SUPPLY TRAIN ON THE MOON-Loaded with radio, television and electri-

cal power equipmfnt, a huge atomic-powered caterpillar train crawls out of a

crater's shadow up into the sunlight, on its way to the site where a Moon
base is under construction. After communication and power equipment
are on their way, food and prefabricated housing units are unloaded from
the two shuttle ships seen in the distance on the crater's floor. Now turn
to inside back cover.
~IIIIIIIII ~~'II::I',:~!!~1 WORLDS 0f SCIENeEFICTI0N
t JUNE 1954
III~I ~IU All Stories New -and Complete

Editor: JAMES 1. QUINN

Assistant Editors: THOR L. KROGH
EVE P. WULFF

1II1111111111l1l11lmlllllllili Cover by Ken Fagg: Lava FaUs on Mercury

~1I11111111111111111"'1II111111111111111111111"'lIIl1l1l1l1l11l1l11l11l1l1l1nlllhlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll'""'1II1111111111111111111111111111111111111~

I NOVELETTES i·
THE COLONISTS by Raymond F. Jones 4
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING by Mari Wolf S4

SHORT STORIES
NO STRINGS ATTACHED by Lester del Rey 38
THE VALLEY by Richard Stockham 71
THE ORDEAL OF COLONEL JOHNS by George H. Smith 84
THE LINK by Alan E. Nourse 92
THE HOLES AND JOHN SMITH by Edward W. Ludwig 109

FEATURES
A CHAT WITH THE EDITOR 2
SNARING THE HUMAN MIND by Fritz Leiber 49
PERSONALITIES IN SCIENCE 106
WHAT IS YOUR SCIENCE I.Q.l 117
SCIENCE BRIEFS 118
COVER PICTORIAL: Equipping the Moon Base
by Ed Valigursky
~1lI111111111111111111"'1II1111111111111111111111111"1II111111"''''11II1I1\I1II1I1I'''1II1111111111'''1II1111111111111111111111111111II11111111111111111111111111111111111~

IF is published monthly by guinn Publishing Company, Inc. Volume 3, No.4.

Copyright 1954 by Quinn Publashing. Co., Inc. Office of publication, 8 Lord Street,
Buffalo New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at Post Office, Buffalo, New
York. Subscription $3.50 for 12 issues in U.S. and Possessions; Canada $4 for 12
issues; elsewhere $4.50. Allow four weeks for change of address. All stories appear-
ing in this magazine are fiction; any similarity to actual persons is. coincidental.
Not responsible for unsolicited artwork or manusc.ripts. 35c a copy. Printed in U.S.A.
EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES, KINGSTON, NEW YORK

Next issue Qn sale May 10th

 -may be used as a background;
the scene: any city, village farm or
other place in America. There are
no taboos and the only limitation
is the author's imagination.
Well, manuscripts have begun to
trickle in. How many we will re-
ceive before the deadline is hard to
tell but, judging from enquiries re-
ceived since last November, there
will be many more than antici-
pated. The response is not only en-
couraging, from the standpoint of a
successful contest, but to see so
many young people curious and
anxious to express their opinions
and speculations about what their
A CHAT WITH country will be like a century from
now. As one young man from Seat-
THE EDITOR tle, Washington, expressed it: "I
have several ideas running around
WHAT WILL LIFE in America be in my head . . . It will be fun to
like 100 years from now? kick this thing around."
That is the theme of IF's first None of the entrees will be
Collegiate Science Fiction Contest judged, of course, until after the
which was announced last fall. contest closes, but from brief scan-
Participants are limited to under- ning of early returns space travel,
graduates in colleges in the United government, electronics, synthetics
States and Canada, and the object and human relations seem to be the
is three fold:' to introduce IF to most popular subjects.
new readers; stimulate interest in One of the stories predicts an
science fiction among young men American Empire, consisting. of
and women, who will be the Amer- North and South America, as one
ica of tomorrow; and to get their of three nations existing on earth a
ideas and opinions, which are to century from now. It seems that the
be expressed in novelette form of United States, diluted with social-
approximately 10,000 words. The ism and communism, is saved from
curtain falls next month, midnight becoming a Soviet puppet state
May 15th to be exact, and there are (about 1984) by a. man with the
prizes totaling $2,000. soldiery of General MacArthur,
Writing ability is being consid- the economic judgment of Her-
ered, but of primary concern are bert Hoover and the oratory of
ideas and imagination. Politics, William Jennings Bryan. Another
science, literature, economics, se- story tells of a United States sub-
mantics, sports, medicine-any sisting on synthetics while a vast
classroom subject· or personal ones program, under military supervi-
2
 sian, is being conducted to rehabili- cases they have taken over the fam-
tate our natural resources; still an- ily TV completely.
other contestant prophesizes the However, there may soon come
human life span to be 125 years, a time when television will have the
with the cure of cancer as common exact opposite effect-on the small
as that of pneumonia is today. fry, anyway. Junior will jump the
So--the ideas are coming thick minute you call him, he will never'
and fast already. What their diver- hesitate to do an errand, he will
sity will be when all submissions are ru~h into his meals! Well . . . ?
in and we start judging is any- Television is not only a medium
body's guess. But one thing is sure: of entertainment. It is used by the
it's going to be an exciting, fasci- Signal Corps to study battle prob-
nating, and thought'-provoking lems. It is the "eyes" of the opera-
journey into what young America tor of machines that detonate and
is thinking today about tomorrow. disassemble bombs. It is equipment
And if you want to see what the in industry where machinery per-
winners predict, don't miss the No- foims robot operations untenable
vember and December issues-you by man. It is a medium of instruc-
are in for a real treat. tion. . . !
Now we have it! Perhaps it won't
WHEN RADIO first made its ap- be too long before school is con-
pearance with the old crystal sets ducted by television-right in your
back in the middle twenties and own home. All you have to do is
grew with leaps and bounds up put Junior in front of the set, turn
through the thirties and forties, it it on at "bell time" and he'll get his
never did seem to attain the de- readin', writin', and 'rithmetic
gree of popularity that television without even going out of 'doors.
has received in the relatively few He's gonna be told to wash his face
years since you got a flickering pic- and hands, do his home work do
ture over a "seven-inch" set. this and that... He's gonna g~t so
In less than ten years TV has be- much schoolin' that he'll be happy
come something of a home life so- to do anything to get a "recess".
cial problem as well as a source of So--once TV school starts, par-
entertainment. People build on ents will get back their sets, ring-
special rooms or re-do attics or cel- side seats and domestic peace.
lars. They buy special chairs, tables, By the way, have you got your
lamps, ash trays, etc. Dad stays color set yet? If not, and that $700-
home at night and Mother lets the $1,000 price is keeping ,you from
dishes go until morning. The small one, don't let it worry you. RCA is
fry either forget or won't do their sending out color that you can pick
homework, they refuse to come to up-in' black-and-white-on your
meals until the last redskin has bit present set without adapters or
the dust, and that errand you want gadgets. So, you can wait until
them to do can wait until Space color comes down, to your budget.
Captain Carson has safely landed A long, long and fast, fast way
his ship on the Moon. In many from Marconi and Bell. -jlq
3
 ~ ..._ - - ORI7A"'_
..
. ~---
1f historical precedent be wrong-what qualities, then, must
man possess to successfully colonize new worlds? Doctor Ashby
said: "There is no piece of data you cannot find, provided you
can devise the proper experimental procedure for. turning it
up." N ow-about the man and the procedure ..•

THE

UOLONISTS
By Raymond F.Jones
Illustrated by Paul Orban .

T HIS WAS the rainy year. Last

year had been the dry one, and
it would come again. But they
distinguishably with the stuff of the
planet itself-along with most of
the rest of their equipment. By that
wouldn't be here to see it; Captain time, however, they had learned
Louis Carnahan thought. They that the cycle of wet and dry sea-
had seen four dry ones, and now sons was almost precisely "equiva-
had come the fourth wet one, and lent to a pair of their own Terran
soon they would be going home. years, so they had no more need for
For them, this was the end of the the calendars.
cycle. But at the beginning of this wet
At first they had kept track of season Carnahan had begun mark-
the" days, checking each one off on iog off the days once again with
their calendars, but the calendars scratches on the post of the hut in
had long since been" mingled in- which he lived. The chronometers
5
6 RAYMOND F. JONES
were gone, too, but one and three- was false, but it was the only source
quarters Earth days equalled one of wisdom he had left, he told him-
Serrengian day, and by that he seIf.
-could cornpute when the ships from He staggered back to the bed
-Earth' -were due. with ,the gourd. He caught a
o He had dug moats about'- the' hut glimpse of his image in the small
to keep rain water from coming in steel mirror on the little table at the
over his dirt floor. Only two of the end of the bed. Pausing to stare,
walls were erected, and he didn't he stroked the thick mat of beard
know or much care whether he and ran his fingers through the
would get the other two up or not. mane of hair that had been very
Most of the materials had blown black when he came, and was now
away during the last dry period and a dirty silver grey.
he doubted very much that he , He hadn't looked at himself for
would replace them. The two avail- a long time, but now he had to. He
able walls were cornered against had to Know what they would see
the prevailing winds. The roof was when the ships of Earth came to
still in good shape, allowing him a pick up the personnel of -the Base
sufficient space free of leaks to ac- and leave another crew. The image
commodate his cooking and the made him sick.
mat-which he- called a bed. At the beginning of this final sea-
,He picked up a gourd container son of the rains, all his life before
from the rough bench in the center coming to Serrengia seemed like a
of the room and took a swallow. of dream that had never been, real.
the burning liquid. From the front Now it was coming back, as if he
of the hut he looked out over the were measuring the final distance
rain swept' terrain at the circle of of a circle and approaching once
huts. Diametrically across from him again his starting point. He .kept
he could see Bolinger, the little remembering more and more.
biologist, moving energetically Watching his image in the mirror,
about. Bolinger was the only one he remembered what General Win-
who had retained any semblance of throp had said on the day of their
scientific interest. He puttered con- departure. "The pick of Earth's
tinually over his collection, which finest," the General said. "We have
had grown enormously over the combed the Earth and you are the
eight year period. men we have chosen to represent
When they got back, Bolinger at Mankind in the far reaches of the
least would have some accomplish- Universe. Remember that wherever
ment to view with pride. The rest you go, there goes the honor of
of, them-? -- Mankind. Do not, above all, betray
Carnahan laughed sharply and that honor."
took another big swallow from the Carnahan clenched his teeth in
gourd, feeling the fresh surge of hot bitterness. He wished - old fatty
liquor already -crossing the portals Winthrop had come with them.
of his brain-" bringing' its false sense Savagely he upended the gourd
of wisdom and clarity. 'He knew it and flung it across the room. It
THE COLONISTS 7
meant a trip to Bailey's hut to get it forgotten how he came to be here,
replenished. Bailey had been the and why. And all that he was
Chief Physicist. Now he was the meant to accomplish had gone un-
official distiller, and the rotgut he done. For years the scientific work
produced was the only thing that of the great base expedition had
made existence bearable. been ignored. Only the little biolo-
The Captain stared again at his gist· across the way, pecking at his
own image. "Captain Louis Carna- tasks season after season, had ac-
han," he murmured aloud. "The complished anything.
pick of Earth's finest-!" He And now the ships were coming
smashed a fist at the little metal to demand an accounting.
mirror and sent it flying across the He groaned aloud as the vision
room. The table crashed over, one became more terrible. He thought
feeble leg twisting brokenly. Then of that day when they had arrived
Carnahan hunched over with his at the inhospitable and uninhabited
face buried against the bed. His world of Serrengia. He could close
fists beat against it while his shoul- his eyes and see it again-the four
ders jerked in familiar, drunken tall ships standing on the plateau
sobs. that was scarred by their landing-.
After it was over he raised up, The men had been so proud of
sitting on the edge of the bed. His what they had done and would yet
mind burned with devastating do. They could see nothing to de-
clarity. It seemed for once he could feat them as they unloaded the
remember everything that had ever mountains of equipment and sup-
happened to him. He remembered plies.
it all.· He remembered his child- Now that same equipment lay
hood under the bright, pleasant sky oozinf.:{ in the muck· of leafy de-
of Earth. He remembered his am- composition, corroded and useless
bition to be a soldier, which meant like the men themselves. And in the
spaceman, even then. He remem- dry seasons it had been alternately
bered his first flight, a simple train- buried and blasted by the sands and
ing ·tour of the Moori installations. the winds.
It convinced him that never again He remembered exactly the day
could he consider himself an Earth- and the hour when they had
man in the sense of one who dwells cracked beyond all recovery. With
upon. the Earth. His realm was the an iron hand he had held them for
sky and the stars. Not even the three years. Weekly he demanded
short period when he had allowed an appearance in full dress uni-
himself to be in love had changed form, and hard· discipline in all
his convictions. He had sacrificed their relationships was the rule.
everything his career demanded. Then one day he let the dress re-
Where had it gone wrong? How view go. They had come in from: a
could he have allowed himself to long trek through a jungle that was
forget? ,For years he had forgotten, renewing itself after a dry season.
he· realized in horror. He had for- Too exhausted in body and spirit,
gotten that Earth existed. He had and 'filled with an increasing sense
 R~YMOND F. JONES
of futility, he abandoned for the at any time now, and their men
moment the formalities -he had would come marching out to greet
held to. ' him in his failure and cowardice
After that it was easy. They fell and his dishonor. It must not hap-
apart .all around him. He tried to pen: Old fatty- Winthrop had said
hold them, settling quarrels that one thing-. that made sense:
verged on mutiny. Then in the "-there goes the honor of Man-
sixth month of the fourth year he kind. Do not, above all, betray that
had to kill with his own hands the hanor."
first of his crazed and rebellious Fatty was right. The only thing
crew. This scientific work disin- he had left was honor, and in only
tegrated and was abandoned. He one way could he retain it.
remembered he had locked up all With the fiery clarity burning in
their notes and observations and his brain he struggled from where
charts, but where he had hidden he lay and picked up the metallic
the metal chest was one of the· few mirror and hung it from the post
things he seemed unable to recall. near the bed. He turned -up the
The more violent of the expedi- broken table against the wall.
tion killed each other off, or wan- Then, with the air of one who has
dered into the jungle or desert and not been on the premises for a long
never came back. On the even time he began searching through
dozeri who were left there had set- the long unused chests stacked in
tled a· kind of monastic hermitage. the corner. The contents were for
Each· man kept to himself, aware the most part in a state of decay,
that a hairbreadth trespass against but he found his straight edged
his neighbor would mean quick razor· in the oiled pouch where he
challenge to the death. Yet they had last placed it.
clung to membership in this degen- There should have been shaving
erate community as if it repre- detergent, but he couldn't find it.
sented their last claim to human- He contented himself with prepar-
ness. ing- hot water, then slowly and
This is what they would see Car- painfully hacked the thick beard
nahan, thought. They would see away and scraped his face clean.
his personal failure. It was his, He found a comb and raked it
there was no question of that. If he through his tangled mat of hair,'
had been strong he eQuid have held arranging it in some vagueresem-
the expedition together. He could blance to the cut he used to wear.
have maintained the base in all the From the chests he drew forth
strength and honor of military the dress uniform he had put away
tradition that had been entrusted so long ago. Fortunately, it had
to him. He hadn't been strong been in the center, surrounded by
enough. other articles so that it was among
The -'ships would come. The four the best preserved of his possessions.
of them. They might come tomor- He donned it in place of the rags
row or even today. -A panic crept he wore. The shoes were almost
through him. The ships could 'land completely hard from lack of care,
THE COLONISTS 9
but he put them on anyway and would not fly. He had to find men
brushed the toes with a scrap of capable .of taking them on their
cloth. fantastic journeys. To date, he had
From underneath his bed he took failed.
his one possession which he had He glanced down at the black
kept hi meticulous repair, his serv- car with government markings,
ice pistol. Then he stood up, but- which had driven in front of the
toning and smoothing his coat, and building a few moments before,
smiled at himself in the little mir- and then he heard Miss Haslam,'
ror.But his gaze shifted at once his secretary, on the interphone.
to something an infinity away. "The Colonization Commission,
" 'Do not, above all, betray that Dr. Ashby."
honor.' At least you gave us one He turned from the window.
good piece of advice, fatty," he "Have them come in at once," he
said. said.
Carefully, he raised the pistol to He strode to the door and shook
his head. hands with each of the men. Only
four of them had come: Mr. Mer-
ton, Chairman; General Winthrop;

H ULL NUMBER FOUR was

erect and self-supporting. Its
shell enclosure was complete ex-
Dr. Cowper; and Dr. Boxman.
"Please have seats over here by
the window," Ashby suggested.
cept 'for necessary installation open- They accepted and General
ings. And in Number One the in- Winthrop stood a moment looking
stallations were complete and the out. "A beautiful sight, aren't they,
ship's first test flight was scheduled Ashby?" he said. "They get more
for tomorrow morning. beautiful every day. You ought to
John Ashby looked from the get over more often. Collins says
third story window of his office to- you haven't been around the place
ward the distant assembly yards on for weeks, and Number One is go-
the other side of the field. The four ing up tomorrow."
hulls stood like golden flames in "We've had too much to occupy
the afternoon sunlight. Ashby felt us here."
defeated by the speed with which ((My men are ready," said the
the ships were being completed. It General pointedly. "'''Ie could sup-
was almost as if the engineers had ply a dozen crews to take those
a special .animosity toward him, ships to Serrengia and back, and
which they expressed in their un- man the base there."
reasonable speed of construction. Ashby turned away, ignoring the
This was nonsense, of course. They General's comment. He took a
had 'a job to do and ~ere proud if chair at the small conference table
they could cut time from their where the three Commissioners had
schedule. seated themselves. Winthrop fol-
But there was no cutting time lowed, settling in his chair with a
from his schedule, and without the smile, as if he had scored. a major
completion of his work the ships point.
10 RAYMOND F. JONES
"Number One is ready," said appointment that you have failed
Merton, "and still you have failed us so far, but we do not ask for
to offer us a single man, Dr. Ashby. your resignation. We do ask if there
The Commission feels that the time is not some way in which you might
is very near when definite action see fit to use the General's men in
will have to be taken. We have your manning the· base."
reports, but we wanted a personal "The whole answer lies in the
word with you to see if we couldn't erroneous term you persist in ap-
come to some understanding as to plying to this project," said Ashby.
what we can expect." "It is not a base, and never will
"I will send you the men when I be. We propose to set up a colony.
find out what kind of man we It makes an enormous difference
need," said Ashby. "Until then with respect to the kind of men
there had better be no thought of required. We've been over this be-
releasing the colonization fleet. I fore-"
will not be responsible for any but "But not enough," snapped Win-
the right answers to this problem." throp. "We'll continue to go over
"We are getting to the point," it until you understand you can't
said Boxman, "where we feel waste those ships on a bunch of
forced to consider the recommen- half-baked idealists inspired by
dations of General Winthrop. some noble nonsense about· carry-
Frankly, we have never been able ing on the torch of human civiliza-
to fully understand your objec- tion beyond the stars. We're put-
tions." ting up a base, to gather scientific
"There'll never be a time when I data and establish rights of occu-
cannot supply all the men needed pancy."
to establish this base," said Win- "I don't think I agree with your
throp. "We spend unlimited funds description of my proposed party
and years of time training person- of colonists," said Ashby mildly.
nel for posts of this kind, yet you "That's what they'll be! Were
insist on looking for unprepared colonists ever anything but psalm
amateurs. It makes no sense what- singing rebels or cutthroats trying
ever, and only because you have to escape hanging? You're not go-
been given complete charge of the ing to establish a cultural and scien-
personnel program have you been tific base with such people."
able to force your views on the "No, you're quite right. That's
Commission. But no one under- not the kind."
stands you. In view of your con- "What is it you're looking for?"
tinued failure, the Commission is said Merton irritably. "What kind
going to be forced to make its own of men do you want, if you can't
choice." find them among the best and the
"My resignation may be had at worst humanity offers."
any time," said Ashby. "Your terms are hardly accu-
"No, no, Dr. Ashby." Merton rate," said Ashby. "You fail to rec-
held up his hand. "The General is ognize the fact that we have never
perhaps too impulsive in his dis- known what kind of man it takes
THE COLONISTS 11
to colonize. You ignore the fact "But more than this, there are
that we have never yet· successfuIIy limitations of time and distance in
colonized the planets of our own the establishment of bases, which
Solar System. Bases, yes-but all cannot be overcome by any amount
our colonies have failed to date." of training of personnel. Cycles of
"What better evidence could you rotation and distances from home
ask for in support of my argu- can be lengthened beyond the ca-
mentP" demanded Winthrop. pacity of men to endure. It is only
"We've proved bases are practical, when they go out with no expecta-
and that colonies are not." tion of return that time and dis-
"No matter how far away or how tance cease to control them."
long the periods of rotation, a man "We do not know of any such
assigned to a base expects to re- limitations," said Winthrop. "They
turn home. Night or day, in the have not been met here in the Solar
performance of any duty, there is System."
in his mind as a working back- "We know them," said Ashby.
ground the recognition that at some "The thing we have not found and
future time he can go home. His which we must discover before
base is never his home." those ships depart is the quality
"Precisely. That is what makes that makes it· possible for a man to
the base successful." ignore time and distance and his
Ashby shook his head. "No base homeland. We know a good deal
is ever successful from the stand- about the successful colonists of
point of permanent extension of a Earth's history. We know that in-
civilization. By its very nature it variably they were of some minority
is transitory, impermanent. That is group wh.ich felt itself persecuted
not what we want now." or limited by conditions surround-
"We have the concept of perma- ing it, or else they were fleeing the
nent bases in military thinking," results of some crime."
said Winthrop. "You can't general- "If that is what you are looking
ize in that fashion." for, it is no wonder you have
"Name for me a single military failed," said Dr. Cowper. "We have
or expeditionary base that con- no such minority groups in our so-
tinued its permanency over any ex- ciety."
tended period of history." "Very true," Ashby replied. "But
"Well-now-" it is not the condition of fleeing or
"The concept is invalid," said being persecuted that generates the
Ashby. "Extensions of humanity qualities of a perfect colonist by
from one area to another on a per- any means! We have examples
manent basis are made by colonists. enough of adequately persecuted
Men who do not expect to rotate, groups who failed as. colonists. But
but come to live and establish there is some quality, which seems
homes. This is what we want on to appear, if at all, only in some of
Serrengia. Humanity is preparing those who have courage enough to
to make an extension of itself in flee their oppression or limiting
the Universe. conditions. This quality makes
J2 RAYMOND F. ·JONES
them successful in their· coloniza- "We are willing to be shown
tion. proof of your thesis, Dr. Ashby, but
"Weare looking first, therefore, we have certain realities of which
for individuals who-would have the we are sure. If we can do no better,
courage to resist severe limitations we shall take the best available to
to the extent of .flight, if such lim- us at the time the ships are ready.
itations existed. And among these If you cannot supply us with
we hope to find the essence of that .proven crews and colonists· by then
-which makes it possible for a man we shall be forced to accept Gen-
to cut all ties with his homeland." eral Winthrop's recommendations
"So you are making your search," and choose personnel whose reac-
said Merton, "among .the .poten- tions are at least known and pre-
tially rebellious and criminal?" dictable to a high degree. I'm sorry,
Ashby nodded. "We have con- but surely you can understand our
fined our study to these individuals position in this matter."
as a result of strict historical prece- For a long time Ashby was si-
-dent so that we might narrow the lent, looking from one to the other
search as much as possible.You of· the faces about the table. Then
must understand, however, that to he spoke in a low voice, as if hav-
choose merely the rebellious and ing reached the extremity of his re-
staff our ships with these would be sources. "Yes-the reactions of
foolhardy. It would be a ridiculous Winthrop's men are indeed known.
shotgun technique. Some of them I suggest that you come with me
would succeed, but we would never and I will show you what those re-
know which it would be. We might actions are."
send twenty or a thousand ships out He stood up and the others fol..
and establish one successful colony. lowed with inquiring expressions
"We have to do much better on their faces. Winthrop made a
than that. Our consumption of fa- short, jerky motion of his head, as
cilities on this project is so great if he detected a hidden sting in
that we have to know~ within a neg- Ashby's words. "What do you mean
ligible margin of error, that when by that?" he demanded.
these groups are visited in eight or "You don't suppose that our ex-
fifty years from now we will find a aminations would neglect the men
community of cooperative, progres- on whom you have spent so much
sive human beings. We cannot be time and effort in training?"
satisfied with less!" The General flushed with rage.
"I'm afraid the majority of sen- "If you've tampered with any of
timent in the Commission is not in my men-! You had no right-!"
agreement with you," said Mr. The other Commission members
.Merton. "To oppose General Win- were smiling in faint amusement
throp's trained crews with selected at the General's discomfiture.
cutthroats and traitors may have "I should think it would be to
historical precedent, but it scarce- your advantage to check the results
ly seems the optimum proceedure of your training," said Mr. Merton.
in this case! "There is only one possible
THE COLONISTS 13
check!" exclaimed General Win- Service within twenty four hours,
throp. "Put these men on a base all adverse effects of the test com-
for a period of eight years and at pletely . removed. He would be
a distance of forty seven light years aware that he had taken it and had
from home and see what they will not passed, but there would be no
do. That is the only way you can trace of the bitter emotions gen-
check on them." erated during those days of exami-
"And if you know anything nation.
about our methods of testing, you Ashby looked out again at the
will understand that this, in effect, four hulls now turning from gold
is what we have done. Your best to red as the sun dropped lower in
man is about to be released from the sky. He had not asked Merton'
the test pit. He can't have more if the ultimatum was going to stick.
than an hour to go." He wondered how they could insist
"Who have you got in your on it after what they had seen, but
guinea pig pen?" the General de- he didn't know.
manded. "If you've ruined him-" Impatiently, he turned from the
"Captain Louis Carnahan," said window as Miss Haslam's voice
Ashby. "Shall we go down, gentle- came on the intercom once more.
men?" "Dr. Ashby, Mr. Jorden is still
waiting to see you."
J orden. He had forgotten. The

I T HAD been a grisly business,

watching the final minutes of
Carnahan's disintegration. General
man had been waiting during his
conference with the Commission-
ers. Jorden was the one who had
Winthrop's face was almost pur- been rejected for examination two
ple when he saw the test pit in weeks ago and insisted he had a
which Carnahan was being exam- right to be examined for coloniza-
ined. He tried to tear out the ob- tion factors. He had been trying to
servation lens with his bare hands get in ever since. He mightas well
as he saw the Captain lift the get rid of the man once and for all,
loaded pistol to his head in the mo- Ashby decided reluctantly.
ment before the safety beam cut in. "Show him in," he said.
And now Ashby kept hearing Mark Jorden was a tall, blond
Winthrop's furious, scathing voice: man in his late twenties. Shaking
"You have destroyed one of the hands with him, Ashby felt thick,
best men the Service has ever pro- strong fingers and glimpsed a mas-
duced! I'll have your hide for this, sive wrist at the edge of the coat
Ashby, if it's the last act of my sleeve. Jorden's face was .a.pleasant
life." Scandinavian pink, matched by
Merton and the others had been blue eyes that looked intently into
shocked also by the violence and Ashby's face.
degradation of what they saw, but They sat at the desk. "You want
whether he had made his point or to be a colonist," said Ashby. "You
not, Ashby didn't know. Carnahan, say you want to settle forty seven
of course, would be returned to the light years from Earth for the rest
14 RA~Iv\OND F.. .JONES
of your life. And our preliminary to take an examination which will
psycho tests indicate you have unquestionably show you have no
scarcely a vestige of the basic quali- qualifications whatever to be a
ties required. Why do you insist. on colonist ?"
the full examination?" "I think I'm qualified," said Jor-
.Jorden smiled. and shook. his d~n. "I insist on being given the
head honestly. "I don't know ex- chance. I believe I have the right
actly. It seems like something I'd to it."
enjoy doing. Maybe it's in my peo- Ashby tried to restrain his irrita-
ple-they liked to move around tion. What Jorden said was perhaps
and see new places. They were true. No one had ever raised the
seamen in the days when there point before. Those previously re-
weren't any charts to sail by." jected by the preliminary tests had
"It's certain that this is a situa- withdrawn in good grace. It
tion without charts to sail by," said seemed senseless to waste the time
Ashby, "but I hardly think the of a test pit and its large crew on
word 'enjoy' is applicable. Have an obviously hopeless applicant. On
you thought at all of what existence the other hand, he couldn't afford
means at that distance from Earth, to have Jorden stirring up trouble
with no communication whatever with the Colonization Commission
except a ship every eight years or at this critical time-and he could
so?Qualifications just a trifle short guess that was exactly what J or-
of insanity are required for a ven- den's next move would be if he
ture of that kind." were turned down again.
"I'm sure you don't mean that, "Our machines will find out
Dr. Ashby," said Jorden reprov- everything about you later," said
ingly. Ashby, "but I'd like you to tell me
"Perhaps not," said Ashby. His about yourself so that I may feel
visitor's calm assurance irritated personally acquainted with you."
him, as if he were the one who J orden shrugged. "There's not
knew what a colonist ought to be. much to tell. I had the usual school-
"I see by your application you're ing, which wasn't anything impres-
an electrical engineer." sive. I had my three year hitch in
Jorden nodded. "Yes. My com- the Service, and I suppose that's
pany has just offered me the head where I began to feel there was
of the department, but I had to something available in life which I
explain I was putting in an applica- had never anticipated. 1 suppose it
tion for colonist. They think I'm sounds very silly to you, but when I
crazy, of course." first put a foot on the 1{oon I felt
"Does taking the examination like crying. I picked up a handful
mean giving up your promotion?" of pumice and let it sift through my
"I'm not sure. But I rather think fingers. I looked out toward Mars
they will pass me up and give it to and felt as if I could go anywhere,
one of the other men." that I ought to go everywhere.
"You want to go badly enough to "The medicos told me later that
risk giving. up that chance in order it was a crazy sort of feeling that
THE COLONISTS 15

everyone gets his first time out, but had seventeen children and were
I didn't believe them. I didn't be- said to be extraordinarily happy.
lieve it was quite the same with My family still owns the homestead
anyone else. When I got out to they cleared. I was born there."
Mars finally, and dUring my one "It can be done, but it doesn't
tour on Pluto, it ·seemed to get conform closely with our currently
worse instead of decreasing as they accepted social mores," said Ashby
told me it would. When I got· out hopefully.
I took a job in my profession, and "I'm sure that won't stand in my
I've been satisfied, but I've never way. If there's a woman who's will-
been able to get rid of the feeling ing to take a chance, I certainly
there's something I'm missing, will be."
something I ought to be doing. It's "There's one more thing we have
connected with everything out to know," said Ashby. "What are
there." He lifted a broad hand and you running away from? Who or
gestured to the horizon beyond the what are your enemies?"
windows. Jorden laughed uncertainly. "I'm
"Perhaps your career should sorry, but I'm not running away
have been in the Service," sug- from anything. As far as I know I
gested Ashby. have no enemies." ,
"No. That was good enough ccAll colonists are running from
while it lasted, but they didn't have something," said Ashby. "Other-
anything I wanted permanently. wise they would stay where they
When I heard about the proposed are."
colonization on Serrengia that . J orden regarded him a moment
seemed to be it." in silence, then smiled slowly. "I
"Your application indicates you think you are going to have occa-
are not married." sion to revise that thesis," he said.
"That's right," said Jorden. eel "A great deal of history would
have no ties to hold me back." also have to be revised if we did,"
"You understand, of course, that said Ashby. "At any rate, let's go
as a colonist you will be expected down to the test pits. I'll show you
to marry, either before leaving or what's in store for you there, and
soon after arrival. Colonial life is you can further decide if you insist
family life." on going througb with it."
"I hadn't thought much about \
that, but it can't be too bad, I sup-
pose. I presume my choice would
be quite severely limited -to a fel-
low colonist?"
T HE LABORATORIES of the
Institute of Social Science were
spread over a forty acre area, con-
"Correct." sisting mostly of the test pits where
"There is a story about my third experimental examination of pro-
or fourth grandfather who was posed colonists was being con-
given a girl to marry the night be- ducted. Ashby led his visitor to the
fore he sailed from his homeland ground . floor where they took a.
to settle ina new country. They pair of the electric cycles us.ed for
16 RAYMOND F. JONES
transportation along the vast cor- uli to determine your reaction .to
ridors of the laboratory. them."
A quarter of a mile away they "Are they there constantly, night
stopped and entered a glassed~in and day?" .
control room fitted.. with :a number "No. When you· are asleep their
of desks and extensive banks of day's work is over and they go
electronic equipment. home." '.
"This almost looks like a good "What if I wake up and find the
sized computer setup," said Jorden whole setup is a phony?"
admiringly. "You won't. We have control
"We use computers extensively, beams constantly focussed upon the
but this equipment is merely the persons being tested. These are
recording and control apparatus used to keep him asleep when de-
for· the synthetic environment es- sirable, and to control him to the
tablished in the test pit. Please step extent of preventing him doing
this way." . physical harm to himself or others~"
The control room was empty "Is that necessary?" said Jorden
now, but during a test it was occu':' dubiously. "Why should anyone
pied by a dozen technicians. It was wish to do harm?"
a highly unorthodox procedure to "The Captain, whom we re-
show a prospective colonist the test leased today, was pushed to the
pit setup before examination, but point of suicide," said Ashby. "We
Ashby still had hopes of shunting find it quite necessary to assure our-
Jorden aside without wasting the selves of adequate control at all
facilities on· a useless test. times."
They moved to an observation "How 'can you set up the illu-
post and Ashby directed Jorden's sion of distance and a whole new
attention to the observation lenses. world in such a comparatively
"We cleaned out here this after- small area?" .
noon," he said. "A Captain of the "It is illusion, a great deal of it.
Service last occupied the pit." Some is induced along with the
Jorden looked up inquiringly. initial preconditioning, other fea-
"Did he-?" . tures are done mechanically, but
when you are there you will have
"No. He didn't make it. Tomor-
no doubt whatever that you are a
row morning you will be given a
'colonist on the planet Serrengia.
preconditioning which will set up You will act accordingly, and re-
the basic situation that you have spond to the stimuli exactly as if
traveled to Serrengia and are now you had been transported to the
established there in the colony. We actual planet. In this way, we are
will begin the test at a period of sure of finding colonists who will
some length after establishment not blow up when they face the
there, when difficulties begin to pile real situation."
up. Other members of the party "How many have you found so
will. be laboratory staff people who far?"
will provide specific, guiding stim- "None'."
THE COLONISTS 17
Jorden was shaken for a mo- even when not assigned to a test.
ment, but he smiled then and said, In a few minutes her voice came
"You have found one. Put my over the phone. "John? What can
name down on the books." I do for you?"
"We'll see," said Ashby grimly. "I thought I could let you off for
"Your colony will be in the limited a few days," said Ashby, "but we've
belt of the planet's northern hemi- got another one that's come up
sphere where considerable agricul- rather suddenly." He told her
ture is possible. You'll be in the briefly about Mark Jorden. "It's
midst of a group trying to beat a useless, but I don't want him run-
living from a world which is neither ning to the Commission right now,
excessively hostile nor conducive' to so we'll put him through. You'll be
indolence. Some of the people will the wife. We'll use Program Sixty
be bitter and wish they had never Eight, except that we'll accelerate
come. They will break up in it."
groups and fight each other. They "Accelerate-I"
will challenge every reason you "Yes. It won't hurt him any.
have for your own coming. You Whatever happens we can wipe up
will face your own personal im- afterwards. This is simply a nuis":
poverishment, the death of your ance and I want it out of the way
child-" as quickly as possible. Mter that-
"Child?" said Jorden. perhaps I can give you those few
"Yes. You will be provided with days I promised you. O.K.?"
a wife and three children. One of "It's all right with me," said
these will die, and you will react as Bonnie. "But an accelerated Sixty
if it were your own flesh. Your wife Eight-"
will oppose your staying, and de-
m'and a return to Earth. We will
throw at you every force available
to tear down your determination to
build a colony. We shall test in ev-
T HEY STOOD on a low hillock
overlooking the ninety acres. of
bottom land salvaged from the
ery possible way the validity of creek grass. Mark .Torden shaded
your decision to go. Do you still his eyes and squinted critically
wish to go through with it?" over the even stand of green shoots
.lorden's grin was' sOInewhat emerging from the bronzed soil.
fainter. He took a deep breath as Germination had been good in
he nodded slowly. "Yes, I'll go spite of the poor planting time.
through with it. I think it's what I The chance of getting a crop. out
want." was fair. If they didn't they'd be
eating shoe ,Plastic in another few
When Ashby finally returned months. I
alone to the office, Miss Haslam The ten year old boy beside him
had gone home. He put in a call clutched his hand and edged closer
anyway for Dr. Bonnie Nathan. as' if there were something threat-
She usually remained somewhere ening him from the broad fields.
in the laboratory until quite late, "Isn't there any way at all for
18 RA,YMONDF. JONES
Earth to send us food," he said, "if constant fear of this world he
we don't get a crop?" would never willingly call home.
"We have to make believe Earth Jorden's heart ached with longing
doesn't exist, Roddy," said Jorden. to instill some kind of joy intO him.
."We couldn't even· let them know "That looks like Mr. 'Tibbets,"
we need help, we're so far away." said Roddy suddenly,. his eyes on
He gripped the boy's· shoulders the new log house.
solidly in his big hands and drew "I believe you're right," said
him close. "We aren't going to need Jorden. "It looks like Roberts and
any help from Earth. We're going Adamson with him. Quite a dele-
to make it on our own. After' all, gation. I wonder what they want."
what would they do on Earth if The colony consisted of about a
they couldn't make it ? Where hundred families, each averaging
would they go for outside help?" five members. Originally they had
"I know," said the boy, "but settled on a broad plateau at some
there are so many of them they distance from the river. It was a
can't· fail. Here, there's only the good location overlooking hun-
few of US." dreds of miles of desert and forest
Jorden patted his shoulder gent- land. Its soil was fertile and the
ly a'g-ain as they started moving to- river water was lifted easily
ward the' rough houses a half mile through the abundant power of
away. "That makes it all the easier the community atomic energy
for us," he said. "We don't have to plant which had been brought from
worry about the ones who won't Earth.
cooperate. We can't lose with the Three months ago, however, the
setup we've got." power plant had been destroyed in
It was harder for Roddy. He re- a disasterous explosion that killed
membered Earth, although he had almost a score of the colonists.
been only four when they left. He Crops for their next season's food
still remembered the cities and the supply were half matured and could
oceans and the forests he had not be saved by any means avail-
known so briefly, and was cursed able.
with the human nostalgia for a past The community was broken into
that seemed more desirable than a number of smaller groups. Three
an unknown, fearful future.·
Of ;the other children, Alice had of these, composed of fifteen fam-
been a baby' when they left, and ilies each, moved to the .low lands
Jerry had been born during the along the river bank and cleared
trip. They knew only Serrengia acreage for new crops· in a desper-
and loved its wild, uncompr-omising ate hope of getting a harvest be-
rigor. They spent their abandoned fore the season ended. They had
wildness of childhood in the near- not yet learned enough' of the cycle
by hills and forests. But with Roddy of weather in this area to predict it
it was different. Childhood seemed with much accuracy.
to have slipped by him. He was Mark J orden was' in charge of
moody, and moved carefully ,iIi one of the farms and the elected
THE COLONISTS 19

leader of the village in which he "Why can't those who are be the
lived. ones to move?"
Tibbets was an elderly man from Now, .when he came into the
the same village. In his middle six- kitchen, she was tired, but she tried
ties, he presented a puzzle ·.to Jor- to smile as always at her pleasure
den as to why he had been permit- in seeing him again. He couldn't
ted to come. Roberts and Adamson imagine what it would be like not
were from the settlements farther having her to welcome him from
down the river. the fields.
Jorden felt certain of the reason "I'll get something cool for you
for their visit. He didn't want to and Roddy," she said. "Would
hear what they had to say;, but he you gentlemen like another drink?"
knew he might as well get it over When they were settled in the
with. front room Tibbets spoke. "You
They hailed him from the nar- know why we've come, Mark. The
row wooden . porch. Jorden came election is only a couple of months
up the steps and shook hands with away. We can't have Boggs in for
each. "Won't you come in? I'm another term of governor. You've
sure· Bonnie can find something got to say you'll run against him."
cool to drink." "As I told you last time, Boggs
Tibbets wiped his thin, wrinkled may be a poor excuse for the job,
brow. "She already has. That girl but I'd be worse. He's at least an
of yours doesn't waste any time be- administrator. I'm only an engineer
ing told what to do. It's too bad -and more recently a farmer."
some of the others can't pitch in "We've got something new,
the way Bonnie does." rww," said Tibbets, his eyes sud-
Jorden accepted the praise with- denly cold and meaningful.
out comment, wondering if no one "The talk about his deliberately
else at all .were aware of the hot, blowing up the power plant? Talk
violent protests she .sometimes of that kind could blow up the
poured out against him because of whole colony as well. Boggs may
the colony. r have his faults but he's not insane."
"Come in anyway," Jorden said. "We've got proof now," said
"I have to go back to the watering Tibbets. "It's true. Adamson's got
in a little while, but you can take it the evidence. He got one of the en-
easy till then." He led the way into gineers who escaped the blast to
the log house. talk. It's one of them who were
Their homes on the plateau had supposed to have been killed. He's
been. decent ones. With adequate so scared of Boggs he's still hiding
power they had made lumber and out. But he's got the proof and
cement, and within a year of their those who are hel)Jing him know
landing had buBt a town of fine it's true."
homes. Among those who had been "Tibbet's is right," said Adam-
forced to. abandon them, no one son earnestly. "We ~now it's true.
was more bitter than Bonnie. And something like that can't stay
"You're no farmer," she said. hidden. It's got to be brought out
 20 RAYMOND F. JONES
if we're going to make the colony ours. We don't belong to Main-
survive. You can't just shut your town any more. It's their business
eyes to it and say, 'Good old Boggs up there. 1'd go crazy if anything
would never do a thing like that.' " happened to you. You've got to
Jorden's eyes were darker as he think of the rest of us!"
spoke in low tones now, hoping "I am thinking," said Mark. He
Roddy would not be listening in raised her chin so he could look
the kitchen. "Suppose it is true. into her eyes. "I'm thinking that
Why would Boggs do such an in- we are going to live here the rest of
sane thing?" our lives, and so are the children.
"Because he's an insane man," If the story about Boggs is true,
said Tibbets. "That's the obvious we're all concerned. We wouldn't
answer. He wants to destroy the be down here if the power plant
colony and limit its growth. He hadn't been destroyed. We'd be liv-
was satisfied to come here and be ing in our good home in Main-
elected governor and run the show. town. Would you expect me to let
He saw it as means of becoming a Boggs get away with this without
two-bit dictator over a group of raising a hand to stop him?"
subservient colonists. It hasn't "Yes-I would," said Bonnie,
turned out that way. He found a "because there is nothing anyone
large percentage of engineers and can do. You know he has Main-
scientists who would have none of town in the palm of his hand. He's
his nonsense. screened out every ruffian and
"He saw the group becoming soured colonist in the whole group
something bigger than himself. He and they'll do anything he says.
had to cut it down to his own size. You can't fight them all, Mark. I
. He's willing to destroy what he won't let you."
can't possess, but he believes that "It won't be me alone," said
by reducing us to primitive status Jorden. "If it develops into a fight
he can keep us in line. In either the majority of the colony will be
case the colony loses." with us. Earth will be with us.
"If what you say is true-if it's Boggs will be facing the results of
actually true," Jorden said, his the whole two billion year struggle
eyes suddenly far away,- "we've got it took to make man what he now
to fight him-" is."
"Then we can count on you?"
"Yes-you can count on me."

He stood in the doorway watch-

ing the departure of the three men,
I N THE lounge off the lab cafe-
teria, Ashby indulged in a late
coffee knowing he wouldn't sleep
but he was aware of Bonnie behind anyway. Across the table Bonnie
him. She rushed to him as he ate sparingly of a belated supper.
turned, and put her face against "The threat of having to fight
his chest. Boggs didn't give him much of a
"Mark-you can't do it! Boggs scare," said Ashby thoughtfully.
will kill you. This is no concern of "It'll take a lot more than a
THE COLONISTS 21

bogey man like Boggs to scare here, Bonnie!"

Mark," said Bonnie. "You've got "I know-all I'm trying to say
yourself a bigger quantity of man is there could be another valid mo-
than you bargained for." tive. I think Mark Jorden's got it.
"This might turn out to be more There's something different about
interesting than we thought. I wish this test, and I think you ought to
there were more time to spend on look in on it yourself."
him. But Merton called up again "What's so different about him?"
today to verify the ultimatum I told "He doesn't act like the rest. He
you about. We produce colonists by hasn't any apparent reason for be-
the time Hull Four is complete or ing here."
they turn the personnel problem Ashby looked at the girl closely.
over to Winthrop-even after they She was one of his top staff mem-
saw Carnahan go to pieces before bers and had been with him from
their eyes." the beginning. The incredible
"Has it ever occurred to you," strain of working day after day in
said Bonnie slowly, "that we might the test pits was showing its effects,
just possibly be off on the wrong he thought.
foot? How do you know that any "I shouldn't have let you get
of the colonists of Earth's history started on this one," he said.
could have stood up to the de- "You're fagged out. Maybe it
mands of Serrengia? I'm beginning would be better to erase what we've
to suspect that the Mayflower's done and start over, so that you can
passenger list would have folded drop out."
quite completely under these con- She shook her head with a quick-
ditions. They had it comparatively ness that surprised him. "I want to
easy. So did most other successful finish it, and see how Mark turns
colonists." out. I'm so used to working with
"Yes-?" said Ashby. the bitter, anti-social ones that it's
"Maybe they succeeded in spite a relief to have someone who is
of being rebels. If they could have halfway normal and gregarious. I
come to the new lands without the want to be around when we find
pressure of flight, but in complete out why he's here."
freedom of action, they might have "Especially if he should go all
made an even greater success." the way to the end. But he
"But why would they have come won't-"
at all, then?"
"I don't know. There must be Ashby was genuinely concerned
another motive capable of impel- about Bonnie's condition when he
ling them. In great feats of explora- looked in on her the next morning.
tion, creation-other human ac- The strain on her face was real be-
tions similar to colonization-" yond any matter of make-up or act-
"There are no other human ac- ing. He wondered just why she
tions similar to colonization," said should be giving in to it now. Bon-
Ashby. "Surely you realize we're nie was well trained, as were all
dealing with something unique the staff members who worked in
22 RAYMOND F. JONES
the test pits. The emotional con- either. You're really going to have
flicts mOcked up there were not al- to put the pressure on to find his
lowed to penetrate very deeply into cracking point."
their personal experience, yet it "I'm afraid we're likely to find
looked now as if Bonnie had some- Bonnie's first. There's something
how lost control of the armor to about this that's hitting her too
protect against such invasion. She hard. Do you know what it is?"
seemed to be living the circum- "No," said Adamson. "I thought
stances of the test program almost I noticed it a little yesterday, too.
as intensely as Mark Jorden was Maybe we ought to check her out."
doing. "She insists on completing the
Such a condition couldn't be program. And I'd like to go all the
permitted to continue, but he was way with Jorden. I'm becoming
baffled by it. Her physical and emo- rather curious about him. Keep an
tional check prior to the test had eye on Bonnie and let me know
not shown her threshold to be this what you think at the end of the
low. Evidently there was emotional shift."
dynamite buried somewhere in the "I'll do that," said Adamson.
situation they had manufactured.
Throug-h the observation lens of
the test pit Ashby watched Jorden
begin a tour of the villages, making
a quiet investigation of the situa-
J ORDEN followed his guide for
more than a mile beyond the
last village on the bank of the river.
tion, which he had all but ignored There, in a willow hidden cave· in
until it was forced to his attention. the clay bank, he found James, the
Jorden spent an hour with Adam- atomic engineer who was reported
son, ·listening carefully to the to know of Boggs' attack on· the
atomic engineer's story, and then power plant.
was led to the hiding place of the "I told him you were coming,"
engineer who claimed direct evi- said Adamson, "but I'm going to
dence that Boggs had instigated the leave. You can make out better if
explosion at the power plant. you're alone with him. He's bitter,
As Adamson left them, Ashby but he isn't armed, and he'll go
signaled him through the tiny but-
along with you if you don't push
ton buried in· the skin behind his
right ear. "This is Ashby," he said. him too hard."
"How does it look? Do you think Jorden watched Adamson disap-
he's going to tackle Boggs?" pear along the· bank in the direc-
"No question of that." Adam- tion from which they had come. He
son's words came back, although he had a feeling· of utter ridiculous-
made no movement of his mouth or ness. This wasn't what they had
throat. "Jorden is· one of these peo- come for! They had come to build
ple with a lot of inertia. It takes a an outpost of human beings, to es-
big push to get him moving, but tablish man's claim in this sector
when he really gets rolling there of .the Universe. And they were
isn't much that can stop him, ending in a petty conflict worthy of
THE COLONISTS 23
the politics of centuries before, back some of us and remarked in casual
on Earth. conversation what a shame it
His face took on a harder set· as would be if the colony were to du-
he approached the mouth of the plicate all over again the mistakes
cave and whistled the signal notes that sooieties on Earth have made
that Adamson had taught him. If during the past thousands of years.
the establishment of the colony de- A few of us were sympathetic with
manded this kind of fight then he that thought-it 'would indeed be
was willing to enter the battle. He a shame. Some of ,the engiJ?eers
had not dedicated the remainder of thought that this was the perfect
his life to a goal only to abandon it chance to set liP a truly scientific
to a petty tyrant like Boggs. society. They didn't agree that
A bearded face peered cautiously Boggs was the ideal leader, but he
through parted willows and James' was the leader and the obvious one
voice spoke. "You're Jorden? I sup- t6 work through. They all became
pose by now everybody in. the vil- convinced that a rapid industrial-
lages knows where I'm hiding but. ization and a highly technological
I'm the world's prize fool for letting soCiety built upon the old rusty
this parade come past my place. foundations would be most difficult
Come in and I'll tell you what I to overcome in building' a society
know. If you help get Boggs it will on truly adequate sociological prin-
be worth anything it costs me." ciples. You can take it from there."
Jorden followed the man Yes, he could, Jorden' thought.
through the screening willows ,to Anybody could take it from there.
the mouth of the cave. There the It was the oldest lie that men of
two of them squatted on rocks op- power and position had ever con-
posite each other. cocted. Why had those particular
"I remember you now," said colonists fallen for it?
James. "You set up the electric "What about you?" he asked
plant when we were assembling the James. "Were you sucked in by
pile, didn't you? I thought we'd Boggs' arguments?" .
worked together." The engineer nodded. "He took
Jorden nodded, hoping James all of us. And all along he never
would go on, remembering Adam- intended that more than a couple
son's cau'tion not to push him too would get out alive-by double
hard, but the engineer seemed to crossing the others."
have nothing more to say. He "Why?" said Jorden.
rubbed a hand forcibly against his "Why? I've thought a lot about
other arm and looked beyond the that, living here in this mudhole.
mouth of the cave to the slow mov- You get to thinking about things
ing river. like that when you realize there's
"This business concerning Boggs' no going back, that 'Boggs would
destruction of the plant-how did kill me on sight for what I could
it start?" said Jorden finally. tell-and that the other colonists
"How does anything of that kind would also, because of what I've
start?" said James. "Boggs came to done. Adamson says lean trust
24 RAYMOND F. JONES
him. He says I can trust you. But I with no goal at all then the Earth
don't trust anybody. I know that colony of Serrengia would be dead
someday soon I'm going to get a long before the ships came again.
bullet in the head from one of you. But Jorden did not believe this.
All I'm hoping is that some of you He did not believe that any but a
hate Boggs enough to get him first." small fraction of the colonists had
"Why did you come to Serrengia any feeling toward Earth except
in the first place?"
that of love. Most had come bo-
"To get away. Why did anyone
cause they wanted to do this par-
come ? You don't give up every-
thing you've got in order to go to ticular thing with their lives. Noth-
some strange world and spend the ing had driven or forced them to it.
rest of your life unless you've got a "Tell me what Boggs did, and
reason. Unless you hate what what he persuaded you to do," said
you've got so much you're willing Jorden.
to try anything else. Unless you're In detail, James told him how
so terribly afraid of what could Boggs had gained influence with
happen to you back there that the technicians necessary to pre-
you're willing to face any kind of pare the plant for destruction, how
dangers out here. We all had our he had persuaded them that anew,
reasons. I'm not asking yours. It idealistic social order demanded
makes no difference to you what their obedience to this fantastic
mine were. But they're all alike. plan. Then, under the Governor's
We came because we were so afraid direction, two of the men betrayed
or full of hate we couldn't stay." the rest. Only .James, who was at a
"How did you expect to build a" slight, distance from his normal
new world out of hate and fear of operating post that night, had eS7
the old one?" caped with non,;,fatal injuries.
"Who worried about what we'd "I know how you feel," said
build here? All we wanted to do James. "You'd like to stick a knife
was get away. You can't tell me into me now. But until you succeed
J.10U came for any other reason!"
in disposing of Boggs, you need to
be sure I'm alive. When that's o\Ter
you'll send someone around to take
J ORDEN made no answer. He
continued to stare in wonder at
the atomic engineer. To what ex-
care of the traitor, James. But you
may be sure I won't be here. I'll get
tent were James' words actually through your guards!"
true? How completely was the col- The man was half crazed, Jor-
ony riddled with unpredictable, den thought," from infection and
purposeless characters like him? fever in half treated wounds, and
If they had fled Earth with a probably from the effects of radia-
purpose to create something better tion itself. "We aren't going to set
than they left, there was a chance. up any guards," he said. "We're go-
But if James was right that most ing to send you medical care. Don't
of them had come in blind flight try toget away down the river~ I'll
THE COLONISTS . 25
have some men who'll take you it a covetous look, contrasting its
where you'll be safe and have spaciousness with the primitive
care." cabin in which she now lived.
Jorde~ left, on the hope that . Tibhet.5 caught her glance.· "If it
James would not. attempt further were not for B.oggs you would still
flight until he was assured of Boggs' be living there," he said.
defeat. But the colony could not Bonnie made no answer. Both
quickly administer the kind of de- she and Roddy stared ahead, as if
feat James wanted. They had to be unable to bring their attention to
orderly, even if it was a frontier bear upon the present, because of
community. There had to be a trial. the fear incited by everything about
There had to be evidence, and them. Jorden was also silent, but
James had to be called to give it. his eyes wandered incessantly over
- He returned to the village and the surrounding hills and distant
made arrangements with Adamson farmlands. He hadn't bargained for
to get medical care for James. Dr. anything like this. He had expected
Babbit, one of the four physicians to find himself in a society of co-
with the colony, was sufficiently operative and uniformly energetic
out of sympathy with Boggs to be human beings. He knew now, with-
trusted. out any further persuasion, that
Then, with his family, he accom- this had been a vision strictly. from
panied Tibbets to Maintown. On an ivory tower.
the bulletin board outside the He should have anticipated that
Council Hall he hung an an- in a group like this there would be
nouncement of his candidacy for a sprinkling of small time thugs and
the governorship, which Tibbets dictators and generally shiftless in-
had prepared for him. Tibbets dividuals who could not make a go
made a little speech to the hand- of it in the society they had left. At
full of people who gathered to read home you could live and work with
what was on the bulletin, but Jor- such without ever being more than
den declined to make any personal vaguely aware of their eccentrici-
statement just now. He had enough ties. Here, their deviation from re-
to say when it came time to accuse quired cooperation was enough to
Boggs of the crimes involved in de- disrupt the whole community.
struction of the power plant. He could understand the terror
But among those who squinted in Bonnie and Roddy. They had
closely at Tibbets' fine, black print~ come only because of him, with no
ing there came a look of mild awe. understanding of the colony's pur-
It had been generally assumed that pose. The present turmoil under-
Boggs would go unopposed for re- lined their conviction that it had
election. been pure folly to come. Somehow
On the way back Tibbets' car he'd have to show them. He'd have
passed the length of Maintown and to make them understand there was
took them by the deserted house a reason for being on Serrengia.
which .Jorden had built in their But at the moment he did not know
first year on Serrengia.- Bonnie gave how to do it.
26 RAYMOND F. JONES

T HE PROGRAM called for a

.continuation well into the night
with a long scene at the cabin, but
.to see if their diversion dams were
holding. If they went out it meant
long days of hard hand labor re-
Ashby interrupted it as soon as they storing them.
returned from Maintown. He or- He gave in, however, to Bonnie's
dered a twenty four hour rest, be- plea to stay in the house with them.
cause of Bonnie. The extended Roddy was frightened of the storm
period of sleep wouldn't harm and looked physically ill when
Jorden. thunder made the walls of the
. Bonnie, however, was furious at cabin shake. It wouldn't change
the interruption as she came out of the actual facts of the damage to
the test pit. the dams whether Jorden exam-
"If you're going to let it go to ined them now or in the morning.
the end, why don't you ~et on with He tried to think up stories to tell
it?" she demanded. "The whole the children, but it was hard to
thing is so far off the track that make up some dealing only with
you might as well find out as soon Serrengia and ignoring· Earth, as
as possible that you're not getting he had to do for Roddy's sake.
anywhere." After the rain finally stopped
"I think we're beginning to find and Bonnie had put the children to
out a great deal. But I want you to bed there came a knock at the door.
have a· rest. The hours of this shift Bonnie opened it. Governor Boggs
are much too long for you." and two of Council members
"You think you know what's go- moved into the romll. Little pools
ing on inside Mark Jorden by of water drained to the floor about
watching the dials and meters, but their feet.
you don't, because it's not himself The Governor turned slowly and
he's. concerned about. It's a goal grinned at Bonnie and Mark Jor-
outside arid bigger than himself. den a~ the light from the lamp and
The colony means something to the fireplace fell upon him. "Nasty
him. It never meant anything at all night out," he said. "For a time I
to any of the others." was afraid we weren't going to
"Then this is the kind of situa- make it."
tion we've been looking for." Boggs was a short, stout man and
"But we haven't the techniques carried himself very erect. He
or insight to understand it. We can seemed to exaggerate his normal
analyze a man who's running away posture as he moved toward the
-but we're not prepared for one chairs Bonnie offered the men.
who's running toward." Jorden remained seated in his
big wooden chair by the fireplace
The night after they returned glancing up with cold challenge in
from Maintown a terrific storm his face as his visitors settled on
broke over the plateau. It began at the opposite side of the fire.
supper time and for an hour poured "I'm sorry we missed you when
torrents 6f water on the land. Jor- you were in town today," said
den wanted to go down to the river Boggs. "It was not until late this
THE COLONISTS 27
afternoon that I became. aware of and believe them."
your visit." "Possibly," said Jorden.
He reached to an inner coat "I wouldn't. I wouldn't beli~ve
pocket and drew forth a paper them if I were you. ,I wouldn't even
which he unfolded carefully.· Jor- listen to them be~ause it might lead
den recognized it as the announce- to· dangerous and erroneous con-
ment he had tacked on thebull~tin clusions,· which would cause you to
board. Boggs passed it over. convict in your mind an honest
"I felt sure you would wish to man."
withdraw this, Jorden, after you "That weuld be my e~ror then,
had given it a little fuller considera- wouldn't it?": said Jorden.
tion. I'm sure that by now you The Governor nodded. ·"A grave
have had time to think over the one as far as it concerns the wel-
matter a little more calmly and find fare· of yourself and your family,
a good many reasons why you Jorden."
should withdraw your announce- Jorden's face hardened. "Threats
ment." of that kind a,ren'tappropriate to
"I haven't thought much about your position, Governor."
it," said Jorden, "but now that you "Perhaps you are not aware of
call it to my attention I am becom- my exact position."
ing aware of an increasing number "I think,} am! And I intend to
of reasons why I should not with- do everything in my power to
draw. I assure· you I have no in- change it. You are a small time
tention of doing so." chiseler who saw a good chance to
Boggs smiled and folded up the set yourself up for life in a cushy
paper and slipped it into the fite. situation where five hundred other
"I have not been such a bad ad- people would obey. your slightest
ministrator during my first term of whim. That's an old fashioned
office, have I Jorden?" situation, Boggs·, and you can't set
"That is for the people to decide it up here even if you are willing
-on election day." to resort to sab.otage and murder."
"But why should they want to Boggs eyes narrowed and he
change a perfectly capable admin- looked at Jorden for a long time. "I
istrator," said Boggs in an injured am afraid, then," he said, "that
tone, "and put in a very capable there is nothing I can do except put
engineer and farm manager-who a stop to your repeating these lying
has no qualifications in adminis- stories about me."
trative matters?" The Governor's eyes never
"That too is a question to be an- moved, but Jorden shifted in sud-
swered on election day." den, wild indecision. Almost simul-
Boggs shifted in his chair, drop- taneously there were two shots ex-
ping the deliberately maintained ploding in the narrow cabin, and
smile from his face. "There have then a third. Jorden and Boggs
been some stories circulating about leaped out of their chairs.
the colony recently," he said. "It is From the kitchen doorway came
possible that you have heard them the .steel-taut voice· of Bonnie.
28 RAYMOND F. JONES
"Don't move any further, Mr. a chance. For this we followed your
Boggs. Put your hands in the air. great dream of colonizing an out-
Get his gun, Mark-in the pocket post of the Universe!"
on this side."
For a moment Jorden hesitated, That night Roddy was sick. Six
his eyes held by the sight of Boggs' days later he was dead. Before
two gunmen on the floor, blood they decided to go through with
spreading in tiny rivulets. He took this section of the program there
the pistol from the Governor's were long and heated conferences
pocket and held it in readiness. between Bonnie and Ashby and the
"I ought to kill you now, Boggs," staff working at the test pit. Bonnie
he said. "Fortunately, or unfortu- insisted the program should be
nately, we have to set a precedent dropped here. They already knew
in such matters if the colony is to that Jorden was what they were
survive. We have to go through searching for. They had only to
the formality of a trial for sabotag- analyze the factors that had
ing the power plant and murdering brought him to the test and they
those killed there. Actually, it would have what they needed to
would be a good idea if you just identify as many colonists as the
took off over the hills and went as project required. He didn't need
far as you could before the jungle to be broken down any further.
got you. It would save us all a great Ashby knew this was not true.
deal of trouble." .Torden's basic purpose as a colonist
Hope surged in Boggs' eyes as he had not yet been brought into sight.
recognized that Jorden was incapa- Ashby recognized that his goal was
ble of shooting him down. Then almost certainly the perpetuation
bitterness mingled with that hope. of the colony-and he was the first
"You won't get away with this, one who had maintained such a
Jorden. We'll see what the people goal this far-but they had to know
have to say about your wife shoot- the drive that existed behind the
ing my men down while my back goal. If it should develop a basis
is turned." wholly in flight it would still crack
((Their backs weren't turned," before completion of the program.
said Jorden. "Get them out of here But Ashby continued to be hesi-
now. If you want to save explana- tan~ on Bonnie's account. Roddy's
tions as to why you came here to- illness and death meant a continu-
night you might find a convenient ous tour in the test pit for the full
spot and bury them-before you six days. And this was cut from the
take out over the hills yourself." scheduled eight it normally occu-
Watching until they could no pied. Why it was impossible for
longer see the lights of Boggs' car, Bonnie to reduce her own personal
they. closed the door. Bonnie col- tension on the project, Ashby didn't
lapsed with a moan, cringing in know, but she had become increas-
Jorden's arms. ingly susceptible as time went on.
"Now they'll kill us all," she said Word of Jorden's persistence was
in a lifeless voice. "We haven't got spreading among the staff person-
THE COLONISTS 29
nel of other sections of the lab. A televiewer Ashby brought an image
subdued excitement was stirring of her face up close, studying her
among them. In most cases so far from every angle during the long
examined, the colonist had by now nights when she and Mark Jorden
either knuckled under to Boggs or exchanged vigil over Roddy. He
engaged in a futile personal duel scanned her face by the firelight of
with him. If they went further, they the rough cabin.
almost invariably collapsed under After three days, Jorden was run-
the pressure of Bonnie's blame and ning close to exhaustion, but in
began cursing Serrengia as well as spjte of the strain Bonnie seemed
the Earth from which they fled. c'\Pable of remaining there forever.
. Ashby ordered resumption of the Her eyes watched Jorden's face,
program. It was an agony for him, taking in his every movement and
too, watching Bonnie during the expression.
long hours of Roddy's illness. It And after three days of watching
seemed every bit as much a test of Bonnie's face in close-up, Ashby
her strength and endurance as it suddenly murmured aloud to him-
was of Mark Jorden's. With the self in disbelief and astonishment.
30 RAYMOND F. JONES
Dr. Miller, who was Tibbets in reaching back, his longing for
the program, came up to his side. Earth. He shrank before the prob-
"What is it, Ashby? Has something lem of their doubtful food supply.
g-one wrong?" He caught snatches of adult. wor-
Ashby shook his head slowly in ries and nourished them with a
wonder and pointed to the image dark agony that made it appear to
in the viewer. "Look at her," he Jorden sometimes as if the boy were
said. "Can't you see what has hap- walking in a nightmare.
pened to Bonnie? We should have It had been cruel and brutal to
caught it long ago. No wonder this bring him. But there was no use
job is tearing her apart-no won- blaming himself for that. If only
der she doesn't want it to end the Bonnie would stop blaming him!
way it must-or end at all, for that He couldn't have known ahead of
matter!" time that Roddy was one of those
"I still don't see what you are who could not be-transplanted.
talking about," said Miller in ex- Fervently, he prayed for the boy's
asperation. "I don't see that any- life now and vowed that when the
thing- has happened to her. She ships came again he would be free
looks like the same old Bonnie to to go home.
me." And always Bonnie's eyes were
"Does she?" said Ashby. "Watch upon him. Sitting in the firelight
her when she looks at Jorden. Can't of the cabin; he could feel her star-.
you see she has fallen in love with ing at him, accusing him, hating'
him?" him for bringing them to Serrengia.
Once he looked up and caught
her glance. "Don't hate me so

T HERE WAS probably a whole

class of people like Roddy, Jor-
den thought. People incapable of
much, Bonnie!" he said. "You're
driving Roddy down. I can feel it.
Reach out to him with your love
surviving beyond the world on and don't let him go."
which they were born. Since the But Roddy said "later that same
day of his coming Roddy had evening, "Maybe I'll go back to
fought an unceasing battle with Earth now, Daddy. Do you think
this hated, alien world of Serrengia. that's where little boys go when
He awoke each morning to renew they die?"
the unequal contest before he was He wanted to return so badly
even out of bed-and knowing fully that he was willing to die to achieve
that he was beaten before he it, Jordon thought. That's what
started. Dr. Babbit said: "Roddy doesn't
Jorden had tried every way he even want to live, Jorden. As in-
knew to instill into his son some of credible as it seems, he's literally
his own love for this new world. It dying of homesickness. I'm afraid
was a good world and the men who there's not a thing I can do for him.
grew up on it in the years to come I'm sorry, but it's up to you. You
would love it with all their hearts. and Bonnie are the only ones who
But Roddy could not give up his can give hini a desire to· remain, if
THE COLONISTS 31
anyone can." I've ever known. If' you find his
Roddy's hate for Serrengia was breaking point it will be when you
greater than any desire they could destroy him utterly. You've got to
induce in him to live. With ease, quit before you reach that point!"
he conquered all the miracle drugs "All that we've done will be use-
Dr. Babbit lavished from the col- less if We quit now, Bonnie. Just a
ony's restricted store. He died on few more hours and then it will
the sixth night after Boggs' visit. all be over-"
As if his words had touched a
The funeral was held in the lit- hidden trigger, she did begin to cry
tle community church built when with a deep but almost inaudible
the colonists first laid out Main- sound and a heavy movement of
town. Mark and Bonnie Jorden her shoulders. Mark Jorden put his
were almost oblivious to the words arm about her as if to force away
spoken over the body of Roddy by her grief.
the Reverend Wagner, who had "I know~ Bonnie," said Ashby
come as the colonists' spiritual ad- softly. "I can see' in your face
viser. what's happened to you. It's going
Bonnie's hands were folded on to be all right. Everything doesn't
her lap, and she kept her eyes down end for you when the test is over."
throughout the service. She was "Oh, shut up!" said Bonnie in a
aware of the agony within Mark sudden rage that made her tears
Jorden. It was a real agony, and come faster. "If I ever work on an-
its strength almost frightened her, other of your damned experiments
for she had never before seen such it will be when I've lost my senses
a response in any man who had entirely! You don't know what this
gone through the test this far. They does to people. I didn't know either
were men concerned only with -because I didn't care. But now I
themselves, incapable of the love know-"
that Jorden could feel for a son. "You know that no harm results
He reached out and took one of after we've erased and corrected
her hands in his own. She could all inadequate reactions at the end
feel the emotion within him, the of the test. You're letting your feel-
tightening and trembling of his big, ings cover up your full awareness
hard-muscled arm. of what we're doing."
Ashby was watching. Over the "Yes, and I suppose that when
private communication system that it's over I had better submit to a
linked them he murmured, "Cry, little erasing myself. Then Bonnie
Bonnie! Make it real. Make him can go back to work as a little iced
hate himself and everything he's steel probe for some more of your
done since he decided to become guinea pigs!"
a colonist-if you can! This is "Bonnie-!"
where we've got to find out whether She made no answer to Ashby,
he can crack or not-and why." but lay her head on Jorden's shoul-
"You can't break him," said der while her sobbing subsided,
Bonnie. "He's the strongest man How did it happen? she asked her-
32 RAYMOND F. JONES
self. It wasn't anything she had test, she thought. She would let
wanted. It had just happened. It them erase all feelings and senti-
had happened that first day when ments she held for Mark Jorden,
he came in from the· field at the and then she would be ·as good as
beginning of the experiment. with new. After all, if a sociologist
all of the planted background that couldn't handle his own reactions
made him think he was meeting in a situation of this kind he wasn't
Bonnie for the thousandth time in- of much value in his profession!
stead of the first.
She was supposed to be an actress
and receive his husbandly kiss with
all the skilled mimicry that made
her so valuable to the lab. But it
T HE SUN was hot as they re··
turned from the little burial
ground near the church. - There
hadn't been like that. She had were quite a number of other
played sister, mother, daughter, graves besides Roddy's, but his was
wife-a hundred roles to as many the loneliest, Jorden thought. He
other tested applicants. - For the had never forgiven them for rob-
first time she saw one as a human bing him of his home and the only
being instead of a sociological speci- world in which he could live.
men. That's the way it was when He felt the growing coldness of
she met Mark Jorden. Bonnie as they came up to their
There was no answer to it, she shabby cabin that had once looked
thought bitterly as she rested her so brave to him. Serrengia had cost
face against his shoulder. Ashby him Bonnie, too. Even before
was right-just a few more hours Roddy. She had remained only be-·
and it would all be over. All Jor- cause it was her duty.
den's feeling for her as his wife He took her hand as she put a
was induced by the postulates of foot on the doorstep. "Bonnie-"
the test, just as were his feelings for She looked at him bitterly, her
Roddy. His subjective reactions eyes searching his face as if to find
were real enough, but they would something of the -quality that once
vanish when their stimulus was re- drew her to him. "Don't try to say
moved with the test postulates. He it, Mark-there's nothing left to
would look upon the restored say."
Roddy as just another little boy- He let her go, and the two chil-
and upon Bonnie, the Doctor in dren followed past him into the
Sociology, as just another misem- house. He sat down on the step and
played female. looked out over the· fields that
She raised her head and dried edged the river bank. His mind felt
her eyes as she sensed that the serV- numbed by Roddy's passing. Bon-
ice was ending.. Actually, Ashby nie's insistent blame made him live
was right, of course. They had to it over and over again.
go on, and the sooner it came to an The light from the green of the
end the better it would be for her. fields was like a caress to his eyes. I
She would submit to alteration of should hate it, he thought. I should
her own personal data after the hate the whole damned planet for
THE COLONISTS 33
what it's taken from me. But that's mystery she could not fathom.
not right-Serrengia hasn't taken Then her CQuntenance cleared and
anything. It's only that Bonnie and its blank determination returned.
I can't live in the same world,or "I'm going home," she repeated.
live the same kind of lives. Roddy "You can't .stop me. I've done all
was like her. But I didn't know a. wife can be expected to do. I've
then. I didn't knowhow either of given my son as the price of your
them were. . foolishness. You can't ask for
We have to go on. There's no more."
going- back. Maybe if I'd known, I He had to g-et out. He felt that
would have made it different for if he remained allother instant just
all of us. I can't now, and it would then something inside him would
be crazy to start hating Serrengia explode under the pressure of his
for the faults that are in us. Who grief. He went to the front door
could do anything but love this and stood leaning against it while
fresh, wild planeto£ ours-? he looked over the landscape that
He ought to go down and take a almost seemed to reach out for him
look at the field; he thought. He in hate as it had for Roddy. So you
rose to go in and tell Bonnie. The want her, too! he cried inside him-
crops hadn't had water since self.
Roddy took sick. Alice came up and tugged at his
He found Bonnie in the bedroom hand as he stood there. "What's
with the drawers of their cabinets the matter, Daddy? What's the
open and their trunk in the middle matter with Mama?"
of the floor, its lid thrown back. He bent down and kissed her
Clothes lay strewn on the bed. on the forehead. "Nothing, honey.
He felt a slow tightening of his You go and play for a moment
scalp and of the skin along the back while I help Mother."
of his neck. "Bonnie~" "I want to help, too!"
She straightened and looked into "Please, Alice-"
his face with cold, distant eyes. He moved back to the bedroom.
"I'm packing, Mark," she said. Bonnie was carefully examining
"I'm leaving. I'm going home. The each item of apparel she packed in
girls are going- with me. You can the big trunk. She didn't look up as
stay until they dig your grave be- he came in.
side Roddy's, but I'm going- home." "Bonnie," he said in a low voice,
Jorden's face went white. He "are you going to leave me?"
strode forward and caught her by She put down the dress she was
the arms. "Bonnie-you know holding and looked up at him.
there's no way to go home. There "Yes I'm leaving you," she said.
won't be a ship for six years. This "You've got what you wanted-all
is home, Bonnie. There's no other you've ever wanted." She looked
place to go." out towards the fields, shimmering
For a moment the set expression in the heat of the day.
of her face seemed to melt. She "That's not true, Bonnie. You
frowned as if he had told her some know it isn't. I've always loved you
 34 RAYMOND F. JONES
and needed you, and it's grown you've felt the past week, but we've
. greater every hour we've been to- got to put it behind us and look
gether." forward to the future. Roddy
"Then you'll have to prove it! would want it that way."
Give up this hell-world you want us "There's no future to look for-
to call home, and give us back our ward to," said Bonnie dully. "Noth-
Earth. If you love me, you can ing hereon Serreng-ia. There's no
prove it." meaning to any of us being here.
"It's no test of love to make a I'm going back to Earth,"
man give up the goal that means "It does have a meaning! If I
his life to him. You'd despise me could only make you see it. If you
forever if I let you do that to me. could only understand why I had
I'd rather you went away from me to come-"
now with the feeling you have at ."Then tell me if you know!
this time, because I'd know I had You've never tried to tell me. You
your love--" live as if you know something so
Bonnie remained still and un- deep and secret you can live by it
moving in his arms, her face every hour of .your life and find
averted from his. He put his hand meaning in it. But I can only guess
to her chin and turned her face to at what it is you've chosen for your
him. "You do love me, Bonnie? god. If it's anything but some illu-
That hasn't changed, has it?" sion, put it into words and make
She put her head against his me know it, too!"
chest and rocked from side to side "I've never tried," said Jorden
as if in some agony.· "Oh, no-- hesitantly. "I've never tried to put
Mark! That will never change. it into words. It's something- I
Damn you, Ashby, danin you-" . didn't know was in me until I
heard of the chance to colonize
In the control room Ashby and Serrengia. And then I knew I had
Miller groaned aloud to each other, to come.
and a technician looked atthern "It's like a growing that you feel
questioningly, his hand on a switch. in every cell. It's a· growing out
Ashby shook his head and stared and away, and it's what you have
at the scene before him. to do. You're a sperm-an ovum-
Jorden shook Bonnie gently in and if you don't leave the parent
his arms. "Ashby?" he said. "Who's body you die. You don't have to
Ashby?" hate what you leave behind as
Bonnie looked up, the blank de- James and Boggs and so many of
spair on her face again. "I don't the others do. It gave you life, and
remember-" she said haltingly. for that you're grateful. But you've
"Someone I used to--knO\v-" got to have a life of your own.
"It makes no difference," Jorden "It's what I was born to do,
said. "What matters is that you Bonnie. I didn't know it was there,
love me and you're going to stay but now I've .found it I can't kill
with me. Let's put these things it." .
away now, darling. I know how "You have to kill it-or .me."
THE COLONISTS 35
"You don't mean that. You're the corner of his eye. One and Two
part of me. You've been a part of had made their test flights and the
me so long you feel wha:t I feel. others would not be far behind.
You're lying, Bonnie, when you say The expedition would be a success,
you're going away; You don't want too. There was no longer any doubt
togo. You want to go on with me, of. that; because he knew now
but something's holding you back. where to look for adequate per-
What is it, Bonnie? Tell me what sonnel.
it is that holds you back!" "I'm glad I didn't foul up your
Her eyes went wide. For a mo- test completely, anyway," said Bon-
ment she thought he was talking nie slowly. "Even if what you say
out of the real situation, not the about Mark shouldn't turn out to
make-believe of the test. Then she be true.'~
recognized the impossibility of this. Ashby moved his chair around to
.Her eyes cast a pleading glance in face her directly. She was rested,
the . direction of the observation and had gone through a mental re-
tubes. orientation which had removed
Ashby spoke fiercely: "Go on, some of the tension from her face.
Bonnie!· Don't lose the .tension. "You didn't foul it up at all,"
Push ·him. We've got to know. He's he said. "We went far enough to
almost. there!" learn that he would have survived
She moved slowly to the dresser even your suicide, and would hav'e
where she had laid Jorden's hunt- continued in his determination to
ing knife previously,as if with no carry the colony forward. Nothing
particular intent. Now, out of sight but his own death will stand in his
of Jorden, her hand touched it. way if he actually sets out on such
She picked it up. a project. Are you completely sure
Ashby's voice came again. "Bon- you want to be tied to such a sin-
nie-move!" gle purposed man as Mark Jorden
She murmured, "Lost-" is?"
And then she whirled about, "There's no doubt of that! But
knife in hand. She cried aloud. "I I just don't feel as if I can face
can't go on any further! Can't you him now-'-with his knowing- . . .
see this is enough? Stop it! Stop How can I ever be sure his feeling
it-" for me was not merely induced by
Jorden leaped for the knife. the test experience, and might
In the observation room a tech- change as time goes on? You
nician touched a switch. should have wiped it all out, and
let us start over from scratch. It
would have been easier that way."
, SHBY FELT the subdued ela- "There isn't time enough before
II tionof success reached after a the ships leave. But why should we
long and strenuous effort. Bonnie have erased it all? We took away
was seated across the desk from the postulates of the test and left
him, but he sat at an angle so that Bonnie in his memory. His love for
he could see the four hulls out of you didn't vanish when the tes.t
36 RAYMOND F. JONES
po'stulates went. As long as he has factors merely happen to accom-
a memory' of you he will love you. pany each other at times. But the
So why make him fall in love with essence of colonization is a growth
you twice ? No use wasting so much factor-of the kind you so very ac-
important time at your age. Here curately described when Bonnie
he comes-" pushed you into digging up some
Bonnie felt she couldn't possibly insight on the matter. It is so often
turn around as the door opened associated with rebellion because
behind her. She heard Mark's mo- rebellion is or has been, historically,
ment of hesitation, his slow steps necessary to the exercise of this
on the' carpet. Ashby was smiling a growth factor.
little and nodding. Then she .felt "The American Colonists, for
the hard grip of Mark's hands on example, were rebels only inciden-
her shoulders. He drew her up and tally. As a group, they poss~ssed
turned her to face him. Her eyes a growth factor fqrcing them be-
were wet. yond the confines of the culture in
"Bonnie-" he said softly. which they lived. It gave them the
strength for rebellion and successful
Ashby turned to the window colonization. And it is so easy to
again. The gantry cranes were confuse colonists of that type with
hoisting machinery in Hull Three. mere cutthroats, thugs, and misfits.
Maybe he had been wrong about The latter mayor may not have a
there not being enough time be- sufficiently high growth factor. In
tween now and takeoff for Mark any case, their primary drive is hate
and Bonnie to discover each other and fear, which are wholly inade-
all over again. They worked. pretty quate motives for successful colo.
fast. But then,' as he had' men- nization.
tioned, why waste time, at their "The ideal colonist does not
age? . break with the parent body, nor
They' were smiling, holding tight does he merely extend it. He creates
to each other as Ashby turned. back a new nucleus capable of inter-
from the window. change with the parent body, but
"They tell me I passed," said not controlled by it. He wants to
.T orden. "I'm sorry about taking build beyond the current society,
your best Social, Examiner away and the latter is not strong' enough
from you-but as you told me in to pull him back into it. Coloniza-
the beginning this colonization tion may take everything else of
business is a family affair." value in life and give nothing but
"Yes-that happens to be one itself in return, but the colonists'
of the few things I was right desire for new life and growth is
about." Ashby motioned them to great enough to make this suffi-
the chairs. "Through you we lo- cient. It is not a mere transplant
cated our major error. It was our of an old life. It is conception and
identifying rebellion with coloniza- gestation and birth.
tion ability. Colonization is not a "Our present society allows al-
matter of rebellion at' all. The two most unlimited exercise of the
THE COLONISTS 37
growth factor in individuals, re- ful colonization of the Universe by
gardless of how powerful it may be. Earthmen will occur only when
That is why we have failed to there is a love and respect for the
colonize the planets. They offer no Homeland---and a capacity for
motive or satisfaction sufficient to complete independence from it."
outweigh the satisfactions already Ashby pressed his fingers together
available. As a result we've had vir- and looked at his visitors soberly.
tually no applicants comin~ to us "There is only one thing further,"
because of hampered growth. You he said. "We've found out also that
are one of the very few who might Bonnie is not essentially a colo-
come under our present approach. nist-"
And even a very slight change of Bonnie's face went white. She
occupational conditions would have pushed Jorden's arm away and
kept you from coming. You didn't leaned across the desk. "You
want· the department leadership knew-! Then we can't- Why
offered you, because it would limit didn't you tell me this in the be-
the personally creative functions ginning ?"
you enjoyed. That one slim, hair- "Please don't be hasty, Bonnie,"
breadth factor brought you in." said Ashby. "As I was about to say,
"But how do you expect now to we have found, however, that art-
get.any substantial number of colo- other condition exists in which ·you
nists?" e~claimed Jorden. can become eligible and stable
"We'll put on a recruiting cam- through a genuine love· for a quali-
paign. We'll go to the creative fied colonist, to the extent you are
groups-the engineers, the plan- willing to follow him: com·pletely in
ners, the artists-we'll show that his ambitions and desires. This is
opportunity for creative function- strictly a feminine possibility-a
ing and growth will be far greater woman can become a sort of sec-
in the work of building colonial ond order colonist, you might say.
outposts than in any activity they "Of . course, Jorden, you still
now enjoy. And we won't have to
have to make the basic decision as
exaggerate, either. It's true.
"We'll be able to send out a col- to whether you want to go to Ser-
ony of whom we can be certain. In rengia or not. We ha\!e found out
the past, colonies have invariably merely that you can."
failed when they consisted only of "I think there's no doubt about
members fleeing from something, my wanting to," said J orden~
without possessing an adequate He turned Bonnie around in his
growth factor. arms again, and Ashby chuckled
"When this becomes thoroughly mildly. "I have always said there is
understood in my field, I shall no piece of data you cannot find,
probably never live down my initial provided you can devise the proper
error of assuming that a colonist experimental procedure for turn-
had to hate or fear what he left be- ing it up," he said.
hind in order to leave it forever.
The exact opposite is true. Success- • • • THE END
Poor Henry was an unhappy husband whose wife had a habit
of using bad cliches. Alfear was a genii who was, quite like most
humans, a creature of habit. Their murder compact was abso-
lutely perfect, with-

No Strings Attached
By Lester del Rey
Illustrated by Kelly Freas

f"10MMITTING a perfect mur- been willing to give him a divorce,

L der is a simple matter. Drive he'd have been 'content to wish her
out some night to a lonely road, all the happiness she was capable
find a single person walking along of discovering. But Emma, unfortu-
out of sight of anyone else, offer nately, was fond of being his wife;
him a ride, knife him, and f,{0 home. perhaps she was even fond of him.
In such a crime, there's no reason Worse, she was too rigidly bound to
to connect killer and victim-no trite morality to give him grounds
motive, no clue, no suspect. to sue. '
To achieve the perfect murder There was no hope of her stray-
of a man's own wife, however, is a ing. What had been f,{ood enough
different matter. For obvious rea- for her mother was good enough
sons, husbands are always' high on for her, and saved all need of think-
the suspect list. Who has a better ing; a woman ,needed a husband,
reason for such a crime? her place was in the home, marriage
Henry Aimsworth had been pon- was forever, and what would the
dering the problem with more than neighbors think? Anyhow, she'd
academic interest for some time. It have had difficulty being unfaith-
wasn't that he hated his wife. He' Iul, even if she tried. She'd been
simply couldn't stand the sight or gaining some ten pounds every year
sound of her; even thinking ahout for the eleven years they had been
her made his flesh crawl. If she had married, and she'd long since
39
40 LESTER del REY
stopped worrying about taking care putting aside her darning-. "That's
of her appearance. finished. Mama always said a stitch
He looked up at her now, letting in time saves nine. If you'd cut your
the book drop to his lap. She sat toenails, Henry ..."
watching the television screen with He could feel his skin begin to
a vacant look on her face, while tingle with irritation. But there was
some comic went through a tir~d no escape. If he went upstairs to his
routine. If she enjoyed it, there was bedroom, she'd be up at once, put-
no sign, though she spent half her tering about. If he went to the base-
life in front of the screen. Then the ment, she'd find the canned food
comic went off, and dancers came needed checking. A woman's place
on. She went back to darning a pair was with her husband, as she'd re-
of his socks, as seriously as if she peatedly told him. Probably she
didn't know that he had always re- couldn't stand her own company,
fused to wear the lumpy results. either.
Her stockings had runs, and she Then he remembered something
still wore the faded apron in which he'd stored away. "There's a new
she'd cooked supper. picture at. the Metro," he said as
He contrasted her with Shirley quietly as he could. "Taylor'S
unconsciously, and shuddered. In starred, I think. I was going to
the year since Shirley Bates had take you, before this extra work
come to work in his rare book store, came up."
he'd done a lot of such shuddering, He could see her take the bait and
and never because of the slim nibble at it. She had some vague
blonde warmth of his assistant. crush left for Taylor. She stared at
Since that hot day in August when the television set, shifted her bulk,
they'd closed the Shop early and and then shook her head reluctant-
he'd suggested a ride in the ,coun- ly. "It'd be nice, Henry. But· go-
try to cool off, he and Shirley . . • ing at night costs so much, and-
He was interrupted in his more well, a penny saved is a penny
pleasant thoughts by the crash of earned."
scissors onto the floor, and his eyes "Exactly. That's what I meant
focussed on the deepening folds of to say." He even relaxed enough
fat as Emma bent to retrieve them. to overlook the platitude, now that
"Company coming," she said, be- there was some hope. "I saved the
fore he could think of anything to price of lunch today. The nut who
prevent the mistaken cliche. Then wanted King in Yellow was so
she became aware that he was star- tickled to get the copy finally, he in-
ing at her. "Did you take the gar- sisted on treating. You can even
bage out, Henry?" take a cab home afterwards."
"Yes, dear," he answered wood- "That's nice. It'll probably rain,
enly. Then, because he knew it was the way my bunion's been aching."
coming anyhow, he filled in the in- She considered it a second more,
evitable. "Cleanliness is next to before cutting off the television. He
godliness." watched as she drew off the apron
She nodded solemnly, and began and went for her coat and hat,
NO STRINGS ATTACHED 41

making a pretense of dabbing on omitted. It seemed to be a mixture

make-up. She might as well have of instructions on how to work
worn the apron, he decided, as she spells, conjure demons, and prac..
came over to kiss him a damp good- tice witchcraft, along with bitter
bye. tirades against the group who had
driven the writer out and forced
rum, as he put it, to enter a compact

H E CONSIDERED calling Shir-

. ley, but her mot-her was visit-
ing her, and the conversation would
with the devil for to be a wizard,
which is like to a male witch.
Henry had been reading it idly,
have to be too guarded at her end. slowly deciding the book was
If. he could find some way of get- authentic enough, however crazy
ting rid of Emma ... the writer was. The book had no
It wouldn't even be murder, particular value as a collector's
really. More like destroying a vege- item, but he could probably· get a
table-certainly no worse than end- fine price from some of the local
ing the life of a dumb cow to make cultists, particularly since there
man's life more worth living. It were constant promises in it that
wasn't as if she had anything to live the writer was going to give a sure..
for or to contribute. It would al- fire, positive and simple recipe for
most be a kindness, since she lived conjuring up a demon without need
in a perpetual state of vague dis- of virgin blood, graveyard earth or
content and unhappiness, as if unicorn horn.
somehow aware that she had lost H'e skimmed through it, looking
herself. But unfortunately, the law for the formula. It turned up on the
wouldn't look at it in such a light. fifth page from the end, and was
He'd only been thinking actively everything the writer had claimed.
of getting her out of the way since A five-sided figure drawn on the
August, however; and somehow, floor with ordinary candle wax, a
with time, there must be some fool.. pinch of sugar inside, a bit of some..
proof scheme. There was that alco- thing bitter outside, two odd but
hol-injection system-but it re- simple finger gestures, and a string
quired someone who would drink of words in bad Latin arid worse
pretty freely first, and Emma was Greek. There was a warning that it
a teetotaler. Maybe, though, if he would work without the penta-
could get her to taking some of gram, sugar and bitters, but at par-
those tonics for women ... lous risk to the conjurer without
He dropped it for the moment such protection.
and turned back to the book. It was He frowned. Too simple for the.
an odd old volume he'd received cultists, he realized-unless he
with a shipment for appraisal. could somehow persuade them that
There was no title or date, but the the trick lay in some exact phras-
strange leather binding showed it ing or gesturing pattern which took
was old. Apparently it had been experiment. They liked things made
hand-set and printed on some tiny difficult, so they'd have a good alibi
press by the writer, whose name was for their faith when the tricks
42 LESTER del REY

failed. If he could show them in moment. He cleared his voice. "You

advance that it didn't work, but mean-you mean magic works?"
hint that a good occultist might "Magic-shmagic!" the creature
figure out the right rhythm, or snorted. He jerked his thumb to-
whatever •.• ward the television. "To old Eph-
He read it through again, trying riam-the crackpot who wrote the
to memorize the whole thing. The book before he went completely
gestures were-so-and the words crazy-that set would have been
-umm .•• more magic than I am. I thought
There was no flash of fire, no this age knew about dimensions,
smell of sulphur, and no clap of planes of vibrations, and simultan-
thunder. There was simply a tall eous universes. You humans always
creature with yellowish skin and were a backward race, but you
flashing yellow eyes standing in seemed to be learning the basic
front of the television set. His head facts. Hell, I suppose that means
was completely hairless, and he was you'll lay a geas on me, after I was
so tall that he had to duck slightly hoping it was just an experimental
to keep from crashing into the ceil- summons!"
ing. His features were too sharp for Henry puzzled it over, with some
any human face. There were no of the fright leaving him. The scien-
scales, however; his gold cape and tific sounding terms' somehow took
black tights were spangled, and he some of the magic off the appear-
wore green shoes with turned up ance of the thing. "You mean those
toes. But generally, he wasn't bad passes and words set up some sort
looking. of vibrational pattern . . ."
"Mind if I sit down?" the crea- The hairless fellow snorted again,
ture asked. He took Henry's assent and began attacking the grapes.
for granted and dropped into Em- "Bunk, Henry! Oh, my name's AI-
ma's chair, folding his cape over fear, by the way. I mean I was a
one arm and reaching for an apple fool. I should have gone to my
on the· side table. "Glad to see psychiatrist and taken the fifty year
you're not superstitious enough to course, as he advised. But I thought
keep me locked up in one of those the books were all burned and no-
damned pentagrams. Drat it, I body knew the summons. So here I
thought the last copy of that book am, stuck with the habit. Because
was burned and I was free. Your that's all it is-a conditioned re-
signal caught me in the middle of flex. Pure compulsory behavior. I'm
dinner." sensitized to receive the summons,
and when it comes, I teleport into
your plane just the way you pull

H ENRY swallowed thickly, feel-

ing the sweat trickle down his
nose. The book had warned against
your hand off a hot stove. You read
the whole book, I suppose? Yeab,
just my lu<;k. Then you know I'm
summoning the demo.n without the stuck with any job you give me-
protective devices!· But the thing practically your slave. I can't even
seemed peaceful enough for the get back without dismissal or finish-
NO STRINGS ATTACHED 43
ing your task! That's what comes of rats, using lower races to explain
saving money by not going to my our own behavior. Anyhow, he got
psychiatrist." curious and figured out a way to
He muttered unhappily, reach- mentalize himself into your plane.
ing for. more grapes, while Henry He was sort of a practical joker,
began to decide nothing was going you might say. So he picked a time
to happen to him, at least physical- when some half-crazy witch was
ly. Souls were things he wasn't quite trying to call up the being you wor-
sure of, but he couldn't see how ship as Satan to make some kind
just talking to Alfear could endan- of a deal. Just as she finished, he
ger his. popped up in front of her, spitting
"Still," the creature said thought- out a bunch of phosphorus to make
fully, "it could be worse. No penta- a nice smoke and fire effect, and
gram. I never did get mixed up agreed with all her mumbo-jumbo
with some of the foul odors and about having to do what she
messes some of my friends had to wanted. She wanted her heart fixed
take. And I've developed quite a up then, so he showed her how to
taste for sugar; tobacco, too." He use belladonna and went back, fig-
reached out and plucked a cigarette uring it was a fine joke.
aut of Henry's pack, then a book "Only he made a mistake. There's
of matches. He lighted it, inhaled, something about moving between
and rubbed the flame out on his planes that lowers the· resistance to
other palm. "Kind of weak tobac- conditioning. Some of our people
co, but not bad. Any more questions can take five or six trips, but Apa-
while I smoke this? There's no free Ion was one of those who was so
oxygen where I come from, so I conditioning-prone that he had the
can't smoke there." habit fixed after the first trip. The
"But if you demons answer such next time she did the rigamarole,
-such summons, why don't people back he popped. He had to dig up
know about it now?" Henry asked. gold for her, hypnotize a local baron
"I'd think more and more people into marrying her, and generally
would be going in for this sort of keep on the constant qui vive, un-
thing. If the wizards were right all til she got sloppy and forgot the
along ..." pentagram she thought protected
"They weren't, and we're not her and which he was conditioned
demons. It didn't get started until to. But after he disintegrated her,
your Middle Ages. And if it hadn't he found she'd passed on the word
been for old Apalon . . ." Alfear to a couple of other witches. And
lighted another cigarette off the he knew somebody at the Institute
butt, which he proceeded to ex- was bound to find what a fool he'd
tinguish on the tip of his sharp made of himself.
tongue. He scratched his head "So he began taking members
thoughtfully, and then went on. aside and telling them about the
"Apalon was studying your wor- trick of getting into your world.
ship. You see, we've· been studying Excellent chance for study. Have
your race the way you study white to humor the humans by sticking
44 LESTER del REY
to their superstitions, of course. One If I asked for immortality, you'd
by one, they went over on little give it, say; but then I'd get some
trips. It wasn't hard to find some horrible disease and beg and plead
superstitious dolt trying to summon for death. Or ask for money, and
something, since word had got then find the money was recorded
around in your world. One of us as being paid to a kidnaper, or
would pop up, and that spread the something." .
word further. Anyhow, when Apa- "In the first place, I couldn't
Ion was sure each member had give you immortality," Alfear said,
made enough trips to be condi- as patiently as he apparently could.
tioned, he'd tell him the sad truth, ."Your metabolism's not like ours.
and swear him to secrecy on pen- In the second place, why should I
alty of being laughed out of the In- look for tainted money? I es enough
stitute. The old blaggard wound up nuisance doing what you ask, with-
with all of us conditioned. There out looking for tricks to pull. Any-
was quite a flurry of witchcraft how, I told you I half-enjoy visit-
here, until we finally found a psy- ing here. As long as you're reason-
chiatrist who could break the habit able about it, I don't mind keeping
for us. Even then, it was tough go- my end of the compulsion going.
ing. We'd never have made it with- If you've got something to ask, ask
out the inquisitions and witch-burn- away. There are no strings at-
ings one of our experimental socio- tached."
logists managed to stir up." The creature seemed to be quite
Alfear put out the third cigarette sincere. Henry considered it brief-
butt and stood up slowly. "Look, I ly, staring at a large tinted picture
don't mind a chat now and then, of Emma, and took the plunge.
but my wives are waiting dinner. "Suppose I asked youto:kill my
How about dismissing me?" wife forme-say by what looked
"Umm." Henry had been think- like a stroke, so nobody would
ing while he listened. I thad blame me?"
sounded like a reasonable explana- "That seems reasonable enough,"
tion on the whole, except for the Alfear agreed easily. "I could break
bit about Apalon's disintegrating a few blood vessels inside her skull
the witch. Apparently as long as a ... Sure, why not? Only the pic-
man wasn't too unreasonable, ture in your mind is so distorted, I
there was a certain usefulness to wouldn't know her. If she's like
having such friends on call. "What that, why'd you ever marry her?"
about the price for your help? I "Because she seemed different
meaIl--well, about souls ..." from other women, I guess," Henry
Aifear twitched his ears dis- admitted. "When I tipped the ca-
gustedly. "What the deuce would noe over, and I figured she'd be
I do with your soul, Henry? Eat mad because her dress was ruined,
it? Wear it? Don't be a shnook!" all she said was something about
"Well, then-well, I've heard not being sugar, so she .wouldn't
about wishes that were granted, melt." He shuddered, remember-
but they all had a trick attached. ing all the times she'd said it since.
NO STRINGS ATJACHED 45

"You won't have any trouble. Look, Henry adjusted his mind to having
can you really read my mind?" a well-conditioned demon on tap
"Naturally. But it's all disor- and then began the harder job of
ganized." bracing himself for Emma's inco-
"Umm. Well." It gave him a herent but detailed account of the
queasy feeling to think of anyone movie when she came back.
seeing his secret thoughts. But this Unfortunately, it was a more
fellow apparently didn't work by complicated plot than usual, and
human attitudes, anyhow. He she went on and on, from the mo-
groped about, and then smiled ment she entered the door. He tried
grimly. "All right, then. You can to close his ears, but he'd never suc-
tell I think of her as my wife. And ceeded in that. He yawned, and she
just to make sure, she'll be sure to yawned back, but went on until the
say something about early to bed last final morsel was covered for the
and early to rise; she says that everysecond or third time.
single damned night, Alfear! She "He was wonderful," she finally
never misses." concluded. "Just wonderful. Only
Alfear grunted. "Sounds more I wished you'd come with me.
reasonable every minute, Henry. You'd have liked it. Henry, did you
All right, when your wife says that, take the garbage out?"
I pop out and give her a stroke that "Yes, dear," he answered.
will kill her. How about dismissing "Hours· ago."
me now?" He yawned elaborately again.
"No strings?" Henry asked. He She mumbled something about hav-
watched carefully as Alfear nodded ing ·to keep. the kitchen clean be-
assent, and he could· see no sign of cause cleanliness was next to god-
cunning or trickery. He caught his liness, but her automatic yawn
breath, nodded, and closed his eyes. muffled the words. Then she
Seeing something vanish was noth- glanced at the clock. "Heavens, it's
ing he wanted. "Dismissed." almost one! And early to bed and
early to rise ..."
Henry jerked his eyes away, just

T HE FRUIT was still gone when as he caught the first glimpse of

he opened his eyes, but there Alfear popping into existence be-
was no other sign of the thing. He side her. He heard the beginning of
found some fruit still in the refrig- a shriek change to a horrible gar-
erator and restocked the bowl. Then gling and then become a dying
he closed the strange book and put moan. Something soft and heavy
it away. He'd have to buy it him- hit the floor with a dull thud. Henry
self, and burn it to make sure no turned around slowly.
one else found the trick, of course. "Dead," Alfear said calmly, rub-
For a moment, uneasiness pricked bing one of his fingers. "This busi-
at him. Yet he was sure· Alfear . ness of getting just one finger
hadn't been lying, and the story through the planes into her head
the creature had told made more cuts off the circulation. There, that's
sense than the older superstitions. better. Satisfied?"
 , LESTER 'del REY
Henry dropped beside the corpse. was nothing you could do. I'll turn
She was dead, according to the in a certificate. Want me to contact
mirror test, and there wasn't a mark a mortician for you?"
on her. He stared at the puffy, re- Henry nodded, trying to appear
laxed features; he'd expected an properly grief-stricken. "I-I'd ap-
expression of horror, but she seemed preciate it." ,
simply asleep. His initial feeling of "Too late now," the doctor said.
pity and contrition vanished; after "But I'll be glad to send Mr.
all, it had been quick and nearly Glazier around in the morning."
painless. Now he was free! He pulled the sheet up over Em-
"Thanks, Alfear," he said. "It's ma's body, leaving it on the back-
fine-fine. Do I dismiss you now?" room couch to which they had car-
"No need this time. I'm free as ried it. "You'd better go to a hotel
soon as the job's done. Unless you'd for the night. And I'll give you
like to talk awhile ..." something that will make you
Henry shook his head quickly. sleep."
He had to telephone a doctor. Then "I'd rather not," Henry said
he could call Shirley-her mother quickly. "I mean, I'd feel better
would be gone by now. "Not now. here. You know ..."
Maybe I'll summon you sometime "Certainly, certainly." The doc-
for a smoke or something. But not tor nodded sympathetically, but as
now!" if it were' an old story to him. He
"Okay," Alfear said, and van- left the pills with instructions" said
ished. Surprisingly, seeing him dis- the proper things again, and finally
appear wasn't unpleasant, after alI. went out.
He just wasn't there.
Waiting for the doctor was the
worst part of it. All the legends ~ HIRLEY'S voice was sleepy and
Henry knew ran through his mind. .J cross when she answered, but
Alfear could have given her a stroke it grew alert as soon as, he told
and then added some violent poison her about Emma's stroke. He was
that would show up in an autopsy. almost beginning to believe the sim-
He could be sitting wherever he ple version of the story himself.
was, chuckling. because Henry "Poor Henry," she murmured.
hadn't restricted his wish enough Her voice sharpened again. "It was
to be safe. Or any of a hundred a stroke?· The doctor was sure?"
things could happen. There was the "Positive,". he assured her, curs-
·first witch, who had thought she ing himself for having let her guess
had Apalon under control, only to some of the thoughts that had been
be turned to dust. on his mind. "The doctor said she'd
But the doctor took it calmly had hypertension and such before."
enough. "Stroke, all right," he de- She considered it a second, and
cided. "I warned her last year that then a faint laugh sounded. "Then
she was putting on too much weight I guess there's no use in crying over
and getting high blood pressure. spilled milk, is there, Henry? If it
Too bad, Mr. Aimsworth, but there ha.d to happen, it- just had. t.Q. And
NO STRINGS ATTACHED 47
I mean, it's like fate, almost!" that he was free to be brought up,
"It is fate!" he agreed happily. tentatively at first, and then even-
Then he dropped his voice. "And tually as a matter of course. And
now I'm all alone here, baby lamb, the plans expanded as he consid-
and I had to call you up ..." ered them. There was no need to
She caught on at once, as she al- worry about things now. The quiet
ways did. "You can't stay there marriage became a trip around the
now! It's so morbid. Henry, you world as he confessed to having
come right over here!" money that no one knew about.
Demons, Henry thought as he They could close the shop. He could
drove the car through the quiet leave town almost at once, and she
residential streets toward her apart- could follow later. Nobody would
ment, had their uses. They were a know, and they wouldn't have to
much maligned breed..Probably fhe wait to avoid any scandal. They
people who had summoned them could be married ·in two weeks!
before had been ignorant, stupid Henry was just realizing the val-
people; they'd messed up their ues of a friendly demon. With
chances and brought trouble on proper handling, a lot of purely
themselves by not finding out the friendly summoning, and a reason-
facts and putting it all down to su- able attitude, there was no reason
perstitious magic. The fellows were why Alfear couldn't provide him
almost people-maybe even a little with every worldly comfort to share
superior to humans. If a man would with Shirley.
just try. to understand them, they He caught her to him again. "My
could help him, and with no dan- own little wife! That's what you
ger at all. are, lambkins! What's a mere piece
"No strings attached," he said to of paper? I already think of you· as
himself, and then chuckled softly. my wife. I feel you're my wife.
I t fitted perfectly; now there were That's what counts, isn't it?"
no strings attached to him. Emma "That's . all that counts," she
was at peace, and he was free. He'd agreed with a warmth that set fire
have to wait a few months to marry to his blood. Then she gasped.
Shirley legally, of course. But al- "Henry, darling, it's getting light
ready, she was as good as his wife. already! You'll have to get back.
And if he played up the shock an- What will the neighbors say if they
gle just enough, this could be a see you coming from here now?"
wonderful evening again ... He tore away reluctantly, swear-
Shirley was unusually lovely ing at the neighbors. But she was
when she met him at the door. Her right, of course.. He had to go back
soft golden hair made a halo for and take the sleeping medicine to
her face-a face that said she'd al- be ready for the arrival of the mor-
ready anticipated his ideas, and had tician in the morning.
decided he was a man who needed "It's still early," he protested,
sympathy and understanding for automatically trying to squeeze out
what had happened. a few more minutes. "Nobody's up
There was even time for the idea yet."
48 LESTER del REY

"I'll heat up the coffee, and then Alfear stood over Shirley's body,
you'll have to go," Shirley said rubbing one finger tenderly. His
firmly, heading for the kitchen. ears twitched uncertainly as he
"Plenty of people get up early studied Henry's horror-frozen face.
around here. And besides, you "I told you," he said. "I warned
need some sleep. Early to bed and you some of us get conditioned to a
early to rise, makes a man healthy, habit the first time. And you
wealthy and-" thought of her as your wife and she
From the kitchen came the said ..."
beginning of a shriek. It changed Abruptly, he vanished. Henry's
to a horrible gasp, and died away in screams were the only sound in the
a failing moan..There was the sound apartment.
of a body hitting the floor. • •• THE END

WORTH CITING
WITH CURT SIODMAK do- they be? Why will they take the
ing the script, Riders to the Stars terrifying gamble that runs the
promises to be a movie any died- gamut of human experiences?
in-the-wool science fiction lover What may happen before we
will put down on his "must see" reach those stars that twinkle so
list. We've just read the book- invitingly? .
another excellent Ballantine re- The cast seems to be a com-
lease-and it is just what the petent·· one, including Herbert
blurb claims it to be: "swift and Marshall, William Lundigan and
electrifying". Richard Carlson, and they've
No moon vistas, monsterous sure got a walloping good yam
Martians or Venusian aphrodites to work with.
are running rampant in this Incidentally, Siodmak's Dono-
story. Essentially, it is the tale of van's Brain has been made into
three men who gamble their a moving picture too and anyone
lives, with plausible and human who has read that classic science
motivations, to help change the fiction novel can look forward to
history of the world-and per- another fine film treat.
~aps the universe. Science fiction So-IF's Citation for this
has already accepted space travel month goes to the man whose
as a completely normal state of fine work in script writing and
affairs in the future, but this is story telling has taken a new di-
the story of the men who will do rection away from the "Franken-
it first. What sort of men will stein" tradition-Curt Siodmak.
Do you really know if it is really you who decides whether you
are happy, or hungry, or want something, or in love? Maybe
you do, but read this thought-provoking article on thought con-
trol and be on guard!

•
snarLng
THE HUMAN MIND
By Fritz Leiber

EAR FRIEND, I suppose you that he can control a rat from a

D are taking it easy as you read
this. You are lying down, sitting,
distance.
From the midget radio a very tiny
or possibly straphanging. Outside wire leads into the rat's brain
of the possibility of unexpected through a very tiny hole drilled in
atom bombs and smaller commo- its skulL When Dr. Gengerelli starts
tions, you feel quite safe~ broadcasting, the rat gets the jit-
I'm sorry to tell you, but you ters and runs "erratically about".
aren't. All because Dr. Gengerelli has
The hun1an mind can be snared pushed a button. The learned scien-
quite as easily as the human body tist and his button might be on the
can be atomized. The modern moon and it would still work, if he
witch-doctors have an astonishing had a strong enough broadcasting
armory of new weapons, which they set. If all the rats in the world were
they are probably trying out on you so equipped, they would all get the
right now. Even the magazine in jitters.
your hands (I humbly apologize to This type of experiment has been
the editor) could be a threat. carried a lot further, working with
There's a rat at the University of monkeys. These ptimateshave had
California. He has a radio in his not one, but dozens of tiny wires in-
skull. Dr. Joseph Gengerelli inserted serted in different parts of their
it there surgically. For the very best brains, from a central radio receiv-
scientific purposes. Dr. Gengerelli er permanently set in the skull. The
is showing, among other things, wires are insulated up to the point
49
.50 FRITZ LEIBER

where they touch a selected bit of tiny holes in the skull were
gray matter. Radio control allows drilled and the wires inserted, con-
any selected part of the monkey's trol his emotions. Finally a midg-et
brain to be stimulated· electrically. bomb might be implanted in the
Sometimes the result is a violent flesh, set to explode at the proper
dislike of bananas. Sometimes the radio signal.
monkey finds himself with ten times While it might be wasteful to out-
as much appetite as usual. Some- fit an army this way, considering
times he gets violently aggressive, how age-old methods of discipline
and' sometimes he fawns. It all de- achieve comparable results, such
pends on which button is pushed. surg-eried-in devices could be used
Could anything like this be done to advantage on spies, soldiers on
in a practical way to human being-s? suicidal missions, suspected traitors
Surely not. But according to the and persons with top-secret infor-
Signal Corps Engineering Labora- mation.
tory at Fort Monmouth, New Jer- But how would it really help
sey, a wrist-watch size radio re- headquarters to give a man a vio-
ceiver has been perfected that hears lent dislike for bananas, or punch
up to 40 miles. It is made of five a button to make him aggressive,
transistors, a pencil-tip battery, a or decide from his sub-vocal mut-
tiny earphone like that of a hearing terings that he wasn't being ag-
aid, and an antenna that fits inside gressive enough and so blow him
a man's sleeve. up at long distance?
Meanwhile General Electric has The answer is that these are
developed a radio transmitter things that could be done today.
which, including the microphone, With our rapidly increasing- knowl-
is no bigg-er than a cigarette case. So edg-e of the human brain, control
far it has a rang-e of only 70 feet, will become much subtler. For that
but we all know what technology matter, maybe it has already 'be-
can do to a "so far". come much subtler. Maybe you are
Technologically-shrunken ver- haunted, as I am, by the uneasy
sions of such radio transmitters and feeling that we people outside the
receivers could be surg-ically in- barriers of military and govern-
serted into the human body. Spe- mental security simply don't know
cifically, near the skull, ear and the tenth of it. Heck, at some mo-
vocal chords, or connected to those ments I am afraid that I think cer-
by wires. The skin would be grown tain thoug-hts simply because some
back over them again, just as it is propaganda bureau has already in-
over a plastic or metal hip joint. vaded the inmost recesses of my
Such radios would report back to brain.
headquarters every word a man or Of course there are a lot more
woman said, they would even keep axlike methods than implanted
check on his half-whispered, or sub- radios of influencing- the activities
vocal thinking. They would send of the human brain-methods
him orders through an implanted which have been popular in hospi-
earphone. They might even, if the tals and clinics for some twenty
SNARING THE HUMAN MIND 51
years. I am referrinR to those meth-
ods which destroy a part of the
brain slowly by 10nR series of elec-
ItheTfeelISideaaNATURAL that we should
spontaneous revulsion at
of invading the human
tric shocks (or insulin or metrazol brain by knife or even electricity.
injections), or quickly by the sur- For a long time investigation of the
Reon's knife or probe. living human brain was taboo. The
In lobotomy and its sister oper- idea was that if it was bad to cut
ations a part of the brain is de- into the human body, it was much
stroyed and as a result the person so more indecent to cut into the seat
favored does not bother about of reason. Knowledge of the brain
things so much. For instance, if he was gained during necessary and
is against the government, he gives rare surgical operations, when a
up this idealistic pursuit and takes willing subject would permit the
up chasing food or women. Which surface of his brain to be given a
makes it easier for his keepers. mild electrical stimulation in dif-
I t has been suggested, by the ferent places, the subject reporting
French scientist Christian Favre, what he felt. Now it is possible to
that lobotomy may be one of the study the brain without piercing the
key weapons of dictators. Imagine skull. One method is by recordinR
that the dictator has captured an the well-known brain waves, those
enemy of his regime who cannot mixed and faint electrical rhythms
be broken down by torture. A clever that can be picked up by moist
twist of the surgeon's knife inside electrical contacts on the head.
his brain and he is turned into a But this is not thought-control.
veRetable, a creature who can be Brain waves cannot as yet be
drilled into saying whatever the beamed back into the skull to con-
prosecuting attorney wants to hear. trol a man's activities.
Would scars show that such sur- Yet recently it has been discov-
gery has been performed? The sur- ered that brain waves can (in a
geon's probe, inserted between the sense) be effectively turned back on
eyeball and the muscles around it, the brain to control it, not in the
can reach the brain and destroy the form of electricity, but light. At the
necessary part, leaving no outward Burden Neurological Institute in
trace. Bristol, England, physiologist Grey
Electro-shock, on the other hand, Walter gives people what he calls
probably does no damage to the flicker-fits. While a person's brain
brain except when treatments are waves are being recorded, a bright
repeated many times. But it has light that flickers about ten times a
been used as a threat to get neu- second is shined into his eyes. Then
rotic soldiers back into the fightinR the timing of the flashes is changed
lines. Some psychiatrists believe so that they are in exact rhythm
that electro-shock is effective most- with one of the chief brain waves.
ly because dread of it, much like At this point the person begins to
the old snake-pits and whippings see things that are not there, and
for lunatics, scares the patient back not only see but also feel and touch.
into a semblance of sanity. He may experience an inexplicible
52 FRITZ LEIBER
disgust, or intense pleasure. Finally problem from brain-side, rather
he begins to have convulsions like than nose-side. He finds that there
those of an epileptic. At this point are 24 different types of odor-sen-
Grey Walters switches off the light. sitive nerves leading from the nose
But suppose he didn't. Could to the brain. Depending on which
brilliant, rapidly flickering star- nerves are stimulated and which
shells strike down· an army with are not, the brain can sense about
artificial epilepsy? 16 million different odors. No won-
One thing that Grey Walter's der the experts couldn't find a vo-
subjects frequently see in their cabulary to describe smells accu-
flicker-fits is a spiral, a light that rately.
whirls out from a center in tight but These examples show the care-
rapidly widening circles. This is a fully detailed way the human
common scanning pattern-a way brain is being examined these days.
of inspecting every part of an area, For several years scientists like Nor-
just as a boy might hunt for a lost bert Wiener of M. I. T. (see IF,
baseball by circling out from a cen- January issue) have been hinting
tral point. TV does the same thing to us that the brain is a calculating
in getting or reproducing a picture, machine. And just like slot-ma-
except that it works in straight lines, chines, calculating machines can be
back and forth. gimmicked to give whatever re-
Grey Walter believes that here sults and payoff on whatever per-
we have evidence that the thinking centages the mechanic who adjusts
part of the brain is scanning the them chooses.
seeing part of the brain, which is Do you want your brain gim-
located in the back of the head, to micked? Neither do I. But we'll
see ·what pictures have been trans- have to watch. out for it in the fu-
mitted there from the retina of the ture.
eye. For a long time the robot of fic-
This is an example of the way tion has been the machine built to
the brain is being investigated these imitate man. Now it is turning out
days. Here is another: physiolo- that man himself is a robot, a vast-
gists have speculated about the sense ly complex electro-chemical circuit
of smell for a long time. They that can nevertheless be gimmicked
have tried to reduce it to something by a clever operator.
like the simple sweet-salt-bitter- Yet the gimmicking of the human
sour of the sense of taste. All sorts brain is far from a modern wonder.
of experts, including the suavest I t is something that was going on
French wine-tasters and the most long before the first priest of Am-
judicial British tea-samplers, have mon talked through a tube whose
tried to describe just what they were outlet was the mouth of the statue
smelling. But they did not reach of the god for whom he was solicit-
conclusions. ing. It started with the first witch-
Now Raymond Hainer, an in- doctor to discover the cosmos-shak-
dustrial scientist in Cambridge, ing truth that people don) think
·Massachusetts, has tackled this realistically, but in terms of desires
SNARING THE HUMAN MIND 53
and symbols. In other words, if you efficient gimmicking of the human
want to influence other people, you brain.
work through the subconscious.
This obviously holds true today. For
example, a firm manufacturing LOT OF this gimmicking
men's shirts and wanting to sell A seems much too obvious to be
them, not to ordinary customers effective, especially to the person
but to hard-headed retailers, de- who prides himself on being "ad-
cided on these rules: Don't talk hardened." This may be true for
about shirts, don't talk about prices; .the conscious mind, but hardly for
but show a pretty girl almost with- the subconscious. We laugh indul-
out one of the shirts you are trying gently at the childishness of an ad-
to sell. vertiser who tries to make us buy
Such seemingly obvious appeals a soft drink because it is pictured on
to basic human urges are getting the same billboard as an impossibly
more subtle all the time, as trained attractive and innocent-looking girl.
psychologists and sociologists are Meanwhile we drink the same soft
lured into the selling game by far drink because, we tell ourselves, it
higher salaries than universities can is really more refreshing.
pay. For instance, a Viennese psy- The migration of psychologists
chiatrist has figured out for Chrys- into industry has been paralleled by
ler that a man looks on a converti- other manifestations of a large-scale
ble as his mistress, but on a hard- attempt to gimmick the hurrian
topped sedan as his wife. So the brain: the growing resemblance be-
psychiatrist advises car dealers to tween articles and advertising in
put a convertible in the front win- magazines and newspapers; the ten;.
dow of the store, with a lot of more dency to expect authorities-or
businesslike cars behind it. Men perhaps, ultimately, robot brains-
will come in to smell anxiously to settle all questions; careful cen-
around the convertible, but they'll soring in advance of each item that
buy the other model. goes into the mass media of com-
Another psychoanalyst has been munication; increasing distrust by
authorities of the ability of ordinary
telling greeting card manufacturers
people to weigh any general prob-
just what shapes and forms to put lem intelligently.
on the pasteboard oblongs they sell. Meanwhile, our old friend hyp-
The shapes and forms, all very gay- notism is being made into a more
ly colored and carefully general- potent weapon. For a long time
ized, turn out to be the basic sym- many psychologists believed that a
bols of sex. hypnotized person could not be
Of course, part of this is just good made to perform an act contrary to
old horse sense and another part· is his moral code. Yet recent experi-
merely psychologists trying to sell ments show that a hypnotized per-
industry an interesting bill of goods. son will attempt a murderous attack
But there is a solid reminder of ac- on an innocent bystander-if first
tivities pointing to an ever more (Continued on page 105)
Here is a love story of two young people who met under the
magic of festival time. One was Trina, whose world was a gen-
tle make-believe Earth. The other was Max, handsome space-
man, whose world was the infinite universe of space .. ..

THE FIRST DAY

OF SPRING
By Mari Wolf
Illustrated by Ed Emsh

T HE FIRST DAY of spring, the

man at the weather tower had
said, and certainly it felt like spring,
about. her, blowing back her hair,
bringing tears to· her eyes as she
rode homeward toward the eastern
with the cool breeze blowing lightly horizon-the horizon that looked
about her and a faint new clover so far away but wasn't really.
smell borne in from the east. Spring "Trina!"
-that meant they would make the His voice was very close. And it
days longer now, and the nights was familiar, though for a moment
shorter, and they would warm the she couldn't imagine who it might
whole world until it was summer be.
again. "Where are you?" She had reined
Trina laughed aloud at the the horse in abruptly and nOw
thought of summer, with its picnics looked around her, in all directions,
and languid swims in the refilled toward the north and south and
lakes, with its music and the heavy east and west, toward the farm
scent of flowers and the visitors in houses of the neighboring village,
from space for the festival. She toward the light tower and the sun
laughed, and urged her horse faster, tower. She saw no one. No one else
out of its ambling walk into a trot, rode this early in the day in the pas-
a canter, until the wind streamed ture part of the world.
55
56 MARl WOLF
"I'm up here, Trina." so many miles away, toward the
She looked up then and saw him, morning sun that seemed to hang
hovering some thirty feet off the far, far off in the vaulted blue dome
ground in the ridiculous windmill- of the sky.
like craft he and his people used "How can you even think it?
when they visited the world. About this?"
"Oh, hello, Max." No wonder His lips tightened. "About this,"
she had known the voice. Max he repeated. "A horizon you could
Cramer, down from space, down to ride to in five minutes. A world you
the world, to see her. She knew, could ride around in two hours. A
even before he dropped his craft sun-you really call it a sun-that
onto the grass beside her, that he you could almost reach up and
had come to see her. He couldn't pluck out of that sky of yours." He
have been on the world for more laughed. "Illusions. World of' il-
than the hour she'd been ridinf{. lusions."
"You're visiting us early this year, "Well, what do you have? A ship
Max. It's not festival time for three -a tiny ship you can't get out of,
months yet." with walls you can see, all around
"I know." He cut the power to you."
the windmill blades" and they "Yes; Trina, with walls we can
slowed, becoming sharply visible. see."
The horse snorted and backed He was still smiling, watching
away. Max smiled. "This world is her, and she knew that he desired
very-attractive." her. And she desired him. But not
His eyes caught hers, held them. the stars.
She smiled back, wishing for the "You have nothing like this," she
hundredth tim'e since last summer's said, knowing it wouldn't do any
festival that he were one of her good. She looked past him at the
people, or at least a worldling, and light tower, one of the many that
not a man with the too white skin formed the protective screen about
of space. her world, that made it seem great
"It may be attractive," she said. and convex, a huge flattened sphere
"But you always leave it soon with the sun high above, and not
enough." the swift curving steel ball that it
He nodded. "It's too confining. actually was.
It's all rif{ht, for a little while, but This was her world~ It was like
then ..." Earth, like the old Earth of the
"How can you say that?" She legends of the time before the ra-
shook her head sadly. Already they diation wars. And even though her
were arguing the same old unre- mind might know the truth about
solvable argument, and they had the screens that refracted light and
scarcely greeted each other. After the atomic pile that was her sun,
all his months in space they met her heart knew a more human
with the same words as they had truth. This was a world. As it had
parted. She looked past him, up and been in the beginning. As it must
out, toward the horizo'n that seemed be'till the end-or until they found
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 57
a new Earth, somewhere, some- ground, making her horse snort
time ... nervously away.
Max sighed. "Yes, you have your "Trina, I shouldn't tell you this,
world, Trina. And it's a good one- not until we've met with your
the best of its kind I've ever vis- councilmen. But I-I've got to."
ited." He wasn't smiling now. There
"Why don't you stay here then?" was a wild look about his face. She
A spaceman, she thought. With didn't like it.
all the dozens of men in my world, "Captain Bernard's with the
why did it have to be a spaceman? council now, giving them the news.
With all the visitors from New But I wanted to see you first, to be
France and New Chile and New the one who told you." He broke
Australia last festival, why did it off, shook rus head. "Yet when I
have to be him? found you I couldn't say anything.
"I have the stars, Trina." I guess I was afraid of what you'd
"We do too!" Last festival, and answer..."
the warm June ni~ht, heavy, drug- "What are you talking about?"
gedly heavy with honeysuckle and She didn't want to look at him. It
magnolia, and the hidden music embarrassed her somehow, seeing
from the pavillions. And Max him so eager. "What do you want
Cramer, tall and strong boned and to tell me?"
alien, holding her in his arms, danc- "About our last trip, Trina.
ing her away from her people, out We've found a world!"
onto the terrace above the little She stated at him blankly, and
stream, beneath the full festival his hand made a cutting gesture of
moon and the summer stars, the impatience. "Oh, not a world lIke
safe, sane, well ordered constella- this one! A planet, Trina. And it's
tions that their ancestors had looked Earth type!"
upon from Earth. She wheeled the horse about and
"My stars are real, Trina." stared at him. For a moment she
She shook her head, unable to felt excitement rise inside of her
argue with him. World-woman and too, and then she remembered the
space-man, and always different, generations of searching, and the
with nothing in common between false alarms, and the dozens of bar-
them, really, except a brief forget- ren, unfit planets that the space-
fulness at festival time. men colonized, planets like ground-
"Come with me, Trina." bound ships.
"No." She gathered up the reins "Oh, Trina," Max cried, "This
and chucked at the horse and isn't like the others. It's anew
turned, slowly,· for the village. Earth. And there are already peo-
"You wouldn't come-for me?" ple there. From not long after the
"You wouldn't stay, would you?" Exodus..."
She heard the windmill blades "A new Earth?" she said. "I
whir again, and a rustling of wind, don't believe it."
and then he was beside her, skim- The council wouldn't either, she
ming slowly along, barely off the thought. Not after all the other
58 MARl WOLF
new Earths, freezing cold or meth- "It may be a. paradise world to
ane atmosphered or at best com- you," Elias said. "But to us..."
pletely waterless. This would be Max Cramer tightened his grip
like the others. A spaceman's on Trina's hand. "The fools," he
dream. said. "Talking and talking-, and all
"You've got to believe me, the time this world drifts farther
Trina," Max said. "And you've got and farther away."
to help make the others believe. "It takes so much power to
Don't you see? You wouldn't live chang-e course," Trina said. "And
in space. I wouldn't live here-on besides, you feel it. It makes you
this. But there, on a real planet, on heavy."
a real Earth. . ." She remembered the stories her
Then suddenly she felt his ex- father used to tell, about his own
citement and it was a part of her, youth, when he and· Curt Elias had
until against all reason she wanted turned the world to go to a planet
to believe in his mad dream of a the spaceman found. A planet with
world. She laughed aloud as she people-people who lived under
caught up the reins and raced her glass domes, or deep below the
horse homeward, toward the long formaldehyde poisoned surface.
vista of the horizon and the capital "Vou could be there in two
village beyond it, ten minutes gal- weeks, easily, even at your world's
lop away. speed," Captain Bernard said.
"And then we'd have to go out,"
Elias said. "Into space."

M AX AND TRINA came to-

gether into the council· hall
and saw the two groups, the room-
The worldmen nodded. The
women looked at each other and
nodded too. One of the spacemen
ful of worldmen and the half dozen swore, graphically, and there was
spacemen, apart from each other, an embarrassed silence as Trina's
arguing. The spacemen's eyes were people pretended not to have
angry. heard.
"A world," Captain· Bernard "Oh, let's get out of here." The
said bitterly, "there for your tak- spaceman who had sworn swore
ing-, and you don't even want to again, just as descriptively, and
look at it." then grinned at the councilmen
"How do we know what kind of and their aloof, blank faces. "They
world it is?" Councilman Elias don't want our planet. All right.
leaned forward on the divan. His Maybe New Chile..."
voice was gentle, almost pitying. "Wait!" Trina said it without
"You brought no samples. No vege- thinking, without intending to. She
tation, no minerals..." stood speechless when the others
"Not even air samples," Aaron turned to face her. All the others.
Gomez said softly. "Why?" Her people and Max's. Curt Elias,
Bernard sighed. "We· didn't want leaning forward again, smiling at
to .wait," he said. "We wanted to her.
get back here; to tell you." "Yes~ Trina ?'.' the councihnan
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 59.
said. long."
"Why don't we at least look at "And we wouldn't even have to
it? Maybe it is-what they say." land," Aaron Gomez said, "if it
Expression came back to their didn't look right."
faces then. They nodded at each The people turned to each other
other and looked from her to Max again and smiled happily. She
Cramer and back again"at her, and knew that they were thinking of
they smiled. Festival ~ tID.te, their the men and women they would
eyes said. Summer evenings, sum- see, and all the new things to talk
mer foolishness. about.
And festival time long behind "We might even invite some of
them, but soon to come again. them up for the festival," Elias said
"Your father went to space," slowly. "Providing they're-cour-
Elias said. "We saw one of those teous." He frowned at the young
worlds the spacemen talk of." spaceman who had done the
"I know." swearing, and then he looked back
"He didn't like it." at Captain Bernard. "And provid-
"I know that too," she said, re- ing, of course, that we're not too far
membering his bitter words and the away by then."
nightmare times when her mother "I don't think you will be," Ber-
had had so much trouble comfort- nard said. "I think you'll stay."
ing him, and the winter evenings "I think so too," Max Cramer
when he didn't want even to go said, moving closer to Trina. "I
outside and see the familiar, Earth hope so."
encircling stars. Elias stood up slowly and sig-
He was dead now. Her mother nalled that the council was dis-
was dead now. They were not here, missed. The other people stood up
to disapprove, to join with Elias also and moved toward the doors.
and the others. "We'd better see about chang-
They would have hated for her ing the world's course," Aaron
to go out there. Gomez said.
She faltered, the excitement No one objected. It was going to
Max had aroused in her dying be done. Trina looked up at Max
away, and then she thought of their Cramer and knew that she loved
argument, as old as their desire. him. And wondered why she was
She knew that if she wanted him it afraid.
would have to be away from the
worlds.
"At least we could look," she
said. "And the spacemen could
bring up samples. And maybe even
IintoTthetheWAS TEN days later that
world, New America, came
gravitational influence of
some of the people for us to talk the planet's solar system. The auto-
to." matic deflectors swung into func-
Elias nodded. "It would be inter- tioning position, ready to change
esting," he said slowly, "to talk to course, slowly and imperceptibly,
some new . people. It's been so but" enough to take the world
60 MARl WOLF
around the system and out into the worried at the same time, and he
freedom of space where it could smiled. "You'll like them, Trina,"
wander on its random course. But he said. "They're like-well, they're
this time men shunted aside the more like this than anything else."
automatic controls. Men guided He gestured, vaguely, at the
their homeland in, slowly now, to- farmhouse lights ahead of them, at
ward the second planet from the the slow walking figures of the
sun, the one that the spacemen had young couples out enjoying the
said was so like Earth. warm spring evening, at the old
"We'll see it tomorrow," Trina farmer leading his plow horse home
said. "They'll shut off part of the along the path.
light tower system then." "They live in villages, not too
"Why don't they now?" Max different, from yours. And in cities.
Cramer asked her. It was just past And on farms."
sunset, and the stars of a dozen gen- "And yet, you like it there, don't
erations ago were just beginning you?" she said.
to wink into view. He saw Venus, He nodded. "Yes, I like it there."
low on the horizon, and his lips "But you don't like it here.
tightened, and then he looked up Why?"
to where he knew the new sun must "If you don't understand by
be. now, Trina, I can't explain."
There was only the crescent of They walked on. Night came
Earth's moon. swiftly, crowding the rose and pur-
"Now?" Trina said. "Why should ple tints out of the western sky,
they turn the screens off now? closing in dark and cool and sweet
We're still so far away. We smelling about them. Ahead, a
wouldn't see anything." footbridge loomed up out of the
"You'd see the sun," Max said. shadows. There was the sound of
"It's quite bright, even from here. running water, and, on the bank
And from close up, from where the not far from the bridge, the low
planet is, it 'looks just about like murmuring of a couple of late lin-
Earth's." gering fishermen.
Trina nodded. "That's good," "The people live out in the open,
she said, looking over at the rose like this?" Trina said.
tints of the afterglow. "It wouldn't "Yes."
seem right if it didn't." "Not underground?" Not under
A cow lowed in the distance, and a dome?"
nearer, the laughing voices of chil- "I've told you before that it's like
dren rode the evening breeze. Earth, Trina. About the same size,
Somewhere a dog barked. Some- even."
where else a woman called her fam- "This is about the same size,
ily home to supper. Old sounds. too."
Older, literally, than this world. "Not really. It only looks that
"What are the people like, out way."
there?" The fishermen glanced up as
He looked at her face, eager and they passed, and then bent down
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 61
over their lines again. Lucas Cross- He stood quietly, looking down
man, from Trina's town, and Jake at her. His face was shadowed in
Krakorian from the southern hemi- the gathering night and his whole
sphere, up to visit his sister Lu- body was in shadow, tall and some-
cienne, who had just had twins. . . how alien seeming there before her.
Trina said hello to them as she "Why wait for them to come
passed, and found out that the here, Trina?" he said. "Come
twins looked just like their mother, down with us, in the ship, tomor-
except for Grandfather Mueller's row. Come down and see for your-
eyes, and then she turned back to self what it's like. u
Max. . She trembled. "No," she said.
"Do people live all over the And she thought of the ship, out
planet?" away from the sky, not down on
"On most of it. The land sec- the planet yet but hanging above it,
tions, that is. Of course, up by the with no atmosphere to break the
poles it's too cold." blackness, to soften the glare of the
"But how do they know each planet's sun, to shut out the empti-
other?" ness.
He stopped walking and stared "You'd hardly know you weren't
at her, not understanding for a here, Trina. The air smells the
minute. Girl's laughter came from same. And the weight's almost the
the bushes, and the soft urging same too. Maybe a little lighter."
voice of one of the village boys. She nodded. "I know. If we land
Max looked back at the fishermen the world, I'll go out there. But not
and then down at Trina and shook in the ship."
his head. "All right." He sighed and let
"They don't all know each go his grip on her shoulders and
other," he said. "They couldn't. u turned to start walking back the
She thought of New Chile, where way they had come, toward the
her cousin Isobelle was married town.
last year, and New India, which She thought suddenly of what he
would follow them soon to the had just said, that she would hard-
planet, because Captain Bernard ly be able to tell the difference.
had been able to contact them by "It can't be so much like this,"
radio. She thought of her people, she said. "Or you couldn't like it.
her friends, and then she remem- No matter what you say."
bered the spacemen's far flung "Trina." His voice was harsh.
ships and the homes they burrowed "You've never been out in space, so
deep in the rock of inhospitable you couldn't understand. You just
worlds. She knew that he would don't know what your world is like,
never understand why she pitied from outside, when you're coming
the people of this system. in."
"I suppose we'll see them soon," But she could picture it. A tiny
she said. "You're going to bring planetoid, shining perhaps behind
some of them back up in your ship its own screens, a small, drifting,
tomorrow, aren't you?" lonely sphere of rock. She trembled
62 MARl WOLF
again. "I don't want to know," she we do."
said. Curt Elias came toward them
Somewhere in the meadows be- through the crowd. When he saw
yond the road there was laughter, Trina he smiled and walked faster,
a boy and a girl laughing together, almost briskly. It was strange to see
happy in the night. Trina's fingers him move like a young and active
tightened on Max's hand and she man.
pulled him around to face her and "If I were younger," he said,
then clung to him, trembling, feel- "I'd go down there." He smiled
ing the nearness of him as she held again and pointed up at the zenith,
up her face to be kissed. where the blue was beginning to
He held her to him. And slowly, waver and fade as the sky screens
the outside world of space faded, slipped away. "This brings back
and her world seemed big and· solid memories."
and sure, and in his arms it was "You didn't like that other
almost like festival time again. world," Trina said. "Not any more
than Father did."
"The air was bad there," Elias

A T NOON the next day the

world slowed again and
changed course, going into an orbit
said.
The signal buzzer sounded again.
The center screens came down.
around the planet, becoming a Above them, outlined by the fuzzy
third moon, nearer to the surface halo of the still remaining sky, the
than the others. black of space stood forth, and the
The people, all. of those who had stars, and the great disk of the
followed their normal day-to-day planet, with its seas and continents
life even after New America came and cloud masses and the shadow
into the system, abandoned it at of night creeping across it from the
last. They crowded near the tele- east.
vision towers, waiting for the sig- "You see, Trina?" Max said
nal which would open up some of softly.
the sky and show them the planet The voices of the people rose,
they circled, a great green disk, some alive with interest and others
twice the apparent diameter of the anxious, fighting back the planet
legendary Moon of Earth. and the unfamiliar, too bright stars.
Max stood beside Trina in the Trina clutched Max Cramer's
crowd that pressed close about his hand, feeling again the eagerness
ship. He wore his spaceman's suit, of that first day, when he had come
and the helmet was in his hand. to tell her of this world.
Soon he too would be aboard with "You're right," she whispered.
the others, going down to the "It is like Earth."
planet. It was so much like the pictures,
"You're sure you won't come, though of course the continents
Trina? We'll be down in a couple were different, and the seas, and
of hours." instead of one moon, there were
"I'll wait until we land there. If two. Earth. A new Earth, there
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 63
above them in the sky. And then she was walking with
Elias let out his breath slowly. Max Cramer toward the ship and
"Yes," he said. "It is. It's not a bit trying not to remember her father
like that world we visited. Not a crying in his sleep.
bit."
"When you're down there it's
even more like Earth," Max said.
"And all the way down you could
watch it grow larger. It wouldn't
T HE SHIP rose, and Trina cried
. out as she felt the heaviness
wrench her' back against the cush-
be at all like open space." ions. Max reached over to her.
At the poles of the planet snow She felt the needle go into her arm
gleamed, and cloud masses drifted again, and then sank back into the
across the equator. And the people half sleep that he had promised
looked, and pointed, their voices would last until they were ready to
growing loud with eagerness. land.
, "Why don't we land the world When she awoke the planet was
now?" Trina cried. HWhy wait for a disk no longer, but a great curv-
the ship to bring people up here?" ing mass beneath the ship, with the
"Landing the world would take mountains and valleys and towns
a lot of -power," Elias said. "It of its people plainly visible. But the
would be foolish to do it unless we planet's sky still lay below, and
planned on staying for quite a around them, in every direction
while." He sighed. "Though I except down, space stretched out,
would like to go down there. 1'd blacker than any night on the
like to see a really Earth type world. The world. Trina moaned
planet." and closed her eyes, glad she hadn't
He looked at Max, and Max seen it, somewhere tiny and insig-
smiled. "Well, why not?" he said. nificant behind them.
Elias smiled too. "After all, I've Max heard her moan and
been in space once. I'll go again." reached toward her. She slept
He turned and pushed his way again, and woke only when they
through the people. were down and he was tugging the
Trina watched him go. Some- straps loose from around her. She
how he seemed a symbol to her. sat up, still numbed by the drug,
Old and stable, he had been head still half asleep and unreal feeling,
of the council since she was a and looked out about her at the
child. And he had gone into space planet's surface.
with her father... They were in a field of some sort
"Please come, Trina," Max said. of grain. Beyond the, scorched land
"There's nothing to be afraid of." where they, had ,come down the tall
With both Max and Elias along, cereal grasres rippled in the soft
certainly it couldn't be too bad. wind, a great undulating sea of
Max was right. There was nothing, green, reaching out toward the far
really, to be afraid of. She smiled off ,hills and the horizon. Cloud
up at him. shadows drifted across the" fields,
"All right," she said. "I'll go." and the shadow of the ship-reached
64 MARl WOLF
out to meet them. fore," Max said. "We told them
Trina rubbed her eyes in wonder. we'd be back."
"It is like the world," she said. They were sunbronzed, country
"J ust like it." people, and except for their strange
For a moment she was sure that clothing they might have been from
they were back on the world again, any of the worlds. Even their lan-
in some momentarily unrecognized guage was the same, though ac-
pasture, or perhaps on one of the cented differently, with some of the
sister worlds. Then, looking along old, unused words, like those in the
the row of hills to where they legends.
dropped away into an extension of "You've brought your people?"
the plain, she saw that the horizon the tall man who stood in the fore-
was a little too far, and that the front said to Captain Bernard.
light shimmered differently, some- "They're up there." Bernard
how, than on her home. But it was pointed up at the sky, and the peo-
such a little difference. ple looked up. Trina looked up too.
"Come on outside," Max Cramer One' of the planet's moons was al-
said. "You'll be all right now." most full overhead. But the .world
She stood up and followed him. was invisible, shut off by the sky
Elias was already at the airlock, and the· clouds and the light of the
moving unsteadily and a Iitde earthlike sun.
blankly, also still partly under the "They'd like some of you to come
influence of the narcotic. visit their world," Bernard said. "If
The lock opened. Captain Ber- any of you are willing."
nard stepped out and went down The tall man nodded. "Everyone
the ladder to the ground. The oth- will want to go," he said. "Very
ers followed him. Within a few few ships ever land here. U ntH you
minutes the ship stood empty. came, it had been years."
"You'd go out in space?" Trina
said incredulously.
T RINA breathed the open air
of the planet and felt the
warmth on her face and smelled
Again the man nodded. "I was a
spaceman once," he said. "All of
us MacGregors were." Then he
the scent of grass and the elusive
sighed. "Sometimes even now I
fragrance of alien flowers. She
heard the song of some strange, want to go out again. But there've
infinitely sweet throated bird. been no ships here, not for years."
"It's-it's Earth," she whispered. Trina looked past him, at the
Voices, eager, calling voices, women and the children,at the
sang out in the distance. Then, lit- lush fields and the little houses far
tle cars rolled toward them through in the distance. "You'd leave this?"
the field,mowing down the grass, MacGregor shook his head. "No,
cutting themselves a path to the of course not. Not to live in space
ship. People, men and women and permanently. I'd always come
children, were calling greetings. back."
"This is where we landed be- "It's a fine world to come back
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 65
to," Max said, and he and the tall the farmhouses and the people
man smiled at each other, as if flashed past.
they shared something that Trina "What do you use for transpor-
couldn't possibly understand. tation then?"
"We might as well go into town," "We walk," Trina said, opening
MacGregor said. her eyes to look at the girl and then
They walked over to the cars. closing- them again. "Or we ride
MacGregor stopped beside one of horses."
them, his hand on the door button. "Oh."
"Here, let me drive." The girl A few minutes later the car
stepped forward out of the crowd slowed, and Trina opened her eyes
as she spoke. She Was tall, almost as again.
tall as MacGregor, and she had "We're coming into town,"
the same hig-h cheekbones and the Saari said.
same laughter lines about her eyes. They had climbed up over the
"Not this time, Saari," Mac- brow of a small hill and were now
Gregor said. "This time you can dropping down. At the bottom of
entertain our guests." He turned to the hill the houses clumped to-
Max and Trina and smiled. "My gether, sparsely at first, then more
daughter." His face was proud. and more of them, so that the
They climbed in, Trina wedging whole valley was filled with build-
herself into the middle of the back ings, and more buildings hugged
seat between Max and the planet the far slopes.
girl. The car throbbed into motion, "There are so many of them,"
then picked up speed, jolting a bit Trina whispered.
on the roug-h country road. The "Oh, no, Trina. This is just a
ground rushed past and the fields small town."
rushed past and Trina leaned "But the people-all those peo-
against Max and shut her eyes ple..."
against the dizzying speed. Here, They crowded the streets, watch-
close to the ground, so close that ing the cars come in, looking with
they could feel every unevenness of open curiosity at their alien visitors.
its surface, it was far worse than in Faces, a thousand faces, all differ-
the windmill like craft the space- ent and yet somehow all alike,
men used on the worlds. blended together into a great
"Don't you have cars?" Saari anonymous mass.
asked. "There aren't half that many
"No," Trina said.. "We don't people on the whole world," Trina
need them." said.
A car like this would rush all the Saari smiled. "Just wait till you
way around the world in half an see the city."
hour. In a car like this one even Trina shook her head and looked
the horizons wouldn't look right, up at Max. He was smiling out at
rushing to meet them. Here, though the town, nodding to some men he
the horizons stayed the same, un- apparently knew, with nothing but
moving while the . fence posts and eagerness in his face. He seemed a
66 MARl WOLF
stranger. She looked around for VENING came quickly, too
Curt Elias, but he was in one of the
other cars cut off from them by the
E quickly, with the sun dropping
in an unnatural plunge toward the
crowd. She couldn't see him at all. horizon. Shadows crept out from
"Don't you like it?" Saari said. the houses of the town, reached
"I liked it better where we across the narrow street and
landed." blended with the walls of the
Max turned and glanced down houses opposite. The birds sang
at her briefly, but his hand found louder in the twilight, the notes of
hers and held it, tightly, until her their song drifting in from the near-
own relaxed. "If you want to,
i by fields. And there was another
Trina, we can live out there, in sound, that of the wind, not loud
those fields." now but rising, swirling fingers of
For a moment she forgot the dust in the street.
crowd and the endless faces as she Trina sat in front of the town
looked up at him. "Do you mean cafe with the planet girl, Saari.
that, Max? We could really live out Max Cramer was only a few feet
there ?" away, but he paid no attention to
Where it was quiet, and the sun her, and little to Elias. He was too
was the same, and the birds sang busy telling the planet people about
sweetly· just before harvest time, space.
where she would have room to ride "Your man?" Saari asked.
and plenty of pasture for her favor- "Yes," Trina said. "I guess so."
ite horse. Where she would have "You're lucky." Saari looked over
Max, there with her, not out some- at Max and sighed, and then she
where· beyond the stars. turned back to Trina. "My father
"Certainly we could live there," was a spaceman. He used to take
he said. "That's what I've been my mother up, when they were first
saying all along." married, when the ships were still
"You could settle down here?" running." She sighed. "I remember
He laughed. "Oh, I suppose I'd the ships, a little. But it was such a
be out in space a good deal of the long time ago."
time," he said. "The ships will "I can't understand you peo-
come here now, you know. But I'll ple." Trina shook her head. "Leav-
always come home, Trina. To this ing all of this, just to go out in
world. To you." space."
And suddenly it didn't matter The room was crowded, oppres-
that the girl beside her chuckled, sively crowded. Outside, too many
nor that there were too many peo- people walked the shadowed streets.
ple crowding around them, all talk- Too many voices babbled together.
ing at once in their strangely ac- The people of this planet must be
cented voices. All that mattered a little mad, Trina thought, to live
was Max, and this world, which cooped together as the spacemen
was real after all. and a life that lived, with all their world around
seemed like an endless festival time them.
before her. Saari sat watching her, and
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 67
nodded. "You're different, aren't inside and wish that Earth tradi-
you? From us, and from them too." tion might be broken and good
She looked over at Max and Ber- weather be had the year around;
nard and the others, and then she "We'd better get back to the
looked at Curt Elias, who sat ship," Elias said.
clenching and unclenching his They stopped talking and looked
hands, saying nothing. at him, and he looked down at his
"Yes, we're different," Trina hands, embarrassed. "They'll be
said. worried about us at home."
Max Cramer's voice broke in- "No, they won't," Max said.
cisively into the silence that lay be- Then he saw the thin, blue-veined
tween them then. "I don't see hands trembling and the quiver not
why," he said, "we didn't all know quite controlled in the wrinkled
about this world. Especially if more neck. "Though perhaps we should
than one ship came here." start back..."
Saari's father laughed softly. "It's Trina let out her breath in relief.
not so strange. The ships all be- To be back in the ship, she thought,
longed to one clan. The Mac- with the needle and its forgetful-
Gregors. And eventually all of them ness, away from the noise and the
either were lost in space somewhere crowd and the nervousness brought
or else grew tired of roaming on by the rising wind.
around and settled down. Here." It would be better, of course,
He smiled again, and his high when they had their place in the
cheekboned face leaned' forward country. There it would be warm
into the light. "Like me. . ." and homelike and quiet, with the
Night. Cloudless, black, but farm animals near by, and· the
hazed over with atmosphere and weather shut out, boarded out and
thus familiar, not like the night of forgotten, the way it was in winter
space. The two small moons, the on the world.
stars in unfamiliar places, and "You're coming with us?" Cap-
somewhere, a star that was her tain Bernard was saying.
world. And Trina sat and listened "Yes, we're coming." Half a
to the planet men talk, and to the dozen of the men stood up and be-
spacemen among them who could gan pulling on their long, awkward
no longer be distinguished from coats.
the native born. Outside, in the "It'll be good to get back in space
narrow street, wind murmured, again," MacGregor said. "For a
skudding papers and brush before while." He smiled. "But I'm too old
it, vague shadows against the light for a spaceman's life now."
houses. Wind, rising and moaning, "And I'm too old even for this,"
the sound coming in over the voices Elias said apologeticall~. "If we'd
and the music from the cafe found this planet the other time..."
singers. He sighed and shook his head and
It was a stronger wind than ever looked out the window at the shad-
blew on the world, even during the ows that were people, bent for-
winter, when the· people had to stay ward, walking into the' wind~ He
68 MARl WOLF
sighed again. "I don't know. I just blows then. And there are the rain-
don't know." storms, and snow..."
Saari got up and pulled on her "Snow?" Trina said blankly.
wrap too.. Then she walked over to "Certainly. A couple of feet of
one of the other women, spoke to it, usually." Saari stopped talking
her a minute, and came back carry- and looked at Trina, and surprise
ing a quilted, rough fabricked coat. crept even farther into her face.
"Here, Trina, you'd better put this "You mean you don't have snow
on. It'll be cold out." on your world?"
"Are you going with us?" "Why, yes, we have snow. We
"Sure. Why not? Dad's talked have everything Earth had." But
enough about space. I might as well snow two feet deep. . . Trina shiv-
see what it's like for myself." ered, thinking of winter on the
Trina shook her head. But be- world, and the soft dusting of white
fore she could speak, someone on winter mornings, the beautiful
opened the door and the cold powdery flakes cool in the sunlight.
breeze came in, hitting her in the "They have about a sixteenth of
face. an inch of it," Max said. "And
"Come on," Saari said. "It'll be even that's more than some of the
warm in the car." worlds have. It hardly ever even
Somehow she was outside, fol- rains in New California."
lowing the others. The wind Saari turned away finally, and
whipped her hair, stung her eyes, the others did too. The car started,
tore at her legs. The coat kept it the sound of its motors shutting out
from her body, but she couldn't the wind a little, and then they
protect her face, nor shut out the were moving. Yet it was even more
low moaning wail of it through the frightening, rushing over the roads
trees and the housetops. in the darkness, with the houses
She groped her way into the car. flashing past and the trees thrash-
The door slammed shut, and the ing in the wind and the people
wind retreated, a little. briefly seen and then left behind in
"Is it-is it often like that?" the night.
Saari MacGregor looked at her. The ship was ahead. The ship.
Max Cramer turned and looked at Now even it seemed a safe, familiar
her, and so did the others in the place.
car. For a long moment no one "This isn't like Earth after all,"
said anything. And then Saari said, Trina said bitterly. "And it seemed
"Why, this is summer:t Trina." so beautiful at first."
"Summer?" She thought of the Then she saw that Saari Mac-
cereal grasses, rippling in the warm Gregor was looking at her again,
day. The~d be whipping in the but this time more in pity than in
wind now, of course. The wind that surprise.
was so much stronger than any the "Not like Earth, Trina? You're
world's machines ever made. wrong. We have a better climate
"You ought to be here in win- than Earth's. We never have bliz-
ter," Saari was saying. "It really zards, nor hurricanes, and it's never
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING 69
too cold nor too hot, really." man from the planet. At Max.
"How can you say that?" Trina He looked ather, and then
cried. "We've kept our world like sighed and turned away, shaking
Earth. Oh, maybe we've shortened his head.
winter a little, but still. .." "Are we-are we going back
Saari's voice was sad and gentle, there?" Trina asked.
as if she were explaining something "No," Elias said. "The people
to a bewildered child. "My moth- are against it."
er's ancestors came here only a few There was silence for a moment,
years out from Earth," she said. and then Elias went on. "I'm
"And do you know what they called against it. I suppose that even if I'd
this planet? A paradise. A garden been young I wouldn't have
world." wanted to stay." His eyes met
"That's why they named it Trina's, and there was pity in them.
Eden," Max Cramer said. "No," Max said. "You wouldn't
Then they were at the ship, out have wanted to."
of the car, running to the airlock, "And yet," Elias said, "I went
with the grass lashing at their legs down there. Trina went down
and the wind lashing at their faces there. Her father and I both went
and the cold night air aflame sud- out into space." He sighed. "The
denly in their lungs. And Trina others wouldn't even do that."
couldn't protest any longer, not "You're not quite as bad, that's
with the world mad about her, not all," Max said bluntly. "But I don't
with Saari's words ringing in her understand any of you. None of us
ears like the wind. ever has understood you. None of
She saw them carry Curt Elias us ever will."
in, and then Max was helping her Trina looked across at him. Her
aboard, and a moment later, final- fingers knew every line of his face,
ly, the airlock doors slipped shut but now he was withdrawn, a
and it was quiet. stranger. "You're going back there,
She held out her arm for the aren't you?" she said. And when he
needle. nodded, she sighed. "We'll never
understand you either, I guess."
She remembered Saari's question
HEN SHE awoke again it of the night before, "Is he your
W was morning. Morning on
the world. They had carried her to
man?" and she realized that her
answer had not been the truth. She
one of the divans in the council knew now that he had never been
hall, one near a window so that she hers, not really, nor she his, that
could see the familiar fields of her the woman who would be his would
homeland as soon as she awoke. be like Saari, eager and unafraid
She rubbed her eyes and straight- and laughing in the wind, or look-
ened and looked up at the others. ing out the ports at friendly stars.
At Elias, still resting on another Elias leaned forward on the
divan. At Captain Bernard. At divan and gestured toward the
Saari and her father, and another master weather panel for t~eir part
70 MARl WOLF
of the village, the indicators that villages and the festival flowers
told what it was like today and bloomed and the festival lovers
what it would be like tomorrow slipped off from the dances to walk
all over the world. "I think I un- among them. There was a breeze,
derstand," he said. "I think I know just enough to carry the mingled
what we did to our environment, fragrances and the mingled songs,
through the generations. But it just enough to touch the throat and
doesn't do much good, just know- ruffle the hair and lie lightly be-
ing; something." tween the lips of lovers.
"You'll never chang;e," Max said. Trina danced with Aaron Go-
"No, I don't think we will." mez, and remembered. And the
Captain. Bernard got up, and wind seemed too soft somehow,
MacGregor got up too. They almost lifeless, with the air too
looked at Max. Slowly he turned sweet and cloying.
his head and smiled at Trina, and She wondered what a festival on
then he teo stood up. "Want to the planet would be like.
come outside and talk, Trina?" Max, with Saari MacGregor,
But there was nothing to say. perhaps, laughing in the wind, run-
Nothing she could do except break ning in the chill of evening along
down and cry in his arms and beg some riverbank.
him not to leave her, beg him to I could have gone with him, she
spend the rest of his life on a world thought. I could have gone. . .
she could never leave again. But then the music swirled faster
"No," she said. "I guess not." about them, the pulse of it pound-
And then, the memories rushed ing in her ears, and Aaron swept
back, and the music, and the little her closer as they danced, spinning
lane down by the stream where the among the people and the laughter,
magnolias spread their web of fra- out toward the terrace, toward the
grance. It's-it's almost festival trees with leaves unstirring in ~he
time, Max. Will you be here for evening air. All was color and
it?" sound and scent, all blended, hyp-
"I don't know, Trina." notically perfect, something in-.
It meant no; she knew that. finitely precious that she could
never, never leave.
The weeks slipped by, until it For it was summer on the world,
was summer on the world, until and festival time again.

. ... .
the festival music sang through the
~

LOOKING AHEAD to the July issue of IF

• • • THE END

JAMES BLISH, who

wrote that controversial short novel, A Case of Conscience, now tackles
another fascinating theme in a new story about a civilization of tree-top
people. It's called THE THING IN THE ATTIC-a novelette that
will thrill you to the last word... And, for a change of pace, THEODORE
R. COGSWELL dishes up a huge platter full of laughs in THE BIG
STINK, a most unique short story.
If you can't find it countless millions of miles in space, come
back to Earth. You might find it just on the other side of the
fence-where the grass is always greener.

THE

VALLEY
By Richard Stockham
Illustrated by Ed Emsh

T HE SHIP dove into Earth's

sea of atmosphere like a great"
silver fish.
"President - Davis is - over-
whelmed. He can't go on. On his
behalf and on behalf of all the
Inside the ship, a man and wom- people-with our hope that was
an stood looking down at the ex- almost dead, we greet you." A
panse of land that curved away to pause. "Please come in!"
a growing horizon. They saw the The voice was silent. The air
yellow ground cracked like a dried screamed against the hull of the
skin; and the polished stone of the ship.
mountains and the seas that were "I can't tell them," said the man.
shrunken away in the dust. And "Please come in!" said the radio.
they saw how the city circled the "Do you hear me?"
sea, as a circle of men surround a The woman looked up at the
water hole in a desert under a blaz- man. "You've got to Michael!"
ing sun. "Two thousand years. From one
The ship's radio cried out. end of the galaxy to the other. Not
"You've made it! Thank God! one p;rain of dust we can live on.
You've made it!" Just Earth. And it's burned to a
Another voice, shaking, said, cinder."
71
72 RICHARD STOCKHAM
A note of hysteria stabbed into They glanced around at the massed
the radio voice. "Are you all right? field of white faces beneath them;
Stand by! Vve're sending a rescue saw those same faces that had been
ship." turned toward them two thousand
"They've ~ot a right to know years past; remembered the cheers
what we've found," said the wom- and the cries that had crashed
an. "They sent us out. They've around them then, as they and the
waited so long-." thousand had stood before the
He stared into space. "It's hope- towering spires of the ships, before
less. If we'd found another planet the takeoff.
they could live on, they'd do the And, as then, there were no chil-
same as they've done here." dren among the milling, grasping
He touched the tiny golden throng. Only the· same clutching
locket that hung around his neck. hands and voices and arms, asking
"Right now, I could press this and for an answer, a salvation, a happy
scratch myself and the whole farce end.
would be over." Now the officials gathered
"No. A thousand of us died. around the man and the woman,
You've got to think of them." and spoke to them in voices of
"We'll go back out into space," reverence.
he said. "It's clean out there. I'm A microphone was thrust into
tired. Two thousand years of rein- Michael's hand with the whispered
carnation." admonition to tell the people of the
She spoke softly. "We've been to- great new life waiting for them,
gether for a long time. I've loved open and green and moist, on a
you. I've asked very little. But I virgin planet.
need to stay on Earth. Please, The cries of the people were slip-
Michael." ping away and a stillness growing
He looked at her for a moment. like an ocean calm and, within it,
Then he flipped a switch. "Milky the sound of the pumps, throbbing,
Way to Earth. Never mind the sucking the water from the seas.
rescue ship. We're all right. We're And then Michael's voice, "The
coming in." thousand who left with us are
dead." For some time we've known
the other planets in our solar sys-

T HE GREAT, white ship set-

tled to Earth that was like a
plain after flood waters have
tem were uninhabitable. Now
we've been from one end of the
galaxy to the other. And this is
drained away. what we've found. . . . We were
The man and woman came out given Earth. There's no place else
into .the blazing sunlight. for us. The rest of the planets in
A shout, like the crashing of a the galaxy were given to others.
thousand surfs, rose and broke over There's no place else for them.
them. The man and woman de- We've all had a chance to make
scended the ~ang-plank toward the the best of Earth. Instead we've
officials ~athered on the platform. made the worst of it. So we're here
74 RICHARD STOCKHAM
to stay-and die." He handed the waiting. And on a far wall, facing
microphone back. them all, hung a silver screen, fifty
The silence did not change. feet square.
The President grasped Michael's The President stood. "Members
arm. "What're you saying?" of the council." He paused. "As
. A buzzing rose up from the pe<r you heard, they report-complete
pIe like that of a swarm of fright- failure." He turned to Michael.
ened bees. The sea of white faces "And now, the prooL"
swayed and their voices began to Michael stood beside the motion
cry. The din and motion held, long picture projector, close to his chair.
and drawn out, with a wail now The lights dimmed. There was only
and a fluttering beneath it. the sound of the pumps throbbing
Michael and the woman stood in the darkness close and far away,
above them in the center of the above and beneath and all around.
pale, hovering faces of the officials. Suddenly on the screen appeared
"Good God," said the President. an .endless depth of blackness filled
"You've got to tell them what you with a mass of glowing white,
said isn't true!" which extended into the room
"We've been searching two thou- around the watching people, seem-
sand years for a truth," said ing to touch them and then spread-
Michael. "A thousand of us have ing, like an ocean, farther away
died finding it. I've told it. That's and out and out into an endless
the way it's got to be." distance.
The President swayed, took the Now streaks of yellow fire shot
microphone in his hands. into the picture, like a swarm of
"There's been some mistake!" he lightning bugs, the thin sharp nosed
cried. "Go back to the pumps and shadows of space ships, hurtling,
the distilleries! Go back to the wa- like comets, toward the clustered
ter vats and the gardens and the star smear. And then silent
flocks! Go back! Work and wait! thoughts flashed from the screen
We'll get the full truth to you. into the minds of the spectators;
Everything's going to be all right!" of time passing in months, years
Obediently the mass of faces and centuries, passing and passing
separated, as though they were be- until they themselves seemed to be
ing spun away on a whirling disk. rushing and rushing into the black-
Michael and the woman were swal- ness toward blinding balls of white
lowed up, like pebbles inside a clos- light, the size of. moons.
ing hand, and carried away from The· dark shapes of smaller
the great, white ship. spheres circling the blinding ones
moved forward into the picture;
They ushered the man and wom- red, blue, green, yellow, purple and
an into the beamed. and paneled many mixtures of all these, and
council chambers and sat them in then one planet filled the screen,
thick chairs before the wall of pol- seeming to be inflated, like a bal-
ished wood desks across which loon, into a shining red ball. There
stared the line of faces, silent and was a razor edge of horizon then
THE VALLEY 75
and pink sky and an expanse of sighing and moaning. And they
crimson. Flat, yellow creatures lay were aware through all this of at-
all around, expanding and con- mosphere and ground inimical to
tracting. A roaring rose and fell man, some that would evaporate at
like the roaring of a million winds. the touch of a human body, or
Then fear flowed out of the picture would burst into flame, or swallow,
into the minds of the watchers so or turn from liquid to solid or solid
that they gasped and cringed, and to liquid. They saw and heard
a silent voice told them that the chemical analyses, were aware of
atmosphere of this planet would this ocean of blackness and clouds
disintegrate a human being. of white through which man might
Now the red ball seemed to pull move, and must ever move, be-
away from them into the blackness cause he could live only upon this
and the blinding balls of light, and floating dust speck that was Earth.
all around could be seen the streaks The picture faded in, close to one
of rocket flame shooting away in of the long, needle nosed crafts,
all directions. showing inside, a man and a wom-
Suddenly a flash cut the black- an. Time was telescoped again
ness, like the flare of a match, and while the man cut a tiny piece of
died, and the watchers caught scar tissue from his arm and that
from the screen the awareness of of the woman, put them in bottles
the death of a ship. and set them into compartments
They were also aware of the where solutions dripped rhythmi-
rushing of time through centuries cally into the bottles, the tempera-
and they saw the streaking rocket ture was held at that of the human
flames and planets rushing at them; body, and synthetic sunlight fo-
saw creatures in squares and circles, cused upon them from many pen-
in threads wriggling, in lumps and cil like tubes.
blobs, rolling jumping and crawl- The watchers in the council
ing; saw them in cloud forms chamber saw the bits of tissue swell
whisking about, changing their into human embryos in a few sec-
shapes, and in flowing wavelets of onds, and grow arms and legs and
water. They saw creatures hopping
faces and extend themselves into
about on one leg and others cra.wl-
ing at incredible speeds on a thou- babies. Saw them taken from the
sand; saw some with all the num- bottles and cared for, and become
bers of legs and arms in between; replicas of the man and woman
and were aware of creatures that controlling the ship, who,· all this
were there but invisible. time were aging, until life went out
And those watching the screen of their bodies. Then the ones who
on which time and distance were a had been the scar tissue disin-
compressed and distilled kaleido- tegrated them in the coffin-like
scope, saw planet after planet and tubes and let their dust be sucked
thousands at a time; heard strange out into space-all this through
noises; rasping and roaring, clinks millions of miles and a hundred
and whistles, screams ·and. crying, years, compressed for the watchers
76 RICHARD STOCKHAM
into sixty seconds and a few feet of
space.
Instantly there was black space
M ICHAEL and Mary, both
staring, saw, along the line
of desks, the agonized faces, some
on the screen again, with the fin- staring like white stones, others
gers of flame pointing out behind hidden in clutching fingers, as
the dark bodies of the ships. though they had been confronted
And then the spectators saw one by a Medusa. There was the sound
ship shudder and swerve into a blaz- of heavy breathing that mixed with
ing, bluish white star, like a ~at the throbbing of the pumps. The
flying into a white hot poker; saw President held tightly to the edges
another drop away and away, out of his desk to quiet his trembling.
and out into the blackness past the "There-there've been· changes,"
swirling white rim of the galaxy, he said, "since you've been out in
and sink into a dark nothingness. space. There isn't a person on
Great balls of rock showered like Earth who's seen a violent death for
hail onto other ships, smashing hundreds of years."
them into grotesque tin cans. The Michael faced him, frowning. "I
stream of fire at the tail of another don't follow you."
ship suddenly died and the ship "Dying violently happened so
floated into an orbit around a great, seldom on Earth that, after a long
yellow planet, ten times the size of time, the sight of it began to drive
Jupiter, then was sucked into it. some people mad. And then one
Another burst like a bomb, flinging day a man was struck by one of the
a man and woman out into the ground cars and everyone who saw
darkness, where they hung sus- it went insane. Since then we've
pended, frozen into statues, like eliminated accidents, even the idea.
bodies drowned in the depths of an Now, DO one is aware that death by
Artic sea. violence is even a possibility."
At this instant from the watching "I'm sorry," said Michael,
council, there were screams of hor- "we've been so close to violent
ror and voices crying out, "Shut it death for so long... What you've
off! Shut it off!" There was a mov- seen is part of the proof you asked
ing about in the darkness. Murmurs for."
and harsh cries of disapproval grew "What you showed us was a pic-
in volume. ture," said the' President. "If it had
Another ship in the picture was been r~al, we'd all be insane by
split down the side by a meteor:and now. If it were shown to the people
the bodies inside were impaled on there'd be mass hysteria."
jagged blades' of steel, the con- "But even if we'd found another
torted, bloody faces lighted by habitable planet, getting to it
bursts of flame. And the' screams would involve just what we've
and crys of the spectators rose shown you. Maybe only a tenth of
higher, "Shut it off . • .' Oh the people who left Earth, or a
Lord ..." hundredth, would ever reach a
Lights flashed through the room destination out in space."
and the picture' died. "We couldn't tolerate such a pos-
THE VALLEY 77
sibility," said the President gravely. Michael and Mary were silent.
"We'd have to find a way around "You'll wait outside the council
it." chambers," the President went on,
The pumps throbbed like giant "until we have reached our de-
hearts all through the stillness in cision."
the council chambers. The faces As the man and woman were led
.along- the line of desks were smooth- away, the pumps beat in the still-
ing out; ths terror in them was ness, and at the edge of the shrink-
fading away. ' ing seas the salt thick waters were
"And yet the Earth is almost being pulled into the distilleries, and
dead," said Michael quietly, "and from them into the tier upon tier
you can't bring it back to life." of artificial gardens that sat like
"The sins of our past, Mr. Nel- giant bee hives all around the
son," said the President. "The shoreline; and the mounds of salt
Atomic wars five thousand years glistening in the sunlight behind
ago. And the greed. It was too late the gardens were growing into
a long time ago. That, of course, mountains.
is why the expedition was sent out.
And now you've come back to us
with this terrible news." He looked
around, slowly, then back to Mi-
chael. Can you give us any hope
I N THEIR rooms, Michael and
Mary were talking through the
hours, and waiting. All around
at all?" them were fragile, fortn-fitting
"None." chairs and translucent walls and a
"Another expedition? To An- ceiling that, holding the light of the
dromeda perhaps? With you the sun when they had first seen it,was
leade'r?" now filled with moonlight.
Michael shook his head. "We're Standing at a circular window,
finished with expeditions, Mr. ten' feet in diameter, Michael saw,
President." far below, the lights of the city ex-
There were mutterings· in the tending'into the darkness along the
council, and hastily whispered con- shoreline of the sea.
sultations. Now they were watch- uWe should have delivered our
ing the man and woman again. message by radio," he said, "and
"We feel," said the President, gone back into, space."
"it would be dangerous to allow "You could probably still go,"
you to go out among the people. she said quietly.
They've been informed that your He came and stood beside her. "I
statement wasn't entirely true. This couldn't stand being out in space,
was necessary, to avoid· a panic. The or anywhere, without you."
people simply must not know the She looked up at him. "We could
whole truth." He paused. "Now we go out into the wilderness, Michael,
ask you to keep in mind that what- outside the force walls. We could go
ever we decide about the two of far away."
you will be for the good of the peo- ·He turned· from her. "It's all
ple." dead. What would be the· use?"
78 RfCHARD STOCKHAM
"I came from the Earth," she the softness there in her face; saw
said quietly. "And I've got to go her eyes bright as though the sun
back to it. Space is so cold and were shining in them; saw a flush
frightening. Steel walls and black- in her cheeks, as though she had
ness and the rockets and the little been running. And suddenly his
pinpoints of light. It's a prison." throat was full.
"But to die out there in the des- "No," he said thickly. "I can't
ert, in that dust." Then he paused believe it."
and looked away from her. "We're "It's true."
crazy-talking as though we had a He held her for a long time, then
choice." he turned his eyes aside.
"Maybe they'll have to give us a "Yes:, I can see it is."
choice." "1-1 can't put into words why I
"What're you talking about?" let it happen, MichaeL"
"They went into hysterics at the He shook his head. "I don't know
sight of those bodies in the picture. -what to-to say. It's so incredi-
Those young bodies that didn't die ble."
of old age." "Maybe-I got so-tired-just
He waited. seeing the two of us over and over
"They can't stand the sight of again and the culturing of the scar
people dying violently." tissue,. for twenty centuries. Maybe
Her hand went to her throat and that was it. It was just-something
touched the tiny locket. I felt I had to do. Some-real life
"These lockets were given to us again. Something new. I felt a need
so we'd have a choice between suf- to produce something out of myself.
fering or quick painless death ..• It all started way out in space,
We still have a choice." while we were getting close to the
He touched the locket at his own solar system. I began to wonder if
throat and was very still for a long we'd ever get out of the ship alive
moment. "So we threaten to kill or if we'd ever see a sunset again or
ourselves, before their eyes. What a dawn or the night or morning like
would it do to them?" we'd seen on Earth-so-so long
He was still for a long time. ago. And then I had to let it hap-
"Sometimes, Mary, I think I don't pen. It was a vague and strange
know you at all." A pause. "And thing. There was something forcing
so now you and I are back where me. But at the same time I wanted
we started. Which'll it be, space or it, too. I seemed to be willing it,
Earth?" seemed to be feeling it was a neces-
"MichaeL" Her voice trembled. sary thing." She paused, frowning.
"1-1 don't know how to say this." "I didn't stop to think-it would be
He waited, frowning, watching like this."
her intently. "Such a thing," he said, smiling
"I'm-going to have a child." grimly, "hasn't happened on Earth
His face went blank. for three thousand years. I can re-
Then he stepped forward and nlember in school, reading in the
took her by the shoulders. He saw history books,how the whole Earth
THE VALLEY 79
was overcrowded and how the food jected from the screen:
and water had to be rationed and "This will be your new home.
then how the laws were passed for- It was found and then lost. But an-
bidding birth and after that how other expedition will be" sent out to
the people died and there weren't find it again. Be of good hope.
anymore babies born, until at last Everything will be all right."
there was plenty of what the Earth Michael turned from the win-
had to give, for everyone. And then dow. "So there's our evidence. Two
the news was broken to everyone thousand years. All the others
about the culturing of the scar tis- killed getting it. And with a sim-
sue, and there were a few dissent- ple twist, it becomes a lie."
ers but they were soon conditioned Mary sat down and buried her
out of their dissension and the pop- face in her hands.
ulation was stabilized." He paused. "What a terrible failure there's
"After all this past history, I don't been here," said Michael. "The
think the council could endure what neglect and destruction of a whole
you've done." planet. It's like a family letting
"No," she said quietly. "I don't their home decay all around them,
think they could." and living in smaller and smaller
"And so this will be just for us." rooms of it, until at last the rooms
He took her in his arms. "If I re- are all gone, and since they can't
member rightly, this is a traditional find another home, they all die in
action." A pause. "Now I'll go with the ruins of the last room."
you out onto the Earth-if we can "I can't face dying," Mary said
swing it. When we get outside the quietly, "squeezed in with all these
city, or if we do---.- Well, we'll see." people, in this tomb they've made
They were very still together and around the seas. I want to have the
then he turned and stood by the open sky and the quiet away from
window and looked down upon the those awful pounding pumps when
city and she came and stood beside I die. I want the spread of the
him. Earth all around and the clean air.
I want to be a real part of the Earth
again."

T HEY BOTH saw it at the same

time. And they watched, with-
out speaking, both knowing- what
Michael barely nodded in agree-
ment. He was standing very still
now.
was in the other's mind and heart. And then there was the sound of
They watched the giant four di- the door opening.
mensional screens all through the They both rose, like mourners at
city. A green, lush planet showed a funeral, and went into the council
bright and clear on them and there chambers.
were ships standing among the
trees and men walking through the Again they sat in the thick chairs
grass, that moved gently like the before the wall of desks with the
swells on a calm ocean, while into faces of the council looking across
their minds came the thoughts pro- it like defenders.
80 RICHARD STOCKHAM
The pumps were beating, beat- He raised it. "So does my wife.
ing all through the room and the They were designed to kill the wear-
quiet. er instantly and painlessly if he
The President was standing. He were ever faced with pain or a ter-
faced Michael and Mary, and ror he couldn't endure."
seemed to set himself as though to The President was standing
deliver a blow, or to receive one. again. A stir ran along the barri-
"Michael and Mary," he said, cade of desks.
his voice struggling against a tight- "We can't endure the city," went
ness, "we've considered a long time on Michael, "or its life and the
concerning what is to be done with ways of the people." He glanced
you and the report you brought along the line of staring faces.
back to us from the galaxy." He "If what I think you're about to
took another swallow of water. "To say is true," said the President in a
protect the sanity of the people, shaking voice, "it would have been
we've changed your report. We've better if you'd never been born."
also decided that the people must "Let's face facts, Mr. President.
be protected from the possibility of We were born and haven't died-
your spreading the truth, as you did yet." A pause. "And we can kill
at the landing field. So, for the good ourselves right here before your
of the people, you'll be isolated. All eyes. It'd be painless to us. We'd be
comforts will be given you. After unconscious. But there would be
all, in a sense, you are heroes and horrible convulsions and grimaces.
martyrs. Your scar tissue will be Our bodies would be twisted and
cultured as it has been in the past, tom. They'd thresh about. The
and you will stay in solitary confine- deaths you saw in the picture hap-
ment until the time when, perhaps, peneda long time ago, in outer
we can migrate to another planet. space. You all went into hysterics
We feel that hope must not be de- at the sight of them. Our deaths
stroyed. And so another expedition now would be close and terrible to
is being sent out. It may be that, see."
in time, on another planet, you'll be The President staggered as
able to take your place in our so- though about to faint. There was a
ciety." stirring and muttering and a jump-
He paused. "Is there anything you ing up along the desks. Voices cried
wish to say?" out, in anger and fear. Arms waved
"Yes, there is." and fists pounded. Hands clasped
"Proceed." and unclasped and clawed at col-
Michael stared straight at the lars, and there was a pell mell rush-
Presid~nt. After a long moment, he ing around the President. They
raised his. hand to the tiny locket·at yelled at each other and clasped
his throat. each other by the shoulders, turned
"Perhaps you remember," he away and back again, and then sud-
said, "the lockets given to every denly became very still.
member of the expedition the night Now they began to step down
before we left. I still have mine." from the raised line of desks, the
THE VALLEY 81
President leading them, and came The President's body sagged.
close to the man and woman, gath- "What-what is it you want?"
ering around them in a wide half Michael threw the words. "To go
circle. beyond the force fields of the city.
Michael and Mary were holding To go far out onto the Earth and
the lockets close to their throats. live as long as we can, and then to
The half circle of people, with the die a natural death."
President at its center was moving The half circle of faces turned to
closer and closer. They were sweaty each other and muttered and whis-
faces and red ones and dry white pered again. "In the name of God
ones and hands were raised to seize ... Let them go ... Contaminate
them. us . . . Like animals . . . Get them
Michael put his arm around out of here . . . Let them be fin-
Mary's waist. He felt the trembling ished Best for us all ... And
in her body and the waiting for them "
death. There was a turning to the Presi-
"Stop!" he said quietly. dent again and hands thrusting
They halted, in slight confusion, him forward to within one step of
barely drawing back. Michael and Mary, who were
"If you want to see us die-just standing there close together, as
come a step closer ... And remem- though attached.
ber what'll happed to you." Haltingly he said, "Go. Please go.
The faces began turning to each Out onto the Earth-to die. You
other and there was an undertone will die. The Earth is dead out
of muttering and whispering. "A there. You'll never see the city or
ghastly thing Instant ... Noth- your people again."
ing to do Space's broken their "We want a ground car," said
minds They'll do it ... Eyes're Michael. "And supplies."
mad What can we do? . . . "A ground car," repeated the
What? " The sweaty faces, the President. "And-supplies. . . .
cold white ones, the flushed hot Yes."
ones: all began to turn to the Presi- "You can give us an escort, if you
dent, who was staring at the two want to, out beyond the first range
before him like a man watching of mountains."
himself die in a mirror. "There will be no escort," said
"I command you," he suddenly the President firmly. "No one has
said, in a choked voice, "to-to give been allowed to go out upon the
me those-lockets! It's your- Earth or to fly above it for many
duty!" hundreds of years. We know it's
"We've only one duty, Mr. Presi- there. That's enough. We couldn't
dent," said Michael sharply. "To bear the sight of it." He took a step
ourselves." back. "And we can't bear the sight
"You're sick. Give yourselves over of you any longer. Go now. Quick-
to us. We'll help you." ly!"
"We've .made our choice. We Michael and Mary did not let go
want an answer. Quickly! Now!" of the lockets as they watched the
 RICHARD STOCKHAM
half circle of faces move backward, horizon when the car stopped. They
staring, as though at corpses that sat for a long time then, looking
should sink to the floor. out upon the Earth's parched and
inflamed skin. In the distance a
wall of mountains rose like a great

I T WAS night. The city had been

lost beyond the dead mounds of
Earth that rolled away behind
pile of bleached bones. Close ahead
the rolling plains were motionless
waves of dead Earth with a slight
them, like a thousand ancient breeze stirring up little swirls of
tombs. The ground car sat still on dust.
a crumbling road. "I'm getting out," she said.
Looking up through the car's "I haven't the slightest idea how
driving blister, they saw the stars much farther to go, or why," said
sunk into the blue black ocean of Michael shrugging. "It's all the
space; saw the path of the Milky same. Dirt and hills and mountains
Way along which they had rushed, and sun and dust. It's really not
while they had been searching much different from being out in
frantically for the place of salvation. space. We live in the car just like
"If anyone of the other couples in a space ship. We've enough con-
had made it back," said Mary, "do centrated supplies to last for a year.
you think they'd be with us?" How far do we go? Why? When?"
"I think they'd either be with They stepped upon the Earth
us," he said, "or out in space again and felt the warmth of the sun and
-or in prison." strolled toward the top of the hill.
She stared ahead along the beam "The air smells clean," he said.
of headlight that stabbed out into "The ground feels good. I think
the night over the decaying road. I'll take off my shoes." She did.
"How sorry are you," she said "Take off your boots, Michael. Try
quietly, "coming with me?" it."
"All I know is, if I were out in Wearily he pulled off his boots,
space for long without you, I'd kill stood in his bare feet. "It takes me
myself." back."
"Are we going to die out here, "Yes," she said and began walk-
Michael?" she said, gesturing to- ing toward the hilltop.
ward the wall of night that stood at He followed, his boots slung
the end of the headlight, "with the around his neck. "There was a road
land?" . somewhere, with the dust between
He tu.rned from her, frowning, my toes. Or was it a dream?"
and drove the .ground car forward, "I guess when the past is old
watching the headlights push back enough," she said, "it becomes a
the darkness. dream."
They followed the crumbling He watched her footprints in the
highway all night until light crept dust. "God, listen to the quiet."
across the bald and cracked hills. "I can't seem to remember so
The morning sun looked down up- much quiet around me. There's al-
on the desolation ten feet above the ways been the sound of a space ship,
THE VALLEY 83
or the pumps back in the cities." branch. They heard the buzz of a
He did not answer but continued bee, saw it light on a pale flower
to watch her footsteps and to feel at their feet and work at the sweet-
the dust squishing up between his ness inside.
toes. Then suddenly: Mary knelt down and drank from
"Mary!" the spring.
She stopped, whirling around. "It's so cool. It must come from
He was staring down at her feet. deep down."
She followed his gaze. "It does," he said. There were
"It's grass!" He bent down. tears in his eyes and a tightness in
"Three blades." his throat. "From deep down."
She knelt beside him. They "We can live here, Michael!"
touched the green blades. Slowly he looked all around until
"They're new," he said. his sight stopped at the bottom of
They stared, like religious de- a hill. "We'll build our house just
votees concentrating upon some beyond those rocks. We'll dig and
sacred object. plant and you'll have the child."
He rose, pulling her up with him. "Yes!" she said. "Oh yes!"
They hurried to the top of the hill "And the ones back in the city
and stood very still, looking· down will know the Earth again. Some-
into a valley. There were tiny time we'll lead them back here and
patches of green and little trees show them the Earth is coming
sprouting, and here and there, a alive." He paused. "By following
pale flower. The green was in a what· we had to do for ourselves,
cluster, in the center of the valley we've found a way to save them."
and there was a tiny glint of sun- They remained kneeling in the
light in its center. silence beside the pool for a long
"Oh!" time. They felt the sun on .their
Her hand found his. backs and looked into the clean
They ran down the gentle slope, depth of the water deeply aware of
feeling the patches of green touch the new life breathing all around
their feet, smelling a new freshness them and of themselves absorbing
in the air. And coming to the little it, and at the same time giving back
spring, they stood beside it and to it the life that was their own.
watched the crystal water that There was only this quiet and
trickled along the valley floor and breathing and warmth until Mi-
lost itself around a bend. They saw chael stood and picked up a rock
a furry, little animal scurry away and walked toward the base of the
and heard the twitter of a bird and hill where he had decided to build
saw it resting on a slim, bending the house. • • • THE END
•••••
LOOKING AHEAD to the July issue of IF ... They didn't know what
sex was in Tensor's world, but when those Earthlingsarrived-!!
Read FAIR AND WARMER~a short story with a bag-full of chuc~les
by E. G. VON WALD.
~~.'-~.-
- . .--
Colonel Johns, that famous Revolutionary War hero, had the
unique-'and painful-experience of meeting his great-great-
great-great granddaughter. Now maybe you can't change his-
tory, but what's there to prevent a soldier from changing his
mind about the gal he is going to marry?

7~ ()IZdeat tJI
COLONEL JOHNS
By George H.. Smith
Illustrated by Rudolph Palais

C LARK DECKER. winced and

scrounged· still lower in his
seat as 1-1rs. Appleby-Simpkin rested
way of escape from the convention
auditorium. If he had only re-
mained in the anteroom with Pro-
her enormous bosom on the front of fessor MacCulloch and the His-
the podium and smiled down on torical Reintergrator! After suffer-
the Patriot Daughters of America ing through four days of speeches
in convention assembled as she an- by ladies in various stages of mam-
nounced: "And now, my dears, I maHan top-heaviness, he hadn't be-
will read you one more short quo- lieved it possible that anyone could
tation from Major Wicks' fascinat- top Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin for
ing book 'The Minor Tactics of either sheer ability to bore or for
The American Revolution.' When the nobility of her bust.. Mrs.
I am finished, I know that you will Rebecca Johns-Hayes had come
all agree that Rebecca Johns-Hayes as something of a shock as she
will be a more than fitting successor squirmed her way onto the speak-
to myself as your President." er's platform. But there she was as
Decker looked wildly about for a big as life, or rather bigger, sInil-
85
86 GEORGE H. SMITH
ing at Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin, the Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin. waited
Past President, beaming at Mrs. until the burst of applause had died
Lynd-Torris, a defeated candidate down and then continued, "That is
for the presidency and whose an- the man whose great-great-great-
cestor had been only a captain, and great - granddaughter you have
completely ignoring Mrs. Tolman, elected your president today . . .
the other defeated candidate whose Mrs. Rebecca Johns-Hayes!" Turn-
ancestor had been so inconsiderate ing to Mrs. Johns-Hayes she went
as to have been a Continental ser- on, "Before you make your accept-
geant. Only the thought that now ance speech, dear, we have a little
that the voting was over and the surprise for you."
new president chosen, the ladies Clark I>ecker had been edging
might be ready for the demonstra- his way toward the side of the audi-
tion of the Reintergrator had torium where the Men's Auxiliary
brought I>ecker onto the conven- of the I>aughters had their seats but
tion floor, and now he was trapped he turned back at the mention of
and would have to listen. the surprise. It sounded as though
"And so," Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin it was time for him and the Pro-
was reading, "upon such small fessor to start their demonstration.
events do the great moments of his- "A surprise which we hope will
tory depend. The brilliant scouting also be a surprise to the whole
and skirmishing of the riflemen· un- world of science," Mrs. Appleby-
der Colonel Peter Johns prevented Simpkin was holding the podium
the breakthrough of Captain Fos- against a determinedly advancing
dick's column and the possible Mrs. Johns-Hayes. "Indeed we
flanking of the American army be- may be able to say in future years,
fore Saratoga. Thus, this little that the 1989 Convention of the
known action may have been the Patriot I>aughters was marked by
deciding factor in the whole cam- the first public demonstration of
paign that prevented General Bur- one of the most momentous inven-
goyne from carrying out the British tions in the history of science." The
plan to divide the colonies and end Past President was speaking faster
the war. It is impossible for the his- and faster, because the new Presi-
torian to refrain from speculation dent with a hand full of notes was
as to what might have happened doing her best to edge her away
had. Colone~ Johns not been on from both· the podium and the
hand to direct the riflemen and microphone. .
militia in this section; as indeed h~ "Thank you, darling,". Mrs.
might not have been, since his own J ohns-.Hayes said, pulling the mi-
regiment of short-term enlisteeshad crophone firmly toward her, "but
returned to Pennsylvania a few days we really must get alqngwith busi-
previously. Only the Colonel's pa- ness. I have quite a few things I
triotism and devotion to duty kept want to say and several motions
him in the field and made his abili- which I want to place befote the
ties available to the country when Convention."
they were most needed." "And as 1 was saying, dear," Mrs.
THE ORDEAL OF COLONEL JOHNS 87
Appleby-Simpkin said, pulling the ready!" Still under the influence
microphone back with equal finn- of the convention, Decker found
ness, "I know that you will be just himself shouting.
unbearably thrilled." There was an- . "Ah. Ah, yes. Then it will be to-
other brief struggle for the mike day-. I've waited so long. Ten years
and Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin won of work and now instead of a scien-
and went on; "I know that he will tific gathering, I have to demon-
be just as proud of you as you are strate my machine before a wom-
of him. That is why we have ar- an's club."
ranged fOf Professor MacCulloch
to demonstrate his historical Reinte-
grator at our convention by bring-
ing into our midst Colonel Peter
Johns, the hero of the action at
D ECKER began to wheel the
platform which held the Re-
integrator toward the door. "After
Temple Fann, to see his great- today, Professor, all the scientific
great-great-great-granddaughter in- organizations in the world will have
stalled as the fifty-fourth president heard of you and will be demand-
of the Loyal Order of Patriot ing demonstrations."
Daughters of America. Now 1 ..." "Yes, but these Patriot Daugh-
Mrs. Johns-Hayes again won con- ters! Who are they ? Who in the
trol of the mike. . scientific world ever heard of
"Thank you very much, dear." them?"
Her voice was a genteel screech. "No one except a few scientists
"I'm sure that we will be only too unfortunate enough to fall afoul
glad to have the . . . who ? Who of their Loyalty and Conformity
did· you say?" Mrs.Appleby-Simp- Committee."
kin. regained the microphone from "I think we should have gone
the· other woman's relaxing grip. elsewhere for our demonstration."
"I believe I see Mr. Decker, the "Now Professor. Who in the
Professor's assistant, in the audi- world today would be interested in
ence;" she said.. "Will you be so the past except a group of ancestor
good as to teU the Professor that conscious women?"
we are ready for his epic-making "Some historical society per-
experiment ?" haps," the Professor said wistfully.
With a great feeling of relief, "And what historical society
Decker escaped from the rising tur- could have advanced the twenty
moil of the convention hall into the thousand dollars we needed to com-
relative quiet of the anteroom plete the machine ?"
where MacCulloch waited with the "I suppose you're right, my boy,"
Reintegrator. He: found the Profes- MacCullo~h sighed as he helped
sor sitting with his head in his hands push the Reintegrator onto the
staring at the machine. The Ii ttle auditorium floor.
man .looked up and smiled quiz- By the time Clark Decker reached
zically as his assistant approached the platform to explain the demon-
him. stration, the fight for the micro-
"They'reready,Professor! They're phone had turned into a three-way
88 GEORGE H. SMITH
struggle. A lady who represented to get a little flustered~ "Oh my,
the Finance Committee was trying that would be before he married
to win it away from both the Past great-great-great..great-grandmoth-
President and the new President. er Sayles. They were married only
Taking them by surprise, Decker two days before the battle, you
managed to gain control long know. It was so romantic .•. a war-
enou~h to explain what was about time romance and all."
to happen. "Just imagine," Mrs. Tolman
"You mean," demanded Mrs. remarked, "at that time your whole
Johns-Hayes, "that this is some sort family was just a gleam in the Colo.
of time machine and you're going nel's eye!"
to transport great-great-great-great- Professor MacCulloch made one
grandfather from the past into the or two last passes at the machine
present?" and then stood back to watch, a
"No, Mrs. Hayes. This isn't a look of pure scientific ecstasy on his
time machine in the comic book use face. A mistiness began to ~ather on
of the term. It is just what Profes- the platform where the Colonel's
sor MacCulloch has called it, an sword lay and through it from time
historical Reintegrator. The theory to time shot sparks of electricity.
upon which it is based, the Mac- Suddenly a gasp went up from the
Culloch Reaction, says that every assembled Daughters as a man's
person who ever existed, and every head and shoulders appeared and
event which ever took place caused expanded downward, a long way
electrical disturbances in the space- downward, to a large pair of feet.
time continuum of· the universe by There was one last hum from the
displacing an equal and identical machine and then a tall young man
group of electrons. The .task of the in faded blue regimentals and very
Reintegrator is to reassemble those much in need of a shave was stand-
electrons. That is why Professor ing blinking in the blazing lights of
MacCulloch is now placing your the auditorium.
ancestor's sword in the machine. "Oh, Mr. Decker, surely there's
We will use that as a base point some mistake!" was Mrs. Johns-
from which our recreation will be- Hayes' first comment as she sur-
gin." veyed the very tall, very tattered,
The machine was humming and and very dirty young man. "Great-
small lights were beginning to play great-great-great-grandfather's pic-
about its tubes and dials. "If our tures always show him as a digni-
calculations are accurate, and we fied old gentleman."
believe that they are," Decker said, The Colonel· took one quick look
"within a very few minutes, Colo- around and made a grab· for his
nel Johns should be standing before sword, but the Professor managed
us as he was on a day approxi- to calm him and to explain the sit..
mately a week before his heroic ac- uation before any violence could
tion in the battle at Temple Farm." take place. After a few minutes of
Mrs. Johns-Hayes, although still hurried talk, MacCulloch steered
gripping her notes, was beginning the Colonel in the direction of the
THE ORDEAL OF COLONEL JOHNS 89
speaker's platform for the meeting great-great-grandfather. I'm named
with his great-great-great-great- after great-great-great-great-grand-
granddaughter. mother," Mrs. Johns-Hayes an-
Peter Johns' bewilderment faded nounced.
into astonishment, but he still "Then I married Becky Sales?"
gripped his sword as the Professor the Colonel asked.
guided him through the throngs of "Why, of course! Aren't you
excited ladies onto the stage. He planning on getting married in a
paused momentarily to look at the few days?" Clark Decker asked.
brilliant lights and at the huge num- The Colonel was embarrassed but
ber of American flags which hung he grinned, "Well, I don't rightly
overhead. A picture of George know. Miss Sayles and I have been
Washington, hung among the courtin' for some months but there's
flags, seemed to reassure him and little Jennie Taylor down in Tren-
he allowed the Professor to lead ton ... To tell the truth, I haven't
him to Mrs. Johns-Hayes. quite made up my mind."
That lady had drawn herself to- "Well! Of all things! What would
gether at the approach of her an- the family think! What would great
cestor and had obviously decided to Aunt Mary Hayes say?" Mrs.
carry it off as best she could. She Johns-Hayes puffed out even far-
advanced to meet him crying, ther than usual.
"Dear, dear great-great-great-great- "Well, we can ease your mind on
grandfather! This is such a pleas- that subject, Colonel. The history
ure! You can't know how proud all books say that you married Miss
of us in the family have always been Sayles-and here is Mrs. Johns-
of you." Hayes to prove it."
The young Continental officer The Colonel scratt:hed his chin
stared open mouthed at the red- again as he looked at Mrs. Johns-
faced, big-bosomed woman who Hayes. "Is that so? Is that so?
was twice his age, but who ad- What's all this about history books?
dressed him as great-great-great- You mean I got in history because
great-grandfather. Then he turned I married Becky Sayles?"
to MacCulloch who stood beside The Professor laughed. "Well,
him. "Are you sure you have the not exactly. It was because of your
right man?" he asked. heroism in the defeat of Burgoyne's
"Oh yes! Perfectly, perfectly! army. If you hadn't blocked Cap-
You're Colonel Peter Johns of tain Fenwick's flanking move at
Pamworth, Pennsylvania, and this Temple Farm, the American army
is your great~great-great-great­ under General Gates might have
granddaughter, Rebecca Johns- been defeated and the Colonies
Hayes." might even have lost the war."
"Rebecca? You mean she's named "Well, I'll be . . . Me? I did all
after Becky Sayles?" The Colo- that? I didn't even know there was
nel rubbed a hand· across his sev- going to be a battle. Did I end up a
eral days' growth of beard. live hero or a dead one ?" The
"That's right, dear great-great- Colonel was beginning. to feel a bit
90 GEORGE H. SMITH
more easy in his surroundings, and, have just been elected their Presi-
to the horror of Mrs. Johns-Hayes, dent!"
took a plug of tobacco out of his "Well, what do you know about
pocket and bit off a piece and be- that! Maybe all the hard times and
gan to chew it. the danger we been going through
"You came through the battle is worth it if you folks still remem-
with only a slight wound and lived ber the way we felt about things."
.to a ripe old age surrounded by "It's too bad," Decker whispered
grandchildren," the Professor told to MacCulloch, "that we can't let
him. him see what the country is really
"Then I reckon I won't go back like. I'm not sure these ladies are
to Pennsylvania with the other representative."
boys. They figure that since their There was a worried' look on the
enlistments are up, it's time to get Professor's face. "That's impossi-
back to the farm and let them New ble. The reintegration is good for
Yorkers do some of their own fight- only an hour or so. I hope nothing
ing." goes wrong here."
"Oh no! You weren't thinking of Mrs. Appleby - Simpkin took
.going back-of leaving the charge of the Colonel and ushered
fighting?" Mrs. Johns-Hayes de.. him to a seat of honor near the
manded. podium while the new President
The Colonel shifted his wad of prepared to deliver her speech.
tobacco and looked at the woman Decker and the professor managed
carefully as though he couldn't to obtain seats on either side of
quite believe the evidence of his Johns just as Rebecca started. He
eyes. "No, ma'am, I don't reckon managed to whisper to them, "I'm
I am. I don't exactly look on it the sure amazed! I'm sure amazed! All
same as the other boys do. I kind these nice old ladies feeling the
of feel like if we're ever going to same way about things as we do."
have a country, it's worth fighting
for." .
Mrs. Johns-Hayes beamed, as did
all the other officers of the Daugh- D ECKER had a premonition
of trouble as Mrs. Hayes'
words poured forth. He had hoped
ters. "Well, your faith and heroism for a cut and dried acceptance
have been rewarded, great-great.. speech with nothing but the usual
great-great-grandfather. I know patriotic platitudes, but,as she
you'll be proud to know that these went on his worst fears were real-
ladies whom you see before you are ized. Inspired by the presence of
the present guardians of the ideals her ancestor, the woman was going
that you fought for." into superlatives about the pur-
"Well, now, is that so, ma'am? poses and aims of the Patriot
Is that so?" Peter Johns looked Daughters. She covered everything
around the convention hall in from the glories of her ancestry to
amazement. the morals of the younger genera-
"And that I, your descendant, tion and women in politics.
THE ORDEAL OF COLONEL JOHNS 91
Decker watched the Colonel's forebears were lieutenants or of
face, saw it changed from puzzle- higher rank in the glorious Conti-
ment to painful boredom as word nental army."
after word floated from the battery The Colonel was a strong man
of speakers overhead. and both Decker and MacCulloch
MacCulloch was whispering in were older than he. With some-
Johns' ear in an attempt to draw thing between a snort and a· roar
his attention from the woman's he shook them loose and started for
booming voice but the man disre- the exit.
garded him. "Am I really respon- "Oh my," MacCulloch moaned,
sible for that? The Colonel jerked "I was afraid that this whole thing
his head in the direction of Mrs. was a mistake."
Johns-Hayes. Colonel Johns had taken only
"I'm afraid, Colonel, that you're two steps toward the door when
getting a distorted idea of what' he seemed to stagger. MacCulloch
America is like in our time," Deck- leaped to his side and caught .him
er said. The Colonel didn't even by the arm. There was an uproar
turn to look at him. He was scowl- in the auditorium as the Colonel
ing at his Amazonian descendant faded slightly and the professor
as her screeching reached new hurried him down the steps toward
heights. the Reintegrator.
". . . and we hold that this is "I'm afraid the Colonel isn't go-
true! Our simple motto, as you all ing to be with us much longer,"
know, is: One race, one creed, one the professor explained.
way of thinking!" Thank goodness, Decker thought,
Colonel Johns began to squirm I don't believe the poor man could
violently in his seat. The professor have stood it much longer.
found it necessary to grasp him "I'm afraid the reintegration
firmly by one arm while Decker time of Colonel Johns is running
held him by the. other. out and he must return to his own
The president of the Patriot time," the. professor went on.
Daughters had finished her speech The grim-faced Colonel said
amidst thunderous applause and nothing as MacCulloch led him up
started to present suggestions for to the machine.
the formation of new committees, "Goodbye, great-great-great-
for the passing of new by-laws. and great-grandfather," Mrs. Johns-
for resolutions. Hayes called from the platform. "It
"A committee should be formed has been so nice having you with
to see that the public parks are us."
properly policed to prevent so- "Goodbye, Rebecca," the Colo-
called 'spooners' from pursuing nel said as he began to fade away.
their immoral behaviour. "Give my regards to great-great-
"A new by-law is needed," and great-great-grandmother."
here Mrs. Hayes glanced aside at The figure in the dirty, faded
Mrs. Tolman, "to prevent mem- blue uniform was gone but Decker
bers being accepted unless their (Continued on page 105)
Theirs was a world of great culture yet their destiny had ever
been run, run, run-flee the Hunters. Even with the near per-
fection of the Concerts, the ultimate advance of civilized man,
they would run once again. But this time there were two who
stayed behind . ..

The LINK
By Alan E. Nourse
Illustration by Rudolph Polais

I T WAS NEARLY sundown

when Ravdin eased the ship
down into the last slow arc toward
back to the landing operation. He
was still numb and shaken from the
Warp-passage, his mind still mud-
the Earth's surface. Stretching his dIed by the abrupt and incredible
arms and legs, he tried to relax change. Moments before the sky
and ease the tension in his tired had been a vast, starry blanket of
muscles. Carefully he tightened the black velvet; then, abruptly, he had
seat belt for landing; then he been hovering over the city, sliding
blinked eagerly down at the vast, down toward warm friendly lights
tangled expanse of Jungle-land be- and music. He checked the proper
low him. Several miles ahead was switches and felt the throbbing
the bright circle of the landing purr of anti-gravs as the ship slid
field, with the sparkling glow of the down toward the landing slot. The
city beyond. Momentarily his eyes tall spires of the other ships rose
swept the horizon beyond the city, to meet him, circle upon circle of
hoping to catch a glimpse of the silver needles in the bright landing
Concert before he was swallowed place. The instrument panel
by the brilliant lights. whirred into activity as the auto-
A bell chimed softly in his ear, matics set the ship back into the
and Ravdin brought his attention berth from which it had risen days
93
94 ALAN E. NOURSE

before. With a sigh, Ravdin eased toward the shining walls of the city.
himself out of the seat, his heart Ravdin settled back, trying to clear
pounding with excitement. Per- his mind of the shock and horror,
haps, he thought, he was too ex- straining to catch the wisps of mu-
cited, too eager to be home, for his sic as he crossed closer to the hill-
mind still reeled from the fearful side place, down into the bright
discovery of his journey. beauty of the city. The curves and
The station was completely spires of glowing plastic passed be-
empty as Ravdin walked down the low, and his throat tightened as he
ramp to the shuttles. At the desk looked down. Very suddenly he re-
he checked his fuel report in the alized that his whole life was en-
shiny punchcard robot, and walked tangled in the very beauty of that
swiftly across the polished floor. wonderful city, everything he had
The wall panels pulsed a sombre ever hoped or dreamed lay shel-
blue-green, broken sharply by bril- tered there in the ever-clinging
liant flashes and overtones of scar- rhythm of colors and shapes and
let, reflecting with subtle accuracy sounds. And now, he knew, he
the tumult in his own mind. Not a would see his beloved city burning
sound was in the air, not a whisper once again, a consuming pyre,
nor sign of human habitation. heartbreaking memorial to the age-
Vaguely, uneasiness grew in his old fear of his people.
mind as he entered the shuttle sta- Softly the little shuttle-car
tion. Then, suddenly, the music sighed, settling down gently on the
caught him-a long, low chord of green terrace near the center of the
indescribable beauty, rising and city. The building was a master-
falling in the wind, a distant whis- piece of smoothly curving walls and
per of life. The Concert, of course. tasteful lines, opening a full side
Everyone would be at the Concert to the south to catch the soft sun-
tonight, and even at the five-mile light and warm breezes. Ravdin
distance, the beauty of four hun- stepped onto the deep carpeting of
dred perfectly harmonized voices the terrace. There was other music
could carry to him in the breeze. here, different music, a wilder,
The uneasiness disappeared, re- more intimate fantasy of whirling
placed by an eagerness to join, to sound. An oval door opened for
discharge his horrible message and him, ushering him into the vaulted
join the others in the great amphi- room. He stopped short, staggered
theatre set deep in the hillside out- for a moment by the overpowe<ring
side the city. Because he knew beauty of the dance before him.
everyone would be there-except A girl with flaming red hair-
one. Instinctively Ravdin knew red like the color of new flame-
that Lord Nehmon would be miss- dancing with enthralling beauty
ing the Concert, too, waiting for and abandon, her flowing body
him' to return. moving like ripples of wind to the
The shuttle slipped soundlessly music which filled the room with
from its berth, rising in a slow arc its throbbing cry. Her beauty was
high over the edges of Jungle-land exquisite, every motion, every
THE LINK 95
flowing turn, a symphony of flaw- go in the twinkling of an eye. But
less perfection as she danced to the I saw them in the twinkling of an
wild music. eye."
"Lord Nehmon!" "It couldn't have been anyone
The dancer threw back her head else ?"
sharply, eyes wide, her body frozen "Could anyone else build ships
in midair, and then, abruptly, she like the Hunters?"
was gone, leaving only the barest Nehmon sighed, sinking back
flickering image of her fiery hair. into his relaxer, shaking his head.
The music slowed, singing softly, 'INa one that we know." He
and Ravdin could see the man who glanced up at the scout. "Sit down,
sat in the room, looking at him.
Ravdin, sit down. I-I'll just have
Nehmon rose, a tall, vital man, his
to rearrange my thinking a Ii ttle.
graying hair and the strong, sad
lines of his face belying the youthful Where were they? How far?"
movement of his body. A smile Ravdin sat down facing him, his
broke on his face, and he came for- face drawn and pale. "Seven light
ward, clapping Ravdin on the back, years, Nehmon. Can you imagine
taking his hand warmly. "You're it? Just seven, and they were com-
too late for the Concert-it's a ing without hesitation. They know
shame. Mischana is the master to- where we are." His eyes filled with
night, and the whole city is fear. "They couldn't have come-
there-" unless they have the Warp, too--"
Ravdin's throat tightened as he The older man's breath cut off
tried to smile, and his voice was sharply. There was real alarm in
hoarse and urgent. "They're com- his eyes. "You're right," he said
ing, Nehmon! I saw them, hours softly. "Six months ago it was eight
ago-" hundred light years away, in an
The last overtones of the dance era completely remote from us.
broke abruptly, like a glass shat- Now just seven. In six months they
tered on stone. The room was have come so c1ose-"
deathly still. Lord Nehmon's eyes "And there's no confusion now.
searched the younger man's face They know where we are-" the
for a long moment; then he turned scout looked up at Nehmon, a deso-
away, not quite concealing the sad- late look. "What can we do? We
ness and pain in his eyes. "You have only weeks, maybe days, be-
couldn't be mistaken?" fore they're here. We have no time
"No chance. I found signs of to plan, no time to prepare for
their passing in a dozen places. I them. What can we do?"
saw them, their whole fleet. There The room was silent. Finally the
were hundreds. They're coming, I ol~er man stood up, wearily, his
saw them." six hundred years of life showing
"Did they see you?" Nehtnon's in his face for the first time in cen-
voice was sharp. turies. "We can do once again what
"No, no. The Warp is a wonder- we. have always done," he said sarl-
ful thing. With it, I can come and ly. "We can run away."
96 ALAN E. NOURSE
HE BRIGHT street below the so they've never found us-,-yet.
T oval window was. empty and
quiet. Not a breath of air stirred in
Whenever they come close to find-
ing us, we run."
the city. Ravdin stared out in Nehmon nodded slowly. "For
shocked silence, hardly believing thousands of years."
the words, now that he'd heard Ravdin's eyes were bright. "Yes,
them. "Again", he said dully. we run, we cringe, we hide under
"After we have worked so hard, stones, we break up our lives and
done so much-now we must burn tear up our families, we run like
the city and flee again-" His voice frightened animals-" he gulped a
trailed off to silence. He stared at breath, and his eyes sought Neh-
Nehmon, seeking in his face some mon's, angrily. HWhy do we run,
answer, some reassurance. He my Lord?"
found no answer there, only sad- Nehmon's eyes widened. "Be-
ness. "The Concerts-it's taken so cause we have no choice," he said
long, we're so close to the ultimate sharply. "We must run or be killed.
goal in the Concerts-" he gestured You know that; you've seen the
toward the thought-sensitive sound- records, you've been taught."
ing boards lining the walls, through "Oh, yes, I've been taught, I
which the dancer-illusion had been know. I've been taught that mil-
possible-"All the beauty and lenia ago remote ancestors of ours
peace we've found here-" fought the Hunters, and lost, and
"I know. How well I know." fled, and were pursued-and al-
Ravdin's voice became sharper. ways ran, ran, ran. But why? Time
"Yet the Hunters come again, and after time we've been cornered, and
again we must run away." He we've turned and fled. Why? Even
stared at the old man, his eyes sud- animals know that when they're
denly bright. "Nehmon, I've been cornered they must turn and
thinking-" fight-"
Nehmon looked up sharply. Not HWe are not animals." Neh-
in alarm, but with a look· of plead- mon's voice cut the air like a whip-
ing, like the look of an old and lash.
dying man who begs to be spared "But we could fight."
false hope. A faint smile crossed "Animals fight. We do not. We
his lips. "I think, too, sometimes." fought once, like animals, and now
"Not what I've been thinking." we must run from the Hunters,
Ravdin sat down, clasping his who must continue. to fight like ani-
hands in excitement. "We run mals.Let the Hunters fight."
away, Nehmon. Think about that Ravdin rubbed his lips, sinking
a moment. We run, and we run, back into the relaxer. "Then-the
and we run. From what? We run Hunters are not men like us,"· he
from. the Hunters. They're hunting said suddenly. "That's what you're
us,. these Hunters. They never quite saying. They're animals. We kill
find us, ·because we've already run. animals for· our food, isn't that
We're clever, we're fortunate, we true? We kill the tiger-beasts in the
have a way of life that they do not, Jungle to protect ourselves. Why
THE LINK 97
not kill the Hunters to protect our- face stricken. "Oh, Nehmon, if you
'selves?" could have been there tonight-it
Nehmon sighed, and reached out was horrible. There was something
a hand to the younger man. "I'm in the air. Everyone felt it-we
sorry," he said gently. "It seems knew there was something wrong,
logical, but it's false-logic. No, the and the Concert was ruined. The
H.unters are men-men just like people were afraid-"
you and me. Their lives are differ- Ravdin turned away sharply.
ent, their culture is different, but "Tell her," he said to the old man.
they are men. And human life is Dana looked at them, her gray
sacred, to us, above all else. This eyes widening in horror. "The
is the fundamental basis of our very Hunters! They've found us?"
existence. Without it we would be Ravdin nodded wordlessly.
Hunters, too. If we fight, we are Her hands trembled as she sat
dead. That's why we must run down, and there were tears in her
away now, and always. Because we eyes. "We came so close tonight-
know that we must not kill men." so very close. I felt the music before
it was sung, do you realize that? I
felt the fear around me, even
N THE STREET below, the though no one said a word. It
Onight air was suddenly full of
voices, chattering, intermingled
wasn't vague or fuzzy, it was clear!
The transference was perfect." She
with whispers of song and occa- turned her stunned face to the old
sional brief harmonic flutterings. man. "It's taken so long to come
The footfalls were muted on the this far, Nehmon. So much work
polished pavement as the people and trainingto reach toward a per-
passed, slowly, their voices carry- fect communal Concert. We've
ing a hint of puzzled uneasiness as had only two hundred years here,
they passed. only two hundred! I was just a lit-
"The Concert's over!" Ravdin tle girl when we came, I can't even
walked to the window, feeling a remember before that. Before we
chill. pass through him. "So soon- came here we were undisturbed for
something must have gone wrong." a thousand years, and before that,
Eagerly he searched the faces pass- four thousand. But two hundred-
ing in the street for Dana's face, we can't leave now. Not when
sensing the lurking discord in the we've come so far."
people's quiet talk. Suddenly the Ravdin looked from Dana to the
sound-boards in the room tinkled a old man. "Closer and closer. This
carrilonof ruby tones in his ear and time they will catch us. Or next
he turned from the window. And time, or the next. And that will be
then she was in the room, his new the end of everything for us, unless
bride, rushing to his. arms with a we fight them."· He paused, watch-
happy cry, pressing her soft cheek ing the last groups dispersing on the
to his rough chin. "You're back! street below. "If we only knew, for
Oh, I'm so' glad, so very glad!" She sure, what we were running from."
turned to Lord Nehmon then, her There was a startled silence. The
98 ALAN E~NOURSE

girl's breath came in a gasp and her the Concerts have changed! Even
eyes widened as his words sank my grandmother can remember
home. "Ravdin," she said softly. when the Concerts were just a few
"Have you ever seen a Hunter?" performers playing, and everyone
The couple stared at each other else just sitting and listening! Can
in amazement. Ravdin felt chill of you imagine anything more silly?
excitement tingle his spine. Music They hadn't even thought of trans-
burst from the sounding-board- ference then, they never dreamed
odd, wild music, suddenly hopeful. what a real Concert-communion
"No," he said, "no, of course not. could be. Why, those people had
You know that." never tasted music, until they be-
She rose from her seat, trem- came a part of the music. Even we
bling. She looked at Lord Nehmon. can see these changes - why
"Have you?" couldn't the Hunters have grown
"Never." The old man's voice and changed just as we have ?"
was harsh. Nehmon's voice broke in, almost
Dana stared at her husband. harshly, as he faced the excited
"Has anyone ever seen a Hunter?" pair. "The Hunters don't have
Ravdin's hand trembled. "1-1 Concerts," he said grimly. "You're
don't know. None of us living now, deluding yourselves. They laughed
no. It's been too long since they last at our music, they scoffed at our
actually found us. I've read-oh, I arts and twisted them into mock-
can't remember. I think my grand- eries. They had no concept of
father saw them-or my great beauty in their language. The
grandfather - somewhere back Hunters are incapable of change."
there. It's been thousands of "And you can say that when no~
years-" body has seen them for thousands
"Yet we've been tearing ourselves of years?"
up by the roots, wrenching our peo- Nehmon met her steady eyes;
ple from planet to planet, running read the strength and determina-
and dying and still running. Sup- tion in their depths. He knew, d~s~
pose that we might not have to pairingly, what they were thinking
run?" -that he was old, that he couldn't
He stared at her. "But they keep understand, that his mind was
coming. They keep searching for channeled now beyond the _ap-
us. What more proof do you need?" proach of wisdom. "You mustn't
Dana's face glowed with excite- think what you're thinking," he
ment; her slender body was alive said weakly. "You're blind. You
with new vitality, new hope. "But wouldn't know, you couldn't have
they might have changed. Things any idea what you would find. If
can happen-look at us, how we've you tried to contact them, you
grown since the wars with the could be lost completely, killed, tor~
Hunters. Think how our philoso- tured. If they haven't changed,you
phy and culture have matured! Oh, wouldn't stand a chance. You'd
Ravdin, you were to be Master at a never come back, Dana."
Concert next month. Think how "She's right." Ravdin's voice was
THE LINK 99
low in the still room. "You're once proud presence, leaving only
wrong, my Lord. We can't continue the scorched circle of land for the
this way if we're to survive. Some- jungle to reclaim, so that no eyes,
time our people must contact them, not even the sharpest, would ever
find the link that was once between know how long they had stayed,
us, and forge it strong again. We nor where they might have gone.
could do it." In the rounded room of his
"I could forbid you to go." house, Lord Nehmon dispatched
Dana looked at her husband, and the last of his belongings, a few re-
her eyes were proud. "You could membrances, nothing more, be-
forbid us to go," she said, facing cause the· space on the ships must
the old man, "but you could never take people, not remembrances. He
stop us." knew that the remembrances would
bring only pain. All day he had
supervised the loading, the intri-

F ROM THE edge of the Jungle-

land a great beast watched with
green-gleaming eyes, licking his
cate preparations, following plans
laid down millenia before. He saw
the libraries and records transport-
fanged jaws as he watched the ed, mile upon endless mile of mul-
glowing city, sensing somehow that timicrofilm, carted to the ships pre-
the mystifying circle of light and pared to carry them, stored until a
motion was soon to become his new resting place was found. The
jungle again. In the city the tur- history of a people was carried to
moil bubbled over, as wave after those ships, a people once proud
wave of the people made the short and strong, now equally proud, but
safari across the intervening jun- dwindling in numbers in toll for
gle to the circles of their ships. Hus- the constant roving. A proud peo-
bands, wives, fathers, mothers, car- ple, yet a people who would turn
rying their small, frail remem- and run without thought, in a
brances out to the ships. There panic of age-old fear. They had to
was music among them still, but it run, Nehmon knew, if they were to
was a different sort of music, now, survive. And with a blaze of anger
an eerie, hopeless music that drifted in his heart, he almost hated the
out of the city on the wind and two young people waiting with him
caused all but the bravest of the for the last ship to be filled. For
beasts to prickle the hair on their these two would not go.
backs and run in panic through the It had been a long night, a pain-
jungle darkness~ A melancholy ful night. He had pleaded and
music carried from thought to begged, to persuade them that
thought, from voice to voice as the there was no hope, that the very
people of the city wearily prepared idea of remaining behind or trying
themselves once again for the long to contact the Hunters was insane.
journey. Yet he knew they were sane-per-
To run away. In the darkness of haps unwise, naive, but their deci-
secrecy, to be gone, without a trace, sion had been reached, and they
without symbol or vestige of their would not be shaken.
100 ALAN E. NOURSE
The day was almost gone, the people's minds, the utter hopeless-
sun sinking lower as the last ships ness in the old man's face, and his
began to fill. Nehmon turned to own mind reeled in sudden des-
Ravdin and Dana, his face lined pair. It was such a slender hope, so
and tired. "You'll have to go soon," frail and dangerous. He knew of
he said. "The city will be burned, the terrible fight, the war of his
of course, as always. You'll be left people against the Hunters, so
with food and with weapons many thousand thousand years be-
against the jungle. The Hunters fore. They had risen together, a
will know that we've been here, but common people, a single planet
they'll not know when, nor where their home. And then, the gradual
we have gone. You will have to see splitting of the nations, his own
that they don't learn." people living in peace, seeking the
Dana shook her head. "We'll tell growth and beauty of the arts, hat-
them nothing, unless it's safe for ing the bitterness and barrenness
them to know." of war-and the Hunters, under an
"They'll question you, even tor- iron heel of militarism, of govern-
ture you-" ment for the perpetuation of gov-
She smiled calmly. "Perhaps they ernment, split farther and farther
won't. But as a last resort, we can from them. It was an ever-widen-
blank out." ing split as the Hunters grew to
Nehmon's face went white. hate Ravdin's people for all the
"You'd never regain your memo- things the Hunters were losing:
ry," he said. That must be saved as peace, love, happiness. Ravdin
a last resort." knew of the slowly developing doc-
Down below on the street the trine of the Sanctity of Life, shat-
last groups of people were passing, tered abruptly by the horrible wars,
the last sweet, eerie tones rising to and then the centuries of fear and
the darkening room. In a few mo- flight, hiding from the wrath of
ments the last families would have the Hunters' vengeance. His people
taken their refuge in the ships, had learned much in those long
waiting for Nehmon to give the years-they had conquered disease,
dreaded signal to fire the plastic they had grown in strength as they
city before the ships started on their dwindled in numbers. And now
voyage. The Concerts were over. the end could be seen, crystal clear,
They all knew the years of aimless the end of his people and a ghastly
wandering in the black reaches of grave.
space before another home could Nehmon's voice broke the si-
be found. They knew the longer lence. "If you must go, then go.
yeats of settlement and turmoil be- The city will burn an hour after we
fore the Concerts could once again blast."
rise from their hearts and throats "We will be safe, outside the
and minds, once again work toward city." Dana's eyes glowed, instilling
the climactic expression of their some fraction of her strength and
heritage. confidence in her husband's heart.
Ravdin felt the desolation in the "Wish us the best, Nehmon. If a
THE LINK 101

link can be forged, we will do it." They were squat, misshapen ves-
"I wish you the best in every- sels, circling down out of the air,
thing." There were tears in the old hissing, screeching, landing with a
man's eyes as he turned and left the grinding crash in the tall thicket of
room. the jungle. Ravdin's signal had
brought the ships down, and the
Hunters had seen them, standing

T HEY STOOD in the jungle-land

and heard the running animals.
They shivered in the cool night air
on a hilltop where the amphithea-
ter had been. Men had come out
of the ship, large men with cold
as the bright sparks of the ships' ex- faces and dull eyes, weapons
hausts faded into the black starry strapped to their trim uniforms.
sky. A man and a woman, speech- The .Hunters had blinked at them,
less, watching, staring with awful unbelieving, and their weapons
longing into the skies, watching the. were held ready. Ravdin and Dana
bright specks flicker and go out- were seized and led to the largest
Purple spumes of flame shot into ship. As they approached it, their
the air from the city, throwing a hearts sank and they clasped hands
ghastly, un-human light on the to bolster their failing hope.
frightened jungle, spires of flame The leader of the Hunters sat
seeking the stars with their fingers back from his desk as they were
as the plastic walls and streets of thrust into the cabin. His face was
the city hissed and shriveled, black- a graven mask as he searched their
ening, bubbling into a vanishing faces dispassionately, the slightest
memory before their eyes. The hint of a sneer about his deep-set,
flames shot high, carrying with thoughtful eyes. Their eyes were
them the last remnants of the city pale with fear in the bright light,
which had stood proud and tall an and FrankIe felt a wave of disgust
hour before. And then a silence fell, pass through his mind. "Chickens,"
deathly, like the lifeless silence of a he muttered. "We have been hunt-
cold grave. Finally, out of the si- ing down chickens." His· eyes
lence, little whispering sounds of turned to one of the guards. "They
the jungle crept to their ears, first have been searched?"
"Of course, sir."
frightened, then curious, then bold-
"And questioned?"
er and bolder, as the wisps of grass The guard frowned. "Their lan-
and little animals ventured out and guage, sir, it's almost unintelligi-
out toward the clearing where the ble."
city had stood. And the jungle "You've studied the basic
gathered courage, and the clearing tongues, haven't you?" FrankIe's
slowly, silently, began to disappear. voice was as cold as his eyes.
And then, days later, new sparks "Of course, sir, but this is very
of light appeared in the black sky, different-"
grew to larger specks, and then to FrankIe's eyes swept contemp-
flames, and finally settled to the tuously to the fair-skinned pair, and
earth on powerful, flaming jets. fixed upon their faces for a long
102 ALAN E. NOURSE
moment. Finally he said, "Well?" want peace-that's all there is to
Ravdin glanced briefly at Dana's say. This constant hunting and run-
white face. His own voice seemed ning is senseless, exhausting to both
weak and unsteady in comparison of us. We want to make peace with
to the Hunter's grating baritone. you, to bring our people together
"You are the leader of the Hunt- again."
ers?" FrankIe snorted. "You came to
FrankIe regarded them sourly, us in war, once, long ago. Now you
without replying. His thin face was want peace. What would you do,
swarthy, his short-cut grey hair clasp us to your bosom, to smother
matching the cold grey of his eyes. us in your idiotic music? Or have
His was an odd face, completely you gone on to greater things?"
expressionless, blank of any thought Ravdin's face flushed hotly.
or emotion, yet capable of shifting "Much greater things," he snapped.
to a strange biting slyness in the FrankIe sat down slowly, his
briefest instant. It was a rich face, eyes betraying his anger. "Very
a face of inscrutable depth. Sharp- soon you will be killed," he said
ly he pushed his chair· back, his softly. "The quickness or lengthi-
eyes watchful and sharp. "We know ness of your dying will be largely
your people were here," he said determined by the civility of your
suddenly. "Now they've gone and tongue. A civil tongue answers
you've stayed behind." There was questions with the right answers.
no softness in the man's face, only Now, shall we commence asking
suspicion and distrust. "Presumably questions ?"
you had some reason for such rash- Dana stepped forward suddenly,
ness. Are you ,going to tell me now, her cheeks flushed. "We don't have
or do you prefer to waste a few the words to express ourselves,we
days of my time first ?" can't tell you in words what we
Ravdin stared at him for a mo- must," she said softly. "But music
ment. "My people were here, that's is a language even you can under-
true. We stayed to contact you, to stand. We could tell you what we
tell you we want peace-" wagt, in music-"
FrankIe's eyes widened, almost FrankIe scowled. He knew the
startled. Then tired lines appeared magic of this music, he had heard
around his eyes. "Is that all you of the witchcraft these weak chick-
have to say? Where have your peo- en-people could weave, of their
ple gone?" strange, magic power to steal men's
Ravdin met him eye for eye. "I minds from them, to make them
can't say." like children before wolves. Yet he
The Hunter burst into a short had never heard that music, with
laugh. "I'm quite sure you can. his own ears-he looked up at
You don't choose to--just now. them, his eyes strangely bright.
Let's be precise. Who knows, very "You know I cannot listen to your
soon you may wish with all your music," he growled. "It's forbid-
heart to tell me-" den, even you should know that.
Dana's voice was sharp. "We How dare you propose-"
THE LINK 103

"But this is different music-" music, trying desperately to reach

Dana's eyes widened suddenly, and into the heart of it, to become part
she threw an excited glance at her of it. And Ravdin and Dana stood
husband. "Our music is beautiful, there, trancelike, staring transfixed
wonderful to hear. If you could at the gleaming center of ligAt,
only hear it-" forcing their joined minds into the
"Never." The man looked away, crashing, majestic chords as the
a little light of indecision in his song lifted from the depths of ob-
eyes. "Your music is forbidden, livion to the heights of glory in the
poisonous-" old, old song of their people-
Her smile was like sweet wine, a A song of majesty, and strength,
smile that worked into the Hunter's and dignity. A song of love, of as-
mind like a gentle, lazy drug. "But piration, a song of achievement. A
you are the leader here," she said. song of peoples driven by ancient
"And forbidden pleasures are so fears across the eons of space, seek~
much sweeter-" ing only peace, seeking love, even
FrankIe's eyes were on hers, fas- the love of those who drove them.
cinated. Slowly, with a graceful FrankIe heard the music, and could
lnovement, she drew the gleaming not comprehend, for his mind
thought-sensitive stone from her could not catch the chords, the
clothing. It glowed in the room true overtones of that glorious
with a pearly luminescence, and music, but he felt the strangeness
she saw the man's eyes turning to in the pangs of fear which groped
it, drawn as if by ma?;ic. Then he through his mind, cringing from
shook his head, and a cruel smile the wonderful strains, dazzled by
played about his mouth. He mo- the dancing light. And then he was
tioned toward the stone. "All staring at the couple, wide-eyed,
right," he said mockingly. "Show trembling. The authority was gone
me your precious music." from his face for the barest instant,
Like a tinkle of glass breaking in the cruelty was gone, the avarice,
a well, the stone flashed its fiery the sardonic mockery. For ·the
light in the room. Little swirls of briefest moment his cold grey eyes
music floated suddenly into the grew incredibly tender with a sud-
barren stillness of the room. Fran,;, den ancient, long-forgotten long-
kle tensed, a chill running up his ing, crying at last to be heard-
spine, unable to draw his eyes from And then, with an animal
the gleaming jewel. And then the scream, he was stumbling into the
music was there in the room, rising midst of the light, lashing out wild-
in its ~lorious beauty like an over- ly into the heart of its shimmering
powering wave, filling his mind brilliance, sweeping the hypnotic
with strange and wonderful images. stone with a roar into a crashing,
The stone shimmered and grew, ear-splitting cacophony against the
and took the form of dancing cold steel bulkhead. He stood, his
clouds of light, swirling with the whole body shaking, eyes blazing
music as it rose. Suddenly FrankIe with fear and anger, bitter hatred
felt his mind·· groping. toward the sparking from his gleaming eyes as
104 ALAN E. NOURSE
he turned on Ravdin and Dana, his FrankIe stared at them, and knew
voice a raging- storm of hatred in instantly what they had done, a
the dying strains of the music. technique of total memory oblitera-
"Spies! You thought you could tion known and dreaded for so
steal my mind away, make me for- many thousand years that history
get my duty, make me listen to your could not remember. And then, as
rotten, poisonous noise! Well, you his prey stood mindless before him,
failed, do you hear? I didn't hear he let out one hoarse, agonized
it, I didn't listen, I didn't! I'll hunt scream, and flew into a terrible,
you down as my fathers hunted you roaring, flailing rage of frustration
down. I'll bring my people their and defeat.
vengeance and glory, and then your But he did not kill them. They
music will be dead!" He turned to were left on a cold stone ledg-e,
the guards, wildly, his hands still blinking dumbly at each other as
trembling. "Take them out! Whip the :Hunter's ships rose, one by one,
them, burn them, do anything! But and vanished like fireflies in the
find out where their people have dark night sky. Naked, they sat
gone. Find out! Music! We'll take alone. They knew no words, no
the music from them, once and for music, nothing. And they did not
a11--" know that in the departing ships
the seed was planted. For FrankIe
had heard the music, he had seen
HE INQUISITION had been
T horrible. Their minds had no
concept of such horror, such in-
the beauty of his enemies for that
brief instant, and in that instant
they had become less his enemies.
sidious, racking pain. The burning Though he hated them now, the
lights, the questions screamed in tiny, tiny seed of doubt .had been
their ears, FrankIe's vicious eyes planted. The seed would grow.
burning in bitter frustrated hatred, The two sat dumbly, shivering.
and their own screams, rising with Far in the distance a beast roared
each question they would not an- against the heavy night, and a light
swer, rising into hideous rasps until rain began to fall. The two sat
their throats were scorched and naked, the rain soaking their skin
they could no longer scream. And and hair, and still they sat. Then
then they reached the limit, and one of them .grunted and moved
almost at the same instant they into the dry darkness of the cave.
muttered the hoarse words that Deep within him son1e instinct
could deliver them. No words that spoke, warned him to fear the roar
FrankIe could hear, but the words of the animal in the distance.
that could blank out their minds Blinking dully, the woman crept
like a wet sponge over slate. The into the cave after him. Three
hypnotic key clicked into the lock thoughts alone filled their empty
of their minds, and their screams minds. Not thoughts of Nehmon
died in their throats. Then their and his people-to them, Nehmon
eyes widened stupidly' as their had never existed, forg-otten as
memories died in their brains. completely as if he had never been.
THE LINK 105

No thoughts of the Hunter, either, It was raining.

nor of his unheard-of mercy in They were hungry.
leaving them their lives-lives of The saber-tooth was wandering
memoryless oblivion, like animals tonight.
in this green Jungle-land, but life- They never knew that the link
Only three thoughts filled their had been forged.
minds: ••• THE END
•••••
THE ORDEAL OF COLONEL JOHNS (Continued from page 91)
and MacCullogh heard him mutter "I suppose," Decker said quietly,
just before he disappeared alto- "that we should consider ourselves
gether, "I will, if I ever see her lucky that he didn't decide to go
again!" back to Pennsylvania." His voice
MacCulloch turned to stare at broke off and he wondered what he
the platform and Decker turned to had been saying-. He looked up at
follow his gaze. A sudden dizziness the speakers' platform trying- to re-
overcame them both and there was member why he should think it
a slight haze about the auditorium. strange that it was draped in Union
When it cleared, the podium was Jacks and that Lady Appleby-
empty. Mrs. Johns-Hayes was gone Simpkin should be saying, "And
as if she had never been. now, my dears, I know that all of
"My God! ," the professor gasped. you, as Loyal Daughters of the
"I was afraid something like this British Empire will be happy to
might happen. He must have mar- know .••"
ried the other girl." • • • THE END
•••••
SNARING THE HUMAN MIND (Continued from page 53)
he is convinced by the hypnotist's washing and the thought control of
suggestions that the bystander is a the police state to make the point
hated enemy. Normally a woman that the whole idea of thought con-
will not undress when such a sug- trol is as disgusting- as those murals
gestion is made by the hypnotist, showing the enemies of the Aztecs
but if she first be convinced she is being led around by cords inserted
alone, it is a different matter. through holes drilled in their noses.
Drugs have been discovered, Yet, nose-ring or not, inserted ra-
which in properly controlled doses, dio or not, the controlled human
create practically all the symptoms brain is a problem that has been
of such mental diseases as schizo- greatly accentuated in the last few
phrenia. All in all, there are many years. There is no defense against
new and super-sharp weapons ap- the misuse of thought control ex-
pearing in the armory of the mod- cept constant and intelligent watch-
ern witch-doctor. fulness by everyone of us.
One need not cite such extreme So, even while you're reading this
examples as Communist brain magazine, watch out!
 Personalities in Suience
Nature and Nature's Laws lay inventing clever devices rather
than in the study of Greek and
hid in night, Latin. Among his childhood inven-
God said, "Let Newton be!" tions were such things as a small
and there was light. windmill that would· grind wheat
and corn, a water clock run by the
-Pope. force of dropping water, a sundial,
which still stands today on the wall
of the house in which he was born,
T odiscoveries
REALIZE what Newton's
mean to us, let us
and very practical doll's house fur-
niture.
look back a little into the minds of
the men of several centuries ago. In
those days they recognized a certain AT FOURTEEN he was taken
order of things beneath nature's from school to help his wid-
confusion-such as the fact that owed mother run the farm. He
the sun rises in the east and sets in spent so much time at reading that
the west, that summer and winter he was of absolutely no use on the
and day and night follow one an- homestead at all and it was decided
other, that objects always fall to the that he be sent to the University.
ground when released in mid-air. Here he was a profound student
But all these things were accepte4 and an excellent scientist, so eager
without explanation. The nature of to learn that he often read ahead
light, heat, sound and electricity on his own hook and completely as-
were unknown; chemistry was still tonished his teachers by knowing
befogged with alchemy, and astron- his subject fully and completely be-
omy with astrology. The farthest fore the school year had really
outposts were the discoveries of started.
Galileo and Keppler in astronomy, His devotion to the· study of
mechanics and optics. Such was the mathematics led him to discover a
intellectual world into which Isaac new method of calculus-or, as he
Newton was born on Christmas called it, fluxions-which was to
morn in the year 1642 in Woolton- prove invaluable and was later to
shire, England. enable him to prove his law of grav-
Until he made the momentous itation. A curious sidelight on this
decision that he would beat the particular discovery is that the
school bully both mentally and great Leibnitz seems to have dis-
physically, he was an extremely covered this same method at about
poor student. His interests lay in the same time; and publication by
106
PERSONALITIES IN SCIENCE 107
Newton was met with bitterness by on this point.
the German who accused Newton In 1684, the astronomer HaIley
of having stolen the idea from him. stumbled on the fact that :Newton
The controversy raged all their had (after seven years of inactivity
lives and had such a deep effect on on the subject) picked up his
Newton that he became extremely theory of gravitation again. That
reluctant about publishing his find- he had in fact worked out in soli-
ings. He became so sensitive to criti- tude the principle of his theory.
cism that his friends had to beg him He had satisfied himself and with
to publish his work. Writing to a his usual reticence about "advertis-
friend, he said, "I see that a man ing" had absolutely no desire to tell
must either resolve to put out noth- the world about it. Halley nagged
ing new, or to become a slave to and begged and pleaded until New-
defend it." ton finally set down the elements
The story of the apple is one that of his findings in his "Principia."
every school child learns long be- It is said there weren't 12 men in
fore he really understands what Europe able to understand this
gravity means. As a test to prove book at the time 'of its' ,publication
his theory, Newton calculated the in 1687.
orbit of the moon, and the motion
as he figured it agreed "pretty
nearly" with the known facts. But
to him "pretty nearly" was as bad ATfacetABOUT that time a new
of the personality that
as not at all-and since he could go was Isaac Newton came to the fore.
no further with it at the time, he Through the despotic meddling of
laid gravitation aside for a while. King James II, who desired to
Now he began to tinker with bring catholicism into power in
light and color. By 1669 he demon- England, force was brought against
strated the compound character of the University of Cambridge to
light and the fact that color re- grant a degree to a monk of ex-
sides not in the object, but in the tremely low capabilities. The uni-
light itself. Newton explained light versity refused. When King James
by the· corpuscular theory-that threatened to close the school,
.light is caused by a stream of mi- Newton was called from his studies
nute particles given off at a high to lend his abilities and prestige to
velocity by a luminous body. This a committee that had been formed
was later rejected .by scientists as to combat this encroachment. His
the one 'place where Newton really activities in this cause resulted in
.had gone wrong. The undulatory his election to a seat in Parliament,
theory, in which light traveled in which he held for two years. While
waves, became the accepted theory. he held the seat he was a keen and
But since the discovery of radium active participant in the promotion
and radioactivity have proved the of public welfare and used it to
existence of minute particles mov- seek official 'encouragement for in-
ing at high speeds, we're not so sure ventors and young men of science.
now that he was completely wrong The development of the chro-
108 PERSONALITIES IN SCIENCE

nometer devised by John Harrison retical mechanics as it exists today.

was largely due to his generous in- Newton's improved methods of cal-
terest and inspiration. culation placed knowledge and
In 1696 he was appointed war- achievement on a basis of mathe-
den of the mint, being regarded as matical precision. The spectrum
particularly suited to the post, not analysis of white light paved the
only because of his reputation as a way for a host of useful optical dis-
mathematician, but especially as a coveries and inventions. He orig-
metallurgist because of his many inated the mathematical basis for
experiments with alloys for making all of modern physics. For isolated
telescope mirrors. A reformation in facts he substituted a rule of law.
coinage was taking place at the He invented the first reflector tele-
time and Newton was able to be scope and widened the scope of the
particularly helpful. Two years entire Universe for us. With these
later he was made Master of the universal laws Newton brought or-
Mint, which position he held for der into chaos, knowledge out of
the rest of his life and which as- superstition.
sured him a comfortable old age. After being knighted, Isaac was
This shorter than average, rather able to retire and continue his work
stout little man hardly seemed to with more ease-if a man such as
have stature enough to be pre- he ever could take things easy. A
possessing, yet he stood a giant hackney, three beautiful horses and
among men dedicated to scientific a home presided over by a gay and
investigation. charming sister provided. all the
ease he wanted. Despite criticism
of his "notions," he had literally
ODAY Newton's theory of grav- hundreds of friends. He was charm-
T itation has been questioned.
Einstein has rejected his explana-
ing, witty and serene-and calm
beyond belief. With all this he was
tion, though not the fact of its so modest that he never considered
operation. But all science admits himself at all important in the field
that the Englishman laid the foun- of science-he preferred to think
dations on which Einstein built his of himself as the eternal "tinkerer."
theory of relativity. The "Princi- lIe always maintained that his
pia" has been called the greatest achievements were those of "-a
single contribution to science ever little boy picking up a few pebbles
made by one man. It established on the beach; while all around lay
the ideas of mass and force, the the boundless sea of undiscovered
principal of mechanics of the heav- knowledge."
enly bodies and the science of theo- -epw

•••••
Man knows he is the forerunner of a finer and more perfect race; and his
pride in that fact should be great enough to overshadow the disappoint-
ments and hardships of the present.. Pierre du Nouy
He was something out of a nightmare but his music was straight
from heaven. He was a ragged little man out of a hole but he
was money in the bank to Stanley's four-piece combo. He was
-whoops! ...

The HOLES and JOHN SMITH

By Edward W. Ludwig
Illustration by Kelly Freas

IT ALL BEGAN on a Saturday

night at The Space Room. If
you've seen any recent Martian
travel folders, you know the place:
"A picturesque oasis of old Mar-
tian charm, situated on the beau-
teous Grand Canal in the heart of
Marsport. Only half a mile from
historic Chandler Field, landing
site of the first Martian expedition
nearly fifty years ago in 1990. A
visitor to the hotel, lunch room or
cocktail lounge will thrill at the
sight of hardy space pioneers min-
gling side by side with colorful
Martian tribesmen. An evening at
The Space Room is an amazing,
unforgettable experience."
Of course, the folders neglect to
add that the most amazing aspect is
the scent of the Canal's stagnant
water-and that the most unforget-
table experience is seeing the "root-
of-all-evil" evaporate from your
109
110 EDWARD W. LUDWIG
pocketbook like snow from the "But," I added, "even if the new
Great Red Desert. man doesn't come, we're still here.
We were sitting on the bandstand We'll play for you." I glanced at
of the candle-lit cocktail lounge. the conglomeration of uniformed
Me -Jimmie Stanley - and my spacemen, '\:Vhite-suited tourists,
four-piece combo. Maybe you've and loin-clothed natives who sat at
seen our motto back on Earth: ancient stone tables. "You wouldn't
"The Hottest Music This Side of want to disappoint your customers,
Mercury." would you?"
But there weren't four of us to- Ke-teeli snorted. "Maybe ees bet-
ni~ht. Only three. Zig~, our bass ter dey be deesappointed. Ees better
fiddle man, had nearly sliced off no museek den bad museek."
two fingers while opening a can of Fat Boy, our clarinetist who dou-
Saturnian ice-fish, thus decreasing bles on Martian horn-harp, made a
the number of our personnel by a feeble attempt at optimism. "Don't
tragic twenty-five per cent. worry, Mr. Ke-teeli. That new bass
Which was why Ke-teeli, our man will be here."
boss, was descending upon us with "Sure," said Hammer-Head, our
all the grace of an enra~ed Venus- red-haired vibro-drummer. "I think
ian vinosaur. I hear him coming now."
"Where ees museek?" he shrilled Suspiciously, Ke-teeli eyed the
in his nasal tenor. He was almost entrance. There was only silence.
skeleton thin, like most Martians, His naked, parchment-like chest
and so tall that if he fell down he'd swelled as if it were an expanding
be half way home. balloon.
I gulped. "Our bass man can't "Five meenutes!" he shrieked.
be here, but we've called the Mars- "Eef no feedle, den you go!" And
port local for another. He'll be here he whirled away.
any minute." We waited.
Ke-teeli, sometimes referred to Fat Boy's two hundred and
as Goon-Face and The Eye, leered eighty-odd pounds were drooped
coldly down at me from his eight- over his chair like the blubber of an
foot-three. His eyes were like black exhausted, beach-stranded whale.
needle points set deep in a mask of "Well," he muttered, "there's al-
dry, ancient, reddish leather. ways the uranium pits of Neptune.
"Ees no feedIe man, ees no job," Course, you don't live more than
he squeaked. five years there-"
I sighed. This was the week our "Maybe we could make it back
contract ended. Goon-Face had dis- to Lunar City," suggested Hammer-
played little enough enthusiasm for Head.
our music as it was. His comments "Dsing' what for fare?" I asked.
were either, "Ees too loud, too fast," "Your brains?"
or "Ees too slow, too soft." The real Hammer-Head groaned. "No. I
cause of his concern being, I sus- guess it'll have to be the black pits
pected, the infrequency with which of Neptune. The home of washed-
his cash register tinkled. up interplanetary musicians. It's too
THE HOLES AND JOHN SMITH 111
bad. We're so young, too." A moment's silence.
. The seconds swept by. Ke~teeli "Your plan?" I echoed at last.
was casting his razor~edged glare in "How to get back home," he
our direction. I brushed the chewed snapped as if I should have known
fin~er nails from the keyboard of it already.
my electronic piano~ Hummm, I thought.
Then it happened. My gaze turned to the dance
floor. Goon~Face had his eyes on
us, and they were as cold as six In~

F ROM THE entrance of The

Space Room came a thumping
and a grating and a banging. Sud-
dians going South.
"We'll talk about your plan at
intermission," I said, shivering.
denly, sweeping across the dance "Now, we'd better start playing.
floor like a cold wind, was a bass John, do you know On An Asteroid
fiddle, an enormous black monstros- With You?"
ity, a refugee from a pawnbroker's "I know everything," said John
attic. It was queerly shaped. It was Smith.
too taU, too wide. It was more like I turned to my piano with a
a monstrous, midnight~black hour- shudder. I didn't dare look at that
glass than a bass. horrible fiddle again. I didn't dare
The fiddle was not unaccompa- think what kind of soul-chilling
nied as I'd first imagined. Behind tones might emerge from its ancient
it, streaking over the floor in a depths.
waltz of agony, was a little guy, an And I didn't dare look again at
animated matchstick with a flat, the second monstrosity, the one
broad face that seemed to have named John Smith. I closed my
been compressed in a vice. His sand- eyes and plunged into a four-bar
colored mop of hair reminded me intra.
of a field of dry grass, the long Hammer-Head joined in on
strands forming loops that flanked vibro~drums and Fat Boyan clari-
the sides of his face. net, and then-
His pale blue eyes were watery, My eyes burst open. A shiver
like. twin pools of fog. His tight- coursed down my spine like gigan-
fitting; suit, as black as the bass, tic mice feet.
was something off a park bench. It The tones that surged from that
was impossible to guess his age. He monstrous bass were ecstatic. They
could have been anywhere between were out of a jazzman's Heaven.
twenty and forty. They were great rolling clouds that
The bass thumped down upon seemed to envelop the entire uni~
the bandstand. verse with their vibrance. They
"Hello," he puffed. "I'm John held a depth and a volume and a
Smith, from the Marsport union." richness that were astounding, that
He spoke shrilly and rapidly,as if were like no others I'd ever heard.
anxious to conclude the routine of First they went Boom-de-boom-
introductions. "I'm sorry I'm late, de-boom-de-boom,'and then, boom-
but I was working on my plan." de-de- boom-de-de- boom-de-de-
 112 EDWARD W. LUDWIG
boom, just like the tones of all bass the thing tenderly. "I tried the hole
fiddles. in it but it isn't the right one."
But there was something else, too. I wondered what the hell he was
.There were overtones, so that John talking about. I studied the black,
wasn't just playing a single note, mirror-like wood. The aperture in
but a whole chord with each beat. the vesonator was like that of any
And the fullness, the. depth of those bass fiddle.
incredible chords actually set my "Isn't right for what?" I had to
blood tingling. I could feel the ask.
tingling just as one can feel the vi- He turned his sad eyes to me.
bration of a plucked guitar string. "For going home," he said.
I glanced at the cash customers. Hummm, I thought.
They looked like weary warriors
getting their first glimpse of Val-
halla. Gap-jawed and wide-eyed, E PLAYED. Tune after tune.
they seemed in a kind of ecstatic
hypnosis. Even the silent, bland-
W John knew them all, from the
latest pop melodies to a swing ver-
faced Martians stopped sipping sion of the classic Rhapsody of The
their wine-syrup and nodded .their Stars. He was a quiet guy during
dark heads in time with the rhythm. the next couple of hours, and get-
I looked at The Eye. The trans- ting more than a few words from
formation of his gaunt features him seemed as hard as extracting a
was miraculous. Shadows of gloom tooth. He'd stand by his fiddle-I
dissolved and were replaced by mean, his Zloomph-with a dreamy
a black-toothed, crescent-shaped expression in those watery eyes,
smile of delight. His. eyes shone like staring at nothing.
those of a kid seeing Santa Claus. But after one number he studied
We finished On An Asteroid With Fat Boy's clarinet for a moment.
You, modulated into Sweet Sally "Nice clarinet," he mused. "Has an
from Saturn and finished with unusual hole in the front."
Tighten Your Lips on Titan. Fat Boy scratched the back of
We waited for the applause of his head. "You-you mean here?
the Earth people and the shrilling Where the music comes out?"
of the Martians to die down. Then John Srnith nodded. "Unusual."
I turned to John and his fiddle. Hummm, I thought again.
"If I didn't hear it," I gasped, Awhile later I caught him eye;.
"I wouldn't believe it!" ing my piano keyboard. "What's
"And the fiddle's so old, too!" the matter, John?"
added Hammer-Head who, al- He pointed.
though sober, seemed quite drunk. "Oh, there," I said. "A cig-arette
"Old?" said John Smith. "Of fell out of my ashtray, burnt a hole
course it's old. It's over five thou- in the key. If The Eye sees it, he'll
sand years old. I was lucky to find swear at me in seven languages.".
it in a pawnshop. Only it's not a "Even there," he said softly,
fiddle but a Zloomph. This is the "even there...."
only one in existence." He patted There was no doubt abQut 'it.
THE HOLES AND JOHN SMITH ·113
John Smith was peculiar, but he two people. You can stay with me
was the best bass man this side of a and it won't cost you a cent. And
musician's Nirvana. we'll even pay you over union
It didn't take a genius to figure wages."
out our situation. Item one: Goon- His watery gaze wandered lazily
Face's countenance had evidenced to the bar mirror, down to the glit-
an. excellent imitation of Mephisto- tering array of bottles and then out
pheles before John began to play. to the dance floor. .
Item two: Goon-Face had beamed He yawned again .and spoke
like a kitten with a quart of cream slowly, as if each word were a lead-
after John began to play. en weight cast reluctantly from his
Conclusion: If we wanted to tongue:
keep eating, we'd have to persuade "No, I don't ..• care much ••.
John Smith to join our combo. about playing."
At intermission I said, "How "What do you like to do, John?"
about a drink, John? Maybe a shot His string-bean of a body stif-
of wine-syrup?" fened. "I like to study ancient his-
He shook his head. tory . . • and I must work on my
"Then maybe a Venusian fizz?" .plan."
His grunt was negative. Oh Lord, that plan 'again!
"Then.some old-fashioned beer?" I took a deep breath. "Tell me
He smiled. "Yes, I like beer." about it, John. It must be interest-
I escorted him to the bar and as- ing."
sisted him in his arduous climb on- He made queer clicking noises
to a stool. with his mouth that reminded me
"John," I ventured after he'd of a mechanical toy being wound
taken an experimental sip, "where into motion. "The whole founda-
have you been hiding? A guy like tion of this or any other culture is
you mould be playing every night." based on the history of all the time
John yawned. "Just got here. Fig- dimensions, each interwoven with
ured I might need some money so the other, throughout the ages. And
I went to the union. Then I worked the holes provide a means of study-
on my plan." ing all of it first hand."
"Then you need a job. How Oh, oh, I thought.· But you still
about playing with us steady? We have to. eat. Remember, you still
like your style a lot." have to eat.
He made a long, low humming "Trouble is," he went on, "there
sound which I interpreted as· an are so many holes in this universe."
expression of intense concentration. "Holes?" I.kept a straight face.
"I don't know," he finally drawled. "Certainly. Look around you. All
"It'd be a steady job, John." In- you see is holes. These beer bottles
spiration struck me. "And listen, I are just holes surrounded by glass.
have an apartment. It's got every- The doors and windows-they're
thing, solar shower, automatic chef, holes in walls. The mine tunnels
,copter landing-if we ever get a make a network· of holes under. the
'copte.r. Plenty of. room therefor desert. Caves are holes, animals live
114 EDWARD W. LUDWIG
in holes, our faces have holes, back they will think I couldn't prove
clothes have holes-millions and my theory, that I'm ashamed to
millions of holes!" come back, and I'll be discredited."
I winced and thought, humor His chest sagged for an instant.
him because you gotta eat, you Then he straightened. "But there's
gotta eat. still time for my plan to work out-
His voice trembled with emotion. with the relative difference taken
"Why, they're everywhere. They're into account. Only I -get so tired
in pots and pans, in pipes, in rocket just thinking about it."
jets, in bumpy roads. There are but- "Yes, I can see where thinking
tonholes and well holes, and shoe- about it would tire anyone."
lace holes. There are doughnut He nodded. "But it can't be too
holes and stocking holes and wood- far away."
pecker holes and cheese holes. "I'd like to hear more about it,"
Oceans lie in holes in the earth, I said. "But if you're not going to
and rivers and canals and valleys. play with us-"
The craters of the Moon are holes. "Oh, I'll play with you," he
Everything is-" beamed. "I can talk to you. You
"But, John," I said patiently as understand."
as possible, "what have these holes Thank heaven!
got to do with you?"
He glowered at me as if r were
unworthy of such a confidence. EAVEN LASTED for just three
"What have they to do with me?"
he shrilled. "I can't find the right
H days. During those seventy-two
golden hours the melodious tinkling
one-that's what!" of The Eye's cash register was as
I closed my eyes. "Which particu- constant as that of Santa's sleigh
lar hole are you looking for, John?" bells.
He was speaking- rapidly again John became the hero of tourists,
now. spacemen, and Martians, but nev-
"I was hurrying- back to the Uni- ertheless he remained stubbornly
versity with the Zloomph to prove aloof. He was quiet, moody, playing
a point of ancient history to those his Zloomph automatically. He'd
fools. They don't believe that in- reveal definite indications of be-
struments which make music· ac- longing to Homo Sapiens only when
tually existed before the tapes! It drinking beer and talking about his
was dark-and some fool researcher holes.
had forg-otten to set a force-field Goon-Face was still cautious.
over the hole-I fell through." "Contract?" he wheezed. "l\1ay-
I closed my eyes. "Now wait a be. We -see. Eef feedleman stay, we
minute. Did you drop something-, have contract. He stay, yes?"
lose it in the hole-is that why you "Oh, sure," I said. "He'll stay-
have to find it?" just as long as you want him."
"Oh I didn't lose anything im- "Den he sign contract, too. No
portant," he snapped, "just my own beeg feedle, no contract."
time dimension. And if I don't get "Sure. We'll get him to sign it."
THE HOLES AND JOHN SMITH 115
I laughed hollowly. "Don't worry, "He wouldn't listen," he said,
Mr. Ke-teeli." weakly. "I tried to tell him, but he
, Just a few minutes later tragedy said he'd come back when I'm
struck. sober. I'm sober now. So I quit.
A reporter from the Marsport I've got to find my hole."
Times ambled into interview the I patted him on the back. "No,
Man of The Hour. The interview, John, we'll help you. Don't quit.
unfortunately, was conducted over We'll-well, we'll help you."
the bar and accompanied by a gen- "We're working on a plan, too,"
erous guzzling of beer. Fat Boy, said Fat Boy in a burst of inspira-
Hammer-Head and I watched tion. "We're goinp; to make a more
from a table. Knowing John as we scientific approach."
did, a silent prayer was in our eyes. "How ?" .John asked.
"This is the first time he's talked Fat Boy gulped.
to anybody," Fat Boy breathed. "Just wait another day," I said.
"I-I'm scared. "We'll have it worked out. Just be
"Nothing can happen," I said, patient another day. You can't
optimistically. "This'll be good pub- leave now, not after all your work."
licity." "No, I guess not," he sighed. "I'll
We watched. stay-until tomorrow."
John murmured something. The
reporter, a paunchy, balding man,
scribbled furiously in his notebook. LL NIGHT the thought crept
John yawned, muttered some-
thing else. The reporter continued
A through my brain like a teasing
spider: What can we do to make
to scribble. him stay? What can we tell him?
John sipped beer. His eyes What, what, what?
brightened, and he began to talk Unable to sleep the next morn-
more rapidly. , ing, I left John to his snoring and
The reporter frowned, stopped went for an aspirin and black cof-
writing, and studied John curiously. fee. All the possible schemes were
John finished his first beer, drumming through my mind: find-
started on his second. His eyes were ing an Earth blonde to capture
wild, and he was talking more and .John's interest, having him electro-
more rapidly. hypnotized, breaking his leg, forg.;,
"He's doing it," Hammer-Head ing a letter from this mythical uni-
groaned. "He's telling him!" versity telling him his theory was
I rose swiftly. "We better get proved valid and for him to take
over there. We should have known a nice long vacation now. He was
better-"·· a screwball about holes and force
,.We were too late. The reporter fields and dimensional worlds but
had already slapped on his hat and for that music of his I'd baby him
was striding to the exit. .John turned the rest of his life.
to us, dazed" his enthusiasm vanish- I t was early afternoon when I
ing like air from a punctured bal- trudged back to my apartment.
loon. John was squatting on the living
116 EDWARD W. LUDWIG
room floor, surrounded by a forest with a little nip at the bar across
of empty beer bottles. His eyes were the street.
bulging, his hair was even wilder Then-he was gone.
than usual, and he was swaying. John just slipped out of my grasp
"John!" I cried. "You're drunk!" -Zloomph and all-and was gone
His watery eyes squinted at me. -completely and irrevocably gone.
"No, not drunk. Just scared. I'm I even risked a broken neck and
awful scared!" jumped in the manhole after him.
"But you mustn't be scared. That Nothing-nothing but the smell of
reporter was just stupid. We'll help ozone and an echo bouncing crazily
you with your theory." off the walls of the conduit.
His body trembled. "No, it isn't "-is it. -is it. -is it. -is it."
that. It isn't the reporter." 10hn Smith was gone, so utterly
"Then what is it, John?" and completely and tragically gone
"It's my body. It'5-" it was as if he'd never existed. . . •
"Yes, what about your body?
Are you sick?" Tonight is our last night at The
His face was white with terror. Space Room. Goon-Face is scowl-
"No, my-my body's full· of holes. ing again with the icy fury of a
Suppose it's one of those holes! Plutonian monsoon. As Goon-Face
How will I get back if it is?" has said, "No beeg feedle, no con-
He rose and staggered to his tract."
Zloomph, clutching it as though it Without .Tohn, we're notes in a
were somehow a source of strength lost chord.
and consolation. We've searched everything, in
I patted him gingerly on the arm. hospitals, morgues, jails, night clubs,
"Now John. You've just had too hotels. We've hounded spaceports
much beer, that's all. Let's go out and 'copter terminals. Nowhere, no-
and get some air and some strong where is John Smith.
black coffee. C'mon now." Ziggy, whose two fingers have
We staggered out into the morn- healed, has already bowed to what
ing darkness, the three of us. John, seems inevitable. He's signed up for
the Zloomph, and I. that trip to Neptune's uranium
I was hanging on to him trying pits. There's plenty of room for
to see around and over and even more volunteers, he tells us. But I
under the Zloomph-steering by a spend my time cussing the guy who
sort of radar-like sixth sense. The forgot to set the force field at the
street lights on Marsport are pretty other end of the hole and let John
dim compared to Earthside. I and his Zloomph back into his own
didn't. see the open manhole that time dimension. I cuss harder when
the workmen had figured would be I think how we were robbed of the
all right at that time of night. It best bass player in the galaxy.
gets pretty damned cold around 4: And without a· corpus delecti we
A.M. of a Martian morning, and I can't even sue the city.
guess the men were warming up • • • THE END
 What Is Your Science lO.?
NOT SO very long ago atoms were comparatively unknown to
the lay public, now every science fiction aficionado,· including the
kids who love space suits and ray guns, knows about them. The
intrepid reader is also learning about a lot of other things· in and
out of this world-both fact-wise and fiction-wise. See how many
of the questions below you can answer. Then check your score on
page 119 and see how wise you are in the ways of science and
science fiction. Counting 5 for each correct answer, here's how you
rate: 1Oo-good; Ilo-very good; 120-excellent.
GROUP 1 GROUP 2 (True or False?)
1. What is the name of the proc- 1. Gamma rays are waves of pure
ess that uses two or more energy.
combined atoms to release 2. The Great Nebula is a mass of
energy. luminous gas in the· constella-
2. What is the name of the man tion Orion than can be seen
who was the first to success- with the naked eye.
fully smash the atom? 3. Wolf I is a fixed star.
3. When we speak of a thickly .4. Light travels at a speed of
clustered group of stars, what 186,000 miles per minute.
word do we use to describe it? 5. An android is a mechanical
4. What are the high frequency device made to resemble a
rays produced beyond the man.
Earth's atmosphere called? 6. When two dissimilar organ-
5. What is the science fiction isms live· together in close
term used to describe an un- • union it is called symbiosis.
humanoid alien being? 7. Plutonium is a natural ele-
6. We know that Saturn has ment found in the earth.
rings, but how many moons 8. A parsec is a unit of astro-
has it? nomical length equal to 19.2
7. What is the term used to refer trillion miles.
to the growing of food in 9. Parthenogenesis is a process of
chemical compounds. reproduction through union of
8. What American is credited a sperm and an ovum.
with the discovery of "heavy 10. An asteroid is a small planet
with wandering or orbital ten-
water"? dencies.
9. The historical and psychologi- 11 .. Mars has 5 moons.
cal evolution of words and 12. RadioacHvityis caused by a
language is called - - ? process of disintegration in an
10. Which of the planets is the atom that is unstable.
smallest? 13. The atmospheric pressure on
11. What is the term we use to earth is about 15 pounds per
describe abilities that seem to squatefoot.
go. beyond that of the five 14. Mare Crisium is the name
known senses? astronomers have given to the
12. What do we call a luminous largest crater of the moon
heavenly body that has a tail visible to the naked eye.
.and· follows a fixed orbit 15. A . light year is· equal to
around the sun? 6,000,000,000,000 miles.
 operation on a receiver. The carn-
era is focused on all moving parts
and the operator can stop work im-
mediately after noting any signs of
danger. Safe but it probably tops all
other shows for suspense effects!

X-Ray "Tooth-picks"-Wooden ap-

plicator sticks with radioactive
cesium for the "heads" will replace
Sun Cookery-Indian scientists bulky X-ray equipment now used
have perfected a food cooker that by dentists. This '''tooth-pick'' held
utilizes solar energy as fuel. With against the jaw or tooth, either in-
a mirror four feet wide, this cooker side or outside the mouth, will pro-
weighs about thirty pounds and is duce a picture on an X-ray film
more than adequate for an average packet held in the appropriate posi-
size family. It sells for about $14- tion.
and is being manufactured at the
rate of about 1,000. per month. Missile. I Brains"-Two small but
Sounds good, but we'll hang onto high speed computers, lightweight
our old gas stove for the rainy sea- enough for air-borne control" of
son. guided missiles, were revealed re-
cently. Nine different devices feed
Mail Rockets-What the postage information into the computers.
will cost is anybody's guess, but After digesting the information and
rocket experts are predicting that solving the control problems, the
by 1978 we will be receiving first "brain" takes over by controlling
class mail by rockets. Advances in the flight mechanism. The actual
the science of guided missiles indi- use to which this computer will be
cate that a letter posted in New put is still a military secret.
York (E.S.T.) will arrive approxi-
mately 36 minutes later in San Skull "Pie"-Skull surgeons will
Francisco (P.S.T.) When this time now be required to be "bakers" too.
is halved, which they will undoubt- A Washington doctor has per-
edly do, your friend can read your fected a plastic dough which, when
letter in San Francisco before you kneaded and rolled, can be molded
write it in New York! Figure it out.into the skull depression to replace
metal plates now used for such. re-
T.V. Bomb Demolition-At the pairs. More form-fitting and a bet-
Army Ordnance Depot in Oregon, ter insulator than metal, this plastic
bombs of all types are now disas- won't perforate the skin and is far
sembled safely with the aid of a less expensive than metal. The
T.V. camera. The operator who "pie" is mixed, fitted, hardened
works the motor driven disassem- and sterilized right in the operating
bling machine sits in a bomb-proof room. Less than twenty minutes are
shelter and watches the entire required for the whole process.
118
 SCIENCE BRIEFS 119
Fish IIRadar"-A new deep-sea the Black Hills of South Dakota
echo-sounding device which can have been located by this aerial
sweep back and forth as well as exploration method. With pay-
straight down and so "see" in any ment of $1.50 a pound for are
direction will soon take most of the containing 1/10 of'1 per cent
guesswork out of commercial fish- uranium to $3.50 a pound for 2/10
ing. With this gadget fishermen can of 1 per cent, plus the extra bonus
locate a school of fish, note it's size, on delivery to the A.E.C., there
direction and speed and lower nets is a host of small-time prospectors
before they reach the vicinity. A hoping to strike it rich in this
pocket-sized edition would help government sponsored prospecting
eliminate all those tales of "the one business.
that got away".
Flying Blinds-"Flying Venetian
Prospecting '54 Style-Using mass blinds" are likely to pop up in the
production techniques that would news soon. Army tests of a plane
daze a forty-niner, the' govern- with slatted wings have proved ex-
ment's uranium prospecting doesn't tremely promising. With such
guarantee results but, rather, sup- equipment a fast transport can take
plies uranium-hunters with leads to off vertically from a "pocket hand-
potential deposits, leaving it to in- kerchief" field. -
dividuals to work the areas over.
The basic technique is for a low Robot Arms-The "little wonder
flying plane carrying a scintillation robot arm" that can bake a cake
detector-a sort of super Geiger and pour your tea is right around
counter-to fly over measured strips the corner. It exists right now, but
in a given area. Any reaction on a gross weight of 15 tons makes it a
the detector is marked on a paper little impractical. Patience Ladies,
tape and a 35-mm. camera the day will come.
mounted on the tail of the plane
maps the area at the same time.
The air prospectors work in teams, YOUR SCIENCE I. Q.
with a D.C. 3, flying at about 500 GROUP 1: I-Fusion. 2-Er-
feet, and mapping up to 600 square nest Rutherford. 3-Galaxy. 4-
.miles a day. Then, the second crew, Cosmic rays. 5-BEM. 6-Nine.
flying a little Piper Cub, flys over 7-Hydroponics. 8-Harold Urey.
9-Semantics. 10-Mercury. 11
,the area at a much lower altitude -Extra sensory perception
to get more accurate readings. The (esp. ). 12-Comet.
aerial maps gathered in' this way,
with the potential deposits clearly GROUP 2: I-True. 2-True.
3-False (comet). 4-False (per
marked, are, then posted in offices second). 5-True. 6-True. 7-
. of the Department of the Interior False (man made). 8-True.
and Atomic Energy' Commission. 9.-False (reproduction through
"That the program has ·been a single unfertilized egg). 10-
True. It.-False (two), 12-
helpfUl is indicated by the A.E.C. True. 13-False (per square
report that three-fourths of the inch) . 14-True. 15-True.
newly opened uranium deposits in
120 SCIENCE BRIEFS
Shades of Dick Tracy-The wrist I'Shock Treatment"-Even an
radio is coming closer and closer electronic brain can become cranky·
for everybody's use. The latest or difficult, and when the comput-
model uses five transistors instead ers display such human failings en-
of vacuum tubes, and can pick up gineers in charge of them treat
broadcasts from as far away as 65 them much the same way a psychia-
miles. trist would treat a human patient
with a personality maladjustment.
Underwater "Mountain Climbing" First a rest (a complete stop-
--Mountaineers of the future may page) is prescribed. Then a slow
be climbing underwater mountains. resumption of operation is ordered,
Recent ocean surveys show canyons quite often this sort of brief "rest-
as deep as Grand Canyon and cure" is all the "cranky" machine
mountains of gigantic proportions may need. If this "vacation" doesn't
under the Pacific Ocean. work, the next step is a shock
Insects Beware1-Those insects treatment of sorts. Sometimes a
that have learned to resist D.D.T. swift kick on the part of the en-
take warning. A new insecticide gineer will be "shock" enough. If
that is 100 times more powerful, yet it isn't, then the kind of treatment
non poisonous to man or animals, now used on stubborn mental cases
has been developed. We're not is used. Just as the application of
licked yet. high voltage electricity often shocks
the patient back to normality, so
Salt-Water Fresh. Water-Resi- the "brain" often responds to a
dents in low-rainfall areas won't sudden over-voltage charge, and
have to worry too much about wa- the mechanism may be set to work-
ter conservation in the future. Heat ing again.
from atomic fuels is being visual- If all this sort of treatment still
ized as the agent for distilling fresh doesn't bring about a cure of the
water from the ocean in quantities balky computer, engineers resort to
huge enough to serve every need. their version of surgery. This means
Bomb-Radiation-Proof Concrete- tearing out one or more parts and
If contractors should receive stand- repairing or replacing them. Of
ing orders to mix barite with con- course, there is an added advan-
crete, there will be an excellent tage to this sort of surgery over
reason. Tests have shown that such the human kind, the "patient"
a combination helps buildings with- needs no post operative care and
stand bomb blasts and protects the can go back to the business at
occupants from radiation. hand immediately.
• ••••
LOOKING AHEAD to the July issue of IF ... JAMES GUNN, who is no
stranger to science fiction readers, has written one of those really exciting
and suspenseful stories for which he is noted. The title is A MONSTER
NAMED SMITH-another outstanding novelette in a fine issue filled
with exceptionally good science fiction.
SOLAR POWER PLANTS-Giant power plants such as these are installed
at a point where they will receive constant sunlight. The entire project
hinges on these plants for they will convert the sun's rays into heat and
electrical power needed in all construction and maintenance work. The semi-
spherical building in the lower right is a prefabricated shelter unit which
will house workmen and scientists until the larger, all-functioning housing
unit is completed. (In the July issue: Moon base in operationJ