steered him to it. What was I to do? I prayed and “You seem like a man with some- found no answer.” thing preying on his mind, David. “What did you do?” I ask it Should what is?” “In a moment of weakness I sent David Wood took the plunge. her to them.” “Father, what do you think of this “Well?” outfit that call themselves the “They cured her.” Priests of Mota?” “Think of it? What should I “Then I wouldn’t worry about it think of it?” too much. God has more vessels “Don’t evade me, Francis. Doesn’t than you and I.” it matter to you when a heathen “Wait a moment. She came back heresy sets up in business right un- to my church just once. Then she der your nose?” went away again. She entered the “Well, now, it seems to me that sanctuary, if you can call it that, you have raised some points for dis- that they have set up for women. cussion there, David. Just what is She’s gone, lost entirely to those a heathen religion?” idolaters! It had tortured ine, Fran- Wood snorted. “You know what cis. What does it avail to heal her ” ” ”

188 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

mortal body if it jeopardizes her to exchange recognition signals with soul?” him. “Was she a good woman?” “One of the best.” It grew and it grew. Organiza- “Then I think God will look out tion—and communication—under- for her soul, without your assistance, neath each gaudy temple, shielded or mine. Besides, David,” he con- from any possible detection by or- tinued, refilling his pipe, “those so- thodox science, operators stood called priests— They are not above watch and watch, heel and toe, at the seeking your help, or mine, in spir- pararadio equipment operating in itual matters. They don't perform one band of additional spectra—op- weddings, you know. If you should erators who never saw the light of wish to use their buildings,— I am sure day, who never saw anyone but the you would find it easy priest of their own temple, men “I can’t imagine it!” marked as missing in the files of the “Perhaps, perhaps. But I found Asiatic warlords, men who accepted a listening —device concealed in my their arduous routine philosophically confessional ” The priest’s mouth as the necessary exigency of war. became momentarily a thin angry Their morale was high, there were line. “Since then I’ve been borrow- free men again, free and fighting, and ing a corner of the temple to listen they looked forward to the day when to anything which might possibly their efforts would free all white men, be of interest to our Asiatic Mas- from coast to coast. ters.” Back in the Citadel women in “Francis, you haven’t!” Then, headphones neatly typed everything more moderately, “Does your bishop that the pararadio operators had to know of this?” report, typed it, classified it, con- “Well, now, the bishop is a very densed it, cross-indexed it. Twice busy man— a day the communication watch “Really, Francis— officer laid a brief of the preceding twelve hours on Major Ardmore’s “Now, now— I did write him a desk. Constantly throughout the letter, explaining the situation as day dispatches directed to Ardmore clearly as possible. One of these days himself poured in from a dozen and I will find someone who is traveling a half dioceses and piled up on his in that direction and can carry it to desk. In addition to these myriad him. I dislike to turn church busi- sheets of flimsy paper, each requir- ness over to a public translator; it ing his personal attention, reports might be garbled.” piled up from the laboratories, for “Then you haven’t told him?” Calhoun now had enough assistants “Didn’t I just that say 1 had to fill everyone of those ghost- written him a letter? God has seen crowded rooms and he worked them that letter; it won’t harm the bishop sixteen hours a day. to wait to read it.” The personnel office crowded more It was nearly two months later reports on him, temperament classi- that David Wood was sworn into fications, requests for authorization, the Secret Service of the United notifications that this department or States army. He was only mildly that required such and such addi- surprised when he found that his tional personnel; would the recruit- old friend. Father Doyle, was able ing service kindly locate them? Per- SIXTH COLUMN 139

sonnel—there was a headache! How them, drilled with care, with meticu- many men can keep a secret? There lous care, in order that they might were three major divisions of per- handle their deadly symbols of office sonnel, inferiors in routine jobs such without error. But, save for the rare as the female secretaries and clerks sorties of the original seven, no per- who were kept completely insulated son having knowledge of the Led- from any contact with the outside better effect and its corollaries ever world, local temple personnel in con- left the Citadel. tact with the public who were told Candidates for priesthood were only what they needed to know and sent in as pilgrims from temples were never told that they were serv- everywhere to the Mother Temple ing in the army, and the priests near Denver. There they sojourned themselves who of necessity had to in the monastery, located under- be in the know. ground on a level between the temple These latter were sworn to secrecy, building and the Citadel. There commissioned in the United States they were subjected to every test army, and allowed to know the real of temperament that could be de- significance of the entire set-up. But vised. Those who failed were sent even they were not trusted with the back to their local temples to serve underlying secret, the scientific prin- as lay brothers, no wiser than when ciples behind*the miracles they per- they had left home. formed. They were drilled in the Those who passed, those who sur- use of the apparatus intrusted to vived tests intended to make them

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SIXTH COLUMN 141 twenty-four hours in a day. Be- an army headed by a general staff. sides, whoever relieved you would Probably what you need is a staff.” have the same problems without “For Pete’s sake, I’ve got a staff! your intimate knowledge of the A dozen secretaries and twice that background and your imaginative many messengers and clerks—I fall grasp of what we are trying to ac- over ’em.” complish.” “I don’t think it was that kind “Well, I’ve got to do something. of a staff he was talking about. Na- We’re about to move into the second poleon must have had that kind of phase of this show, when we start a staff.” in systematically trying to break the “Well, what did he mean?” nerve of the PanAsians. When that “I don’t know exactly, but appar- reaches a crisis, we’ve got to have ently it was a standard notion in the congregation of every temple modern military organization. ready to act as a military unit. That You’re not a graduate of the War means more work, not less. And College?” I’m not ready to handle it! Good “You know damn well T’m not.” grief, man—you’d think that some- It was true. Thomas had guessed body somewhere would have worked from very early in their association out a science of executive organiza- that Ardmore was a layman, impro- tion so that a big organization could vising as he went along, and Ard- be handled without driving the man more knew that he knew; yet each at the top crazy! For the past two had kept his mouth closed. hundred years the damned scien- “Well, it seems to me that a gradu- tists have kept hauling gadget after ate of the War College might be gadget out of their laboratories, able to give us some hints about or- gadgets that simply demand big ganization.” organization to use them—but never “Fat chance. They either died in a word about how to make those battle, or were liquidated after the organizations run.” He struck a collapse. If any escaped, they are match savagely. “It’s not rational!” lying very low and doing their best “Wait a minute, Chief, wait a to conceal their identity—for which minute.” Thomas wrinkled his brow you can’t blame them!” in an intense effort to remember. “No, you can’t. Well, forget it “Maybe there has been such work I guess it wasn’t such a good idea done I seem to recall something — after all.” I read once, something about Na- “Don’t be hasty. It was a good poleon being the last of the gen- idea. Look armies aren’t the only erals.” — organizations. Take the big cor- “Huh?” big porations, like Standard Oil and “It’s pertinent. This chap’s idea U. S. Steel and General Motors was that Napoleon was the last of they must have worked out the same the great generals to exercise direct principles.” command, because the job got too of anyhow big. A few years later the Ger- “Maybe. Some them, mans invented the principle of staff —although some of them burn their command, and, according to this executives out pretty young. Gen- guy, generals were through—as gen- erals have to be killed with an ax, erals. He thought that Napoleon it seems to me.” wouldn’t have stood a chance against “Still, some of them must know 1«S ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

something. Will you see if you can egoes, each one speaking with his stir out a few?” authority and signing his name “by direction.” But in time he realized Fifteen minutes later a punched- that these men actually were able card selector was rapidly riffling to apply his own policy to a situa- through the personnel files of every tion and arrive at a decision that man and woman who had been re- he might have made himself. Those ported on by the organization. It that could not he got rid of, at the turned out that several men of busi- suggestion of his Chief of Staff. But ness executive experience were ac- it was strange to be having time tually then working in the Citadel enough to watch other men doing in jobs of greater or lesser adminis- his work his way under the simple trative importance. Those were but powerful scientific principle of called in, and dispatches were sent general staff command. out summoning about a dozen more He was free at last to give his at- to “make a pilgrimage” to the tention to perfecting that policy and Mother Temple. to deal thoroughly with the occa- The first trouble shooter turned out sional really new situation which his sour. He was a high-pressure man, staff referred to him for solution and who had run his own business much development of new policy. And he along the lines of personal supervi- slept soundly, sure that one, or more, sion which Ardmore had been using of his “other brains” was alert and up to then. His suggestions had to dealing with the job. He knew now do with routing and forms and per- that, even if he should be killed, his sonal labor savers rather than any extended brain would continue until basic change in principles. But in the task was completed. time several placid unhurried men were located who knew instinctively It would be a mistake to assume and through practice the principle of that the PanAsian authorities had doctrinal administration. watched the growth and spread of One of them, formerly general the new religion with entire satis- manager of the communications faction, but at the critical early stage trust, was actually a student and of its development they simply had an admirer of modern military or- not realized that they were dealing ganizational methods. Ardmore with anything dangerous. The made him Chief of Staff. With his warning of the experience of the help, Ardmore selected several oth- deceased lieutenant who first made ers: the former personnel manager contact with the cult of Mota -went of Sears, Roebuck; a man who had unheeded, the simple facts of his been permanent undersecretary of tale unbelieved. the department of public works in Having once established their one of the Eastern states; executive right to travel and operate, Ardmore secretary of an insurance company. impressed on each missionary the Others were added as the method importance of being tactful and hum- was developed. ble and of establishing friendly re- It worked. Ardmore had a little lations with the local authorities. trouble getting used to it at first; The gold of the priests was very wel- he had been a one-man show all his come to the Asiatics, involved as life and it was disconcerting to find they were in making a depressed and himself split up into several alter recalcitrant country pay dividends. 1

and this caused them to be more lenient with the priests of Mota than they otherwise would have been. They felt, not unreasonably, that a slave who helps to make the liooks balance must be a good slave. The word went around at first to encourage the priests of Mota, as they were aiding on consolidating the country. True, some of the PanAsian police and an occasional minor official had very disconcerting experiences in TRAIN dealing with priests, but, since these FORI [ incidents involved loss of face to A GOOD PAY JOB I N the PanAsians concerned, they were strongly disposed not to speak of ELECTRICITY them. ON REAL MOTORS, GENERATORS. ETC. It took some time for enough un- 12 WEEKS’ questioned data to accumulate to “Learn-By-Doing” Training Where do you fit in today’s gigantic defense pro- convince the higher authorities that gram and industrial expansion? You CAN play an important part. Good-pay jobs will open up for thousands the priests of Mota, all of them, had of TRAINED MEN. Now is the time to get YOUR training in Electricity—the mighty power that makes the yes, even intol- several annoying'— whole program possible. Electricity is absolutely essen- could tial to this program. This means thousands of new erable characteristics. They jobs and opportunities for men who are properly trained not be touched. One could not even to do electrical work. This is your big opportunity. Get ready NOW for your place in Electricity. get very close to one of them— it was QUICKER, EASIER WAY* as if they were surrounded by a fric- Here at Coyne you can get 12 weeks of practical shop training on real electrical machinery similar to that used tionless pellucid wall of glass. Vor- in many defense factories. You learn airplane ignition, wind armatures, do house-wiring, learn power plant oper- tex pistols had no effect on them. ation, etc. I make it easy for you to learn. You “Learn passively to ar- By Doing”, not by books . . . not a correspondence They would submit course. You don’t need previous experience or advanced rest but somehow they never stayed education. Expert instructors guide your every step. in jail. Worst of all, it had become

certain that a temple of Mota could I not only give you the RIGHT KIND OF TRAINING, but I go much further: I make it easy to get that training* not, under any circumstances, be in- NOW. You can get Coyne training today even if you don’t have a lot of money. You can get your training first—then pay for it in 12 monthly payments starting 60 days after spected by a PanAsian. your training period ends. If you need part-time work to help out with living expenses my employment department It was not to be tolerated. will help you get it. Lifetime employment service after you graduate. GET MY STORY It was not tolerated. The Prince Don’t let lack of money keep you from sending the coupon NOW. My Big FREE Book is full of facts and photograph* Royal himself ordered the arrest of which tell all about Coyne training and what it can mean to> YOU . . . how you can get this training NOW, and pay for it later. I want to send you this free book. I want you to Ardmore. know how Coyne has helped others and how it can help you even if you don’t have much money. Send for all It was not done as crudely as that. the facts. No obligation. No salesmen will call. Don't delay — Temple Mail coupon today. Word was sent to the Mother COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL that the Grandson of Heaven de- 500 S. Paulina St. Dapt. 11-45 Chicago, Mlimo'hs sired the High Priest of the Lord LI ft Ml Extra 4-Weeks' RADIO Course Mota to attend him. The message HU VI At No Extra Tuition Charge reached Ardmore in his office in the MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY H. C. LEWIS, President, COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL ii Citadel, delivered to him by his 500 S. Paulina St., Dept. 1 -45, Chicago, 111. Please send me your Big FREE Book and all the facts Chief of Staff, Kendig, who for the about Coyne, and tell me about your plana to help fellows like me get ahead. first time in their relationship showed signs of agitation. “Chief,” he burst out, “a battle cruiser has CITY. landed in front of the temple, and 144 the commanding officer says he has Learn this orders to take you along!” Ardmore put down the papers he Profitable had been studying. Hm-m-m,” he Profession said, “it looks like we’re getting down to the slugging. A little bit earlier than I had counted on.” He frowned. In 90 Days at Home “What are you going to do about t it?” Hundreds of men and women of all ages 18-50 make $10.00' to scientific 1 $20.00 in a single day giving Swedish Massage and treatments. is big demand from “You know my methods. What I Hydro-Therapy There a Hospitals, Sanitariums, Clubs, Doctors and private patients as | I well as opportunities for establishing your own office. do you think I’ll do about it?” I Learn this intespsting money-making profession in your own home home study course. Same instructors I by mail, through our “Well— I guess you’ll probably las in our NATIONALLY KNOWN resident school. A diploma * completion of the course. Course can be is awarded upon go along with him—but it worries completed in 3 to 4 months. High School train- ing is not necessary. Many earn big money while me. I wish you wouldn’t.” learning. Anatomy Charts & Booklet FREE “What else can I do? We aren’t Enroll now and we will include uniform coat, ready yet for an open breach; a re- medical dictionary, patented reducing roller and Hydro-Therapy supplies without extra cost. The fusal would be out of character. reducing course alone may be worth many times the modest tuition fee. Orderly!” Send coupon now for Anatomy Charts and booklet containing photographs and letters from successful “Yes, sir!” graduates. These will all be sent postpaid—FREE. “Send my striker in. Tell him full THE College of Swedish Massage Dept. 894, 30 E. Adams St., Chicago. robes and paraphernalia. Then pre- You may send me FREE and postpaid. Anatomy Charts, booklet con- taining photographs and letters from graduates, and complete details sent my compliments to Mr. Thomas of your offer. and ask him to come here at once.” Name . — — , Address “Yes, sir.” The orderly was al-

City— - .. Stale ready busy with the reflectophone. Ardmore talked with Kendig and Thomas as his striker robed him. “Jeff, here’s the sack—you're hold-

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in the staff before this if I hadn’t needed you as Chief of Intelligence.” Ardmore glanced in a mirror and with my improved outfit. Makes de- brushed at his curly blond beard. licious Chips at low cost. A few hours practice does it. Begin any- They had all grown beards, all those where—city, village, town. Potatoes cheap and plentiful. Wholesale or who appeared in public as priests. retail. Steady year ‘round business. Groceries, markets, restaurants, It tended to give the comparatively taverns do the retailing for you. Start Your Own Business hairless Asiatics a feeling of Croat quantities of Chips are womanly •aten daily. Profit large— unusu- ally so. You can start this inferiority while at the same time money making business SMALL outlay of cash. Write arousing a vague unallocated repug- for Potato Chip Booklet. LONG-EAKINS CO., 140-S High St., Springfield, Oh I® nance. “You may have noticed that SIXTH COLUMN 14.9 no one holding a line commission has look about seven feet tall with con- ever heen made senior to you. I sequent unfavorable effect on the had this eventuality in mind.” psyche of the Asiatics. But Scheer “How about Calhoun?” had seen the possibility of conceal- “Oh, yes—Calhoun. Your com- ing a short range transmitter and mission as a line officer automatically receiver under the turban as well; makes you senior to him, of course. they were now standard equipment. But I’m afraid that won’t cut much He settled the turban with his ice in handling him. You just have hands, made sure that the bone con- to deal with him as best you can. duction receiver was firm against his You’ve got force majeure at your mastoid, and spoke in natural low disposal, but go easy. But I don’t tones, apparently to no one, “Com- have to tell you that.” manding officer—testing.” Apparently inside his head, a A messenger, dressed as an aco- voice, muffled but distinct, answered lyte, huried in and saluted. “Sir, him, “Communication watch officer the temple officer of the watch says —test check.” that the PanAsian commander is “Good,” he approved. “Have getting very impatient.” direction finders crossed on me until “Good. I want him to be. Are further notice. Arrange your cir- the subsonics turned on?” cuits to hook me in through the near- “Yes, sir; they make us all very est temple to headquarters here. I nervous.” may want Circuit A at any mo- “You can stand it; you know what ment.” it is. Tell the watch officer to have Circuit A was a general broadcast the engineer on duty vary the vol- ;o every temple in the country. “Any ume erratically with occasional com- news from Captain Downer?” plete let-ups. I want those Asiatics “One just this moment came in, to be fit to be tied by the time I get sir. I’ve just sent it to your office,” there.” the inner voice informed him. “Yes, sir. Any word to the cruiser “So? Yes, I see.” Ardmore commander?” stepped to his desk, flipped a switch “Not directly. Have the watch which turned off a shining red trans- officer tell him that I am at my de- parency reading Priority, and tore votions and can't be disturbed.” a sheet of paper from the facsimile “Very good, sir.” The messenger recorder. trotted away. This was Something “Tell the Chief,” the message ran, like! He would hang around where “that something is about to bust. he could see the face of that yellow I can’t find out what it is, but, all skunk when he heard that one! the brass-hats are looking very “I’m glad we got these new head- cocky. Watch everything and be sets fitted out in time,” Ardmore ob- careful.” That was all, and that served as his striker fitted his turban little possibly garbled in word of to his head. mouth relay. The turbans had originally been intended simply to conceal the mech- Ardmore frowned and pursed his anism which produced the shining mouth, then signaled his orderly. halo which floated above the heads “Send for Mr. Mitsui.” of all priests of Mota. The turban When Mitsui came in Ardmore and the halo together made a priest handed him the message. “I sup- ” ” ”

146 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION pose you’ve heard that I am to be His attendants fanned out as they arrested?” neared the great archway; he “It’s all over the place,” Mitsui marched out and up to the fuming acknowledged soberly, and handed Asiatic alone. “Your master wishes the message back. to see me?” “Frank, if you were Prince Royal, The Pan Asian had difficulty in what would you be trying to ac- composing himself sufficiently to complish by arresting me?” speak in English. Finally he man- “Chief,” protested Mitsui, distress aged to get out, “You are ordered— to in his eyes, “you act as if I were— one report to me. How dare you of those . . . those murdering Ardmore cut him short. “Does “Sorry but still want your ad- — I your master wish to see me?” vice.” — “Decidedly! Why didn’t you “Well— I guess I’d be intend- “Then you escort me to him.” ing to put you on ice, then clamp may down on your church.” He moved on past the officer and marched down the steps, giving the “Anything else?” Asiatics the alternatives of running “I don’t know. I don’t guess I’d to catch up with him, or trailing be doing it unless I was fairly sure after. The commander of the cruiser that I had some way to get around obeyed his first impulse to hurry, your protections.” nearly fell on the broad steps, and “No, I suppose so.” He spoke concluded by bringing up ignomini- again to the air. “Communication ously in the rear, his guard attend- office, priority for Circuit A.” ing him. “Direct, or relay?”

“You send it out. I want every Ardmore had been in the city priest to return to his temple, if he chosen by the Prince Royal as his is now out of it, and I want him to capital before, but not since the Asi- do it fast. Priority, urgent, acknowl- atics had moved in. When they de- edge and report.” He turned back barked on the municipal landing to those with him. platform he looked about him with

“Now for a bite to eat, and I’ll concealed eagerness to see what go. Our yellow friend upstairs ought changes had been made. The sky- to be about done to a turn by then. ways seemd to be running—prob- Anything else we should take up be- ably because of the much higher fore 1 leave?” percentage of Asiatic population here. Otherwise there was little ap- Ardmore entered the main hall parent change. The dome of the of the temple from the door in the State capitol was visible away to the rear of the altar. His approach to right; he knew it to be the palace of the great doors, now standing open, the warlord. They had done some- was a stately progress. He knew thing to its exterior; he could not that the Asiatic commander could put his finger on the change but it see him coming; he covered the two no longer looked like Western archi- hundred yards with leisured dignity, tecture. attended by a throng of servers clad He was too busy for the next few in robes of red, of green, of blue, and minutes to look at the city. His golden. His own vestments were guard, now caught up with him and immaculate white. surrounding him, marched him to ” ” ” ”

SIXTH COLUMN 147

the escalator and down into the bur- tirely to his liking, but he felt that rows of the city. They passed his advisers were hysterical old through many doors, each with its women. When had a slave religion guard of soldiers. Each guard pre- proved anything but an aid to the sented arms to Ardmore’s captor as conqueror? Slaves needed a wailing the party passed. Ardmore solemnly wall; they went into their temples, returned each salute with a gesture prayed to their gods to deliver them of benediction, acting as if the from oppression, and came out to salute had been intended for him work in the fields and factories, re- and him alone. His custodian was laxed and made harmless by the indignant but helpless; it soon de- emotional catharsis of prayer. veloped into a race to see which “But,” one of his advisers had could acknowledge a salute first. The pointed out, “it is always assumed commander won, but at the cost of that the gods do nothing to answer saluting his startled juniors first. those prayers.” Ardmore took advantage of a long That was true; no one expected unbroken passageway to check his a god to climb down off his pedestal

communications. “Great Lord and actually perform. “What, if any- Mota,” he said, “Dost thou hear thing, has this god Mota done? Has thy servant?” The commander anyone seen him?” glanced at him, but said nothing. “No, Serene One, but— The muffled inner voice answered “Then what has he done?” at once, “Got you, Chief. You are “It is difficult to say. It is impos- hooked in through the temple in the sible to enter their temples— capitol.” It was Thomas’ voice. “Did I not give orders not to dis- “The Lord Mota speaks, the serv- turb the slaves in their worship?” ant hears. Truly it is written that The Prince’s tones were perilously little pitchers have long ears— sweet. “You mean the monkeys can over- “True, Serene One, true,” he was hear you?” hastily assured, “nor have they been, but your secret police have been to- “Yea verily, now and forever. tally unable to enter in order to The Lord Mota will understand ig- check up for you, no matter how pay atinlay?” cleverly they were disguised.” “Sure, Chief pig latin. Take it — “So? Perhaps they were clumsy. slow if you can.” What stopped them?” “At-thay is oodgay. Ore-may at- The adviser shook his head. “That erlay.” Satisfied, he desisted. Per- is the point, Serene One. None can haps the PanAsians had a mike and remember what happened.” a recorder on him even now. He “What is that you say? but that hoped so, for he thought it would — give them a useless headache. A is ridiculous. Fetch me one to ques- tion.” man has to grow up in a language to be able to understand it scrambled. The adviser spread his hands. “I regret, sire— The Prince Royal had been im- “So? Of course, of course—peace pelled by curiosity as much as by be to their spirits.” He smoothed concern when he ordered the appre- an embroidered silken panel that hension of the High Priest of Mota. streamed down his chest. While It was true that affairs were not en- he thought, his eye was caught by AST— 10 ” — —

148 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION ornately and amusingly carved chess- the land of our fathers.” men set lip on a table at his elbow. “No doubt you have found means Idly he tried a pawn in a different to discourage such requests?” square. No, that was not the solu- “Yes, Serene One, but it has only tion; white to move and checkmate resulted in a greater number of hon- in four moves—that took five. He orable suicides among those thrown turned back. “It might be well to in contact with the priests of Mota. tax them.” — I fear to say it, but such contact “We have already tried seems to weaken the spirit of your “Without my permission?” The children.” Prince’s voice was gentler than be- “Hin-m-m. T think, yes, I think fore. Sweat showed on the face of that I will see this High Priest of the other. Mota.” “If it were an error. Serene One, “When will the Serene One see we wished the error to be ours.” him?”

“You think me capable of error?” “That I will tell you. In the Prince of The was the author the meantime, let it be said that my doc- standard text on the administration tors, if they have not lived too many of subject races, written while a years and passed their usefulness, young provincial governor in India. will be able to duplicate and coun- “Very well, we will pass it. You teract any science the barbarians taxed them, heavily I presume may have.” what then?” “The Serene One has spoken.” “They paid it, sire.” “Triple it.” The Prince Royal watched with “I am sure they would pay it, great interest as Ardmore ap- for—” proached him. The man walked “Make it tenfold. Set it so high without fear. And, the Prince was they can not pay it.” forced to admit, the man had a cer- “But Serene One, that is the point. tain dignity about him, for a bar- gold is The with which they pay barian. This would be interesting. chemically pure. Our doctors of What was that shining thing around temporal wisdom tell us that this his head—an amusing conceit, that. gold is made, transmuted. There is Ardmore stopped before him and no limit to the tax they can pay. pronounced a benediction, hand In fact,” he went on hurriedly, “it — raised high. Then “You asked that is our opinion, subject always to the I visit you. Master.” correction of superior wisdom”-—he — “So I did.” Was the man un- bowed quickly “that this is not a aware that he should kneel? religion at all, but scientific forces of an unknown sort!” Ardmore glanced around. “Will “You are suggesting that these the Master cause his servants to barbarians have greater scientific at- fetch me a chair?” tainments than the Chosen Race?” Really, the man was delightful “Please, sire, they have something, regrettable that he must die. Or and that something is demoralizing would it be possible to keep him your people. The incidence of hon- around the palace for diversion? Of orable suicide has climbed to an course, that would entail the deaths alarming high, and there have been of all who had watched this scene far too many petitions to return to and perhaps more such expedient 148

deaths later, if his delicious vagaries continued. The Prince concluded that it was not the initial cost, but the upkeep. He raised a hand. Two scandal- ized menials hastened up with a stool. Ardmore sat down. His eye rested on the chess table by the Prince. The Prince followed his glance and inquired, “Do you play the Battle Game?” “A little, Master.” “I will teach you Finger Print this “How would you solve prob- Identification — Firearms lem?” Indentification— Police Pho- tography—and Secret Serv- over Ardmore got up and stood ice V* That’s what I told the the board. He studied it for a few men who now handle the good jobs listed in the col- moments, while the Oriental watched umn at the right. Give me a him. The courtiers were as silent chance and I'll train YOU to fill an important posi- as the pieces on the board—-wait- tion in the fascinating ing. field of scientific crime detection. “I would move this pawn—so,” Ardmore announced at last. TRAINED THE MEN “In such a fashion? That is a Here are a jar of the WHO THEN 600 bureaus headed by most unorthodox move.” GOT THESE our students a ad grad- uates. “But necessary. From there it is BIG JOBS STATE BUREAU OF mate in three moves—but, of course, DELAWARE GET IN NOW! STATE BUREAU OF the Master sees that.” But don’t be misled. Scien- FLORIDA “Of course. Yes, of course. But tific crime detection is not STATE BUREAU OF simple. It’s a science—a real which requires very MAINE I did not fetch you here for chess,” science, special training. I teach you STATE BUREAU OF he added, turning away. “We must this science so that you should MICHIGAN be competent to do the work STATE BUREAU OF speak of other matters. I learn with of a thoroughly trained em- NEW MEXICO ployee in a bureau of identifi- STATE BUREAU OF sorrow that there have been com- cation, for the rest of your RHODE ISLAND life. I give you something no- plaints about your followers.” body can ever take from you. STATE BUREAU OF SOUTH CAROLINA “The Master’s sorrow is my sor- LOOK AT THE RECORD! STATE BUREAU OF 47% of ALL Identification Bu- TEXAS row. May the servant ask in what reaus in the United States are headed by our students and STATE BUREAU OF manner his children have erred?” graduates. They have regular UTAH But the Prince was again studying jobs—salaries—often collect re- LINCOLN, NEBRASKA ward money — and many of CONCORD, N. H. these men knew absolutely noth- the chessboard. He raised a finger; ALBANY, N. Y. ing about this work before they a servant was kneeling beside him began their training with me. TRENTON, N. J. BLUE BOOK CANTON, OHIO with writing board. He dipped a FREE OF CRIME TULSA, OKLA. brush in ink and quickly executed a This book is full of exciting informa- MOBILE, ALA. tion on scientific crime detection. It PHOENIX, ARIZ. group of ideographs, sealing the let- will show YOU how YOU, at a cost so low you shouldn’t even think of it, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. ter with his ring. The servant bowed can get started without delay. Don't SEATTLE, WASH. wait. Clip coupon . . . send it NOW I himself away, while a messenger sped APPLIED SCIENCE out with the dispatch. INSTITUTE OF 1920 Sunnyside Ave. Dept. 2771 Chicago, III, “What was that? Oh, yes it is — INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE 1920 Sunnyside Ave., Dept. 2771, Chicago that they lack in grace. | reported Gentlemen: Wilhout any obligation on my part, send me Ibe "Blue Book of Crime,” and complete list of 600 bureaus eni- Their manner is unseemly in dealing I ploying your graduates, together *with your low prices and Easy Terms Offer. (Literature will be sent ONLY to persons with the Chosen Ones.” stating their age.) Name “Will the Master help an humble | Address priest by telling him which of his | children have been guilty of lapses —

150 from propriety and in what respects that he may correct them?” This request, the Prince admitted MECPKS to himself, was awkward. In some KNOW You Need manner this uncouth creature had JSlfa managed to put him on the defen- your ‘'"s Book„ sive. He was not used to being CAR asked for details: it was improper. Furthermore there was no answer; New the conduct of the priests of Mota had been impeccable, flawless, in Explained! MW every fashion that could be cited. •HSK '\mvV H Yet his court stood there, waiting, x to hear what answer he would make /

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SIXTH COLUMN lfll policy required that the ruler as- girded themselves for the ordeal, sume that the gods of the slaves each will surrender himself at the were authentic. “The blessing is not threshold of his temple. Until then, refused, but the form of greeting woe to the soldier who attempts to must be that of servant to master.” violate the House of Mota!” “ ’At’s telling ’em, Chief! ’At’s Ardmore was suddenly aware telling ’em! You mean for each that he was being called with ur- temple priest to hold off thirty more the gency. Ringing in his head was minutes, then surrender—is that voice of Thomas: “Chief! Chief! right? And for them to be loaded Can you hear me? There’s a squad for bear, power units, communica- of police at every temple, demand- tors, and all the latest gadgets. ing the surrender of the priests Acknowledge, if you can.” we're getting reports in from all over “In the groove, Jeff.” He had to the country!” chance it —four meaningless syl- Tt was “The Lord Mota hears!” lables to the Prince, but Jeff would addressed to the Prince; would Jeff understand. understand also? “O. K., Chief. I don’t know what — to Jeff again “Was that me, you’re up to, but we’ll go along a Chief?” thousand percent!” followers under- “See to it that his The face of the Prince was a fro- stand.” The Prince had answered zen mask. “Take him away.” too quickly for Ardmore to devise For some minutes after Ardmore another double meaning in which to was gone the Serene One sat staring speak to Thomas. But he knew at the chessboard and pulling at his something that the Prince did not underlip. know he knew. Now to use it “How can I instruct my priests They placed Ardmore in a room when you are even now arresting underground, a room with metal them?” Ardmore’s manner changed walls and massive locks on the door. suddenly from humble to accusatory. Not content with that, he was hardly Prince im- The face of the was inside when he heard a soft hissing passive, his eyes alone gave away noise and saw a point at the edge his astonishment. Had the man of the door turn cherry red. Weld- nature of that dispatch? guessed the ing! They evidently intended to “You speak wildly.” make sure that no possible human “I do not! Even while you have weakness of his guards could re- been instructing me in the way that sult in escape. He called the Cita- I must instruct my priests, your sol- del. diers have been knocking at the “Lord Mota, hear they servant!” gates of all the temples of Mota. “Yes, Chief.” Wait! I have a message to you from wink is as good as a nod.” the Lord Mota: His priests do not “A fear worldy power. You have not “Got you. Chief. You are still succeeded in arresting them, nor where you can be overheard. Slang would you, did not the Lord Mota it up. I’ll get your drift.” bid them to surrender. In thirty ‘The headman witch doctor han- minutes, after the priests have kers to chew the rag with the rest cleansed themselves spiritually and of the sky pilots.” —

W2 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

“You want Circuit A?” tell us later. AH right, Chief— it*3 “Most bodaciously.” time!” There was a brief pause, then “Okey-dokey!” Thomas answered, “O. K., Chief, you’ve got it. I’ll stay cut in to Ardmore waited until he was interpret —it probably won’t be nec- reasonably certain that all the Pan- essary, since the boys have practiced Asians not immediately concerned this kind of double talk. Go ahead with guarding the prisoners would —you’ve got five minutes, if they be asleep, or at least in their quar- are to surrender on time.” ters. What he proposed to do would Any cipher can be broken, any be effective fully only in the event code can be compromised. But the that no one knew just what had hap- most exact academic knowledge of pened. The chances were better at a language gives no clue to its slang, night. its colloquial allusions, its half state- He called Thomas by whistling a ments, over statements, and inverted couple of bars of “Anchors A weigh.” meanings. Ardmore felt logically He responded at once—he had not certain that the PanAsians had gone off duty, but had remained at planted a microphone in his cell. the para radio, giving the prisoners Very well, since they were bound to an occasional fight talk and playing listen to his end of the conversation, records of martial music. “Yes, let- them be confused and baffled by Chief?” it, uncertain whether he spoke in “The time has come to take a gibberish to his god, or had possibly powder. Allee-allee out’s in free!” lost his mind. “Jail break?” “Look, cherubs—mamma wants “In the manner of the proverbial baby to go to the nice man. It’s all Arab—the exact manner.” hunkydory as long as baby-bunting They had discussed this technique carries his nice new rattle. Yea before; Thomas gave itemized in- verily, rattle is the watchword—you structions and then said, “Say when. don’t and they do. Deal this cold Chief.” deck the way it’s stacked and the “When!” chopstick laddies are stonkered and He could almost see Thomas nod. discombobulated. The stiff upper “Right-oh! O. K., troops, get go- lip does it.” ing!” “Check me if I’m wrong, Chief. Ardmore stood up and stretched You want the priests to give them- his cramped limbs. He walked over selves up, and to rattle the Pan- to one wall of his prison and stood Asians by their apparent unconcern. so that the single light cast a shadow You want them to carry it off the on the wall. That would he about way you did, cool as a cucumber, right—there! He set the controls of and bold as brass. I also take it that his staff for maximum range in the you want them to hang on to their primary Ledbetter effect, checked to staffs, but not to use them unless you see that the frequency band covered tell them to. Is that right?” the Mongolian race, and adjusted it “Elementary, my dear Watson!” to stun rather than kill. Then he “What happens after that?” turned on power. “No thirty.” A few moments later he turned it “What’s that? Oh, ‘No thirty’ off, and again regarded his shadow more to come on this story; you’ll on the wall. Tins required an en- . —

SIXTH COLUMN

tirely different setting, directional Outside it was necessary to step and with tine discrimination. He over the piled-up bodies of a dozen turned on the red ray of Dis to or more PanAsian soldiers. This guide him in his work, completed his was not the side of the welded-up set-up, and again turned on power. entrance; he guessed that he would Quietly and without fuss, atoms have found guards outside each and of metal rearranged themselves and any of the four walls, probably floor appeared as nitrogen, to mix harm- and ceiling as well. lessly with the air. Where there had There were more doors to pass, over before been a solid wall was now an . open- more bodies to clamber ing the size and shape of a tall man he found himself outside. "When he dressed in priestly robes. He looked did, he was completely unoriented. at it, and, as an afterthought, he “Jeff,” he called, “where am I?” meticulously traced an ellipse over “Just a second. Chief. You're the head of the representation, an No, we can’t get a fix on you, but ellipse the size and shape of his halo. you are on a line of bearing almost That done, he reset the controls of due south of the nearest temple. Are his staff to that he had used before, you still near the palace?” * turned on power, and stepped “Just outside it.” through the opening. I t was a close “Then head north—it’s about nine fit; he had to wriggle through side- squares.” ways. “Which way is north? I’m all

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154 LATEST SCIENTIFIC turned around. No, wait a minute — I just located the Big Dipper. CRIME DETECTION I’m all right.” METHODS “Hurry, Chief.” Read This Amazing Book 30 DAYS FREE “I will.” He set out at a quick dogtrot, kept it up for a couple of Explains with real cases latest methods of Scientific Crime De- hundred yards, then dropped into a tection finger printing — fire- — fast walk. Damn it, he thought, a arms identification—policepho- _j tography. Takes you on the in- man gets out of condition with all side. Informative—exciting—valu- this desk work. able. Read 30 days free—then send only a dollar if you want to keep this amazing book. Your age must be stated. Ardmore encountered several Asi- T. G. Cooke, Dept 2771, 1920 Sunnyside Ave., Chicago atic police, but they were in no con- dition to notice him; he had kept the primary effect turned on. There High School were no whites about—the curfew was strict —with the exception of a at Home pair of startled street cleaners. It Many Finish in 2 Years in- v&C Go asrapidly aa your timeand abilities per- occurred to him that he should niit. Equivalent to resident school work— to the prepares for entrance to college. Standard H. S. texts duce them to go with him supplied. Diplomas awarded. Credit for H. S. subjects already completed. Single subjects if desired. Free Bulletin on request. temple, but he decided against it; American School, Dept. H-17, Drexel at 58th, Chicago they were in no more danger than a hundred and fifty million others. There was the temple!—its four Lemon Juice Recipe Checks walls glowing with the colors of the Rheumatic Pain Quickly attributes. He broke into a run and burst inside. The local priest was If you suffer from rheumatic or neuritis pain, try this simple inexpensive home recipe. Get a package of Ru-Ex almost at his heels, arriving from the Compound, a two week’s supply, mix it with a quart of water, add the juice of 4 lemons. Often within 48 hours other direction. — sometimes overnight splendid results are obtained. — greeted the priest heartily, sud- If the pains do not quickly leave you, return the empty He package and Ru-Ex will cost you nothing to try. It is denly realizing the strain he had sold under an absolute money-back guarantee. Ru-Ex it Compound is for sale by drug stores everywhere. been under in finding how good was to speak to a man who was white and a comrade. The two of AMAZ- them ducked around back of the CHEAP OIL ING BURNER___ altar and went down below to the WHY COOK OR HEAT With COAL or WOOD Quick Intense heat turn of Slips into Any STOVE, at . control and communication room, valve—no dirt, ashes or drudg-i mir;- RANGEnnnut vior FURNACE,rvnnnvt. ery. Burns ordinary low priced froa flowing oil—no clogging up. pararadio operator and GUARANTEED. - where the SENT ON TRIAL its a opposite, number were almost SSS‘mc7 . his convenience and economical operation. Write for SPECIAL OFFER to agents who will demonstrate and take orders. Wonderful money-maker, spare hysterically glad to see them. They or full time. Write quick—a postal card will do. UNITED FACTORIES, A- 104 Factory Bldg., Kansas City, Mo. offered him black coffee, which he accepted gratefully. Then he told the operator to cut out of Circuit and establish direct two-way con- I Have Special Work A nection with headquarters with re- for Housewives flectophone converted into the cir- cuit. If you need $22.00 in a week—if you appeared to be about to want a beautiful selection of the latest Thomas Spring and Summer Styles for yourself screen. “Whitey!” absolutely Free of extra charge— all with- jump out of the out house-to-house canvassing, experience, or investment, even without interfering he yelled. It was the first time since with your household duties, write me at once giving your dress size and age. Noth- the Collapse that anyone had called ing pay now or at any time. Harford s to Hec*? Frocks, Inc,, Dept. 8-252, Cincinnati. Ohio. Ardmore by his nickname. He was l SIXTH COLUMN 1 «

not even aware that Thomas knew it. “Scheer is all set to fly over and But he felt warmed by the slip. pick you up. He could set her down “Hi, Jeff,” he called to the image, right on the temple roof.” “good to see you. Any reports in “Tell him thanks, but to forget yet?” it. Now you turn it over to the “Some. They are coming in all staff duty officer and get some the time.” sleep.” “Shift to relay through the diocese “Just as you say, Chief.” offices; Circuit A is too clumsy. I He had a midnight lunch with the want a quick report.” local priest and some conversation, It wr as forthcoming. Within less then let the priest show him to a than twenty minutes the last diocese stateroom down underground. had reported in. Every priest was back in his own temple. “Good,” Ardmore was awakened by the he told Thomas. “Now I want the off-duty pararadio operator shak- projector in each temple set for ing him vigorously. “Major Ard- counteraction, and wake all those more! Major! Wake up!”

monkeys up. They ought to be able “Unnh . . . M-m-m-m . . . Wassa- to use a directional concentration matter?” down the line each priest returned “Wake up—the Citadel is calling on, and reach clear back to the local you—urgently!” jailhouse.” “What time is it?” “0. K., if you say so, Chief. May “About eight. Hurry, sir!” I ask why you don’t simply let ’em wake up when the effect wears off?” He was reasonably wide awake reflecto- “Because,” he explained, “if they by the time he reached the simply come to before anybody finds phone. Thomas was there, on the them the effect will be much more other end, and started to talk as soon as devel- mysterious than if they are found he saw Ardmore. “A new apparently dead. The object of the opment, Chief—and a bad one. The whole caper was to break the morale PanAsian police are rounding up of the Asiatics. This increases the every member of our congregations effect.” —systematically.” “Right—as usual, Chief. The “H-m-m-m—it was an obvious word is going out.” next move, I guess. How far along “Fine. When that’s done, have are they?” them check the shielding of their “I don’t know. I called you when temples, turn on the fourteen-cycle the first report came in; they are note, and go to bed—all that aren’t coming in steadily now from all over on duty. I imagine we’ll have a busy the country.” day tomorrow.” “Well, I reckon we had better get “Yes, sir. Aren’t you coming back busy.” It was one thing for a priest, here, Chief?” armed and protected, to risk arrest; Ardmore shook his head. “It’s these people were absolutely help- an unnecessary risk. I can supervise less. just as effectively through the re- “Chief—you remember what they flectophone as I could if I were stand- did after that first uprising? This ing right beside you.” looks bad, Chief—I’m scared!” TO BE CONCLUDED. — •

ess TflOMS

It didn’t take a prophet to tell “Sian" such tactics. “Ah, yes, the bonnie Camp- would be liked. bell laddie is awa’ again.” Ah, yes, and the bonnie Campbell laddie Dear Campbell: was right again. I like the way you run out on limbs and “Sian” is good. It is definitely great call your shots in advance. Not that you’re stuff. It is the stuff which is called clas- always infallible, but at least you pour it sic. It is the unforgettable—the brilliant— on thick when you still can. the ultimate. It is the kind of thing that You promised us something definitely un- justifies science-fiction. usual in Heinlein’s first serial and your first You must like this van Vogt, John. He installment nova, (which you mistakenly is so much of what you are. This fellow ascribed to “Sian” in the September blurb) can slant you like nobody’s business. He’s “If litis Goes On—” and you were right. started where you left off, and lie’s doing It was good. Not magnificent, perhaps, the things you would have done if you but good. You warned us again when hadn’t gotten a job. He’s doing the things Hubbard’s controversial “Final Blackout” I wish more of your writers would do. But was no more than a name, and you were there is only one van Vogt, and there will right again a.s the acclaim lias proved. never be another “Sian.” Every slan-story Better balance, vastly more powerful than the future produces will be weighed against the propaganda story, Hubbard’s yarn, we this one, and will be found wanting, for conceded, would be difficult to beat in 1940. “Sian” lacks nothing. But there is, it seems, a man named van But even you can make mistakes. Your Vogt. The fellow apparently owns a type- infallibility as a writer doesn't hold so true writer. ten fingers well-skilled in its opera- as an editor. You’re better than any of lion and a mind of a brilliance that has not the rest but been directed at the field of science-fiction You pawned something off on us once since I he balycon era of Weinbaum-Smith- called “The Last Hope.” Remember? You Campbell-Williamson and the zenith of im- really had it in for us in those days. While aginative writing. we hung on the ropes, you slugged us with This chap, who, within a single twelve “General Swamp,” and we reeled anew. months had written three or four of that Then came Malcolm’s Marathon of Mental year’s ten best, had apparently finished a Maundering otherwise known as “A Ques- thing called “Sian.” Again the effusive tion of Salvage,” and salvaging was what we blurb—the extravagant promise—the kind both needed, and I am not talking non- of thing we’d grown used to in a year of sense. Come June, and you topped your- ” — —

157 self. Somebody named Drew said nothing loudly for twenty-six pages, and you fed it to us as “The Carbon Eater.” That, John, we thought to be your ultimate low. But little did we anticipate the lean days that lurked ahead; days that would drive you to the nethermost depths of despera- tion. Days that would culminate in the is- sue of December, anno Domini. 1940. Days that would find snatching open the new us MY OFFER IS AMAZING copy of our beloved Astounding to discover Tea—absolutely FREE! $6.00 worth of ac- such gems of frowzy incompetence as “Old tual full size packages of famous Zanol Food, Grocery, and Household Products! I Man Mulligan” and “Spheres.” Daze make this exciting offer to every man and Fiction evolves of its own volition, not woman who wants to earn money in spare or full time taking orders for more than 201) generally through an effort by the editor necessities. Don’t wait. Rush your name and address today and don’t send one penny. to manufacture trends. Mutants and Nothing to pay us for these products now or thought-variants and social significance and any time. man-unarmed-and-naked against a naked- MAKE MONEY EASY WAY raw-and-seldom-mild nature are O. K., but NO EXPERIENCE—SPARE TIME did you ever try to manufacture a cake out Thousands of men and women everywhere are earning welcome cash easily with my vast of eggs? You end up with an omelet. line of Home Needs—Coffee, Tea, Spices, Toilet Articles, Soaps, etc. Even without “Sian” saved you in December, but I experience you can MAKE MONEY as my hope you stop this pressing. It’s doing Dealer in your town. I equip you fully with actual products FREE is it the right something to Astounding, but to try and show— and even give you liberal thing? You need the stability of the old credit. Just see your friends and neighbors with my thrilling values and Premium Of- faithfuls, Williamson and Smith and your fers, amazing lc Sales, and other Bargain Specials. own unbeatable self, which only van Vogt SEND NO MONEY! alone among the new writers typifies, to Just write today—now—and say you want to keep the name of pseudo-science from de- make money for yourself with Zanol Food and Household Products. That’s all! Get generating into pseudo-pseudo-science. my big assortment of $6.00 worth of actual full size products FREE! Send no money. I still contend that 1940 was beaten by But write me TODAY. 1939. Even “Sian” and “Final Blackout” ZANOL, 3673 Monmouth, Cincinnati, O. can’t surpass “Crucible of Power,” “Cloak

of Aesir,” “Black Destroyer,” “Greater RAILWAY (GOVERNMENT l^V^/OSTOFRCE | MAIL Than Gods,” “Discord in Scarlet,” and CLERK CARRIER “Gray Lensman.” In fact, Hubbard’s and van Vogt’s serials are the only 1940 stuff that can be mentioned in the same breath with ’39’s mighty array. 1940 emerges thus: “Sian” “Final Blackout” “Hindsight” — “If This Goes On “Farewell to the Master” “Vault of the Beast” “Coventry” “The Stars Look Down” “The Testament of Akubii” “Neutral Vessal” START —Carl H. Anderson, Traverse City, Michi- -gan. $1260 to $2100 YEAR Men—Women Thousands appointments . ^Franhlin Institute De Camp is a born scholar with a sense each year / Dept. Ml 194 of humor. In the Middle Ages he’d Prepare NOW for ' Rochester, N. Y. 1941 Examinations have been a scholar and burned at the Gentlemen : Rush to me 32 Page © FREE of charge, list of stake as the only adequate answer to U. S. Government big pay Civil Service fobs. Semi me FREE 32- Book tj his joy in poking holes in “the authori- > page book describing sala- Mail Coupon ries, vacations, hours and ties." Today work. Tel) me liow to qualify SURE ' for one of these j,obs. Dear Sir: Name . Here’s another one of those “old-reader- writing-in-for-the-first-time” letters. For a ’ Address . ? —

158 long time I regarded Astounding as an up- start, but since you have taken over the JUST OUT! editorship it has unquestionably led the field. Perhaps the most interesting change in the magazine since then is the gradual recognition of the importance of psychology and the social sciences to supplement the physical sciences. Surely Astounding offers today a much realistic intelligent EVERY more and RADIO approSch to stories than any other maga- MECHANIC — Service Man zine in the field; this approach gives a sur- and Student Needs “Audels prisingly enhanced entertainment value, and Radi omans certainly is Guide” much more satisfying to the Just Out! mind. The whole sub- ject of Modern Now for the Analytical Laboratory: Radio covering the 1. “Sian” Basic Princi- ples — Con- 2. “Fog” struction and O peration — 3. “Old Alan Mulligan” Ser vice — Repairs — 4. “Legacy” Troubles— 5. “Spheres” All Easily Understood The articles—may their line increase! Over 750 Pages. 400 illustrations. Parts an d Diagrams — are not included in the above, but 1 think LATE TELEVISION DATA— they both rate between second and third Valuable for REFERENCE AND HOME STUDY place. One of Astounding’s best points is To get this practical information in handy form your ability to get well-written and worth- for yourself just fill in and mail coupon today. while articles written really COMPLETE • PAY ONLY $1 A MONTH! by men who TIME©. AUDEL A CO., Publishers, 49 W. 23rd STREET, N. y" know their stuff. Say, wliat is this fellow Mail AUDELS NEW RADIOMANS GUIDE for free examination. If O. K. I will aendl you $1 in 7 days; then remit $1 monthly until price of $4 is paid. Otherwise, de Camp, anyway? One who gets the im- I will return it. \ pression that investigating the interesting

Address- aspects of familiar and unfamiliar knowl-

Occupation edge is his whole life’s work. “Sian.” I quite rence SS41 A word about note a few comments wondering why you rated it STUDY AT HOME so highly in advance. I was in that camp, Legally trained men win high- too, even after reading the last installment; er positions and bigger suc- that is, until I turned to read Ihe cess In business and public and whole 'e. Greater opportunities now than serial ever before. Big: corporations ara thing without breaks. Only then does ;aded by men with legal training. the whole power and strength of “Sian” be- More Ability: More Prestige: More Money We guide you step by step. You can train at hom® come fully apparent. during spare time. Degree of LL. B. Successful .graduates in every section of the U. S. We furniBb " text material, including 14-volume Law Library. Low cost, easy Willey’s gem is outstanding. It is ap- terms. Get our valuable 48-page ‘ ‘I^aw Training for Leadership” and Evidence books FREE. Send for them NOW. parent when an author knows whereof he LaSalle Extension University, Dept. 165-L, Chicaeo A Correspondence Institution speaks. On the whole, however, the last two issues are not quite up to the October is- sue: in which, by the way. I was sorry not PH0T0-RING5 to see “White Alutiny” place higher. It and “Admiral's Inspection” are darn good NEWEST SENSA- Special TION! Send any snap- stories and were written by someone who photo and shot or is acquainted with the military. Didn't we’ll reproduce it in this beautiful onyx- 48c Jameson have an article on guns in space like rins. Indestructible! Waterproof! warfare some time ago? Aly files are two size. Pay postman plus a po-Tage. REX PHOTO RING CO., hundred miles away, but I seem to remem- (Canadians Send Money Orders) ber that.—Robert Featherstone, 1087 15th Avenue S. E., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Send for my 50c book, how to develop

STRONG ShouIders^H^

with 20 full pages of illustrations, showing Nomination seconded— and fully describing exercises that will quickly develop, beautify and make you gain great strength in your Shoulders, Arms, Wrists, Dear Air. Campbell: Hands and Fingers. Without Any Apparatus I have just finished writing a rather long This is really a remarkable course of Physi- and turgid letter in praise of a story. Be- cal Culture exercises. Don’t fail to send for it NOW. 25e coin or 30c U. S. Stamps. cause 1 know that the writing of that let- A. BARKER, (Studio SS,) 1235 Sixth Ave., NX C. ter does not affect my supreme enjoyment Individual instruction at my Physical Culture studio, for Health and Strength. of that story, and out of respect of the — —

BRASS TACKS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSIONS 15$

fact that editors are busy men, I have de- joyable in whatever book it appears. The cided to say this: author has that disgusting habit of at- For the ten best stories of the year I taching a prologue to his yarns—this is the nominate “SLAN.”—Dick Wortman, 842 second I’ve read—telling ho-w all that is to East 97th Street, Seattle, Washington. follow' is gospel and to be believed. I’m left in the quandary of trying to decide whether he means it—and there I shudder —or if he’s just being subtly clever, where- History of the future. upon I smile indulgently up my sleeve along with him. Do consider these nerves. Dear Editor Campbell: Last, but I’d hardly say least, is “Sun- To my gTeat disappointment I discov- spot Purge,” a story whose type is rarely ered—all too late—that “Sian” has four used in the Campbell opus. The careful parts and not three. Now for another plan and logical—if chilling—conclusion month of weary waiting. It seems good made it a dilly.—C. Hidley, New' York, from sight. New' York. Vic Phillips, whose first yarn was such a great flop, has in “Salvage” a really fine, true-to-life novelette, another in the series To date, sociology is too largely based on of recent sociological epics that do so much political faiths rather than logic. to give view to the “history of the future.” “Rim of the Deep” gave the ocean-floor Dear Mr. Campbell: “pioneers” a break; “Cold” depicted race Maybe Mr. Zollinger really wanted an suspicion and avarice with a dash of sci- ansrver—specifically. If so, he can find it ence “ground-breaking” tossed in; “Roads explained rather entertainingly by Hogben Must Roll,” transportation and economics; in “Mathematics for the Million”—W. W, “General Swamp, CIC,” the inevitable war Norton, 1937—first chapter, pp. 16-19. to sever the ties of the home country Found elsewhere also, but that is as de- Berger brought out the obvious relations lightful an explanation as I have found to the American Revolution cleverly; the both of Zeno’s Paradox and of the differ- same idea occurred to me as I read that ence between the point of view' of our pre- rather dull serial. Then there were “If scient ific ancestors and what we are pleased This Goes On” and “Coventry” to show the to call the scientific attitude of the twen- progress of radical governmental “isms”; tieth century. “Blowups Happen” and “Crisis in Utopia” Speaking of today’s scientific attitude to depict the strange paths that the sci- in practice—so you publish “undemocratic” ences will take. “Sculptors of Life,” “The stories, Mr. Campbell, and you are guilty Idealist” and on, and on and on. of “pro-war propaganda” and “anti-w'ar The odd life-forms of Venus were sym- propaganda” simultaneously! And the pathetically portrayed in “Salvage,” and Comrades and the Patriots both will get the characterization was not of the slushy you if you don’t watch out. kind. Too, the drama of the situations can get aw'ay with protest- and the well-handled suspense did much to Think you ing that Hubbard, Heinlein, et al., were make this a thrilling story—a story, no social theories? Galileo pro- doubt, that poor, suffering children of a not arguing tested that he was not arguing religious few centuries hence will moan over as dull history. theories, also. His opponents did not agree. “The Exalted” is second. I cannot say that I enjoyed this return engagement of To be sure, to present a rounded, three- Johnny Black, but because of the spots dimensional story moving in time, you must of humor throughout, and because of that permit an author freedom to imagine a so- indescribably fecund wealth of imagination cial setting—v'hatever social setting goes that creates machines of such sound prac- with his story. To be sure, it gives. a more ticability that 1 wonder why they are not interesting story. That is irrelevant. Out- on the shelves of storekeepers, I find that side considerations are always irrelevant, it deserves the merit that all fans usually when a man’s sacred doctrines are touched. laud de Camp with, in the past and pres- When social theories are no longer sa- ent, and no doubt in the future. Cartier’s cred doctrines, then we may hope that the drawings for this are fine. scientific attitude will eventually touch the The third tale, “One Was Stubborn,” is field of social relations, too—and didn’t it decidedly Unknown material, but very en- give you a thrill that “Final Blackout” 160 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION ranked high? I wanted to cheer, myself. Maybe there are more adult readers among' us than most of us had previously thought. if —W. K. Yerniaud, 203 Du Page St., Michi- gan City, Ind. Resisting temptation, I will make no puns. This concerns scent, sound and Wonder how many readers spotted Kier sight movies. Grey as Kathleen’s father ? Two at least did — Dear Mr. Campbell: , 1 know I believe that reality recently forged Dear Mr. Campbell: ahead of science-fiction stories, at least to So last night I drip in to see Elmer Per- my knowledge of the latter subject, anil I due it was raining and I say to him, — — think that science-fiction readers and writ- well, where do you think the Sian head- ers alike may be interested to get an eye- quarters is? And he says to me. what do and nose-witness report about that thing. you think John Petty is? Or Kier Grey? “Reality,” in this case, refers to a new And I say, I have an idea, but I’m almost invention in the realm of movie making. too scared to say it. And Lester del Rey The date of the event was October 10, 1940, comes in and says, how about the tendril- early in the afternoon, and the place was less Slans? And what relationship between Kathleen and Kier Grey? the auditorium in the Swiss Pavilion at Fair. It the We talk about supermen in general, and the New York World’s was first showing of the first “scented” movie, decide that van Vogt is quite correct in of the not assigning the slans higher intelligence, and I feel certain that everyone been permitted for intelligence as an abstract quality re- twenty-odd people who had to be present were as amazed as I was. ally does not exist in psychology. What it appears to be is intensified powers of con- While I am sure that this new type of centration, and an ease of reducing synapse movie will probably be called "smellies” resistance to form nervous patterns. very soon and that the {>oor jokes and Which brings ns to L. Sprague de puns to be made will be somewhat annoy- Camp’s synapse resistance reducer. I sort ing, I harbor the belief that that date will of wonder about it. When you give a cat later be called a turning point in the tech- an overdose of strychnine, resistance is de- nique of movie making. As the term stroyed in every synapse of the cat’s body, “scented” movie implies, the new invention so that any stimulus applied anywhere pro- consists of an attachment which releases the duces the maximum response everywhere. proper scents at the proper moment. The It is a total short circuit. Partial lower- effects are close to miraculous; in various ing would, perhaps, bring a condition where instances the sense of taste seemed to be synapse patterns are very easily formed, so added, too. I, at least, had the illusion of that a person could play a composition on tasting peaches when I saw them on the the piano once and have it memorized, in- screen and smelled a strong scent of fresh stead of requiring many repetitions to cre- peaches at the same time. ate the pattern. Some people can do that, The title of the movie was “My Dream,” you know. If the effect were general, it which is the name of a perfume that is that single thing the would mean every characteristic for the heroine of the play. >erson saw, heard, or felt would be forever 3 The play itself—duration about thirty-five memorized. It would be a lovely thing to minutes—is puny and there is no need to he able to turn on and off at will. But it tell the story; the plot was very evidently is different the effect somewhat from de designed to crowd as many “smelly” situa- obtains. uses another Camp Probably be tions into one half hour as possible. You line of reasoning. see the heroine walking through a flower stories. “Sian” is way So. to rate way, garden. Walking with her you smell the is Exalted,” with “One up. Next “The Was various flower!>eds, occasionally even be- Stubborn” not too far behind. “Salvage” fore you cau see them. You follow the hero was not so hot, and “Sunspot Purge” was when he is searching for his girl, equipped pretty terrible. Did you put it in to show with the addresses of all the people in us how corny a typical story of vintage the same name. Thus you 1931 appeared beside modern stuff?— Zuerich bearing Milton A. Rothman, 1730 P, NW, Wash- get into a butcher shop—and smell a col- ington, D. C. lection of choice garlic sausages. You get — m

161 into a carpenter’s workshop and are im- mersed in the smell of wood. You finally land in a beekeeper’s place who is just then busy filling honey in glass jars and the strong smell of fresh honey makes you wish ardently for griddle cakes and coffee. Contains Important Facts That the plot of the movie was puny was and Essential Information I amply excused by the fact that it was made WELDING METHODS just for the purpose of demonstrating the WELDERS technique. Well, you do not ordinarily ex- OXY-ACETYLEWI perience fifty different smells in half as THERMIT many minutes, and that the scents were UNiQAfMELT SHEET METAL generally a bit too strong was blamed on the small size of the auditorium. It w7 as said that the machinery was designed for a full-sized cinema.

The movie itself was, to a certain ex- tent, a war casualty. It was made espe- cially for America—as evidenced by the fact that the actors, or rather their voice Every Welder Should Own This New, Useful Book containing clear; doubles, talked good American all l lie way concise, practical information, pointers and facts relating to modern through—and was originally supposed to he practice in all Branches. Easy to read and understand — over 400 pages Fully Illustrated —flexible cover — pocket size —a Beady Ref- in technicolor. Due to the war no such erence that Answers Your Questions accurately— Money Back if film was available in Switzerland and neigh- not O.K. To get this assistance for yourself, order copy today. boring countries so that it was finally pro- THEO.AUDEL, Publishers, 49 W. 23rd St- New York duced on ordinary black-and-white film. I Please mail AUDELS WELDERS GUIDE (Price $11. If satisfactory, I will remit $1 on its safe arrival, otherwise 1 will return the book. like to add that one gets used to accom- panying smells very quickly. Near the end Name of the film you see a waiting elderly gentle- Address his newspaper puffing his man reading and Occupation. _ cigar rather angrily. You are surprised and Employed by SS41 somewhat disappointed that you do not smell the smoke. As the inventors told me this lack of tobacco MAGIC after the performance odor is neither due to an oversight nor to technical difficulties in the production of DISC this scent, but was. done on purpose, to HEATS WATER the reaction of the public. test IN 60 SECONDS The inventors are both Swiss, their names Millions need Speed King—gives you hot. water are Hans E. Laube and Robert Barth. I fast and cheap. Drop into any pan of water plug into socket—in 60 seconds you have hot was told that the principle was discovered water. Rush your name for sample offer for use or demonstrator. Plenty cash profits for agents. more or less accidentally during the course No money. Just send name. Postcard will do. FOR AGENTS. DES moines, iowa SEND NAME! Ntf-WAYWfl I mru.R/IFfi P.fl MU bU. y Dept. 361, Walnut Bldg. Draftsmen Needed in All Lines Architectural • Automotive • Aviation Diesel • Electrical • Structural • Mechanical The Draftsman is the connecting link be- tween the Mechanic and Engineer— earns exceptionally good pay—enjoys wonderful op- portunities for promotion. Steady work because everything built or made starts with drawings. Employment Service FREE to Students Learn quickly at home in spare time. • No experience or artistic talent need- ed. School established 1897. Low tui- / tion. Monthly payments. Write TO- [L_ DAY for FREE Bulletin and facts fef about Selective Employment Service. ' No obligation. Address American School, Dept. DD- 17 ss PrexeB Ave. at S8th St., Chicago, III. 101 1" —

1612 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING of industrial research undertaken with a completely different goal in mind. Photo Finishing—Developing To lie frank I had never believed in the ^FREE—ONE ROLL DEVELOPED AND PRINTED FREE. Just possibility of scented movies, although the to get acquainted, we will beautifully develop and print your first f> to 16 exposure roll Free plus 5x7 inch enlargement Free, also idea came up in discussions with engineers sensational, new folding folio to frame your prints, all free with this ad. (Enclosing 10c for handling and mailing appreciated.) or movie people in general every once in a Deaii Stud ios, Dept. 1024, Des Moine s, Iowa. while. I had always maintained that l BOLLS DEVELOPED—25c coin. Two 5x7 Double Weight Pro- fessional Enlargements, 8 Gloss Deckle Edge Prints. Club Photo could imagine that it might be possible to i Service, Pep t. . 17, LaCrosse , W s consin. produce assorted smells to 8 ENLARGEMENTS and films developed, 116 size or smaller, everyday and Offer: Enclose this ad and negative 25c coin. Special Introductory bottle them up “for immediate release.” I with your order for double weight hand colored Enlargements Free.

Enlarge Photo, Box 791, Dept. SS . Boston, Mas s. had also _ said that I did not think it difficult DOUBLE SIZE PRINTS. Roll developed. 8 prints all enlarged to design an to nearly postcard size, 25c. Willard Studios, Dept. 9, Cleve- attachment which would open Imd, O. those “bottles” at the proper instant. But, Patents Secured 1 had always said, BUT you just CAN’T INVENTORS—Don't, delay. Protect your idea with a Patent. get rid of smells as quickly as you can Secure '‘Patent Guide" and "Record of Invention" form—Free. Preliminary information furnished without obligation. Write produce them and the mixture that would Clarence A. O'Brien, Registered Patent Attorney, 1B51 Adams Building. Washington, D. C. result from a double feature and a news- INVENTORS—PATENT YOUR INVENTION. Secure booklet reel. all of them with strong action—say "Mow to Protect Your Invention." No obligation. McMorrow and Berman, Registered Patent Attorneys, 151-A Barrister Building, sports, love and war respectively—would Washington D. C. , compare favorably with the milder kinds of PATENTS— Reasonable terms. Book and advice free. L. F. Jtandol pit t. 51 i t C. , Pep 3 , Wash n g on , D. combat gases on the market. I am now PATENTS SECURED. Two valuable booklets sent free. Write eating these words as gracefully as 1 can immediately. Victor J. Evans & Company, 424-B Victor Building, Washington, D. C, manage. Laube and Barth do manage to

INVENTORS : HAVE YOU a sound, practical invention for sale, patented or unpatented? If so, write Chartered Institute of get i'id of their smells as quickly as they American Inventors, Dept, 42, Washington, D. C. produce them. I am sorry not to be able INVENTORS—Delays are dangerous—Secure patent protection now. Get new Free copyrighted booklet, "How To Protect Your In- to tell just how it is done, nor do I know vention.” No charge for preliminary information. McMorrow and Berman. Registered Patent Attorneys, 151-B Barrister Building, exactly how the scents are produced. They Washington, I>. C. might not be “bottled,” after all. Natu- Detectives—Instructions rally, the tw'o inventors are reluctant to talk TRAVEL. DETECTIVES EARN BIG MONEY. WORK HOME. and they managed not to divulge their se- DETECTIVE particulars free. Experience unnecessary. Write GEORGE WAGONER, 2640-A Broadway, New York. crets in spite of a tri-lingual cross examina- Coins—Old M oney tion conducted by a few newspapermen and GET PROFIT and PLEASURE in collecting old coins. Send 10c after what had been believed to be an ade- for 56-page illustrated coin catalog. You'll he delighted with it. Send for it now. B. Max Mehl, 255 Mehl Building, Fort Worth, quate barrage of Manhattans and Martinis. Texas. Largest rare coin establishment in U. S. Established 41 years. But 1 did learn the following: the ma- \ Co rrespondence Courses chinery weighs almost exactly one ton. It is scents CORRESPONDENCE courses and educational books, slightly located behind the screen. The used. Sold. Rented. Exchanged. All subjects. Satisfaction guar- I do not know bow they are kept—travel anteed. Cash paid for used courses. Complete details and bargain Catalog Free. Write Nelson Company, 500 Sherman, Dept. B-215, slightly slower than the sound emanating Chicago. from the loudspeaker, hut the difference is icks Baby Ch slight enough not to be noticeable except, COLONIAL CHICKS low as $5.40 per 100. Time Payments. in it World's largest hatcheries. Leading breeds. Also Sexcd and Hy- perhaps, a very large building. And brids. Big Chick Almanac Free. Colonial Poultry Farms, Pleasant seems that the scent particles are all of Hill, Mo. such chemical constitution that they oxidize Help Wanted Instructions — almost immediately, therefore a smetl lasts SPECIAL WORK FOR MARRIED WOMEN. Earn to $33 weekly and your own dresses Free. No canvassing, no investment. only as long as it is emitted by the. ap- Write fully giving age, dress size. Fashion Frocks, Dept. BB-1023, Cincinnati, O. paratus. just as a sound lasts only as long YOUR OWN DRESSES FREE and up to $22 a week selling as it issues from the loudspeaker. famous Harford Frocks. Hundreds sensational bargains. Send dress size. age. Harford, Dept. S-24.6, Cincinnati, O. After that first performance for a few Nurses Training Schools representatives of some of New York’s MAKE UP TO $25-$35 WEEK AS A TRAINED Practical Nurse! newspapers the film “My Dream” was Learn quickly at home. Booklet Free. Chicago School of Nursing, sporadically to other selected groups, Dept. D-l, Chicago. shown as long as the World’s Fair lasted. It is Poems—Songwriters now probably in transit to Hollywood, if it SONGWRITERS! Send for New Special Offer. Jas. S. Crane, Box 154, Providence, Rhode Island. did not get there already. For completeness’ I like to mention that Laube and Old Gold Wanted sake Barth demonstrated a scented picture to GOLD—$35 OUNCE. Ship old gold teeth, crowns, jewelry, watches —receive cash by return mail. Satisfaction Guaranteed. representatives of Swiss and French news- Free information. Paramount Gold Refining Co., 1500-G Hennepin, Minneapolis, Minn. papers on -December 2, 1939, at Berne, Old Money Wanted Switzerland, but that was not a specially OLD MONEY WANTED. Do you know that Coin Collectors pay* made film but only a few' newsreel scenes Up to $109.00 for certain If. S. Cents? And high premiums for all rare coins? I buy all kinds. Send 4c for Largo Coin Folder. May with scents added.—Willy Ley, 394 West mean much profit to you. B. Max Mehl, 440 Mehl Bldg., Fort Wocth, Texas. 24th St., New' York City. .

OR * EASY TERMS While THEY Last! 125«2 Truly an outstanding of- fer! Only because of an NO MONEY DOWN exceptional purchase can I EXTRA VALUE! sell these rebuilt Noiseless machines at the sensation- TYPEWRITER STAND ally low price of $34.85 10 DAY TRIAL cash, or at only 70c a week on my easy term price. Each one carefully Easy 10c iebuilt so that it looks like Terms— A Day a new machine costing three times as much. The mfrs. orig. selling price on No obligation. See before you buy this Underwood was $ 125.00 It’s on wide open 10 day trial. Pay no sent to you in Underwood packing money until you test, inspect, com- box with Underwood book of instruc- pare, and use this Underwood Noise- tions on care and operation. less. Judge for yourself without hurry and without risk. When you are convinced that this is the biggest typewriter bargain you have ever Two Wings A NOISELESS MACHINE seen then say, “I’ll Buy”. Send only Correct 70c a week or $3.00 a month until Latest achievement in typewriters! Working term price of only $38.85 is paid. Provides writing perfection with Height Try it first, enjoy a full 30 days’ SILENCE. For those All Metal who want the steady use. There is no red tape or advantages of a quiet home or office. investigation— offer is exactly This Underwood’s Noiseless mechan- My as I state it. ism eliminates the nerve shattering clatter common to many models. An aid to better work because it allows 2-YEAR GUARANTEE clear thinking , reduces fatigue, im- touch of finger proves accuracy. This typewriter dis- I back this machine with my per- turbs no one, for it is almost im- sonal 2-yr. guarantee that it is in possible to hear it operate a A-l condition in every respect —that few For those who have no typewriter stand or feet away. You get all it will give first class service. Over the features handy place to use a machine, I make this spe- 30 years of fair dealing of an Underwood PLUS Noiseless cial offer. This attractive stand that ordinarily and my typing. sells for $4.85 can be yours for only $2.00 extra 200,000 satisfied customers prove the added to your account. Quality built. Note all soundness of my golden rule policy its convenient features. (See coupon). and prove that dealing direct with FUST CHOICE OF TYPISTS me saves you money. OVER 5,000,000 UNDERWOODS NOW IN USE! itecognized as the finest, strongest built! Here is an office size Underwood with late modern features that Touch Typing Course give you SILENT TYPING. Has all standard equip- ment—keyboard, 2 colors, back spacer, automatic re- A complete home study course of famous Van Zandt verse, tabulator, etc. THERE IS NO RISK! SEE Touch Typing system. Learn to type quickly and easily. BEFORE YOU BUY ON MY 10 DAY OBLIGA- NO Carefully illustrated. Written expressly for home use. TION TRIAL PLAN. If you wish send the machine back at my expense. MAIL COUPON NOW • Limited. 0,ua*Uitu wiSaJfc! International 14" Typewriter Exchange, Dept. 112, 231 W. Monroe St., Chicago, III. WIDE CARRIAGES | B Send Underwood Noiseless (F.O.B. Chicago) for ten days' trial. If I keep il. I will pay per month until easy term price ($38.85) is paid. If 1 a n not I Wide carriage machines for government reports, large $3.00 satisfied' can return I I it express collect. 10" carriage. 11" carriage ($3.00 office forms, billing, etc., only $3.00 extra with order. extra). Cheek for typewriter stand($2.00 extra) Stand sent on receipt of first Takes paper 14" wide, has 12" writing line. A Real D payment on Underwood. I Buy in a rebuilt Underwood Noiseless! Name Age | Typewritten signatures not acceptable Address INTERNATIONAL TYPEWRITER EXCHANGE ( I City State - 231 W. Monroe St. Dept. 112 Chicago, III. ^I ^ ^ ^CMJ'HON^Foi^ qjmk^ffipment jfivc jwupatiojwuuMjefercncc — — Increased production

, m, SOBNG a® means jobs for fwgfcl more u s Coivb* « !! COB® «« , -**» MACHINISTS Stanley STANLEY jlSz! Stanley

— and MORE PAY for men who know their work

This home-study course gives you the practical facts on modern machines, up-to-date methods, you need to advance in machine shop work. Take advantage of the other man’s experience as found in books, to solve your problems, increase your efficiency, with AHEBICAN MACHINISTS’ LIBRARY

5 BIG, DURABLE VOLUMES COMBINED 2014 PAGES, 1853 ILLUSTRATIONS, MANY CHARTS HOME-STUDY COURSE AND TABLES AND REFERENCE LIBRARY BY T PRACTICAL EXPERTS \A/ .ITHIN the covers of these five books are to be found all the * * facts that you will want to increase your practical knowledge Fred Colvin and Frank Stanley, of machine shop work and to give you the ability to handle well-known authors of many intensely all kinds of jobs swiftly, smoothly, correctly. Each of the five practical books for machine shop men, complete record of as it is done today in have had years of experience, not only volumes contains a work in on-the-job practice themselves, but America’s most progressive and efficient shops. The books answer also in keeping abreast of latest meth- your questions on methods and machines—tell what you need to ods from one end of the metal-working operation of machines of all types and sizes for the industry to the other, through their know about the editorial contacts with leading shops whole range of metal throughout the country. cutting, forming, and In their books they give you the best finishing operations of all the data, ideas, methods, and ex- —show by text, dia- WHAT this Library GIVES YOU amples coining from these sources gram, and illustra- the gist of more experience than any complete guide for everybody, from tion — one man could amass in a lifetime of the essential shop executives to apprentices, inter- work. points of setting up ested in the operation of machines work. used in turning and boring practice —essential principles and major prob- PUTS THE MASTERY OF MACHINE SHOP WORK AT YOUR lems involved in turning and boring FINGER TIPS operations —description of all important varieties These five big volumes are clearly written in simple language, fully of machines, both manual and auto- them illustrated, easily understood. With them you get the facts on matic, and methods of operating modern machine shop practice, new machines, up-to-date methods —-data on speeds and feeds, new cutting alloys and materials, use of coolants, the complete, practical training course. that use to — you can improve etc. your skill and advance your earning power now. —practical information on grinding ma- chines and abrasive wheels, showing NO MONEY DOWN—SPECIAL PRICE—EASY TERMS what they do, how to operate them, Let us send you these fact-packed books for 10 and how to make best use of them on days’ free examination, with no obligation to buy various types of work the books unless you want them. Remember that, —preferred methods of leading shops, if you decide to keep the books the special library on speeds, feeds, precision grinding, price represents a saving of $2.00 on the price of automatic machines, special work, etc. the books if you were to buy them separately. training in the various operations per- Furthermore, you may have the privilege of paying — formed drilling and surfacing in small monthly installments, while you use the in ma- books. Send the coupon today. terials in the machine shop —valuable data, methods, suggestions, and illustrations from accepted prac- FREE EXAMINATION COUPON tice, showing plainly how to handle the cutting of materials, McGRAW-HILL the care of BOOK CO., Inc., 330 W. 42nd St., N. Y. C. tools, methods of production, etc. Send me the American Machinists’ Library, 5 volumes, for 10 days’ examination on approval. In 10 days I will —exact, descriptive data on all aspects send $1.50, and $3.00 monthly until the price of $16.50 Is paid, or return the books postpaid. (To insure prompt shipment write plainly and fill in of gear cutting practice, useful in all lines.) shops of any size Name —essentials of selecting machines, set- ting work, and Address Position up handling operations in reaming, tapping, planing, shaping, City and State Company SS-2-41 slotting, milling, and broaching.