Galaxy 1951 03 Text

SCIENCE FICTION
THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS

By Lester del Rey
Qdldxy
SCIENCE FICTION
March, 1951 Vol. 1, No. 6
Editor-in-Chief
VERA CERUTTI
Editor H. L. GOLD CONTENTS

Art Director
NOVELETS
W. I. VAN DER POEL
Advertising Manager THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS
GENE MARTINAT fay Lester del Rey 4
GOOD NIGHT, MR. JAMES
by Clifford D. Simak 64
Cover by SHORT STORIES

DON SIBLEY
Illustrating THE OTHER NOW
The Wind Between
the Worlds fay Murray Leinster 52
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IS very doubtful if any sci- be displayed alongside illuminated
IT ence fiction magazine has ever manuscripts.
received the volume of letters • 87% vote in favor of general
that GALAXY Science Fiction has articles, written briefly and in non-
drawn from readers. Just as remark- technical language. Almost the same
able is the breakdown, which is percentage, 79%, favor an article
10% from active fans, 90% from every other issue or so, with the
non-letter writers, who, having been space thus saved devoted to fiction.
assured they had a concrete vote in The majority advises the minority
the planning of this magazine, to find its technical articles in sci-
wrote eagerly. ence journals.

This breaking of habitual reluc- • Our policy of challenging writers
tance to participate shows attitudes to present themes that could not be
toward publishing policy that are sold elsewhere .themes too adult,
. .
commonly absent from science fic- too profound or revolutionary in

tion letter departments, appearing concept . . . has been endorsed by
only in individual letters that are active fans and non-vocal readers
usually attacked by the vocal alike. You've seen examples of this
minority, which, because of its ac- in previous issues; there will be
tivity, is often regarded as the more and more as writers accept
majority. our high standards.
The fact is .that non-writing read- • Editorial balance has also been
ers have very definite preferences approved, although a turn in the
that are not shared by active fans, vote on serials indicates that a
yet it has been the active fans who compromise would be appreciated.
have mainly influenced the policies Therefore, the next issue will not
of science fiction magazines. begin a serial, and future policy
Let's take, first, the areas of will be, wherever possible, to
agreement: run an issue of complete stories
• The physical makeup of GAL- between serials. And what will the
AXY has been overwhelmingly next serial be? You'll get the an-
approved, less than 10% arguing nouncement next month . . .
for either large or pulp format. The It's a publishing coup!

large size, 8V2 "xl 1
", allows better • Editorials, unfortunately, have
display, but at the expense of port- the support of all but .03% and
ability. The pulp format is a relic myself. Subject matter wanted, how-
of the 1920s and should properly ever, is a surprise, though it prob-
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

ably should not be: readers are by many readers, though, letters of
interested in science fiction and special interest will be discussed
would like it discussed. Now that editorially.
the styling and slant- of GALAXY • Story ratings have been demand-
have been decided for us by you, ed mainly by fans and writers, —
science fiction will be the main who, of course, have to be kept
agenda of these editorials'. . . how happy. Twice a year, as a result,
its ideas come into being, who stories will be rated in editorials,
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GALAXY is exploring, etc. with my opinions, either in agree-

• There is no Five Star Shelf this ment or disagreement, and the
month only because Groff Conklin reasons therefor. The first listing
is ill. The number who dislike his should be in the May issue, if votes
department is so small that it's not are in on all six previous issues.
worth putting into percentage. • Almost 100% of the vote was
More wanted the . column held against fan coverage of any kind.
down, however, than expanded, so This, it is rightly pointed out, is
it will continue at three" to four handled elsewhere more adequately

pages maximum. than it could be here.
That brings us, finally, to a
NOW we come
gences between active fan and
to the diver- matter in which
disagree with some
we of GALAXY
of our readers.
non-participating reader: The subject is art . . .
• 83% of all letters state flatly that Yes, we have been experiment-
they want no letter department. In ing both in art and in technical
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poll across the country and through rebirth in science fiction should not
almost all occupations and levels of be breeched by art of the forceps
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GALAXY will therefore not have ence fiction art.

a letter department. As requested —H. L. GOLD
CONSENSUS
The Wind
Before man could visit the nearest planets, he
was traveling to the most distant stars. Pure
paradox, of course, and one with doom built in!
WAS hot in the dome of the denim coveralls were hardly sup-
ITBennington matter transmitter posed to be flattering. Goth
building. The metal shielding stretched tight across shapely hips
walls seemed to catch the rays of had never helped a man concen-
the sun and bring them to a focus trate on his work.
there. Even the fan that was She looked down at him, grin-
plugged in nearby didn't help ning easily. Her arm came up to
much. Vic Peters shook his head, toss her hair back, leaving a
flipping the mop of yellow hair out smudge on her forehead to match
of his eyes. He twisted about, so one on her nose. She wasn't exactly
the fan could reach fresh territory, pretty, but the smile seemed to
and cursed under his breath. illumine her gray eyes, and even
Heat he could take. As a roving the metal shavings in her brown
troubleshooter for Teleport Inter- hair couldn't hide the red high-
stellar, he'd worked from Rangoon lights.
to Nairobi —but always with men. "One more bolt, Vic," she told
Pat Trevor was the first of the few him. "Pheooh, I'm melting ... So
women superintendents he'd met. what happened to your wife?"
And while he had no illusions of He shrugged. "Married her law-
masculine supremacy, he'd have felt yer right after the divorce. Last I
a lot working
better in shorts or knew, they were doing fine. Why
nothing right now. not? It wasn't her fault. Between
Besides, a figure like Pat's hopping all over the world and
couldn't be forgotten, even though spending my spare time trying to

Between the Worlds
By LESTER del REY
Illustrated by DON SIBLEY

get on the moon rocket they were ed with them until they worked
building, I wasn't much of a hus- together. When the machines were
band." operating, anything within the
Unconsciously, his lips twisted. small fields they generated simply
He'd grown up before DuQuesne changed At first it was just
places.
discovered the matter transmitter, across few yards, then miles

a
when reaching the other planets of then half around the world. Matter
the System had been the
Solar was transmitted almost instantane-
dream of most boys. Somehow, that ously from one machine to the other
no longer seemed important to peo- no matter how far apart they were.
ple, now that the world was linked Such a secret couldn't be kept, of
through Teleport Interstellar with course. DuQuesne gave a demon-
races all across the Galaxy. stration to fellow scientists at which
a few reporters were present. They
MAN had always been a topsy-

turvy race. He'd discovered
garbled DuQuesne' s explanation of
electron waves covering the entire
gunpowder before chemistry, and universe that were capable of
battled his way up to the atom bomb identity shifts, but the accounts of
in a scant few thousand years of the actual experiment were convinc-
civilization, before he had a world- ing enough. It meant incredibly fast
wide government. Other races, ap- shipping anywhere on the globe at
parently, developed space travel an impossibly low cost.
long before the matter-transmitter, The second public demonstration

and long after they'd achieved a played to a full house of newsmen
genuine science of sociology. and cold-headed businessmen. It
DuQuesne had started it by in- worked properly a hundred —
vestigating some obscure extensions pounds of bricks on one machine
of Dirac's esoteric mathematics. To changed place with a hundred
check up on his work, he'd built a pounds of coal on another. But
machine, only to find that it pro- then . . .
duced results beyond his expecta- Before their eyes, the coal dis-
tions, matter in it simply seemed appeared and a round ball came
to disappear, releasing energy that into existence, suspended in mid-
was much less than it should have air. It turned around as if seeking
been, but still enough to destroy something, an eyelike lens focused

the machine. on the crowd. Then it darted down
DuQuesne and his students had and knocked the power plug loose.
rechecked their math against the re- Nothing could budge it, and no
sults and come up with an answer tricks to turn on power again
they didn't believe. This time they worked.
built two machines and experiment- Even to the businessmen, it was

obvious that this object, whatever be the observer and voice of the
it was, had not been made on Earth. Council, which was made up of all
DuQuesne himself suggested that worlds having the matter transmit-
somewhere some other race must ter. They had detected the trans-
have matter transmittal, and that mitter radiation, and, by Galactic
this was apparently some kind of Law, Earth had automatically
observer. Man, unable to reach even earned provisional status. He was
his own moon yet, had apparently here to help set up transmitter
made contact with intelligence from arrangements. Engineers from Betz
some other world, perhaps some would build transports to six
solar system, since there was no planets of culture similar to
theoretical limit to the distance cov- Earth's, to be owned by the Coun-
ered by matter transmittal. cil, as a non-profit business, but
It was a week of wild attempts manned by Earthmen as quickly as
to open the "observer" and
crack they could be trained.
of attempts to learn some-
futile In return, nothing was demand-
thing about it. Vic's mind had been ed, and nothing more was offered.
filled with Martians, and he had We were a primitive world by their
tried to join the thousands who standards, but we would have to
flocked DuQuesne's laboratory
to work out our own advancement,
But his father had
to see the thing. since they would give no extra
—
been stubborn no fare for such knowledge.
nonsense. And Vic had had to wait He smiled pleasantly to the
until the papers sprang the final shocked crowd and moved off with
surprise, a week later. DuQuesne to await results. There
were enough, too, from a startled
THE ball had suddenly moved and doubting world. The months
aside and made no effort to that followed were a chaos of news
stop the machine from operating. and half-news. The nations were
When power was turned on, it had suspicious. There was never some-
disappeared, and this time the En- thing for nothing. The Envoy met
voy had appeared. There was noth- the President and Cabinet; he met
ing outlandish about him he — the United Nations. India walked
seemed simply a 'normal man, step- out; India walked back quickly
ping out of the crude machine. when plans went ahead blithely
In normal English, he had ad- without her. Congress proposed
dressed the crowd with the casual tariffs and protested secret treaties.
statement that he was a robot, de- The Envoy met Congress, and
signed deliberately to serve as an somehow overcame enough opposi-
ambassador to Earth from the tion to get a bare majority.
Galactic Council. He was simply to And the Betz II engineers came

on schedule. Man was linked to the Pat's voice suddenly cut into his
stars, though his own planets were thoughts. "All tightened up here,
still outside his reach. It was a para- Vic. Wipe the scowl off and let's
dox that soon grew stale, but what, go down to check."

actually, would be the point in fly- She collected her tools, wrapped
ing to Mars or Venus when we her legs around a smooth pole, and
were in instant touch with the went sliding down. He yanked the
Galaxy?
farthest parts of the fan and followed her. Below was
There were major wrenches to the crew. Pat lifted an eyebrow at
the economy as our heavy indus- the grizzled, cadaverous head oper-
tries suddenly found that other ator. "Okay, Amos. Plathgol stand-
planets could beat them at their ing by?"
work. Plathgol could deliver a per-
fect Earth automobile, semi-assem- AMOS pulled his six-feet-two up
bled and advanced enough to avoid from his slump and indicated
our patent laws, for twenty pounds the yellow stand-by light. Inside the
of sugar. The heavy industries twin poles of the huge transmitter
folded, whde we were still experi- that was tuned to one on Plathgol,
menting with the business of find- a big, twelve-foot diameter plastic
ing what we had to offer and what -cylinder held a single rabbit.Mat-
we could receive from other ter transmitting was always a two-
worlds. Banks had crashed, men way affair, requiring that the same
had been out of work. The gov- volume be exchanged. And between
ernments had cushioned the shock, the worlds, where different atmos-
and the new wonders helped to pheres and pressures were involved,
still the voices that suddenly rose all sending was done in the big
up against traffic with alien worlds. capsules. One-way handling was

But it had been a bitter period, possible, of course, but involved
with many lasting scars. the danger of something materializ-
Now a measure of stability had ing to occupy the same space a?
been reached, with a higher stand- —
something else even air molecules.
ard of But the
living than ever. It wasn't done except as rigidly
hatreds were pretty deep on the controlled experiments.
part of those who had been hurt, Amos whistled into the transport-
and others who simply hated new- wave interworld phone in the code
ness and change. Vic had done that was universal between worlds,
well enough, somehow making his got an answering whistle, and
way into the first engineering class pressed a lever. The rabbit was
out of a hundred thousand appli- gone, and the new capsule was
cants. And twelve years had gone faintly pink, with something -re-
by . . . sembling a giant worm inside.
8 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Amos clucked in satisfaction. He snorted, and waited while she
"Tsiuna. Good eating, only real gave orders to start business. Then,
good we ever got from these as the loading cars began to hum,
things. I got friends on Plathgol she fell behind him, moving out
that like rabbit. Want some of this, toward the office. "I suppose you'll
Pat?" be leaving tonight, Vic. I'll miss
Vic felt his stomach jerk at the you. You're the only troubleshooter
colors that crawled over the tsiuna. I've met who did more than make
The hot antiseptic spray was run- passes."
ning over the capsule, to be "When I make passes at your
followed by supersonics and ultra- kind of girl, it will be legal. And
violets to complete sterilization. in my business, it's no life for a
Amos waited a moment, then wife."
pulled out the creature. Pat But he stopped to look at the
hefted it. building, admiring it for the last
"Big one. Bring it over to my time. It was the standard Betz II
place and I'll fry it for you and design, but designed to handle the
Vic. How does the Dirac meter farm crops around, and bigger than
read, Vic?" any earlier models on Earth. The
"On the button." The seven per Betz II engineers made Earth
cent power loss was gone now, engineering look childish, even if
after a week of hard work in locat- they did look like big slugs with
ing it. "Guess you were right— the tentacles and had no sense of sight.
reflector was off angle. Should have The transmitters were in the cir-
tried it first, but it never happened cular center, surrounded by a shield
before. How'd you figure it out?" wall, a wide hall all around, another
shield, a circular hall again, and
SHE indicated the interworld finally the big outside shield. The
phone. "I started out in anthro- two opposite entranceways spiraled
pology, Vic. Got interested in other through the three shields, each ro-
races, and then found I couldn't tating thirty degrees clockwise
talk to the teleport engineers with- from the entrance portal through
out being one, so I got sidetracked the next shield. Those shields were
to this job. But I still talk a lot on of inert matter that could be dam-
anything Galactic policy won't for- aged by nothing less violent than a
bid. When everything else failed, hydrogen bomb directly on them
I complained to the Ecthinbal oper- they refused to soften at less than
ator that the Betz II boys installed ten million degrees Kelvin. How
us wrong. I got sympathy instead the Betzians managed to form them
of indignation, so I figured it could in the first place, nobody knew.
happen. Simple, wasn't it?" Beyond the transmitter building,
THE WIND- BETWEEN THE WORLDS

however, the usual offices and local Pat scanned the news, scowling.
transmitters across Earth had not "Damn them. A tariff! They can't
yet been built. That would be tax interstellar traffic. The Galactic
strictly Earth construction; and Council won't stand for it; we're
would have to wait for an off sea- still accepted only on approval. The
son. They were using the nearest Senate will never okay it!"
building, an abandoned store a Ptheela whistled doubtfully, and
quarter mile away, as a temporary Vic nodded. "They will. I've been
office. expecting this. A lot of people are
Pat threw the door open and afraid of Teleport."
then stopped suddenly. "Ptheela!" "But we're geared to itnow. The
old factories are torn down, the
APLATHGOLIAN native sat new ones are useless for us. We
on a with a bundle of
chair, can't get by without the catalysts
personal belongings around her, her from Ecthinbal, the cancer-preventa-
three arms making little marks on tive from Plathgol, all the rest. And
something that looked like a used who'll buy all our sugar? We're
pancake. The Plathgolians had producing fifty times what we need,
been meat-eating plants once. They just because most planets don't
still smelled high to Earth noses, have plants that separate the levo
and their constantly shedding skin from the dextro forms. All hell will
resembled shaggy bark, while their pop!"
heads were vaguely flowerlike. Ptheela wiggled her arms again.
Ptheela wriggled her arms. "The "You came too early. Your culture
hotel found regretfully that had it is 'unbalanced. All physics, no so-
to decorate my
room," she whistled ciology. All eat well, little think
in Galactic Code. "No other room well."
and all other hotels say they're full. Ali emotion, little reason, Vic
Plathgolians stink, I guess. So I'll added to himself. It had been the
go home when the transmitter is same when the industrial revolu-
fixed." tion came along. Old crafts were
"With your trade studies half uprooted and some people were
done?" Pat protested. "Don't be hurt. There were more jobs now,
silly, Ptheela. I've got a room for but they weren't the familiar ones.
you in my apartment. How are the And the motorists who gloated at
studies, anyhow?" first over cheap Plathgol cars com-

For answer, the plant woman plained when Plathgol wasn't per-
passed over a newspaper, folded to mitted to supply
the improved,
one item. "Trade? Your House of ever-powered models they made for
Representatives just passed a tariff themselves.
on all traffic through Teleport." Hardest of all had been the idea

of accepting the existence of supe- some idea that space fluctuates,
rior races. A feeling of inferiority somehow, and he can figure out
had crept in, turned to resentment, where Ecthinbal is from a sample.
and then through misunderstand- Then he can figure how fast an
ing of other races to an outright exchange force works, whether it's
hatred of them. Ptheela had been instantaneous or not. We've got the
kicked out of her hotel room; but biggest Earth transmitters, so he
itwas only a minor incident in a uses us."
world full of growing bitterness As they watched, a massive cap-
against the aliens. sule was put in place by loading
"Maybe we can get jobs on machines, and the light changed
Plathgol," Vic suggested harshly. From yellow to red. A slightly
Ptheela whistled. "Pat could, if greenish capsule replaced the other.
she had three husbands — engineers Amos signaled the disinfection crew
must meet minimum Standards. You and hot spray hit it, to be followed
could be a husband, maybe." by the ultrasonics. Something
Vic kept forgetting that Plathgol crackled suddenly, and Amos made
was backward enough to have ta- a wild lunge across the screen.
boos and odd customs, even though The capsule popped, crashing in-
Galactically higher than Earth, hav- ward and scattering glass in a thou-
ing had nearly ten thousand years sand directions. Pressure-glass; it
of history behind her to develop should have carried a standard Code

progress and amity. warning for cold sterilization and
no supersonics. Vic leaped toward
THE televisor connecting them the transmitter building.
with the transmitter building Pat's cry brought him back.
buzzed, and Amos' dour face came There were shrieks coming from
on. "Screwball delivery with top the televisor. Men in the building
priority, Pat. Professor named were clinging frantically to any-
Douglas wants to ship a capsule of thing they could hold, but men
Heaviside layer air for a capsule and bundles ready for loading were
of Ecthinbal deep-space vacuum. being picked up violently and
Common sense says we don't make sucked toward the transmitter. As
much shipping vacuums -by the Vic watched, a man hit the edge
pound!" of the field and seemed to be sliced
"Public service, no charge," Vic into nothingness, his scream cut off,
suggested, and Pat nodded. Doug- half-formed.
las was a top man at Caltech, and A big chunk of glass had hit the
a plug from him might be useful control, shorting two bus-bars,
sometime. "Leave it on, Amos — holding them together by its
want to watch this. Douglas has weight. The transmitter was locked
THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 11

into continuous transmit. And air, up about two hundred square feet,
with a pressure of fifteen pounds which meant somewhere between
per square inch, was running in and fifty and five hundred thousand
being shipped to Ecthinbal, where cubic feet of air a second were be-
the pressure was barely an ounce ing lost. Maybe worse.
per square inch! With that differ- Ptheela nodded as she kept pace
ence, pressure on a single square with him. "I think the tariff won't
foot of surface could lift over a matter much now," she stated.
ton. The poor devils in the trans-
mitter building didn't have a II
chance.
He snapped off the televisor as VIC'S action in charging out had
Pat turned away, gagging. "When been pure instinct to get where
was the accumulator charged?" the trouble lay. His legs churned
"It wasn't an accumulator," she over the ground, while a wind at
told him weakly. "The whole plant his back made the going easier.
uses an electron-pulse atomotor, Then his brain clicked over, and
good for twenty years of continu- he dug his heels into the ground,
ous operation." trying to stop. Pat crashed into him,
swore and made for the
Vic but Ptheela's arms lashed out, keep-
door, with Pat and Ptheela after ing him from falling. As he turned
him. The transmitter opening took to face them, the wind struck at his

face, whipping up grit and dust and gulped down one of the yawn-
from the dry ground. Getting to The wind strangled
ing entrances.
the transmitter building would be her cries.
easy —
but with the wind already Vic motioned Pat and Ptheela
rising, they'd never be able to fight and began moving back, fast. Kill-
their way back. ing himself would do no good. He
It had already reached this far, found one of the little hauling trac-
losing its force with distance, but tors and pulled them onto it with
still carrying a wallop. It was be- him, heading back until they were
ginning to form a pattern, marked out of the worst of the rising wind.
by the clouds of dust and debris it Then he' swung to face Ptheela.
was picking up. The arrangement "Galactic rules be damned, this
of the shields and entrances in the is an emergency, and we need help
building formed a perfect suction What now?"
device to set the air circling around The shaggy Plathgolian made an
it counter-clockwise, twisting into a awkward gesture with all three
tornado that funneled down to the arms, and a slit opened in her chest.
portals. Men and women near the "Unprecedented." The word came
building were struggling frantically out in English, surprisingly, and
away from the center of the fury. Pat's look mirrored his; Plathgol-
As he watched, a woman was ians weren't supposed to be able to
picked up bodily, whirled around, talk. "You're right. If I speak, I

shall be banished by the Council And, of course, since the metal
from Plathgol. Ask, nevertheless. I used by the Betz II engineers could
—
may know more we've had the not be cut or damaged, there was
teleport longer —
but remember that no way of tunneling in.
your strange race has a higher in- "What about Ecthinbal?" Pat
genuity quotient." asked.
"Thanks." Vic knew what the
seven husbands back on her home PTHEELA spread her arms.
planet meant to her, if she were "The same, in reverse. The air
exiled, but he'd worry about that rushes in, builds up pressure to
after he could stop worrying about break the capsule, and then rushes
the world. "What happens next?" out — in a balanced stream, fortun-
She dropped back to the faster ately, so there's no danger of crowd-
Galactic Code for that. As he knew, ing two units of matter in one
the accidental turning on of the unit of space."
transmitter had keyed in the one on "Then I guess we'd better call
Ecthinbal automatically to receive, the Galactic Envoy," Vic decided.

but not to transmit; was "All he's ever done is to sit in an
moving between Earth and Ecthin-

the air
officeand look smug. Now
—
bal in one-way traffic. The receiving "He won't come. He is simply
circuit, which would have keyed in an observer. Galactic Law says you
the Ecthinbal transmit circuit had must solve your own problem or
not been shorted. Continuous trans- die."
mittal had never been used, to her "Yeah." Vic looked at the cloud
knowledge; there was no certainty of dust being whirled into the trans-
about what would happen. Once mitter building. "And all I need
started, no outside force could stop is something that weighs a couple
a transmitter; the send and stop tons per square foot with a good —
controls were synchronous, both crane attached."
tapped from a single crystal, and Pat looked up suddenly. "How
only that proper complex wave- about one of the small atom-pow-
form could cut it off. It now ex- ered army tanks, the streamlined
isted as a space-strain, and the ones? Flavin could probably get
Plathgolians .believed that this you one."
would spread, since the outer edges Vic stamped down on the pedal,
transmitted before matter could swinging the little tractor arou n.d
reach the center, setting up an un- sharply toward the office. The wind
balanced resonance that would make was stronger there, but still buck-
the force field grow and
larger able. He clicked the televisor on,
larger. Eventually, might spread
it noticing that the dust seemed to
far beyond the whole building. disappear just beyond the normal

field of the transmitter. It must al- didn't require much feigning.
ready be starting to .spread out. Flavin blustered at first, then
"How about it?" he asked pressed the hold button for long
Ptheela. "If it spreads, won't it minutes. Finally, his face reap-
start etching into the transmitter peared.
and the station?" "Peters, you'll have full author-
"No. Betz II construction. ity, of course. I'll get a couple
Everything they built in has some tanks for you, somehow, but I
way of grounding out the effect. have to work indirectly." Then he

We don't know how it works, but shrugged and looked rueful. "I al-
the field won't touch anything put ways knew this sinecure would end.
in by the Betzians." I've got some slips here that make
"What about the hunk of glass it look as if you had a national
that's causing the trouble?" disaster."
For a moment she looked as if His hand reached for the bottle,
she were trying to appear hopeful. just as his eyes met Vic's accusing
Then the flowerlike head seemed look. He shook his head, grinned
to wilt. "It's inside the casing, pro- sourly, put the bottle away in a
tected from the field." drawer, untouched. "I'm not a fool
Pat had been working on the entirely, Peters. I can do a little:
private wire to Chicago, used for more than chase girls and drink.
emergencies. She was obviously Probably be no use to you, but the
having trouble getting put through only reason I drink is I'm bored,
to Flavin. The man was a sore spot and I'm not bored now. I'll be out
in Teleport Interstellar, one of the shortly."
few political appointees. Nominal-
ly, he was a go-between for the T7TLAVIN apparently had influ-
President and the Teleport group, JL ence. The tanks arrived just
but actually he was simply a job- before he did. They were heavy,
holder. Finally Pat had him on the squat affairs, super-armored to
screen. stand up under a fairly close
He was jovial enough, as usual, atomic bomb hit, but small enough
with a red spot on each cheek which to plunge through the portals of
indicated too many drinks for the transmitter building. Flavin
lunch. A on the desk
bottle stood came up as Vic and Pat were study-
in front of him. But his voice was ing His suit was designed
them.
clear enough. "Hi, Pat. What's to hide most of his waistline, but
up?" the fat of his jowls shook as he
Pat disregarded the frown Vic hurried up, and there was sweat on
threw her, and began outlining the his forehead, trickling down from
situation. The panic in her voice under his toupee.

"Two, eh? Figured that's what At first it wasn't too bad. They
I'd get if I asked for a dozen. headed toward the north portal,
Think you can get in and what'll — going cautiously, and the tank
you do then?" seemed snug and secure. Beside
Vic shrugged. He'd been won- him, Vic saw a tree suddenly come
dering the same thing. "If we up by its roots and head toward
could somehow ram the huge piece the transmitter. It struck the front
of glass and crack it where it was of the tank, but the machine
wedged into the wiring inside the pushed it brutally aside.
shielding, it might release the Then the going got rough. The
shorted wires. That should effect driver swore at the controls, find-
an automatic cut-off. That's why I'm ing the machine hard to handle. It
going with the driver. I can ex- wanted to drift, and he set up a
temporize if we get in." fixed correction, only to revise it a
"Right," Pat agreed quickly. She moment later. The tank began to
hitched up her coveralls and head- listand pitch. The force of the
ed for the other tank. "And that's wind increased geometrically as
why I'm going with the other." they cut the distance. At fifty feet,
"Pat!" Vic swung toward her. the driver's wrists were white from
But it wasn't a time for stupid fighting to overcome each tilt of
chivalry. The man or woman who the wind.
could do the job should do it. He
gave her a hand into the compact
VIC swallowed, wondering at
little tank. "Good luck, then. the nerve of the man driving,
We'll need it." until he saw blood running from
He climbed into his own vehicle, a bitten lip. His own stomach was
crowding past the driver and pitching wildly.

wriggling into the tiny observer's "Try another ten feet?" the
seat. The driver glanced back, driver asked.
reached for the controls. The mo- "Have to."
tor hummed quietly under them, They crawled by inches now.
making by the vibration
itself felt Every tiny bump threatened to let
of the metal around them. They the force of the wind pitch them
began moving forward, advancing over. They had to work by feel.
in low gear. The driver didn't like Vic wiped his forehead and wiped
it as he stared through his tele- it again before he noticed that the
screen, and Vic liked it even less palm of his hand was as damp as
from the direct view through the his brow.
gun slit. Beside them, the other He wondered about Pat and
tank got into motion, roughly looked for her. There was no sight
paralleling them. of the other machine. Thank God,

she'd turned back. But there was ly felt it as he stared out. The two
bitterness in his relief; he'd figured tanks struggled, forcing against
Pat was one human he could count each other, while the portal gaped
on completely. Then he looked at almost straight ahead.
the driver's wider screen, and sick "Hit the west edge and we have
shock hit him. a chance," Vic yelled in the driv-
The other tank had turned turtle er'sear. The man nodded weakly,
and was rolling over and over, and his foot pressed down harder
straight toward the portal! As he on the throttle. Against each other,
looked, a freak accident bounced the two tanks showed little tend-
it up and it landed on its treads. ency to turn over, but they seemed
The driver must have been con- to be lifted off the ground half the
scious; only consummate skill ac- time.
counted for the juggling that kept Inch by slow inch, they were
it upright then. But forward mo-
its making it. Pat's tank was well be-
mentum was still too strong, and it yond the portal, but Vic's driver
lurched for the portal. was sweating it out, barely on the
Vic jerked against his driver's edge. He bumped an inch forward,
ear, pointing frantically. "Hit it!" reversed with no care for gears, and
The driver tensed, but nodded. hitched forward and back again.
Though the shriek of the insane They seemed to make little prog-
wind was too strong for even the ress, but finally Vic could see the
sound of the motor, the tank edge move past, and they were out
leaped forward, pushing Vic down of the direct gale into the portal.
in his webbed and padded seat.
The chances they were taking

were pure gamble, but the driver
now ANEW side
screen
the
had lighted be-
driver, and Pat's
moved more smoothly with a defi- face was in it, along with the other
nite goal. The man let the wind driver. The scouring of the wind
help him pick up speed, jockeying made speech impossible over the
sidewise toward the other tank. speakers, but the man motioned.
They almost rolled over as they Vic shook his head, indicated a
swung, bucking and rocking fran- spiral counter-clockwise and out-
tically, but the treads hit the ward, to avoid bucking against the
ground firmly again. They were wind, with the two tanks support-
drifting across the wind now, ing each other.
straight toward the nose of the They passed the south portal
other tank. somehow, though there were mo-
Vic strained forward; the shock ments when it seemed they must
of hitting the tank knocked his be swung in, and managed to gain
head against the gun slit. He hard- ten feet outward on the turn. The

next time around, they had doubled some color, and wriggled to be
that. began to be smoother go-
It put down. "Do you know how I
ing. The battered tanks lumbered feel about what you did in there?"
up to their starting point and a Flavin cut off any answer Vic
little beyond. could have made, waddling up
Vic crawled out of the seat, sur- with his handkerchief out, mop-
prised to find his legs stiff and ping face. He stared at them,
his
weak; the ground seemed to reel gulped, shook his head. "Lazarus
under him. It was some comfort twins," he growled. "Better get in
to see that the driver was in no the car — there's a drink in the
better shape. The man leaned right door pocket."
against the tank, letting the raw Vic looked at Pat and she
wind dry the perspiration on his nodded. They could use it. They
uniform. "Bro-ther! Miracles! found the car and chauffeur wait-
You're nervy, guy, but I wouldn't ing farther back. Vic poured her a
go in there again with the angel small jigger, and took one for him-
Michael." self before putting the bottle back.
Vic looked at the'wind mael- But the moment's relaxation over

strom. Nobody else would go in was better than the drink.
cigarets
there, either. Getting within ten
feet of the portal was begging for WHILE Flavin was talking to
death, even in the tank —
and it the tank drivers, a small
would get worse. Then he spotted roll of bills changed hands, bring-
Pat opening the tank hatch and ing grins to their faces. Political
stumbled over to help her out. She opportunist or not, he knew the
was bruised and more shaky than right thing to do at the right time.
he, but the webbing over the seat Now he came back and climbed in
had saved her from broken bones. beside them.
He lifted her out in his arms, sur- "I've had the office moved back
prised at how light she was. His to Bennington. The intercity tele-
mind flicked over the picture of port manager offered us space."
her tank twisting over, and his The locally owned world branches
arms tightened around her. She of intercity teleport were independ-
seemed to snuggle into them, seek- ent of Teleport Interstellar, but
ing comfort. usually, granted courtesy exchanges
Her eyes came up, just as he with the latter. "They'll be evacuat-
looked down at her. There was no ing the city next, if I know the
other way than kissing her to show Governor. Just got a cease and de-
his relief. "You scared hell out of sist order —
came while you were
me, Pat." trying to commit suicide. We're to
"Me, too." She was regaining stop transmitting at once!"

He grunted at Vic's grimace, and they're where they
field-etched
motioned the chauffeur on, just as touched. That means the field is
a radiophone call reached them. already outside the building, though
Vic shook his head at the driver it will spread more slowly without
and looked out to see Ptheela the metal to resonate it. Anyhow,
ploughing along against the wind, you couldn't get metal plates up."
calling to. them. The plant woman's "How long will the air last?"
skin was peeling worse than ever. Pat asked.
Flavin followed Vic's eyes. "You Vic shrugged. "A month at
going to let that ride with us? The breathing level, maybe. Fortunately
way Plathies stink? Damned plants, the field doesn't spread downward
you can't trust 'em. Probably mixed much, with the Betzian design, so
up in this trouble. I heard ." . . it won't start working on the Earth
"Plathgol rates higher in civil- itself. Flavin, how about getting

ization than we do," Pat stated the experts here? I need help."
flatly. "Already sent for them," Flavin
"Yeah. Ten thousand years grunted. They were heading to-
stealing culture we had to scratch ward the main part of Bennington
up for ourselves in a thousand. So now, ten miles from the station.
the Galactic Council tells us we've His face was gray and he no longer
gbt to rub our noses to a superior seemed to notice the somewhat
race. Superior plants! Nuts!" pervasive odor of Ptheela.
Vic opened the door and reached
for Pat's hand. Flavin frowned, THEY drew up to a converted
fidgeted, then reached out to pull warehouse finally, and he got-
them back. "Okay, okay. I told you out, starting up the steps just as
that you were in charge here. If the excited cries of a newsboy
you want to ride with stinking reached his ears. He flipped a coin
Plathies —
well, you're running and spread the extra before them.
things. But don't blame me if It was all over the front page,
people start throwing mud." He with alarming statements from the

had the grace to redden faintly as scientists first interviewed and
Ptheela came up finally, and soothing statements from later
changed the subject hastily. "Why ones. No Teleport Interstellar man
can't we just snap a big hunk of had spoken, but an interview wi(h
metal over the entrances and seal one of the local teleport engineers
them up?" had given the basic facts, along
"Too late," Ptheela answered, with some surprisingly keen guesses
sliding down beside Pat, her Eng- as to what would happen next.
lish drawing a surprised start from But above everything was the
Flavin. "I was inspecting the tanks; black headline:

BOMB TRANSMITTER, she took the empty coffee cup and
SAYS PAN-ASIA thermos from him. She ran a hand
through his hair, straightening it,
The ultimatum by Pan-

issued then pulled his head down to her
Asia was filled with high-sounding shoulder and began rubbing the
phrases and noble justification, but back of his neck gently.
its basic message was clear enough. Ptheela purred approvingly from
Unless the loss of air air that be- — the other side, and Pat snorted.
longed to everyone was stopped — "Get your mind off romance,
and all future transmitting of all Ptheela! Vic's out on
practically
types halted, together with all deal- his feet. he weren't so darned
If
ings with "alien anti-terrestrials," stubborn, this should make him go
Pan-Asia would be forced to bomb to sleep."
the transmitters, together with all "Romance!" Ptheela chewed the
other resistance. idea and spat it out. "All spring
"Maybe . .
." Flavin began budding and no seed. A female
doubtfully, but Vic cut him off. should have pride from strong hus-
His faith in mankind's right to its bands and proven seeding."
accidental niche in the Galactic Vic let them argue. At the mo-
Council wasn't increasing much. ment, Pat's attention was soothing,
"No dice. The field is a space- but only superficially. His head
strain that is permanent,- unless went on fighting for some usable
canceled by the right wave- form. angle and finding none. He'd
The canceling crystal is in the swiped all the knowledge he could
transmitter. Destroy that and the from Ptheela, without an answer.
field never can be stopped. It'll Plathgol was more advanced than
keep growing until the whole Earth Earth, but far below the Betz II
is gone. Flavin, you'd better get engineers, who were mere servants
those experts here fast!" of the Council.
No wonder man had resented
Ill the traffic with other worlds. For
centuries he had been the center of
VIC sat in the car the next morn- his universe. Now, like the Tas-
ing, watching the black cloud manians, he found himself only an
that swirled around the station, isolated valley of savages in a uni-
reaching well beyond the old office. verse that was united in a culture
His eyes were red, his face was far beyond his understanding. He'd
gray with fatigue, and his lanky never even conquered his own
body was slumped onto the seat. planets; all he'd done was to build
Pat looked almost as tired, though better ways of killing himself.
she had gotten some sleep. Now Now he was reacting typically

enough, in urgent need of some decided. He'd hoped that the morn-
race even lower, to put him on ing and sight of the station
air
middle ground, at least. He was might clear his head, but the weight
substituting hatred for his lost con- of responsibility had ruined that.
fidence in himself. It was ridiculous, but he was still
Why, learn more about matter in charge.
transmitting when other races knew Flavin reached back and cut on
the answers and were too selfish to the little television set. With no
share them? Vic grumbled, remem- real understanding, he was trying
bering the experts. He'd wasted to learn tolerance of Ptheela, but
hours with them, to find that they he felt more comfortable in front,
were useless. The names that had beside the chauffeur.
been towers of strength had proved Pat caught her breath, and Vic
no more than men as baffled as he looked at the screen, where a news-
was. With even the limited knowl- cast was showing a crowd in Den-
edge he'd pried from Ptheela, he ver tearing down one of the Earth-
was far ahead of them and still — designed intercity teleports. Men
further behind the needs of the were striking back menace
at the
problem. blindly. A man stood up from his
seat in Congress to demand an end
THE gun Flavin had insisted he to
bered
alien intercourse; Vic remem-
wear was uncomfortable, and the fortune in interstellar
he pulled himself up, staring at trading of levo-rotary crystals that

the crew of men who were work- had bought the man's seat and the
ing as close to the center of wind transmitter-brought drugs that had
as they could get. He hadn't been saved him from death by cancer.
able to convince them that tunnel- There were riots in California,
ing was hopeless. All they needed the crackpot Knights of Terra were
was a one-millimeter hole through recruiting madly, and murder was
the flooring, up which blasting on the increase. Rain had fallen in
powder could be forced to knock Nevada. There were severe weather
aside the glass fragment. They re- disturbances throughout the coun-
fused to accept the fact that the try, caused the unprecedented
by
Betz II shielding could resist the and disastrously severe low over
best diamond drills under full Bennington. People were com-
power for centuries. He shrugged. plaining of the air, already claim-
At least it helped the general ing they could feel it growing
morale to see something being thinner, though that was sheer hys-
done; he'd givenin finally and let terical nonsense. Also, the Galactic
them have their way. Envoy was missing.
"We might as well go back," he The editorial of the Bennington

Times came on last, pointing a fin- ers smelled strongly of hate, but I
ger at Vic for changing the cir- escaped." His whistle caught at a
cuits, but blaming it on the aliens signal from the routing office, and
who hoarded their knowledge so he hurried off, with a final sen-
callously. There was just enough tence. "They will survive, I am
truth in the charge to be danger- told."
ous. Bennington was close enough Remembering the talons on the
to the transmitter to explain the Sardaxan's hands, Vic grinned wry-
undertones of lynch law that per- ly. They were a peaceful race, but
meated the editorial. pragmatic enough to see no advant-

"I'll put a stop to that," Flavin age in being killed.
told Vic angrily. "I've got enough Vic threw open the door to his
pull to make them pull a complete littleoffice and the four went in.
retraction. But it won't undo all It wasn't until he started toward
the harm." his desk that he noticed his visitor.

The Galactic Envoy might have
VIC felt the automatic, and it been the robot he claimed, but
there was no sign of it. He was
seemed less of a nuisance now.
"I notice no news on Pan-Asia's dressed casually in expensive
ultimatum." tweeds, lounging gracefully in a
"Yeah. I hear the story was chair, with a touch of a smile on
killed by Presidential emergency his face. Now he got up, holding
powers, and Pan-Asia has agreed out a hand to Vic.
to a three-day stay no more. My— "I heard you were running
information isn't the best, but I things. Haven't seen you since I
gather we'll bomb it ourselves if helped pick you for the first year
it isn't cleared up by then." class, but I keep informed. Thought
Vic climbed out at the local sta- I'd drop by to tell you the Council
tion office, with the others trailing. has given official approval to your
In waiting room, a vaguely
the full authority over the Earth
catlike male from Sardax waited, Branch of Teleport Interstellar, and
clutching a few broken ornaments I've filed the information with the
and a thin sheaf of Galactic cred- U. N. and your President."
its. One of his four arms was Vic lifted his head. "Why me?"
obviously broken and yellow blood "You've learned all the theory
oozed from a score of wounds. Earth has, you've had more prac-
But he only shrugged at Vic's tical experience with more stations
whistled questions, and his answer than anyone else, and you've un-
in Code was unperturbed. "No doubtedly picked Ptheela's brains
matter. In a few moments I ship dry by now. You're the obvious
to Chicago, then home. My attack- man." ,

"I'd a lot rather see one of your and most books-, while seeing thai
high and mighty Galactic experts three generations are brought up
take over!" without knowledge. You'd rever
The Envoy shook his head gent- to semi-savagery and have to make
ly. "We've found that the race a fresh start up. Well, I'm lucky
causing the trouble usually is the your President Wilkes is sympa-
race best fitted to solve it. The same thetic, and your F. B. I. has been
ingenuity that maneuvered the sabo- cooperative so far. If you soh
tage — it was sabotage, by the way things, the sabotage shouldn\
— will help you solve it, perhaps. prove too much of a problem. Good
The Council may not care much for luck."
your grab firsteconomics
rule in Flavin had been eying him, and
and politics, but it never doubted his dislike flared up as the Envoy
that you represent one of the most left. "A hell of a lot of nerve for
ingenious races we have met. You guys who claim they don't inter-
see, there really are no inferior fere!"
races." "It happened to us twice,"
"Sabotage?" Pat looked sick. Ptheela observed. "We were better
"Who'd be that stupid and for it eventually. The. Council's
vicious?" rules are from half a billion years
of experience, with tremendous
THE Envoy smiled faintly. knowledge. We must submit."
"Who'd give the Knights of ."Not without a fight!"
Terra money for a recruiting drive? "Without a fight," Vic said
I can't play much part in things bluntly. "We're babes in arms to
here — I've got limited abilities, a them. Anyhow, who cares? Con-
touch of telepathy, a little more gressional babble won't save us if
knowledge than you, and a certain we lose our atmosphere. But they
in-built skill at handling political can't see it."
situations. Your own government is The old idea —something would
busy examining the ramifications of turn up. Maybe they couldn't cut
the plot now. It had to be an in- off the from outside,
transmitter
side job, as you call it." and had no way of getting past the
"Earth for Earth, and down with wind to the inside. But something
the transmitters," Vic summed it would turn up.
up. He'd heard rumors of the Army
The Envoy nodded. "They forget taking over, and almost wished
that the transmitters can't be re- they would. As it stood, he had
moved without Council workers. full responsibility and nothing
And when the Council revokes ap- more. Flavin and the Council had
proval, it destroys all equipment turned things over to him, but the

local on the beat had more
cop cracking — trick glass, no tempera-
power. It would be
a relief to have ture tolerance. Looked like Earth
someone around to shout even stu- capsule color."
pid orders, and get some of the It didn't matter. It added to
weight off Vic's shoulders. Vic's disgust to believe it was sabo-
tage, but didn't change the picture
SABOTAGE ! It couldn't even be otherwise. The Council wouldn't
an accident;, the cockeyed race reverse itsThey treated a
decision.
towhich he belonged had to try to race as a unit,making no exception
commit suicide and then expect for the behavior of a few individ-
him to save it. uals, whether good or bad.
Heshook his head, vaguely con- Another knock on the door cut
scious of someone banging on the off his vicious circle of hopeless-
door, and reached for the knob. ness. "Old home week here, evi-
"Amos!" Come in!"

dently.
The sour face never changed ex- The man who entered was the
pression as the corpselike figure of rare example of a fat man in the
the man slouched in. Amos was pink of physical condition, with no
dead —he'd been in the transmit- sign of softness. He shoved his bulk
ter.They all realized it at once. through the doorway as if he ex-
But Amos shook off their re- pected the two stars on his shoul-
marks. "Nothing surprising, just ders to light the way and awe all
common sense. When I saw the beholders. "Who is Victor Peters?"

capsule start cracking, I jumped Vic wiggled a finger at himself,
into a capsule headed for Plathgol, and the general came over. He
set the delay, and tripped the drew out an envelope and dropped
switch. Saw some glass shooting at it on the desk, showing clearly that
me, but I was in Plathgol before acting as a messenger was far be-
it hit. Went out and got me a mess neath his dignity. "An official com-
of tsiuna —
they cook fair to mid- munication from the President of
dling, seeing they never tried it the United States," he said mechan-
before they met us. Then I showed ically, and turned to make his exit
'em my pass, came through Chicago, back to the intercity transmitters.

here, and home. I figured the old It was a plain envelope, without
woman would be worried. Nobody benefit of wax seals or ribbons. Vic
told me about the mess till I saw ripped it open, looked at the signa-
the papers. Common sense to re- ture and the simple letterhead, and
port to you, so here I am." checked the signature again. He
"How much did you see of the read it aloud to the others.
explosion?" Pat asked. "To Mr. —damn it, officially I've
"Not much. Just saw it was got a doctor's degree — to Mr. Vic-

tor Peters, nominally Hah in — !
— tronic calculators plugged in beside
charge of the Bennington Branch him, and a table of the so-called
of Teleport Interstellar— I guess Dirac functions propped up on it;
they didn't tell him it's nominally when the press had discovered that
in charge of all Earth branches. Dirac had predicted some of the
Umm. You are hereby instructed to characteristics that made teleporta-
remove all personnel from a radius tion possible, they'd named prac-
of five miles minimum of your tically everything for him.
Teleport Branch not later than The wastebasket was filled, the
noon, August 21, unless matters result of pure futility. He shoved
shall be satisfactorily culminated the last sheet into it, and sat there,
prior to that time. Signed, Homer pondering. There had to be a solu-
Wilkes, President of the United tion !
States of America." Man's whole philosophy was

"Bombs!" Pat shuddered, while built' on that idea.
Vic let the message fall to the But it was a philosophy that in-
floor, kicking it toward the waste- cluded sabotage and suicide. What
basket. "The The damned
fools! did it matter any
fools! Couldn't they tell him what Vic jerked his head up, shaking
would happen ? Couldn't they make it savagely, forcing the fatigue back
him see that it'll only make turning by sheer There was a solution.
will.
off the transmitter impossible for- All he had do was find it be-
to —
ever?" fore the stupidity of war politics in
Flavin shrugged, dropping un- a world connected to a Galaxy-wide
aware onto the couch beside union could prevent it.
Ptheela. "Maybe he had no choice. He pulled the calculator back,
Either he does it or some other just as Flavin came into the room.
power does it." The man was losing weight, or else
Then he came to his feet, star- fatigue was creating that illusion.
ing at Vic. "My God, that's to- He dropped into a chair as Vic
morrow noon!" looked up.
"The men evacuated from
IV around the station?" Vic asked.
Flavin nodded. "Some of the
VIC looked at the clock later, bright boys finally convinced them
and was surprised to see that that they were just wasting time,
it was already well into the after- anyhow. Besides, the thing is still
noon. The others had left him, spreading, and getting too close to
Ptheela last when she found there them. Vic, the news gets worse all
was no more knowledge she could the time. Can you take it?"
contribute. He had one of the elec- "Now what? Don't tell me

they've changed it to tomorrow minutes, Vic was talking to the
morning." President. For a further few min-
"Tomorrow, hell! In two hours utes, the screen remained blank.
they're sending over straight block- Then another face came on, this
busters, radar-controlled all the time in uniform, asking
military
way. No atomics — — butyet they're quick questions, while Vic pointed
jumping theanyhow. Some
gun, out the proper targets.
nut convinced Wilkes that an or- Finally the officer nodded. "Good
dinary eight-ton job might just enough, Peters. We'll try it. If you
shake things enough to fracture the care to watch, you can join the
glass that's holding the short. And observers. Mr. Flavin already
Fan-Asia is going completely wild. knows where they are. How are the
I've been talking to Wilkes. The chances?"
people are scared silly, and they're "Not good. Worth trying."
pressuring for quick war." The screen darkened again, and
Vic nodded reluctantly and Flavin got up. The thing was a
reached for the benzedrine he'd wild gamble, but it was better to.
hoped to save for the last possible jar the building than to melt its
moment, when it might carry him almost impregnable walls. Even

all the way through. What differ- Betz II metal couldn't take a series
ence did it make? Even if he had of hydrogen bombs, though noth-
an idea, he'd be unable to use it. ing else could hurt it. And with
"And yet . .
." He considered it that fury, the whole station would
more carefully, trying to figure per- go-
centages. There wasn't a chance in They picked up Pat, and moved
a million, had to take
but they out to Flavin's car. Vic knew better
even that one chance. It was better than to try to bring Ptheela along.
than nothing. "It might just work As, an alien, she was definitely ta-
— if they hit the right spot. I know boo around military affairs. The
where the glass and the layout
is, storm had reached the city now,
of the I'll need
station. But
au- and dense clouds were pouring
thority to direct the bombs. Flavin, down thick gouts of rain, leaving
can you get me President Wilkes?" the day as black as night. The car
slogged through it, until Flavin
TjTLAVIN shrugged, reached for opened the door and motioned them
-L the televisor. He managed to out into a temporary metal shelter.
get quite a way up by some form Things were already started. Re-
of code, but then it began to be a mote scanners were watching the
game of nerves and brass. Along guided missiles come down, and
his own lines, he apparently knew eyes were operating in the bombs,
his business. In less than fifteen working on infra-red that cut

through the rain and darkness. It "The Ecthindar will love that.
seemed to move slowly on the They've already been dosed with
screen at first, but picked up ap- chemical bombs. Now guess what
parent speed as it approached the they'll do."
transmitter buildings. The shielding "Simple." It was the observer
grew close, and Pat drew back who got that. "Start feeding atom
with an involuntary jerk as it hit bombs into their transmitters back
and the screen went black. Dead to us."
center. Then he shouted hoarsely, point-
But the remote scanners showed ing through a window. From the
no change. The abrupt break in the direction of the station, a dazzle of
air-motion where the transmitter light had lanced out sharply, and
field began, outside the shielding, was now fading down. Vic snapped
showed. Another bomb came
still back to the remote scanner, and
down, and others, each spaced so scowled. The field was still work-
as to hit in time for others to be ing; there was no sign of damage
turned if it worked.
back, Even to the transmitter. If the Ecthin-
through the impossible tornado of dar had somehow snapped a bomb
rotating fury, it was super-precision into the station, must have been
it
bombing. retransmitted before full damage.

The held went on working just The Army men stared sickly at
the same, far beyond the shielding, the station, but Vic was already
pulling an impossible number of moving toward the door. Pat
cubic feet of air from Earth every grabbed his arm, and Flavin was
second. They stopped watching the with them by the time they reached
screen shown by the bomb-eyes at the waiting car.
last,and even the Army gave up. "The Bennington office," Vic
"Funny," one observer com- told the driver. "Fast! Somebody
mented. "No sound, no flash when has to see the Ecthindar in a hurry,
the bombs hit. I've been -watching if it'll do any good."
the remote scanners every time in- "I'm going, too, Vic," Pat an-
stead of the eye, and nothing nounced. He shook his head. "I'm
happens. The bombs just disap- going," she repeated stubbornly.
pear." "Nobody knows much about
Ecthinbal or the Ecthindar. You
PAT hit.
shook herself. "They
They go right through the
can't call Code messages, get routine-
in
Code back. We can't go there with-

field, before they can hit. Vic, it out fancy pressure suits, because we
won't matter if we do atom-bomb can't breathe their air. And they
the station. It can't be reached." never leave. But I told you I was
But he was already ahead of her. interested in races, and I have been

trying to chit-chat with them. I volved. He was on Ecthinbal, look-
know some things. You'll need ing at a faintly greenish atmos-
me." phere, noticeable only because of
He shook his head again. "It's the sudden change, and fifty pounds
enough for one of us to get killed. seemed have been added to his
to
If I fail, Amos can try, or Flavin. weight. The
transmitter was the
If they both fail — well, suit your- usual Betz II design, and every-
self. Itwon't matter whether they thing else was familiar except for
kill me there or send through the creature standing beside the
bombs to kill me here. But if one capsule.
of us can get a chance to explain, The Ecthindar might have been
it may make some difference. I a creation out of green glass, coated
don't know. But it may." with a soft fur, and blown by a
Her were hurt, but she gave
eyes bottlemaker who enjoyed novelty.
in, going with him silently as he There were two thin, long legs,
stepped into the local Bennington multijointed, and something that
unit and stepped out in Chicago, faintly resembled the pelvis of a
heading toward the Chicago Inter- skeleton. Above that, two other thin
stellar branch. She waited patiently rods ran up, with a double bulb
while the controlmen scouted out a where lungs might have been, and
pressure suit for him. Then she be- shoulders like the collar pads of a
gan helping him fasten it and football player, joined together and
checking his oxygen equipment. topped by four hard knobs, each
"Come back, Vic," she said with a single eye and orifice. Dou-
finally. ble arms ran from each shoulder,
almost to the ground.
HE CHUCKEDchin and kissed her quickly,

a fist under her He
when
expected
the creature
to hear
moved, and was
a tinkle
keeping it casual with a sureness surprised when he did hear it, until
he couldn't feel. "You're a good he realized the sound was carried
kid, Pat. I'll sure try." through the metal floor, not
He pulled the helmet down and through the thin air.
clicked it shut before stepping into The creature swung open the
the capsule and letting the seal capsule door after some incompre-
snap shut. He could see her swing hensible process that probably
to the interstellar phone, her lips served to sterilize it. Its Galactic
pursed in whistled code. The sound Code whistle came through Vic's
was muffled, but the lights changed shoes from the floor. "We greet
abruptly, and her hand hit the you, Earthman. Our mansions are
switch. poor, but they are yours. Our lives
There was no apparent time in- are at your disposal." Then the

formal speech ended in a sharp honor my shoulder with the touch
whistle. "Literally, it would seem. of your hand, so that my portable
We die." unit will transport us both . .
."
It didn't fit with Vic's expecta- Vic reached out and the scene
tions, but he tried to take his cue shifted at once. There was no ap-
from it. "That's why I'm here. Do parent and the trick
transmitter,
you have some kind of ruler? Umm, beat anything he had heard from
good. How do I get to see this other planets. Perhaps it was -to-
ruler?" He had few hopes of get- tally unrelated to the teleport ma-
ting there, but it never did any chine.
harm to try. But he had no time to ask.
The Ecthindar seemed unsur- A
door in the little room opened,
prised. "I shall take you at once. and another creature came in, this
For what other purpose is a ruler time single from pelvis to shoul-
but to serve those wish to see who ders, but otherwise the same. "The
it ? —
But I trespass on your kind- ruler has been requested," it whis-
ness in the delay. But may I ques- tled. "That which the ruler is is
tion whether a strange light came yours, and that which the ruler has
forth from your defective trans- is nothing. May the ruler somehow
mitter?" serve?"
It was either the most cockeyed
VIC snapped a look at it, and bit of naivete or the fanciest run-
around Vic had found, but
nodded slowly. totally
"It did." unlike anything he'd been prepared

Now the ax would fall. He for. He gulped, and began whis-
braced himself for it, but the crea- tling out the general situation on
ture ceremoniously elaborated on Earth.
his nod. The Ecthindar interrupted polite-
"I was one who believed it ly. "That we know. And the con-
might. It is most comforting to verse is true —we too are dying. We
know my science was true. When are a planet of a thin air,and that
the bombs came through, we held little is chlorine. Now from a mat-
them in a shield, but, in our error, ter transmitter comes a great rush
we believed them radioactive. We of oxygen, which we consider
tried a negative aspect of space to poison. Our homes around are
counteract them. Of course, it burned in it, our plant life is dying
failed, since theywere only chemi- of it, and we are forced to remain
cal. But I had postulated that some inside and seal ourselves off. Like
might have escaped from receiver you, we can do nothing the wind —
to transmitter, being negative. You from your world is beyond our
are kind. And now, if you will strength."

"But your science ." . . V
"Is beyond yours, true. But your
race is adaptable, and we are too HIS first feeling was the famil-
leisurely for that virtue." deadening pull of fatigue
iar,
Vic shook his head, though per- as his senses began to come back.
haps it made good sense. "But the Then he saw that he was in a tiny
bombs . .
." room —and that Pat lay stretched
A series of graceful gestures out beside him!
took place between the two crea- He threw himself up to a sitting
tures, and the ruler turned back to position, surprised to find that there
Vic. were no after-effects to whatever
"The ruler had not known, of the ruler had used. The damned
course. It was not important. We little coming through after
fool,
lost a few thousand people whom him. And now they had her, too.
we love. We understood, however. Her eyes snapped open, and she
There is no anger, though it sat up beside him. "Darn it, I al-
pleases us to see that your courtesy most fell asleep waiting for you to
extends across the spaces to us. revive. It's a good thing I brought
May your dead pass well." extra oxygen flasks. Your hour is
That was at least one good break about up. How'd you manage to
in the situation. Vic felt some of insult them?"
his worry slide aside to make room He puzzled over it while she
for the rest. "And I don't suppose changed his oxygen flask and he
you have any ideas on how we can did the same for her. "I didn't. I
take care of this ..." just asked whether they didn't know
There was a shocked moment, of some way we could take care of
with abrupt movements from the this trouble."
two creatures. Then something "Which meant to them that you
came up in the ruler's hands, vi- suspected they weren't giving all
brating sharply. Vic jumped back the help they could, after their for-
— and froze in mid-stride, to fall mal offer when you came over. I
awkwardly onto the floor. A chunk convinced them it youwas just that
of ice seemed to form in his back- were still learning Code, whatever
bone and creep along his spine, you said. They're nice, Vic. I never
until it touched his brain. Death really believed other races were
o'r paralysis? It was all the same; better than we are, but I do now
he had air for only an hour more. and it doesn't bother me at all."
The two creatures were fluttering ."It'd bother Flavin. He'd have
at each other and moving toward to prove they were
sissies or some-
him when he abruptly and painless- thing. How

do we get out?"
ly blacked out. She pushed the door open, and

they stepped back into the room of hair. "Common sense, as Amos
the ruler, who was waiting for says. I figured engineers consider
them. It made no reference to the each other engineers first, and
misunderstanding, but inspected aliens second, so I went to the head
Vic, whistled approval of his con- engineer instead of the ruler. He
dition, and plunged straight to fixed it up somehow. I guess I must
business. have sounded pretty desperate, at
"We
have found part of a solu- that, knowing your air would give
tion, Earthman. We die, but it out after an hour."

will be two weeks before our end. They went through the, local in-
First, we shall set up a transmitter tercity teleport toBennington and

in permanent transmit, equipped on into Vic's office, where Flavin
with a precipitator to remove our met them with open relief and a
chlorine, and key it to another of load of questions. Vic let Pat an-
your transmitters. Whichever one swer, while he mulled over her
you wish. Ecthinbal is heavy, but words. Somewhere, there was an
small, and a balance will be struck idea —
let the rulers alone and go
between the air going from you and to the engineers. Some obvious so-
the air returning. The winds- be- lution that the administrators would
tween stations may disturb your try and be unable to use? He
weather, but not seriously, we hope. shoved it around in his floating
That which the ruler is is yours. A memory, but it refused to trigger
lovely passing." any chain of thought.
It touched their shoulders, and
they were back briefly in the trans- PAT was finishing the account of
mitter, to be almost instantly in the the Ecthindar offer, but Flavin
Chicago Branch. Vic was still shak- was not impressed. Ptheela came
ing his head. in, and it had to be repeated for
"It won't work. The ruler didn't her, with much more enthusiastic
allow for the way our gravity falls response.
off faster and our air thins out "So what?" Flavin asked. "They
higher up. We'd end up with may- have to die, anyhow. Sure, it's a
be four pounds pressure, which shame, but we have our own prob-
enough. So both planets die
isn't lems. Hey — wait! Maybe there's
two worlds on my shoulders in- something to it. It'd take some guts
stead of one. Hell, we couldn't take and a little risk, but it would
that offerfrom them, anyhow. Pat, work."
how'd you convince them to let me Flavin considered it while Vic
go?" sat fidgeting, willing to listen to
She had shucked out of the pres- any scheme. The politician took a
sure suit and stood combing her cigar out and lit it carefully, his

first since the accident; he'd felt going out of one transmitter in a
that smoking somehow used up station is balanced by air coming
air. "Look, if they work their trans- from another in the same station,
mitter, we end up with a quarter there'd be a terrific draft. But most
of what we need. But suppose we of it would be confined in the sta-
had four sources. We connect with tion, and there wouldn't be the
several oxygen-atmosphere worlds. outside whirlwind to keep us from
Okay, we load our transmitters with getting near. Instead of a mad rush
atom bombs, and send one capsule of air in or out of the building,
to each world. After that, they there'd be only eddy currents out-
either open a transmitter to us with side of the inner chamber. We'd
air, or we let them have it. They keep our air, and maybe have time
can live —
a little poorer, maybe, to figure out some way of getting
but still live. And we're fixed for at that hunk of glass."
good. Congress and the President "Won't work," Flavin said
would jump at it." gloomily. "Suppose Wilkes was
"That all?" Vic asked. asked to route through for another
planet. He'd have to turn it down.
FAVIN nodded. Vic's fist Too much risk."
caught him in the mouth, "That's where Pat gave me the
spilling him onto the floor. The tip. Engineers get used to thinking
politician lay there, feeling his jaw of each other as engineers instead
and staring up at Vic. Then the of competing races — they have to
anger was gone, and Vic reached work together. They have
the same
down to help him up. problems and develop the same
"You're half a decent guy and working habits. If I were running
half a louse," Vic told him. "You a station and the idea was put to
had coming, but I should have
that me, I'd hate to turn it down, and
used it on some of the real lice I might not think of the political
around. Besides, maybe you have end. I've always wanted to see what
part of an idea." happened in continuous transmittal;
"All right, no teeth lost — just I'll be tickled pink to get at the
the first cigar I've enjoyed in instrument rolls in the station. And
days." Flavin rubbed his jaw, then a lot of the other engineers will
grinned ruefully. "I should have feel the same."
known how you feel. I just happen "We're already keyed to Plath-
to believe in Earth first. What's gol on a second transmitter," Pat
this big idea of yours?" added. "And the Ecthindar indi-
"Getting our air through other cated they had full operation when
planets. Our air. It's a routing job. it happened, so they're keyed to
If we can set up a chain so the air five other planets."

"Bomb-dropping starts in about the top level. If it leaked out to
four hours," Flavin commented. the general public, there'd be a
"After that, what?" panic for miles around.
"No chance. They'll go straight But Chicago's routing setup was
through, and the Ecthindar can the best in the country; he needed
neutralize them —
but one is pretty it. Now how did he go about get-
sure to start blasting here and carry ting a staff trained to use it?
through in full action. Then there'll "Know how to find things
be no other transmitter in their sta- here?" Flavin asked Pat. He ac-
tion, just a big field on permanent cepted her nod, and looked sur-
receive." prised at Ptheela's equally quick
assent. Then he grinned at Vic and
THE two engineers at the Chi- began shucking off his coat. "Okay,
cago Branch were busy shoot- you see before you one of the best
ing dice when the four came traffic managers that ever helped
through the intercity transmitter. pull a two-bit railroad out of the

There was no one else in the place, red, before I got better offers in
and no sign of activity. Word of politics.I'm good. You get me the
the proposed bombing had leaked dope, Vic can haggle on the trans-
out, and the engineers had figured mitter phones, and I'll route it."
that answering bombs would come He was good. Vic watched him
blasting back through Earth tele- take over with surprise, and a
ports. They knew what they'd have sudden growing liking for the man.
done, and didn't know of the Flavin had probably been a lot more
Ecthindar philosophy. The engin- of a man, before he'd been shoved
eers had passed the word to other into politics. Maybe he'd have done
employees, and only these two less of and picking up
drinking
were left, finishing a feud of long prejudices if been working
he'd
standing in the time left. where he knew he was doing a
"Know anything
about rout- good job. Certainly he had adapted
ing?" Vic asked. When they indi- well enough to the present situa-
cated no knowledge, he chased tion, and he looked happier now
them out on his Teleport Inter- as he took over.
stellar authority and took over. He Flavin's mind seemed to soak up
had no need of more engineers, all routing data at once, from a
and they were cynical enough about single look at the complicated
the eventual chances there to leave blocks of transmitter groups and
gladly. Vichad never had any use key-ins. He jumped from step to
for Chicago's manager and the step without apparent thought, and
brash young crew he'd built up; he had to have information only
word shouldn't have gone beyond once before engraving it on his

mind. was a tough nut, since the
It once. Vic called Ecthinbal while
stations housed six transmitters clambering into the big pressure
each, keyed to six planets but in — suit. He threw the delay switch and
highly varied combinations; every climbed into the right capsule. A

world had its own group of tie-ins moment later, an Ecthindar was
with planets,also. Routing was the moving the capsule on a delicate-
most complicated job in the whole looking machine to another trans-
problem. mitter. Something that looked like
a small tyrannosaurus with about
PLATHGOL was handled by twenty tentacles instead of forelegs
Ptheela, who was still in good was staring in at him a second later,
standing until the Council would and he knew he was on Ee.
learn of her breaking the law by "Take me to the engineer!" he
talking to Vic. There was no trou- ordered. "At once!"
ble there. But trouble soon devel- The great ridges of horn over
oped. Ecthinbal had been keyed to the eyes came down in a surprising-
only two other planets, it turned ly human scowl, but the stubborn-
out. Vromatchk was completely ness was less certain in person. The
cold on the idea, and flatly refused. creature turned and led Vic out to
Ee, the other planet, seemed diffi- a huge shack outside. In answer
cult. to a whooping cry, a head the size
It surprised him, because it of a medium-sized freight car came
didn't fit with Pat's theories of out of the door, to be followed by
engineers at all. He scowled at the a titanic body. The full-grown
phone, then whistled again. ''Your adult was covered with a thick coat
zeal is commendable. Now put an of ropy hair.
engineer on!" "Where from?" Ee engineerthe
The answering whistle carried a whistled. "Wait —
saw a picture
I
fumbling uncertainty of obvious once. Earth.. Come in. I hear you

surprise. "I —how did you know? I have quite a problem there."
gave all the right answers." Vic nodded. It came as a shock
"Sure. Right off the Engineer to him that the creature could prob-
Rule Sheet posted over the trans- ably handle the whole station by
mitter. No real engineer worries itself, as it obviously did, and quite
that much about them; he has more efficiently, with that size and all
things to think of. Put the engin- those tentacles. He stated his prob-
eer on." lem quickly.
The answer was still obstinate. The Looech, as it called itself,
"My father's asleep. He's tired. Call scratched its stomach with a row
later." of tentacles and pondered. "I'd
The connection went dead at like to help you. Oh, the empress

would have fits, but I could call it worrying about why the field
an accident. We engineers aren't spreads. When will you begin?"

really responsible to governments, Vic grinned tightly as they ar-
after all, are we? But it's the busy ranged the approximate time and
season. I'm already behind, since let Looech carry him back to
the
my other engineer got in a duel. the He flashed through
capsule.
That's why the pup was tending Ecthinbal, and climbed out of the
while I slept. You say the field Chicago transmitter to find Pat
spreads out on continuous trans- looking worriedly at the capsule,
mit?." summoned by the untended call
"It does, but it wouldn't much announcer.

more if there isn't too long a pe- "You're right, Pat," he told her.
riod." "Engineers run pretty much to
"Strange. I've thought of con- form. Tell Flavin we've got Ee."
tinuous transmittal, of course, but But there were a lot of steps to
I didn't suspect that. Why, I won- be taken still. He ran into a. stum-
der?" bling block at Norag, and had to
wait for a change of shift, before
VICplanation started to give Ptheela's ex-

of unbalanced reso-
a sympathetic engineer cut the red
tape to clear him. And negative
nance between the vacuum of the decisions here and there kept Flavin
center and the edges in contact jumping to find new routes.
with matter, but dropped it quick- They almost made it, to find a
ly. "I'll probably know better when decision had just been reversed on
I can read the results from the in- Seloo by some authority who had
struments." gotten word of the deal. That meant
The Looech grumbled to itself. that other authorities would prob-
"You suppose you could send me ably be called in, with more re-
the readings? We're about on a verses, in time. Once operating, the
Galactic level, so it wouldn't strain engineers could laugh at authority,
the law too much." since remote cut-off could be

the
Vic shook his head. "If I can't easily hidden. But time was run-
complete the chain, there won't be ning out. There were only twenty-
any readings. I imagine you could seven minutes left before the bombs
install remote cut-offs fairly easily." dropped, and it would take fif-
"No though nobody ever
trouble, teen to countermand their being
seemed tothey might be
think dropped.
needed. I suppose it would be cov- "Give me that," Flavin ordered,
ered under our emergency powers, grabbing the phone. "There are
if we stretch them a little. Oh, times when it takes executives in-
blast you, now I won't sleep for stead of engineers. We're broken at

Seloo. Okay, we don't know where She managed an Earthly giggle.
Seloo ships." His Galactic Code was "Instinct. My ancestors were plants
halting, but fairly effective. The that caught animals for food. We
mechanical chirps from the Seloo had all manner of ways to entice
operator leaped to sudden haste. A —

them not just odor and looks. I
short pause was followed by an can sense exactly how your body
argument Vic was too tired to feels in the back of my head. Mm,
catch, until the final sentence. delicious!"
"Enad to Brjd to Teeni clear."
STRUGGLED
"Never heard of Brjd," he com-
mented.
HE face changing color.
at that,
Her arms
his
Flavin managed a ghost of a moved slowly, and he relaxed.

swagger. "Figured our were lists Finally he reached for a cigar. "I'll
only partial, and we could stir up have nightmares, I'll bet, but it's
another link. Here's the list. I'll worth it. Oh, oh! Trouble!"
get Wilkes. Now that we've got it, The communicators were chirp-
he'll hold off until we see how it ing busily.
works." "Some of the rulers must be
It was a maze, but the list was catching on and don't like it,"
complete, from Earth to Ecthinbal, Ptheela guessed.

Ee, Petzby, Norag, Szpendrknopala- To Vic's surprise, though, several
votschel, Seloo, Enad, Brjd, Teeni, did like it, and were simply send-
and finally through Plathgol to ing along hopes for success. Etchin-
Earth. Vic whistled the given signal, bal's message was short, but it tin-
and acknowledgments came
the gled along Vic's nerves: "It is good
through. It was in operation. to have friends."
Flavin's nod indicated Wilkes had Bennington was reporting by
confirmed it and held off the bombs. normal televisor contact, but while
Nothing was certain, still; it things seemed to be improving, they
might or might not do the trick. still couldn't get near enough to be
But the tension dropped somewhat. sure. The field was apparently col-
Flavin was completely exhausted. lapsing as the air was fed inside
He hadn't had decent exercise for it, though very slowly.
years, and running from communi- Ptheela needed no sleep, while

cations to routing had been almost Flavin was already snoring. Pat
continual. He flopped over on a shook her head as Vic started to
shipping table. Ptheela bent over pull himself up on a table. She
him and began massaging him deft- led him outside to the back of one
ly. He grumbled, but gave in, then of the sheds, where a blanket cov-
sighed gratefully. ered a cot, apparently used by one
"Where'd you learn that?" of the supervisors. She pushed him

toward it. As he started to struggle and at Ee — the engineer there
at the idea of using the only soft didn't get the portals capped right,
bed, she dropped onto it herself and and Ecthinbal can't do anything.
pulled him down. We're getting about one-third of
"Don't be silly, Vic. It's big our air back. And Wilkes can't hold
enough for both, and it's better the pressure for bombing much
than those tables." longer! Get over here."
It felt like pure heaven, narrow
though it was. Beside him, Pat VI
stirred restlessly. He rolled over,
pulling himself closer to her, off the "TTTHERE'S Ptheela?" Vic
hard edge of the cot, his arm over VV asked as he came into the
and around her. transmitter room. She needed no
For a moment, he thought she sleep, and should have taken care
was protesting, but she merely of things.
turned oyer to face him, settling his "Gone. Back to Plathgol, I
arm back. In the half-light, her guess," Flavin said bitterly. "She
eyes met his, wide and serious. Her was flicking out as I woke up. Rats
lips trembled briefly under his, then deserting the sinking ship —though
clung firmly. His own responded, I was starting to figure her differ-
reaching for the comfort and end ent. It just shows you can't trust a
of tension hers could bring. plant."
"I'm glad it's you, Vic," she told Vic swept his attention to the
him softly. Then her eyes closed as communicator panel. The phones
he started to answer, and his own were still busy. They were still
words disappeared into a soft fog patient. Even the doubtful ones
of sleep. were now accepting things; but it
The harsh rasp of a buzzer woke couldn't last forever. Even without
him, while a light blinked on and the risk, the transmitter banks were
off near his head. He shook some needed for regular use. Many did
of the sleep confusion out of his not have inexhaustible power
thoughts, and made out an inter- sources, either.
com box. Flavin's voice came over A new note cut in over the whis-
it harshly and he flipped the switch. tling now, and he turned to the
"Vic, where the hell are you? Plathgol phone, wondering whether
Never mind. Wilkes just woke me it was Ptheela and what she want-
up with a call. Vic, it's helped, but ed. The words were English, but
not enough. The field is about even the voice was strange.
with the building now. It's stopped "Plathgol calling. This is
shrinking, but we're still losing air. Thlegaa, Wife of Twelve Hus-
There's too much loss at Ecthinbal bands, Supreme Plathgol Teleport

Engineer, Ruler of the Council of to the inside of the single trans-
United . and hereditary
Plathgol, mitter housing, and there should be
goddess, if you want the whole an even balance of ingoing and
letterhead. Ptheela just gave me the outcoming air, which would end
bad news. Why didn't you call on the rush of air into the station, and
us before — or isn't our air good make the circular halls passable, ex-
enough for you?'' cept for eddy currents. But getting
"Hell, do you all . speak Eng- into the inner chamber, where the
lish?" Vic asked, too surprised to air formed a gale between the two
care whether he censored his transmitters, was another matter.
thoughts. "Your air always smelled
good to me. Are you serious?" TTTLAVIN'S chauffeur was asleep
The chuckle this time wasn't a J. at thewheel of the car as they
mere imitation. Thlegaa had her came out of the Bennington local
intonation down exactly. "Sonny, office, yet instinct seemed to rouse
up here we speak whatever our cul- him, and the car cut off wildly for
tural neighbors do. You should the station. Vic had noticed that
hear my French nasals and Vro- the cloud around it was gone, and
matchkan rough-breathings. And a mass of people was grouped near-
I'm absolutely serious about the by. The wind that had been sucked
offer. We're pulling the stops off in and around it to prevent even a
the transmitter housing. run a We tank getting through was gone now,
triflehigher pressure than you, so though the atmosphere would
we'll probably make up the whole probably show signs of it in freak
loss.But I'm not an absolute ruler, weather reports for weeks after.
so might be a good idea to speed
it Pat had obviously figured out the
things up. You can thank me later. trouble remaining, And didn't look
—
Oh Ptheela's just been banned too surprised at the gloomy faces
for giving you illegal data. She of the transmitter crew who were
confessed. When you get your grouped near the north entrance.
Bennington plant working, she'll But she began swearing under her
probably be your first load from us. breath, as methodically and levelly
She's packing up now." as a man. Vic was ripping his shirt
Flavin's face held too much re- off as they drew up.
lief. Vic hated to disillusion the "This time you stay out," he told
politician as he babbled happily her. "It's strictly a matter of muscle
about always knowing the Plathgo- power against wind resistance, and
lians were swell people. But Vic a man has a woman beat there."
knew the job was a long way from "Why do you think I was curs-'
solved. With Plathgol supplying ing?" she asked. "Take it easy,
air, the field would collapse back though."

The men opened a way for him. Flavin, who came over on the run,
He stripped to his briefs, and let while Vic was making sure that the
them smear him with oil to cut little regular office building still
down air resistance a final fraction. stood.

Eddy currents caught at him before "Order the tanks, if we need
he went in, but not too strongly. them," he suggested. "Get me a
Getting past the first shielding rifle, some hard-nosed bullets, an
wasn't too bad. He
found the sec- all-angle vise big enough to clamp
ond entrance port through the
.
on a three-inch edge, and two of
middle shield, and snapped a chain those midget telesets for use be-
around his waist. tween house and field. Quick!"
Then the full picture of what Amos stared at him, puzzled, but
must have happened on Plathgol Flavin's car was already roaring to-
hit him. Chains wouldn't have ward Bennington, with a couple of
helped when they pulled off the cops leading the way with open
coverings from the entrances, the sirens. Flavin was back with every-
sudden rush of air must have thing in twenty minutes, and Vic
crushed their lungs and broken selected two of the strongest, lean-
their bones, no matter what was est-looking men to come with him,
done. Imagine volunteering for sure while Pat went down to set the
death to help another world! He midget pickup in front of the still
had to make good on his part. operating televisor between the
He got to the inner portal, but transmitter chamber and the little
the eddies there were too strong office. Vic picked up the receiver
to go farther. Even sticking his and handed the rest of the equip-
eyes beyond the edge almost caught ment to the other two.
him into the blast between the two
transmitters. Then he was clawing WAS sheer torture fighting
ITback
his way out again. to the inner entrance port,
Amos met him, shaking a but they made it, and the other
gloomy head. "Never make it, two helped to brace him with the
Vic. Common sense. I've been chain while he clamped the vise to
there three times with no luck. And the edge of the portal, and locked
the way that draft blows, it'd knock the rifle into it, somehow fighting
even a tractor plumb out of the it into place. In the rather ill-de-
way before it could reach that hunk fined picture on the tiny set's
of glass." screen, he could see the huge frag-
Vic nodded. The tanks would ment of glass, out of line from
take too long to arrive, anyhow, either entrance, between two cov-
though it would be a good idea to ering uprights. He could just see
have them called. He yelled to the rifle barrel also. The picture

lost detail in being transmitted to
the little office and picked up from
the screen for retransmittal back
to him, but it would have to do.
The rifle was loaded to capacity
with fourteen cartridges. He lined
it up as best he could and tightened
the vise, before pulling the trigger.

The bullet ricocheted from the
inner shield and headed toward the
glass — but it missed by a good
three feet.
He was close on the fifth try,
not over four inches But cling-off.
ing to the edge while he pulled

the trigger was getting harder, and
the wind velocity inside was toss-
ing the bullets off course.
He left the setting, fired four
more shots in succession before he
had to stop to rest. They were _
all
but That could

close,
keep up all
scattered.
day, seemingly.
I
He pulled himself up again and
squeezed the trigger. There was no
i
sound over the roar of the wind
6T--J
At &^4^z_

and then there was suddenly a
sound, as if the gale in there had
stopped to cough.
A blast of air struck, picking all
three men up andtossing them
He'd forgotten the
against the wall.
lag before the incoming air could
be cut! It could be as fatal as the
inrush alone.
But the gale was dying as he hit
the wall. His flesh was bruised
from the shock, but it wasn't se-
rious. Plathgol had managed to

make their remote control cut out
almost to the micro-second of the
time when the flow to them had
stopped, or the first pressure re-
leased —and transmitter waves were
supposed to be instantaneous.
He tasted the feeling of triumph
as he crawled painfully back. With
this transmitter off and the others
remote controlled, the whole battle
was over. Ecthinbal had keyed out
automatically when Earth stopped
sending. From now on, every trans-
mitter would have a full set of re-
mote controls, so the trouble could
never happen again.
He staggered out, unhooking the
chain, while workmen went lush-
ing in. Pat came through the
crowd, with a towel and a pair of
pants, and began wiping the oil
offhim while he tried to dress.
Her grin was a bit shaky. He knew
it must have looked bad when the
final counterblast whipped out.
Amos looked up glumly, and Vic
grinned at him. "All over, Amos."
The man nodded, staring at the

workmen who were dragging
from the
out You did a good job, Vic you
and Pat and Flavin. You proved
—
the great pieces of glass
building. His voice was strained, that Earth can cooperate with other
unnatural. "Yeah. Common sense worlds. That is the part that im-
solution, Vic." presses the Council as no other so-
lution could have. Your world and
THEN his eyes swung aside and Plathgol have already been accepted
Vic saw the
his face hardened. officially as full members of the
Envoy shoving through, with two Council now, under Ecthinbal's
wiry men behind him. The Envoy tutelage. We're a little easier about
nodded at Vic, but his words were passing information and knowledge
addressed to Amos. "And it should to planets that have passed the test.
have been common sense that But you'll hear all that in the an-
you'd be caught, Amos. These men nouncement over the network to-
are from your F. B. I. They have night. I'll see you again. I'm sure
the men who paid you, and I sup- of that."
pose the glass will prove that it He was gone, barely in time to
was a normal capsule, simply clear space for Ptheela, as she
shocked with superhot spray and came trooping up with eight thin,
overdosed with supersonics. Didn't wispy versions of herself in tow.
you realize that your easy escape to She chuckled. "They promoted me
Plathgol was suspicious?" before they banished me, Pat. Meet
Pat had come up; her voice was my eight strong husbands. Now I'll
unbelieving."Amos!" have the strongest seed on all
Amos swung back then. "Yeah, Earth. Oh, I almost forgot. A pres-
Pat. I'd do it again, and maybe ent for you and Vic".
even without the money. You think Then she was gone, leading her
I like these God damned animals husbands toward Flavin's car, while
and plants acting so uppity? I liked Vic stared down at a particularly
it good enough before they came. ugly tsiuna in Pat's hands. He
Maybe I didn't get rid of them, but twisted his mouth resignedly.
I sure came close." "All right, I'll learn to eat the
The two men were leading him stuff," he told suppose I'll
her. "I
away as he finished, and Pat stared have to get used to it. Pat, will you
after him, tears in her eyes. marry me?"
The Envoy broke in. "He'll get She dropped the tsiuna as she
a regular trial in your country. It came to him, her lips reaching up
looks better for the local govern- for his. It wasn't until a month
ments handle these things. But
to later that he found tsiuna tasted
I'll see if he can't get a lighter sen- better than chicken.
tence than the men who hired him. —LESTER DEL REY

Safe While at Rest: Commander Bill Talbot (Glenn
Ford) leans casually against a Loon flying bomb
Missiles Over the Sea

BY WILLY LEY
Filmed in cooperation with the U. S. Navy,

Columbia's film The Flying Missile reveals
hitherto restricted data on rocket weapons.
AM not in the habit of writing It concerns, as makes

the title
what may be called a movie unmistakably clear, and

missiles,
I
happen.
review, but on occasion it does
In fact, I remember all
specifically the U. S. Navy's Loon.
More generally, it tells of some of
three occasions. The first discussed the things which go on at the
The Lost World, the second was Navy's closely guarded Guided
about Frau im Mond, and the third Missile Center at Point Mugu, near
analyzed Destination Moon. This Oxnard, California, an hour's drive
is number four — the title of the along the coast from Santa Monica.
film, in this case, is The Flying But it is not a documentary film;
Missile. it is a full leneth feature with the
MISSILES OVER THE SEA 43

primary purpose of entertainment. lem, is hinged around an accident
This, of course, will appeal to a which one of the crew and
kills
few million people who would not injures the skipper, paralyzing his
look at a documentary film on — legs. He does not recover because
missiles or other things — even if he does not wa/U to recover; it
admission were free. In this case, needs the combined efforts of his
;he fact that it is not principally a superiors, his girl and, most impor-
documentary film carries an almost tant, the sight of his ship to make
unsuspected advantage. Being "fic- him capable of going back to the
tion," it does not have to stick job he started.
strictly to the things which have
been done, but, like a science fic- PERSONALLY, I was, needless
it can look ahead a
tion story, bit to say, mostly interested in the
toward possible application. underlying military problem, which
Though the underlying problem is an actual one. Also an acute one,
is a military one, the film story is created not so much by the "guid-
devoted partly to a human problem, ed" missile, which, to the untrained
partly to what might be called mind, is particularly dangerous be-
"story line." The latter consists of cause it can be aimed —but the sheer
the efforts of a submarine skipper existence of any long-range missile,
and his crew to get around, and at all.
especially ahead of, the guided Only ten years ago, there was
missiles instruction courses they are still some simplicity left in naval
subjected to at Point Mugu. They warfare. Unless an enemy aircraft
thought they could pick up a few carrier was around, a shore installa-
missiles and experiment with them, tion was safe from attack as long
preferably aboard their own sub- as the enemy warships were more
marine. Instead, they have to learn than 10 miles away —
20 miles in
about the various types of missiles, the case of a heavy battlewagon.
how they are tested, how they work, The safety was, actually, far greater
the theory behind guiding, etc., etc. than that because the number of
So they "obtain" without being de- both heavy battleships and large
tected —they think— the parts which aircraft carriers of any enemy is
make a launching rack for a restricted and their movements are
missile, and put it together, only carefully checked and known.
to in the end that no
discover Here a factor came in which is
missileshappen to be available and rarely mentioned except, maybe, in
that one cannot get around Navy courses at the War College. That
Channels but has to go through is the relationship between striking
them. range on the one side and detect-

The other story, the human probing range on the other. For some

With four ja+o takeoff units, the Loon, improved version of
V-l, needs a launching ramp only slightly longer than itself
time a battleship had a longer a naval torpedo, but you rarely hit
striking range than its intended vic- anything which is more than 2,000
tim had detecting range. In other yards away. But the submarine had
words, the ship could shoot over a the enormous advantage of being
longer distance than it could be able to approach unseen. Long and
seen. sad prove that the striking
statistics
In reality, that fact may never range of a submarine, though short,

have made a difference, but it is was still longer than the victim's
important now. detection range.
Striking range in both naval and That changed decisively during
land warfare fell far below detect- the latter part of World War II.
ing range in the First World War, Just how was done is still undis-
it
when aircraft employed for

was closed, but it is no secret that the
observation But visual
purposes. detecting devices work. I may add
detection, whether from the look- that, in theory, a submarine should
rout of a ship or from the cockpit not go undetected at all, even

of an airplane, is still hampered by though radar waves are stopped by
weather. Much could go on under the water's surface. In theory the
the cover of fog or rain which case is that we -have
body of
a large
would not have gone undetected in a homogeneous liquid (sea water)
fine weather. with a non-homogeneous foreign
This is one of the reasons why body (the submarine) in it. There
the submarine, although a highly should be a physical principle
vulnerable type of vessel, became which betrays both existence and
so important through two wars. location of that body, even if no
The striking range of a submarine engine makes a sound, no detect-
is short; its guns carry, on the aver- able amount of heat is radiated and
age, hardly more than six miles. every member of the crew holds
That is also the maximum range of his breath.

THE basic idea of the movie is
complex of facts.
carrier with its accompanying de-
the
built on this stroyers is far greater than
An "enemy" equipped with
carrier, striking range of the subs. None of
V-2 type long range rockets with them can come close enough to
atomic warheads, is approaching strike. Which makes a frustrated
the coast. The carrier is far below submarine skipper wish he could
the horizon, hence far out of radar lire missiles, too, so that he can
range, since radar waves, naturally, strike from outside the detecting
do not follow the curvature of the range.
earth. But the coast is within range Of course the missile suited for
of the carrier's missiles. (Actual submarines as they now exist is not
range for a V-2
190 miles;is the V-2 type of liquid fuel rockets,
missiles for twice that range can but the V-l type of flying bomb.
no doubt be built.) The only pos- To keep the facts straight, I
sible defense consists of sinking or have to mention here that the
at least seriously crippling the U. S. Navy has actually test-fired a
carrier before it can fire the rockets. V-2 rocket from the flight deck of
That job is entrusted to submarines a carrier (the Midway) and that
which are to torpedo the carrier. numerous small Aerobee high alti-
But the detection range of the tude rockets and one large Viking
Loon, prior to test firing at Navy's Guided Missile Center

at Point Mugu, Cal.; the four Jato takeoff units show here

rocket were fired from the convert- off the firing table, there is nothing
ed former seaplane tender U.S.S. the victim can do but watch them
Norton Sound. The V-2 happened in his radar screen and wonder
to explode soon after takeoff, but where they'll hit. It is, by the use
the Viking reached a peak altitude of counter-missiles, not completely
of 106 miles. If it had been fired impossible to knock a trajectory
for range, it would have been missile off its trajectory, but it is,
around 210 miles. The Navy has even in theory, an exceedingly diffi-
also fired a V-l type missile, the cult procedure.

Loon, from the deck of a subma- The cruising missile, on the
rine. other hand, is interceptible. It can
Now the difference between a be shot down like an airplane by
V-2 type long range rocket and a anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft
V-l type Loon goes far deeper than rockets. It can be intercepted by
the fact that one is rocket-propelled fighter planes, which some British
while the other has a simple pulse- Spitfire pilots did on occasion with-
jet engine. It also goes deeper than out firing a shot. They flew along-
the otherwise very important fact side, got their wingtip under the
that a V-2 takes around 18,000 wingtip of the missile, and flipped
man hours to make and a V-l only it over. The piloted plane could
about 1,000 man hours. easily recover from that maneuver,
The essential difference between but the missile crashed. Finally, the
the two is that the V-2 rocket cruising missile can be caught by
travels along a trajectory like an the steel cables of barrage balloons.
artillery projectile, while the V-l Just how interceptible a cruising
type has a flight path like an air- missile is shown with a few
can be
plane. One may say that the V-l figures from the report which the
type relies on the existence of the commanding officer of London's air
atmosphere for motion, whereas defense, Afr Marshal Sir Roderic
the rocket moves in spite of the ex- Hill, drew up after the Second
istence of the atmosphere. Those World War, and which was pub-
missiles which rely on the atmos- lished as a supplement of the
phere have come to be called London Gazette (Oct. 19,
official
"cruising missiles." The V-2 1948). All in all, it is known from
rockets should logically be re- German records, the Germans fired

ferred to as "trajectory missiles." 8,070 flying bombs (V-l) against
London. Of these, a number
THE trajectory missiles are
They
more crashed soon after takeoff or strayed
off course. A
7,488 was re-
total of
expensive by far. require
the use of fuels that are not easy ported England: 3,957 of
over
to handle. But once they have lifted them were brought down (1,847 by

Actual takeoff of a Loon from the deck of a U. S. submarine;
the dense white smoke is that of the solid fuel Jato units
fighters, 1,878 by guns, 232 by second phase of the attack, the per-
balloons); 1,111 fell outside the centage of bombs brought down
London target area, which was climbed to 63.2, and, during the
reached by 2,420 missiles. third phase, to 72.8.
But these figures are very mis- Quite bad from the point of view
leading in one respect. They are of the attacker.
overall figures, which include the
early period when defending guns
and defending fighters got into each
BUT
cruising
represented the use of
this
land war-
missiles in
other's territory and hair, and when fare, with a fixed target (London),
the anti-aircraft equipment on the which did not move, and fixed
ground was not the best available. launching installations, the location
(No VT fuzes and M-9 gun di- of which was reasonably well
rectors at first.) known and the direction of which
The statistics make more sense was precisely known. And when
when drawn up for the various you fire a cruising missile over
phases of attack and defense dur- land, there may be defending anti-
ing the "Robot Blitz." During the aircraft batteries, airports for inter-
first phase, 42.3 per cent of the ceptor squadrons, installations for
flying bombs reported were brought and whatever else
counter-missiles,
down; then, after reorganization of may be developed, on every square
defense, 58.6 per cent. During the mile.

When you fire a cruising missile Overall length of the missile was
over water, there has to be a ship 25Vi feet, wing span about 17^2
first to do some intercepting. Fur- feet.
thermore, since the ship-mounted An installation like one of the
firing platform is not fixed, it will original "ski sites" would be ter-
be at an uncertain (and changing) ribly cumbersome on shipboard and

distance and direction. If mounted would also need a large ship to
on a submarine, the firing platform accommodate it. But the Navy has
can even appear and disappear. learned to do without such a long
All of which shows why the takeoff ramp. As a matter of fact,
Army is especially interested in it uses ramps only slightly longer
trajectory missiles, while the Navy than the missiles themselves!

is paying much' attention to cruis-
ing missiles. And

V-l was "naturalized," given its
ever since the
THE necessary acceleration is now
supplied by four Jato solid-
American citizenship papers, so to fuel takeoff units, attached to the
speak, it has been improved, too. cross bar of a T-shaped structure
The original German type on which the missile rests. When
needed a launching platform about the Jato units have supplied the
150 feet long; the pilots of the initial impetus and the Loon moves
RAF called them "ski sites" be- under its own power, the attach-
cause of their appearance. The ment simply drops off.
reason was that the pulse-jet engine The dimensions of the Loon are
can work when at rest, but does still roughly the same as those of
not deliver any useful thrust. In the original V-l, but the range has
order to deliver useful thrust, it been somewhat increased. And the
has to move with a speed of at speed seems to be higher by about
least 150 miles per hour. 10 per cent, which makes hitting a
The Germans accomplished that missile in flight somewhat more
by furnishing the takeoff ramp with difficult when you from below.
fire
a slotted tube. Inside the tube there At the film's combat test in the
was a piston with a projection Pacific, a submarine-launched Loon
reaching through the slot and hook- flew through the flakthrown up
ing into the belly of the missile. by a long string of assorted war
The piston was pushed by the rapid vessels. Accident, of course, but
decomposition of concentrated one which tends to point out the
hydrogen peroxide, producing difference between a missile over
steam. The original V-l, after it land and a missile over the sea.
had lifted off, accelerated to around Suddenly, as a result, the sub-
360 miles per hour and carried fuel marine has a striking range of over
for an average trip of 150 miles. 150 miles. But the radar detection

range is still the horizon, even the carrier ' is well within
though it is the horizon as seen striking range of the missiles . . .
from the height of the radar an-

tenna. And the range of the most DURING the Second World
highly developed submarine detec- War, the Germans
had a
tor is not apt to be longer than small missile, the Henschel Hs-293,
that; most likely, it will be shorter. resembling, more or less, a good-
The submarine, therefore, can fire sized model airplane. It was carried
some 15 times as far as its detec- under the wing of a fighter plane
tion range, unless aerial reconnais- and launched against Allied mer-
sance is complete and effective. chantmen. It was propelled by a
Likewise, the striking range of a rocket unit and guided by radio
big ship, equipped for trajectory from the launching plane.
missiles, has gone up to 15 or 20 Of course, everybody was well
times the probable detection range inside everybody else's detection
— reliable radar detection, mean, I range, and the striking ranges were
which is not influenced by fog, almost evenly matched. For that
storm, sleet, rain or moonless night. reason, had to operate
the planes
Of course this, too, works both from a distance which was at the
ways. extreme limit of effectiveness.
•
The film shows this by repeat- Hence they missed as often as not,
ing the war-game setup of the yet they did account for a number
opening Again there is an
scenes. of our ships. (We had a quite
"enemy" carrier with trajectory similar missile, the Bat, in the Pa-
missiles approaching the coast. cific.) As became known from cap-
Again the defending (and tured plans, the Germans were
submerged) submarines are handi- about to improve the performance
capped by the discrepancy between of this missile by putting a tele-
their striking range and the carrier's vision receiver into the nose.
detection range. The end of the war prevented
But now there is another group them from finishing that logical
of missile-carrying submarines. Be- development, and the missile may
ing merely converted for this pur- have been too small to be really
pose and not designed as missile effective, in an}' case.
subs in the first place, they, cannot But a missile like the Loon defi-
submerge as long as they have their nitelyis not, and we have both the
missiles on deck, or, at least, not time and the technology to perfect
without ruining the missiles. But it. The ingenuity, too, as The Fly-
they are far out of detection range big Missile amply demonstrates.
and their presence is, so far, un- When I watched the film in a
suspected by the carrier. private showing, it was, naturally,

Difficult to hit, a Loon flies through heavy flak thrown up by
U. S. warships during naval war games held in the Pacific
with the eyes of an engineer who I think I would have seen it
has worked with rockets, both in every day for a month.

theory and in practice, for almost The middle-aged taxpayer, see-
two and a half decades. There is, ing The Flying Missile, is likely to
in other words, little of novelty in reflect that there is very positively
them for me, though The Flying something being done with his
Alissile did reveal certain facts that money at Point Mugu. Others who
had been restricted until now and are still far from being middle-
in which I found considerable pro- aged, no matter what their years
fessional interest. total, will feel the thrill of seeing
But if I had seen it 25 years a dream of science fiction that is
ago, when rocketry still existed only solid reality now. And I suspect
in arid equations on paper, when the film may initiate careers that
its were regarded as
supporters might have been different.
mental defectives and the moon Mine would not have been.
seemed centuries away . . . —WILLY LEY

THE OTHER NOW
By MURRAY LEINSTER
He knew his wife was dead, because he'd seen her buried.
But it was only one possibility out of infinitely many!
WAS self-evident nonsense. happened in the case of Jimmy and

IT If Jimmy had told
Patterson Jane and nobody else. There must
anybody but Haynes, calm men have been some specific reason, but
in white jackets would have taken there's absolutely no clue to it.
him away for psychiatric treatment It began about three months
which undoubtedly would have after Jane was killed in that freak
been effective. He'd have been re- accident. Jimmy had taken her death
stored to sanity and common sense, hard. This night .seemed no differ-
and he'd probably have died of it. ent from any other. He came home
So to anyone who liked Jimmy and just as usual and his throat tight-
Jane, it is good that things worked ened a little, just as usual, as he

out as they did. The facts are pat- went up to the door. It was still
ently impossible, but they are satis- intolerable to know that Jane
fying. wouldn't be waiting for him.
Haynes, though, would like The hurt in his throat was a
very much to know exactly why it familiar sensation which he was
Illustrated by PHIL BARD
THE OTHER NOW 53

doggedly hoping would go away. an acquired habit. Before he opened
But it was extra, strong tonight and his eyes, every morning, he remind-
he wondered rather desperately if ed himself that Jane wasn't beside
he'd sleep, or, if he did, whether him. It was necessary. If he forgot
he would dream. Sometimes he had and turned contentedly — to empti-
dreams of Jane and was happy un- ness — the ache of being alive, when
til he woke up, and then he wanted Jane wasn't, was unbearable.
to cut his throat. But he wasn't at
that point tonight. Not yet. THIS morning he lay with his
As he explained it to Haynes eyes closed to remind himself,
later, he simply put his key in the and instead found himself think-
door and opened it and started to ing about that business of the door.
walk in. But he kicked the door He'd kicked the door between the
instead, so he absently put his key two openings, so it wasn't only an
in the door and opened it and start- illusion of repetition. He was
ed to walk in puzzling over that repetition after
Yes, that is what happened. He closing the door, when he found
was half-way through before he he had to close it again. That
realized. He stared blankly. The proved to him it wasn't a standard
Joor looked perfectly normal. He mental vagary. It looked like a de-
closed it behind him, feeling queer. lusion. But his memory insisted that
He tried to reason out what had it had happened that way, whether
happened. it was possible or not.
Then he felt a slight draught. Frowning, he went out and got

The door wasn't shut. It was wide his breakfast at a restaurant and
open. He had to close it again. rode to work. Work was blessed,
That was all that happened to because he had to think about it.
mark this night off from any other, The main trouble was that some-
.md there is no explanation why times something turned up which
it —
happened began, rather this — Jane would have been amused to
night instead of another. Jimmy hear, and he had to remind him-
went to bed with a taut feeling. self that there was no use making
He'd had the conviction that he a mental note to tell her. Jane was
opened the door twice. The same dead.
door. Then he'd had the conviction Today he thought a good deal
that he had had to close it twice. about the door, but when he went
He'd heard of that feeling. Queer, home he knew that he was going
but no doubt commonplace. to have a black night. He wouldn't
He slept, blessedly without sleep, and oblivion would seem in-
dreams. He woke next morning and finitely tempting, because the ache
.ound his muscles tense. That was of being alive, when Jane wasn't,

was horribly tedious and he could and always they added up to de-
not imagine an end to it. Tonight lusions only.
would be a very bad one, indeed. But he kept his mind resolutely
He opened the door and started on the problem. Work, during the
in. He went crashing into the door. day, was a godsend. Sometimes he
He stood still for an instant, and was able to thrust aside for whole
then fumbled for the lock. But the half-hours the fact that Jane was
door was open. He'd opened it. dead. Now he grappled relievedly
There hadn't been anything for him with the question of his sanity or
to run into. Yet his forehead hurt lunacy. He went to the desk where
where he'd bumped into the door Jane had kept her household ac-
which wasn't closed at all. counts. He'd set the whole thing
There was nothing he could do down on paper and examine it
about it, though. He went in. He methodically, checking this item

hung up his coat. He sat down against that.
wearily. He filled his pipe and grim-
ly faced a night that was going to JANE'S diary lay on the desk-
be one of the worst. He struck a blotter, with a pencil between
match and lighted his pipe, and two of its pages. He picked it up
put the match in an ashtray. And with a tug of dread. Some day he-
he glanced in the tray. There were —

might read it an absurd chronicle-
the stubs of cigarets in it. Jane's Jane had never offered him but —
brand. Freshly smoked. not now. Not now!
He touched them with his fin- That was when he realized that it
gers. They were Then a furious
real. shouldn't be here. His hands
anger filled him. Maybe the clean- jumped, and it fell open. He saw
ing woman had had the intolerable Jane's angular writing and it hurt.
insolence to smoke Jane's cigarets. He closed it quickly, aching all
He got up and stormed through over. But the printed date at the
the house, raging as he searched top of the page registered on hi;
for signs of further impertinence. brain even as he snapped the cover
He found none. He came back, shut.
seething, to his chair. The ashtray He sat still for minutes, every
was empty. And there'd been no- muscle taut.
body around to empty it. It was a long time before he
It was logical to question his own opened the book again, and by that
sanity, and the question gave him time he had a perfectly reasonable
a sort of grim cheer. The matter of explanation. It must be that Jane
the recurrent oddities could be used hadn't restricted herself to as-
to fight the abysmal depression signed spaces. When she had some-
ahead. He tried to reason them out, thing extra to write, she wrote it
THE OTHER NOW 55

on past the page allotted for a yet this wasn't, so to speak, normal
given date. insanity. A lunatic has always an
Of course! explanation for his delusions.
Jimmy fumbled back to the last Jimmy had He
noted the fact.
none.
written page, where the pencil had Next morning he bought a small
been, with a tense matter-of-fact- camera with a flash-bulb attachment
ness. It was, as he'd noticed, today's and carefully memorized the direc-
date. The page was filled. The tions for its use. This was the thing
writing was fresh. It was Jane's that would tell the story. And that
handwriting. night, when he got home, as usual
"Went to the cemetery," said the after dark, he had the camera
sprawling letters. "// was very bad. ready. He unlocked the door and
Three months since the accident and opened it. He put his hand out
it doesn't get any easier. I'm de- tentatively. The door was still
veloping a personal enmity to closed.
chance. It doesn't seem like an ab- He stepped back and quickly
straction any more. It was chance snapped the camera. There was a
that killed Jimmy. It could have sharp flash of the bulb. The glare
been me instead, or neither of us. I blinded him. But when he put out
wish —
" his hand again, the door was open.
Jimmy went quietly mad for a He stepped into the living-room
moment or two. When he came to without having to unlock and open
himself he was staring at an empty it a second time.
desk-blotter. There wasn't any

book before him. There wasn't any
pencil between his fingers. He re-
HE LOOKED at the
turned the film and put in a

desk as he
membered picking up the pencil new flash-bulb. It was as empty as

and writing desperately under he'd left it in the morning. He
Jane's entry, "fane!" he'd written hung up his coat and settled down
—-and he could remember the look tensely with his pipe. Presently he
of his scrawled script under Jane's knocked out the ashes. There were
— "where are you? I'm not dead! cigaret butts in the tray.
I thought you were! In God's name, He quivered a little. He smoked
where are you?" again, carefully not looking at the
But certainly nothing of the sort desk. It was not until he knocked
could have happened. It was delu- out the second pipeful of ashes
sion. that he let himself look where
That night was particularly bad, Jane's diary had been.
but curiously not as bad as some It was there again. The book was
other nights had been. Jimmy had open. There was a ruler laid across
a normal man's horror of insanity, it to keep it open.

Jimmy wasn't frightened, and he that such a picture should have
wasn't hopeful. There was abso- come out.
lutely no reason why this should He walked around practically at
happen to him. He was simply des- random for a couple of hours, look-
perate and grim when he went ing at the pictures from time to
across the room. He saw yester- time. Pictures no pictures, the
or
day's entry, and his own hysterical thing was nonsense. The facts were
message. And there was more writ- preposterous. It must be that he
ing beyond that. only imagined seeing these prints.
In Jane's hand. But there was a quick way to find
"Darling, maybe
I'm going out.
crazy. But I think you wrote me as He went to Haynes. Haynes was
if you were alive. Maybe I'm crazy his friend and reluctantly a lawyer
to answer you. But please, darling, — reluctantly because law practice
if you are alive someivhere and interfered with a large number of

somehow — unlikely hobbies.
There was a tear-blot here. The "Haynes," said Jimmy quietly, "I
rest was frightened, and tender, and want you to look at a couple of
as desperate as Jimmy's own sensa- pictures and see if you see what I
tions. do. I may have gone out of my
He wrote, with trembling fingers, head."
before he put the camera into posi-
tion and pressed the shutter-control
for the second time.
HE PASSEDthe door.
over the picture of
It looked to Jimmy
When his eyes recovered from like two doors, nearly at righr
the flash, there was nothing on the angles, in the same door-frame and
desk. hung from the same hinges.
He did not sleep at all that night, Haynes looked at it and said tol-
nor did he work the next day. He erantly, "Didn't know you went in
went tophotographer with the
a for trick photography." He picked
film and paid an extravagant fee up a reading glass and examined it
to have the film developed and en- in detail. "A futile but highly com-
larged at once. He got back two petent job. You covered half the
prints, quite distinct. Even very film and exposed with the door
clear, considering everything. One closed, and then exposed for the
looked like a trick shot, showing other half of the film with the door
a door twice, once open and once open. A neat job of matching,
closed, in the same photograph. though. You've a good tripod."
The other was a picture of an open "I held the camera in my hand,"
book and he could read every word said Jimmy, with restraint.
on its pages. It was inconceivable "You couldn't do it that way,
THE OTHER NOW 57

Jimmy," objected Haynes. "Don't "You suggest," said Jimmy
;ry to kid me." composedly, might have
"that I
"I'm trying not to fool myself," forged all that to comfort myself
viid Jimmy. He was very pale. He with, as soon as I could forget the
handed over the other enlargement. forging. I don't think that's the
What do you see in this?" case, Haynes. What possibilities
Haynes looked. Then he jumped. does that leave?"
He read through what was so plain- Haynes hesitated a long time. He
ly photographed on the pages of a looked at the pictures again, scru-
diary that hadn't been before the tinizing especially the one that
'
camera. Then he looked at Jimmy looked like a trick shot.

in palpable uneasiness. "This is an amazingly good job
"Got any explanation?" asked of matching," he said wrily. "I
Jimmy. He swallowed. "I —haven't can't pick the placewhere the two
any." exposures join. Some people might
He told what had happened to manage to swallow this, and the
date, baldly and without any at- theoretic explanation is a lot better.
tempt to make it reasonable. The only trouble is that it couldn't
Haynes gaped at him. But before happen."
long the lawyer's eyes grew shrewd Jimmy waited.
and compassionate. As noted hither-
to, he had a number of unlikely HAYNES went on awkwardly,
hobbies, among which was a loud "The accident in which Jane
insistence on a belief in a fourth was killed. You were in your car.
dimension and other esoteric ideas, You came up behind a truck carry-
because it was good fun to talk au- ing structural steel. There was a
thoritatively about them. But he long slim girder sticking way out
had common sense, had Haynes, behind, with a red rag on it. The
and a good and varied law prac- truck had airbrakes. The driver
tice. jammed them on just after he'd
Presently he said gently, "If you passed over a bit of wet pavement.
want it straight, Jimmy ... I had The truck stopped. Your car slid,
a client once. She accused a chap of even with the brakes locked. — It's
beating her up. It was very pathetic. nonsense, Jimmy!"
She was absolutely sincere. She "I'd rather you continued," said
really believed it. But her own Jimmy, white.
family admitted that she'd made "You — ran into the truck, your
the marks on herself — and the doc- car swinging a little as it slid. The
tors agreed that she'd unconscious- girder came through the wind-
ly blotted it out of her mind shield. It could have hit you. It
afterward." could have missed both of you. By
pure chance, it happened to hit nows that might have been. So it's
Jane." been suggested —mind you, this

"And killed her," said Jimmy isn't accepted science, but pure char-
very quietly. "Yes. But it might latanry — it's been suggested that
have been me. That diary entry is there may be more than one actual
written as if it had been me. Did now. Before the girder actually hit,
you notice?" there were three nows in the pos-
There was a long pause in sible future. One in which neither
Haynes' office. The world outside of you was hit, one in which you
the windows was highly prosaic were hit, and one
—
and commonplace and normal. He paused, embarrassed. "So
Haynes wriggled in his chair. some people would say, how do we
"I think," he said unhappily, know that the one in which Jane
"you did the same as my girl client was hit is the only now? They'd
— forged that writing and then for- say that the others could have hap-
got it. Have you seen a doctor yet?" pened and that maybe they did."
"I will," said Jimmy. "Systema-
tize my lunacy for me first, Haynes. JIMMY nodded.
If it can be done." "If that were true," he said
"It's not accepted science," said detachedly,"Jane would be in a
Haynes. "In fact, it's considered presentmoment, a now, where it
eyewash. But there have been specu- was me who was killed. As I'm in
lations . .
." He grimaced. "First a now where she was killed. Is that
point is was pure chance
that it it?"
that Jane was hit. It was just as Haynes shrugged.
likely to be you instead, or neither Jimmy thought, and said gravely,
of you. If it had been you
— "Thanks. Queer, isn't it?"
"Jane," said Jimmy, "would be He picked up the two pictures

living in our house alone, and she and went out.
might very well have written that Haynes was the only one who
entry in the diary." knew about the affair, and he wor-
"Yes," agreed Haynes uncom- ried. But it is not easy to denounce
fortably. "I shouldn't suggest this, someone as insane, when there is
but — there are a lot of possible fu- no evidence that he is apt to be
tures. We don't know which one dangerous. He did go to the trouble
will come about for us. Nobody to find out that Jimmy acted in a
except fatalists can argue with that reasonably normal manner, work-
statement. When today was in the ing industriously and talking quite
future, there were a lot of possible sanely in the daytime. Orrfy Haynes
todays. The present moment —now suspected that of nights he went
— is only one of any number of home and experienced the impossi-
THE OTHER NOW 59

ble. Sometimes, Haynes suspected Haynes without constraint, Haynes
that the impossible might be the felt awkward. After a little he said,
fact —
that had been an amazingly —
"Er Jimmy. That matter we were
good bit of trick photography but — talking about the
— other day
it was too preposterous Also, there ! Those photographs
was no reason for such a thing to "Yes. You were right," said
happen to Jimmy. Jimmy "Jane agrees. There
casually.
is more than one now. In the now
FOR a week
pseudo-scientific
after Haynes'
explanation,
I'm in,
she's in,
Jane was killed. In the
I was killed."
now
however, Jimmy was almost light- Haynes fidgeted. "Would you let
hearted.He no longer had to re- me see that picture of the door

mind himself that Jane was dead. again?" he asked. "A trick film
He had evidence that she wasn't. like simply can't be perfect!
that
She wrote to him in the diary which I'd like to enlarge that picture a
he found on her desk, and he read little more. May I?"

her messages and wrote in return. "You can have the film," said
For a full week the sheer joy of Jimmy. "I don't need it any more."
simply being able to communicate Haynes hesitated. Jimmy, quite
with each other was enough. matter-of-factly, told him most of
The second week was not so what had happened to date. But he
good. To know that Jane was alive had no idea what had started it.
was good, but to be separated from Haynes almost wrung his hands.
her without hope was not. There "The thing can't be!" he said
was no meaning in a cosmos in desperately. "You have to be crazy,
which one could only write love- Jimmy!"
letters to one's wife or husband in But he would not have said that
another now which only might have to a man whose sanity he really sus-
been. But for a while both Jimmy pected.
and Jane tried to hide this new Jimmy nodded. "Jane told me
hopelessness from each other. something, by the way. Did you
Jimmy explained this carefully to have a near-accident night before
Haynes before it was all over. Their last? Somebody almost ran into you
letterswere tender and very nat- out on the Saw Mill Road?" '
ural,and presently there was even Haynes started and went pale. "I
time for gossip and actual bits of went around a curve and a car
choice scandal . . . plunged out of nowhere on the
Haynes met Jimmy on the street wrong side of the road. We both
one day, ^fter about two weeks. swung hard. He smashed my fender
Jimmy looked better, but he was and almost went off the road him-
drawn very fine. Though he greeted self. But he went racing off with-

out stopping to see if I'd gone in sometimes the barrier wears thin.
the ditch and killed myself. If I'd She leaves a door closed in the
been five feet nearer the curve when house where she is. I open that same
he came out of it
— door where I am. Sometimes I have
"Where Jane is," said Jimmy, to open the door she left closed, too.
"you were. Just about five feet That's all."
nearer the was
curve. It a bad
smash. Tony Shields was in the HAYNES didn't say a word, but
other car. It killed him —where the question he wouldn't ask
Jane is." was so self-evident that Jimmy an-
Haynes licked his lips. It was swered it.
absurd, but he said, "How about "We're hoping," he said. "It's

me?" prettybad being separated, but the
"Where Jane is," Jimmy told — phenomena keep up. So we hope.
him, "you're in the hospital." Her diary is sometimes in the now
Haynes swore in unreasonable where she is, and sometimes in this
There wasn't any way now
irritation.
for Jimmy to know about that near- Maybe — mine.

of Cigaret
That was
"
butts,
the only time
too.
accident. He hadn't mentioned it, he showed any sign of emotion. He

because he'd no idea who'd been in spoke as if his mouth were dry. "If
the other car. ever I'm in her now or she's in
"I don't believe it!" But he said mine, even for an instant, all the
pleadingly, "Jimmy, it isn't so, is devils in hell couldn't separate us
it? How in hell could you account again! —We hope."
for it?" Which was insanity. In fact, it
Jimmy shrugged. "Jane and I was the third week of insanity.

we're rather fond of each other." He'd told Haynes quite calmly that
The understatement was so patent Jane's diary was on her desk every
that he smiled faintly. "Chance night, and there was a letter to him
separated us. The feeling we have in it, and he wrote one to her. He
for each other draws us together. said quite calmly that the barrier
There's a saying about two people between them seemed to be grow-
becoming one flesh. If such a thing ing thinner. That at least once, when
could happen, it would be Jane and he went to bed, he was sure that
me. After all, maybe only a tiny there was one more cigaret stub in
pebble or a single extra drop of the ashtray than had been there
water made my car swerve enough earlier in the evening.
to get her killed —

where I am, that They were very near indeed. They
is. That's a very So
little thing. were separated only by the differ-
with such a trifle separating us, and ence between what was and what
so much pulling us together why, — might have been. In one sense the
THE OTHER NOW 61

difference was a pebble or a drop through. We hope it's going to
of water. In another, the difference break."
was that between life and death. "But it can't!" protested Haynes,
But they hoped. They convinced shocked at the idea of improbabili-
themselves that the barrier grew ties in the preposterous. "It — it
thinner. Once, it seemed to Jimmy can't! What'd happen if you turned

that they touched hands. But he was up where she is, or or if she —
not sure. He was still sane enough turned up here?"
not to be sure. And he told all this "I don't know," said Jimmy,
to Haynes in a matter-of-fact fash- "but we'd be together."
ion, and speculated mildly on what "You're crazy! You mustn't
—
had started it all . . . "Goodbye," said Jimmy politely.
Then, one night, Haynes called "I'm hoping, Haynes. Something
Jimmy on the telephone. Jimmy an- has to happen. It has to!"
swered. His voice stopped. There was a
He sounded impatient. noise in the room behind him;
"Jimmy!" said Haynes. He was Haynes heard it. Only two words,
almost hysterical. "I think I'm in- and those faintly, and over a tele-
sane! You know you said Tony phone, but he swore to himself that
.Shields was in the car that hit me?" it was Jane's voice, throbbing with
"Yes," said Jimmy politely. happiness. The two words Haynes

"What's the matter?" thought he heard were, "Jimmy!
"It's been driving me crazy," Darling!"
wailed Haynes feverishly. "You Then the telephone crashed to
said —
he was killed there. But I the and Haynes heard no
floor
hadn't told a soul about the inci- more. Even though he called back
dent. —
So so just now I broke frantically again, Jimmy didn't an-
down and phoned him. And it was swer.
Tony Shields! That near-crash
scared him to death, and I gave him HAYNES sat up all that night,
hell —
and he's paying for my practically gibbering, and he
fender! I didn't tell him he was tried to call Jimmy again next
killed." morning, and then tried his office,
Jimmy didn't answer. It didn't and at last went to the police. He
seem to matter to him. explained to them that Jimmy had
"I'm coming over!" said Haynes been in a highly nervous state since
feverishly. "I've got to talk!" the death of his wife.
"No," said Jimmy. "Jane and I So finally the police broke into
are pretty close to each other. We've the house. They had to break in
touched each other again. We're because every door and window was
hoping. The barrier's wearing carefully fastened from the inside,

as if Jimmy had been very careful quietly, without fear and hysteria
to make sure nobody could inter- and this naggingly demanding won-
rupt what he and Jane hoped would derment.
occur. But Jimmy wasn't in the For he had sketched to Jimmy,
house. There was no trace of him. and Jimmy had accepted (hadn't
It was exactly as if he had vanished he?) the possibility of the other
into the air. now —but with came
that acceptance
Ultimately the police dragged still was dead.
others. In one, Jane
ponds and such things for his body, In one, Jimmy was dead. It was
but they never found any clues. between these two that the barrier
Nobody ever saw Jimmy again. It had grown so thin . . .
was recorded that Jimmy simply If he could talk to Jimmy about

left town, and everybody accepted it!
that obvious explanation. There was also a now in which

both had died, and another in
THE thing that really bothered which neither had died! And if it
was togetherness that each wanted
Haynes was the fact that
Jimmy had told him who'd almost so desperately which was it?
.
'.
.
crashed into him on the Saw Mill These were things that Haynes
Road, and it was true. That was, to would have liked very much to
understate, hard to take. And there know, but he kept his mouth shut,
was the double-exposure picture of or calm men in white coats would
Jimmy's front door, which was have come and taken him away for
much more convincing than any treatment. As they would have
other trick picture Haynes had ever taken Jimmy.
seen. But on the other hand, if it The only thingreally sure was
did happen, why did it happen only that was all impossible. But to
it
to Jimmy and Jane? What set it someone who liked Jimmy and Jane
off? What started it? Why, in — and doubtless to Jimmy and to
effect, did those oddities start at —
Jane themselves no matter which
that particular time, to those par- barrier had been broken, it was a
ticular people, in that particular rather satisfying impossibility.
fashion? In fact, did anything hap- Haynes' car had been repaired.
pen at all? He could easily have driven out to
Now, Jimmy's disappear-
after the cemetery. For some reason, he
ance, Haynes wished he could talk never did.
with him once more talk sensibly, — —MURRAY LEINSTER
THE OTHER NOW 63

Illustrated by DON SIBLEY
Mr. James
By CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
Surprise endings in science fiction are not easy to attain
successfully. This story has four internal plot surprises!
HE CAME
ing.
unawareness.
alive
He became
-
from noth-
aware from
whispering came down- to him and
felt him over with
fingers,
soft
for all the world as
and tender
if it
He smelled the air of the night were examining him for broken
and heard the trees whispering on bones or contusions and abrasions.
the embankment above him and He sat up and put both his
the breeze that had set the trees to palms down upon the ground be-
GOOD NIGHT, MR. JAMES 65

side him to help him sit erect and that cold. Beyond the embankment
stared into the darkness. Memory- he heard the sounds of a city late
came slowly and when it came it at night, the distant whine of the
was incomplete and answered speeding car and the far-off wind-
nothing. broken screaming of a siren. Once
His name was Henderson James a man walked along a street close
and he was a human being and he by and James sat listening to his
was sitting somewhere on a planet footsteps until they faded out of
that was called the Earth. He was hearing.
thirty-six years old and he was, in Something had happened and
his own way, famous, and comfort- there was a job to do, a job that
ably well-off. He lived in an old he had been doing, a job that some-
ancestral home on Summit avenue, how had been strangely interrupted
which was a respectable address by the inexplicable incident which
even if it had lost some of its had left him lying here on this
smartness in the last twenty years embankment.
or so. He checked himself. Clothing
On the road above the slope of . . . shorts and shirt, strong shoes,
the embankment a car went past his wristwatch and the gun in the
with its tires whining on the pave- holster at his side.

ment and for a moment its head- A gun?
lights made the treetops glow. Far The job involved a gun.
away, muted by the distance, a He
had been hunting in the city,
whistle cried out. And somewhere hunting something that required a
else a dog was barking with a flat gun. Something that was prowling
viciousness. in the night and a thing that must
His name was Henderson James be killed'

and if that were true, why was he
here? Why should Henderson THEN he knew the answer, but

James be sitting on the slope of an even as he knew it he sat for
embankment, listening to the wind a moment wondering at the
in the trees and to a wailing strange, methodical, step-by-step
whistle and a barking dog? Some- progression of reasoning that had
thing had gone wrong, some inci- brought him to the memory. First
dent he could but remember
that, if his name and the basic facts per-
it, might answer all his questions. taining to himself, then the real-
There was a job to do. ization of where he was and the
He sat and stared into the night problem of why he happened to be
and found that he was Shivering, there and finally the realization that
although there was no reason why he had a gun and that it was meant
he should, for the night was not to be used. It was a logical way to

think, a primer schoolbook way to with expert and familiar fingers and
work it out: the gun was ready.
I am a man named Henderson He walked up the embankment
James. and reached the road, went across it
I live in a house on Summit ave- with a swinging stride to reach the
nue. sidewalk that fronted the row of
Am I in the house on Summit new bungalows. He heard a car
avenue? coming and stepped off the side-
No, I am not in the house on walk to crouch in a clump of ever-

Summit avenue. greens that landscaped one corner
I am on an embankment some- of a lawn. The move was instinc-
where. tive and he crouched there, feeling
Why am I on the embankment? just a little foolish at the thing
But it wasn't the way a man he'd done.
thought, at least not the normal The car went past and no one
way a normal man would think. saw him. They would not, he now
Man thought in shortcuts. He cut realized, have noticed him even if
across the block and did not go all he had remained out on the side-
the way around. walk.
It was a frightening thing, he He was unsure of himself; that
told himself, this clear-around-the- must be the reason for his fear.
block thinking. It wasn't normal There was a blank spot in his life,
and it wasn't right and it made no some mysterious incident that he
sense at all . . . no more sense than did not know and the unknowing
did the fact that he should find of it had undermined the sure and
himself in a place with no memory solid foundation of his own exis-
of getting there. tence,had wrecked the basis of his
motive and had turned him, mo-
HE ROSE up
hands and down his
to his feet and ran his mentarily, into a furtive animal that
darted and hid at the approach of
body. His clothes were neat, not his fellow men.
rumpled. He hadn't been beaten That and something that had
up and he hadn't been thrown from happened to him that made him
a speeding car.There were no sore think clear around the block.
placeson his body and his face was He remained crouching in the
unbloody and whole and he felt evergreens, watching the street and
all right. the stretch of sidewalk, conscious of
He hooked his fingers in the the white-painted, ghostly bunga-
holster belt and shucked it up so lows squatting back in their land-
that it rode tightly on his hips. He scaped lots.
pulled out the gun and checked it A word came into his mind.

Puudly. An odd word, unearthly, out when measured against the
yet it held terror. depth and intensity and the raven-
The puudly had escaped and that ing horror of the puudly' s hate.
was why he was here, hiding on Not unreasoning hate, for unreas-
the front lawn of some unsuspect- oning hate defeats itself, but a ra-
ing and sleeping citizen, equipped tional, calculating, driving hate
with a gun and a determination to that motivated a clever and deadly
use it, ready to match his wits and killingmachine which directed its
the quickness of brain and muscle rapacity and its cunning against
against the most bloodthirsty, hate- every living thing that was not a
filled thing yet found in the Galaxy. puudly.
The puudly was dangerous. It For the beast had a mind and a
was not a thing to harbor. In fact, personality that operated upon the
there was a law against harboring basic law of self-preservation
not only a puudly, but certain other against all comers, whoever they
alien beasties even less lethal than a might be, extending that law to the
puudly. There was good reason for interpretation that safety lay in
such a law, reason which no one, one direction only . . . the death of
much less himself, would ever think every other living being. No other
to question. reason was needed for a puudly'
And now the puudly was loose killing. The fact that anything else
and somewhere in the city. lived and moved and was thus pos-
ing a threat, no matter how remote,
JAMES grew cold at the thought against a puudly, was sufficient
of it, forming images
his brain reason in itself.
of the things that might come to was psychotic, of course, some

It
pass if he did not hunt down the murderous instinct planted far back
alien beast and put an end to it. in time and deep in the creature's
Although beast was not quite racial consciousness, but no more
the word to use. The puudly was psychotic, perhaps, than many hu-
more than a beast just how . . . man instincts.
much more than a beast he once The puudly had been, and still
had hoped to learn. He had not was for that matter, a unique op-
learned a lot, he now admitted to portunity for a study in alien be-
himself, not nearly all there was haviorism. Given a permit, one
to learn, but he had learned could have studied them on their
enough. More than enough to native planet. Refused a permit,
frighten him. one sometimes did a foolish thing,
For one thing, he had learned '
as James had.
what hate could be and how shal- And foolish acts backfire, as this
low an emotion human hate turned one did.

James put down a hand and pat- the buds would be rising on its
ted the gun at his side, as if by body, bursting forth and growing.
doing so he might derive some as- There was one place, and one
surance that he was equal to the place only, in the entire city where
task. There was no question in his an alien beast would be safe from
mind as to the thing that must be prying eyes. A man could figure
done. He must find the puudly and that one out and so could a puudly.
kill and he must do that before
it The question was: Would the
the break of dawn. Anything less puudly know that a man could
than that would be abject and hor- figure it out?Would the puudly
rifying failure. underestimate a man ? Or, knowing
For the puudly would bud. It that the man would know it, too,
was long past its time for the re- would it find another place of hid-
productive act and there were bare ing?
hours left to 'find it before it had James rose from the evergreens
loosed upon the Earth dozens of and went down the sidewalk. The
baby puudlies. They would not re- street marker at the corner, stand-
main babies for long. A few hours ing underneath a swinging street
after budding they would strike light, tofd him where he was and
out on their own. To find one it was closer to the place where he
puudly, lost in the vastness of a was going than he might have

sleeping seemed bad enough;
city, hoped.
to track down some dozens of them
would be impossible. II
So it was tonight or never.

Tonight there would be no kill- THE zoo was quiet for a while,
ing on the puudly' s part. Tonight and then something sent up a
the beast would be intent on one howl that raised James' hackles and
thing only, to find a place where made his blood stop in his veins.
it could rest in quiet, where it James, having scaled the fence,
could give itself over, wholeheart- stood tensely at its foot, trying to
edly and with no interference, to identify the howling animal. He
the business of bringing other was unable to place it. More than
puudlies into being. likely, he told himself, it was a new
It was would have

clever.
It one. A person simply couldn't keep
known where was going before
it track of all the zoo's occupants.
it had escaped. There would be, New ones were coming in all the
on its part, no time wasted in seek- time, strange, unheard of creatures
ing or in doubling back. It would from the distant stars.
have known where it was going Straight ahead lay the unoccu-
and already it was there, already pied moat cage that up until a day
GOOD NIGHT. MR. JAMES 69

or two before had held an unbe- against the law for having secured
lievable monstrosity from the jun- and harbored an alien being that
gles of one of the Arctian worlds. was barred from Earth.
James grimaced in the dark, re- Why, he asked himself, did he
membering the thing. They had think of himself in this way? Why,
finally had to kill it. standing here, did he catalogue
And now the puudly was there himself? It was instinctive to know
. .well, maybe not there, but one
. one's self . . . there was no need,
place that it could be, the one place no sense of setting up a mental out-
in the entire city where it might be line of one's self.
seen and arouse no comment, for had been foolish to go ahead
It
the zoo was filled with animals that with this puudly business. He re-
were seldom seen and another called how he had spent days fight-
strange one would arouse only mo- ing it out with himself, reviewing
mentary wonder. One animal more all the disastrous possibilities which
would go unnoticed unless some might arise from it. If the old
zoo attendant should think to check renegade spaceman had not come
the records. to him and had not said, over a
There, unoccupied cage
in that bottle of most delicious Lupan
area, the puudly would be undis- wine, that he could deliver, for a
turbed, could quietly go about its certain, rather staggering sum, one
business of budding out more live puudly, in good condition, it
puudlies. No
one would bother it, never would have happened.
for things like puudlies were the
normal occupants of this place set JAMES was sure that of himself
aside for the strangers brought to he never would have thought
Earth to be stared at and studied by of it. But the old space captain was
that ferocious race, the humans. a man he knew and admired from
James stood quietly beside the former dealings. He was a man who
fence. was not averse to turning either an
Henderson James. Thirty-six. Un- honest or a dishonest dollar, and
married. Alien psychologist. An yet he was a man, for all of that,
official of this zoo. And an offender that you could depend upon. He
70
GALAXr SCIENCE FICTION
would do what you paid him for
and keep his lip buttoned tight
once the deed was done.
James had wanted a pttudly, for
it was a most engaging beast with
certain little tricks that, once

derstood, might open up new ave-
nues of speculation and approach,
might write new chapters in the
tortuous study of alien minds and
manners.
But for all it had been a
of that,
terrifying thing to do and now that
the beast was loose, the terror was
compounded. For it was not wholly
beyond speculation that the de-
scendants of this one brood that the
escaped pttudly would spawn might
wipe out the population of the
Earth, or at the best, make the
Earth untenable for its rightful
dwellers.
A place like the Earth, with its
teeming millions, would provide a

field day for the fangs of the
pundlies, and the minds that drove
the fangs. They would not hunt for
hunger, nor for the sheer madness
of the kill, but because of the com-
pelling conviction that no puudly

Id be safe until Earth was insect noises that ran through the
wiped clean of life. They would be grass and bushes and the whisper
killing for survival, as a cornered of the leaves in the trees across the
ratwould kill except that they
. . . moat and the far-off sound that was
would be cornered nowhere but in the hoarse breathing of a sleeping
the murderous insecurity of their city.
minds.
If the posses scoured the Earth to
hunt them down, they would be
NOW, Felt
for the
fear. it
first time,
in the silence that
he felt
found in all directions, for they was not a silence, in the mud be-
would be shrewd enough to scatter. neath his feet, in the upthrust
They would know the ways of guns boulders that rose out of the moat.
and traps and poisons and there The puudly was a dangerous
would be more and more of them thing, not only wasbecause it
as time went on. Each of them strong and quick, but because was it
would accelerating their budding to intelligent. Just how intelligent, he

replace with a dozen or a hundred did not know. It reasoned and it
the ones that might be killed. planned and schemed. It could talk,
James moved quietly forward to though not as a human talks . . .
the edge of the moat and let him- probably better than a human ever
self down into the mud that cov- could. For it not only could talk
ered the bottom. -When the mon- words, but it could talk emotions.
strosityhad been killed, the moat It lured its victims to it by the
had been drained and should long thoughts put into their minds; it
it
since have been cleaned, but the held them entranced with dreams
press of work, James thought, must and illusion until it slit their
have prevented its getting done. throats. It could purr a man to
Slowly he waded out into the sleep, could lull him to suicidal in-
mud, feeling his way, his feet mak- action. It could drive him crazy
ing sucking noises as he pulled with a single flicking thought,
them through the slime. Finally he hurling a perception so foul and
reached the rocky incline that led alien that the mind '
recoiled deep
out of the moat to the island cage. inside itself and stayed there,
He stood 'for a moment, his coiled tight, like a watch that has
hands on the great, wet boulders, been overwound and will not run.
listening, trying to hold his breath It should have budded long ago,
so the sound of it would not inter- but it had fought off its budding,
fere with hearing. The thing that holding back against the day when
howled had quieted and the night it might escape, planning, he real-
was deathly quiet. Or seemed, at ized now, its fight to stay on Earth,
first, to be. Then he heard the little which meant its conquest of Earth.

It had planned, and planned well, any danger. He studied the ground
against this very moment, and it in front of him, probing every
would feel or show no mercy to foot. Distant street lamps lighting
anyone who interfered with it. the zoo walks threw back the total
His hand went down and blackness that had engulfed him as
touched the gun and he felt the he climbed out of the moat, but
muscles in his jaw involuntarily there still were areas of shadow that
tightening and suddenly there was he had to study closely.
at once a lightness and a hardness
in him that had not been there be-
INCH by inch, he squirmed his
fore. He pulled himself up the way along, making sure of the
boulder face, seeking cautious hand- terrain immediately ahead before
and toeholds, breathing shallowly, he moved a muscle. He held the
body pressed against the rock. gun in a rock-hard fist, ready for
Quickly, and surely, and no noise, instant action, watching for the
for he must reach the top and be faintest hint of motion, alert for
there before the ptaidly knew there any hump or irregularity that was
was anyone around. not rock or bush or grass.
The puudly would be relaxed Minutes magnified themselves
and intent upon its. business, en- into hours, his eyes ached with star-
grossed in the budding forth of that ing and the lightness that had been
numerous family that in days to in him drained away, leaving only
come would begin the grim and re- the hardness, which was as tense
lentless crusade to make an alien as a drawn bowstring. A sense of
planet safe for puudlies . and
. . began to seep into his mind
failure
for puudlies alone. and with it came the full-fledged,
That is, if the puudly were here until now unadmitted, realization
and not somewhere else. James of what failure meant, not only for
was orily a human trying to think the world, but for the dignity and
like a puudly and that was not an the pride that was Henderson
easy or a pleasant job and he had James.
no way of knowing if he succeeded. Now, faced with the possibility,
He could only hope that his reason- he admitted to himself the action he
ing was vicious and crafty enough. must take if the puudly were not
His clawing hand found grass here, if he did not find it here and
and earth and he sank his fingers kill it. He would have to notify the
deep into the soil, hauling his body authorities, would have to attempt
up the last few feet of the rock face to alert the police, must plead with
above the pit. newspapers and radio to warn the
He lay flat upon the gently slop- citizenry, must reveal himself as a
ing ground, listening, tensed for man who, through pride and self-

conceit, had exposed the people of safe and, best of all, Henderson
the Earth to this threat against their James was safe safe from in-. . .
hold upon their native planet. dignity, safe from being stripped
They would not believe him. naked of the little defenses he had
They would laugh at him until the built up through the years to shield
laughter died in their torn throats, him against the public stare. He
choked off with their blood. He felt relief flood over him and it left
sweated, thinking of it, thinking of him pulseless and breathless and

the price this city, and the world, feeling clean, but weak.
would pay before it learned the "You fool," fhe dying puudly
truth. said, death clouding its words as
There was a whisper of sound, a they built up in his mind. "You
movement of black against deeper fool, you half-thing, you dupli-
cate ."
black. . .
The puudly rose in front of him, It died then and he felt it die,
not more than six feet away, from felt the life go out of it and leave
itsbed beside a bush. He jerked it empty.
the pistolup and his finger tight-
ened on the trigger.
"Don't," the ptiudly said inside
HE ROSE softly to his feet
he seemed stunned and at
and
his mind. "I'll go along with you." first he thought it was from know-
His finger strained with the care- ing death, from having touched
ful slowness of the squeeze and the hands with death within the
gun leaped in his hand, but even as pitudly s mind.
it did he felt the whiplash of terror The pitudly had tried to fool
slash at his brain, caught for just a him. Faced with the pistol, it had
second the terrible import, the tried to throw him off his balance
mind-shattering obscenity that to give it the second that it needed
glanced off his mind and ricco- to hurl the mind-blasting thought
cheted away. thathad caught at the edge of his
"Too late," he told the ptmdly, brain.If he had hesitated for a
with his voice and his mind and his moment, he knew, it would have
body shaking. "You should have been all over with him. If his finger
tried that first. You wasted precious had slackened for a moment, it
seconds. You would have got me if would have been too late.
you had done it first." The puudly must have known
It had been easy, he assured him- that he would think of the zoo as
self, much easier than he had the first logical place to look and,
thought. The pitudly was dead or even knowing that, it had held him
dying and the Earth and its mil- in enough contempt to come here,
lions of unsuspecting citizens were had not even bothered to try to

watch him, had not tried to
for inal, the real Henderson James,
stalk him, had waited until he was had known every move he made,
almost on top of it before it moved. had known that it was safe so far
And that was queer, for the as that Henderson James might be
puitdly must have known, with its concerned. It had not known of
uncanny mental powers, every move the second Henderson James that
that he had made. It must have had stalked it through the night.
maintained a casual contact with Henderson James, duplicate.
his mind every second of the time Henderson James, temporary.
since it had escaped. He had known Henderson James, here tonight,
that and wait a minute, he
. . .
hadn't known it until this very mo-

ment, although, knowing it now, it
FOR
The
they would not let him live.
seemed as if he had always known Henderson James

original
it. would not allow him to continue
What is the matter with me, he living, and even if he did, the world
thought. There's something wrong would not allow it. Duplicates were
with me. should have known I
I made only for very temporary and
could not surprise the puudly, and very special reasons and it was al-
yet I didn't know it. I must have ways understood that once their
surprised it, for otherwise it would purpose was accomplished they
have finished me off quite leisurely would be done away with.
at any moment after I climbed out Done away with those were
. . .
of the moat. the words exactly. Gotten out of

You fool, the puudly had said. the way. Swept out of sight and
You fool, you half -thing, you dup- mind. Killed as unconcernedly and
licate . . . emotionlessly as one chops off a
You duplicate! chicken's head.
He the strength and the
felt He walked forward and dropped
personality and the hard, unques- on one knee beside the puudly,
tioned identity of himself as Hen- running his hand over its body in
derson James, human being, drain the darkness. Lumps stood out all
out of him, as someone had cut if over it, the swelling buds that now
the puppet string and he, the pup- would never break to spew forth in
pet, had slumped supine upon the a loathsome birth a brood of
stage. puudly pups.
So that was why he had been able He rose to his feet.
to surprise the pundly! The job was done. The puudly
Therewere two Henderson had been killed — killed before it
Jameses. The puudly had been in had given birth to a horde of

contact with one of them, the orig- horrors.

The job was done and he could actly as human as the original. For
go home. the duplicate, from the
processed
Home ? pattern that held every trait and
Of
course, that was the thing characteristic of the man he was to
that had been planted in his mind, become a copy of, would differ in
the thing they wanted him to do. not a single basic factor.
To go home, to go back to the In not a single basic factor, per-
house on Summit avenue, where his haps, but in certain other things.
executioners would wait, to walk For no matter how much the dupli-
back deliberately and unsuspecting- cate might be like his pattern, no
ly to the death that waited. matter how he might
full-limbed
The job was done and his use- spring from his creation, he still
fulness was over. He had been cre- would be a new man. He would
ated to perform a certain task and have the capacity for knowledge
the task was now performed and and for thought and in a little time
while an hour ago he had been a he would have and know and be
factor in the plans of men, he was all the things that his original
no longer wanted. He was an em-
barrassment and superfluous.
Now wait a minute, he told him-
You may
BUT would take some time,
it
self. not be a duplicate. some come to a

short while to
You do not feel like one. full realization of all he knew and
That was true.He felt like Hen- was, some time to coordinate and
derson James. He was Henderson recognize all the knowledge and
James. He lived on Summit avenue experience that lay within his mind.
and had illegally brought to Earth At first he'd grope and search until
a beast known pnudly in order
as a he came upon the things that he
that he might study it and talk to it must know. Until he became ac-
and test its alien reactions, attempt quainted with himself, with the sort
to measure its intelligence and guess of man he was, he could not reach •
at the strength and depth and the out blindly in the dark and put his
direction of its non-humanity. He hand exactly and unerringly upon
had been a fool, of course, to do it, the thing he wished.
and yet at the time it had seemed That had been exactly what he'd
important to understand the dead- done. He had groped and searched.
ly, alien mentality. He had been compelled to think, at
am human, he said, and that
I first, in simple basic truths and
was right, but even so the fact facts.
meant nothing. Of course he was I am a man.
human. Henderson James was hu- I am on a planet called Earth.
man and his duplicate would be ex- I am Henderson James.

I live on Summit avenue. the moated There was a sour
island.
There is a job to do. bitterness in hismouth.
It had been quite a while, he re- He moved a foot and touched
membered now, before he had been the dead puudly.
able to dig out of his mind the na- "I'm sorry," he told the stiffen-
ture of the job. ing body. "I'm sorry now I did it.
There is a puudly to hunt down If I had known, I never would have

and destroy. killed you."
Even now he could not find in Stiffly erect, he moved away.
the hidden, still-veiled recesses of
his mind the many valid reasons Ill
why a man should run so grave a
risk to study a thing so vicious as
a puudly. There were reasons, he
HE STOPPEDner, keeping
at the street cor-
well in the
knew there were, and in a little shadow. Halfway down the block,
time he would know them quite and on the other side, was the
specifically. house. A light burned in one of the
The point was he were
that if rooms upstairs and another on the
Henderson James, original, he post beside the gate that opened
would know them now, know them into the yard, lighting the walk up
as a part of himself and his life, to the door.
without laboriously searching for Just as if, he told himself, the
them. house were waiting for the master
The puudly had known, of to come home. And that, of course,
course. had known, beyond any
It was exactly what it was doing. An
chance of error, that there were old lady of a house, waiting, hands
two Henderson Jameses. It had folded in its lap, rocking very gent-
been keeping tab on one when an- ly in a squeaky chair . . . and with
other one showed up. A mentality a gun beneath the folded shawl.
far less astute than the puudly's His lip lifted in half a snarl as
would have had no trouble in fig- he stood there, looking at the house.
uring that one out. What do they take me for, he
If the puudly had not talked, he thought, putting out a trap in plain
told himself, I never would have sight and one that's not even bait-
known. If it had died at once and ed? Then he remembered. They

not had a chance to taunt me, I would not know, of course, that he
would not have known. I would knew he was a duplicate. They
even now be walking to the house would think that he would think
on Summit avenue. that he was Henderson James, the
He stood lonely and naked of one and only. They would expect
soul in the wind that swept across him to come walking home, quite

naturally, believing he belonged duplicate was not meant to know he
there. So far as they would know, was a duplicate. So far as he was
there would be no possibility of his concerned, he was the original.
finding out the truth: There was no suspicion in him, no
And now that he had ? Now that foreknowledge of the doom that
he was here, across the street from was invariably ordered for him, no
the waiting house? reason for him to be on guard
He had been brought into being, against the death that waited.
had been given life, to do a job The duplicate knitted his brow,
that his original had not dared to trying to puzzle it out.
do, or had not wanted to do. He There was a strange set of ethics
had carried out a killing his orig- here.
inal didn't want to dirty his hands
with, or risk his neck in doing.
Or had it not been that at all, but
HE WAS alive
to stay alive. Life,
and he wanted
once it had
the necessity of two men working been tasted, was too sweet, too
on the job, the original serving as good, to go back to the nothing-
a focus for the pnudly's watchful ness from which he had come . . .
mind while the other man sneaked or would it be nothingness? Now

up to kill it while it watched? that he had known life, now that
No matter what, he had been he .was alive, might he not hope
created, at a good stiff price, from for a life after death, the same as
the pattern of the man that was any other human being? Might not
Henderson James. The wizardry of he, too, have the same human right
man's knowledge, the magic of ma- as any other human to grasp at the
chines, a deep understanding of or- shadowy and glorious promises and
ganic chemistry, of human physi- assurances held out by religion and
ology, of the mystery of had life, by' faith?
made a second Henderson James. It He tried to marshal what he
was legal, of course, under certain knew about those promises and as-
circumstances . . . for example, in surances, but his knowledge was
the case of public policy, and his illusive. A little later he would re-
own creation, he knew, might have member more about it. A little later,
been validated under such a head- when the neural bookkeeper in his
ing. But there were conditions and mind had been able to coordinate
one of these was that a duplicate and activate the knowledge that he
not be allowed to continue living had inherited from the pattern, he
once it had served the specific pur- would know.
pose for which it had been created. He felt a trace of anger stir deep
Usually such a condition was a inside of him, anger at the- unfair-
simple one to carry out, for the ness of allowing him only a few

short hours of life, of allowing him come. An easy thing to sentence to
to learn how wonderful a thing life death a man one had never seen,
was, only to snatch it from him. It even if that man be the walking
was a cruelty that went beyond image of one's self.
mere human cruelty. It was some- It would be a harder decision to
thing that had been fashioned out kill him if you stood face to face
of the distorted perspective of a with him harder to kill some-

. . .
machine society that measured ex- one who would be, of necessity,
istence only in terms of mechanical closer than a brother, someone who
and physical worth, that discarded would be, even literally, flesh of
with a ruthless hand whatever part your flesh, blood of your blood,
of that society had no specific pur- brain of your brain.
pose.
The cruelty, he told himself, was THERE would be a practical side
in ever giving life, not in taking it as well, a great advantage to be
away. able to work with a man who
His original, of course, was the thought as you did, who would be
one to blame. He was the one who almost a second self. It would be
had obtained the puttdly and al- almost as if there were two of you.
lowed it to escape. -It was his fum- A thing like that could be ar-
bling and his inability to correct his ranged. Plastic surgery and a price
error without help which had cre- for secrecy could make your dupli-
ated the necessity of fashioning a cate into an unrecognizable other
duplicate. person. A little red tape, some
And yet, could he blame him? finagling . . . but it could be done.
Perhaps, rather, he owed him It was a proposition that Hender-
gratitude for a few hours of life at son James, duplicate, thought would
least, gratitude for the privilege of interest Henderson James, original.
knowing what life was like. Al- Or at least he hoped it would.
though he could not quite decide The room with the light could
whether or not it was something be reached with a little luck, with
which called for gratitude. strength and agility and determina-
He stood there, staring at the tion. The brick expanse of a chim-
house. That light in the upstairs ney, its base cloaked by shrubs, its
room was in the study off the mas- length masked by a closely growing
ter bedroom. Up
there Henderson tree, ran up the wall. A man could
James, original,was waiting for the climb rough brick face, could
its
word that the duplicate had come reach out and swing himself
home to death. It was an easy thing through the open window into the
to sit there and wait, to sit and lighted room.
wait for the word that was sure to And once Henderson James, orig-

inal, stood face to face with Hen- with a man never knowing whether
derson Jarries, duplicate . . . well, he was safe, never being sure.
it would be less of a gamble. The Something nagged at him, a per-
duplicate thenwould no longer be sistent little fact that skittered
an impersonal factor. He would be through his brain and eluded his
a man and one that was very close efforts to pin it down. It might be
to his original. important and then, again, it might

There would be watchers, but be a random thing, simply a float-
they would be watching the front ing piece of information that was
door. If he were quiet, if he could looking for its pigeonhole.
reach and climb the chimney with- His mind shrugged it off.
out making any noise, he'd be in The quick way or the long way?
the room before anyone would no- He stood thinking for a moment
tice. and then moved swiftly down the
He drew back deeper in the street, seeking a place where he
shadows and considered. It was could cross in shadow.
either get into the room and face He had chosen the short way.
his hope to be able to
original,
strike a compromise with him, or
simply to light out ... to run and
hide and wait, watching his chance
to get completely away, perhaps to
some far planet in some other part
of the Galaxy.
Both ways were a gamble, but
one was quick, would either suc-
ceed or fail within the hour; the
other might drag on for months

IV and enfold him in its comfort of
belonging.
THE. room was empty. Here were the books, the fire-
He stood beside the window, place with its mantel loaded with
quietly, only his eyes moving, souvenirs, the easy chairs, the
searching every corner, checking liquor cabinet and all were a
. . .
against a situation that couldn't part of him, a background that was

seem quite true . . . that Henderson as much a part of Henderson James
James was not here, waiting for as his body and his inner thoughts
the word. were a part of him.
Then he strode swiftly to the This, he thought, is what I
bedroom door and swung it open. would have missed, the experience
His finger found the switch and the I never would have had if the
lightswent on. The bedroom was pnudly had not taunted me. I
empty and so was the bath. He would have died an empty and un-
went back into the study. related body that had no actual
He stood with his back against place in the universe.
the wall, facing the door that led The phone purred at him and he
into the hallway, but his eyes went stood' there startled by it, as if
over the room, foot by foot, orient- some intruder from the outside had
ing himself, feeling himself flow pushed its way into the room, shat-
into the shape and form of it, feel- tering the sense of belonging that
ing familiarity creep in upon him had come to him.

The phone rang again and he "You remember," the duplicate
went across the room and picked said, "that we talked about it."
it up. "I guess I was excited and for-
"James speaking," he said. got," admitted Anderson. "You
"That you, Mr. James?" told me to call you, to make sure
The voice was that of Anderson, you were in your study, though.
the gardener. That's right, isn't it, sir?"
"Why, yes," said the duplicate. "You've called me," the dupli-
"Who did you think it w^s?" cate said, "and I am here."
"We got a fellow here who says "Then the other one out here is
he's you." him?"
Henderson James, duplicate, "Of course," said the duplicate.
stiffened with fright and his hand, "Who else could it be?"
suddenly, was grasping the phone He put the phone back into the
so hard that he found the time to cradle and stood waiting. It came a
wonder why it did not pulverize to moment after, the dull, throaty
bits beneath his fingers. cough of a gun.
"He's dressed like you," the He walked to a chair and sank
gardener "and I knew you
said, into it, spent with the knowledge
went out. Talked to you, remem- of howevents had so been ordered
ber? Told you that you shouldn't? that now, finally, he was safe, safe
Not with us waiting for that . . . beyond all question.
that thing." Soon he would have to change
"Yes," said the duplicate, his into other clothes, hide the gun and
voice so even that he could not be- the clothes that he was wearing.
lieve it was he who spoke. "Yes, The staff would ask no questions,
certainly I remember talking with most likely, but it was best to let
you." nothing arouse suspicion in their
"But, sir, how did you get minds.
back?" He felt his nerves quieting and
"I came in the back way," the he allowed himself to glance about
even voice said into the phone. the room, take in the books and
"Now what's holding you back?" furnishings, the soft and easy . » .
"He's dressed like you." and earned comfort of a man

. . .
"Naturally. Of course he would solidly and unshakably established

be, Anderson." in the world.
He smiled softly.
AND quite
that, to
Anderson
follow,
be
but
sure, didn't "It will be nice,"
It had been easy.
he
Now
said.
that it
wasn't too bright to start with and was over, seemed ridiculously
it
now he was somewhat upset. easy. Easy because he had never

seen the man who had walked up "I see," said James, though he
to the door. was easy to kill a
It didn't.
man you have never seen. "We did this one a little differ-
With each passing hour he ently," Allen explained. "An ex-

would slip deeper and deeper into periment that we thought we'd try
the personality that was his by out. Slow poison in his blood-
right of heritage. There would be stream. Just another precaution.
no one to question, after a time not Probably not necessary, but we like
even himself, that he was Hender- to be positive. In case he fails to
son James. show up, you needn't worry any."
The phone rang again and he "I am sure he will show up."
got up to answer it. Allen chuckled."Twenty-four
A pleasant voice told him, "This hours. Like a time bomb. No anti-
is Allen, over at the duplication dote for it even if he found out
lab. We've been waiting for a re- somehow."
port from you." "It was good of you to let me
"Well," said James, "I . .
." know," said James.
"I just called," interrupted "Glad to," said Allen. "Good
Allen, "to tell you not to worry. It night, Mr. James."
slipped my mind before." —CLIFFORD D. SIMAK
THERE'S STILL TIME

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Socrates
By JOHN CHRISTOPHER
HAD closed the lab for the Jennings, the caretaker, was
and was walking
afternoon holding a young puppy in his hand
I down toward the front gate,
meaning to take a bus into town,
and beating its head against the
stone wall. At his feet were three
when I heard the squeals from the dead puppies, and as I came
direction of the caretaker's cottage. through the gate he tossed a fourth
I'm fond of animals and hate to among them, and picked up the last
hear them in pain, so I walked squirming remnant of the litter. I
through the gate into the cottage called out sharply:

yard. What I saw horrified me. "Jennings! What's going on?"
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A man's best friend may be his dog . . . but a dog's is not
necessarily his master. A dog like Socrates, especially.
Illustrated by PETER BURCHARD
He turned to face me, still hold- "Here," he went on, "have a look
ing the puppy in his hand. He is a at this and you'll see why."
surly-looking fellow at best, but I closely. It was the queer-
looked
now he looked thunderous. est pup
had ever seen. It had a
I
"What the hell do you think I'm dirty, tan coat and abnormally thick
doing?" he demanded. "Killing off legs. But it was the head that drew
a useless litter — that's what I'm do- attention. It must have been fully
ing." four times the size of any ordinary
He held the pup out for me to pup of its breed; so big that, al-
observe. though its neck was sturdy, the
SOCRATES 85
head seemed to dangle on it like an fantastically to suggest that it had
apple on a stalk. been listening to our conversation,
"It's a queer one, all right," I and knew its fate was sealed. I
admitted. grabbed hold of Jennings' arm
"Queer?" he exclaimed. "It's a pretty roughly.
monster, that's what it is." He "Hold on," I said. "When did
looked at me angrily. "And I know you say those pups were born?"
the cause of it. I'm not a fool. There "This morning," he growled.
was a bit in the Sunday papers a I said, "But its eyes are open.
couple of weeks back about it. It's And look at the color! Have you
them electrical X-ray machines you ever seen an airedale with blue eyes
have up at the House. It said in the before?"
paper about X-rays being able to He laughed unpleasantly. "Has
influence what's to be born and anybody ever seen an airedale with
make monsters of them. And look a head like that before, or a coat
at this for a litter of pedigree aire- like that? It's no more an airedale
dales; not one that would make than I am. It's a cur. And I know
even a respectable mongrel. Thirty how to deal with it."
quid the price of this litter at the

very least." THE though
pup was whining
realizing the
to itself,
"It's a pity," I said, "but I'm as futil-
pretty sure the company won't ac- ity of making louder noises. I
cept responsibility. You must have pulled my wallet out.

let your bitch run loose beyond the "I'll give you a quid for it," I
inner gate and there's no excuse for said.

bad you didn't see that
that. It's too He whistled. "You must be
bit in Sunday paper a few
the mad," he said. "But why should
weeks earlier; you might have kept that worry me? It's yours for the
her chained up more. You know money. Taking it now?"
you've been warned about going "I can't," I said. "My landlady
near the plant." wouldn't me. But I'll pay you
let
"Yes," he snarled, "I know what ten bob a week if you will look
chance I've got of getting money after it till I can find it a place. Is
out of those crooks. But at least I it a deal?"
can get some pleasure out of brain- He put his hand out again. "In
ing this lot." advance?"
He prepared to swing the pup I paid him.
against the wall. It had been quiet "I'll look after it, guv'nor, even
while we were talking, but now it though it goes against the grain. At
gave one low howl and opened any rate it'll give Glory something
large eyes in a way that seemed to mother."

AT LEAST
times twice,
once a day, some-
I used to call in
broad-browed, most uncanine
Jennings said one day, "Thought
face.
to see how
the pup was getting of a name for him yet?"
along. was progressing amazing-
It "Yes," I said. "I'm going to call
ly. At the end of the second week him Socrates."
Jennings asked for an increase of "Socrates?" repeated Jennings.
2/66.. in the charge for keeping it, "Something to do with football?"
and I had to agree. It had fed from I smiled. "There was another
the mother for less than a week, great thinker with that name sev-
after which it had begun to eat its eral thousand years ago. A Greek."
own food, and with a tremendous "Oh," Jennings said scornfully,
appetite. "a Greek . .
."
Jennings scratched his unkempt One Friday evening I brought a

head when he looked at it. "I don't down to see
friend Socrates —a man
know. I've never seen a dog like it. who had made a study of dogs.
Glory didn't give it no lessons in Jennings wasn't in. This didn't sur-
eating or drinking. It just watched prise me because he habitually got
her from the corner and one day, drunk at least one evening a week
when I brought fresh stuff down, and Friday was his favorite. I took
it set on it like a wolf. It ain't nat- my friend around to the kennels.
ural." He didn't say anything when he
Watching the pup eat, I was saw the pup, which was now, after
amazed myself. It seemed to have three weeks, the size of a large fox-
more capacity for food than its terrier.He examined it carefully,
mother, and you could almost see as though he were judging a prize
it putting on weight and size. And winner at Cruft's. Then he put it
its cleverness! It was hardly more down and turned to me.
than a fortnight old when I sur- "How old did you say this dog
prised it carefully pawing the latch is?" he asked.
of the kennel door open, to get at I told him.
some food that Jennings had left He
shook his head. "If it were
outside while going out to open the anyone but you who told me, I
gates. But even at that stage I don't would call him a liar," he said.
think was such superficial tricks
it "Man, I've never seen anything
that impressed me, so much as the like it. And that head . . . You say
way I would catch it watching the rest of the litter were the
Jennings and me as we leaned over same?"
the kennel fence discussing it. "The bodies looked identical," I
There was such an air of attentive- told him. "That's what impressed
ness about the way it sat, with one me. You are liable to get queer
ear cocked, a puzzled frown on that freak mutations round these new
SOCRATES 87
labs of ours —
double-headed rats PRIVATE. NO ADMITTANCE.
and that sort of thing— but five the
same in one litter! That looked I the door, but it was
tried
like a true mutation to me." locked. looked around. Jennings
I
He said, "Mutations I'm a bit was watching me.

shaky about, but five alike in one "Hello, Professor," he said.
litter look like a true breed to me. "Can't you read?"
What a tragedy that fool killed I said, "Jennings, I've come for
them." the pup. My friend is going to look-
"He killed might
a goose that after him at his' kennels."
have laid him some very golden Jennings grinned. "Sorry," he
eggs," I said. "Quite apart from said, "the dog's not for sale."
the scientific importance of it — "What do you mean?" I ex-

should imagine a biologist would claimed. "I boughthim four weeks
go crazy at the thought- —a new ago. And I've been paying you for
mutated breed like this would have his keep."
been worth a packet. Even this one "You got any writing that says
dog might have all sorts of possi- that, Professor?" he asked. "You
bilities. Look!" got a bill of sale?"
Socrates had pushed an old tin "Don't be ridiculous, Jennings,"
against the wall of the kennel and I "Open the door up."
said.
was using it in an .attempt to scale "You even got any witnesses?"

the fence barring the way to the he asked. He came over to me con-
outer world. His paws scrabbled in fidentially.
vain a few inches from the top. "Look," he said, "you're a fair
"Good God!" my friend said. "If man. I heard you telling your
it can do that after a month
." . . friend last night that dog's a gold
mine. You know I own him by
WE TURNED
kennels.
and
As we came out
left the
I
rights.
self.
Here, I'm a fair
Here's three pounds
man my-
five; the
collided with Jennings. He reeled money I've had from you in the
drunkenly past us. last You know he's my
four weeks.
"Come to feed little Shocratesh," gold mine by rights. You wouldn't
he said thickly. try to do a man like me. You know
I held his shoulder. "That's all I paid five quid stud fee for that
right," I said. "We've seen to litter."
them." "It was a bargain," I said. "You

When dropped in the follow-
I were going to throw the pup at the
ing day, I was surprised to see a wall— don't forget that. You
huge, roughly painted sign hanging wouldn't even know
dog was the
over the kennel door. It read: anything out of the ordinary now,

except for listening to a private con- I wentand bought a seat in
in
versation last night." found my I the front There were some
row.
wallet. "Here's ten pounds. That knockabout comedians fooling to-
will make good the stud fee and a gether on the stage; and after them
little extra profit for yourself into a team of rather tired-looking acro-
the bargain." bats. Jennings was the third in ap-
He shook his head. "I'm not pearance. He strode on to a fanfare

selling, Professor. And I know my of trumpets, and behind him loped
rights in the law. You've got no Socrates.
proof; I've got possession." He wasbigger and his rough, tan
I "You idiot! What can
said, coat was shaggier than ever. His
you do with him ? He will have to head was more in proportion to his
be examined by scientists, tested, body, too, but it was still huge. He
trained. You don't know anything looked nearer to a St. Bernard than
about it." any breed I could think of, but he
Jennings spat on the ground. was very little like a St. Bernard.
"Scientists!" he exclaimed. "No, He was just Socrates, with the same
I'm not taking him to no scientists. blue eyes blazing that had surprised
I've got a bit of money saved up. me that afternoon four months be-
I'm off away from here tomorrow. fore.
/'// do the training. And you watch Jennings had taught him tricks,
the theaters for the big bill boards all right. As they reached the center
in few months' time George
a — of the stage, Socrates staggered up
Jennings and his Wonder Dog, on hind legs, waddled to the
to his
Socrates I'll be up at the West End
! footlights and saluted the audience.
inside a year." He swung effortlessly from the
trapezes the acrobats had left,
WAS only three months later

ITthat spelled out words in reply to
I saw the name on the bills Jennings' questions, pulling alpha-
outside the Empire Theater in Bar- bet blocks forward with his teeth.
caster. There had been no word He went through all the repertoire
from Jennings during that time. dogs usually follow, cap-
that trick
As he had said he would, he had ping them with an assurance that
gone with the dog, vanishing com- made the audience watch in respect-
pletely. Now he was back, and the ful silence. But when he left, walk-
bill read as he had told me it ing stiffly off the stage, the ovation
would: was tremendous. They came back

half a dozen times for encores,
GEORGE JENNINGS Socrates saluting gravely each time
AND HIS WONDER DOG, the mob of hysterical humans be-
SOCRATES fore him. When they had left for
SOCRATES 89
the last time, I walked out, too. nings' chair and dropped into
I bribed the doorman to let me immobility, head couched between
know the name of Jennings' hotel. powerful paws.
He wasn't staying with the rest of "You seen our show?" Jennings
the music-hall people but by him- asked.
self in the Grand. I walked over I nodded.
there late in the evening, and had "Great, isn't it? But it's only the
my name sent up. The small, beginning. We're going to show
grubby page boy came back in a few them! Socrates, do the new trick."
minutes. Socrates jumped up and left the
"Mr. Jennings says you're to go room, returning a moment later
right up," he told me, and added pulling a small wooden go-cart,
the floor and room number. gripping a rope attached to it in
his teeth. I noticed that the cart had
KNOCKED and heard Jen- a primitive pedal arrangement near
I nings' voice answer, "Come in
!"
the front, fixed to the front wheels.
He seemed more prosperous than Socrates suddenly leaped into the
the Jennings had known, but
I cart, and, moving the pedals with
there was the same shifty look about his paws, propelled himself along
him. He was sitting in front of the the room. As he reached the wall,
fire wearing an expensive blue-and- the cart swerved and I noticed that
gold dressing gown, and as I en- his tail worked a rudderlike ar-
tered the room he poured himself rangement for steering. He went
whisky from a decanter. I noticed the reverse length of the room and
that his hand shook slightly. turned again, but this time failed
"Why," he said thickly, "if it to allow enough clearance. The cart
isn't the professor! Always a hit the side wall and Socrates
pleasure to see old friends. Have a toppled off.
drink, Professor." Jennings rose to his feet in an in-

He helped me to whisky. stant. He snatched a whip from the
"Here's to you, Professor," he wall, and, while Socrates cowered,
said, "and to Socrates, the Wonder thrashed him viciously, cursing him
Dog!" all the time for his failure.
I said, "Can I see him?" jumped forward and grappled
I
He grinned. "Any time you like. with Jennings. At last I got the
Socrates!" whip away from him and he fell
A door pushed open and Socrates back exhausted in the chair and
walked in, magnificent in his bear- reached for the whisky decanter.
ing and in the broad, intelligent I said angrily, "You madman! Is
face from which those blue eyes this how you train the dog?"
looked out. He advanced to Jen- He looked up at me over his

whisky glass. "Yes," he said, "this crazy, but I had to do it. I whis-
is my way of training him ! A dog's pered to him:

got to learn respect for his mas- "Socrates, follow me back as
ter. He doesn't understand any- soon as you can get away. Here,
thing but the whip. Socrates!" take the scent from my coat."
He lifted whip hand, and
his I held my sleeve out to him, and
the dog cowered down. he sniffed it. He wagged his huge,
"I've trained him," he went on. bushy tail slowly. Then Jennings
"He's going to be the finest per- was back with his billheads, and I
forming dog in the world before made my excuses and left.
I'm through." I walked back —
a matter of two
I said, "Look, Jennings, I'm not or three miles. The more I
a rich man, but I've got friends thought, the more insane did it
who will advance me money. I'll seem that the dog could have heed-
get you a thousand pounds for ed and understood my message. It
Socrates." had been an irrational impulse.
I had found new accommodation
HE SNEERED.
on
"So you want
cash in the theaters, too?"
to in the months since Jennings' dis-
appearance; in a cottage with a
"Ipromise that if you sell friendly, old couple. I had brought
Socrates to me, he will never be Tess, my own golden retriever,
used for profit by anyone." from home, and they both adored
He laughed. "A hell of a lot I her. She was sitting on the inside
carewhat would happen to him if window ledge as I walked slowly
I sold him. But I'm not selling; up the garden path, and her barks
not for a penny under £20,000. brought old Mrs. Dobby to the
Why, the dog's a gold mine." door to let me in. Tess came bounc-
"You are determined about ing to meet me and her silky paws
that?" I asked. were flung up toward my chest. I
He got up again. "I'll get you patted and stroked her into quiet-
the advance bills for our next enness and, after washing, settled
gagement," he said. "Top billing down to a pleasant tea.
already! Hang on; they're only next Two or three hours later, the
door." Dobbys having gone to bed, I was
He walked out unsteadily. I sitting reading by the fire when I
looked down to where Socrates lay, heard a voice at the door.
watching everything in the way I called, "Who's there?"

that had fascinated me when he This time it was a little more
was a pup. I called to him softly: distinct, though still garbled, as
"Socrates." though by a person with a faulty

He pricked up his ears. I felt palate. I heard, "Socrates."
SOCRATES 91
I threw the door open quickly. I said, in amazement, "But,
Socrates stood there, eyes gleaming, Socrates, you are barely four
tail alert. I looked beyond him into months old!"
the shadows. His brow wrinkled. "Yes.
"Who's brought you, old chap?" Strange. Everything goes so fast for
me. Big old ."
I asked. . . . . .
Socrates looked up. His powerful "Maturity," I supplied. "Of

jaws opened. I could see teeth course there have
been 'talking
gleaming whitely. dogs' before, but they were just
Socrates said, slurring the words, stunts, no real intelligence. Do you
but intelligible, "Me. Can speak." realize what a phenomenon you are,
Socrates?"
BROUGHT him in, shelving The vast canine face seemed to
I my incredulity. Sitting in the smile. "How- not realize?" he
Dobbys' cosy room in front of a asked. "All other dogs —such fools.
glowing fire, it seemed more fan- Why that, Professor?"

tastic than ever. Half to myself, I I told him of his birth. He
said, "I can't believe it." seemed to grasp the idea of X-ray
Socrates had sat down on the mutation very easily. I suppose one
rug. "True, though," he said. can always swallow the facts of

I "Does Jennings know?"
asked, one's own existence. He remem-
Socrates replied, "No. Have told bered very little of that month
first
no one else. Would only make into of infancy. When I told him of the
tricks." fate of the rest of his litter, he was
"But Jennings knows you can saddened.

hear and understand things?" "Perhaps best not to know that,"
"Yes. Could not hide. Jennings he said. "Sad to think I might have
whips until I learn. Easier to learn had brothers and sisters like me.
at once." Not to be always a trick dog."
His voice, a kind of low, articu- "You don't need to be a trick
late growling, became more readily dog, Socrates," I said. "Look,
understandable as I listened to it. we'll go away. I've got friends who
After a few minutes it did not will help. You need never see
seem at all strange that I was sit- Jennings again."
ting by the fire talking to a half- Socrates said, "No. Not possible.
grown but large mongrel dog. He Jennings the master. I must go
told me how he had practiced hu- back."
man speech by himself, forcing his "But he beats you! He may beat
throat to adapt itself to the com- you for going out now."
plexities, succeeding through a "He will," Socrates said. "But
long process of trial and error. worth it to come see you."

"Look, Socrates,'' I said. "Jen- You were a fluke, an accident.
nings isn't your master. No free X-rays make monsters; once in a
intelligence should be a slave to million, million times, perhaps,
another. Your intelligence is much something like you happens."
more advanced than Jennings'." The bushy tail drooped discon-
The big head shook. "For men, solately. The huge head rested a
all right. Dogs different." moment between his paws. Then he
"But you aren't even Jennings' stood up, four-legged, an outcast.
dog," I said. I told him the story "Must go now. Will come again
of Jennings' trickery; how he had soon."
sold Socrates to me and then re- I let him out and saw him lope
fused acknowledge the
to sale. away into the night. I turned back
Socrates was not impressed. into the warm room. I
firelit
"Always Jennings' dog," he thought of Socrates, running back

"Not remember anything
said. else. through the night to Jennings' whip
Must go back. You not dog —not and I knew what anger and despair
understand." were.
I said half-heartedly, "We
would have a fine time, Socrates. SOCRATES came quite frequent-
You could learn all sorts of things. ly after that. He would sit in
And be free, completely free." front of me while I read to him
But I it knew
was no use. from books. At first he wanted to
Socrates, he said, was still a
as be taught to read for himself, but
dog, even though an intelligent the difficulty of turning pages with
one, and the thousands of years of his clumsy paws discouraged him.
instinctive slavery to a human mas- I him from all the books he
read to
ter had not been quenched by the wanted.
light that brought intelligence and His appetite was voracious, but
reasoning to his brain. lay chiefly along non-technical
He said, "Will come here to lines; naturally enough, in view of
learn. Will get away often." the impossibility of his ever being
"And be beaten by Jennings able to do even the simplest manual
every time you go back?" experiments. Philosophy interested
Socrates shivered convulsively. him, and I found my own educa-
"Yes," he said. "Worth it. Worth tion improving with Socrates' as he
it to learn things. You teach?" led me deeper and deeper into
"I'll teach- you anything I can, mazes of idealism, epistemology and
Socrates," I promised. sublineation. He enjoyed poetry,
'Can mutate more dogs like too, and composed a few rough
7" poems, which had the merit of a
me.'
I hated to say it. "No, Socrates. strange non-human approach. But
SOCRATES ?3
he would not let me write them when he changed his speech into a
down; now I can remember only a growlas they came into the house
few isolated lines. from the garden. But they accepted
His most intense interest was in his strange appearances and disap-
an unexpected field. I mentioned pearances quite easily, and always
casually one day some new develop- made a fuss of him when he hap-
ment in psychical research, and his pened to turn up during my ab-
mind fastened on the subject im- sence.
mediately. He told me he could see
all sorts of queer things which he
knew humans could at the best sense
WE DID times
not always read. At
we would go out into
only vaguely. He spent nearly an the and he and Tess would
fields,
hour one evening describing to me disappear in search of rabbits and

the movements of a strange spiral- birds and all the other things that
shaped thing that, he said, was fascinate dogs in the country. I
spinning around slowly in one cor- would see them a field away, breast-
ner of my room, now and then in- ing the wind together. Socrates bad-
creasing and decreasing in size and ly needed such outings. Jennings
making sudden jumps. I walked rarely took him out, and, as Soc-
over to the place he indicated and rates spent all the time he could
put my hand through vacancy. filch from Jennings' training activi-
"Can hear it, too," Socrates said. ties with me, he saw no other dogs
"High, sweet noise." and had no other exercise. Tess was
"Some people have unusual very fond of him and sometimes
senses and report similar things," I whined when we shut her out from
told him. my room, in order to read and talk
He made me read through every undisturbed. I asked Socrates about
book I could find on paranormal her once.
phenomena, in search of explana- He said, "Imagine all dogs in-
tions of the oddities that surround- telligent; all men You the
fools.
ed him, but they annoyed him. only intelligent man. You talk to
"So many fools," he said wearily, dogs, but you not like pretty wo-
when we put down one book that men, even though they are fools?"
had painstakingly linked up polter- Then, for months, Socrates dis-
geists with angels. "They did not appeared, and I learned that Jen-
see. They only wanted to. They nings was touring the no/th of
thought they did." England, having a sensational suc-
The Dobbys were a little curious cess. I saw also the announcement
at my new habit of reading aloud that he was to return to Barcaster
in my room, and once I saw them for a fortnight early in November.
glancing suspiciously at Socrates I waited patiently. On the morn-

ing before he was due to open, had been raining for days, and he
Socrates returned. was wet through. He would not
He was looking as fit as ever stay in front of the fire to dry. The
physically, but mentally the tour rain was slackening a little. I took
had been a strain for him. In my raincoat, and, with Tess frisking
philosophy he had always inclined beside us, we set out. We walked
to defeatism, but had been defeat
it on in silence. Even Tess grew sub-
with a sense of glory. He had rev- dued.
eled in Stapledon's works, and At last, Socrates said, "Can't go
drawn interesting comparisons be- on for long. Whipped me again
tween himself and Stapledon's won- last night. Felt something burn my
der sheepdog. Now, however, there mind. Almost tore his throat out.
was a listlessness about him that 1 will do it soon and they will shoot
made his defeatism a drab and un- me."

happy thing. He would not read "They won't shoot you," I said.
philosophy, but lay silent while I "You come to me. You will be all
read poetry to him. right. Come now, Socrates. Surely
you don't want to go on serving
JENNINGS, I discovered, had Jennings when you know you may
steadily increased his bouts of have to kill him?"
drunkenness. Socrates told me that He shivered, and the raindrops
he had to carry the act by himself ran off his shaggy back.
now; Jennings was generally too "Talking no good," he said. "I
drunk to give even the most ele- must go back. And if he whips me
mentary instructions on the stage. too much, I must kill him. I will
And, of course, with the drunk- be shot. Best that way."
enness came the whippings. There We had reached the river. I
were nasty scars on the dog's back. paused on the bridge that spanned
I treated them as well as I could, it a few inches above the swirling
but increasingly I hated and dread- currents of the flood, and looked
ed the time when he would say, out. The river was high after the
"Must go now," and I would see rain, running even more swiftly
him lope off, tail low, to face than it usually did. Less than a
Jennings' drunken fury. quarter of a mile away was the fall,
I remonstrated with him again, where the water cascaded over the
begging him to come away with me, brink into a raging turmoil below.
but it was beyond reason. The cen- I was looking at it abstractedly
turies of slavery could not be eradi- when Iheard Jennings' voice.
cated. He always went back to He stood at the other end of the
Jennings. bridge. He was raging drunk.
Then he came one afternoon. It He called, "So there you are!
SOCRATES 95
And that's what you've been up away, staggered, fell —and disap-
to — sneaking off to visit the pro- peared into the violently flowing
fessor. I thought I might catch you river.
here." I saw his face appear a few

Headvanced menacingly up the yards down. He screamed and went
bridge. "What you need, my lad, under again. I turned to Socrates.
is a taste of the whip." "It's all over," I said. "You are
He was brandishing it as he free. Come homes Socrates."
walked. I waited until he had al- The head appeared again, and
most reached the place where Soc- screamed more faintly. Socrates
rates was cowering on the boards, stirred. He called to Jennings for
waiting for the blow, and then I the first and last time:
charged him savagely. He fought "Master!"
for a moment, but I was sober and Then he was over the bridge and
he was not. caught one of his legs
I swimming down franttcally toward
and twisted. He pulled viciously the drowning man. I called after

him, but he took no notice. I cannot see, his contribution to
thought of jumping in myself, but knowledge would have been tre-
I knew I could not last even to mendous. And when I think that he
reach him. With Tess at my heels, was less than a year old when he
I raced round the bank to the place died, the lost possibilities awe and
where the water roared over the sadden me.
fall. I cannot escape the conclusion
I saw them just as they reached that at his full maturity he would
the fall. Socrates had reached him, have outstripped all the specialists
and was gripping the coat in his in the strange fields he might have
teeth. He tried to make for the chosen to work in.
bank, but there was no chance. There is just one thing that wor-
They swept over the edge and into ries me still. His was a true muta-
the fury below. I watched for their tion; the identical litter showed
reappearance for some time, but that. But was it a dominant one?
they did not come up. Could the strength and vigor of his
They never came up. intelligence rise above the ordinary
I think sometimes of the things traits of an ordinary dog? It's a
Socrates might have done if he had point that means a great deal.
been given the chance. If only for Tess is going to have pups.
those queer things he saw that we —JOHN CHRISTOPHER
SOCRATES 97
Trusting allies on the same planet can be difficult
enough. But what about allies light-years from you?

TYRANN By ISAAC ASiMOV
Conclusion of a 3-Part Serial
Illustrated by JOHN BUNCH
SYNOPSIS imposture fails, and upon arrival on

Rhodia, the largest planet of the
DT)IRON FARR1LL, having

taped a death trap on Earth,
es- Nebular Kingdoms, is
the wily
delivered to
Simok Aratap, Tyrannian
where he was completing his col- Commissioner of the Region.
lege education, learns from Sander Meanwhile, Sander Jonti has
Jonti, who, like Biron, is a native been searching for a mysterious doc-
of the Nebular Kingdoms of the ument said to date back to the pre-
Galaxy, that the elder Farrill, Bi- atomic age on Earth, for which Bi-
ron' s father, has been captured and ron had earlier been searching on
probably executed by the Tyranni. behalf of his father, and the pos-
The Tyranni are natives of the plan- session of which is supposed to be
et Tyrann, and, fifty years earlier, vital for the success of the con-
had conquered nil the Nebular spiracy against Tyrann. He finds
Kingdoms. that thedocument has been stolen
Biron leaves Earth under an as- from the Earth's archives twenty
sumed identity, but the attempted years before..
TYRANN 99
On Rbodia. Aratap releases Bi- They head for Lingane. During the
ron, although aware of his identity, Biron and Artemisia find them-
trip,
in order to trace, through him, the selves falling in love.

larger threads of the conspiracy. At Lingane, they contact the Au-
Biron approaches Hiurik, Director tarch, who boards their ship. The
of Rbodia, who is a tool of the Ty- Autarch turns out to be Sander
ranni, and who, instead of respond- Jonti. Biron is furious. He has rea-
'
ing to Biron' s plea for help, decides son to suspect that the original
that be has been sent merely as a death trap on Earth was set by fonti
lest of his own loyally to Tyrann, himself, rather than by. the Tyranni.
and therefore orders Biron' s arrest fonti admits this and explains that
and re-delivery to Aralap. he did so in order to send Biron to
Biron escapes from the palace the Nebular Kingdoms as a decoy
with the help of Gillbret, Hinrik's in order to divert suspicion from
cousin, who hales the Tyranni, and the real conspiracy. He asks for cus-
Artemisia, Hinrik's daughter, who tody of Artemisia, and, when Biron
is faced with a possible marriage refuses, tells him that Biron' s fa-
of slate with an elderly Tyrannian ther was executed as a result of in-

nobleman and can't abide the formation given the Tyranni by
thought. The three steal Aratap's Hiurik of Rbodia.
own space-yacht and escape into fonti also informs them that be
space. They are not aware of the is not the organizer of the "Rebel-
fact that Tyranni ships are equipped lion World," but that he, too, is
with devices which enable them to anxious to find it. From Gillbret'
maintain contact with one another story, he has deduced that it can
through cosmic distances. Aratap, exist only near one of five possible
still on giving Biron enough
intent stars within the Horsebead Nebula
rope, follows, without making any itself.
immediate attempt to capture them. He proposes that they enter the

On the space-yacht, meanwhile, Nebula in order to investigate the
Gillbret tells Biron and Artemisia five stars, one by one.
that twenty years earlier, he had Meanwhile, Biron and Artemisia
been stranded in space through an have been estranged because of fon-
accident and come across a hidden ti' s information that her father had
world secretly organizing a military betrayed Biron's father to execu-

power for use against the Tyranni. tion by the Tyranni.
He believes the organizer of this Closely behind them, and un-
'Rebellion World" to be the Au- known to them, the Tyranni fleet,
tarch of Lingane, an outlying ivorld under Aratap and Hinrik, are in
of the Nebular Kingdoms, never pursuit.
fully conquered by the Tyranni. The story concludes:

CHAPTER XV computer. Rizzett's voice brought
him back.
The Hole in Space The Linganian had an all- cast
inclusive glance about room. the
TEDOR RIZZETT Biron entered the pilot room

turned as "First time I've ever seen a Tyran-
nian vessel from the inside. Don't
was gray, but
again. His hair care much for it. Now you've got
his body was still vigorous and his the emergency airlock due astern,
face was broad, red, and smiling. haven't you? It seems to me the
He covered the distance between power-thrusters girdle the mid-sec-
himself and Biron in a stride and tion."
seized the young man's hand heart- "That's right."
ily. "Good. Then there won't be any
"By the stars," he said, "I'd need trouble. Some of the old model
no word from you to tell me that ships have power-thrusters due
you are your father's son. It is the astern, so that trailers had to be set
old Rancher alive again." off at an angle. This makes the
"I wish it were," said Biron, gravity adjustment difficult and the
somberly; maneuverability in atmospheres just
Rizzett's smile faltered. "So do about nil."
we Every one of us.
all. I'm Tedor "How long will it take, Rizzett?"
Rizzett, by the way. I'm a colonel in "Not long. How big would you
the regular Linganian forces, but want it?"
we don't use titles in our own little "How big could you get it?"
game. We even say merely 'sir' to "Super-de-luxe? Sure. If the Au-
the Autarch. That reminds me." He tarch says so, there's no higher pri-
looked grave. "We don't have ority. We can get one that's
Lords and Ladies or even Ranchers practically a spaceship in itself. It
on Lingane. I hope I won't offend would even have its own auxiliary
if I forget to throw in the proper motors."
title sometimes." "It would have living quarters,
Biron shrugged. "As you said, I suppose."
no titles in our little game. But "For Miss Hinriad? It would be
what about the trailer? I'm to make considerably better than you have
arrangements with you, I take it." here."
For a flickering moment, he At the mention of her name, Ar-
looked across the room. Gillbret temisia had drifted past coldly and
was seated, quietly listening. Arte- slowly, moving out of the pilot
nisia had her back to him. Her slim, room. Biron's eyes followed her.
pale fingers wove an abstracted Rizzett said, "I guess I shouldn't
pattern on the photo-contacts of the have said Miss Hinriad."
TYRANN 101
"It's nothing. Pay no attention. right, Rizzett, but that's the way it
You were saying?" will have to be."

"Oh, about the rooms. At least "Well, don't say I didn't warn
two sizable ones, with a communi- you. It will be your argument.
cating shower. It's got the usual What else?"
closet room and plumbing arrange- "Little things. A supply of de-
ments of the big liners. She would tergents. Oh, yes, and cosmetics,
be comfortable." perfume, the things women need.
"Good. We'll need food and wa- We'll make the arrangements in
ter." time. Let's get the trailer started."
"Sure. Water tank will hold a And now Gillbret was leaving
two months' supply; a little less if without speaking. Biron's eyes fol-
you want to arrange for a swim- lowed him, too, and he felt his jaw-
ming pool aboard ship. And you muscles tighten. Hinriads! Gillbret
would have frozen whole meats. was one and she was another.
You're eating Tyranni concentrate He said, "And, of course, there'll
now, aren't you?" be clothes for Mr. Hinriad and
Biron nodded and Rizzett gri- myself. They're not important."
maced. "It tastes like chopped saw- "Right! Mind if I use your
dust, doesn't it? Want anything radio? I'd' on this ship
better stay
else?" till the adjustments are made."
"A supply of clothes for the
lady," said -Biron. BIRON waited, while the or-
Rizzett wrinkled his forehead. ders went out. Then Rizzett

"Yes, of course. Well, that will be turned on the seat and said, "I
her job." can't get used to seeing you here,
"It won't. We'll supply you with moving, talking, alive. You're so
all necessary measurements, and you like him. The Rancher used to
can supply us with whatever we ask speak about you every once in a
for in whatever the current styles while. You went to school on
happen to be." Earth, didn't you?"
Rizzett laughed shortly and shook "I did. I would have graduated
his head. "Rancher, she won't like a little over a week ago, if things
that. She wouldn't be satisfied with hadn't been interrupted."
any clothes she didn't pick. Not Rizzett looked uncomfortable.
even if they were the identical items "Look, about your being sent to
she would have picked if she had Rhodia the way you were. You
been given- the chance. This isn't mustn't hold it against us. We
a guess, now. I've had experience didn't like it. I mean, this is strict-
with the creatures." ly between us, but some of the

Biron said, "I'm sure you're boys didn't like it at all. The Au-

tarch didn't consult us, of course. walking down the corridor, he'd
You couldn't expect him to. Frank- step aside, and say a pleasant word
ly, it was a risk on his part. Some or two, and, for the rest of the
—
of us I'm not mentioning names day, the apprentice would feel like
— even wondered if we shouldn't a Master Engineman. It was the
stop the liner you were on and way the Rancher had.
.
take you off. Naturally, that would "Not that he was soft. If you
have been the worst thing we could needed disciplining, you got it, but
possibly do. Still, we might have no more than your share. What
done it, except that in the last you got, you deserved, and you
analysis we knew the Autarch must knew it. When he was through, he
know what he was doing." was through. He didn't keep throw-
ing it at you at odd moments for
<<TT'S nice to be able to inspire a week or so. That was the
-L that kind of confidence." Rancher.
"We know him. There's no "Now the Autarch, he's differ-
denying it, he's got it here." He ent. He's pure brains. You can't
slowly tapped his forehead. "No- get next to him, no matter, who
body knows exactly what makes you For instance, he doesn't
are.
him take a certain course some- really have a sense of humor. I

times, yet it always seems the right can't speak to him the way I'm
one. At least he's outsmarted the speaking to you. Right now I'm
Tyranni so far and others don't." justtalking. I'm relaxed. It's al-
"Like my father, for instance." most free association. With him,
"I wasn't thinking of him, ex- you say exactly what's on your
actly, but, in a sense, you're right. mind with no spare words. And
Even Rancher was caught.
the you use formal phraseology, or
Well, he was a different kind of he'll tell you you're slovenly. But
man. His way of thinking was then, the Autarch's the Autarch,
straight.He would never allow for and that's that."
crookedness. He would always un- Biron said, 'Til have to agree
derestimate the worthlessness of with you as far as the Autarch's
the next man. But then again, that brains are concerned. Did you
was what we liked best, somehow. know that he had deduced my pres-
He was the same to everyone. ence aboard this ship, before he
"I'm a commoner, for all I'm a ever got on?"
colonel. My father was a metal- "He did? We
didn't know that.
worker, you see. It didn't make any Now, there, that's what I mean.
difference to the Rancher. And it He was going to go aboard the
wasn't that I was a colonel, either. Tyrannian cruiser alone. To us, it
If he met the engineer's apprentice seemed suicide. We didn't like it.
TYRANN 103
But we assumed he knew what he don't start using psychology on me.
was doing, and he did. He could If you think you're going to cajole
have told us you were probably me into feeling a responsibility for
aboard ship. He must have known you, you're wrong. I'm much more
it would be great news that the likely to hit you."
Rancher's son had escaped. But it's "If make you
typical. He wouldn't." better
— it will feel
"I warn you again. If you hold

ARTEMISIA sat on one of the out your face for me to hit, I'll do
lower bunks in the cabin. She it,and if you say 'Does that make
had to bend into an uncomfortable you feel better?' I'll do it again."
position to avoid having the frame "In any case, it's obvious you've
of the second bunk pry into her quarreled with Biron. What
first thoracic vertebra, but that was about?"
a small annoyance to her at the "I don't see why there's any
moment. necessity for discussion. Just leave
Almost automatically, she kept me alone." Then, after a pause,
passing the palms of her hand "He thinks father did what the
down the side of herdress. She Autarch said he did. I hate him
felt frayedand dirty, and very for that."
tired. She was tired of dabbing at "Your father?"
her hands and face with damp "No! That stupid, childish, sanc-
cloths. She was tired of wearing the timonious fool!"
same clothes for a week. She was "Presumably Biron. Good. You
tired of hair which felt dank and hate him. You couldn't put a knife-
stringy by now. edge between what you say is hate
And then she was almost on her and what would seem to my
feet again, ready- to turn about bachelor mind to be a rather ridicu-
sharply.She wasn't going to see lous excess of love."
him. She wouldn't look at him. "Uncle Gil," she said, "could he
But it was only Gillbret. She really have done it?"
sank down again. "Hello, Uncle "Biron? Done what?"
Gil." "No! Father. Could father have
Gillbret sat down opposite her. informed against the Rancher?"
For a moment, his thin face Gillbret looked thoughtful and
seemed anxious and then it started very sober. "I don't know." He
wrinkling into a smile. "I think a looked at her out of the corner of
week of this ship is very unamus- his eyes. "He did give up Biron to
ing, too. I was hoping you could the Tyranni."
cheer me up." "Because he knew it was a
But she said, "Now, Uncle Gil, trap," she said, vehemently. "And

it ivas. That horrible Autarch meant Biron said, "No. I think we'll
it as such. He
The Tyranni
said so. be quite comfortable."
knew who Biron was and sent him "Good. And, by the way, Riz-
to father on purpose. Father did zett tellsme the lady Artemisia is
the only thing he could do. That not well; Or at least that she looks
should be obvious to anybody." unwell. If she requires medical at-
"Even if we accept that, he did tention, it might be wise to send
try to argue you into a rather un- her to my ship."
amusing kind of marriage." "She is quite well," said Biron,
She interrupted, "He had no curtly.
way out there, either." "If you say so. Would you be
"My going to ex-
dear, if you're ready to leave in twelve hours?"
cuse all that, how can you be sure "In two hours, if you wish."
he didn't betray the Rancher?" Biron passed through the con-
"Because I'm sure, that's why. necting corridor —
he had to stoop
You don't know father the way I a little —
into the Remorseless
do. He hates the Tyranni. He does. proper.
I admit that he's afraid of them He said with a careful lack of
and doesn't dare oppose them open- tone, "You've got a private suite
ly, but if he could avoid it some- back there, Artemisia. I won't
how, he would never help them." bother you. I'll stay here most of
"How do you know he could the time."
avoid it?" She replied coldly, "You don't
But she shook her head violent- bother me, Rancher. It doesn't mat-
ly, so that her hair tumbled about ter to me where you are."
and hid her eyes. It hid the tears And then the ships blasted off
a bit, too. and after a single Jump found
Gillbret watched a moment, then themselves at the edge of the Ne-
spread his hands helplessly and bula. They waited for a few hours
left. while the final calculations were
made on Jonti's ship. Inside the
THE trailer was joined to the Nebula, it would be almost blind

Remorseless by a wasp-waist navigation.
corridor attached to the emergency Biron stared glumly at the visi-
airlock in the rear of the ship. It plate. There was nothing there!
was several dozen times larger than One entire half of the celestial
the Tyrannian vessel, almost hu- sphere was taken up with black-
morously outsized. ness, unrelievedby a spark of light.
The Autarch joined Biron in a For the first time, Biron realized
last inspection. He said, "Do you how warm and friendly the stars
find anything lacking?" were, how they filled space.
TYRANN 105
"It's like dropping through a fore any of the officers or men,
hole in space," he muttered to Gill- any deviation from regulation dress
bret. would be a disturbing influence."
And then they Jumped again, Aratap sniffed. It was the second
this time into the Nebula. change induced by the quasi-mili-
Almost simultaneously, Simok tary nature of the expedition. In
Aratap, Commissioner of the Great addition to being forced into uni-
Khan, at the head of ten armed form, he had to listen to an increas-
cruisers, listened to his navigator ingly self-assertive military aide.
and said, "That doesn't matter. That had begun even before they
Follow them anyway." left Rhodia.
And not one light year from the Andros had put it to him baldly.
point at which the Remorseless en- He had said, "Commissioner, we
tered the Nebula, ten Tyranni will need ten ships."
vessels did likewise. Aratap had looked up, definitely
annoyed. At the moment, he was
CHAPTER XVI deciding to follow the young
Widemos in a single vessel. He
Hounds! laid aside the capsules in which he
was preparing his report for the
SIMOK ARATAP was a little Khan's Colonial Bureau, to be for-
uncomfortable in his uniform. warded in the unhappy case that
Tyranni uniforms are made of mod- he did not return from the expedi-
erately coarse materials and fit only tion.
indifferently well. It is not soldier- "Ten ships, Major?"

like to complain of such inconven- "Yes. sir. Less will not do."
iences. In fact, it is part of the "Why not?"
Tyranni military tradition that a "I intend to maintain a reason-
little discomfort on the part of the able security. The young man is
soldier is good for discipline. going somewhere. You say there

But still Aratap could bring him- is a well-developed conspiracy in
self to rebel against that tradition existence. Presumably, the two fit
to the extent of saying, ruefully, together."

?"
"The tight collar irritates my "And therefore
neck." "We must be prepared for a
Major Andros, whose collar was possibly well-developed conspiracy.
as tight and who had been seen in One that might be able to over-
no other than military dress in the come a single ship."
memory ofman, living
said, "Or ten. Or a hundred. Where
"When would be quite
alone, it does security cease?"
within regulations to open it. Be- "One must make a decision. In

cases of military action, it is my There would be no use in display-
responsibility. I suggest ten." ing impatience.
Aratap's contact lenses gleamed He said, "Again, I agree with
unnaturally in the wall-light as he you. I merely ask you to consider
raised his eyebrows. The military the political aspects of the situation.
carried weight. Theoretically, in As you know, the execution of the
times of peace, the civilian made old Rancher of Widemos was po-
the decisions, but, here again, mili- litically uncomfortable. It stirred
tary tradition was a difficult thing up the Kingdoms unnecessarily.
to set aside. However necessary the execution
was, it makes it desirable to refrain
HE SAID, cautiously,
consider the matter."
"I will from having the death of the son
attributed to us. As far as the peo-
"Thank you do not
you. If ple Rhodia know, the young
of
choose to accept my recommenda- Widemos has kidnaped the daugh-
tions, and my suggestions have only ter of the Director — the girl, by
been advanced as such, I assure you, the way, being a popular and much
that would be your privilege. You publicized member of the Hin-
would leave me, however, no choice riads. It would be quite fitting,
but to resign my commission." quite understandable, to have the

It was up to Aratap to retrieve Director head the punitive expedi-
what he could from that position. tion.
He said, "It is not my intention to "It would be a dramatic move,

hamper you in any decision you very gratifying to Rhodian patriot-
may make on a purely military ism. Naturally, he would ask for
question, Major. I wonder if you Tyranni assistance, and receive it,
might be as amenable to my de- but that can be played down. It
cisions in matters of purely politi- would be easy, and necessary, to
cal importance." fix this expedition in the popular

"What matters are these?" .mind a Rhodian one. If the
as
"There is the problem of Hin- inner workings of the conspiracy
rik. You objected yesterday to my are uncovered, it will have been a
suggestion that he accompany us." Rhodian discovery. If the young
The Major said, dryly, "I con- Widemos is executed, it would be
sider it unnecessary. With our a Rhodian execution, as far as the
forces in action, the presence of other Kingdoms are concerned."
outlanders would be bad for mo- The Major said, "It would still
rale." be a bad precedent to allow Rho-
Aratap sighed below
softly, just dian vessels to accompany a Ty-
the limits of hearing. Yet Andros ranni military expedition. They
was a competent man in his way. would hamper us in a fight. In
TYRANN 107
that way, the question becomes a
military one."
"I did .iot say, my dear Major,
that Hinrik command a
would
ship. Surely, you know him better
than to think him capable of com-
manding or even anxious to try. He
will stay with us. There will be no
other Rhodian aboard ship."
"In that case, I waive my ob-
jection, Commissioner," said the
Major.
THE Tyranni
tained
had main-
position two
their
fleet
light
years off Lingane for the better part
of a week and the situation was
becoming increasingly unstable.
Major Andros advocated an im-
mediate landing on Lingane. "The
Autarch of Lingane," he said, "has
gone to considerable lengths to
have us think him a friend of the
Khan, but I do not trust these men
who travel abroad. They gain un- collar and tried futilely to stretch
settling notions. It is strange that it. He said, "Since the young man
he returns, the young
just as Wi de- is waiting, we can presume he is
mos travels to meet him." waiting for something or some-

"He has not tried to hide either body. It would be ridiculous to
his travels or his return, Major. think that, having gone to Lingane
And we do not know that Widemos by so direct and rapid a route —
goes to meet him. He maintains an single Jump, in fact that he — is
orbit about Lingane. Why does he merely waiting out of indecision. I
not land?" say, then, that he is waiting for a
"Why. does he maintain an or- friend or friends to reach him. Thus

bit? Let us question what he does reinforced,he will proceed else-
and not what he does not do." where. The fact that he is not land-
"I can propose something which ing on Lingane directly would
will fit the pattern." indicate that he does not consider
"I would be glad to hear it." such an action safe. That .would
Aratap placed a finger inside his indicate that Lingane in general

It was disturbing to have to con-
trol at once the restless conquered
and the short-sighted conquerors.
Twenty-four hours. Something
must happen; otherwise he might
have to find some way of stopping
Andros.
The door signal sounded, and
Aratap looked up with irritation.
Surely it could not be Andros re-
It wasn't. The tall, stooped
turning.
form of Hinrik of Rhodia was in
the doorway, behind him a glimpse
of the guard who accompanied him
everywhere on the ship. Theoret-
ically, Hinrik had complete free-
dom of movement. He himself
probably thought he had. At least,
he never paid any attention to the

guard at his elbow.
Hinrik smiled mistily. "Am I
disturbing you, Commissioner?"
"Not at all. Take a seat, Direc-
tor." Aratap remained standing.
and the Autarch in particular are Hinrik seemed not to notice that.
not concerned in the conspiracy, Hinrik said, "I have something

although individual Linganians may of importance to discuss with you."
be." He paused, and some of the intent-
"I don't know if we can always ness passed out of his eyes. He
trust the obvious solution to be the added in quite a different tone,
correct one." "What a large, fine ship this is."
"My dear Major, this is not an "Thank you, Director." Aratap

obvious solution, merely. It is a smiled tightly. The nine accom-
logical one. It fits a pattern." panying ships were typically minute
"Maybe it does. But just the in size, but the flagship on which
same, if there are no further de- they stood was an outsize model
velopments in twenty-four hours, I adapted from the designs of the
will have no choice but to order defunct Rhodian navy. It was per-
an advance on Lingane." haps the first sign of the gradual
Aratap frowned at the door softening of the Tyranni military
through which the Major had left. spirit that more and more of such
TYRANN 109.
ships were being added to the that I have taken such rapid action
navy. The fighting unit was still in response. Eh, Commissioner?
the tiny two to three man cruiser, They will see that there is still
but, increasingly, the top brass force among the Hinriads." He

found reasons for requiring large seemed with a feeble triumph.
filled
ships for their own headquarters. "I think they will," said Aratap.
It did not bother Aratap: To "Are we within range of the en-
some of the older soldiers this soft- emy yet?"
ness appeared to be degeneration; "No, Director. The enemy re-
to himself it seemed increasing civ- mains where he is, just off Lin-
ilization. In the end, in centuries gane."
perhaps, might even happen that
it "Still? I remember what I came
the Tyranni would melt away as a to tell you." He grew excited so
single people, fusing with the pres- that the words tumbled out. "It is
ent conquered societies of the Ne- very important, Commissioner. I
bular Kingdoms —and perhaps even have discovered it. We

— must take
that might be a good thing. quick action. Treachery " He was
Naturally, Aratap never ex- whispering.
pressed such an opinion aloud.
"I came to tell you something," ARATAP felt impatient. It was
said Hinrik. He puzzled over it a necessary to humor the poor
while, then added, "I have sent a idiot, of course, but this was a
message home today to my people. waste of time. At this rate, he
I have told them I am well and would become so obviously mad
that the criminal will be shortly that he would be useless even as
seized and my daughter returned a puppet, which would be a nui-
to safety." sance.
"Good," said Aratap. It was not He said, "No treachery, Director.
news to him. He himself had writ- Our men are staunch and true.
ten the message, though it was Someone has been misleading you.
not impossible that Hinrik by now You are tired."
had persuaded himself that he was "No, no." Hinrik put aside Ara-
the writer, or even that he actually tap's arm which, for a moment, had
headed the expedition. Aratap felt rested upon his shoulder. "Where
a twinge of pity. The man was dis- are we?"
integrating visibly. "Why, here!"
Hinrik said, "My people, I am "The ship^I mean. I have watch-
sure, are quite disturbed over this ed the visiplate. We are near no
daring raid upon the Palace by these star. We are in deep space. Did
well-organized bandits. I think they you know that?"
will be proud of their Director now "Why, certainly."

"Lingane is nowhere near. Did Aratap felt his jaw-muscles
you know that?" clench. It was difficult to remember
"It is two light years off." that the man before him was a
"Ah! Commissioner, no one is bereaved father and that even the
listening? Are you sure?" He idiot Director of Rhodia might
leaned closely, while Aratap al- have a father's feelings. He could
lowed his ear to be approached. not let the man suffer.
"Then how do we know the enemy He said, gently, "I will try to
is near Lingane? He is too far to explain. You know there is such a
detect. We are being misinformed, thing as a massometer which will
and this signifies treachery." detect ships in space."
"Yes, yes."
WELL, the man might be mad, "It is sensitive to gravitational
but the point was a good one. effects. You know what I mean?"
Aratap said, something
"This is "Oh, yes. Everything has grav-
for technical men, Director; and not ity." Hinrik was leaning toward
for men of rank to concern them- Aratap, his hands gripping each
selves with." other nervously.
"But head of the expedition I
as "That's good enough. Now nat-
should know. I am head, am I urally the massometer can only be
not?" He looked about carefully. used when the ship is close. Less
"Actually, I have a feeling that Ma- than a million miles away or so.
jor Andros does not always carry Also it has to be a reasonable dis-
out my orders. Is he trustworthy? tance from any planet, because if
Of course, I rarely give him orders. it isn't, you can detect is the
all
It would seem strange to order a planet, which is much bigger."

Tyrannian officer. But then, I must "And has much more gravity."
find my daughter. My daughter's "Exactly," said Aratap, and Hin-
name is Artemisia. She has been rik looked pleased. "We Tyranni
stolen from me, and I am taking all have another device. It is a trans-
this fleet to get her back. So you mitter which radiates through hy-
see, I must know. I mean, I must perspace in all directions, and what
know how it is known enemy
the it radiates is a particular type of
is at Lingane. My daughter would distortion of the space fabric which
be there, too. you know myDo is not electromagnetic in character.
daughter? Her name is Artemisia." In other words, it isn't like light or
His eyes looked up at the Tyran- radio or even sub-etheric radio. Do
nian Commissioner in appeal. Then you see?"
he covered them with his hand and Hinrik didn't answer. He looked
mumbled something that sounded confused.
like, "I'm sorry." Aratap proceeded quickly. "Well,
TYRANN 111
it's different; it doesn't matter how. There was a sharp door signal
We can detect that something is again and this time it was Major
radiated so that we can always know Andros who entered. Hinrik's arm
where any Tyrannian ship is, even stiffened on the arm-rest of his chair
halfway across the Galaxy, or
if it's and his face assumed a hunted ex-
on the other side of a star." pression. He lifted himself and be-
Hinrik nodded solemnly, looking gan, "Major Andros
—
vaguely impressed. But Andros was already speaking
"Now," said Aratap, "if the quickly, disregarding the Rhodian.
young Widemos had escaped in an "Commissioner, the Remorseless has
ordinary ship, it would have been changed position."
very difficult to locate him. As it is, "Surely he has not landed on
since he took a Tyrannian cruiser, Lingane," said Aratap, sharply.
we know where he is at all times, "No," said the Major. "He has
although he doesn't reali2e that. Jumped away from Lingane."
That is how we know he is near "Good. He has been joined by
Lingane, you see. And what's more, another ship, perhaps?"
he can't get away, so that we will "By many ships, perhaps. We can
certainly rescue your daughter." detect only his, as you are quite
aware.'.'
HINRIK smiled. "Why, that is "In any case, we follow again."

wonderful, Commissioner. A "The order has already been
very clever ruse." given. I would merely like to point
Aratap did not delude himself. out that his Jump has taken him
Hinrik understood very little of to the edge of the Horsehead Neb-
what he had said, but that did not ula."
matter.It had ended with the as- "What?"
surance of his daughter's rescue, "No major planetary system
and somewhere in Hinrik' s dim un- exists in the indicated direction.
derstanding there must be the reali- There is only one logical con-
zation that this, somehow, was made clusion."
possible by Tyranni science. Aratap moistened his lips and
He told himself that he had not left hurriedly for the pilot room,
gone to this trouble entirely because the Major with him.
the Rhodian appealed to his sense Hinrik remained standing in the
of the pathetic. He had to keep the middle of the suddenly empty room,
man from breaking down altogether looking at the door for a minute or
for obvious political reasons. Per- so. Then, with a little shrug of the
haps the return of his daughter shoulders, he sat down again. His
would improve matters. He hoped expression was blank. For a long
so. while, he simply sat.

THE navigator said, "The space Maybe they, themselves, do not
ets.
coordinates of the Remorseless know the location of the center of

have been checked, sir. They are conspiracy. Or, at least, not entire-
definitely inside the Nebula." ly." He smiled. "We need only fol-
"That doesn't matter," said Ara- low."
tap. "Follow them anyway." He
turned to Major Andros. "So you
see the virtues of waiting. There is
THE navigator clicked heels.
"Sir!"
a good deal that is obvious now. "Yes?" Aratap looked up.
Where else could the conspirator's "The enemy has landed on a
headquarters be but in the Nebula planet."
itself? Where else could we have Aratap signaled for Major And-
failed to locate them ? A very pretty ros.
pattern." "Andros," said Aratap, as the

And so the squadron entered the Major entered, "have you been
Nebula. told?"
For the twentieth time, Aratap "Yes. I've ordered a descent and
glanced automatically at the visi- pursuit."
plate. Actually, the glances were "Wait. You may be again pre-
useless since the visiplate remained mature, as when you wanted a
quite black. There was no star in lunge toward Lingane. I think only
sight. this ship ought to go."
Andros said, "That's their third "Your reasoning?"
stop without landing. I don't un- "If we need reinforcements, you
derstand it. What is their purpose? will be there, in command of the
What are they after? Each stop of cruisers. If it is indeed a powerful
theirs is several days long. Yet they rebel center, they may think only
do not land." one ship has stumbled upon them.
"It may take them so long," said I will get word to you somehow
Aratap, "to calculate their next and you can retire to Tyrann."
Jump. Visibility is non-existent." "Retire!"
"You think so?" "And return with a full fleet."
"No. Their Jumps are too good. Andros considered. "Very well.
Each time they land very near a This is our least useful ship in any
star. They couldn't do as well by case.Too large."
massometer data alone, unless they The planet filled the visiplate as
actually knew the locations of the they spiraled down.
stars in advance." "The surface seems quite barren,
"Then why don't they land ?" sir," said the navigator.
"I think," said Aratap, "they "Have you determined the exact
must be looking for habitable plan- location of the Remorseless?"
TYRANN 113
"Yes, sir." distance from the star being inves-
"Then land as closely as you can tigated, of some ten thousand times
without being sighted." the star's diameter. From Galactic
They were entering the atmos- statistics it is known that not one
phere now. The sky, as they flashed time in fifty thousand is a planet
along the day-half of the planet, located farther from its primary
was tinged with a brightening pur- than that. Furthermore, practically
ple. Aratap watched the nearing never is a habitable planet removed
surface. The long chase was almost from its primary more than one
over thousand times its sun's diameter.
This means that from the posi-
CHAPTER XVII tion in space assumed by the ship,
any habitable planet must be lo-
And Hares! cated within six degrees of the
star. This, represents an area only
TO THOSE who have not ac- l/3600th of the entire sky. That
tually been in space, the inves- area can be handled in detail with
tigation of a stellar system and the relatively few observations.
search for habitable planets may The movement of the tele-camera
seem rather exciting; at the least, can be so adjusted as to counteract
interesting. To the spaceman, it is the motion of the ship in its orbit.
the most boring of jobs. Under those conditions, a time ex-

The location of a star, which is posure will pinpoint the constella-
a huge glowing mass of hydrogen tions in the star's neighborhood;
fusing into helium, is almost un- provided, of course, that the blaze
avoidable. It advertises itself. Even of the sun itself is blocked out,
in the blackness of the Nebula, it which is easily done. Planets, how-
is only a question of distance. Ap- ever, will have perceptible proper
proach within five billion miles and motions and therefore show up as
it will still advertise itself. tiny streaks on the film.
But a planet, a relatively small When no streaks appear, there is
mass of rock, shining only by re- always the possibility that the
flected light, is another matter. One planets are behind their primary.
could pass through a stellar system The maneuver is therefore repeated
a hundred thousand times at all from another position in space and,
sorts of odd angles without" ever usually, at a point closer to the star.
coming close enough to a planet to It is a very dull procedure in-
see it for what it is, barring the deed, and when it has been re-
oddest of coincidences. peated three times for three dif-

Hence, one adopts a system. A ferent stars, each time with com-
position is taken up in space, at a pletely negative results, a certain

depression of morale is bound to "You're right. I'm just talking
occur. to hear myself. I don't know any-
thing about cosmogony. Why the
GILLBRET'S morale, for in- hell are planets formed anyway?
had been suffering for
stance, Never heard of one that wasn't
quite a while. Longer and longer filledwith trouble." Biron looked
intervals took place between the haggard himself. He was still print-
moments when he found some- ing and pasting up little stickers on
thing "amusing." the control panels.
They were readying for the He said, "Anyway, we've got the
Jump to the fourth star on the blasters all worked out; range-find-
Autarch's list, and Biron said, "We ers, power-control, all that."
hit a star each time, anyway. At It was very difficult not to look
least, Jonti's figures are correct." at the visiplate. They'd be Jumping
Gillbret said, "Statistics show again soon, through that ink.
that one out of three stars have Biron said, absently, "You know
planetary systems." why they call it the Horsehead Ne-
Biron nodded. It was a well- bula, Gil?"
worn statistic. Every child was "The first man
to enter it was
taught that in elementary Galactog- Horace Hedd. Are you going to
raphy. tell me that's wrong?"
Gillbret went on, "That means "It may be. They have a differ-
that the chances of finding three ent explanation on Earth."
stars at random without a single "Oh?"
planet —without one single planet "They claim it's called that be-
— is two-thirds cubed, which is cause it looks like a horse's head."
eight twenty-sevenths, or less than "What's a horse?"
one in three." "It's an extinct animal on
"So?" Earth."
"And we haven't found any. "It's an amusing thought, but
There must be a mistake." the Nebula doesn't look like any
"You- saw the plates yourself. animal to me, Biron."
And besides, what price statistics? "It depends on the angle you
For all we know, conditions are look at it. Now from Nephelos, it
different inside a Nebula. Maybe looks like a man's arm with three
the particle-fog prevents planets fingers, but I looked at it once from
from forming, or maybe the fog is the observatory at the University
the result of planets that didn't of Earth. It does look a little like
coalesce." some creature's head. Maybe that is
"You mean that?" said Gillbret, how the name started. Maybe there
stricken. never was any Horace Hedd. Who
TYRANN 115
knows?" Biron felt bored with the Biron's knee. "This isn't a thing I
matter, already. He was still talk- like to interfere with, you under-
ing simply to hear himself talk. stand. It's just that she's the only
good thing in the Hinriad family
THERE was a pause; that lasted just now. Would you be amused if
too long, because it gave Gill- I said I loved her? I have no chil-
bret a chance to bring up a subject dren of my own."
which Biron did not wish to dis- "I don't question your love."
cuss and could not force himself "Then I advise you for her good.
to stop thinking about. Stop the Autarch, Biron."
Gillbret said, "Where's Arta?" "I thought you trusted him."
Biron looked athim quickly, and "As the Autarch, yes. As an anti-
said, "Somewhere in the trailer. I Tyranni leader, yes. But as a man

don't follow her about." for a woman, as a man for Arte-
"The Autarch does. He might as misia, no."
well be living here." "Tell her that."
"Lucky for her." "She wouldn't listen."
Gillbret's wrinkles became more "Do you think she would if I
pronounced and his small features told her?"

seemed to screw together. "Oh, "If you told her properly."
don't be a fool, Biron. Artemisia For a moment, Biron seemed to
is a Hinriad. She can't take what hesitate, his tongue dabbing slight-
you've been giving her." ly at dry lips. Then he turned
Biron said, "Drop it." away, saying harshly, "I don't want
"I won't. I've been spoiling to to talk about it."
say this. Why you doing this
are Gillbret said, sadly, "You'll re-
to her? Because Hinrik might have gret this."

been responsible for your father's Biron said nothing. Why didn't
death? Hinrik is my cousin! You Gillbret leave him alone? It had
haven't changed toward me." occurred to him many times that
"All right," Biron said, "I he might regret all this. But what
haven't changed toward you. I speak could he do? There was no easy
to you as I always have. I speak to way of backing out.
Artemisia as well."
"As you always have?" BIRON had set the controls in
Biron was silent. accordance with the instruc-
Gillbret said, "You're throwing tions from the Autarch's pilot, and
her at the Autarch." left the manuals to Gillbret. He
"It's her choice." was going to sleep through this
"It isn't. It's your choice. Listen, Jump. And then Gillbret was shak-
Biron." Gillbret put a hand on ing his shoulder.

"Biron! Biron!" He said, "I don't know how the
Biron rolled over in his bunk, Autarch does it. He never seems
and out, landing in a crouch, fists to mind. Comes from being young-
balled. "What is it?" er, I guess." He added, abruptly,
Gillbret stepped back hastily. "Five planets!"
"Now, take it easy. We've got an Gillbret said, "For this star?
F-2 this time." You're sure?"
It sank in. Biron drew a deep "It's definite. Four of them are
breath, and relaxed. "Don't ever J-type, though."
wake me that way, Gillbret. An "And the fifth?"
F-2, you say? I suppose you're re- "The may be all right. Oxy-
fifth
ferring to the new star." gen in the atmosphere, anyway."
"I surely am. It looks most
amusing, I think." GILLBRET set up a thin yell of
In a way, it did. Approximately triumph, but Biron said, "Four
95% of habitable planets in the are J-type. Oh, well, we only need
Galaxy circled stars of spectral one."
types F or G; diameter from 750 to He realized it was a reasonable
1500 thousand miles, surface tem- distribution. The large majority of
perature from five to ten thousand sizable planets in the Galaxy pos-
centigrade. Earth's sun was G-0, sessed hydrogenated atmospheres.
Rhodia's F-8, Lingane's G-2, as was After all, stars are mostly hydro-
that of Nephelos. F-2 was a little gen and they are the source mate-
warm, but not too warm. rial of planetary building blocks.
The first three stars they had J-type planets had atmospheres of
stopped at were of spectral type K, methane or ammonia with molecu-
rather small and ruddy. Planets lar hydrogen in addition sometimes,
would probably not have been note- also considerable helium. Such at-
worthy even if they had had any. mospheres were usually deep and
A good star is a good star! In extremely dense. The planets them-
the first day of photography, five selveswere almost invariably thirty
planets were located, the nearest thousand miles in diameter and up,
being one hundred fifty millions with a mean temperature of rarely
of miles from the primary. more than fifty below zero, centi-
Tedor Rizzett brought the news grade.They were quite uninhabit-
personally. He visited the Remorse- able.
less as frequently as the Autarch, Back on Earth, they used to tell
lighting the ship with his hearti- him that these planets were called
ness. He was whoofing and panting J-type because the J stood for Jupi-
this time from the hand-over-hand ter, the planet in Earth's solar sys-
exercise along the metal line. tem which was the best example of
TYRANN 117
the type. Maybe they were right. she came in —she hardly ever did
Certainly, the other planet-classifi- come in; he had been caught by
cation was the E-type, and E did surprise— but she hadn't answered.
stand for Earth. E-types were usu- She had merely said, "Uncle
ally small, comparatively, and their Gil," very brightly; then, "Is it
weaker gravity could not retain true we're landing?"

hydrogen or the hydrogen-contain- Gil had rubbed his hands. "It
ing gases, particularly since they seems so, my dear. We may be get-
were usually closer to the sun and ting out of the ship in a few hours,
warmer. Their atmospheres were walking on solid surface. How's
thin and contained oxygen and that for an amusing thought?"
nitrogen usually, with, occasionally, "I hope it's the right planet. If
an admixture of chlorine. it won't be so amusing."
isn't, it
"How well have they gone over "There's still another star," said
the atmosphere?" asked Biron. Gil, but his brow furrowed.
Rizzett shrugged, "We can only And then Artemisia turned to
judge the upper reaches from out Biron and said, frigidly, "Did you
in space. If there were any chlor- speak, Mr. Farrill?"
ine, it would concentrate toward Biron, caught by surprise again,
ground-level. We'll see." started and said, "No, not really."
He clapped a hand on Biron's "I beg your pardon, then. I
large shoulder. "How about invit- thought you had."
ing me to a small drink in your She passed by him so closely that
room, boy?" the plastic flair of her dress brushed
Gillbret looked after them un- his knee and her perfume, momen-
easily. With the Autarch courting tarily, surrounded him.
Artemisia, and his right-hand man Rizzett was still with them; one
becoming a drinking companion of of the advantages of the trailer was
was becom-
Biron's, the Remorseless that they could put a guest up over-
ing more Linganian than not. He night. He said, "They're getting
wondered if Biron knew what he details on the atmosphere now.
was doing, then thought of the Lots of oxygen, almost 30%, and
new planet and let the rest go. nitrogen and inert gases. It's quite
normal. No chlorine." Then he
ARTEMISIA was in the pilot stopped and went "Hmm."
room when they penetrated Gillbret said, "What's the mat-
the atmosphere. There was a little ter?"
smile on her face and she seemed "No carbon dioxide. That's not
quite contented. Biron looked in so good."
her direction occasionally. He had "Why not?" demanded Arte-
said, "Good day, Artemisia," when misia from her vantage-point near

the visiplate, where she watched He turned. "Did they try for car-
the distant surface of the planet bon dioxide again, Rizzett?"
blur past at two thousand miles an Rizzett's ruddy face was long.
hour. "Yes. Just a trace. About a thou-
Biron said, curtly, "No carbon sandth of a per cent or so."
dioxide, no plant life." Biron said, "You can't tell. They
"Oh?" She looked at him, and might pick a world like this, just
smiled warmly. because it would look so hopeless."
Biron, against his will, smiled "But I saw farms," said Gillbret.
back, and somehow, with scarcely "How much do you suppose we
a visible change in her countenance, can see of a planet this size by
she was smiling through him, past circling few times? You know
it a
him, obviously unaware of his ex- damn well, Gil, that whoever they
istence; and he was left there, are, they can't have enough people
caught in a foolish smile. He let it to fill a whole planet. They may

fade. have picked themselves a valley
It was just as well he avoided somewhere where the carbon diox-
her. Certainly, when he was with ide of the air has been built up,
her, he couldn't keep it up. When say, by volcanic action and where
he could actually see her, the anes- there's plenty of nearby water. We
thetic of his will didn't work. It could whizz within twenty miles of
began hurting. them, and never know it. Natur-
ally, they wouldn't be ready to
GILLBRET was doleful. They answer radio calls without consider-

were coasting now. In the able investigation."
thick lower reaches of the atmos- "You can't build up a concentra-
phere, the Remorseless with its tion of carbon dioxide that easily,"
aerodynamically undesirable addi- muttered Gillbret. But he watched
tion of a trailer was difficult to the visiplate intently.
handle. Biron suddenly hoped that it
Biron fought the bucking con- was the wrong world. He decided
trols stubbornly. that he could wait no longer. It
He said, "Cheer up, Gil!" would have to be settled, now!
He felt not exactly jubilant him-
self. Radio signals had brought no
response as yet, and if this were not
IT WAS a queer
The artificial
feeling.
lights had been
the "rebellion world," there would turned off and sunlight was coming
be no point in waiting longer. His in unhindered at the ports. Actual-
line of action was set. ly, it was the less efficient method
Gillbret said, "It's rocky and of lighting the ship, but there was
dead, and not much water, either." a sudden desirable novelty to it.
TYRANN 119
The ports were open, in fact, and coat was of thin foamite that
the native atmosphere could be weighed a fraction of an ounce, yet

breathed. did a near-perfect job of insulation.
Rizzett advised against it on the A small carbon dioxide cylinder
grounds that lack of carbon diox- was strapped to his chest, adjusted
ide would upset the respiratory to a slow leak that would maintain
regulation of the body, but Biron a perceptible. C0 2 vapor tension in
thought it might be bearable for a his immediate vicinity.
short time. He said,"Would you care to

Gillbrethad come upon them, search me, Farrill?" He raised his
heads together. They looked up, hands and waited, his lean face
and leaned away from one another. quietly amused.
Gillbret laughed. Then he looked "No," said Biron. "Do you want
out of the open port, sighed, and to check me for weapons?"
said, "Rocks!" "I wouldn't think of it."
Biron said, mildly, "We're go- The courtesies were as frigid as
ing to set up a radio transmitter at the weather.

the top of the high ground. We'll
get more range that way. We ought BIRON stepped out into the sun-
to be able to contact all of this light and tugged at his handle
hemisphere at any rate. And if it's of the two-handled suitcase in
negative, we can try the other side which the radio equipment was
of the planet." stowed. The Autarch caught the
"Is that what you and Rizzett other.
were discussing?" "Not too heavy," said Biron. He
"Exactly. The Autarch and I turned, and Artemisia was standing
will do the job. It's his suggestion, just within the ship, silent.
which is fortunate, since otherwise Her dress was a smooth, unfig-
I would have had to make the same ured white which folded in a
suggestion myself." He looked smooth drape that fled before the
fleetingly at Rizzett as he spoke. wind. The semi-transparent sleeves
Rizzett was expressionless. whipped back against her arms,
Biron stood up. "I think it would turning them to silver.
be best I unzipped my space-
if For a moment, Biron melted dan-
suit liningand wore that." gerously. He wanted to return
Rizzett was in agreement. It was quickly; to run, leap into the ship,
sunny on this planet; little water va- grasp her so that his fingers would
por in the air, no clouds; but it leave bruiseson her shoulders; feel
was briskly cold. his lipsmeet hers
The Autarch was at the main But he nodded briefly instead;
lock of the Remorseless. His over- her returning smile and the light

flutter of her fingers were for the ing hull. As they did so, the thick
Autarch. glass polarized and became non-

Five minutes later he turned and transparent. The lights of the ship
there was glimmer of
still that went on and the shadows disap-
white at the open door, and then peared.
the rise in the ground cut off the Artemisia sat down in the heavily
view of the ship. The horizon was padded pilot's seat and fingered the
free of anything but broken and arms aimlessly. His hands had often
bare rock now. rested there and the slight warmth
Biron thought of what lay ahead, that flooded her as she thought that
and wondered if he would ever see —she told herself —
was only the
Artemisia again —
and if she would result of the heaters making them-
care if he never returned. selves felt decently, now that the
outer winds were excluded.
CHAPTER XVIII The long minutes passed, and it
became impossible to sit quietly.
Out of the Jaws She might have gone with him She !
corrected the rebellious thought in-

ARTEMISIA watched them as stantly to the plural "them."
they became tiny figures trudg- She said, "Why do they have to
ing up the bare granite, then dip- set up a radio transmitter anyway,
ping below and out of sight. For Uncle Gil?"
a moment, just before they disap- He looked up from the visiplate,
peared, one of them had turned. the controls of which he was finger-
She couldn't be sure which one, and, ing delicately, and said, "Eh?"
for amoment, her heart hardened. "We've been trying to contact
said, peevishly, "Uncle Gil,
She them from out in space," she said,
why don't you close the ports? It's "and we haven't reached anyone.
enough to freeze a person to death." What special good would a trans-
The thermometer dial read plus mitter on the planet's surface do?"
seven Centigrade with the ship's Gillbret was troubled. "Why, we
heaters on high. must keep trying, my dear. We
"My dear Arta," said Gillbret, must find the 'rebellion world'."
mildly, "if you will persist in your And, between his teeth, he added to
ridiculous habit of wearing nothing himself, "We must!" A moment
but a little fog here and there, you passed, and he said, "I can't find
must expect to be cold." But he them."
closed contacts, and, with little "Find whom?"
clicks, the airlock slid shut, the "Biron and the Autarch. The
ports swung inward and molded ridge cuts me off no matter how I
themselves into the smooth, gleam- arrange the external mirrors. See?"
TYRANN 121
She saw nothing but the sunny bloated nubbles of rock that re-
rock flashing past. sulted. They jumped faster than the

Then Gillbret brought the little eye could follow at the lightest
gears to rest and said, "Anyway, touch on the controls. For one mo-
that's the Autarch's ship." ment hazy figure,
Rizzett, a large,
Artemisia accorded it the briefest flashed past, and in that moment
of glances. It lay deeper in the val- his identity was unmistakable. Gill-
ley, perhaps a mile away. It glist- bret backtracked wildly, caught him
ened unbearably in the sun. It again, hung on for amoment, and
seemed to her, at the moment, to Artemisia said, "He's armed. Did
be the real enemy. // was, not the you see that?"
Tyranni. She wished suddenly, "No."
sharply, and very strongly that they "He's got a long-range blasting
had never gone to Lingane; that rifle."
they had remained in space, the She was up, tearing at the locker.
three of them only. Those had been "Arta! What are you doing?"
funny days; so uncomfortable and She was unzipping the lining
yet so warm, somehow. And now from another spacesuit. "I'm going
she could only try to hurt him. out there. Rizzett's following them.
Something made her hurt him, Don't you understand? The Au-
though she would have liked tarch hasn't gone out to set up a
Gillbret said, "Now what does he radio. It's a trap for Biron." She
want?" was gasping as she forced herself
into the thick, coarse lining.
ARTEMISIA looked up at him, "Stop it! You're imagining
seeing him through a watery things."
mist, so that she had to blink rap- But she was staring at Gillbret
idly to put him into normal focus. without seeing him, her face
"Who?" pinched and white. She should have
"Rizzett. I think that's Rizzett. realized it before; the way Rizzett
But he's certainly not coming this had been coddling That
that fool.
way." emotional fool had praised
! Rizzett
Artemisia was at the visiplate. his father; told him what a great
"Make it larger," she ordered. man the Rancher of Widemos had
"At this, short distance?" ob- been and Biron had melted im-
jected Gillbret. "You won't see any- mediately. His every action was dic-
thing. It will be impossible to keep tated by the thought of his father.
it centered." How could a man let himself be
"Larger, Uncle Gil." ruled by a monomania?
Muttering, he threw in the tele- She said, "I don't know what
scopic attachment and searched the controls the airlock. Open it."

"Arta, you're not leaving the past the drop, the ground riddled
ship. You don't know where they with craggy boulders which, with
are." time and infrequent rains, had scat-
"I'll find thein. Open the air- tered out as far as he could see.
lock." Gillbret shook his head. But "It looks," he said, "like a hope-
the spacesuit she had stripped had less world, Jonti."
borne a holster. She said, "Uncle The Autarch displayed none of
Gil, I'll use this. I swear I will." Biron's curiosity in his surround-
found himself staring at
Gillbret ings. He did not approach the drop.
the wicked muzzle of a neuronic He said, "This is the place we
whip. He forced a smile. "Don't found before landing. It's ideal for
now!" our purposes."
"Open the lock!" "It's ideal for your purposes, at
He did and she was out, running least," thought Biron. He stepped
into the wind, slipping across the away from the edge and down. sat
rocks and up the ridge. The blood He from
listened to the tiny hiss
pounded in her ears. She had been his carbon dioxide cylinder, and
as bad as Biron, dangling the Au- waited a moment. Then he said,
tarch before him for no other pur- very quietly, "What will you tell
pose than her silly pride. The Au- them when you get back to your
tarch's personality sharpened in her Or shall I guess?"
ship, Jonti?
mind; a man so studiedly cold as to The Autarch paused in the act
be bloodless and tasteless. She of opening the two-handled suit-
quivered with repulsion. case they had carried. He straight-
She had topped the ridge, and ened and said, "What are you talk-
there was nothing ahead of her. ing about?"
Stolidly, she walked onward, hold- Biron felt the wind numb his
ing the neuronic whip before her. face and rubbed his nose with his
gloved hand. Yet he unbuttoned the
BIRON and Autarch had not ex- foamite lining that wrapped him,
changed a word during their so that it flapped wide as the gusts
walk, and now they came to a halt hit it. He
said, "I'm talking about
where the ground leveled off. The your purpose in coming here."
rock was fissured by the action of "I would like to set up the radio
sun and wind through the millenia. rather than waste my time discuss-
Ahead of them, there was an an- ing the matter, Farrill."
cient fault, the farther lip of which "You won't set up a radio. Why
had crumbled downward, leaving a should you ? We tried reaching <
sheer precipice of a hundred feet. them from space, without a re-

Biron approached cautiously and sponse. There's no reason to expect
looked over it. It slanted outward more of a transmitter on the sur-
TYRANN 123
face. It's not a question of ionized all be very touching and I would
radio-opaque layers in the upper be out of your way."
atmosphere, either, because we tried "You believe this and yet you
the sub-ether as well and drew a came."
blank. Nor are we particularly the it, so you won't catch
"I expect
radio experts in our party. So why me by surprise. We are unarmed
did you really come up here, and I doubt that you could force
Jonti?" me over by muscle power alone."
The Autarch sat down opposite
Biron. His hand patted the suit- JONTI laughed. "Shall we con-
case idly. "If you are troubled by cern ourselves with our radio
these doubts, why did you come?" transmitter then, since vour death is
"To find out. Your man, Rizzett, now impossible?"

toldme you were planning this trip, "Not yet. I want your admission
and advised me to join you. I be- that you were going to try to kill
lieve that your instructions to him me."
were to tell me that, by joining you, "Oh? Do you intend to beat a
I might make certain you received confession out of me? Now under-
no messages that I remained un- stand, Farrill, you are a young man
aware of. It was a reasonable point, and I am disposed to make allow-
except that I don't think you will ances because of that and because
receive any messages. But I al- of the convenience of your name
lowed it to persuade me, and I've and rank. However, I must admit
come with you." you have until now been more
"To find my motive?" said Jonti, trouble than help to me."
mockingly. "By keeping alive, despite you?"
"Exactly. I can guess already." "If you refer to the risks you
"Tell me then. Let me learn my ran on Rhodia, I have explained
motive, too." it. I will not explain it again."
"You came to kill me. I am here Biron rose. "Your explanation
alone with you, and there is a cliff was not accurate. It has a flaw in it
before us over which itwould be which was obvious from the be-
certain death to fall. There would ginning."
be no signs of deliberate violence. "Really?"
There would be no blasted limbs "Really! Stand up and listen to
or any thought of weapon-play. It me, or I'll drag you to your feet."
would make a nice, sad story to take The Autarch's eyes narrowed to
back to your ship. I had slipped slits as he rose. "I would not ad-
and fallen. You might even bring vise you to attempt violence, young,
back a party to gather me up and ster."
give me a decent burial. It would "Listen." Biron's voice was loud

and his cloak still bellied open in that, certainly. But what held back
the breeze, disregarded. "You said my trigger finger before Rizzett got
thatyou sent me to a possible death on the visiplate and saw you?"
on Rhodia only to implicate the Di- "Politics, Jonti. Artemisia oth
rector in an anti-Tyranni plot." Hinriad was aboard, and for the
"That remains true." moment she was a more important
"That remains a lie. Your prime object than myself. I'll give you
object was to have me killed. You credit for a quick change of plans.
informed the captain of the Rhod- To have killed me in her presence
ian ship of my identity at the very would have ruined a bigger game."
beginning. You had no real reason
for believing that I would ever be <<T HAD fallen in love so rapid-
allowed to reach Hinrik." 'I ly, then?'
"Ifhad wanted to kill you, Far-
I "When the girl concerned is a
rill, might have planted a real
I Hinriad, why not? You lost no
radiation bomb in your room on time. You tried have her
first to
Earth." transferred to your ship and when
"It would have been obviously that failed, you told me that Hin-
more convenient to have the Tyran- rik had betrayed my father. So I
ni maneuvered into doing the kill- lost her and left you the field un-
ing for you." disputed. Now, I presume, she is
might have killed you in space

"I no longer a She is firmly on
factor.
when I first boarded the Remorse- your side and you may proceed
less." with your plan to kill me without
"So you might. You came equip- losing the Hinriad succession."
ped with a blaster and you* had it Jonti sighed and said, "Farrill,
leveled at me at one point. You it is cold and getting colder. I be-
had expected me on board, but lieve the sun heading downward.
is
you hadn't told your crew that. You are unutterably foolish and you
When Rizzett called and saw me, weary me. Before we end this non-
it was no longer possible to blast sense, will you tell me why I should
me. You made a mistake then. You be in the least interested in killing
told me you bad told your men I you? That is, if your obvious para-
was probably on board, and a while noia needs any reason."
later Rizzett told me you had not. "There is the same reason that
Don't you brief your men concern- caused you to kill my father."
ing your exact lies as you tell them, "What?"
Jonti?" "Did you think I believed you
Jonti's had been white in
face for an instant when you said Hin-
the cold, but it seemed to whiten rikhad been the traitor? He might
further. "I should kill you now for have been, were it not for the fact
TYRANN 125
that his reputation as a wretched at them. "How docs that prove any-
weakling is so well established. Do thing?"
you suppose that my father was a "It doesn't. But now take a good
complete fool ? Could he possibly look at this." He had a blaster in
have mistaken Hinrik for anything his hand, and the coolness had left
but what he was? If he had not his voice. He said, "I am tired of
known his reputation, would not you. But I won't have to be tired
five minutes in Hinrik's presence much longer."
have revealed him as a hopeless
puppet? Would my father have BIRON said, tonelessly, "You
babbled foolishly to Hinrik any- hid a blaster in the suitcase
thing that might have been used to with the equipment?"
support a charge of treason against "You came here expect-
honestly
him? No, Jonti. The man who be- cliff and you
ing to be thrown off a
trayed my father must have been thought I would try to do it with
one who was trusted by him.'' my hands as though I were a steve-
Jonti took a step backward and dore or a coal-miner. I am Autarch
kicked the suitcase aside. He poised of Lingane."
himself to withstand a charge and His face worked and his left
said, "I see your vile implication. hand made a flat, cutting gesture
My only explanation for it is that before him. "I am tired of the fat-
you are psychotic." uous idealism of the Ranchers of
Biron was trembling, and not Widemos." He whispered, "Move
with cold. "My father was popular on. Toward the cliff." He stepped
with your men, Jonti. Too popular. forward.
An Autarch cannot allow a com- Biron", hands raised, eyes on the
petitor in the business of ruling. blaster, stepped back. "You killed
You saw to he did not re-
it that my father, then."
main a competitor. And it was your "I killed your father!" said the
next job to see to it that I did not Autarch. "The same man who saw
remain alive either to replace or to to it that your father was blasted
avenge him." His voice raised to a to bits in a disintegration chamber
shout, which whipped away on the it that you follow him
will see to —
cold air. "Isn't this true?" and keep the Hinriad girl for him-
"No!" Jonti bent to the suitcase. self thereafter, along with all that
"I can prove you are wrong!" He goes with her. I you an
will give
flung it open. "Radio equipment. extra minute to think of that! But
Inspect it carefully. Take a good keep your hands steady, or I will
look at it." blast you and risk any questions my
He tossed the items to the men may care to ask." It was as
ground at Biron's feet. Birbn stared though his cold veneer, having

cracked, left nothing but a burn- and he himself would be that much
ing passion exposed. less visible.
"You tried to kill me before Their voices were sharp in his

this," Biron said stubbornly. ear. Radio communication was in
"I did. Your guesses were in operation and he smiled at that. So
every way correct. Does that help far, according to plan. His own
you now? Back." presence, of course, was not accord-
"No," said Biron. He brought ing to plan, but it would be better
his- hands down. "If you're going so. The plan was a rather overcon-
to shoot, do so." fidentone and the victim was not a
The Autarch said, "You think I complete fool, after all. Rizzett's
will not dare? You're calling my own blaster might yet be needed to
bluff?" decide the issue.
you to shoot."
"I've asked He waited. Stolidly, he watched
"And I will." The Autarch aimed the Autarch lift. his blaster as Biron
deliberately at Biron's head at a stood there, unflinching.
distance of four feet.
ARTEMISIA did not see the
CHAPTER XIX blaster lift. She did not see
the two figures on the flat rock sur-
Defeat! face. Five minutes earlier, she had
seen Rizzett silhouetted for a mo-
TEDOR RIZZETT circled the lit- ment against the sky and since then
tle piece of tableland warily. she had followed him.
He was not yet ready to be seen, He was moving too fast for her
but to remain hidden was difficult somehow. Things dimmed and wav-
in this world of bare rock. In the ered before her and twice she found
patch of tumbled boulders he felt herself stretched on the ground.
safer. He threaded his way through She did not recall falling. The sec-
them. Occasionally, he paused to ond time, she staggered to her feet
pass the soft back of the spongy with one wrist oozing blood where
gloves he wore over his face. The a sharp edge had scraped her.
dry cold was deceptive. Rizzett had gained again and she
He saw them now from between had to reel after him. When he
two granite monoliths that met in vanished in the glistening boulder-
a V and rested his blaster in the forest, she sobbed in despair. She
crotch.The sun was on his back. leaned against one of them, com-
He felt its feeble warmth soak pletely weary. Its beautiful flesh-
through, and he was satisfied. If pink tint, the glassy smoothness of
they happened to look in his direc- its surface, the fact that it stood as
tion, the sun would be in their eyes an ancient reminder of a primeval
TYRANN 127
volcanic age were all lost upon her. blotting out, but consciousness ling-
She could only try to fight the ered. It lingered long enough for
sensation of choking that pervaded her to feel the ground jar thud-
her. dingly against her; long enough to
And then she saw him, dwarfed press her finger upon the whip's
at the forked rock formation, his contact; and long enough for her
back to her. She held the neuronic to know that she was well out of
whip before her as she ran unevenly range, even if her aim was accurate.
over the hard ground. He was sight- She felt arms about her, lifting.
ing along the barrel of his rifle, in- She tried to see, but her eyelids
tent upon the process; taking aim; would not open.
getting ready. "Biron?" It was a weak whisper.
She wouldn't make it in time. The answer was a rough blur of
She would have to distract his words, but it was Rizzett's voice.
attention. She called, "Rizzett!" She tried to speak further, then ab-
And again, "Rizzett, don't shoot"!" ruptly gave up. She had failed
She stumbled again. The sun was Everything was blotted out.

THE AUTARCH remained mo- "Rizzett!" it came. "Rizzett,
tionless for the space it would don't shoot!"
take a man to count to ten slowly. Biron whirled in time to see the
Biron faced him as motionlessly, motion behind the rocks a hundred
watching the barrel of the blaster yards away and the glint of sun
that had just been fired point-blank off metal. And then the hurled
at him. The barrel sank slowly as weight of a human body was upon
he watched. his back. He bent under it, drop-
Biron said, "Your blaster seems ping to his knees.
not to be in firing order. Examine The Autarch had landed fairly,
it." his knees clasped hard about Biron's

The Autarch's bloodless face waist, his fist thudding at the nape
turned alternately to Biron and to of the neck. Biron's breath
his weapon. He had fired at a dis- whooshed out. He fought off the
tance of four feet. It should have gathering blackness long enough to
been all over. The congealed aston- throw himself to one side. The Au-
ishment that held him broke sud- tarch jumped free, gaining clear
denly and he disjointed the blaster footing while Biron sprawled on his
in a quick movement. back.
The energy capsule was missing; He had just time to double his
where it should have been, there legs up against himself as the Au-
was a useless cavity. The Autarch tarch lunged down upon him again.
with rage hurled the lump of dead The Autarch bounced off. They
metal aside. It turned over and were up together this time, per-
over, a black blot against the sun, spiration turning icy upon their
smashing into the rock with a ring- cheeks.
ing sound. Slowly, they circled. Biron tossed
Biron took a slow step forward. his carbon dioxide cylinder to one
"There are many ways I could kill side. The Autarch unstrapped his
you, but most of them are too likewise, held it suspended a mo-
quick. I think the most satisfying ment by its mesh-metal hose, then
would be to let you fight for your stepped in rapidly and swung it.
life —
knowing you can't win. Being Biron dropped, heard and felt it
a stevedore would be more helpful whistle above his head.

right now than being Autarch of He was up again, leaping before
Lingane." the Autarch could regain his bal-
His thigh muscles tensed, but the ance. One large fist clamped down
lunge they prepared was never com- on a wrist, while the other exploded
pleted. in the Autarch's face. He let the
The cry that interrupted was thin Autarch drop and stepped back.
and high, packed with panic. Biron said, "Stand up. I'll wait
TYRANN 121
for you with more of the same. pon; I communi-
also shorted your
There's no hurry." cator switch so that every word you
The Autarch touched his gloved said today was received by myself
hand to his face, then stared sickly and by every member of the crew.
at the blood that smeared off upon We all know what you are."
it His mouth twisted and his hand "I am your Autarch."
snaked out for the metal cylinder "And also the foulest traitor
he had dropped. Biron's foot came alive."
heavily down upon it, and the Au-
tarch yelled in agony.
Biron said, "You're too close to
FOR a moment, the Autarch
nothing but looked from
said
one
the edge of the cliff, Jonti. I'll to the other as they watched him
throw you the other way now." with somber, angry faces. Then he
But Rizzett's voice rang out, wrenched to his feet, pulled to-
"Wait!" gether the parted seams of his self-
The Autarch screamed, "Shoot control and held them tightly by

this man, Rizzett! His arms first, sheer nervous force.
then his legs, and we'll leave him." His voice was almost cool as he
Rizzett brought his weapon up said,"And if it were all true, what
slowly against his shoulder. would it matter? You have no
Biron said, "Who saw to it that choice but to let matters stand as
your own blaster was unloaded, they are. One last intra-nebular
Jonti?" planet remains to be visited. It
"What?" The Autarch stared must be the 'Rebellion World' and

blankly. only I know the co-ordinates."
"It was not I who had access to He retained somehow.
dignity
your blaster, Jonti. Who did have? One hand hung from a
uselessly
Who is pointing a blaster at you broken wrist; his upper lip had
right now? Not at me, Jonti, but swollen ludicrously and blood was
atyou!" caking his cheek, but he radiated
The Autarch turned to Rizzett the hauteur of one born to rule.
and screamed, "Traitor!" "You'll tell us," said Biron.
Rizzett said, in a low voice, "Not "Don't delude yourself that I
I, sir. That man is the traitor who will under any circumstances. And
betrayed the loyal Rancher of Wid- I have warned you already that
emos to his death." there is an average of seventy cubic
"That is not I," cried the Au- light years per star. If you work
tarch. "If he has told you I have, by trial and error, without me, the
he lies." odds are 250 quadrillion to one
"It is you yourself who have told against your coming within a billion
us. I not only emptied your wea- miles of any star. Any star!"

Something went click in Biron's They stood looking at each other,
mind. He said, "Take him back to and the conversation seemed to have
the Remorseless!" burned itself out in two lines.
Rizzett said in a low "The Then Biron know we
Lady Artemisia
— voice,
can't turn time
said,
backward,
"I
undo
And Biron interrupted. "Then things that have been done, unsay
it was she. Where is she?" things that have been said. But I
"She's safe. She came out with- do want you to understand."

out a carbon dioxide cylinder. Nat- "Why on understand-
this stress
urally as the CO., washed out of her ing?" Her eyes "I have
flashed.
blood stream, the automatic breath- done nothing but understand for
ing mechanism of the body slowed. weeks now. Will you tell me again
She was trying to run, didn't realize about my father?"
she had to breath voluntarily, and "No. I knew your father was in-
fainted." nocent. I suspected the Autarch al-
Biron frowned. "Why was she most from the start, but I had to
trying to interfere with you, any- find out definitely. I could only
way? Making sure her boy-friend prove it, him to
Arta, by forcing
didn't get hurt?" confess. I thought I could get him
Rizzett said, "She thought I was to confess by trapping him into at-
the Autarch's man and was going tempting to kill me and there was
to shoot you. take back this rat only one way of doing
now, and, Biron
—
I'll
He felt wretched. He went on.

that."
"Yes?" "It was a rotten thing to do. As

"Get back as soon as you can. rotten, almost, as what he did to
He's still the Autarch, and the crew my father. I don't expect you to
may need talking to. It's hard to forgive me."
break a lifetime habit of obedience. She said, "I don't understand a
She's behind that rock. Get to her word you're saying."
before she freezes to death, will "I knew he wanted you, Arta.
you? She won't leave." you would be a perfect
Politically,
matrimonial object. The name of
HERthe was almost buried in

face
hood that covered her
Hinriad would be more useful for
his purposes than that of Widemos.
head, and her body was formless So once he had you, he would need
in the thick, enveloping folds of me no longer. I deliberately forced
the spacesuit lining, but his steps you on him, Arta. I acted as I did,
quickened as he approached her. hoping you would turn to him.
He said, "How are you?" When you did, he thought he was
She said, "Better, thank you. I ready to rid himself of me, and
am sorry if I caused any trouble." Rizzett and I laid our trap."
TYRANN 131
"And you loved me all the have
actions for anything I might
time?" in life. were only that and
If it
Biron said, "Can't you bring nothing more! But I will forgive
yourself to believe that, Arta?" you, Biron, because I couldn't bear
"And, of course, you were ready not to. How could I ask you to
to sacrifice your love to the memory come back to me, unless I forgave
of your father and the honor of you?"
your family. How does the old dog- And she was in his arms, her
gerel go? You could not love me weather-cold lips turning up to
half so much, loved you not honor his. The two were held apart by a
more!" double layer of thick garments. His
Biron said, miserably, "Please, gloved hands could not feel the
Arta ! I am not proud of myself but body they embraced, but it didn't
I could think of no other way." seem to lessen his ardor.
"You might have told me your At last he said in concern, "The
plan, made me your confederate sun is going down. It's going to
rather than your tool." get colder."
"It was not your fight. If I had But she said, softly, "It's strange
failed —
and I might have you — then I seem to be getting
that
would have remained out of it. If warmer."
the Autarch had killed me, and you Together they walked back to the
were no longer on my side, you ship.
would be less hurt. You might have
married him; even been happy." BIRON faced the crew with an
"Since you have won, it might appearance of easy confidence
be that I would be hurt at bis loss." which he did not feel. The Lingan-
"But you aren't." ian ship was large, and there were
"How do you know?" fifty in the crew. They sat facing
Biron said, desperately, "At him. Fifty faces ! Fifty Linganian
least, try to see my motives. Granted faces bred to unquestioning obedi-
that I was foolish, criminally fool- ence to their Autarch.
ish, can't you understand? Can't Some had been convinced by Riz-
you try not to hate me?" zett; othershad been convinced by
She said, softly, "I have tried the arranged eavesdropping on the
not to love you and, as you see, I Autarch's statements to Biron ear-
have failed." lier that day. But how many others
"Then you forgive me," he said. were still uncertain or even defin-
"Why? Because I understand? itely hostile?
No! were a matter of simply

If it So far Biron's talking had done
understanding, of seeing your mo- little good. He leaned forward, let
tives, I would not forgive you your his voice grow confidential. "And

what are you righting for, men? lives for the sake of his ambition ?
What are you risking your lives My fatherwas a danger to him.

for? A free Galaxy, I think. A Gal- My father was honest and a friend
axy in which each world can de- of liberty. But he was too popular,
cide what is best in its own way, so he was betrayed. In that betrayal,
produce its own wealth for its own the Autarch might have brought to
good, be slave to none and master ruins the entire cause and all of
of none. Am I right?" you with it. Which one of you is
There was a low murmur of what safe under a man who will deal
might have been agreement, but it with the Tyranni whenever it suits
lacked enthusiasm. his purposes ? Who can be safe serv-
Biron went on, "And what is the ing a cowardly traitor?"
Autarch fighting for? For himself. "Better," whispered Rizzett.
He is the Autarch of Lingane. If he "Stick to that. Give it to them."
won, he would be Autarch of the
Nebular Kingdoms. You would re- AGAIN from
the voice called
place a Khan by an Autarch. Where "The Autarch
the back rows,
would be the benefit of that ? Is that knows where the 'Rebellion World'
worth dying for?" is. Do you know?"
One in the audience cried out, "We will discuss that later.
"He would be one of us, not a Meanwhile, consider instead that

filthy Tyrannian." under the Autarch we were all
Another shouted, "The Autarch headed for complete ruin that there ;
was looking for the 'Rebellion is still time to save ourselves by

World' to offer his services. Was turning from his guidance to a bet-
that ambition?" ter and nobler way; that it is still
"Ambition should be made of possible from the jaws of defeat to
sterner stuff, eh?" Biron shouted snatch
—
back, ironically. "But he would "Only defeat, my dear young
come to the 'Rebellion World' with man," came a soft, interrupting
an organization at his back. He voice, and Biron turned in horror.
could offer them all of Lingane; he The fifty crew-men came bab-
could offer them, he thought, the bling to their feet and, for a mo-
prestige of an alliance with the ment, it seemed as though they
Hinriads. In the end, he was pretty might surge forward, but they had
sure, the 'Rebellion World' would come to council unarmed; Rizzett
be his to do with what he pleased. had seen to that. And now a squad
Yes, that was ambition. of Tyranni guardsmen were filing
"And when the safety of the through the various doors, weapons
movement ran counter to his own ready.
plans, did he hesitate to risk your And Simok Aratap, himself, a
TYRANN 133
blaster in each hand, stood behind She is, I believe, the matrimonial
Biron and Rizzett. object of a highly placed Tyranni
nobleman. Obviously, that will be
CHAPTER XX kept in mind."
Artemisia said, "I'll marry him,
Where? if you let the rest go."
Biron half-rose, but Aratap

SIMOK ARATAP weighed care- waved him down. The Tyrannian
fully the personalities of each Commissioner smiled and said, "My
of the four who faced him and felt Lady, please! I can strike bargains,
the stirring of a certain excitement I admit. However, I am not the
within him. This would be the big Khan, but merely one of his serv-
gamble. The threads of the pattern ants. Therefore, any bargain I do
were weaving toward a close. He make will have to be justified thor-
was thankful that Major Andros oughly at home. So what is it ex-
was no longer with him; that the actly that you offer?"
Tyranni cruisers had gone as well. "My agreement to the marriage."
He was left with his flagship, his "That is not yours to offer. Your
crew and himself. They would be father has already agreed and that
sufficient. He hated any kind of un- is sufficient. Do you have anything
wieldiness. else?"
He spoke mildly. "Let me bring Aratap was waiting for the slow
you up to date, my Lady and gen- erosion of their wills-to-resist. The
tlemen. The Autarch's ship has fact that he did not enjoy his role
been boarded by a prize crew and did not prevent him from filling it
is now being escorted back to Ty- efficiently. The girl, for instance,
rann by Major Andros. The Au- might at this moment burst into
tarch's men will be tried according tears and that would have a salutary
to law and, if convicted, will re- effect on the young man. They were
ceive the punishment for treason. obviously in love. He wondered if
They are routine conspirators and old Pohang would want her under
will be treated routinely. But what the circumstances, and decided that
shall I do with you?" he probably would. The bargain
Hinrik of Rhodia sat beside him, would still be all in the ancient's
his face crumpled in utter misery. favor. For a moment, Aratap
He said, "Consider that my daugh- thought distantly that the girl was
ter is a young girl. She was led into very attractive.
this unwittingly. Artemisia, And she was maintaining equi-
them that you were — tell
librium. She was not breaking

"Your daughter," interposed Ar- down. Very good, thought Aratap.
atap, "'will probably be released. She was strong-willed as well. Po-

hang would not have joy of his Aratap went on, "If you ever had
bargain after all. any military reputation, I am afraid
He said to Hinrik, "Do you wish this would destroy it. You are not
to plead for your cousin, too?" a nobleman and so considerations of
Hinrik's lips moved soundlessly. state will play no part in your case.
Gillbret cried, "No one pleads Your trial will be public and it will
for me. I don't want anything of become known that you were a tool
any Tyrannian. Go ahead, order me of a tool. Too bad."
shot." Rizzett said, "But you were about
"You are hysterical," said Ara- to suggest a bargain, I suppose?"
tap. "You know that I cannot order "A bargain?"
you shot without trial." "Khan's evidence, for instance?
"He is my cousin," whispered You have only a shipload. Would-
Hinrik. n't you want to know the rest of
"That will be considered too. the machinery of revolt?"
You noblemen willsomeday have- Aratap shook his head slightly.
to learn that you cannot presume "No. We have the Autarch. He
too far on your usefulness to us. I willdo as a source of information.
wonder if your cousin has learned Even without it, we need only make
that lesson yet." war on Lingane. There would be
little leftof revolt thereafter, I'm
HE WAS satisfied with Gillbret's sure. There will be no bargain of

That fellow, at least,
reactions. that sort."
sincerely wanted death. The frustra- And this brought him to the
tion of life was too much for him. young man. Aratap had left him
Keep him alive, then, and that for last because he was the cleverest
alone would break him. of the lot. But he was young, and
He paused thoughtfully before young people were usually not dan-
Rizzett. This was one of the Au- gerous. They lacked patience.
tarch's men. The thought made him Biron spoke first, saying, "How
feel a faint embarrassment. At the did you follow us? Was he work-
start of the chase, he had dismissed ing with you?"
the Autarch as a factor on the basis "The Autarch? Not in this case.
of what seemed iron logic. Well, The poor fellow was trying to play
it was healthy to miss occasionally. both sides of the game."
It kept self-confidence balanced at Hinrik interrupted, with an in-
a point safely short of arrogance. congruously childish eagerness.

He said, "You're the fool who "The Tyranni have an invention
served a traitor. You would have that follows ships through hyper-
been better off with us." space."
Rizzett flushed. Aratap turned sharply. "If your
TYRANN 135
Excellency will refrain from inter- arranged by you for your own pur-
rupting, I would be obliged." Hin- poses, I know, but it suited our
rik cringed. purpose as well. overheard.We
It really didn't matter. None of "The Autarch said that only one
these four would be dangerous here- last intra-nebular planet remained
after, but Aratap had no desire to to be visited and that it must be
decrease by even one any of the un- the 'Rebellion World.' This is in-
certainties in the young man's mind. teresting,you see. A 'Rebellion
Biron said, "Now, look, let's World.' You know, my curiosity is
have facts or nothing. You don't aroused. Where would that fifth
have us here because you love us. and last planet be located?"
Why aren't we on the way back to
Tyrann with the others? It's that
you don't know how to go about
HE let
a seat
the silence
and watched them
last. He took
dis-
killing us. Two of us are Hinriads. passionately; first one, then another.
I am a Widemos. Rizzett is a well- Biron said, "There is no 'Re-
"
known officer of the Linganian fleet. bellion World.'
And that fifth one you have, your "You were looking for nothing
own pet coward and traitor, is still then?"
Autarch of Lingane. You can't kill "We were looking for nothing."
any of us without stinking up the "You are being ridiculous."
Kingdoms from Tyrann to the edge Biron shrugged wearily. "You
of the Nebula itself. You've got are yourself ridiculous if you expect
to try to make some sort of bargain more of an answer."
with us because there's nothing else Aratap said,"Observe that this
you can do." 'Rebellion World' must be the cen-
Aratap said, "You are not alto- ter of the octopus of conspiracy.
gether wrong. Let me weave a pat- To find it is my only purpose in
tern for you. We followed you; how keeping you alive. You each have
is not important. You may disre- something to gain. My Lady, I
gard, I think, the Director's over- might free you of your marriage.
active imagination. You paused near My Lord Gillbret, we might estab-
three stars without landing on any lish a laboratory for you; let you
planet. You came to a fourth and work undisturbed. Yes, we know
found a planet to land on. There more of you than you think." Ara-
we landed with you, watched, wait- tap turned away hastily. The man's
ed. We thought there might be face was working. He might weep
something to wait for and we were and that would be unpleasant.
right. You quarreled with the Au- "Colonel Rizzett, you will be saved
tarch and both of you broadcast the humiliation of court-martial and
without limitation. That had been the loss of reputation that would

go with it. You, Biron Farrill, that we are willing to buy from
would be Rancher of Widemos you." Biron looked about him.
again. In your case, we might even "Right?"
reverse the conviction of your fa- Artemisia crept closer to him and
ther." her hand went slowly about his el-
"And bring him back tr life?" bow. Rizzett nodded curtly and
"And restore his honor." Gillbret muttered, "Right!" in a
"His honor," said Biron, "rests breathless manner.
in the very actions that led to his "You have decided," said Aratap,
conviction and death. It is beyond , and put his finger on the correct
your power to add to or detract knob.
from it."
Aratap said, "One

me where to find this world
of you four THE Autarch's right wrist was
will tell immobilized in a light metal
you seek. One of you will be sens- sheath, which was held magnetically
ible. He will gain, whichever one it tight to the metalband about his
is, what I have promised. The rest abdomen. The left side of his face
of you will be married, imprisoned, was swollen and blue with bruises
executed, whatever will be worst except for a ragged, force-healed
for you. I warn you, I can be sad- scar,that seamed it redly. He stood
istic if I must be." He waited a mo- before them without moving after
ment. "Which one will it be? If that first wrench which had freed
you don't speak, the one next to his good arm from the grip of the
you will. You will have lost every- armed guard at his side.
thing and I will still have the in- "What do you want?" the Au-
formation I want." tarch demanded.
Biron said, "It's no use. You're "I will tell you in a moment,"
setting this up so carefully, and said Aratap. "First, I want you to
yet it won't help you. There is no consider your audience. See whom
'Rebellion World.'" we have here. young
There is the
"The Autarch says there is." man, for instance, whom you
"Then ask the Autarch your ques- planned death for, yet who lived
tion." long enough to cripple you and
Aratap frowned. The young man destroy your plans, although you
was carrying the bluff past the point were an Autarch and he was an
of reason. exile."
He said, "My own inclination is It was difficult to tell whether
to deal with one of you." a flush had entered the Autarch's
"Yet you have dealt with the mangled face. There was no single
Autarch in the past. Do so again. muscle-motion upon it.
There is nothing you can sell to us Aratap did not look for one. He
TYRANN 137
went on, quietly, almost indiffer- "More closely guarded, of
ently. "This is Gillbret oth Hin- course," amended Aratap, politely.
riad, who saved the young man's Rizzett cried out, "Believe him,
life and brought him to you. This is and you'll but add treason to trea-
the lady Artemisia, whom, I am son and be killed for it in the end."
told, you courted in your most The guard stepped forward, but
charming manner and who be- Biron anticipated him. He flung
trayed you, nevertheless, for the
love of the youngster. This is Col-
onel Rizzett, your most trusted mil-
itary aide, who also ended by be-
traying you. What do you owe these
people, Autarch!-'"
The Autarch said again, "What
do you want?"
"Information. Give it to me and
you will be Autarch again. Your
earlier dealings with us would be
held in your favor at the Khan's
court. Otherwise
—
"Otherwise?"
"I will get it from these, you
see. They will be saved and you
will be executed. That is why I ask
whether you owe them anything,
that you should give them the op-
portunity of saving their lives by
yourself being mistakenly stub-
born."
The Autarch's face twisted pain-
fully into a smile. "They cannot
save their lives at my expense. They
do not know the location of the
world you seek. I do."
"I have not said what the in-
formation I want is, Autarch."
"There is only one thing you can
want." His voice was hoarse, all
but unrecognizable. "If my decision
is to speak, then my Autarchy will
be as before, you say."

himself upon Rizzett, struggling these be killed? That, at least, you
backward with him. must promise." His horridly dis-
"Don't be a fool," he warned. colored face twisted savagely. "That
"There's nothing you can do." one, above all." His finger stabbed
The Autarch said, "I don't care toward Biron.
about my Autarchy, or myself, Riz- "If that is your price, it is met."
zett." He turned to Aratap. "Will "If I could be his executioner, I
TYRANN 139
would relieve you of all further ob- long moment, it seemed that the
ligation to me. If my finder could Autarch's eyes flickered as his body
control the execution-blast, it would remained in crazy balance, and then
be partial But if not
repayment. they were glazed and he dropped
that, at least I will tell you what and was a charred remnant upon
he would have you not know. I the floor.
give you rho, theta, and phi in par- Artemisia buried her face against
sees and radians: 7352.43, 1.7836, Biron's chest. Biron forced himself
5.2112. Those three points will de- to look once, firmly and without
termine the position of the world flinching, at the body of his fa-
you seek. You have them now." ther's murderer, then turned his
"So I have," said Aratap, writing eyes away. Hinrik, from a distant
them down. corner of the room, mumbled and
And Rizzett broke away. "Trai- giggled to himself.
tor!" Only Aratap was calm. He said,
Biron, caught off-balance, lost his "Remove the body."

grip on the Linganian and was They did so, flaring the floor
thrown to one knee. "Rizzett," he with a soft heat- ray for a few mo-
yelled, futilely. ments to remove the blood. Only
Rizzett, face distorted, struggled a few scattered char-marks were
brieflywith the guard. Other guards left.
were swarming in, but Rizzett had The guards helped Rizzett to his
the blaster now. With hands and feet. He brushed at himself with
knees, he struggled against the Ty- both hands, then whirled fiercely
ranni soldiers. Hurling himself toward Biron.. '"What were you do-
through the huddle of bodies, Biron ing? I almost missed the bastard."
joined the fight. He caught Rizzett's Biron said, wearily, "You fell
throat, choking, pulling back. into Aratap's trap, Rizzett."
"Traitor," Rizzett gasped, strug- "Trap? I killed the traitor, didn't
gling to maintain aim as the Au- I?"
tarch tried desperately to squirm "That was the trap. You did Ara-
aside. He fired. And then they dis- tap a favor."
armed him and threw him on his Rizzett made no answer, and Ara-
back. tap did not interfere. He listened
with a certain pleasure. The young
BUTand the Autarch's right shoulder
half his chest had been
fellow's mind worked smoothly.
Biron said, "If Aratap overheard
blasted away. Grotesquely, the fore- what he claimed to have overheard,
arm dangled freely from mag-
its he would have known that only
netized sheath. Fingers, wrist and Jonti had the information he
elbow ended in black ruin. For a wanted. Jonti said that, with em-

phasis, when he faced us after the ing, stepped to the door and kicked
fight. It was obvious that Aratap the release.
was questioning us only to rattle "What is happening?"
us, to get us to act brainlessly at A soldier saluted. "General
the proper time. was ready for
I alarm, sir. Storage compartments."
the irrational impulse he counted "Fire?"
upon. You were not." "It is not yet known, sir."
"I had thought," interposed Ara- Aratapthought to himself,
tap softly, "that you would have "Great Galaxy!" and stepped back
done the job." into the room. "Where is Gill-
"I," said Biron, "would have bret?"
aimed at you." He turned to Riz- It was the first anyone knew of
zett again. "Don't you see that he his absence.
didn't want the Autarch alive? The
Tyranni are snakes. He wanted the THEY found him in the engine
Autarch's information; he didn't room, cowering amid the giant
want to pay for it; he couldn't risk structures, and half-dragged, half-
killing him. You very obligingly did carried him back to the Commis-
it for him." sioner's room.
"Correct," said Aratap, "and I The Commissioner said, dryly.
have my information." "There is no escape on a ship, my
Somewhere there was the sudden Lord. It did you no good to sound
clamor of bells. the general alarm. The time of
"All right. If I
Rizzett began, confusion is bound to be limited."
did him a favor, I did myself one He went on, "I think it is
at the same time." enough. We have kept the cruiser

"Not quite," said the Commis- you stole, Farrill, my own cruiser,
sioner, "since our young .friend has on board ship. It will be used to
not carried the analysis far enough. explore the 'Rebellion World.' We
You see, a new crime has been com- will make for the lamented Au-
mitted. Where the only crime is tarch's reference points as soon as
treason against Tyrann, your dis- the Jump can be calculated. This
posal would be a delicate matter will be an adventure of a sort
But now that you have
politically. usually missing in this comfortable
murdered the Autarch of Lingane, generation of ours."
you may be tried, convicted, and ex- There was the sudden thought
ecuted by Linganian law and Ty- in his mind of his father in com-
rann need play no part in This mand of a squadron, conquering
will be convenient for
— it.
worlds. He was glad Andros was

And then he frowned and inter- gone. This adventure would be his
rupted himself. He heard the clang- alone.
TYRANN 141
THEY were separated after that. who fixed it." Gillbret was smiling.
Artemisia was placed with her It was a sly smile, the smile of a
father, and Rizzett and Biron were little boy who had done something
marched off in opposite directions. clever.

Gillbret struggled and screamed. "What have you fixed?" Biron
"I won't be left alone. I won't be was on his feet. He seized the other
in solitary." by the shoulders and dragged him
Aratap sighed. This man's grand- upright. "Answer me!"
father had been a great ruler, the "They found me in the engine
history books said. It was degrading room." The words were jerked out.
to have to watch such a scene. He "They thought I was hiding. I
said, with distaste, "Put my Lord wasn't. I sounded the general alarm
with one of the others." for the storage room, because I had
And so Gillbret was put with to be alone, but for just a few min-
Biron. There was no speech be- utes. I shorted the hyperatomics."

tween them till the coming of space- "You what?"
ship "night" when the lights turned "It was easy. It took a minute.
a dim purple. was bright enough
It And won't know. I did it
they
to allow them to be watched cleverly. They won't know until
through the televiewing system by they try to Jump, and then all the
the guards, shift and shift about, fuel will be energy in one chain re-
yet dim enough to allow sleep. action and the ship and us and
But Gillbret did not sleep. "Bi- Aratap and all knowledge of the
ron," he whispered. "Biron." 'Rebellion World' will be a thin
Biron, roused from a dull semi- expansion of iron vapor."
drowse, said, "What do you want?" Biron was backing away, eyes
"Biron, I have done it. It is all wide. "You did that?"
right, Biron." "Yes." Gillbret buried his head
said, "Try to sleep, Gil."
Biron in his hands and rocked to and fro.
But Gillbret insisted. "But I've "We'll be dead, Biron. I'm not
done it, Biron. Aratap may be afraid to die, but not alone. I had
smart, but I'm smarter. Isn't that to be with someone. I'm glad I'm
amusing? You don't have to worry, with you. I want to be with some-
Biron. Biron, don't worry. I've fixed one when I die. But it won't hurt;
it." it will be so quick."
He was shaking Biron again, fev- Biron said, "You're mad. We
erishly. might still have won out!"
Biron sat up. "What's the mat- Gillbret didn't hear him. His ears
ter with you?" were filled with his own moans.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Biron could only dash to the
It's all right. But I was the one door. "Guard," he yelled. "Guard!"

Were there hours or merely min- with me is Gillbret oth Hinriad. He
utes left? is sick. He may be dying. If a
Hinriad dies on a Tyrannian ship
CHAPTER XXI because you will not let me speak
to the man in authority, you will
Here? not have .a good time of it."
"What's wrong with him?"

THE soldier came clattering don't know. Will you be
"I
down the corridor. "Get back quick or are you tired of life?"
in there!" His voice was sharp. The guard mumbled something
They stood facing one another. and went off.
There were no doors to the small Biron watched him as far as he
bottom-level rooms which doubled could see in the dim purple. He
as prison cells, but a force-field strained his ears in an attempt to
stretched from side to side, top to catch the heightened throbbing of
bottom. Biron could feel it with the engines as energy concentration
his hand. There was a resilience to climbed to a pre- Jump peak, but he
it, like rubber stretched nearly to
.
heard nothing at all.
its extreme, and then it stopped He strode to Gillbret, seized the
giving as though the first initial man's hair and pulled the head back
pressure turned it to steel. gently. Eyes stared into his own out
•It tingled Biron's hand, and he of a contorted face. There was no
knew that though it would stop recognition in them; only fear.
matter completely, it would be as "Who are you?"
transparent as space to the energy "It's only me, Biron. How do
beam of a neuronic whip. And there you feel?"
was a whip in the guard's hand. It took time for the words to
Biron said, "I've got to see Com- penetrate. Gillbret said, blankly,
missioner Aratap." "Biron?" Then, with a quiver of
"Is what you're making a
that life, "Biron! Are they Jumping?
noise about?" The guard was not Death won't hurt, Biron."
in the best of humor; the night Biron let the head drop. No point
watch was unpopular and he was in anger against Gillbret. But he
losing at cards. "I'll mention it after was writhing in frustration. Why
lights-on." wouldn't they let him speak to Ara-
"It won't wait." Biron felt des- tap? Why wouldn't they let him
perate. "It's important." out? He found himself at a wall
Will you
"It will have to wait. and beat upon it with his fists. If
get back, or do you want a bit of there were a door, he could break
the whip?" it down; if there were bars, he could
"Look," said Biron, "the man pull them apart, or drag them out
TYRANN 143
ot 'their sockets, by the Galaxy.
But there was a force-field which
THE guard stepped forward and
Biron dived. They went thump-
nothing could damage. He would ing down together, and Biron
yell again! swarmed up along the guard's body,
There were footsteps once more seizing first the shoulder and then
He rushed to the open-yet-not-opei the wrist of the arm that was try-
door. He could not look out to see ing to bring its whip down upon
who was coming down the corridor. him.
He could only wait. For a moment, they remained
frozen, straining one an-
against
WAS the guard again. "Get
ITback other, and then Biron caught mo-
from the field," ihe barked. tion at the corner of his eye. The
"Step back with your hands in front medical officer was rushing past
of you." There was an officer with them to sound the alarm.
him. Biron's hand, the one not hold-
Biron retreated. The other's neu- ing the other's whip-wrist, shot out
ronic whip was on him, unwaver- and seized the officer's ankle. The
ingly. Biron said, "The other man guard writhed nearly free, and the
with you is not Aratap. I want to officer kicked out wildly at him,
speak to the Commissioner." but, with the veins standing out

The officer said, "If Gillbret oth on his neck and temples, Biron
Hinriad you don't want to
is ill, pulled desperately with each hand.
see the Commissioner. You want to The officer went down, shouting
see a doctor." hoarsely. The guard's whip clat-
The force-field was down, with tered to the floor with a harsh
a dim blue spark showing as contact sound. Biron fell upon it, rolled
broke. The officer entered and Bi- with it, and came up on his knees
ron could see the Medical Group and one hand. In his other was the
insignia on his uniform. whip.
Biron stepped in front of him. "Not a sound," he gasped. "Not
"All right, now listen to me. This one sound. Drop anything else
ship mustn't Jump. The Commis- you've got."
sioner is the only one who can see The guard, staggering to his
to that, and
must speak to him.
I feet, his tunic ripped, glared hatred
Do you understand that? You're and tossed a short, metal-weighted,
an officer. Have him awakened." plastic club away from himself. The
The doctor put out an arm to doctor was unarmed.
brush Biron aside, and Biron batted Biron gathered up the club. He
it away. The doctor cried out sharp- said, "Sorry. I have nothing to tie
ly and called, "Guard, get this man and gag you with and no time any-
out of here." way."

The whip dimly once,
flashed ahead was white, not purple. He
guard and then the
twice. .First the hesitated. Then he put the whip
doctor stiffened in agonized im- into his pocket. They would be
mobility and dropped solidly, in busy. There would be no reason for
one piece, legs and arms bent them to suspect him.
grotesquely out from their bodies He stepped in quickly. The men
in the attitude they had last as- were pigmies scurrying about the
sumed before the whip struck. huge matter-energy converters. The
room glared with dials; a hundred
BIRON turned to Gillbret, who thousand eyes staring their infor-
was watching with dull, sound- mation out to all who would look.
less vacuity. A ship this size, one almost in the
"Sorry," said Biron, "but you, class of a large passenger liner,
too, Gillbret," and the whip flashed was considerably from the
different
a third time. tiny Tyrannian cruiser he had been
The vacuous expression was used to. There the engines had
frozen solid as Gillbret lay there been all but automatic. Here they
on his side. were large enough to power a city,
The force-field was still down and required considerable supervi-
and Biron stepped out into the sion.
corridor. was empty. Only the
It He was on a railed balcony that
watch and the night-details would circled engine room. In one
the
be up. There would be no time to corner there was a small room in
try to locate Aratap. It would have which two men handled computers
to be straight for the engine room. with flying fingers. He hurried in
He set off toward the bow. that direction, while engineers
A man in engineer's work- passed him without looking at him.
clothes hurried past him. He stepped through the door.
"When's the next Jump?" called The two at the computers looked
out Biron. at him.
"About half an hour," the en- "What's up?" one, a lieutenant,
gineer returned over his shoulder. said."What are you doing here?
"Engine room straight ahead?" Get back to your post."
"And up the ramp." The man Biron said, "The hyperatomics
turned suddenly. "Who are you?" have been shorted. They've got to
Biron did not bother to answer. be repaired."
The whip flared a fourth time. He "Hold on," said the second. "I've
stepped over the body and went seen this man. He's one of the
on. Half an hour left. prisoners.Hold him, Lancy."
He heard the noise of men as he He jumped up and w as making T
sped up the steep ramp. The light his way out the other door. Biron
TYRANN 145
hurdled the desk and the computer, with knees bent, and rolled. He
seized the belt of the controlman's rolled as rapidly as he could to pre-
tunic and pulled him backward. vent setting himself up as a target.
"Correct," he said. "I'm one of He heard the soft hissing of a
the prisoners. I'm Biron of Wide- needle-gun near his and then
ear,
mos. But what I say is true. The he was in the shadow of one of
hyperatomics are shorted. Have the engines.
them inspected, if you don't be- He stood up in a crouch, hud-
lieve me." dling beneath its curve. His right
The lieutenant found himself leg was a stabbing pain. Gravity
staring at a neuronic whip. He said, was high near the ship's hull and
carefully, "It can't be done, sir, the drop had been a long one; he
without orders from the Officer of had sprained his knee badly. It
the Day. or from the Commissioner. meant that there would be no more
It would mean changing the Jump chase. If he won out, it was to be
calculations and delaying us for from where he stood.
hours." He shouted, "Hold your fire! I
"Get the authority then. Get the am unarmed." First the club and
Commissioner." then the whip he had taken from
"May I use the communicator?" the guard went spinning toward the
"Hurry." center of the engine room. They
The lieutenant's arm reached out lay there in hard impotence and
for the mouthpiece of the
flaring plain view. "The hyperatomics are
communicator, and, halfway there, shorted. A Jump will mean the
plummeted down hard upon the death of us all. I ask only that you
row of knobs at one end of his check the motors. You will lose a
desk. Bells clamored in every cor- few hours, perhaps, if I am wrong.
ner of the ship. You will save your lives if I am
Biron's was too
club late. It right."
came down hard upon the lieuten- Someone called, "Go down there
ant's wrist. The lieutenant snatched and get him."
it away, moaning over it, but the Biron yelled; "Will you sell your
warning signals were sounding. lives rather than listen?"
He heard the cautious sound of
GUARDS were rocketing in many feet, and shrank back. Then
upon the balcony through there was a frictional sound above.
every entrance. Biron slammed out A soldierwas sliding down the
of the control room, looked in engine towardhim, hugging its
either direction, then hopped the faintly warm skin as though it were
railing. a bride. Biron waited. He could
He plummeted down, landing still use his arms.

And then the voice came, from C Bank completely shorted. Re-
above, unnaturally loud, penetrat- pairs under way."
ing every corner of the huge room. Aratap said, "Have Jump recal-
It said, "Back to your places. Halt culated for plus six hours." He
preparations for the Jump. Check turned to Biron coolly. "You were
the hyperatomics." right."
It was Aratap, speaking through He gestured. The guards salut-
the public address system. The or- ed, turned on their heels, and left
der then came, "Bring the young one by one with a smooth precision.
man to me." Aratap said, "The details,
Biron allowed himself to be please."
taken. There were two soldiers on "Gillbret oth Hinriad, during his
each side, holding him as though stay in the engine room, thought
they expected him to explode. He the shorting to be a good idea. The
tried to force himself to walk nat- man is not responsible for his ac-
urally, but he was limping in pain. tions and must not be punished
for it."
ARATAP was only in semi-dress. Aratap nodded. "He has not been
His eyes seemed different; considered responsible for years.
faded, peering, unfocused. It oc- That portion of the events will re-
curred to Biron that the man wore main between you and me only.
contact lenses. However, my interest and curiosity
Aratap said, "You have created are aroused by your reasons for
quite a stir, Farrill." preventing the destruction of the
"It was necessary to save our ship. You are surely not afraid to
lives. Send these guards away. As die in a good cause."
long as the engines are being in- "There is no cause," said Biron.
vestigated, there's nothing more I "There is no 'Rebellion World.' I
intend doing." have told you so already and I re-
"They will stay just a while. At peat it. Lingane was the center of
least, until I hear from my engine- revolt and that has been checked.
men." I was interested only in tracking
They waited, silently, as the min- down my father's' murderer, the
utes dragged on, and then there lady Artemisia only in escaping an
was the flash of red upon the frost- u'nwanted marriage. As for Gill-
ed-glass circle above the glowing bret,he is mad."
lettering that read "Engine Room." "Yet the Autarch believed in the
Aratap opened contact. "Make existence of this mysterious planet.
your report!" Surely, he gave me the co-ordinates
The words that came were crisp of something."
and hurried. "Hyperatomics on the "His belief is based on a mad-
TYRANN 147
man's dream. Gillbret dreamed "You are cool," said Aratap.
something twenty years ago. Using "It is a were not born
pity you
that as a basis, the Autarch calcu- one of us." He meant it as a com-
lated five possible planets as the pliment. "We'll take you back to
site of this dream-world. It is all your cell now, and replace the
nonsense." force-field. A simple precaution."
The Commissioner said, "And
something disturbs me."
vet
"What?"
THE guard that Biron had
knocked out was no longer
"You are working so hard to per-
suade me. Surely, I will find all
this out myself once I have

for
made the Jump. It is not impossible
that, in desperation, one of you
might endanger the ship and the
other save it as a complicated
method for convincing me that I
need look no farther for the 'Re-

bellion World.' I would say to my-
self: If there were really such a
world, young Farrill would have let
the ship vaporize, for he is a young
man and romantically capable of
dying what he would consider a
hero's death. Since he has risked
his life to prevent that happening
Gillbret is mad, there is no 'Re-
bellion World' and I will return
without further searching. Am I
too complicated for you?"

"No. I understand you."
"And since you have saved our
lives, you will- receive appropriate
consideration in the Khan's Court.
You will have saved your life and
your cause. No, young sir, I am
not quite so ready to believe the
obvious. We will still make the
Jump."
"I have no objections," said
Biron.

there when they returned to the "Out of the man." The
way,
prison room, but the doctor was. Medical was scowling at
Officer
He was bending over the still un- him. He removed the black medi-
conscious form of Gillbret. cal wallet from an inner pocket.
Aratap said, "Is he still un- "At least the hypodermics aren't
der?" broken," he grumbled. He leaned
At his voice, the doctor jumped over Gillbret, the hypodermic,
up. "The effects of the whip have filled with its colorless fluid,
worn off, Commissioner, but the poised. It sank deep, and the
man is not young and has been plunger pressed inward automat-
under a strain. I don't know if he ically, The doctor tossed it aside
wHl recover." and they waited.
Biron felt horror fill him. He Gillbret's eyes flickered, then
dropped to his knees, disregard- opened. For a while, they stared
ing the wrenching pain, and unseeingly. When he spoke
reached out a hand to touch Gill- finally, his voice was a whisper.
bret's shoulder gently. "I can't see, Biron. I can't see."
"Gil," he whispered. He Biron leaned close again. "It's
watched the other's damp, white all right, Gil. Just rest."
face anxiously. "I don't want to." He tried to
TYRANN 149
struggle upright. "Biron, when are Earlier he had thought his own
they Jumping?" analysis to be correct. It had to be.
"Soon, soon!" But what if he were wrong? What
."Stay with me, then. I don't if they were now at the very heart
want to die alone." His fingers of rebellion? The information
clutched feebly, and then relaxed. would go streaking back to Tyrann
His head lolled backward. and the armada would gather. And
The doctor stooped, then he himself would die knowing that
straightened, "We were too late." he might have saved the rebellion;
Tears stung at Biron's eyelids. but had risked death to ruin it.
"I'm sorry, Gil," he said. "You It was during that dark time that
didn't know. You didn't under- he thought of the document again.

stand." The document he had once failed
to get.
THEY were bard hours for Strange the way the notion of
Biron. Aratap had refused to the document came and went. It
allow him to attend the ceremonies would be mentioned and then for-
involved in the burial of a body at gotten. There was a mad, intensive
space. Somewhere in the ship, he search for a "Rebellion World" and
knew, Gillbret's body would
be yet no search at all for the mys-
blasted inan atomic furnace and terious vanished document,
then exhausted into space, where Was the emphasis being mis-
its atoms might mingle forever placed ?
with the thin wisps of interstellar It occurred to Biron then that

matter. Aratap was willing to come upon
Artemisia and Hinrik would be the "Rebellion World" with a
there. Would they understand? single ship. What was that confi-
Would she understand that he had dence he had? Could he dare a
done only what he had to do? planet with a ship?
The doctor had injected the The Autarch had said the docu-
cartilaginous extract that would ment had vanished years before,
hasten the healing of Biron's torn but then who had it? The Tyranni?
ligaments and already the pain in Did they have a document the
his were barely noticeable,
knee secret of which would allow one
but, that was only physical
then, ship to destroy a world?
pain, anyway. Given a strong will, If that were true, it would no
it could be ignored. longer matter where the "Rebellion
He felt the inner disturbance World" was, or if it existed at all.
that meant the ship had Tumped Time passed and finally Aratap
and then the worst time came. entered. Biron got to his feet.

Aratap said, "We have reached into a seat as well. "I want to talk
the star in question. There is a star to you."-
there. The co-ordinates given us by The young man was staring
the Autarch were correct." solemnly at him, and Aratap found
"Well?" himself somewhat amazed that
"But there is no need to inspect they had met first less than a month
it for planets. The star, I am told ago. The boy was older now, far
by my astrogators, was a nova less more than a month older, and he
than a million years ago. If it had had lost his fear. Aratap thought
planets then, they were destroyed. to himself, "I am growing com-
It is a white dwarf now. It can pletely decadent. How many of us
have no planets." are beginning to like individuals
Biron stared. "Then
— among our subjects? How many
Aratap said, "So you are right. of us wish them well?"
"
There is no 'Rebellion World.' He said, "I am going to release
the Director and his daughter.
CHAPTER XXII Naturally, it is the politically in-
telligent thing to do. In fact, it is
There! politically inevitable. I think,

though, that I will release them
ALL of Aratap's philosophy now and send them back, on the
could not completely wipe out Remorseless. Would you care to
the feeling of regret within him. pilot them?"
For a while, he had not been him- Biron said, "Are you freeing
self,but his father over again. He, me?"
too, these last weeks had been "Yes."
leading a squadron of ships against "Why?"
the enemies of the Khan. "You saved my ship; and my
But these were degenerate days life as well."
and where there might have been a "I doubt that personal gratitude
"Rebellion World," there was would influence your actions in
none. There were no enemies of matters of state."
the Khan after all; no worlds to Aratap was within a hair of
gain. He remained only a Commis- laughing outright. He did like the
sioner, a politician, still condemned boy. "Then I'll give you another
to the soothing of little troubles. reason. As long as I was tracking
No more. a giant conspiracy against the
Yet regret was a useless emotion. Khan, you were dangerous. When
It accomplished nothing. that giant conspiracy failed to mate-
He sat down and motioned Biron rialize; when all I had was a Lin-
TYRANN 151
ganian cabal of which the leader marriage to that — nobleman ?"
is dead; you were no longer dan- "You wish it stopped?"

gerous. In fact, it would be danger- "You know that we would like
ous to try either you or the to marry each other. You said
Linganian captives. once there might be some way of
"The trials would be in Lingan- stopping the Tyranni affair."
ian courts and therefore not under "At the time I said that I was
our full control. They would in- trying to accomplish something.
evitably involve discussion of the What is the old saying? "The lies
so-called 'Rebellion World.' And of lovers and diplomats shall be
"
though there is none, half the sub- forgiven them.'
jects of Tyrann would have a con- "But there is a way, Commis-
cept to rally round, a reason for sioner. It need only be pointed
revolt, a hope for the future. The out to the Khan that when a pow-
Tyranni realm would not be free erful courtier would marry into
of rebellion this side of a century." an important subject family, it
may be motives of ambition that
"rnHEN you free us all?" lead him on. A
may be led
revolt
i- "It will not be exactly by an ambitious Tyrannian as easily

freedom since none of you are ex- as by an ambitious Linganian."
actly loyal. We will deal with Lin- Aratap did laugh this time.
gane in our own way, and the next "You reason like one of us. But
Autarch will find himself bound it wouldn't work. Would you
by closer ties to the Khan. It will want my advice?"
be no longer an 'Associated "What would it be?"
Power' and trials involving Lin- "Marry her yourself, quickly.
ganians will not necessarily be A thing done would be

once
tried in Linganian courts here- difficult to undo under the cir-
after. Those involved in the con- cumstances. We would have to find
spiracy, including those in our another woman for Pohang."
hands now, will be exiled to Biron hesitated. Then he put
worlds nearer Tyrann where they out a hand. "Thank you, sir."
will be fairly harmless. You, for Aratap took it. "I don't like
example, cannot return to Nephe- Pohang particularly, anyway. Still,
los and need not expect to be re- there is one thing .further for you
stored to your Ranchy. You will to remember. Don't let ambition

stay on Rhodia, along with mislead you. Though you marry
Colonel RizEett." the Director's daughter, you will
"Good enough," said Biron, never yourself be Director. You
"but what of the lady Artemisia's are not the type."

ARATAP watched the shrink- The Remorseless was only a
ing Remorseless in the visi- gleaming dot now, scarcely distin-
plate and was glad the decision guishable from the stars that were
had been made. The young man beginning to surround it now that
was free; a message was already they were- emerging from the Ne-
on its way to Tyrann through the bula.
sub-ether. Major Andros would Rizzett watched the shrinking
undoubtedly swell into apoplexy, Tyrannian flagship in the visiplate.
and there would undoubtedly be He said, "So the man let us go!
men at court to demand his recall You know, if the Tyranni were all
as Commissioner. like him, damned if I wouldn't join

he would travel to
If necessary, their fleet. It upsets me
in a way. I
Tyrann. Somehow he would see the have definite notions of what Ty-
Khan and make him listen. Given ranni are like, and he doesn't fit.
all the facts, the King of Kings Do you suppose he can hear what
would see no other
plainly that we say?"
course of action was possible, and Biron set the automatic controls
thereafter Aratap could defy any and swiveled in the pilot's seat. "Of
possible combination of enemies. course not. He can follow us
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TYRANN 153
through hyper-space ashe did be- Biron said, "We'll be on Rhodia
fore, but I don't think he can put a in a matter of hours. We'll be
spy beam on us. You remember Jumping soon."
thatwhen he first captured us, all "I know." Rizzett scowled.
he knew about us was what he "And on Rhodia till we
we'll stay
overheard on the fourth planet. No die. Not that I'm complaining over-
more." loud; I'm glad I'm alive. But it's

Artemisia stepped into the pilot a silly end to it all."
room, her finger on her lips. "Not
too loudly," she said. "I think he's <<rpHERE hasn't been any end-
sleeping now. won't be long be-
It J- ing," said Biron, softly.
fore we reach Rhodia, will it, Rizzett looked up. "You mean
Biron?" we can start all over? No, I don't
"We can do it in one Jump, Arta. think so. You can, perhaps, but
Aratap had it calculated for us." not I. I'm too old and there's noth-
Rizzett said, "I've got to wash ing left for me. Lingane will be
my hands." dragged into line and I'll never see
They watched him leave, and it again. That bothers me most of
then she was in Biron's- arms. He all, I think. I was born there and
kissed her on forehead and eyes, lived there all my life. I won't be
then found her lips as his arms but half a man anywhere else.
tensed about her. The kiss came to You're young; you'll forget Nephe-
a lingering and breathless end. She los."
said, "I love you very much," and "There's more to life than a
he said, "I love you more than I home planet, Tedor. It's been our
can say." The conversation that great shortcoming in the past cen-
followed was both as unoriginal as turies that we've been unable to
that and as satisfying. recognize that fact. All planets are
Biron said after a while, "Will our home planets."
he marry us before we land?" "Maybe. I don't know. If there
Artemisia frowned a little. "I bad been a 'Rebellion World,' why,
tried to explain that he's Director then, it might have been so."
and captain of the ship and that "There is a 'Rebellion World,'
there are no Tyranni here. I don't Tedor."
know, though; he's quite upset. Rizzett said, sharply, "I'm in no
After he's rested, I'll try again." mood for that, Biron."
Biron laughed softly. "Don't the truth. There is such a
"It's
worry. He'll be persuaded." world and I know its location. I
Rizzett's footsteps were noisy as might have known it weeks ago,
he returned. He said, "I wish we and so might anyone in our party.
still had the trailer." The facts were all there. They were

knocking at my mind without being
able to get in until that moment on The Best Way to Get Started
the fourth planet when you and I
had beaten down Jonti. Do you re-

member him standing there, saying WRITING FOR
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his
?
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often suggest markets you might never
what you mean, Biron." have heard of. Send
"Don't you see that it is exactly the coupon today for
the f r ee catalog VETERANS:
those odds which Gillbre: is sup- which tells you how This course
you may get started approved for
posed to have defeated? You toward a writing veterans' training
career.
remember his story. The meteor
The Magazine Institute, Inc.
hit, deflected his ship's course, and
50 Rockefeller Plaza
at the end of its Jumps, it was ac- Rockefeller Center, New York 30, N.Y.
tually within a stellar system. That
could have happened only by an The Magazine Institute, Inc.
Dept. 848-C, 50 Rockefeller Plaza
incredible coincidence." Rockefeller Center, New York 20, N.Y'.
Please send your free catalog, with-

<<iT| 1HEN it was a madman's story out obligation, to
J- and there is no 'Rebellion

World'."
Name
"Unless there is a condition un- Address-
der which the odds against landing

within a stellar system are less in- Check here if eligible under G.I. Bill
{Inquiries confi&ential. No salesman teill rail)
credible," said Biron, "and there is
TYRANN 155
such a condition. In fact, there is You can put it where no one can
one set of circumstances, and only find it, as, for instance, within the
one, under which he must have Horsehead Nebula. Or else you can
reached a system. It would have put it where no one would ever
been inevitable." think of looking, right in front of
"Well?" their eyes.
"You remember the Autarch's "Consider what happened to
reasoning. The engines of Gillbret's Gillbret after landing on the 'Re-
ship were not interfered with, so bellion World.' He was returned
the power of the hyperatomic to Rhodia alive. His theory was
thrusts — or, in other words, the that this was in order to prevent a
length of the —
Jumps remained un- Tyranni search for the ship which
changed. Only their direction was might come dangerously close to
changed in such a way that one of the 'World' itself. But then why
five stars in a cosmically vast area was he kept alive? If the ship had
of the Nebula was reached. It was been returned with Gillbret dead,
an interpretation which, on the the same purpose would have been
very face of it, was improbable." accomplished and there would have
"But the alternative?" been no chance of Gillbret's talk-
"Why, that neither -power nor ing, as, eventually, he did.
direction was altered. There is no "Againthat can only be ex-
real reason suppose the direc-
to plained by supposing the 'Rebel-
tion of drive to have been inter- lion World' to be within the Rho-
fered with. That was only assump- dian system. Gillbret was a Hin-
tion. What if the ship had simply riad and where else would there
followed its original course? It had be such respect for the life of a
been aimed at a stellar system; Hinriad but in Rhodia?"
therefore it ended in a stellar sys-
tem. The matter of odds doesn't ARTEMISIA'S hands clenched
enter." spasmodically. "But if what
"But the stellar system it was you say is true* Biron, then father
aimed at
-"
— is in terrible danger."
"Was that of Rhodia. So he went "And has been for twenty years,"
to Rhodia. It's so obvious that it's agreed Biron. "But perhaps not in
difficult to grasp." the manner you think. Gillbret
Artemisia "But then the
said, once told me how difficult it was
'Rebellion World' must be at home. to pretend to be a dilletante, to
That's impossible." pretend so hard that one had to live
"Why impossible? It is some- the part even with friends and even
where in the Rhodian system. There when alone. Of course, with him,
are two ways of hiding an object. poor fellow, it was largely self-

dramatization. He didn't really act. over twenty years. In that time,
His real self came out easily Rhodia has been continually
enough with you, Arta. It showed strengthened by territory granted it
to the Autarch. He even found it by the Tyranni, because they felt it

necessary to show it to me on fair- would be safe with him. For
ly short acquaintance. twenty years, he has organized re-
"But it is possible, I suppose, to bellion without interference from
really live such a life completely, them, because he was so obviously
if your reasons are sufficiently im- harmless."
portant. A man might live a lie "You're guessing, Biron," said
even to his daughter; be willing to Rizzett, "and this kind of guess is
see her miserably married rather as dangerous as the ones we've
than risk a life-work that depended made before."
on complete Tyranni trust; be Biron said, "This no guess.
ing to seem half a madman
— will-
told Jonti in that last discussion of
is I
Artemisia said, huskily, "You ours that he, not the Director, must
can't mean what you're saying." have been the traitor who murdered
"There is no other meaning pos- my father —because my father
sible, Arta. He has been Director would never have been foolish
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TYRANN 157
enough to trust the Director with was his voice and yet not quite his
any incriminating information. But voice, for it was crisp and sure of
the point is —
and I knew it at the itself.
time —
that this was just what my Artemisia ran to him. "Father!
—
father did. Gillbret learned of Biron says
Jonti's conspiratorial role through "I heard what Biron said." He
what he overheard in the discus- was stroking her hair. "And it is
sions between my father and the true. I would even have let your
Director. There is no other way in marriage take place."
which he could have learned it. She stepped back from him, al-
"But a stick points both ways. most in embarrassment. "You
We thought my father was work- sound so different. You sound al-
ing with Jonti and trying to enlist most as if
—
the support of the Director. Why is -"As if I weren't your father."
it not equally probable, or even He said it sadly. "It will not be
more probable, that he was work- for long, Arta. When we are back
ing with the Director —and that his on Rhodia, I will be as you knew
role within Jonti's organization was me and you must accept me so."
as an agent of the 'Rebellion Rizzett stared at him, his usually
World,' attempting to prevent a ruddy complexion as gray as his
premature explosion on Lingane hair. Biron was holding his breath.
that would ruin two decades of Hinrik said, "Come here, Biron."
careful planning? He placed a hand on Biron's shoul-
"Why do you suppose it seemed der. "There was a time, young man,
so important to me to save Aratap's when I was ready to sacrifice your
ship, when Gillbret shorted the mo- life. The time may come again in
tors? It wasn't for myself. I didn't, the future. Until a certain day, I
at the time, think Aratap would can protect neither of you. I can
free me, no matter what. It wasn't be nothing but what I have always
even for you, Arta. It was to save seemed. Do

you understand that?"
the Director. He was the important Each nodded.
man among us. Poor Gillbret "Unfortunately," said Hinrik,
didn't understand that." "damage has been done. Twenty
years ago, I was not as hardened
RIZZETT shook his head. "I'm to my role as I am today. I should
sorry. I just can't make myself have ordered Gillbret killed, but
believe all that." I could not. Because I did not, it is
It was a new voice that spoke. now known that there is a 'Rebel-
"You may as well. It is true." The lion World' and I am its leader."
Director was standing just outside "Only we know that," said
the door, tall and somber-eyed. It Biron.

Hinrik smiled bitterly. "You I'll give him
he recognized
credit;
think that because you are young. its significance. he had con-
But if
Do you think Aratap is less intelli- sulted me, I would have told him
gent than yourself? The reasoning it was no longer on Earth."
by which you determined the loca- "That's exactly it, sir. I am cer-
tion and leadership of the 'Rebel- tain the Tyranni have it."
lion World' is based on facts known "Certainly not. / have it. I've
to him, and he can reason as well had it for twenty years. It was
as you. It is merely that he is what started the "Rebellion World,'
older, more cautious, that he has for it was only when I had it that
grave responsibilities. He must be Iknew we could hold our winnings

certain. once we had won."
"Do you think he released you "It is a weapon, then."
out of sentiment? I believe that "It is the strongest weapon in
you have been freed now for the the universe. It will destroy the
same reason you were freed once Tyranni and us alike, but will save
before; simply that you might lead the Nebular Kingdoms. Without
him farther along the path that it, we
could defeat the Tyranni per-
leads to me." haps, but we would only have ex-
changed one feudal despotism for
BIRON was pale. "Then I must another and, as the Tyranni are
leave Rhodia?" plotted against, we would be
"No. That would be fatal. There plotted against. We and they must
would seem no reason for you to both be delivered into the ashcan
leave, save the true one. Stay with of outmoded political systems. The
me and they will remain uncertain. time for maturity has come as it
My plans are nearly completed. once came on the planet Earth, and
One more year, perhaps less." there will be a new kind of gov-
"But, Director, there are factors ernment, a kind that has never yet
you may not be aware There been tried in the Galaxy. There
the matter of the document
of.
— is
will be no Khans, nor Autarchs,

"For which your father was Directors, nor Ranchers."
searching?" "In the name of Space," roared
"Yes." Rizzett, "what will there be?"
"Your father, my boy, did not "People."
know all there was toknow. It is "People? How can they govern?
not safe to have anyone in posses- There must be some one person to
sion of all the facts. The old make decisions."
Rancher discovered the existence of "There is a way. The blueprint
the document independently in the I have dealt with a small section of
references to it in my old library. one planet, but it can be adapted to
TYRANN 159
all theGalaxy." The Director document by heart. Listen to me."
smiled. "Come, children, I may as And with Rhodia's sun bright on
well marry you. It can do little the visiplate, Hinrik began with
more harm now." those words that were older, far
Biron's hand tightly enclosed older, than the civilization of any
Artemisia's and she was smiling at of the planets in the Galaxy save
him. They felt the queer, inward one:
twinge as the Remorseless made " 'We, the people of the United
its single pre-calculated Jump. States' ——but substitute the United
Biron said, "Before you start, Galaxy 'in order to form a more
sir, will you tell me something perfect Union, establish justice, in-
about the blueprint you mention, sure domestic tranquillity, provide
so that my curiosity will be satis- for the common defense, promote
fiedand I can keep my mind on the general welfare, and secure the
Arta?" blessings of liberty to ourselves and
Artemisia laughed and said, our posterity, do ordain and estab-
"You had better do it, father. I lish this Constitution for the
"
couldn't bear an abstracted groom." United States of America . .
.'
Hinrik smiled. "I know the —ISAAC ASIMOV
NEXT MONTH'S CONTENTS PAGE

NOVELETS
INSIDE EARTH by Poo/ Anderson
I, THE UNSPEAKABLE by Wolf She/don
AMBITION by William L Bade
SHORT STORIES
NICE GIRL WITH FIVE HUSBANDS by Fritz Leiber
SYNDROME JOHNNY by Charles Dye
PEN PAL by Milton Lesser
BETELGEUSE BRIDGE by William Tenn
Every story in the April issue will be complete. The exact

lineup is subject to space requirements, of course. If there
is room, an article debate between L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP
and J. J. COUPLING will be included.

*•••••
SIX
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SCIENCE FICTION

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS

Editor H. L. GOLD CONTENTS

GOOD NIGHT, MR. JAMES

Cover by SHORT STORIES

GALAXY Science Fiction

reda. All rights, including by Isaac Asimov 98

173 Printed in the U. S. A. Reg. U. S. Pat. Off.

1. Dreadful Sanctuary, 19. Voyage of the Space Beagle,

15. Seetee Shock, by Jack Williamson.... 2.50

wrote eagerly. ence journals.

commonly absent from science fic- too profound or revolutionary in

for either large or pulp format. The It's a publishing coup!

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

GALAXY is exploring, etc. with my opinions, either in agree-

it will continue at three" to four handled elsewhere more adequately

GALAXY will therefore not have ence fiction art.

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

Illustrated by DON SIBLEY

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS

discovered the matter transmitter, across few yards, then miles

MAN had always been a topsy-

parently, developed space travel an impossibly low cost.

long before the matter-transmitter, The second public demonstration

been, but still enough to destroy something, an eyelike lens focused

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS

dox that soon grew stale, but what, go down to check."

up against traffic with alien worlds. capsules. One-way handling was

8 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

THE WIND- BETWEEN THE WORLDS

studies, anyhow?" first over cheap Plathgol cars com-

10 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

of history behind her to develop should have carried a standard Code

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 11

12 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 13

Ecthinbal automatically to receive, the Galactic Envoy," Vic decided.

moving between Earth and Ecthin-

14 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

way of grounding out the effect. have to work indirectly." Then he

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 15

crowding past the driver and pitching wildly.

16 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

The chances they were taking

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 17

Vic looked at the'wind mael- But the moment's relaxation over

18 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

"Plathgol rates higher in civil- itself. Flavin, how about getting

people start throwing mud." He with alarming statements from the

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 19

The ultimatum by Pan-

20 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

he pulled himself up, staring at trading of levo-rotary crystals that

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 21

meated the editorial. pragmatic enough to see no advant-

the harm." his desk that he noticed his visitor.

22 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS 23

"Amos!" Come in!"

common sense. When I saw the beholders. "Who is Victor Peters?"

'em my pass, came through Chicago, back to the intercity transmitters.

24 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

States of America." Man's whole philosophy was