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Fritz Leiber: February - 35 Cents
Fritz Leiber: February - 35 Cents
by Fritz Leiber
THE SECOND
o L
OF F
ERE ARE nine great
novelettes from the first
six years of IF Magazine!
Like The First World of IF,
which received such enthusi-
astic response from science
fiction readers allover
America, this is a volume of
exceptional interest-distin-
guished examples of fine
science fiction writing by
such authors as Cha rl es
Beaumont, James Blish,
Phillip K. Dick, Gordon
Dickson, Charles L. Fon-
tenay, James E. Gunn, Ray-
mond F. Jones, Bryce Wal-
ton and Robert F. Young in
an exciting variety of mood,
idea, theme and pace.
And if you missed The
First World of IF, containing
20 really outstanding short
stories from the first five
years of IF, there are still a
few copies available . . .
Just send 50 a copy for
either the "First World" or
the "Second World" to IF
Magazine, Kingston, New
York, and you r copy wi II be
mailed at once.
WORLDS OF
- ...=:::;:
SCIENCE FICTION
FEBRUARY 1959
==
All Stories New and Complete
===
;;;; Publisher: JAMES L. QUINN
- = Editor: DAMON KNIGHT
~1I1I1I"IIIIIIUIIIIUUIIilIUlIIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUlUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
5
~ i
; SHORT STORIES I
~ PIPE DREAM by Fritz Leiber 2 ~
_~= _~ THE WIND PEOPLE by Marion Zimmer Bradley
THE GOOD WORK by Theodore L. Thomas
14
2 ::r::==!
;;;:
THE MAN WHO TASTED ASHES by Aigis Budrys 38
i LOVE AND MOONDOGS by Richard McKenna 50 I
I THE LAST DAYS OF L.A. by George H. Smith 60 I
~ VIRGIN GROUND by Rosel George Brown 78
I DISCIPLINE by Margaret St. Clair 86 I
IN THE JAG-WHIFFING SERVICE by David R. Bunch 99a5
=
:==-
STAR OF REBIRTH by Bernard Wall
====_,
-
i NO , NO, NOT ROGOVr by Cordwainer Smith 106 i
~ ~
=
i FEATURE
=
~
5 5
II IN TH;:~~~NB:E:~I:h:r:::~o~lIustrating
Illustrations by Ed Emsh and Paul Orban
Pipe Dream 7S . ~I=
5
~ i
iOIl1l11l1llllllllllDllnlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUlIlIlIlIIlIlIlIIlIIlIlIlIIlIIlIIlIlIlIlIlIlII1I11111111111111111III II1111111111111111III IIlIlIIUlUnlil1i
IF is published bi-monthly ~ Quinn Publishing Co.k. Inc. Vol. 9, No.2.
Copyright 1958 bj' Quinn Publishing Co., Inc. Omce of publication 8
Lord Strt-et, Buffalo, N.Y. Entered as Second Class Matter at Post
Office, Buffalo, N.Y. Subscription $3.50 for 12 issues in U.S. and Posses-
sions; Canada $4 for 12 issues; elsewhere $4.50. AU stories are fiction;
any similarity to actual persons is coincidental. Not ~p~msible for unso-
licIted artwork or manuscripts. 35c a copy. Printed in U.S.A.
I Tturned
WASN'T until the mermaid
up in his bathtub that
Simon Grue seriously began to won-
der what the Russians \vere doing
on the roof next door.
The old house next door together
Simon Grue found a two-inch with its spacious tarpapered roof,
which held a sort of pent-shack, a
cylindrical old water tank, and sev-
mermaid zn his bathtub. It eral chicken-\\'ire enclosures, had
always been a focus of curiosity in
this region of Greenwich Village,
especially to whoever happened to
had arms, hips, a finny tail, be renting Simon's studio, the north
window-cum-skylight of which
looked down upon it-if you were
and (here the real trouble be- exceptionally tall or if, like Simon,
you stood halfway up a stepladder
and peered.
gan) a face that reminded him During the 1920's, old-timers told
Simon, the house had been owned
by a bootlegger. \\rho had installed
irresistibly of Grushenka Stul- a costly pipe organ and used the
water tank to store hooch. Later
there had been a colony of shaven-
nikov-Gurevich ... headed Buddhist monks, who had
strolled about the roof in their
orange and yellow robes, meditat-
ing and eating raw vegetables.
There had followed a con71nedia
dele OTIc theatrical group, a fenc-
ing salon, a school of the organ
2
(the bottlegger's organ was always brothers-Vasily-at a neighboring
one of the prime renting points of art gallery, came to believe that they
the house), an Arabian restaurant, were both Red and White and
several art schools and silvercraft something more-solid, complete
shops of course, and an Existential- Slavs in any case, Double Dostoev-
ist coffee house. sky Russians if one may be per-
The last occupants had been two mitted the expression. They ordered
bony-cheeked Swedish blondes who vodka, caviar, and soda crackers by
sunbathed intenninably and had the case. They argued intenninably
built the chicken-wire enclosures to (IQudly in Russian, softly in Eng-
cage a large number of sinister lish) , they \vent on mysterious silent
smoke-colored dogs-Simon de- errands, they gloomed about on the
cided they were breeding were- roof, they made melancholy music
wolves, and one of his most success- with their deep harmonious voices
ful abstractions, "Gray Hunger", and several large guitars. Once
had been painted to the inspiration Simon thought they even had the
of an eldritch howling. The dogs bootlegger's organ going, but there
and their owners had departed had been a bad storm at the time
abruptly one night in a closed van, and he hadn't been sure.
without any of the dogs ever having They were not quite as tight-
been offered for sale or either of the lipped as the Swedish girls. Gradu-
girls having responded \vith any- ally a curt front-sidewalk acquaint-
thing more than a raised eyebrow to ance developed and Simon came to
Simon's brave greetings of "'Skoal!" know their names. There was
The Russians had taken posses- Vasily, of course, who wore thick
sion about six months ago-four glasses, the most scholarly-looking
brothers apparently, and one sister, of the lot and certainly the most
who never stirred from the house bibulous-Simon came to think of
but could occa~ionally be seen peer- Vasily as the Vodka Breather. Oc-
ing drealllily from a window. A casionally he could be glimpsed
white card with a boldly-inked holding Erlenmeyer flasks, trays of
"Stulnikov-Gurevich" had been culture dishes, and other pieces of
thumbtacked to the peeling green- biological equipment, or absent-
painted front door. Lafcadio Smits, mindedly wiping off a glass slide
the interior decorator. told Sinlon with his beard.
that the newcomer~ were clearly Then there \vas Ivan, the dourest
White Russians; he could tell it by of the four, though none of them
their bushy beards. Lester Phlegius save Vasily seemed very amiable.
maintained that they were Red Simon's private names for Ivan
Russians passing as White, and were the Nihilist and the Bomber,
talked alanningly of spying, sabo- since he sometimes lugged about
tage and suitcase bombs. \vith him a heavy globular leather
Simon, who had the advantages case. With it and his beard-a
of living on the spot and having square black one-he had more
been introduced to one of the than once created a mild sensation
4 FRITZ LEIBER
in the narrow streets of the Village. never ventured on the roof but she
Next there was Mikhail, who often sat in the pent-shack. As far
wore a large crucifix on a s~lver as Simon could make out, she al-
chain around his neck and looked ways wore some dark Victorian cos..
like a more spiritual Rasputin. tUlne-at least it had a high neck,
However, Simon thought of him long sleeves, and puffed shoulders.
less as the Religious than as the Pale-faced in the greenish gloom,
Whistler-for his inveterate habit she would stare for hours out of the
of whistling into his straggly beard pent-shack's single wjndow, though
a strange tune that obeyed no com- never in Simon's direction. Occa-
mon harmonic laws. Somehow sionally she would part and close
Mikhail seemed to carry a chilly her lips, but not exactly as if she
breeze around with him, a per- were speaking, at least aloud-he
petual cold draught, so that Simon thought of calling her the Bubble
had to check himself in order not Blower. The effect was as odd as
to clutch together his coat collar Mikhail's whistling but not as un-
whenever he heard the approach pleasant. In fact, Simon found him-
of the eerie piping. self studying Grushenka for ridicu-
Finally there was Lev, beardless, lously long periods of time. His
shorter by several inches, and cer- mild obsession began to irk him and
tainly the most elusive of the one day he decided henceforth to
brothers. He always moved at a stay away altogether from his north
scurry, frequently dipping his head, window and the stepladder. As a
so that it was some time before result he saw little of the alterations
Simon assured himself that he had the Russians began to make on the
the Stulnikov-Gurevich face. He roof at this point, though he did
did, unmistakably. Lev seemed to notice that they lugged up among
be away on trips a good deal. On other things a length of large-
his returns he was frequently ac- diameter transparent plastic piping.
companied by furtive but impor-
tant-looking men-a different one
on each occasion. There would be
much bustle at such times-among
other things, the shades would be
S O MUCH FOR the Russians,
now for the mermaid. Late one
night Simon started to fill his bath-
drawn. Then in a few hours Lev tub with cold water to soak his
would be off again, and his man- brushes and rags-he was working
about-town companion too. with a kind of calcimine at the. time,
And of course there was the in- experimenting with portable murals
doors-keeping sister. Several times painted on large plaster-faced
Simon had heard one of the broth- wooden panels. Heavily laden, he
ers calling "Grushenka", so he as- got back to the bathroom just in
sumed that was her name. She had time to shut off the water-and to
the Stulnikov-Gurevich face too, see a tiny fish of some sort splashin fT
though on her, almost incredibly, around in it. 0
T HAD been a long layover for "1 know." Helen Murray, too
Iheavy
the Starholm's crew, hunting
elements for fuel-eight
young and far too lovely for a ship's
officer on a ten-year cruise, still
months, on an idyllic green para- looked weak and white, and her
dise of a planet; a soft, windy, voice was a gentle shadow of its
whispering world, inhabited only by crisp self. "I'm afraid four years in
trees and winds. But in the end it space made me careless."
presented its own unique problem. Merrihew brooded, looking down
Specifically, it presented Captain at her. Something about ship-grav-
Merrihew with the problem of ity conditions, while not affecting
Robin, male, father unknown, who potency, made conception impos-
had been born the day before, and sible; no child had ever been con-
a month prematurely, to Dr. Helen ceived in space and none ever
Murray. would. On planet layovers, the ef-
Merrihew found her lying abed fect wore off very slowly; only after
in the laboratory shelter, pale and three months aground had Dr.
calm, with the child beside her. Murray started routine administra-
The little shelter, constructed tion of anticeptin to the twenty-two
roughly of green planks, looked out women of the crew, herself in-
on the clearing which the Starholm cluded. At that time she had been
had used as a base of operations still unaware that she herself was
during the layover; a beautiful already carrying a child.
place at the bottom of a wide val- Outside, the leafy forest whis-
ley, in the curve of a broad, deep- pered and rustled, and Merrihew
flowing river. The crew, tired of knew Helen had forgotten his ex-
being shipbound, had built half a istence again. The day-old child
dozen such huts and shacks in these was tucked up in one of her rolled
eight months. coveralls at her side. To Merrihew,
Men-ihew glared down at Helen. he looked like a skinned monkey,
He snorted, '~This is a fine situa- but Helen's eyes smoldered as her
tion. You, of all the people in the hands moved gently over the tiny
whole damned crew-the ship's round head.
doctor! It's-it's-" Inarticulate He stood and listened to the
with rage, he fell back on a ridicu- winds and said at random, "These
lously inadequate phrase. "It's- shacks will fall to pieces in another
criminal carelessness!" month. It doesn't matter, we'll have
15
taken off by then." "Captain-" Helen sounded des-
Dr. Chao Lin came into the perate. "Even drugged, no child
shack, an angular woman of thirty- under ten has ever endured the
five. She said, "Company, Helen? shift into hyperspace drive. A new-
Well, it's about time. Here, let me born would die in seconds." She
take Robin." clasped Robin to her again, and
Helen said in weak protest, said, "It's the only way-you have
"You're spoiling me, Lin." Lin for a doctor, Reynolds can
"It will do you good," Chao Lin handle my collateral duties. This
returned. Merrihew, in a sudden planet is uninhabited, the climate
surge of fury and frustration, ex- is mild, we couldn't possibly
ploded, "Damn it, Lin, you're mak- starve." Her face, so gentle, was
ing it all worse. He'll die when we suddenly like rock. "Enter my
go into overdrive, you know as well death in the log, if you want to."
as I do!" Merrihew looked from Helen to
Helen sat up, clutching Robin Lin, and said, "Helen, you're in-
protectively. "Are you proposing to sane!"
drown him like a kitten?" She said, "Even if I'm sane now,
"Helen, I'm not proposing any- I wouldn't be long if I had to aban-
thing. I'm stating a fact." don Robin." The wild note had
"But it's not a fact. He won't die died out of her voice, and she spoke
in overdrive because he won't be rationally, but inflexibly. "Captai~
aboard when we go into over- Merrihew, to get Ine aboard the
drive!" Starholm., you will have to have me
Merrihew looked at Lin help- drugged or taken by force; I prom-
lessly, but his face softened. "Shall ise you I won't go any other way.
we-put him to sleep and bury him And if you do that-and if Robin
here?" is left behind, or dies in overdrive-
The woman's face turned white. just so you will have my services
"No!" she cried in passionate pro- as a doctor-then I solemnly swear
test, and Lin bent to disengage her that I will kill myself at the first
frantic grip. "Helen, you'll hurt opportunity."
him. Put him down. There." "My God," said Merrihew, "you
Merrihew looked down at her, are insane!"
troubled, and said, "We can't just Helen gave a very tiny shrug.
abandon him to die slowly, HDo you want a madwoman
Helen-" aboard?"
"Who says I'm going to abandon Chao Lin said quietly, "Capt:lin,
him?" I don't see any other way. We
Merrihew asked slowly, "Are would have had to arrange it that
you planning to desert?" He added, way if Helen had actually died in
after a minute, "There's a chance childbirth. Of two unsatisfactory
he'll survive. Mter all, his very solutions, we must choose the least
birth was against all medical prece- harmful." And Merrihew knew
dent. Maybe-" that he had no real choice.
16 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
"I still think you're both cra:zy," between her eyes bore witnes! to
he blustered, but it was surrender, the terror which had closed down
and Helen knew it. on her in the first months, when
Ten days after the Starholm took every new day had been some new
off, young Colin Reynolds, tech- struggle-against weakness, against
nician, committed suicide by the unfamiliar sounds, against loneli-
messy procedure of slicing his jugu- ness and dread. Nights when she
lar artery, which-in zero gravity- lay wakeful, sweating with terror
distributed several quarts of blood while the winds rose and fell again
in big round globules all ,over his and her imagination gave them
cabin. He left an incoherent note. voices, bleak days when she wan-
Merrihew put the note in the dered dazedly around the shack or
disposal and Chao Lin put the stared moodily at Robin. There had
blood in the ship's blood-bank for been moments--only fleeting, and
surgery, and they hushed it up as penanced with hours of shame and
an accident; but Merrihew had the regret-when she thought that
unpleasant feeling that the layover even the horror of losing Robin in
on the green and windy planet was those first days would have been
going to become a legend, spread in less than the horror of spending the
whispers by the crew. And it did, rest of her life alone here; when
but that is another story. she had wondered why Merrihew
had not realized that she was un-
balanced, and forced her to go
OBIN WAS two years old with them . . . by now, Robin
R when he first heard the voices
in the wind. He 'pulled at his moth-
would have been only a moment's
painful memory.
er's arm and crooned softly, in imi- Still not strong, knowing she had
tation. to be strong for Robin or he would
"What is it, lovey?" die as surely as if she had aban-
"Pretty." He crooned again to doned him, she had spent the first
the distant munnuring sound. months in a somnambulistic dreain.
Helen smiled vaguely and patted Sometimes she had walked for days
the round cheek. Robin, his infant at a time in that dream; she would
imagination suddenly distracted, wake to find food that she could
said, "Hungry. Robin hungry. Ber- not remember gathering. Some-
ries." how, pervasive, the dream-voices
"Berries after you eat," Helen had taken over; the whispering
promised absently, and picked him winds had been full of voices and
up. Robin tugged at her ann. even hands.
"Mommy pretty, too!" She had fallen ill and lain for
She laughed, a rosy and smiling days sick and delirious, and had
young Diana. She was happy on the heard a voice which hardly seemed
solitary planet; they lived quite to be her own, saying that if she
comfortably in one of the larger died the wind voices would care
shacks, and only a little frown-line for Robin . . . and then the shock
THE WINO PEOPLE 17
and irrationality of that had star- . . . Robin was listening again.
tled her out of delirium, agonized Helen bent her ear, sharpened by
and trembling, and she pulled her- the silence, but heard only the
self upright and cried out "No!" rustle of wind and leaves; saw only
And the shimmer of eyes and falling brightness along a silvered
voices had faded again into vague tree-trunk.
echoes, until there was only the Wind? When there were no
stir of sunlight on the leaves, and branches stirring?
Robin, chubby and naked, kicking "Ridiculous," she said sharply,
in the sunlight, cooing with his then snatched up the baby boy and
hands outstretched to the rustle of squeezed hinl before hoisting hin'l
leaves and shadows. astride her hip. "Molllmy doesn't
She had known, then, that she mean ,"OU, Robin. Lees look for
had to get well. She had never berries."
heard the wind voices again, and But soon she realized that his
her crisp, scientific Inind rejected head was tipped back ~nd that he
the fanciful theory that if she only was listenillg~ again~ to ~o}ne sound
believed in the wind voices she she could not hear.
would see their forms and hear
their words clearly. And she re-
jected them so thoroughly that N 'VHAT she said Robin's
when she llcard them speak she
shut them away from her mind,
O fifth birihday, IIelen had
rnade aspecial bpd
was
in an-
for hinl
and after a time heard tllenl no . other rOOI}) of the building. He
longer, except in restless dreams. missed the warlnth of I-Ielcn's body,
By now she had accepted the and the comforting sound of her
isolation and the beauty of their breathing; for Robin, since birth.
world, and begun to make a happy had been a wakeful child.
life for Robin. Yet, on the first night alone.
For lac.k of other occupation last Robin felt curiou~ly freed. He did
summer-though the winter was somcthing he had never dared do
mild and there was no lack of before, for fear of waking Helen;
fruits and roots even then-Helen he slipped from his bed and stood
had patiently snared male and fe- in the doorway, looking into the
male of small anitnals like rabbits., fore.;;t.
and now she had a pen of .thcnl~ rfhc forest \vas closer to the door-
They provided a change of diet, \vay no\v; Robin could fuzzily rc-
and after a few smelly unsuccessful lllelnber when the clearing had
experiments she had devised a way been wider. Now, slowly, beyond
to supple their fur pelts. She madc the garden. patch \vhich Helen kept
no effort at gardening, though cleared, the underbrush and sap-
when Robin was older she might linO's
;-, \vcre 0To\vin ,:-:,o' back , and even
~
try that. For the 11101nent, it was what }{obin called "the bUl'lCd
enough that they were healthy and place" was covered \vi th new sparse
safe and protected. grass.
18 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
Robin was accustomed to being The winds were silent.
alone, during the day-even in his Perhaps, she thought, a storm
first year, Helen had had to leave was coming. Some change in air
him alone, securely fastened in the pressure could cause this stillness-
house, or inside a little tight-fenced but Robin? She tiptoed to the al-
yard. But he was not used to being cove; as she had suspected, his bed
alone at night. was empty.
Far off in the forest, he could Where could he be? In the clear-
hear the whispers of the other peo- ing? With a storm coming? She
ple. Helen said there were no other slid her feet into hand-made san-
people, but Robin knew better, be- dals and ran outside, her quivering
cause he could hear their voices on call ringing out through the silent
the wind, like fragments of the forest:
songs Helen sang at bedtime. And "Robin-oh, Robin!"
sometimes he could almost see them Silen.ce. And far away a little
in the shadowy spots. ominous whisper. And for the first
Once when Helen had been sick, time, since that first frightening
a long time ago, and Robin had run year of loneliness, she felt lost, de-
helplessly from the fenced yard to serted in an alien world. She ran
the inside room and back again, across the clearing, looking around
hungry and dirty and furious be- wildly, trying to decide which way
ca~e Helen only slept on the bed he could have wandered. Into the
witH,her eyes closed, rousing up forest? What if he had' strayed to-
now and then to whimper like he ward the river bank? There was a
did when he fell down and skinned place where the bank crumbled
his knee, the winds and voices had away, down toward the rapids-
come into the very house; Robin her throat closed convulsively, and
had hazy memories of soothing her call was almost a shriek:
voices, of hands that touched him "Dh, Robin! Robin, darling!
more softly than Helen's hands. Robin!"
But he could not quite remember. She ran through the paths worn
Now that he could hear them so by their feet, hearing snatches of
clearly, he would go and find the rustle, winds and leaves suddenly
other people. And then if Helen vocal in the cold moonlight around
was sick again, there would be her. It was the first time since the
someone else to play with him and spaceship left them that Helen had
look after him. He thought glee- ventured out into the night of their
fully, won't Helen be surprised~ and world. She called again, her voice
darted off across the clearing. cracking in panic.
"Ro-bin!"
Helen woke, roused not by a A sudden stray gleam revealed a
sound but by a silence. She no glint of white, and a child stood
longer heard Robin's soft breaths in the middle of the path. Helen
from the alcove, and after a mo- gasped with relief and ran to snatch
ment she realized something else: up her son-then fell back in dis-
THE WIND PEOPLE 19
may. It was not Robin who stood out wild beasts or diseases or sav-
there..The child ,vas naked, about age natives, the crew had requested
a head shorter than Robin, and. permission to camp in the valley
female. clearing beside the river. Permis-
There ,vas something curious sion granted, they had gone apart
about the bare and gleaming flesh, in couples almost as usual, and
as if she could see the child only in even those who had no enduring
the full flush of the moonlight. A liaison at the moment had found
round, almost expressionless face a partner for the night.
was surrounded by a mass of color- It must have been that night. ..
less ~trealning hair, the exact color Colin Reynolds was two years
of the moonlight. Helen's audible younger than Helen, and their at-
gasp startled her to a stop: she tachment, enduring over a few
shut her eyes convulsively, and nlonths of shiptinlc, ,vas based less
when she opened them the path on mutual passion than a sort of
was black and empty and Robin boyish need in him, a sort of im-
was running down the track to- personal feminine solicitude in
ward her. 11elen. All her affairs had been like
Helen caught him up, with a that, companionable, cornfortahle,
strangled cry, and ran, clasping but never passionate. Curiously
him to her breast, back down the enough, Helen was a woman capa-
path to their shack. Inside, she ble of passion, of great depths of
barred ~ the door and laid Robin devotion; but no man had ever
down in her own be<L 'and threw roused it and now no man ever
herself down shivering, too shaken would. Only Robin's birth had
to speak, too shaken to scold him, touched her deeply-pent emotions.
curiously afraid to question. I had But that night, when Colin
a hallucination, she told herself, a Reynolds was sleeping, Helen
hallucination, another dream, a stayed restlessly awake, hearing the
dream. . . . unquiet stirring of \vind on the
leaves. After a time she wandered
A dream, like the other Dream. down to the water's edge, staying a
She dignified it to herself as The cautious distance from the shore-
Dream, because it was not like any for the cliff cruInbled dangerously
other dream she had ever had. She -and stretched herself out to listen
had dreaIlled it first before Robin's to the ,vind-voices. And after a
birth, and been ashamed to speak time she fell asleep, and had The
of it to Chao Lin, fearing the com- Dream, which was to return to her
mon-sense skepticism of the older again and again.
woman. Helen thought of herself as a
On their tenth night on the green scientist, without room for fan-
planet (the Starholm was a dim tasies, and that was why she called
recollection now) when Merri- it, fiercely, a dream; a dream born
hew's scientists had been convinced of some undiagnosed conflict in her.
that the little world was safe, with- Even to herself Helen would not
20 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
recall it in full. habited it must be. Five years later,
There had been a man, and to hugging her sleeping son close,
her it seemed that he was part of Helen remembered the dream, ex-
the green and windy world, and he amined the content of her fantasy,
had found her sleeping by the river. and once again, shivering, repeated,
Even in her drowsy state, Helen '~I had a hallucination. It was only
had suspected that perhaps one of a dream. A dream, because I was
the other crew meInbers, like her- alone. . ."
self sleepless and drawn to the shin-
ing water, had happened upon her
there; such things were not impos- HEN ROBIN was fourteen
sible, manners and mores being
what they were among starship
W years old, Helen told him the
story of his birth, and of the ship.
crews. He was a tall, silent boy, strong
But to her, half-dreaming, there and hardy but not talkative; he
had been some strangeness about heard the story almost in silence,
him, which prevented her from and looked at Helen for a long time
seeing hiIn too clearly even in the in silence, afterward. He finally
brilliant green moonlight. No said in a whisper, "You could have
dreanl and no man had ever died-you gave up a lot for me,
seelned so living to her; and it was Helen, didn't you?" He knelt and
her fierce rationalization of the took her face in his hands. She
dream which kept her silent, smiled, and drew a little away from
months. later, when she discovered him.
(to her horror and secret despair) "Why are you looking at me like
that she was with child. She had that, Robin?"
felt that she would lose the haze The boy could not put instant
and secret delight of the dream, if ,words to his thoughts; emotions
she openly acknowledged that were not in his vocabulary. Helen
Colin had fathered her child. had taught him everything she
But at first-in the cool green knew, but she had always concealed
morning that followed-she had not her feelings from her son. He asked
been at all sure it was a dream. at lal;)t, "Why didn~t my father stay
Seeing only sunlight and leaves, she with you?"
had held back from speaking, not "I don't suppose it entered his
wanting ridicule; could she have head," Helen said. "He was needed
asked each man of the Starholm, on the ship. Losing me was bad
Was it you who came to me last enough."
night? Because if it was not, there Robin said passionately, "I'd
are other men on this world, men have stayed!"
who cannot be clearly seen even The woman found herself laugh-
by moonlight- ing. "Well-you' did stay, Robin."
Severely she reminded herself, He asked, "Am I like my fa-
Merrihew's men had pronounced ther?"
the world uninhabited, and unin- Helen looked gravely at her son,
THE WIND PEOPLE 21
trying to see the half-forgotten fea- Robin-please--"
tures of young Reynolds in the boy's "If it's only a dream, why are
face. No, Robin did not look like you frightened?" Robin asked,
Colin Reynolds, nor like Helen her- through a curious constriction in
self. She picked up his hand in his throat. "If they've never hurt
hers; despite his robust health, you-"
Robin never tanned; his skin was No, they had never hurt her.
pearly pale, so that in the green Even if, in her long-ago dream,
sunlight it blended into the forest one of them had come to her-and
almost invisibly. His hand lay in the sons of God saw the daughters
Helen's palm like a shadow. She of men that they were fair-a scrap
said at last, "No, nothing like him. of memory from a vanished life on
But under this sun, that's to be ex- another world sang in Helen's
pected." thoughts. She looked up at the pale,
Robin said confidently, "I'm like impatient face of her son, and
the other people." swallowed hard.
"The ones on the ship? They-" Her voice was husky when she
"No," Robin interrupted, "you spoke.
always said, when I was older you'd "Did I ever tell you about ra-
tell me about the other people. I tionalization-when you want
mean the other people here. The something to be true so much that
ones in the woods. The ones you you can make it sound right to
can't see." yourself?"
Helen stared at the boy in blank "Couldn't that also happen to
disbelief. "What do you mean? something you wanted not to be
There are no other people, just us." true?" Robin retorted with a mu-
Then she recalled that every im- tinous curl of his mouth.
aginative child invents playmates. Helen would not let go his ann.
Alone, she thought, Robin's always She. begged, "Robin- no, you'll
alone, no other children, no wonder only waste your life and break your
h~s a little-strange. She said, heart looking for something that
quietly, "You dreamed it, Robin." doesn't exist-"
The boy only stared at her, in The boy looked down into her
bleak, blank alienation. "You shaken face, and suddenly a new
mean," he said, "you can't hear emotion welled up in him and he
them either?" He got up and dropped to his knees beside her and
walked out of the hut. Helen buried his fac~ against her breast.
called, but he didn't turn back. She He whispered, "Helen, I'll never
ran after him, catching at his arm, leave you, I'll never do anything
stopping him almost by force. She you don't want me to do, I don't
whispered, "Robin, Robin, tell me want anyone but you-"
vvhat you mean! There isn't anyone And for the first time in many
here. Once or twice I thought I years, Helen broke into wild and
had seen-something, by moon- uncontrollable crying, without
light, only it was a dream. Please, knowing why she wept.
22 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
Robin did not speak a~ain of his concealed a half-seen form, and the
quest in the forest. For many distant murmur grew into a voice
months he was quiet and subdued, that mocked him; a white ann, the
staying near the clearing, hovering shadow of a face, until he lifted
near Helen for days at a time, then his head and stared straight at it.
disappearing into the forest at dusk. One evening toward twilight he
He heard the \vinds numbly, deaf saw a sudden shimmer in the trees,
to their promise and their call. and he stood, fixedly, as the stray
I-Ielcn loo wa..; quiet and with- !"lint resolved itself first into a white
dra\vn, feeling Robin's alienation f~cc with shadowy eyes, then into a
throu1!h his sllblnissivc Inood. She translucent flicker of bare arms,
founcl--- herself speaking to him and then into the form of a woman,
sharply for being ahvays under arrested for an instant with her
foot; yet, on the rare days when he hand on the bole of a tree. In the
vanished into the forest and did shadowy spot, filled only with the
not return until after ~unsct, she laSl ray of a cloudy sunset, she was
felt a restless unease that set her very clear; not cloudy or unreal,
\vandering the paths herself, not but so distinct that he could see
foIlo\ving him, but simply uneasy even a small smudge or bramble-
unless she knew he was vvithin call. scratch on her shoulder, and a
Once, in the shadovv~ just bOcfore fallen leaf tangled in her colorless
sunSCl, she thought she sa\v a rnan hair. l~obin, paralyzed, watched her
rnoying through the trees, and for pause, and tum, and smile, and
an instant, as he turned toward then she melted into t1le shadows.
her, she saw that he was naked. He stood with his heart pound-
She had seen him only for a second ing for a second after she had
or two, and after he had slipped gone; then whirled, bursting with
between the shadows again, com- the excitement of his discovery,
mon sense told her it was Robin. and ran do\vn the path toward
She was vaguely shocked and an- hOlne. Suddenly he stopped short,
noyed; she firmly intended to speak the world tilting and reeling, and
to him, perhaps to scold him for fell on his face in a bed of dry
running about naked and slipping leaves.
away like that; then, in a sort of He was still ignorant of the na-
remote clubarrassmpnt, she fore- ture of the emotion in him. He felt
bore to olcntion it. But after that, only intolerable nOjisery and the con-
shc kept out of the forest. viction that he lTIUst never, never
Robin had been vaguely aware speak to Helen of what he had
of her surveillance and knew when seen or felt.
it ceased. But he did not give up
his own pointless ranlbles, although
even to himRelf he no longei' spoke
of searching, or of any drcanlIike
inhabitants of the woods. At times
H E LAY there, his burning face
pressed in to the leaves, un-
aware of the rising wind, the little
it still seemed that son1e shadow flurry of blown leaves, the growing
THE oWIND PEOPLE 23
darkness and distant thunder. At tually pulled himself free of her.
l~t an icy spatter of rain aroused The next day dawned gray and
him and cold, numbed, he made still, beaten with long needles of
his ~ay slowly homeward. Over his rain. They stayed indoors by the
head the boughs creaked woodenly, smoldering fire; Robin, half sick
and Robin, under the driving and feverish from his drenching,
whips of the rain, felt their tumult sprawled by the hearth too indolent
only echoed his own voiceless to move, watching Helen's comings
agony. and goings about the room; not
He was drenched by the time he realizing why the sight of her slight,
pushed the door of the shack open, quick form against the gray light
and stumbled blindly toward the filled him with such pain and mel-
fire, only hoping that Helen would ancholy.
be sleeping. But she started up from The storm lasted four days.
beside the hearth they had ~uilt Helen exhausted her household
together last summer. tasks and sat restlessly thumbing
"Robin?" through the few books she knew
Deathly weary, the boy snapped, by heart-they had allowed her to
"Who else would it be?" remove all her personal possessions,
Helen didn't answer. She came all the things she had chosen on a
to him, a small swift-moving figure forgotten and faraway Earth for a
in the firelight, and drew him into ten-year star-cruise. For the first
the warmth. She said, almost hum- time in years, Helen was thinking
bly, "1 was afraid-the storm- again of the life, the civilization she
Robin, you're all wet, come to the had thrown away, for Robin who
fire and dry out." had been a pink scrap in the circle
Robin yielded, his twitching of her ann and now lay sullen on
nerves partly soothed by her voice. the hearth, not speaking, aimlessly
How tiny Helen is, he tliought, and whittling a stick with the knife
1 can remember that she used to (found discarded in a heap of rub-
carry me around on one arm. Now bish from the Starholm) which
she hardly comes to my shoulder. was his dearest possession. Helen
She brought him food and he ate felt slow horror closing in on her.
wolfishly, listening to the steady What world, what heritage did I
pouring rain, uncomfortable under give him, in my madness? This
Helen's watching eyes. Before his world has driven us both insane.
o\vn eyes there was the clear mem- Robin and 1 are both a little mad,
ory of the woman in the wood, and by Earth's standards. And when 1
so vivid was Robin's imagination, die, and 1 will die first, what then?
heightened by loneliness and un- At that moment Helen would have
diluted by any random impressions, given her life to believe in his old
that it seemed to him Helen must dream of strange people in the
see her too. And \\rhen she came to wood.
stand beside him, the picture grew She flung her book restlessly
so keen in his thoughts that he ac- away, and Robin, as if waiting for
24 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
that signal, sat upright and said "Then you do believe me-oh,
almost eagerly, "Helen-" Helen," Robin cried, and suddenly
Grateful that he had broken the found himself pouring out the
silence of days, she gave him an story of what he had seen, in in-
encouraging smile. coherent words, concluding "-and
"I've been reading your books," by daylight I can hear them, but
he began, diffidently, "and I read I can't see them-Helen, Helen,
about the sun you came from. It's you have to believe it now, you'll
different from this one. Suppose- have to let me try to find them and
suppose, if there were actually a learn to talk to them-"
kind of people here, and something Hele~ listened with a sinking
in this light, or in your eyes, made heart. She knew they should not
them invisible to you?" discuss it now, when five days of
Helen said, "Have you been see- enforced housebound proximity
ing them again?" had set their nerves and tempers on
He flinched at her ironical tone, edge, but some unknown tension
and she asked, somewhat Inore hurled her sharp words at Robin.
gently, "It's a theory, Robin, but it "You saw a woman, and I-a man.
\vouldn't explain, then, why }'OU see These things are only dreams. Do
them." I have to explain more to you?"
"Maybe I'm-more used to this Robin flung his knife sullenly
light," he said gropingly. "-And aside. "You're so blind, so stub-
anyway, you said you thought you'd born-"
seen thenl and thought it was 9nly "I think you are feverish again."
a dream." Helen rose to go.
Halfway between exasperation Re said wrathfully, "You treat
and a deep pity, Helen found her- me like a child!"
self arguing, "If these other peo- "Because you act like one, with
ple of yours really exist, why your fairy tales of women in the
haven't they made themselves wind. . ."
known in sixteen years?" Suddenly Robin's agony over-
The eagerness with which he an- flowed and he caught at her, hold-
swered was almost frightening. "I ing her around the knees, clinging
think they only come out at night, to her as he had not done since he
they're what your book calls a was a small child, his words stum-
primitive civilization-" He spoke bling and rushing over one another.
the words he had read, but never "Helen, Helen darling, don't be
heard, with an odd hesitation. angry with me," he begged, and
"They're not really a civilization at caught her in a blind embrace that
all, I think, they're like-part of pulled her off her feet. She had
the woods." never guessed how strong he was;
"A forest people," Helen mused, but he seemed very like a little boy~
impressed in spite of herself, "and and she hugged him quickly as he
nocturnal. It's always moonlight began to cover her face with child-
or dusky when you see them-" ish kisses.
THE WIND PEOPLE 25
"Don't cry, Robin, my baby, it's would burst with its ache. She man-
all right," she munnured, kneeling aged to choke out, "I'm not angry,
close to him. Gradually the wild- Robin-we'll talk about this later, I
ness of his passionate crying promise-" and then, her own con-
abated; she touched his forehead trol vanishing, turned and fled
with her cheek to see if it vv'ere precipitately into the pouring rain.
heated with fever, and he reached She plunged through the familiar
up and held her there. Helen let woods for a long time, in a daze of
him lie against her shoulder, feeling unthinking misery. She did not
that perhaps after the violence of even fully realize that she was sob-
his outburst he would fall asleep, bing and muttering aloud, "No, no,
and she was half asleep herself no, n<r-"
when a sudden shock of realization She must have wandered for sev-
darted through her; quickly she eral hours. The rain had stopped
tried to free herself from Robin's and the darkness was lifting before
entangling arms. she began to grow calmer and to
"Robin, let me go." think more clearly.
He clung to her, not understand- She had been blind, not to fore-
ing. "Don't let go of me, Helen. see this day when Robin was a
Darling, stay here beside me," he child; only if her child had been a
begged, and pressed a kiss into her daughter could it have been
throat. avoided. Or-she was shocked at
Helen, her blood icing over, real- the hysterical sound of her own
ized that unless she freed herself laughter-if Colin had stayed and
very quickly now, she would be they had raised a family like Adam
fighting against a strong, aroused and Eve!
young man not clearly aware of But what now? Robin was six-
what he was doing. She took refuge teen; she was not yet forty. Helen
in the sharp maternal note of ten caught at vanishing memories of
years ago, almost vanished in the society; taboos so deeply rooted that
closer, more equal companionship for Helen they were instinctual and
of the time between: impregnable. Yet for Robin nothing
"No, Robin. Stop it, at once, do existed except this little patch of
you hear?" forest and Helen herself-the only
Automatically he let her go, and person in his world, more specifical-
she rolled quickly away, out of his ly at the Inoment the only woman
reach, and got to her fcet. Robin, in his world. So much, she thought
too intelligent to be unaware of her bitterly, for instinct. But have I the
anger and too naive to know its right to begin this all over again?
cause, suddenly dropped his head Worse,. have I the right to deny its
and wept, wholly unstrung. "Why existence and when I die:l leave
are you angry?" he blurted out. "I Robin alone?
was only loving you." She had stumbled and paused for
And at the phrase of the five- breath, realizing that she had wan-
year-old child, Helen felt her throat dered in circles and that she was
26 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
at a familiar point on the river bank her, the translucent body shifting
\vhich she had avoided for sixteen to a dozen colors before her blurred
years. On the heels of this realiza- eyes. His face had a curious
tion she became aware that for only familiarity-famiLiarity-and in a
the second time in memory, the sudden spasm of terror Helen
\vinds were wholly stilled. . thought, "I'm going mad, it's
Robin, it's Robin-n
His hand was actually out-
ER EYES, swollen with crying, stretched to touch her when her
H ached as she tried to pierce the screanl cut icy lashes through the
<rloorn of the mist, lilac-tinted with forest, stin'ing wild echoes in the
fhe approaching sunrise, which \vind-voices, and she whirled and
hung around the water. Through ran blindly toward the treacherous,
the dispersing mist she made out, crumbling bank. Behind her came
dimly, the form of a man. steps, a voice, a cry-Robin, the
lIe was tall, and his pale skin strange dryad-Juan, she could not
~hone \vith rnisty wltite colors. gucss. The horror of incest, the son
Helen sat frozen, her mouth open, the father the lover suddenly melt-
and for the space of several seconds ing into one, overwhelmed her reel-
he looked down at her without ing brain and she fled insanely to
moving. His eyes, dark splashes in the brink. She felt a masculine hand
the pale face. had an air of infinite actually gripping her shoulder, she
sadness and conlpassion. and she Inight have been pulled back even
thought his lips rnoved in speech, then, but she twisted free blindly,
but she heard only a thin familiar shrieking, ~'No, Robin, no, no--"
rustle of wind. and flung herself down the steep
Behind him, mere flickers, she bank, to slip and hurl downward
seemcd to make out the ghosts 'of and whirl around in the raging
other faces, tips of fingers of in- current to spinning oblivion and
visible hands. eyes, the outline of death ...
a wOlnan's breast, the CUNe of a
child's foot. For a minute, in Many years later, Merrihew,
Helen's weary numbed state, all grown old in the Space SeIVice,
her defenses .went down and she falsified a log entry to send his ship
thought: Then ]'111 not mad and it for a little \vhile into the orbit of
uJosn>t a dream and Robin iln't the tiny green planet he had natned
Reynolds' son at all. His father ,-vas Robin's \'Vorld. The old building~
this-one of these-and they've had fallen into rottcd timbers, and
been watching me and Robin, Merrihew quartered the little world
Robin has seen them, he doesn't for two months from pole to pole
knolt' he's one of them, but they but found nothing. Nothing but
knol.v. 1"Yhey know and ]''l}(' kept shadov;s and whispers and the un-
Robin from them all these sixteen ending voices of the wind. Finally,
years. he lifted his ship and went away.
The man took two steps to\vard END
THE WIND PEOPLE 27
In the cities, 350 billions
THE
GOOD T ALL AND ra\vboned was
Jeremiah Winthrop. Narrow of
shoulder and shallow of chest he
WORK was, but no matter. There was a
dignity to the man that showed it-
self in every moven1cnt. Here was
one who still called himself a man,
one whose traditions sprang from
By the rocky New England soil that
had nourished his forebears. The
THEODORE L. THOMAS mold that produces such a man is
not easily bent or broken, not even
in a world of three hundred and
fifty billion people, not even in a
world where the rocky New Eng-
land soil lies buried and forgotten
beneath the foundations of mon-
strous buildings.
Jerenliah Winthrop rode the
spiral escalator up, up to the two-
part cubicle he called home on the
one hundred and forty-eighth floor.
He stood s\vaying slightly as the es-
calator \vound its serpentine way
upwards. Others rode with him,
tight people, tense people, pushed
28
together, staring straight as they the back of a hand against her fore-
rode the spiral escalator up. And head. "I don't know. They have
now and then at a turn or a bend a had to re-schedule everybody. An-
man would elbow his way out. He'd other eighteen hundred babies born
leave the upflowing river of people in the building this week. They all
and step onto a landing as his floor have to get a little sun. 1 don't
came by. But the escalator was still know."
crowded as it passed the one hun- Winthrop pushed Davy gently to
dred and forty-eighth floor and one side and held the boy to him as
\,yinthrop stepped ofT. He was not he \valked over to Ann. He put a
one of the lucky ones \vho lived high hand in the small of her back and
near the roof where it was at least held her against his chest. She
possible to think about the air and rested her head against the upper
the light and the sun. part of his arm and leaned against
Winthrop boarded a moving belt him.
that carried hirr! over to his own Ann lifted her head, stood on her
corridor. He walked down the cor- toes and kissed Winthrop. She
ridor for ten minutes. It was easy pulled away and led him over to a
\valking, for there were far fewer chair, Davy still hanging on to his
people nO\\7. Finally he came to his leg. "You must be tired," she said.
own door. lIe inserted his thumb in "Ten hours you've been out. Were
the thwnbhole, slid the door open you able to ... Did you-"
and walked in. A tousle-headed "No," said Winthrop. "Nothing.
youngster sat on the floor playing Not so much as a soybean." He
\vith a plastic box. The boy looked looked at his wife and smiled. "I
up as Winthrop entered. guess the time has come for us to
"Daddy!" he shouted. He flung eat that potato. We've been saving
himself to his feet, dashed across the it for a month."
rOOIO and grabbed his father around Ann's eyes wrinkled as she looked
the legs. down at him. "Oh. I-I gave it to
HHello, Davy," said Winthrop, the Brookses. They haven't had
ruffling the curly brown hair. anything in weeks." The words be-
"How's the little man?" gan to pour out. "We have done
"Fine, Daddy. And Mommy says so well, really, in the last few weeks
we can go up on the roof in another that I felt sorry for them. We had
nlonth. Will you come \vith us? This those cabbage leaves and three po-
tilnc? You never go with us, Daddy. tatoes and even that piece of fish
Will you come up with us in a four months ago. I couldn't help
month from now?" myself. I gave-I gave our potato
Winthrop looked over the boy's to them. They were so sick of
head at his wife, Ann. The smile Standard Fare they were beginning
faded from his face. He said, "A to get depressed, really depressed.
month? I thought it was our turn 1-"
again in a week. What happened?" Winthrop reached up and put an
Ann shook her head and pressed ann around her hips and said,
29
"Don't think about it, darling." He row side alley where some of the
was silent for a moment, and then shops were. Immediately the crowds
he continued, "I think I'll go down fell off. A little way down the alley
and see if John Barlow has some Winthrop turned into the door of a
work for me. Let's have a quick tiny store. It was empty except for
dinner of Standard Fare and then John Barlow, the owner.
I'll go." He got up and walked oyer "Nice to see you," said Barlow,
to the sink and began washIng springing up and taking Winthrop's
Davy's hands, talking, joshing, teas- hand. "I was just thinking about
ing a Ii ttle as he did so. you. In fact, I was going to come
Ann took three glasses from the up and see you in the next day or
tiny cabinet. She went to the syn- two. Come in and sit down."
thetic milk faucet and filled the Barlow sat in the chair, Winthrop
glasses and then put them on the on the small counter. The two men
table. She went to the bread slot filled the store completely. "That
and removed six slices of bread. sounds good, John. Do you have
One after. the other she dropped the some work for me?"
six slices of brown bread through Barlow looked long at Winthrop,
the toaster. She picked up a knife and slowly shook his head. "No,
and scooped big gobs of rich yellow Jeremiah. No. I don't even have
synthetic butter out of the butter work for myself any more." He hesi-
slot and spread it on the toast. She tated a moment and went on quiet-
made a pile of the toast on a plate ly, "I'm going out of business,
and then cut the pile in half. "All Jeremiah. I can't make it work. I
right," she called. And she put the don't take in enough money to keep
toast on the table and sat down. my stock up. People don't need
Winthrop helped Davy into a money, what with free movies and
chair and then sat down himself. clothes and food and everything
He bent his head and spoke a brief else. No one buys food. They all live
blessing. And they all ate. They ate on Standard Fare and they don't
Standard Fare, as countless billions seem to care any more. So now I'll
of other people did that night, and have to join them, unless I can find
every night, from birth to death, other work."
Standard Fare. "I'm very sorry, John. I feel I
When the meal was done Win- helped drive you out of business. I
throp got up and kissed Ann and never gave you money for what I
Davy goodbye. He rode down the took."
spiral escalator, down to the ground Barlow shook his head. "No, Jere-
floor, and below. Great throngs of miah. You always worked for every-
people rode with him, crowded in thing. Other people are not as will-
on each other. He rode down to the ing to work as you are; they all want
fifteenth sub-level and changed to a something for nothing. Who else
belt. He rode past the crowded TV would be vaccinated and take the
theaters, the amusement halls. He immunization shots so he could go
stepped off and went down a nar- all the way across the city for me the
30 THEODORE L.. THOJV,AS
way you do?" structions. Then he handed the box
They sat quietly. Winthrop said, to Winthrop. "Take it home, Jere-
"Where is it all going to end, John? miah. I'll be up to see you sometime
\Vhat's going to happen to every- soon. Go on now." And he urged
body?" Winthrop off the counter and out
"I don't know. Some people the door.
\vork; there luust be jobs some- Winthrop went, holding the box
\vhere. I suppose they get them in both hands. As he worked his
through the Ministry of Govern- way through the crowds, he held
ment Employment, and you know the box to his stomach, turning his
what people say about that. Gov- shoulders to meet the press of peo-
ernment workers won't even talk ple. He was still holding it with
about it; everybody says they're both hands half an hour later \\'hen
ashalned of it. I don't know what's he entered his home.
going to happen. Except-I'm
through. I'm going to take my stock
home with me tonight, and that
ends it."
"Vinthrop looked at the box that
ANN LOOKED up, surprised.
"Jeremiah, I didn't expect you
home so soon." Her eyes fixed on
conta.ined all of Barlow's stock. The the package. "What is it? ''''hat
box measured about one foot on a have you got?"
side. Winthrop walked to the table,
"Jeremiah, I want you to have put the package on it, and carefully
something." Barlow reached down began to open it without saying a
to the bottom of the box and word. Ann and Davy stood close to
broug-h t out an object that he held him; Davy clilnbcd on a chair to
toward VVinthrop. see better. When Winthrop lifted
Winthrop looked at it and off the top layer of cotton, Ann' s
gasped. "An egg. A real hen's egg. eyes widened and she clasped her
I recognize it from the pictures." hands together and stared, silently.
Winthrop looked up. "But I can't "What is it, Daddy?"
take it, John. I can't." "It's an egg, son. A hen's egg."
"I want you to have it, Jeremiah. "Is it something to eat?"
I want you and Ann and Davy to "Yes, son. It is." Winthrop looked
have it. Now don't argue. I'll wrap at his wife and said, "Shall we eat
it up and you take it right home." it now?"
Barlow turned and lifted a small Ann nodded, quickly read the
box down from a niche. He lined cooking instructions, and set about
the box with synthetic cotton and preparing scrambled egg. Winthrop
gently nestled the egg in the center. got out the cooking pan,. wiped ofT
After covering the egg with another the dust, and set it down near her.
layer of cotton, he closed the box She smiled at him and put a large
and wrapped it and tied it with a chunk of butter in it and placed the
broad white ribbon under which he pan,on the heater. When the butter
slipped a litde card of cooking in- bubbled, she poured the beaten egg
THE GOOD WORK 31
into the pan; it hissed as it struck He was still staring at the plates
the hot butter. She began to stir the when Ann came out and sat down
egg as it cooked. Winthrop picked beside him. She too looked at her
Davy up so he could see into the husband, looked, and looked again,
pan as the egg thickened. In a mo- closer. There were tears in his eyes.
ment it ,vas done. She leaned toward him and put
Ann lifted three small dishes from a hand on his shoulder. "What is it,
a cupboard, placed them on the Jeremiah?" she asked quietly.
table, and carefully scraped the egg He twned full to\\'ard her,
onto the plates. Buttered toast and started to speak, but could not. He
milk came next, then they sat down pointed to the dirty plates and then
to eat. Winthrop said a grace. cleared his throat. "Ann, that's the
They ate in silence. last of it. It's getting '\forse all the
Davy looked up after his egg was time. There's no work for a man.
gone and said, "I don't like it very 'Vhat are we going to do? Is Davy
much. I like it some, but not very going to live the rest of his life
much." satisfied with Standard Fare? Can
"VVinthrop reached over and ruf- we watch him grow up not knowlng
fled his hair, saying to Ann, "It what it feels like to work? Ann . . ."
\vould have been better if we'd had He stopped and sat quietly for a
some salt, I guess. But it was good moment. "I've got to go to the
anyway. I've often wondered what Ministry of Government Employ-
an egg tasted like." ment."
He looked down at the empty She said, "Jeremiah, are you
plates and stared at them. Then he sure? We've always been able to
said quickly, "Davy, it's your bed- manage on our own. We've never
time. You hop on in now." needed help from the government."
Davy's face grew long, but then "Ann-" He stood up and began
Winthrop looked at him, and he pacing across the room. "How can
climbed off his chair and went over we sit and watch this happen to our
and pulled his father down and boy? We can~t take him out in all
kissed him on the cheek. '"Good those people very often. We can't
night, Daddy." take him to the roof. Ann, he's a
"Good night, son." good boy. We can't let him live like
Ann took Davy by the hand and thi s. "
led him into the bedroom. Win- "But how will you feel? You have
throp listened to the chatter and to make your own \vay. You've al-
then to the prayers. He sat and ways believed that."
lis tened as he stared at the three Winthrop's stooped figure bent
egg-stained plates on the table. The even more. He stopped pacing and
plates pushed into his Inind, occu- stood with his hands hanging at his
pied it, filled it, until there was sides, his chin on his chest. "'I
nothing else. And at that moment know," he said quietly. "I know.
the integrity of Jeremiah Winthrop Help me, Ann. \Vhat should we
broke. do?"
32 THEODORE L. THOMAS
She flew across the roo III to him greater. Ann and Winthrop used
and they clung together. After a their legs to make room for Davy
moment she said, "All right, Jere- to stand on the moving belt. The
miah. I knew this would come some upper portions of their bodies
day. We will go down tomorrow to pushed out against the packed mass
the Ministry of Government Em- of humanity. They held their arms
ployment and see if they have any bent at the elbows to. fonn a bridge
work ,for you. Maybe they have, around Davy's head, stooping a lit-
and maybe it \\'on't be so bad. May- tle to do so. Silently they pushed
be it'sgood \vork after all. \Ve;ll back against the surge of people.
see. " They changed belts by walking in
a kind of lockstep and again formed
a trenlbling bridge with their anns
HE FAMILY was up early the around Davy on the next belt.
T next morning, up and pating
Standard Fare. After breakfast thev
'I\vice !TiOre they changed belts and
in two hours they arrived at the
began to get ready to go oul. An~ building next to their own. It was
went over all the clothes, sponging easier, going up the spiral escalator.
spots off the slick fabric. Jeremiah They came out into a huge room
Winthrop paced back and forth filled with people. Holding tight
with slow measured steps, his hands to Davy's leash, they worked their
clasped behind hiITI, his head bent. \vay through the crowds, seeking a
Ann took a Ii ttle cord harness rcgisLration desk. In half an hour
from the cabinet and slipped it over they found one.
Davy's head. She pulled the cords The line of people was only a few
taut and tied them around him. She hundred yards long in front of that
passed a light piece of cord around particular desk. Jeremiah and Ann
her \vaist and tied the other end of joined the line at the end, smiling
it to Davy's harness. She tied a at each other. In four short hours
second piece of cord to the other they found themselves at the desk.
side of the harness. Then she said Winthrop gave his name and
to Winthrop, "Jeremiah, we're number to the man and explained
ready." why he wanted an interview with
Winthrop stepped over to Davy's one of the ministers. The man
side. He passed the second piece of swiftly filled out a set of papers, as-
cord around his waist and tied it signed Winthrop a line number and
fast. "I'm ready," he said. a chair number, and pointed the di-
They went out the door and it rection to take.
was not bad at first. Riding down Jeremiah, Ann, and Davy slowly
the spiral escalator it began to get passed through the crowds in the
crowded;. people preg.sed shoulder room, this time seeking their line.
to shoulder. Davy clutched a They finally found it and Winthrop
parent's hand in each of his own. gave his papers to the man in
When they arrived a t the bel ts be- charge. Again they were fortunate.
low ground-level, the press grew The line to which Winthrop was as-
THE GOOD WORK 33
signed did not even reach out into laughlng, shouting, or playing. Win..
the room; the end of it had pro- throp turned each one off as he
gressed into the long corridor that came abreast of it, if his neighbors
led to the minister's office. did not object. None of the people
Winthrop settled into his moving in the line were talkative, and that
chair while Ann and Davy bustled suited Winthrop. Mostly he sat
around him and made him com- thinking over his forthcoming inter-
fortable. Then they said goodbye. view. Two minutes to explain why
"Ann, be careful going home. Go he should be given work was not
very slowly. Don't be afraid to very long. But the Ministers of
scream out if Davy begins to get Government Employment were
crushed." busy men.
"Don't worry, dear. We'll be all Toward the end of the second
right." Ann smiled at him, but her week Winthrop had a surprise visit
eyes were too bright. from Ann. She threw her arms
Winthrop saw it and stood up around him and explained that
from his chair. "I'll take you home Helen Barlow had come to see her
and then come back." and had sent Ann off to visit. And
'~No." She gently pushed him it was while Ann was there that
back into the chair. "We'll lose an- Winthrop moved up to a position
other day, and Davy and I will be from which he could see the door
all right. Now you just stay here. of the minister's office. When Ann
Goodbye, dear." She leaned over left, she went with the comforting
and kissed him. knowledge that it would be only a
Winthrop said, "All right, but few days more.
don't visit me, Ann. I'll be home as The time came when Winthrop
soon as this is over, and it's too hard was at the door. Then, suddenly, he
on you to make the trip alone." was in the anteroom, and before
She smiled and nodded. Win- he could fully realize it he was
throp kissed Davy and ruffled his standing in a very small room be-
hair. Then Ann tied both ends of fore the minister.
Davy's leash around her waist, and Winthrop identified himself and
she and Davy walked off. Both of said, "I have a boy of four, a fine
them turned to wave frequently boy, and a fine wife too. I want to
until the crowd swallowed them up. work the way a man should to give
them something besides Standard
The days passed slowly for Win- Fare. Here is what I have worked at
throp. The corridor seemed to in the last five years." And Win-
stretch on interminably as he slowly throp listed the things he had done.
moved down it in his chair. Every The minister listened. He had
few hundred yards there was the white hair and a lined face whose
inevitable milk faucet and the bread skin seemed to be pulled too: tight.
and butter slots, and every few feet When Winthrop had finished, the
there was the inevitable TV screen minister looked steadily into his face
alive with people talking, singing, for a moment; Winthrop could al-
34 THEODORE L. T.HOMAS
roost feel the probing of the level "The reason is that we do not
blue eyes. Then the minister turned want people fighting over jobs. Not
to a device that loomed over him to many who come in here really want
one side and punched a complex to work, but there are a few. We
series of buttons. There was a whir- have to pick good men for this
ring noise behind the wall of the work; those buildings must be kept
tiny room, and then a small packet in good condition. Others less for-
of cards appeared at the slot in the . tunate than you might not under-
bottom of the device. The minister stand that you are just the man we
picked them out and glanced at need. So no talking about your
them, and an odd expression of sad- \vork-no talk of'any kind--on pain
ness swept across his face. It was of dismissal." The minister sat back.
gone in an instant, and then he "\.yell, I guess that is about all. Re-
looked up and said, "Yes, Mr. Win- port for work in the morning. Good
throp. We have a job for you, and luck." "And he held out his hand.
the full six hours a day, too. You Winthrop shook it and said,
\vill be on the maintenance crew "l'hank you, sir. I'll \vork hard for
of your building. Your job is ex- you. 1 didn't know you needed men
plained here-" he passed over a for this work or I would have been
card-"and it consists of tightening here sooner. I had always heard
the nuts <;>0 the expansion joints in that . . . Well, thank you." And
the fralnework of the building. It Winthrop turned to go. Out of the
is very important to do it right, so comer of his eye as he turned, he
read the card carefully." Winthrop thought he saw again that ephemer-
nodded eagerly. al expression of sadness, but when
The minister handed over an- he looked the minister full in the
other card and said, "Here is a face it was gone. Winthrop went out
description of the daily reports you th~ side door. The entire interview
must turn in." Another card. "Here had taken one and three quarter
is how you and your chief decide nlinutes.
your working schedule, and you
must adhere to it; it is very impor-
tant. The chief of your tightening
crew will go over it with you. Here W INTHROP left early the next
morning so as not to be late
is your requisition for the special for work. As it turned out, he was
\vrench you will need. Here is your unable to get off a belt at the
pay schedule; you can decide if proper landing-too many people
you want to be paid in money or in the way-and it took him fifteen
produce. And one very important minutes to retrace his steps. He ar-
thing." The minister leaned for- rived exactly' 9n time.
ward to emphasize his remarks. The chief of the tightening crew
"You are not allowed to talk about was a big, bluff man with a red
your job with anyonc~ not even with face. He took Winthrop in tow and
your best fl;ends. Is that clear?" showed him how they worked. The
\Vinthrop nodded. '''Yes, sir." crew chief had a vast knowledge of
THE GOOD WORK 35
the crawl spaces in the interior of in the Winthrop household, much
the building. He showed 'Vinthrop reading and playing games and tell-
the blueprints from which the tight- ing stories. They even watched the
ening crew worked, and explained TV screen now and then; somehow
that by coordinating their work it no longer seemed so f ruitless. The
with all the other tightening crc\vs monotony of Standard Fare was
they made one cOlTIplete round of broken; the head of the house was
the building every eight years. By working steadily. It was now possi-
then it was time to do i t agai~; the ble to plan ahead for a variety of
nuts worked loose from the constant meals, and that made it easier to
expansion and contraction. It was wait when there was nothing to eat
quite a job keeping track of the but Standard Fare.
area that the tightening crew cov- Winthrop developed skill and
ered; it was a large crew. But each speed at locating and tightening ~e
member turned in daily reports, nuts. He soon covered in a day a
and there was a large clerical staff larger area than any other man,
to keep the records straight. In fact, and the chief told him that he was
there were more men keeping his best man. Winthrop came to
records than there were doing the share the pride and sense of respon-
actual tightening work. The chief sibility that all the other tighteners
pointed out that Winthrop was to felt. They were a select group, and
be one of the elite, one of those they knew it; all the others looked
whose work justified the existence up to them.
of the huge staff. The tone of the It was after dinner one night that
chief's voice made it clear that there Winthrop sat back, hooked his
\vas a kind of quiet pride among thumbs in the armholes of his shirt,
the men who did the actual work. and watched Ann and Davy finish
The chief issued Winthrop his the half-dozen peas. They looked
wrench and showed him where to at him and smiled, and his heart
start. warmed. "You know," he said, "I
The day passed swiftly. The tight- think I'll visit John Barlow for a
ening of the nuts was not so bad, few minutes. I haven't seen him
although Winthrop's arm grew sore since he gave up his store. Do you
after a while. The difficult part was mind, dear?"
gaining access to the nuts in the Ann shook her head. "No, you
first place. Winthrop had to use all run along. I'll play with Davy for
his agility to wriggle through con- a while and then put him to bed.
fined places. Yet it was good to be Don't stay too long."
working again, good to feel the Barlow answered Winthrop's
sweat start from his brow from hard knock. "Well, Jeremiah. Come in,
work instead of from the press of man, come in."
people. Winthrop walked in and the two
In a week Winthrop was no men stood looking at each other.
longer dog-tired when he got home Winthrop was surprised at how well
at night. There was much laughter Barlow looked, and he said so.
36 THEODORE L. THOMAS
Barlo laughed. h la t h, 'm so happy for 0 Jer-
tim e m t I was pretty far down miah. Congratulations. And that re-
in the dumps I QUe . But I'm mind m John. h turned to her
working, Jeremiah. I m actuall hu band. ou ha e 0 get ready to
orking. Important work, too! go to ork. ou know how long it
His enthusiasm as infectious takes to get ther even though it'
and inthrop found himself laugh- in the building.
ing. "I'm glad for you, John. nd "Right. I 11 g tread . Jeremiah,
I know how you feel becau m 1m orry that I hav to go but
orking too. why don't you tay?
Barlow stepped forward and o John. I ju t stopped in to
wrung his hand. "That s fin , man ay hello. You come up and ee u
fine! Government, I guess just lik eal soon. '
mine. It isn t so bad, i it? ot I certainly will."
nearly as bad as e thought. Good There was an e change of ood-
teady important ork mak a man by s and inthrop left.
fe I like it's worth living. Barlo wen into the 0 her room
Helen Barlow came out of th and arne out immediatel with hi
other room. "Why, Jeremiah. rench. He waved it playfully at
didn t know you w re h reo Ho his if. Got to 0,' he said. "The
nice to see you. 100 ning crew won't wait." And he
e and he workin ' aid hIe a ki at his wife and went off
Barlo . to wor . E
TH GOOD WORK 7
H
HE CAR he'd stolen was a the generator would not charge at
beautifully groomed thing: all. all. He would have stolen another
polished lacquer and chrome, with one if he could, but he had got onto
almost brand-new dual tread white- the turnpike before he realized just
wall tires on the nickeled wire how unreliable this one was. If he
heels. But the transmission was changed cars at a restaurant, it
bad, the brake drums scraped, and would be reported and the police
there was a short cir uit in the wir- would s op him wh n he tried to
ing somewhere, 0 that he, had 0 leave the tunlpike.
keep over sixty miles per hour or o he was trapped with what he
38
BY ALGIS BUDRYS
He had been waitin,~ all his lite tor the aliens to turn up-and
had. Hunched over the wheel of his minutes before the ship was due to
roaring cage, the yellowish head- take off, with or without him,
lights reflecting white from the lane average speed required: 46.62, ap-
markers, Redfern swept his eyes prox.; round off to allow for stop-
systematically over the instruments: ping the car at the exit toll booth,
ammeter, fuel gauge, oil pressure, for covering two miles of back
water temperature, speedometer, roads, for leaving the car and run-
odometer. He thought of himself ning an unknown distance across
as doing it systematically, every a weed-grown field to the ship's air-
ten minutes, like a professionally lock-they would take off on sched-
trained driver. Actually, he was ule with him six inches from the
dividing his attention almost equal- slamming airlock door; they would
ly between the road and the not stay themselves a microsecond
odometer. A hundred and ten miles to accommodate him-say fifty
covered, seventy miles to go, ninety miles per hour, average. Then allow
continually around immense trailer
trucks in the slow lane. His mind
raced to keep up with the changing
TASTED ASHES figures on the odometer. He wished
he weren't feeling a slight miss in
the engine whenever he eased up
on the accelerator. He cursed the
for speedometer error. Say fifty-five car's owner for his false-front
miles per hour, indicated, average. prodigality with wax and white-
Allow for odometer error. Say sixty walls.
miles per hour, indicated, average. He looked at his watch again.
Allow for unforeseen delays. Sixty- Four in the morning. He turned
five miles per hour. the radio on, ignoring his fear that
Redfern's foot trembled on the something else might happen to the
accelerator pedal. His thigh ached car's wiring.
from hours of unremitting pressure. "-And that's the news," the an-
His car flashed by signboards, wove nouncer's professionally relaxed
39
voice said. "Mter a word about of gin. The bottle his VISitor had
United Airlines, we'll hear, first, brought up was standing on the bu-
Carl Orff's Carmina BUTana~ fol- reau. His visitor, who had given the
lowed by-" name of Charlie Spence, was not
His watch was slow. drinking.
Five minutes? Fifteen minutes? "You don't look like a Charlie,"
How long did the news take? Redfern said abruptly over the tum-
He held the watch to his ear. It bler's rim. "You look as cold as ice."
was an expensive one, wafer thin, Spence laughed, his small mouth
beautifully crafted, left over from stretching as far as it could. "May-
his younger days-he could barely be I'm made of it," he said. "But
hear it running. Was it running at then, you're nothing but a lump of
all? coal. Carbon." He brushed his fin-
gertips together.
Redfern was a leathery man, his "But then," Redfern mocked
yello\\ish-white hair brushed back sharply, "1 don't pretend to be gre-
from angular temples, a scruffy garious."
Guards moustache over his nearly "Oh, I don't pretend--don't pre-
invisible lips. His suits were made tend at all. I am gregarious. I love
for him by a London tailor, from the company of people. I've been
measurements taken in 1925; they moving about among them for sev-
were gored and belted in the backs eral years, now."
of the jackets. Outdoors, he wore a "All right," Redfern said sharply,
Burberry and carried a briefcase. "we've already settled that. Let's let
People who saw him on the street in it be. I don't care where you come
Washington always took him for from-I don't really care what
someone with diplomatic connec- you're made of. It may surprise you,
tions. But since Redfern was always but I've thought for some time that
seen afoot, these connections per- if people were coming to this world
force had to be minor. Was he an from other places, they'd be bound
~ssistant attache of sorts, perhaps? to get in touch with me sooner or
At his age? Looking at Redfern, later."
people would wonder about it. "Why on Earth should we try to
People. But the man who'd sat get in touch with you?" Spence
easily on the edge of Redfern's asked, nonplus~d.
lumpy bed in the wallpapered hotel "Because if you people have been
room-that man, now ... coming here for years, then you're
That man had coal-black hair, not here openly. You've got pur-
broad, flat cheekbones above a poses of your own. People with pur-
sharply narrowing chin, oval, ma- poses of their own generally come to
roon-pupiled eyes and cyanotic lips. me."
He smiled easily and agreeably Charlie Spence began to chuckle.
across the room. "I like you," he laughed. "I really
Redfern sat in the one chair, sip- do. You're a rare type."
ping at the water tumbler half-full "Yes," said Redfern, "and now
40 ALGIS BUDRYS
let's get down to business." He ges- "I heard you the first time.
tured toward the bureau top. "Pour What's all this to do with me?"
me some more of that." Alcohol af- "Well, now," Charlie Spence ex-
fected him swiftly but not deeply. plained, "the ambassador's not from
Once it had stripped him of the a particularly large nation in their
ordinary inhibitions, he could go on bloc. It seems doubtful they'd
drinking for some time before his bother to send along any of their
intellect lost its edge. Since he al- own security police. The only
ways took two aspirins and went guards present will likely be Ameri-
straight to bed at that point, it was can Secret Service personnel, ex-
not a serious sort of weakness. But tending courtesy protection."
without his inhibitions he was a very "Yes."
unpleasant man. "So. In the first place, the am-
bassador is really a small fish. In the
second place, no American, even a
"IT'S A SIMPLE business," trained professional sworn to his
.I Charlie Spence was saying a duty" is apt to be quite as devoted
little later. "The ambassador will to the ambassador's life as he would
land at National Airport and be be to; that of, say, any American
met by the usual sort of reception congressman. Those two factors
committee. Red carpet, band, dig- represent a potential assassin's mar-
nitaries, and so forth. But the red gin of safety."
carpet will be a little shabby, the "And what're you meddling in
band won't be first-rate, and the our politics for?" Redfern growled.
reception committee will not be "Your politics? Redfern, my dear
quite as high-ranking as it might be. fellow, it mayor may not be your
Mter all, the ambassador's country planet, but it's most assuredly our
is definitely on the other side of the solar system."
fence." The neck of the bottle tinked
"Yes," Redfern drawled. "The against the lip of Redfern's glass.
protocol of prejudice." "And I'm your assassin?"
"Dh, no, no, nothing deliberate," "You are."
Spence said, with a hand raised. "What makes you think I'll do
"Diplomats pride themselves on it?" Redfern cocked his head and
equal courtesy to all. But the em- looked narrowly at Spence.
ployee in charge of caring for the "A compulsive need to meddle in
carpets simply won't do his best. human history."
The band won't play with any great "Dh ?"
enthusiasm. And any of your offi- Cha;lie Spence laughed. "You
cials who happen to be ill, with were cashiered from your country's
colds or similar afllictions, will hon- foreign service in nineteen hundred
estly decide their health precludes and thirty-two. But you've never
the effort of attending. This is sim- stopped mixing into international
ply human nature, and any snub situations. Gun running, courier
will be completely unintended." work, a little export-import, a little
THE MAN WHO TASTED ASHES 41
field work for foreign development The ernbassy \"ill close its doors, is-
corporations ... and, now and then, sue a misleading statement., and
a few more serious escapades. Don't call its doctor."
tell me you don't enjoy it, Redfern. "Yes.'~
It's a very hard life, all told. No one "Very well. The embassy staff
would stay in it as long as you have has taken routine steps, and waits
if it didn't satisfy his need for for the ambassador to recover. But,
power." just to allow for all eventualities:
Redfern. pinched his lips together the unofficial courier service is al-
even more tightly, in the fleeting re- ready transmitting a notification to
flex with which he always acknowl- the government at home. The doc-
edged the truth. "I wasn't cash- tor examines the patien t and dis-
iered," he said. "I resigned without covers an inflamed punciure on his
prejudice." right hand. Another message goes
"Oh, yes; yes, you did. Being un- home. The ambassador dies, and
pleasant to one's superiors doesn't tests indicate poison. Obviously, it
disgrace a man-it merely makes was hoped the puncture would go
him unemployable. Except for 'spe- unnoticed and the cause of death,
cial purposes that don't require a which resembles cerebral occlusion.
pukka sahib. And here I am, as would be mistaken. But the tiny
you said, with a special purpose. needle must not have been quite
Ten thousand dollars, on comple- sterilized, by accident, and the
tion, Redfern, and the satisfaction clever doctor has penetrated the
of having started World War III." scheme-and another message goes
Redfern's eyes glittered. "All over home, before the Am~rican State
one little ambassador?" he asked Department even suspects anything
carefully. serious."
"Over one little ambassador. In "Hmm. I'll simply shake his
life, he's not considered worth the hand?"
trouble of protecting him. And no Charlie Spence reached into his
one but a rather stout and liverish pocket. "Wearing this." He held
woman in the Balkans will mourn out a crumpled sOlnething, the size
him in death. But when he dies, his of a handkerchief. Redfern took it
side will suddenly discover a great and unfolded it. "A mask/' Spence
and genuine moral indignation. ~aid. "Drawn over your head, it
Why? Because they will be truly will mold new features for you.
shocked at such a thing happening It'll be devilish uncomfortable, but
in AUlerica." you won't have to wear it long~"
"World War III," Redfern said ~'It'll make me look like someone
ruminatively. entitled to be on the field?"
"'Exactly. You'll shake the am- Spence grinned the grin of a
bassador's hand. An hour later, Renaissance Florentine. "Better
when he's already safe inside his than that. It will give you the com-
embassy refreshing himself after his posite features of six people entitled
trip, he'11 fall into a sudden coma. to be on the field. You will look like
42 ALGIS BUDRYS
none of them, but you will look Redfern snorted. "If I acted only
superficially familiar to anyone who on what I was sure of, I'd still be an
knows any of them. The subsequent embassy clerk."
questioning of witnesses will yield "And you \\'ouldn't like that, I
amusing results, I think." suppose?" Charlie Spence, recov-
"Very clever. Good technique. ered, was looking around the room.
Confuse and obscure. But then, "Sometimes? i\t night, when you
you've practiced it a long time." can't sleep?"
Redfern pushed himself abruptly "I want an out," Redfern said
out of the chair and went into the brusquely. "I won't do it without
adjoining bathroom, keeping the accident insurance."
door open. "Excuse me," he said "Oh?" Charlie Spence's eyebro\\'s
perfunctorily. quivered.
"Lord, you're a type!" Charlie "If I'm caught at the field, I'm
Spence said. ':Will you do it?" . caught and that's it. I'll protect
"What?" Redfern said from the you."
bathroom. "Professionalism. I like that. Go
"Will you do it?" Spence re- on-what if you get away from the
peated, raising his voice. field?"
Redfern came out, picking up "If I get away, but there's trou-
the gin bottle, and sat back down in ble, I want a rendezvous with one
the chair. He tipped the bottle over of your ships."
the glass. "Maybe." "Oh, ho!" Charlie Spence said.
"I've told you too much for you "You do, -do you?"
to back out now," Spence said with "I'll cover my tracks, if you think
a frown. it's important, but I want a rendez-
"Rubbish!" Redfern spat. "Don't vous. I want to be off this planet
try to bully me. You don't care if there's trouble. Change that-I
what any of the natives tell each want to be off it in any case, and if
other about you. There are dozens there's no trouble, I can always be
of people living off their tales about brought back."
you. It's to your advantage to "Oh, hoI" Charlie Spence re-
hire native helpers wherever you peated with a grin. "Yes, I'd think
can-if they're caught, who cares you would want to watch the next
what wild tales they tell? You'd be war from some safe place." It was
insane to risk losing one of your own easy to see he'd been expecting Red-
people." He looked sharply into fern to lead up to this all along.
Charlie Spence's eyes. "I don't sup- "Have it your way," Redfern said
pose you fancy the thought of a dis- ungraciously.
secting table." Charlie Spence was laughing si-
Charlie Spence licked his lips lently, his eyes a-slit. "All right,
with a flicker of his tongue. "Don't Redfern," he said indulgently. He
be too sure of yourself," he said reached into his card case, took out
after a moment, in a more careful a photograph of a dumpy blonde
tone of voice. woman and a string-haired man
THE MAN WHO TASTED ASHES 43
on the porch of a middle western He tried another station on the
farmhouse, and carefully split it radio, but that was playing popular
with his thumbnails. Out of the cen- music. A third was conducting some
ter, he took a bit of tissue paper, sort of discussion program ahout
and stuck the front and back of the water fluoridation. And that \rvas
photograph together again. Replac- all. The rest of the dial yielded
ing the card case in his pocket, he only hisses or garbled snatches from
handed the slip of paper to Redfern. Minneapolis or Cincinnati. His am-
"Dip it in your drink," he said. meter showed a steady discharge as
He watched while Redfern com- long as the radio was on, no matter
plied, but kept his eyes away from how fast he drove. He turned it off
the short handwritten directions the and steered the car, his face like a
alcohol brought up. "Don't repeat graven image. He was seething \vith
the location aloud. I don't know it, anger, but none of it showed. As an
and don't want to. Memorize it and adolescent, he had made the mis-
destroy it. And I tell you now, Red- take of equating self-possession with
fern, if the ambassador doesn't die, maturity, and had studiously prac-
there'll be no ship." He smiled. ticed the mannerism, with the in-
"For that matter, you have no guar- evitable result that he had "-only
antee there'll be any ship at all." learned to hide his feelings from
Redfern growled. "I know." himself. He was the prisoner of his
"Lord, what meager hopes you practice now, to the extent that he
live on, Redfern!" often had to search deep to find
"You're through here now, aren't what emotion might be driving him
you?" Redfern said. at any particular time. Often he
"Yes . . ." Charlie Spence said found it only in retrospect, when it
with pursed lips. was too late.
"T:hen get out." He took the That lunch with Dick Farleagh
palm hypodermic Charlie Spence this afternoon . . .
handed him in its green pasteboard
box, and closed the hotel room door It had been difficult even to reach
behind his visitor. him' a call to the embassy-"Who
shalt I tell Mr. Farleagh is calling?
Mr. Redfern?" and then the barely
HIRTY-FIVE miles to go. His muffled aside, a whispered "Oh,
T watch now read 4:30. It hadn't
stopped, but was merely slow. If
dear." Then the pause, and finally,
with a sigh: "Mr. Farleagh will
he'd thought to have it cleaned by speak to you now, Mr. Redfern_" as
a jeweler, last year or even the year though the secretary thought a bad
before that, it would be accurate' mistake was being made.
now. As it was, he had less than an "Dickie," Redfern said heavily.
hour, and he would be off the turn- "What is it, Ralph?" Farlcagh's
pike fairly soon~ onto roads that voice was too neutral. Obviously,
\vere paved but had been laid out he had taken the call only Oll t of
in the days of horse-drawn wagons. curiosity, because he had not heard
~ ALGIS BUDRYS
directly from Redfern in nearly There was a long pause, during
fifteen years. But he must already which there was a sudden buzz in
be regretting it-probably he didn't the phone, and the sound of Red-
like being called Dickie, now that fern's coin being collected. In a mo-
his junior clerk days were well be- ment, the operator would be asking
hind him. Redfern ought to have for another dime.
thought of that, but he was in a "Are you there?" Farleagh asked
hurry, a~d hurry, like liquor, always with maddening detachment. "See
took away his social graces. here, Redfern-" now the tenor of
"I have to speak to you." his thinking was unmistakeable in
"Yes?" his voice, even before he continued
Redfern waited. Only after a mo- -"if it's a matter of a few dollars
ment did he understand that Far- or so, I can manage it, I suppose.
leagh had no intention of meeting I'll mail you a check. You needn't
him in person. bother to return it."
"I can't do it over the telephone." "Deposit ten cents for the next
'"I see." Now the voice was crisp, three minutes, please," the operator
as Farleagh decided he could meet said at that moment.
the situation with routine proce- "I don't want your blasted
dure. "I'll ask my secretary to make money!" Redfern cried. "I have to
an appointment. She'll call you. see you. ''''ill you be there?"
Can you leave a number?" "1-" Farleagh had begun when
"No, no, no!" Redfern was shout- the operator cut them off.
ing into the telephone~ "I won't be Redfern stared in bafflement at
~bed off like that!" His words and the telephone. Then he thrust it
actions' \\'ere registering on his con- back on its cradle and walked
sciousness in only the haziest way. briskly out of the booth.
He had no idea he was shouting.
"'This is too important for your He waited in the Grosvenor bar
blasted conventionalities! I won't for an hour and a half, rationing his
put up \vith it! 1 have to see you." drinks out of a sense that he ought
His voice was wheedling, now, to keep his head. He was not a
though he did not realize that, stupid man. He knew that he al-
either. "Today. No later than ways got into quarrels whenever
lunch." he'd been drinking.
F~rleagh said with quiet shock, He rationed his drinks, but after
"There's no need to rave at me. the first one he did so out of a spite-
Now, take hold of yourself, Ralph, ful feeling that he ought to, to
and perhaps we can talk this out please that stuffed shirt Farleagh.
sensibly." He already knew that if Farleagh
"Will you come or won't you?" appeared at all, their meeting
Redfern demanded. "I'll be at the would not do the slightest good.
Grosvenor bar in an hour. I'm Hunched over his drink, glowering
warning you you'll regret it if you at the door, he now only wanted to
don't come." be able to say, afterwards, that he
THE /tI\AN WHO TASTED ASHES 45
had made the utmost effort to do he was merely providing for an ex-
the right thing. tremely remote possibility. "Red-
Farleagh came, at last, looking a fern," he said, "if you're attempting
great deal beefier than he had when to involve my government in some
he and Redfern were in public scheme of yours, that will be the
school together. His handshake was end. You'll have gone too far."
perfunctory-his maddeningly level "OUT government, Dickie," Red-
gray eyes catalogued the changes in fern almost snarled. "I still carry
Redfern's face with obvious disap- my passport."
proval-and he practically shep- "Precisely," Farleagh said. "I'm
herded Redfern to the farthest and sure the American authorities
darkest table. Obviously, he did not would deport you, at our request. If
relish being seen in a public place you stand trial at home, you'll not
with a man of Redfern's character. get off easily."
Redfern drawled: "You've gone to "There's nothing in my past
fat." record that breaks the law at
Farleagh's eyes remained steady. home."
"And you to lean. What is it you "There's a great deal about you
want, Redfern?" that breaks laws more popular than
"If it isn't money?" Redfern's those in books."
mouth curled. He turned and sig- "Damn you, Farleagh," Redfern
naled to a waiter. "What will you said in a voice he did not know was
have, Dickie?" high and almost tearful, "you'd bet-
"None for me, thank you," Far- ter be there tonight."
leagh said in an impassive drone. "Why?"
"I'm pressed for time." "Because if you aren't; and I do
"Are you? You've no idea, do get involved in something, it'll be
you, that I might be on a close found out soon enough that you
schedule myself." Redfern glanced could have been there. I warn you
at his watch. The ambassador's now, Farleagh, if I go down, it
plane was due at National Airport won't be easily. Perhaps it won't
in two hours, and there was a great matter to you if your career's
deal still to be done. "You've kept smashed. I tell you now, there's a
me waiting." He waved the waiter great deal more involved in this
away in sudden irritation, without than your career."
ordering. "Now, you listen to mc," Farleagh was still not taking -his
he told Farleagh. "I'm going to be eyes away from Redfern's face, nor
at a definite place and titne tonight. moderating the set of his 111outh. He
Here." He flicked the balled bit of gave the appearance, sitting there
tissue paper across the table into in his expensive suit, with his gray-
Farlcagh's lap. ing black hair combed down sleekly,
Farleagh picked it out and trans- of enormous patience nearly at an
ferred it to a side pocket. He would end.
have been a very bad diplomat if "Very well thenl" Redfern ex-
he had ignored it. But it \vas plain claimed. "I don't care if you believe
46 ALGIS BUDRYS
me or not." He thrust his chair to look toward the man. He had
back. "But if someone gets ill who seen no sign of drawn-up police
shouldn't, today, you'd better be- cars anywhere around the toll
lieve me!" He stalked away, his plaza. That was the important
Burberry flapping from his ann, his thing, the only important thing at
briefcase banging into the backs the moment.
of chairs, his face an unhealthy Now that he was off the turn-
red. pike, he forgot he had been so
afraid of being stopped for automo-
bile theft. It had been another in
English? This is t~e Secret Serv- once in your life, admit you're the
ice." sort of man you are."
There was a grating sound up in After that, no one seemed to look
the lock chamber, as someone at him. An improvised ladder was
forced open the balky inner door. brought up, and Secret Service men
Then a man stumbled up to the went into the ship and came down
edge and looked down, his white again escorting sullen, blue-lipped
coveralls smudged and a strained men. The clearing became full of
look on his face. He squinted at the activity as the prisoners were hand-
Secret Service man. cuffed together, machines and rec-
"Jesus Christ, yes, I speak Eng- ords brought down out of the ship;
lish," he said in outrage. "Who and Redfern watched it all, just as
threw that bomb? This is a god- he had been watching all his life,
damn Air Force project, and there's from the outside. END
gonna be all kinds of hell."
THE MAN WHO TASTED ASHES 49
BY ICHARD McKE
58 RICHARD McKENNA
traits only as you find them tem- Mr. Cherkassov raised his sandy
pered with the loving jackal traits eyebrows, and a frosty twinkle shone
in such dogs as the chow. But a in his tilted eyes.
Russian dog! If you were to hand "You must realize that I could
moondog a piece of meat, do you hardly admit to such a thing, even
know what she would do?" if it were true, Madame Stonery,"
"No. Tell me." he said judiciously.
Mr. Cherkassov leaned forward, "It is true! Go back to your
his slanting gray eyes opening wide, Kremlin, Mr. Cherkassov, and
and dropped his voice almost to a shoot every wolf in Russia to the
whisper. "Madame, she would bite moon. I'm sure the U.D.D. won't
your hand!" mind!"
"Then she doesn't deserve to be Mr. Cherkassov and the TASS
rescued!" Martha said sharply. men stood up and bowed. Martha
Mr. Cherkassov straightened up rose and sailed ahead of them to
and began stroking his briefcase. the door. Hand on knob, she turned
"In one sense she is not even a dog," . to face them. .
he suggested. "Our meeting will be historic,
"No, she's an old wolf-thing. Like Mr. Cherkassov," she said. "I have
a cat. Dogs are loving!" forced you to betray your country's
"Perhaps not morally worthy of plot to undennine our loving dogs.
your campaign?" You may expect from the D.D.D.
"No, of course not. Mr. Cherkas- instant and massive retaliation! An
sov, you have given me a new aroused America will move at once,
thought ... I hadn't realized...." to set up miscegenation and segre-
Mr. Cherkassov waited attentive- gation barriers against your despic-
ly, his fingers tracing another pat- able wolf blood!"
tern. Paula and Monica looked- at Paula and Monica stood up, each
Martha and held their breaths. with her hands clasped under her
". . . hadn't realized how that flushed and excited face. Mr. Cher-
subversive wolf blood has been kassov bowed again. Martha opened
creeping into our loving dogs all the door.
this long time. Why . . . why it's "Goodbye, Mr. Cherkassov," she
miscegenation! It's bestiality! Con- said. "You will, no doubt, be liqui-
fess it, Mr. Cherkassov-that's one dated in a few days."
way you Russians have been in- Mr. Cherkassov stepped carefully
filtrating us, now isn't it?" across the doonnat. END
-.-
All that philosophers have sought,
Science discovered, genius wrought.
-James Montgomery
BY GEORGE H. SM I TH
BROW
73
GROUND
44nnie signed on a bride ship for Mars. There
paused, trying to guess his thoughts. he heard her he didn't look up.
"You think he might be disap- She went to the flap that must be
pointed when he sees me? Is that it, the door. There wasn't anything to
Ben? I know I'm no pinup girl. knock on, so she opened the flap
But I'm a worker and a breeder. and walked in.
He'll see it. In the end, that's what's There was nothing in the room
going to count." but a cot, kitchen equipment and
Ben was still making holes in the lichen, growing on a number of
sand with his feet, trying to say tables. The air was richer than out-
something. side and Annie breathed it thirstily.
"Please don't worry," Annie went "I'm Annie Strug," she said, smil-
on, "your friend won't be sorry. If ing and wishing it wasn't such an
he doesn't want to marry me right ugly name.
away~kay. I can understand it. He glanced up, angry blue eyes
But I can give him a chance to under a growth of black hair. He
watch me work." didn't say a word.
"That isn't it," Ben said finally. Annie set her suitcase down and
VIRGIN GROUND 81
looked out at the green growth on "I'm not leaving," she said, still
the hills. holding tight the doors of her anger.
"Look, Mr. Bradman/' she cried "] am." He paced heavily over
suddenly, pointing a spatulate fin- the sand floor and pulled back' the
ger to the western horizon. "What fla p of the door.
in the name of heaven is that ?'~ "Where are you going?" Annie
There was a catch of fright in her glanced back at the towering gianL
voice. now glo\ving red in the sunlight.
"We don't say "mister' on Mars," like some huge, grotesque devil.
he said reluctantly. "Brady. But you "Into the storm cellar. Nobody
don't have to call me anything be- lives through a Martian sand-
cause you're leaving soon." He ,vas storm."
a big, arid man with a sandy voice. Annie ran after him. "For God's
But his hands, as he stripped the sake take me with vou! You can't
lumpy brown fruits from a giant leave me ..." ,
lichen, were surprisingly delicate. "Mine's built for one," he said~
"What is it?" Annie asked again, and pulled the top in over him ac;
turning instinctively to the big man he disappeared into the hole.
for a reassurance and protection she Annie broke her fingernails pull-
had no reason to expect. ing at the cover. The \-vind ,vas
Bradman straightened and blowing sand in her eyes. She saw
moved away from her, looking at blood staining the rim of her index
the black giant growing up from the finger. She pounded with her fists.
earth in the distance and moving "Let me in!" she screamed. "In
straight toward them. the name of God!" But all she
"It's a sandstorm," he said. "It'll heard was the keening sand in the
be here in ten minutes." wind.
Annie let out the breath she had She looked around. The devil was
been holding. "Oh. That doesn't closer, malignant and hungry. It
sound so bad. I don't know what I wanted to eat her alive.
thought it was. I was just fright- It made her angry.
ened." She smiled shyly and apolo- "I'll fight it," she screamed. "By
getically at Bradman. God, I'll fight!"
Bradman grimaced at her, his Five minutes, she guessed. Maybe
agate eyes frozen in a pallid face five minutes left. She ran into the
that should have gone with red hair. house, ripped open her suitcase.
The sand-blown lines in his face Bundles of nylon marriage clot4es.
were cruel. "Sister, you've got a She began to soh. Somp were with
smile like a slab of concrete. Don't lace.
try it again." "Fight!" she shouted to herself.
"You didn't have to say that," There was her oxygen mask. How
Annie said quietly, closing her eyes much oxygen? Anybody's guess. It
against the winds of her anger. was made for maybe a few whiffs a
"You didn't have to come here," day over a period of several months.
he replied. "Goodbye." Swell. But it wouldn't keep the
12 ROSEL GEORGE BROW,N
sand from tearing through her eye- bag over her head inside out, so the
balls and flaying her alive. zipper would close completely.
Wrap in nylon nightgowns? Then she folded the zipper part
Ridiculous. under once and wedged herself as
Spacesuit? far as she could go into the space
Annie went through the one- between shrub and hemisphere,
room house as fast as she could. No holding the oxygen mask in her
spacesuit. Why should he have one? teeth.
Three minutes left. \-Vith infinite care, though she
Sand was blowing under the was not likely to split the heavy bag,
hemisphere, piling up at one end she pulled off her shoes and her
and oozing out beneath. heavy, woollen \valking socks. She
I t was possible she would simply put the shoes back on. Her slacks
be buried. covered her legs. Only her ankles
The refrigerator! were bare.
That wasn't a refrigerator. Only She unraveled one sock and
a cabinet, loosely joined. stuffed the yarn in her ears. There
Annie went outside, on the side was a sudden, remarkable quiet.
where the field of lichens gre\v up Then, even through the yarn came
a smooth, stone hill. The red devil the roar of the stonn. For it was
was whistling at her no\v; a low, 'upon her.
insinuating whistle. She looked through the milky
Something rattled faintly against plastic into a wild, red inferno, spit-
one steel rib of the hemisphere. It ting at her in furious frustration.
was a shrub, about five feet tall. Then she bound the other sock over
Annie began to laugh hysterical- her eyes.
ly. Brady h(td protected the shrub She was in a blind, muffled world
with loving care. It \vas tied to the now, buffeted against the shrub and
steel rib through grommetted holes the wires and the steel rib, but not
in the hemisphere, and covered painfully, because of her heavy
with its own plastic bag to shield clothing. It was as though suddenly
off the wind. all her senses had been switched to
One minute. the last pitch before silence.
The red devil was shouting now, "I might live," Annie thought. "1
laughing with triumph. He ran his might."
sandy fingers through her hair and
blew his gritty breath in her eyes.
She pulled the zipper at the bot- HERE WAS sand in the bag
tom of the polyethylene bag that
covered the shrub and yanked the
T now. Annie could feel it sifting
under her collar and blowing up her
bag off. It was heavy, ahnost oily ankles. Not much. It was coming
plastic, slippery and pliant. from the bottom of the bag. Prob-
There was no time to decide ably the end of the zipper had
whether it would be better inside worked open just a little.
or outside the house. She pulled the Was that the dull roar of the
VIRGIN GROUND 83
storm through her stoppered ears She opened her eyes briefly and
or the rushing of her own blood? closed them. The grit stayed in.
If sand \vere seeping in, the storm She didn't dare open them again.
must still be on. But the storm looked weaker.
How did Bradman breathe in his Or was it her imagination?
stOffil cellar? \'"ould the stonn last She groped for the zipper. Foul
long enough for the air to go bad? air would kill her quicker than
It would go bad fast, in an en- sand. She couldn't find it.
closed place on Mars. Hell with the zipper! She pulled
Bradman. What sort of monster her little mending kit out of her
would walk off and let another hu- pocket and slashed the bag with
man being die? \Vithout a glance the scissors.
backwards? Did the cold desert The storm sounded louder now..
wear the humanity out of a man? with the bag gone. The sand ble~
How did a human being get like under her eyelids. Ripped her face.
that? Tore a burning circle around each
" 'You've got a smile like a con- ankle.
crete slab.' " Is that what you say to Annie put her face in her hands,
a person when you know you're breathing through her nose and the
about to leave them to die? sock.
She held herself stimy. She didn't
UNMARRIED WOMEN BE- want to cough.
TWEEN THE AGES OF 21 The whole world was a blind,
AND 30. GOOD HEALTH. gritty pain. There was no end to
WELL ADJUSTED. MAR- think of. Only pain.
RIAGE ON ARRIVAL. A grayness.
MARS TRANSPOR T A blackness.
LEAVES~OCT. 1. Finally, a voice. Bradman.
"You ruined my shrub. Did you
Good health ... well adjusted ... have to slash the bag, too?"
she could see the printed words, Annie opened her eyes. They felt
red stereo words reaching out from red and ruined. They were water-
the page. Unmarried women be- ing so much her cheeks were wet.
tween . . . they came and went in She could hardly see.
her mind and there was a roar in She was having a coughing fit.
her ears. The words were gone now. She dragged herself upright. All
Only a redness that came and went. she could see was sand. The plastic
No. A~lackness. bubble had blown off the girders
AnDIe snatched the exhausted and if the furnishings and her suit-
oxygen mask off her face and case were there, her eyes were still
gulped a pallid, sandy breath of too dim to see them.
air. It wouldn't do. She took the "Do you know what that shrub's
sock off her eyes and bound it worth on Mars?"
around her nose and mouth. It Annie found the yarn had fallen
would filter some of the aand out. out of ODe ear and she pulled it out
8~ ROSEL ~EORGE IROWN
of the other. man. Better. She worked. How she
"Do you know what that bag's worked! She kept herself numb with
worth?" labor, her mind drunk with the
Gall ran in her veins. She spat it liquors of fatigue.
out of her mouth.
She backed up to the steel beam After five years, he came. He just
and braced her feet against it, light appeared inside the door flap, look-
in the Martian gravity. ing a little nervous but grinning.
"I told them not to send a wom- "I'm Jack Hamstrong," he said,
an out here." his voice full and wholesome, like
She pushed off and sank her fist Iowa corn. "I-you weren't at the
into his teeth. He went down. spaceport so I figured, what the
She was too light. But he was too heck. I just walked."
light, too. It evened out. "This is my farm," Annie said.
She turned his face and held it in "My hands are on every inch of it."
the sand. Her strength \vas insane. Hamstrong's ruddy face turned
"Do you know \\That a human in on itself a little. "1 know. I know
life is worth?" she screamed. the story. I didn't come to take any-
He struggled, but she fought his thing away. 1 came to-good Lord,
bucking body, kept his face buried didn't you know you'd be sent a
in the sand until he was dead and husband?"
a long time after. Annie's eyes went queer, like a
An age passed. Annie was frozen eat's. "A husband?" If they'd told
in a world rimed over \vith \vhite her, she hadn't heard. "Go away,"
starlight, sequinned \\7ith frost. she said. She looked around at her
oThen-the crosseyed moons came fann, the fruits of her travail-
up. alone. The virgin birth.
-She found an edge of the plastic "No," he said firlnly. "It's yours
bubble, rwnpled and limp and half and mine. Legally. I'm not a mean
buried in the sand. She pushed off man, Annie. You'll find me patient.
the heaviest hills of sand with her But stubborn. \1 can wait."
hands and pulled it out. She Annie sighed. Or \vas it a shud-
climbed up the anchored girders der? She looked up again at the
with it, and then slept the rest of the puckering edges of the evening sky.
night in her o\vn home. She put down the knife she had
The next day she dug out her been peeling a giant lichen with.
household supplies from the sand. She wiped her hands on her apron
The day after she cleared the and lifted the door flap.
sand from the lichens on her farm. "All right, then," she said.
On the fourth day she called a "Wait."
few neighbors in and late in the "For \vhat?"
evening she buried Bradman. . "The sandstorm," she said.
No one questioned her. It had And she got into the storm cellar
been, after all, self-defense. and pulled down the weighty lid,
She kept the farm as \vell as any locking it behind her. END
VI~G1N GROUND 85
By MARGARET ST. CLAIR
SPACE ACE
~rI-IEfact reporter for the worlds of science and space ... A magnificent
example of space journalislll and photography--excitingly beyond any-
thing of its kind you have ever seen! Read General Robert L. Scott's
ilnportant article, A Call to Arms, follow the cameraman's reports on the
Luna and Mars rockets, witness the human side of America~s space ven-
tures in The Men Behind the Missiles, and other unusual word and pic-
ture features in the current issue. Ask your news dealer-50c a copy.
94
IN THE
JAG-WHIFFING
SERVICE
By DAVID R. BUNCH
I anHAD
we
ALWAYS said there was
easier way. And I think, when
invade, I'll be proved right. But
a little now and then like a greeting
going past. But tell the people that!
They'd throw a big glass on one of
you know how things get started, the whirlcrs and see spikes sticking
and how powerful tradition can be out and maybe a big pair of eyes
and how old-line thinking can keep inside and a nose and a long red
people, even a \vhole planet, in a tongue hanging down. "The
rut. Earthits !" they'd scream like they'd
The big cargo saucers were get- just fallen into one of the hot
ting bigger a.nd bigger each year, canals, and they'd race off to a jag-
what with the growing popularity whiff jag like Judgment-Day-of-
of the jag-whiff places, and the jag- Sins itself was after them. And the
,vhiff places thernsclvcs were grow- funny part of it is, I guess the peo-
ing in number with more and more ple were right being scared like
people going "on the jag" because that, the way things turned out.
-well, partly because-of troubles But is it any wonder we were
in the sky, like strange balls whirl- having to increase the size of the
ing around and unexplainable ob- saucers to space-haul all that jag-
jects going beel) and lL'Ut! and li'UfJ whiff up through the rattleballs?
lL'UfJ. We of the saucers had slipped And a big reason makes nle think it
past these first baby objects O.K. could have been done nlore effi-
and knew they were just little old cien tl y, we '\Tere having to take so
hannless ping-pongs that chattered much junk stuff, extra accessories
THE LAST DAYS OF L.A. smashes against your head. You see
(Continued from page 74) a woman's nylon-clad leg as she
a man in working clothes hits you raises her spiked heel and brings it
with a lunch bucket. You let go of ripping down a'cross your cheek.
the woman and hit back at him. Other feet crash into you.
"Help! Help!" the woman is still "Let me help you," you're still
yelping. yelling, but they keep on kicking.
"Call the cops-a man's trying Some of the shoes have blood on
to rape a girl!"
them, you notice through the haze,
Someone hits you with an um-
but they still keep on kicking.
brella, and you know it's the same
dear little old lady. A guy grabs you Then iCs getting dark and you
by the neck and tries to throw you lie there and think how Henny
to the ground but you kick him in Penny-or was it Chicken Little?-
the groin and trade punches \vith must have felt. You want to tell
two others. Then they're all over someone about it but you don't.
you. The old lady trips you and You just lie there and \vait for the
you go down. She starts beating you screaming sirens to come and take
with the wnbrella as a man's foot you away. END
97
/
Human history is in essence a history of ideas.
-H. G. Wells
By CORDWAI ER SM IT
106
hat ,Gold.n hap on th aolden truction, mankind had leaped
~ teps shook and flutt l' d lik a bird amon a the stars.
oon mad-lik a bird imbued with Out of the shock 0/ meeting in-
an int II ct and a oul, and, ne er- human art of on/ronting non-
tIL I . driven mad b c a i sand human dan mankind had made
t r or. b yond human under tand- a sup rb e th tic effort and had
in . A thou 'and orlds atched. leaped upon the stage of all th
Had tli anci nt calendar con- orlds.
tinu d, thi ould hav been A. D. The golden steps reeled. Some
13,582. After defeat, after disap- eyes that watched had retinas. Some
pointment~ after. ruin and recon- had crystalline cones. Yet all eyes
107
were fixed upon the golden shape are good to me. I am an academi-
which interpreted HThe Glory and cian of the All Union Academy of
Affirmation of Man" in the 1nter- Sciences, a major general in the
fV orid Dance Festival of what Red Air Force, a professor in the
might have been A. D. 13,582. University of Kharkov, a deputy
Once again mankind was lvin- works manager of the Red Flag
ning the contest. Music and dance Combat Aircraft Production Trust.
were hypnotic be)'ond the limits of From each of these I dra\v a
systems, compelling, shocking to hu- salary."
man and inhuman eyes. The dance Sometimes he would narrow his
was a triumph of shock-the shock eyes at his Russian scientific col-
of dynamic beauty. leagues and ask them in dead
The golden shape on the golden earnest, "Would I serve capital-
steps executed shimmering intrica- ists?"
cies of meaning. The body was gold The affrighted colleagues would
and still human. The body was a try to stammer their \vay out of the
woman, but more than a woman. embarrassment, protesting their
On the golden steps, in the golden common loyalty to Stalin or Beria,
light, she trembled and fluttered or Zhukov, or Molotov, or Bul-
like a bird gone mad. ganin, as the case may have been.
Rogov would look very Russian:
calm, mocking, amused. He would
HE MINISTRY of State Se- let them stammer.
T curity had been positively
shocked when they found that a
Then he'd laugh.
Solemnity transformed into hilar-
Nazi agent, more heroic than pru- ity, he would, explode into bubbling,
dent, had almost reached N. Rogov. effervescent, good-humored laugh-
Rogov was worth more to the ter: "Of course I could not seIve
Soviet armed forces than any two the capitalists. My little Anastasia
air armies, more than three motor- would not let me."
ized divisions. His brain was a The colleagues would smile un-
weapon, a weapon for the Soviet comfortably and would wish that
power. Rogov did not talk so wildly, or so
Since the brain was a weapon, comically, or so freely.
Rogov was a prisoner. Rogov was afraid of nothing.
He didn't mind. Most of his colleagues were afraid
Rogov was a pure Russian type, of each other, of the Soviet system,
broad-faced, sandy-haired, blue- of the world, of life, and of death.
eyed, with whimsy in his smile and Perhaps Rogov had once been
amusement in the wrinkles at the ordinary and mortal like other peo-
tops of his cheeks. ple, and full of fears.
"Of course I'm a prisoner," But he had become the lover, the
Rogov used to say. "I am a prison- colleague, the husband of Anastasia
er of State service to the Soviet peo- Fyodorovna Cherpas.
ples. But the workers and peasants Comrade Cherpas had been his
108 CORDWAINER SMITH
rival, his antagonist, his competitor, and Cherpas, there is a team.
in the struggle for scientific emi- They're Communists, good Com-
nence in the frontiers of Russian munists; but they're better than
science. Russian science could never that! They're Russian, Russian
overtake the inhuman pClfection of enough to beat the world. Look at
Gennan method, the rigid intellec- them. That's the future, our Rus-
tual and moral discipli.ne of Ger- sian future!" Perhaps the quotation
man teamwork, but the Russians was an exaggeration, but it did
could and did get ahead of the Ger- show the enormous respect in which
mans by giving vent to their bold, both Rogov and Cherpas were held
fantastic ima~inations. Rogov had by their colleagues in Soviet science.
pioneered the first rocket launchers Shortly. after their marriage
of 1939. Cherpas had finished the strange things happened to them.
job by making the best of the Rogov remained happy. Cherpas
rockets radio-directed. was radiant.
Rogov in 1942 had developed a Nevertheless, the two of them
whole new system of photo-map- began to have haunted expressions,
ping. Comrade Cherpas had ap- as though they had seen things
plied it to color film. Rogov, sandy- which words could not express, as
haired, blue-eyed, and smiling, had though they had stumbled upon
recorded his criticisms of Comrade secrets too important to be whis-
Cherpas' naivete and theoretical pered even to the most secure
unsoundness at the top-secret meet- agents of the Soviet State Police.
ings of Russian scientists during the In 1947 Rogov had an intervie'v
black winter nights of 1943. Com- with Stalin. As he left Stalin's office
rade Cherpas, her butter-yellow in the Kremlin, the great leader
hair flowing down like living water himself came to the door, his fore-
to her shoulders, her unpainted face head wrinkled in thought, nodding,
gleaming with fanaticism, intelli- "Da, da, da."
gence, and dedication, would snarl Even his own personal staff did
her own defiance at him, deriding not know why Stalin was saying
his Conlffiunist theory, pinching at "Yes, yes, yes," but they did see the
his pride, hitting his hypotheses orders that went forth marked
where they were weakest. ONLY BY SAFE HAND, and TO
By 1944 a Rogov-Cherpas quar- BE READ AND RETURNED.
rel had become something ,vorth NOT RETAINED, and further~
traveling to see. more stamped FOR AUTHOR-
In 1945 they were married. IZED EYES ONLY AND UN-
Their courtship was secret, their DER NO CIRCUMSTANCES
wedding a surprise, their partner- TO BE COPIED.
ship a miracle in the upper ranks of Into the true and secret Soviet
Russian science. budget that year by the direct per-
The emigre press had reported sonal orders of a noncommittal
that the great scientist, Peter Stalin, an item was added for
Kapitza, once relnarked, "Rogov "Project Telescope." Stalin toler-
-NO, NO, NOT ROGQV! lCW
ated no inquiry, brooked no com- big, big, big. There'll be no cold
ment. war if they do it. There won't be
A village which had had a name any war of any kind. We'll finish
became nameless. capitalism before the capitalists can
A forest which had been opened ever begin to fight. If they do it. If
to the workers and peasants became they do it." Khrushchev was re-
military territory. ported to have shaken his head
Into the central post office in slowly in perplexity and to have
Kharkov there went a new box said nothing more but to have put
number for the village of Ya. Ch. his initials on the unmodified
Rogov and Cherpas, comrades budget of Project Telescope when a
and lovers, scientists both and Rus- trusted messenger next brought him
sians both, disappeared from the an envelope from Rogov.
everyday lives of their colleagues. Anastasia Cherpas became a
Their faces were no longer seen at mother. Their first boy looked like
scientific meetings. Only rarely did the father. He was followed by a
they emerge. little girl. Then another little boy.
On the few occasions they were The children didn't stop Cherpas'
seen, usually going to and from work. The family had a large dacha
Moscow at the time the All Union and trained nursemaids took over
budget was made up each year, the household.
they seemed smiling and happy. But Every night the four of them
they did not make jokes. dined together.
What the outside world did not Rogov, Russian, humorous, cou-
know was that Stalin in giving them rageous, amused.
their own project, granting them Cherpas, older, more mature,
a paradise restricted to themselves, more beautiful than ever, but just
had seen to it that a snake went as biting, just as cheerful, just as
with them in the paradise. The sharp as she had ever been.
snake this time was not one, but But then the other two, two who
two personalities-Gausgofer and sat with them across the years of
Gauck. all their days, the two colleagues
who had been visited upon them by
the all-powerful word of Stalin
TALIN DIED. himself.
SThe
Beria died too-less willingly.
world went on.
Gausgofer was a female: blood-
less, narrow-faced, with a voice like
Everything went into the forgot- a horse's whinny. She was a scientist
ten village of Ya. Ch. and nothing and a police woman, and com-
came out. petent at both jobs. In 1920 she had
It was rumored that Khrushchev reported her own mother's where-
himself visited Rogov and Cherpas. abouts to the Bolshevik Terror
It was even whispered that Khrush- Committee. In 1924 she had com-
chev said as he went to the Kharkov manded her father's execution. He
airport to fly back to Moscow, "It's was a Russian German of the old
110 CORDWAINER SMITH
Baltic nobility and he had tried to Gauck was solid, impassive,
adjust his mind to the nevv system, blank-faced. In body he was about
but he had failed. In 1930 she had the same height as Rogov. Where
let her lover trust her a little too Rogov \vas muscular, Gauck was
much. He was a Rumanian Com- flabby. Where }{ogov's skin was fair
munist, very high in the Party, but and shot through with the pink
he had a sneaking sympathy for and health of exercise, Gauck's skin
Trotsky. When he whispered into was like stale lard, greasy, gray-
her ear in the privacy of their bed- green, sickly even on the best of
room, whispered with the tears days.
pouring down his face, she had lis- Gauck's eyes were black and
tcned affectionately and q~ietly and small. His glance was as cold and
had delivered his \\lords to the sharp as death. Gauck had no
police the next morning. friends, no enemies, no beliefs, no
With that she came to Stalin's enthusiasms.
attention. Gauck never drank, never went
Stalin had been tough. He ad- out, never received mail, never sent
dressed her brutally, "Comrade, you mail, nevcr spoke a spontaneous
have some brains. I can see you word. He was never rude, never
know what Communism is all kind, never friendly, never really
about. You understand loyalty. withdrawn: He couldn't withdraw
You're going to get ahead and serve any more than the constant with-
the Party and the working class, but drawal of all his life.
is that all you want?" He had spat Rogov had turned to his wife in
the question at her. the secrecy of their bedro8m soon
She was so astonished that she after Gausgofer and Gauck came
gaped. and had said, "Anastasia, is that
The old man had changed his ex- man sane?"
pression, favoring her with leering Cherpas intertwined the fingers
benevolence. He had put his fore- of her beautiful, expressive hands.
finger on her chest, "Study science, She who had been the wit of a
Comrade. Study science. Commun- thousand scientific meetings \vas
ism plus science equals victory. now at a loss for words. She looked
You're too clever to stay in police up at her husband with a troubled
work." expression. "I don't know, com-
Gausgofer fell in love with Rogov rade . . . I just don't know."
the moment she saw him. Rogov smiled his amused Slavic
Gausgofer fell in hate-and hate smile. "At the least then I don't
can be as spontaneous and miracu- think Gausgofer knows either."
lous as love-with Cherpas the mo- Cherpas snorted with laughter
ment she saw her. and picked up her hairbrush.
But Stalin had guessed that too. "That she doesn't. She really
With the bloodless, fanatic Gaus- doesn't know, does she? I'll wager
gofer he had sent a man nanled B. she doesn't even know to \vhom he
Gauck. reports."
-NO, NO, NOT ROGOV! 111
That conversation had reached The first product Stalin had
into the past. Gauck, Gausgofer, asked for was a receiver, if possible,
bloodless eyes and the black eyes- one capable of tuning in the
they remained. thoughts of a human mind and of
Every dinner the four sat down translating those thoughts either
together. into a punch tape machine, an
Every morning the four met in adapted German Hellschreiber ma-
the laboratory. chine, or phonetic speech. If the
Rogov's great courage, high grids could be turned around, the
sanity, and keen humor kept the brain-equivalent machine as a
work going. transmitter might be able to send
Cherpas' flashing genius fueled out. stunning forces which would
him whenever the routine over- paralyze or kill the process of
loaded his magnificent intellect. thought.
Gausgofer spied and watched At its best, Rogov's machine was
and smiled her bloodless smiles; designed to confuse human thought
sometimes, curiously enough, Gaus- over great distances, to select hu-
gofer made genuinely constructive man targets to be confused, and to
suggestions. She never understood maintain an electronic jamming
the whole frame of reference of system which would jam straight
their work, but she knew enough into the human mind without the
of the mechanical and engineering requirement of tubes or receivers.
details to be very useful on occa- He had succeeded-in part. He
sion. had given himself a violent head-
Gauck came in, sat down quietly, ache in the first year of work.
said nothing, did nothing. He did In the third year he had killed
not even smoke. He never fidgeted. mice at a distance of ten kilometers.
He never went to sleep. He just In the seventh year he had brought
watched. on mass hallucinations and a wave
The laboratory grew and with it of suicides in a neighboring village.
there grew the immense co~figura It was this which impressed Khrush-
tion of the espionage machine. chev.
Rogov was now working on the
receiver end. No one had ever ex-
IwasNproposed
THEORY what Rogov had
and Cherpas seconded
imaginable. It consisted of an
plored the infinitely narrow, in-
finitely subtle bands of radiation
which distinguished one human
attempt to work out an integrated mind from another, but Rogov was
theory for all the electrical and trying, as it \vere, to tune in on
radiation phenomena accompany- minds far away.
ing consciousness, and to duplicate He had tried to develop a tele-
the electrical functions of mind pathic helmet of some kind, but it
without the use of animal material. did not work. He had then turned
The range of potential products away from the reception of pure
was immense. thought to the reception of visual
112 CORD\Vi\INER S,\~IIH
and auditory images. Where the One November there had been
nerve-ends reached the brain itself, seventy cases of hysteria, most of
he had managed over the years .to them ending in suicide,' down in
distinguish whole packets of micro- the city of Kharkov several hun-
phenomena, and on sOlne of these dred kilometers away, but Rogov
he had managed to get a fix. was not sure that his own machine
With infinitely delicate tuning he was doing it.
had succeeded one day in picking Comrade Gausgofer dared to
up the eyesight of their second stroke his sleeve. Her white lips
chauffeur, and had managed, slniled and her watery eyes grew
thanks to a needle thrust in just happy as she said in her high, cruel
below his own right cyelid, to "see" voice, .;you can do it, comrade.
through the other man"s eyes as the You can do it."
other man, all unaware, washed Cherpas looked on with con-
their Zis limousine sixteen hundred tempt. Gauck said nothing.
meters away. The female agent Gausgofer saw
. Cherpas had surpassed his feat Cherpas' eyes upon her, and for a
later that winter, and had rnanaged moment an arc of living hatred
to bring in an entire fanlily having leaped between the two women.
dinner over in a nearby city. She The three of them went back
had invited B. Gauck to have a to work on the machine.
needle inserted into his cheekbone Gauck sat on his stool and
so that he could see ,vith the eyes watched them.
of an unsuspecting spied-on stran-
ger. Gauck had refused any kind
of needles, but Gausgofer had T WAS the year in which Eris-
joined in the experirnent and had
expressed her satisfaction ,,\lith the
Iluadc
tratov died that the machi~
a breakthrough. Eristratov
work. died after the Soviet and People's
The espionage machine ,vas be- democracies had tried to end the
ginning to take fornl. cold war with the Americans.
T"vo lllore steps rClnained. The It was May. Outside the labora-
first step consisted of tuning in on tory the squirrels ran among the
some relnote target, such as the trees. The leftovers from the night's
White House in Washington or the rain dripped on the ground and
NATO Headquarters outside Paris. kept the earth moist. It was com-
The second problem consi'ited of fortable to leave a few windows
finding a method of jamrning those open and to let the smell of the
minds at a distance, stunning thenl forest into the workshop.
so that the subject personnel fell The smell of their oil-burning
into tears, confusion, or insanity. heaters, the stale smell of insula-
Rogov had tried, but he had tion, of ozone, and of the heated
never gotten more than thirty kilo- electronic gear was something with
meters from the nameless village of which all of them were much too
Va. Ch. familiar.
NO, NO, NOT ROGOV! 113
Rogov had found that his'eye- got in my way. We're all good seN-
sight was beginning to suffer be- ants of the Soviet State. It's not a
cause he had to get the receiver question of loyalty. It's a question
needle somewhere near his optic of enthusiasm. Don't you ever want
nerve in order to obtain visual im- to glimpse the science we're mak-
pressions from the machine. After ing? We are a hundred years or a
months of experimentation with thousand years ahead of the capi-
both animal and human subjects he talist Americans. Doesn't that ex-
had decided to copy one of their cite you? Aren't you a human be-
last experiments, successfully per- ing? Why don't. you take part?
formed on a prisoner boy fifteen How will you understand me when
years of age, by having the needle I explain it?"
slipped directly through the skull, Gauck said nothing; he looked
up and behind the eye. Rogov had at Rogov with his beady eyes. His
disliked using prisoners, because dirty-gray face did not change ex-
Gauck, speaking on behalf of se- pression. Cherpas said, "Go ahead,
curity, always insisted that a pris- Nikolai. The comrade can follow
oner used in experiments be de- if he wants to."
stroyed in not less than five days Gausgofer looked enviously at
from the beginning of the experi- Cherpas. She seemed inclined to
ment. Rogov had satisfied himself keep quiet, but then had to speak.
that the skull-and-needle technique She said, ~'Do go ahead, cOlnrade
was safe, but he was very tired of professor."
trying to get frightened, unscien- Said Rogov, "Kharosho, I'll do
tific people to carry the load of in- what I can. The machine is now
tense, scientific attentiveness re- ready to receive minds over im-
quired by the machine. mense distances." He wrinkled his
Somewhat ill-humored, he shout- lip in amused scorn. "We may even
ed at Gauck, "Have you ever spy into the brain of the chief ras-
kno\vn what this is all about? cal himself and find out what
You've been here years. Do you Eisenhower is planning to do today
know what we're trying to do? against the Soviet people. Wouldn't
Don't you ever want to take part it be wonderful if our machine
in the experiments yourself? Do could stun him and leave him sit-
you realize how many years of ting addled at his desk?"
mathematics have gone into the Gauck commented, "Don't try it.
making of these grids and the cal- Not without orders." .
culation of these wave patterns? Rogov ignored the interruption
Are you good for anything?" and went on. "First I receive. I
Gauck had said, tonelessly and don't kno\v \vhat I \\rill get, who I
without anger, "Comrade profes- will get, or where they will be. All
sor, I am obeying orders. You are I know is that this machine will
obeying orders too. I've never im- reach out across all the minds of
peded you." men and beasts now living and it
Rogov raved, "1 know you never will bring the eyes and ears of. a
11~ CORDWAINER SMITH
single mind directly into mine. push through the dura mater at ex-
With the new needle going directly actly the right point.
into the brain it will be possible for All this work she did deftly with
me to get a very sharp fixation of kind, very strong fingers. She was
position. The trouble with that boy gentle, but she was firm. She was
last week was that even though we his wife, but she was also his fellow
knew he was seeing something out- scientist and his colleague in the
side this room, he appeared to be Soviet State.
getting sounds in a foreign lan- She stepped back and looked at
guage arrd did not know enough her work. She gave him one of
English or German to realize where their own very special slnilcs., the
or what the machine had taken him secret gay smiles which they usually
to see." exchanged with each other only
Cherpas laughed, "I'm not wor- when they were alone. "You won't
ried. I saw then it was safe. You go want to do this every day. We're
first, my husband. If our comrades going to have to find some way of
don't mind-?" getting into the brain without using
Gauck nodded. this needle. But it won't hurt you."
Gausgofer lifted her bony hand "Does it matter if it does hurt?"
breathlessly to her skinny throat said Rogov. "This is the triumph
and said, "Of course, Comrade of all our work. Bring it down."
Rogov, of course. You did all the Cherpas, her eyes gleaming with
work. You must be the first." attention, reached over and pulled
Rogov sat down. down the handle which brought the
A white-smocked technician tough needle to within a tenth of a
brought the machine over to him. millimeter of the right place.
It was mounted on three rubber- Rogov spoke very carefully: "All
tired wheels and it resembled the I felt was a little sting. You can
small X-ray units used by dentists. turn the power on now."
In place of the cone at the head Gausgofer could not contain her-
of the X-ray machine there was a self. Timidly she addressed Cher..
long, incredibly tough needle. It pas, "May I turn on the power?"
had been Inade for them by the best Cherpas nodded. Gauck watched.
surgical steel craftsmen in Prague. Rogov waited. Gausgofer pulled
Another technician came up with down the bayonet switch.
a shaving bowl, a brush, and a The power went on.
straight razor. Under the gaze of With an impatient twist of her
Gauck's deadly eyes he shaved an hand, Anastasia Cherpas ordered
area of four square centimeters on the laboratory attendants to the
the top of Rogov's head. other end of the room. Two or
Cherpas herself then took over. three of thcln had stopped working
She set her husband's head in the and were staring at Rogov, staring
clamp and used a micrometer to like dull sheep. They looked em..
get the skull-fittings so tight and so barrassed and then' they huddled
accurate that the needle wo1ll1d in a white-smocked herd at the
--NO, NO, NOT ROGOV! 115
other end of the laboratory. Rogov did not know it, but the ma-
The wet May wind blew in on chine had conquered time.
all of them. The scent of forest The machine had reached the
and leaves was about them. dance, the human challenger and
The three watched Rogov. the d~nce festival of the year that
Rogov's complexion began to might have been A.D. 13,582.
change. His face became flushed. Before Rogov's eyes the golden
His breathing was so loud .and shape and the golden steps shook
heavy they could hear it several and fluttered in a ritual a thousand
meters away. Cherpas fell on her times more compelling than hyp-
knees in front of him, eyebrows notism. The rhythms meant noth-
lifted in mute inquiry. ing and everything to him. This
Rogov did not dare nod, not with was Russia, this was Communism.
a needle in his brain. He spoke This was his life-indeed it was his
through flushed Iips, speaking soul acted out before his very eyes.
thickly and heavily, "Do--not- For a second, the last second
stop--now." of his ordinary life, he looked
through flesh and blood eyes and
Rogov himself did not know saw the shabby "voman whom he
what was happening. He had had once thought beautiful. He
thought he might see an American sa,v Anastasia Cherpas, and he did
room, or a Russian room, or. a not care.
tropical colony. He might see palm His vision concentrated once
trees, or forests, or desks. He might again on the dancing image, this
see guns or buildings, washrooms woman, those postures, that dance!
or .beds, hospitals, homes, churches. Then the sound came in-music
He might see with the eyes of a that would have made a Tschaikov-
child, a woman, a man, a soldier, a sky weep, orchestras \vhich would
philosopher, a slave, a worker, a have silenced Shostakovich or
savage, a religious, a Communist, Khachaturian forever.
a reactionary, a governor, a police- The people-who-were-not-people
man. He might hear voices; he between the stars had taught man-
might hear English, or French, or kind many arts. Rogov's mind. was
Russian, Swahili, Hindi, Malay, the best of its time, but his time
Chinese, Ukrainian, Armenian, was far, far behind the time of the
Turkish, Greek. He did not knowlo great dance. With that one vision
None of these things had hap- Rogov went firmly and completely
pened. . mad.
It seemed to him that he had He became blind to the sight. of
left the world, that he had left Cherpas, Gausgofer, and Gauck.
time. The hours and the centuries He forgot the village of Va. Ch.
shrank up like the Ineters, and the He forgot himself. He was like a
machine, unchecked, reached out fish, bred in stale fresh water, which
for the most powerful signal which is thrown for the first time into a
any human mind had transmitted. living stream. He was like all in.;..
116 CORDWAINER SNtITH'
se~t emer~ing from the chrysalis. want to be with that golden shape/
HIS twentIeth-century mind could and rubbish like that. Maybe
not hold the imagery and the im- you've ruined a first-class brain
pact of the music and the dance. forever-" He stopped short as
But the needle was there and though he had said too much.
the needle transmitted into his After all, the problem was a se-
mind more than his mind could curity problem and apparently
stand. both Gauck and Gausgofer repre-
The synapses of his brain flicked sented the security agencies.
like switches. Th~ future flooded Gausgofer turned her watery
into hinL eyes on the doctor and said in a
He fainted. low, even, unbelievably poisonous
Cherpas leaped forward and voice, "Could she have done it~
lifted the needle. Rogov fell out of comrade doctor?'~
the chair. The doctor looked at Cherpas,
answering Gausgofer, "How? You
were there. I wasn't. How could
IgovTtors.WAS Gauck who got the doc-
By nightfall they had Ro-
resting comfortably and under
she have done it? J11 hy should she
do it? You were there.~-
Cherpas said nothing. Her lips
heavy sedation. There were two were compressed tight with grief.
doctors, both from the military Her yellow hair gleamed, but her
headquarters. Gauck had obtained hair was all that remained, at that
authorization for their services by moment, of her beauty. She was
a direct telephone call to Moscow. frightened and she was getting
Both the doctors were annoyed. ready to be sad. She had no time
The senior one never stopped to hate foolish women or to worry
grumbling at Cherpas. about security; she was concerned
"You should not have done it, with her colleague, her lover, her
Comrade Cherpas. Comrade Rogov husband Rogov.
should not have done it either. There was nothing much for
You can't go around sticking things them to do except to \\'ait. They
into brains. That's a medical prob- went into a large room and waited.
lem. None of you people are doc- The servants had laid out im-
tors of medicine. It's all right for mense dishes of cold sliced meat,
you to contrive devices with the pots of caviar, and an assortment
prisoners, but you can't inflict of sliced breads, pure butter, genu-
things like this on Soviet scientific ine coffee, and liquors.
personnel. I'm going to get blamed None of them ate much. At 9: 15
because I can't bring Rogov back. the sound of rotors beat against the
You heard what he was saying. All house. The big helicoptor had ar-
he did was mutter, 'That golden rived from Moscow.
shape on the golden steps, that mu- Higher authorities took over.
sic, that me is a true me, that
golden shape, that golden shape, I The higher authority was a dep-
NO, NO, NOT ROGOV! 117
uty minister, a man named V. Cherpas leaned over him so that
Karper. her face was directly in his line of
Karper was accompanied by t,,o vision. "My darling! My darling,
or three uniformed colonels, by an ,vake up. This is serious."
engineer civilian, by a man from It was evident to all of them that
the headquart~rs of the Communist Rogov did not hear her. .
Party of the Soviet Union, and by For the first time in many years
two doctors. Gauck took the initiative. He spoke
They dispensed with the cour- directly to the man from Moscow.
tesies. Karper merely said, "You "Comrade, may I make a sugges-
are Cherpas. I have met you. You tion?"
are Gausgofer. I have seen your re- Karper looked at him. Gauck
ports. You are Gauck." nodded at Gausgofer. "We were
The delegation ,vent into Ro- both sent here by orders of Conl-
gov's bedroom. Karpel" snapped, rade Stalin. She is senior. She bears
"'Wake hiln." the responsibility. All I do is double
The military doctor who had check."
given him sedatives said, "Com- The deputy minister turned to
rade, you mustn't-" Gausgofer. Gausgofer had been
Karper cut him off. "Shut up." staring at Rogov on the bed; her
He turned to his own physician, blue, watery eyes were tearless and
pointed at Rogov. "\Vake him up." her face was drawn into an expres-
The doctor from Moscow talked sion of extreme tension.
briefly with the senior military doc- Karper ignored that and said to
tor. He too began shaking his head. her firmly; clearly, commandingly,
He gave Karper a disturbed look. "What do you recommend?"
Karper guessed what he might Gausgofer looked at him very di-
hear. He said, "Go ahead. I know rectly and said in a measured voice,
there is some danger to the patient, "I do not think that the case is one
but I've got to get back to Moscow of brain damage. I believe that he
with a report." has obtained a communication
The two doctors worked over which he must share with another
Rogov. One of them gave Rogov human being and that unless one of
an injection. Then all of them us follows him there may be no
stood back from the bed. answer."
Rogov writhed in his bed. He Karper barked: "Very well. But
squirmed. His eyes opened, but ;he what do we do?"
did not see the people. With child- "Let me follow-into the ma-
ishly clear and simple words Rogov chine."
began to talk, ". . . that golden Anastasia Cherpas began to
shape, the golden stairs, the music, laugh slyly and frantically. She
take Inc back to the music, I want seized Karper's ann and pointed
to be with the music, I really am her finger at Gausgofer. Karper
the music . . ." and so on in an stared at her.
endless monotone. Cherpas restrained her laughter
118 CORDWAINER SMITH
and shouted at Karper, "The wom- gofer will find it for both of us."
an's mad. She has loved my hus- The whole group of them went
band for many years. She has hated back into the laboratory. The
my presence, and now she thinks , frightened technicians were brought
that she can save him. She thinks over frorn the barracks. The lights
that she can follow. She thinks that were turned on and the windows
he wants to communicate with her. were closed. The Mav \\rind had
That's ridiculous. I will go myself!" become chilly. .
Karper looked about. He selected The needle was sterilized. The
two of his staff and stepped over electronic grids were warmed up.
into a corner of the room. They Gausgofer~s face \vas an impas-
could hear him talking, but they sive n1ask of triumph as she sat in
could not distinguish the words. the receiving chair. She smiled at
After a conference of six or seven Gauck as an attendant brought the
minutes he returned. soap and the razor to shave clean
"You people have been making a patch on her scalp.
serious security charges against Gauck did not smile back. His
each other. I find that one of our black eyes stared at her. He said
finest weapons, the mind of Rogov, nothing. He did nothing. He
is damaged. Rogov's not just a watched.
nlan. He is a Soviet project." Scorn Karper walked to and fro, glanc-
entered his voice. "I find that the ing from time to time at the hasty
senior security officer, a policewom- but orderly preparation of the ex-
an with a notable record, is charged periment.
by another Soviet scientist with a Anastasia Cherpas sat down at a
silly infatuation. I disregard such laboratory table about five meters
charges. The development of the away from the group. She watched
Soviet State and the work of Soviet the back of Gausgofer's head as
science cannot be impeded by per- the needle was lowered. She buried
sonalities. Comrade Gausgofer will her face in her hands. SOIne of the
follow. I am acting tonight because others thought they heard her
my own staff physician says that weeping, but no one heeded Cher-
Rogov may not live and it is very pas very much. They were too in-
important for us to find out just tent on watching Gausgofer.
what has happened to him and Gausgofer's face became red.
why." Perspiration poured down the
He turned his baleful gaze on flabby cheeks. Her fingers tightened
Cherpas. "You will not protest, on the arm of her chair.
comrade. Your mind is the prop- Suddenly she shouted at them,
~rty of the Russian State. Your life "That golden shape on the golden
and your education have been paid steps." .
for by the workers. You cannot She leaped to her feet, dragging
throw these things away because of the apparatus with her.
personal sentiment. If there is any- No one had expected this. The
thing to be found, Comrade Gaus- chair fell to the floor. The needle
NO, NO, NOT ROGOV! 119
holder, lifted from the floor, swung Gauck remained utterly impas-
its weight sidewise. The needle sive. With superhuman assurance
twisted like a scythe in Gausgofer's and calm he said to Karper, "Com-
brain. rade, I do not dispute the matter.
The body of Gausgofer lay on I know these people, though I do
the floor, sWTounded by excited not know their science. Rogov is
officials. done for."
Karper was acute enough to look At last Karper believed him.
around at Cherpas. They all looked at Anastasia
She stood up from the laboratory Cherpas, at her beautiful hair, her
table and walked toward him. A determined blue eyes, and the two
thin line of blood flowed down thin lines of blood.
from her cheekbone. Another line Karper turned to her. "What do
of blood dripped down from a posi- we do now?"
tion on her cheek, one and a half For an answer she dropped to her
centimers forward of the opening knees and began sobbing, "No, no,
of her left ear. not Rogov! No, no, not Rogov!"
With tremendous composure, her And that was all that they could
face as white as fresh snow, she get out of her. Gauck looked on.
smiled at him. "I eavesdropped."
Karper said, "What?" On the golden steps in the golden
"I eavesdropped, eavesdropped," light, a golden shape danced a
repeated Anastasia Cherpas. "I dream beyond the limits of all
found out where my husband has imagination, danced and drew the
gone. It is not somewhere in this music to herself until a sigh of
world. It is something hypnotic be- yearning, yearning which became a
yond all the limitations of our sci- hope and a torment, went through
ence. We have made a great gun, the hearts of living things on Q
but the gun has fired upon us be- thousand worlds.
fore we could fire it. Edges of the golden scene faded
"Project Telescope is finished. raggedly and unevenly into black.
You may try to get someone else to The gold dimmed down to a pale
finish it, but you will not." gold-silver sheen and then to silver,
Karper stared at her and then last of all to white. The dancer who
turned aside. had been golden was now a forlorn
Gauck stood in his way. white-pink figure standing, quiet
"What do you want?" and fatigued, on the immense, white
"To tell you," said Gauck very steps. The applause of a thousand
softly, "to tell you, comrade deputy worlds roared in upon her.
minister, that Rogov is gone as she She looked blindly at them. The
says he is gone, that she is finished dance had overwhelmed her, too.
if she says she is finished, that all Their applause could mean noth-
this is true. I know.'.' ing. The dance was an end in itself.
Karper glared at him. "How do She would have to live, somehow,
you know?" until she. danced again. END
120 CORDWAINER SMITH
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