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SCIENCE FICTION
FEBRUARY
25<
1951
Galaxy
SCIENCE FICTION
February, 1951 Vol. 1, No. 5
Editor-in-Chief
VERA CERUTTI
SHORT STORIES
. . . AND IT COMES OUT HERE
by Lester del Rey 62
Cover by
CHESLEY BONESTELL
Illustrating
THE PROTECTOR
The Tying Down of a
Spaceship on Mars in
by Betsy Curtis 75
a Desert sandstorm
SECOND CHILDHOOD
GALAXY Science Fiction
is published monthly by by Clifford D. Simak 83
World Editions, Inc. Main
105 West 40th St.,
offices:
New York 18, N. Y. 250 TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST
per copy. Subscriptions
(12 copies) $2.50 per year
in the United States, by Frank M. Robinson 1 02
Canada, Mexico, South and
Central America and U. S.
Possessions. Elsewhere BOOK-LENGTH SERIAL Installment 2
$3.25. Application for entry
as second-class matter is
pending at the Post Office, TYRANN
New York, N.Y. Copyright,
1950, by World Editions, by Isaac Asimov 108
Inc. President: George A.
Gogniat. Vice-President:
Marco Lombi. Secretary FEATURES
and Treasurer Anne Swe- :
issue,being fairly sure that there despite warnings even from read-
was not that much good stuff to be ers that .the screwballs might de-
had. But the second issue -was as mand old hat science fiction. None
good as the first and so was the did.
third . . . If GALAXY is a superior maga-
T
sat silently sat stiffly
playing blackjack under a other firemen in the fire house,
green drop-light in the dark heard the voice-clock mourn out the
morning. Only a voice whispered cold hour and the cold year, and
from the ceiling: shivered.
"One Thursday
thirty-five a.m. The other three glanced up.
morning, October 4th, 2052, A.D. "Whats wrong, Montag?
. . One *forty a.m.
. one . . . A radio hummed somewhere.
fifty . . . . War may be declared any
THE FIREMAN 5
and tangerine colors, the boa-con; 1. Answer the alarm quickly.
strictor hoses, the twinkling brass. 2. Start the fire swiftly.
Im thinking of our last job," 3. Be sure you burn every-
said Mr. Montag. thing.
Dont, said Leahy, the fire 4. Report back to fire house.
chief. 5. Stand alert for another
cringed in fire, burning down the cloud of cigar smoke from his thin
years under his ax and his fire hose mouth. He idled back.
spraying not water but kerosene. The alarm sounded.
"Was it always like this? asked The bell kicked itself two hun-
Mr. Montag. The fire house, our dred times in a few seconds. Sud-
duties? I mean, well, once upon a denly there were three empty chairs.
time . . The cards fell in a snow flurry.
Once upon a time! Leahy The brass pole trembled. The men
crowed. What kind of language is were gone, their hats with them.
that?" Montag still sat. Below, the orange
Fool, cried Montag to himself. dragon coughed to life.
Youll give yourself away! That last Montag slid down the pole like .
"Where are they? Leahy twist- like slaughtered birds and the wo-
ed her wrist.
'
man stood like a small girl among
"You wouldnt take an old wo- the bodies.
mans pleasures from her, would "Mon tag!
you? He climbed up into the attic.
"
Stoneman produced the tele- 'This too shall pass away.
phone alarm card with the com- "What? Leahy glared at him.
plaint signed in facsimile duplicate Montag froze, blinking. "Did I
on the back. "Says here, Chief, the say something?
books are. in the attic. "Move, you idiot!
"All right, men, lets get em!
HE
musty
Next thing
blackness,
hatchets at doors
they were
swinging
that
up
silver
were, after
in
T books lay in piles like fishes
left to dry.
"Trash! Trash! The men danced
'
all, unlocked, tumbling through like on the books. Titles glittered their
boys all rollick and shout. golden eyes, falling, gone.
"Hey! "Kerosene!
A of books sprayed
fountain They pumped the cool fluid from
down on Montag as he climbed the white snake they had twined
shuddering up the steep stair well. upstairs.They coated every book;
Books bombarded his shoulders, his they pumped rooms full of it.
pale face. A book lit, almost obe- "This is better than the old mans
diently, like a white pigeon, in his place last night, eh?
hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, That had not been as much fun.
wavering light a page hung open The old man had lived in an apart-
and it was like a snowy feather, the ment house with other people. They
words delicately painted thereon. In had had to use controlled fire there.
allthe rush and fervor, Montag Here, they could ravage the entire
had only an instant to read a line, '
house.
THE FIREMAN 7
They ran downstairs, Montag "Go on, said the woman.
reeling after them in the kerosene "Three, said Leahy.
fumes. "Come. Montag pulled at her.
"Come on, woman! "I want to stay here, she re-
"My books, she said, quietly. plied, quietly.
"Four .
She knelt among them to touch the . . . five . .
Leahy raised his hand. It con- leaving a kerosene trail down the
tained the concealed igniter to start walk. When they were a hundred
the fire. "Got to get back to the feet away, Montag was still shout-,
station. Besides, shed cost us a ing and kicking. He glanced wildly
trial, money, jail. back.
Montag placed his hand around In the front door where she had
the womans elbow. "You can-come come to gaze out at them quietly,
with me. her quietness a condemnation, star-
"No. She actually focused her ing straight into Leahys eyes, was
eyes on him for a moment. "Thank the woman.
you, anyway. Leahy twitched his finger to ignite
"Im counting to ten, said the fuel.
Leahy. "One, two . . He was too late. Montag
"Please, said Montag. gasped.
THE FIREMAN 9
"Millie? he called. did it, why she wanted to die, and
"What! she saying she didnt know, she
"I didnt mean to startle you. didnt know, she didnt know any-
What I want to know is, when did thing about anything!
we meet? And where? She didnt belong to him; he
"For what? didnt belong to her. She didnt
"I mean originally. know herself, him, or anyone; the
She was frowning in the dark. world didnt need her, she didnt
need herself, and in the hospital he
H
it,
E CLARIFIED
time we ever met, where was
and when?
it. "The first had realized that if she died he
would not cry. For it was the dying
of an unknown, a street face, a face
"Why, it was at . .
in the newspaper^ and it was sud-
She stopped. denly so wrong that he had begun
"I dont know. to cry, not at death but at the
He was frightened. "Cant you thought of not crying at death, a
remember? silly empty man beside an empty
They both tried. woman while the doctors emptied
"Its been so long. her still more.
"Only ten years. Were both only And why are we empty, lonely,
thirty! and not in love? he had asked him-
"Dont ,get excited, Im trying self, a year ago.
to think. She laughed a strange They were never together. There
laugh. "How funny, not to remem- was always something between, a
ber where or when you met your radio, a televisor, a car, a plane, a
husband or wife. game, nervous exhaustion, or, sim-
He lay with his eyes tight, press- ply, a little pheno-barbitol. They
ing, massaging his brow. It was didnt know each other; they knew
suddenly more important than any things, inventions. They had ap-
other thing in a lifetime that he plauded science whild it had built
knew where he had met Mildred. a beautiful glass structure, a glitter-
"It doesnt matter. She was up, ing miracle of contraptions about
in the bathroom now. He heard the them, and, too late, they had found
water rushing, the swallowing it to be a glass wall. They could
sound. not shout through the wall; they
"No, I guess not, he murmured. could only pantomime silently,
And he wondered, did she take never touching, hearing, barely see-
twenty tablets now, like a year 'ago, ing each other.
when we had to pump her stomach, Looking at Mildred at the hos-
and me shouting to keep her awake, pital, he had thought, does it matter
walking her, asking her why she if we live of die?
of his awareness of his job, his eyes blazing, gripping his elbows.
marriage, his life. "The nerve! The nerve! Is there a
law against pedestrians!
NE night
was so long ago The girl turned a corner and
O it
THE FIREMAN 11
way, day and night. I sometimes house,its lights were all blazing. It
think they dont know what grass was the only house, in a city of a
is, or flowers, because they never million houses, with its lights burn-
see them slowly. If you showed ing brightly.
them a green blur, oh, yes! theyd "Whats going on? Montag had
say, thats grass! A pink blur, yes, never seen that many house lights.
thats roses! She laughed to her- "Oh, just my mother and father
self. "A white blurs a house. Quick and uncle sitting around, talking.
brown blurs are cows. My uncle Its like being a pedestrian, only
drove slow on a highway once. rarer.
They threw him in jail. Isnt that "But what do they talk about?
funny and sad, too? She laughed at this, said good
"You think of a lot of things for night, and was gone.
a girl, said Montag, uneasily. -
At three in the cold morning,
"Thats because Ive got time to he got out of bed and stuck his
think. I never watch t-v or go to head out the front window. The
games or races or funparks. So Ive moon was rising and there was a
lots of time for crazy thoughts, I man in the moon. Over the broad
guess. Have you seen the two hun- lawn, a million jewels of dew
dred-foot-long billboards in the sparkled.
country? Well, did you know that "Ill be damned, said Montag,
once billboards were only twenty- and went back to bed.
five feet long? But cars started go-
SAW
ing
stretch
by
could be seen.
so
the
quickly,
advertising
they had
out so
to
it H E Clarisse
noons and came to hope he
would be seeingher, found himself
many after-
"I didnt know that. Montag watching for her sitting on her
laughed abruptly. green lawn, studying the autumn
"Bet I know something else you leaves with a fine casual air, or re-
dont. turning from a distant woods with
"What? wild yellow flowers, or looking at
"Theres dew on the grass in the the sky, even while it was raining.
morning. "Isnt rain nice? she said.
He couldnt remember, and sud- "I hadnt noticed.
denly it frightened him. "Believe me, it is nice.
"And, if you look, theres a man He always laughed embarrassed-
in the moon. ly. Whether at her, or at himself,
He had never looked. His heart he wasnt sure. "I believe you.
beat rapidly. "Do you really? Did you ever
They walked the rest of the way smell old leaves? Dont they smell
in silence. When they reached her like cinnamon? Here!
racing in cars, or shouting or beat- stop loving Mildred? and the an-
ing one another. Do you notice how swer was never! for he had never
people hurt one another now- known her. She was the pale, sad
adays? goldfish that swam in the subter-
"You sound ancient. ranean illumination of the televi-
"I am. I know about rain. That sion parlor; her natural habitat.
makes me ancient to them. They "Its the dandelion you use,
kill each other. It didnt used to be protested Mon tag.
that way, did it? Children killing "No, said Clarisse, solemnly.
each other all the time? Four of "You're not in love. A dandelion
my friends have been shot in the wont help. She tossed the flower
past year. Im afraid of children. away. "Well, Ive got to go see
"Maybe it was always this way. my psychiatrist. My teachers are
"My father says his grandfather sending me to him. Hes trying to
remembered when children didnt make me normal.
kill each other, when children were "Ill throttle him if he does!
THE FIREMAN 13
"Right now hes trying to figure "A month! But why didnt
out why I go away from the city someone tell me?
and walk in the forests once a day. "Didnt I? I suppose it slipped
Have you ever walked in a forest? my mind. Yes, a car hit her.
No? Its so quiet and lovely, and "Did they find whose car it
nobody rushing. I like to watch the was?
birds and the insects. They don't "No. You know how those things
rush: are. What do you want for supper,
Before she left him to go inside, frozen steak or chops?
she looked at him suddenly and
said,
I
"Why
"Do you know, Mr. Montag,
cant believe youre a fireman.
not?
AND
city
so Clarisse was dead.
disappeared! for
you didnt die, you simply van-
in a
No,
large
"You
morning.
cant
chills and fever in the
THE FIREMAN 15
"A fire, thats all. "We burned a thousand books
"Couldnt you get the shows on Leahy because after a moments dis-
your own t-v? cussion the conversation would run
"Sure, but its nice visiting. so: "Yes, Mr. Leahy, I feel better
"Did Helen get over that finger already. Ill be in at ten oclock
infection ? tonight.
'
about it?
said.
woman and her books
16 GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
"You should have seen her, The radio was playing a dance
Millie! tune.
"Shes nothing to me. She "Ive been killing the brain of
shouldnt have had books. It was the world for ten years, pouring
her responsibility; she shouldve kerosene on it. Millie, a book is a
thought of that. I hate her. Shes brain. It isnt only that woman we
got you going and next thing you destroyed, or others like her, in
know well be out, no house, no these years, but its the thoughts I
THE FIREMAN 17
He made sure the book was this. They only need understanding,
hidden behind the pillow, climbed need to know how the wheels run,
back into bed, and had made him- what the history of our profession
self tremblingly- uncomfortable, is.They dont give it to rookies any
when the door opened and Mr. more. Only fire chiefs remember it
Leahy strolled in, hands in pockets. now. Ill let you in on it. He lit
the week, I . .
. horses, dogs,and slow living. You
"Weve been wondering about might call him a slow motion man.
you. Leahy put a cigar in his Then in the 20th Century you speed
mouth. "Every fireman goes through up the camera.
"Great classics are cut to fit fif- immediate. The job counts. Why
teen minute shows, then two min- learn anything save pressing but-
ute book columns, then two line tons, pulling switches, fitting
digest resumes. Magazines become bolts?
picture books. Out of the nursery "Let me fix your pillow, said
to the college, back to the nursery, Mildred, being the video house-
in a few short centuries! wife.
"No, whispered Montag.
M ILDRED arose.
the thread of the talk,
tag knew, and when
She was losing
this happened
Mon-
"The zipper replaces the button.
Does a man have time to think
while dressing in the morning, a
she began to fiddle with things. philosophical time?
She went about the room, picking "No, said Montag, automati-
u P; cally.
"Faster and faster the film, Mr. Mildred tugged at the pillow.
Montag! Quick, Click, Pic, Look. "Get away, said Montag.
Eye, Now! Flick, Flash, Here, "Life becomes one big Prat Fall,
There, Swift, Up, Doivn, Why, Mr. Montag. No more subtleties. '
How, Who, Eh? Mr. Montag, di- Everything is bang and boff and
gest-digests, political affairs in one wow!
column, a sentence, a headline, and "Wow, reflected Mildred, yank-
then, in mid-air, vanish! The mind ing the pillow edge.
of man, whirling so fast under the "For Gods sake, let me be!
pumping hands of publishers, pub- cried Montag, passionately.
ad men, broadcasters that the
licists, Leahy stared.
centrifuge throws off all ideas! He Mildreds hand was frozen be-
is unable to concentrate! hind the pillow. Her hand was on
Mildred was smoothing the bed the book, her face stunned, her
now. Montag felt panic as she ap- mouth opening to ask a ques-
proached his pillow to straighten it. tion . . .
THE FIREMAN 19
baseball and sports where nobody the trick. Today, thanks to them,
has to think at all, not at all, at you can read comics, confessions,
all. NowLeahy was almost in- or trade journals, nothing else. All
visible, a voice somewhere back of the rest is dangerous.
a choking screen of cigar smoke. "Yes, but why the firemen?
"Whats this? asked Mildred, asked Montag.'
with delight, almost. Montag "Ah, said Leahy, leaning for-
crushed and heaved back against ward in the clouds of smoke to
her hands. "Whatve you hid finish. "With schools turning out
there? doers instead of thinkers, with non-
down! Montag screamed.
"Sit readers, naturally, in ignorance,
She jumped back, her hands they hated and feared books. You
empty. "Were talking! always fear an unfamiliar thing.
'Intellectual became a swear word.
L EAHY
come
toons
cartoons.
continued, mildly. "Car-
everywhere.
The mind drinks
Books be-
Books were snobbish things.
me
"The little man wants you and
to be like him. Not everyone
less and less. Impatience. Time to born free and equal, as the Consti-
kill. No work, all leisure. Highways tution says, but everyone made
full of crowds going somewhere, equal. A book is a loaded gun in
anywhere, nowhere. The gasoline the house next door. Burn it.Take
refugee, towns becoming motels, the shot out of the weapon. Un-
people in nomadic surges from city breach mens minds. Who knows
to city, impatient, following the who might be the target of the
moon tides, living tonight in the well-read man? And so, when
room where you slept last night and houses became all fireproof and
I the night before. there was no longer need of firemen
Mildred went into the other for protection, they were given the
room and slammed the door. She new job, as official censors, judges,
turned on the radio. jurors, punishers. Thats you, Mr.
"Go on, said Montag. Montag, and me.
"Intelligent writers gave up in Leahy stood up. "Ive got to get
disgust. Magazines were vanilla going.
tapioca. The book buyer, bored by Montag lay back in bed. "Thanks
dishwater, his brain spinning, quit for explaining it to me.
buying. Everyone
but the comic- "You must understand our civil-
publisher slow publishing
died a izationis so vast that we cant have
death. There you have it. Dont our minorities upset and stirred.
blame the Government. Technol- People must be contented. Books
ogy, mass exploitation, and censor- bother them. Colored people dont
ship from frightened officials did like Little Black Sambo. We burn
M ONTAG
front
away in his
watched through the
window as Leahy drove
gleaming beetle which
why I put them away and hid them
THE FIREMAN 21
throwing books, big ones, little we havent done and must do.
ones, red, yellow, green books, Weve got to know what these
twenty, thirty, fifty books, one by books are so we can tell others, and
one, swiftly, into the parlor at her so that, eventually, they can tell
poem printed there on the white, the beauties with a loose mouth,
unburned paper: while her drab eyes moved over the
"And evening vanish and no more, words and over the words and the
The low pale light across the and the hour grew late.
rain rained
land
They read a man named Shake-
the
speare and a man named Poe and
The bell rang.
part of a book by a man named
"Nor now the long light on the
Matthew and one named Mark. On
sea occasion, Mildred glanced fearfully
And here face downward in the
at the window.
sun . .
"Go on, said Mr. Montag.
Another ring. "Someone might be watching.
Montag whispered. "Hell go That mightve been Mr. Leahy at
away in a minute. our door a while back.
Mildreds lips trembled: "Whoever it was went away.
"To feel how swift, how secretly Read that last section again. I want
The shadow of the night comes to understand that.
on . . She read from the works of
Near the ceiling, smoke from Jeffersonand Lincoln.
Leahys cigar still lingered. Whenit was five oclock her
hands dropped open. "Im tired.
II
Can I stop now? Her voice was
hoarse.
The Sieve and the Sand "How thoughtless of me. He
took a book from her. "But isnt
HEY read the long Millie? The words,
T
after- it beautiful,
noon through, while the fire and the thoughts, arent they ex-
THE FIREMAN 23
sors and radicals and I dont want heavens, as if a running giant had
to read any more. Please, promise drawn his breath. Those sharp, al-
'
you wont make me. most quiet whistles, here and gone
"Mildred! in so much less than an instant that
"Im afraid, she said, putting one almost believed one had heard
her face into her shaking hands.
'
nothing. And seeing nothing in the
Im so terribly frightened by these sky, if you did look, was worse
ideas, by Mr. Leahy, and having than seeing something. There was
these books in the house. Theyll a feeling as if a great invisible fan
burn our books and kill us. Now, was whirring blade after hostile
Im sick. blade across the stars, with giant
"Im sorry, he said at last, sigh- murmurs and no motion, perhaps
ing. "Ive put you on trial, havent only a faint trembling of starlight.
I? Im way out front, trying to drag All night, every night of their
you, when I should be walking be- lives, they had heard those jet
side you, barely touching. I expect sounds and seen nothing, until, like
too much. It'll take months to put the tick of a clock or a time-bomb,
you in the frame of mind where it had come to be unnoticed, for it
you can receive the ideas in these was the sound of today and the
books. Its not fair of me. All right, sound of today dying, the Cheyne-
you wont have to read aloud Stokes respiration of civilization.
again. "I want to know why and how
"Thanks. we are where we are, said Mon-
"But you must listen. Ill ex- tag. "How did those bombers get
plain. in the sky every instant? Why have
"Ill never learn. I just know I there been three semi-atomic wars
wont. since I960? Where did we take the
"You must if you want to be wrong turn ? What can we do about
free. it? Only the books know this. May-
Jet- bombers were crossing days, though were on the very rim
the sky over their house. of war, people hardly mention it.
Those quick gasps in the Ignoring it, at least, isnt the an-
THE FIREMAN 25
ihe sounds were good, and slowly "I cant discuss such things. Mon-
the meaning crept in. When it was tag.
all over, Montag said, "Im a fire- "This line is closed. Theres no
man. one listening.
Faber had looked as if he might "Is this some sort of trap? I
other because we took long walks. all, all of them destroyed, torn
No one walks any more. I havent apart, burned. The Bible at last
seen a pedestrian in ten years on dead for all time to the world.
our street. Are you ever stopped by He got up shakily and walked
police simply because youre a across the room and bent down
pedestrian ? among the books. He took hold of
Heand Faber had smiled, ex- one book and lifted it.
small storm. And Leahy smiling, ing him, he remembered that frus-
washing his hands. trating sieve and he held this
"My God, Millie, weve got to precious copy of the old and new
do something! Weve got to copy testaments fiercely in his hands,
this. There must be a duplicate trying to pour the words into his
made. This cant be lost! mind. But the words fell through,
"You havent time. and he thought, in a few hours I
"No, not by hand. But if we must hand this book to Leahy, but
could photograph it. I must remember each word, no
"No one would do it for you. phrase must escape me, each line
He stopped. She was right. There can be memorized. I must remem-
was no one to trust, except, per- ber, I must.
haps, Professor Faber. Montag "But I do not remember. He
started for the door. shut the book and pressed it with
"Youll be here for the t-v party, his fists and tried to force his mind.
wont you? Mildred called after "Try Denhams Dentifrice to-
him. "It wouldnt be fun without night! screamed the radio in the
you. bright, shuddering wall of the jet-
"Youd never miss me. But she train. Trumpets blared.
was looking at the late afternoon "Shut up, thought Mr. Montag
t-v show and didnt hear. He went in panic. "Behold, the lilies of the
out and slammed the door, the book field
in his hand. "Denhams Dentifrice!
"They toil not
NCE, he had sat "Denhams Dentifrice!
O as a child,
upon the yellow dunes by the
sea in the middle of the blue and
"Behold, the
shut up, let
lilies
me temember!
of the field,
THE FIREMAN 27
"Denhams Dentifrice!" Only that saved him. The car
He tore the book open furiously stopped. Montag, thrown into the
and flicked the pages about as if aisle by the grinding halt, rolled
blind, tearing at the lines with raw over, book in hand, leaped up past
eyes, staring until his eyelashes the pale, frightened faces, screamed
were wet and quivering. in his mind soundlessly, and was
"Denhams, Denhams, Den- out the opening door of the train
hams! D-E-N and running on the white tiles up
"They toil not, neither do and up through tunnels, alone, that
they ... voice still crying like a seagull on
sieve.
"Denhams does ROFESSOR FABER opened
"Behold, the
"No
lilies
it!
dandier dental detergent!
P"My
it.
the door,
God, I
saw the book, seized
havent held a copy
"Shut up! It was a shriek so in years!
loud, so vicious that the loud- "We burned a house last night.
speaker seemed stunned. Mr. Mon- I stole it.
tag found himself on his feet, the "What a chance to take!
shocked inhabitants of the loud car Montag stood catching his
looking at him, recoiling from a breath. "I was curious.
man with an insane, gorged face, a "Of course. Its beautiful. Here,
gibbering wet mouth, a flapping come in, shut the door, sit down.
book in his fist. These rabbit peo- Faber walked with the book in his
ple who hadnt asked for music finger-s, feeling it, flipping the
and commercials on their public pages slowly, hungrily, a thin man,
trains but who had got it by the bald, with slender hands, as light
sewerful, the air drenched and as chaff."There were a lot of love-
sprayed and pummeled and kicked ly books once. Before we let them
by voices and music every instant. go." He sat down and put his hand
And here was an idiot man, him- over his eyes. "You are looking at
self, suddenly scrabbling at the a coward, Mr. Montag. When they
wall, beating at the loudspeaker, at burned the last of the evil books,
the enemy of peace, at the killer of as they called them, forty years
philosophy and privacy! back, I made only a few feeble
"Madman ! protestations and subsided. Ive
"Call the conductor! damned myself ever since.
"Denhams, Denhams Double "Its not too late. There are still
Dentifrice! books.
"Fourteenth Street! "And there is still life in me, and
THE FIREMAN 29
We could start small classes in ture ready when this one falls, in-
fools there will be. and picked up the book and held
"A war is starting, perhaps to- it toward the other man.
night, and no one will even talk "Do you see this book? Would
about it. you like to own it?
.
Thehouse shook. A bomber "My God, yes! Id give my right
flightwas moving south. It had arm for it.
slowed to live hundred miles an "Watch. Montag began ripping
hour and was trembling the two the pages out, one by one, drop-
men standing there across from each ping them to the floor, tearing
other. them in half, spitting on them and
"Let the war turn off the t-vs rolling them into wads.
and radio, and bomb the true con- "Stop it! cried Faber. "You
fessions. idiot, stop it! He sprang forward.
"I cant wait, said Montag. Montag warded him off and went
"Patience. The civilization is on tearing at the pages.
flinging itself to pieces. Stand back "Do you see? he said, a fistful
from the centrifuge. of pages in his tightening fist, flour-
"There has to be another struc- ishing them under the chin of the
his mouth trembling. "I see; I un- but Ill contact a printer, Montag.
derstand. My God, Im old enough Well get the books started, and
so it shouldnt matter what happens wait for the war. Thats one fine
to me. Ill help you. I cant take thing; war destroys machines so
any more of this. If Im killed, it beautifully.
wont make any difference. Im a
terrible fool of an old man and
its too late, but Ill help you.
THE FIREMAN 31
"Ive tried to memorize it, said Seven flights of jet-rockets went
Montag. "But I forget. Its driven over the sky in a breath. Montag
me crazy, trying to remember. felt the money in his pocket, the
"Oh, God, if we only had a little Bible in his hand. He had given up
time. trying to memorize it now; he was
1 keep thinking that. Sorry. simply reading 'it for the enjoyment
He took the book. "Good night. it gave, the simple pleasure of good
The door shut. Montag was in words on the tongue and in the
the darkening street again, looking mind. He uncupped the Seashell
at the real world. radio from his ear and read another
page of the Book of Job by moon-
T EIGHT
The way
and came back,
the clouds
ering between the clouds, like the with laughter and loud, empty talk.
enemy discs, and the feeling that Mrs. Masterson, Mrs. Phelps, and
the sky might fall upon the city Mrs. Bowles drank the martinis
and turn the homes to chalk dust, Mildred handed them, rioting like
and the moon turn to red fire; that a crystal chandelier thatsomeone
was how the night felt. has pushed, tinkling upon them-
Montag walked from the sub- selves in a million crystal chimes,
way stop with his money in Kis flashing the same white smiles, their
pocket
he had been to the bank echoes repeated in empty corridors.
which stayed open until all hours Mr. Montag found himself in the
with mechanical tellers doling out middle of a conversation, the main
the money and as he walked he topic of which was how nice every-
was listening abstractedly to the one looked.
Seashell radiowhich you could cup "Doesnt everyone look nice?
to (Buy a Seashell and
your ear "Real nice.
hear the Ocean of Time!) and a "You look fine, Alma.
voice was talking to him and only "You look fine, too, Mildred.
him as he turned his feet toward "Everybody looks nice and fine,
home. "Things took another turn said Montag.
for the worse today. War threatens He had put the book aside. None
at any hour. of it would stay in his mind. The
Always the same monologue.. harder he tried to remember Job,
Nothing about causes or effects, no for instance, the quicker it van-
facts, no figures, nothing but sud- ished. He wanted to be out paying
den turns for the worse. this money to Professor Faber, get-
THE FIREMAN 33
"Wait a minute, said Montag,
angrily. "Mrs. Phelps, why did you
marry your husband ? What did you
have in common?
The woman waved her hands
helplessly. "Why, he had such a
nice sense of humor, and
the same t-v shows and
we liked
your husband, Mrs. Phelps? Mon- ous of them by the moment, "that
tag insisted. perhaps this isnt the best of all
"Hes dead. He died a week ago. possible worlds? That perhaps our
Didn't you know? He jumped from civil rightsand other precious pos-
the tenth floor of the State Hotel. sessions havent been taken away in
"I didnt know. Montag fell the past century, but have, if any-
silent, embarrassed. thing, been given away by us?
"But to get back to Clarence "Why, that cant be true! Wed
Dove . . said Mildred. have heard about it.
THE FIREMAN 35
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help The door slammed.
for pain; "Go home and think of your
And we are here as on a darkling first husband, Mrs. Masterson, in
plain the insane asylum, and of Mr.
Swept with confused alarms of Phelps jumping off a building!
struggle and flight. yelled Montag through the shut
Where ignorant armies clash by door.
'
night. The house was completely aban-
doned. He stood alone.
Montag let the white piece of In the bathroom, water was run-
paper fall slowly to the floor. The ning. He heard Mildred shaking
women watched it flutter and settle. the sleeping tablets out into her
Mildred said, "Can I turn the palm.
t-v on now? "You fool, he said to himself.
"No, God damn it, no! "You idiot. Now youve done it.
THE FIREMAN 37
"A call? Books to be burned? chaff women, with the kernels
"So it seems. blown out from under them by a
Mr. Montag sat down heavily. neon wind, and his reading a book
"I dont feel well. to them.
"What a shame; this is a special What. a silly thing it was now!
case, said Leahy, coming forward For what was a book? Sheets of
slowly, putting on his slicker. paper, lines of type. Why should he
"I think Im handing in my resig- fret for books
one, two, or ten
nation. thousand of them, really? He was
"Not yet, Montag. One more the only of a burning
inhabitant
fire, eh? Then I'll be agreeable; world that cared, so why not drop
you can hand in your papers. Well it all, forget it, let the now-mean-
all be happy. ingless books lie?
"Do you mean that? "Here we go! shouted Leahy.
"Have I ever lied to you? "Elm Street?
Leahy fetched a helmet. "Put this "Right!
on. The jobll be over in an hour. He saw Leahy up on his drivers
I understand you, Montag, really I throne, with his massive black
do. Everything will be just as you slicker flapping out behind. He
want it. seemed to be an immense black bat
"All right. flying above the engine, over the
They slid down the brass pole. brass numbers, taking the wind.
"Wheres the fire? His pink, phosphorescent face glim-
"I'll drive!" shouted Leahy. mered in the high darkness, press-
"Ive got the address. ing forward, and he was smiling
The engine blasted to life and furiously.
in the gaseous tornado they all "Here we go to keep the world
leaped aboard. happy!
And Mr. Montag thought, "No,
T HEY
of tires,
rounded a comer
der and siren, with concussion
with scream of rubber, with
in thun- I cant let the
them burn. As long
souls like Leahy,
books
I
rot; I cant let
cant
as there
hold
are
my
a shift of kerosene bulk in the glit- breath. But what can I do? I cant
tery brass tank, like the food in the kill everyone. Its me against the
stomach of a giant, with Mr. Mon- world, and the odds too big for
tags fingers jolting off the silver any man. What can I do? Against
rail,swinging into cold space, with fire, what water is best?
the wind tearing his hair back from "Now over on Park Terrace!
his bleak face, with the wind whis- The
fire engine boomed to a halt,
tling in his teeth, and he all the throwing the men off in skips and
while thinking of the women, the clumsy hops. Mr. Montag stood fix-
"Why, protested Montag, "that Mr. Montag walked but did not
is my house. feel his feet touch the walk, nor the
"So it is, agreed Leahy, heart- hose in his icy hands, nor did he
ily. hear. Leahy talking continually as
All the lights were lit. Down the they reached the door.
street, more lights were flicking on, "Pour the kerosene in, Montag.
people were standing on porches, Montag stood gazing in at the
as the door of Montags house queer house, made strange by the
opened. In it, with two suitcases in hour of the night, by the murmur
her hands, stood Mildred. When of neighbor voices, by the littered
she saw her husband, she came glass, the lights blazing, and there
down the steps quickly, with a on the floor, their covers plucked
dreamlike rigidity, looking at the off, the pages spilled about like
third button on his coat. pigeon feathers, were his incredible
!
"Mildred books, and they looked so pitiful
She said nothing. and silly and not worth bothering
"Okay, Mon tag, up with the hose with, for they were nothing but type
and ax. and paper and raveled binding.
"Just a moment, Mr. Leahy. Mil- Montag stepped forward in a
dred, you didnt telephone this call huge silence and picked up one of
in, did you? the pages of the books and read
what it had to say.
HE walked past him with her He had read only three lines
S arms stiff and at the ends of when Leahy snatched the paper
them, in the sharp, red-nailed fin- from him.
THE FIREMAN 39
"Oh, no, he said, smiling. "Be- "When youre all done, Mon-
cause then wed have to burn your tag, said Leahy behind him,
mind, too. Mustnt have that. He "youre under arrest.
stepped back. "Ready?
"Ready. Montag snapped the Ill
T
"Fire!
He burned the television set first It bedded itself down to
and then the radio and he burned sleepy pink ashes and a
the motion picture projector and smoke pall hung over it, rising
metics on a table, and he took crowd drew back into their houses;
pleasure in it all, and he burned the the fun was over.
walls because he wanted to change Mr. Montag stood with the fire-
everything, the chairs, the tables, thrower in his stiff hands, great
the paintings. He didnt want to islands of perspiration standing out
remember that he had lived here under his arms, his face smeared
with some strange woman who with soot. The three other firemen
would forget him tomorrow, who waited behind him in the darkness,
had gone and forgotten him already their faces illumined faintly by the
and was listening to a radio as she burned house, by the house which
rode across town. So he burned the Mr. Montag had just charred and
room with a precise fury. crumpled so efficiently with kero-
"The books. Montag, the sene, flame-gun, and deliberate aim.
! "All right, Montag, said Leahy.
books
He directed the fire at the books. "Come along. Youve done your
They leaped and danced, like roast- duty. Now, youre in custody.
ed birds, their wings frantically Whatve I done?
ablaze in red and yellow feathers. ''You know what you did. Dont
They fell in charred lumps. ask.
"Get that one there, get it! di- "Why so much fuss over a few
rected Leahy, pointing. bits of paper?
Montag burned the indicated "We wont stand here arguing;
book. its cold.
Heburned books, he burned "Was it my wife called you, or
them by the dozen, he burned one of her friends?
books with sweat pouring down "It doesnt matter.
his cheeks. "Was it my wife?
wrong
cried
H E
and turned back.
"Youre a fool, a damned fool,
the books
blaze, a jumping, sprawling, gib- He got up. "You blind idiot, you
bering thing, all aflame, writhing and your pride and your stinking
on the grass as Montag shot three temper and your righteousness,
more blazing pulses of liquid fire youve ruined it all, at the very
over him. There was a hissing and start, you fumbler. But those
bubbling like a snail upon which women, those stupid women, they
salt has been poured. There was a drove me to it with their non-
sound like spittle on a fed-hot sense! he protested to himself.
stove. Montag shut his eyes and "A fool, nevertheless, no better
yelled and tried to get his hands than they!
to his ears to cut away the sounds. "Well save what we can. Well
Leahy twisted in upon himself like do what has to be done. Well take
a ridiculous black wax doll and lay a few more firemen with us if we
!
silent. burn
The other two firemen stood ap- He found the books where he
palled. had left them, beyond the garden
"Montag^ fence. He heard voices yelling in
THE FIREMAN 41
the night and flashbeams were to the professors, Leahy, the Bible,
swirling about. Other fire engines memorizing, the sieve, and the sand,
wailed from far off and police cars the bank money, the printing press,
were arriving. the plan, the rage, the alarm, Mil-
Mr Montag took as many books dreds departure, the fire, Leahy
as he could carry under one arm into a torch
too much for any
and staggered down the alley. He one day in any one life.
hadnt realized what a shock the At last he was able to get to his
evening had been to him, but sud- feet, but the books seemed impos-
denly he fell and lay sobbing, sibly heavy. He fumbled along the
weak, his legs folded, his face in alley and the voices and sirens
the gravel. At a distance he heard faded behind him. He moved in
running feet. Get up, he told him- darkness, panting.
self.But he lay there. Get up, get "You must remember, he said,
up! But he cried like a child. He "that youve got to burn them or
hadnt wanted to kill anyone, not theyll burn you. Burn them or
even Leahy. Killing did nothing theyll burn you.
but kill something of yourself He searched his pockets. The
when you did it, and suddenly he money was there. In his shirt pocket
saw Leahy again, a torch, scream- he found the Seashell radio and
ing, and he shut his hand over his slapped it to his ear.
wet face, gagging. "Im sorry, Im "Attention! Attention, all police
sorry. alert. Special alarm. Wanted: Leon-
Everything at once. In twenty- ard Montag, fugitive, for murder
four hours the burning of a wo- and crimes against the State. De-
man, the burning of books, the trip scription . .
give him the slightest extra margin ing, far away, like a flight of gray
of safety if he were clean and pre- moths, spreading out, six of them.
sentable. He must get to the station He saw them wavering, indecisive,
rest room and wash up, comb his a half mile off, like butterflies
hair, then, with books under arm, puzzled by autumn, dying with win-
stroll calmly across that wide boule- ter, and then they were landing,
vard to get where he was going. one by one, dropping softly to the
"Where am I going? streets where, turned into cars, they
would shriek along the boulevards
OWHERE. There was nowhere or, just as suddenly, hop back into
THE FIREMAN 43
Through the tin wall he heard a "Keep going.
radio voice crying, "War has been Montag faltered, got a new hold
declared
Repeat war has been de- on his books, and forced himself
!
clared! Ten minutes ago But not to freeze. Nor should he draw
the sound of washing his hands and suspicion to himself by running.
rinsing his face and toweling him- He was now one-third of the way
self dry cut the announcers voice across. There was a growl from the
away. Emerging from the wash- cars motor as it put on speed.
room a cleaner, newer man, less
suspect,
casually as a
to the
Mr. Montag walked as
man looking for a bus,
edge of the empty boule-
THE
walk
They
police,
slowly,
see
thought Montag.
me, of course. But
quietly, dont turn,
vard. dont look, dont seem concerned.
There it lay, a game for him to Walk, thats it, walk, walk.
win, a vast bowling alley in the The car was rushing at a terrific
dark morning. The boulevard was speed. A good one hundred miles
as clean as a pinball machine, but an hour. Its horn blared. Its light
underneath, somewhere, one could flushed the concrete. The heat of
feel the electrical energy, the readi- the lights, it seemed, burned Mon-
ness dart lights, flash red and
to tags cheeks and eyelids and brought
blue, and out of nowhere, rolling the sweat coursing from his body.
might thunder the
like a silver ball, Hebegan to shuffle idiotically,
searchers! Three blocks away, there then broke and ran. The horn hoot-
were a few headlights. Montag ed. The motor sound whined
drew a deep breath. His lungs were higher. Montag sprinted. He
like burning brooms in his chest; dropped a book, whirled, hesitated,
his mouth was sucked dry from left it there, plunged on, yelling to
night of roaring five hundred miles toed across the porch, and, behind
in a few moonlit hours, their faces the refrigerator in the kitchen, de-
icy with wind. posited three of the books. He
"They would have killed me, waited, listening to the house.
whispered Montag to the shaking "Mrs. Black, are you asleep up
concrete under his bruised cheek. there?" he asked of the second
"For no reason at all in the world, floor in a whisper. "I hate to do
they would have killed me. this to you, but your husband did
He got up and walked unstead- just asbad to others, never asking,
ily to the far curb. Somehow, he never wondering, never worrying.
had remembered to pick up the Youre a firemans wife, Mrs. Black,
spilled books. He shuffled them, and now its your house, and you
oddly, in his numb hands. will be in jail a while, for all the
"I wonder if they were the ones houses your husband has burned
who killed Clarisse. and people hes killed.
His eyes watered. The ceiling did not reply.
The thing that had saved him Quietly, Montag slipped from the
was falling The driver
flat. of that house and returned to the alley. The
car, seeing Montag prone, consid- house was still dark; no one had
ered the possibility that running heard him come or go.
over a body at one hundred miles He walked casually down the
an hour might turn the car over alley, and came to an all-night,
and spill them all out. Now, if dimly lighted phone booth. He
Montag had remained upright, closed himself in the booth and
things would have been far differ- dialed a number.
ent . . . "I want to report an illegal own-
Montag gasped. Far down the . ership of books, he said.
THE FIREMAN 45
The voice sharpened on the other dered what had happened to you.
end."The address?" "I was delayed. Montag patted
He gave and added, "Better
it his inside pocket. "The moneys
get there before they burn them. here." He took it out and laid it on
Check the kitchen." the desk, then sat tiredly sipping
Montag stepped out and stood his drink. "How do you feel?
in the cold night air, waiting. At a "This is the first night in many
great distance he heard the fire years Ive fallen right to sleep,
sirens coming, coming to burn Mr. said Faber. "That must mean I'm
Blacks house while he was away doing the right thing. I think we
at work, and make his wife stand can trust me now. Once, I didnt
shivering in the morning air while think so.
the .roof dropped down. But now "People never trust themselves,
she was upstairs, deep in sleep. but they never let others know. I
"Professor Faber!
Another rap and a long waiting.
might give in, quit the
so we do a foolish thing,
ing poetry to women.
fight,
like read-
Montag
and
"Who is it? Faber cried, for sat down. "Tell me about it. What
the man who staggered in was in you did just now, I mean.
the dark for a moment and then "I hid my remaining books in
!
rushing past. "Oh, Montag four firemens homes. Then I tele-
"Im going away, said Montag, phoned an alarm. I figured I might
stumbling to a chair. "Ive been a be dead by morning, and I wanted
fool. to have done something before
Professor Faber stood at the door then.
listening to the distant sirens wail- "God, Id like tove been there.
ing off like animals in the morn- "Yes, the places burned very
ing. "Someones been busy. well.
"It worked. "Where are you going now?
"At least you were a fool about know.
"I dont
the right things. Faber shut the "Try the factory section, follow
door, came back, and poured a the old rail lines, look up some of
drink for each of them. "I won- the hobo camps. I didnt tell you
THE FIREMAN 4?
time of war, they must play the the big game, the big hunt, the
game out. Scoop
There was the burned house, the "There it is, whispered Faber,
crowd, and something with a sheet hoarsely.
over it, Mr. Leahy yes, Mr.
Leahy and out of the sky, flutter-
ing, came the red helicopter, land-
ing like a grotesque and menacing
OUT of the helicopter
something that was not a ma-
chine, not an animal, not dead, not
glided
holstery free, then shoved it, bit mobile camera units, through alleys,
by bit, without touching the lid, across empty morning streets, si-
Cut it up, burn it, air the house. "Be seeing you!
Rub doorknobs with alcohol.
the And Montag was out the door,
After I go, turn your garden sprink- running lightly, with the half
ler on full. Thatll wash away the empty case. Behind him, he saw and
sidewalk traces. felt and heard the garden sprinkler
Faber shook his hand vigorously. system jump up, filling the dark
"You dont know what this means. air with synthetic rain to wash away
Illdo anything to help you in the the smell of Montag. Through the
future. Get in touch with me in back window, the last thing he saw
Boston, then. of Faber was the older man ripping
"One more thing. A suitcase, up the carpet and cramming it in
Get it, fill it with your dirty laun- the wall incinerator.
dry, an old suit, the dirtier the Montag ran.
better, denim pants maybe, a shirt, Behind him, in the night city,
THE FIREMAN 49
The windows were dark. In the drawn and staked to the sand. He
garden, the water sprinkled the took possession.
cool air, softly. The boat slid easily on the long
silence of river and went away
ing them to their tasks, and in an- tracks. He rowed the boat toward
other minute was at the black, shore, tied the handkerchief over his
moving river. face, and leaped out as the boat
He found what he was looking touched briefly.
for after five minutes of running The current swept the boat
along the bank. It was a rowboat away, turning slowly.
rust and overgrown with weeds. He watching him. Their faces were un-
listened to his feet moving in the shaved but their beards were much
long grass. He paused now and too neat, and their, hands were
then, checking behind to see if he clean.They had stood up, as if to
was followed, but was not. welcome a guest, and now they sat
Firelight shone far ahead. "One down again. Montag sipped.
of the camps, thought Montag. "Thanks, he said.
"One of the places where the hobo The leader said, "My name is
the half light of the fire, for only better take this. He held out a
a moment, then he hid back and small bottle of colorless fluid.
waited, watching the group of seven "What is it?
men, holding their hands to the "Drink it. Whoever you are, you
small blaze, murmuring. To their wouldnt be here unless you were
right, a quarter mile away, was the in trouble. Either that, or youre a
river. Up the stream a mile, and Government spy, in which case we
still apparent in the dark, was the are only a bunch of men traveling
city, and no sound except the voices nowhere and hurting no one. In
and the fire crackling. any event, whoever you are, an hour
Montag waited ten minutes in after youve drunk this fluid, youll
the shadows. Finally a voice called: be someone else. It does something
"All right, you can come out now. to the perspiratory system changes
He shrank back. the sweat content. If you want to
"Its okay, said the voice. stay here youll have to drink it,
"Youre welcome here. otherwise youll have to move on.
He let himself stand forth and If theres a Hound after you, youd
then he walked tiredly toward the be bad company.
fire, peering at the men and their "I think I took care of the
dirty clothing. Hound, said Montag, and drank
"Were not very elegant, said the tasteless stuff. The fluid stung
the man who seemed to be the his throat. He was sick for a mo-
THE FIREMAN 51
ment; there was a blackness in his for the hell of it. Anyway, up that
eyes, and a roaring in his head. street the police know that every
Then it passed. morning a certain man walks alone,
for the air, to smoke. Call him
uf I THATS better, Mr. Montag, Billings or Brown or Baumgartner,
-L said Granger, and snorted at but the search is getting nearer to
his social error. "I beg your par- him every minute. See?
don He poked his thumb at a In the video screen, a man
small portable t-v beyond the fire. turned a corner. The Electric
'Weve been watching. They vi- Hound rushed forward, screeching.
deoed a picture of you, not a very The police converged upon the
good resemblance. We hoped youd man.
head this way. The t-v voice cried, "Theres
"Itsbeen quite a chase. Montag no'nt! The search is over!
"Yes. Granger snapped the t-v The innocent man stood watch-
on. It was no bigger than a hand- ing the crowd come on. In his hand
bag, weighing some seven pounds, was a cigaret, half smoked. He
mostly screen. A voice from the set looked at the Hound and his jaw
cried: dropped, and he started to say some-
"The chase is now veering south thing when a godlike voice boomed,
along the river. On the eastern "All right/ Montag, dont move!
shore the police helicopters are Weve got you, Montag!
converging on Avenue 87 and Elm By the small fire, with seven
Grove Park. other men, Mr. Montag sat, ten
"Youre safe, said Granger. miles removed, the light of the
"Theyre faking. You threw them video screen on his face.
off at the river, but they cant ad- "Dont run, Montag!
mit it. Must be a million people The man turned, bewildered.
watching that bunch of scoundrels The crowd roared. The Hound
hound after you. Theyll catch you leaped up.
in five minutes. "The poor son of a bitch, said
"But if theyre ten miles away, Granger, bitterly.
how can they . .
.? A dozen shots rattled out. The
"Watch. man crumpled.
He made the t-v picture brighter. "Montag is dead, the search is
"Up that street there, somewhere, over, a criminal is given his due,
rightnow, out for an early morning said the announcer.
walk. A rarity, an odd one. Dont The camera trucked forward.
think the police dont know the Just before it showed the dead
habits of queer ducks like that, men mans face, however, the screen
who walk early in the morning just went black.
Francisco for a half hour of dawn "I quoted Donne the midst
dance music by
of a genetics class one afternoon.
in
mans
off.
face, of us.
They glanced at the fire, self-
its Montag. consciously.
Montag said nothing, but simply "So you want to join us, Mr.
looked at the blank screen. He could Montag?
not move or speak. "Yes.
Granger put out his hand. "Wel- "What have you to offer?
come back from the dead, Mr. "Nothing. I thought I had the
Montag. Montag took the hand, Book of Job, but I havent even
numbly. The man said, "My real got that now.
name is Clement, former occupant "The Book of Job would do very
of the T. S. Eliot Chair at Cam- well. Where was it?
bridge. That was before it became "Here. Montag touched his
an Electrical Engineering School. head.
This gentleman here is Dr. Sim- "Ah, said Granger-Clement. He
mons from U.C.L.A. smiled and nodded.
"I dont belong here, said Mon- "Whats wrong? Isnt that all
THE FIREMAN 53
"But Ive forgotten it! "None of it. But I cant get it
"Nonsense, nothing is ever for- out. Once its in, its like solidified
gotten. Mislaid, perhaps, but not glue in a bottle, there for good. Mr.
forgotten. We have ways, several Granger says its important. Thats
new methods Of hypnosis, to shake good enough for me.
down the clinkers there. Youll re- "Were old friends, said Gran-
member, dont fear. ger. "We hadnt seen each other
"Ive been trying to remember. since we were boys. We met a few
"Dont try. Relax. Itll come years ago on that track, somewhere
when we need Some people
it. are between here and Seattle, walking,
quick studies but dont know it. me running away from firemen, he
Some of God's simplest creatures running from cities.
have the ability called eidetic or "Never liked cities, said the one
photographic memory, the ability who was Plato. "Always felt that
to memorize entire pages of print cities owned men, that was all, and
had been sitting to one side. and then we burned the book our-
"Mr. Plato, if you please. selves so we wouldnt be caught
with it. And now Im Plato; thats
HE man began to talk. He what I am.
T looked at Montag idly, his
hands filling a corncob pipe, un-
"He is also Socrates.
The man nodded.
aware of the words tumbling from "And Schopenhauer.
his lips. He talked for two minutes Another nod.
without a* pause or stumble. "And John Dewey.
Granger made the smallest move "All that in one bottle. You
of his fingers. The man cut off. wouldnt think there was room. But
"Perfect word-for-word memory, I can open my head like a concer-
every word important, every word tina and play it. Theres plenty of
Platos, said Granger. room if you dont try to think about
"And, said the man who was what youve memorized. Its when
Plato, "I dont understand a you start thinking that all of a
damned word of it. I just say it. sudden its crowded. I dont think
Its up to you to understand. about anything except eating, sleep-
"Dont you understand any of ing, and traveling. I let you people
it? asked Montag. do the thinking when you hear what
terns. And
you are Mr. Job, and faces have been changed by plastic
in half an hour or less, a war will surgery, as have our fingerprints. So
begin. While those people in that we wait quietly for the day when
anthill across the river have been the machines are dented junk and
busy chasing Montag, as if he were then we hope to walk by and say.
the cause of all their nervous 'Here we are, to those who survive
anxiety and frustration, the war has this war, and well say, 'Have you
been getting under way. By this come to your senses now? Perhap.
time tomorrow the world will be- a few books will do you some
long to the little green towns and good.
the rusted railroad tracks and the "But will they listen to you?
men walking on them; thats us. "Perhaps not. Then well have to
The cities will be soot and baking wait some more. Maybe a few hun-
powder. dred years. Maybe theyll never lis
ten; we cantmake them. So well
HE rang a Granger pass the books on to our children,
T t-v
switched it on.
bell.
"I think I was pretty blind and on the inside. It wasnt really
THE FIREMAN 55
planned;
book he wanted
did. Then
it grew. Each
we
to
man had
remember and
discovered
a
each
M ONTAG looked
faces, old, all of
firelight,and certainly tired. Per-
at the mens
them, in the
other and over twenty years or so haps he was looking for a bright-
got a loose network together and ness, a resolve, a triumph over to-
made a plan. The important thing morrow that' wasnt really there.
we had to learn was that we were Perhaps he expected these men to
not important, we were not to be be proud with the knowledge they
pedants, we were not to feel su- carried, to glow with the wisdom
perior, we were nothing more than as lanterns glow with the fire they
covers for books, of no individual contain.
significance whatever. Some of us But all the light came from the
live in small towns- chapter one of campfire here, and these men
Walden in Nantucket, chapter two seemed no different than any other
in Reading, chapter three in Wau- man who has run a long run,
kesha, each according to his ability. searched a long search, seen pre-
Some can learn a few lines, some a cious things destroyed, seen old
lot. friends die, and now, very late in
The books are safe then. time, were gathered together to
"Couldnt be safer. Why, theres watch the machines die, or hope
one village in North Carolina, some they might die, even while cherish-
200 people, no bombll ever touch ing a last paradoxical love for those
their town, which is the complete very machines which could spin
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. out a material with happiness in the
You could pick up that town, al- warp and terror in the woof, so
most, and flip the pages, a page to interblended that a man might go
a person. People who wouldnt insane trying to tell the design to
dream of being seen with a book himself, and his place in it.
gladly memorized a page. You cant They werent at all certain that
be caught with that. And when the what they carried in their heads
war's over and weve time and need, might make every future dawn
the books can be written again. The dawn brighter. They were sure of
people will be called in one by one nothing save that the books were
to recite what they know and itll on file behind their solemn eyes and
be in print again until another Dark that if man put his mind to them
Age, when maybe well have to do properly, something of dignity and
the whole damned thing over again, happiness might be regained.
man being the fool he is. Montag looked from one face to
"What do we do tonight? asked another.
Montag. "Dont judge a book by its
flirt
was merely a gesture.
of a great metal
It was
hand over
Montag glanced up. the city and a voice saying, "Dis-
The bombardment was finished integrate. Leave no stone upon an-
and over, even while the seeds were other. Perish. Die.
in the windy sky. The bombs were Montag held the bombs in the
there, the jet-planes were there, for sky for a precious moment, with his
the merest trifle of an instant, like mind and his "Run! he
hands.
grain thrown across the heavens by cried to Faber. To Clarisse, Run!
a great hand, and the bombs drifted To Mildred, "Get out, get out of
with a dreadful slowness down there! But Clarisse, he remem-
upon the morning where all of
city bered, And Faber was
was dead.
the people looked up at their des- out; there, the deep valleys of
in
tiny coming upon them like the lid the country, went the dawn train
of a dream shutting tight and be- on its way from one desolation to
come an instant later a red and another. Though the desolation had
powdery nightmare. not yet arrived, was still in the air,
The bombardment to all military it was as certain as man could make
purposes was finished. Once the it. Before the train had gone an-
planes had sighted their target, other fifty yards on the track, its
alerted their bombardier at five destination would be meaningless,
thousand miles an hour, as quick its point of departure made from
THE FIREMAN 57
world as info a crystal ball to find pounds of brick, metal and people
happiness. down into the cellar, there to dis-
The first bomb struck. pose of them in its unreasonable
!
"Mildred way.
Perhaps the television station "I remember now, thought
went first into oblivion. Montag, "where we first met. It
Mon tag saw the screen go dark was in Chicago. Yes, now I re-
in Mildreds face, and heard her member.
screaming, because in the next mil- Montag found himself on his
lionth part of time left, she would face. The concussion had knocked
see her own face reflected there, the air across the river, turned the
hungry and alone, in a mirror in- men down like dominoes in a line,
stead of a crystal ball, and it would blown out the fire like a last candle,
be such a wildly empty face that and caused the trees to mourn with
she would at last recognize it, and a great voice of wind passing away
stare at the ceiling almost with south.
welcome as it and the entire struc- Montag lay with his face toward
ture of the hotel blasted down upon the city. Now it, instead of the
her, carrying her with a million bombs, was in the air. They had
AND
out,
Montag lying
eyes shut, gasping
suddenly thought,
there,
and crying
"Now I
his
re-
THE FIREMAN 59
member another thing. Now I re- tions and minute obsessions. They
member the Book of Job. He said lay blinking their stunned eyelids.
it over to himself, lying tight to You could hear them breathing
the earth; he said the words of it fast, then slower, then with the
many times and they were perfect slowness of normality.
without trying. "Now I remember Montag sat up. He move
did not
the book of Job. Now I do remem- any farther, however. The other
ber . . men did likewise. The sun was
"There, said a voice. Grangers touching the black horizon with a
voice. faint red tip. The air was cool and
The men lay like gasping fish on sweet and smelled of rain. In a few
the grass. minutes would smell of dust and
it
They did not get up for a long pulverized iron, but now it was
time, but held to the earth as chil- sweet.
dren hold to a fam'iliar thing, no And across the world, thought
matter how cold or dead, no matter Montag, the cities of the other na-
what has happened or will happen. tions are dead, too, almost in the
Their fingers were clawed into the same instant.
soil, and they were all shouting to Silently, the leader of the small
keep their ears in balance and open. group, Granger, arose, felt of his
Montag shouting with them, a pro- arms and legs, touched his face to
test against the wind that swept see if everything was in its place,
them, shaking their hair, tearing at then shuffled over to the blown-
their lips, making their noses out fire and bent over it. Montag
bleed. watched.
Montag watched the blood drip Everyone watched.
into the earth with such an absorp- Striking a match, Granger
tion that the city was effortlessly touched it to a piece of paper and
forgotten. shoved this under a bit of kindling,
he spoke, too:
turn,
man had done for many centuries, A time to kill, and a time to
thought Montag, a thing man had heal . .
N O,
like him.
not
even
YOURE
your
if I
wrong.
fathers
do look a
But its a longish story,
and you might as well let me in.
Im
ghost,
bit
ways have ... or do ... or will.
I dont know, verbs get all mixed
Thanks. You think youre crazy, thirty years from now, or youre
of course, but youll find out you me. I remember just how you feel;
arent. Its just that things are a bit I felt the same way when he
confused. And dont look at the that is,' of course, I or wecame
machine out there too long until back to tell me about it, thirty years
you get used to it, youll find its ago.
hard on the eyes, trying to follow Here, have one of these. Youll
where the vanes go. Youll get get to like them in a couple more
used to it, of course, but it will years. And you can look at the
take about thirty years. revenue stamp date, if you still
and everything seems to cut off might be the fifth; if youre going
around us. You can see a sort of to skip over the so-called fourth
foggy nothing surrounding the without traveling along it, youd
some seven or eight time and space Then the machine stops at least,
dimensions. Its simpler just to the field around us cuts off. You
figure that this is the way time got feel a dankish sort of air replace
bent back on itself. Maybe there is the stale air, and you breathe
no machine, and its just easier for easier, though were in complete
us to imagine it. When you spend darkness, except for the weak light
thirty years thinking about it, as I in the machine, which always burns,
did and you you
will get further and a few feet of rough dirty
and further from an answer. cement floor around. You take an-
Anyhow, you sit there, watching other cigaret from me and you get
nothing around you, and no
all out of the machine, just as I do.
time, apparently, though there is a Ive got a bundle of clothes and
time effect back in the luggage I start changing. Its a sort of
space. You look at your watch and simple, short-limbed, one-piece af-
its still running. That means you fair I put on, but it feels comfort-
either carry a small time field with able.
you, or you are catching a small "Im staying here, I tell you.
increment of time from the main "This is like the things they wear
field. I dont know, and you wont in this century, as near as I can
think about that then, either. remember it, and I should be able
to pass fairly well. Ive had all my
M SMOKING, and so are you, fortune the one you make on that
I and the air in the machine is atomic generator invested in such
getting a bit stale. You suddenly a way I can get it on using some
flashlight and we grope through a signs along the hall. You look at
pile of rubbish, out into a corridor. them, realizing for the first time
This is a sub-sub-sub-basement. We that things have changed.
have to walk up a flight of stairs, Steijtneri, Faunten, Z:rgat Dis-
and there is an elevator waiting, penser i. The signs are very quiet
fortunately with the door open. and dignified. Some of them can
"What about the time ma- be decoded to stationery shops,
chine? you ask. fountains, and the like. What a zer-
"Since nobody ever stole it, its got is, you dont know. You stop
safe. at a sign that announces: Travtl
Biwrou F :rst-Clas Twrz Man,
W E GET
say "first to
a soughing noise
in the elevator,
it. It
only a single
openings begin to click by us. picture of a dull-looking metal
Theres no feeling of acceleration sphere, with passengers moving up
some kind of false gravity they use a ramp, and the office is closed. You
in the future. Then the door opens, begin to get the hang of the spell-
and the elevator says "first back ing they use, though.
at us. Now there are people around
Its obviously a service elevator you, but nobody pays much atten-
and were in a dim corridor, with tion to you. Why should they? You
turn left. Ahead of you, two blocks In fact, there doesnt seem to be a
on, you can see a pink building, lock. "Must be a new part. You go
with faint aqua trimming, bigger down that corridor, up one flight
than most of the others. They are of stairs and left. Finest display in
building lower than they used to, all the known worlds. Weve got
apparently. Twenty floors up seems the original of the first thirteen
about the maximum. You head for models. Professor Jonas was using
it, and find the sidewalk is marked them to check his latest theory of
with the information that it is the how they work. Too bad he could
museum. not explain the principle, either.
Someone will, some day, though.
OU
Y
You
see thjt
go up the
hesitate for a
it
steps,
moment,
but you
seems to be closed.
then.
Lord, the genius of that twentieth
century inventor!
with me, sir. Ive
Its quite a
read everything
hobby
right
and you
Theres
filled with
a BY THAT time,
convinced. And youve been
doing a lot of thinking about what
youre almost
something that proclaims itself the you can do. The story Im telling
first truly plastic diamond former, has been sinking in, but you arent
and you go up to it. As you come completely willing to accept it.
near, it goes through a crazy wiggle You notice that the models are
inside, stops turning out a con- all mounted on tables and that
tinual row of what seem to be bear- theyre a lot smaller than you
ings, and slips something the size thought. They seem to be in chrono-
of a penny toward you. logical order, and the latest one,
"Souvenir, it announces in a marked 2147 Rincs Dyn*pat is
morning hours for one-tenth credit. the first invention which leaped full
If you have more than one child, blown into basically final form.
press the red button for the num- You study it, but it mentions cas-
ber of stones you desire. ually the inventor, without giving
You put it in your pocket, gulp- his name. Either they dont know
ing a little, and get back to the it, or they take it for granted that
corridor. You turn left andgo past everyone does, which seems more
a big room in which models of probable. They call attention to the
spaceships from the original thing fact that have the original
they
that looks like a V-2, and is labeled model of the atomic generator
first
box with a huge plug on each side, built-in magnetic current terminals
and a set of vernier controls on top, Ehrenhaft or some other prin-
plus a little hole marked, in old- and
ciple? nuclear binding-force
style spelling, Drop BBs or wire energy terminals. But theyre all
here. Apparently thats the way its held down by the same whatcha-
fueled. Its about one foot on each maycallem effect.
side. And, finally, youre right back
"Nice, the guard says over your beside the original first model. Its
shoulder. "It finally wore out one probably bolted down, too, but you
of the cathogrids and we had to try it tentatively and you find it
replace that, but otherwise its ex- moves. There's a little sign under
actly as the great inventor made it. it, indicating you shouldnt touch
And it still operates as well as ever. it, since the gravostatic plate is be-
Like to have me
you about it?
tell ing renewed.
"Not particularly, you begin, Well, you be able to
wont
and then realize bad manners might change the time cycle by doing any-
be conspicuous here. While youre thing I havent told you, but a
searching for an answer, the guard working model such as that is a
pullsy something out of his pocket handy thing. You lift it; it only
and stares at it. weighs about fifty pounds! Natur-
"Fine, fine. The mayor of Altase- ally, it can be carried.
carba Centaurian, you know is You expect a warning bell, but
arriving, but Ill be back in about nothing happens. As a matter of
ten minutes. He wants to examine fact, if youd stop drinking so much
some of the weapons for a mono- of that scotch and staring at the
graph on Centaurian primitives time machine out there now, youd
compared to nineteenth century hear what and know
Im saying
man. Youll pardon me? what will happen But of to you.
You pardon him pretty eagerly going
course, just as I did, youre
and he wanders off happily. You to miss a lot of what I say from
go up to the head of the line, to now on, and have to find out for
ing happens. Ahead of you, the "I I left my money home, you
gate is closed. You reach it and it begin.
opens obligingly by itself. You The cop nods. "Oh, that explains
breathe a quick sigh of relief and it. Fine, I wont have to give you
start out onto the street. an appearance schedule. But you
Then theres a yell behind you. should have come to me. He
You dont wait. You put one leg in reaches out and taps a pedestrian
front of the other and you begin lightly on the shoulder. "Sir, an
racing down the walk, ducking past emergency request. Would you help
people, who stare at you with ex- this gentleman?
But all the same, the organized co- You start looking for other doors
operation here doesnt look too or corridors, but you know this is
good. The guard can get the same right. The signs along the halls are
and be there before you. the same as they were.
And he is. He stands just inside
the door of the building as you
reach it. The stranger
brow and goes off at once when
lifts an eye- THEN
wall. It
theres a sort of cough
and something dilates in the
forms a perfect door and
you nod at him, not waiting for the elevator stands there waiting.
thanks. And the guard comes up, You get in, gulping out something
holding some dinkus in his hand, about going all the way down, and
about the size of a big folding then wonder how a machine geared
camera and not too dissimilar in for voice operation can make any-
other ways. He snaps it open and thing of that. What the deuce
you get set to duck. would that lowest basement be
"You forgot the prints, mono- called? But the elevator has closed
graph, and patent applications, he and is moving downward in a
says. "They go with the generator hurry. It coughs again and youre
we dont like to have them sep- at the original level. You get out
arated. A good thing I knew the and realize you dont have a light.
production office of 'Atoms and Youll never know what you
Axioms was in this building. Just stumbled over, but, somehow, you
let us know when youre finished move back in the direction of the
with the model and well pick it time machine, bumping against
up. boxes, staggering here and there,
theyd been robbed, or whether they gether again, about an hour later,
joltwhen you find that the papers But youre thinking of the
are all in your own writing, that puzzle. You cant find any an-
your name is down as the inventor, swer.
and that the date of the patent ap- One day you come across an old
plication is 1951.
poem something about some folks
It will begin to soak in, then. callingit evolution and others call-
in the future and bring it back to few provisions for the future, and
the past
your present so that it come back to climb into the time
can be put in the museum with you machine thats waiting in the build-
as the inventor so you can steal it ing you had put around it. Then
to be the inventor. And yoy do it youll be knocking on your' own
in a time machine which you bring door, thirty years back or right
back to yourself to take yourself now, from your view and telling
into the future to return to take your younger self all these things
back to yourself . . . Im telling you.
Who invented what? And who But now . . .
OW
H
come I live here on
Gorlin permanent? Well,
its something like this.
There is nobody real surprised
when some scientist writes an article
in theSunday supplement about
the primitive tribes of Anestha dy-
ing out, probably. The Anesthon
natives is freaks, anyway, and folks
THE PROTECTOR 75
just naturally figure they can't last tough till afterward. He comes from
long in stiff competition. If you Gorlin. Of course I have to stable
are like them and your body dont him on Venus long enough for a
feelany pain any time, you need a Boxing Com-
legal residence, or the
nursemaid around to keep you from mission would have him investi-
doing dumb things, like walking in gated and maybe banned from the
front of a truck or starving to ring as a telepath. Tough training
death. him, too. He cant see the sense of
I am here on Gorlin a couple fighting, but, man, he can stay in
times and know about em. Some the ring all night. He never does
folks think its watch
comical to get real speedy on his feet, but he
the space crews think up ways to learns fast and packs a wicked left.
Earth system, but when I tell him plane and get out of there.
Pierre wants to go back to help out Pierre still wants to head for
the folks, he kind of clams up and Gorlin. He says his people must
says the article is just one of those be unhappy about something or
Sunday paper things. There dont they are more careful. Life on Gor-
really seem to be anything wrong lin is too much fun to just go and
usual, falling off walls they are back to Chi, talking about his next
building and getting hit by rocks fight with Kid Bop, but he says he
during blasting, or walking in cant see any reason in fighting,
front of full cars in the mines. either, just now. I tell him I think
mines on Gorlin, he says, "just a and he is too worried about his fam-
few quarries and a lot of big farms. ily to pay much attention to what I
big
comes
Earth
mines
back,
in
con-
W
seasons
ELL, we are both pretty flush
from one of the best fight
I ever see and a rest wont
cern is shipping out the stuff five hurt the boy, so I say okay, we are
freighters a day to Mercury for going by the first liner off the Flats.
mass insulation. All native work- "You dont have to go, Joe, he
ers. They dont get paid much says. "Keep your dough and train a
weej cigarettes, bubble bath, some couple more kids. I may not be
thiska, electro-fur blankets, stuff back, he says.
like that but I dont hear yapping. "Look, boy, I says, "you know
If I do, I report anything that looks what the food is like on them
like slavery. Of course he says it liners, I says, kind of kidding,
with a lot of grammar and it takes "and if theres nobody around to
him a half hour, but that is the cram it down you, you dont eat, and
slant. if you dont eat, you starve and
He wants to gab some then with if you starve, you are in no condi-
Pierre. I see that the boy is getting tion to cheer up your sister and
THE PROTECTOR 77
your old man. Besides, I says, "I has a cloudrift shower that you
can afford a vacation and youre the nearly floataway on.
only fighter I want to work with. But Pierre just doesnt relax. I
Youve got a real future, I says, keep trying to make him get in the
"and Im going to bring you back shower, but it is no use. 'He says
alive. he is just too worried to take any
I guess that makes him feel kind pleasure in it. I dont think we
of good, because he grins first time ought to go scouting till night and
since he reads that paper and says, that is thirty some hours yet, but
"All right, Joe, come on along. when I see he is settling down to
wear the fuzz right off the floor
W E BUY
neckties
a
him we can get better on Venus, There are no signs around the
where all good stuff is made.
the hotel saying which way to the
The tripfrom Venus Space Base mines, so we set off to circle the
to Gorlin fast on account of over-
is hotel and spaceport clearing to look
drive, but even so I have no trou- for the rail-line that brings the targ
ble passing Pierre off as a fighter to the port. I figure we have gone
who has the and is headed
jitters about two-thirds of the way around
for a vacation where he learns to when I nearly fall over a guy sit-
take it easy the easy way. He is ting on the ground with his head
always burning his fingers or his in his hands. What I think is kat-
mouth on a cigarette, and I have weela flowers is just the red Anes-
to keep an eye on him all the time. thon kloa he has on. He looks up
Nerves, I explain to the passengers. sort of dull and then he sees Pierre
When we land, Pierre is all for with me. He lets out a yip and sits
hunting up his folks, but I says no, back hard on the ground and
if there is some trouble, it is moans. Pierre yanks the fellow up
smarter to case the joint. We check on his feet and hugs him and starts
in at the swanky tourist hotel. She to jabber away so fast I cant tell
is new since I am on Gorlin a what he is saying. Foreigners al-
couple years ago and what class! ways talk faster than anybody else.
She is around one of the big-
built The other guy puts in a word or
gest flaff pools on the whole planet two every once in a while and then
and our room is completely lined he scrams off through the trees.
with padded velvety stuff, sort of a "Thats Noor, Pierre informs
deep red color, and the bathroom me, "the guy my sister Jennel is
winded, he slows down and tells me too bad her brother has to come
we are going to the mine owners home and find her still alive and
fancy dump about two miles down cluttering up the woods.
the drag. Pierre says Noor tells him I tell Pierre she better take us to
the mine owner doesnt like him babe like
this boss that dont like a
and he has to leave us when we get her, but she just shakes her head
in sight of the house. and says go that way and we come
After about a mile, Noor begins to the house. Then she says the
to drag along. Then he just sits boss makes the natives use the em-
down under another tree and says ployees entrance on the other side
that is the end of the line for him. of the house and she offers to take
He points through the trees and and show us the way. She kind of
says go on, maybe he is still there twitches when she says "natives.
when we come back, maybe not. She dont even says yes or no all
While Pierre is jawing with him, I the way to the gate till, just before
look up the trail and see a Anesthon we get there, I trip on a root and
babe about a hundred feet away. bang my knee on a rock on the way-
You can tell it is a babe from one down. Well, I howl and cuss some
of them blue and green mollos and she comes up close and asks
draped around her over the kloa. me what seems to be the matter. I
THE PROTECTOR 79
tell her the blamed rock hurts my .up at the big house. They are be-
knee and I think real hard about ing talked to by the boss about not
how her knee would feel if a rock getting out enough on the targ
hits it and she busts right out cry- shifts where they are foremen, and
ing. she says how sad it is about Pierre
"Oh, you poor man, you poor coming home.
man, you, she sobs. "That rock It is just beginning to filter
dont like you at all. through my thick skull that the boss
"It dont hate me, either, I says. is connected with all this dying out
not. She just sighs again and sits when I turn around, there is Jennel.
down on the grass and whimpers. She ha$ sneaked up behind us to
Pierre tries once more to get her seewhat we are going to do.
to tell him what is the matter, but how he talks to me, too,
"Thats
all she says is that their father and she lets us know in a whisper,
some other fellow named Frith are "only he says I am not fit to even
one of his plates a little while ago. 1 like you and I see you fight and
He says I am looking in a mirror the Anestha got more guts than
instead of where I am going and anybody!
he hopes I see what an ugly pan I
have, because I ought to know it
and keep out of peoples way so
they wont have to look at me.
THE
mangy
big guy hears us and turns
around. "Get out of here, you
he bellows. "You
natives,
Her tears splash right down on the good for nothing, shivering, snivel-
grass. ing, cowardly boobs. Im not ready
"And thats not all, the yelling for you yet. He is shaking a
inside goes on. "Not only do you whippy-looking cane at me and
kill off all my workers, but at this Pierre, and I think he has turned
rate Im losing money paying you purple.
four packs of cigarettes a day. If I "We're ready for you, though,
have to blast off and start from I yell back. I climb into the room
scratch in some other part of this pulling Pierre in after me. "Pierres
blamed universe, you stupid, gut- no sniveling coward and you can
less why, you arent even men.
. . . quit talking to his brave, heroic,
You worms dont even run when Put
self-sacrificing father like that.
you see a carcoming at you. Too em up and defend yourself, you
blamed dumb to come in out of howling ape, I yell, "because
the rain. Pierre is going to give you the beat-
I stick my head around the cor- ing of your howling life!
ner and look in, and there is the I see Pierres old man and the
back of a big guy in a Mercury- other fellow spruce up some.
made suit and with a bald head The big guy sits down in a chair
that is red all the way round to the real quick, and, sucking in a big
back of his neck. On the other side breath, he starts going all fatherly
of the room I see a couple of the at Pierre, telling him that he
sorriest-looking Anestha God ever doesnt want to have to hit him
makes, shuffling their feet and look- back, because Pierre will not feel it
and pull the window open. dont know from nothing, and he
"He wont like me, Pierre says, doesnt want to injure any of his
hanging back. "He says Anestha are workers and he is just telling
dumb cowards. Maybe he knows. Pierres *old man a few things to
Maybe I wont dare hit him. protect the Anestha.
THE PROTECTOR 81
Pierre looks at me kind of doubt- corded report. He is sending a doc-
ful. tor out by copter.
"Go on, hit the fat bully, I says, We beat it for the port, leaving
real icy. "He has it coming. You the fat boss sleeping on the floor.
owe it to your old man and Noor We all stay in protective custody
and Jennel here. Go ahead and at the hotel, swimming in flaff and
show him what kind of champeens lounging around the thiska bar for
the Anestha can turn out. Its just a couple of weeks, until the com-
for his own good, I says, "so hit mission headed by that scientist
him now. Then you can tell your from the Smithsonian Institute
dad what a great guy you are. comes out and takes the boss back
Pierre's left obediently swings to Earth. He has to see a judge
into the lugs jaw with a crack like about why he should not go into
a rifle. He dont even watch the big stir for a while for psychological
guy sag down on the floor. He be- coercion or something like that.
gins hugging his father and the Before they leave, the commis-
other fellow and grinning and jab- sion hands me an official charge at
bering aWay like blue blazes. a hundred thou a year to stay as
The big guy is still breathing, but Protector of Morale to the Anestha.
out cold, so I go to look for a tele^ That is better than the fight racket,
viz. I figure the authorities better but the protectorship is a laugh. I
hear my story before the big guy cant even go out for a walk with-
wakes up. out a couple dozen Anestha tagging
After I make my spiel, the port along, to keep me from stubbing
chief says to come in and bring my toe on some unfriendly pebble,
Pierre and his father and Frith and or socking my eye on some unloving
Jennel and Noor, too, if we can devil of a doorknob.
find him, and make an official re- BETSY CURTIS
SECOND CHILDHOOD 83
"There is no precedent, he five thousand years. No more than
added. in a life of only a hundred years.
had hoped, said Andrew
"I If Man is to be immortal, he must
Young, "to establish precedent. be genuinely immortal. He cannot
Commissioner Stanford said, "I compromise.
must admit that you have made a "And yet, said Young, "my
good case, Ancestor Young. Yet friends are gone.
you must realize that this commis-
sion has no possible jurisdiction
over the life of
all the benefits of immortality and "Their names and when and where
to work out any kinks that may and how they died. Take a look at
show up. them. More than two hundred
"I am well aware of that, an- names. People of my own genera-
swered Young, "and it seems to tion and of the generations closely
me that my case isone of the kinks following mine. Their names and
you mention. . the photo-copies of their death cer-
He stood silently, watching the tificates.
faces of the members of the beard. He put both of his hands upon
They are afraid, he thought. Every the table,palms flat against the
one of them. Afraid of the day table, and leaned his weight upon
they will face the thing I am facing his arms.
now. They have sought an answer "Take a look at how they died,
and there is no answer yet except he said. "Every one involves acci-
the pitifully basic answer, the bru- dental violence. Some of them
tally fundamental answer that I drove their vehicles too fast and,
have given them. more than likely, very recklessly.
"My request is simple, he told One fell off a cliff when he reached
them, calmly. "I have asked for down to pick a flower that was
permission to discontinue life. And growing on its edge. A case of de-
since suicide has been made psy- liberately poor judgment, to my
chologically impossible, I have mind. One got stinking drunk and
asked that this commission appoint took a bath and passed out in the
a panel of next-friends to make the tub. He drowned . .
after the first wave of suicides. I I submit that I have paid any debt
remember it quite well. 'It took I owe humanity even the well-
. . .
cide. They just didnt give a damn. memory. The memories add up to
They were tired of living ... as I the disadvantage of present reali-
am tired of living. So they lived ties and prospects for the future.
recklessly in every way. Perhaps "I know, said Young. "I re-
there always was a
hope that
secret member we used to talk about that
they would drown while drunk or in the early days. It was one of the
their car would hit a tree or . . problems which was recognized
when immortality first became prac-
H
said.
E STRAIGHTENED
faced them. "Gentlemen, he
"I am 5,786 years of age. I
up and tical. But we always thought that
SECOND CHILDHOOD 85
full up it would dump the old "We have tried, said Stanford.
ones. It hasnt worked that way. "We tried conditioning, the same
He made "Gen-
a savage gesture. solution that worked with suicides.
tlemen, I can recall my childhood But in this, it didnt work. For a
much more vividly than I recall mans life is built upon his mem-
anything that happened yesterday. ories. There are certain basic mem-
"Memories are buried, said ories that must remain intact. With
Riggs, "and in the old days, when conditioning, you could not be se-
men lived no longer than a hundred lective. You could not keep the
years at most, it was thought those structural memories and winnow
buried memories were forgotten. out the trash. It didnt work that
Life, Man told himself, is a process way.
of forgetting. So Man wasnt too "There was one machine that
worried over memories when he be- worked, Riggs put in. "It got rid
came immortal. He thought he of memories. I dont understand ex-
would forget them. actly how it worked, but it did the
"He should have known, ar- job all right. It did too good a job.
gued Young. "I can remember my It swept the mind as clean as an
father, and I remember him much empty room. It didnt leave a thing.
more intimately than I will remem- It took all memories and it left no
ber you gentlemen once I leave this capacity to build a new set. A man
room. ... I can remember my went in a human being and came
father telling me that, in his later out a vegetable.
years,he could recall things which "Suspended animation, said
happened in his childhood that had Stanford, "would be a solution. If
been forgotten all his younger we had suspended animation. Simp-
years. And that, alone, should have ly stack a man away until we found
tipped us off. The brain buries only the answer, then revive and recon-
the newer memories deeply . . . dition him.
they are not available; they do not "Be that as it may, Young told
rise to bother one, because they are them, "I should like your most
not sorted or oriented or correlated earnest consideration of my peti-
or whatever it is that the brain may tion. I do not feel quite equal to
do with them. But once they are waiting until you have the answer
all nicely docketed and filed, they solved.
pop up in an instant. Riggs said, harshly, "You are
asking us to legalize death.
IGGS Young nodded.
R
years in the
nodded
"Theres a lag of a good
brains
agreement.
bookkeeping.
many phrase
the name
it
of common
"If you wish to
that way. Im asking
decency.
it in
iiy -
press upon you, Young snapped.
"They get in my hair, said "It is a problem that you must
Young disgustedly. "Thousands face. Some day you will solve it, but
upon thousands of young squirts until you do, you must make pro-
me Grandsire and Ancestor
calling visions for those who face the un-
and coming to me for advice they solved problem.
practically never follow. I dont "Wait a while, counseled Chair-
know even a fraction of them and man Riggs. "Who knows? Today,
I listen to them carefully explain a tomorrow.
relationship so tangled and trivial "Or a million years from now,
that it makes me yawn in their Young told him bitterly and left, a
SECOND CHILDHOOD 87
tall, vigorous-looking man whose of trees misty with the breaking
step was swift in anger where nor- leaves of Spring.
mally it was slow with weariness Something else, thought Andrew
and despair. Young. Something that was not hu-
man yet. A tiny animal that had
THERE course.
But there was
was yet
little
a chance,
hope.
of many ways to choose, many roads to
walk. And, of course, I chose the
wrong way. I chose the human way.
Howcan a man go back almost But there was another way. I know
sixthousand years and snare a thing there must have been. A fairy way
he never understood? or a brownie way, or maybe even
And yet Andrew Young remem- pixie. That sounds foolish and
bered it. Remembered it as clearly childish now, but it wasnt always.
as if had been a thing that had
it I chose the human way because
happened in the morning of this I was guided into it. I was pushed
entirely and I didnt even know that would be that new to a child.
it had gone. But that didnt explain it all.
He sat in the chair on the flag- It didnt explain the bottomless
stone patio and felt the Sun upon capacity for seeing and knowing
him, filtering through the branches and believing in the beauty and the
He leaned back in his chair and would not have disturbed you if I
the
all
fell,
frost-loosened leaves pattering
around him, pattering
talking in little
as
whispers as
they THE technician was harassed
and worried and very frankly
puzzled. But he stayed respectful,
they sailed down through the air for one always was respectful to an
and found themselves a bed with ancestor, whoever he might be. To-
their golden fellows. day there were mighty few left who
In that moment he knew that he had been born into a mortal world.
SECOND CHILDHOOD 89
Not that Andrew Young looked entertain them with a bag of tricks
old. He looked like all adults, a that leave the younguns no room
fine figure of a person in the early for imagination. They couldnt pos-
twenties. sibly think up, on their own, all
The technician shifted uneasily. the screwy thjngs these new toys
"But, sir, this . . . this . . do. Built-in responses and implied
"Teddy bear, said Young. consciousness and all such mechan-
"Yes, of course. An extinct ter- ical trivia. ...
restrial subspecies ofanimal? "You just want a stuffed fab-
"Its a toy, Young told him. "A ric, said the technician, sadly,
very ancient toy. All children used "with jointed arms and legs.
to have them five thousand years "Precisely, agreed Young.
ago. They took them to bed. "Youre sure you want fabric,
sir? I could do a neater job in plas-
THE technician
deplorable custom. Primitive.
"Depends on the viewpoint,
shuddered. "A tics.
"Fabric,
"and it
Young
must be scratchy."
insisted firmly,
comfort in one, I can personally scratches when you rub your face i
ricate the thing and get it over "I would, said Andrew Young.
with. "I fully intend to do so.
"I can build you a fine model, "As you wish, sir, the techni-
sir, he said, trying to work up cian answered, beaten now.
some enthusiasm. "Ill build in a "When you get it done, said
response mechanism so that it can Young, "I have some other things
give simple answers to certain in mind.
keyed questions and, of course, Ill "Other things? The technician
fix it so itll walk, either on two looked wildly about, as if seeking
legs or four. . .
. some escape.
"No, said Andrew Young. "A high chair, said Young.
The technician looked surprised "And a crib. And a woolly dog.
and hurt. "No? And buttons.
"No, repeated Andrew Young. "Buttons? asked the technician.
1 dont want it fancied up. I want "What are buttons?
it a simple lump of make-believe. "Ill explain it all to you,
No wonder the children of today Young told him airily. "It . all is
furniture and all the other things. "Hes been out ordering chil-
And I dont need to tell them what drens furniture and toys, Riggs
I plan to do. agreed. "Stuff from five thousand
some help, he said, and
"I need years ago. The kind of things he
they nodded soberly, as if they used when he was a child. But
had guessed he needed help. scaled to adult size.
"I want to build a house, he "Now, said Stanford, "he wants
explained. "A big house. Much a house built to the same propor-
larger than the usual house. tions. A house that will make him
Riggs said, "Well draw the think or help him believe that he
plans for you. Do anything else isa child. But will it work, Riggs?
that you
His body will not change. He can-
"A house, Young went on, not make it change. It will only be
"about four or five times as big as in his mind.
the ordinary house.Four or five "Illusion, declared Riggs. "The
times normal scale, I mean. Doors illusion of bigness in relation to
twenty-five to thirty feet high and himself. To a child, creeping on the
everything else in proportion. floor, a door is twenty-five to thirty
"Neighbors or privacy? asked feet high, relatively. Of course the
Stanford. child doesnt know that. But An-
"Privacy, said Young. drew Young does. I dont see how
"Well take care of it, prom- he'll overcome that.
ised Riggs. "Leave the matter of "At first, suggested Stanford,
the house to us. "he will know that its illusion, but
SECOND CHILDHOOD 91
after a time, isnt there a possi- memories with the outlook he had
bility that it will become reality so when he was a child. His mind
far as hes concerned? Thats why must be washed out, refreshed,
he needs our help. So that the wiped clean and shining and made
house will not be firmly planted in new again . . . ready to live another
his memory as a thing thats merely five thousand years.
out of proportion ... so that it The two men sat and looked at
will slide from illusion into reality one another and in each others
without too great a strain. eyes they saw a single thought
"We must keep our mouths the day would come when they, too,
shut. Riggs nodded soberly. each of them alone, would face the
"There must be no interference. Its problem Andrew Young faced.
a thing he must do himself . . . "We must help, said Riggs, "in
entirely by himself. Our help with every way we can and we must keep
the house must be the help of watch and we must be ready . . .
dead memories are the things he it becomes reality. All the rest may
it on the floor and just for the fun keeping out of his way in order not
of it, Ill put the pink one in my to embarrass him.
mouth and someone will find me That, of course, would be what
with it and theyll raise a ruckus they would do if they had realized
because they will be afraid that I what he was about. But he had ex-
will swallow it. pected ... he had expected . . .
nothing, that I love better than a at the commission, whats the name
full-blown ruckus. Especially if it of that commission, anyhow? Well,
isover me. . anyway, hed expected a fellow
"Ug, said Andrew Young, and whose name he couldnt remember
he swallowed the button. from a commission the name of
He sat stiff and straight in the which he could not recall to come
towering high chair and then, in a snooping around, wondering what
fury, swept the oversized muffin tin he might be up to, offering to help,
and its freight of buttons crashing spoiling the whole setup, every-
to the floor. thing hed planned.
For a second he felt like weep- I cant remember, he complained
ing in utter frustration and then a to himself. I cant remember the
sense of shame crept in on him. name of a man whose name I knew
Big baby, he said to himself. so short a time ago as yesterday.
Crazy to be sitting in an over- Nor the name of a commission that
grown high chair, playing with but- I knew as well as I know my name.
SECOND CHILDHOOD 93
Seating himself comfortably, sorted more on a regular
substantial stuff
out the buttons in the pan. schedule and leaves it where he can
and
of will alone. That will is gone
"Good Lord, exclaimed Riggs, now. He cant consciously force
"it wont go that far, will it? himself any further back. He is
"It should, said Stanford. "It more child than adult now. Hes
should go even further to work built up a regressive momentum and
right. He got lost yesterday. One the only question is whether that
of our men found him and led him momentum is sufficient to carry him
home. He didnt have the slightest . all the way back to actual baby-
idea where he was and he was get- hood.
ting pretty scared and he cried a "It has to go back to that?
little. He chattered about birds and Riggs looked unhappy, obviously-
-
flowers and he insisted that our thinking of his own future. "Youre
man stay and play with him. only guessing, arent j'ou?
Riggs chuckled softly. "Did he? "All the way or it simply is no
"Oh, certainly. He came back good, Stanford said dogmatically.
worn to a frazzle. "He has to get an absolutely fresh
"Food? asked Riggs. "How is start. All the way or nothing.
he feeding himself? "And if he gets stuck halfway
"We see theres a supply of stuff, between ? Half child, half man,
cookies and such-wise, left on a low what then?
shelf, where he can get at them. "Thats -something I dont want
One of the robots cooks up some to think about, Stanford said.
SECOND CHILDHOOD 95
his brain still fought against the reach. But there was another way,
rest of him, as if that small section a small swinging door built into the
of cells might know that the bat big door, the sort of door that is
was no more than a flying bat, that built for cats and dogs and some-
the shadows in the garden were no times little children. He darted
more than absence of light. through it and felt the sureness and
There was a reason, he knew, the comfort of the house about him.
why he should not be afraid The sureness and the comfort
good reason born of a certain and the loneliness.
knowledge he no longer had. And He found his second-best teddy
that he should have such knowledge bear, and, picking it up, clutched it
here and there, and out of the cor- the need he felt and there had been
ner of his eye he saw the looming no way to supply it and now he
house and it was a place he knew couldn't even know the need, could
as refuge. feel it, but he could not know it.
"House, he said, and the word He clutched the bear closer and
was wrong, not the word itself, but huddled in the darkness, watching
the way he said it. the moonbeam that came through
He ran on trembling, unsure feet a window, high above his head, and
and the great door loomed before etched a square of floor in bright-
him, with the latch too high to ness.
SECOND CHILDHOOD 97
ON THE
at the
street outside,
and Riggs stood looking up
huge house that towered
Stanford
the final
enough to get him over
sibility. Its
$*.* .*;**.
SHELF
BY GROFF CONKLIN
T HOUGH for
conceived as a book
"adolescents,
published, in a shorter version, in
and first
realism in
ish.
boys
When
its telling. It is
books of a generation or so
not child-
Boys Life, this book is also one of ago, such as The Rover Boys or
the best of the months output in Tom Swift, I am astonished at the
science fiction for adults. I dont advance in quality that has taken
know what this proves; but I hope place in books for boys.
it indicates that the so-called The fact of the matter is that
adolescent of our time is acquiring any lover of realistic and exciting
a pretty mature and down-to-Earth narratives of "different places will
outlook on science fiction. thoroughly enjoy this tale of the
It is true that Farmer in the attempts of mankind to establish
* SHELF 99
settlements on tianymede, one of The whole book is a very effec-
Jupiter's moons. It has all the'feel tive antidote to the complex and
of the believable that a good story often bloody tales of intergalactic
of adventure in strange places of and interplanetary wars which seem
the known world gives one rplus to be the stock in trade of too
the bonus tingle of the fact that it many modern science fiction writ-
is, today, only a dream. ers. The Lord be praised for this
COLLECTION
tion writers
colonization of
might well adopt.
the circumstances that lead to the
Ganymede
And
are de-
A
short
the
stories
better
from past issues of
of eleven of
Kuttner-Padgett
1939. Fall-
orig- A
lays,
VERY handsome volume,
its five superb and sexy Fin-
ing more or less into the super- iam for the Old Master of fantasy.
impossible school of science fiction As for the melodramatic, color-
of which Donald Wandrei used to ful, corny old plot (the story was
be the leader, it has an old-fash- first published in 1924), there is no
ioned and somewhat frenetic ring need to describe it here. If you like
to it which, nevertheless, is rather Merritt, youll love this example of
pleasant. The tale tells how, from his weird and fruity imagination;
a space station on Pluto, a few if you dont, you wont care any-
Earthians, aided by an incredible how. Im one of those who like it,
girl who has been in suspended though sometimes I wonder if its
animation for a thousand years, are simple hankering for my adoles-
able to help avert the collision of cence, when Merritt was the most
our universe with another, a crash wonderful thing that ever hap-
which would have been "slightly pened.
fatal to both. A comparison of GROFF CONKLIN
By FRANK M ROBINSON
4
SUPPOSE theres a guy like could never get along with Mc-
McCleary in every office. Cleary. To be as disliked as he was,
Now Im not a hard man to you have to work at it.
get along with and it usually takes What kind of guy was he? Well,
quite a bit more than overly bright if you came down to the office one
roll out to 'the lake for your two just finished talking about the latest
weeks in August. You might even on television and what was wrong
break the bank and spend the two with the Administration and whod
weeks at a poor mans Sun Valley. win the pennant when Bob Young
But no matter where you went, brought up the subject of vacations.
when you came back, youd have to It turned out he was due for a trip
sit in silence and listen to Mc- to the Ozarks and Donley was
Clearys account of his Vacation in going after wall-eye pike in north-
the Adirondacks, or his Tramp in ern Wisconsin. I could sense Mc-
the Canadian Wilds, or maybe even Cleary prick up his ears clear across
the Old French Quarter. the room.
The trouble was he always had the "How about you, Bill? Donley
photographs, the ticket stubs, and asked me. "Got any plans?
the souvenirs to prove it. Where he I winked heavily and jerked a
cool at night. And beautiful! From years from now youll be spending
Marsport you can see low-slung your vacation on Venus or Jupiter
mountains in the distance, dunes of or some place like that. From now
soft, red sand stretching out to on California and the Bahamas will
them. If I were you, Bob, Id forget be strictly old hat.
all about the Ozarks and sign up on McCleary looked half -believing.
the rocket. "Whered you get your tickets?
"There aint any rockets going to I waved vaguely in the direction
bell rang and we went back to the took us a while to recover from
office grind. laughing and my sides were still
W
day, even
ELL, McCleary didnt say any-
thing more about
though wed throw in a
it the next
It
cused
definitely
"You
us.
had a hurt look on it.
dont think I did, he ac-
chance comment about Mars every "Oh, come off it, McCleary, I
now and then, as if it were the most said crossly. "A gags a gag, but it
natural thing in the world, but Mac can be carried too far.Whered you
didnt rise to the bait. We gradually go? California, Oregon, some place
forgot about it, like that?
The next couple of weeks came "I said I went to Mars, Mc-
and went and then my two weeks in Cleary repeated hotly, "and I can
around, the conversation just natu- wife. The bottom half was torn off,
rally died down. After a two min- just like they do with train tickets.
ute silence I finally took the hook. "Very clever, I said, "but you
"Okay, Mac, I said, "I know shouldnt have gone to all that trou-
youre just dying to tell us. Where ble to have these printed up.
did you go? McCleary scowled and dropped
He almost looked surprised. "To a little bunch of kodachrome slides
Mars," he said, like he might have on the desk. 1 took one and held it
said Aunt Minnies. up to the light. It showed Mac and
as the
YOU know, sometimes I think we
misjudged McCleary. It takes a
while to get to know a guy like
Mississippi. McCleary standing on Mac. Maybe his' Louie is brighter
a strangely carved sandstone para- than Johnny, and maybe his chug-
pet,admiring a sunset caused by a mobile is something terrific.
sun looking half as big as ours. For the last few years, all on ac-
And everywhere were the dunes of count of Mac, my two weeks in
pink sand. August have really been well spent.
"Pictures can be faked, Mac, I Beautiful! Why, from Mars City
said. you can see low-slung mountains in
He looked hurt and got some the distance and dunes of soft, red
things out of his desk a sateen sand stretching out to them. And
pillow with scenes like those on his the sunsets when youre standing
snapshots, an urn filled with pink on the parapets of that delicate
sand, a tiny boat like a gondola, crystal city And, man, fishing in
. . .
only different, a letter opener made the Grand Canal ... <
out of peculiar bubbly pink glass. How do you get to Mars ? Theres
They were all stamped "Souvenir probably a couple of agencies in
of Mars and that kind of junk you your own town. You can look them
dont have made up for a gag. I up in your phone book under "Va-
know mass-produced articles when cation at the Planets of Pleasure or
I see them. something like that. They might be
"We couldnt afford the first-
a little difficult to find, though.
class tour, McCleary said expan- You see, they're not very well
sively, "but I figure we can cover advertised yet.
that next year. He turned to me FRANK M. ROBINSON
from Earths archives which seems identity, but releases him in order
to be of major importance to the to be able to discover the true extent
success of the conspiracy, fonti ad- of what he feels must be a vast
vises Biron to leave Earth before conspiracy, of which Biron and his
TYRANN 109
-father were only a small part. For be arrested and delivered back to
that purpose, Biron is conducted to Aratap.
Hinrik, the Director of Rhodia. With Gillbrets help, Biron
Meanwhile, back on Earth, escapes from the two guards sent
Sander Jonti continues the search to arrest him and seeks refuge in
for the important document which Artemisias room. She conceals him
Biron had been sent to obtain. He and now faces the company of
finds it had disappeared from guards who are ransacking the pal-
Earths archives twenty years earlier. ace and who wish to search her
He has not the slightest notion of room. With them is Gillbret.
the nature of the document, except In Artemisias dressing room,
that it dates prior to the time of Biron waits tensely.
the discovery of space-travel. What
Earth of the pre-atomic age can Part Two
possibly contribute to a conspiracy
of the Galactic Era a mystery.
is CHAPTER IX
On Rhodia, Biron meets Hinrik,
the weakling Director, who is And an Overlords Trousers
frightened nearly to idiocy of the V
with my zeal
Artemisia managed to look com-
and courage. G interposed, "Captain, come,
come. While you exchange courtly
pletely bewildered. sentiments with my niece, our man
Under his breath, the captain has had time to rifle the armory. I
TYRANN 111
The guard was
back
hand
rigid, right
there,
hand armed, left
alarm button. He was
at his
legs apart,
B IRON
and
away
tensed as the door slid
again. He held his breath
his fingers stiffened.
the guard suggested by Gillbret, a Artemisia stared at his neuronic
tall one. As tall as Biron of Wide- whips, which he had aimed instant-
mos, though slimmer of shoulders. ly at her. "Be careful!
It occurred to her, at that mo- He puffed out his breath in re-
ment, that Biron, though young and lief and stuffed each whip into a
therefore rather unreasonable in pocket. They were very uncomfort-
some of his viewpoints, was at least able there, but he had no proper
large and well-muscled, which was holsters. He said, "That was just in
convenient. It had been foolish of case it was somebody looking for
her to snap at him. Quite pleasant- me.
looking, too. "Come out. And whisper.
She closed the door, and stepped She was still in her night-robe,
toward the dressing room. woven out of a smooth fabric with
TYRANN 113
L
and then his knees buckled Biron said, "You must have
under the weight which came down some Cellite stockings. They would
upon his shoulders, while his words do fine. He had already stripped
were cut off, without even an inter- the guard of weapons and outer
rupting squawk, by the forearm clothing, "And Id like to wash
which slammed against his larynx. up. In fact, I have to.
Artemisia closedthe door hur-
riedly and watched with sensations T WAS pleasant to step
that amounted almost to nausea. I through the detergent mist in
The life in the Palace of the Hin- Artemisias bathroom. It left him
riads was mild almost to decadence, perhaps a trifle overscented, but the
and she had never before seen a open air would take care of the
mans face congest with blood and fragrance, he hoped. At least, he
his mouth yawn and puff futilely was clean; and it required merely
under the influence of asphyxia. the momentary passage through the
She looked away. fine, suspended droplets that shot
Biron bared his teeth with effort past him forcefully in a warm air
as he tightened the circle of bone stream.No special drying chamber
and muscle about the other's throat. was required, since he stepped out
For a minute, the guard's weaken- dry as well as clean. They didnt
ing hands ripped futilely at Birons have thison Widemos, or on Earth.
arm, while his feet groped in aim- The guards uniform was a bit
less kicks. Biron heaved him clear tight, and Biron did not like the
off the floor. way the somewhat ugly, conical
And then the guards hands fell military cap fit over his brachy-
to his sides, his legs hung loosely cephalic head. He stared at his re-
and the convulsive and useless flection with some dissatisfaction.
heavings of the chest began to sub- "How do I look?
side. Biron lowered him gently to "Quite like a soldier, she said.
the floor. The guard sprawled out He said, Youll have to carry
limply as though he were a sack one of these whips. I cant handle
which had been emptied. three.
"Is he dead? asked Artemisia, She took it between two fingers
in a horrified whisper. and dropped it into her 'bag which
"I doubt it, said Biron. "It then was suspended from her wide
takes four or five minutes of it to belt by another micro-force, so that
kill a man. But hell be out of her hands remained free.
things for a while. you have Do "We had better go, now, she
anything to tie him up with? said. "Dont say a word if we meet
She shook her head. For the mo- anyone; let me do the talking. Your
ment, she felt quite helpless. accent isnt right, and it would be
He had been shoved out of the "Wont they miss you, sir?
way, so that it was not necessary to asked Biron.
step over him to get to the door. "Me? Hah! The captain was
"This way, breathed Artemisia. glad to see me go for all his toe-
scraping. They wont look for me,
T THE
A first
a footstep behind
hand came down on Birons shoul-
turning, there was
them and a
I assure you.
They were speaking
but now even those died away. A
in whispers,
TYRANN 115
But after five minutes of walking Theres nothing to do now. We
along the quiet path, Gillbret grew cant fight Tyranni.
restless. "Why not?- Biron demanded,
"Theres something wrong, he savagely. "Why cant we fight
said. them? They have no reason to sus-
Artemisia said, "Uncle Gil, you pect trouble and were armed. Lets
havent forgotten to arrange to have take the Commissioners own ship.
the ship ready? Lets leave him with his trousers
"Of course not, he snapped at down.
her, as nearly as one could snap in He stepped forward, out of the
a whisper, "but why is the Field relative obscurity of the trees and
Tower lit up?
should be dark.
It on to the bare Field. The others
He pointed up through the trees, followed. There was .no reason to
to where the Tower was a honey- hide. They were two members of
comb of white light. Ordinarily, the royal family and an escorting
that would indicate business at the soldier.
Field, ships leaving for space or But it was the Tyranni they were
arriving from it. fighting now.
Gillbret muttered, "Nothing was
scheduled for tonight. That was IMOK ARATAP of Tyrann had
definite. S been impressed the first time
They saw the answer at a dis- he had ever seen the Palace
tance, or Gillbret did. He stopped Grounds at Rhodia years earlier,
suddenly and spread his arms wide but it had turned out to be only a
to hold back the others. shell that had impressed him. The
"Thats all, he said, and giggled interior was nothing but a musty
almost hysterically. "This time Hin- relic. Two generations earlier,
rik has really messed things prop- Rhodias legislative chambers had
erly, the idiot. Theyre here! The met on these grounds and most of
Tyranni! Dont you understand? the administrative offices had been
Thats Arataps private armored quartered there. Palace Central had
cruiser." been the heartbeat of a dozen
Biron saw it, gleaming faintly worlds.
under the lights, standing out But now the legislative chambers
among the other undistinguished (still existing, for the Khan never
ships. was smoother, slimmer,
It interfered with local legalisms) met
more deadly feline than the Rhod- once a year to ratify the executive
ian vessels. orders of the past twelve months.
Gillbret said, "The captain said a It was only a formality. The Ex-
personage was being entertained ecutive Council was still, nom-
today, and I paid no attention. inally, in continuous session, but it
was late, he was tired, his eyes Aratap felt a twinge of compas-
burned so that he longed to remove sion. The man had been made into
his contact lenses, and, most of all, such a coward that even the Ty-
he was disappointed. ranni themselves grew impatient
There was no recognizable pat- with him. And yet it was the only
tern of motive and counter-motive. way. Nothing but fear could insure
He glanced occasionally at his mili- absolute loyalty.
tary aide, but the major was Widemos had not been afraid,
listening to the Director with ex- and, despite the fact that his self-
pressionless stolidity. As for Aratap interest had been bound at every
himself, he paid little attention. point with the maintenance of Ty-
"Widemoss son! Indeed? he ranni rule, he had rebelled. Hinrik
would say, in abstraction. Then ivas afraid and that made the dif-
later, "And so you arrested him? ference.
Quite right! And because Hinrik was afraid,
But it meant little to him, since he sat there, lapsing into incoher-
events lacked a design. Aratap had ence as he struggled to wheedle
a neat and tidy mind which could some gesture of approval. The ma-
not bear the thought of individual jor -would give none, of course,
clumped together with
facts loosely Aratap knew. The man had no
no decent arrangement. imagination. He sighed and wished
TYRANN 117
he had none, either. Politics was a alarm. They are still only minutes
filthy business. away.
So he said, with some air of "Yes,
by all means, stuttered
animation, "I commend your quick Hinrik, "by all means. A general
decision and your zeal in the service alarm, indeed. Just the thing.
of the Khan. You may be sure he Quickly! Quickly! Commissioner, I
sufficient force to substitute for the "Say your say, captain, inter-
act. posed Aratap, gently.
He asked, uncertainly, "What is The captain brought his heels to-
it, captain? gether sharply. "Since I am ordered
The captain said, "Excellency, to speak, your Excellency, I regret
the prisoner has escaped. to inform you that my lady Arte-
Aratap some of the weari-
felt misia and my lord Gillbret accom-
ness disappear. What was this? pany the prisoner in his escape.
"The details, captain! he ordered, "He dared to kidnap them?
and straightened in his chair. Hinrik was on his feet. And my
The captain gave them with a guards allowed it?
blunt economy of words. He con- "They were not kidnaped, Excel-
cluded, "I ask your permission, Ex- lency. They accompany him volun-
cellency, to proclaim a general tarily.
TYRANN 119
There was the faint splashing of bers of the royal family go unrec-
an artificial waterfall nearby. A ognized? Particularly the girl.
small one, but decorative. Now that "They would have to leave the
was a real wonder to Aratap. planet then.
Imagine water, spilling out, run- "And from where? They can
ning to waste, pouring down the reach the Palace Field in a fifteen-
rocks and along the ground. He had minute walk. Now do you see the
never educated himself out of a purpose of our being here?
prim indignation over it. The major said, "Our ship?
"Of course. A Tyrannian ship
A S IT is," said the major, "we would seem ideal to them. Other-
-fA. have nothing. wise, they would have to choose
"We have a pattern. When the among freighters. Farrill has been
young man first arrived, we con- educated on Earth, and, Im sure,
nected him with Hinrik and that can fly a cruiser.
bothered us because Hinrik is "Now theres a point, the ma-
what he was the best we
is. But it jor agreed. "Why do we allow the
could do. Now we
see it was not nobility to send out their sons in
Hinrik at all; that Hinrik was a all directions? What business has
misdirection. It was Hinriks daugh- a subject to know more about
ter and cousin he was after and that travel than will suffice him for lo-
makes more sense. cal trade? We raise soldiers against
"Why didnt he call us sooner? us.
He waited for the middle of the "Nevertheless, said Aratap,
night. with polite indifference, "at the mo-
"Because he is the tool of who- ment, Farrill has a foreign educa-
ever is the first to reach him, and tionand let us take that into account
Gillbret, I am sure, suggested this objectively, without growing angry
night meeting as a sign of great about it. The fact remains that I am
zeal on his part. completely certain they have taken
"You mean we were called here our cruiser.
on purpose? To witness their "I cant believe it.
Work out the pattern and each little ers are firmly belted and nothing
event becomes inevitable. And now can save the three of them. And
do you fully understand the conse- when I pluck them back, in my
quences? own good time"
he emphasized
the words with satisfaction "I
THE thigh,
course!
major did. He slapped his
and laughed briefly. "Of
will
in
have the rest of the conspiracy
my hands as well.
He sighed and found
himself be-
"Well, said Aratap, "they ginning to feel sleepy once more,
couldnt know, of course, but they "Well, we have been lucky, and
have ruined themselves. Had they now there is no hurry. Call Central
been satisfied with the clumsiest Base and have them send another
Rhodian freighter on the field, they ship after us.
TYRANN 121
CHAPTER X bruised against the padded web-
bing. The Tyrannian prisoner had
Maybe! lain pressed against the wall, tear-
ing at his bonds and cursing in a
B IRON FARRILLS
had
spationautics back at Earth
been largely academic. There had
training in monotone.
Biron had risen shakily to his
feet, kicked the Tyrannian into a
been the university courses in the brooding silence and made his way
various phases of spatial engineer- along the wall-rail, hand over hand
ing which, though half a semester against the acceleration, back to his
was spent on the theory of the seat.. Forward blasts of power
hyperatomic motor, offered little quivered the ship and reduced the
when it came to the actual manipu- rate of increasing velocity to a bear-
lation of ships in space. The best able pressure.
and most skilled pilots learned their They were in the upper reaches
art in practice and not in school- of the Rhodian atmosphere by then.
rooms. The sky was a deep violet and the
He had managed to take off with- hull of the ship was hot with air
out actual accident, though that was friction, so that warmth could be
more luck than design. The Re- felt within.
morseless answered the controls far It took hours thereafter to set the
more quickly than Biron had an- ship into an orbit about Rhodia.
ticipated.He had manipulated sev- Biron could find no way of readily
eral ships on Earth out into space calculating the velocity necessary to
and back to the planet, but those just overcome Rhodias gravity. He
had been aged and sedate models, had to work it by hit and miss,
maintained for the use of students. varying the velocity with puffs of
They had been gentle, and very, power forward and backward,
very tired, and had lifted with an watching the massometer, which in-
effort and spiraled slowly upward dicated their distance from the plan-
through the atmosphere and into ets surface by measuring the
space. intensity of the gravitational field.
The Remorseless, on the other Fortunately the massometer was al-
hand, had lifted effortlessly, spring- ready calibrated for Rhodias mass
ing upward and whistling through and radius. Without considerable
the air, so that Biron had fallen experimentation, Biron. could not
backward out of his chair and all have adjusted the calibration him-
but dislocated his shoulder. Arte- self.
misia and Gillbret, with the greater Eventually, the massometer held
caution of the inexperienced, had steady and over a period of two
strapped themselves in, and were hours showed no appreciable drift.
A rtemisia
have a very light touch,
lord Rancher.
said, "You dont
my
"All right.
"On
"What?
Rhodia.
Where?
"Im flying by touch, my Lady, "Its the one place they wont be
Biron replied, curtly. "If you can looking for us. Besides, weve got
do better, youre welcome to try, but to go down pretty soon, anyway.
only after I myself disembark. "Why?
"Quiet, quiet, said Gillbret. this is the Commission-
"Look,
"The ship is too cramped for pet- and hes been using it for
ers ship,
of this ship. I havent cracked you Gillbret said, "But hell radio our
up yet, have I? whereabouts instantly.
His shoulder hurt still as a re- "I dont think so, said Biron.
sult of the first lurch and, as usual, "In the first place, Rhodia has its
TYRANN 123
happen to a soldier who allowed and allowed to flutter downward
the Commissioner of the Khan to some fifty miles from the nearest
have his private cruiser stolen from sizable town.
him? The landing, on an empty beach,
. The prisoner did not answer, but was only mildly jerky, and Biron,
his lip-line became pale. as the one least likely to be recog-
Biron would not have wanted to nized, made the necessary pur-
be in the soldiers place. To be chases. Such Rhodian currency as
sure, he could scarcely be blamed. Gillbret had had the presence of
There was no reason why he should mind to bring with him had scarce-
have suspected trouble resulting ly sufficed for elementary needs,
from mere politeness to members since much went for a little
of it
THEY
Southwark.
had landed two days
at the outskirts
had been chosen de-
It
later
of the city of
ly.
an
The Tyranni forces had evolved
entire technique of supply
adapted entirely to the fact that they
liberately it lay far from
because used tiny ships. They couldnt afford
the main centers of Rhodian popu- the huge storage spaces of other
lation. The Tyrannian soldier had fleets, which were stacked with the
been strapped into a repulsion unit carcasses of whole animals, neatly
TYRANN 125
ness, and Biron spent time playing manufactured this ship." It was a
with the controls afterward. The relief to shout at Gillbret. It was a
control board resembled only in the relief to shout at anybody.
dimmest fashion those of the ships The door opened again, and
he had handled on Earth. It had Artemisia stood there. She said,
"Artemisia's in the cabin, I sup- and marry you off, neither one of
pose?" us would be here.
"There isnt any place else she "Dont you criticize my father.
could be and stay inside the ship." "Ill criticize anyone I please.
Biron said, "When you see her, Gillbret put his hands over his
tell her Ill make up a bunk here in ears. "Please!
the pilot room. Id advise you to do
the same, and let her have the cabin T BROUGHT a brief halt. Gill-
to herself. He muttered, "It wasnt I bret said, "Shall we discuss the
bad enough we had *
to bring along matter of our destination now? Its
"You never mind what I intend ful. The stay on Tyrann had its
TYRANN 127
was beautiful as she sat there, even "As it was, however, it plunged
if her hair was becoming a little into the control room, ricocheted
bedraggled. She wasnt wearing her off the far wall and slammed back
little jacket, and the fluffy white- and forth till it came to a halt. It
ness of her blouse was still smooth couldnt have taken more than a
and unwrinkled after forty-eight fraction of a minute to do so, but
hours. He wondered how she man- at an original velocity of a hundred
aged to do that. miles a minute, it must have criss-
The trip, he decided, could be crossed the room a hundred times.
quite wonderful if she would only Both crewmen were cut to pieces,
learn to behave herself. The trouble and I escaped only because I was in
was that no one had ever controlled the cabin at the time.
her properly, that was all. Certain- "I heard the thin clang of the
lynot her father. Shed become too meteor when it originally penetrat-
used to having her own way. If ed the hull, then the click-clack of
shed been born a commoner, she its bouncing and the terrifying
would have been a very lovely crea- short screams of the two crew men.
ture. When I jumped into the control
room, there was only the blood
WAS
H E
into a
just
daydream
controlled her properly and brought
beginning to
in which he
slip everywhere and the t^rn flesh. The
things that happened next I
ber only vaguely,
remem-
although for
her to a state of proper- apprecia- years I lived it over step by step in
tion of himself, when she turned my nightmares.
her head and met his eye calmly. "The cold sound of escaping air
Biron looked away and fastened his led me to the meteor hole. I slapped
attention instantly on Gillbret. He a disk of metal over it and air pres-
"I havent the slightest idea why found the little battered space-
the ships screen had tailed. It was pebble on the floor. It was warm to
just one of those things to which the touch, but I hit it with a span-
no one will ever know the answer, ner and split it in two. The exposed
but it had failed. Anyway, the me-
interior frosted over instantly. It
ing this, either out of simple ro- Jumps without a hand on the con-
mantic imaginings or for some se- trols.
verely practical reason of his own. And you mean to say that this
"What Jumps through
about the ship can do that, too?
hyperspace? You must have man- "I dont know. I wouldnt be
aged those, or you wouldnt be surprised.
here.
"A Tyranni ship, said Gillbret,
"once the controls are properly set, B IRON turned
board. There were
to the
still
control
dozens
will make any number of Jumps of contacts he had not determined
quite automatically. the slightest use for. Well, later!
Did
Biron stared his disbelief. He turned to Gillbret again.
Gillbret him for a fool?
take "And the ship took you home?
"You're making that up," he said. "No, it didnt. When that meteor
"I am not. Its one of the damned wove its pattern through the con-
military advances which won their trol room, it didnt leave the board
wars for them. They didnt defeat untouched. It would have been a
fifty planetary systems, outnumber- most amusing coincidence if it had.
ing Tyrann by hundreds of times Dials were smashed, the casing
in population and resources, just battered and dented. There was no
by playing mumbledy-peg, you way of telling how the previous set-
know. Sure, they tackled us one at ting of the controls had been
a time, and utilized our traitors very altered, but it must have been
TYRANN 129
somehow, because it never took me "Because they knew the ship I
back to Rhodia. was in was a Tyranni vessel. They
"Eventually, of course, it began knew that by sight, and almost
deceleration, and I knew the trip blasted it before I could convince
was theoretically over. I couldnt them I was the only one on board
tell where I was, but I managed to alive.
maneuver the visiplate so that I Biron put his large hands on his
could tell there was a planet close knees and kneaded them. "Now
enough to show a disc in the ship hold on and pull back. I dont un-
telescope. It was blind luck, because derstand this. If they knew it was a
the disc was increasing in size. The Tyranni vessel and intending blast-
ship was heading for the planet. ing it, isnt that the best proof that
"Oh, not directly. That would be the world was not in the Nebular
too impossible to hope for. If I had Kingdoms? Anywhere in the Gal-
just drifted, the ship would have axy but there.
missed the planet by a million miles, "No, by the Galaxy. Gillbrets
at least, but at that distance I could eyes were shining, and his voice
use ordinary etheric radio. I knew climbed in enthusiasm. "It was in
how to do that. It was after this the Kingdoms. They took me to the
was all over that I began educating surface and what a world it was!
myself in electronics. I made up my There were men there from all over
mind that I would never be quite so the Kingdoms. I could tell by the
helpless again. Being helpless is accents. And they had no fear of
one of the things that isnt alto- the Tyranni. The place was an
gether amusing. arsenal. You couldnt tell from
space. It might externally have been
it
all
that
so apparent fo
I have never ques-
in the years since. I
me
think
at
They didnt conduct me on any ranni, and that the subject worlds
tours, or anything like that. He will be called upon to rally round
forced himself to relax. "Well, the rebel leaders. From year to year
look, this is what happened. By the Ive waited for it to happen. Each
time they got me off the ship, I new year Tve thought to myself
was in more or less of a bad state. This may be the one. And each
I had been too frightened to eat time, I half hoped it wouldnt be,
much (its a terrible thing, being because I was longing to get away
marooned in space) and I must first, to join them so that I might
have looked worse than I really be part of the great attack. I didnt
was. want' them to start without me.
that must have been better than any- then, thej- must have been honey-
thing we have on Rhodia. On the combing the planet with their un-
way to the hospital I passed fac- derground preparations, developing
TTRANN 131
newer ships and weapons, training found out then. They knew I was
more men, organizing the attack. Gillbret oth Hinriad. There was
"Its only in the video-thrillers enough identification on the ship,
that men spring to arms at a mo- even if I hadnt told them myself,
ments notice, that a new weapon is which I had. They knew that if I
needed one day, invented the next, didnt return to Rhodia there would
mass-produced the third and used be a full-scale search that would
the fourth. These things take time, not readily come to a halt.
Biron, and the men of the 'rebel- "They couldnt risk such a
lion world must know they will search, so they had to see to it that
have to be completely ready before I was returned to Rhodia. And
beginning. They wont be able to thats where they took me.
strike twice. "What? cried Biron. "But that
"And what do you call inci- must have been an even greater
dents? Tyranni ships have disap- risk. How did they do that?"
peared and pever been found. Space "I dont know. Gillbret passed
is big, you might say, and they his thin fingers through his gray-
might simply be lost, but what if ing hair, and his eyes seemed to be
they were captured by the rebels? probing uselessly into the backward
^There was the case of the Tireless stretches of his memory. "They
two years back. It reported a anesthetized me, I suppose. That
strange object enough to
close part all blanks out. Past a certain
stimulate the massometer, and then point there is nothing. I can only
was never heard of again. It could remember that I opened my eyes
have been a meteor, but was it? and was back in the Bloodsucker. I
"The search lasted months. They was in space, just off Rhodia.
never found it. I think the rebels "The two dead crewmen were
have it. The Tireless was a new still attached by the tow magnets?
"I dont. B.ut I have an idea who Biron interrupted, "Now wait.
would be in charge. I am almost You say months ago
it was six that
sure I know who would be in my Rhodia? He
father was at felt
charge. Gillbret was eager about excitement mount.
it. "Yes.
"Who? "Tell me. While there, did he
"The Autarch of Lingane. have access to the Directors collec-
"Lingane? Biron frowned. He tion of Primitivism? You told me
TYRANN 133
once that the Director had a large But Gillbret could only shake his
library of matters concerning head.
Earth." Biron said, "Well, continue with
"I imagine so. The library is your story.
quite famous and it is usually made They spoke of the Autarch of
available to distinguished visitors, Lingane, your father and my
if they're interested. They usually cousin, Gillbret said. "Despite
arent, but your father was. Yes, I your fathers cautious phraseology,
remember that very well. He spent Biron, it was obvious that the Au-
learned of it in
Rhodia. If youve been through
the library on
it
L easy to say. But how does one
go about pointing the ship at a tiny
you tell me what
yourself, cant it speck of light thirty-five light years
was he must have learned? away? Two hundred trillion miles.
THAT
the day
is, on a given
on
dition to the stars position
which all the data
for
date. In ad- be the chance for a nap. He had
dragged the bedding out of the
cabin and it was ready for him.
were calculated, one had to know The other two were, presumably,
the stars proper motion, both sleeping in the cabin. He told him-
speed and direction. It was a small was a good thing and
self that that
TYRANN 135
"Hello, he said. "Why arent He wanted to say no, not at all,
TYRANN 137
force is directed toward its base, The silence had lasted a little too
and falls off as you move away from long. He said, hurriedly, "You
it. In the top bunk, you were prob- dont travel very much, do you? I
ably twenty or thirty pounds lighter mean, you were on a liner only
than on the floor. Were you ever once?
on a passenger liner? A really big
one? HE nodded. "Once too often.
"Once. When father and I visit- S If we hadnt gone to Tyrann,
ed Tyrann last year. that filthy chamberlain wouldnt
"Well, on the liners they have have seen me and I dont want to
the gravitation in all parts of the talk about that.
ship directed toward the outer hull, Biron let it go. He said, "Is that
so that the long axis of the ship is usual? I mean, not traveling?
always 'up, no matter where you "Im afraid so. Father is always
are. Thats why the motors of one hopping around on state visits,
of those big ships are always lined opening agricultural expositions,
up in a cylinder running right along dedicating buildings. He usually
the long axis. No gravity there. just makes some speech that Ara-
must take an awful lot of
"It tap writes for him. As for the rest
power to keep an artificial gravity of us, however, the more we stay
going. in the palace, the better the Tyranni
"Enough to power a small like Poor Gillbret! The one and
it.
TYRANN 139
turned the telescope upon it, recess that narrowed gently toward
throwing in the spectroscopic at- it. It was extremely clear, immense-
tachment. ly thick and precisely curved, not
,
our position, we can afford nothing being wealthy. In fact, it was al-
queer. most inconceivable that . Lingane
"Repeat this business. Let me could be anything else.
hear it again. It is difficult to tell in advance
The Autarch threw a leg upon when a world is so located that
the flaring window-sill and looked many Jump- routes may use it as a
outward thoughtfully. The window pivotal intermediate point; or even
itself represented perhaps the must use it in the interests of op-
greatest single oddity of Linganian timal economy. A great deal de-
architecture. It was moderate in size pends on the pattern of develop-
and set at the end of a live-foot ment of that region of space. There
THE
mail
the
Autarch said turning from
window, "Start with the
ship, Rizzett. Where did
mail ship?
"All communication was by
plate. The mail capsule was shot
visi-
they meet this cruiser in the first across two miles of empty spac-e
place? and caught by ships net.
"Les6 than one hundred thousand "Was it vision communication
miles off Lingane. The exact co- or sound only?
TYRANN 141
"Full vision. Thats the point. power, had been fought to a stand-
The speaker was described by sev- still. They had not been defeated,
eral as being a young man of 'aris- but they had been stopped. The
tocratic bearing, whatever that shock, even of that, had been per-
means. manent. Not a planet had been con-
quered by the Tyranni since the
HE Autarchs clenched year they had attacked Lingane.
T slowly.
fist
my
The Autarch said, "I saw him on
last visit to Rhodia.
ABOARD
unpleasant.
the Remorseless,
wait was proving increasingly
For two days,
the
they
"You told him nothing, of hadnt budged from their orbit.
course. Gillbret watched the controls with
"Of course. relentless concentration. His voice -
time, this business. I have been cult area of the upper lip, frown-
away from Lingane for a year or ing impatiently as he felt the
more. I arrived last week and I slightly sour taste of the spray
shall leave in a matter of days upon his tongue. A
Tyrannian
again. A message such as this could handle the spray with a grace
reaches me just when I am in a po- that was almost poetic. It was un-
sition to be reached. doubtedly the quickest and closest
"You dont think it is a coinci- non-permanent shaving method in
dence? existence, in the hands of an expert.
"I dont believe in coincidence. In essence, it was an extremely fine
And there is one way in which all air-blown abrasive that scoured off
this would not be coincidence. I the hairs without harming the skin.
will therefore visit that ship. Certainly the skin felt nothing more
Alone. than the gentle pressure of what
"Impossible, sir. Rizzett was might have been an air-stream.
startled. He had a small, uneven Biron was surveying his face in
scar just above his right temple and the mirror, 'wondering how he
it showed suddenly red. would look in sideburns down to
"You forbid me? asked the Au- the angle of the jaw, when Arte-
tarch, drily. misia said from the doorway, "I
TYRANN 143
thought you were.going to sleep. As nearas I can tell, its 5,000 miles
"I did, he said. "Then I woke off,about 46 degrees rho and
up. 192 degrees from the ship-planet
He looked at her and smiled. line, *if Ive got the clockwise
She patted his cheek, then and counterclockwise conventions
stroked it gently with her fingers, straight. If I havent, the figures
"Its smooth. You look about eigh- are, respectively, 314 and 168 de-
teen. grees.
He carried her hand to his lips. He
paused to take another read-
"Dont let that fool you. ing. "I think theyre approaching.
Its a small ship. Do you think you
HE said, "Theyre still watch- can get in touch with them, Gill-
S ing? bret?
"Still watching. Isnt it annoy- "I can try.
ing? These damned dull interludes "All right. No vision. Lets
that give you time to sit and leave it at sound, till we get some
worry. notion of whats coming.
"I dont find this interlude at all It was amazing to watch Gillbret
dull. at the controls of the etheric radio.
"Youre talking about other as- He was obviously the possessor of
pects of it now, Arta. a native talent. Contacting an iso-
She said, "Why dont we cross lated point in space with a tight
them up and land on Lingane? radio-beam remains, after all, a task
"Weve thought of it. I dont in which the ships control panel
think were ready for that kind of information can participate only
risk. We can afford to wait till the slightly. He had a notion of the
water-supply gets a bit lower. distance of the ship which might be
Gillbret said loudly, "I tell you oft by a hundred miles plus-or-
they are moving. minus. He had two angles, either
Biron crossed over to the control or both of which might easily be
panel and considered the massome- wrong by five or six degrees in any
ter readings. direction.
He looked at Gillbret and said, This volume of about ten
left a
"You may be right. million within which
cubic miles
He pecked away at the calculator the ship be. The rest was
might
for a moment or two and stared at left to the human operator, and a
its dials. radio beam which was a probing
No, the two ships havent finger not half a mile in cross-sec-
moved relative to us, Gillbret. tion at the widest point of its re-
Whats changed the massometer is ceivable range. It was said that a
that a third ship has joined them. skilled operator could tell by the
H
It
ALF
plate
an hour
showed
later,
TYRANN 145
until it was an almost invisible the initial impulse of the snapping
thing, glittering with incredible line with nothing, neither friction
daintiness in the light of Linganes nor obstruction, to stop him this
sun. side of eternity.
Biron threw in the telescopic at- The approaching Linganian
tachment, which bloated the ship moved on confidently and quickly.
monstrously in the field of vision, When he came closer it was easy
so that one could see the origin of to see that it was not a simple hand
the half-mile length of connecting over hand procedure. Each time the
line,and the little figure that was forward hand flexed, pulling him
beginning to swing hand over hand on, he would let go and float on-
along it. ward some dozen feet before his
It was not the usual form of other hand reached forward for a
boajrding. Ordinarily, two ships new hold.
would maneuver to near-contact, so It was a brachiation through
could meet
that extensible airlocks space. The spaceman was a gleam-
and merge under intense magnetic ing metal gibbon.
fields. A
tunnel through space
would thus connect the ships and
a man could travel from one to the
other with no further protection
A "He
rtemisia
he misses?
asked, "What
than he needed to wear aboard ship. said Biron, "but if he does, hed
Naturally, this form of boarding still shine in the sun. Wed pick
required mutual trust. him up again.
By space-line, one was dependent The Linganian was close now.
upon his spacesuit. The approaching He had passed out of the field of
Linganian was bloated in his; a fat the visiplate. In another five sec-
thing of air-extended metal mesh, onds, there was the clatter of gaunt-
the joints of which required no leted feet on the ships hull.
.small muscular effort to work. Even Biron yanked the lever that lit
at the distance at which he was, the signals which outlined the ships
Biron could see his arms flex with airlock. A moment later, in answer
a snap as the joint gave and came to an imperative series of raps, the
to rest in a new groove. outer door was opened. There was
And the mutual velocities of the a thump just beyond a blank sec-
two ships had to be carefully ad- tion of the pilot rooms wall. The
justed. An inadvertent acceleration outer door closed; the section of
on the part of either would tear the wall slid away; and a man stepped
line loose and send the traveler through.
tumbling through space under the His suit frosted over instantly,
easy grip of the faraway sun and of blanking the thick glass of his hel-
THE to
Autarch gently toed the
one side and appropriated
the larger of the padded chairs.
suit "I think very highly of you.
The Autarch was completely un-
perturbed, and Biron felt awkward
He said, I havent had that sort and stupid in his resentment. He
of exercise in quite a while. But turned furiously to the others.
they say it never leaves you once "This man is Sander Jonti; the
youve learned, and, apparently, it Sander Jonti Ive told you of. He
hasnt in my case. Hello, Farrill. may be the Autarch of Lingane be-
My lord Gillbret, good day. And sides, or fifty Autarchs. It makes
this, if I remember, is the Direc- no difference. To me he is Sander
tors daughter, the lady Artemisia. Jonti.
He placed a long cigaret care- Artemisia said, "He is the man
fully between his lips and brought who
it to life with a single intake of Gillbret put a thin and shaking
breath. The scented tobacco filled hand to his brow. "Control your-
the air with its pleasant odor. "I self, Biron. Are you mad?
TYRANN 147
"This is the man! I am not not miss Who blasted my door
it?
mad! shouted Biron. He checked in so that I might leave the room
himself with an effort. "All right. before found out that the bomb
I
Theres no point yelling, I suppose. was only a dud after all? You must
Get off my ship, Jonti. That's said have enjoyed yourself that night,
quietly enough. Get off my ship. Jonti.
"My dear Farrill, for what Biron waited for effect, but the
reason? Autarch merely nodded in polite
Gillbret made incoherent sounds interest. Biron felt the fury mount.
in his throat, but Biron pushed him It was like punching pillows, whip-
aside roughly and faced the seated ping water, kicking air.
Autarch. "You made one mistake,
Jonti. Just one. You couldn't tell E SAID harshly, "My father
in advance that when I got out of was to be executed. I would
my dormitory room back on Earth, have learned of it soon enough. I
I would leave my wristwatch inside. would have gone to Nephelos, or
You see, my wristwatch strap hap- not gone. I would have followed
pened to be a radiation indicator. my own good sense in the matter,
The Autarch blew a smoke ring confronted the Tyranni openly or
and smiled pleasantly. not as I decided. I would have
Biron said, "And that strap known my chances. I would have
never turned blue, Jonti. There was been prepared for eventualities.
no radiation bomb in my room that "But you wanted me to go to
night. There was only a deliberate- Rhodia; to see Hinrik. But, ordi-
ly planted dud! If you deny it, you narily, you couldnt expect me to
are a liar, Jonti, or Autarch, or do what yon wanted. I wasnt like-
whatever you call yourself. ly to go to you for advice. Unless,
"What is more, you planted that that is, you. could stage an approp-
dud. You knocked me out with riate situation. You did!
Hypnite and arranged the rest of "I thought I was being bombed
that nights comedy. It makes quite and I could think of no reason.
obvious sense, you know. If I had You could. You seemed to have
been left to would have
myself, I saved my life. You seemed to know
slept through the night, and would everything; what I ought to do
never have known that anything next, for instance. I was off-bal-
was out of the way. So who rang ance, confused. I followed your ad-
me on the visiphone until he was vice.
sure I had awakened awakened, Biron ran out of breath and
that is, to discover the bomb, which waited for an answer. There was
had been deliberately placed near none. He shouted, "You didnt ex-
a radiation counter so that I could plain that the ship on which I left
TYRANN 149
death to us. He was in our inner
circles and the Tyranni were ob-
viously not far behind us. They
had to be thrown off-stride. To do
so, I could scarcely temper my deal-
ings with honor and integrity. They
fry no eggs.
"I couldnt come to you and say,
'Farrill, weve got to put the Ty-
ranni on a false scent. Youre the
son of the Rancher and therefore
suspicious. Get out there and be
friendly with Hinrik of Rhodia so
that the Tyranni may look in the
wrong direction. Lead them away
from Lingane. It may be danger-
ous; you may lose your life, but
the ideals for which your father
died come first.
"Maybe you would have done
it, but I couldnt afford to experi-
ment. maneuvered you into doing
I
TYRANN 151
that on Rhodia I saved your life, feel the stinging of self-pity inside
to do.
A
there,
rtemisia said,
think he has three ships out
and is
calmly,
Autarch of Lingane,
i
collecting astronomical data on the suming that the trip from Tyrann
Nebula. to Rhodia was along the usual trade
TYRANN 153
route (and there is no reason to tension of the Horsehead Nebula.
suppose anything else) the point Some six thousand square degrees
in space at which the ship left its of the sphere's surface, one-fourth
route is established. would It of the total surface, lie in the Ne-
scarcely have traveled more than bula. It remains, therefore, only to
half a million miles in ordinary find a star lying within the Nebula
space between the first two Jumps. and within one million miles or so
We can consider such a length as of the imaginary surface we are dis-
a point in space. cussing. You will remember that
"It is possible to make another when Gillbrets ship came to rest,
trol panels, it was quite possible "Now how many stars within the
that the meteor might have altered Nebula do you suppose we can find
the direction of the Jumps, since that close to the sphere's surface?
that would require only an inter- Remember there are one hundred
ference with the motion of the billion radiating stars in the Gal-
ships gyroscope. This would be axy.
difficult, but not impossible. To
change the power of the hyper-
atomic thrusts, however, would re- B IRON found himself absorbed
in the matter against his will.
quire complete smashing of the "Hundreds, I suppose.
engines, which, of course, were not "Five! replied the Autarch.
touched by the meteor. "Just five. Dont be fooled by the
"With unchanged power of one hundred billion figure. The gal-
thrust, the length of the four re- axy is about seven trillion cubic
maining Jumps would not be light years in volume, so that there
changed, nor, for that matter, are seventy cubic light years per
would their relative directions. It star on the average. It is a pity that
would be analogous to having a I do not know which of those five
long, crooked wire bent at a single have habitable planets; we might
point in an unknown direction reduce the number of possibles to
through an unknown angle. The one. Unfortunately, the early ex-
final position of the ship would lie plorers had no time for detailed
somewhere on the surface of an observations. They plotted the po-
imaginary sphere, the center of sitions of the stars, the proper mo-
which would be that point in space tions, and the spectral types.
where the meteor struck, and the "So that on one of those five
radius of which would be the vec- stellar systems, said Biron, "is lo-
tor sum of the remaining Jumps. cated the 'rebellion world?
"I plotted such a sphere, and "Only that conclusion would fit
for an equal part, and, presumably, can be fitted with a trailer. Jonti
a strong and secure position in the knows that as well as I do. Wed
new, free worlds to come, would have all the space we needed, then,
be so much the better, said Biron. and still be masters at our own con-
"Your cynicism doesnt disturb trols. And it would effectively dis-
me, Farrill. The answer is obvious- guise the nature of the ship.
ly yes. If there is to be a successful The Autarch considered. "If
rebellion, it would, again obviously, there is to be neither friendship nor
be desirable to have your fist on trust, Farrill, I must protect my-
the winning side. self. You may have your own ship
"Otherwise some successful pri- and a trailer to boot, outfitted as
vateer or rebel captain might be you may wish. But I must have
rewarded with the Autarchy of Lin- some guarantee for your proper be-
gane. havior. The lady Artemisia, at least,
"Or the Ranchy of Widemos. must come with me.
"And if the rebellion is not suc- "No!" said Biron.
cessful? The Autarch lifted his eyebrows.
"There will be time to judge "No? Let the lady speak. He
when we find what we look for. turned toward Artemisia, and his
nostrils flared slightly. "I dare say
IRON
B "Good
you.
said slowly, "Ill
Then suppose
go with
make
you would find the situation very
comfortable,
"You,
my Lady.
! w'e at least, w^ould not find
arrangements for your transfer it comfortable, my Lord. Be as-
from this ship. sured of that, she retorted. "I shall
"Why that? remain here.
"It would be better for you. This "I think you might reconsider
ship is a toy. if
TYRANN 155
"I think not, interrupted Biron. bret had folded into the pilots seat,
"The lady Artemisia has made her his face screwed up as though he
choice. were going to burst into tears. The
"And you back her choice? limp straps of the pilots stress-
"Entirely. All three of us will absorbing outfit dangled about him
remain on the Remorseless. There and increased the lugubrious effect.
strange then, is it not, that you The Autarch said lazily, "Im
should seem on such friendly terms afraid weve been more talkative
with the daughter of a man such as than Id anticipated. I told Rizzett
Hinrik, who in deception is certain- to come get me if I had not re-
laxed, his face untroubled. Gill- The Autarch interrupted, "I will
statement to
that I heard about the Autarch.
TYRANN 157
leave the Sector, or, at the very pany you and that you will give us
least, go into hiding. He refused needed supplies. That is enough.
to do either. Granting that all you have just said
"I think I can understand why. is true, it is still beside the point.
To alter his way of life would The crimes of the Director of Rho-
prove the truth of what the Ty- dia do not involve his daughter.
ranni must have learned, endan- Artemisia Hinriad stays here
oth
gered the entire movement. He with me, provided she agrees.
decided to risk his own life only. "I do, said Artemisia.
He remained in the open. "Good. I think that covers every-
"For nearly half a year, the Ty- thing. I warn you, by the way. You
ranni waited for a betraying ges- are armed; so am I. Your ships are
ture. They are patient, the Tyranni. fighters, perhaps; mine is a Tyran-
None came, so that when they nian cruiser.
could wait no longer, they found "Dont be silly, Farrill. My in-
nothing in their het but him. tentions are quite friendly. You
"Its a lie! cried Artemisia. "Its wish to keep the girl here? So be
all a lie. Its a smug, sanctimoni- it. May I leave by contact airlock?
ous, lying story with no truth in Biron nodded. "We will trust
it! you said were true, they
If all you that far.
would be watching you, too. You
would be in danger yourself.
"My Lady, I do not waste my
time. I have already tried to do
T HE two ships
closer, until the flexible airlock
extensions pouted outward toward
maneuvered
are obvious traitors. And then way into the pilot room, settled
again, if they are still disposed to into place, clamps automatically
believe him, why, I am on the point locking in position. An airtight seal
of vanishing into the Nebula where had been formed.
they will not find me. I should Biron drew the back of his hand
think my actions tend to prove my slowly across his forehead and some
story rather than otherwise. of the tension oozed out of him.
Biron drew a deep breath and "There it is, he said.
said, "Let us consider the interview The Autarch lifted his spacesuit.
at an end, Jonti. We have agreed There was still a thin film of mois-
to the extent that we will accom- ture- under it.
you, Gil?
for
care
me for a
When he
of
Widemos
Biron.
at all. I I love you,
comes in, break the airlock contact. Her went up, meeting his.
eyes
All youll have to do is remove the "I think you love me, too. I think
magnetic field. This is the photonic you would admit it if you could
switch youll flash. forget I were a Hinriad. Maybe you
He turned and stepped out of will now that Ive said it first. You
the pilot room. Right now, he told Autarch you would not
the
needed time for himself. Time to hold my me.
fathers deeds against
think, mostly. Dont hold his rank against me,
But there was the hurried foot- either.
step behind, him, and the soft voice. Her arms were around his neck
He stopped. now. Biron could feel the softness
"Biron, said Artemisia, "I want of her breasts against him and the
to speak to you. warmth of her breath on his lips.
Hefaced her. "Later, if you dont Slowly his own hands went up and
mind, Arta. gently grasped her forearms. As
She was looking up at him, in- gently, he disengaged her arms.
tently. "No, now. He "I am not quits with
said,
for her to say it. "I know that part wasnt true, that her father had not
of what has been going on between done this thing, that in any case
us has been because weve been But he turned into the cabin and
alone and together and in danger, left her standing in the corridor,
but
She stopped again. her eyes filling with hurt and
Biron said, "If youre trying to shame.
say youre a Hinriad, Arta, theres ISAAC ASIMOV
Concluded Next Month
TYRANN l
159
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